The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread July 2010
- Thread starter GAP
- Start date
Insurgents killed, Taliban district chief captured in firefight:
International and Afghan security forces wounded and captured a Taliban district chief and killed a "large number" of insurgents in a four-hour firefight, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement Thursday.
The battle took place in a compound outside a village in the Baghran district of Afghanistan's Helmand province after insurgents opened fire on security forces with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, ISAF said.
No security force members or civilians were killed or wounded in the fighting, but a "large number of insurgents" died, ISAF said, without providing specific numbers.
"Dozens of automatic weapons, RPG launchers and rounds, a machine gun, grenades, and ammunition were discovered along with 20 pounds of wet opium" after the fighting, the statement said.
"This joint force operation dealt another significant blow to the Taliban network," said Col. William Maxwell, ISAF Joint Command Combined Joint Operations Center director. "These joint efforts are key to further establishing peace in the region."
NATO-led forces have been waging an offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Dubbed Operation Moshtarak, the offensive was launched in February by an international coalition of 15,000 troops including Afghans, Americans, Britons, Canadians, Danes and Estonians.
The Taliban had set up a shadow government in Helmand province's Marjah region, long a bastion of pro-Taliban sentiment.
It is a key area in Afghanistan's heroin trade and full of the opium used to fund the insurgency.
link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/07/01/afghanistan.firefight/index.html?fbid=X-q7GDAv616
(Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)
International and Afghan security forces wounded and captured a Taliban district chief and killed a "large number" of insurgents in a four-hour firefight, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement Thursday.
The battle took place in a compound outside a village in the Baghran district of Afghanistan's Helmand province after insurgents opened fire on security forces with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, ISAF said.
No security force members or civilians were killed or wounded in the fighting, but a "large number of insurgents" died, ISAF said, without providing specific numbers.
"Dozens of automatic weapons, RPG launchers and rounds, a machine gun, grenades, and ammunition were discovered along with 20 pounds of wet opium" after the fighting, the statement said.
"This joint force operation dealt another significant blow to the Taliban network," said Col. William Maxwell, ISAF Joint Command Combined Joint Operations Center director. "These joint efforts are key to further establishing peace in the region."
NATO-led forces have been waging an offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Dubbed Operation Moshtarak, the offensive was launched in February by an international coalition of 15,000 troops including Afghans, Americans, Britons, Canadians, Danes and Estonians.
The Taliban had set up a shadow government in Helmand province's Marjah region, long a bastion of pro-Taliban sentiment.
It is a key area in Afghanistan's heroin trade and full of the opium used to fund the insurgency.
link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/07/01/afghanistan.firefight/index.html?fbid=X-q7GDAv616
(Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
U.S. Enlists New Afghan Village Forces
WSJ, July 1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336933258787038.html
Some Afghan military officers to get training in Pakistan
Washington Post, July 1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/30/AR2010063005193.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead
Mark
Ottawa
WSJ, July 1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575336933258787038.html
Some Afghan military officers to get training in Pakistan
Washington Post, July 1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/30/AR2010063005193.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead
Mark
Ottawa
Articles found July 1, 2010
Afghan Attorney General Says U.S. Ambassador Pushed for Corruption Prosecutions
By ALISSA J. RUBIN Published: June 29, 2010
Article Link
Afghanistan’s attorney general disputed published allegations Tuesday that he had been pressured by the Afghan political leadership to sideline corruption investigations into some of the country’s elite, and he turned on the American ambassador, Karl W. Eikenberry, alleging that the ambassador had pressed him to bring particular cases against high-profile figures.
The implication was that rather than being inappropriately pressured by Afghan government figures, the attorney general, Mohammad Ishaq Alako, was being inappropriately pressured by the Americans.
The dust-up comes at a delicate time for both governments. The Afghan government is facing increasing pressure from Western countries that are spending billions of dollars here to crack down on widespread corruption, which has crippled the justice system and demoralized most Afghans.
On Monday, Representative Nita M. Lowey, Democrat of New York, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid, announced she was cutting most of the $3.9 billion in foreign aid requested for Afghanistan by the Obama administration until the country got a handle on corruption.
