# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (May '08)



## GAP (1 May 2008)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (May '08)*             

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

*Articles found May 1, 2008*

Afghans relieved talks with Taliban may happen; Canada avoids direct role
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A strategy of talking to the Taliban - once ridiculed as "naive" by the Conservative government in Canada - is being test driven in the Kandahar countryside, much to the relief of some Afghans including one of the area's biggest power brokers.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half brother of Afghanistan's president, said something needs to be done to stop "the madness" of the deadly insurgency.

Canadian troops in Afghanistan are reported reaching out to low-and mid-level insurgents, encouraging them through local villagers to sit down with Afghan authorities and perhaps even NATO forces.

"I absolutely support the Canadian decision," Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council, told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday.

"It's a very wise and proper decision. There are people (with whom) we can talk and reason."

"There would be so many Taliban willing to come home. Nobody supports this madness; this killing of innocent people; the killing of women and children. They are not happy with it, we know this."
More on link

B.C. protects civilian jobs of military reservists with labour law changes
Article Link

VICTORIA — B.C. is following through on a promise to protect the jobs of reserve soldiers who are serving in places like Afghanistan.

Labour Minister Olga Illich says the government is amending the Employment Standards Act to ensure reservists will have their jobs to come home to when their military duties are finished.

She says hundreds of reservists take time out from their civilian jobs to serve the country and they shouldn't have to worry about their jobs.

The legislation applies to reservists involved in overseas missions and domestic emergencies.

Reservists take unpaid leaves from their jobs and are paid by the Canadian Forces, and their civilian employers won't have to make benefit and pension contributions while the employee is on leave.
More on link

Ottawa artist portrays those who serve
Art Babych May 1, 2008 Art Babych 
Article Link

In a recent exhibition, artist Karen Bailey documented older women who work in the kitchen of Ottawa’s St. Thomas the Apostle Church.Ottawa
The dwindling numbers of aging women who serve in parish kitchens across the country seldom receive public recognition for their work but an Ottawa professional artist is doing something about it.

Karen Bailey – an Anglican who once worked as a waitress – is creating a body of work entitled, “Blanche Dot Doris,” that celebrates “the patience and perseverance of servers, the people they serve and the environment in which they work.”

Although her plan to document elderly women working in the kitchen of St. Thomas the Apostle Church was sidetracked by a two-week trip to Afghanistan last June as an appointed military artist, Ms. Bailey has produced enough paintings for a recent solo exhibition at the Dale Smith Gallery in Ottawa. 
More on link

Peacekeepers' wall expected to get boost
Calgary Herald Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Article Link

City Hall - Council will put any leftover money from the Legacy Parks program into extending a wall recognizing fallen Canadian peacekeepers.

The wall, located in Peacekeepers' Park in Garrison Green, is running out of room for names due to the military mission in Afghanistan.

Ald. Ric McIver suggested the city dedicate some money to extending the wall. The rest of council agreed, deciding that any surplus in the Legacy Parks program should be used for the project.
More on link

Americans build elite Afghan commando force
The commando battalions, just a year old, are being trained and deployed nationally as a mobile, quick-reaction force.
By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the May 1, 2008 edition
Article Link

Rish Khvor, Afghanistan - Pvt. Said Reza says he's ready to be a soldier in his country's fight against extremists, and as he stands in uniform in the middle of a training camp here with his semiautomatic rifle, kneepads, and American-style dark glasses, he looks the part. 

Private Reza has already graduated from basic soldier training. He volunteered to become a member of an elite unit of the Army that is being groomed to become a model force of Afghan warriors. 

"The only thing I know is that these [extremists] are a bunch of people who sell their country for a very small amount of money," says Reza of the extremists he expects to fight. When asked if he's ready to take them on, his answer is simple: "Bali ho" – of course. 

Trained to be "the best of the best," who fight in riskier, more complex political and military environments – say, taking on a popular tribal leader aligned with the Taliban – the Commandos are distinct from the regular Army but are expected to help define the image and capabilities of Afghan security forces as a whole. The goal is an elite, quick-reaction force that can act independently. It's a crucial addition for an uneven US-NATO mission that many military and civilian leaders agree has evolved in a way that has let the Taliban resurface. 
More on link

Tale of two cities: Canada's fortune in Kandahar depends on action in Kabul
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — In Kandahar, a poverty-racked city of mud walls and thatch roofs, suicide bombers prowl and a charismatic young governor derided by critics as corrupt and immoral has lost the confidence of both his constituents and the Canadian military.

Five hundred kilometres away in the gridlocked metropolis of blaring horns and outstretched hands that is Kabul, Canada and Kandahar together wait for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to do something about his problematic political emissary, Asadullah Khalid.

"I don't want him to even be a politician in the next government of Afghanistan," Malalay Ishaqzai, a politician from Kandahar who sits as a member of the Afghan national assembly, said in an interview with The Canadian Press in Kabul.

"He should be removed from the government and not given any other province or any other job. He's a useless person for the people of Kandahar."

It's a prime example of how the story of Canada's mission in Afghanistan has become a tale of two cities.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (1 May 2008)

Building Bridges in the Back of Beyond
_Washington Post_, May Day, by David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003253.html?wpisrc=newsletter



> NARAY, Afghanistan -- This remote, mountainous patch of Afghanistan is near where Rudyard Kipling set his famous story "The Man Who Would Be King." And as you listen to Lt. Col. Chris Kolenda rattle off the names of the region's tribes and subtribes, you realize that he and other Americans here might be Kipling characters themselves...
> 
> Kolenda talks like an amateur ethnologist as he explains the tribal makeup of Kamdesh, an area just north of here where U.S. forces have been trying to woo the elders and mullahs away from the insurgents. He identifies a main tribe, four subtribes and 12 clans, each with its own history of feuds and friendships. If the U.S. military doesn't understand the local culture, Kolenda explains, it will make mistakes in trying to forge alliances that can stabilize the area.
> 
> ...



CIA Chief Sees Unrest Rising With Population
_Washington Post_, May 1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003258.html



> Swelling populations and a global tide of immigration will present new security challenges for the United States by straining resources and stoking extremism and civil unrest in distant corners of the globe, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in a speech yesterday.
> 
> The population surge could undermine the stability of some of the world's most fragile states, especially in Africa, while in the West, governments will be forced to grapple with ever larger immigrant communities and deepening divisions over ethnicity and race, Hayden said...
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (2 May 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND MAY 2

Afghanistan: complex policy issues
Conference of Defence Associations, May 2
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1209747523/

Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (5 May 2008)

*Articles found April 5, 2008*

Canadian Forces to buy more minesweepers: report
Updated Mon. May. 5 2008 7:25 AM ET The Canadian Press
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- National Defence is looking to buy more specialized armoured vehicles to detect roadside bombs, the biggest scourge facing troops in Afghanistan, The Canadian Press has learned.

The army is drawing up a proposal to purchase as many as 30 vehicles for both overseas and training duty, say senior Defence sources in Ottawa.

"Commander CEFCOM (Canadian Expeditionary Force) is asking for greater capacity,'' said a source who has seen the planning. "We're interested in buying larger numbers so we have more deployable sets.''

The Expedient Route Opening Capability system -- known by its acronym EROC -- involves three vehicles working in tandem to sweep roadways before the arrival of combat or supply convoys.

The Defence sources, who spoke on the condition of not being named, said last week that the proposal involves buying 10 more EROC sets sometime in the near future.
More on link

Sandwiched between Taliban and poppies, Marines face day of fire in southern Afghanistan  
The Associated Press Friday, May 2, 2008 
Article Link

GARMSER, Afghanistan: Gunfire rang out at Sgt. Dan Linas' patrol, pinning his squad down against a dirt berm. The Marines looked across the field on their left, at three mud huts and a grove of trees, in search of the muzzle flash.

Then they trained their M-16s and opened fire.

The sun had barely risen above the horizon, but for the Marines of Bravo Company's 2nd Platoon, the daybreak firefight was just the first in a series of engagements Friday that saw the troops respond with earsplitting barrages of machine-gun fire, mortars and artillery, most of which landed just 600 meters (yards) from the troops' position.

To the Marines' east, north and south lay bountiful fields of opium poppies, to the west an unseen enemy.

Airstrikes and artillery have thundered through this southern Afghan town since early Tuesday when the Marines moved into Garmser, a town classified as Taliban territory where no NATO troops operate. Cobra helicopters have concentrated rounds of fire on mud house hideouts, and artillery has rattled the countryside.
More on link

MacKay dismisses reports of Canada-Taliban talks
Updated Sat. May. 3 2008 10:55 PM ET The Canadian Press
Article Link

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Defence Minister Peter MacKay is denying reports from Afghanistan that Canadian soldiers are reaching out to members of the Taliban in order to establish peace in the war-torn country. 

Canadian military officials in Afghanistan have been quoted as saying they're trying to engage in a dialogue with insurgents -- a move that federal New Democrat Leader Jack Layton has long supported. 

"I was pleased to hear that our military on the ground were looking at opening up lines of communication with the insurgents,'' Layton said Saturday while attending a provincial NDP convention in St. John's. 

"Our party has always argued that we've got to carve out a path towards peace, it's got to involve some negotiations and discussions, even with those combatants with whom we're engaged in combat.'' 
More on link

Troops accused of passing captives to Afghan torturers
Tom Hyland May 4, 2008
Article Link

Page 1 of 2 | Single page 
PRISONERS captured by Australian and Dutch troops in Afghanistan allege they have been beaten after being handed over to the notorious Afghan secret police.

While the Australian Defence Force says there is no evidence prisoners taken by Australian troops have been mistreated, official documents show three have complained they were beaten around the head by secret police after being captured by the Dutch-Australian taskforce.

The Dutch documents show prisoners are routinely handed over to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS), which human rights groups accuse of torturing and abusing prisoners.

International law prohibiting torture outlaws returning a person to the custody of a nation where they risk torture or other ill-treatment.

The heavily censored foreign and defence ministry documents, released to a Dutch newspaper, do not specify the nationality of the troops who captured the men.
More on link

Things Canadians Don't Even Talk About
 04 May 2008
Article Link

Those who complain about Canada not doing enough for its soldiers in Afghanistan, should spend some time examining the UK deployment to Afghanistan. While Canadian troops are served up constantly improved equipment, often as fast as it's requested, British troops languish away, and die, because of bureaucratic and poltical stubborness.

So it is, that discussions and debates taking place in the UK, aren't even contemplated in Canada.

I've often said that "progressives" are the last people you want covering your back ... the British provide us with a perfect case in point:

The circumstances are redolent of other incidents we have reported but, in this case, Marine Watson was riding in an unarmoured Pinzgauer utility truck (pictured).

A request had been made for a Viking but none had been available and Mr Walker ruled that, had one been provided, Watson – who had returned to his vehicle when the firing broke out - would have survived.

Of course, the Viking – as noted above – does offer protection against gunfire but does not resolve the mine/IED threat. One other vehicle – apart from the Mastiff - that goes a long way towards doing that is the Cougar/Ridgeback and it is perhaps appropriate that, at long last, the British government formally placed the long-awaited order for 157 of them last week.
More on link

Teachers raise funds for Afghan women
Tonya Zelinsky, Calgary Herald Published: Sunday, May 04, 2008
Article Link

What: Afghani Teacher Fundraising Dinner

Women from all walks of life and of all ages were spotted Breaking Bread recently when they gathered together to help women suffering from injustices in Afghanistan.

Hosted by Breaking Bread For Women in Afghanistan, the annual Afghani Teachers Fundraising Dinner was designed to support much-needed education project for Afghan women and girls.
More on link


----------



## GAP (6 May 2008)

*Articles found May 6, 2008*

Canadian troops start takeover in Afghanistan
Updated Sat. Feb. 25 2006 8:15 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

Canadian troops have officially started taking over from their American allies on the front lines of Kandahar province in Afghanistan.

Up until this point, the U.S. Task Force Gun Devils have been heading the military presence in the southern region of the country. But it will now be controlled by soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

The handover will be completed next week, but at the first of several ceremonies to be held, the head of the U.S. forces in the region gave his Canadian counterparts an ominous order.

"When the enemy rears its ugly head, I expect you to kill and capture them and defeat them," Lt.-Col Bert Ges, the head of the Task Force Gun Devil told the Canadian troops. "Keep up the aggressiveness and continue on the fight against the enemy."

"The change today is similar to a line change in hockey," Ges said. "It's still the same team going down the ice ready to score, just a different capability out there."

No one in Afghanistan is underestimating the unpredictability of this mission, particularly Capt. Slade Lerch. For the past seven months he's been embedded with U.S. forces.

He has lost friends in the line of duty, and
More on link

Auditor general to release latest report on government spending
Article Link

OTTAWA — We get another peek Tuesday at how the federal government is spending our tax dollars - and what the country's auditor general has to say about it.

Sheila Fraser will deliver her latest report that will focus on eight items, including how the government is funding child welfare programs on reserves, and whether the services are comparable to what's offered off-reserve. Another chapter in her report will look at how Transport Canada is overseeing airline safety.

Fraser has also studied whether Canadian troops in Afghanistan are getting proper supplies when they need them.

There has been growing tension between the Harper government and the auditor general since earlier this year, when Fraser said she received a notice that the government wanted to vet her public communications
More on link

Hillier looking for LAV-3 replacement
David ********, Canwest News Service Published: Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Article Link

Canada's armoured vehicles are limited in the amount of protection they can carry so the military is starting to look for a replacement, the country's chief of defence staff says.

Gen. Rick Hillier said the LAV-3s are excellent and many improvements have been made to ensure troops in Afghanistan are better protected, but he pointed out the vehicle's suspension and other technical aspects have been pushed to the limit by the improvements.

That, in turn, prevents more armour or other systems from being installed in the vehicles.

"We're going to have to look at what we can do in the army for a fleet of fighting vehicles," said Hillier.

"That's what we need to work through right now and be able to offer our minister, and therefore the government of Canada, some recommendations."

The LAV-3s are the backbone of the army's combat fleet.

Hillier said military personnel are examining what types of vehicles might fit the bill, including "what's on the market or what's in development right now that could be on the market pretty soon."

He didn't provide details on how much such a program would cost because it depends on how many vehicles are ordered.

The U.S. military is developing a fleet of armoured vehicles but Hillier suggested that program is too far off for Canada's needs. He noted his preference is to continue with purchasing off-the-shelf equipment that can be delivered relatively fast.
More on link

'Winning is no longer about killing'; Outgoing leader of combat training says Kingston plays major role in new world of warfare
Posted By Ian Elliot 
Article Link

Like many officers of his generation, Maj.-Gen. Stuart Beare trained to fight a Cold War suddenly turned hot with two standing armies clashing along a border, likely in Germany. 

For Beare, the outgoing commander of CFB Kingston's Land Force Doctrine and Training System - essentially the Canadian army's combat college - it's not like that anymore. He's one of the senior officers adapting the Canadian Forces to the new world of warfare, where superiority on the ground and in the air does not equal victory against ragtag groups of combatants who fight using improvised explosive devices rather than tanks. 

"We're not in Afghanistan to burn gas and shoot bullets," said the blunt-spoken Beare, a former gunner who is moving to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa after turning over command of the 2,500-strong Kingston-based unit to Maj.-Gen. Marquis Hainse. 

"Winning is no longer about killing, and everyone who is over there right now gets that. They see it with their own eyes and they understand it." 

Today's battleground is much more nuanced than the traditional two armies clashing in the night, Beare said. Kingston has quietly carved out a major role in planning how modern campaigns in Afghanistan and elsewhere are waged. 

While elements of traditional warfare are still present, combat capability is now also a supporting arm of reconstruction and development. 
More on link

Chopper hit by rebel fire in Afghanistan
Article Link

KABUL (AFP) — A civilian helicopter was hit by insurgent gunfire in mountainous eastern Afghanistan on Monday, forcing it to make an emergency landing at a NATO military base, the alliance force said.

No one was injured in the incident in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

"The helicopter made a landing at an ISAF base, in central Kunar, after taking machine gunfire from an unknown number of insurgents," ISAF said in a statement.

"The aircrew inspected the aircraft and found one bullet hole that did minor damage to the helicopter."

The chopper was contracted by the military, the force said without being able to immediately provide further information.

Insurgents battling the Afghan army and its international allies have shot at several military helicopters, most often missing.

But a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) brought down a Chinook helicopter in Kunar in June 2005, killing 16 US soldiers. The province has steep mountains on which insurgents are said to operate.
More on link

WASHINGTON: Afghanistan, Iraq wars deplete elite forces, top leader says
THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: May 6th, 2008 01:00 AM
Article Link

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making such heavy use of the nation’s Green Berets and other elite warriors that they cannot fulfill their roles in other parts of the world, the military’s top commando told The Associated Press on Monday. 
“We’re going to fewer countries, staying for shorter periods of time, with smaller numbers of people than historically we have done,” Adm. Eric T. Olson said in his first interview since becoming commander of U.S. Special Operations Command last July.

Olson, himself a combat veteran, saw little chance that the demand for his special operations forces in Iraq will decline anytime soon. Even as the overall American force there shrinks – from about 158,000 now to about 140,000 by the end of July – the number of special operations forces in the war zone is likely to increase, he said.

The Associated Press 
More on link


----------



## GAP (7 May 2008)

*Articles found May 7, 2008*

$1.3b for Navistar to Equip Afghan & Iraqi Militaries
06-May-2008 18:26 EDT
Article Link

The U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command recently awarded Navistar Defense a follow-on contract to provide medium tactical trucks and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

Under the multi-year, $1.283 billion contract, Navistar will supply 7,072 vehicles based on their severe service International 7000 Series truck. The order will include General Troop Transporter, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), water tankers, wreckers and hazardous material truck variants. In addition, Navistar will supply all required spare parts necessary to support several years of scheduled maintenance. Approximately half of the 2008 order will be delivered during the first year of the contract, with nearly 1,000 units expected to be delivered in FY 2008 (i.e. before Oct 1/08).

This award follows a $430 million contract, 2,900 vehicle contract awarded in 2005, bringing the overall total to $1.71 billion and 9,972 trucks. Navistar release. Note that the International 7000 truck chassis is also the basis of the blast-resistant MaxxPro 4×4 patrol vehicle, which is currently the lead vehicle in the USA’s 15,000+ vehicle MRAP (Mine Resistant, ambush Protected) program.

More on link

'Canada's Afghan Mission Seen Hit By Supply Woes',  Reuters, 6 May 2008
Article Link

EXCERPT: "Weaknesses in its supply chain could threaten the Canadian military's ability to sustain its mission in Afghanistan, a Canadian watchdog reported on Tuesday [6 May 2008]. 'So far, the military has been able to adapt and adjust so that operations have not been significantly affected,' Auditor-General Sheila Fraser told reporters as she released the report of her office's investigation of supply operations. 'But unless the problems we found can be resolved, the Canadian Forces could have increasing difficulty supporting the mission.' The Canadian military, which has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, has been able to maintain combat equipment close to its goal of 90 percent serviceability. But maintenance of support vehicles, including critical land-mine detection vehicles, has presented many more difficulties
More on link

Canadian soldier killed in ambush in Afghanistan
Ryan Cormier, Canwest News Service  Published: Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Article Link

A Canadian soldier was killed and another was wounded by enemy fire during an ambush in Afghanistan on Tuesday. 

Cpl. Michael Starker, a reservist and medic, was on a foot patrol when the attack occurred in the Pashmul region of the Zhari district.

The Calgary soldier was taken to the Kandahar Airfield after the attack that took place around 11:45 a.m. local time, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

An unidentified soldier was injured in the same attack, but the soldier was in stable condition Tuesday and notified his family of his injuries himself.

"At the time of the incident, our soldiers were conducting a civil-military co-operation patrol in the area, when they came under attack," said Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, commanding general of Task Force Afghanistan.
More on link

Chief Of The Defence Staff General Rick Hillier  
May 7, 2008, by Adam Day
Article Link

Editor’s note: On April 15, while the magazine was preparing to go to press, General Rick Hillier announced he will be stepping down as Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff. The move was expected to become effective in July.

Rick Hillier is still grinning, even if just barely. After more than three years at the head of Canada’s armed forces and at the centre of relentless media attention and political controversy over the war in Afghanistan, Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier, Canada’s sometimes embattled top soldier, remains determined and steadfastly optimistic.

Hillier is optimistic not only about the mission in Afghanistan, where he says there is progress every day, even if it is slow and incomplete, but also about the future of the Canadian Forces, which he says is finally becoming an organization that its members want to be a part of.

Handpicked to become chief of defence staff by former Prime Minister Paul Martin and his Defence Minister Bill Graham, Hillier burst into the public spotlight in early 2005 with his out­spoken views, boisterous charisma and strongly enunciated vision for a new Canadian Forces.
More on link

2 police killed in roadside blast in eastern Afghanistan
The Associated PressPublished: May 7, 2008
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan: A roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two officers, while another blast in the same area killed a suspected would-be suicide bomber, officials said.

