The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread February 2014

[The Bread Guy]

The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread February 2014              

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

 

[McG]

Taliban video shows captured special forces dog, fate still to be decided
Rob Crilly, The Telegraph
Printed in The National Post online
06 February 2014

ISLAMABAD — The Taliban in Afghanistan have captured a British special forces dog, parading the forlorn-looking animal in a triumphant video released Thursday.

In footage published on a militant website, long-haired gunmen showed off various spoils of war, including captured weapons and a subdued-looking canine held by a chain.

The gunmen say it was snatched from American troops. However, military sources disputed that account, saying it was a British dog working with the SAS.

“This dog was named after a colonel,” said one of the Taliban fighters. “It had a torch on it and its neck wore a GPS.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “We are not commenting on the nationality of the dog and we never comment on special forces.”

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul confirmed that a dog had gone missing during a mission in December. “It is ISAF policy to defer identification to the appropriate national authorities,” the spokesman said.

Hundreds of dogs are used by coalition forces in Afghanistan. Some work sniffing out IEDs, weapons or drugs while others have a search and rescue role.

The bravest are awarded medals and wounded animals are airlifted from the front line to be taken for treatment.

Last year it emerged that since March 2011 four dogs – two Labradors, a Springer spaniel cross and a Belgian shepherd – had died working alongside their Army handlers in Helmand, the southern province where British forces have been concentrated.

Dogs are considered unclean by Afghans, and not typically kept as pets. Their use by NATO in house-to-house searches has upset locals.

Four years ago, an Australian bomb-sniffing dog was lost in Afghanistan and then adopted by a Taliban leader who tried to sell her back. Sabi, a black Labrador, was eventually recovered by an American special forces soldier who retrieved her from an unnamed man in north-eastern Oruzgan.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/06/taliban-video-shows-captured-special-forces-dog-fate-still-to-be-decided/

Related at: http://globalnews.ca/news/1134551/nato-military-dog-captured-in-afghanistan-taliban-claims/  and  http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nato-military-dog-captured-in-afghanistan-taliban-claims-1.2526821

 

[McG]

Canada sounds alarm over bill eroding women’s rights in Afghanistan
Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News
Posted at Ottawa Citizen
07 February 2014

OTTAWA – Canada is sounding the alarm about a proposed law in Afghanistan, amid signs the clock is already being turned back on hard-fought rights for Afghan women and girls.

The law, which has been passed by the Afghan parliament and is now awaiting President Hamid Karzai’s signature, would prohibit authorities from questioning the relatives of a criminal suspect.

This would effectively silence victims and undermine investigations into cases of sexual and domestic violence in a country rife with “honour killings” and forced marriages.

Canada was the first country to speak out this week, with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lynne Yelich voicing the government’s strong opposition to the law following a trip to Afghanistan.

The Conservative government has also instructed Canadian diplomats in Kabul to enlist counterparts from other countries to stop the legislation from being adopted.

Human Rights Watch researcher Heather Barr, whose organization uncovered the proposed law, praised Canada’s leadership in trying to raise concerns and rally opposition.

“It sends a clear message not just to the Afghan government, but to other donors as well, that this is an important issue and it’s something other people should speak out about,” she said.

On Friday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague tweeted his concern and said his country’s ambassador was “urgently” raising the matter with Afghan authorities.

Yet human rights groups say international silence has become the norm as women’s rights in Afghanistan have been rolled back over the past year, a concern privately echoed by Canadian officials.

The setbacks include a 20-per-cent reduction in the number of seats reserved for women in provincial councils, and attacks by Afghan parliamentarians on the country’s landmark Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women.

There was even a short-lived attempt in November to re-introduce the practice of stoning adulterers to death, and there has been a marked increase in the number of assaults and murders of female MPs and activists.

The fact that all of this is happening while Western troops and diplomats are still in Afghanistan makes prospects for the future all the more bleak.

The international community has repeatedly professed its support for women’s rights, but Barr said other countries are not speaking out as the focus is now on getting out of Afghanistan.