For the United States it is also a politically delicate period, with patience for the war ebbing and uncertainty about the change of the top general running the war. Gen. David H. Petraeus arrives later this week to take over for Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who resigned under pressure last week. The rampant corruption here has accelerated the sense that perhaps America is wasting its money here.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Alako offered an almost point-by-point rebuttal of an article that appeared Monday in The Washington Post that quoted unidentified American officials as saying that senior members of President Hamid Karzai’s government and those close to them had been able to escape prosecution after senior Afghan
More on link
New Estimate of Strength of Al Qaeda Is Offered
By DAVID E. SANGER and MARK MAZZETTI Published: June 30, 2010
Article Link
ASPEN, Colo. — Michael E. Leiter, one of the country’s top counterterrorism officials, said Wednesday that American intelligence officials now estimated that there were somewhat “more than 300” Qaeda leaders and fighters hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a rare public assessment of the strength of the terrorist group that is the central target of President Obama’s war strategy.
Taken together with the recent estimate by the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, that there are about 50 to 100 Qaeda operatives now in Afghanistan, American intelligence agencies believe that there are most likely fewer than 500 members of the group in a region where the United States has poured nearly 100,000 troops.
Many American officials warn about such comparisons, saying that Al Qaeda has forged close ties with a number of affiliated militant groups and that a large American troop presence is necessary to helping the Afghan government prevent Al Qaeda from gaining a safe haven in Afghanistan similar to what it had before the Sept. 11 attacks.
On Monday, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that on a recent trip to the region he was struck by the “depth of synergies” between Al Qaeda and a number of other insurgent groups, including the Pakistani and the Afghan Taliban.
Mr. Leiter, who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, concurred with Admiral Mullen’s judgment.
But with the fighting in Afghanistan intensifying and few indications that the Taliban are weakening, the recent estimates of Al Qaeda’s strength could give ammunition to critics of President Obama’s strategy who think the United States should pull most of its troops from the country and instead rely on small teams of Special Operations forces and missile strikes from C.I.A. drones.
More on link
After Afghan Shift, Top U.S. Civilians Face Tricky Future
Article Link
As General David H. Petraeus takes command in Afghanistan, the two top American civilian officials in the war face an uncertain and tricky future, working with a newly empowered military leader, under the gaze of an impatient president who has put them on notice that his fractious war council needs to pull together.
Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative to the region, and Karl W. Eikenberry, the ambassador to Afghanistan, both hung on to their jobs in the uproar that followed Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s career-ending quotes in Rolling Stone magazine.
But privately, at least one senior White House official suggested using General McChrystal’s exit as an excuse for a housecleaning, according to senior officials. That was rejected as too disruptive during a military campaign that relies heavily on civilian support, these people said.
In recent days, other administration officials have begun floating the idea that Ambassador Eikenberry might be replaced by Ryan C. Crocker, the highly regarded former ambassador in Iraq who forged a close partnership with General Petraeus during the successful Iraq troop increase. Such a prospect is viewed as remote, given Mr. Crocker’s prestigious new post at Texas A&M University. But the fact that his name is being invoked underlines the challenges that confront Ambassador Eikenberry, as he adapts to a new partner — one who has strong ideas about how soldiers and diplomats should work together in war.
It also illustrates the remarkably powerful role that General Petraeus will assume in the nine-year-old war, setting him up as almost a viceroy in Afghanistan and a key broker in negotiations between President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan over an eventual political settlement.
More on link
Afghan Attorney General Says U.S. Ambassador Pushed for Corruption Prosecutions
By ALISSA J. RUBIN Published: June 29, 2010
Article Link
Afghanistan’s attorney general disputed published allegations Tuesday that he had been pressured by the Afghan political leadership to sideline corruption investigations into some of the country’s elite, and he turned on the American ambassador, Karl W. Eikenberry, alleging that the ambassador had pressed him to bring particular cases against high-profile figures.
The implication was that rather than being inappropriately pressured by Afghan government figures, the attorney general, Mohammad Ishaq Alako, was being inappropriately pressured by the Americans.
The dust-up comes at a delicate time for both governments. The Afghan government is facing increasing pressure from Western countries that are spending billions of dollars here to crack down on widespread corruption, which has crippled the justice system and demoralized most Afghans.
On Monday, Representative Nita M. Lowey, Democrat of New York, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid, announced she was cutting most of the $3.9 billion in foreign aid requested for Afghanistan by the Obama administration until the country got a handle on corruption.
