# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread November 2008



## GAP (31 Oct 2008)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread November 2008  *               

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

*Articles found November 1, 2008*

Canada's strategy in Afghanistan to change
By Bob Weber, THE CANADIAN PRESS
  Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada’s strategy in Afghanistan will shift this winter, using improved Afghan security forces to seize and hold more territory now under the influence of the insurgents, the commanding officer of Task Force Kandahar said Friday. 

“We now have even more capable Afghan national security forces,” said Gen. Denis Thompson. “If you’re going to increase the amount of terrain you control, the ultimate garrison is a policeman.” 

Recent operations by the International Security Assistance Force in Kandahar province have focused more on disrupting insurgent operations and supply lines than on extending the range of government control. 

That’s about to change, Thompson said. 

Five new police substations have been built across the province and eight more are expected to be added in the coming months. Those stations will be staffed by Afghan police with western mentor teams in order to ensure “the ground we control stays in that state,” Thompson said. 

“In order to deepen that hold, we need to make sure that there is not only an ISAF and (Afghan army) presence, but that the police that are there are credible and that they’re established in permanent infrastructure.” 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (1 Nov 2008)

Wandering Around This Great And Hospitable City, Allegedly "Baghdad At Its Worst."
_Chronicles &  Dissent_ - Terry Glavin, Nov. 1 (photos at link)
http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2008/11/wandering-around-this-great-city.html



> Took the day off. Spent my time strolling around Murad Khane, Kabul's ancient centre, and its adjacent bazaars and neighbourhoods. Packed with people doing their afternoon shopping and errands; strangely, everybody's stock portfolios appear to have have held up here (joke). Lamb and naan for lunch. Met some Sikh spice merchants, Shujah bought a kite, that kind of thing. You can tell I'm some sort of kaffir, so people go out of their way to smile and say hello.
> 
> The trick is to vary your routines - I have no routines, check - and don't draw attention to yourself in strange and conspicuous ways - check. Do these thinks, be sensible, and Kabulis will take care of the rest:



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (2 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 2

Elections 'vital': new NATO chief south Afghanistan
Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Oct. 22
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/081022-NATO-chief



> The new Dutch commander of international forces in southern Afghanistan says the most important measure of success is not fighting the Taliban but ensuring that next year's general election is free, fair and peaceful. Major General Mart de Kruif will take over as commander of NATO forces on 1 November.
> 
> *Major General De Kruif will spend a year* [emphasis added--previous commands nine months] devoting himself to a range of tasks including stopping the armed insurgency against the central government in Kabul, helping to set up reconstruction projects and ensuring good governance in the region.
> 
> ...



Outgoing Canadian general says NATO could work better with Afghan tribes
CP, Nov. 1
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVUs8DG7-h4A7GGXSuN934UffQdQ



> Western forces in Afghanistan need to learn how to work better with local people and tribal leaders, said Canada's top general in the country.
> 
> "One issue that might be looked at is how we do better outreach with the Afghans and especially with the tribal dynamics," Maj.-Gen. Marc Lessard said Saturday as he prepared to hand over command of all ISAF forces in Afghanistan's six southern provinces.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (2 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 2, 2008*

 Outgoing Canadian general says tribal dynamics key to mission
 JESSICA LEEDER Globe and Mail Update November 1, 2008 at 9:20 AM EST
Article Link

Kandahar, Afghanistan — The Canadian commander in charge of all 23,000 international troops in southern Afghanistan said military strategists may need to borrow lessons from Iraq to learn how to use tribal dynamics to increase security in the coming months. 

In a final interview before handing over command of the post he has held for nine months, Major-General Marc Lessard said better outreach to tribes and tribal elders “has to be explored” by his successor, Dutch commander Major General Mart de Kruif.

His comments come as the curtain draws on a particularly difficult fighting season in southern Afghanistan that has left many residents and international observers with the perception insurgents have a renewed foothold here.

Maj.-Gen. Lessard rejected the notion that insurgents have grown stronger, and described them instead they are “extremely, extremely resilient.”
More on link

 Commander in Afghanistan quits
Sat Nov 1, 2008 10:02pm GMT
Article Link

LONDON (Reuters) - A commander of the elite special forces in Afghanistan has resigned, a defence source said on Saturday, declining to give further details.

Major Sebastian Morley, a reservist commander with the Special Air Service (SAS), blamed a chronic lack of investment in equipment for the deaths of some of his soldiers, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

He described the failure to equip his troops with heavy armoured vehicles as "cavalier at best, criminal at worst," the paper reported.

The Ministry of Defence and the government have faced repeated criticism from senior officers and politicians over equipment shortages in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last month, a coroner said defence chiefs should "hang their heads in shame" over the lack of proper equipment and training that contributed to the death of a British soldier during a rescue in an Afghan minefield.

The Telegraph report said Morley thought his soldiers were needlessly put at risk because they were forced to travel in lightly armoured Land Rovers rather than heavier vehicles.

He blamed "chronic underinvestment" for the deaths in June of four British soldiers killed by a landmine which destroyed their Land Rover in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

One of those killed was Corporal Sarah Bryant, the first British female soldier to be killed in Afghanistan.
More on link

 War Museum recreates life in the trenches
Peter Wilson, Canwest News Service Published: Saturday, November 01, 2008
Article Link

It's nightfall as I walk into the shadows and past the lone sentry sheltering inside the eight-foot deep hole. Farther along the sandbagged trench his comrade lies curled up and asleep. Above the noises of odd sniper bullets whistling by, I hear a voice. Someone is complaining about rats. Welcome to the First World War. This bleak view from a Canadian front line battle position is courtesy of the Canadian War Museum.

Two periscopes offer views above the trench line, vintage black-and-white movie footage that shows battle scenes Canadian troops would have witnessed during the 1914-18 carnage that swept Western Europe.

Even though I am walking through an exhibition and just using imagination to create the scene of a 90-year-old battlefield, it's still a little unnerving. I have to remember that just overtop these neat lines of sandbags there are no hard-faced soldiers pointing bayonet-fixed rifles in my direction, just the high-tech sound and light simulations creating my temporary reality.
More on link

 Eight soldiers killed in Pakistan suicide attack: official
Article Link

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — At least eight soldiers were killed Sunday in a suicide attack on a security check post in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The bomber ploughed his explosives-laden vehicle into a checkpoint in Zalai, 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, which has become a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. 
More on link

 2 abducted Bangladeshi NGO officials freed in Afghanistan   
 www.chinaview.cn  2008-11-02 15:20:10    
  Article Link

    DHAKA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Two NGO officials of Bangladesh who were abducted on Oct. 23 in Ghazni city in Afghanistan have been freed unconditionally by their abductors, private news agency UNB reported on Sunday. 

    The two abducted officials of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a leading international NGO headquartered in Bangladesh, arrived at the BRAC office in Kabul on Sunday, Director of BRAC media communication Anwarul Haq told UNB on Sunday. 

    Anwarul Haq said the two officials Akhtar Ali and Shajahan Ali will be flown back to Dhaka shortly. 

    Earlier, Foreign Advisor of Bangladesh caretaker government Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury urged the Afghan authorities to make all out efforts to rescue the two kidnapped Bangladesh officials. 

    The adviser had also appealed to the abductors to release the innocent officials, who were engaged in development works for the Afghan people and not connected with anything else. 
More on link

 Pilots in Kandahar get long-awaited Chinook helicopters
Article Link
The Canadian Press 

Canadian pilots are flying long-awaited transport helicopters over the Afghan battlefield.

The Canadian Air Force has confirmed that the first of six Chinook helicopters to be purchased from the United States are now at the Kandahar Airfield base.

"A small number of Canadian Forces aircrew are in Afghanistan undergoing training on these aircraft," Maj. Dave Sullivan said from Ottawa.

"They are not expected to be operational until early 2009."

Canadian crews must also be trained in the care and maintenance of the Chinooks before the helicopters can be fully worked in to battle planning.

Canada has not yet officially taken delivery of the choppers, which will cost a total of $292 million, although that is expected soon.

The deal was announced last August. Canada is buying six used CH-47D Chinooks from the United States and Canadian pilots began training on the aircraft in the U.S. over the summer.

The Chinooks are capable of carrying heavy payloads or several dozen soldiers. Their presence will reduce the need for military convoys to carry supplies and troops over Afghanistan's treacherous, bomb-laden roads.

A total of 40 out of Canada's 97 combat deaths in Afghanistan were caused by improvised explosive devices, although not all those deaths occurred during convoys.

Canada is the only major country in the ISAF alliance that doesn't have its own helicopter support, forcing its troops to rely on other nations, hitching rides when they are available.

Provision of some kind of helicopter support was one of the conditions under which Parliament extended Canada's combat mission to 2011. Helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft were both recommended by a panel led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley.

The push to get battlefield helicopters into Kandahar was mired in defence bureaucracy for almost two years. An internal debate pitted the army, eager to reduce soldiers' exposure to deadly roadside bombs, against a frustrated air force that sought a versatile aircraft, useful in more places than just Afghanistan
More on link


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## ENGINEERS WIFE (2 Nov 2008)

Canadian Forces find, destroy 680 kg of IEDs
Updated Sun. Nov. 2 2008 11:44 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The Canadian Forces in Afghanistan destroyed about 680 kilograms of material that was to be used to make improvised explosive devices, Canadian military officials said Sunday. 

The Forces' Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team destroyed about 100 IEDs, which pose one of the biggest threats to the lives of both coalition troops and civilians in the war-torn country. 

Military officials say that nearly 90 per cent of IEDs and other bombs in Kandahar City are found and destroyed before they can be detonated. They say local residents are becoming more willing to report explosives when they spot them. 

"We've seen a dramatic change in the way we find IEDs and the way local nationals know what's going on," said one member of the EOD team who can't be identified. "So the information is coming our way, so we're more proactive. We can actually be two steps ahead of the bomber." 

Assistance from locals not only gets bombs off the streets, officials say, but also shows that trust is growing between Afghans and members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). 

"IEDs are the largest threat to both Afghan nationals here as well as to Canadian Forces and coalition forces in ISAF," said Major Vance White. "So working with the Kandaharis to build their confidence in not only coalition forces but also their local security forces, it's very important." 

The area southwest of Kandahar City, close to where the majority of Canadian forces in Afghanistan are stationed, is well known for insurgent activity, which includes the setting of roadside IEDs. 

The devices are responsible for 40 of the 97 Canadian military fatalities in Afghanistan


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## GAP (4 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 4, 2008*

France confirms aid worker abducted in Kabul   
 www.chinaview.cn  2008-11-04 10:42:16   
  Article Link

    PARIS, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- A French aid worker was abducted in Afghan capital Kabul on Monday morning, the foreign ministry confirmed. 

    French authorities have begun rescue efforts, the ministry said in a press communique

The abducted worker has worked for a non-governmental organization based in France, it said. 

    A local Afghan, who happened to be on the spot and tried to prevent the kidnapping, was shot dead by the kidnappers, local media cited the Afghan Interior Ministry as reporting. 

    Afghan police have launched large-scale rescue operations around the place where the incident happened, local media reported. 

    Kidnappings have been frequent in and around the capital recently. On Oct. 12, a Canadian woman correspondent was kidnapped in Kabul and there is so far no information about her whereabouts. 
More on link

Spy chief gunned down in Afghanistan 
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The deputy intelligence chief in Afghanistan's Kandahar province has been shot dead, authorities said Tuesday.

Azizullah, who like many Afghans went by one name, was shot at 6 p.m. (0630 GMT) Monday by gunmen on a motorbike in the city of Kandahar, capital of the province of the same name, said Abdul Qayoom Katawazi, head of intelligence in Kandahar.

The province's police chief, Matiullah Qaneh, said Azizullah was killed while going home from his office.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on their Web site.

On Sunday, gunmen in the city of Kandahar, killed a police trainer as he was on his way to work. 
end

OBAMA'S AFGHAN COMMITMENT
An Obama presidency may put renewed pressure on Western European NATO members to help Canada in Afghanistan
Mike Blanchfield ,  Canwest News Service Published: Monday, November 03, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA - They loved him in Berlin, but will they be able to say no if he calls for their sons and daughters to fight, and risk their lives, on Afghanistan's bloodiest battlefields?

With Barack Obama the likely victor in Tuesday's U.S. presidential election, many are excited about the new American face he will bring to world affairs.

For Canada, there is no more urgent need than to bolster military resources in Afghanistan, particularly to prod a few reluctant NATO allies into sharing the burden in fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan's violent south.

Obama has raised expectations about a renewed American focus in Afghanistan, suggesting recently that as many as 12,000 additional U.S. troops be deployed in the region.

"I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights," Obama told the Democratic national convention in August.

But implicit in Obama's commitment to refocus on Afghanistan is something else: that he may come calling on America's friends to do more as well.

That could put renewed pressure on Western European NATO members, such as Italy, Spain and Germany, where Obama addressed an adoring throng of 200,000 in Berlin this summer.

An Obama presidency could get Canada the help in Afghanistan that it has been seeking for so long, said Charles Doran, director of the Center of Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

That's because an Obama administration and the Conservative government of Stephen Harper would find themselves on the same page when it comes to the sharing of the combat burden within NATO.
More on link

40 tons narcotics destroyed, 2 militants killed in S Afghanistan   
  Article Link 
www.chinaview.cn  2008-11-04 08:53:15    

    KABUL, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Afghan forces and the U.S.-led Coalition forces dismantled a drug-making facility and destroyed more than 40 metric-tons of hashish in southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Monday, according to Coalition statement on Tuesday. 

    "The combined forces were conducting a search of an area in Spin Boldak district known for insurgent activities when the facility was discovered," the statement said. 

    It also quoted spokesman of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan Greg Julian as saying "Today's discovery clearly demonstrated the links between the Taliban and drug trafficking." 

    "The huge amount of drugs destroyed today will greatly hinder the Taliban's ability to fund their ongoing, hopeless struggle tosubjugate the Afghan people," it added. "No ANSF, Coalition forces or civilian casualties have been reported." 

    In another engagement on Monday, Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces also killed two militants in Maywand district of Kandahar province. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (4 Nov 2008)

Military sees Obama as key to victory in Afghanistan
Democrat's popularity abroad will make European nations less reluctant to contribute more troops, generals believe
Globe and Mail, Nov. 4, by Doug Saunders
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081104.wcampafghan04/BNStory/Business/



> LONDON — In normally hawkish military and diplomatic circles, it is being called an "Obama boost": a widespread belief that the war in Afghanistan may be winnable only if Barack Obama is elected president tonight.
> 
> To a surprising degree, military and government officials in the United States and Europe have pegged their hopes for victory in Afghanistan or a reduction in violence to Mr. Obama's ability to win over skeptical European audiences and persuade them to contribute large numbers of troops to a war that is widely seen to be in serious trouble.
> 
> ...



