• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (July 2006)

  • Thread starter Thread starter GAP
  • Start date Start date
Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act - http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-334

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=3cd903a5-ce4a-4af9-b2b3-c1ad7c6e9d8d&k=4348

Defence minister brushes aside accusations that fallen reservist was ill-trained
Chinta Puxley, Canadian Press, 10 Jul 06

TORONTO (CP) - Angry accusations that reservist Cpl. Anthony Boneca was "misled" by the military about Canada's role in Afghanistan and ill-trained for the combat role that claimed his life were brushed aside Monday by the Conservative government.

Family and friends of the 21-year-old soldier, who died Sunday in a firefight west of Kandahar City, said Boneca was so desperate to return home he contemplated telling an army priest he was suicidal in the hopes of being discharged. "He expected to be on patrol, not fighting a war for someone else," said Larry DeCourte, father of Boneca's girlfriend Megan.

"He wasn't ready for that," he said.

Boneca, a reservist with the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment based in Thunder Bay, Ont., whose tour of duty was to end in three weeks, didn't have the proper training to engage the enemy, added DeCourte.

While Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said he wouldn't contest what Boneca told his friends and family, he added that he "would be surprised if people are misled" about the hazards of the Afghan mission.

"Everybody has to take equal risks," O'Connor told a news conference in Winnipeg.

"Once you're in and committed, you don't get a choice about what you do and don't do. This is the military."

As for the claim that Boneca would have been ill-prepared to face the enemy, O'Connor noted that reservists - who make up 10 and 15 per cent of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan - are treated as regular soldiers.

"(Reservists) receive the same training, the same protective equipment... There is no difference."

O'Connor stressed that any reservist who "didn't want to go to Afghanistan, wouldn't be sent," but once deployed they are not sent home without good reason.

The moral of the troops remains high despite Boneca's death, he said.

"Morale of the troops in Afghanistan is literally fantastic, as it is back here in Canada."

DeCourte, in a telephone interview from Thunder Bay, accused the military of "glorifying" the mission and said Boneca had recently become "disillusioned" with Canada's role in the conflict.

He said it was Boneca's second tour in Afghanistan, but that the mission was very different from his last - guarding a post in Kabul.

DeCourte said Boneca - who he described as a "fantastic person," and a "proud" reservist and Canadian - recently became more and more desperate to leave.

"He wanted to get on with his life," said DeCourte, who added his daughter had been given a promise ring by Boneca.

"It wasn't happening fast enough for him. I guess it didn't happen fast enough for him."

DeCourte said Boneca's death should serve as a warning to anyone contemplating serving in Afghanistan.

"They've got to know they may not come home."

The comments come after Boneca's uncle, William Babe, said his nephew was demoralized and told his family that the mission was "not like you see on TV."

(NB) A Canadian Forces official answered all calls to the Boneca home on Monday and said the family was requesting privacy. All questions were referred to a public affairs official, who in turn would not comment on how the family is coping.

Hundreds of Canadian, American, British, Romanian, French and Dutch troops watched quietly Monday at the main coalition base in Kandahar as Boneca's body was loaded onto an aircraft.

A repatriation ceremony was scheduled for Wednesday, most likely at CFB Trenton in Ontario, said military spokeswoman Lt. Morgan Bailey.

Funeral arrangements had not yet been made.

It was not known Monday whether the repatriation ceremony will be open to the media.

A spokesman with the Prime Minister's office said the policy regarding media coverage has not changed since the beginning of the year, when reporters were banned from the base as four fallen soldiers were returned from Afghanistan.

In that case, one of the families of the deceased objected to having the media on the base which prompted the ban.

Bailey said the Canadian Forces have not received any formal directives regarding the policy but said "the wishes of the family are definitely going to play a more important role."

 
Rumsfeld Wary of Taliban Afghan Resurgence
Robert Burns, Associated Press, 11 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/mexqr

The rise of Taliban resistance in southern Afghanistan reflects the weakness of the
government more than a strengthening of the fundamentalist movement that once
sheltered Osama bin Laden, the top U.S. commander here said Tuesday.  "The areas
that the Taliban is operating in are areas that the government of Afghanistan has not
heretofore had the strength and had the presence," Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry told
reporters before boarding a plane to fly here with Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld from Dushanbe, Tajikistan...

Rumsfeld Seeks to Curb Afghan Drug Trade
Robert Burns, Associated Press, 11 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/qhln2

The Taliban will be defeated in Afghanistan although cross-border movement of
militants is continuing, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. 
Rumsfeld also called on Europe to provide a ``master plan'' to Afghanistan to help
curb its massive drug trade, which has seen heroin flood Europe and Russia.  At a
joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Rumsfeld said militants
"don't want to see a country like Afghanistan have a successful democracy. They
won't succeed." ...

U.S. committed to Afghan success, Rumsfeld says
Kristin Roberts, Reuters, 11 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/nkx59

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reaffirmed U.S. support for Afghanistan on
Tuesday and said more had to be done to stop cross-border violence as American-led
troops killed about 30 militants in an attack.  Rumsfeld was the second senior U.S.
official to visit Afghanistan in two weeks as the government and international forces
grapple with the most intense Taliban violence since the Islamists were ousted from
power in 2001....

Rumsfeld in Afghanistan amid Taliban resurgence
Agence France Presse, 11 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/qzzqy

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has arrived in Kabul for talks with President
Hamid Karzai amid a resurgence of Taliban violence that is challenging NATO's
expansion into Afghanistan's troubled south.  Rumsfeld's arrival came as a spokeswoman
for the US-led coalition in the violence-wracked central Asian country announced that at
least 30 Taliban militants had been killed in an early morning air strike in Helmand province....

Half of all UK special forces set for Afghanistan
IAN BRUCE and MICHAEL SETTLE, The Herald (UK), 10 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/s3gnj

More than half of Britain's special forces are to be committed to Afghanistan to help curb
the growing threat of Taliban insurgents.  Monday, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, is
due to announce reinforcements for the British garrison in Afghanistan to provide an
additional infantry battlegroup believed to be based on 1st battalion, the Royal Irish
Regiment.  Additionally, about 200 troopers from the SAS and the Royal Marines'
Special Boat Service are being sent to Helmand province to spearhead the offensive
in the strategic Sangin Valley....

Taliban vow attacks on British reinforcements
Reuters, 11 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/r7eva

Afghanistan's Taliban said on Tuesday they would greet British reinforcements heading
to the southern province of Helmand with ferocious attacks.  Britain announced on Monday
it would send 900 more troops and additional helicopters to southern Afghanistan, where
a force meant as the spearhead of a NATO peace mission has faced fierce Taliban resistance.
"We will greet more British troops in Helmand with fresh attacks," Taliban commander Mullah
Hayat Khan told Reuters by telephone....

UN concerned at deteriorating security
UN News Centre, 10 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/lpr79

The United Nations’ top envoy to Afghanistan has expressed concern at the deteriorating
security situation in the south and called for more development work as well as further
military and diplomatic intervention to curb the growing threat of insurgency in the country.
“These are difficult times for Afghanistan. They are difficult times for the south but backing
away is not an option,” Tom Koenigs, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to
Afghanistan told reporters on Monday in the capital, Kabul....

 
Rumsfeld arrives in Kabul as 30 Taleban killed in Helmand
By Times Online and agencies - July 11, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2264608,00.html 

US-led forces hunting a Taleban commander have killed an estimated 30 Taleban militia in an overnight raid on a hide-out in southern Afghanistan, the US military said today.

The raid came shortly before Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, arrived on an unannounced visit to Kabul, where he expressed confidence that the Taleban would be defeated.

The US military said yesterday that more than 40 Taleban fighters were killed when an American warplane bombed another Taleban hideout in the southern province of Urzugan.

Afghans wounded in the raid claimed, however, that many women and children were also killed after Taleban fighters overran their villages and took refuge in their houses. More on link

Violence in Southern Afghanistan Poses Complex Challenge
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060711_5625.html

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 11, 2006 – Violence in southern Afghanistan is caused not just by militant extremists, but also by regional issues such as a lack of governance, the U.S. general in charge of coalition troops in Afghanistan said today.
The Afghan government has not traditionally had strength and presence in certain provinces in southern Afghanistan, so the Taliban can easily gain strength, Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, told reporters in Tajikistan before boarding a flight here with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.  More on link


Soldiers 'were mutilated by mob' after firefight
By Tim Albone At Camp Bastion, Helmand Province
The Times July 11, 2006 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2264245,00.html

AFGHAN soldiers serving with coalition forces were mutilated and killed by a mob that included women and children, a British officer said yesterday.

Major Dougie Mckay, second-in-command of 7 Para Royal Horse Artillery, said that the men were killed near a British base along with two French soldiers. The incident had horrifying parallels with Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Young British Soldier, written more than a century ago.

The mutilated soldiers were among Afghan forces escorting a French unit a few miles from the British base at Tangye. One French vehicle took a wrong turn and came into “heavy combat” with Taleban fighters. Two French special forces soldiers and 14 Afghan escorts were killed.

Major Mckay is part of the Operation, Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) training Afghan troops. He said: “Whether they were killed by rocket-propelled grenades or small-arms fire before or after they were mutilated we may never find out. They were very badly mutilated. They had their ears, noses and genitals cut off. Women and, allegedly, children were taking part.”
More on Link

Skilled Afghans return home with hopes for a prosperous Afghanistan
11 Jul 2006 15:24:28 GMT - Source: UNHCR
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/e8ae1f873c985daf08324102feb54b54.htm

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 11 (UNHCR) – For many Afghans in Pakistan, the dream of returning to their homeland never dies. Among them is 26-year-old Abdul Qadeer, who wants to go back to Afghanistan with more than a truckload of belongings accumulated in his 22 years of exile.

"I am pursuing a master's degree in zoology from the university in Peshawar, after which I would like to enrol myself for a doctorate degree," said Qadeer. "My desire is based upon the understanding that Afghanistan today needs more skilled and educated men to make it a prosperous country."

Qadeer's wife, two children, father and elder brother were among 70 families that left Peshawar on Tuesday, pushing this year's UNHCR-facilitated voluntary repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan past the 100,000 mark. They include many skilled workers bringing their expertise back to rebuild their homeland.

Among this year's returnees are 15,278 domestic workers, 1,248 carpet weavers, 357 people in the education sector, 325 engineers and 115 from the medical profession. Others in the skilled category include legal practitioners, masons, plumbers, drivers, and agricultural and office workers – offering a variety of much-needed expertise to help rebuild Afghanistan.
More on Link


Reconstruction Team Molds Afghan Police
Airmen train local police in ethics, riot control, vehicle and personal searches.
By Capt. Gerardo Gonzalez - Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team
http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/jul2006/a070706ms3.html

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan, July 7, 2006 — The Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team is helping to rebuild Afghanistan by sharpening the skills of local police through a 10-day course taught here by security forces airmen.

The monthly Police Training and Assistance Team law enforcement class is designed to introduce members of the Afghan National Police to new tactics and review previously learned procedures to conduct more effective policing. More on Link





US asks Pakistan to work with Afghanistan
By Arun Kumar, Indo-Asian News Service
Washington, July 11 (IANS)
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/41264.php/US_asks_Pakistan_to_work_with_Afghanistan

The United States has asked Pakistan to resolve its differences with Kabul and work together along with America to curb terrorism in southern Afghanistan and help the war-torn nation realise its full economic potential
More on Link




He was 'misled'
But the Tory government brushes aside accusations from Cpl. Anthony Boneca's friends and family.
By CHINTA PUXLEY, CP  -  Tue, July 11, 2006
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/2006/07/11/1678530-sun.html

TORONTO -- Angry accusations that reservist Cpl. Anthony Boneca was "misled" by the military about Canada's role in Afghanistan and ill-trained for the combat role that claimed his life were brushed aside yesterday by the Conservative government  More on Link

Bush hopes Italy to keep troops in Afghanistan: report
Reuters -  Tuesday, July 11, 2006; 5:20 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/11/AR2006071100051.html

MILAN (Reuters) - President Bush said in an interview published on Tuesday he hoped Italy would keep its troops in Afghanistan to help rebuild the country.

