# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread September 2010



## GAP (2 Sep 2010)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread September 2010 *               

*News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
Thanks for helping this "news only" thread system work!*


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## MarkOttawa (2 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 2

Near Kandahar, the Prize Is an Empty Town
_NY Times_, Sept. 1
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/world/asia/02kandahar.html?_r=1



> MEHLAJAT, Afghanistan — When the governor of Kandahar Province came to this town, freshly liberated on Sunday from the Taliban, his armed entourage appeared to outnumber what was left of the population.
> 
> “Don’t worry,” Gov. Tooryalai Wesa told the few elders who ventured out of their homes. “The Taliban are gone. Our security forces will not leave you alone. You’re safe now.”
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## Dog Walker (3 Sep 2010)

Afghanistan still confounds efforts to save it from itself

 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Afghanistan+still+confounds+efforts+save+from+itself/3479279/story.html

By Brian Hutchinson, Postmedia News
September 3, 2010 3:02 PM

SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan — Measuring the success or failure of Canada's combat mission in Kandahar will depend on how events unfold this month and next, around a downtrodden village cluster deep in Panjwaii district.
After four years of effort and heavy sacrifices, Canada's military is still confounded by this place, the seat of Taliban power and home to a tiny, unhappy populace. Panjwaii is not secure. Insurgents continue to assemble here, kill troops and plan attacks on Kandahar City and places beyond.
Maj. Eleanor Taylor is blunt: "We cannot protect the population the way we're currently configured."
The Antigonish, N.S., native commands Charles Company, 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group (1RCR). It's placed inside a Soviet-era military instalment at Sperwan Ghar, 30 kilometres west of Kandahar's capital and right on the Taliban's doorstep. This is the western front, where the most Canadian soldiers can manage are short patrols and attempts to "disrupt" Taliban activities.
Taylor's company does its best and enjoys "some rays of hope," she says, but it's caught in the same numbers game as others that came before it. Resources are spread too thin. There aren't enough soldiers. And the Afghan National Army troops operating in the area are often a hindrance, not a help.
Knowing the battle for Panjwaii was once considered a high point for Canadian battle groups makes the current predicament seem worse.
Canadians arrived in Panjwaii in 2006. First the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), and then 1RCR, including Charles Co. They beat back the insurgency. Charles Co. played a crucial role in Operation Medusa, a notable offensive campaign that opened up most of the district and allowed Canadians to build a string of forward operating bases and strong points, all the way to Panjwaii district's western boundary.But the tables turned. The Taliban came back in force and by 2008 the Canadians were drawing back. Those western strong points are long gone.
With security disrupted, development in Panjwaii has stalled. Road paving projects are on hold because contractors and local workers risk being killed. Irrigation repairs and health clinics have been postponed.
The district lacks transparent, effective governance. Panjwaii's illiterate district governor, Haji Baran, is by most accounts dispirited, unengaged, and suspicious of those around him. He has no staff to help him govern; civil servants from the cities will not venture into Panjwaii. Kandahar Gov. Tooryalai Wesa seldom visits.
The Taliban have filled the vacuum. The insurgents run a medieval court system from Zangabad, a village just west of Sperwan Ghar. It's their district council, where mercy, not vengeance, is spared.
Last winter, insurgents rarely strayed east of Zangabad. A PPCLI company in Sperwan Ghar had to go looking for them, explained Taylor. She inherited a fairly quiet area. When Charles Co. arrived at the beginning of May, Sperwan Ghar and points east were considered "permissive," or relatively safe to move around.
"Then everything transitioned," said Taylor. The Taliban prepared for another fighting season. They assembled a larger fighting force and started launching regular attacks on Charles Co. and on other Canadian and Afghan units nearby. They used small arms, rocket propelled grenades and mortars.
"We knew we were facing something new," said Taylor. "They had foreign fighters. We took direct contact for the first time. Then, there was contact every day." Petty Officer Second Class Douglas Craig Blake, a navy explosive ordnance disposal officer, was killed by an IED blast near Sperwan Ghar on May 3.
The Taliban also began planning their response to Operation Hamkari, a large, three-phase coalition campaign aimed at securing key Kandahar districts, including Panjwaii. Hamkari may be the last, large-scale operation involving Canadian planning and combat teams before troops are withdrawn next summer.
Phase 1 saw U.S. and Afghan forces establish a network of security checkpoints around Kandahar City. Phase 2 saw them aggressively clear Arghandab district, north of the capital. According to senior military sources, Phase 2 was more "kinetic," or combat-intensive, than had been anticipated.
The Taliban fought back, hard.
Phase 3 is scheduled for Panjwaii and the adjoining Zhari district, once a Canadian area of operation and now an American responsibility. Phase 3 won't likely start in earnest before mid or late September. Much depends on the readiness of Afghan national security forces, and on the Afghan government's resolve, which can seem shaky.
British Maj.-Gen. Nick Carter, commander of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, says the intention is to sweep through all of Panjwaii, including Zangabad, and reclaim territory formerly held by Canadians.Insurgents are warning locals to avoid the "infidels."
Villagers and farmers thought to be sympathetic to the coalition have had threatening notes pinned to their front doors. These so-called night letters instruct their recipients to either leave the area or to appear before the Taliban court in Zangabad.
Some have decided to defy the orders and to remain in their homes instead. Most have fled Panjwaii. A few have gone to Zangabad, to the Taliban court. They've returned with cuts and bruises on their legs, said Taylor. Several didn't return at all.
Taliban tactics are increasingly vile, Taylor added. They use children to conduct attacks on Canadian forces. A local insurgent, a man in his 20s, is known to recruit boys at least as young as eight to "emplace IEDs" near Canadian positions and routes at Sperwan Ghar.
"They know we can't take action against children," said Taylor.
"I've given up trying to explain to people back home how ugly the insurgency is."
Taliban activities intensified in July and August but have recently tapered, perhaps thanks to Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer. Ramadan concludes next week.
More troops will mass in Panjwaii. Until then, says Taylor, "we can build obstacles around here and take a bite out of the insurgency. We can disrupt."


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## MarkOttawa (4 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 4

Gates Sees 2-3 Years of Combat in Afghanistan
_Wall St. Journal_, Sept. 5 (_sic_) 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704855104575469770302547514.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories



> COMBAT OUTPOST SENJARAY, Afghanistan—Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he envisions two or three more years of combat operations in Afghanistan before the U.S. transitions to an advisory role, a mission likely to last years more.
> 
> Mr. Gates’s comments Friday at a military camp outside Kandahar were his most decisive to date on the war’s timeline. They came as he made a vigorous, public case that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy would prove to be working by the time the Obama administration begins its next review of the war in December.
> 
> ...



A twofold conflict in Helmand
_Washington Post_, Sept. 4
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090305996.html



> IN MUSA QALA, AFGHANISTAN U.S. Marines and British civilian advisers are waging two wars in the hilly northern half of Helmand province: They're fighting the Taliban, and they're quarreling with each other.
> 
> The disagreements among the supposed allies are almost as frequent as firefights with insurgents. The Americans contend that the British forces they replaced this spring were too complacent in dealing with the Taliban. The British maintain that the Americans are too aggressive and that they are compromising hard-fought security gains by pushing into irrelevant places and overextending themselves.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (5 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 5

War gains in Afghanistan overstated 
Allies have been 'over-enthusiastic' in depicting progress, general admits
_Ottawa Citizen_, Sept. 5
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/gains+Afghanistan+overstated/3484635/story.html#ixzz0yf4ZO6LP



> International forces in Afghanistan have at times overstated the progress being made this year, the deputy commander of the NATO-led force said on Saturday, with advances coming slower than originally expected.
> 
> British Lieutenant-General Sir Nick Parker, second-in-command of the International Security Assistance Force behind U.S. General David Petraeus, said progress had been slowed by the complexity of the mission.
> 
> ...



Why Afghanistan is at best a work in progress
_Washington Post_, Sept. 5, by David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090304152.html



> KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN
> 
> Under a scorching sun, Defense Secretary Bob Gates tells soldiers from the first U.S. combat brigade deployed inside this city that they're the "forward foxhole" in the fight against the Taliban. It's already a bloody battle: In its first two weeks here, the brigade has lost eight soldiers, including five killed last Monday in a roadside bombing.
> 
> ...



Karzai forms peace-talk council to deal with Taliban 
AP, Sept. 4
http://www.france24.com/en/20100904-karzai-peace-talk-council-deal-taliban-afghanistan-insurgents



> ...
> President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he will name the members of a council next week to pursue peace talks with insurgents willing to renounce violence, honor the Afghan constitution, and sever ties with terrorist networks.
> 
> The announcement came amid a further round of insurgent violence, with seven people, including four policemen, killed by a suicide bomber perched on the back of a motorcycle in the increasingly violent northern province of Kunduz.
> ...



MPs get their first chance to vote on Afghan withdrawal
Commons to have its say as ex-Army chief Dannatt condemns Blair and Brown over defence spending
_Independent on Sunday_, Sept. 5
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-get-their-first-chance-to-vote-on-afghan-withdrawal-2070835.html



> The Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, will this week face calls to set out a detailed timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan in the first major Commons vote since the war began almost nine years ago.
> 
> New powers handed to backbenchers will allow MPs to debate the continued deployment of British forces, with many of the record new intake expected to express unease at the timescale for troops coming home...
> 
> ...



More on Gen. Dannatt:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/7982140/Army-chief-How-Blair-and-Brown-betrayed-our-troops.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/7982262/If-British-armed-forces-chiefs-werent-seeing-intelligence-who-was.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/7982001/A-political-feud-that-cost-our-soldiers-dear.html

Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (6 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 6

NATO eyes 2,000 extra troops for Afghanistan: official
AFP, Sept. 6
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jkJxsMbT4Nb7_dQ3YLNojYkG6BTA



> BRUSSELS — US General David Petraeus, the commander of the war in Afghanistan, has requested 2,000 extra troops to bolster a crucial mission to train Afghan security forces, a NATO official said Monday.
> 
> The mission would come on the heels of the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers who were sent as part of a surge strategy aimed at crushing a resilient Taliban insurgency, the official said.
> 
> ...



Helmand dam a monument to U.S. challenges
The Kajaki Dam in southern Afghanistan was built in the 1950s with U.S. aid but fell into disrepair in the late 1970s. Efforts to repair it have faltered as the Taliban controls an access road.
_LA Times_, Sept. 6
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-dam-20100906,0,2312264.story



> Reporting from Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge,
> 
> There may be no better symbol of American involvement in southern Afghanistan — initial success, current frustration and an uncertain future — than the giant Kajaki Dam.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (7 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 7

Taliban calling the shots in Panjwaii 
Scene of past victories is increasingly becoming enemy territory
Postmedia News, Sept. 7, by Brian Hutchinson
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/news/3488336/story.html#ixzz0yqNSIX9J



> Measuring the success or failure of Canada's combat mission in Kandahar will depend on how events unfold this month and next, around a downtrodden village cluster deep in Panjwaii district.
> 
> After four years of effort and heavy sacrifices, Canada's military is still confounded by this place, the seat of Taliban power and home to a tiny, unhappy populace. Panjwaii is not secure. Insurgents continue to assemble here, kill troops and plan attacks on Kandahar City and places beyond.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (8 Sep 2010)

*Articles found August 8, 2010*

 Canada paid $650K to civilians caught in the crossfire
Article Link
Mon Sep. 06 2010 10:44:36 AM The Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Department of National Defence paid just over $650,000 during the course of two years to compensate Afghans for damages and deaths resulting from Canadian operations.

In the 2009 fiscal year, the department paid out $205,828 in 102 ex-gratia payments for damages and losses suffered by Afghan civilians, according to reports by the Receiver General of Canada. The payments ranged from as low as $104 to as much as $14,424.

Ex-gratia payments are made when there is no legal liability but compensation is made "in the interest of peace, security and public policy," said Capt. Yves Desbiens, spokesman for Canada's Task Force Kandahar. Under international law, nations who have troops in Afghanistan are not liable for damage or injury that results from lawful operations.

The department also paid out $77,703 in the same year in 30 payments ranging from $1,044 to $9,684 for claims against the Crown in the central Asian nation.