A Quiet Deal With Pakistan
_Washington Post_, Nov. 4, by David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110302638.html



> Pakistan is publicly complaining about U.S. airstrikes. But the country's new chief of intelligence, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, visited Washington last week for talks with America's top military and spy chiefs, and everyone seemed to come away smiling.
> 
> They could pat themselves on the back, for starters, for the assassination of Khalid Habib, al-Qaeda's deputy chief of operations. According to Pakistani officials, he was killed on Oct. 16 by a Predator strike in the Pakistani tribal area of South Waziristan. Habib, reckoned by some to be the No. 4 leader in al-Qaeda, was involved in recruiting operatives for future terrorist attacks against the United States.
> 
> ...



U.S. Airstrikes Creating Tension, Pakistan Warns
_Washington Post_, Nov. 4
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110300902.html



> Pakistan's defense minister cautioned the newly appointed head of the U.S. Central Command on Monday that launching further missile strikes in the country's troubled tribal areas could increase tensions between the two nations.
> 
> Pakistani Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar issued the blunt warning to Gen. David H. Petraeus during his first official visit to Pakistan after taking over command last week of U.S. military strategy in a region that includes Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. Mukhtar, who also called for more coordination between the U.S. and Pakistani militaries, said the recent increase in U.S.-led cross-border strikes had created "bad blood" between the two allies. On Friday, 27 people were killed in two U.S. airstrikes in northwest Pakistan.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (5 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 5

Obama election won't affect Afghan troop pullout: Cannon
CP, Nov. 5
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=n110587A



> Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon says the election of Barack Obama will not affect Canada's decision to pull its troops out of Afghanistan.
> 
> The president-elect has promised an influx of U.S. troops into the chaotic central-Asian nation, which he describes as the central front in the global struggle against terrorism.
> 
> ...



Karzai 'demands' Obama end civilian deaths
AP, Nov. 5
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=w110551A



> Afghan President Hamid Karzai made an immediate demand of Barack Obama on Wednesday, saying the president-elect must prevent civilian casualties as Afghan villagers alleged that air strikes killed or wounded dozens of women and children in a wedding party.
> 
> No Afghan officials could immediately confirm the number of alleged casualties, but Karzai referred to the incident at a news conference held to congratulate Obama on his U.S. presidential election victory.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## geo (6 Nov 2008)

Army interpreter found guilty of spying for Iran in Afghanistan

Independent, UK 
By Kim Sengupta 
Thursday, 6 November 2008 

Soldier who worked for British commander caught with secret Nato documents 

A British soldier who worked as an interpreter for the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan was yesterday found guilty of spying for Iran. Corporal Daniel James was arrested after US intelligence intercepted emails and phone calls he made to a military attaché at the Iranian embassy in Kabul. 

James, born in Iran, was caught with confidential documents meant only for Nato's supreme commander based at Mons in Belgium and photographs of Predator spy planes. The 45-year-old Territorial Army corporal, born Esmail Mohammed Beigi Gamasai in Tehran, acted as an interpreter for General Sir David Richards, now the new head of the British Army, and accompanied him on meetings with Afghan and Western dignitaries. 

The prosecution at the Old Bailey said he had begun spying for Iran because he felt he was the victim of racism in the Army which had led to his promotion being blocked. He told one soldier: "They will have their comeuppance." 

He contacted Colonel Mohammed Hossein Heydari at the Iranian embassy in Kabul. In one of his email messages to him James wrote: "In the north Iran/Iraq border they are setting up a military camp. All the ground forces are there." In another he wrote: "I have a good present for you." 

Intelligence officers told the court that James's treachery could have cost the lives of British soldiers, and Mark Dennis QC, for ther prosecution, described his actions as "the height of betrayal". Western officials had accused the Iranians of trying to sabotage Nato operations in the country and helping the insurgency. 

James, who moved to Britain at the age of 17, was found guilty of one count under the Official Secrets Act yesterday in relation to the emails and phone calls. The jury is continuing to deliberate on a second charge under the Act regarding a USB memory stick found in his possession allegedly containing classified material as well as a third count of misconduct in public office. 

James, a flamboyant character, taught salsa at Nato HQ and once asked General Richards to join one of his classes, an invitation the general said he "respectfully declined". He built up a reputation, the court was told, for being an eccentric and "a bit of a Walter Mitty". But the British Army was acutely short of personnel who spoke the Afghan languages, Pashtu and Dari, and James's linguistic skills and cultural knowledge of the region was thought to have been of great value, the court was told. 

James, who worked as a casino croupier in Brighton, was arrested in December 2006 at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on his way back to Afghan-istan after returning from a hurriedly organised trip to Amsterdam, which he is said to have organised after correspondence with Col Heydari. In evidence, James said that he used "black magic" to protect General Richards from the Taliban and he had used the same skills on himself to recover from two strokes and an operation to repair a hole in his heart. 

He claimed he had contacted the Iranian embassy to "facilitate energy transaction" between Afghanistan and Iran and improve relations between Tehran and Washington. 

The photos of the Predator planes were widely available publicly and the material on the USB stick had been passed on to him by an officer for work-related reasons


From 'Great Game' to Grand Bargain in Afghanistan  Daily Star - Lebanon
By Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmed Rashid 
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Lebanon 

The "Great Game" is no fun anymore. Nineteenth-century British imperialists used that term to describe the British-Russian struggle for mastery in Afghanistan and Central Asia. More than a century later, the game continues. But now, the number of players has exploded, those living on the chessboard have become players, and the intensity of the violence and the threats that it produces affect the entire globe. 

Afghanistan has been at war for three decades, and that war is spreading to Pakistan and beyond. A timeout needs to be called so that the players, including President-elect Barack Obama, can negotiate a new bargain for the region. 

Securing Afghanistan and its region will require an international presence for many years. Building up Afghanistan's security forces is at most a stopgap measure, as the country cannot sustain forces of the size that it now needs. Only a regional and global agreement to place Afghanistan's stability above other objectives can make long-term stability possible by enabling Afghanistan to survive with security forces that it can afford. Such agreement, however, will require political and diplomatic initiatives both inside and outside of the country. 

In Afghanistan, the United States and NATO must make clear that they are at war with Al-Qaeda and those who support its global objectives, but have no objection if either the Afghan or Pakistani government negotiates with insurgents who renounce ties to Osama bin Laden. In exchange for such guarantees, international forces could largely withdraw, leaving a force to secure a political agreement and to train Afghan security forces. 

But a political settlement within Afghanistan cannot succeed without a regional grand bargain. The first Great Game was resolved a century ago by making Afghanistan a buffer state in which outsiders did not interfere. Today, however, Afghanistan is the scene not only of the "war on terror," but also of longstanding Afghan-Pakistani disputes, the India-Pakistan conflict, domestic struggles in Pakistan, US-Iranian antagonism, Russian concerns about NATO, Sunni-Shiite rivalry, and struggles over regional energy infrastructure. 

These conflicts will continue as long as the US treats stabilizing Afghanistan as subordinate to other goals, accompanied by all the risks entailed by terrorist resurgence and a regional security crisis. This is why Obama must adopt a bold diplomatic initiative that encompasses the entire region and help resolve longstanding disputes between Afghanistan's neighbors. Such an initiative must include a comprehensive regional aid and development package. 

In addition, the US must rebalance its regional posture by reducing its dependence on Pakistan's military. Obama will need firmly to support Pakistan's fragile elected government as it tries to gain control over the army and intelligence apparatus and thus reverse decades of support for militants. Dialogue with Iran and Russia over common interests in Afghanistan - both helped the US in 2001 - would place more pressure on Pakistan. At the same time, the US and other powers with a stake in Afghanistan must seek to reduce Indian activities in Afghanistan that Pakistan sees as threatening, or, if those policies are not threatening, assure greater transparency for them.

This objective requires more than "pressuring" Pakistan. The Pakistani security establishment believes that it faces a US-Indian-Afghan alliance aimed at undermining Pakistani influence in Afghanistan and even dismembering the Pakistani state. Civilian leaders evaluate Pakistan's national interests differently, but they, too, cannot be indifferent to Pakistan's chronic sense of insecurity. 

Pakistan does not have border agreements with either India, with whom it disputes the incorporation of Kashmir, or Afghanistan, which has never explicitly recognized the Durand Line, the frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan also claims that the Northern Alliance, part of the anti-Taliban resistance in Afghanistan, is working with India from within Afghanistan's security services. And the US-India nuclear deal effectively recognizes India's legitimacy as a nuclear power while continuing to treat Pakistan, with its record of proliferation, as a pariah. 

Pressure will not work if Pakistan's leaders believe that their country's survival is at stake. Instead, the new US administration should help to create a broad multilateral framework for the region, one aimed at building a genuine consensus on the goal of achieving Afghan stability by addressing the legitimate sources of Pakistan's insecurity while strengthening opposition to disruptive Pakistani behavior. 

A first step could be establishing a contact group for the region, authorized by the United Nations Security Council. This contact group could promote dialogue between India and Pakistan about their respective interests in Afghanistan and about finding a solution to the Kashmir dispute; seek a long-term political strategy from the Pakistani government for the future of the tribal agencies; move Afghanistan and Pakistan toward discussions on frontier issues, and promote a regional plan for economic development and integration. China, the largest investor in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, could help finance projects of common interest. 

A successful initiative will require exploratory talks and an evolving road map. Today, such suggestions may seem audacious, naive, or impossible; but, without such audacity, there is little hope for Afghanistan, Pakistan, or the region as a whole. 


Canada won't rethink 2011 Afghanistan pullout after Obama win: Cannon  

CBC News 
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The election of a new U.S. president who has vowed to deploy thousands more troops into Afghanistan won't cause Canada to reconsider its decision to pull out of the country by 2011, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Wednesday. 

The United States already has 36,000 troops in Afghanistan, and Barack Obama promised during his campaign for the presidency to send up to 12,000 more while scaling down operations in Iraq. 

But Cannon said Obama's election would have no impact on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to withdraw Canadian forces from the country. 

"We welcome the renewed focus on Afghanistan on behalf of the president-elect," Cannon said. "The U.S. interest won't change our opinion or intention to withdraw our forces in 2011." 

Cannon, who took over the Foreign Affairs portfolio from retiring Conservative MP David Emerson, also insisted that Canadian soldiers would not be redeployed away from the volatile Kandahar province to safer parts of the country after the date. 

Harper made his own view explicitly clear during the recent federal election, when he said it was time to put an end date on Canada's military commitment. 

Karzai urges halting air strikes Obama, the Democratic candidate, had been opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 from the beginning, saying it distracted the focus and critically needed military resources away from the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. 

Following Obama's election victory Tuesday night, Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded that the newly-elected leader change U.S. tactics to reduce the number of civilian casualties, particularly from air strikes in recent months. 

It came as villagers said U.S. warplanes killed 37 people — nearly all of them women and children — during a cat-and-mouse hunt for militants. 

"We cannot win the fight against terrorism with air strikes," President Hamid Karzai said. "This is my first demand of the new president of the United States — to put an end to civilian casualties." 

The alleged strikes came only three months after the Afghan government concluded that a U.S. operation killed some 90 civilians in western Afghanistan. After initially denying any civilians had died in that attack, a U.S. report ultimately concluded that 33 were killed. 

Canada has about 2,500 troops stationed in Afghanistan, mostly in Kandahar. Since 2002, 98 Canadians have died in Afghanistan.


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## MarkOttawa (6 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 6

Taliban spurred air strike on civilians, official says
_Globe and Mail_, Nov. 6
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081106.AFGHANISTAN06//TPStory/Front



> KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Taliban insurgents in a remote village northeast of Kandahar provoked an attack by coalition troops that devastated a wedding party on Monday and resulted in dozens of civilian deaths, the top politician in Kandahar has told The Globe and Mail.
> 
> Ahmed Wali Karzai, chairman of Kandahar's provincial council, said he and his brother, President Hamid Karzai, were told by villagers during a teleconference yesterday that between 300 and 350 Taliban fighters invaded Wech Baghtu, a mountain village in the district of Shah Wali Kowt, 60 kilometres northeast of Kandahar city, during the lead-up to a wedding ceremony. Inside the village, insurgents stationed themselves on rooftops, including those of homes that were holding wedding events.
> 
> ...



Airstrikes in Afghanistan increase 31%
_USA Today_, Nov. 5
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-05-afghanstrikes_N.htm



> Air missions to back U.S. troops on the ground have increased by 31% in Afghanistan this year, as fighting in the country spreads.
> 
> The growing reliance on air power raises the risk of injuring civilians and their property and reflects a shortage of ground forces needed to protect civilians and root out insurgents, ground commanders and military experts say.
> 
> ...



Combat Brigade Is Cut 6 Weeks Early in Iraq
Reduction in Violence Speeds Departure
_Washington Post_, Nov. 6
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/05/AR2008110504143.html



> Gen. David H. Petraeus has decided to reduce the number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 15 to 14 about six weeks earlier than planned, as a result of dramatically lower violence there, Pentagon officials said yesterday.
> 
> "The hope is they can come home before Christmas," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said of the decision.
> 
> ...



Customs seize right-hand drive cars
Traders complain vehicles have been impounded for more than a year
_Quqnoos.com_, Nov. 6 
http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1962&Itemid=73



> CAR dealers attempting to import right-hand drive vehicles into the country have had the cars seized by customs officials on the Afghan-Iran border.
> 
> Dealers say the Finance Ministry granted them permission to import right-hand drive vehicles, a law that was later overturned by the traffic department making it illegal to import them.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (7 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 7, 2008*

Afghan aid to insurgents alleged in attack on U.S. troops
By M. Karim Faiez and Laura King November 7, 2008 
Article Link

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Istanbul, Turkey -- A U.S. military report released Thursday says at least two local Afghan officials were believed to have colluded in a July attack by insurgents on a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan that killed nine U.S. soldiers.

It was the largest loss of American troops' lives in a single land battle since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001. The intense, hours-long assault by an estimated 200 Taliban fighters, during which the lightly manned outpost was nearly overrun, also left 27 U.S. soldiers and four Afghan troops injured.
More on link

Australian input into US war strategy
Daniel Flitton November 8, 2008 
Article Link

AUSTRALIA has scored a key role overhauling US strategy in Afghanistan before Barack Obama moves into the White House.