"Certainly. It's a new democracy," he was quoted as saying in the daily Il Sole 24 Ore, when asked if he hoped Italian soldiers would stay in Afghanistan.
More on Link

Afghanistan — when will we ever learn?
The Times -  July 11, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-2263932,00.html

Sir, It seems that Britain has not learnt any lessons from history, not so much from the three Afghan wars that we lost, but from the most recent war the Afghans fought against the Russians.
I worked in Afghanistan and lived with the Afghans in the early 1990s. By that I mean I have eaten with them, slept with them, drunk out of the same glass and eaten yoghurt from the same spoon as them, even shared fleas with them.

I have great admiration for the British servicemen but I think they are in a no-win situation. They are fighting on the Afghans’ home ground. There are Pashtun people on both sides of a very porous border with Pakistan, which after all is only a line drawn by Europeans on a map, and cuts across the tribal areas. The Afghans do not like foreign soldiers on their soil.
More on link

U.S. Leaders: NATO Transition a Victory for Afghanistan
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA - American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060711_5623.html

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 11, 2006 – The transition of security responsibilities in southern Afghanistan to NATO will be positive for Afghanistan and enable U.S. forces to expand their focus on the counterinsurgency movement there, the top U.S. general here said today.
NATO International Security Assistance Forces have been operating in Afghanistan since 2003, gradually increasing their role, but the move into southern Afghanistan will put them into an active counterinsurgency fight, Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, told reporters in Tajikistan before boarding a plane for Kabul with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
More on link


Grenade attack on Canadian troops wounds 3 Afghan police
UPDATED: 15:43, July 02, 2006
http://english.people.com.cn/200607/02/eng20060702_279330.html

A hand grenade attack on the Canadian troops in southern Kandahar province Saturday night missed the target and wounded three Afghan police guarding the base, an official of the Canadian troops said Sunday.

"Anti-government militants threw a grenade on the Canadian PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) compound in Kandahar city last night injuring three police guards," Capitan Julianne Robert told newsmen.

The attack came amid increasing insecurity incidents in the southern region as two rockets attacks on Kandahar airport, the main base of the U.S.-led coalition forces in south Afghanistan, wounded 10 foreign soldiers including two Canadian soldiers.

Over 900 people including some 45 foreign soldiers have been killed in Taliban-linked militancy in the post-Taliban central Asian state over the past six months.

Source: Xinhua

Kabul to Qalat
By Bill Roggio
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/06/kabul_to_qalat.php
 
After arriving back in Kabul on a U.S. Air Force military C-130 transport from Kandahar, I met up with my friend Tim Lynch, the Afghanistan country manager for World Security Initiatives, a private contracting firm. WSI is located off of Jalalabad road, the main artery between Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad. The road is a rough ride and heavily populated with construction companies. Like most places in Afghanistan, the ride is always adventurous.

Tim had some business to conduct in the city of Qalat, so I tagged along for the ride. Qalat is the provincial capital of Zabul, and lies about 300 miles south of Kabul, 125 miles northeast of Kandahar. The Kabul-Kandahar road is a well paved two lane highway that runs though the wide plains between two mountain ranges. This is the same plain the armies of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and the British Empire marched to Kabul during their conquests of Afghanistan.

The valley region from Kabul to Kandahar is a hot, arid plain seeded with small farming villages along the wadis as the farmers seek to maximize their access to the scarce water. Green bursts pop up in the desert, and farmers grow almonds, dates, grapes and a host of fruits and vegetables. Golden wheat fields edge the highway, and shepherds guide their flocks of sheep, oxen, goats mules and camels seemingly into the middle of nowhere. The terrain provides perfect cover for the Taliban.
More on link

July 11, 2006 edition
After TV series, Pakistan rethinks rape, sex laws
By Ashraf Khan | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0711/p01s03-wosc.html

KARACHI, PAKISTAN – More than 1,000 female prisoners are expected to be released this week on bail in Pakistan following a decision by President Pervez Musharraf to review a controversial set of laws affecting women.
Many of the female inmates are awaiting trial for violations under the Hudood Ordinances, which stipulate harsh penalties for extramarital sex. The laws require a woman who claims that she was raped to produce four pious male witnesses. Otherwise, she stands to be charged with adultery - an offense that can carry a death sentence by stoning. The ordinances have also been used as a weapon against women who defy marriage choices made by their families.

President Musharraf promised five years ago to amend the Hudood Ordinances, only to backtrack in the face of opposition from hard-line Islamic groups. However, a groundbreaking television series has taken the issue to a wider set of religious authorities. The overall verdict of this unprecedented public debate - that the laws are not rooted in the Koran - appears to be giving Musharraf the cover needed to consider changes.
More on link

Backstory: A burqa's-eye view
A cellphone camera squeezed between nose and mesh captures a woman's blurry view from behind the veil.
By Sara Terry | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor July 11, 2006
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0711/p20s01-wosc.html

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – As odd as it may sound, I thought that a burqa might be the answer to my problems. Here on a five-week assignment to shoot photos for a humanitarian organization, I was dismayed to realize that I wasn't going to be able to move freely. There was a standing threat against Western women working for aid organizations - prime targets for kidnapping and sale to the Taliban. Understandably enough, the organization restricted my movements, rarely allowing me out on the street unless I was in a car - and never allowing me to go anywhere alone.
My exasperation grew as I discovered that even when I could go out, I couldn't take a step without being the center of attention. It wasn't unfriendly attention; I actually never felt unsafe or threatened. It's just that wherever I went, everyone watched me. Heads swiveled the moment I stepped out of the car. People were curious about the presence of a foreigner, and even more so when I held up my camera. In other words, the pictures I love to make - street scenes and moments of gesture and interaction between people, all taken as if I'd had gone unnoticed - were impossible.
More on link


Combat in Southeastern Afghanistan; Mullah Dadullah not captured
By Bill Roggio 
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/05/combat_in_southeastern_afghani.php

The fighting in southeastern Afghanistan continues as Coalition and Afghan forces press into previously unpatroled Taliban strongholds. Over the weekend clashes occurred in Kandahar, Helmand and Ghazni provinces. These provinces have been the scene of the majority of the fighting over the past few months.

Five "key senior Taliban leaders"
(as of yet unnamed) were killed during Coalition air strikes "on an isolated insurgent training facility" near the town of Qal’a Sak, which is on the Pakistani border in the south of Helmand province. Coalition forces followed up the air strikes with a raid, confirmed the targets were destroyed, and discovered an IED factory. Up to fifty Taliban are estimated to have been killed in a seperate air strike in the Kajaki district of Helmand. The BBC's Alastair Leithead provides an update on last week's fighting in Musa Qala, where an Afghan police patrol was ambushed by a large Taliban force, and beaten back after Afghan and British reinforcements were called as reinforcements.
More on link

Ceasefire first major step in restoring peace in Waziristan: Aurakzai
Tuesday July 11, 2006 (0221 PST) Pak Times
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149492

PESHAWAR: The NWFP Governor Lt. Gen. (R) Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai has said that ceasefire was the first major step towards restoration of permanent peace in Waziristan, saying "a lot more is to come as we are addressing every aspect of the issue and moving forward gradually and cautiously."
He expressed these views while presiding over a high level conference held at the Governor’s House here on Monday, which besides the head and reps. of various law enforcing agencies was also attended by the Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, Secretary FATA Muhammad Shahzad Arbab and Secretary to Governor Arbab Muhammad Arif
More on link

26 prisoners released in Kandahar
Tuesday July 11, 2006 (0112 PST)
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149482

KANDAHAR CITY: As many as 126 people, detained by the security agencies for their alleged involvement in anti-government activities, were set free in the southern Kandahar province.
Of them, 100 were those arrested during raids in different areas Friday night.

The remaining 26, including a Pakistani national, were arrested by police and military for their alleged links with Taliban. They were under detention for longer period.

Haji Jalal Agha Lalai, head of the National Reconciliation Commission in Kandahar, told news agency in Kabul the 26 people, who were under detention for their alleged links with Taliban, were set free after an agreement singed by provincial Governor Asadullah Khalid and central chief of the National Reconciliation Commission Sibghatullah Mujaddedi last week
More on link

Elders, ulema for elimination of corruption in Wardak
Sunday July 09, 2006 (0121 PST) Pak Times
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149298

MAIDAN SHAHR: Officials and national leaders reviewed development projects, security measures and administrative corruption in a meeting held in Shahr, capital of the central Maidan Wardak province.
National leaders, members of the parliament and provincial councils, provincial officials and district chiefs attended the meeting. The participants emphasized on elimination of administrative corruption, enhancing uplift schemes and ensuring security in the country.

Officials and elders are holding such meetings following directives of the President Hamid Karzai to promote reconstruction projects and security in the country.

Advisor to parliamentary ministry Zarshah Qazi Zada told Pajhwok Afghan News that they discussed problems of the masses including security, uplift projects with representatives of the people.
More on link

322 schools to be constructed in five months: Minister
Saturday July 08, 2006 (0131 PST) Pak Times
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149205

KABUL: Minister for Education Muhammad Hanif Atmar has said that 322 schools across the country will get buildings during the next five months.
Speaking at a news conference, Atmar said in this regard, the ministry would sign contracts with construction companies within a month.

He said the World Bank and some other donors were paying $16 million for the projects.

Of the 322 schools, 72 would to be built in Kabul, said the minister, who added more than 200,000 students would be enrolled in the newly-constructed schools.

The minister also announced that they would soon start a reform programme in the ministry under which key positions would be filled purely on merit basis. All eligible candidates could apply for those slots and the best of them would be appointed against the posts.
More on link

Reconstruction Team Developing Ties With Afghan Province
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service  July 11, 2006
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060711_5631.html

QALAT, Afghanistan,– U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today called the provincial reconstruction team here a shining example of how the teams develop relationships with the local Afghan government.
When the coalition began using provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan, officials were constantly evaluating their work to see if they were worth the time and money put into them, Rumsfeld said after meeting with Zabul province Governor Del Bar Jan Arman. After seeing the team here at work today, Rumsfeld said he's convinced they're well worth the effort they require.
More on link

Afghan MP says family shot in misfire
Sunday July 09, 2006 (0121 PST) Pak Times
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149295

KABUL: A member of the Afghan parliament said US-led troops mistakenly fired on a car carrying members of his family, killing one and wounding four.
The US-led coalition denied its troops were responsible for the shooting of the politician’s family in the southern province of Uruzgan.

In a separate incident, insurgents ambushed US-led troops in the southern province of Helmand, killing one and wounding another, the US military said. Sixty-four foreign soldiers have been killed this year in Afghan combat or accidents on patrol.

US forces have mounted big offensives in eastern and southern Afghanistan in recent weeks in response to the most intense Taliban attacks since the hardline Islamists were ousted from power in 2001
More on link

Finding the ’right stuff’ in Afghanistan
Tuesday July 11, 2006 (0112 PST)  Pak Times
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149480

KABUL: In the war on terror, success should be measured by the absence of killing and the spread of prosperity.
Recently in Afghanistan, the upsurge in Taliban activity has sparked concerns over the dearth of development with the imminent expansion of the NATO-led 36-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to the volatile southern and eastern regions currently under American command.