The attack on the police car occurred just outside the capital of Khost province as the officers traveled from their homes to work, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.

The powerful explosion destroyed the vehicle, Pacha said.

Insurgents often target the police force, which is more vulnerable and exposed than the better trained and equipped Afghan national army. Over 920 police officers were killed by militants in 2007.
More on link


----------



## geo (7 May 2008)

Singapore sends military engineers to Afghanistan  

(AFP) 
Mon May 5, 2008
SINGAPORE 

Singapore is sending two military construction engineering teams to Afghanistan, the defence ministry said Monday. 

In the tiny city-state's latest military contribution to the area, 12 team members will be deployed in two groups over about six months in central Bamiyan province, the ministry said. 

They are to supervise construction of a regional health training centre and will be part of the New Zealand Defence Force provincial reconstruction team, it said. 

"This deployment is part of Singapore's overall contribution to the international humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan," the defence ministry said in a statement. 

Singapore last year sent a five-man medical team to Bamiyan, and a Singapore Air Force refuelling aircraft left last month for the Gulf where it will support multi-national forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ministry said earlier. 

Singapore, which US President George W. Bush visited in 2006, has been an unwavering US ally. 



Afghan air corps soars again Air Force  

DefenseTalk.com
News Agency 
May 6, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan

Graduates completed the first orientation course for the Afghan National army air corps April 30 at the Kabul Air Corps Training Center here. 

The four-week inaugural course laid the foundation for the air corps soldiers as they began their careers in the ANAAC. 

"This is an exciting new age," said Brig. Gen. Jay H. Lindell, the Combined Air Power Transition Force commander. "I congratulate you as you build, and rebuild, the Afghan air corps." 

During the course, KACTC instructors taught 20 students airfield safety, computer instruction, the history of the air corps, logistics and equipment maintenance. 

With the help of advisors and instructors from the U.S. Air Force, private contractors and former air corps members, the ANAAC is being rebuilt after nearly two decades of neglect. 

"Many of the instructors are former members of the Afghan air corps," General Lindell said. "They have returned, wanting to give back to their country." 

Students of the orientation course received technical training in ground support and other services crucial to the maintenance of military aircraft and helicopters. 

"We are just in the beginning stages," said Lt. Col. James Langford, the KACTC education director. "This class did very well. If you had been here when they arrived four weeks ago, you would have seen students like any of our typical (U.S.) Airmen recruits." 

In addition to the regular coursework, the students received instruction on sexual harassment, military values and participated in a physical conditioning program. 

More advanced classes will be taught by October and class size will increase to 30 students, Colonel Langford said. 

"During the course, they also learned to stand guard at installation entry points, conduct vehicle searches and stand watches at public buildings and airports," the colonel said. "After graduation, they are all going to join Afghan National Security Forces. Initially they will be stationed here in Kabul, but later they will move on to other locations around the country." 

"Our students did very well. The instructors have taught them many things," said Temor Shah, the director of the KACTC. "Later this year, more American advisors will arrive for a year-long deployment, instructing the next round of students." 

The curriculum will expand to include a 12-week course on fixed-wing aircraft, rotary-wing maintenance and aircraft logistics, Colonel Langford said. 

The program is a welcome addition to our country's defense, Mr. Shah said.


----------



## MarkOttawa (7 May 2008)

India not to take up new road projects in Afghanistan
_India eNews_, May 6
http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20080506/116224.htm



> After the latest killings of its personnel by Taliban militants in Afghanistan, India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Tuesday said it is unlikely to take up any more projects in the insurgency-plagued country.
> 
> 'In Afghanistan, we unfortunately had casualties. We have 300 men working in the country, and *about 400 personnel of ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) are there for the inner security cordon* [emphasis added],' BRO Director General Lt. Gen. A.K. Nanda told reporters here.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (8 May 2008)

*Articles found May 8, 2008*

New General To Take Up Command Of Canadian Troops  
The Canadian Press, 7 May 2008
Article Link

 "The next commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan hit the ground in Kandahar Wednesday and says he believes the mission will take on a different flavour during his nine month tour. Brig.-Gen. Dennis Thompson says evolving conditions in the war-torn region mean there will be more of an emphasis on the civilian side of development and reconstruction. He says there will still be a military aspect and doesn't expect the army will be adopting a defensive posture just because the focus is shifting. The Conservative government is in the process of refocusing the mission and setting down objectives to be achieved before the military mission runs out in 2011. Thompson will be laying the groundwork for that and for a civilian administration at the provincial reconstruction base, which Canada operates in Kandahar City. He will be replacing Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the current commander, in the near future."
More on link

Corrupt officials not receiving Canadian money: ambassador
Juliet O'Neill ,  Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA - Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada assured MPs Wednesday that Canadian aid funds are not winding up in the "pockets or bank accounts" of corrupt government officials.

Ambassador Omar Samad made the comment at a Commons committee as he urged Canada to support a request by Afghanistan to ensure a greater portion of international aid arriving in the country is channelled through the government, rather than non-government organizations and private corporations.

Afghanistan will be making that case at an international donors' conference next month in Paris where authorities will discuss the fate of billions of dollars in assistance while the security situation in the country has worsened.
More on link

U.S., NATO battle on uneven Afghan patchwork
Thu May 8, 2008 8:03am EDT
Article Link

By Luke Baker

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan, May 8 (Reuters) - Last week U.S. Captain Roger Hill led a patrol into the Jaldez valley, just southwest of Kabul, and was immediately ambushed from three sides by 50 Taliban fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades.

The army of attackers, robed and bearded, fired somewhere between 25 and 30 grenades at his convoy, Hill said, pinning the patrol down in a furious two-hour gun battle that ended only when U.S. fighter planes swooped in for support.

It was a relatively rare and surprisingly staunch attack for that area of Afghanistan, reminiscent in its intensity to episodes in Iraq, where Hill spent more than a year. Yet asked where he would rather be deployed, he is clear.

"I feel like we're getting somewhere here. In a way we've had to start much more from scratch in Iraq than in Afghanistan," he said. "Here there's a sense of progress."
More on link

Pullout by key U.S. manufacturer thins ranks of drone bidders
STEVEN CHASE May 8, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA -- The world's top manufacturer of aerial drones is pulling out of a $93-million competition to supply surveillance equipment that Canada must acquire by next February as a condition of keeping soldiers in Afghanistan.

The move by U.S.-based General Atomics, which makes the well-known Predator drones, reduces the competition for the contract and could leave Ottawa hostage to only one possible supplier: Elbit Systems of Israel and its Hermes pilotless aircraft.

It will also make it more difficult for the Canadian Forces when it comes to interoperability with their U.S. partners in Afghanistan, because the Americans use General Atomics Predator drones for the same mid-level surveillance.

Under a Canadian Forces program called Project Noctua - Latin for owl - the military is in a hurry to lease pilotless surveillance aircraft for at least two years to help soldiers battle the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The schedule is tight, even though the military has been trying to acquire drones ever since Canadian soldiers moved to Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province in 2005.

A January report on the future of Canada's war effort in Afghanistan prodded Ottawa to act on the drones by saying their acquisition should be one of the conditions for extending the country's military mission to 2011.

After a drawn-out debate, Parliament approved an extension of the mission in Afghanistan to 2011 from 2009, as long as allies supplied 1,000 soldiers to help Canada and the military acquired helicopters and drones by February, 2009.

Last month, however, General Atomics wrote to John Sinkinson, an official at Canada's Public Works Department, informing him that it won't bid on the deal.

Sources say the deal breaker for General Atomics is that Ottawa wants the drones by January, 2009 - just six months after the contract is signed, which it contends is not possible.
More on link

Clinic planned for servicemen, women with 'mental injuries'
Announcment in Ottawa meant to acknowlege service-related stress conditions
Norma Greenaway, Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA -- At least 1,500 of the 20,000 men and women who have served in the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan since 2001 have suffered from service-related stress conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression or addiction, according to federal government figures released Wednesday.

The figures were provided by the Department of National Defence as Greg Thompson, the federal minister of Veteran Affairs, announced the planned creation of a clinic in Ottawa for servicemen and women struggling with a range of "mental injuries."

The Ottawa clinic, which is expected to treat between 100 and 150 clients annually after it opens at the end of the year, is one of several planned across the country.
More on link

At Least 7 Killed in Eastern Afghanistan Attacks  
By VOA News 07 May 2008
   Article Link

A series of explosions and gunbattles in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least seven people, including two NATO soldiers.

NATO officials released a statement Wednesday saying two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops and one civilian were killed by a blast during a routine patrol in the province of Khost near the Pakistani border. Another two soldiers were wounded.

NATO did not release the soldiers' nationalities, but the majority of foreign troops in Khost are from the United States.

Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in Khost, killing two police officers on their way to work
More on link

Ex-Gitmo Detainees Returning To Afghanistan, Iraq Battlefields
May 7, 2008 11:30 p.m. EST 
Article Link

Windsor Genova - AHN News Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - More than 10 former detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have returned to the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq and either died or were captured in suicide bombings or firefights.

According to CNN, the Pentagon identified Kuwaiti Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi on Wednesday as among the ex-detainees. He died in a suicide bomb attack in Mosul, Iraq, on April 26. The attack killed two policemen and four other people.

Based on U.S. military records of detainees at the Cuban prison, Al-Ajmi, 29, was detained without charges at Guantanamo from 2001 to 2005. He claimed to have fought with the Taliban but said he was forced to make the claim while in U.S. custody.

Al-Ajmi was transferred to Kuwaiti custody in November 2005 and was released after a trial there.

Cmdr. Jeff Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, told CNN that "there is an implied future risk to U.S. and allied interests with every detainee who is released or transferred from Guantanamo."

The Cuban prison still holds 270 detainees, with 65 scheduled for release to their countries. Since the prison opened in 2002, more than 500 detainees have been repatriated to home countries
More on link

Afghanistan: Two Iranian Men Detained On Suspicions Of Spying  
Article Link

Two Iranian men have been detained in Afghanistan in separate incidents on suspicion of spying near NATO and Afghan military installations.

Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the governor of Afghanistan's southwestern province of Nimroz, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that one of the detained men was captured with documents and photographs that prove he had links with militants.

Azad said the man was captured trying to enter the city of Zarang, on the border with Iran. "He had a camera that had photographs of weaponry indicating clear ties with [Afghanistan's] enemies," Azad said.

In a second incident, near Afghanistan's southeastern border with Pakistan, authorities say they detained an Iranian man who was preparing information for what they believe was an attack against NATO and Afghan security forces.

No Passport, Documents

Wazir Pacha, the assistant police chief in the southeastern Afghan province of Khost, said the man was not carrying any passport or documents and that he initially had pretended to be mentally ill. But Pacha says the man later confessed that he was on an information-gathering mission.

Police in Khost played an audio recording for journalists in which the man confesses he was preparing maps of NATO and Afghan military installations in Khost, which lies just across the border from Pakistan's volatile tribal region of North Waziristan.

In that recording, the man says he is from the town of Shiraz and 
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (8 May 2008)

Combat Debut
_AW&ST_, May 5, p. 17 (text subscriber only)



> The French air force has for the first time dropped AASM GPS-guided bombs in combat. A Rafale fighter delivered two of the bombs on Apr. 20 during a mission in Afghanistan. The aircraft was patrolling with a Mirage 2000D when a Canadian ground controller called in an air strike to suppress adversary fire. Cloud cover obstructed the fighters from delivering the laser-guided bombs usually called for, so the Rafale dropped the first AASM, developed by Sagem. Another call for fire 30 min. later caused the same pilot to drop the second weapon, although weather had cleared sufficiently for the Mirage 2000D to deliver a GBU-12 laser-guided bomb as well.



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (9 May 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND MAY 9

Pentagon Is Open to Moving More Marines to Afghanistan
_Washington Post_, May 9
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803319.html



> The Marine Corps may begin shifting its major combat forces out of Iraq to focus on Afghanistan in 2009 if greater security in Iraq allows a reduction of Marines there, top Pentagon officials said yesterday.
> 
> Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the proposal by the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, to focus his force on Afghanistan -- which they rejected late last year -- could be reconsidered.
> 
> ...



Afghanistan: policy, conflict, context 
Conference of Defence Associations, May 9 (media round-up)
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210341334/

Note esp.:

Petraeus, Afghanistan and the Lessons of Iraq
By George Friedman, Strategic Forecasting, May 6
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210270201

Rules urged for spies in Afghanistan
War zone work commendable despite lack of guidance, inspector-general says
_Globe and Mail_, May 9
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080509.wcsis09/BNStory/



> Canada's spies working in Afghanistan are doing so without a rulebook, the watchdog that reviews CSIS's operations says.
> 
> Eva Plunkett, Inspector-General of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, says the agents are doing "commendable work" but that laws governing the spy service need to be updated now that agents are being dispatched to war zones.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (10 May 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND MAY 10

Afghan cricket team aims for world cup glory
_The Times_, May 10
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article3904526.ece



> Taj Malik has more to worry about than rain stopping play or the wicket his team will have to bat on.
> 
> The charismatic coach of the Afghan cricket team has been threatened by a suicide bomber for not picking a particular player, while his brother and one of his star bowlers bear the scars of bullet wounds from years of war.
> 
> ...



Asian Cricket Council: Afghanistan
http://www.asiancricket.org/c_afghan.cfm



> Afghanistan are the rising stars of Asian cricket. Already with a global following, they play with dash and panache, care only for winning and consider every match played to be a matter of national honour. Since becoming ACC members their progress has been rapid and had it not been for tactical naïveté and an ability to countenance anything else but big hits against spinners, it would be they and not Hong Kong who would be in the next Asia Cup...



Top Pashtun leader in Washington for talks
_Gulf Times_, May 10
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=217482&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23



> Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali is in the United States to brief top officials of the Bush administration on the new Pakistani coalition government’s non-violent anti-terrorism policy of which political engagement is a vital element.  He is the first head of a ruling coalition member-party from Pakistan to visit the US after the formation of the new government...
> 
> There was an agreement within the elected government in Pakistan that Wali will be Pakistan’s point man for the implementation of the post-election strategy to curb terrorism.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## Yrys (11 May 2008)

Canada to renovate old U.S. barracks in Kandahar



> KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Canadian military engineers have taken the first step in plans to rebuild dilapidated apartments that serve as barracks for Afghan National Army
> soldiers and their families in the Kandahar area.
> 
> On Sunday, the engineers inspected the  barracks, mostly bombed out shells of 1960s-style apartments originally built by American involved in airport construction.
> ...


----------



## GAP (12 May 2008)

*Articles found May 12, 2008*

Job creation should top of Canada's Afghan strategy: Kandahar leaders
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The adage that 'idle are the devil's workshop' may date to the 12th century, but it has a particularly poignant ring today in southern Afghanistan as the annual poppy harvest winds down and NATO forces brace for a possible spike in violence.

Village leaders and power brokers throughout Kandahar province are pleading with the Canadian military and development officials to focus more money and attention on massive make-work projects.

Such jobs, usually back-breaking construction work, would serve to keep chronically under-employed, or jobless Afghan males of fighting age - between 18 and 25 - from falling into the clutches of Taliban recruiters.

"I would like to see the Canadians to mostly focus on the projects (where) they can create jobs," said Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the provincial council in Kandahar and half brother to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Canada's Conservative government, through a special cabinet committee chaired by Trade Minister David Emerson, is in the process of setting benchmarks - objectives to be achieved in Kandahar before the military mission ends in 2011.
More on link

Bomb Hits Canadian Troops in Afghanistan
Suicide Car Bomber Attacks Canadian Troops in Southern Afghanistan; 1 Civilian Killed
By NOOR KHAN Associated Press Writer KANDAHAR, Afghanistan March 12, 2008 (AP)
Article Link

A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan Wednesday, killing a passing civilian and wounding one soldier.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene in Kandahar said a Humvee vehicle of the convoy was burned and destroyed. NATO troops cordoned off the area, preventing journalists and police getting near the vehicles.

A passing truck driver was killed in the attack, and two civilian passers-by were wounded, said police officer Nematullah Khan.

Capt. Mark Gough, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in the south, said one ISAF soldier was lightly wounded in the attack.

Most NATO troops based in Kandahar are Canadian.

Khan had said earlier that two Canadian troops were wounded. The discrepancy in the numbers could not immediately be reconciled because of lack of access to the scene.
More on link

Questions Raised by New Book on Canada's JTF-2.
 10 May, 2008 Jonathan Montpetit THE CANADIAN PRESS
Article Link

Questions are being raised about a first-hand account of Canada's secretive Joint Task Force 2 commando unit, a book whose author was arrested on the eve of its launch last week.

Several presumably top-secret missions are detailed in "Nous etions invincibles" ("We Were Invincible"), which is billed as a memoir of Denis Morisset's time in the unit from 1993 to 2001.

The book's more explosive claims include that JTF2 members took part in the assassination of a suspected war criminal and conducted an unauthorized intelligence operation in Afghanistan years before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Morisset also says he was among four JTF2 members who served as bodyguards for General Romeo Dallaire during the UN Mission in Rwanda during 1994.
More on link

Deal to buy Chinooks has gone ahead, says senator
$375 million: Canadian pilots are training at U.S. base in Afghanistan
Ethan Baron, The Province Published: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Article Link

A helicopter purchase for Canadian Forces in Afghanistan -- until now kept under wraps -- has gone ahead, said Senate defence committee chair Colin Kenny.

Six massive Chinook transport helicopters are on the ground in Afghanistan, and Canadian pilots are at a U.S. air force base training to fly them, Kenny said.

"Our sources tell us that we've got six American Chinooks that are going to be signed over to us," Kenny said.

Last month, the Defence Department acknowledged it was in discussions with the U.S. to obtain the Chinook heavy-lift helicopters for Afghanistan, but provided no further information.

Details of the purchase were revealed by a U.S. government defence agency, including a potential price of $375 million US for the aircraft, equipment, technical support and training.

Kenny, who spent five days in Afghanistan last month, said he believes the six Chinooks there now are the result of that deal.

"The Americans have brought them in," Kenny said. "[They're] going to be signed over to us."
More on link

Afghan, NATO forces say eight insurgents killed in combat
May 11, 2008, 7:54 GMT  Article Link

Kabul - Afghan and NATO forces killed eight insurgents and captured four others in combat operations in the south-eastern region of the country, officials said on Sunday. 

In Zurmat district of south-eastern province of Paktia, five militants were killed and three others were wounded in an Afghan army operation backed by NATO troops on Saturday, Niaz Mohammad Khalil, district administrative chief, said. 

He said the operation began in the area after police found the dead bodies of two Afghan security forces in the area. 

Khalil said one police officer and one army soldier had been kidnapped from their homes by militants during their holidays and were later killed. 
More on link

Corrupt officials not receiving Canadian money: ambassador
Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA - Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada assured MPs Wednesday that Canadian aid funds are not winding up in the "pockets or bank accounts" of corrupt government officials.

Ambassador Omar Samad made the comment at a Commons committee as he urged Canada to support a request by Afghanistan to ensure a greater portion of international aid arriving in the country is channelled through the government, rather than non-government organizations and private corporations.

Afghanistan will be making that case at an international donors' conference next month in Paris where authorities will discuss the fate of billions of dollars in assistance while the security situation in the country has worsened.
More on link

'We were abandoned"
An elite unit of snipers went from standouts to outcasts -- victims, many say, of a witch hunt driven by jealousy and fear
MICHAEL FRISCOLANTI | May 15, 2006 ( Maclean's article(GREAT READ!) )
Article Link

Lying low beside the rifle, his stomach touching the ground, Cpl. Rob Furlong concentrated hard on his breathing. In, out. In, out. In, out. Deep, but not too deep. Slow, but not too slow. The tiniest twitch -- a heavy exhale, perhaps, or a breath held one second too long -- could jerk his weapon ever so slightly, turning a sure hit into a narrow miss. In the sniping world, where one shot should always equal one kill, steady breathing is just as crucial as steady aim.

On that March afternoon in 2002, Cpl. Furlong squinted through the scope of his McMillan Tac-50, a sleek bolt-action rifle almost as long as he is. In his crosshairs were three men, each lugging weapons toward an al-Qaeda mortar nest high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Master Cpl. Tim McMeekin, hunkered behind his fellow sniper, saw the same trio through the lens of his Vector, a binocular-like device that uses a laser to pinpoint targets thousands of metres away. Speaking quietly, both soldiers agreed on the obvious: take out the biggest threat first, in this case the man in the middle carrying the RPK machine gun. According to the Vector, he was exactly 2,430 m away -- nearly 2 1/2 kilometres.

A Newfoundland boy with pale blue eyes and a chiselled frame, Furlong adjusted the elevation knob on his scope, the barrel of his gun pointing higher and higher with each turn. He knew the routine, had practised it a thousand times back at the base in Edmonton. The farther away the target, the higher the rifle should point. Wind blowing to the left? Aim slightly right. Most snipers will tell you it's not much different than a golfer and his caddie lining up a long putt. Calculation. Instinct. And a little bit of luck. "You can teach a certain amount of it," Furlong says. "But there is a large percentage that you must have naturally. A good shooter is born. You can't teach someone to be a good shot if they don't naturally have it."