The previous fiscal year, Defence made 36 payments totalling $217,462 for claims against the Crown and 57 ex-gratia payments totalling $152,683. The highest payment was for $55,117.

The names of the recipients and the circumstances that led to the compensation awards were not disclosed.

"We strive to follow cultural customs and traditions in the manner in which we express our condolences," Desbiens said. 
More on link

The sexually abused dancing boys of Afghanistan
By Rustam Qobil BBC World Service    7 September 2010 Last updated at 19:42 ET
Article Link

In Afghanistan women are not allowed to dance in public, but boys can be made to dance in women's clothing - and they are often sexually abused.

It's after midnight. I'm at a wedding party in a remote village in northern Afghanistan.

There is no sign of the bride or groom, or any women, only men. Some of them are armed, some of them are taking drugs.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

    Sometimes we gather together and put women's clothes and dancing bells on our boys and they dance for us for two-three hours - that's all”

End Quote 'Zabi'

Almost everyone's attention is focused on a 15-year-old boy. He's dancing for the crowd in a long and shiny woman's dress, his face covered by a red scarf.

He is wearing fake breasts and bells around his ankles. Someone offers him some US dollars and he grabs them with his teeth.

This is an ancient tradition. People call it bachabaze which literally means "playing with boys".

The most disturbing thing is what happens after the parties. Often the boys are taken to hotels and sexually abused.

The men behind the practice are often wealthy and powerful. Some of them keep several bachas (boys) and use them as status symbols - a display of their riches. The boys, who can be as young as 12, are usually orphans or from very poor families.
Omid's story

I spent months trying to find a bacha who was willing to talk about his experience.

Omid (not his real name) is 15 years old. His father died in the fields, when he stepped on a landmine. As the eldest son, it's his job to look after his mother - who begs on the streets - and two younger brothers
More on link

US, British forces bicker over Afghan strategy

Article Link

MUSA QALA, Afghanistan — US Marines and British civilian advisers are waging two wars in the hilly northern half of Helmand Province: They’re fighting the Taliban, and they’re quarreling with each other.

The disagreements among the supposed allies are almost as frequent as firefights with insurgents. The Americans contend that the British forces they replaced this spring were too complacent in dealing with the Taliban. The British maintain the Americans are too aggressive and that they are compromising hard-fought security gains by pushing into irrelevant places and overextending themselves.

“They were here for four years,’’ one field-grade Marine officer huffed about the British military. “What did they do?’’

“They’ve been in Musa Qala for four months,’’ a British civilian in Helmand said of the Marines. “The situation up there has gotten worse, not better.’’

The disputes here, which also extend to the pace of reconstruction projects and the embrace of a former warlord who has become the police chief, illuminate the tensions that are flaring as US forces surge into parts of southern Afghanistan that had once been the almost exclusive domain of NATO allies.
More on link

 Few Afghan translators get immigration nod
Article Link
By BRYN WEESE, Parliamentary Bureau Last Updated: September 6, 2010

They risk their lives to help Canadian troops communicate with locals in embattled Afghanistan.

But more than a year after the government announced a fast-track immigration program for Afghan translators, only 50 have been given the nod to come to Canada — and even they are still waiting to clear security and medical screenings.

By mid-summer, more than 200 had applied.

And according to government officials, only another 50 of an estimated 300 Afghan translators in Kandahar who have helped the Canadian mission are expected to qualify before the program runs out next summer when the Canadian military mission there ends.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney admits the program was slow to start — blaming worsening violence in Afghanistan — but said he's "looking forward to being able to welcome the first group of Afghan translators in the next few months.

"We owe an immense debt to those Afghan translators who are risking their lives to support our mission," Kenney wrote in an e-mail.

To qualify, Afghan translators must have worked for 12 months in direct support of Canada's military mission in Kandahar and must be able to prove the dangers they face from the Taliban are directly related to their support of the Canadian mission. The risk must be greater than the risk facing others who work in a less direct roles.

Also, they must be recommended for the fast-track immigration program by a senior Canadian solider or diplomat they work with.

"As a result of our reviews, close to 50 applicants are now moving forward in the immigration process. Should they all pass security, criminality and health screening, they will be accompanied to Canada by some 75 eligible family members (including) wives and all dependent children," said Melanie Carkner, a spokeswoman with citizenship and immigration Canada. "Canada still expects that approximately 50 principal applicants, plus an average of two family members, totalling 150 people, will be eligible each year."
More on link

 Kandahar boardwalk is a world away from war
Article Link
By TODD PITMAN (AP) – 1 day ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — It was a broiling fall evening in this southern Afghan battlezone, and U.S. Army Sgt. Charles Reed wanted to celebrate his birthday in style — at T.G.I. Friday's on the boardwalk.

So the military intelligence soldier ducked inside the Western diner with a dozen friends, climbed atop a chair, and began a slow, solo groove as smiling Asian waiters in baseball caps clapped a carefully practiced birthday cheer.

Two nonalcoholic Dutch beers and a $30 steak and shrimp dinner later, Reed stepped out of the air-conditioned cool of the wood-floored eatery — whose walls are plastered with guitars, surfboards and Elvis posters — and back into reality: the sweltering desert heat of a giant NATO military base ensconced in a rocky Afghan moonscape crawling with insurgents.

"It was kind of unreal," the Steamboat Springs, Colorado native said, describing his recent 34th birthday fete at Kandahar Airfield, better known as KAF. "At least for a few minutes, you could pretend you were somewhere else. It was like going back home."

The only difference, perhaps: most of the people ordering cheeseburgers and milkshakes were decked out in combat fatigues, and heavily armed.

T.G.I. Friday's is the apex of war-zone escapism on KAF's famed boardwalk, a Wild West-like quadrangle boasting three dozen glass-door shops and coffee bars that form a surreal counterpoint to the daily fighting going on just outside the base's walls.
More on link

 Assignment Afghanistan: The Struggle For Salavat – Part 4
September 7, 2010, by Adam Day HEARTS AND MINDS ON THE LINE
Article Link

This is part four of Legion Magazine’s story on the efforts of one small Canadian unit to win the hearts and minds of a town in the Taliban heartland last fall. First Platoon of Alpha Company, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry has been in Salavat for a week and a half, living in a small school compound on the edge of town, struggling hard to get a grip on the distrustful, slightly hostile little community in the centre of Panjwai District, the deadliest place for Canadians in all of Kandahar Province.

Follow the links to read Part 1, Assignment Afghanistan: The Struggle For Salavat – Part 1, Part 2, Assignment Afghanistan: The Struggle For Salavat – Part 2 and Part 3, Assignment Afghanistan: The Struggle For Salavat – Part 3

Day 9 — A Shura Doesn’t Happen And A Hard-Charging Minesweeping Mission To The East

In the years the Canadian Forces have been at war in Afghanistan, certain things have changed for the better, operationally speaking. There are now Canadian helicopters ferrying troops and supplies, for example, so not as many soldiers die doing convoy duty on dusty bomb-strewn tracks in the outback. And the military itself seems to have gotten better at adapting to war’s unique demands. Back in 2006, many soldiers and leaders seemed fresh to the complexity of the conflict and prone to a kind of bureaucratic optimism: the command influence, you could call it. This was the tendency some had to ignore apparent difficulty and pass heedless good news up the chain of command in an apparent effort to make the sun shine on their own personal head. While I have been assured that this is an ancient military tradition—nothing more than a kind of bland careerism—the problems it created on the ground were serious: if everyone was passing sunshine upwards, the policies and directives that eventually came back down weren’t going to be all that pertinent to the actual situation.
More on link

 Afghans would welcome non-military help
  Article Link
 By Jennifer Campbell, Citizen Special September 8, 2010

Afghan Ambassador Jawed Ludin is still waiting to hear from Canada on what its future role will look like, but if a recent document leak is any indication, it doesn't bode well.

Emphasizing that the document, which outlined a strictly civilian role after troop withdrawal in July 2011, was a draft and isn't necessarily what Canada is planning, Ludin cautioned that his comments are not about it directly, but about the future role more generally.

"The mission in Afghanistan is at a really critical stage. We are on our way to accomplishing it. We've reached an important stage and the important thing is that we all keep up our commitments and not shy away from what it takes to really win this war," the ambassador said.

"Canada has had an important role and we're extremely grateful for that. What we would like, as Afghans, is to see Canada refocus its military engagement from the combat operations in Kandahar to a training mission for the Afghan army and the Afghan police."

Ludin said that would be the most significant contribution Canada could make at this critical point.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (9 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 9

Surge Is Fully Deployed to Afghanistan 
_Wall St. Journal_, Sept. 9
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362404575479750755726446.html



> SHARANA, Afghanistan—The final U.S. brigade sent to Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama's surge strategy assumed authority for a swath of the country's eastern territory Wednesday.
> 
> The 4th Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division has only a short time to make an impact before the harsh winter of eastern Afghanistan, due to set in by November, makes travel and combat difficult.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (9 Sep 2010)

*Articles found August 9, 2010*

 Medics getting more respect in Afghan army
Thu Jul 22, 6:13 PM By Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
Article Link

PANJWAII, Afghanistan - With their military mission to Afghanistan ending in a year, Canadian mentors are training Afghan medics to teach their soldiers about combat first aid.

Afghanistan has traditionally put warriors on a pedestal while the position of healer hasn't been high on the wish list of soldiers in the Afghan National Army.

In Afghan society, being able to pick up a weapon and fight is a matter of honour. It wasn't long ago that ANA commanders would only grudgingly appoint members of their units as medics.

Those pushed into the role of medic had been generally considered unfit or unable to take part in combat. Medics would often be burdened with other more mundane duties around the camp.

But somewhere along the way, the old attitude has finally started to change. The countless injuries and deaths on the battlefield may have been a catalyst.

Canadian mentors are working to help the ANA stand on its own, and that includes providing medical care.

Master Cpl. Matt Macaulay, a member of the Canadian Operational Mentoring Liaison Team, has been working with Ibrahim, an ANA medic, at a forward operating base in the north Panjwaii district.

Macaulay has been teaching Ibrahim how to teach basic combat first aid to groups of Afghan soldiers.

"When we first got here, one of his jobs would be serving tea and cleaning things up," said Macaulay, a native of Dartmouth, N.S.
More on link

 Afghan intelligence officer bragged about torture, documents show 
Article Link
Murray Brewster

Ottawa — The Canadian Press Published on Wednesday, Sep. 08, 2010 3:13PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Sep. 08, 2010 5:18PM EDT

A member of Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service boasted to Canadian military officers in the spring of last year that his organization was able to “torture” or “beat” prisoners during the course of its investigations, federal documents say.

The startling declaration, believed to be the first to come directly from a serving National Directorate of Security officer, sent officials in Ottawa reeling and left Canadian diplomats and correctional officers in Kandahar scrambling to verify the statement, according to briefing notes obtained by The Canadian Press.

It was made during a May 9, 2009, meeting in Kandahar involving Canadian ground commanders, and critics say it's further proof Ottawa should not allow transfers to Afghan authorities.

Reports that the Afghan agency sanctions torture are legion, but those charges are usually made by human rights groups, humanitarian agencies and prisoners themselves. Serving intelligence officers are almost never that candid, and the claim precipitated an immediate halt in the transfer of prisoners by Brigadier-General Jon Vance, commander of the Canadian task force.

It was one of three occasions last year when Canadians stopped handing over suspected Taliban fighters. Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledged the May, 2009, pause in handovers under questioning in House of Commons last fall, but never explained the circumstances surrounding it – or a later incident the following September.

The only thing federal officials acknowledged was that the halts were related to “allegations about treatment” of prisoners. The suspension in September related to Afghan intelligence officers telling Canadians they needed more evidence when taking custody of suspected Taliban fighters.
More on link


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## GAP (10 Sep 2010)

*Articles found August 10, 2010*

 3 Afghan insurgents killed in NATO airstrike
Article Link

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan insurgent commander who was allegedly planning bombings in Kabul on the eve of the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections and two of his associates have been killed in an airstrike, NATO said Friday.

The military alliance said in a statement that intelligence sources tracked Nur Mohammed and two armed militants to a field in the remote Musahi district of Kabul province. Coalition aircraft conducted the airstrike Thursday night after ensuring no civilians were present, it added.