For the United States it is also a politically delicate period, with patience for the war ebbing and uncertainty about the change of the top general running the war. Gen. David H. Petraeus arrives later this week to take over for Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who resigned under pressure last week. The rampant corruption here has accelerated the sense that perhaps America is wasting its money here.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Alako offered an almost point-by-point rebuttal of an article that appeared Monday in The Washington Post that quoted unidentified American officials as saying that senior members of President Hamid Karzai’s government and those close to them had been able to escape prosecution after senior Afghan
More on link
New Estimate of Strength of Al Qaeda Is Offered
By DAVID E. SANGER and MARK MAZZETTI Published: June 30, 2010
Article Link
ASPEN, Colo. — Michael E. Leiter, one of the country’s top counterterrorism officials, said Wednesday that American intelligence officials now estimated that there were somewhat “more than 300” Qaeda leaders and fighters hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a rare public assessment of the strength of the terrorist group that is the central target of President Obama’s war strategy.
Taken together with the recent estimate by the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, that there are about 50 to 100 Qaeda operatives now in Afghanistan, American intelligence agencies believe that there are most likely fewer than 500 members of the group in a region where the United States has poured nearly 100,000 troops.
Many American officials warn about such comparisons, saying that Al Qaeda has forged close ties with a number of affiliated militant groups and that a large American troop presence is necessary to helping the Afghan government prevent Al Qaeda from gaining a safe haven in Afghanistan similar to what it had before the Sept. 11 attacks.
On Monday, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that on a recent trip to the region he was struck by the “depth of synergies” between Al Qaeda and a number of other insurgent groups, including the Pakistani and the Afghan Taliban.
Mr. Leiter, who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, concurred with Admiral Mullen’s judgment.
But with the fighting in Afghanistan intensifying and few indications that the Taliban are weakening, the recent estimates of Al Qaeda’s strength could give ammunition to critics of President Obama’s strategy who think the United States should pull most of its troops from the country and instead rely on small teams of Special Operations forces and missile strikes from C.I.A. drones.
More on link
After Afghan Shift, Top U.S. Civilians Face Tricky Future
Article Link
As General David H. Petraeus takes command in Afghanistan, the two top American civilian officials in the war face an uncertain and tricky future, working with a newly empowered military leader, under the gaze of an impatient president who has put them on notice that his fractious war council needs to pull together.
Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative to the region, and Karl W. Eikenberry, the ambassador to Afghanistan, both hung on to their jobs in the uproar that followed Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s career-ending quotes in Rolling Stone magazine.
But privately, at least one senior White House official suggested using General McChrystal’s exit as an excuse for a housecleaning, according to senior officials. That was rejected as too disruptive during a military campaign that relies heavily on civilian support, these people said.
In recent days, other administration officials have begun floating the idea that Ambassador Eikenberry might be replaced by Ryan C. Crocker, the highly regarded former ambassador in Iraq who forged a close partnership with General Petraeus during the successful Iraq troop increase. Such a prospect is viewed as remote, given Mr. Crocker’s prestigious new post at Texas A&M University. But the fact that his name is being invoked underlines the challenges that confront Ambassador Eikenberry, as he adapts to a new partner — one who has strong ideas about how soldiers and diplomats should work together in war.
It also illustrates the remarkably powerful role that General Petraeus will assume in the nine-year-old war, setting him up as almost a viceroy in Afghanistan and a key broker in negotiations between President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan over an eventual political settlement.
More on link
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND JULY 2
Security ring set up in Kandahar
CP, July 1
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100701/national/afghan_cda_security_ring
Canada hands over hot spots to U.S. command
Canwest News, July 1
http://www.canada.com/news/Somnia/3224741/story.html
Record Western military deaths in Afghanistan in June
At least 102 Western troops died in June; 60 were U.S. service members. Although roadside bombs pose a significant hazard, other threats are growing as insurgents become bolder in their attacks.