Nevertheless, the British general in charge, David Richards, is buoyant: "I have the right men and women under my command, an excellent and productive partnership with the government of Afghanistan, and, increasingly with key elements of the rest of the international community. Building on the American experience, we are all getting our act together. A focused strategy is being put in place. It is the right stuff
More on link

Rumsfeld Talking about the Air bases in Tajikistan

Media Availability with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld en route to Tajikistan
July 9, 2006
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2006/tr20060709-13419.html

SEC. RUMSFELD:  We're on the record talking about Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and we'll talk about Iraq after we leave Afghanistan probably.  Tajikistan is an important Central Asian country.  We have been developing our military-to-military relationship with them for a number of years now.  I guess this is my third visit there, and I've met with the president and senior Tajikistan officials in Washington on a number of occasions as well.  We have been assisting them with some activities on their border, some counter-narcotics activities.  We have a gas-and-go arrangement with them and over-flight.  They've been very cooperative with the global war on terror and helpful since almost the beginning.
More on link

Afghanistan's unruly province  
Tuesday, 11 July 2006,  BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5168768.stm

Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand is fast turning out to be one of the country's most dangerous, with almost daily clashes between militants and foreign and Afghan troops.
More than 3,000 British troops have been deployed there since May, as part of a strengthened Nato force in the south aimed at tackling the twin threats of a resurgent Taleban and the country's drug trade.

Helmand, with rocky mountains in the north and desert in the south, shares an open border with Pakistan and is said to produce nearly 20% of Afghanistan's opium crop.

In short, it is the world's leading opium poppy growing region.

The last time British troops were deployed in Helmand was in the 19th Century, and they left after two disastrous wars.
More on link
 
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060711_5623.html

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 11, 2006 – The transition of security responsibilities in southern Afghanistan to NATO will be positive for Afghanistan and enable U.S. forces to expand their focus on the counterinsurgency movement there, the top U.S. general here said today.

NATO International Security Assistance Forces have been operating in Afghanistan since 2003, gradually increasing their role, but the move into southern Afghanistan will put them into an active counterinsurgency fight, Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, told reporters in Tajikistan before boarding a plane for Kabul with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Many of the forces operating in southern Afghanistan are under coalition authority, so the most notable change when NATO takes over will be at the senior leadership level, Eikenberry said. He noted that NATO will bring more presence and capability to the area in terms of troops as well as budget.

"NATO is bringing an extraordinary amount of capability into southern Afghanistan," he said.

Rumsfeld said in a July 9 interview during his flight to Central Asia that one purpose of his visit here is to help acclimate the Afghan government to NATO's increased involvement. This is the first time NATO has operated outside its treaty area and outside Europe, so it is a new experience for everyone involved, he added.

Rumsfeld is meeting here with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet, as well as U.S. military leaders, to help smooth that transition.

As the transition moves forward, the U.S. military will play a dual role. It will continue to make a large contribution to NATO forces in the south, while still maintaining a counterterrorism strike force in Afghanistan, Eikenberry said. The U.S. will contribute combat forces, helicopters and logistics support to NATO forces, he said, making it by far the largest contributing force in NATO.

"Beyond our NATO role, the U.S. will maintain what we've had on the ground since 2001 -- a very robust, very capable, U.S.-led counterterrorist strike force capable of going anywhere in Afghanistan any time as needed to attack and defeat al Qaeda and its associated movements," he said.

The U.S. military will also still play a leading role in developing the Afghan National Army, and a supporting role in forming the Afghan National Police, Eikenberry said. As NATO takes more responsibility, its security forces will play a larger role in this area also, he noted.

The NATO transition in Afghanistan is currently in the third stage, Eikenberry said. During the fourth and final stage, NATO will expand across the entire country. Conditions for this final stage are still being defined, he said.
 
Media barred from attending soldier's repatriation
Updated Tue. Jul. 11 2006 9:36 AM ET - CTV.ca News Staff
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060710/canada_soldier_boneca_060711/20060711?hub=TopStories

The family of the soldier who was slain in a firefight in Afghanistan has decided to bar media from the repatriation ceremony this week, National Defence officials said Tuesday.

"The direct question was asked to family on whether or not they wanted or desired media presence, and they declined," National Defence Spokesperson Lt. (N) Morgan Bailey told CTV.ca on Tuesday morning. more on link

Slain soldier's father says son 'loved the army'
CTV.ca News Staff
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060710/canada_soldier_boneca_060711/20060711?hub=TopStories

The father of the Canadian soldier slain in a firefight in Afghanistan has denied media reports that his son felt ill-equipped and "hated" his military mission.

Antonio Boneca, father of Corporal Anthony Boneca, said his son "knew what he was getting into" and "loved being in the Army."

"In all my conversations with my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military duties," Boneca said in a statement released Tuesday
more on link


FATHER OF CORPORAL BONECA ISSUES STATEMENT
July 11, 2006  Media Statement  -  Land Force Western Area
http://www.army.dnd.ca/LFWA_HQ/Documents/2006/MA/MA-Boneca_Statement_Jul06.pdf

THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Mr. Antonio Boneca, father of Corporal Anthony Boneca, who was killed
in battle on July 9, 2006, while serving in Afghanistan wishes to issue the following statement:
Our prid e was in our son before and after he became a professional soldier. He was a giving person.
He was a leader. He was the kind of person who was always joking and liked to make others around
him happy. Anthony was the first to volunteer in any situation.
My son volunteered to go to Afghanistan. Anthony knew what he was getting into. He loved being in
the Army and my wife, Shirley and I, supported our son whole-heartedly. In all my conversations with
my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military
duties.
Recent media reports state that my son may not have been prepared. His conversations with my family
and me indicated he was well aware of the dangers around him and was committed to the test he had
taken on. Anthony knew he was part of a group that stuck together to do what they were sent to do.
He said it was difficult to cope with the weather, the sand, and the situation the young children endured.
He was proud to make a difference in their lives and said he wished these children could live like we do
in Canada. Certainly, Anthony wanted to come home, but I ask what soldier wouldn’t in that situation?
There is no question about the extent of his military training. I know he was well prepared for what he
was sent to do.
Please respect my family’s request for privacy during our time of grief.


Three days of fierce, bloody war
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD From Tuesday's Globe and Mail 11 July 2006
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060711.wxafghan11/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

I'd been following Cpl. Mooney around like a bad smell. But in the battle that killed Cpl. Boneca, I lost sight of him.

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Corporal Keith Mooney sat hunched in his wheelchair on the tarmac at Kandahar Air Field yesterday, his blond head bent, his sweet face contorted as he tried not to cry.

The body of the young man he knew only a little and then only to tease -- I forget what he said it was about but it would have been in the way soldiers relentlessly rag on one another, gentle, funny and profane all at once -- was being carried up the ramp into the belly of a green-grey Hercules aircraft to head home to Canada.

Just hours after Cpl. Tony Boneca was killed Sunday morning while clearing a mud compound in Panjwei district west of Kandahar City, Cpl. Mooney himself was hit and wounded, perhaps by enemy fire, although he remains unconvinced of that, perhaps by the secondary explosion of a Taliban weapons cache that blew up when a bomb was dropped in a mud-walled maze of grape fields where for three long days ending yesterday Canadians fought in the sort of sustained and vicious battle Cpl. Mooney calls "a shitshow."
more on link

Christie Blatchford on Canada's mission in Afghanistan
Globe and Mail Update 11 July 2006
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060710.wlivekandahar0711/BNStory/specialComment/home

Globe columnist Christie Blatchford was on patrol with Canadian Forces in Afghanistan over the weekend when Corporal Tony Boneca was killed in a fight with Taliban insurgents near Pasmul
more on link

Canadian soldier remembered as an 'angel of a person'
Canadian Press - Globe & Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060709.wslainsoldier0709/BNStory/Front/Politics/?cid=al_gam_nletter_thehill

Toronto — A Canadian killed in Afghanistan is remembered by family and friends as a outgoing, intelligent soldier who loved his girlfriend and was devoted to his work in the military.

Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, a reservist from the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment in Thunder Bay, Ont., died of injuries received in a firefight west of Kandahar City on Saturday, three weeks before he was to return to Canada.more on link

All soldiers disillusioned at times, says slain Canadian soldier's commander
July 11, 2006 Canoe News
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/11/1679369-cp.html

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The deputy commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan says all soldiers in battle become disillusioned at one time or another.

Maj. Todd Strickland, second-in-command of Canada's battle group in Kandahar, was commenting on criticism of the Afghan mission attributed to Cpl. Anthony Boneca, killed in a firefight Sunday
.more on link

Body begins journey home
Canadian Press - Globe & Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060709.wsoldier0710/BNStory

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The body of a young Canadian soldier killed in a firefight was headed home after a sombre and almost silent ramp ceremony on Monday.

Hundreds of Canadian, American, British, Romanian, French and Dutch troops lined the runway at the coalition base and watched silently as Corporal Anthony Boneca's flag draped casket was loaded onto an aircraft just after sunrise.

Only the sobs from a soldier wounded in the same firefight broke the silence


Canadian soldiers fined
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, OTTAWA BUREAU, SUN MEDIA
July 11, 2006
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/11/1679155-sun.html

OTTAWA -- Fourteen Canadian soldiers posted in Afghanistan were fined for being careless with their weapons in the past 18 months, according to documents from the department of national defence.

Records of disciplinary proceedings obtained by the Sun through access to information show charges relate to improperly securing rifles, leaving guns unattended or allowing a weapon to accidentally fire. Fines ranged from $400 to $1,400. All cases were dealt with by summary trial instead of court martial
more on link
 
http://www.news.gc.ca/cfmx/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=226879

Repatriation of the Remains of Corporal Anthony Boneca


MA 06-08 - July 11, 2006

OTTAWA -The remains of Corporal Anthony Boneca, killed in Afghanistan on July 9, are scheduled to arrive at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario on July 12 at 7:00 pm. Cpl Boneca was killed during a firefight with insurgents approximately 25 kilometres west of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

The Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, the Minister of National Defence, The Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Rick Hillier and Maj.-Gen. Marc Lessard, Assistant Chief of Land Staff will be present to pay their respects.

At the request of the next of kin, a photo opportunity will be provided to the media on the Trenton tarmac. No interviews will be granted by the family.

-30-

NOTE TO THE EDITOR:
For the repatriation ceremony and flight information updates, contact Captain Nicole Meszaros, 8 Wing Public Affairs Officer at (613) 392-2811 ex 2041 or mobile at (613) 391-5233 or at [email protected]

All media are asked to direct their interview requests for the family of Cpl Boneca to Katie McLaughlin, Media Relations Officer for Land Forces Western Area at (780) 973-1942 or by e-mail [email protected].

Details of the funeral are not available at this time but will be released at a future date.

For more information on Canadian Forces activities in Afghanistan, please visit the Department of National Defence website www.forces.gc.ca
 
Here's what was sent out.....

“Father of Corporal Boneca Issues Statement.”   Land Forces Western Area
news release, 11 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/n3h95 .

THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Mr. Antonio Boneca, father of Corporal Anthony Boneca, who was killed
in battle on July 9, 2006, while serving in Afghanistan wishes to issue the following statement:
Our prid e was in our son before and after he became a professional soldier. He was a giving person.
He was a leader. He was the kind of person who was always joking and liked to make others around
him happy. Anthony was the first to volunteer in any situation.

My son volunteered to go to Afghanistan. Anthony knew what he was getting into. He loved being in
the Army and my wife, Shirley and I, supported our son whole-heartedly. In all my conversations with
my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military
duties.

Recent media reports state that my son may not have been prepared. His conversations with my family
and me indicated he was well aware of the dangers around him and was committed to the test he had
taken on. Anthony knew he was part of a group that stuck together to do what they were sent to do.

He said it was difficult to cope with the weather, the sand, and the situation the young children endured.
He was proud to make a difference in their lives and said he wished these children could live like we do
in Canada. Certainly, Anthony wanted to come home, but I ask what soldier wouldn’t in that situation?
There is no question about the extent of his military training. I know he was well prepared for what he
was sent to do.

Please respect my family’s request for privacy during our time of grief.

-30-

....and Here's What the Media Wrote

Hammond, Michael. “Father of fallen soldier denies son was unhappy in Afghanistan.”  Canadian Press, 11 Jul 06, viewed at http://tinyurl.com/rb8zp .