The statement said the senior insurgent commander was planning attacks in the capital before the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections. The Taliban has vowed to attack polling stations and warned Afghans not to participate in what it called a sham vote.

The insurgents want to topple the pro-Western government in Kabul and drive foreign troops from the country, and have boycotted or sought to sabotage all aspects of the political process, including elections.

"This was a very successful strike which stopped a very dangerous individual from conducting further attacks against Afghan civilians and Afghan and coalition forces," U.S. Air Force Col. James Dawkins said in the statement.
More on link

 Afghan prisons not 'torture chambers,' Canadian general testifies
  Article Link
 By Juliet O'Neill, Postmedia News September 9, 2010

Afghan prisons are not "torture chambers" and the subject of detainee abuse is a water cooler "conversation killer" in the military, a senior Canadian commander told an inquiry Thursday.

Maj.-Gen. Mike Ward also praised the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), the intelligence agency which operates many of the detention facilities, as far superior to Afghan police or the army in his testimony at the Military Police Complaints Commission.

Lawyers for the commission and for Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association probed Ward on his knowledge of and concern about the risk of torture to Afghans who were captured by Canadians and turned over to Afghan authorities when he served at headquarters of CEFCOM, the wing of the military that oversees Canada's international missions, in 2006 and in other roles in subsequent years.

The commission is holding public interest hearings into complaints by the human rights groups that Canadian military police failed to investigate the transfer by Canadian Forces to Afghan authorities — to prisons run by the NDS in many cases — of detainees at risk of torture.

Ward testified that he was aware of international reports by the U.S. State Department and human rights analysts about torture in Afghanistan through summaries provided for military strategy documents.
More on link

 US Koran-burning protests sweep Afghanistan
Article Link
  10 September 2010 Last updated at 09:12 ET

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Afghanistan over plans, now on hold, by a small Florida church to burn copies of the Koran. 

Three people were shot when a protest near a Nato base in the north-east of the country turned violent.

President Hamid Karzai said the stunt had been an insult to Islam, while Indonesia's president said it threatened world peace.

President Barack Obama had warned it would be an al-Qaeda "recruitment bonanza", while Defence Secretary Robert Gates asked the pastor to cancel the protest.

Many of Friday's protests in Afghanistan were held after worshippers emerged from mosques, following Eid prayers marking the end of Ramadan.

Demonstrators burned a US flag and chanted "Death to Christians".
More on link


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## Dog Walker (10 Sep 2010)

Canadian sojourn into 'Taliban town' a taste of what's to come in Panjwaii
Sep 10, 2010 08:30 am | Dene Moore, The Canadian Press

http://www.bonnyvillenouvelle.ca/article/GB/20100910/CP02/309109966/-1/bnv/canadian-sojourn-into-taliban-town-a-taste-of-whats-to-come-in&template=BNVcpart

FATHOLLAH, Afghanistan - The soldiers of Bravo Company, 5 Platoon, prepare for battle.
Some check, double check, then triple check their equipment. Some chat quietly. Others just rest, for they know they're about to pick a fight.
A few kilometres from this remote Canadian operating base in the heart of the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province lies the village of Fathollah, a maze of mud-walled compounds and merchant huts that divide the sprawling grape fields into what looks from above like a dusty jigsaw puzzle.
Fathollah is not a friendly place for coalition or Afghan government troops. One Canadian soldier lost his legs to an improvised explosive device near Fathollah a few weeks ago; another had his feet badly injured.
Every time Canadian soldiers go to the village they call "Taliban town," they are in a firefight on the way in or on the way out.
On this day, 5 Platoon plans to pay the village a visit and stay the night. The last time they did that, a grenade was lobbed over the wall of their compound.
"Half of that town is the enemy," Warrant Officer Byron Sheppard says before the convoy sets out. "There's probably people in there who want peace but it's a hardcore Taliban town."
It's a hardcore Taliban district, one where Canada has lost many soldiers in its four years of fighting in Kandahar and one that has remained a hive of insurgent activity. This fall, Canadian Forces will expand their presence in Panjwaii.
The Fathollah operation will give the new Afghan National Army soldiers partnered with the Canadians in the area a chance to meet the locals, most of whom are at best reluctant to have anything to do with pro-government forces. At worst, they're active insurgents.
"The idea is to get up in their face," says Sheppard, who was in Kandahar in 2006 when Canadian Forces took responsibility for the restive province.
As they arrive on the outskirts of Fathollah, a warning comes that two men were spotted planting an IED. Their activity is confirmed from an armoured vehicle and the convoy opens fire with 25 mm artillery before 5 Platoon proceeds into town.
Before long, in a dusty field outside town, an old man in a shalwar kameez signals an armoured vehicle. Members of the support team dismount and make their way across the sun-baked landscape.
A local resident has been shot in the leg. Will they help?
The answer is yes, although it's likely that the man was one of the two blown up while planting the IED.
The villagers bring the man over in a wheelbarrow. His right leg below the knee is nearly severed, held on only by skin and muscle tissue.
Master-Cpl. Patrik Schiess, the medic, and Cpl. Brad Johnston, who is trained in combat casualty care, do what they can for him and call in a helicopter to evacuate the injured man.
Inside Fathollah, the soldiers of 5 Platoon set out for a patrol with the ANA. Before long, they come into contact with the enemy: small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. The RPG overshoots the patrol, exploding against a wall 25 metres behind them.
Later, Sheppard expresses shock about the number of children and local civilians who were in the vicinity. "There must have been 30 to 40 kids there, (and) 10-15 more local nationals (around us)."
The patrol returns to their operations post, and the firefight continues until they've fired off "pretty much everything" they have, he says, fighting off the enemy and winning the firefight.
A short time later, locals show up at the compound with two injured men.
"One had a stomach wound, his intestines were hanging out and he was in real bad shape," Sheppard says. "The other guy, he had shrapnel wounds to his chest."
Soldiers who recognized the men believe they may have been Taliban who were closing in on the patrol when the they were hit by a grenade from one of their comrades.
"They looked suspicious," he says. "They wouldn't engage with our soldiers or the ANA and they kept pushing kids in front of them, coming up to get a look at us, see what we were doing." The pair is evacuated by helicopter.
The next day, three men come to a nearby Canadian-ANA base to find out how they're doing.
"Are they alive or are they dead?" asks a man who said his cousin was among them.
"Alive," they're told at what is, at times, a heated meeting with Canadian Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) team members, a Canadian platoon commander and the area ANA chief.
"Do people understand that the Taliban just fired that RPG and fired these machine guns knowing full well that we were surrounded by children? Do they understand that?" asks CIMIC leader Capt. Rob Goldstein, incredulous.
"Yes, we know the Taliban. They don't care if anyone is around," responds the villager, who tells them that the insurgents come from the nearby village of Zalakan, and don't live in Fathollah.
For ANA commander Capt. Said Habib, that claim is too much.
"They are not telling the truth," he says in Pashto, looking directly at each man. "They're just wasting our time."


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## MarkOttawa (11 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 11

UK confirms troop presence in Afghanistan until 2015
_Toronto Sun_, Sept. 14
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/09/10/15313436.html



> British legislators have overwhelmingly supported keeping their troops in Afghanistan until 2015 but that country's renewed support for their Afghanistan mission has no bearing on Canada's plans, according to the Prime Minister's office.
> 
> Thursday's 310 to 14 vote in Britain's House of Commons to reaffirm their military presence in the war-torn country was the first in nine years since Britain first deployed its troops there.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## Dog Walker (11 Sep 2010)

Assignment Kandahar: Canadian troops to correct setbacks with ‘massive activities’
Brian Hutchinson  September 11, 2010 – 10:40 am

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/09/11/assignment-kandahar-canadian-troops-to-correct-setbacks-with-massive-activities/

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan–Describing the efforts of his soldiers in Kandahar this summer as “good, but not good enough,” the commander of Canadian troops overseas said “massive activities” are coming to win over key districts in the troubled Afghan province.
Speaking to reporters at Kandahar Airfield on Saturday, Lieutenant-General Marc Lessard said that “in the fall, high level security operations” will be conducted in Panjwaii and Dand districts, involving Canadian and Afghan National Security Forces.
“There’ll be a flurry of military operations starting with the major ones this fall, [and] there’ll be other ones certainly in the winter and spring,” said LGen Lessard, head of Canadian Expeditionary Force
Command. “We’re ready to launch.”
Focused combat and counterinsurgency activities will continue for ten months, to the conclusion of Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar in July 2011, he added. “Until the last minute we’re going to do every military operation.”
If Canadian troops do not improve conditions in the districts before leaving next year, their sacrifices since 2006 will have been wasted, he suggested. 
“At the end of the day, when we cease operations in July…we have to ensure the situation is better in Dand and better in Panjwaii,” he said. “Because that’s part of our legacy. With the 150-plus killed, the hundreds of seriously injured, from our Canadian point of view, that’s our legacy.”
Afghan president Hamid Karzai “is aware of these operations,” he said. “They will be as, if not more, important” than than a large-scale military offensive in neighbouring Helmand province launched earlier this year. Centred around the Taliban-controlled town
of Marjah, the February campaign involved some 15,000 troops from Great Britain, the U.S., Canada and Afghanistan.
The next round of operations in Kandahar “will be at a very, very high level, in Zhari, Panjwaii and Dand [districts]” said Lgen Lessard, without going into specifics. Zhari district is now an American area of operation but the plans in place involve it as well.
LGen Lessard acknowledged that his troops have encountered significant setbacks since 2008, when hard-won territory in Panjwaii district was ceded to insurgents. “Let’s face it, it’s been a tough go,” he said.
As late as this June, the Canadian mission was in his view “regressing…There was a lot more enemy presence and a lot more activity…The enemy in eastern Panjwaii was definitely taking the initiative. I believe in the last two months, we’re holding. We, I
believe, have stopped the enemy initiative. That’s good, but that’s not good enough.”
Clearing the district of Taliban insurgents is just one element of a successful campaign, he added. Delivering services to long-suffering civilians is another.
“Kinetic force,” he said, “will be used, there’s no doubt. We will have to use force and do some engagements with the insurgents.” But bringing effective governance is crucial, he added. “What does that mean? The provincial governor, the district leader Haji Baran, with the local elders, [Canadians need to be] asking for their support, asking them to convince the insurgents to flee the village. Having the insurgents fleeing the village, whether it’s through coercion, convincing by the locals, or though military means, is good. But it means nothing if you don’t convince the local inhabitants that we’re
there to stay…Why would they put their lives at risk if we’re not there to stay?”
LGen Lessard said that past failures cannot be repeated. He used the village of Nakhonay in eastern Panjwaii as an example. In 2008, “twice we went to Nakhonay, and we cleared it, very successfully, and it looked good. A few weeks later, the insurgents were back.” Last fall, under the direction of Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, the village
was retaken and has since been held. “I never would have thought two years ago we would have a permanent presence in eastern Panjwaii,” LGen Lessard admitted.
LGen Lessard has stressed to his new commander in Kandahar,
Brigadier-General Dean Milner, that “when we cease operations, we want to make sure that we’ve improved the stability effects in our area of operation. That means Dand district and Panjwaii.”
Most important is building on what he calls the “enduring effects” of a military operation. “After we do these operations we [must] have something to ensure we keep the security, and we’re definitely looking to our Afghan partners, police and ANA [Afghan National Army] to have a foot on the ground, ensure security, be seen to ensure security.
[Local] perception is sometimes more important than what we perceive,”
said LGen Lessard


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## MarkOttawa (12 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 12

Security in Afghanistan Is Deteriorating, Aid Groups Say
_NY Times_, Sept. 11
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/world/asia/12afghan.html?ref=world



> KABUL, Afghanistan — Even as more American troops flow into the country, Afghanistan  is more dangerous than it has ever been during this war, with security deteriorating in recent months, according to international organizations and humanitarian groups.
> 
> Large parts of the country that were once completely safe, like most of the northern provinces, now have a substantial Taliban presence — even in areas where there are few Pashtuns, who previously were the Taliban’s only supporters. As NATO forces poured in and shifted to the south to battle the Taliban in their stronghold, the Taliban responded with a surge of their own, greatly increasing their activities in the north and parts of the east.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (13 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 13, 2010*

Afghan returnees find Veterans Affairs a formidable foe
 By Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free Press September 11, 2010
  Article Link

Jayson Nickol hasn’t yet seen his 30th birthday but thanks to a five-month tour in Afghanistan he is already suffering from arthritis and chronic pain.