LA Times, July 1
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-military-deaths-20100701,0,7780394.story
Taliban claims Afghan attack that killed five
Suicide squad storms the compound of a U.S.-based development group in northern Afghanistan, killing at least five
LA Times, July 2
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-afghanistan-kunduz-attack-20100704,0,6732950.story
Ohio brigade deploying 3,600 to Afghanistan
AP, June 30
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-oh-brigadedeployment,0,3861164.story
Mark
Ottawa
Security ring set up in Kandahar
CP, July 1
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100701/national/afghan_cda_security_ring
Canada hands over hot spots to U.S. command
Canwest News, July 1
http://www.canada.com/news/Somnia/3224741/story.html
Record Western military deaths in Afghanistan in June
At least 102 Western troops died in June; 60 were U.S. service members. Although roadside bombs pose a significant hazard, other threats are growing as insurgents become bolder in their attacks.
LA Times, July 1
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-military-deaths-20100701,0,7780394.story
Taliban claims Afghan attack that killed five
Suicide squad storms the compound of a U.S.-based development group in northern Afghanistan, killing at least five
LA Times, July 2
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-afghanistan-kunduz-attack-20100704,0,6732950.story
Ohio brigade deploying 3,600 to Afghanistan
AP, June 30
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-oh-brigadedeployment,0,3861164.story
Mark
Ottawa
Articles found JuLY 2, 2010
Water: Canada's secret ingredient for Afghan development
Article Link
Bill Graveland and Tara Brautigam
Kandahar, Afghanistan — The Canadian Press Published on Thursday, Jul. 01, 2010 12:42PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 01, 2010 1:19PM EDT
In an arid wasteland of desert, dust, and drought, water is worth its weight in gold — a life-giving legacy that Canada hopes to leave behind in Afghanistan when it starts pulling out a year from now.
In a country racked with abject poverty and decades of strife, it wasn't easy to decide where Canada could best focus its development and aid efforts.
“There's so many things that could be done when you're in an environment like this, it's the challenge for a mission in any conflicted society,” said Ben Rowswell, the government's top civilian official in Kandahar province.
When Ottawa decided in 2008 to establish a firm pullout date for Afghanistan, it also opted to identify three specific target areas for development: rebuilding the tactically important Dahla Dam in the heart of Kandahar's Arghandab district, developing schools and vaccinating locals for polio.
More on link
Beer, barbecue, rocket attack: Canada Day for troops in Afghanistan
Article Link
Canadian soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan marked Canada Day with beer, barbecue _ and a rocket attack.
An afternoon of red and white Maple Leafs combined with beige combat fatigues had all the earmarks of a Canada Day at home.
Hundreds of Canadian flags were strung up at Canada House, the recreational centre for Canada’s soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Even Canadian vehicles were sporting shiny new flags attached to windows and mirrors.
In addition to barbecued hotdogs and hamburgers the celebrants were given a rare ration of two beer apiece.
Troops and civilians donned Team Canada hockey jerseys, giant Maple Leaf hats and painted their faces to show their Canadian pride.
“It’s definitely more poignant here. We’re proud to be Canadian and represent our country here,” said Master Cpl. Cindy Brooks.
“Everybody is looking at us going who are those crazy Canadians? It’s awesome today.”
Meantime, Cpl. Robin Blackburn said that after being in Kandahar for months, she is missing the colour green _ as in grass. But getting together with fellow Canadians is special she said.
More on link
USAID compound attacked in Afghanistan; 4 killed
Article Link
By Amir Shah, The Associated Press
ADVERTISEMENT
KABUL - Six suicide bombers stormed a USAID compound in northern Afghanistan before dawn Friday, killing at least four people and wounding several others, officials said. At least two of the dead were foreigners.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which began about 3:30 a.m. in Kunduz when a suicide car bomber blew a hole in the wall around a building used by Development Alternatives Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based global consulting company on contract with the United States Agency for International Aid, or USAID. The company is working on governance and community development in the area.
At least five other attackers then ran inside the building, killing or wounding security guards and others inside before dying in a gunbattle with Afghan security forces who raced to the scene. Afghan authorities said the five were all wearing explosive vests.
Black smoke poured from the windows of the four-story building. The bodies of the victims were found inside amid rubble, pools of blood and broken glass. Stunned aid workers were led from the scene as NATO troops carried bodies wrapped in black plastic out on stretchers.
Gen. Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi, police chief in Kunduz province, said those killed included an Afghan policeman, an Afghan man who worked as a security guard at the house and two foreigners. The German Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press in Berlin that a German citizen was killed in the attack.