The 26-year-old stared through the scope, his left finger tickling the trigger. In, out. In, out. Behind him, McMeekin gazed through his Vector, reconfirming the precise distance one last time. "Stand by," Furlong said.
More on link

Afghan police seize car stuffed with explosives
Ryan Cormier ,  Canwest News Service Published: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Article Link

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Police seized a vehicle filled with a variety of explosive materials in the province of Kandahar Saturday afternoon.

Provincial Police Chief Sayed Aka Sakib told a news conference that two vehicles were seized and searched - a Toyota Corolla full of the deadly cargo and a taxi being used a guide vehicle.

Three men inside the vehicles were arrested.

Two were apparently Pakistani while the third was an Afghan from the Panjwaii district, where many Canadian soldiers are stationed.

As the investigation progressed, it led Afghan National Security Forces to two bombs, one near a Kandahar-area school that Canadian soldiers defused, Sakib said. The second was in the Spin Boldak region, the most common route for materials and Taliban insurgents moving from Pakistan to Afghanistan. That one also was defused.

A fourth man connected to the plot reportedly was also arrested.

The variety of explosives inside the vehicle was a sample of weapons favoured by the insurgency - mines, IEDs and gunpowder, a common tool of suicide bombers.
More on link


----------



## GAP (14 May 2008)

*Articles found May 14, 2008*

Layton doesn't understand realities of war
Monday May 12th, 2008 
Article Link

Good on Defence Minister Peter MacKay for not mincing words issuing a reality-check on the latest eruption of ill-considered enthusiasm for "dialogue" with Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan.

A Globe and Mail report recently quoted Canadian Armed Forces spokespersons in Afghanistan as saying they're attempting to engage in a dialogue with insurgents -- something federal New Democrat Leader Jack Layton has long advocated.

"I was pleased to hear that our military on the ground were looking at opening up lines of communication with the insurgents," Layton was quoted commenting last weekend. "Our party has always argued that we've got to carve out a path towards peace, it's got to involve some negotiations and discussions, even with those combatants with whom we're engaged in combat."

Hmmm. . . who else would we be engaged in combat with? But never mind. Defence Minister MacKay made a point of emphasizing to the Canadian Press that the military members who talked to the Globe and Mail don't speak for the federal government, or reflect official Canadian Armed Forces policy.

"We are not talking to the Taliban. We are not having direct discussions with terrorists. We won't, will not, that will not change," MacKay said, further noting that the Afghan government has lead responsibility to draw people away from the Taliban's grip, and will be supported in such efforts by the Canadian military.

The Harper government's stance on this matter is correct and Taliban Jack and his fellow-travelers are way off-base. The NDP styles itself a champion and defender of women's rights, but seems astonishingly sanguine about seeking compromise with those who would consign Afghan women and girls back to the status of oppressed chattels. As for Layton's prescription to "negotiate" with these murderers rather than fighting them, his faith in the power of the bargaining table is tragicomically naive. The only thing the Taliban is willing to "negotiate" is their unconditional return to absolute power.
More on link

UK troops 'should do longer Afghan tours'
 Date: 13 May 2008 By Jerome Starkey 
Article Link

VICTORY over the Taleban in Afghanistan would be achieved more quickly if British troops lengthened their tours of duty, according to the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan.

General Dan McNeill, of the United States army, said longer tours would lead to a swifter victory against the insurgents, which could, in turn, result in a cut in the number of international troops as early as 2011.

He said soldiers on 15-month tours had outperformed British troops, who spend six months at a time in Afghanistan, and he revealed he had met British defence chiefs to discuss ways of improving the UK's counter-insurgency strategy.

He said: "Tour length does matter. If you can embrace a tour length that keeps your force on the ground for a longer period of time, but at the same time does not jeopardise the health of your volunteer force, you are likely to see better results in counter-insurgency operations."

The general, who is nearing the end of a marathon 17-month stint in Kabul, said longer tours were key to winning the counter-insurgency because they let soldiers develop a better understanding of the country.
More on link

Afghan baby dies in Digger firefight with Taliban: inquiry  
Paul Maley | May 13, 2008 
Article Link

A SIX-MONTH-OLD baby and a teenage girl were killed during a firefight in Afghanistan between Australian troops and Taliban militants.

But a report into the battle, in which Australian soldier Luke Worsley also died, has not recommended the Diggers change their rules of engagement. 

The Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, yesterday said the baby was in a room from where a man and a woman, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, opened fire on Australian troops on November 23 last year. 

It was found crying by an Australian soldier as the Diggers stormed a mud hut near their base at Tarin Kowt, in southern Afghanistan. 

The infant was placed out of harm's way as the Australians continued the fight. But when the soldiers returned, the child was dead. It is believed it may have died as a result of a concussion blast from a grenade. 

The firefight erupted as the Australian troops were conducting a search and clearance operation. Another casualty of the battle was a girl aged between 13 and 16. She was killed when Australian troops attacked a building from which an insurgent had been firing, killing Worsley. It was unclear how the girl died. 

Orders to cease fire were ignored by the enemy. 
More on link

Poppy harvest creates easy work, good money  
Updated Mon. May. 12 2008 8:45 AM ET Paul Workman, CTV South Asian Bureau Chief
Article Link

KANDAHAR -- You can tell when it's poppy season around Kandahar and Helmand provinces because the roads are crowded with pickup trucks, and the pickup trucks are crowded with young men going back and forth to work in the fields. So many trucks that a Canadian military officer I met last year, wondered if it was the beginning of the Taliban's spring offensive. 

It was an offensive all right, on the fields of delicate pink flowers and green gummy pods that produce most of the world's supply of heroin.

In Afghanistan, the poppy harvest is not unlike the autumn grape harvest in France, or tobacco season in southern Ontario. Large numbers of itinerant workers make their way to the fields where they can pick up a couple of weeks of steady employment. For many Afghan families, it's a vital part of their yearly income. The going rate of pay is about $10-a-day, and the work doesn't seem that difficult -- if you discount the risk. 

I asked an Afghan colleague if there were any poppy fields near Kandahar City, and a few days later, I got a call to be ready to go for a drive at 7 o'clock the next morning. We climbed into his car and headed west through the city. A right turn down a farmer's lane, a short walk through a grain field, and there before us -- voila -- a gentle, pastoral scene of harvest time in southern Afghanistan. 
More on link

Widow of fallen Calgary medic supports Canadian mission in Afghanistan
Calgary Herald Published: Tuesday, May 13
Article Link

CALGARY - The widow of a Calgary medic killed in an ambush in Afghanistan last week says losing her husband hasn't changed her opinion of Canada's mission in the war-torn country.

"I support Canada as a peacekeeping nation and what happened to Mike hasn't changed that for me," Nicole Starker said in an interview with the Calgary Herald on Tuesday - on the one-week anniversary of her husband's death outside of Kandahar. 

"His death provides a real connection to what's happening overseas."

Cpl. Michael Starker, 36, was on foot patrol when his group was attacked in the Pashmul region of the Zhari district May 6.

The reservist, who worked as a paramedic for Calgary EMS, was serving with the Calgary-based 15 Field Ambulance unit as a medic.

Nicole Starker, 35, said she never expected anything would happen to her husband when he left for Afghanistan in February.

"He said, 'Nothing is going to happen to me, there's nothing to worry about,' and I honestly believed him.

"I thought he was too good a guy for anything to happen to him."
More on link


----------



## GAP (14 May 2008)

Afghan army commander in Kandahar asks Kabul for extra troops
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The commander of Afghan army troops in Kandahar has asked his country's Defence Ministry to send two more battalions of soldiers to the troubled southern province.

Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa Naibi, who is in charge of the Afghan 205 Corps, said he recently made the request to the Afghan army's chief of staff, who was on an inspection tour of troops in Kandahar a couple of days ago.

Naibi added that he is hopeful it will be granted.

"The request we had, we handed it over to him, now he will analyze and decide," he said Wednesday following a change of command ceremony involving the general in charge of Canada's mission in the war-torn country.

"If I get two more kandaks (battalions) I will provide security for (the) whole province," Naibi said.

Brig.-Gen Guy Laroche, who formally stepped down Wednesday after 10 months as commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said more Afghan troops would definitely help.

An Afghan unit belonging to the 205 Corps' 1st Brigade is currently in charge of Zhari district, which LaRoche described as "the most difficult piece of ground in southern Afghanistan."

The Afghan battalion - roughly 650 soldiers - took over security in the region long-known as a hotbed of Taliban support in January.

"What we have seen the past four months is remarkable," LaRoche said in his final interview before handing over command to Brig.-Gen Denis Thompson.

"They are taking the initiative. They are very proactive."

Laroche said that if everything goes well another Afghan unit will be able to take over security in the neighbouring Panjwaii district, perhaps by the fall.

The fledgling Afghan army recently has been carrying more of the fight against the Taliban in rural areas outside of Kandahar, with Canadian troops playing a supporting role.
More on link


----------



## GAP (15 May 2008)

*Articles found May 15, 2008*

Afghans, troops pave way to safer road
Work being done on route by locals could mean difference between life and death for Canadian soldiers
KATHERINE O'NEILL  May 15, 2008
Article Link

BAZAR-E-PANJWAI, AFGHANISTAN -- Road construction at this time of year is a fact of life around the world, including war-torn Afghanistan.

However, work being currently done by a small army of Afghans on a key dirt road that snakes through the Panjwai district could mean the difference between life and death for Canadian soldiers deployed to the volatile area.

In many respects, the front line in the war in Afghanistan is on its dirt roads because Taliban insurgents use them to hide improvised explosive devices. The majority of the 84 Canadians killed in the conflict died in roadside bomb attacks.

"First and foremost, this will give soldiers more freedom of movement," said Captain Guy Dumont, a Canadian soldier helping to supervise the major road-construction project. "It's not hard right now to blow one up."
More on link

Canadian soldiers facing increased threat
Taliban, Pakistan deals may increase military activity
Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service  Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA - Canada and its allies in Afghanistan face increased threats from Taliban extremists operating from safe havens thanks to recent deals struck with Pakistan, NATO warned yesterday.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said attacks in eastern Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan, rose 50% in April.

"There is a real concern in NATO that this is at least in part due to agreements that have been struck with militants on the other side of the border," Mr. Appathurai said.

Deals between Pakistan's government and extremists in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan may have created "safe havens" where Taliban fighters can regroup before launching new strikes inside Afghanistan. He said the situation may be "leading to higher levels of extremist and military activity inside Afghanistan."

Pakistan has been heavily criticized in the past for trying to negotiate with extremists in its border region.

Lieutenant-General Walter Natynczyk, the vice-chief of the defence staff, said Canadian troops in the southern region around Kandahar are well positioned to guard against any upsurge in violence in the eastern region, which is under American command. He suggested NATO's success in the southern sector have pushed Taliban forces to increase activity in other parts of the country.
More on link

Afghanistan protests to Iran over border killings
ReutersPublished: May 14, 2008
Article Link

KABUL: Afghanistan has protested to neighbouring Iran over the killing of a number of its nationals by Iranian forces, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry summoned the Iranian charge d'affairs and expressed its strong concern on Tuesday about the killings which happened a day earlier on Iranian soil near the south-western Afghan province of Nimroz.

It was the second killing of Afghans by Iranian forces in less than a month, the ministry said in a statement. It did not give details of Monday's incident or numbers involved.

Afghanistan's western border is generally peaceful though smugglers occasionally clash with security forces. Iran is a conduit for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of opium.

Last month, an Afghan teacher was killed and two Iranian border guards were wounded in a gunbattle between Iranian and Afghan forces in Nimroz, the Afghan government said.
More on link

Hunger adds to Afghanistan's nightmare
By Carlotta Gall Published: May 14, 2008
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: Thieves raided the city flour market in broad daylight a few weeks ago, shooting and wounding two people before escaping with their loot.

"We are not feeling safe," Haji Hayatullah, one of the flour merchants, said sitting on the floor of his shop with sacks of flour stacked around him. "We don't have security and we don't trust the government to provide it." The merchants got together and hired eight private security guards.

Yet their fears remain, not only about gunmen, but also because they sense a growing hunger and desperation in the general population.

Flour and bread prices doubled in the space of two weeks in Afghanistan last month after Pakistan stopped wheat and flour exports. The traders said they smuggled in flour through a mountain road instead. A government distribution of flour in Kandahar and its outlying districts eased cost fears slightly and the price of flour dropped back down a bit.

Yet with inflation at 22 percent just in the month of February for food staples, prices remain too high for most.
More on link

Residents: missile strike hits Pakistan village
By HABIBULLAH KHAN 
Article Link

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected missile strike late Wednesday destroyed a house and killed about a dozen people in a Pakistan border village that was targeted by the U.S. military two years ago in the hunt for al-Qaida's No. 2 leader.

Residents said at least two explosions rocked Damadola village, in the Bajur tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, around 8 p.m. They reported seeing drone aircraft flying in the area before the blasts and said Taliban militants cordoned off the area afterward.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the incident or any claim of responsibility. Pakistan's army said it had no information about a missile strike.

The explosions came as Pakistani authorities and Taliban militants exchanged dozens of prisoners in the latest step in a peace process that is stirring growing alarm in the West. NATO claims it militant incursions into Afghanistan have increased.

Pakistan has said it does not allow U.S. forces to operate on its territory. But villagers in the region, which is a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, have reported seeing U.S. drones fire missiles at suspected militant targets on several occasions in recent years.

Villager Ibrahim Khan said at least 15 people were killed in the explosions in Damadola. He said local Taliban leaders had gathered for a feast at the targeted house. He reported secondary explosions, suggesting weapons had been stored inside.
More on link

Enemies securing U.S. night-vision gear
By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY
Article Link

WASHINGTON — Thefts and illegal exports of advanced military night-vision gear are rising sharply and U.S. officials say some of the equipment has reached enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq, where it could erode the advantage U.S. troops have in after-dark combat.
The government has prosecuted more than two dozen businesses and individuals over the past 18 months for stealing night-vision gear or skirting prohibitions on foreign sales, according to a USA TODAY review of federal documents and public records.

In at least five cases, prosecutors linked shipments to terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. A few others were headed to Iran and Taliban forces in Afghanistan, court records show; several were destined for China and Japan.

"It's extremely serious — you're talking about adversaries of the United States getting equipment that we make to give our soldiers an advantage in the field," says Charles Beardall, the Pentagon's deputy inspector general for investigations.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (15 May 2008)

Afghanistan's police force a weak link: general
CTV News, May 14
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080514/Afghanistan_army_080514/20080514?hub=Canada



> Afghanistan's police force is about three years behind the Afghan National Army in its development, and that poses a problem, says Canada's outgoing commander in Afghanistan.
> 
> "There's still a lot of work left to be done, and I think everybody in Afghanistan understands that," Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche told reporters in Kandahar on Wednesday.
> 
> ...



Soldiers have heard it before
_Toronto Sun_, May 15, by Greg Weston
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2008/05/15/5571016-sun.php


> ...
> Our men and women in uniform will be reassured to hear that the Conservative government is planning to replace all of the destroyers, frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, search-and-rescue planes, fighter jets, tanks and other land combat vehicles.
> 
> The bad news is a 20-year military plan based on a shopping list of *military toys* [emphasis added] needed today is interesting, but practically useless...



Bolstering our Forces
_National Post_, May 14, editorial


> ...
> While Monday's announcement by Mr. Harper is largely stitched together from the military spending increases announced by his government since it came to office nearly two-and-a-half years ago, it serves to highlight the different approach on national defence that the Prime Minister has brought to Ottawa. His vision fails to articulate where and how all the new *gadgets and gewgaws* [emphasis added] his government is buying will be used...



NATO considering change of command structure in S Afghanistan
Xinhua, May 14
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/15/content_8173550.htm



> NATO is considering changing its command in southern Afghanistan from current rotation between countries to a permanent commander, alliance officials said Wednesday.
> 
> Recommendations from ISAF Commander Gen. Dan McNeill are being provided to NATO's Military Committee, which will discuss the issue, Military Committee Chairman Gen. Raymond Henault told reporters.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (15 May 2008)

CDA media round-up (scroll down a bit for Afstan):
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210867001/

Mark
Ottawa


----------



## geo (18 May 2008)

U.S. Planning Big New Prison in Afghanistan 

The New York Times - World 
By ERIC SCHMITT and TIM GOLDEN 
Published: May 17, 2008 
WASHINGTON 

The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come. 

The proposed detention center would replace the cavernous, makeshift American prison on the Bagram military base north of Kabul, which is now typically packed with about 630 prisoners, compared with the 270 held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. 

Until now, the Bush administration had signaled that it intended to scale back American involvement in detention operations in Afghanistan. It had planned to transfer a large majority of the prisoners to Afghan custody, in an American-financed, high-security prison outside Kabul to be guarded by Afghan soldiers. 

But American officials now concede that the new Afghan-run prison cannot absorb all the Afghans now detained by the United States, much less the waves of new prisoners from the escalating fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. 

The proposal for a new American prison at Bagram underscores the daunting scope and persistence of the United States military’s detention problem, at a time when Bush administration officials continue to say they want to close down the facility at Guantánamo Bay. 

Military officials have long been aware of serious problems with the existing detention center in Afghanistan, the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. After the prison was set up in early 2002, it became a primary site for screening prisoners captured in the fighting. Harsh interrogation methods and sleep deprivation were used widely, and two Afghan detainees died there in December 2002, after being repeatedly struck by American soldiers. Four prisoners escaped in July 2005. 

Conditions and treatment have improved markedly since then, but hundreds of Afghans and other men are still held in wire-mesh pens surrounded by coils of razor wire. There are only minimal areas for the prisoners to exercise, and kitchen, shower and bathroom space is also inadequate. 

Faced with that, American officials said they wanted to replace the Bagram prison, a converted aircraft hangar that still holds some of the decrepit aircraft-repair machinery left by the Soviet troops who occupied the country in the 1980s. In its place the United States will build what officials described as a more modern and humane detention center that would accommodate as many as 1,100 detainees and cost more than $60 million. 

“Our existing theater internment facility is deteriorating,” said Sandra L. Hodgkinson, the senior Pentagon official for detention policy, in a telephone interview. “It was renovated to do a temporary mission. There is a sense that this is the right time to build a new facility.” 

American officials also acknowledged that there are serious health risks to detainees and American military personnel who work at the Bagram prison, because of their exposure to heavy metals from the aircraft-repair machinery and asbestos. 

“It’s just not suitable,” another Pentagon official said. “At some point, you have to say, ‘That’s it. This place was not made to keep people there indefinitely.’” 

That point came about six months ago. It became clear to Pentagon officials that the original plan of releasing some Afghan prisoners outright and transferring other detainees to Afghan custody would not come close to emptying the existing detention center. 

Although a special Afghan court has been established to prosecute detainees formerly held at Bagram and Guantánamo, American officials have been hesitant to turn over those prisoners they consider most dangerous. In late February the head of detainee operations in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, traveled to Bagram to assess conditions there. 

In Iraq, General Stone has encouraged prison officials to build ties to tribal leaders, families and communities, said a Congressional official who has been briefed on the general’s work. As a result, American officials are giving Iraqi detainees job training and engaging them in religious discussions to help prepare them to re-enter Iraqi society. 

About 8,000 detainees have been released in Iraq since last September. Fewer than 1 percent of them have been returned to the prison, said Lt. Cmdr. K. C. Marshall, General Stone’s spokesman. 

The new detention center at Bagram will incorporate some of the lessons learned by the United States in Iraq. Classrooms will be built for vocational training and religious discussion, and there will be more space for recreation and family visits, officials said. After years of entreaties by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United States recently began to allow relatives to speak with prisoners at Bagram through video hookups. 

“The driving factor behind this is to ensure that in all instances we are giving the highest standards of treatment and care,” said Ms. Hodgkinson, who has briefed Senate and House officials on the construction plans. 

The Pentagon is planning to use $60 million in emergency construction funds this fiscal year to build a complex of 6 to 10 semi-permanent structures resembling Quonset huts, each the size of a football field, a Defense Department official said. The structures will have more natural light, and each will have its own recreation area. There will be a half-dozen other buildings for administration, medical care and other purposes, the official said. 

The military plans to request $24 million in fiscal year 2009 and $7.4 million in fiscal year 2010, to pay for educational programs, job training and other parts of what American officials call a reintegration plan. After that, the Pentagon plans to pay about $7 million a year in training and operational costs. 

There has been mixed support for the project on Capitol Hill. Two prominent Senate Democrats, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia and Tim Johnson of South Dakota, have been briefed on the new American-run prison, and have praised the decision to make conditions there more humane. 

But the senators, in a May 15 letter to the deputy defense secretary, Gordon England, demanded that the Pentagon explain its long-term plans for detention in Afghanistan and consult the Afghan government on the project. 