The father of the soldier killed in Afghanistan earlier this week denies his son was ill-prepared for his dangerous tour of duty, contradicting claims from some of the soldier's friends.

Cpl. Anthony Boneca's father Antonio said his son "loved being in the army" and was aware of the situation he was facing.

"In all my conversations with my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military duties," Boneca's father said.

"He said it was difficult to cope with the weather, the sand, and the situation the young children endured (but) he was proud to make a difference in their lives and said he wished these children could live like we do in Canada."

Boneca's father disputed reports that suggested his son felt he was poorly prepared for his second stint in Afghanistan.

Boneca, 21, was killed earlier this week in a fierce battle with the Taliban near Kandahar City.

Boneca's girlfriend Megan DeCorte and his best friend Dylan Bulloch have said that he was deeply unhappy in Afghanistan and did not feel prepared.

With some minor exceptions, most of the media has been barred from covering Boneca's memorial service when his body returns to Canada Wednesday.

Following a directive from the Conservative government, the Canadian Forces will prevent the media from covering the memorial service even though some senior officers have expressed concerns with the policy. The decision over media coverage is now left to the family of the deceased.

The Boneca family asked that the service be kept "as private as possible," said Lieut. Morgan Bailey.

Some allowances will be made for photographs and visual images to be taken when Boneca's body is brought to CFB Trenton. That flight is expected to arrive at 7 p.m. EDT.

(...)

 
Suicide bomber attacks U-S convoy in Afghanistan, marketplace bombing
Lufkin KTRE 9 TV   12 July 2006
http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=5139300&nav=2FH5

KABUL, Afghanistan Two U-S soldiers have been wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on their convoy in eastern Afghanistan.

A local official says a boy playing nearby was killed and three other children were wounded. He says injuries to the soldiers are not serious.

In southern Afghanistan, a bomb planted in a fruit cart blew up in a crowded marketplace today, killing two people and wounding eight others. That attack happened less than a mile from the Pakistan border. MORE ON LINK

'Grief is its own barometer'
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD Globe & Mail 12 July 2006
http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/LAC.20060712.AFGHAN12/TPStory/National/columnists

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- As is common now in the modern world, the debate about Corporal Tony Boneca's death and what it might or might not say about the Canadian mission to Afghanistan began before the young man's body arrived home.

Before the Hercules aircraft carrying his casket ever touched Canadian soil, the man who one day might have become Cpl. Boneca's father-in-law was confessing some of the 21-year-old's most intimate fears to the Toronto Star; some of his e-mails home were published in the Ottawa Citizen; and stay-at-home columnists and others who deign to notice the Canadian Forces only when the death of a fine soldier can be used to further one political cause or another were doing so, while simultaneously protesting that of course they support the troops, it's this damn business of sending them off to kill other folks that offends.
More on link

HRW: Afghanistan education attacks rising
7/12/2006 9:51:00 AM -0400 
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060712-094420-1851r

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 12 (UPI) -- Rising violence by the Taliban and other armed groups in Afghanistan are causing schools to shut down, Human Rights Watch has said.

The organization's report, "Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan," said in 204 documented incidents schools for girls were hit particularly hard, leaving nearly one-third of the country's districts without a single girls' school.

"Schools are being shut down by bombs and threats, denying another generation of Afghan girls an education and the chance for a better life," said Zama Coursen-Neff, co-author of the report. "Attacks on schools by the Taliban and other groups that are intended to terrorize the civilian population are war crimes and jeopardize Afghanistan's future." 
More on Link

Death of a soldier
Lorrie Goldstein Wed, July 12, 2006  Toronto Sun
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Goldstein_Lorrie/2006/07/12/1680303.html

While we in the media are good at questioning everyone else's ethics, the death of a young Canadian soldier amid conflicting reports about whether he wanted to be in Afghanistan raises issues we need to face.

First, how should we treat the combat death of Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, compared to the other 16 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat who have died there, and who have all been portrayed as doing what they loved?
More on Link

EU: Afghanistan needs help to meet challenges  
12 July 2006   
http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=200505&src=0
 
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dafar Spanta called for a fresh injection of international funding to boost his country's development, when he spoke to members of the EP Development and Foreign Affairs Committees on Tuesday. "Without aid from the international community, we cannot deal with the titanic tasks ahead", he said.

Fighting terrorism and drug trafficking and restoring the authority of the state have been, according to Mr Dafar Spanta, the three challenges facing Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. "Our first challenge is the fight against terrorism, which is undergoing a revival, especially in the south of the country", he said. The causes are to be found outside the country, where the sources of funding and training are located.

Reservists ready for anything in Afghanistan
By Paul Choi   The Hamilton Spectator   (Jul 12, 2006)
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152654614960&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815

Hamilton reservists preparing to head to Afghanistan next month say they're well trained and ready for possible combat, despite being shaken by the death of 21-year-old fellow reservist Corporal Anthony Boneca.
More on Link


Soldier son calls to say he's OK
Mon, July 10, 2006  Edmonton Sun
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/07/10/1676816-sun.html

Having a son serving in Afghanistan is less stressful if you've already served in the military yourself - news of battle casualties overseas is a little easier to brace for.

And it's even easier to sleep if your son joined the military after retiring from a career as a bare-knuckle boxing champion and an ultimate fighter.

But there was still a split second when William Nairne feared the worst when his phone rang at midnight Saturday in Winnipeg.

"I'd just heard a soldier had been killed and two others injured in Afghanistan," Nairne told the Sun yesterday.

"I had the fleeting thought - oh no, this is the call - but it was him, and he was OK."
More on Link

Nation building in Afghanistan
The London Free Press  12 July 2006
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Opinion/Editorials/2006/07/10/1676648.html

Let's hope there was more truth than spin in Lt.-Col. Ian Hope's claim last week that Canadian soldiers had made enough progress in Afghanistan's Kandahar province to enable reconstruction work to take root.

The commander of the Canadian battle group said the Taliban "are on the defensive" in Kandahar, enabling the international community to plan new clinics and roads.

Large donors such as the United States Agency for International Development and the World Bank have promised help, as have rich countries such as the United Arab Emirates.

If Hope is right, that is good news on two fronts. Canadians prize the role of their troops as peacekeepers and nation-builders, a role that has given way to combat since they were redeployed to Kandahar. Fighting the Taliban is necessary, but we would all like to see more building.
More on Link

Defence secretary announces enhanced force package for Afghanistan
Wednesday July 12, 2006 (2324 PST) Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149677

LONDON: The number of UK Forces personnel in Afghanistan will rise from around 3,600 to 4,500 by the autumn, following changes to the package of forces announced by Defence Secretary Des Browne.
The changes are in response to a request by UK commanders for additional forces, so that they can secure early advances in the North of Helmand, whilst also being able to make progress in the centre of the province. The additional forces, drawn from all three Armed Services, will contribute to the same mission as before: rebuilding Afghanistan, strengthening its Government, security forces and legal system, and tackling its desperate poverty.

In a statement to the House, Defence Secretary Des Browne emphasised that UK Forces were not waging a narcotics war, for example destroying poppy fields - they were helping to create the conditions of security and development in which the narcotics industry would be weakened, and eventually driven out by the Afghans themselves.
More on link

Troops in Afghanistan to work on infrastructure: UK
Wednesday July 12, 2006 (2324 PST) Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149675

WASHINGTON: U.K. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said most additional British forces being sent to Afghanistan will work on infrastructure and other projects designed to improve the daily lives of Afghans.
Beckett commented during a joint press briefing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after a meeting at the U.S. State Department. Rice was to host a dinner in Beckett’s honor.

Beckett said her government’s decision to include infrastructure experts among the additional 900 Afghanistan-bound troops reflects a recognition that provision of "concrete deliverables" to Afghans is sorely needed.
More on link

Afghanistan an eye-opener for Wis. guardsmen
By Meg Jones    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  July 12, 2006
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1946828.php

GHAZNI, Afghanistan — One of the first things an American police officer notices in this country is that there are no drunken drivers.

There are also basically no traffic laws, no motor vehicle regulations, no Bill of Rights barring unlawful search and seizure, no legal recourse for victims in auto accidents and no Miranda warnings.
More on link
 
Reports found for Thursday 13 July 2006

Putin lashes out at West's Afghan role
GRAEME SMITH From Wednesday 12 July 2006 Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060712.wxrussia12/BNStory/International/

MOSCOW —

The West's decision to fund Islamist guerrillas against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan has backfired two decades later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, setting an uncompromising tone as he prepared to welcome leaders for Group of Eight talks.

This weekend's summit in St. Petersburg has focused attention on Russia, with some Western politicians asking why Mr. Putin deserves the honour of hosting the world's major democratic leaders when he is neither democratic nor presiding over a leading economy.
More on Link


Up close and personal with the enemy
CPL. BRIAN SANDERS:CBC News Viewpoint  July 12, 2006
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_sanders/20060712.html

Well, my search is finally over. I have found nowhere, a place where the population at present is 35.
About eight hours north of Kandahar airfield is a little place that is deep in the mountains. It's a place where few Coalition forces have explored. It features rough mountain terrain that is riddled with tunnels and is an excellent hiding place for Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents.

Through the valleys of the mountains small streams flow, offering life to apple trees and the occasional poppy field — some of Afghanistan’s popular resources. This fertile terrain also makes it easy to bury landmines and other improvised explosive devices.

A promise of a five-day operation has now turned into 14 days of harsh living. Burning barrels fill the air with an odd smell — diesel fuel mixed with human waste.
More on Link


Firefight, air raid leave 19 militants dead in S. Afghanistan
July 13, 2006 People's Daily Online
http://english.people.com.cn/200607/13/eng20060713_282744.html

Firefight and air raids left 19 suspected militants dead in the volatile Helmand province in south Afghanistan on Wednesday, Hajii Mohiudin Khan, the spokesman of the provincial government said Thursday.

"A large number of Taliban insurgents stormed Nazad district yesterday at 10:00 a.m. (0530 GMT). During the firefighting with police, seven militants were killed and two police were wounded," Khan told Xinhua.

In retaliation, the coalition forces conducted air strikes, killing 12 militants on the spot, Khan said.

On the other hand, a parliamentarian from Helmand province Hajji Dad Mohammad Khan claimed that the air strikes left 80 militants and civilians dead, which was rejected by the coalition.
More on Link

Afghanistan needs huge army: minister
Thu, July 13, 2006  Winnipeg Sun
http://winnipegsun.com/News/World/2006/07/13/1682011-sun.html

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's army cannot secure the country without at least 150,000 troops -- more than five times what it has today, the country's defence minister said yesterday.

A plan to increase the army from 27,000 troops to 70,000 is inadequate and the U.S.-led coalition should divert funds from its own operations to make it more ambitious, Abdul Rahim Wardak said.

TALIBAN-LED VIOLENCE

Wardak said he believes a 70,000-strong Afghan army cannot put down a recent surge of Taliban-led violence and protect the country from outside threats.

"The minimum number we can survive on within this complex, strategic environment ... (is) 150,000 to 200,000, which should also be well-trained and equipped, with mobility and firepower and logistical and training institutions," Wardak said during an interview in his Kabul office.
More on Link


Afghanistan: Legislator Assails Coalition On Civilian Casualties
By Ron Synovitz    Thursday, July 13, 2006    Radio Free Europe
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/07/8B8D5321-6F14-4C3D-863D-E70D62D1FDC0.html

An Afghan member of parliament is contesting claims by the U.S.-led coalition about battle casualties in his home province of Oruzgan. Lawmaker Haji Abdul Khaliq Mujahid says the killing of innocent civilians by coalition air strikes in southern Afghanistan is going unreported. U.S. military officials say they have killed dozens of suspected Taliban fighters in Oruzgan in the past week but have no information about civilian casualties there. An Afghan human rights official says at least 600 of the 1,100 violent deaths in southern Afghanistan this year have been civilians killed by terrorists or coalition attacks.
More on Link


AFGHANISTAN, OPPOSITION IN FAVOUR AND GCT REACH UNITY
http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200607122038-1303-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia
Italy (AGI) - Rome, July 12, 2006

The Unione reached an agreement on the financing decree for the Italian missions abroad and, in particular, for the peace-keeping mission in Afghanistan

Airmen handle missions big and small in Afghanistan
by Master Sgt. Orville F. Desjarlais Jr. -  SOPnewswire  13 July 2006
http://www.thesop.org/index.php?id=1621

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Tech. Sgt. William Long likes a challenge, but a couple weeks ago, one challenge seemed insurmountable.