Some Western nations have also indicated reluctance to raising the issue when the Afghan government and Taliban are negotiating a possible peace.

Yelich alluded to this in her statement, saying Canada is committed to ensuring “hard-fought gains regarding the rights of women and girls are not rolled back for a false sense of stability.”

The promotion of women’s and children’s rights was touted as a key objective during Canada’s 12-year involvement in Afghanistan, which cost about $10 billion and more than 160 lives.

But Canada is also in a unique position to criticize the Afghan government from its allies as the last of its troops will be gone from the country next month, while many of them will still be there for months if not years.

Canada will provide $330 million over three years starting in 2015 to support Afghanistan’s security forces, but is expected to have a minimal diplomatic and development presence on the ground.

Despite this, Barr was hopeful the decision to speak out against the proposed law represented a new chapter in Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan.

“Perhaps we’re seeing a new engagement, a sort of re-engagement,” she said. “That would be great because there’s a bit of a void there.”

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Canada+sounds+alarm+over+bill+eroding+women+rights/9482897/story.html

 

[McG]

UN reports rise in Afghan civilian deaths and injuries
BBC News
08 February 2014

The number of civilians killed and wounded in the conflict in Afghanistan rose 14% last year, the UN says.

Nearly 3,000 civilians were killed and more than 5,600 were injured in 2013.

The report said the gradual withdrawal of foreign troops left Afghan government forces more vulnerable to attack by insurgents.

It said this had led to intensified ground fighting, which had contributed to an increase in civilian casualties, particularly of women and children.

The UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (Unama) said 34% more children and 36% more women were killed and wounded in 2013 than in 2012.

Taliban insurgents have stepped up attacks to try to gain the upper hand as international troops prepare to withdraw by the end of the year, and Unama blames 74% of civilian deaths and injuries on "anti-government elements".

Most casualties in 2013 were a result of roadside bombs or getting caught in the crossfire during ground battles between Taliban-led insurgents and Afghan forces.

The spike in casualties reverses a fall in 2012. The deadliest year of the war was 2011, when 3,133 civilians died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26096357

 

[McG]

Afghanistan polio: First case in Kabul since 2001
David Loyn
BBC News, Kabul
11 February 2014

An Afghan girl has been diagnosed with polio in Kabul - the capital's first case since the Taliban's fall in 2001.

The health ministry ordered a vaccination campaign across the capital after the three-year-old was diagnosed.

Polio remains endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern Nigeria, but has been almost wiped out around the world.

In all three countries Islamic extremists have obstructed health workers, preventing polio eradication campaigns from taking place.

Since the Afghan Taliban changed their policy, allowing vaccination in recent years, there has been a decline in cases in Afghanistan.

There were 80 cases in 2011, 37 in 2012, and 14 in 2013.

The emergence of a new case in Kabul is worrying health officials.

It was discovered in a very poor community of Kuchis, formerly nomadic herdsmen, now settled on a hillside in the east of the capital.

In response, health workers have tried to visit every home in the community.

There is no running water or electricity, and some of the ex-nomads still live in tents, despite the cold of winter in Kabul.

Once the workers have put drops into the mouths of infants they find, they mark their hands with a blue line, and write the date on the wall.

It seems rudimentary, but tens of thousands of volunteers in campaigns like this across the country have succeeded in almost beating the disease.

The girl who contracted the disease, Sakina, was diagnosed after she became paralysed.

Her father is a taxi driver who often goes to the frontier region with Pakistan, and has now taken her there for treatment.

Her uncle, Mohammed Azim, said that she complains: "I can't stand up. The other children are playing and I cannot."

The polio strain in the two countries is identical, and with 1.5 million children crossing the frontier every year, cross-border transmission is inevitable.

Nearly all of the cases in Afghanistan last year were in regions close to the Pakistan border.

Afghanistan has health workers at the border crossings, attempting to monitor all children who cross, and vaccinating those at risk.