The population at Bagram began to swell after administration officials halted the flow of prisoners to Guantánamo in September 2004, a cutoff that largely remains in effect. At the same time, the population of detainees at Bagram also began to rise with the resurgence of the Taliban. 

Military personnel who know both Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site, 40 miles north of Kabul, as far more spartan. Bagram prisoners have fewer privileges, less ability to contest their detention and no access to lawyers. 

Some detainees have been held without charge for more than five years, officials said. As of April, about 10 juveniles were being held at Bagram, according to a recent American report to a United Nations committee. 

The growing number of detainees at Bagram — up from barely 100 in early 2004 — has been caused largely by the intensifying war in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials say all but about 30 of the prisoners are Afghan, most of them Taliban fighters.


----------



## geo (18 May 2008)

Afghan army units ready for bigger security role: commander 

The Globe and Mail 
MURRAY BREWSTER 
The Canadian Press 
May 15, 2008
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN 

Canada's painfully patient strategy of letting the fledgling Afghan army take the lead in the field is paying dividends and could soon expand to include more troops and territory, said the outgoing commander of Canadian troops in the region. 

Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche said the development of Afghan National Army units has come along quicker than he expected during his 10-month tour. 

Although a long way from being the equal of a western fighting force, Afghan army troops are now in charge of “the most difficult piece of ground in southern Afghanistan,” Brig.-Gen. Laroche said in an interview before handing over command to Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson on Wednesday. 

One Afghan army battalion, or kandak, has been responsible for security in the Zhari district west of Kandahar since January. 

“What we have seen the past four months is remarkable,” Brig.-Gen. Laroche said. “They are taking the initiative. They are very proactive.” At this rate, Brig.-Gen. Laroche said, another battalion of roughly 650 Afghan soldiers could be ready by the fall to take over in Panjwaii district — another Taliban hotbed where much Canadian blood has been spilled. 

The current Canadian battle group, mostly troops from 3rd Battalion Princess Patricias' Canadian Light Infantry, has increasingly played a support role to Afghans who have planned and executed their own successful operations against militants. Canadian troops seeing the most action belong to the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams that train the Afghans. 

The strategy has seen a levelling off of Canadian casualties in recent months, taking much of the political heat off Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government. 

Coming out of last month's NATO summit in Bucharest, Harper said he believed the riding death toll among soldiers was what troubled Canadians the most about the Afghan mission. 

Since becoming involved in Afghanistan in 2002, 83 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed. The latest, Cpl. Michael Starker, 36, a Calgary medic, died in an ambush near Pashmul, in Zhari district. 

Brig.-Gen. Laroche and his Afghan counterpart, Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa Naibi, have asked separately that the Afghan defence ministry in Kabul consider sending more units to Kandahar as soon as they equipped. 

Brig.-Gen. Naibi has formally requested two additional battalions within the last week. 

The pace at which the Afghan army would be ready to take the lead in the field became a huge political issue in Canada last year. 

Former defence minister Gordon O'Connor said he believed it would happen by February of this year, but Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier gave a more cautious estimate that was seen as contradicting his boss. 

The Taliban were swept from power by the U.S. invasion in 2001 following the attacks of Sept. 11. But they have maintained a stubborn insurgency in various parts of the country, challenging the authority of the Kabul government. 

The Afghan army has been a work in progress. The plan is to raise 70,000 government troops by the end of 2008, but the Afghan defence minister has suggested as many as 200,000 would needed for long-term security. 

The emergence of the 1st Brigade of the Afghan 205 Corps as a disciplined, lethal unit under Canadian mentoring counts as one of Brig.-Gen. Laroche's most prized accomplishments during his time in Afghanistan. 

Col. Abdul Bashir, commander of the brigade, said he is hopeful his request for more troops will be granted. 

“If I get two more kandaks (battalions) I will provide security for (the) whole province,” Col. Bashir said Wednesday. 

Brig.-Gen. Laroche, who made his pitch for more Afghan troops in Kandahar through his superiors, tried to temper expectations by saying he wasn't sure the request would be answered soon. 

The increasing ability of the Brig.-Gen. Naibi's units as well as the presence of 3,200 U.S. marines, who have been fighting pitched battles with Taliban militants in neighbouring Helmand province, will allow the new Canadian commander to concentrate on reconstruction. 

Parliament voted to extend Canada's military presence in Kandahar until 2011 as long as the focus shifted away from combat.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The importance of roads in Afghanistan 

Reuters.uk, UK
By Luke Baker 
Fri May 16, 2008
KHOST, Afghanistan

Spend 30 minutes talking to a U.S. military officer in Afghanistan and chances are he or she will mention one factor as crucial to the stability of the country: roads. 

Geographically challenging, with vast desert plains to the south and soaring mountains in the Hindu Kush to the north and east, Afghanistan is remarkably devoid of proper roads given its size and a population approaching 30 million. 

There are just 34,000 km (21,000 miles) of useable roadway in the country, of which less than a quarter is paved, according to the CIA World Factbook. By comparison, there are about 10 million km of paved roads in the United States. 

Better roads are essential not only for the economy -- so that farmers and merchants can get produce to markets more easily and importers can bring vital foodstuffs into the landlocked country -- but also for security, since police and the army can get more quickly to remote, unstable areas. 

Paved roads also make it much harder for the Taliban to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- nearly 750 of which detonated across Afghanistan last year, causing hundreds of deaths. Planting them on pot-holed, dirt tracks is easy. 

"I can't tell you how important roads are," said Colonel Pete Johnson, the commander of U.S. forces in southeast Afghanistan, where development lags central and northern areas and paved roads are minimal. 

"If we pave roads, there's almost an automatic shift of IEDs to other areas because it makes it so much more difficult for the enemy to emplace them ... Roads here mean security," he told Reuters in an interview last week. 

About the only people more insistent than the Americans about the importance of roads are the Afghans themselves, fed up with vehicle-destroying 12-hour journeys to the next major city when a paved road might get them there in under three. 

And yet, six years after the United States overthrew the Taliban, comparatively little appears to have been done to improve the network, especially considering how much money has been thrown at it and how important everyone agrees it is. 

JOB CREATION 

Since 2002, USAID, the organisation through which the U.S. government channels the vast majority of its aid to Afghanistan, has spent $1 billion building 1,700 km of new paved road. Security, "capacity building" and overheads have accounted for nearly a quarter of the cost, according to a USAID official. 

The construction works out at $580,000 per km, and with at least two of USAID's upcoming projects the cost will approach $1 million per km, according to the group's own figures. By comparison, the U.S. army corps of engineers budgets $250,000 per km for building paved roads. 

Part of the reason for the high price tag is the cost of security, but also the tiered nature of the projects -- USAID subcontracts a major foreign company to do the work, which subcontracts part of it, often to an Indian or Turkish company, which subcontracts local Afghan labour to dig and lay the road. 

The contract-awarding process takes time, as does design and planning. The longer the delays, the longer Afghans, around 70 percent of whom are unemployed, remain out of work. 

A programme on Afghan TV jokes about the poor quality of the new roads, but then points out that perhaps foreign contractors do it on purpose -- if the roads need mending soon after they are built, more Afghans will end up with jobs. 

The latest, much-awaited project is to build a 101 km road from Khost, in southeastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan, to Gardez, a city southeast of Kabul, where the road will meet up with the already-paved Kabul-Gardez road. 

The project is crucial because Khost, often isolated in winter, will become a key transit point for imports from Pakistan, and occasional exports from Afghanistan, greatly shortening the journey time for international trade. 

The $98 million project, due for completion in October 2009, was due to kick off this month. But Louis Berger, the American company subcontracted by USAID to do the work, did not turn up to a meeting with local Afghan officials to inaugurate the road because it did not have sufficient notice to plan security. 

USAID said the meeting was rescheduled and took place on May 11. Work has still not begun, but Afghans in the area, many of whom are prepared to work for as little as $3 a day, are excited about the prospect of long-term employment. 

"The contractor is currently mobilising equipment and resources to the site," a USAID official said of the project.


----------



## geo (18 May 2008)

Young Boy Detonates Bomb, Injures Two Cdn. Troops In Afghanistan 

CityNews - Home 
Murray Brewster
The Canadian Press
Friday May 16, 2008  

A boy possibly as young as 10 was used in a suicide-bomb attack against a joint Canadian and Afghan army patrol in Afghanistan on Friday. 

Two Canadian soldiers and two Afghan soldiers were wounded in the attack about 40 kilometres from Kandahar city, the military said. 

The boy, described by witnesses as around 10 years old, walked up to the army patrol. 

"He is believed to have been wearing a suicide vest," said Capt. Amber Bineau, a spokeswoman for the Canadian army battle group in Kandahar. 

She condemned the attack and described it as a "last ditch-attempt" by militants to disrupt the progress of Afghan and NATO forces in establishing security in the country. 

"These types of attacks demonstrate a weakness in the insurgency and do not impede the resolve of those who work to make Kandahar province a safe and stable environment," Bineau said in a statement. 

The Canadian military released no further information on the nature of the attack, but Afghan police officials speculated that the bomb carried by the child might have been remotely activated. 

If true, it would represent a disturbing turn in the Taliban's campaign of suicide bombings which has been going on for more than two years. 

Earlier this year in Iraq, two mentally handicapped women strapped with remote-control explosives were believed used as unwitting suicide bombers. The blasts, 20 minutes apart, killed 73 people in Baghdad in February. U.S. officials said it was the work of the extremist group, al-Qaida in Iraq. 

Bineau said the two Canadians wounded in Friday's attack were evacuated by helicopter to Kandahar Airfield and able to "walk into the medical facility on their own." 

The names of wounded Canadians are normally not released, but Bineau said the two soldiers would notify their families. 

The four soldiers were on patrol around 10 a.m. local time in the village of Nalgham, in Zhari district, when the bomber struck. 

The attack came just over a week after a Canadian soldier was killed while on foot patrol in the Pashmul region outside Kandahar City. 

Cpl. Michael Starker, a Calgary paramedic, was shot and killed May 6. His funeral was in Calgary on Friday. Another Canadian was injured in the incident but is expected to recover. 

Friday's blast was the second suicide bombing this week in Afghanistan. 

An attacker, disguised as a woman and wearing a burka, blew himself up Wednesday outside a police station in the small southwestern province of Farah. That blast killed 12 people and wounded 27 others. 

Provincial Gov. Rohul Amin said the bomber was a woman. But the Taliban, which claimed responsibility, identified the attacker as a man named Mullah Khalid who was wearing the burka as a disguise. 

The explosion occurred in Dialaram, a small town on the main road running through the west and south of the country. 

Amin said five police officers, including a district police chief, and seven civilians were among the dead. He said the wounded included at least 11 policemen. 

The bomber reportedly approached on foot and detonated the explosives on the busy street where police were inspecting vehicles. 

Insurgents launched an estimated 140 suicide bombings last year, when more than 8,000 people, mostly militants, died in insurgency-related violence. At least 1,200 people have died so far this year.


----------



## geo (19 May 2008)

Taliban gearing up for spring offensive  

Globe and Mail, Canada
KATHERINE O'NEILL 
From Monday's Globe and Mail 
May 18, 2008
ZHARI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN 

Sapper Marc Carignan had just walked inside the compound, when a large explosion erupted near the main door, spraying jagged metal shrapnel several hundred metres and leaving a crater the size of a small car. 

Several Canadian and Afghan soldiers were already inside the large mud building, which locals had told them was a possible Taliban hideout. Less than 10 minutes later, another explosion occurred, this time inside the compound, and filled the blue sky again with billowing black smoke. 

“That place was a mousetrap,” Sapper Carignan, a 23-year-old Edmonton-based combat engineer, said shortly after all the soldiers climbed a wall to escape the attack on Saturday morning. His face and uniform were covered in mud and dust. 

Sapper Carignan was the only person injured; he temporarily lost hearing in his right ear. 

It was the second close call for the Canadian military in recent days, and another sign that Taliban insurgents are readying for an expected spring offensive using every weapon they can get their hands on. 

Unlike roadside bombs, which have been one of the most popular tools used by the Taliban, Saturday's attack required substantial planning and effort. The majority of the 83 Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since 2002 were killed in roadside bomb attacks. 

“I haven't seen anything like that before,” the warrant officer in charge of Saturday's operation said. 

The veteran Shiloh, Man.-based soldier, who was also inside the compound when the blasts occurred, didn't want his name used for fear news of the incident would upset his family. 

After the attack, soldiers searched the abandoned compound on the north bank of the Arghandab River southwest of Kandahar and found dozens of improvised explosive devices, including mortars, which failed to detonate. Those explosives, which were wired together by a single strand of copper wire and activated by command denotation, were sequenced to blow up so the soldiers would be trapped inside and killed. They didn't detonate because of faulty wiring. 

“That place was rigged to kill everybody,” said Warrant Officer Chuck Côté, who was also inside the compound when blasts occurred. 

A wire was found leading 600 metres away from the compound, which was surrounded by poppy and grape fields, to a wall, where the person who detonated the explosives initiated the attack. 

Four locals, including a teenage boy, were briefly held and questioned by Afghan soldiers, but were released on Saturday due to lack of evidence, even though one had traces of explosive residue on his hands. 

An Afghan army sergeant, who participated in Saturday's operation, said there wasn't enough to arrest and detain anybody. 

“Everybody in Afghanistan has an AK-47 in their home. Explosive materials are all around us,” he said. 

The operation had been patrolling areas in the Panjwai and Zhari districts before the attack occurred. The soldiers were on foot. 

Security in the two districts is currently so poor, there are some military outposts that are being resupplied by helicopter drops instead of vehicle convoys. Even senior district leaders from the area don't live here because it's too dangerous, although they attend a weekly council meeting on Thursdays in Bazar-e-Panjwai, a small village about 40 kilometres from Kandahar. 

Warrant Officer Devin Ramos, who is in charge of one of the small military outposts, said soldiers are “constantly” trying to win the support of locals. 

“They want us down here,” he said. 

However, he added that many residents are afraid of the Taliban, and will sometimes stay silent about possible attacks or even assist them, for fear of reprisals against them or their families. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Australian troops confront tall poppies of Afghanistan

The Age, Australia
Brendan Nicholson 
May 19, 2008 

THE scene is surreal: an Australian soldier meets a curious child in an Afghan field awash with pink and white opium poppies. 

It's a glorious burst of life in the otherwise bleak and lunar landscape of southern Afghanistan, and signals death on the streets of Western cities. 

With the arrival of summer and the so-called "fighting season", the snows are gone and the mountain areas around the Chora Valley, in Oruzgan Province, are dusty brown and rocky, with not a tree or a blade of grass in sight. 

Then, over one of the endless sharp ridgelines lies a valley startling green with trees and irrigated crops and hectares of the ubiquitous poppies that have turned Afghanistan into the supplier of 93% of the world's heroin. 

The sweet scent is so strong that Australian helicopter pilots blasting through these valleys in their giant Chinooks 20 metres above the ground say it's like flying into a flower shop. 

Some of the proceeds of the poppy crop are being used by the Taliban to finance its insurgency and to pay local farmers to join its war on coalition forces. 

Despite recent casualties, Australian troops are continuing their aggressive push into parts of southern Afghanistan, including the Chora Valley, that have been dominated by the Taliban for the past six years. While there is considerable pessimism internationally and among Australian commentators about the likelihood of success in Afghanistan, Australia's Defence Force chief, Angus Houston, said he found the Australian soldiers' success in their areas uplifting. 

Air Chief Marshal Houston told The Age that several things were working in the Australians' favour. 

He said they were prepared to patrol on foot, and made a point of walking into villages for talks with tribal leaders. 

Their success at winning over the local people in areas they had made secure had galvanised allies previously inclined to stay "behind the wire" to go on the offensive. 

In the Chora Valley, Afghan and Dutch soldiers were manning the small, rugged bases built by Australian army engineers during the bitterly cold months of the northern winter. 

Seventy Australians in Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams, known more quaintly as "Omelettes", are about to take on a similar role in these outlying bases when the Labor Government's new policy of embedding experienced troops with Afghan units comes into operation in the next month. 

Air Chief Marshal Houston said the mentors would see the Afghan battalions, or Kandaks, through the early stages when they would be at their most brittle and vulnerable. 

The Australians say they and the Afghan troops and police they are working with are increasingly being warned by local civilians about Taliban and al-Qaeda ambushes and the locations of bombs. 

Air Chief Marshal Houston said the tribespeople were sick of seeing their families killed, and wanted peace and jobs. 

After setting up the forward bases, the Australian engineers will help build a basic infrastructure, with bazaars and schools. 

"We need to be more involved in improving governance and putting an end to the narco-economy," he said. That would be done by providing security and encouraging economic development to demonstrate to the local people that they could make a good living other than by cultivating poppies for the insurgents and criminal warlords. 

Brendan Nicholson is defence correspondent. He went to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq with Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. 

Murder-suicide gunman had stress disorder  

Arizona Republic, AZ
Astrid Galvan  
May. 18, 2008

The man who killed his brother and then turned the gun on himself after a 130-mile vehicle pursuit Wednesday on Interstate 8 near Stanfield was a U.S. Marine who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, his wife said. 

Sgt. Travis N. Twiggs, 36, had served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Kellee Twiggs, his wife of almost nine years, said he was a great father and husband who had served his country proudly.

"He was one hell of a Marine," said Kellee, who said she last talked to her husband two weeks ago. 

She said her husband was placed on several different medications after he developed post-traumatic stress disorder. 

"That's not what he needed," she said. "He needed help." 

Lt. Brian P. Donnelly, a spokesman at the Quantico, Va., base where Twiggs was stationed, said the Marine Corps is committed to providing full medical, psychological and social support to Marines with combat-related injuries. 

"Our leaders are trained to be alert for signs of PTSD in their Marines and to provide a supportive climate in which Marines can feel comfortable seeking help," he said. 

"This incident is highly regrettable, and our thoughts are with Staff Sgt. Twiggs' family as they attempt to deal with this tragic event." 

A recent report by the Washington Post said that almost 20 percent of troops who return from Iraq and Afghanistan reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. 

Only about half of those sought treatment, according to the report. 

Twiggs wrote about his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder in "PTSD: The War Within," which was published in the January issue of Marine Corps Gazette. 

He said he began to notice changes in himself after returning from his second tour. He was irritable, paranoid and couldn't sleep, he wrote. 

On his third tour, two Marine comrades were killed. From then on, his life spiraled downward, he wrote. 

Still, he went back for a fourth tour. 

"When I arrived back in the States, it was as though I had never left," he wrote. "All my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family." 

He was twice admitted to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. 

Kellee, who lives in Stafford, Va., said the marriage suffered and almost ended in divorce, but that in the past few months, she and her husband were working to save it. 

The couple had two daughters. 

Their youngest, 4-year-old America, was named after Twiggs' cause. 

When Kellee last spoke to her husband two weeks ago, he told her he was driving to Louisiana to visit his grandparents. 

But somehow he ended up in Arizona with his brother, 38-year-old Willard "Will" Twiggs. 

The brothers were suspects in a Monday carjacking at the Grand Canyon and were involved in a vehicle pursuit Wednesday involving four agencies that ended in the murder-suicide. 

Kellee said she had only good things to say about the man she knew most of her life. 

"He was just such a wonderful man and he could make you laugh," she said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clegg concern over 'old' army kit  

BBC News, UK
Sunday, 18 May 2008 

Nick Clegg has said he is concerned the British army in Afghanistan has "old kit" and suffers equipment shortages. 

The Lib Dem leader, who is on his first visit to the country, also said there were "big issues" over soldiers' pay. 

Earlier, he said failure in Afghanistan would be "devastating" and the Nato mission was "hanging in the balance". 

The Ministry of Defence has said it is spending £6bn a year on new equipment and insists there are huge improvements in its standard and supply. 

Mr Clegg spent two days visiting British troops and holding talks with Afghan leaders. 

"I've seen some of the kit they've had to deal with," he said. 

"Some of it's great, but frankly some of it's old ... some of the vehicles don't have enough spare parts, some of it's very hot and... there are big issues surrounding whether we're paying, particularly some of the junior starting soldiers, enough.

"I think there's been some improvements about some long-standing issues surrounding accommodation for soldiers' families back home, but we need to go further still. 

"I think we owe all the men and women here a huge debt of gratitude because we sometimes forget that the cost of failure would be catastrophic for Britain as a whole." 

Mr Clegg had warned earlier in his visit that without lasting peace and stability Afghanistan could revert to a "pariah state". 

'Greater unity' 

"The consequences of failure would be devastating," he said. 

"Afghanistan is the most important conflict of our generation," he said. 

"If we fail to secure lasting peace and stability, Afghanistan will revert to a pariah state, feeding the international drugs trade and offering a haven for terrorism that will threaten global security for the conceivable future. 

"Yet the success of our mission in Afghanistan hangs in the balance. International efforts have not yet delivered the stability and security that the people of Afghanistan deserve." 