The 26-year-old Winnipeg man was shot by an insurgent wielding an AK-47 in June 2008. The bullet shattered his right femur.

More than two years later, the injury has not fully healed and his doctors say it’s unlikely he will improve much more.

For Nickol, the physical recovery is not the only struggle in his post-Afghanistan life.

The fight with Veterans Affairs for disability pay related to his injury is as big a battle and far more frustrating.

"I’m more stressed about that than I was about getting shot," Nickol said. "The military has been pretty good about everything. Veterans Affairs Canada is a different story."

Nickol’s injury resulted in three bone grafts, two surgeries to implant and then replace a rod in his leg, months of physical therapy, weeks in the hospital and an end to the lifelong military career he once envisioned. He has developed arthritis in his hip and knee as his body compensates for the injured thigh bone.

"I come home at night and hobble around my house, pop a Tylenol 3 and go to bed," he said.
More on link

 NATO airstrikes kill 14 insurgents in Afghanistan after joint patrol ambushed crossing river  	  
Written by Dusan Stojanovic, The Associated Press   Monday, September 13 2010
Article Link

A series of NATO airstrikes killed 14 insurgents in central Afghanistan after a joint patrol with Afghan soldiers came under fire, the Western military alliance said Monday.

The clash happened Sunday while the patrol was crossing a river in Uruzgan province, a centre of the Taliban insurgency, NATO said in a statement.

NATO troops requested air support after receiving small-arms fire and concluding there was no danger of civilian casualties, it said.

Initial reports indicated no civilian casualties occurred, and members of the joint patrol were unhurt in the attack, NATO said.

The number of attacks and clashes are rising amid an allied offensive aimed at suppressing the stubborn Taliban insurgency.

The attacks coincide with rising tensions ahead of Saturday's parliamentary elections. The Taliban has vowed to target polling stations and warned Afghans not to participate in what it calls a sham vote.

NATO said Monday it detained a member of a district Taliban shadow government along with two of his associates in the eastern province of Paktika.

The suspect was planning to disrupt the elections and actively participated in Taliban propaganda campaigns, the alliance said in a statement.

Two Taliban militants were killed Friday and Saturday after NATO intelligence reports said they were planning to attack voting places.
More on link


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## GAP (14 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 14, 2010*

 Canada denies troops involved in Afghan drug smuggling
(AFP) – 17 hours ago
Article Link

MONTREAL — Canada's armed forces Monday denied British press reports that Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan were being investigated for smuggling heroin.

The Sunday Times this weekend reported that British military police were investigating the alleged involvement of both British and Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan in a drug smuggling ring.

The drugs were reportedly sent to Britain on military planes, the newspaper said.

In a statement, Canadian Forces Provost Marshal Colonel Tim Grubb denied an investigation was even underway.

"Media reports this past weekend suggesting that Canadian Forces personnel have been implicated in a British-led investigation into heroin smuggling by military personnel in Afghanistan are unfounded," Grubb said.
More on link

 Want to win in Afghanistan? Then put your soldiers alongside Afghan ones
Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Monday, September 13, 2010 
Article Link

One of the most important lessons of Iraq is that nothing improves the quality of local forces like actually having U.S. soldiers work, eat and sleep in the same place as them. Not coincidentally, it also improves the Americans' understanding of the situation.

This was brought home to me by a series of "Company Command" comments that Army magazine carried in its August issue from members of the 25th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade. Here, for example, is Josh Sherer, who as he notes was skeptical of the move:

    We established a joint TOC [tactical operations center] with the ANA [Afghan National Army]. Suddenly, we were both watching the same RAID [Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection] camera feed, hearing each other's intel reports over the radio. Wow, what a difference that made....

    I'm not going to lie; I resisted this idea of a joint TOC initially. I had serious concerns about the Afghans seeing all of our capabilities and SIPR [Secure Internet Protocol Router] computers. The complete trust just wasn't there. But now, joint TOCs partnered with ANA -- what a difference that made. I could just go up to the Afghan S-3 and say, "What do you want to plan this week? I'm doing these things with my platoon leaders. What do you want to plan for your patrols?...."

    That's definitely the way forward. They get so much better tactically -- just basic soldier skills -- by having our guys right next to theirs. Putting their mortar beside our mortar: They're learning from our mortar men, taking care of barrels and personal weapons, drinking chai together. The gains we could not make during our first eight months of random partnering once a month we made in two or three weeks because we were living together. Although I wasn't a fan at first, now I preach it.
end

 Canadian soldiers' experience living in Afghan village: a lesson in patience
Article Link
By: Dene Moore, The Canadian Press Posted: 13/09/2010 

As he pulled on his frag vest and his helmet, a young Canadian soldier turns to a reporter at the remote operating post.

"Are you coming with us?" he asked. "Why? If I had a choice, I wouldn't."

He said it with a smile but he wasn't really joking.

As they have every day since they arrived in April, the soldiers of Bravo Company, 6 Platoon, will undertake a foot patrol of the village of Nakhonay, in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province.

Despite the constant presence of Canadian and Afghan forces since last November, every sojourn outside the walls of the base remains risky. The Canadian Forces does not regularly release the locations where soldiers are killed, but at least six of the 14 soldiers who have died in Afghanistan this year have died here.

Villagers smile and some stop to talk to the soldiers as they make their way down a narrow path but making friends in Nakhonay has been a challenge, to say the least.

"We experienced almost daily contact. My platoon experienced seven IED blasts," said Capt. Ashley Collette, platoon commander.

The number of IEDs, enemy contacts and rocket-propelled grenades encountered since the spring are clearly marked on a bulletin board in the base command centre.

In recent weeks, 6 Platoon has swapped a more frequently targeted outpost on the other end of the village for their current home. Ramadan, the grape harvest and an additional outpost of Afghan army and their Canadian mentors in the middle of the village have calmed things.

Collette said there are villagers who have welcomed their presence. She was even invited to several Eid celebrations.
More on link


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## GAP (15 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 15, 2010*

 Afghan women tread carefully on campaign trail
  Article Link
 By Brian Hutchinson, National Post September 14, 2010

An astonishing 2,500 candidates will compete Saturday in Afghanistan's parliamentary elections, but for the 50 brave souls vying for seats in Kandahar, security threats — especially for women — are making the campaign trail a dangerous choice.

"I can't travel to the districts to (make) the people aware that I am running for election," says Simin Kala, 33, from Kandahar City. "Most of the people who would vote for me are living in the districts. I can't call them to come to the city and arrange a gathering due to security concerns.

"The current security situation really affects my campaign."

Bibi Rangina, 41, is a teacher and mother of seven. She also lives in Kandahar City and, like Kala, she doesn't campaign in the surrounding districts, where Canadian, U.S. and Afghan forces are preparing for an intense combat and counter-insurgency campaign set to launch later this month.

Like most parliamentary candidates, she belongs to no party. She has financed her own campaign.

"I haven't received a penny from anyone," she says. "Believe me, I sold my own gold."

While she hasn't been threatened, she is scared for others over what may come Saturday. "I am really worried," says Rangina. "Especially about security and fraud."
More on link

 Drone attack kills 12 in Pakistan's North Waziristan
Article Link

Twelve people were killed when several missiles were fired by a suspected US drone targeting militants in north-west Pakistan, security officials said.

The pre-dawn attack - the third in less than 24 hours - took place in Dargah Mandi village near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan province.

The attack was directed at Pakistan-based Haqqani group, officials said.

It is the 12th drone strike this month in the region, a stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The attacks have killed hundreds of people since January 2009 and fuelled anti-American sentiment in the country.

'Panic'

Reports said the drones fired at least 10 missiles. Many people were reported injured in the attack.

Residents said there was panic in the village as the drones were heard just before dawn.
More on link


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## Dog Walker (15 Sep 2010)

Forces meet little resistance as offensive in Afghanistan’s Zhari district begins
Saeed Shah
Kandahar, Afghanistan — From Thursday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Sep. 15, 2010 7:15PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Sep. 15, 2010 7:58PM EDT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/forces-meet-little-resistance-as-offensive-in-afghanistans-zhari-district-begins/article1709235/?cmpid=rss1

U.S.-led forces began one of the most important operations of the nine-year-old war in Afghanistan, meeting surprisingly little resistance as they swooped down on a district in the south that gave birth to the Taliban movement. 
The offensive to secure the district of Zhari, just west of Kandahar city, is part of a push to stabilize the politically crucial province by the end of this year. 
Three U.S. battalions, from the 101st Airborne Division, plus rangers, special forces and Afghan troops, moved into the insurgent-held “green zone” of Zhari, a strip of farmland that provides perfect cover for guerrilla fighting. Mullah Mohammad Omar founded the Taliban movement in 1994 in Singesar, a village in the west of Zhari that is one of the targets of the operation. 
The offensive comes just ahead of Saturday’s parliamentary election in Afghanistan, a day that is likely to be bloody, warned the top International Security Assistance Force commander in the south, Major-General Nick Carter. 
“If it is like last year [the presidential elections], it will be a very violent day,” Gen. Carter told reporters in Kandahar. “They [the Taliban] will want to make it violent enough for people to want to stay indoors.” 
With the U.S. troop surge now complete, ISAF commanders believe the autumn offers the best chance to take the fight to the insurgents, in an operation named Hamkari, before countries begin to withdraw soldiers next year and the current political unity in the international community dissipates. 
Kandahar, a city of up to 700,000 people, is the hometown of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and also the place from which the Taliban ruled Afghanistan until their administration was toppled in 2001. It remains a dangerous city, with daily murders, kidnapping and intimidation by the insurgents. 
The forces now assembled in Kandahar represent the greatest firepower that ISAF and Afghan forces have ever been able to deploy. 
Their aim is to secure Kandahar province and challenge Taliban control of their strongholds west of Kandahar city, in Zhari and Panjwai. Canadian forces, which previously had responsibility for Zhari, are now consolidated in Panjwai. The United States has assembled about 2,400 combat troops for the Zhari operation, about the same number of fighting soldiers that Canada had for the whole of Kandahar. 
U.S. and Afghan soldiers moved in toward the first target villages in Zhari early on Wednesday morning. 
Major Antwan Dunmyer, of the 101st Airborne handling the area east of Zhari, said that a single IED, which was found and defused, was the only insurgent activity they came up against in the first few hours of the assault on the village of Makuan. 
“I thought we would have seen more resistance than we had,” Major Dunmyer said. “They knew we were coming, or they knew something was coming soon. Either they evacuated the area or became ‘regular’ citizens of Afghanistan.” 
The low-key nature of the Zhari operation stands in contrast to the offensive in Marjah, in the adjacent province of Helmand, which began in February in a blaze of publicity. ISAF appeared to have regretted the hype that surrounded the Marjah offensive. ISAF is throwing much greater muscle at Zhari than the district has seen over the past nine years, in the hope of preventing a repeat of the usual cycle of “clearing” an area, vacating it, only to see the Taliban return, Gen. Carter said. 
It is unclear whether the Afghan government, led by district governor Karim Jan, is ready to bring services to the people of Zhari, which has only one functioning school – which is protected by an anti-Taliban warlord – and no clinics or hospitals. 
ISAF believes that Kandahar city will never be secure unless the districts surrounding it are under control. In last year’s presidential election, the most violent places in the southwere Zhari, Arghandab and Panjwai. 
Special to The Globe and Mail


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## MarkOttawa (16 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 16

Afstan: News you won’t see in our media (plus some Great Gaming) (Bunch more stuff)
_Unambiguously Ambidextrous_, Sept. 16
http://unambig.com/afstan-news-you-wont-see-in-our-media/



> But is reported by Chinese Xinhua.  Odd that:
> 
> 1) *Australian troops to stay in Afghanistan till mission done: FM* (that’s a Labour coalition government)
> 
> 2) *Spanish PM refuses to put date of Afghanistan withdrawal*...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (17 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 17, 2010*

Afghans ask to cast their ballots despite worsening security situation

By: Dene Moore, The Canadian Press Posted: 16/09/2010 
Article Link

The last time Afghans went to the polls, Taliban insurgents threatened to cut the fingers off anyone who bore the telltale ink stain that identified those who cast a ballot.