Top American General David Petraeus has ordered the classified review to look at war plans in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

About 100 military specialists, known as the Joint Strategic Assessment Team, will help with the wide-ranging assessment and are expected to report in February.

The Age believes that four Australians have joined the team, with at least two analysts drawn from the Defence Intelligence Organisation.

The task is expected to include on-the-ground inspections in Afghanistan following a spike in Taliban attacks over recent months.

Work will also be carried out in the Middle East from the major US base in Qatar.

Sources have also told The Age that the incoming deputy commander of the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan, British Royal Marines Major-General Jim Dutton, visited Canberra this week for high-level talks with Australian counterparts.
More on link

Ottawa postpones awarding controversial combat medal
Linda Nguyen ,  Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA - The Department of Defence has quietly postponed an awards ceremony scheduled for next week to honour Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan with a Sacrifice Medal, following public complaints that the qualifications for the medals are unfair.

The new medal, unveiled last August by the Governor General's office, was to be awarded to families of soldiers killed or seriously injured during combat in Afghanistan.

But more than a dozen soldiers killed in Afghanistan do not qualify for the medal under the current criteria. They are soldiers who died as a result of vehicle rollovers, accidental shootings or other non-combat mishaps - including one soldier who died falling down a well during a night patrol.

"I've had calls from right across Canada from people, from retired generals, retired lieutenant-colonels and they said they were certainly making calls to Ottawa on our behalf also," said Ben Walsh of Regina. He's been urging the government to change the medal rules since learning his son, Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh - killed in Afghanistan in August 2006 as the result of an accidental shooting by a fellow soldier - won't be eligible.

"Canadians are upset about this," he said. "Canadians are behind our family and other families and they do want to see all these soldiers get a medal."

An online petition supporting a review of the criteria had gathered more than 4,600 signatures as of Wednesday.

As a result, the department requested last week a postponement of the awards ceremony, according to the Governor General's office.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (7 Nov 2008)

Afghanistan, Pakistan and world order
Conference of Defence Associations' media update, Nov. 7
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1226083618

Mark
Ottawa


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## ENGINEERS WIFE (8 Nov 2008)

Canadian journalist safe after Afghan abduction
Updated Sat. Nov. 8 2008 4:05 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A CBC journalist abducted by Afghan kidnappers was released without a ransom Saturday after a nearly month-long abduction.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper declined to reveal the circumstances around the release of Mellissa Fung, who was kidnapped on Oct. 12, but he was clear that "no ransom was paid by anyone in this case."

Harper added that he spoke to Fung by phone and said she seemed to be in "remarkably good spirits.

"A short while ago I was pleased to speak with Mellissa myself to convey our great joy and best wishes on behalf of all Canadians," he said.

Fung, who has reported on the plight of refugees in Afghanistan, had been returning from a camp for displaced people in the western slums of Kabul on Oct. 12 when gunmen took her by force. 

Fung was on her second reporting assignment to Afghanistan when she was captured. 

"Ms. Fung was preparing to report on the plight of Afghan refugees and displaced persons when she was seized," said Harper.

"I commended her for her commitment as a journalist to deepening Canadians' understanding of the challenges and hardships faced by our Afghan friends and partners."

It's believed Fung's captors were criminals, not Taliban insurgents. 

Because of safety concerns for the reporter, Canadian media had agreed to a news blackout on Fung's abduction.

Harper said the blackout may have been crucial to Fung's survival.

"I would like to thank members of the press who, understanding the grave risk to Ms. Fung's life, have deferred publishing this story," he said.

CTV's chief parliamentary correspondent Craig Oliver said that it's not unusual for media to agree to a blackout "so the negotiators can work free of pressure and make the kind of deals they need to make".

A statement from the CBC said Fung is now safe at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul. 

"Mellissa will undergo a full medical evaluation, but early indications are that she is well," the CBC said in a statement Saturday. 

"When she is ready, Ms. Fung will be re-united with her family, for which arrangements are underway."

Adam Khan Serat, spokesperson for the provincial governor in Afghanistan's Wardak province, told The Associated Press tribal elders and local council members helped secure her freedom. 

Serat also said there was no ransom involved.


----------



## The Bread Guy (9 Nov 2008)

*Joint ISAF and ANA Operation disrupts insurgents in Zhari District*
NATO news release, 8 Nov 08
News release link

A joint ISAF and Afghan operation aimed at disrupting an insurgent cell responsible for planting IEDs and staging ambushes against ISAF and Afghan forces was successfully completed October 27th in the Zhari District.  The two-day operation, known as Operation ARTASH was launched in the area around Howz-e-Medad. ISAF and Afghan National Army troops worked hand-in-hand, with the support of other coalition assets, to seize several compounds that were suspected to be used by insurgents as a staging ground for their activities.  Under cover of darkness, Canadian armoured vehicles from Mike Company began blazing a trail into the location while ANA and ISAF soldiers from November Company and the Operational Mentoring Liaison Team (OMLT) discretely approached from a different direction ....


*Canadian raid to free abducted journalist planned, aborted: security source*
Canadian Press, 8 Nov 08
Article link - Army.ca Discussion Thread

Three days after CBC reporter Mellissa Fung was kidnapped, Canadian intelligence agents and elite commandos were confident they knew where she was being held and planned a rescue.  But as so often happens in clandestine operations, the plan to free the Canadian journalist in a lightning raid went awry, a senior intelligence source told The Canadian Press.  U.S. Special Forces conducted their own, separate hostage rescue in roughly the same area west of the Afghan capital on the night of Oct. 15, as a Canadian commando team was laying its plans to go after Fung.  "It stirred up a real hornet's nest and we thought afterwards that they had probably moved her," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.  The disclosure provided a rare glimpse behind the scenes at the extraordinary efforts the Canadian military, intelligence officers and diplomats on the ground went to in order to rescue Fung ....


*Mapping 'White' Afghans aim to end civilian deaths*
Tom Blackwell ,  Canwest News Service, 8 Nov 08
Article link

The Canadian government has created a new unit to help fight southern Afghanistan's relentless insurgency and rebuild its shattered society. But none of the group's five members will be wielding assault rifles or handing out development dollars.  With a mysterious-sounding name and a shadowy profile, the "white situational awareness team" has been tasked with deciphering the sometimes impenetrable Pashtun culture of the region.  Drawing on information from Canadian civilians and troops operating in Kandahar, local cultural advisers and NATO allies, the team is trying to map out the movers and shakers of the province and how they relate to each other.  Meanwhile, an American infantry unit operating under Canadian command has its own "human terrain" team that includes a retired Soviet general who fought in Afghanistan 20 years ago.  Any force battling an insurgency needs to win the support and trust of the people - but first it has to understand them, said Maj. Jay Janzen, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces here ....


*Mentoring the Afghan National Police*
NATO news release, 8 Nov 08
News release link

On the frontier of Zhari District, a partnership between ISAF forces and the Afghan National Police can be found at several Police Sub Stations (PSS). This partnership is a crucial step toward strengthening the Afghan police, mentoring them and enabling their ability to provide essential policing services to the people of Afghanistan.  In late October, a three-member Combat Camera team had the opportunity to visit a PSS in Zhari and witness first-hand the work ISAF Forces do training, mentoring and providing expert advice to the ANP. After conducting two presence patrols and attending training sessions, it became clear that the work being done here was of utmost importance, demonstrating that the ANP are becoming increasingly able to provide autonomous policing services within their community ....


*Canada buys wheat seeds to give Afghan farmers alternative to poppies*
Ethan Baron ,  Canwest News Service, 8 Nov 08
Article link

Canada is providing $1.2 million to buy wheat seeds and fertilizer for thousands of Afghan farmers, but the Taliban warn they may attack any foreigners who attempt to distribute the seeds.  The money will pay for 293 tonnes of wheat seed, to supply more than 5,000 farmers with 50 kilograms each, and plant a total of 2,000 hectares of land.  "We look forward to working with the governor of Kandahar to sow these seeds of peace," said Elissa Golberg, Representative of Canada in Kandahar, head of Canadian development operations in Kandahar province ....


*Remembrance Day in Kandahar deeply felt, links past and present*
Canadian Press, 8 Nov 08
Article link

It'll be the pictures - 97 of them, engraved in sombre black stone on the small square in the Canadian section of Kandahar Airfield - that'll get Cpl. Orson Martinez.  "I've had a lot of friends that have died over here," said Martinez, a Canadian soldier stationed in Afghanistan. When he gathers at the square with his comrades Tuesday to mark Remembrance Day, those friends will be staring back.  "I'm going to be looking at my buddies' pictures up on the wall there. I always think of my friends who have passed away and I always think of their kids or their wives or whoever they left behind."  The fighting in this tragic country has brought the idea of military sacrifice home to a whole new generation of Canadians. But few will feel the pain as deeply as the men and women in the theatre where those most recent sacrifices have taken place.  "Emotion," said combat engineer Henri St. Laurent ....

_More on links_


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## geo (9 Nov 2008)

Canadians fight Taliban inch by inch  

Pioneer Press, Minnesota - Nation 
Post Article Launched: 11/09/2008
ZHARI, Afghanistan

Small force under big pressure to make gains on tough turf

The company of Canadian soldiers set off from the small base in southern Afghanistan a few hours before dawn. Combat boots crunching along the wide plains of the Kandahar desert, they moved slowly in a long line into the moonless black ahead. 

No one said a word as they picked their way across an old cemetery. The soldiers strained to hear any sound of approaching insurgents above the slap of funeral flags in the crisp autumn wind. Someone at the head of the line motioned them forward. A few dozen yards later, they stopped again. 

The soldiers' target, a Taliban bomb-supply compound, was only a little more than two miles away. But it took the contingent of 200-plus troops about three hours to march from the cemetery to the insurgent stronghold. That is the way the war is being fought in southern Afghanistan: inch by inch. 

The pace is frustratingly slow for many of the 2,500 Canadian troops fighting to break the Taliban's hold on Kandahar. The insurgents move swiftly under cover through much of the province. But for the Canadians, every tactical wiggle in Kandahar involves days of planning and dozens — sometimes hundreds — of soldiers. 

Since taking charge of security there in 2005, Canadian forces have mounted several major offensives aimed at driving the Taliban out of Zhari and the neighboring district of Panjwai, in the western part of the province. Yet Taliban fighters maintain a stranglehold on much of the 

area. Skirmishes with the Taliban in the province this year alone account for about a quarter of Canadian casualties in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. The Canadian force is less than a tenth the size of the 33,000-member U.S. force. Nonetheless, the Canadians are responsible for maintaining security in one of the most historically fractious parts of the country. 

Meanwhile, they are also struggling to find their footing in their first large-scale combat operation since the Korean War. 

"We've had to play a bit of catch-up when it comes to getting into a big fight. We've traditionally been seen as peacekeepers," said Capt. Shawn Dumbreck, who leads one of several Canadian platoons in western Kandahar. "When the conflict started, our fighting skills were obviously there, but there was a steep learning curve to really get into the combat mission." 

In Zhari, a mix of rocky desert and fertile farmland, the Taliban fighters wage their war largely from the deep gravel culverts lining Highway 1, Kandahar's main transit route. Roadside bombs along the highway account for about half of the 97 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001. This year, the Canadian death toll has reached a record high, with 23 troops killed through September, many of them in Zhari and Panjwai. As a result, the soldiers go to great lengths to avoid possible booby traps. 

"Frankly, it slows us down, because if I'm not confident a road has been swept, then the soldiers will head straight into the desert and drive across country," said Brig. Gen. Denis Thompson, the top Canadian commander in Kandahar. "It takes forever to get from A to B because you can't travel on a road." 

One well-placed bomb in a culvert along the highway can easily result in multiple casualties. And multiple casualties over time increase pressure on Canadian politicians to end involvement in a war that is widely unpopular in their country. Like many of the 39 nations that make up the coalition forces in Afghanistan, Canada has faced repeated demands from the United States to shore up the flagging Western military mission. But Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has vowed to pull the majority of Canadian troops out of Afghanistan by 2011. 

With the Canadian casualty count mounting in areas near Highway 1, the pressure to bring the restive province under control has never been higher. 

But control of Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, has proved elusive. In June, Taliban insurgents attacked the province's main prison, near Kandahar city, freeing an estimated 1,200 inmates. About 400 of those who fled the prison were thought to be Taliban fighters. Four days later, Canadian and Afghan troops mounted a counteroffensive after locals reported seeing dozens of armed insurgents massing in Arghandab, a valley district near Zhari and Panjwai. Since then, nine Canadian soldiers have been killed in insurgent attacks — all in Zhari and Panjwai. 

"The bottom line in Zhari and Panjwai is that we own about a third of those districts. The other two-thirds aren't owned by the Taliban, but I call them contested," Thompson said. "If you're out there, you're going to get into a scrap. There are firefights, and there's combat every day in Zhari and Panjwai



Don't touch defence spending

Ottawa Citizen, Canada 
Published: Saturday, November 08, 2008 

In tough times it's tempting to slash military budgets -- but that spending is a key to cross-border trade and prosperity at home 

The federal government is looking for ways to scrape up some new money to help bolster the Canadian economy and keep at least a few Canadians employed. 

The forestry industry and the auto industry have been shedding jobs at a staggering rate. Both have asked for a billion dollars from Ottawa. Whether or not the feds cough it up, they are going to have to do plenty of financial stimulation if they hope to staunch job losses. 

Unfortunately, the Harper government has already squandered $12 billion a year to shrink the GST from seven to five per cent. It was a political gesture that appalled economists and left most Canadians yawning. It also left the government's financial cupboard decidedly bare. 

So where will the government try to cut spending -- and where will it subsequently invest to help create jobs? 

My fear is that this government will emulate its predecessors, both Liberal and Conservative, and try to steal from the Canadian military budget to raise funds. 

This would be a huge mistake. If the Harper government wants to create jobs, it would be far better off to invest more in the Canadian Forces. 

A Conservative government under Brian Mulroney and Liberal governments under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin combined to eviscerate the Canadian military in the name of reducing the national debt. That's a worthy cause, but starving the military is counter-productive to Canada's survival as a prosperous, sovereign nation. 

The current government has talked as though it takes the security of Canadians seriously, but it hasn't come through. Early commitments to recruit and grow appear to have been abandoned. 

Canadians seem sanguine that their military is robust because we have soldiers engaged on the battlefront in Afghanistan. But hiding behind the muscular Afghanistan image is a military without the people or resources to defend Canadians and better their lives. 

Yes, Canada has proven that it can keep 1,000 fighting troops in the field at any given time, but that's miniscule if we intend to protect and advance Canadians' interests. Even the modest Afghanistan deployment has all but hamstrung efforts to grow and modernize the Canadian Forces, which this government had promised to do. 