Mr Clegg said the international community needed to demonstrate "greater unity in the way aid and reconstruction support is provided". 

There were also crucial questions over how many UK troops should be on the ground, how to tackle the opium trade, and how to engage with neighbouring states, he added. 

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman pointed out that Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, commander of British forces in Helmand, Afghanistan, had previously gone on the record to the troops felt "extremely well supported" and soldiers were "much better equipped" than in 2006. 

He was speaking as his 16 Air Assault Brigade took over from 52 Infantry Brigade last month. 

He added: "I doubt whether the British army has ever put a brigade into the field as well equipped as 16 Brigade and it continues to improve with each deployment. 

"The next brigade will probably be even better equipped."


----------



## GAP (19 May 2008)

*Articles found May 19, 2008*

Tanks vs. mountains
New Canadian commander in Afghanistan has to decide how armour works best in difficult terrain 
By PETER WORTHINGTON, TORONTO SUN
Article Link
  
The incoming commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, in an interview with The Canadian Press, outlined what he thought would be a change of direction for Canada's role in that country. 

Brig.-Gen. Dennis Thomp son is the former commander of the 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade, based at Petawawa. It's likely he has ideas on how our tanks in Afghanistan should be used -- one of the on-going (and largely unanswered) questions about heavy armour in that theatre. 

Thompson's first priority is a prospective change of emphasis for our 2,500 soldiers -- hopefully switching from a security and combat role to one of development and reconstruction in support of increasing civilian authority. Of course, this implies close co-operation with an effective Afghan National Army (ANA), which the Canadians have been helping train for five years. 

That's positive, but at the moment probably it's more good intentions than hard reality. 

As Canada's former ambassador to Afghanistan, Chris Alexander (now special adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Afghan politics and security) has said, before full reconstruction can start, there must be security. In Kandahar, that in large measure hinges on Canadian soldiers being, well, Canadian soldiers. 

What Alexander says is that it's all very well to talk of reconstruction and development -- which Canadian soldiers have been doing since the first contingent arrived in 2002 -- but until the Taliban have been dissuaded from violence, then peace and reconstruction don't have much of a chance. 

In other words, Canadian troops will continue doing soldier stuff beyond the wire, as well as encouraging reconstruction. But don't expect too much until the enemy is further intimidated, defeated or kicked out. And that depends on how effective the ANA is. 

Thompson knows this but makes it clear that politically it's desirable to stress the peace and aid aspects, and not the necessity of violence and combat, because that's what Canadians (and politicians) want to hear. 

As it is, there've been complaints about CIDA, Canada's main foreign aid agency, which has a lousy record in places where disaster has hit. Just ask the soldiers in Afghanistan. Just ask soldiers of the Disaster Assistance and Response Team (DART), who brought fresh water and medical aid to victims in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami. 
More on link

Canadian FM to visit Croatia for talks on Afghanistan   
 19 May 2008 | 00:03 | FOCUS News Agency 
  Article Link

Ottawa. Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier will travel to Zagreb Monday to discuss security issues and Croatia's involvement in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, a statement from his office said, AFP reported. 
"Canada fully supports the democratic transformation of Croatia. With continued prosperity, bilateral trade and investment will grow," he said. 
He noted Croatia's invitation to join the NATO military alliance and its deployment of 200 troops to Afghanistan, saying these "illustrate the cooperation" between the two countries. Canada has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. 
During the same trip, Bernier will also visit Italy for talks with his counterpart there on Afghanistan, climate change and Canada-EU economic ties, and will also have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. 
End of article

Education for Kandahar students growing, despite Taliban threats
Ryan Cormier, Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, May 18
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Despite Taliban intimidation, midnight arsons and a serious lack of teachers, education in Kandahar Province is edging forward.

Fifty new schools have opened this year, mostly in the capital of Kandahar City. It is a fact that Muhammad Anwar, provincial director of education, states with justifiable pride.

There have been many challenges.
More on link

Canadian soldiers launch donation drive for Kandahar school
Last Updated: Saturday, May 17, 2008 
Article Link

A group of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan is appealing to military families back home to add some basic school supplies to their care packages.

The soldiers are trying to help out a school in Kandahar whose students are the children of soldiers in the new Afghan national army.

The students and their families live in an old Soviet-era barracks, bombed by the U.S. military during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Canadian soldiers who mentor their Afghan counterparts came up with the idea to help the school.

Maj. Rev. Jim Short, who is helping organize the donation drive, said the Afghan people have captured his heart.

"No matter how you feel about what religion you come from, or your political perspective, I think we all believe education is really important for the future of this country," he said.

He's asking the families of Canada's 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan add some school supplies to care packages they send to Kandahar. There are already some shipments ready to be mailed off in Canada, and the soldiers hope to deliver the school supplies later this summer
More on link

Diggers launch strike on Taliban in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province
Mark Dodd | May 20, 2008 
Article Link

AUSTRALIAN and coalition forces have launched a major strike against Taliban insurgents in the violence-prone Baluchi Pass of Afghanistan's southern Oruzgan province.

The push is part of a series of operations - among the biggest since the spring thaw - involving combat engineers, infantry, cavalry and support troops. 

The Defence Department in Canberra would not say when the operation began or how many troops were involved, citing operational security requirements. 

The lawless Baluchi region is where Australian commando Luke Worsley was killed during an anti-Taliban operation last November. 

A Defence Department spokesman said the operation's purpose was to evict Taliban extremists, restore vital infrastructure and establish a safe environment for Afghan people living there. 

A composite force of Australian troops - part of a joint Dutch and coalition operation - had moved into the Baluchi region, said Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Yeaman, commanding officer of the Tarin Kowt-based 4th Reconstruction Task Force. 

"This is an area of huge tactical and strategic significance for the Taliban extremists," Colonel Yeaman said in a statement released yesterday. 
More on link

Photos Show Marine's Narrow Escape From Death in Afghanistan
Monday, May 19, 2008
Article Link
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356574,00.html#

Dramatic photos show a Marine's narrow escape from death Sunday while facing insurgent gunfire in Afghanistan.

The Marine, part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), was exchanging gunfire with Taliban fighters near Garmser in Afghanistan's Helmand Province when a Reuters photographer captured the soldier's very close call.

Click here to see the dramatic photo sequence of the Marine under fire.

A series of six photos show the Marine, wearing a T-shirt and fatigues but no combat helmet, ducking as insurgent gunfire tears through the top of a mud wall he's using for cover. Remarkably, the Marine escaped the gunfight without injury.

“The insurgents are finding that every time they engage with the Marines, they lose,” Col. Peter Petronzio, commander of the 24th MEU, said in a statement issued May 10. “The Marines are gaining ground every day and securing more of the routes through the district. The support we have received from our allied partners has contributed to our many successes thus far.”
More on link

Militants occupy MP's house in Pakistani tribal area: witnesses
Article Link

KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) — An armed group of pro-Taliban militants occupied a lawmaker's house in a Pakistan tribal area Sunday, taking his relatives and servants hostage, witnesses and officials said.

Shaukatullah Khan was out of town when up to 40 armed militants stormed his house in the restive Bajaur tribal district that borders Afghanistan.

"The Taliban are demanding that Shaukatullah Khan hands over his land and a hill from where marble is extracted," a local tribesman told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The militants said Khan had made lot of money and it was the property of local tribes, the man added.

Local officials said they were not yet aware of the militants' demands, but had sent a jirga or a peace committee of tribal elders to negotiate the hostages' release.

It was not immediately clear how many people had been taken hostage.

Witnesses said that situation was tense in the area and tribal security forces had blocked a main road linking Bajaur with Peshawar
More on link

Afghanistan: Student Says Death Verdict Followed Torture To Coerce Confession  
Article Link

KABUL/PRAGUE -- An Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam has rejected the charges and told an appeals court in Kabul that he was tortured into a confession.


"As a human being, a Muslim, and a descendant of the family of the Prophet Muhammad, I will never allow myself to insult my ancestor or my religion," Kambakhsh told the court, according to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. "These are things of which I have been unfairly accused. This accusation is unlawful and I don't know why they did this to me."

The hearing was adjourned until May 25 to allow 24-year-old Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh to consult with an attorney and prepare a written defense.

Kambakhsh was condemned to death by a court in Balkh Province in January at a summary trial for blasphemy at which he had no legal representation. 

He had been detained in October and spent months in a cell for suspected "national security" threats and then a local jail before his case was transferred to the capital, Kabul.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (19 May 2008)

Pentagon announces Iraq, Afghanistan troop deployments
AP, May 19
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=116&sid=1406488


> ...
> As part of the announcement, The Pentagon alerted four National Guard Army brigades, or about 14,000 troops, to begin preparing for deployments to Iraq beginning next spring, and one National Guard Army brigade, with about 3,100 soldiers, to prepare to deploy to Afghanistan in the spring of 2010...
> 
> As part of the announcement, The Pentagon alerted four National Guard Army brigades, or about 14,000 troops, to begin preparing for deployments to Iraq beginning next spring, and one National Guard Army brigade, with about 3,100 soldiers, to prepare to deploy to Afghanistan in the spring of 2010...
> ...




German Special Forces in Afghanistan Let Taliban Commander Escape
_Spiegel Online_, May 19
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,554033,00.html



> German special forces had an important Taliban commander in their sights in Afghanistan. But he escaped -- because the Germans were not authorized to use lethal force. The German government's hands-tied approach to the war is causing friction with its NATO allies...
> 
> Germany's KSK special forces have been charged with capturing the terrorist, in cooperation with the Afghan secret service organization NDS and the Afghan army. The German elite soldiers were able to uncover the Taliban commander's location. They spent weeks studying his behavior and habits: when he left his house and with whom, how many men he had around him and what weapons they carried, the color of his turban and what vehicles he drove.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (20 May 2008)

*Articles found May 20, 2008*

Soldiers sickened by Taliban tactic of using children as suicide bombers
Article Link

ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan — Not much comes as a shock to soldiers, but even for men who may have seen it all, the suicide bombing involving a young Afghan boy has taken the already bitter war in this country to a whole new level of savagery.

It was the utter cruelty of the attack Friday that wounded two Canadians and took life of an Afghan soldier on patrol in Zhari district that has made if even the most weather-beaten, battle-hardended faces blanche.

Afghan police initially placed his age at between 10 and 12 years, but over the weekend one official in the troubled district said the child may have been 13-years-old.

What investigators were trying to determine as they sifted through the evidence over the weekend was if the boy's bomb vest was remotely activated by a militant somewhere nearby, timed to go off - or whether the child flipped the switch himself.

There was speculation that since the child approached the troops with his hands raised, the timing of the attack was not up to him.

"It's cowardice," snarled Sapper Chris Greenaway, 21, a member of the 1st Combat Engineering Regiment based in Edmonton.

"To recruit children is pure and utter cowardice."
More on link

Canadians play up common cultural grounds with Afghans
Ryan Cormier, Canwest News Service  Published: Monday, May 19, 2008
Article Link

SHAH WALI KOT, Afghanistan -- Canadian soldiers are striving to find common ground with Afghans along cultural lines as the Taliban begin to launch attacks that shatter those same boundaries.

Troops in C-Company adhere to the concept of ‘nang aow namoos,' which has no literal translation, but is based on dignity, honour and family.

Maj. Stacy Grubb, commanding officer of the Shilo, Man.-based company, wouldn't have it any other way. 

"So much about Afghanistan is about the culture and how people live," he said. "We can't go around with the mindset of terrorist-killers when our centre of gravity is the everyday people."

He tells his soldiers to look for their own values in Afghans and use it to their advantage.

Honour is a strong concept among the Afghans, and Grubb believes helping one local can have a "multiplier effect" among an entire family.
More on link

Canada beefing up bomb task force
David ********, Canwest News Service  Published: Monday, May 19, 2008
Article Link

The Canadian military plans to ramp up its campaign this summer to track down and deal with Taliban bomb-makers and their improvised explosive devices.

Canadian special forces and members of an ultrasecret electronic eavesdropping team are currently involved in efforts to eliminate the bomb-makers, whose devices, known as IEDs, have claimed the lives of the majority of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

But, they will be getting more support in their campaign from a recently created counter-IED task force.

That battle against IEDs is shifting its focus from dealing with only the explosive devices to putting more efforts on "attacking the network" responsible for financing, creating and planting the bombs, says Col. Omer Lavoie, head of the task force.

Those efforts involve combat operations, winning the support of the Afghan population and making better use of forensic information to track down the bomb makers and their supporters.
More on link

Soldiers strive to find common ground
Cultural links emphasized by soldiers in trying to win Afghan support
RYAN CORMIER, Canwest News Service Published: 5 hours ago
Article Link

Canadian soldiers are striving to find common ground with Afghans along cultural lines as the Taliban forces begin to launch attacks that shatter those same boundaries.

Troops in C-Company adhere to the concept of "nang aow namoos," which has no literal translation, but is based on dignity, honour and family.

Major Stacy Grubb, commanding officer of the Shilo, Man.-based company, wouldn't have it any other way.

"So much about Afghanistan is about the culture and how people live," he said. "We can't go around with the mindset of terrorist-killers when our centre of gravity is the everyday people."

He tells his soldiers to look for their own values in Afghans and use it to their advantage.

Honour is a strong concept among the Afghans, and Grubb believes helping one local can have a "multiplier effect" among an entire family. "Everyone here is like everyone else, they want to provide for their families," Grubb said from the forward operating base he commands. "We take the good things like that, which we have in common, show the soldiers and work on that."
More on link

2 NATO soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two NATO soldiers were killed in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan on Monday, the alliance said.

"One soldier was killed by enemy hostile action and another was killed in an improvised explosive device blast while supporting an Afghan National Police operation," the statement said.

NATO did not disclose the nationalities of the dead soldiers but Britain's Ministry of Defence said a British soldier had been killed on patrol in the Musa Qala area of Helmand province.

American, British and Afghan troops pushed Taliban fighters out of Musa Qala late last year. Militants had overrun it in early 2007 and held it for 10 months.

The death brings to 96 the number of British personnel who have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

Southern Afghanistan is the centre of the Taliban-led insurgency. More than 1,200 people - mostly militants - have died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year, according to a tally compiled by The Associated Press.
More on link

Rebels hide among families to enter Afghanistan: ISAF
Article Link

KABUL (AFP) — Insurgents are crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where attacks have spiked in recent weeks, hidden among hundreds of families that make the trip daily, the NATO force here said Monday.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is using a range of intelligence and surveillance systems to detect the rebels to thwart attacks along the eastern frontier, an ISAF spokesman told AFP.

"There is already a good ISAF presence along the border," General Carlos Branco told AFP, adding that the number of troops may have increased but this was not a dramatic rise or necessarily related to the steady increase in rebel activity.

"The border in Regional Command East is crossed daily by families whose members live in both sides," Branco said, referring to several eastern provinces where the insurgency is intense.

"The insurgents use these movements to disguise their activities and intentions.

"But to track their activity, ISAF has a wide range of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems available." he added.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (20 May 2008)

Seesaw Afghan war strains ties among allies
_International Herald Tribune_, May 20, by Carlotta Gall
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/20/asia/taliban.php



> KHAKREZ, Afghanistan: Last autumn, groups of Taliban fighters swarmed into every village in this district in southern Afghanistan. U.S. forces arrived to sweep them out in January, people here say. By April, the Taliban were back, surrounding the district center in a show of force that froze villagers in their tracks. Then the insurgents melted away again.
> 
> Khakrez, two hours north of the city of Kandahar, is just one corner of a complex war in Afghanistan. But the seesaw nature of the fight here speaks to the larger problems facing NATO and U.S. forces seven years into a conflict that shows few signs of winding down.
> 
> ...



NATO'S eyes over Afghanistan
_Flight International_, May 19
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/05/19/223780/natos-eyes-over-afghanistan.html



> While the Eurofighter is now delivering its first air defence duties for Germany, the nation's air force is already fully supporting the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
> 
> "We have been asked by NATO to fulfil a reconnaissance requirement, and we do this right now with our [Panavia] Tornado aircraft," says German air force chief of staff Lt Gen Klaus-Peter Stieglitz, referring to a six-aircraft deployment at Mazar e-Sharif since April 2007.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (21 May 2008)

*Articles found May 21, 2008*

Two NATO soldiers, 'Arab fighters' killed in Afghanistan
Article Link

KABUL (AFP) — Two NATO soldiers were killed in a blast in Afghanistan, the alliance force said Wednesday, as an Afghan official reported that six Arabs were among more than a dozen rebels killed in battle.

The International Security Assistance Force announced late Tuesday that the explosion in the central province of Ghazni had killed one soldier and an interpreter. It said Wednesday a second soldier had died from wounds.

The 40-nation force did not say what had caused the explosion, or give the nationalities of the soldiers involved.

An ambush in the eastern province of Paktika meanwhile wounded two other ISAF soldiers, a spokesman told AFP, without giving details.

Nearly 60 international soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan this year, most of them in hostile action.

Scores of extremist insurgents have also been killed but international forces do not issue death tolls from military action.

A deputy provincial governor said about 14 were killed in a new battle overnight in Zabul province, on the southern border of Ghazni
More on link

Bomb attack on German army thwarted in Afghanistan
Published: 21 May 08 13:31 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.de/12007/
Article Link

Afghan security forces stopped a vehicle stuffed with explosives last week before it could be detonated in an attack on German soldiers in northern Afghanistan, German officials said on Wednesday.

Pilot strike delays flights in Germany (21 May 08) 
Ex-Guantanamo inmate gets halfhearted hearing from Congress (21 May 08) 
China warns Germany over Dalai Lama visit (20 May 08) 
Two men, a Pakistani and a Tajik, were arrested for planning the attack after their vehicle was stopped last Thursday in Auraq, a suburb near the town of Masar-i-sharif, the main base of Germany's 3,200 troops in Afghanistan. The car was packed with 220 kilogrammes (485 pounds) to 300 kilogrammes of explosives, according to the German Defence Ministry.

According to German television channel N24 the two men have confessed and have been sentenced to be hanged. Citing unnamed sources within the Afghan intelligence service, the report said the men planned the strike in connection with terror organization Al Qaida.
More on link

New commander can get things done in Afghanistan
Published Wednesday May 21st, 2008 
Article Link

Canadian Forces Base Gagetown continues to help develop leaders capable of meeting the demand of the new world reality.

Proof can be found by looking at the commander appointed earlier this month for the Afghanistan mission.

Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson took over the task from Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche on May 14 following a small ceremony at Kandahar Airfield.

Among those on-hand for the changeover was Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, commander of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM).

Thompson, in the mid-1990s, was the commander of Golf Company, The Second Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (2RCR) at Gagetown.

As part of Operation Alliance, he led Golf Company soldiers into Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of NATO's Implementation Force (IFOR) in the early days of the Dayton Peace Accord, which ended fighting in that region. Golf Company was under command of the Queen's Royal Hussar's Brigade Group from Great Britain.
More on link

The Macleans.ca Interview: Fatima Gailani
The head of Afghanistan's Red Crescent Society says Canadian soldiers should stay in Afghanistan—and stick to soldiering
Paul Wells | May 20, 2008 | 4:37 pm EST
Article Link

Fatima Gailani has been the president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society since 2004. Her father Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani led the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, one of the main mujahedeen organizations that resisted the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. After her return to Afghanistan from exile in London, she was a delegate to the Afghan Loya Jirga, which helped write a new constitution for the country. Ms. Gailani spoke to Maclean's senior columnist Paul Wells last week in Ottawa. 

Q: I was in Afghanistan for a week in October and many people there talked of the difficulty of coordinating military and NGO efforts, the fact that many of the NGOs don't talk to soldiers for reasons of neutrality, and that coordination is a huge problem. Do you share that perception? Is it getting better or worse?

A: Well, whether it is easy or difficult for NGOs to cooperate or coordinate with the soldiers is one thing. But the job of a national society (like the Red Cross or Red Crescent) in a country, especially a country with conflicts, is a unique role. It has to be 100 per cent neutral. It has to be 100 per cent trusted by the insurgency to allow our more than 40,000 volunteers to operate in different areas. The access the Afghan Red Crescent Society has is unique. They play a role that no one else could take over because they come from the community; they know the problems of the community, they are known and trusted by the community—both sides. So it is easier to work through them, and also we must not jeopardize their lives and their safety by doing and acting in a way which is not the job of a national society. 
More on link

Valcartier troops home safe and soundSource: CBC News
Posted: 05/20/08 11:22AM Filed Under: Canada
Article Link

A contingent of soldiers from Quebec's Valcartier military base returned home from Afghanistan feeling "proud" after nine months of duty in Kandahar, their commander said. 

A military plane carrying 130 Canadian Forces soldiers touched down at the Jean-Lesage International Airport in Quebec City Monday night, bringing home the remaining members of the mission that included 2,300 Valcartier soldiers under the command of Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche. 

The soldiers served in the fourth rotation of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, a mission which aims to increase security and aid in reconstruction efforts. 