In the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, they followed through.

At least two men had their fingers amputated in the violent Taliban stronghold that is now the focus of Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan, and the one prediction that coalition forces will make for Saturday's follow-up vote is that insurgents will do whatever they can to keep people from the polls.

"If it is like it was last year, it will be a very violent day," said Maj.-Gen. Nick Carter, who heads up Regional Command South for the International Security Assistance Force, the formal name of NATO's military coalition in Afghanistan.

Taliban threats were posted on mosque walls throughout the district last year and insurgents undertook a campaign of assassinations. The sound of bombs intermittently echoed through the city the night before the vote.

Carter said he couldn't predict what would happen Saturday, but suggested that a day that's "slightly less violent than the one we had last year" is about the best anyone can hope for.

Afghans will be voting Saturday for the Wolesi Jirga, their lower house of parliament, in the midst of the worst security situation since the Taliban was overthrown almost a decade ago.

"This time the security situation is much worse than before," Abdul Wasi Alkozai, Kandahar regional director of the Afghan Independent Election Commission, which will preside over the balloting without international oversight for only the second time since its inception.

Nowhere will the challenge be greater than in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban and the focus of a renewed international effort to finally turn the tide after nearly 10 years of war.
More on link

 Canada's Afghan provincial governor ineffective, say critics
  Article Link
 By Brian Hutchinson, Postmedia News September 16, 2010

Two years into his appointment as Kandahar provincial governor, an Afghan-Canadian citizen has yet to achieve local credibility and is proving an ineffective coalition ally, various sources say.

One high-ranking Canadian military officer ventures that "some secret agenda" could explain Tooryalai Wesa's refusal to remove from office a controversial tribal leader in the dangerous Kandahar district of Panjwaii.

Wesa's intransigence may compromise a looming anti-Taliban offensive in the insurgency's heartland, suggested the officer, who did not want his name used.

Wesa is an agronomist by training who left his native Kandahar nearly two decades ago and lived in Coquitlam, B.C., before being appointed to the governorship in 2008 by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The two men are close friends and share tribal roots in Panjwaii, which is a key area of operation for Canadian troops.

Despite his local heritage, Wesa is seen as an outsider by many Kandaharis, thanks to his years spent in the West. Afghan and western observers say he lacks charisma and has failed to connect with the populace.
More on link

 Special Forces Night Raids Backfire: Blowback in Kandahar
Contributed by blackandred on Thu, 2010/09/16 
Article Link

During a round of media interviews last month, Gen. David Petraeus released totals for the alleged results of nearly 3,000 "night raids" by Special Operations Forces (SOF) units over the 90 days from May through July: 365 "insurgent leaders" killed or captured, 1,355 Taliban "rank and file" fighters captured, and 1,031 killed.

Those figures were widely reported as highlighting the "successes" of SOF raids in at least hurting the Taliban.

But a direct correlation between the stepped up night raids in Kandahar province and a sharp fall-off in the proportion of IEDs being turned in by the local population indicates that the raids backfired badly, bolstering the Taliban's hold on the population in Kandahar province.

Night raids, which are viewed as a violation of the sanctity of the home and generate large numbers of civilian casualties, are the single biggest factor in generating popular anger at U.S. and NATO forces, as Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal conceded in his directive on the issue last March.

Nevertheless, McChrystal had increased the level of SOF raids from the 100 to 125 a month during the command of his predecessor, Gen. David McKiernan, to 500 a month during 2009. And the figures released by Petraeus revealed that McChrystal had doubled the number of raids on homes again to 1,000 a month before he was relieved of duty in June.

The step up in night raids has been overwhelmingly concentrated on districts in and around Kandahar City. It began in April as a prelude to what was then being billed as the "make or break" campaign of the war.

The response of the civilian population in those districts can be discerned from data on the Taliban roadside bombs and the proportion turned in by the population. Increasing the ratio of total IEDs planted found as a result of tips from the population has been cited as a key indicator of winning the trust of the local population by Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, head of the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).

But JIEDDO's monthly statistics on IED's turned in by local residents as a percentage of total IEDs planted tell a very different story. 
More on link

 Foreign Affairs official said finding Afghan detainee abuse was 'a surprise'
  Article Link
 By Juliet O'Neill, Postmedia News September 16, 2010

Foreign Affairs official John Davison told a public hearing Thursday it was "a bit of a surprise" when he and a colleague found evidence of abuse by the Afghan intelligence service of a Canadian-captured detainee in the fall of 2007.

Davison told the Military Police Complaints Commission that he believed members of the National Directorate of Security were "sincerely" doing their best to live up to a May 2007 Canada-Afghanistan prisoner transfer agreement.

Now a Canadian diplomat based in Ankara, Turkey, Davison was the senior Foreign Affairs official at the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar from August 2007 to June 2008.

One of his main duties was to ensure monitoring of detainees who had been captured by Canadian Armed Forces and transferred to a facility run by the NDS.
More on link


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## GAP (18 Sep 2010)

Scattered attacks, spotty turnout in Afghan elections 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/scattered-attacks-spotty-turnout-in-afghan-elections/article1713206/
Heidi Vogt

Kabul — The Associated Press Published on Saturday, Sep. 18, 2010 8:49AM EDT Last updated on Saturday, Sep. 18, 2010 10:00PM EDT

Despite Taliban rocket strikes and bombings, Afghans voted for a new parliament, the first election since a fraud-marred presidential ballot last year cast doubt on the legitimacy of the embattled government.

As officials tally votes over the next few days, the real test begins: Afghans will have to decide whether to accept the results as legitimate despite a modest turnout and early evidence of fraud.

The Taliban had pledged to disrupt the vote and launched attacks starting with a rocket fired into the capital before dawn Saturday. The insurgent group followed with a series of morning rocket strikes that hit major cities just as people were going to the polls — or weighing whether to risk it.

At least 11 civilians and three police officers were killed, accoring to the Interior Ministry. The governor of Kandahar province survived a bombing as he drove between voting sites. In all, there were 33 bomb explosions and 63 rocket attacks, said Interior Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. He said 27 Taliban were killed Saturday.

Yet there appeared to be less violence than during the last election, when more than 30 civilians were killed and a group of insurgents attacked Kabul. Afghan security officials dismissed the attacks as “insignificant” and said they did not hamper voting, adding that 92 per cent of polling stations were open Saturday.

“There are no reports of major incidents,” Afghan election commission chairman Fazel Ahmad Manawi told reporters. 

Wounded soldiers to get better benefits
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/863057--wounded-soldiers-to-get-better-benefits
Bruce Campion-Smith and Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA—The federal government will boost the help it provides the most seriously wounded and junior rank soldiers injured in Afghanistan, the Star has learned.

The move comes after the Conservatives, who boast about their support for the military, faced sharp criticism they were short-changing Canada’s newest generation of veterans returning from Afghanistan with grievous injuries.

The government hopes to rebut that criticism starting Sunday, when Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn and Defence Minister Peter MacKay hold a news conference to announce measures to bolster financial support for some of the wounded soldiers.

“It’s for the most seriously injured and those who are most susceptible to the economic challenges they may face,” a government source said Friday.

Those measures are expected to include a bigger allowance to financially assist privates as they recover from their wounds. Because their injuries can limit future promotions, privates risk getting stuck at that rank and pay scale, earning a maximum of about $46,000.

“There have been a lot of privates hurt in Afghanistan,” one source said.

The announcement is also expected to address complaints that the revamped benefits package for injured soldiers—unveiled in the 2006 Veterans Charter—leaves the mostly seriously hurt worse off financially than under the previous system.

In a related move, the military is also tinkering with its programs meant to assist disabled soldiers with the challenges and costs of adapting to life at home.


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## MarkOttawa (19 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 19

U.S.-led troops make a push into rural Kandahar
_Washington Post_, Sept. 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091803744.html



> KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - U.S. and Afghan troops flowed into rural areas west of this city in the past week in a new push that NATO commanders said would clear out Taliban fighters and allow Afghan security forces to take control of the spaces left behind.
> 
> The major thrust into the farming districts of Zhari and Panjwayi represented an escalation in the military's slow-moving operation to secure the surrounding province, Kandahar, and other parts of the Afghan south.
> 
> ...


  

All together now: Afghanistan is not Switzerland
_Foreign Policy_, "AfPak Channel", by Thomas Ruttig, Sept. 17
http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/17/all_together_now_afghanistan_is_not_switzerland



> ...
> Did ever anyone say that Afghanistan should or would become Switzerland? Afghans definitely didn't.
> 
> Afghans I had spoken to during my stay in the last Taliban years, wanted their country to become ‘a country like all others' again and to elect their leaders themselves. I am not talking about the ‘small circle of urban intellectuals' (the usual counter-arguments when you say something like this). No, I heard it from tailors, bakers and other people in the Kabul bazaar. And if you look carefully into the 2001 Bonn agreement on Afghanistan, the document on which the post-2001 political process is based, it becomes obvious that the maltreated country was supposed to become Afghanistan again.
> ...



Voters brave Taliban attacks 
Despite intimidation and fraud claims, parliamentary election draws praise
_Ottawa Citizen_, Sept. 19, by Matthew Fisher
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Voters+brave+Taliban+attacks/3546137/story.html#ixzz0zzGe9ZtU



> The bombing of a Canadian-Afghan governor's convoy was among the most dramatic outbursts of violence Saturday as Afghans voted to choose a new parliament -- one critics hope will stand up to President Hamid Karzai, whose regime has been plagued with charges of corruption.
> 
> Millions of Afghans took part in what appeared to be a more peaceful election than the country witnessed a year ago, but outbreaks of violence and accusations of ballot fraud showed the challenges that remain for democracy in the war-torn nation.
> 
> ...



Afghan turnout low amid violence
_Washington Post_, Sept. 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091803813.html



> KABUL - Afghanistan's parliamentary elections, viewed as a bellwether of Afghans' mood after months of Taliban intimidation and disclosures of official corruption, revealed a disenchanted electorate - and a buoyant insurgency - on Saturday.
> 
> By day's end, Afghan officials had declared a semi-victory, pointing out that the number of violent incidents (309) and civilian deaths (11) had been held below their own expectations. Yet voter turnout plummeted compared with last year's presidential election. And chief U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura concluded that voters and poll workers alike had engaged in "widespread irregularities" at the ballot box.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (19 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 19, 2010*

US military in Afghanistan uncovers sadistic death squad in ranks
By Ben Farmer in Kabul  19 Sep 2010
Article Link

A group of American soldiers are facing murder charges for a five-month killing spree in which they randomly targeted Afghan civilians for sport, a US military investigation has reported.

In at least one attack, a soldier threw a grenade to pretend they were being ambushed as a pretext to then shoot dead an innocent villager.

The soldiers also dismembered and photographed bodies and kept bones and skulls as trophies in some of the most grisly accusations against US troops since the invasion in 2001 
More on link

Afghan poll workers' bodies found
Election workers counting ballots in Kabul Election workers were amongst those most at risk
Article Link
  19 September 2010 Last updated at 07:19 ET

The bodies of three members of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) kidnapped in Balkh province during voting on Saturday have been found.

Taliban militants had vowed to disrupt the vote for the lower houses of parliament.

The discovery of the bodies means at least 17 people were killed on election day in about 445 violent incidents.

It comes as a monitoring group raised serious concerns about electoral fraud.
Ink problems

The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan said it had found "extensive irregularities" and urged the IEC "to ensure the integrity of the rest of the electoral process".
More on link


 Canadian-Afghan governor’s convoy bombed during Afghan vote
Article Link 
 By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News September 18, 2010

The bombing of a Canadian-Afghan governor’s convoy was among the most dramatic outbursts of violence Saturday as Afghans voted to choose a new parliament — one critics hope will stand up to President Hamid Karzai, whose regime has been plagued with charges of corruption.

Millions of Afghans took part in what appeared to be a more peaceful election than the country witnessed a year ago, but outbreaks of violence and accusations of ballot fraud showed the challenges that remain for democracy in the war-torn nation.