But many people do not cross at formal customs posts, instead using tracks across the mountains and deserts that line the porous frontier.

The Taliban in Afghanistan remain a nationalist movement, who have been persuaded of the values of modern medicine.

But the Pakistani Taliban are a far more ideological group, similar to Boko Haram in northern Nigeria, who are focused on global jihad, and unwilling to believe anything the west tells them.

As well as killing health workers, the Pakistani Taliban have campaigned against vaccination, spreading the malicious rumour that it is a covert policy of sterilisation.

Their opposition, along with continuing insecurity in some parts of Afghanistan, could prevent continuing progress towards global eradication of the disease.

Afghan Health Minister Soraya Dalil said the continuing opposition of the Pakistani Taliban was a threat, "undermining efforts" to eradicate polio in Afghanistan.

After the initial local vaccination campaign, routine campaigns would continue, she said, to keep up the pressure, and ensure that this is an isolated case and not a new outbreak.

"This new case in Kabul tells us that the effort on polio eradication is not over yet, and we have to accelerate the effort to make sure that every child, no matter where they are, receive polio drops."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26121732

 

[McG]

Two Contractors for NATO Die in Kabul Bombing
ROD NORDLAND and HARIS KAKARFEB
10 February 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan — As a convoy of sport utility vehicles left the main prison here on Monday afternoon, a suicide bomber in a Toyota Corolla crashed head-on into the lead vehicle, exploding in a fireball that sent the Toyota’s engine flying more than 100 yards.

Two NATO contractors riding in the first S.U.V. were killed, and an unknown number wounded, according to Afghan and American officials. “I pulled out two dead bodies of the foreign soldiers after the car bomber hit their cars,” a policeman at the scene said.

Jamil, a worker at a restaurant on the road where the attack happened, was grilling kebabs outside at the time, and immediately ran. “I saw pieces of cars flying into the air,” he said.

The American-led International Security Assistance Force issued a statement saying only that two civilian contractors were killed by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in eastern Afghanistan. In keeping with military policy, it did not specify nationalities or exact locations pending notification of next of kin.

Afghan officials, however, made it clear the attack happened in Kabul near the Pul-i-Charkhi prison, and involved contractors working on prison affairs.

American troops arrived shortly after the explosion and appeared to have taken control of the area, although the Afghan police and Afghan soldiers were present as well.

Although Afghan authorities described the victims as foreign soldiers, the American military said none of its soldiers were killed. Many contractors working for the military wear what appear to be military uniforms.

A spokesman for the militant group Hizb-i-Islami, Haroon Zarghoon, reached by telephone in Peshawar, Pakistan, said his group had carried out the attack, which he asserted had killed 13 Americans and destroyed three vehicles. He said the attack involved a week of planning in an effort to avoid civilian casualties.

Sayed Gul Agha Hashimi, head of the Kabul Police’s Criminal Investigation Division, said that seven Afghan civilians, one of them a child, were also injured in the blast. He said he could not comment on foreigners wounded or killed because American soldiers were in charge at the scene and handling foreign casualties.

It was the first attack on a NATO convoy in the capital since December, and the first major attack of any sort since a team of suicide attackers hit a popular restaurant three weeks ago and killed 21 people, mostly foreigners.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/world/asia/suicide-bomber-attacks-nato-convoy-in-afghanistan.html?_r=0

Afghanistan frees 65 inmates U.S. calls ‘dangerous’
Amir Shah,  The Associated Press
Global News
13 February 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan released 65 accused militants from a former U.S. prison on Thursday despite protests from the American military, which says that the men are Taliban fighters who will likely return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces.

The release had been ordered by President Hamid Karzai several weeks ago, after his government took over the prison from U.S. troops.

The decision had prompted angry denunciations from Washington and strained relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops. U.S. forces in Afghanistan say the men have the blood of international and Afghan soldiers on their hands.

The prisoners were freed just after 9 a.m. from the Parwan Detention Facility near Bagram Air Field, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) north of Kabul, according to prison spokesman Maj. Nimatullah Khaki.