They accomplished what they set out to do, despite the long road ahead for Afghanistan's future stability, Laroche said. 
More on link

Rae disagrees with Dion on Afghanistan
Canwest News Service Published: Tuesday, May 20
Article Link

OTTAWA - Despite past rhetoric to the contrary by his own party leader, Liberal International Affairs critic Bob Rae says Canada never had an option to "cut and run" from Afghanistan.

Rae offered that assessment in a recent speech to a gathering of international diplomats in Ottawa, in which he presented his views on Canada's foreign policy.

Though Rae had harsh words for how the Conservative government has handled relations with China, and for the continuing funding shortfall to Canada's diplomatic corps at Foreign Affairs, he struck a non-partisan tone on Afghanistan.

Barely two months on Parliament Hill, Rae's remarks underscored how he has attempted to rise above the partisan political rancour and set a statesmanlike tone for his new job as the official Opposition's shadow foreign minister.

"The real question is, we can't actually leave. We made a commitment until 2011. We signed the Afghan Compact. We're members of the NATO alliance. It's not simply open for us to say . . . that we're going simply to cut and run," Rae told the symposium, sponsored by Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, and held Friday at the Ottawa residence of the Austrian ambassador.

Rae's remarks also highlighted the differences within the Liberal party over the Afghanistan mission. Liberal Leader Stephane Dion had initially wanted Canada to serve notice to NATO that it would withdraw its 2,500 troops from Kandahar by February 2009.

But after a bipartisan effort from Liberals and Conservatives, the two parties agreed on a motion in mid-March that has now extended the mission to 2011.
More on link

Taliban crank up recruiting drive for young men in Afghan villages
Article Link

MIAN JUY, Afghanistan — Taliban recruiters have begun showing up over the last few weeks in the tiny villages that dot the desert landscape, heralding the start of the fighting season in this war-weary part of the world.

The militants are looking for fresh volunteers or conscripts in what has become an annual ritual - one that Canadian troops are trying to thwart by their presence, and with common-sense arguments.

Now that the poppy harvest is largely complete and the Taliban are flush with cash to assemble their mercenary army, they're turning their guns and bombs on international troops in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

In the last two days, NATO forces have suffered at least three combat deaths with an equal number of injuries as insurgents step up their attacks and roadside bombings. None of the casualties so far this week have involved Canadian troops.

The western alliance's principal base in the region, Kandahar Airfield, was hit three out of four nights recently with wildly erratic 107-mm rockets. There have been short, brutal firefights between militants and NATO troops in the northern parts of Kandahar province.

Last week, the war took a particularly brutal turn with the Taliban's use of a child to deliver a suicide bomb that injured two Canadian soldiers and killed an Afghan trooper.

Capt. Jeffrey Tebo has been to meetings, or shuras, with community elders where dozens of young, fighting-age males are standing at the back room sizing him up carefully.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (21 May 2008)

Abductions, thefts in Khyber Pass threaten supplies for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan
AP, May 21
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/21/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-Khyber-Chaos.php

KHYBER AGENCY, Pakistan: Thieves, feuding tribesmen and Taliban militants are creating chaos along the main Pakistan-Afghanistan highway, threatening a vital supply line for U.S. and NATO forces.

Abductions and arson attacks on the hundreds of cargo trucks plying the switchback road through the Khyber Pass have become commonplace this year. Many of the trucks carry fuel and other material for foreign troops based in Afghanistan.

U.S. and NATO officials play down their losses in these arid mountains of northwestern Pakistan — even though the local arms bazaar offers U.S.-made assault rifles and Beretta pistols, and the alliance is negotiating to open routes through other countries.

The most high-profile victim of the lawlessness has been Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan. The 56-year-old was snatched from his Mercedes limousine three months ago while driving toward the border. He wasn't freed until Saturday. Pakistan's government denied it was part of a prisoner swap with militants...

Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, who heads an association of Pakistani customs agents helping traders move goods through the customs post at Torkham, claimed the average number of trucks has dropped to 250 a day from 500 early this year, before violence escalated.

Abdul Ghani, a commander of Afghan border guards, said there had been only a "small drop," however. He had no number.

Fuel tankers have especially become a target for militants seeking to disrupt supplies to NATO and the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan...

*Most material for foreign troops in Afghanistan arrives by ship at Pakistan's port of Karachi in unmarked shipping containers, then hauled by South Asia's colorfully decorated "jingle" trucks to places like Bagram Air Base, north of the Afghan capital, Kabul* [emphasis added].

NATO and U.S. officials won't say whether the trucks carry weapons and ammunition as well as food, fuel and other supplies. They suggest that theft — not a disruption campaign by militant groups — is the main problem.

The coalition has "no indication of a pattern by the enemy to attack our supplies," said a coalition spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green.

Yet *NATO is trying to reduce its dependence on the route by negotiating with Russia and other nations to let it truck "non-lethal" supplies to Afghanistan through Central Asia* [emphasis added]...

Miliband backs tribal talks to halt Taliban
_The Guardian_, May 21
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/may/21/davidmiliband.foreignpolicy



> David Miliband will today argue there is "no military solution" to the spread of extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas, and back the pursuit of political reconciliation in both countries.
> 
> In a speech the foreign secretary is due to deliver in Washington, a draft of which has been obtained by the Guardian, he will say that Pakistan and Afghanistan "top the list of UK foreign policy priorities", and both represent fragile democracies facing huge challenges.
> 
> He will underline Britain's commitment to pursuing parallel military and political strategies in Helmand province's Gereshk valley, where 8,000 British troops are fighting the Taliban. More controversially from Washington's point of view, Miliband will also offer British support for negotiations between Pakistan's new civilian government and Pashtun leaders in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). The region bordering Afghanistan has become a haven for Afghan and Pakistani militants, as well as al-Qaida elements...



US urges Pakistan to nab Taliban chief, in test of anti-terror zeal
AFP, May 21
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080521/wl_sthasia_afp/uspakistanattacks



> The United States asked Pakistan to arrest and bring to justice a Taliban militant commander Islamabad was negotiating with to underline its commitment to the "war on terror."
> 
> The commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who has been accused by the CIA of masterminding the assassination in December of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, has been negotiating with the new Pakistan coalition government.
> 
> ...



'What's Important Is to Kill the Germans'
_Spiegel Online_, May 21
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,554545,00.html



> Taliban commander Qabir Bashir Haqqani is threatening the Germans in Afghanistan. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, the representative of the radical Islamists says they will ramp up deadly suicide attacks against Germans and other "invaders" in the northern part of the country...
> 
> SPIEGEL ONLINE: What exactly are you planning?
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## geo (21 May 2008)

Woman 'hangs herself' after row with husband  
Written by www.quqnoos.com 
Tuesday, 20 May 2008  

Women who allegedly killed herself accused of 'misusing human rights' 

A 23-year-old pregnant mother of two has hung herself after fighting with her husband about the arrival of guests at their home, the head of Laghman’s council of women said. 

The young woman allegedly killed herself yesterday (Monday) at 10 am, after a fight broke out in their family home in the province of Laghman. 

The victim’s mother said her daughter’s husband killed her, but the husband denies the charges. 

The Head of Laghman’s Women’s Council, Shirin Taj, blamed the wife for killing herself, saying: “Women misuse their freedom and their human rights, and commit such actions in small issues like this.” 



Iconic hotel survives Afghanistan's bitter history  

Reuters - World News 
By Luke Baker 
Tue May 20, 2008
KABUL 

On the western edge of Kabul, in the saddle between two hills, stands a flaking monument to what the city once aspired to be -- a cosmopolitan destination drawing chic travelers from the world over. 

For nearly 40 years the InterContinental Hotel Kabul, with commanding views over the bustling city and north towards the snow-capped Hindu Kush, has survived as a landmark of the Afghanistan that might have been. And for all that time Shir Ahmad Stanikzai has been there, watching history come and go. 

From champagne-fuelled parties and bikini-clad women by the pool in the 1970s, to the Soviet invasion, the chaos of the civil war, the rise and fall of the Taliban and the arrival of U.S. troops, Stanikzai has seen it all. 

"It was so beautiful once," he said with a smile, sitting in the almost-empty lobby, the furnishings little changed since the day the hotel opened in 1969, the clocks behind reception giving the time in London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Moscow. 

"There were jewelry shops with diamonds and gold, a travel agency, the Pamir restaurant on the top floor. The nightclub was always full," he said wistfully, recalling better, earlier days. "We used to have big New Year celebrations in the ballroom." 

Stanikzai began working at the hotel as a waiter in 1969, when he was just 16, shortly after finishing school. He steadily worked his way up to head waiter, then restaurant manager, food and beverage manager and now assistant general manager. 

The heyday, he says, was the 1970s, when wealthy Europeans would come to Afghanistan and make the InterContinental their base, taking trips to visit the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the mountains of the north or ancient cities like Jalalabad. 

The pool was always crowded with men and women swimming together, shouts of "mine" could be heard from the tennis courts and most evenings brought well-dressed couples down to the Nuristan cocktail lounge for pre-dinner drinks. Indian royalty, ousted presidents and foreign ambassadors were two a penny. 

It was a gilded era that barely outlasted the decade

GROW YOUR BEARD 

Dramatic change came with the Soviet invasion of late 1979, when tens of thousands of foreign troops poured into the country after a series of failed coups, plots and bloody revolts. 

Following the invasion, the InterContinental Group dropped Kabul from its chain, although the hotel proudly retains the name. 

The Soviet military ended up using the hotel as an officers' quarters and the flow of international travelers quickly dried up. The resort remained busy, Stanikzai recalls, but with swaggering Soviet commanders, not frolicking guests. 

"They drank a lot of vodka," Stanikzai said, laughing. "But the hotel still made money. They paid their bills." 

Ten years later the Russians left and a new era began, with bearded Afghan warlords battling furiously for supremacy after overthrowing Mohammad Najibullah's communist regime. 

"That time was very, very bad," says Stanikzai, recalling how one set of mujahideen fighters once held an area of Kabul to the west of the hotel and another faction, led by Ahmad Shah Masood, held the hotel and much of the rest of the city. 

"There were bullets flying, rockets flying, and we were in the middle. Our front office manager was killed right there," he said, pointing towards the reception desk. "I think 15 or 16 of our staff were killed in that time." 

The rise of the warlords brought an end to alcohol-fuelled parties and cocktail hours, and the hotel steadily fell on harder and harder times. With the Taliban's conquest of Kabul in 1996, an already dire situation took a turn for the worse. 

Stanikzai, a dapper man in a smart suit with a trimmed moustache and neat grey hair, had to grow a long beard and wear traditional Afghan dress of flowing trousers and shirt. 

"I had a beard down to here," he said, gesturing to the middle of his chest. "I had to wear a turban." 

Taliban rule was a rigid, parsimonious time. A few foreign journalists came, but mostly the hotel was empty. One memorable episode was when some of Osama bin Laden's acolytes ordered the pool sealed off so they could swim alone for a day. 

When U.S. and Afghan forces came and drove the Taliban out in late 2001, the first thing Stanikzai did was shave his beard. Trade picked up as more journalists, diplomats and adventurers came. A Dubai company invested and the hotel was done up. 

Recently the government took ownership and more improvements are promised. Another five-star hotel has opened in central Kabul, offering stiff competition as the InterConinental's once-bright star fades. But Stanikzai is not going anywhere. 

"I love my hotel and I love my job," he says simply. "I will keep working here as long as the management will have me." 

(Editing by Megan Goldin)


----------



## MarkOttawa (22 May 2008)

ARTICLES FOUND MAY 22

US: Dutch, British to extend Afghanistan commands
AP, May 21
http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/national/BO78968/



> WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department said Wednesday it has shelved a plan to take greater control in parts of Afghanistan where NATO is in charge after the Dutch and British agreed to extend their commands.
> 
> Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the Netherlands and Britain will stay in control in southern Afghanistan for a full year, rather than in months, as the military alliance fights a stubborn Taliban insurgency.
> 
> ...



DoD News Briefing with Press Secretary Geoff Morrell from the Pentagon
US DoD, May 21
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4232


> ...
> Q     But it doesn't get to what General McNeill and General Craddock are talking about, which is getting one nation in charge and remaining in charge, as you have in the North and in other areas.
> 
> MR. MORRELL: Well, General McNeill and General Craddock are certainly entitled to their opinions in this. But we work with allies in RC South and throughout the country. And we take their considerations into account.
> ...



NATO Southern Afghanistan Command Agreement Not Final
VOA, May 22
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-05-22-voa38.cfm



> The Pentagon says the agreement on command of NATO operations in southern Afghanistan, which it announced Wednesday, is not finalized. But officials still hope the plan will be approved. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
> 
> Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says he was "too emphatic" when he announced the agreement Wednesday. He had said the United States reached agreement with the Netherlands and Britain for those countries to each command the southern Afghanistan effort for a year, starting in November when Canada ends its rotation.
> 
> ...



A war of money as well as bullets
The Americans are learning the tricks of the Great Game quicker than the British, who invented it. But a weak and corrupt Afghan government is hobbling them
_The Economist_, May 21
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11402695&fsrc=nwlptwfree



> ...events at Charbaran were important in one respect: in a counter-insurgency strategy that is summed up by the catchphrase “clear-hold-build”, Afghan security forces, backed up by American power, are showing that they can hold areas cleared by the Americans. In a war that has often gone from bad to worse, this is good news for NATO...
> 
> General Dan McNeill, the American commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), notes that his mission is seriously “under-resourced”. Yet he suggests that the Afghan army and police will become strong enough by 2011 to take the lead in most areas, allowing NATO to start reducing its forces and to take more of an advisory and support role—providing, for example, embedded advisers who can organise air support and medical evacuations.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## geo (22 May 2008)

Soviets vs US in Afghanistan 

Who is the enemy?  
Australia.TO, Australia
By Eric Walberg 
Wednesday May 21, 2008 

The US is not only repeating all the Soviets’ mistakes in Afghanistan, it is showing remarkable creativity in the horrors department, says Eric Walberg in the first of a two-part series 

Twenty years ago this week the Soviet Union began its withdrawal from Afghanistan, eight and a half years after it was invited by the desperate People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which had degenerated into intra-party squabbling and was beset by Islamic rebels massively financed by the United States. The straw that broke the Soviets’ back was when the US began providing Stinger missiles to Osama bin Laden and his friends. 

Now, after eight years of US/NATO occupation, the parallels — and differences — between the two occupation are many and stark, as confirmed by the current Russian ambassador to Afghanistan , Zamir Kabulov. 

“There is no mistake made by the Soviet Union that was not repeated by the international community here in Afghanistan ,” Kabulov said. “Underestimation of the Afghan nation, the belief that we have superiority over Afghans, that they are inferior and cannot be trusted to run affairs in this country. A lack of knowledge of the social and ethnic structure of this country; a lack of sufficient understanding of traditions and religion.” 

Not only that, but the country’s new patrons are making lots of new mistakes as well. “NATO soldiers and officers alienate themselves from Afghans — they are not in touch in an everyday manner. They communicate with them from the barrels of guns in their bullet-proof Humvees.” As a career diplomat who was posted to Afghanistan in 1977, he sees some divine justice in the US ’s current predicament. “But I am even more satisfied by not having Russian soldiers among ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] because I don’t want them to suffer the same results.” 

Kabulov explains that things are even harder now than they were in the 1980s. “The structures of government then were very much there and our task was very much to support and to win loyalty — if you will, hearts and minds — but we had a working administration.” These are long gone, though, ironically, in Helmand province and elsewhere, NATO forces are fighting from military posts originally built by the Soviets. 

At least the Soviets were invited in, if only by one faction — Parcham, by far the most benign one — of the ruling PDPA. The US merely issued an ultimatum to the ruling Taliban to hand over their own erstwhile ally, Osama bin Laden, knowing full well no devout Muslim would turn a guest over to the enemy. The offer of the Taliban to send him to a neutral third country until proof of his masterminding of 9/11 was made was dismissed out of hand, and US and eventually NATO forces proceeded to illegally invade and depose the legitimate government, launching a merciless air attack, using depleted uranium “bunker busting” bombs, that makes the horrors of Vietnam and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan pale in comparison. 

Another difference is that the US managed to con the world into supporting its invasion, while when the Soviet troops arrived in 1979, the US was already arming Islamic rebels with the most advanced military hardware, as Under-Secretary of Defense Slocumbe said at the time, “sucking the Soviets into a Vietnamese quagmire.” President Carter’s national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski made a point of maintaining the flow of arms, even after Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev made it clear the troops would be withdrawn, intending to use this golden opportunity to stick the knife as deep as possible into the now unravelling Soviet Union . On this basis alone, the current invasion should be miles ahead of where the Soviets were after eight years. But no. Yet another contrast is that while the Soviets were providing massive aid, effectively dragging Afghanistan into the 20th century with universal education, equal rights for women, safe drinking water — the standard communist fare — the US/NATO strategy has been mostly to fight the remnants of the Taliban, with aid well down the list. As for the quality of the aid, while Soviet teachers and engineers earned not much more than locals, and were generally selected for their idealism, Western-backed aid is channelled almost exclusively through foreign NGOs, with Western professionals earning the bulk of the money and living in conditions that locals can only dream of, causing well-earned resentment. 

It should be noted that from the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 till the US invasion in 2001, Afghanistan was mostly forgotten, with no Western programme of reconstruction. Russia , of course, had been bankrupt by then and there was nothing to be expected from it either. Ahmed Shah Ahmadzai, a mujahideen leader and prime minister in exile during the 1990s, admits the mujahideen failed in the years following the Soviet withdrawal. He is now an opponent of the government who stood against President Hamid Karzai in the last election. “To my opinion the ground situation is no different because the Soviets were imposing their Communist regime on us. The present forces — they are imposing their so-called democracy on us. They were wrong then and the present NATO forces are doing wrong now by killing innocent people — men, women and children.” 

Given the huge advantages over the Soviet experience, and given the possibility to learn from Soviet mistakes, there really is no excuse for the current tragedy unfolding with no end in sight. But then, in carrying out their invasion of Iraq , the Americans apparently learned nothing from the British invasion of the 1920s, repeating to the letter all the horrors the Brits inflicted on the Iraqis. Is it possible the chaos and murder is intentional? While the Taliban were no sweethearts, they did completely disarm the nation and wipe out the production of opium. Similarly, while Saddam Hussein would hardly be one’s favourite uncle, he presided over a stable welfare state where its many ethnic groups were at least not blowing each other up. In contrast, the US has destroyed the state structures in both countries, and made both into arms dumps. It has managed to turn the peoples of both countries against each other, with the likely prospect of civil war and disintegration into various malleable statelets. 

All in keeping with Israeli plans first published in 1982 as “A Strategy for Israel”, a plan to ensure its “security” (read: expansion) with the Middle East a patchwork of small ethnically-based states which it could keep in order. 

One brilliant innovation by the US , with Israel ’s Haganah and Irgun as possible inspirations, is the use of private mercenaries to carry out murder and espionage that the NATO troops can’t do because of their “concern” for international law. This policy is already well known to Iraqis in the guise of Blackwater. Special investigator for the UN Human Rights Council Philip Alston referred to three such recent raids in south and east Afghanistan during a visit last week, clearly alluding to US intelligence agencies, though he didn’t dare state this publicly. Alston said the raids were part of a wider problem of unlawful killings of civilians and lack of accountability in Afghanistan . In one incident, two brothers were killed by troops operating out of an American Special Forces base in Kandahar . Another group, known as Shaheen, operates out of Nangahar, in eastern Afghanistan , where US forces are in charge. “Essentially, they are companies of Afghans but with a handful, at most, of international people directing them. I’m not aware that they fall under any command.” 

A Western official close to the investigation said the secret units are known as Campaign Forces, from the time when American Special Forces and CIA spies recruited Afghan troops to help overthrow the Taliban during the US-led invasion in 2001. “The brightest, smartest guys in these militias were kept on,” the official said. “They were trained and rearmed and they are still being used. The level of complacency in response to these killings is staggeringly high,” he said. 

Yet another innovation — the most frightening of all — is the role of the US in allowing, perhaps even facilitating, the huge increase in opium production, which, as already mentioned, was wiped out by the Taliban, which will be discussed in Part II. 

It is very hard to exaggerate the extent of the abyss that is Afghanistan under US/NATO occupation or to conceive of an honourable exit for the occupiers. Mercenaries, opium and who-knows-what, in a script written in Israel ’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly. You can reach him at www.geocities.com/walberg2002/      

Bush apologises for Koran shooting  

Written by www.quqnoos.com 
Wednesday, 21 May 2008  

US president promises to put soldier who shot holy book on trial 

THE US President has apologised for an American soldier who shot bullets into a copy of the holy Koran in Iraq, according to the Iraqi government. 

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's office said Mr Bush had promised to send the accused American sniper to trial. 

Yesterday (Tuesday), the members of the Upper House stormed out in protest at what they called the soldier’s blasphemous actions and they demanded the government condemn the shooting. 

The soldier was sent home by the US military after Iraqi police found a copy of the holy book riddled with bullets at a shooting range. 