And by honouring that promise, the government could go a long way toward solving the jobs crisis it is currently faced with. Everyone knows that exports create jobs. Everyone also knows that Americans are by far our most important customers, but we're having trouble selling to them lately. 

It's not just because the U.S. economy is sagging or that the Canadian dollar has been overvalued. U.S.-Canadian border crossings are clogged. One suspects that many American politicians are thrilled that the thickening of the border reduces Canada's attractiveness as an investment location for firms that want to serve American as well as Canadian markets. After all, if the borders are a problem, why not locate in the U.S. instead? 

Those clogged borders are non-tariff barriers to trade. What to do? It's going to be a chore to convince a Democratic administration with a protectionist mantra that it is in both countries' interests to make those border crossings workable again. 

In tough times it's tempting to slash military budgets -- but that spending is a key to cross-border trade and prosperity at home 

Colin Kenny, Citizen Special 
Published: Saturday, November 08, 2008


----------



## MarkOttawa (9 Nov 2008)

UK cautious over Afghan 'surge'
The head of the UK armed forces says a surge in Afghanistan is not a "panacea" and a reduction in "operational tempo" for UK troops is crucial. 
BBC, Nov. 9
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7718464.stm



> The Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, told the BBC this meant no "one-for-one" transfer of troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.
> 
> Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said the UK did not want to shoulder an "unfair burden".
> 
> ...



Obama offers new hope in Afghanistan
*Independent on Sunday*, Nov. 9 (check links at right side)
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-obama-offers-new-hope-in-afghanistan-1003450.html


> ...
> The most pressing of the foreign policy burdens on his shoulders is, paradoxically, not Iraq but Afghanistan. His opposition to the invasion of Iraq was important in defining his position against those of George Bush, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, and in testifying to the quality of his judgement. But the issue declined in salience during the election campaign, partly because the government of Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad gained in confidence and converged with the Obama line on early withdrawal. It may imply too much coherence to describe this as an exit strategy, but plainly the US engagement in Iraq is about to enter the winding-down phase.
> 
> In Afghanistan, on the other hand, the road ahead is less clear. This newspaper shares the view that president-elect Obama has expressed throughout his campaign: that the US-British coalition should reduce troop numbers in Iraq to focus on the war that is worth fighting in Afghanistan.
> ...



Deep in Taliban Territory, a Push for Electricity 
_NY Times_, Nov. 9, by Carlotta Gall
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/world/asia/09kajaki.html?scp=1&sq=kajaki&st=cse



> KAJAKI DAM, Afghanistan — Five shipping containers marked with the Afghan flag, some of them still wrapped in plastic, now sit in the construction camp at Kajaki Dam, Afghanistan’s biggest hydroelectric project.
> 
> They hold the United States government’s largest single gift to Afghanistan of the past seven years: massive pieces of a new 200-ton hydroelectric turbine that, when installed, will double the electricity supply to the towns and districts of southern Afghanistan.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## The Bread Guy (10 Nov 2008)

*Diary from the hot zone*
Soldier's Hamilton parents are proud
Hamilton Spectator, 8 Nov 08
Article link
Ryan Crawford was 16 when he bounced into his west Mountain home announcing plans to join the Canadian army reserves. Recruitment officers visiting his high school, St. Thomas More, had just filled him in on the possibilities.  It didn't go over well with his parents, Donna and Jeff Crawford, who have little sense of the military.  Ryan and younger sister Jessica grew up playing in the yards of a new Mountain suburb bordered by fields on one side and rows of new housing on the other. He played hub hockey as a child, caught frogs for fun and was enveloped in a busy household with two working parents and a menagerie of rescued pets ....


*For a wounded soldier, the battle has just begun*
After Afghanistan, Major Mark Campbell is forced to fight the military for the things he needs to adjust to life with no legs
KATHERINE O'NEILL, Globe & Mail, 10 Nov 08
Article link (.pdf attached in case link doesn't work)
It was the day Major Mark Campbell's world turned orange.  "All I saw was orange. That's it. Everything was orange," the 43-year-old recalls about the first chaotic moments after he knelt on a land mine during an operation in southern Afghanistan on June 2.  The explosion, which wounded three other soldiers from the Edmonton-based 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and an Afghan interpreter, left a small crater. The force of the blast sent Major Campbell flying. He landed on his back with a thud, covered in dirt, dust and blood.  When he looked down, both his legs had been blown off. He reached for a tourniquet in his flak jacket and applied it to his left stump before "excruciating" pain washed over his body ....


*U.S. Afghan efforts won't affect 2011 deadline: Cannon*
CTV.ca, 9 Nov 08
Article link
President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to boost U.S. military operations in Afghanistan "will not change Canada's position" on a troop pullout in 2011, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Sunday.  Cannon said Canada will start to withdraw soldiers from the war-torn country on schedule, as promised by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during the federal election.  "While we welcome the Americans' renewed interest in Afghanistan, particularly president-elect Obama's position during the campaign, we nonetheless want to make it perfectly clear that the U.S. position will not change Canada's position as defined in our parliamentary resolution," Cannon said in an interview on _CTV's Question Period_ ....

*Minister says Canada won't extend Afghan commitment*
Reuters, 10 Nov 08
Article link
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Sunday that a stepped-up emphasis by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on fighting terrorism in Afghanistan won't change Canada's plans to pull its military out of that country in 2011.  "While we welcome of course the Americans' renewed interest in Afghanistan, particularly President-elect Obama's position during the campaign ... the U.S. position will not change Canada's position as defined in our parliamentary resolution," Cannon said in an interview with CTV.  "We will be pulling out our military forces in 2011 and that is quite clear." ....


*Canadian artist finds poetry on the battlefront*
Jim Gibson ,  Canwest News Service, 9 Nov 08
Article link
When Suzanne Steele was writing a poem for Remembrance Day, she wanted to know the colour of the dust in Afghanistan. She found the answer, but the connections she made in her quest for that tiny piece of information are taking her on a unique journey to military bases in Canada and Afghanistan.  She is believed to be the first poet to join the Canadian Forces Artists Program. Like the painters and photographers who preceded her, she travels with the troops, writing about their lives in poems that already number more than 50.  Last month, the Vancouver Island poet spent some dusty days at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in eastern Alberta where the infantry prepare for Afghanistan ....


*Mellissa Fung relives her month in captivity in video released by government *
Canadian Press, 9 Nov 08
Article link
Chained, blindfolded and imprisoned in a tiny hole in a remote mountain area - that was Mellissa Fung's world for the month she spent in the hands of kidnappers in Afghanistan.  The CBC television reporter was kidnapped while visiting a refugee camp near Kabul on Oct. 12. She was finally set free Saturday.  A video containing a debrief of Fung by Afghan security officials was released by the government of President Hamid Karzai on Sunday. Fung, wearing a head scarf and a traditional Punjabi outfit, looked tired and a bit gaunt but was apparently in good health.    "They kept me blindfolded - not the whole time," she said calmly. "The first three weeks they had somebody with me the whole time watching me. So they didn't chain me. The last week they left me and they chained me." ....


*U.S. social scientist recovering from fire attack in Afghanistan*
LEE HILL KAVANAUGH The Kansas City Star, 9 Nov 08
Article link
A civilian who helps bridge the cultural divide between U.S. combat units and communities in Afghanistan is recovering after she was doused with liquid and set on fire last week.  The woman, Paula Lloyd, is a social scientist with the Human Terrain System who lived four and a half months in the Kansas City area while training at Fort Leavenworth. The attack, which was claimed by the Taliban in news reports, came Wednesday in the southern village of Maywand, near Kandahar.  Lloyd suffered second- and third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body before a team member submerged her in a nearby water source. She was flown to the burn unit of the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where her condition today was stable but guarded.  The program manager for the Human Terrain System, retired Army Colonel Steve Fondacaro, was with Lloyd and her family at the hospital today. Many members of HTS are sad and concerned for her, he said ....

More on links


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## MarkOttawa (10 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 10

G.I.’s in Remote Post Have Weary Job, Drawing Fire (long article)
_NY Times_, Nov. 9
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/world/asia/10outpost.html?ref=todayspaper



> COMBAT OUTPOST LOWELL, Afghanistan — The small stone castle, sandbagged and bristling with weapons and American soldiers, rises from a rock spur beside the Landai River. Mountains lean overhead.
> 
> Once a hunting lodge for Mohammad Zahir Shah, Afghanistan’s last king, the castle is home for a year for an American cavalry troop, an Afghan infantry company, a Navy corpsman and two American marines. In the deadly contest for Afghanistan’s borderlands, it plays what might seem a singularly unattractive role. The position lies exposed near the bottom of a natural amphitheater deep within territory out of government control.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## ENGINEERS WIFE (10 Nov 2008)

Canadian engineers teach demolition to Afghan unit 
Updated Mon. Nov. 10 2008 1:07 PM ET

The Associated Press

CAMP HERO, Afghanistan -- In a country where danger constantly lurks underfoot and around every corner, members of the Afghan National Army are getting a crash course from Canadian soldiers in the delicate art of handling high explosives. 


Warrant Officer Wade Osmond makes crude hand gestures to a young Afghan recruit who's learning the basics of the trade at Camp Hero, the Afghan National Army base just beyond the confines of Kandahar Airfield. 


"Tell him to prepare his M-16 igniter. Just tell him - remember, you can squeeze this together to make it easier to come apart," Osmond, of 2 Combat Engineer Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont., says to an interpreter. 


"This soldier has done it once before already, so this is reconfirmation of his training so he already understands exactly what I'm saying to him. You're going to pull - remember, on the word 'fire,' it's 1, 2, 3 on fire." 


Three recruits at a time learn how to set a charge on a half-kilogram of C-4 plastic explosive, all under the watchful tutelage of their Canadian trainers, including Osmond and Chief Warrant Officer Craig Grant. 


A series of three loud explosions, accompanied by a mushroom-shaped cloud of dust, brings cheers and laughs from the participants. 


Blowing stuff up is fun, after all. 


The Afghan engineers were taking part in a basic demolitions range designed to allow them to better support their fellow Afghan National Army soldiers, said Capt. Jeff Allen, who oversees the training. 


"It's part of a three-week skills camp that we're doing with the ANA sappers to bring their technical proficiency up to a level in which they can be more useful in deployed operations," Allen said. 


"Basic demolitions won't give them the skills to use demolitions as an effective tool such as breaching or explosive digging, but it will also give them the knowledge and recognition of components and the safety that goes along with it." 


There are 45,000 soldiers in the Afghan National Army. The Canadian team is mentoring 3,000 of them, and the United States and the Netherlands are also involved in training - a vital element of NATO's exit strategy for Afghanistan. 


Mentoring in the past has involved combat troops, police and auxiliary police. Now it is the engineers' turn. 


No one questions the bravery of the Afghan soldiers, Osmond said. It's their skills that need refinement. 


"These soldiers are braver than you could imagine," he said. "To see them go down a road with a mine detector, (which) they weren't sure they could use at that time, takes a lot of courage." 


Nonetheless, there have been challenges, not the least of which has been the fact most of the Afghan soldiers are poorly educated. 


"I can translate the information, but they're not necessarily going to be able to read," Osmond said. 


"One of the other hurdles is they can't read a measuring tape, which is important to this but also important to the rest of the training we are doing, which is construction." 


Confidence, however, is one thing the 30 trainees didn't seem to lack. 


"It's easy," Naseer Ahmad, 21, said with a smile. Working with explosives doesn't bother or frightens him, he added. 


"Why would I come in here if I was afraid?" 


That bravado can be an issue, Allen acknowledged. 


"They're surprisingly confident - sometimes too confident," he chuckled. "We don't have to be shy about saying, 'Hey, you guys are weak in this area,' but we don't talk down to these guys. These guys have been fighting since they were kids." 


The mentoring is part of the NATO goal of training the Afghan security forces to the point that they can look after their own country. 


"It's coming along really well," Allen said. 


"If these guys can enable their fellow Afghan National Army guys to move around the battlefield and defeat the enemy, then they're an enabler - they're a bonus."


----------



## The Bread Guy (11 Nov 2008)

*Canadian engineers teach demolition basics to new Afghan National Army unit *
Bill Graveland, Canadian Press, 10 Nov 08
Article link
In a country where danger constantly lurks underfoot and around every corner, members of the Afghan National Army are getting a crash course from Canadian soldiers in the delicate art of handling high explosives.  Warrant Officer Wade Osmond makes crude hand gestures to a young Afghan recruit who's learning the basics of the trade at Camp Hero, the Afghan National Army base just beyond the confines of Kandahar Airfield.  "Tell him to prepare his M-16 igniter. Just tell him - remember, you can squeeze this together to make it easier to come apart," Osmond, of 2 Combat Engineer Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont., says to an interpreter.  "This soldier has done it once before already, so this is reconfirmation of his training so he already understands exactly what I'm saying to him. You're going to pull - remember, on the word 'fire,' it's 1, 2, 3 on fire." ....


*'Dear Canadian Soldier...'*
Afghan girl sends letter to thank Canadian soldiers for fighting to 'bring peace' to her homeland
Jamie Hall, Canwest News Service, 10 Nov 08
Article link
Eleven-year-old Lina Ghulam Sakhi dreams of becoming a lawyer or a teacher, professions unheard of for women during the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, the country of her birth.  Lina was two years old when her family fled the oppressive regime in search of a safe place for her parents to raise their six children.  Now living in Edmonton, Lina wrote a letter thanking Canadian soldiers who are in Afghanistan.
The Grade 6 student was chosen to read her "Dear Canadian Soldier" letter aloud at James Gibbons Elementary School on Monday morning during a special Remembrance Day assembly.  "I'm from Afghanistan and I'm so happy that you are trying to bring peace there," she wrote.  "It must be hard not seeing your family and friends for a long time but they must be proud of you for helping the Afghani people there by building roads and hospitals and by simply just being there to support them and fight for them.  "I hope that some day Afghanistan will be a peaceful country and you guys will be the ones to thank." ....


*Forces to improve services for wounded*
KATHERINE O'NEILL, Globe and Mail, 11 Nov 08
Article link
The Canadian Forces plans to open special support centres at bases across the country to better meet the needs of ill and wounded soldiers, a growing and often frustrated group in the military.  At least 300 service people have been wounded since the Afghanistan mission began in 2002. About 400 have suffered non-battle related injuries, such as stress disorders.  Not since the Korean War have the Canadian Forces and federal government had to deal with so many injured soldiers. However, many have encountered red tape and lengthy delays in getting necessary services and items such as wheelchair stairlifts for their homes.  Lieutenant Isabelle Riché, a military spokeswoman in Ottawa, said the centres will help improve the delivery of "standardized, high quality, consistent care and administrative support for all ill and injured CF personnel." However, few details, including when the centres will begin operating, were available yesterday ....