"It was 3 o'clock in the morning, close to the morning prayer time, when a suicide bomber in a 4x4 vehicle exploded his vehicle," Yaqoubi said as Afghan national security forces were battling to kill the last surviving attacker. "There is no way for him to escape."
More on link
Water: Canada's secret ingredient for Afghan development
Article Link
Bill Graveland and Tara Brautigam
Kandahar, Afghanistan — The Canadian Press Published on Thursday, Jul. 01, 2010 12:42PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 01, 2010 1:19PM EDT
In an arid wasteland of desert, dust, and drought, water is worth its weight in gold — a life-giving legacy that Canada hopes to leave behind in Afghanistan when it starts pulling out a year from now.
In a country racked with abject poverty and decades of strife, it wasn't easy to decide where Canada could best focus its development and aid efforts.
“There's so many things that could be done when you're in an environment like this, it's the challenge for a mission in any conflicted society,” said Ben Rowswell, the government's top civilian official in Kandahar province.
When Ottawa decided in 2008 to establish a firm pullout date for Afghanistan, it also opted to identify three specific target areas for development: rebuilding the tactically important Dahla Dam in the heart of Kandahar's Arghandab district, developing schools and vaccinating locals for polio.
More on link
Beer, barbecue, rocket attack: Canada Day for troops in Afghanistan
Article Link
Canadian soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan marked Canada Day with beer, barbecue _ and a rocket attack.
An afternoon of red and white Maple Leafs combined with beige combat fatigues had all the earmarks of a Canada Day at home.
Hundreds of Canadian flags were strung up at Canada House, the recreational centre for Canada’s soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Even Canadian vehicles were sporting shiny new flags attached to windows and mirrors.
In addition to barbecued hotdogs and hamburgers the celebrants were given a rare ration of two beer apiece.
Troops and civilians donned Team Canada hockey jerseys, giant Maple Leaf hats and painted their faces to show their Canadian pride.
“It’s definitely more poignant here. We’re proud to be Canadian and represent our country here,” said Master Cpl. Cindy Brooks.
“Everybody is looking at us going who are those crazy Canadians? It’s awesome today.”
Meantime, Cpl. Robin Blackburn said that after being in Kandahar for months, she is missing the colour green _ as in grass. But getting together with fellow Canadians is special she said.
More on link
USAID compound attacked in Afghanistan; 4 killed
Article Link
By Amir Shah, The Associated Press
ADVERTISEMENT
KABUL - Six suicide bombers stormed a USAID compound in northern Afghanistan before dawn Friday, killing at least four people and wounding several others, officials said. At least two of the dead were foreigners.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which began about 3:30 a.m. in Kunduz when a suicide car bomber blew a hole in the wall around a building used by Development Alternatives Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based global consulting company on contract with the United States Agency for International Aid, or USAID. The company is working on governance and community development in the area.
At least five other attackers then ran inside the building, killing or wounding security guards and others inside before dying in a gunbattle with Afghan security forces who raced to the scene. Afghan authorities said the five were all wearing explosive vests.
Black smoke poured from the windows of the four-story building. The bodies of the victims were found inside amid rubble, pools of blood and broken glass. Stunned aid workers were led from the scene as NATO troops carried bodies wrapped in black plastic out on stretchers.
Gen. Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi, police chief in Kunduz province, said those killed included an Afghan policeman, an Afghan man who worked as a security guard at the house and two foreigners. The German Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press in Berlin that a German citizen was killed in the attack.
"It was 3 o'clock in the morning, close to the morning prayer time, when a suicide bomber in a 4x4 vehicle exploded his vehicle," Yaqoubi said as Afghan national security forces were battling to kill the last surviving attacker. "There is no way for him to escape."
More on link
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND JULY 3
Troops call it the Heart of Darkness, the spiritual home of the Taliban
US forces are taking on the insurgents in their own back yard in Zhari district, reports Ben Farmer with the 101st Airborne Division.
Daily Telegraph, July 2
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7868176/Troops-call-it-the-Heart-of-Darkness-the-spiritual-home-of-the-Taliban.html
The challenge of Kandahar
Nearly nine years into the U.S.-led war, it remains a Taliban stronghold, ill-served by corrupt Afghan officials, and patrolled by Western forces just now getting around to governance and development issues.