The White House has yet to comment on Bush’s reported apology. 



Public criticism of Afghan authorities counter-productive: NATO spokesman  

National Post - Ottawa Citizen 
Mike Blanchfield
Canwest News Service 
Published: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 
OTTAWA 

Criticizing Afghanistan over government corruption is best done behind closed doors, says NATO's chief spokesman. 

"We shouldn't be shy as an international community of pressing the Afghans to make improvements when it comes to corruption and governance," James Appathurai said Wednesday in an interview, during a break in a series of meetings with Canadian government officials. 

"Obviously it's more effective when you speak behind closed doors. If we have to say things in public, also that is done, in respectful terms."

Although he wouldn't comment on the recent gaffe by Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, who publicly called for the firing of the governor of Kandahar over corruption and was later forced to retract the comment, Appathurai said it does NATO "no good to be seen to be undermining" the Afghan government with public lectures. 

"You don't want to love them to death," he added. "You have to be frank amongst friends. Just saying everything is OK is not helping them." 

Appathurai also said more work must be done to train Afghan police to catch up to the progress being made to train the Afghan army. 

By October, the goal of a fully trained Afghan National Army of 80,000 personnel should have been met, but the task of training a similar number of Afghan police lags behind, he said. 

Appathurai denied the major international push by NATO members and their partners in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is all part of an exit strategy to get NATO and western troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. 

"There's a big difference between transition and exit," he said. 

"Nobody is talking about packing up and going home altogether. It is not exit strategy." 

Canada voted in March to extend its deployment of 2,500 troops in Kandahar by two years to 2011. Canada is hopeful that enough Afghan army and police personnel will be trained by then to allow a full withdrawal of its soldiers at that time. 

Canada's continued involvement in the NATO-led mission was conditional on the alliance finding an additional 1,000 troops to partner with the Canadian Forces in southern Afghanistan. 

That happened at last month's NATO leaders' summit in Romania when France offered to send a battalion of troops to eastern Afghanistan, the American zone of control, so that more U.S. resources could be freed up to partner with Canada in Kandahar province. 

Appathurai said the French force, about 800 troops in all, should be fully deployed to the eastern region no later than September. 

About 2,000 U.S. marines are scheduled to remain in the south until their seven-month mission ends in November. 

Appathurai said the U.S. commitment to follow through on bolstering its troop numbers is steadfast and that Canada would get its American partner in Afghanistan. 

The change in the U.S. presidency that comes into effect in January 2009 will not affect that, he added. 

"There's a clear bipartisan consensus that the mission needs to be reinforced," he said. 

"The Americans are carrying this mission on their backs. The Americans are playing a disproportionate role for the sheer numbers of the forces that they have there." 

The U.S. has already deployed more than 30,000 troops to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF mission, as well as its separate command under Operation Enduring Freedom.


----------



## GAP (23 May 2008)

*Articles found May 23, 2008*

NATO wary of Iranian arms sneaking into Afghanistan
Mike Blanchfield ,  Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, May 22
Article Link

OTTAWA - Weapons from Iran have turned up in Afghanistan in "significant quantities" over the last two years, which NATO says is causing it great concern.

That means Afghanistan, and the western troops including Canada's 2,500-strong contingent in Kandahar charged with protecting the country, are feeling the squeeze on two frontiers.

Last week, NATO sounded the alarm over Afghanistan's southern neighbour Pakistan for providing "safe havens" for the Taliban through deals struck with the Pakistani government.
More on link

Afghan army convoy attacked in Kandahar city; witnesses say one dead.
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A remote-control bomb exploded next to a passing Afghan National Army convoy Thursday, killing one soldiers and wounding another, witnesses and a spokesman for the Afghan military said.

No Canadians were involved in the incident, said the military spokesman, Abdul Qaum.

Witnesses said the bomb was planted in the seat of a bicycle parked alongside the road and exploded as the convoy was passing.

The attack took place on a busy thoroughfare, where there have been many attacks. Local residents said people are fed up with what they see as the government's inability to deal with the situation.

"I was scared when I heard the explosion," said Nasir Ahmad

"This location is mostly being hit by suicide and roadside bombs. I don't know why the government does not pay attention to this problem and many families have left the vicinity. We don't feel safe here."
More on link

Manley concerned Afghan panel recommendations not being met
Last Updated: Thursday, May 22, 2008 | 11:50 PM ET CBC News 
Article Link

The chair of the panel that examined Canada's mission in Afghanistan told CBC News in an exclusive interview that he is concerned the federal government may not be acting on key recommendations more than four months after his report was tabled.

In its final report presented in January, the panel headed by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government for being too close-mouthed in its communications strategy for the Afghan mission.

The panel also said the effectiveness of Canada's military and civilian activities in Afghanistan and the progress of Afghan security and government must be tracked.

But in an interview with the CBC senior correspondent Brian Stewart that aired Thursday, Manley said the Canadian government has not helped public understanding of the mission or of the many complex issues surrounding it.

"It certainly concerns me if we are not getting the information out to Canadians," said Manley, who, along with the other members of the panel, visited Afghanistan for 10 days in November.
More on link

Time to stand up for what we believe
How can the Canadian government say it wants to ban cluster bombs while it also promotes a provision that would allow it to participate with the U.S. in their use? 
JODY WILLIAMS Special to Globe and Mail Update May 22, 2008 at 11:13 PM EDT
Article Link

Dublin, Ireland — At the current 12-day conference to negotiate an international treaty banning cluster munitions, diplomats and observers alike are wondering what has happened to Canada's independence.

The same country that launched the "Ottawa process" resulting in the historic 1997 Mine Ban Treaty now appears to be doing dirty work for the United States to weaken the cluster munitions treaty.

As with land mines, the United States is no friend of the effort to ban cluster munitions launched in February, 2007, in Oslo. But it was openly and actively involved in the Ottawa process until walking out of treaty negotiations on the last day, unable to force acceptance of a "negotiating package" that would have gutted that treaty. This time around, Washington is opting for intense, relentless pressure behind the scenes.
More on link

US: Dutch, British to extend Afghanistan commands
By LOLITA C. BALDOR  
Article Link

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department said Wednesday it has shelved a plan to take greater control in parts of Afghanistan where NATO is in charge after the Dutch and British agreed to extend their commands.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the Netherlands and Britain will stay in control in southern Afghanistan for a full year, rather than in months, as the military alliance fights a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

The European allies agreed to the new arrangement in recent conversations with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Morrell said.

"I think we're trying to create a situation in which ... by the command serving longer, there'll be greater stability and continuity to our operations" in southern Afghanistan, Morrell said. The U.S. raised the idea and allies signed on, he said.

The U.S. has complained that changing commands every nine months and rotating troops even more frequently do not provide the necessary continuity for an effective fight against the insurgency, particularly in Afghanistan's volatile south.

In recent months, the Pentagon suggested giving the U.S. military more authority in those areas now under NATO command. U.S. control is now limited to eastern Afghanistan.
More on link

Suicide bomb kills five in eastern Afghanistan
Fri May 23, 2008 3:12am EDT  
Article Link

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suspected Taliban suicide bomber killed one child and four Afghan soldiers in an attack targeting an army convoy on Friday, a provincial governor's spokesman said.

Taliban insurgents carried out more than 140 suicide bombings in 2007 and have vowed to step up such attacks this year. Some 95 percent of those killed by the Taliban are civilians, a United Nations special rapporteur said last week.

Five others, including four Afghan soldiers, were wounded in the latest attack, which came in the eastern province of Khost, bordering Pakistan, the spokesman Khaiber Pashtun said.

Taliban militants often target Afghan and international security forces in their campaign to topple the pro-Western Afghan government and drive foreign troops out of the country.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (23 May 2008)

Afghan troops ready for bulk of fight: U.S. general
Reuters, May 22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052201869.html



> The Afghan army *could by early next year be leading* [emphasis added] the vast majority of military operations against enemy insurgents in the country, the U.S. soldier in charge of training them said on Thursday.
> 
> Major General Robert W. Cone said Afghan authorities aimed to have 80,000 trained personnel ready by early 2009, compared to just over 57,000 now, as part of an effort to share more of the burden of fighting with NATO countries.
> 
> ...



Eastern Afghanistan now a hotter zone for U.S. troops
Officials worry increased attacks are the fallout of peace deals with militants in Pakistan
_Chicago Tribune_, May 22
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-afghan-pakistan_barkermay23,0,5151247.story



> KABUL, Afghanistan — The number of attacks on U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan has increased significantly in April and May, causing many here to worry that local peace deals with militants in neighboring Pakistan are allowing them to regroup and focus on fighting across the border in Afghanistan.
> 
> Officials with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that *attacks in eastern Afghanistan in the past three or four weeks have jumped to about 100 a week from 60 a week in March* [emphasis added].
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (26 May 2008)

*Articles found May 26, 2008*

Supply and unreal demands
Canada's flawed plan to buy spy planes could create an Israeli presence in Afghanistan
By GREG WESTON
Article Link

Today's tour of the federal funny farm takes us (yet again) to the Department of National Defence, this time coming to the aid of our troops in Afghanistan with rented Israeli spy planes. Really. 

Four months ago, Stephen Harper said the government had ordered a fleet of unmanned surveillance aircraft to help reduce the amount of time our troops have to spend travelling heavily landmined roads of Kandahar. 

In fact, the prime minister said in January, the government "has had them on order for some time." 

Or not. Truth is, the government still hasn't ordered the planes, the bidding to supply them having closed only this past week. 

Sources in the defence industry say the requirements for supplying the unmanned drones are so onerous that most of the world's suppliers politely said thanks, but no thanks. 

That left only two companies in the running -- both Israeli. 

The concept of Canada's deploying Israeli spy planes to watch over a Muslim country we are occupying definitely risks some indigestion in diplomatic, if not military, circles. 

But the planes may be only part of a much larger Israeli presence joining our Canadian troops in Afghanistan. 

Government documents stipulate that the winning supplier will also have to provide the crews needed to maintain the drones at the Canadian base in Afghanistan, prepare the craft for flight, and actually remote-pilot the planes through all takeoffs and landings. 
More on link

Pakistan ceasefire doesn't mean respite in Afghanistan, Taliban warns
Last Updated: Saturday, May 24, 2008 | 11:19 PM ET CBC News 
Article Link

The ceasefire between some Taliban fighters in Pakistan and the country's government won't bring peace to nearby Afghanistan, a Taliban leader said Saturday.

Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader in Pakistan, said he wants to end the fighting with Pakistani government forces but will continue to battle Western troops in Afghanistan, where about 2,500 Canadian soldiers are part of the NATO force.

NATO commander Gen. John Craddock is concerned that the ceasefire will aid the Taliban because they will be able to use Pakistan as a base to launch attacks in Afghanistan, U.S. National Public Radio reported.

"If the safe haven is not taken away," Craddock said, "whenever the insurgents are under duress, then they can leave, reconstitute and come back at the time of their choosing."

The ceasefire followed a change in government in Pakistan earlier this year. The new government has been seeking to end the fierce battles along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Mehsud told reporters at a Taliban base that the holy war against the Western forces would continue.
More on link

US coalition soldier killed in Afghanistan
By NOOR KHAN 
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber hit a Canadian military convoy in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing one boy, while a U.S.-led coalition soldier was killed in an operation in the west, officials said.

The bomber struck the Canadian convoy in the southern city of Kandahar, said police officer Abdul Karim.

One military vehicle appeared to be damaged, according to an AP reporter at the scene of the attack. One boy was killed, and two other boys were wounded, he said.

Capt. Fraser Clark, a spokesman for Canadian troops in Kandahar, said three soldiers were wounded and were sent for treatment at the military airfield.

Separately, a U.S.-led coalition soldier was killed during an operation in the western Farah province, the coalition said in a statement. It did not provide any further information.
More on link

Taliban rocket attack interrupts Canadian entertainment show in Kandahar.
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Hundreds of NATO soldiers got a dash of Canadian music and humour Friday night before a Taliban rocket attack forced a troupe of entertainers to temporarily douse the lights at Kandahar Airfield.

The music and jokes had been flying for about an hour when the first explosion and siren forced everyone to scurry for nearby bunkers.

No one was hurt.

Kandahar Airfield, the main base for Canadian and alliance troops in southern Afghanistan, has been hit routinely over the last few weeks with wildly erratic 107 mm rocket fire intended to harass NATO forces.

The show was interrupted for about an hour before performers retook the stage and carried on.

One of the headline acts was East Coast blues rocker Matt Minglewood, who has spent the last couple of days mixing and chatting with the troops.

It is the guitarist's second trip to entertain soldiers in the war-torn country, and he said earlier Friday that a lot has changed in almost four years.
More on link

Blaming enemy wearing thin as Afghanistan spin
By SCOTT TAYLOR On Target Mon. May 26 - 6:08 AM
Article Link

WHENEVER a nation is at war, it is very easy to polarize public opinion based upon the simplified premise of "us" versus "them." Soldiers simply follow orders, while the political and military leadership puts forward talking points to justify the military intervention.

A large percentage of the media eagerly parrots the government lines, and the Canadian public is more than content to be placated by the official reassurances that our cause is just. This makes for a relatively easy sales job, as we all believe that we are inherently good people. 

Therefore, if strange foreigners attack our soldiers with suicidal fanaticism, it is very easy to convince ourselves that our enemy is evil incarnate. When NATO artillery or airstrikes cause the deaths of innocent women and children, naturally, we blame the dastardly insurgents for using their own families as human shields.

However, in the fall of 2006, following the successful conclusion of Operation Medusa, our soldiers walked among the throng of Afghan refugees returning to the Panjwai district. When a Taliban suicide bomber detonated a bicycle bomb in the midst of that crowd — killing and injuring soldiers and civilians alike — we heaped the blame for the collateral damage into the coffin of the Taliban attackers. When our soldiers shot and killed an unarmed 10-year-old boy at the scene of an IED ambush, we said the Taliban bore full responsibility because they had created such an insecure environment that our troops had little recourse but to shoot first and take no chances.

Last week’s attack on Canadian soldiers involving another 10-year-old
More on link

Soldier comes home to ruin
Identity-theft victim while overseas
MAX HARROLD, The Gazette 
Article Link

His forearm tattoo brands him as a "soldier/protector," but even an eight-month tour of duty in Afghanistan left Tyler Patnode still a kid at heart, too trusting for his own good.

When he returned home to LaSalle in February, the 22-year-old army gunner was blindsided by identity theft, a danger to anyone who travels and leaves their personal information vulnerable to misuse.

A boyhood friend with access to Patnode's chequebook betrayed him, he says.
More on link

Canadian soldiers benefit from U.S. car discount
Updated Wed. May. 21 2008 1:14 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

Canadian soldiers are reaping the benefits of a U.S. military incentive program that offers cars at a discounted price to military personnel. 

Capt. Patrick Hannan took advantage of the discounted rate extended to Canadian soldiers overseas and bought a brand new "supped-up" -- fully loaded -- Vista Blue Mustang. 

Hannan became a car enthusiast while serving as an artillery targeting specialist in Afghanistan. Before completing his tour, Hannan purchased a shiny new hot rod with the help of the Exchange New Car Sales Program (ENCS). 

The program was created in the 1960s to ensure members of the Armed Forces stationed overseas for at least 30 days could purchase American-built cars, trucks and motorcycles conveniently and at good value. 

American and Canadian soldiers can purchase a new vehicle at the preferred rate from their station abroad and pick it up when they rotate home. 

A Canadian veteran can head south of the border to collect their car and drive it back, said the program manager in Afghanistan, Arthur Smith. 
More on link

Female soldiers at the forefront when dealing with Afghan women
Ryan Cormier ,  Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, May 25, 2008
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Female soldiers are finding an unwritten - but not unwanted - responsibility waiting for them in Afghanistan.

In many rural villages in Kandahar province, the only females who can meet local women wear the Canadian flag on their uniform. Large areas are too dangerous for anyone but a soldier to walk into.

Many Afghan women aren't allowed to speak with, or even see, men they aren't related to. The punishment for bringing such dishonour to their family can be death.
More on link

Estonian soldier dies in accident in Afghanistan while unloading equipment
Article Link

TALLINN, Estonia — Estonia's military says one of its soldiers has died in southern Afghanistan after being injured while unloading equipment from a truck.

The military said today that 30-year-old Sgt. Maj Ivar Brok died in a military hospital in Kandahar overnight after a spare wheel of a heavy armoured vehicle rolled over him at the British Camp Bastion.

Brok is the third Estonian soldier to die in Afghanistan since the small Baltic country joined the NATO-led coalition in 2003.
More on link

Afghanistan's Indian soaps provoke culture debate
Article Link

KABUL (AFP) — "I'm not the father," Mehir Verani exclaims, accusing his virtuous wife Tulsi of having their son with another man.

Shocked, the beautiful woman throws her husband a tearful glance.

The music peaks ... and an episode of the most popular soap opera in Afghanistan ends, millions of viewers left hanging on for the next instalment in a tale many have followed since it first aired four years ago.

"I think this is another conspiracy against Tulsi," 50-year-old car-part salesman Noor Agha says of the Indian drama dubbed into Farsi. "I'm desperate to see how she will cope with it this time."

But just as Tulsi's honour was thrown into doubt, albeit only briefly, so has been the fate of the serial of the same name.

Islamic mullahs, backed by elements in the government, want it and others banned.

They say the serials and the hot topics they deal with -- such as Tulsi's alleged infidelity -- are corrupting Afghans as they emerge from the strict conservatism of the Taliban regime which banned television and movies.
More on link

 Afghanistan, Chinese company sign multi-billion-dollar copper mine deal
05.25.08, 2:52 PM ET 
Article Link

KABUL (Thomson Financial) - The Afghan government and a Chinese state company on Sunday signed a multi-billion-dollar deal for the exploration of a copper deposit said to be one of the largest in the world.

Mines Minster Ibrahim Adel signed the agreement -- the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan -- with representatives of the Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC), a state-owned metal producer and contractor

'After signing the contract, MCC will start exploring the mine. This was the last step,' ministry spokesman Khoghman Ulumi told Agence France-Presse. He could not say when work on the mine would begin.

Afghanistan in November selected MCC from nine international bidders for a 30-year lease to develop the Aynak mine 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Kabul.
More on link


----------



## GAP (27 May 2008)

*Articles found May 27, 2008*

Tories need to assure allies after Bernier: experts
Updated Mon. May. 26 2008 9:47 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

Canada will need to move quickly to reassure allies that no sensitive information was leaked in the wake of the Maxime Bernier affair, according to experts on international relations. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced late Monday evening that he had accepted the foreign affairs minister's resignation after Bernier told him about a possible security breach. Harper did not offer many details. 

But The Canadian Press reported Bernier may have left classified documents related to April's NATO summit in Bucharest at an ex-girlfriend's home. 

"I hope (Harper) has made a phone call to (U.S.) President (George) Bush already to explain what he's doing to ensure that any of this information will not undermine our allies' interest," University of British Columbia political scientist Michael Byers told CTV Newsnet. 

"Whether this will stick to Canadian politics, I don't know. But it certainly sticks to Canada's reputation abroad and our ability to make this happen," he said. 
More on link

At isolated outpost, the relative luxury of Kandahar is a world away
KATHERINE O'NEILL From Tuesday's Globe and Mail May 27, 2008 at 4:37 AM EDT
Article Link

PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN — Warrant Officer Devin Ramos had flashbacks to Vietnam movies the first time he was dropped off by a helicopter at one of the tiny outposts the Canadian military has scattered throughout the Panjwai district.

"It reminded me of a little fort bristling with machine guns and wire," he said.

The 34-year-old Edmonton-based soldier with the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry has spent the bulk of his tour since he arrived in February stationed at outposts, and recently headed up the one in Zangabad. 

The station, which is officially named Platoon House Boyes, opened late last year in an effort to hold ground in the hotly contested and turbulent Panjwai district and help train Afghan police. It is named in honour of Sergeant Jason Boyes who was killed in March after stepping on an explosive device a few hundred metres from the station.
More on link

Intelligence soldiers in Afghanistan since start of mission: commander  
Mon May 26, 6:40 PM
Article Link 

The Canadian military has had intelligence soldiers operating in Afghanistan for as long as it has been in the country, Canada's commander in Afghanistan told CBC News on Monday.

The comments by Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson came on the same day CBC News first reported the Canadian Forces have established a special intelligence unit to gather information on overseas missions in places like Afghanistan.

CBC obtained military documents that show the Canadian Forces are spending about $27 million over the next three years to purchase equipment for the new unit, which is actively recruiting soldiers.

Although many details about the unit are considered classified and are not being released to the public, documents show the focus of the group is "human intelligence."

Members of the unit, known as the Human Intelligence Company (HUMINT), are trained in collecting and analyzing information gathered from the wide variety of human contacts, or sources, they encounter on missions.