*Canucks Hop on 'Human Terrain' Bandwagon*
By Nathan Hodge, Danger Room web log, 11 Nov 08
Article link
Canadian forces operating in Afghanistan's contested Kandahar Province have employed "white situational awareness teams" to help troops navigate the complex tribal landscape of southern Afghanistan. Tom Blackwell of Canwest News Service has the scoop ....  This should sound really familiar to DANGER ROOM readers: This is "human terrain mapping" by another name. In fact, I've heard the term "white situational awareness" used to describe Cultural Operations Research- Human Terrain Systems, the U.S. Army's formal program to embed social scientists with combat brigades in Afghanistan and Iraq, pictured here. Collecting information on the "white" (i.e., local civilian) population is not classed as intelligence, at least in the legal sense of the word (the FAQ section on the Army's Human Terrain System website states: "HTTs do not proactively seek or collect actionable intelligence from the local civilian population ....


*Combat resupply from tank blankets to breakdowns*
Cpl Curtis Romkey, B Squadron, Lord Strathcona´s Horse (Royal Canadians), CF Feature, 10 Nov 08
Article link
It was May, somewhere around the 18th. The temperature in Kandahar Province had been on the rise daily. We needed some reprieve from the sun.  Troopers Blaine, Churchill, and Partington arrived at our FOB (Forward Operating Base) as part of the TAV (Technical Assistance Visit) team tasked to install the new Barracuda kits onto the Leopard 2A6Ms.  The Barracuda kits include a tan thermal blanket that covers the entire tank to keep the inside a few degrees cooler. The kit even comes with a lovely little parasol to keep the crew commanders and loaders in the shade ....


*Canadians deny prisoners swapped for journalist*
Afghans say their intelligence agency found CBC reporter Mellissa Fung, but how they obtained her freedom remains unclear
CAMPBELL CLARK AND JESSICA LEEDER, Globe & Mail, 11 Nov 08
Article link
Canadian and Afghan leaders rejected reports that Taliban prisoners had been swapped for the release of Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung, with officials from Ottawa to Kandahar issuing a string of denials.  Authorities in both countries have been close-lipped about the circumstances that led to the release of Ms. Fung almost a month after she was abducted outside Kabul on Oct. 12.  But yesterday, Afghan and Canadian leaders moved quickly to deny reports that Taliban or other prisoners had been traded for the release of the 35-year-old Canadian journalist.  "There have been continued reports about ransoms or money being paid. That was not done in this case. Likewise, there's been no release or exchange of political prisoners," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters after meeting provincial premiers in Ottawa yesterday.  "This matter is being handled according to the laws of the government of Canada and the government of Afghanistan. And that's all I'll say in that regard." ....

*No 'political prisoners' released or traded for Fung: Harper*
Varying accounts of Fung's release abound
CBC.ca, 10 Nov 08
Article link
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has denied that prisoners were exchanged in order to secure the release of abducted CBC journalist Mellissa Fung, who was held captive for a month by a criminal gang in Afghanistan.  "There has been no release or exchange of political prisoners," Harper told a news conference in Ottawa on Monday.  "This matter is being handled according to the laws of the government of Canada and the government of Afghanistan, and that's all I'll say in that regard."  Harper also repeated earlier assertions that "continued reports" of a ransom payment to her captors were untrue.  Chief of defence staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk, speaking to the Empire Club in Toronto on Monday, was similarly cryptic.  "This is a testament to the good co-operation between the Afghan government authorities and the government of Canada, who have worked together as a team in this regard," said Natynczyk.  He went on to say her release was "a very positive outcome, but I can't say much more about that."....

*Harper, ambassador deny prisoner exchange led to Fung's freedom *
Bill Graveland, Canadian Press, 10 Nov 08
Article link
A chorus of prominent Canadian and Afghan voices, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, rejected reports Monday that CBC reporter Mellissa Fung's freedom was the result of a prisoner exchange.  Fung - who was freed Saturday after 28 days in a tiny Afghan cave, often blindfolded and chained - was not let go as a result of a swap of prisoners or a ransom payment of any form, the prime minister said.  "There have been continued reports about ransoms or money being paid; that was not done in this case," Harper told a news conference in Ottawa.  "Likewise, there's been no release or exchange of political prisoners." ....


*Avoiding alcohol's temptations in 'overwhelming' war zone*
JESSICA LEEDER, Globe & Mail, 11 Nov 08
Article link
Once each week, in a fluorescent-lit room in a stout building near the heart of Kandahar Air Field, a multinational mix of troops and civilians gather to take on a battle that can't be fought with conventional weapons.  Sitting around a table, or on overstuffed furniture, they talk about bad days, frustrating bosses and how it is that a fellow soldier can become a drunk on a dry base in a mostly dry country.  Called Sober in the Sand, the group is this base's own chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. For many who spend much of the year living abroad in Afghanistan, their weekly meetings have become a lifeline to staying sober far from the supports of home ....

More on links


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## Edward Campbell (11 Nov 2008)

The CLS (bottom centre) and families attend the Remembrance Day services in Afghanistan.









Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _Globe and Mail_

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081111.wafghanremember1111/BNStory/International


> Families of 6 slain soldiers join Afghan ceremony
> 
> The Canadian Press
> 
> ...


----------



## geo (11 Nov 2008)

Afghanistan’s Untold Story  

e-Ariana 
By M. Ashraf Haidari
11/11/2008

In “Not my grandfather’s country” (International Herald Tribune, opinion, October 31), Fatima Ayub recycles the repeatedly told story of Afghanistan’s downward spiral, but she says nothing about how her grandfather’s least developed country has changed for the better in more fundamental ways in just seven years which decades had not accomplished before. 

Afghanistan of 35 years ago never had as many health clinics across the country as today; as many primary, secondary, and tertiary roads as today; as many schools, vocational facilities, and universities as today; as many five-star hotels and wedding halls as today; as many private TVs, radios, and daily & weekly papers as today. Our isolated rural population under the best of the country’s times is connected with the outside world for the first time thanks to international assistance and our shared achievements over the past few years. Suicide attacks have hit London , Madrid , and New York , and Kabul has been no exception. On the whole, however, Kabul and other provincial cities of Afghanistan in the west, north, northeast, and center of the country are far safer than many major cities of the developed countries. 

Today’s Afghanistan is in a unique situation with a unique set of challenges and opportunities that fundamentally differ from 35 years ago. With international support, it is the responsibility of Afghans in and outside the country to define our future with a sense of optimism, vision, and firm determination to do our part now. 

M. Ashraf Haidari is the Political Counselor of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, DC. His e-mail is haidari@embassyofafghanistan.org 


Polar opposites - Canada/US relations and Afghanistan

The Fourth Down 
Posted by Steve Woodhead
Monday November 10, 2008 

I don’t know how frequently Filibuster Soup readers have a glance at the major Canadian dailies like the National Post or the Globe and Mail, but in the last month an astonishing thing has happened between my Canadian homeland and the U.S. 

Canada is now the right-wing country, and America the left. 

American lefties no longer have a place where they can threaten to move to when the the liberal chips are down! Canada a socialist haven? No more. Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada (gotta love how they wear their designation on their sleeves up here - the official opposition is named the Liberal Party) seized a second minority government in the Oct. 14 general election, simultaneously leaving the other three (left-of-center) options in the political hinterland. 

It’s tricky territory, however. All but the most staunch Canadian right-wingers will sheepishly admit that much of the Conservative Party’s success is due, at least in part, to vote splitting. Not long ago it was the conservative vote that was lost to bickering and in-fighting among two different options (the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party) while the Liberals enjoyed strong majorities with only intermittent failures. Canadians, by and large, identify as more liberal than their southerly neighbours. Spend any time around Canadian youth, academic circles (as I do, being a university student), or Liberal strongholds like Toronto, and you’ll find that there was some immense support for Barack Obama up here. It’s no exaggeration to tell you that my campus bar was far busier on Nov. 4 than it was a few weeks ago when the Canadian election was held. 

It begs the question - how will Stephen Harper and his more powerful Conservatives encounter the Democratic juggernaut that is the American government? At helm is the world’s most popular man, and that point is surely not lost on Harper. 

I’ve heard some conjecture that an Obama presidency might be good for Harper. Any attempts to make nice with the Obama administration will be VERY public in Canada, and will do much to dispel the smirking nickname that Harper (unfairly) earned as George Bush Jr. It will allay fears of some secret right-wing Conservative agenda, and nobody can deny that Obama’s shine can lend remarkable goodwill from our European brethren. 

The most important way that Harper can utilize the Obama administration is this: it will allow him to be seen negotiating, deal-making, but ultimately sticking to his guns with made-in-Canada policies. Never, EVER underestimate the power that “made-in-Canada” phrase has up north. Canadians, spurned on especially by the Canadian media, have a massive inferiority complex that stems from being the US’s closest neighbour. I have a feeling that even a Conservative mandate, one that disagrees with an Obama mandate, might be supported by the Canadian left if it can be marketed as a home-grown promise. 

This bring us to my delayed point - a recent opinion piece from the National Post that expresses concern over whether or not Harper will be able to stick to the promise he made in the general election, to remove Canada from Afghanistan by 2011 and thus bringing our presence there to a full decade, in the face of Obama’s campaign promise of increasing American focus on that troubled region. 

Stephen Harper and Barack Obama, ideological opposites though they may seem (and probably are), have one thing in common: both suffer from the accusation of being austere, intensely private, and generally successful at keeping their personal lives and motivations a mystery to the public at large. How Obama pulled off that trick in the midst of the media circus that was the 2008 election is beyond me - it was either a miracle of prudence, or some would have us believe it to be willful blindness on the part of the American media. 

Stephen Harper’s key to success has always been chalked up to his rumoured bullish temperament when provoked, and the control he has exerted over the members of his Conservative Party. Nobody is in doubt as to whom to credit with the Conservative’s success. It has, and always likely will be, attributed to Stephen Harper and his firm grip over the party and its players. Argue for or against it, but there is no denying that it was exactly what the party needed, and it has served them well so far. 

It’s that same temperament that will serve Harper well in the face of the world’s most popular man, the candidate for Hope and Change. I’ll take off my hat as a scary Conservative war-monger and say this - there is nothing to be gained by bending to the will of an Obama administration. Afghanistan is a testy issue and many Canadians want out (Canadians not having the stomach any more for pretty much military engagement of ANY description). Harper’s willingness to face down the request of an extended Middle East campaign, one that I have no doubt will eventually come, is the key to his longevity as Prime Minister. He can market it as the perfect “made-in-Canada” solution and achieve three absolutely KEY goals for any Canadian government: maintain Canadian autonomy even under the influence of American pressure (a sore spot for hordes of Canadian lefties), keep his campaign promise, and shockingly, satisfy the Canadian left by lessening Canada’s military activity. 

There is one smaller detail for you to mull over: with Obama’s promise of a more isolationist USA following years of unpopular involvement overseas, now may be the chance for Harper to drag Canada kicking and screaming back to the world stage. Make some noise about our humanitarian involvements, renew the image of the Canadian military force, and make sure we reach a strong finish in Afghanistan. Harper has dedicated millions to finding an AIDS vaccine for disease-stricken countries around the world - this is also part of the new image of Canada. 

It’s funny, but one could have easily imagined the tables to be turned in a scenario like this - a Republican government urging a soft Liberal or NDP government in Canada into increased military activity. 

Strange days indeed.


----------



## GAP (11 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 11, 2008*

Pakistan: Three killed in stadium suicide attack
Article Link

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber struck outside a stadium in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday evening, killing three people and wounding 11 others, the provincial information minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said.

The blast occurred outside Qayyum Stadium's front gate, where a closing ceremony for the Inter-Provincial Games was being held, police said.

The ceremony for the sports tournament was just ending when the blast went off, North West Frontier Province police Inspector General Malik Naveed said.

Most people had already left the stadium at the time of the attack, he said.

In addition to the three dead, the bomber was also killed, police said.

Qayyum Stadium is in the heart of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province on the country's border with Afghanistan. The region is rife with Islamic extremists.

Earlier Tuesday, officials reported that Pakistan-based militants had launched back-to-back assaults on convoys carrying food and military supplies in a mountain pass in northwest Pakistan.

The Monday morning attacks took place about 30 minutes apart in the Khyber Pass, a mountain pass that links Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is located in Khyber, one of seven semiautonomous tribal agencies along the Afghan border.

Around 60 to 70 armed militants seized 13 trucks -- 12 carrying wheat into Afghanistan as part of a World Food Programme convoy, and one transporting Humvees to the U.S.-led coalition, Khyber Agency officials said.

Authorities dispatched two helicopter gunships, which fired on the raiding militants. The firing killed one person and wounded another, but could not foil the hijacking, officials said.

Local tribal leaders are now expected to hold talks with the militants to try and secure the return of the trucks and their supplies.

Because Afghanistan is landlocked, many supplies for NATO-led troops fighting Islamic militants there have to be trucked in from Pakistan. Officials said militants aligned with the Taliban and al Qaeda have carried out similar attacks in the past in the Khyber Pass region.

The Pakistani central government has little control in the area, and it is believed to be a haven for militants
More on link

Canadian engineers teach demolition basics to new Afghan National Army unit
Article Link

CAMP HERO, Afghanistan — In a country where danger constantly lurks underfoot and around every corner, members of the Afghan National Army are getting a crash course from Canadian soldiers in the delicate art of handling high explosives.

Warrant Officer Wade Osmond makes crude hand gestures to a young Afghan recruit who's learning the basics of the trade at Camp Hero, the Afghan National Army base just beyond the confines of Kandahar Airfield.

"Tell him to prepare his M-16 igniter. Just tell him - remember, you can squeeze this together to make it easier to come apart," Osmond, of 2 Combat Engineer Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont., says to an interpreter.

"This soldier has done it once before already, so this is reconfirmation of his training so he already understands exactly what I'm saying to him. You're going to pull - remember, on the word 'fire,' it's 1, 2, 3 on fire."