They boarded a bus to leave the facility, laughing and smiling, he said.

The U.S. has argued for the detainees to face trial in Afghan courts – citing strong evidence against them, from DNA linking them to roadside bombs to explosive residue on their clothing – but Kabul has cited insufficient proof to hold them.

Karzai, too, has referred to the Parwan prison as a “Taliban-producing factory” where innocent Afghans are tortured into hating their country.

The U.S. military late Wednesday night issued a strongly worded statement condemning the imminent release, which it said would include detainees directly linked to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians.

Among those who were expected to walk free Thursday morning are Mohammad Wali, who the U.S. military says is a suspected Taliban explosives expert who allegedly placed roadside bombs targeting Afghan and international forces. The military said Wali had been biometrically linked to two roadside explosions and had a latent fingerprint match on another improvised explosive device, as well as testing positive for explosives residue.

Others in the group include Nek Mohammad – who the U.S. says was captured with extensive weapons, and a man identified as Ehsanullah, who is claimed to have been biometrically matched to a roadside bomb and who tested positive for explosive residue.

The U.S. military had formally disputed the prisoners’ release, but an Afghan review board had effectively overruled those challenges.

The detainees’ release has been in the works for weeks, and comes as Karzai’s government has taken an increasingly hostile tone toward the U.S. ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1146612/afghanistan-frees-65-inmates-u-s-calls-dangerous/

 

[McG]

US sees more delay likely in finalizing security agreement with Afghanistan
Julie Pace
Ottawa Citizen
14 February 2014

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has quietly stopped demanding that Afghan President Hamid Karzai finalize a stalled security pact within weeks, opening up the possibility that a decision on keeping U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan after this year might not be made until after Karzai's successor is elected this spring.

While U.S. officials say they still strongly prefer that the agreement be signed quickly, they did not rule out the possibility of waiting to see if a new Afghan leader might be easier to work with. Pushing off the decision on keeping troops in Afghanistan comes with increased risks and complications for the U.S. military, though the Pentagon is making adjustments to give President Barack Obama that option.

Karzai's refusal to sign the security pact has strained relations with Washington. He further exacerbated tensions on Thursday by releasing 65 militants from a former U.S. prison near Kabul. The American military angrily denounced the move, saying the men are Taliban fighters who will likely return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces.

American-led combat operations in Afghanistan are set to end on Dec. 31, but the U.S. is seeking to keep up to 10,000 troops on the ground for counterterrorism and training missions. Without a security agreement setting conditions for the American forces, the White House has said it will remove all U.S. troops at the end of the year.

The White House had hoped Karzai would sign the bilateral security agreement by the end of last year. When that deadline passed, administration officials repeatedly said a deal needed to be signed within "weeks, not months."

But Obama administration officials quietly backed away from that timetable this week. On Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said only that the U.S. wanted the agreement to be signed "promptly" — a purposeful change in rhetoric, a U.S. official said. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the administration's thinking and insisted on anonymity.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf also avoided putting a specific timetable on finalizing the agreement, saying Thursday that the U.S. position was simply that "it needs to be signed soon."

Karzai has also angered U.S. officials with his increasingly anti-American rhetoric. During remarks Thursday on the prisoner release, Karzai accused the U.S. of "harassing" the Afghan judiciary by criticizing the release and said Washington must respect Afghanistan's sovereignty.

"If Afghanistan judiciary authorities decide to release prisoners, it is of no concern to the United States," Karzai said from Turkey, where he is attending a regional summit.

Karzai had long demanded that the U.S. turn over the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan authorities, a process completed last March after lengthy negotiations that centred on American concerns that some of the most dangerous detainees would go free.

The U.S. military strongly condemned the prisoner release, saying some of those set free were directly linked to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians. The U.S. had argued for the detainees to face trial in Afghan courts, citing strong evidence against them — from DNA linking them to roadside bombs to explosive residue on their clothing. However, Kabul said there was insufficient proof to hold them.