Air Force officials notified an Airman deployed to a remote forward operating base that his wife was gravely ill. The Air Force placed him on emergency leave, and then tried to figure a way to get him from the Afghan frontier to the United States.
More on Link

Afghanistan: Foreign Minister Attacks Pakistani Support For 'Terrorism'
By Ahto Lobjakas  Tuesday, July 11, 2006  Radio Free Europe
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/07/f45f52b0-d594-4b1a-a2f5-2dc829b681de.html

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta used an appearance before the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels today to appeal for greater international support. Spanta identified intensified insurgent attacks -- mainly in the south of the country -- as the main danger. He also made it clear Kabul thinks Pakistan is behind what he described as "terrorists" bent on destroying his country.
BRUSSELS, July 11, 2006 (RFE/RL) --  More on link


Afghanistan: Suicide attack on convoy kills child
By ASSOCIATED PRESS   KABUL, Afghanistan   Thursday, July 13, 2006
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885978313&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A suicide attacker in a car detonated a bomb near a US military convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing a boy who was playing nearby and wounding three other children, a provincial governor said.

Two American soldiers were slightly wounded in the attack, said Khost provincial Gov. Merajuddin Patan. The bomber also died.

Patan said the wounded children were in stable condition.
More on link

Cpl. Brian Sanders - A Soldier's Diary from Afghanistan
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_sanders/


Cpl. Brian Sanders joined the Canadian Forces 11 years ago while he was in college. Shortly after, he decided to become a full-time soldier and joined the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) regiment. The 29-year-old native of Strathroy, Ont., has served in Kosovo and Bosnia. He is currently on duty in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he drives an armoured ambulance.

Other articles by Cpl. Brian Sanders
Up close and personal with the enemy
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_sanders/

June 21, 2006
Not enough help for everyone in Afghanistanhttp://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_sanders/20060621.html


May 18, 2006
A holiday from war
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_sanders/20060518.html

April 3, 2006
Where the streets have no name … or ruleshttp://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_sanders/20060403.html

March 13, 2006
Hoping for a good day with Sarah by my sidehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_sanders/20060313.html
More on link

NATO commander: West's mistakes let Taliban return
13 Jul 2006 16:27:56 GMT   Source: Reuters
By Peter Graff
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13856628.htm

The West is to blame for the resurgence of the Taliban because it sent too few troops to Afghanistan, but an expanding NATO peace force will now turn the tide, the force's commander said on Thursday.

British Lieutenant General David Richards, commander of the multinational force that is due to take control in the dangerous south within weeks, acknowledged fighting has been tougher than hoped, but predicted success as his troops win hearts and minds.

"Although we always knew we were going to have to fight to secure an environment in which reconstruction and development could take place, clearly we are having to look more closely at the way we go about it," he told Britain's Sky News.
More on link

Cdn troops engage Taliban in intense battles
Matthew Fisher
CanWest News Service






Canadian troops during a firefight in Afghanistan (Pool video image)
Tuesday, July 11, 2006  CanWest News Service
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=016bb69d-c750-4ca1-959b-51aa01d62e74#

ZHAREI/PANJWEI, Afghanistan — The most intense fighting Canadian troops have been part of since the civil wars in Cyprus or the Korean War involved virtually the entire 1st Battalion Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry and the big guns of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, as well as U.S. fighter jets, attack helicopters and armed airborne drones.
More on link

It is about the Oil !!  :)

Once mocked, new Caspian oil pipeline looks smart now
ASSOCIATED PRESS  POSTED ON 13/07/06
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060713.RTICKERMAIN13/TPStory/TPBusiness/Asia/


Almost a decade ago, former U.S. president Bill Clinton threw his weight behind a multibillion-dollar pipeline designed to bring the oil riches of the Caspian Sea to the West, bypassing Russia and tapping a source of crude outside the unstable Middle East.

Critics derided the proposed 1,770-kilometre, $3.9-billion (U.S.) pipeline -- snaking through Azerbaijan, the mountains of Georgia and northern Turkey before hitting the Mediterranean coast -- as too expensive and too difficult to build.
More on link

 
July 13, Reuters:

NATO commander: West's mistakes let Taliban return
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13856628.htm

Mark
Ottawa
 
Stories found on Friday 14 July 2006

Afghan Security Forces Making Strides, Addressing Problems
By Jim Garamone   American Forces Press Service   Friday July 14, 2006
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060713_5649.html

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2006 – Afghan security forces are making tremendous strides, but challenges remain, the lead U.S. trainer for the force said today. 
More on link


Kandahar Tim Horton's fresh out of doughnuts
Updated Fri. Jul. 14 2006 9:14 AM ET  Canadian Press
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060714/afghanistan_hortons_060714/20060714?hub=TopStories

Canada's soldiers in Kandahar say they can live with the oppressive heat, dust and exhaustion of fighting Taliban.

But they draw the line when they lose their doughnuts.

The Tim Horton's restaurant that opened at the Kandahar Air Field before Canada Day ran out of doughnuts on Thursday.

By Friday, the Timbits were gone, too.

9 Suspected Taliban Killed in Afghanistan
By NOOR KHAN  The Associated Press  Friday, July 14, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/14/AR2006071400581.html

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed nine militants after suspected Taliban fighters attacked two army checkpoints in the latest fighting to rock southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said Friday.

Six militants were wounded in three hours of clashes but escaped, and one other militant was arrested, said Mohammed Zahir Khan, chief of Khas Uruzgan district in southern Uruzgan province, where the fighting erupted late Thursday.
More on link


Vulnerability of Taliban Terror Tactics
July 14, 2006:  StrategyPage
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20060714.aspx

In Afghanistan, Islamic terrorists are attempting to use the threat of retribution to coerce both Afghans, and some NATO countries, to cede control of southern Afghanistan. These are the same tactics used by the Taliban to maintain control of the country in the years prior to the American invasion in late 2001. The Taliban methods are simple. They tell villagers (or NATO countries) that they will kill anyone who cooperates with the government or foreign troops. The Taliban always say they have loyalists in the village who will report to them if anyone disobeys. In many southern villages, the Taliban do have fans who will act as informers. As long as the Taliban gunmen return to the villages periodically (every few months will do it, and hitting one village will get the message to nearby ones), the villagers will obey.
More on Link

Soldiers back home after year in Afghanistan
By GWEN TIETGEN / Lincoln Journal Star    Friday July 14, 2006
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/07/14/local/doc44b6ff71ad7a0868110497.txt

Col. Ronald Schrock tried to explain the difference between his year in Afghanistan and two other deployments in Germany and Honduras.

“It’s such a basket case of a country,” Schrock said. “They’ve been at war for 30 years.”

He and about 35 other Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers returned to Nebraska Thursday, greeting about 350 to 400 anxious loved ones at Lincoln’s National Guard air base.
More on Link

NI troops bound for Afghanistan
Thursday July 13, 2006 Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149782

London: Two platoons of the Royal Irish Regiment are among the 900 extra troops to be sent to Afghanistan.
The detachment of about 60 RIR soldiers will provide additional protection at the British HQ of Camp Bastion in the Helmand province.

Defence Secretary Des Browne told MPs the reinforcements would boost troop levels in Aghanistan to 4,500.
More on Link

British troops facing air supply crisis in Afghanistan
Thursday July 06, 2006 Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149015

KABUL: British forces in Afghanistan are facing a supply crisis because nearly half of their helicopter transport fleet is unable to fly in daylight hours due to the searing Helmand heat.
The 3,300 British troops in the south rely on six Chinook and four Lynx aircraft for all transport and supply. The extreme heat and thin, rising air of the Helmand desert has limited the Lynx, an attack and utility helicopter, to use between dusk and dawn, when temperatures fall to acceptable levels, military sources confirmed.

Captain Drew Gibson, the British military spokesman with the Helmand force, declined to comment on the Lynx problems, citing "operational reasons".
More on Link

19 Taliban militants killed in Afghanistan
Kandahar, July 13 (AP):  The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200607131240.htm

Coalition and Afghan forces killed at least 19 Taliban after some 200 militants surrounded a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan, the Governor's spokesman said today.

Taliban militants, driving four-wheel-drive vehicles, poured into the Helmand provincial town of Nawzad around midday yesterday and set up positions around a police compound where Afghan soldiers and police, along with coalition forces, were based, Ghulam Muhiddin said.
More on Link



Prodi's coalition at risk over Afghanistan
Friday 14 July 2006
http://www.jurnalo.com/index.php?id=34&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=317&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=26&cHash=d1c41040d9

The survival of Romano Prodi's centre-left governing coalition is at stake in an upcoming parliamentary vote on Italy's Afghanistan mission.
On July 25, the senate is scheduled to vote on the renewal of funding of Italy's 1,800 soldiers participating in the Nato-led mission in Afghanistan.

Prodi sees the extension of the mission as a way of showing that Italy is a reliable Nato ally, despite the inclusion of communists and pacifists in his government
More on link

Italy to stay in Afghanistan despite political problems
Thursday July 06, 2006 Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149014

ROME: Italian Defense Minister Arturo Parisi reiterated that the government intended to keep Italian soldiers in Afghanistan despite the tensions this position caused in its parliamentary majority.
Seven center-left senators, from communist and Green parties, have said they will vote against a measure refinancing the Afghanistan mission when it comes to the floor later this month.

Unless they relent, this means Romano Prodi’s government would be without a majority in the Senate on a key foreign policy issue. In the upper house the center left has only two seats more than the opposition.
More on link

Prominent Pakistani cleric, relative killed in suicide car bombing in Karachi
Friday, July 14th, 2006 Brandon Sun
http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=26466

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide car bomber killed a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric and one of his relatives in this southern Pakistan city on Friday, police said.

Allama Hassan Turabi had narrowly escaped an attempt on his life in April, and his killing will raise sectarian tensions in Karachi, which has often been the site of clashes between rival Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Turabi was the leader of a Shiite party, Islamic Tehreek Pakistan. He also was chief of the southern province of Sindh for Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Forum, a hardline religious coalition.

ArmorGroup firm as Afghanistan helps decrease dependence on Iraq 
Thursday 13 July 2006 
http://www.citywire.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.aspx?VersionID=83562&MenuKey=News.Home

Specialist security company ArmorGroup has seen particularly strong growth from its activities in Afghanistan and the oil and gas industry in Nigeria, which is good news for those hoping it would diversify away from reliance on Iraq.

Shares (ARG) are up 4.5p at 73p, valuing the business at £39 million.

ArmorGroup provides protective security services such as guarding embassies and oil rigs and training police and security personnel. Naturally its services have been much in demand in Iraq, which led the percentage of business from the region last year to rise as high as 60% of turnover.
More on link
 
Big push on....

Canadians out in full force for their biggest Afghan combat operation to date
Canadian Press, 15 Jul 06
http://www.recorder.ca/cp/National/060715/n071501A.html

Canadian and other coalition troops are conducting a massive assault operation in southern Afghanistan.  The combined ground and air assault began early this morning in the Sangin district of Helmand province, west of Kandahar.  That's where a Canadian soldier was killed in late March and an Afghan police and military outpost was attacked just two days ago.  Canadian coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy says 10 Taliban have been killed as the operation continues.  Intelligence sources suggest as many as 400 Taliban could be in the area, but have so far eluded coalition forces . . .