Three recruits at a time learn how to set a charge on a half-kilogram of C-4 plastic explosive, all under the watchful tutelage of their Canadian trainers, including Osmond and Chief Warrant Officer Craig Grant.
More on link

U.S. building bases in Afghanistan to aid drones  
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
Article Link

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is building a series of air bases in eastern Afghanistan as part of its massive expansion of a system that uses drone aircraft to spy on and attack Taliban insurgents, according to interviews and documents.
In Afghanistan, harsh winters and a lack of airstrips near the fighting can hinder drone flights. It can take as long as three hours for a drone to reach battlefields, particularly in the rugged mountain area near the border with Pakistan. That area has seen some of the toughest fighting for U.S. troops. By contrast, it can take as little as 10 minutes for a drone to reach hot spots in Baghdad because the Iraqi capital has more air bases, said Dyke Weatherington, deputy director of the Pentagon's unmanned aerial systems task force.

"What the (Pentagon) is trying to do is go in and develop bases closer to those areas that we know we're going to have a sustained presence after a long period of time," Weatherington said. "In fact, recently we set up a couple of additional bases closer to the Pakistan border that cut down those transit times."

Col. Greg Julian, a military spokesman in Afghanistan, said in an e-mail that the military is adding more bases to accommodate drones and additional troops.

The military is developing drones with better deicing systems to help deal with the Afghan winters, he said.
More on link

Taliban say hostage was theirs
Insurgents and bandits waged deadly battle over kidnapped CBC journalist, who says she was chained and blindfolded in a small cave 
 GRAEME SMITH From Monday's Globe and Mail November 10, 2008 at 12:41 AM EST
Article Link

A violent tug-of-war between insurgents and criminals broke out in lawless districts of Afghanistan as armed factions struggled for control of a Canadian journalist during her kidnapping ordeal, according to Taliban sources.

Mellissa Fung, 35, a reporter for CBC television, was released unharmed on Saturday, and details are starting to emerge about the men responsible for keeping her chained and blindfolded in a cave.

A Taliban spokesman denied the insurgents held her and Afghan intelligence officials hinted that her captors were criminals. But insurgents from Wardak province, west of Kabul, said their band of Taliban fighters was among the groups that staked a claim to the valuable hostage. She changed hands at least twice, they said, and at least one Taliban fighter was killed in the squabbling over her fate.

Kidnapped foreigners in Afghanistan have previously been ransomed for up to $3-million, sometimes with an exchange of prisoners. Canadian authorities have denied any ransom was paid for Ms. Fung, but The Globe and Mail has learned that at one point her captors demanded $5-million.
More on link

2 Spanish soldiers killed in Afghanistan 
Article Link

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden van into a Spanish military convoy in Afghanistan on Sunday, killing two Spanish soldiers and wounding several others, Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon said.

Four people were wounded, one of them seriously, CNN partner station CNN+ reported, citing Defense Ministry sources.

The victims died instantly in the explosion, and the wounded were initially taken to Spain's nearby base at Herat in western Afghanistan, Chacon said in a televised address.

Spain has about 800 troops in Afghanistan, with the bulk stationed at Herat, as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Spanish officials have recently told CNN.

More than 20 Spanish troops have died in Afghanistan, including two in an explosion in September 2007 and 17 in a helicopter crash in August 2005.

In May 2003, 62 Spanish peacekeeping troops returning from Afghanistan and other nearby countries died when their plane crashed in Turkey.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero offered condolences to the latest victims at the start of his speech to Socialist Party members in Spain's Canary Islands, and said Spanish troops were 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (11 Nov 2008)

Obama to Explore New Approach in Afghanistan War
_Washington Post_, Nov. 11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR2008111002897.html



> The incoming Obama administration plans to explore a more regional strategy to the war in Afghanistan -- including possible talks with Iran -- and looks favorably on the nascent dialogue between the Afghan government and "reconcilable" elements of the Taliban, according to Obama national security advisers.
> 
> President-elect Barack Obama also intends to renew the U.S. commitment to the hunt for Osama bin Laden, a priority the president-elect believes President Bush has played down after years of failing to apprehend the al-Qaeda leader. Critical of Bush during the campaign for what he said was the president's extreme focus on Iraq at the expense of Afghanistan, Obama also intends to move ahead with a planned deployment of thousands of additional U.S. troops there...



Pakistanis Mired in Brutal Battle to Oust Taliban 
_NY Times_, Nov. 10
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/world/asia/11pstan.html?ref=todayspaper



> LOE SAM, Pakistan — When Pakistan’s army retook this strategic stronghold from the Taliban last month, it discovered how deeply Islamic militants had encroached on — and literally dug into — Pakistani territory.
> 
> Behind mud-walled family compounds in the Bajaur area, a vital corridor to Afghanistan through Pakistan’s tribal belt, Taliban insurgents created a network of tunnels to store arms and move about undetected.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (12 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 12, 2008*

Six dead as tanker bomb rocks Afghanistan's Kandahar
7 hours ago
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — A bomb-filled tanker exploded outside the office of the provincial council in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar Wednesday, killing six people and wounding 42, a governor said.

Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai and head of the council, was in the building at the time but was unharmed. "I am fine and safe," he told reporters later.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Taliban insurgents have carried out a series of bombings in the city.

The explosives-filled tanker dug a crater about four metres (13 feet) deep and eight metres wide into the road, an AFP reporter said.

"Six people were killed including an intelligence employee, two intelligence guards and three passers-by including a woman," Kandahar province governor Rahmatullah Raufi told a press conference.

"Forty-two others are wounded including two female provincial council members. Most of the wounded have superficial injuries and they will be discharged from hospital."

The bulk of the casualties were civilians from surrounding houses or who had come to the council for business, Raufi said.
More on link

Bomb kills three people in Afghanistan
Updated November 12, 2008 22:50:29
Article Link

 suspected bomb blast in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar has killed at least three people and wounded 39 others.

A doctor from Kandahar's Mirwais hospital says the wounded have superficial injuries.

The AFP newsagency reports authorities could not be reached to immediately confirm the cause of the blast.

The explosion occurred in the centre of the city between Kandahar's main intelligence office and a compound used by the provincial government council.
End

70 Talibs and 2 Leaders of Taliban Movement Detained in  Afghanistan
12.11.08 12:27 
Article Link

Afghanistan, Kabul, 12 November/ Trend News, corr. A.Hakimi /Seventy Talibs and two leaders of Taliban movement – Hayatullah and Mohammad Davud, were detained in the result of operation held in Afghanistan two days ago. 

An armament was revealed during the operation in Kandahar province. 

The Taliban is a radical Islamic movement, which appeared in Afghanistan in 1994.The movement ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) and Waziristan in the north of Pakistan (Islamic State of Waziristan) from 2004. 

 Taliban representatives demand the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory of Afghanistan, and call on the Afghan population to unite and peace under Islam and carry out subversive activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
End


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## MarkOttawa (12 Nov 2008)

Britain to NATO members: help more in Afghanistan
AP, Nov. 11
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5htW0bU7hfNxqefVbiW_njQOI1JggD94D1JQG0



> British and U.S. officials urged other NATO members Tuesday to send more troops to Afghanistan, saying the alliance's success there required a more equal sharing of the war burden.
> 
> For months NATO has called for boosting its 50,000-troop mission to quell rising violence in Afghanistan, and has grown frustrated with the reluctance of some European members to either increase their contribution or deploy to more dangerous regions.
> 
> ...



Taliban hijacking threatens key NATO supply route
Militants in Pakistan seized 13 Afghanistan-bound trucks – one carrying two Humvees – without firing a single shot.
CS Monitor, Nov. 12
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1112/p25s05-wosc.htm



> Pakistani Taliban militants hijacked a convoy carrying wheat and military vehicles headed for Afghanistan Monday, underscoring for NATO forces the vulnerability of their only practical supply route into landlocked Afghanistan.
> 
> In a brazen attack in Jamrud, near the capital of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, 60 masked militants held up a convoy of 13 trucks, according to official reports. The trucks, 12 of which were carrying wheat and one carrying two Humvees for Western forces in Afghanistan, were hijacked without the militants having to fire a single shot.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (13 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 13

The new Kabul
_National Post_, Nov. 13, by Terry Glavin
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=954424



> From the headlines leaping off the front pages of newspapers around the world these days, you'd think this city was Phnom Penh in the days before the Khmer Rouge rolled in, or Saigon in the hours before the fall. Given the London Telegraph's declaration that Kabul is "as dangerous as Baghdad at its worst," you'd expect to find Taliban armies already at the city gates, and nothing left to do but cut a deal and get out.
> 
> This is exactly what the Taliban's canny propagandists want the world to think about Kabul, and for variously sinister and conflicting reasons, this is the same picture of the city that diplomats from London to Riyadh have been painting lately. What all this drama obscures, however, is the reality of a city that is boisterous and booming and yet burdened by a wholly different sort of dread.
> 
> ...



3,300 More U.S. Troops Sought to Train Afghans
_Washington Post_, Nov. 13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/12/AR2008111202681.html



> U.S. commanders in Afghanistan are requesting 3,300 more troops to accelerate the training of new Afghan army and police forces, a job seen as critical to defeating Afghanistan's growing insurgency.
> 
> Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, who heads the U.S. command in Kabul that trains Afghan forces, said yesterday he has asked for 60 additional training teams -- a total of about 1,000 troops -- to help speed the expansion of the Afghan army.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (13 Nov 2008)

Young Afghan democracy facing its first major test
Country nervously prepares for '09 elections
_Vancouver Sun_, Nov. 13, by Terry Glavin
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=fd31d1a3-a59d-4e1b-b9e4-233466268f16



> KABUL -- The most ambitious undertaking in the history of the United Nations has reached a critical crossroads at an unlikely, desolate place on the outskirts of this war-battered city. It's on the Jalalabad Road, just beyond the Hodkheal district, a slum notorious for its gangs of murderers and thieves.
> 
> From the outside, the headquarters of Afghanistan's Independent Elections Commission (IEC) looks just like a maximum-security prison. Inside, a grim collection of Quonset huts houses the command centre of the first major test of Afghanistan's embryonic democracy.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (14 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November , 2008*

 Winter looms amid drought, insecurity in Afghanistan
At least 8.4 million people may go hungry, CARE says 
12 Nov 2008
Article Link

The approaching winter will likely worsen the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, CARE officials warn, as dangerous conditions hamstring efforts to combat drought-driven food shortages. 

"Attacks against U.N. staff and international aid workers have jumped sharply this year," says Lex Kassenberg, country director for CARE in Afghanistan. From January to September alone, 29 nongovernmental organizations workers were killed and 78 kidnapped. "Access to communities continues to be seriously hampered by widespread insecurity. More and more it's getting increasingly difficult to reach communities with the supplies they need." 

Today roughly 8.4 million people, or one-fourth of the Afghan population, are considered food insecure. According to aid workers on the ground there, drought, insecurity and rising food prices in northern Afghanistan may drive hundreds of thousands of people from their homes this winter. 

In response, CARE has launched cash-for-work projects in the northern province of Balkh, providing income opportunities for an initial 2,400 families. CARE also will begin supplying seed, fertilizer and other agricultural materials to help farmers rebuild livelihoods lost. CARE's ongoing work in Afghanistan includes programs to educate girls in rural areas and make widows self-sufficient in Kabul. 

Adds Kassenberg: "CARE applauds the U.N.'s decision to establish an independent office for coordinating humanitarian affairs in Afghanistan but calls on donors to make sure it receives adequate funding." Fighting along the Pakistani border has already complicated the situation, sending around 20,000 refugees into the country from Pakistan. 
More on link

US-Led Forces in Afghanistan Kill 4 Suspected Militants Linked to Al-Qaida  
By VOA News 14 November 2008
   Article Link

U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan say troops have killed four militants linked to al-Qaida in the country's eastern region.

The U.S. military says the suspected militants were killed during a raid Thursday in the Zurmat district of Paktia Province, near the border with Pakistan.

The statement says the operation was targeting a network of militants who, with the help of local Taliban leaders, were bringing Arab and other foreign fighters into Afghanistan.

On Thursday, Taliban militants claimed responsibility for a car bombing in eastern Afghanistan that killed at least 11 people, including a U.S. soldier. Seventy-four others were wounded.

Local authorities say the suicide bomber rammed his car into a U.S.-led military convoy as it was passing through a livestock market near the capital of Nangarhar province, Jalalabad.
More on link

Three Afghan builders gunned down as Taliban claim suicide attack
6 hours ago Article Link

KABUL (AFP) — Three Afghan construction workers were gunned down by militants while a suicide attack wounded three policemen Friday in new insurgency-linked violence, officials said.

The three men were shot dead by attackers in a passing vehicle in the eastern province of Khost as they had left their lodgings and headed to work, Ismail Khail district governor Dawlat Khan Qayomi told AFP.

The official blamed the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan", a term often used by Afghan authorities to refer to Taliban insurgents who target Afghan and foreign troops as well as officials or people helping with reconstruction.

In the same province, a suicide attacker detonated an explosives-filled car near a police vehicle just outside of Khost city. Three policemen were wounded, one of them seriously, provincial governor Arsala Jamal told AFP.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said his group had carried out the attack.

The US-led force in Afghanistan announced meanwhile its troops had killed four Al-Qaeda-linked militants Thursday in an operation aimed at a network helping to move Arab and other foreign fighters into the country
More on link

Ottawa moves to block detainee-transfer hearings
Review of policy decisions by government officials falls outside complaints commission's mandate, court filing argues
PAUL KORING November 14, 2008
Article Link

More than 20 months after it first promised full co-operation, the Harper government has moved to block public hearings into whether it ordered Canadian soldiers to transfer prisoners to Afghan security forces knowing the detainees would likely be tortured.

Only weeks before the long-delayed hearings were to begin, government lawyers want the Federal Court to outlaw them, saying the independent Military Police Complaints Commission can investigate only specific and individual instances of tortured prisoners, not whether all prisoners faced the risk of torture.

Commission chairman Peter Tinsley ordered the public hearings last spring, saying he was left with no other choice. "Ordering a public interest hearing is necessary to ensure a full investigation of the grave allegations," Mr. Tinsley said. Since then, he has rolled multiple allegations covering different time periods into a single public-interest investigation.

Hearings were to start Dec. 4.
More on link

CBC probes detainment of Afghan employees in Fung kidnapping  
Brothers 'held in high regard' by journalists are being detained as 'witness suspects': publisher
Last Updated: Thursday, November 13, 2008 | 11:14 AM ET CBC News 
Article Link

The CBC has formally asked Afghan authorities for more details on the detainment of two Afghan employees who were working with journalist Mellissa Fung when she was abducted last month, CBC News publisher John Cruickshank said Thursday.