Harf also condemned the release as a danger to coalition and Afghan troops and added that "many of these men who have been released, their primary weapon of choice has been the IED, which of course poses not just a threat to coalition forces and Afghan forces, but also Afghan civilians."

Obama's critics suggested the lack of clarity over the future U.S. role in Afghanistan may be contributing to Karzai's unpredictable behaviour.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that while Karzai is to blame for Thursday's prisoner release, the move is "a reminder that we need President Obama to better explain his commitment to finishing the job our country began."

Karzai had tentatively endorsed the bilateral security deal, and it was approved in November by a council of 3,000 tribal elders known as the Loya Jirga. But then Karzai refused to sign it, saying he wants his successor to decide about it after the April 5 presidential election. Karzai is ineligible to seek a third term.

James Clapper, Obama's director of national intelligence, told a Senate panel this week that he does not believe Karzai will ever sign the agreement, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to draw that conclusion publicly. However, Clapper said that was his personal assessment, not the administration's official position.

The White House says Obama wants the agreement signed as quickly as possible to give the U.S. and its NATO partners more time to plan for either a post-2014 troop presence or a full withdrawal.

The longer those decisions take, the more expensive and risky the troop drawdown will become. With less time to move troops and equipment, the military will have to fly assets out rather than use cheaper ground transportation.

However, the U.S. military is making plans that could help Obama put off the decision on troop levels until later this year, perhaps after the election there. Military officials say Pentagon plans envision that the American force could drop to as low as 20,000 by midsummer, giving commanders the ability to pull all troops out by Dec. 31 if no agreement is reached.

Forces deploying to Afghanistan in the coming months will also be equipped to continue the training and counterterrorism mission past 2014 if needed.

If the security pact is never signed, the Pentagon's biggest challenge will be closing large military facilities, including the Bagram and Kandahar air bases. Shutting down a massive base typically takes about 10 months, but military officials said they are prepared to do it in a much shorter — although far more expensive — time frame, if necessary. Military officials said commanders would still like to have about six months to shut the facilities down. If there is no security agreement by late summer, the officials said, closing the bases by the end of the year becomes far more difficult.

___

Associated Press writers Amir Shah in Kabul, Afghanistan, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Lolita C. Baldor and Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/sees+more+delay+likely+finalizing+security+agreement+with/9507104/story.html

 

[GAP]

Articles found February 15, 2014


Taliban call US 'same as Soviets' on 25th anniversary of withdrawal from Afghanistan
Published February 15, 2014 Associated Press
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan –  The Taliban are calling on Afghans to drive American forces out of their country, just like they say the USSR was defeated 25 years ago today.

In a statement on Saturday, the 25th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the USSR's forces had killed innocent people and "destroyed our country," but that "all our nation stood against them and were able to defeat them."

Ahmadi said that instead of taking that as a lesson, Americans invaded — making them "the same as yesterday's Soviets."

He urged Afghans to "deal with today's invaders as they dealt with yesterday's invaders," adding that "there is no difference between our jihad of yesterday and today."
More on link


2 U.S. troops killed by gunmen in Afghan army uniforms
Men in army fatigues turn their weapons on American forces
The Associated Press Posted: Feb 12, 2014
Article Link

Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded in an attack Wednesday by gunmen wearing Afghan security force uniforms in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. defence officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack, which is the latest in a string of incidents in which Afghan troops turned their weapons on their supposed allies.

The officials said four Afghans involved in the attack were killed in the ensuing battle.

The frequency of these insider attacks has declined markedly in recent months. At the height of the problem, in 2012, U.S. and coalition troops were more often fighting and training alongside their Afghan partners; the relationship evolved last year with the Afghans taking a lead combat role. That has put the Americans and other coalition troops in a less visible position as advisers.

The exact circumstances of Wednesday's incident were not immediately available. Two officials said it happened in Kapisa province, east of Kabul.
More on link

Canada sounds alarm over bill eroding women’s rights in Afghanistan
Article Link
By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News February 7, 2014

OTTAWA – Canada is sounding the alarm about a proposed law in Afghanistan, amid signs the clock is already being turned back on hard-fought rights for Afghan women and girls.