U.S., Afghan troops kill 10 Taliban in Afghan clash
Reuters (UK), 15 Jul 06
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL200736.htm

U.S.-led and Afghan government troops killed 10 Taliban insurgents in an attack on Saturday, the latest clash in the bloodiest phase of violence in Afghanistan since 2001.  U.S.-led coalition troops have responded to a resurgent Taliban across the south with a heavy offensive before a NATO peacekeeping force takes over at the end of the month.  "Coalition forces, supported by Afghan and coalition ground forces, conducted a night-time air assault into Sangin and killed 10 enemy extremists," the U.S.-led force said in a statement . . .


UK troops take Taleban stronghold
BBC News Online, 15 Jul 06
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5183052.stm

Three hundred soldiers - backed by hundreds of American and Canadian troops - have taken control of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand. Six British troops have been killed in or near the town in recent weeks . . .


British troops capture key Afghan town
Telegraph Online, 15 Jul 06
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/15/uafg.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/07/15/ixnews.html

Hundreds of British troops have been involved in a major operation to secure a town in southern Afghanistan from the Taliban.  An Army spokesman said that nearly 1,000 British soldiers - including some in support roles - were involved in the operation in Sangin.  Two British troops were injured but both are expected to make a full recovery . . .


UK troops bid to secure Afghan town
Daily Express (UK), 15 Jul 06
http://express.lineone.net/news_detail_pa.html?sku=11529655803115571-H3

Hundreds of British troops were involved in a major operation to secure the town of Sangin in southern Afghanistan from the Taliban.  An Army spokesman in Afghanistan said that about 300 British troops were present on the ground in the town, which has been the scene of a number of British deaths in recent weeks . . .


Dozens of militants killed in Afghanistan
NOOR KHAN, Associated Press, 15 Jul 06
http://www.localnewsleader.com/olberlin/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=202961

Coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 40 militants in clashes across southern Afghanistan on Saturday, according to the U.S. military. Skirmishes between coalition and Taliban militants raged throughout the southern Uruzgan province Friday into Saturday, with battlefield estimates indicating that 31 insurgents were killed in and around the Chora district, said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick . . . .


Forces launch big attack in Afghan south
Reuters, 15 Jul 06
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Forces_launch_big_attack_in_Afghan_south.html?siteSect=143&sid=6897487&cKey=1152968870000

U.S., British and Canadian troops launched a pre-dawn offensive against Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan on Saturday, taking control of a southern district from militants and their drug-gang allies.  The attack was part of a big offensive foreign troops have launched in response to the most intense phase of violence by a resurgent Taliban across the south.  The surge in violence comes as a NATO peacekeeping force prepares to take over in the south from a U.S.-led coalition force at the end of the month . . . .









 
Articles found July 15, 2006
ps: I try not to duplicate articles posted by others here, but sometimes I DO foul up 

Watching the Right Game in Afghanistan
July 15, 2006  -  Strategy Page
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htwin/articles/20060715.aspx

The current Taliban offensive in Afghanistan has attracted a lot of media attention. It's also generated a lot of confusing punditry about who is winning, and losing. The Taliban is losing. Although they came on stronger this year, that's got more to do with tribal politics across the border in Pakistan, and Arab money, than for any growth in Taliban support among Afghans. Several thousand armed Taliban are running around southern Afghanistan, full or part time. Facing them are two divisions of foreigners (one American, the other NATO), and twice as many Afghan police and soldiers. That's over 80,000 troops. So it's not surprising that the Taliban have lost ten men for each Afghan or Coalition solider that dies in combat. The Taliban try to spin all this as some kind of victory, or prelude to a victory. But what the Taliban won't admit is that this is tribal politics writ large. It's a battle between the old ways, which have made Afghanistan the poorest, and most unsafe, nation in Central Asia, and the new. The Taliban don't much like education, the Internet, women in school and foreigners in general. Most Afghans disagree with the Taliban, but when you have a violent, determined minority to deal with, there will be casualties.
More on Link


It was the single-biggest Coalition operation in Afghanistan in three years.
Major military operation fails to find Taliban targets
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD -  Globe and Mail Update
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060715.wblatch0715/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

KANDAHAR — Six hundred Canadian soldiers, working with U.S. infantry, early this morning put the squeeze on a Taliban stronghold in the badlands of Helmand Province so that British paratroopers could storm several compounds.

The raid took place about 150 kilometres northwest of Kandahar in two pockets of the volatile Sangin area, not far from where earlier this spring Canadian Private Robert Costall was killed at remote Forward Operating Base Robinson.

Before dawn, Alpha and Charlie Companies of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry moved into the area from the south, with U.S. troops of the 10th Mountain Division doing the same from the north, as the Coalition converged most of its military assets in southern Afghanistan on a handful of mud-walled compounds for what a senior Canadian army official called "one brief, shining moment."
More on link


CTV Video of Afghanistan Fighting
Contributed by Cee from thread:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/47189/post-412337/topicseen.html#new
Here are some youtube links:

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyT9njQKEUA

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-6ARAOzeiQ

Part3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRN8Fl7DgOM

Part4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBiHxf-mTp0

Canadian Forces air dropping supplies for first time in half-century
Ethan Baron and Ben O'Hara, CanWest News Service  -  Saturday, July 15, 2006
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=c3c34324-b027-4226-8d52-5f0d4606f2a7&k=77065

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- For the first time since the Korean War, Canadian Forces in Afghanistan are parachuting supplies to support combat troops.

The same type of airplane that on Monday carried the body of fallen Canadian soldier Cpl. Anthony Boneca home has been put into service dropping ammunition, food, water, razor wire and sandbags to coalition soldiers on combat missions.

"It was a historic day for the air force. We completed the first air drop for tactical resupply since the Korean war," said Capt. Aidan Costelloe of 436 Squadron, 8 Wing, based in Trenton, Ont.
More on link


14 militants killed, 17 held across Afghanistan
Kandahar, July. 15 (AP):
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200607151327.htm

Afghan soldiers killed 14 militants and arrested 17 others in clashes across the country, officials said Saturday.

Militants attacked an Afghan army convoy patrolling late Friday in southern Zabul province's Shinkay district, sparking a gunbattle that killed four Taliban, said local army commander Razzaq Khan. Soldiers detained one Taliban and there were no army casualties.

Eight ``enemies of Afghanistan,'' a term used to describe the Taliban, were also killed by Afghan soldiers Thursday in southern Helmand province's Sangin district, a Defense Ministry statement said.

In neighboring Uruzgan province, Afghan soldiers also killed two male ``foreigners'' wearing burkas and detained five Taliban in the Dihrawud district on Friday, the statement said. The nationalities of the slain foreigners were unclear.

Troops arrested five militants in northern Afghanistan's Balkh province, another five in Paktika to the southeast and one in the western region of Herat, the statement added.

Canadians find link between Taliban, drug trade during furious firefight
Ethan Baron, CanWest News Service  -  Saturday, July 15, 2006
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=34814976-7f4f-40f3-870e-a25c0f427920&k=97691

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- Canadian soldiers have seized an estimated $3 million in opium from a mud-walled Taliban compound after an outnumbered Canadian reconnaissance patrol held off more than two dozen fighters until additional firepower arrived.

"It confirms what we knew but hadn't seen -- Ethe physical evidence that there is a direct connection between Taliban activities and the drug trade here," said Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Canadian battlegroup in southern Afghanistan.

"The Taliban is funded in large part by the opium trade."
More on link



Woman official killed
15 July 2006 The Hindu -  Mr. Khogiani  — Xinhua
http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/15/stories/2006071503781600.htm

KABUL: An Afghan woman official has been killed in central Afghanistan by Taliban militants, the Afghan National TV reported on Thursday night. Zahra, the first female official murdered after the Taliban regime collapsed in 2001, was working in the refugee department in Ghazni province. She was kidnapped two days ago and her body was found on Thursday, provincial police chief Tafser Khan Khogiani was quoted as saying by the TV. The Taliban, which banned women from educational institutions and work, has claimed responsibility. "The enemy of peace just wants to deprive women of their rights,"

Rebels killed in Afghanistan
Saturday 15 July 2006, al Jazeera Net
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/840286CB-8BF2-43B8-BE0A-E6DC566D2141.htm


The clashes come amid stepped up US-led military efforts to crush armed extremists, primarily the Taliban, behind an insurgency in Afghanistan.

Afghan army and coalition forces attacked around 40 rebels on Thursday and Friday in the southern Uruzgan province "in an effort to disrupt and deny enemy operations in those areas," a coalition statement said.
More on link

A Liberal Rant about Canada and Afghanistan -A good read, if only to see the fuzzy logic they use

The folly of Afghanistan and the Pearsonian solution
Friday, July 14 2006 @ 02:15 PM MDT

Contributed by: robertjb
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/2006071321154476

Even though Pearson looked like a bookish banker with the disposition of your favorite uncle he was a man of action and fierce integrity, unafraid to “piss” on presidential rugs.

As individuals and nations we sometimes forget who we are and where we are from. Canada’s present role in Afghanistan is miscast and futile. We should invoke the Pearsonian tradition and seek more peaceful and viable solutions.
More on Link
 
In an attempt not to duplicate I will simply supply a link recommended by a CIMIC Friend from the last tour.
On checking it out, it looks pretty comprehensive and covers news from all contingents in theater, not only Canada, US, and Brit.

http://www.afghannews.net/



 
U.S., British and Canadian troops launched a pre-dawn offensive...
Click to expand...
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Forces_launch_big_attack_in_Afghan_south.html?siteSect=143&sid=6897487&cKey=1152968870000

Makes me think of other days.  Proudly.

Mark
Ottawa
 
Articles found on 16 July 2006

Rocket attack hits Canadian base in Kandahar, Afghanistan; no one injured
Canadian Press  Saturday, July 15, 2006 
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=133a6bee-c083-47c2-886e-9f43b53d01c6&k=81206

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The military base Canadian soldiers call home in Afghanistan has come under another rocket attack.

Two rockets were fired on the Kandahar Airfield late this evening, local time.

No one was injured by the blasts.

It's the second time in a week that the base has come under fire, and the fifth attack since June 30 when two Canadians were injured by rockets.

Today's attack came as most of Canada's combat soldiers were outside the base, taking part in a massive assault operation about 150 kilometres west of Kandahar.

The airfield is home to about 1,900 Canadian soldiers, along with thousands more from other countries.


Helicopter shortage puts our troops at risk
what Charles told MoD six months ago
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent - 16/07/2006
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/16/wafg16.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/07/16/ixnews.html

The Prince of Wales voiced concerns about the lack of helicopters available to British troops in Afghanistan six months ago.

Prince Charles, who is Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment, is said to be "dismayed" that soldiers' lives are being put at risk because of a lack of military resources.
More on link

U.S. company lays groundwork for Afghan telecommunications
Sunday July 16, 2006 (0106 PST) Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149964

WASHINGTON: Afghanistan’s fledgling Ministry of Communications now is "connected," thanks to a U.S. telecommunications firm that has set up a satellite network in the country.
Globecomm Systems Inc. (GSI), headquartered in Hauppauge, New York, has completed a government communications network that connects the 38 ministries in the Afghan capital Kabul to the 34 provincial capitals.
More on link

New religious police in Afghanistan
Sunday July 16, 2006 (0106 PST) Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149965

KABUL: The Department for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which is the formal name for the religious police who enforced strict, conservative Islamic law during the 1990’s, is being reinstated by President Karzai’s government, according to Afghan officials.
Although crackdowns on forms of expression deemed un-Islamic have generally come from the courts, and although conservative Islamists are currently the main block in Parliament, this initiative came from the President’s recently approved Cabinet.

Coming on the heels of this, it’s not hard to imagine what sorts of vice the department will be seeking to prevent. It does not look to be as conservative as what we saw under the Taliban.