Thompson said military intelligence specialists are currently operating in Kandahar province, but he would not comment on the new unit.
More on link

Pakistan says no cross-border attacks
Mon May 26, 2008 11:12am EDT By Kamran Haider
Article Link

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is determined to stop militants crossing its border to fight Western troops in Afghanistan and is activating tribal leaders to squeeze out the militants, a government official said on Monday.

Pakistan's new civilian government, led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is pursuing talks with militants to end a wave of violence that has raised concern about prospects for the nuclear-armed U.S. ally.

But that has raised alarm among Pakistan's allies, especially those with troops in Afghanistan, who fear pacts on the Pakistani side of the border only help militants focus efforts on attacks across in Afghanistan.

NATO's force in Afghanistan said this week the peace talks the new Pakistani government had launched had led to an increase in attacks in Afghanistan.
More on link

Italy says plans to make Afghan force more flexible
ReutersPublished: May 26, 2008
Article Link

BRUSSELS: Italy said on Monday it planned to improve the ability of its 2,400-strong contingent in Afghanistan to react rapidly to outbreaks of fighting, including redistributing some of its troops there.

Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters at an EU meeting in Brussels that Italy would also reduce the size of its contingent by 250 to 300.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini later insisted the cut would be in the Italian presence in the capital Kabul, not in its main contingent in the west, and stressed that the aim was not to lower the overall size of the Italian force.

"We are not talking about the number of troops ... We are talking about deploying them in a more flexible way," he told reporters at the same meeting.

Frattini said Italy planned to improve its contingent's ability to react quickly to requests from NATO to operate outside its main base in west Afghanistan, but did not plan to move its troops anywhere else permanently.
More on link

US uses bullets ill-suited for new ways of war
By RICHARD LARDNER  
Article Link

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Sgt. Joe Higgins patrolled the streets of Saba al-Bor, a tough town north of Baghdad, he was armed with bullets that had a lot more firepower than those of his 4th Infantry Division buddies.

As an Army sniper, Higgins was one of the select few toting an M14. The long-barreled rifle, an imposing weapon built for wars long past, spits out bullets larger and more deadly than the rounds that fit into the M4 carbines and M16 rifles that most soldiers carry.

"Having a heavy cartridge in an urban environment like that was definitely a good choice," says Higgins, who did two tours in Iraq and left the service last year. "It just has more stopping power."

Strange as it sounds, nearly seven years into the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bullets are a controversial subject for the U.S.

The smaller, steel-penetrating M855 rounds continue to be a weak spot in the American arsenal. They are not lethal enough to bring down an enemy decisively, and that puts troops at risk, according to Associated Press interviews.

Designed decades ago to puncture a Soviet soldier's helmet hundreds of yards away, the M855 rounds are being used for very different targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of today's fighting takes place in close quarters; narrow streets, stairways and rooftops are today's battlefield. Legions of armor-clad Russians marching through the Fulda Gap in Germany have given way to insurgents and terrorists who hit and run.

Fired at short range, the M855 round is prone to pass through a body like a needle through fabric. That does not mean being shot is a pain-free experience. But unless the bullet strikes a vital organ or the spine, the adrenaline-fueled enemy may have the strength to keep on fighting and even live to fight another day.

In 2006, the Army asked a private research organization to survey 2,600 soldiers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly one-fifth of those who used the M4 and M16 rifles wanted larger caliber bullets.
More on link

Fears for patrol vehicles as blast kills serviceman in Afghanistan
May 27, 2008 Michael Evans, Defence Editor
Article Link

A British serviceman has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday. 

He was killed when his Viking vehicle was caught in a blast north of Sangin, Helmand province. His next of kin have been informed. Two other soldiers were injured and taken to Camp Bastion, the main British base, for medical treatment. 

The death brings the number of British personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 97. 

The attack adds to growing concerns over the vulnerability of British patrol vehicles to hidden devices. 

The underside of armoured vehicles deployed in Helmand has proven to be highly susceptible to mines buried by the Taleban, and the Ministry of Defence is preparing to add extra armour to key vehicles. The relatively new Viking armoured troop-carrying vehicle – which was built for the Royal Marines for use in Norway but is now being used across desert routes in northern Helmand – has proven to be vulnerable to the mines, which are suspected of being supplied from Iran. Five Vikings have been destroyed by mines. 

Although the Viking is well armoured on its sides, the mines have penetrated the armour underneath, placing the driver at greatest risk. The Army faced the same risk in the case of Warrior armoured vehicles in Iraq, which, for similar reasons, were found to be vulnerable to mines. An extra layer of armour had to be fitted to the belly of the Warriors. MoD sources said that similar steps were being taken to improve the armour on the Vikings. 
More on link

Australian troops 'scorned' for low-risk missions: officer
Article Link

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian infantry soldiers are ashamed of their low-risk missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and are scorned by troops of other nations, two officers have charged in comments published Tuesday.

"The restrictions and policies enforced on infantrymen in Iraq have resulted in the widespread perception that our army is plagued by institutional cowardice," Major Jim Hammett wrote in the Australian Army Journal.

Australia contributed troops to both the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq but their roles have been limited, with no soldiers killed in combat.

In Afghanistan five Australian soldiers, mainly special forces commandos, have been killed since 2002.

Australia had received "significant political kudos" for its support of coalition operations in both countries but this was not reflected among troops on the battlefields, Hammett said in the official journal.

"Australia's contributions to both Iraq and Afghanistan have been derided and scorned by soldiers and officers alike from other nations who are more vigorously engaged in combat operations," he wrote in the latest edition of the journal.

"The restrictions placed on deployed elements as a result of force protection and national policies have, at times, made infantrymen ashamed of wearing their Australian uniform."

In a separate article, Captain Greg Colton said infantry troops were increasingly frustrated because special forces appeared to be favoured for offensive operations.
More on link

Canadian quietly writes humanitarian law into Afghan security contracts
Andrew Mayeda ,  Canwest News Service 
Article Link

OTTAWA - The Canadian military has quietly revised its contracts with private-security providers in Afghanistan to ensure they obey international humanitarian law, which prohibits attacks on civilians.

Canada employs Western private-security firms and Afghan contractors to guard government officials and visiting VIPs, as well as military installations in Kandahar province where the bulk of Canada's soldiers are based. The military insists such private contractors do not engage in "offensive operations."

But contracts obtained by Canwest News Service under the Access to Information Act show the military has added provisions requiring contractors to spare civilians and submit to weapons inspections to ensure they are not carrying arms that violate international law.
More on link


----------



## Greymatters (27 May 2008)

An interesting story about the problems with respecting local culture:

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=19010

Letters from Iraq: From 'Charlie' to 'Haji'
Following target practice with the Koran, US military commanders fear inflamed anti-American sentiment as the pattern of disrespect continues.

"Keith was reacting to the latest incident that US military commanders here fear may inflame the anti-American sentiment in Iraq: A soldier from Keith's own 4-64 armor battalion of the Fourth Brigade, Third Infantry Division, used the Koran for target practice this month in the predominantly Sunni Baghdad suburb of Radwaniyah.

The shooting of Islam's holy book was the latest publicized illustration of US forces' disregard of Iraqi, and Muslim, culture. The most infamous episode of disrespect during the five-year war saw US soldiers torture Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison."


----------



## MarkOttawa (27 May 2008)

Optimism Grows as Marines Push Against Taliban
NY Times, May 27, by Carlotta Gall
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/world/middleeast/27afghan.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin



> GARMSER, Afghanistan — For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.
> 
> The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit patrolled the southern Afghanistan village of Hazarjoft on May 21. The unit is planning to move on in the next few weeks.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (30 May 2008)

*Articles found May 30, 2008*

Taliban captures district in central Afghanistan   
 www.chinaview.cn  2008-05-30 16:28:06   
  Article Link

    KABUL, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants in an overnight action captured Rashedan, a district in Ghazni province, an Afghan official said Friday. 

    Local witnesses said a group of Taliban militants came into the district Thursday night and controlled the district compound and the whole district without fighting. 

    Khan Mohmmad Mujahed, provincial police chief, confirmed with Xinhua that the district is now with the insurgents. 

    Zabihullah Mujahed, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, which is fighting the Afghan government and international troops since being ousted from power in 2001, said Taliban fighters after one-hour fighting with government force controlled the district and captured the district chief and some policemen. 

    Taliban insurgents usually used blast bombings and overnight ambushes to attack their targets, and currently the militant outfit is said to have control over several districts in southern Afghanistan.     
More on link

U.S. commander in Afghanistan faults Pakistan for not pressing militants  
By Carlotta Gall Friday, May 30, 2008 
Article Link

KABUL: The departing American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Dan McNeill, has raised concerns that Pakistan has not followed through on promises to tackle militancy on its side of the border, and in recent months has even stopped its cooperation with NATO and Afghan counterparts on border issues.

McNeill said Thursday that Pakistan's failure to act against militants in its tribal areas and its decision to hold talks with the militants without putting pressure on them had led to an increase in attacks against U.S. and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.

"We have not seen the actions that we had expected late last year; we have seen a different approach," he said before a news briefing in Kabul. "That is different from what most of us thought last year we were going to get."

Militancy rose last year in Pakistan, where officials indicated that tougher measures against the insurgents were planned. Instead, the government has sued for peace, a policy tried in 2005 and 2006 that led directly to a rise in attacks across the border, as is happening now.

"Over time, when there has been dialogue, or peace deals, the incidents have gone up," McNeill told journalists in Kabul and others in Brussels via videoconference. "What you see right now is the effects of no pressure on the extremists and insurgents on the other side of the border."
More on link

FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, May 30
Fri May 30, 2008 4:01am EDT
Article Link

May 30 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0800 GMT on Friday:

KHOST - A suicide car bomber blew himself up alongside a convoy of military engineers in the eastern province of Khost on Friday, the U.S. military said. No soldiers were wounded and no equipment was damaged in the incident, it said.

FARAH - A soldier from U.S.-led coalition forces was killed in the western province of Farah on Thursday, the U.S. military said in a statement on Friday.

FARAH - U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants with small arms fire and air strikes after coming under fire from a house in the western province of Farah on Wednesday, the U.S. military said on Friday.

GHAZNI - U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants and detained 16 during search operations in Ghazni province, south of Kabul on Thursday, the U.S. military said on Friday.

HELMAND - Afghan security forces and U.S.-led coalition troops killed several militants near Sangin in the southern province of Helmand on Thursday after coming under fire, the U.S. military said on Friday. (Compiled by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Valerie Lee) 
More on link

Canadian troops can't be held liable if U.S. uses banned munitions
May 30, 2008 Tim Harper Washington Bureau
Article Link

WASHINGTON–By agreeing to a historic treaty banning cluster munitions, Ottawa has broken from the United States and won crucial legal safeguards for its troops fighting alongside Americans in Afghanistan.

The treaty, expected to be formalized in Dublin today, is being hailed by human rights campaigners, although – like the Ottawa treaty on land mines 11 years ago – the U.S. leads a number of military powers which remain outside its terms.

But using the land-mine treaty as its template, human rights advocates believe the Dublin accord, which is to be officially signed by 111 nations in Norway in early December, will "stigmatize" those countries which still use the munitions. 

The treaty – and Canada's support of it – nearly foundered over an arcane military term known as "interoperability," a real concern for countries like Canada whose military operations are so closely intertwined with those of the Americans.

Early wording of the treaty would have criminalized the actions of soldiers from countries who signed the treaty, should they have been unwittingly involved in operations with an ally still using cluster bombs.
More on link

Canadian officials urged to focus on job-creation projects
By The Canadian Press - For Business Edge Published: 05/30/2008 - Vol. 8, No. 11
Article Link

The adage that "idle are the devil's workshop" may date to the 12th century, but it has a particularly poignant ring today in southern Afghanistan as the annual poppy harvest winds down and NATO forces brace for a possible spike in violence.

Village leaders and power brokers throughout Kandahar province are pleading with the Canadian military and development officials to focus more money and attention on massive make-work projects.

Such jobs, usually back-breaking construction work, would serve to keep chronically under-employed or jobless Afghan males of fighting age - between 18 and 25 - from falling into the clutches of Taliban recruiters.

"I would like to see the Canadians to mostly focus on the projects (where) they can create jobs," said Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the provincial council in Kandahar and half brother to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
More on link

Focus on terrorists, not Taliban, Afghan elders urge Canadians
Doug Schmidt ,  Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, May 29
Article Link

DAND DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Openly vowing to destroy the Taliban is probably not the diplomatically correct route to take to win over the people of Dand, a rural collection of mud-walled villages south of Kandahar City where even the district police chief complains that some police road checkpoints are populated by "criminals."

Be careful who you label the bad guys, a group of Canadian visitors was advised during a visit with district elders this week.

"The Taliban are our local people. We speak their language, we can work with them," said one village leader during a meeting between local elders and a delegation from the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) that Canada operates from a base inside Kandahar City.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (30 May 2008)

Already besieged by Bernier affair, Tories come under attack for Italian gaffe
Wrongly saying Italy was prepared to lift caveat on combat in Afghanistan 'just stupid': Ignatieff
_Ottawa Citizen_, May 30
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=40356508-8b62-42c4-8a03-ce8095bcae15&sponsor=



> The Conservatives continued to come under fire yesterday over their conduct of foreign affairs, not only for the Maxime Bernier controversy, but also because the government had to backtrack after saying Italy was ending restrictions that keep its troops out of heavy combat in Afghanistan.
> 
> The Italians were only considering withdrawing the caveats after a visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
> 
> ...



Who needs the Germans?
Whether Berlin's 3,500 troops stay or leave `makes no difference to us,' says one senior Afghan official

_Toronto Star_, May 30
http://www.thestar.com/News/Columnist/article/433890



> MAZAR-I-SHARIF, afghanistan–Mohammad Zahir Wahdat, a man who clearly does not like having his monologues interrupted, pulls a pout at the mention of Germans.
> 
> "What they choose to do with their troops in Afghanistan is their own decision, not ours," he sniffs.
> 
> ...



Why NATO Troops Can't Deliver Peace in Afghanistan
_Spiegel Online_, May 29 (very long article)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,556304,00.html



> Forty nations are embroiled in an unwinnable war in Afghanistan. Anyone who travels through the country with Western troops soon realizes that NATO forces would have to be increased tenfold for peace to be even a remote possibility.
> 
> Thirteen days before the next attempt on his life, Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrives at a cabinet meeting, surrounded by a swarm of bodyguards. He holds his shirt collar shut against the rainy cold in Kabul. It's a Monday in mid-April -- and while there may be some good news this morning, most of it is bad. The Canadians want Karzai to dismiss the governor of Kandahar, the United Nations contingent is missing 50,000 tons of food and the Kazakh ambassador is promising money for a hospital in Bamyan. A suicide bomber has blown himself up in Helmand, the Norwegian defense minister is visiting Kabul and the opium harvest has begun in southern Afghanistan. A cabinet meeting is about to begin in the presidential palace...
> 
> ...



IG Is Named To Scrutinize Afghan Efforts
_Washington Post_, May 30
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903679.html



> The White House named a special inspector general to search for possible fraud and abuse in the funding of Afghanistan's reconstruction yesterday, three months after a congressional deadline for the appointment.
> 
> Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Fields was appointed to head the office, which is modeled on a similar congressionally mandated effort in Iraq. Although the war in Afghanistan is overshadowed by the larger and much more expensive U.S. effort in Iraq, reconstruction and development assistance there has totaled nearly $23 billion.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (31 May 2008)

*Articles found May 31, 2008*

Afghanistan trip opens eyes of MP
Robert Barron ,  Daily News Published: Saturday, May 31, 2008
Article Link

A meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai while visiting Kabul was an eye opener for James Lunney.

The MP for Nanaimo-Alberni spent the last six days touring parts of Afghanistan and meeting officials and common people as a member of Ottawa's defence committee.

He said he concluded after talking with Karzai that the president is "the right man for the job."
More on link

Canadian troops in battle to clear out Taliban
May 31, 2008 Murray Brewster The Canadian Press
Article Link

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

Canadian troops have swept through a volatile district west of Kandahar in an operation designed to ferret out nests of insurgents.

The four-day swing, code-named Operation Rolling Thunder, was conducted alongside Afghan government forces.

The operation saw several firefights in Zhari district, long a hotbed of Taliban activity.

No Canadian casualties were reported yesterday by military officials who released information about the operation. An unknown number of militants were believed killed in the operation.

The Taliban had for months been using roadside bombs and booby traps to chip away at better armed NATO troops. Over the last few weeks, however, they have chosen to stand and fight small-arms engagements, using AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades.

Speaking on background, Canadian commanders conceded there has been a "significant increase'' in direct-fire attacks, but they are not ready to conclude that the Taliban have switched tactics.

The Zhari district has been repeatedly cleared of militants, only to have them sneak back in because the Afghan National Army or the police have not established a permanent presence.

Over the last year, Canadian troops have been mounting an increasingly sophisticated campaign to go after bomb-makers and small explosives factories.

With the arrival of 3,200 U.S. marines in southern Afghanistan, the Canadian battle group has been able to concentrate on the troublesome districts of Zhari and Panjwaii. For the last few weeks, the marines and British troops have been fighting in neighbouring Helmand province, taking down a substantial number of Taliban fighters.
More on link

Four foreign troops injured in Afghan blast: officials
Article Link

KABUL (AFP) — Four international troops were injured in an explosion in volatile eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, but there were conflicting claims about how the blast was caused.

The Afghan interior ministry said a suicide car bomb targeted foreign troops, while the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said an improvised explosive device (IED) had caused the casualties.

"I can confirm there was a suicide car bomb against a foreign military convoy," ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP after the blast in Jalalabad city.

An interior ministry statement later said five civilians were also wounded.

But ISAF spokesman contradicted the account, saying "there was an IED attack on an ISAF convoy and four soldiers have been injured." He added that the force was unaware of any civilian casualties.
More on link

Canadian troops hunt for roadside bomb and booby trap-makers
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Disrupting Taliban bomb-making networks was a major objective of this week's Canadian army operation west of Kandahar, a senior officer said Saturday.

"The aim was to get out there and cause them to be off balance," said Maj. Fraser Auld, a battle group planner.

Militant bombers have a routine.

They observe the movements of NATO troops and try to anticipate where and when convoys - or patrols - will come by next. And then they plant lethal roadside bombs and booby traps that kill and maim not only Canadians, but local Afghans.

"We want to take them out of their cycle of watching us and planting (improvised explosive devices)," said Auld, the day after a security blackout on the operation was lifted.

There were several firefights as troops of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry came across several nests of militants.
More on link

Canada to send Chinooks, unmanned planes to Afghanistan
Sat May 31, 2008 1:46am EDT
Article Link

By Melanie Lee

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Canada will move helicopters and unmanned aircraft to Afghanistan to increase surveillance of roads, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Saturday, as the Taliban stepped up attacks in spite of a large NATO force in the country.

Canadian troops are based in the southern province of Kandahar and have seen some of the highest casualties as 55,000 foreign troops led by NATO and the United States battle the Taliban-led insurgency.

MacKay told Reuters on the sidelines of a security conference that six to 10 medium-heavy lift helicopters, such as Chinooks, and some unmanned aircraft would be delivered to Afghanistan by February 2009.

"Hopefully we are going to have some of that equipment arrive late summer, early fall and our intention is to have all that equipment in place by February 2009."

MacKay said the unmanned aircraft would be used to patrol roads used by Canada and her allies. Canada would also move staff to Afghanistan to man the equipment.

Eighty Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan,
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (31 May 2008)

Poland to take over security in Afghan province
Reuters, May 30
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL301798120080530



> Polish troops in Afghanistan will soon take over responsibility for security in a central province of the country from U.S. forces, the Polish defense ministry said on Friday.
> 
> Poland has about 1,200 troops in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fighting the Taliban and backing the Kabul government and plans to boost this figure by a further 400 soldiers.
> 
> ...



Afghanistan: colonialism or counterinsurgency?
Americans bring Afghans their new 60-year plan
_Globe and Mail_, May 31, by Doug Saunders
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080530.wreckoning0531/BNStory/International/



> NARAY, Afghanistan — To get to Naray, which may be the most lawless place in Afghanistan today, you have to make the long journey up the sniper-filled Kunar River Valley from Jalalabad to Asadabad, where the road ends, and then hitch a ride on a Black Hawk helicopter to this outpost in the far northeast, near the Pakistani border. Here, in the hills, you will find 200 wild-eyed U.S. Army soldiers living in a cluster of tents, sheltering themselves from regular rocket attacks.
> 
> I was greeted in a swirl of dust by Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Kolenda, a clean-cut, steel-eyed officer in the 173rd Airborne, who dragged me into a large tent filled with other officers. They promptly began one of the key battlefield tactics of the new American military — the two-hour PowerPoint presentation.
> 
> ...



Earlier articles on the same subject:

Building Bridges in the Back of Beyond
_Washington Post_, May 1, by David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003253.html?wpisrc=newsletter

The Longest War
Washington Post, March 31, by Richard Holbrooke
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001837.html

Mark
Ottawa


----------