The law, which has been passed by the Afghan parliament and is now awaiting President Hamid Karzai’s signature, would prohibit authorities from questioning the relatives of a criminal suspect.

This would effectively silence victims and undermine investigations into cases of sexual and domestic violence in a country rife with “honour killings” and forced marriages.

Canada was the first country to speak out this week, with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lynne Yelich voicing the government’s strong opposition to the law following a trip to Afghanistan.

The Conservative government has also instructed Canadian diplomats in Kabul to enlist counterparts from other countries to stop the legislation from being adopted.

Human Rights Watch researcher Heather Barr, whose organization uncovered the proposed law, praised Canada’s leadership in trying to raise concerns and rally opposition.

“It sends a clear message not just to the Afghan government, but to other donors as well, that this is an important issue and it’s something other people should speak out about,” she said.

On Friday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague tweeted his concern and said his country’s ambassador was “urgently” raising the matter with Afghan authorities.

Yet human rights groups say international silence has become the norm as women’s rights in Afghanistan have been rolled back over the past year, a concern privately echoed by Canadian officials.
More on link

NATO Training Mission Afghanistan
Article Link
Story by Tech. Sgt. Mark Bell


KABUL, Afghanistan - Nine out of 10 Afghan National Army (ANA) recruits are unable to read, write or calculate basic arithmetic. Since 2009 the literacy and language division here, has provided a literacy program to better educate Afghan soldiers.

The objective of literacy training programs is to get students to a third grade reading level. Educators say this level of training allows students to improve reading and writing skills on their own, should they choose to do so.

Chief of the Literacy and Language division, Canadian Lt. Col. Tim Isberg says the program is essential for the country’s sustainment. For the last four years, NTM-A has been running a literacy program to insure that there’s a foundation of literate soldiers to professionalize the force, said Isberg.

In 2012, the ANA established the Darulaman Literacy Centre at the Regional Military Training Centre Capital, to prepare soldiers for their branch training which include military specialties like signal, artillery and engineering.

Literacy instructors are required to pass a rigorous screening program to verify their credentials, assess their skills, and complete a teacher-training certification program conducted by the Ministry of Education.

Matiullah Sapi, a literacy center instructor, has taught literacy for nearly two years. “When I’m teaching literacy, people enjoy it a lot.” He said. When the soldiers come here for literacy, the first day they know nothing. After a few weeks, I can see that they learn to read and write and solve their own problems, I really enjoy teaching, said Sapi.

Mir Azam, a student at the school said “Before the training I had a weakness, I could not spell my name and did not know mathematics, now I can read and write my name and I am very good at math.”

One day my son brought his notebook to me, he had a difficult math question, and I could not help him answer it, said Sapi. That’s why I focus more and more on mathematics so in the future if my son has a math problem, I will be able to solve it and help my son, he said.
More on link

 

[GAP]

Articles found February 20, 2014

Canada’s Kandahar fire sale

Private companies operating in Afghanistan were the big winners when the Canadian Forces disposed of equipment in Kandahar. Here are some of the bargains they got:

Ottawa Citizen February 14, 2014
Article Link

Private companies operating in Afghanistan were the big winners when the Canadian Forces disposed of equipment in Kandahar. Here are some of the bargains they got:

$250: What was paid for computer equipment worth $50,000

$26: $33,000 worth of camping gear

$298: $10,000 worth of medical equipment

$20: Work masks valued at $7,000

$105: A $21,000 sound system

$567: $114,000 worth of electronics

$1,092: Treadmills worth $19,866

$792: $12,500 worth of safety matches

$16.9 million: Total amount Canada received for $41 million worth of equipment

$5.4 million: Total value of equipment destroyed instead of returned to Canada

$15.4 million: Total value of equipment donated to Afghan forces and allies
end

Afghan mission waste
Ottawa Citizen February 15, 2014
Article Link

The U.S. has created the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as SIGAR, to audit and investigate how its aid money is being spent in that country.