As many as 11 Afghans, including six members of the security forces, died during voting day violence. About 500 of the 5,861 polls that were to have opened Saturday did not do so, presumably because of Taliban intimidation.

Nonetheless, some cast the day as another positive step for the country.

“This is a good day for Afghanistan,” said engineering student Mosawer Jamshidy, who voted for the first time.
More on link

 'Serious concern' over fraud at Afghan elections
Article Link
  By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writers Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writers   – Sun Sep 19, 12:59 pm ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – The main Afghan election observer group said Sunday it had serious concerns about the legitimacy of this weekend's parliamentary vote because of reported fraud, even as President Hamid Karzai commended the balloting as a solid success.

The conflicting statements underscored the difficulty of determining the credibility of the vote also hit by militant attacks that hurt the turnout. Afghan officials started gathering and tallying results Sunday in a process that could take weeks if not months to complete.

The country's international backers offered praise for those who voted Saturday despite bomb and rocket attacks, and voiced hoped for a democratic result. A repeat of the pervasive fraud that tainted a presidential election a year ago would only erode further the standing of Karzai administration — both at home and abroad — as it struggles against a Taliban insurgency.

While the first vote counts are due to be made public in a few days time, full preliminary results are not expected until early October, and then there will be weeks of fraud investigations before winners are officially announced for the 249 parliamentary seats, which were contested by about 2,500 candidates.

The election commission has said it hopes to release final results by the end of October. But there are likely to be a host of fraud complaints in each province — which could drag the process on even beyond that target date. The resolution of last year's vote took months.
More on link


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## GAP (20 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 20, 2010*

 Hamid Karzai abandons plans to visit Kandahar after disappointing election 
Article Link

Dene Moore and A.R. Khan

Kandahar, Afghanistan — The Canadian Press Published on Sunday, Sep. 19, 2010 12:24PM EDT Last updated on Sunday, Sep. 19, 2010 7:00PM EDT

Afghan President Hamid Karzai abandoned plans to meet with elders during a rare visit to his home province of Kandahar on Sunday, the day after a disappointing parliamentary election that saw millions of Afghans forego their right to cast ballots.

Mr. Karzai was expected at a shura meeting with local elders and pro-government forces in the Arghandab district on the outskirts of Kandahar city — an area that has seen fierce fighting in recent months as a renewed international coalition flush with U.S. troops has tried to wrest control from Taliban insurgents.

But three rockets exploded at the site, followed by a brief firefight, and Mr. Karzai did not appear as announced.

It's the kind of violence that has become a daily fixture in the province where Canadian soldiers have battled insurgents for four years — the kind largely blamed for the low number of voters who showed up at polls Saturday.

At least 11 civilians and three police officers were killed in Afghanistan on election day, according to the Interior Ministry, and the bodies of three kidnapped election workers were found Sunday in Balkh province.
More on link

 CSIS interrogated Afghan detainees, insists none mistreated
Article Link

The Canadian Press

Date: Sunday Sep. 19, 2010 3:33 PM PT

OTTAWA — Newly obtained documents show Canada's spy service admits interrogating up to 50 Afghan prisoners captured by the Canadian Forces.

But the Canadian Security Intelligence Service documents insists they were never mistreated.

The CSIS involvement in interviewing suspected Taliban fighters alongside military intelligence officers was revealed by The Canadian Press last March.

But details of the agency's role and actions have remained largely cloaked in secrecy.

Briefing notes prepared for CSIS director Dick Fadden take pains to emphasize the conduct of agents has been above reproach.

University of Ottawa law professor Errol Mendes wonders whether spies travelled along with soldiers in combat, saying that may exceed the legislated mandate of CSIS.

The documents, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, were drawn up to brief Fadden for a June interview with the CBC, but the broadcaster did not ask him about CSIS's role in Afghanistan.
end


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## GAP (21 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 21, 2010*

 Canada's two female generals star in low-key medal ceremony
  Article Link
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News September 21, 2010

In a unique ceremony Monday, one of Canada's only two serving female generals presented an Afghan campaign star with bar to Canada's only other female general.

The Canadian Forces former surgeon-general, Brig.-Gen. Hilary Jaeger, who is NATO's top doctor in Afghanistan, received the maroon, green and white medal from Brig.-Gen. Chris Whitecross, an air force engineer who is deputy to the deputy chief of staff for strategic communications with NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

"It was a rare opportunity and privilege to be here," Jaeger said of her tour of duty, which ends soon. "What exists here is a health system that is trying to learn to walk and the international community is trying to help them."

Monday's low-key ceremony included the presentation by Jaeger of medals to six other Canadian soldiers. It took place complete with a mini-military parade atop several sea containers that serve as Canada House at the crowded ISAF headquarters.

Speaking of the high quality of health care provided to ISAF's 140,000 soldiers at scores of hospitals and clinics that she has been responsible for over the past year, Jaeger said: "If you are with ISAF, this is the best place in the world to be a trauma patient. Your chance of survival at an ISAF trauma centre is actually higher than it is at trauma centres in Canada and the United States."
More on link

Defence analyst urges Canada to commit military training force to Afghanistan

  Article Link
By Juliet O'Neill, Postmedia News September 20, 2010

It should be an "easy one" for the Conservative government to commit to a military training force in Afghanistan after the Canadian combat mission ends in 2011, if not sooner, defence expert Elinor Sloan said Monday.

Sloan said the NATO military alliance has been struggling to assemble enough trainers to cover the current period, let alone 18 months from now. A Canadian training commitment is being pushed by the Opposition Liberals and recommended by the Senate defence committee, she added.

Sloan said the Conservative government may appear hesitant about a training mission now because the 300 to 400 experts required "are very valuable people" to the Canadian military for training at home or for future deployments in missions outside Canada and Afghanistan.

However, the former Defence Department analyst, who teaches international relations at Ottawa's Carleton University, said she is betting such a commitment will be made. "The sooner the better," Sloan said in an interview.

She offered her view in an article published by the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute on Monday. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said repeatedly all 2,800 troops will be withdrawn as planned under a 2008 parliamentary motion between July and December of 2011, leaving a diplomatic and development mission in place.
More on link

 Veterans Affairs needs mucking out
Article Link
Last Updated: September 21, 2010

Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran, a former army colonel, dug in like a true warrior in the trenches in his fight for realistic financial support for the hundreds of Canadian soldiers severely wounded in far-off missions like Afghanistan.

While his blunt talk and pull-no-punches assault on Veterans Affairs may have cost him his re-appointment, he would no doubt accept losing that battle in order to win his war.

But he is not done yet, and we stand behind him when he says Veterans Affairs -- meaning the faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats behind the scenes -- have to be "mucked out."

These are strong words, yes, but they reflect the manure Stogran has had to wade through during his tenure as ombudsman, only to then be dismissed by bureaucrats so entrenched in old ways that they "deny, deny, deny" rather than look at the validity of his claims.

This, slammed Stogran, is an "insurance company approach to business."

We could not agree more.

If Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay, wish to truly continue the good behind their recent announcements regarding proposed changes to support payments for our injured war vets, we suggest they grab a shovel and head over to the head office of Veterans Affairs and let the mucking out begin.

As Stogran put it, "All along, I have not been pointing my finger at elected officials. My concern is the bureaucracy cheating veterans.

"If the government is truly sincere in making sure that things work out for the veterans, they would give the ombudsman -- myself or my successor -- the mandate to muck out the system."
More on link


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## GAP (22 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 22, 2010*

 Choppers in Afghanistan – thrilling, spilling but (relatively) safe
Article Link
By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent

 Some people call them warhorses, others say they’re counterintuitive death traps. And when there’s a fatal incident – like Tuesday’s U.S. helicopter crash that killed at least nine American troops in a remote province of southern Afghanistan – the focus quickly turns to the part Herculean, part fragile war machines in which the crash happened.

I’m often asked what the scariest part of covering the war in Afghanistan is and I always immediately reply that it’s the choppers. For me, it doesn’t matter that during the past decade I’ve probably flown a thousand times in Afghanistan alone. There is no such thing as a routine flight and every takeoff feels like my first.

 Highs and lows
Can there be more exhilaration than catapulting from 100 to 12,000 feet in what feels like nano-seconds, inside a tiny Kiowa attack helicopter on a mission through mountainous Eastern Afghanistan? (You feel as if you’re inside that Cinerama classic “Seven Wonders of the World” – a 1950s Lowell Thomas mega flick, for those too young to remember).

And for sheer pain, try jumping off the rear of a Black Hawk Chinook, hovering about four feet above Earth, just as the chopper jerks backward. Instead of hitting the ground, I hit the steel tail of the chopper…tailbone first. This was supposed to be the launch of a complex drug bust in Nangarhar province. But, screaming in silence, I forgot the whole infiltration plan. Luckily the Taliban had fled just before we landed.

In fact, many of my highs and lows covering the war in Afghanistan have happened on or near choppers.

The most frustrating moment? Sitting for three days on a firebase in Kandahar and missing a story because, during combat operations, journalists are at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to getting a seat.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (23 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 23

A shocker for Canadians in Bob Woodward’s book 
_Globe and Mail_ online, Sept. 23, by Norman Spector
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/spector-vision/a-shocker-for-canadians-in-bob-woodwards-book/article1719862/



> …we can expect pressure to leave some troops in Afghanistan to increase significantly between now and the NATO meeting in November. But, for Canadians, there’s also, according to the New York Times,
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/books/23book.html?_r=1&ref=arts
> a real shocker in the Woodward book – one that should be factored into the debate on Afghanistan as well as other national debates:
> 
> ...



NATO official to press feds for post-2011 help training Afghans
Postmedia News, Sept. 22, by Matthew Fisher (usual copyright disclaimer)
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/NATO+official+press+Ottawa+post+2011+help+training+Afghans/3563855/story.html#ixzz10MPWgObA



> KABUL — NATO’s ambassador to Afghanistan is flying 11,000 kilometres to Ottawa late next week to try to convince the Harper government that the alliance badly needs military trainers to school Afghan security forces and that Canada is ideally suited to provide them after its combat mission in Kandahar ends on July 1, 2011.
> 
> “I will speak to Canada about the overall progress of the campaign and where we think the shortfalls are and where we need additional resources and rebalancing,” Mark Sedwill said in an interview Wednesday at NATO’s fortress-like headquarters in the Afghan capital.
> 
> ...



Afghanistan security 'deteriorating:' Feds
Postmedia News, Sept. 22
http://www.canada.com/news/SOMNIA/3564521/story.html



> OTTAWA — Afghanistan’s security situation is “deteriorating,” with a rise in insurgent violence and intimidation of civilians, according to a new report on the war by the Harper government [report available here
> http://www.afghanistan.gc.ca/canada-afghanistan/news-nouvelles/2010/2010_09_22.aspx?lang=eng ].
> 
> The latest quarterly report by the government, which covers the period from April 1 to June 30, also notes the assassination of several Afghan officials and an “early escalation of the fighting season.”
> ...



Paramilitary force is key for CIA
_Washington Post_, Sept. 23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/22/AR2010092206141.html



> On an Afghan ridge 7,800 feet above sea level, about four miles from Pakistan, stands a mud-brick fortress nicknamed the Alamo. It is officially dubbed Firebase Lilley, and it is a nerve center in the covert war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
> 
> The CIA has relied on Lilley, part of a constellation of agency bases across Afghanistan, as a hub to train and deploy a well-armed 3,000-member Afghan paramilitary force collectively known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. In addition to being used for surveillance, raids and combat operations in Afghanistan, the teams are crucial to the United States' secret war in Pakistan, according to current and former U.S. officials.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (23 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 23, 2010*

Two Afghan journalists seized by ISAF
Article Link

New York, September 22, 2010--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the detention of two Afghan journalists seized by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in early-morning raids at their homes this week.

Rahmatullah Nekzad, a freelancer who contributes to Al-Jazeera and The Associated Press,was arrested just after midnight Monday in Ghazni, according to local and international media reports. Mohammed Nader,a staff correspondent for Al-Jazeera, was arrested about 4 a.m. Wednesday in Kandahar. Another person was taken with Nader, but that individual's identity was not immediately clear.