LA Times, July 2
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-kandahar-20100703,0,2482346.story
Mark
Ottawa
Troops call it the Heart of Darkness, the spiritual home of the Taliban
US forces are taking on the insurgents in their own back yard in Zhari district, reports Ben Farmer with the 101st Airborne Division.
Daily Telegraph, July 2
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7868176/Troops-call-it-the-Heart-of-Darkness-the-spiritual-home-of-the-Taliban.html
The challenge of Kandahar
Nearly nine years into the U.S.-led war, it remains a Taliban stronghold, ill-served by corrupt Afghan officials, and patrolled by Western forces just now getting around to governance and development issues.
LA Times, July 2
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-kandahar-20100703,0,2482346.story
Mark
Ottawa
Articles found July 4, 2010
Cooperation is not optional: Gen. David Petraeus
New NATO commander in Afghanistan begins job with urgent plea for teamwork
Article Link
Deb Riechmann Associated Press
The new top American general in Afghanistan prepared for his formal takeover as the NATO force commander on Sunday by calling for a “unity of effort” among the international troops and Afghans working to restore stability to the war-torn nation.
“Civilian and military, Afghan and international, we are a part of one team, with one mission,” Gen. David Petraeus told hundreds of guests who had gathered on Saturday for a pre-Fourth of July celebration of U.S. independence at the American embassy in Kabul.
“In this important endeavour, cooperation is not optional.”
The words were welcomed in Ottawa.
“Canada welcomes the appointment of General Petraeus as commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan and encourages positive and cooperative civilian-military relationships,” Jay Paxton, director of communications for Defence Minister Peter Mackay, told the Toronto Star in an email.
Paxton, noting Canada “has been in Afghanistan to help Afghans rebuild their country as a stable, democratic and self-sufficient society since 2001,” stressed the importance of cooperation and working together.
More on link
Canadian commander's team honours soldier who died guarding 'The Boss'
Article Link
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service July 3, 2010
Cpl. Nick Bulger was honoured Saturday in a poignant act of remembrance by Brig.-Gen Jon Vance and the small band of soldiers who protect the commander of Task Force Kandahar.
Bulger was 30 years old when he was killed by a homemade landmine exactly one year ago while travelling as part of the general's tactical crew in Zhari district. It was the only time since the Canadian army came to Afghanistan in 2002 that the Taliban has killed a member of the commanding general's personal staff.
"A year ago today, we lost a good soldier," Vance told his current TAC, which is comprised of members of the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment.
More on link
IEDs pose real threat to troops: UNB prof
Published Saturday July 3rd, 2010
Article Link
When Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger were killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2003, the story of how it happened was a lot like the mission itself: new, controversial and difficult for many to understand.
Seven years later, it has grown all too familiar.
Short and Beerenfenger were on patrol on a dusty road near Kabul on the afternoon of Oct. 2, 2003, helping to stabilize the country after the fall of the Taliban, when a massive blast from a buried stack of anti-tank mines ripped apart their lightweight Iltis jeep.
They were family men who were devoted to their careers and proud to be part of Canada's first full combat mission in decades, a mission no one knew at the time would last as long as July 2011 - a date that's now just 12 months away.
Together, they now occupy a tragic place in its history: the first Canadian lives to be claimed by an IED, a cheap, insidious, accessible weapon that has since become one of the most substantial obstacles to NATO's efforts in Afghanistan.
"You can't defeat an army with (IEDs), but you can cause a collapse of morale," said Andrew Mack, director of the Human Security Report project on the Vancouver campus at Simon Fraser University.
"That collapse of morale is ultimately the thing that is going to cause (the international soldiers) to pull out."
To date, 100 Canadian Forces members and two civilians - Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry and Canadian journalist Michelle Lang - have been killed by IEDs or suicide bombers, which the military considers a type of IED.
IEDs are far from new. They've have been used in both traditional and untraditional conflicts, from resistance fighters blowing up railways during the Second World War to grenades hidden in cans in Vietnam.
More on link
The wounds of war: physical, psychological injuries legacy of Afghan battle
Article Link
By: Dene Moore, The Canadian Press 3/07/2010
Master Cpl. Jody Mitic was a sniper on patrol with his unit in Kandahar province in January 2007 when he stepped on a land mine and lost both legs below the knee.