Here are some of SIGAR’s findings:

- More than $57 million has been spent on building a 100-bed hospital near Gardez. The project is two years behind schedule. In addition, the facility is 12 times larger than the hospital it is replacing, prompting the Afghan government to point out that it doesn’t need such a large hospital and that it can’t afford to operate it in the future.

- A 100-bed hospital in Khost, opened in 2011, is not being fully used because the Afghans can’t afford to run the large generators installed by the U.S. contractors. The Afghans put in smaller generators but they provide power to only 35 per cent of the facility.

- Tens of millions of dollars are being given to the Afghan National Police for the purchase of fuel for their vehicles. However, there is no proper system to determine whether that money is actually being spent on fuel. SIGAR warned such funding is at “high risk” of theft and waste.

- A school built in a village just east of Kabul had design and construction flaws that suggested the walls weren’t strong enough to hold the heavy concrete roof. SIGAR asked that children not be allowed to go to the school in the earthquake-prone area until repairs could be made.

- SIGAR determined there were few internal controls to oversee the $236 million provided for a health care program in Afghanistan. The lack of accountability puts the funds at risk of being wasted or stolen.

- The U.S. spent $3.4 million on teacher training facilities in Sheberghan. But because of shoddy construction the buildings lack proper sewage and water systems. The electrical wiring also poses an electrocution hazard to those in the building.
More on link

Canadian Forces gear stuck in Kandahar for nearly 3 years
Military equipment left in Afghanistan airfield after 2011 pullout

By James Cudmore, CBC News Posted: Feb 16, 2014
Article Link

Hundreds of shipping containers filled with expensive and important military equipment used in the Canadian combat mission in Kandahar were stranded in Afghanistan for years and are only now finally finding their way back to military storehouses in Canada.

A February 2013 briefing note prepared for former defence minister Peter MacKay obtained by CBC News under access to information laws shows the military at one point had 441 sea containers of equipment stuck in Kandahar as a result of a decision by the government of Pakistan to shutter its border to convoys of NATO gear.

That's nearly a quarter of the 1,800 containers of equipment left in Kandahar following the conclusion of Canada's combat mission there in July 2011.

The documents show the military was able to get 67 containers of "high priority material" out of the country but debated how best to send the rest home.

At one point, with access to southern oceans through Pakistan blocked, the military was apparently willing to try an overland route through Europe.

That route was part of a NATO "Proof of Principle initiative" that would have seen about 200 Canadian containers shipped to a European port — likely Bremerhaven in Germany, though the location is redacted in the documents — over the course of a year before being shipped by sea to a military depot in Montréal.
More on link

 

[McG]

Taliban checkpoint attack kills 19 Afghan soldiers
Global News
23 February 2014

KABUL – Taliban insurgents assaulted a checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving 19 soldiers dead and seven missing, officials said. It was the deadliest single incident for the Afghan army in at least a year.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and postponed a planned trip to Sri Lanka.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, who is spokesman for the Defence Ministry, said there were “hundreds” of foreign and Afghan insurgents involved in the attack, which took place in the Ghazi Abad district of Kunar Province in the early morning hours.

He confirmed that 19 soldiers were killed and two wounded following a four-hour gunbattle between the insurgents and the army. An army support unit en route to assist the operation also was targeted by a suicide bomber, he said, but there were no military casualties.

Azimi added that an investigation and search and rescue operation is underway.

Abdul Ghani Musamem, spokesman for the governor of Kunar Province, said seven soldiers were missing following the attack. It was not immediately clear if the soldiers had been kidnapped or had fled during the assault.

Karzai appeared to point a finger at Pakistan, calling on the government in Islamabad to take on the fight against terrorism.

He said in a statement that Pakistan must take serious measures to destroy terrorist sanctuaries.