In an e-mailed statement to CPJ, ISAF media affairs officer Lt. Cdr. Katie Kendrick said broadly that "Afghan and coalition forces had intelligence information linking the men to Taliban propaganda networks."

Samer Allawi, Al-Jazeera's bureau chief in Kandahar, told CPJ that ISAF would not disclose specific details of the arrests, including the two journalists' current whereabouts. He noted that, like many journalists, the two men have contact with all parties in the conflict, including the Taliban.
More on link

 Afghan insurgents packing more objects into bombs
Updated 14h 39m ago By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Doctors at the NATO hospital here were shocked by what they saw on the brain image of an Afghan soldier flown in following a roadside bomb explosion.

A 3-inch-long, threaded steel bolt was buried deep inside the man's head.

"I thought, this poor guy is doomed," recalls Navy Cmdr. Steven Cobery, 44, a U.S. military neurosurgeon in Afghanistan.

Insurgents are creating more destructive roadside bombs this year by packing them with nails, screws, bolts, metal coils, ball bearings and other materials, according to doctors treating wounded U.S. and coalition troops here.

The number of casualties suffering multiple wounds from these objects has increased from about a dozen in March to around 100 each month this summer, according to Navy Capt. Michael Mullins, spokesman for the NATO hospital operated by the U.S. Navy outside Kandahar.

The casualties include not only U.S. soldiers and Marines, but also coalition and Afghan troops and Afghan civilians hurt by roadside bombs, Mullins says. About half of the casualties are American servicemembers, he says.

Cobery says he has seen several instances of household objects used in bombs. An Afghan soldier lost his left eye to shrapnel made of leather from the tongue of a shoe, he says.

"I've taken (centimeter-wide) ball bearings out of someone's spine," he says. "It's crazy."

The wounds complicate treatment and can cause excessive bleeding and infection, says Canadian Air Force Maj. Cathy Mountford, an emergency room doctor who has worked at the NATO hospital for five months.
More on link

 Culture clash: Canadian soldiers learning about life in Afghanistan
By: Dene Moore, The Canadian Press Posted: 22/09/2010
Article Link

The Pashtun people of southern Afghanistan have a saying: "He is not a Pathan who does not give a blow for a pinch."

"Nang" and "badal" — honour and revenge, respectively — trump even the holy book of the Qur'an for many Pashtuns, and so it is with caution that Canada sends its troops to live among them as part of its widening counter-insurgency strategy in Kandahar province.

It's widely understood that, as the proverb suggests, a Pashtun (or Pathan) man will respond aggressively to even the most minor slight, extracting revenge to defend the honour of himself and his family. Those considered friends and guests are protected and respected with the same zeal.

"Respect and honour is very important to them," said Capt. Paul Stokes, a member of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group currently in Kandahar.

Canadian soldiers bound for Afghanistan are taught about the different tribal and family affiliations that have affected the tides of war in the region for generations. They're warned of the sometimes primitive living conditions and taught a few words of Pashto. Some even carry well-thumbed phrasebooks.

But nothing can entirely prepare them for the experience of living among the locals, Stokes said. "You can teach it in class, but you don't appreciate it until you see the differences and experience it."
More on link

 Women don't have to die
  Article Link 
By Kate Heartfield, The Ottawa Citizen September 23, 2010 Comments (1)

The United States government's DipNote blog asked, last week, "What concrete steps can we take to help overcome these obstacles and meet the MDGs?"

One commenter, "Flavius in Virginia," answered, "The first thing you can do is extend your deadline a thousand years, because we've been trying to do these things for at least five millennia and we still aren't even close. Millennium Development Goals! Who comes up with this stuff, anyway?"

I quote this anonymous online comment only because it's so succinctly representative of a common attitude, one that is sometimes expressed with more erudition but is always based on errors of fact. Actually, Flavius, we just started trying to do this stuff, and we've made astonishing progress.

For as long as humans have existed, procreation has exacted a terrible price -- for one half of humanity, anyway. We women simply had to accept the strong possibility that giving birth would kill us, probably in a painful and lingering way. We'd bleed to death or get infections. There was nothing we could do about it, short of celibacy.

There was also an excellent chance we would watch at least one baby die. In sorrow we brought forth children.
More on link


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## old medic (24 Sep 2010)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/23/pakistan-scientist-86-years-shooting


Pakistan neuroscientist given 86 years for shooting at US agents

Aafia Siddiqui grabbed gun from American captors who she says falsely imprisoned her as an al-Qaida agent in Afghanistan



> Aafia Siddiqui, a US-trained Pakistani neuroscientist who was named as one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, was today sentenced to 86 years in prison by a New York court, in a case that has prompted outrage in Pakistan.
> 
> Siddiqui, 38, was convicted of attempted murder this year after shooting at US soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan in 2008 as she tried to escape from custody. Siddiqui claimed she had been abducted by US agents and held incommunicado in Afghanistan for five years. The case has drawn appeals from the Pakistani government for her release, and divided legal opinion.
> 
> ...


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## old medic (24 Sep 2010)

How the CIA ran a secret army of 3,000 assassins
By Julius Cavendish in Kabul
Thursday, 23 September 2010
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/how-the-cia-ran-a-secret-army-of-3000-assassins-2087039.html



> The US Central Intelligence Agency is running and paying for a secret 3,000-strong army of Afghan paramilitaries whose main aim is assassinating Taliban and al-Qa'ida operatives not just in Afghanistan but across the border in neighbouring Pakistan's tribal areas, according to Bob Woodward's explosive book.
> 
> Although the CIA has long been known to run clandestine militias in Afghanistan, including one from a base it rents from the Afghan president Hamid Karzai's half-brother in the southern province of Kandahar, the sheer number of militiamen directly under its control have never been publicly revealed.
> 
> ...


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## MarkOttawa (24 Sep 2010)

Afghan elections and progress
Conference of Defence Associations’ media round-up, Sept. 24
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1285354510/0#0

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (24 Sep 2010)

Voice of Panjwaii: Canadians hope to win Afghan hearts over the airwaves
Article Link
By: Dene Moore, The Canadian Press Posted: 24/09/2010

 In a room barely bigger than a closet in a remote Canadian military base in the Panjwaii district, a young disc jockey holds a cellphone up to the microphone in front of him.

The caller is reciting poetry, and Panjwaii is listening.

This is the Voice of Panjwaii, one of five very small, local radio stations broadcasting from Canadian military bases throughout Kandahar province as part of NATO's psychological war against the Taliban insurgency.

"Recently we started doing music requests," said Lt. Aaron Lesarge, the soldier who is — for all intents and purposes — the station manager.

"We do have a few people who call in every day to ask for the same songs."

Kandahar province has an estimated 90 per cent illiteracy rate and residents have limited, if any, access to electricity, let alone televisions or the Internet. Locals rely on radio for their information and Kandahar has 15 stations, up from just one or two a few years ago.

Voice of Panjwaii has been on air since June, broadcasting news, government announcements, weather and other programs throughout the district southwest of Kandahar city where Canadians have been concentrating their efforts in Afghanistan.

Local elders and mullahs come to the station to speak, as well as the district governor. There are quiz shows and the station has its own most-requested list of traditional Afghan songs, but by far the most popular program is the call-in show.

Voice of Panjwaii is receiving 40 to 50 phone calls a day from listeners.

About 80 per cent of Panjwaii residents have radios, said Lesarge. Canadian soldiers have handed out an estimated 30,000 units over the past two year in the province.

It's all part of the quiet, psychological war going on to win the hearts and minds of Afghans.

"The biggest battle in a place like this is simply informing people what's going on," said navy Lt. Mark Shepherd of Information Operations for Task Force Kandahar. "There's a big language barrier and there's a big cultural battle here."
More on link


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## GAP (26 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 26, 2010*

 Military has a 'don't ask, won't tell' media policy on wounded, documents
Article Link
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press Posted: 26/09/2010

National Defence has a "Don't ask, won't tell" policy on Canadian soldiers wounded in Kandahar.

The department will release statistics on how many are injured, but only if the department is specifically asked about the information, say federal documents.

The army stopped reporting battlefield injuries to journalists on the ground late last year as part of a stepped up campaign to confuse the Taliban on what kind of damage it inflicted on the battle group.

As a result, the public didn't hear about the injuries suffered by two soldiers until after they had died in hospital from their wounds earlier this year.

New Democrat defence critic Jack Harris said the policy of waiting to be asked about the wounded flies in the face of the federal government's pledge of accountability and gives the public a skewed view of the war.

"It's a very sad thing when you find out at the end of the year that our soldiers are essentially reduced to statistics on an ask-only basis," Harris said. "This is not accountability. When harm is being done to our troops, that's important to know."

The federal government says it's responded to the "public's right to know," while maintaining operational security, by releasing the figures on an annual basis.

But a series of emails between policy officials and public affairs staff at National Defence last spring, obtained by The Canadian Press under access to information laws, show that even when compiled annually and stripped of specific incident details, the government is reluctant to disclose the numbers.

"This information will be used reactively for media queries and statistics will be provided via e-mail to interested reporters," wrote Christopher Williams, a ministerial liaison in the department's public affairs branch on March 24, 2010.
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4 kidnapped in Afghanistan: Police
By REUTERS 
Article Link

A British woman and three of her Afghan colleagues have been kidnapped by armed men in a remote part of Afghanistan, an Afghan police chief said on Sunday.

The police chief for Kunar province, a rugged region bordering Pakistan, said they were seized while visiting an unspecified project in the area.

Khalilullah Ziayee described the abductors as armed men, saying a search was launched to find the group. The motive behind the kidnapping was not immediately clear, he said.

A spokesman for the Taliban earlier said he was unaware of the incident. In a brief statement Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed it was urgently investigating reports a British citizen had gone missing in the country.

Kunar is an area held by the Taliban known for a series of foreign kidnappings in recent years.

The insurgents are holding two French journalists they seized last December to the northeast of Kabul. 
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Pakistan minister quits after accusing army of killings
  26 September 2010 Last updated at 04:42 ET
Article Link

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani meeting army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani, 12 Sept 2010 The army has played a major role in Pakistani politics

The Pakistani minister for defence production has resigned after criticising the military.

Abdul Qayum Jatoi had told journalists on Saturday that the Pakistani army was provided with funds to defend the country, not to get involved in political assassinations.

His comments were played repeatedly on Pakistani television channels.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani summoned him to explain his remarks and a short time later, Mr Jatoi resigned.
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 Promises of new life in Canada not coming to pass for many Afghan interpreters
Article Link
By: Dene Moore, The Canadian Press Posted: 26/09/2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian soldiers had just arrived in Kandahar province in 2006 when a local interpreter — everyone knew him simply as Max — took some shrapnel to his left eye from a Taliban rocket-propelled grenade.

The attack came during Operation Medusa, one of the bloodiest of the war. The driver sitting in front of Max was killed in the blast; the two soldiers riding with him were also injured.

Max, who cannot be identified because he continues to help Canadian troops bridge the language cap with local villagers, was evacuated to the base at Kandahar Airfield, where he underwent emergency surgery, with at least one follow-up operation.

His left eye still bears the scars of that battle.

And yet Max has twice been turned down in his efforts to immigrate to Canada under a new fast-track program for Afghans who face "extraordinary personal risk" because of their work with the mission in Kandahar.

"The first time, they said I was missing one piece of paper," Max said in an interview. The second time, they said he did not qualify.

"They denied me. I don't know why."

When he first made the announcement in the spring of 2009, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney predicted "a few hundred" applicants would qualify by the time the combat mission — and the program — ended in 2011.
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## MarkOttawa (27 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 27

NATO launches airstrikes into Pakistan
AP, Sept. 27
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD9IG5SB00



> KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO helicopters in eastern Afghanistan launched rare major airstrikes into Pakistan, reportedly killing more than 50 militants, officials said Monday, while international forces began a key combat phase to drive out Taliban fighters around the southern city of Kandahar.
> 
> The airstrikes across the border came after the insurgents attacked a small Afghan security outpost near the border, and NATO justified the strikes based on “the right of self-defense,” a spokesman said. Pakistan is sensitive about attacks on its territory, but U.S. officials have said they have an agreement that allows aircraft to cross a few miles into Pakistani airspace if they are in hot pursuit of a target…
> 
> ...