Shakoor Firoz, a translator and "fixer" who has for some time assisted CBC journalists in Afghanistan, and his brother Qaim Firoz, a driver, were taken into custody shortly after informing the CBC that Fung was kidnapped on Oct. 12 at a refugee camp outside Kabul.

Fung, 35, was released on Saturday after spending 28 days in captivity by what she described as a "family business" of kidnappers eager to "finish her case" and get paid a ransom.

The two brothers accompanying her were overpowered during the abduction, but not taken.

Men appear in good spirits, Canadian officials say
The CBC understands that the brothers are being held as "witness suspects" while two other people are in custody as suspects and may face charges soon, Cruickshank said in a statement.

He said Canadian officials in Afghanistan and family members visited the brothers as recently as two days ago and they appear to be in good spirits.

"We continue to press Afghan authorities to affirm that Shakoor and Qaim are receiving and will continue to receive humane treatment and due legal process," he said.

"Both men are trusted and held in high regard by those at CBC News who have worked with them. Their current status is a matter of continuing and serious concern for us."

The CBC will continue to work closely with Canada's Foreign Affairs Department, the Canadian Embassy, the RCMP and local authorities, he added.

"In addition to maintaining the salaries of both men, we have offered to provide support for their legal representation," Cruickshank said.

The CBC has given Afghan authorities letters of support for the men. One of the letters is from Fung, who on Wednesday said she believes there is "no way" her colleagues were involved in her abduction.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (16 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 16

Pakistan truck halt threatens NATO supplies lines
AP, Nov. 16
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081116.wafgansupplyline1116/BNStory/Afghanistan/home



> PESHAWAR, Pakistan  — Pakistan temporarily barred oil tankers and container trucks from a key passageway to Afghanistan, threatening a critical supply route for U.S. and NATO troops on Sunday and raising more fears about security in the militant-plagued border region.
> 
> The suspension came as U.S.-led coalition troops reported killing 30 insurgents in fighting in southern Afghanistan and detaining two militant leaders — both in provinces near Pakistan's lawless border.
> 
> ...



Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes
_Washington Post_, Nov. 16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/15/AR2008111502656.html



> The United States and Pakistan reached tacit agreement in September on a don't-ask-don't-tell policy that allows unmanned Predator aircraft to attack suspected terrorist targets in rugged western Pakistan, according to senior officials in both countries. In recent months, the U.S. drones have fired missiles at Pakistani soil at an average rate of once every four or five days.
> 
> The officials described the deal as one in which the U.S. government refuses to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan's government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes.
> 
> ...



On the front line in war on Pakistan's Taliban
_The Observer_, Nov. 16
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/16/pakistan-afghanistan-taliban



> High in the mountainous north west provinces of Pakistan, government forces are waging a bitter war against Taliban militants who have made the region a stronghold. As US predator drones criss-cross the sky overhead, troops on the ground endure a daily confrontation with suicide bomber attacks, mortar fire and the piercing cold
> 
> ...the Pakistani Army still views the battles it is fighting against extremists very differently from Western strategists and policy-makers. Scores of private conversations with soldiers of all ranks reveal that few see themselves as fighting in a 'war on terror' that many of them abhor.
> 
> ...



War on Taliban sparks refugee crisis
_Sunday Times_, Nov. 16
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5162347.ece



> Hundreds of thousands of *once prosperous* [emphasis added] Pakistani villagers are stranded in freezing tented refugee camps after being compelled to leave home by their own forces in a ferocious battle against the Taliban along the Afghan border.
> 
> Yesterday 300,000 Pakistani men, women and children, many of them driven from farms in the Bajaur region, were sheltering in eight makeshift camps on the outskirts of their nearest city, Peshawar.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (17 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 17

Karzai Makes Offer to Taliban
Afghan Promises To Protect Leader If He Negotiates 
_Washington Post_, Nov. 16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111600899.htmln



> As international pressure mounts for negotiations with insurgents, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that he would guarantee the security of Taliban chief Mohammad Omar if he decides to enter into talks.
> 
> Striking a defiant tone, Karzai said during a news conference in the Afghan capital that if the Taliban leader agreed to negotiate a peace settlement with Karzai's government, he would resist demands from the international community to hand over Omar to U.S. authorities.
> 
> ...



Afghan Taliban Leader Rejects Karzai's Safety Vow
Reuters, Nov. 17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111700640.html?hpid=moreheadlines



> A Taliban militant leader rejected Monday an offer from Afghan President Hamid Karzai of safe passage for insurgent leaders who wanted to talk peace.
> 
> Karzai, back from a trip to Britain and the United States, said Sunday he would guarantee the safety of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar if he was prepared to negotiate.
> 
> ...



Why hasn't the U.S. gone after Mullah Omar in Pakistan? (long piece, worth reading)
McClatchy Newspapers, Nov. 16
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/55947.html



> For seven years, the Bush administration has pursued al Qaida but done almost nothing to hunt down the Afghan Taliban leadership in its sanctuaries in Pakistan, and that's left Mullah Mohammad Omar and his deputies free to direct an escalating war against the U.S.-backed Afghan government.
> 
> The administration's decision, U.S. and NATO officials said, has allowed the Taliban to regroup, rearm and recruit at bases in southwestern Pakistan. Since the puritanical Islamic movement's resurgence began in early 2005, it's killed at least 626 U.S.-led NATO troops, 301 of them Americans, along with thousands of Afghans, and handed President-elect Barack Obama a growing guerrilla war with no end in sight.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (17 Nov 2008)

Why Is This Ritual Performance "News"? 
Terry Glavin,
http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-is-this-ritual-performance-news.html



> How often does Karzai have to engage in this predictable routine, performed solely to demonstrate that he is not merely another belligerent in Afghanistan's bandit wars or a "puppet" of the foreigners, before it's just not newsworthy anymore?
> 
> _November, 16, 2008_: President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has offered to provide security for the Taleban's reclusive leader, Mullah Omar, if he agrees to peace talks. Mr. Karzai made the offer despite the multi-million dollar bounty offered for the militant leader's capture by the United States...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (19 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 19, 2008*

Canadian troops to lease civilian choppers
By BILL GRAVELAND, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Article Link

PASAB, Afghanistan -- Until they get their own helicopters next year, Canadian troops in Afghanistan will have access to six civilian choppers to lessen the risk of coming under insurgent attack while moving along the country's notoriously dangerous roads. 

The Mi-8 helicopters are being contracted from Toronto-based Sky Link as a stopgap measure. The first flight of the aircraft took place at Kandahar Airfield yesterday. 

"As a task force, it allows us to transport with the Mi-8's cargo and with the Chinook's personnel, with a view to try and get Canadians off the roads here in Afghanistan where they are exposed to all the dangers of this country -- ambushes and IEDs and the other things that all Canadians are aware of," said Col. Christopher Coates, air wing commander of Joint Task Force Afghanistan. 

The decision to contract the Mi-8s, which will be flown by civilian pilots, is the result of a recommendation from the Manley report last spring that Canada should have some air capabilities for its operations in Afghanistan. 

The Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that is one of the world's most-produced choppers. 

It is used by more than 50 countries. 
More on link

U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan won't rest for winter
Forces will continue pursuing extremists in the east despite the brutal weather, says Gen. David McKiernan.
By Julian E. Barnes  November 19, 2008 
Article Link

Reporting from Washington -- U.S. troops in Afghanistan will continue pursuing extremists in the eastern part of the country over the brutal winter months, but lack the forces in southern areas to mount the same offensive, the top U.S. commander there said Tuesday.

U.S. efforts in eastern Afghanistan could be helped by pressure on extremist groups from Pakistan, said Gen. David D. McKiernan, the U.S. and NATO commander. But U.S. and allied commanders in the south must await the arrival of extra troops sought by McKiernan. Southern Afghanistan includes Helmand province and the city of Kandahar, traditional areas of greater Taliban strength.


In an address to the Atlantic Council of the United States think tank in Washington, McKiernan said that his standing request for about 20,000 additional troops would be approved -- "hopefully quickly" -- by U.S. officials. McKiernan is seeking combat brigades, aviation support and logistics specialists. One brigade already approved is scheduled to arrive by February.
More on link

Six soldiers, 10 rebels killed in Afghanistan
Article Link

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — Six Afghan soldiers were killed, one of them beheaded, in a battle with Taliban insurgents, authorities said Tuesday, also reporting at least 10 militants had died in fighting.

Five of the soldiers were killed in a gunfight that erupted after Taliban militants ambushed an army patrol late Monday in the Bala Buluk district of Farah province, military corps commander for western Afghanistan Fazal Ahmad Sayar told AFP.

"Five soldiers were killed and five were wounded. The militants beheaded one of the wounded soldiers," he said.

Sayar said around 100 Taliban had mounted the large-scale attack, but was unable to immediately give the number of militant casualties.

But according to western Afghanistan police spokesman Abdul Raof Ahmadi, police and NATO-led forces who were sent to the area killed five Taliban.

There was no comment from the insurgent militia.

The Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, have previously beheaded people they accuse of spying for the government.
More on link

Canadian air wing takes flight in Afghanistan
Six leased Russian helicopters and six Chinooks will carry cargo and personnel so troops won't have to rely on dangerous road convoys
GRAEME SMITH  November 18, 2008
Article Link

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Two rented helicopters lifted into the orange sky over Kandahar at dawn yesterday, their flight marking the first time Canadian troops have received support on the front lines from their own aircraft.

The helicopters are among six leased Russian Mi-8s that started work for the Canadians yesterday, part of a new Canadian air wing in Afghanistan that will also include six used Chinooks.

Canada's battle group moved into southern Afghanistan in 2006 without any helicopters, unlike the British, U.S., and Dutch forces. The lack of air assets forced the Canadians to rely more heavily on road convoys, which the Canadian commanders described at the time as an advantage because it would give the troops more familiarity with the Afghan people and terrain.

But regular traffic of military vehicles on Afghan roads has proven deadly for Canadian soldiers as the rising insurgency targets supply convoys. The problem was highlighted by John Manley's commission on Afghanistan, which set a deadline of February, 2009, for obtaining medium-lift helicopters.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (19 Nov 2008)

U.S. Seeks New Supply Routes Into Afghanistan
_Washington Post_, Nov. 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803940.html



> TORKHAM, Afghanistan, Nov. 18 -- A rise in Taliban attacks along the length of a vital NATO supply route that runs through this border town in the shadow of the Khyber Pass has U.S. officials seeking alternatives, including the prospect of beginning deliveries by a tortuous overland journey from Europe.
> 
> Supplying troops in landlocked Afghanistan has long been the Achilles' heel of foreign armies here, most recently the Soviets, whose forces were nearly crippled by Islamist insurgent attacks on vulnerable supply lines.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (19 Nov 2008)

Afghanistan, Pakistan and intl security
Conference of Defence Associations media round-up, Nov. 19
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1227122247

Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (20 Nov 2008)

Taliban Regains Power, Influence in Afghanistan
Sets Up Courts, Local Governments in Southern Regions
_Wall St. Journal_, Nov. 20
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122713845685342447.html



> The Taliban are setting up courts and other local-government institutions across southern Afghanistan, challenging U.S. efforts to pacify the country and bolster the authority of the central government in Kabul.
> 
> Senior American military officials said the Taliban run roughly two dozen law courts in southern Afghanistan, one of the armed Islamist group's main strongholds. Drawing on a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law, the courts work to resolve conflicts over property, grazing rights and inheritances, the officials said.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (22 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 22 (too many stories to do separately here)

US Marines, National Guard in Afstan/Future US strength increases 
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2008/11/us-marines-national-guard-in-afstan.html

Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (23 Nov 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND NOV. 23

Canada plans to exploit Taliban's winter weakness
CP, Nov. 23
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/542097



> KANDAHAR, Afghanistan–Canadian and international troops plan on a continued campaign of harassing the Taliban in southern Afghanistan during what traditionally have been the slow winter months.
> 
> The Taliban generally use the winter to reload for the busy fighting season which begins in the spring.
> 
> ...



Militants and military brace for a winter of war in Afghanistan
Normally the fighting slows when the harsh weather sets in, but this year it is likely to be different.
_LA Times_, Nov. 23
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-winterwar23-2008nov23,0,3582857.story



> Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan -- In recent years, the first snow falling on the jagged mountain peaks of Afghanistan has ushered in a seasonal slowdown in fighting between insurgents and the Western forces that overthrew the Taliban in 2001.
> 
> This winter looks to be different. Snow and icy terrain aside, both sides have made it clear that they plan to keep fighting, each contending that the harsh conditions favor them more than their enemy.
> 
> ...



Denmark to double contribution to Afghanistan 
Xinhua, Nov. 22
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/22/content_10397571.htm



> KABUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The visiting Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller on Saturday announced furthering financial and military support to Afghanistan.
> 
> "We will double the amount of money which goes to the reconstruction and development. We also send more troops to Afghanistan," Moller told reporters here after meeting his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
> 
> ...



Ringed by Foes, Pakistanis Fear the U.S., Too
_NY Times_, Nov. 22
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/world/asia/23pstan.html?ref=todayspaper



> ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A redrawn map of South Asia has been making the rounds among Pakistani elites. It shows their country truncated, reduced to an elongated sliver of land with the big bulk of India to the east, and an enlarged Afghanistan to the west.
> 
> That the map was first circulated as a theoretical exercise in some American neoconservative circles matters little here. It has fueled a belief among Pakistanis, including members of the armed forces, that what the United States really wants is the breakup of Pakistan, the only Muslim country with nuclear arms.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (24 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 24, 2008*

Pakistan dissolving military spy agency's political wing  
Reuters Monday, November 24, 2008 
Article Link

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has disbanded the political wing of the military intelligence agency, the foreign minister said Sunday.

The cooperation of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, directorate is regarded as vital to the West in fighting the threat of Al Qaeda globally and defeating the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

But critics call it a "state within a state." Pakistan's eight-month-old civilian government has regularly accused the ISI's political wing of involvement in the overthrow of their governments. Neighboring Afghanistan and India view the ISI with great distrust.

The Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, described the disbanding of the ISI's political wing as a "positive development."

"ISI is a precious national institution, and it wants to focus fully on counter-terrorism activities," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying.

The report did not say when the decision was made.

The army has ruled Pakistan for more than half its history since 1947. Consequently, issues related to the military are closely watched in the region as well as by Western allies of the nuclear-armed nation.
More on link

MacKay hints at post-Kandahar role for Canadian troops
Mike Blanchfield ,  Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, November 23, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA -- The Canadian Forces will continue to play an active role in world hot spots even after troops are withdrawn from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan in 2011, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says.