Kunar is a province that lies along the border with Pakistan. It’s a militant stronghold, and many Arab and other foreign insurgents are believed to operate there alongside the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan has a complicated relationship with the Taliban. It helped the group seize control of Afghanistan in 1996, and Kabul has repeatedly accused Islamabad of providing the insurgents sanctuary on its territory following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack in an emailed statement, saying that one of their insurgents was killed and two were wounded.

The group has escalated attacks in recent months as it tries to take advantage of the withdrawal of foreign troops at the end of 2014. Casualties among Afghan troops have been rising significantly since they took the lead in the war against the Taliban.

Since the beginning of 2014, 84 Afghan army soldiers have been killed.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1167039/taliban-checkpoint-attack-kills-19-afghan-soldiers/

 

[GAP]

Articles found February 28, 2014

You Cannot Serve Two Masters At Once: Canadian Foreign Aid in Afghanistan
February 27, 2014. 12:23 am • Section: Defence Watch
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As our troops complete their final rotation in Afghanistan, there will be a lot of ink spilled asking whether it was all worthwhile. The longest military engagement in Canadian history, 162 dead Canadians, hundreds more physically injured, rampant PTSD manifestations, and multiple billions of dollars spent on a war that lost its focus and ultimately wound down, leaving Afghanistan with a murky future. Historians, journalists, politicians, and others will continue to belabour and question its utility or its futility.

When the War in Afghanistan lost its military focus, the Government of Canada decided that a great way to win the “hearts and minds” of Afghans would be to refocus our efforts on aid. For many years Afghanistan was the foremost recipient of Canada’s foreign aid, receiving an average of $100 million every year since 2002.

Reports of our efforts, including the construction of schools, and roads, and dams pacified Canadians who had been either opposed or indifferent to the war. The announcement of our involvement stressed that at least we were doing some “good works”; these announcements placed particular emphasis on building schools and ensuring that girls would receive education. Statistics seem to reflect some success in improving girls’ access to education, but whether or not that success will continue after NATO withdraws remains to be seen.

La Presse recently published an article on the school building initiative. It does not paint a pretty picture.

School after school report shoddy building practices, stairs to nowhere, inadequate numbers of toilets, and ineffective plumbing. “The Canadian schools are the worst,” says Mohammed Shah, Director of Planning at the Ministry of Education of the province of Kandahar. In Saheed Mohammed Dawood Sardor, “Large cracks run along the walls. Only 8 toilets were built for 1,100 students. The stove was installed too close to the electric box. When it was turned on the first time, it jumped circuits.” Some of the work is so faulty that the facilities are fundamentally useless. “It’s a shame!” says one history teacher, “If you give a gift, it should not be poisoned.”
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Canada Should Keep Training Military in Afghanistan
Posted: 02/28/2014
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Foreign policy towards Afghanistan has never been known for its farsightedness. From the Soviet Union's decision to invade the country in 1979 or America's response in covertly arming the Islamist mujahedin, to Pakistan's assistance incubating the Taliban, the policies of stakeholder countries towards Afghanistan have often been characterized by negligence, and the consequences have been dire for Afghanistan and these same countries.

The past decade of the international community's efforts to bring security and development to Afghanistan has also had its share of shortsightedness. But where there has been dogged, long-term investment that accounts for lessons learned and that aims to build systems from the ground up, recognizing that this takes time, there have been successes. These successes are such that the country has propelled forward despite an ongoing insurgency, a government mired in corruption, and much uncertainty over future security arrangements beyond this year.

The change can be seen in skyrocketing human development indicators, the visibility of women in public life, the thriving media sector, and Afghans' ambitious pursuit of education, from the spike in primary enrolment to the rapid spread of post-secondary institutions throughout the country. And despite a highly centralized government still liable to patronage under an increasingly unstable leader, there are still understated processes of democratization underway. One such process is the professionalization and strengthening of Afghan-led security.

Professionalizing the security sector is not only about security, but is also critical to democratic development. The Afghan police and army, together known as the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF), represent government at the ground level, where the state interfaces with citizens.
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