American and Afghan Troops Begin Combat for Kandahar 
_NY Times_, Sept. 26
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/world/asia/27afghan.html?ref=todayspaper



> ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan — American and Afghan troops began active combat last week in an offensive to drive the Taliban out of their strongholds surrounding the city of Kandahar, military officials said Sunday.
> 
> In the last several days, soldiers shifted from guarding aid workers and sipping tea with village elders to actively hunting down Taliban fighters in marijuana fields and pomegranate orchards laced with booby traps.
> 
> ...



`Positive change' in security in Kandahar, Canadian officer says.
Postmedia News, Sept. 24, by Matthew Fisher
http://www.canada.com/Positive+change+security+Kandahar+Canadian+officer+says/3574493/story.html



> KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Canada's last task force to wage war in Kandahar before Ottawa brings the combat troops home next summer "sees a lot of signs on the ground" that security is improving.
> 
> After "a challenging summer, the commander's assessment is that there is a positive change," said Lt.-Col Doug Claggett, chief of staff for Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner, whose task force took over on Sept. 9.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (27 Sep 2010)

Further to third story immediately above, audio from CFRA Ottawa:
http://www.cfra.com/interviews/default.asp



> …
> Monday, September 27, 2010
> *Afghan Security Improving*
> Madely in the Morning – 8:40am — Steve Madely is joined by Matthew Fisher, PostMedia News Middle East and South Asia bureau chief in Afghanistan.
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (28 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 28

AfPak droning on
_Unambiguously Ambidextrous_, Sept. 28 [not time to do each individually here, MC]
http://unambig.com/afpak-droning-on/



> Your UAV fix for today, and other things:
> 
> *Drones Target Terror Plot*
> _CIA Strikes Intensify in Pakistan Amid Heightened Threats in Europe_ [see also "shocker" below]
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (28 Sep 2010)

*Articles found September 28, 2010*

 Pakistan criticizes NATO airstrikes
Last Updated: Monday, September 27, 2010
Article Link

Pakistan is criticizing NATO for launching a pair of deadly airstrikes on its territory, saying the cross-border strikes were a violation of its sovereignty.

As many as 50 militants were killed in the airstrikes, which were launched over the weekend after a group of insurgents attacked an Afghan security post in Khost province.

U.S. officials have said they have an agreement that allows aircraft to cross a few kilometres into Pakistani airspace if they are in hot pursuit of a target, but Pakistan denied Monday that such an agreement exists.

U.S. Capt. Ryan Donald, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said ISAF "maintains the right to self-defence, and that's why they crossed the Pakistan border."

Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry, however, said in a statement that the mandate of foreign troops in Afghanistan ends at the Afghan border, and the strikes were a violation of its sovereignty.
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Soldiers expected to report suspicions of Afghan detainee abuse, hearing told
  Article Link 
By Juliet O'Neill, Postmedia News September 27, 2010

Canadian soldiers were expected to report on and intervene in cases of possible abuse of Afghan detainees but there were no written orders to do so, Lt.-Col. Brian Irwin testified at a public hearing Monday.

"The expectation would certainly not have been that we would have handed over any detainee with the belief that they were going to be abused or mistreated," Irwin told the Military Police Complaints Commission.

Irwin was chief of staff of Task Force Afghanistan for eight months in 2006-07 and later a commander at CEFCOM, which oversees Canada's military operations abroad.

The hearings are into complaints by Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association that Canadian military police wrongly failed to investigate the transfer by Canadian Forces of detainees to Afghan authorities on grounds they faced a risk of torture.

The complaint period covers May 3, 2007, to June 12, 2008.
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 Troops begin search in Kandahar as coalition offensive under way
Article Link
Sep 27, 2010

Hundreds of Afghan and NATO forces on Monday began sweeping the southern city of Kandahar for Taliban insurgents and weapons caches, as combat operations were under way in surrounding districts.

Afghan police and soldiers backed by US and Canadian troops were searching homes and vehicles across the Taliban stronghold in an operation designed to drive the militants out of their spiritual home, the province's police chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad said.

The search came as thousands of Afghan and NATO forces took part in the first large-scale combined offensive around the city.

The operation was originally planned for June, but was repeatedly delayed because of resistance from Afghan leaders, who were concerned about the possibility of civilian casualties.

In recent weeks joint forces have killed or arrested several Taliban leaders in and around Kandahar in a bid to soften the insurgent defences ahead of the operation.

The combat phase, dubbed Operation Dragon Strike, began on Saturday as troops moved into three districts around the city, a NATO spokesman said Sunday.

'We expect hard fighting,' German General Josef Blotz said. 'Afghan and coalition forces are destroying Taliban fighting positions so they will not have anywhere left to hide.' 
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## MarkOttawa (29 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 29

Afghanistan president questions NATO mission in teary speech
Hamid Karzai also condemns violence committed by the Taliban. His emotional display is apparently prompted by the assassination of a deputy governor in Ghazni province.
_LA Times_, Sept. 29
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-assassination-20100929,0,4701395.story



> Reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan —
> President Hamid Karzai broke into tears Tuesday while delivering a speech in which he questioned the efficacy of the NATO military mission in Afghanistan and condemning an epidemic of violence gripping his country.
> 
> In the same speech, the Afghan leader called on Taliban "compatriots" to lay down their arms. The government Tuesday named a nearly 70-member council to make peace overtures to the insurgency, whose leaders have rebuffed Karzai's appeals to come to the bargaining table.
> ...



Bob Woodward's book portrays a great divide over Afghanistan
_Washington Post_, Sept. 29 (editorial)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/28/AR2010092805200.html



> SUPPORTERS OF President Obama's strategy in Afghanistan can only be disheartened by the portrait of his administration provided in Bob Woodward's new book, "Obama's Wars." By Mr. Woodward's account, many of the president's senior White House advisers believe that the modified counterinsurgency strategy he adopted last year is doomed to fail -- and some suspect the president shares their views.
> 
> The administration's lengthy deliberations about whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan last fall produced a sharp debate between Mr. Obama's White House and the military commanders responsible for Afghanistan -- and the rift appears to endure.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## old medic (29 Sep 2010)

Militant plot to attack British, French, German cities thwarted, report says

Rueters
29 Sept 2010
copy at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-al-qaeda-attacks-20100930,0,5039460.story

Britain's Sky News says the simultaneous attacks were being planned by militants in Pakistan believed to be linked to Al Qaeda. It says an increase in U.S. drone attacks is tied to the plan.



> LONDON —
> Intelligence agencies have disrupted plans for multiple attacks on European cities by a group thought to be linked to Al Qaeda, Britain's Sky News said on Tuesday.
> 
> Militants based in Pakistan were planning simultaneous strikes in London, as well as cities in France and Germany, the channel's foreign affairs editor, Tim Marshall, said.
> ...


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## MarkOttawa (30 Sep 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 30

Afghanistan: how will we honour those who served?
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Sept. 30
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1285859856

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (9 Oct 2010)

*Articles found September 9, 2010*

Canada to Deploy 20 Recently Upgraded Leopard 2A4M to Afghanistan
October 8, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Article Link

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) is modernizing the Canadian Leopard 2A4 CAN tanks previously acquired from German Army surplus. The first batch of 20 tanks was handed back to the Canadian Armed Forces yesterday (October 7, 2010) at the Bergen training ground in northern Germany. The modernized tanks are scheduled to equip the Canadian forces in Hindu-Kush in Afghanistan.

The Canadians embarked on this latest upgrade of the tank in July 2009, anticipating their next deployment in the Afghan theater. The new version is specially designed for operations in Afghanistan based on experience gained by other Leopard 2 operators, including the Denmark and Canadian forces. (operating the Leopard 2A6M)

The main focus of the A4M CAN design was consistent protection of the crews, who are subjected to enemy attacks with powerful anti-tank projectiles and are in constant danger from mines and IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices). The starting point for the protection concept is outstanding protection from mines and good all-round protection. Furthermore, the capabilities of the new battle tank have been significantly extended by integrating a pioneer equipment interface. Mine rollers, mine ploughs and dozer blades allow the Canadian armed 3
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 Kidnapped female British aid worker killed during rescue attempt in eastern Afghanistan
Article Link
By: Robert Kennedy, The Associated Press Posted: 8/10/2010 

A female British aid worker kidnapped during an ambush last month was killed during a rescue attempt by NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, Britain's foreign secretary said Saturday.

The aid worker, identified as Linda Norgrove, was killed Friday night by her captors during the operation to free her, Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement from London.

Norgrove and three colleagues were kidnapped in eastern Kunar province on Sept. 26 after being ambushed. Police fought a gunbattle with the kidnappers near the attack site before the assailants fled.

"It is with deep sadness that I must confirm that Linda Norgrove ... was killed at the hands of her captors in the course of a rescue attempt last night," said Hague.

"Working with our allies we received information about where Linda was being held and we decided that, given the danger she was facing, her best chance of safe release was to act on that information," Hague said.

Norgrove's three Afghan colleagues were released shortly after being abducted.

It was unclear if any other deaths occurred during the raid.

Friday's wasn't the first rescue operation of an abducted Briton to end in bloodshed.
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 Clock ticking for Canadian Forces to get out of 'secret' Dubai base
 By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News October 8, 2010
  Article Link

 Canadian soldiers and aircrew have only 27 days to pack up and clear out of Camp Mirage, the not-so-secret airbase in the United Arab Emirates that Ottawa established seven years ago to support military operations in Afghanistan.

After two years of on-and-off negotiations, the Emirates on Tuesday suspended a memorandum of understanding with Canada about the base after the federal government balked at a demand that the Gulf sheikdom's two national carriers — Dubai-based Emirates Airlines and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways — each be granted daily flights between Toronto and the Emirates, up from the current three apiece each week. The two carriers were also seeking direct flights to the Persian Gulf from Calgary and Vancouver.

According to Transport Canada, there is no shortage of seats to meet demand for flights between the two countries.

"The rights under the current Canada-UAE air transport agreement meet the market demands of travellers whose origin or final destination is either Canada or the UAE," the agency has said. Air Canada has also resisted such a move.
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 Assignment Kandahar: Afghanistan’s ﬁery, fragile future
Article Link

The war that Canadian soldiers are helping wage in Afghanistan is not being lost. Having spent nearly six months in the country since 2006, most of that time embedded with our troops, I’ve just come home again, convinced of it.

But the war isn’t being won, either; the conflict, with sporadic fighting and death by remote control, just continues.

So it will, barring some miracle truce, and long after the last Canadian battle group has left Kandahar province next summer.

Other armies that comprise the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have enough capacity — if not the desire — to keep killing Taliban with relative ease, for many years. The United States might one day reduce its troop count in Afghanistan but having established its presence there with massive military fortresses, it won’t just up and leave.

The Taliban, for their part, have the resolve and resources to see that their fight lasts.

If anything is being lost, it’s the counterinsurgency, the crucial allied attempt to win local confidence and co-operation. Without those, this long war cannot be won.
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 Pakistan says it will reopen key border crossing to NATO supplies, 10 days after soldiers died
Article Link
By: David Rising, The Associated Press Posted: 8/10/2010

 Pakistan will reopen a key border crossing used to transport supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan, authorities said Saturday — the 10th day of a blockade that has raised tensions with Washington and left stranded trucks vulnerable to attacks.

In a short statement, the Foreign Ministry said it decided to reopen the border after assessing security and that authorities on both sides of the border were now co-ordinating to resume the supply traffic smoothly. The statement said the decision would have "immediate effect" but when trucks would start crossing the border was not clear.

Pakistan closed the northwest crossing at Torkham on Sept. 30, the same day a NATO airstrike killed two Pakistani soldiers along the border. The U.S. on Wednesday apologized for that strike after an investigation concluded the "tragic event could have been avoided with better coalition force co-ordination with the Pakistan military."

Pakistan is a key supply route for fuel, military vehicles, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan. Though a smaller crossing in the southwest has remained open, the closure of Torkham has left scores of trucks stranded on their way from the port city of Karachi.

In the latest in a steady stream of attacks, gunmen armed with a rocket attacked 29 tankers carrying NATO fuel supplied in southwestern Pakistan before dawn Saturday, setting them ablaze. Two responding police officers were wounded.
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