Festive, defiant spirit on base in Kandahar
Monday July 03, 2006 (0941 PST) Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=148749

KANDAHAR: Just hours after a Taliban rocket attack on their base, the Princess Patricia’s battle group tried hard to make the most of their one-day Canada Day holiday yesterday with beer, burgers, a barbecue and red Canada ball caps.
Under a 55C sun, troops donned shorts and T-shirts as makeshift teams squared off to play volleyball in the desert sand. Others took part in a 10-kilometre run for the Children’s Wish Foundation.
More on Link

Major military operation fails to find Taliban targets
It was the single-biggest Coalition operation in Afghanistan in three years.
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD Globe and Mail Update
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060715.wblatch0715/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

KANDAHAR — Six hundred Canadian soldiers, working with U.S. infantry, early this morning put the squeeze on a Taliban stronghold in the badlands of Helmand Province so that British paratroopers could storm several compounds.

The raid took place about 150 kilometres northwest of Kandahar in two pockets of the volatile Sangin area, not far from where earlier this spring Canadian Private Robert Costall was killed at remote Forward Operating Base Robinson.

Before dawn, Alpha and Charlie Companies of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry moved into the area from the south, with U.S. troops of the 10th Mountain Division doing the same from the north, as the Coalition converged most of its military assets in southern Afghanistan on a handful of mud-walled compounds for what a senior Canadian army official called "one brief, shining moment."
More on Link

Bin Laden's driver on road to freedom
CHRIS STEPHEN -   Scotland on Sunday - Sun 16 Jul 2006
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1034082006&format=print

WHEN they come to write the history of the War on Terror, few names will loom larger than that of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni orphan who, through a combination of extraordinary circumstances, has twice stymied George Bush.

The first time came six years ago when, working for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, he whisked Osama bin Laden to safety shortly before a US missile strike destroyed his mountain hideout.

And last week he did it again. After beating Bush in a historic court judgment, the US administration has announced a dramatic change in policy which could signal the end of the Guantanamo Bay prison.

In December 2001, I journeyed to the remote Afghan village of Bin Hassar, 30 miles south of Kabul, after it fell to US-backed Northern Alliance forces.

Late one night, Bin Laden and his entourage arrived, with the al-Qaeda leader taking a corner bedroom. US intelligence picked up on the arrival, possibly alerted by the electronic 'bloom' from his satellite phone. In the early hours of the morning a US missile, probably from a high-flying drone, was fired, tearing through the old stone farmhouse.

But Bin Laden had already left, driven south to his mountain redoubt by Hamdan.

The al-Qaeda leader has not been seen since, and is rumoured to be sheltering on the Afghan-Pakistan border. But Hamdan was not so lucky. Two weeks later he was arrested and handed over to the United States, joining more than 600 prisoners at the new Guantanamo Bay detention facility
More on Link

Two injured as UK troops launch major swoop on Afghan town
JOHN BINGHAM - Scotland on Sunday - Sun 16 Jul 2006

HUNDREDS of British troops were yesterday involved in a major operation to secure the town of Sangin in southern Afghanistan from the Taliban.

An army spokesman in Afghanistan said about 300 British troops were present on the ground in the town, which has been the scene of a number of British deaths in recent weeks.
More on Link

Heroin lab workers suffering from different diseases
Sunday July 16, 2006  Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149966

KABUL: About 2,500 people, who used to work in heroin laboratories, have now developed various lethal diseases, officials said.
Dr Abdullah Wardak, official in the public health ministry, said the workers included both male and female were brought for treatment to his clinic after destroying the heroin laboratories.

Many of the victims were suffering from skin, stomach, liver, asthma, blood deficiency, mental weakness and diarrhea problems, he said. Drugs were resulting in negative long-term and short terms impacts, he added.

18-year-old Nilofar, one of the patient, who was suffering from complex diseases and was currently under detention in Kabul police headquarters, said, she developed these diseases for working in heroin lab in the eastern Nangarhar province.

She said her 16-year-old sister was also working with her in the heroin lab. Nilofar said she could recognize the site of the lab where they were being taken in a tented glasses vehicle.
More on Link

NATO’s crisis in Afghanistan
Sunday July 16, 2006  Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149963

WASHINGTON: The United States handed over primary responsibility for peacekeeping in Afghanistan to NATO. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
However, now the policy has fallen apart and presented the alliance with its greatest crisis in a quarter-century.

For NATO’s forces in Afghanistan are no longer peacekeepers. They are being forced to defend themselves as warriors. And they lack the numbers, the air power and the logistical support to even defend themselves adequately.
More on Link

Afghanistan is no place for quitters
Sunday July 16, 2006 Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149962

KABUL: Thousands of young uniformed men and women from 37 countries -- NATO nations and our partner countries -- are putting their lives on the line in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, drug lords and common criminals have all stepped up attacks on our troops, the Afghan government, and ordinary Afghan men, women and children. And all with one aim: to drive us away, and put the clock back to 2001.

Five years is not long enough to have forgotten how much of a threat Afghanistan was then. Under the Taliban, the country was the home and training ground of al-Qaeda, the launch pad for multiple, mass terror attacks in Africa and, of course, 9/11 in the United States. We cannot afford to let Afghanistan become, again, that kind of direct threat to us.
More on Link

Extremists fail with IEDs
Sunday July 16, 2006  Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149961

BAGRAM AIRFIELD: Coalition forces captured an extremist after he pre-detonated an improvised explosive device he was attempting to place in the Day Chopan District of Zabul Province.
The would-be bomber succeeded only in severely injuring his own leg when his IED prematurely exploded during his attempt to place it in the road. Coalition forces transported the insurgent to a Coalition medical facility for treatment after being captured.
More on Link


Construction of district HQs completed in Zabul
Saturday July 15, 2006  Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149872

KANDAHAR CITY: Construction of Shamalzy district headquarters worth $135,000 was completed in the southern Zabul province, officials said.
Gulab Shah Alikhel, spokesman for governor, told news agency in Kabul that US-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the province funded the project.

He said PRT had pledged them construction of other projects in the region. Wazir Mohammad, head of Shamalzy district, told news agency in Kabul the newly-built office had 23 rooms, 2 salons and other parts. Earlier, he said they were working in madhouse and were confronted with many problems.

In a separate incident on July 14, a suicide bomber killed himself and injured an Afghan National Policeman in the Tere Zayi District of Khost Province.

The suicide bomber’s suspicious activity caught the attention of alert ANP conducting a mounted patrol. The bomber detonated the explosive vest he was wearing, killing himself and injuring one ANP officer.
More on Link


Afghan army displays leadership under fire, U.S. general says
Saturday July 15, 2006 Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149868

WASHINGTON: One of the main challenges for Afghan security forces is to fill all of its ranks with effective leaders, says U.S. Army Major General Robert Durbin.
This will take time as Afghan National Army and police reforms are implemented, Durbin told reporters at the Pentagon.

Speaking as the commander of the Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan, he said it is important for the Afghan Army to identify recruits who have "the right character traits and characteristics of good leaders".
More on Link

Afghans get frustrated with rising violence
Thursday July 13, 2006  Pak Tribune
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=149786

KABUL: An upsurge in insurgent violence in Afghanistan and deepening public frustration is eating away at domestic support for internationally-backed President Hamid Karzai, analysts say.
Five years after the fall of the hardline Taliban government, the insurgency is only more bloody and is undermining the authority of Karzai`s government which is propped up by international funds and security forces.

The May 29 riots that shook Kabul pointed to growing frustration, with some of the demonstrators chanting "Death to Karzai" and attacking images of him.
More on Link

Afghanistan: New players, old mistakes

Afghanistan: New players, old mistakes
 
Four invasions in less than two centuries -- all doomed to failure -- and no lessons taken to heart
By Gwynne Dyer - Independant   (Jul 15, 2006) 
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152913813558&call_pageid=1126519607402&col=1126519607416

1839, 1878, 1979, 2001: Four foreign invasions of Afghanistan in less than 200 years. The first two were British, and unashamedly imperialist. The third was Soviet, and the invaders said they were there to defend socialism and help Afghanistan become a modern, prosperous state.

The last was American, and the invaders said they were there to bring democracy and help Afghanistan become a modern, prosperous state. But all four invasions were doomed to fail (although the last still has some time to run).
More on Link


Extremists intensify war on schools in Afghanistan
July 14, 2006, 11:25PM - By PAUL GARWOOD - Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4048621.html

Groups object to educating girls and the teaching of secular subjects

PORIAT, AFGHANISTAN - For 14-year-old Mohammed Salam, his tent school was about all this mud-brick farming village had going for it. That was until suspected Taliban militants burned it to the ground.

"Now we are taught underneath trees," the teenager said as he and other students took exams in a cluster of trees near the place their school stood before it was destroyed more than a month ago.


Goals for mission needed, says Kenny
Sunday July 16, 2006 Chronicle Herald, Halifax
Canada must gauge victory in Afghanistan security official
By CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporter
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/516503.html

Canada needs to decide what constitutes "victory" in Afghanistan,  says the head of the Senate’s national security committee. 

"I think Canadians are owed that and I think the troops are owed that," Colin Kenny said during a recent stop in Halifax.

"I don’t really care what the metrics are, whether it’s how many girls are in school or how many wells you’ve dug or how long has it been since there’s been a political murder or is there a functioning press there that doesn’t appear to be manipulated by somebody."

The Commons narrowly voted in May to extend Canada’s mission in Afghanistan an additional two years, until February 2009.
More on Link

Soldier's Son Helps Afghan Kids
July 16, 2006  ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/TenWays/story?id=2188710&WNT=true

By DAVID KERLEY

GAITHERSBURG, Md., July 13, 2006 — An entrepreneurial Boy Scout is sending 69 boxes of clothes to Afghanistan, in a project inspired by his father's deployment to the war-torn region.

Nick Shawen was looking to earn himself a spot as an Eagle Scout and decided to begin a clothing drive after receiving e-mails from his father, an Army doctor working with civilians in Afghanistan.

His mother, Linda Shawen, said they learned of children coming into the hospital and losing their belongings. "They had to cut the clothes off because, you know, they were completely damaged," she said. "So when they left they had nothing to wear."
More on Link
 
 
Helicopter shortage puts (Brit) troops at risk - what Charles told MoD six months ago
Sean Rayment, Telegraph (UK), 16 Jul 06

The Prince of Wales voiced concerns about the lack of helicopters available to British troops in Afghanistan six months ago.  Prince Charles, who is Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment, is said to be "dismayed" that soldiers' lives are being put at risk because of a lack of military resources.  Sources close to the prince said that he first raised the issue of helicopter shortages with John Reid, the former defence secretary shortly after it was announced that 3,600 British troops would be sent to Afghanistan . . . .


Paras storm town to lift siege by Taliban
Christina Lamb and Tahir Luddin, Times Online (UK), 16 Jul 06

BRITISH forces yesterday launched their biggest offensive yet in southern Afghanistan to relieve soldiers under siege in the Taliban stronghold of Sangin. Three hundred members of 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, took part in the dawn raid, which started with Apache helicopter gunships securing a landing area so that five Chinooks could fly in troops . . . .

 
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060712/afghanistan_assault_060715/20060715?hub=TopStories

Cdn. troops join massive operation in Afghanistan
Updated Sat. Jul. 15 2006 11:50 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Canadian soldiers have joined the largest coalition effort thus far to root out hundreds of suspected Taliban fighters, focusing on a key insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan.


The operation is the largest to date in "Operation Mountain Thrust," and involves about 5,000 U.S., British and Canadian troops.


The aim is to attack about 400 Taliban guerrillas believed to be operating in the Sangin district of Helmand province, west of Kandahar.


CTV's Steve Chao said the Sangin area is a challenging war zone. There are many mud-walled buildings in maze-like communities, which have to be searched with caution.


"They have to be very careful about the civilian population," Chao told CTV Newsnet. "There was a great deal of concern that the Taliban would be using people as human shields, though there's no word that this is happening so far."


Chao, who was out with Canadian soldiers during a 60-hour firefight near Pashmul last weekend, said one officer told him that fighting the Taliban is "like punching flies -- you punch them and they come back again."