In an interview with the Canwest News Service, MacKay hinted that Canadian troops might still have a role to play in Afghanistan after 2011 - the deadline set by Parliament for the end of the current combat mission - and if they do not, the Forces will likely be called to duty elsewhere.

"There are many ways in which we can make contributions beyond 2011. What we've said is the current combat mission, the current configuration, will end in 2011. That's a firm date, confirmed by Parliament and respectful of Parliament," MacKay said.

After 2011, I suspect, and I don't want to speculate, there's always going to be a call for Canada to participate where we're needed, when we're needed. We've never shied away from that. We've always stepped up." 

MacKay also brushed aside any suggestion that if Canada ends its high-profile combat mission in Afghanistan it might diminish the enhanced reputation the Forces have benefited from in recent years.

"I hope that we have elevated in the hearts and minds of people in our own country just how important having a robust military is. That includes peacekeeping but it also includes to do the business when called upon, whether it's been in Afghanistan, or as it has been in past conflicts in Korea or Yugoslavia or in places around the world like Haiti."

Canada has been criticized for focusing all of its military efforts on Afghanistan at the expense of other world crises zones, particularly in Africa, where ongoing violence in the Darfur region of the Sudan and in the eastern Congo has demanded attention. A Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan or a dramatic scaling back of the 2,500 troops now in Kandahar could also open the door to a greater focus on Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest and most unstable country.
More on link

Australia blasts UN for delays in Afghanistan
Cynthia Banham and Jonathan Pearlman November 24, 2008
Article Link

THE Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, has lashed out at the United Nations for hampering the rebuilding of Afghanistan amid concerns that internal wrangling and bureaucracy are obstructing efforts to help the country.

Mr Fitzgibbon expressed his anger at a meeting of defence ministers from the war's southern command and rallied Australia's coalition partners to individually and jointly protest to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

He was especially angry that an offer by Australia to send a one-star general to help the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, with the reconstruction effort had fallen on deaf ears.

"[The envoy] is unable to work effectively across the country," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
More on link

Pakistan says militants pushed back from Peshawar
By RIAZ KHAN – 4 hours ago 
Article Link

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A two-week operation to secure the frontier city of Peshawar, which sits on a key supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, killed 25 suspected militants, a Pakistani official said Monday.

Security forces backed by warplanes and artillery swept through an area between the city and Pakistan's wild tribal belt, where Taliban and al-Qaida militants have found refuge.

Zafrullah Khan, commander of paramilitary Frontier Constabulary troops in the area, said his force and police have taken control of 22 of 25 targeted villages and would clear the others within a week.

"The militants in these areas have been a big threat to the writ of the government," Khan said. "They have been a main source and origin of the crimes in Peshawar and other cities of the province."

Some 25 suspects have been killed and another 35 arrested during the operation, he said. He said those detained included foreigners, but provided no details.

Four suicide jackets and weapons, including guns, rockets and grenades were seized, he said.
More on link

French FM airs doubt about Obama's Afghan plan
17 hours ago
Article Link

PARIS (AP) — The French foreign minister says he has doubts about U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's plans to fight Islamic militants in Afghanistan.

Bernard Kouchner says plans that increase troop numbers would only work "in precise areas with a precise task." Kouchner says France believes military power alone won't stabilize the situation in Afghanistan.

Kouchner told France's TV5 television Sunday that international troops should help the Afghan people "take matters into their own hands."

Obama wants to step up the U.S. fight against terrorism in Afghanistan.
More on link

Enlisting Tribes Against Militants In Afghanistan Carries Risks  
November 23, 2008 By Abubakar Siddique 
Article Link

General David McKiernan, the top commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has recommended giving more power to local councils to stem violence in the country. 

Speaking to the Washington-based Atlantic Council of the United States on November 21, the general said achieving "reconciliation at the local level" has the potential to be " a very, very powerful metric." McKiernan emphasized that he understands the unique challenges faced in Afghanistan. But he also stressed that his plan would borrow from the Iraq model, which takes a "bottom up" approach that taps and organizes local communities tired of the harsh rules and lack of security associated with radical militants. 

"What I do think has great merit -- great potential -- is a community outreach program that takes an area, say a district, in Afghanistan and brings together the leaders of that district," McKiernan said. "Whether they are tribal elders; whether they are maliks; whether they are religious scholars; mullahs; whatever, in a shura; [it] allows them to select a committee to represent that community."

McKiernan added that such an approach would have multiple benefits. It would allow the Afghan government in Kabul to empower these committees so they can provide local security and oversight. At the same time, it would also allow the central government to benefit from the insight community leaders.

But local leaders are taking a cautious approach, noting the harsh realities on the ground and warning of the risks involved. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (24 Nov 2008)

Marines drafting plan to send more troops to Afghanistan
Top officers have met repeatedly to consider deploying 15,000 Marines to join the 30,000 U.S. troops already there to fight the Taliban and other insurgents.
_LA Times_, Nov. 24
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan24-2008nov24,0,5733953.story



> Reporting from Marine Headquarters At Al Asad, Iraq -- Marine Corps leaders are devising a plan to send thousands of additional combat troops to Afghanistan to wage aggressive warfare against the Taliban that they expect could take years.
> 
> The Marines would like to deploy more than 15,000 troops if Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, newly named head of the U.S. Central Command, approve. About 2,300 Marines have already been sent to Afghanistan to replace units from Twentynine Palms, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C., that are returning home after eight months...
> 
> ...



Germany to use Russian land to resupply troops
_Quqnoos.com_, Nov. 23
http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2095&Itemid=48



> RUSSIA has agreed to let the German military use Russian territory to transport supplies to its troops in Afghanistan.
> 
> The Russian Foreign Ministry said the agreement was a sign of increased co-operation between the two countries in the fight against terror in Afghanistan.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (25 Nov 2008)

ARTICLE FOUND NOV. 25

Fast-melting Arctic ice, Afghan security greatest challenges for Forces: top soldier
Defence chief Gen. Natynczyk tells it like it is
Canwest News, Nov. 25
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=a308c9a3-09f1-4400-b7b7-66fc6fb248a5



> ...in windblown and landlocked Afghanistan, Canada and its military allies are dusting themselves off from a summer of stepped-up Taliban attacks, including the recent acid assault on schoolgirls and a prison break in Kandahar, and the unprecedented targeting of Kabul's only luxury hotel and the Indian Embassy there.
> 
> "Security has not improved, ladies and gentlemen, as the insurgents operated from sanctuaries along the Pakistan border and the attacks this summer became more sophisticated," Gen. Natynczyk told a military, business and diplomatic audience [at a Canadian Club luncheon].
> 
> ...



U.S. to Boost Presence Near Kabul
Hundreds of Troops Destined for Afghan Provinces With Few Western Forces, Top Army Official Says
_Washington Post_, Nov. 25
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402587.html



> As the United States and NATO attempt to stamp out an increasingly potent insurgency on the doorstep of the Afghan capital, the senior U.S. Army commander in eastern Afghanistan said he plans to send hundreds of troops to two volatile provinces immediately south of Kabul that have traditionally lacked Western forces.
> 
> Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said in an interview this week that a portion of the estimated 3,500 additional U.S. troops expected to arrive in Afghanistan in January will be deployed to Logar and Wardak provinces. Neither has been a major center of U.S. or NATO military activity, even though both provinces are directly adjacent to Kabul and are home to critical transit routes. Schloesser, who spoke at his headquarters at Bagram air base, said he anticipates a rise in clashes with rebel Afghan fighters in Logar and Wardak.
> 
> "I would expect from this winter on an increase in violence south of Kabul caused by us, caused by us and the Afghans working together," Schloesser said. "Then, over a period of several months, as we are more successful in separating the enemy from the people and consolidating gains, the violence will come down."..



Marines’ heroic actions at Shewan leave more than 50 insurgents dead, several wounded 
News, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, Nov. 16 
http://www.marines.mil/units/marforpac/imef/1stmardiv/7thregiment/2ndbat/Pages/Marines%E2%80%99heroicactionsatShewanleavemorethan50insurgentsdead,severalwounded.aspx



> FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan  —In the city of Shewan, approximately 250 insurgents ambushed 30 Marines and paid a heavy price for it.
> 
> Shewan has historically been a safe haven for insurgents, who used to plan and stage attacks against Coalition Forces in the Bala Baluk district.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (26 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 26, 2008*

Afghan president wants date for pullout of foreign troops
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 CBC News 
Article Link

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is calling for the international community to set a timeline for the withdrawal of troops from the war-torn country.

Speaking to a United Nations Security Council delegation on Tuesday, Karzai said that if no deadline is set, Afghanistan has the right to negotiate an end date for the presence of coalition forces.

"If there is no deadline, we have the right to find another solution for peace and security, which is negotiations," Karzai was quoted as saying in a statement from his office.

He told the delegation that aerial bombings by international military forces and searches of Afghan homes must come to an end.

Karzai has repeatedly asked for Western troops to cut back on civilian deaths, which erode support for the foreign military presence.

Canada is part of a multi-national NATO-led force, a coalition that has about 50,000 troops in Afghanistan. About 2,500 Canadian soldiers are stationed in Afghanistan, primarily in the southern province of Kandahar.

The Afghan president also said not enough attention has been paid to militant bases outside Afghanistan, a likely reference to the volatile tribal areas in neighbouring Pakistan.

In the past, Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of harbouring Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. The U.S. has launched a number of missile attacks in the border region of the two countries in recent weeks.
More on link

Special Forces hone skills, teamwork in Nevada
By KEVIN MAURER – 18 hours ago 
Article Link

HAWTHORNE ARMY DEPOT, Nev. (AP) — The roadside explosion wasn't real. Neither was the shrapnel that "shredded" the driver's chest and leg, nor the blood that flowed from his "wounds."

But the pressure on rookie Special Forces medic Sgt. Nick Capuano was brutal.

No one would die if Capuano failed to keep the driver "alive," and the 27-year-old had run similar drills dozens of times during his Special Forces qualification course. But this time, there were no instructors watching as Capuano diagnosed the compound fracture to the driver's left leg and started to treat the shrapnel wound to the chest.

This time, it was Capuano's Special Forces teammates — the soldiers who will count on the young medic to save their lives if a real roadside bomb hits during their upcoming tour in Afghanistan — watching his reactions. Failure meant losing the faith of his teammates before leaving for his first mission as a Green Beret.

"It was important for me to show our teammates Nick in a stressful situation," said Sgt. 1st Class Joe Healey, a veteran Special Forces medic.

"I wanted the team to see him work before we went to ensure that the same quality is coming through. You don't really want to show up in Afghanistan and have to learn about your guys."
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Karzai says US, NATO created 'parallel' government
By FISNIK ABRASHI – 3 hours ago 
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Hamid Karzai criticized the U.S. and other foreign countries for creating a "parallel government" in the countryside during a blunt overview of Afghanistan's problems before a U.N. Security Council delegation.

Karzai called Tuesday for the international community to set a timeline to end the war in Afghanistan and asked why — given the number of countries involved and the amount of money spent — the Taliban remains so powerful.

"This war has gone on for seven years, the Afghans don't understand anymore, how come a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist, can continue to flourish, can continue to launch attacks," he asked.

With an entire NATO force in Afghanistan and the entire international community behind them, "still we are not able to defeat the Taliban," Karzai told the gathering at his presidential palace.

Karzai — facing re-election next year and making increasing overtures to conservative Afghan tribes most likely to vote for him — has been criticized for being ineffective and weak, while his government was accused of deep-seated corruption.

The president's Tuesday comments appear to be a response to that criticism and lay the blame for the deteriorating security situation and other woes on the international community.
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## karl28 (26 Nov 2008)

Mods I am not sure if this is the right place but seems like it . IT's an article link from CTV about the Government sending armed Griffins to Afghanistan for escorting the Chinooks  


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081126/afghan_helicopters_081126/20081126?hub=Canada


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## GAP (27 Nov 2008)

*Articles found November 27, 2008*

Rocket hits NATO truck depot in Pakistan
By RIAZ KHAN – 20 hours ago 
Article Link

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected militants fired a rocket Wednesday that hit a terminal for trucks carrying supplies to NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, underscoring the insurgents increasing hold over parts of northwest Pakistan.

The rocket was one of two fired late in the day in the region's capital, Peshawar, said police officer Abdul Qadirwhich. The city, which sits along the supply route from Pakistan to Afghanistan, has seen an upsurge in violence in recent weeks, including the slaying of an American working on a U.S-funded aid project.

Neither of the rockets caused serious damage or any injuries, he said.

Qadir said officers were not sure whether the truck terminal was the target of the attack. The rockets are normally fired into the city from hills on its outskirts some 10 kilometers (7 miles) away.

Up to 75 percent of the supplies for Western forces in landlocked Afghanistan pass through Pakistan. Peshawar is a key stop for convoys en route to the Khyber Pass and on to Western Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, suspected Taliban militants hijacked several trucks near the Khyber Pass whose load included Humvees heading to the U.S.-led coalition. Pakistan halted traffic along the road for several days while it arranged for armed troops to guard the slow-moving convoys.
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Afghan car bomb kills four near U.S. Embassy
By Laura King 1:28 AM PST, November 27, 2008 
Article Link

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan --- A suicide car bomber set off a powerful blast Thursday near the gates of the U.S. Embassy, killing at least four Afghan civilians and injuring more than a dozen others.

Weaving in and out of morning rush-hour traffic near one of Kabul's busiest traffic circles, the bomber's Toyota Corolla struck several other cars before exploding, witnesses said.


It was not clear whether the bomber was attempting to strike at a NATO convoy in the area, or trying to get close to one of the embassy's heavily fortified entrances, the nearest of which was about 200 yards away, or intended to simply wreak havoc in a crowded commercial area.

No one inside the embassy compound was hurt, and all personnel were accounted for, said spokesman Mark Stroh. Most embassy workers were off for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The blast, shortly after 8:30 a.m., shattered windows in a nearby apartment building and reduced the car to a charred wreck. For a time the bomber's mangled body lay uncovered in the street.


Afterward, workers in orange jumpsuits swept up broken glass and metal shards while little boys skipped and hopped through a large black scorch mark on the sidewalk.

"I was across the street when I heard a huge blast, and smoke filled the sky," said Basir Ahmed, a passer-by. "I ran to help the injured."

Another bystander, Ahmed Khalid, said he saw the car moving erratically in heavy traffic just before the blast. "It crashed into one car and then another, and then came the big explosion," he said.
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## MarkOttawa (27 Nov 2008)

Afghanistan and intl security trends
Conference of Defence Associations media round-up, Nov. 27
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1227815229

Mark
Ottawa


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