Sangin is the area where a Canadian soldier was killed last March.


Canadian coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy told The Canadian Press that 10 Taliban have been killed in a brief battle, as this weekend's operation continues.


The joint Canadian-American-British mission is also the largest combat operation of its kind since the Korean War. It's led by Brig. Gen. David Fraser, a Canadian who is commander of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan.


About 600 Canadian soldiers are assigned to the operation, and Chao says they've been fighting in 50 degree Celcius heat in recent months. Many are exhausted and are counting the days until they can go home.


Rocket hits coalition base, no reported casualties


Meanwhile, another rocket struck the coalition base in Kandahar, where Canadian troops are based.


The rocket hit the base Saturday, though there were no reported casualties.


It is one of about 30 rockets that have struck the base in the past few months, said Chao, reporting from the scene.


"At least one rocket landed on the Kandar airbase. We outrselves could hear the whistle of the rocket as it flew over our heads and landed just a few hundred metres from where we are," Chao told CTV Newsnet.


"We could see a cloud of smoke and dust rise up from where the rocket landed. We ourselves ran over to the site but we were told no one has been injured in the attack."


Chao said the numerous attacks in recent months are difficult to guard against.


"There are so many areas the Taliban or insurgents can fire the rockets from, so it's just another example of how difficult it is to police the outside cordoned area."


He said the base covers several square kilometres.


The attack marks the second time in one week that the base has been targeted. It is the fifth such attack since June 30 when two Canadians were injured by rockets.


With files from CTV's Steve Chao in Kandahar and The Canadian Press

 
More Taliban reported killed, captured, as Canadians continue Afghan assault
Terry Pedwell, Canadian Press, 16 Jul 06
http://www.recorder.ca/cp/National/060716/n071611A.html

Facing ambushes and small pockets of resistance, Canadian soldiers continued fighting Sunday as a major coalition offensive continued in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.  Nearly 5,000 coalition forces, including about 600 Canadians, were involved in the operation west of Kandahar, along with soldiers from the Afghan National Army and Afghan police.  In two separate battles late Saturday afternoon, the coalition troops suffered no casualties, but killed at least 35 Taliban fighters, wounded more than 20 others and captured more than a dozen insurgents, according to Helmand's provincial police chief . . .


UK troops attacked in Afghanistan
BBC News, 16 Jul 06
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5186000.stm

British troops say they have come under fire from Taleban fighters hiding in a hospital in southern Afghanistan.  A military statement said forces in Helmand province defending a government compound were under sustained attack . . . .


Paras' Revenge:  10 Taliban killed as troops retake the Valley of Death
Rupert Hamer, Sunday Mirror (UK), 16 Jul 06
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17391464%26method=full%26siteid=62484%26headline=paras%2d%2drevenge%2d-name_page.html

BRITISH paratroopers yesterday blitzed hundreds of Taliban fighters as they stormed a desert valley where six comrades died.  Apache helicopter gunships swept into the terror stronghold of Sangin before dawn, killing 10 insurgents.  Three hundred frontline troops were then airlifted to reclaim the valley in Chinook helicopters during the biggest battle in lawless Helmand province . . . .


U.S. Vows to Continue Anti-Taliban Blitz
Paul Garwood, Associated Press, 16 Jul 06
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/07/16/ap/international/d8it9uu01.txt

There is no end in sight for a massive anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan, which must continue until local authorities gain control of the insurgent-dominated region, the U.S.-led coalition said Sunday.  More than 10,000 soldiers have fanned out across southern mountain ranges, desert plains and opium fields to crush the Taliban in Operation Mountain Thrust, the largest military operation in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001 . . . .


MEN WEARING BURKAS SHOOT AFGHAN CIVILIANS
CFC Afghanistan, 16 Jul 06
http://tinyurl.com/hwefn

Two Afghan civilians were killed and one civilian injured in a drive-by shooting July 15 in Zambar in Khowst Province.  The attack was conducted by three individuals disguised as women who were wearing burkas and driving in a Toyota Corolla.  The Afghan civilians were from the village of Aber Khel and acquaintances of the Zambar Afghan National Police chief.  “This was a senseless attack on Afghan civilians,” said Col. Thomas Collins, Coalition spokesperson.  “For extremists to dress like women and kill innocent civilians, shows the lengths the extremists will go to threaten the safety of the Afghan people. The Coalition remains committed to putting an end to such senseless violence and those who would commit these atrocities.”


Afghan official: Slain woman was not connected to coalition
Stars & Stripes, 17 Jul 06
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=38679

A woman whose body was found dumped south of Kabul, Afghanistan, did not associate with coalition forces, contrary to what a Taliban spokesman says, Afghan officials said Sunday.  Zahra Madadi, 23, worked with the Refugees and Returnee Affairs Department and attended school at night, officials said during a news conference.  Madadi was kidnapped by Taliban followers on July 11 and her body was found south of the city of Ghazni, which is southwest of Kabul, on July 13 . . . .



 
Afghanistan helicopter use ‘rationed’
IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent July 17 2006  The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/65995.html
       
British commanders in Afghanistan are having to ration helicopter missions in support of ground troops because of a "cost neutral" policy imposed by the Treasury.
Although the Helmand task force has been given the go-ahead to increase flying hours for its helicopter force, it has been ordered not to exceed the overall operational budget, according to military sources.
That sets a ceiling on flying hours, fuel consumption and the use of scarce spare parts.
The result is that senior officers are forced to limit support flights to deliberate operations", such as Saturday's assault on the Taliban sanctuary of Sangin, rather than vital resupply missions to outposts in remote forward positions.
Food, water and ammunition are now to be taken to the "platoon house" outposts by road convoys vulnerable to insurgent ambush and booby-traps.
More on link

Absence from his men adds salt to his wounds
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD  Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060714.wafghan14/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The last time I saw Captain John Croucher, the big lug was standing in the moonlight outside the patrol house at Gumbad north of Kandahar, talking about the improvised explosive device, or IED, strike that had exploded between two vehicles in his convoy.

Capt. Croucher was but four cars away, and even so felt the percussion, and the shock, and saw the enormous crater left behind.

But, as he said then with considerable pride, that day he left with 38 guys, and with 38 he returned to the mud-walled compound that Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry then called home.
More on link





Envoy says Canadian soldiers 'in eye of storm'
Updated Sun. Jul. 16 2006  CTV News
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060712/QP_afghanistan_060716/20060716?hub=Canada


Canadian soldiers in have faced intensifying Taliban aggression on their mission in southern Afghanistan. But the UN envoy in Kabul, says the troops are directly "in the eye of storm" and most of the country is relatively calm.

What we're seeing now is an intense effort to root out the remaining militants near Kandahar. Christopher Alexander told CTV's Question Period.  "The resources devoted to countering the insurgency are much greater now."
More on link


Originally posted by - Mark Ottawa regarding CTV's Question Period
thead http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/47452/post-413161/topicseen.html#new

Don't expect the media to abandon Mr Staples.  He was on CTV's Question Period July 16, with Lew Mackenzie and David Bercuson, discussing Afstan.  Craig Oliver did everything he could to call the mission into question.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/HTMLTemplate?tf=/ctv/mar/video/new_player.html&cf=ctv/mar/ctv.cfg&hub=QPeriod&video_link_high=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2006/07/14/ctvvideologger3_152871435_1152888700_691kbps.wmv&video_link_low=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/
video/2006/07/14/ctvvideologger3_152871434_1152888303_218kbps.wmv&
clip_start=00:13:05.95&clip_end=00:07:02.92&clip_caption=CTV's%20Question%20Period:%20Panel%20discussion%20of%20Afghanistan&clip_id=ctvnews.20060714.00154000-00154370-clip2&subhub=video&no_ads=&sortdate=20060712&slug=
QP_afghanistan_060716&archive=CTVNews#ctvnews.20060714.00154000-00154370-clip2



There was also an interview with Chris Alexander, UN official in Afstan and former Canadian diplomat, in which Mr Alexander did a very good job of explaining and supporting international action there.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/HTMLTemplate?tf=/ctv/mar/video/new_player.html&cf=ctv/mar/ctv.cfg&hub=QPeriod&video_link_high=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2006/07/14/ctvvideologger3_152871435_1152888700_691kbps.wmv&video_link_low=mms://
ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2006/07/14/ctvvideologger3_152871434_1152888303_218kbps.wmv&clip_start=00:03:42.45&clip_end=00:09:17.92&clip_caption=CTV's%20Question%20Period:%20Chris%20Alexander%20in%20Kabul&clip_id=ctvnews.20060714.00154000-00154370-clip1&subhub=video&no_ads=&sortdate=20060712&slug=QP_afghanistan_060716&archive=CTVNews#ctvnews.20060714.00154000-00154370-clip1



Afghanistan: Poppy and the Taliban 
Monday, July 17, 2006 -  The Trumpet
http://www.thetrumpet.com/?page=article&id=2374

 
The media keep Americans abreast of the military and political melee that is Iraq. Most Americans, however, know little about the chaos unraveling in a nation about 1,000 miles east of Bagdad: Afghanistan. This nation, home of the Taliban,
is the largest source of heroin in the world, and is evolving into one of America’s worst geopolitical nightmares.

Reporting on the rapid deterioration of Afghanistan, a July 11 Asia Times article detailed the close connection between the resurging strength of the bin Laden-loving Taliban and the booming poppy industry:

Afghanistan boasts two bumper crops this season, and both could be lethal to the already fledgling authority of its government. Western officials expect the largest-ever opium crop …. And contrary to earlier pronouncements by military officials,
the Taliban are gaining steam in the volatile southern provinces, where fighting has raged at levels not seen since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the al-Qaeda-allied Islamic fundamentalist movement five years ago.
More on link


Internship program sends volunteers to Afghanistan
Monday, July 17, 2006 - Daily Evergreen
KENDRA PANG - CONTRIBUTING WRITER   
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/disp_story.php?storyId=18273
 
A WSU internship program will give volunteers a chance to help rebuild higher education in war-torn Afghanistan.
The Center to Bridge the Digital Divide is offering the paid internship in Kabul, Afghanistan. The program will allow volunteers to work with students and professors at Kabul University and other area schools to help rebuild their systems.

“Volunteers will be tutoring in subject areas to students at Kabul University,” said Ryan Sain, deputy director of global networks at CBDD. “Quality tutors are needed to assist students and professors with English speaking skills and content.
We are training Afghans to replace all of our interns with Afghans in hopes that the university system will be fully run by Afghans within a year.”
More on link


Afghan, Coalition Members Conduct Medical Clinics
American Forces Press Service    WASHINGTON, July 17, 2006
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060717_5670.html

More than 1,000 villagers in the Panjwayi and Zharey districts of Afghanistan received medical treatment and humanitarian assistance from Afghan and coalition personnel at clinics during the past weekend, military officials reported.
A group of medical professionals from Kandahar hospitals, the Afghan National Army and the coalition spent July 15 at a school next to the Panjwayi District Centre at Bazaar-e-Panjwayi. They conducted another medical clinic in Zharey district on July 16.

The group provided basic medical treatment to local people and livestock, dispensed medicine, and handed out food and other humanitarian supplies.

During the two days, medical personnel treated 1,028 people; veterinarians saw 18 animals; and tons of humanitarian supplies were distributed to villagers.
More on link


 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

daftandbarmy
2023 Layoff Tracker: Latest Meta Cuts Could Hit 4,000
2
Replies
31
Views
42K
mariomike
mariomike
Kirkhill
    • Insightful
Artillery Logistics Lessons.
6 7 8
Replies
152
Views
140K
KevinB
KevinB
McG
ISAF flag lowering; One NATO mission ends as another begins
Replies
0
Views
13K
McG
McG
G
The Sandbox and Area Reports Thread November 2013
Replies
0
Views
5K
GAP
G
McG
The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread January 2014
Replies
6
Views
8K
McG
McG
Back
Top