In the split second it took for the charge to explode, Mitic's life changed instantly, irrevocably.
"I've been a soldier since I was 17 and I'd hoped to be a soldier until the day I died," the young father, nary a hint of self-pity in his voice, said in a recent interview. "In my heart I will be, but I'm just going to have to choose a new career path now."
Mitic is one of the more than 500 Canadian soldiers who have been wounded in action in Afghanistan; even more suffer from "invisible wounds" that range from mild depression to debilitating post-traumatic stress syndrome, experts say.
As Canada enters the final year of its combat mission in Afghanistan, already more than 27,000 Canadian troops have been deployed to the central Asian country that has put words like Taliban and "improvised explosive device" on the tip of every tongue.
Parliament's mandate for the combat mission in Kandahar expires in 12 months, but the fallout from the conflict will continue for years to come.
The Canadian Forces said in February that 529 soldiers had been injured in action from 2002 to the end of last year, and another 913 had suffered "non-combat" injuries.
More on link
Preparing for the exit from our Afghan burden
July 3, 2010 — MarkOttawa
Article Link
Unless, by some sudden change of its course, the government and Liberals reach an agreement on some sort of post-2011 CF mission:
The silent road home
Canada’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will be a lengthy, complicated process and the only thing the government will say with certainty is that all troops will be home by the end of next year, writes Matthew Fisher.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/3231230.bin
Soldiers with BRAVO Company, 1st battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment [part of CF's Task Force 1-10, current Task Force Kandahar details here] leave their base to patrol outside the village of Nakhonay in Afghanistan on June 11. Canadian troops will be leaving the war against the Taliban next year.
Photograph by: Denis Sinyakov, Reuters, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from Sheldon Alberts, canwest news service
Exactly one year from this Canada Day the Harper government officially begins its retreat from Kandahar.
However, details regarding the Canadian Forces’ withdrawal from the war against the Taliban are shrouded in far more secrecy than many combat operations here…
…All that anyone seems to be allowed to say is that Canadian troops are definitely leaving Afghanistan; combat operations will continue until the July 1, 2011, deadline; and all troops will be home by the end of next year.
The one disclosure — made a few weeks ago by a visiting air force general — was that Canadian helicopter operations in Kandahar are to end by early August next year [see Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing, more here--why could we not keep the Air Wing going, see here and here?].
In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. David Petraeus cautioned Americans to prepare for several more years of war in Afghanistan and cast the Obama administration’s July 2011 timeline to begin withdrawing troops as a highly flexible deadline…
It is now widely assumed, although not publicly announced, that U.S. troops will begin to take over Canada’s last combat responsibilities in the province from a battle group led by the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment, known as the Van Doos [the main part of next Task Force 3-10, photos here], sometime late next spring .
A series of ceremonial handovers is bound to take place between Canadian and American commanders between now and next Canada Day. They will mark the close of an unlikely chapter in Canadian military history — an unexpected combat deployment that was initiated with almost no public discussion by the Chrétien and Martin governments that is now ending with the first withdrawal of Canadian combat forces before the war they were fighting has concluded.
Just as the war ramps up this year with a surge of U.S. troops, Canada’s military footprint has already begun shrinking.
More on link
Cooperation is not optional: Gen. David Petraeus
New NATO commander in Afghanistan begins job with urgent plea for teamwork
Article Link
Deb Riechmann Associated Press
The new top American general in Afghanistan prepared for his formal takeover as the NATO force commander on Sunday by calling for a “unity of effort” among the international troops and Afghans working to restore stability to the war-torn nation.
“Civilian and military, Afghan and international, we are a part of one team, with one mission,” Gen. David Petraeus told hundreds of guests who had gathered on Saturday for a pre-Fourth of July celebration of U.S. independence at the American embassy in Kabul.
“In this important endeavour, cooperation is not optional.”
The words were welcomed in Ottawa.
“Canada welcomes the appointment of General Petraeus as commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan and encourages positive and cooperative civilian-military relationships,” Jay Paxton, director of communications for Defence Minister Peter Mackay, told the Toronto Star in an email.
Paxton, noting Canada “has been in Afghanistan to help Afghans rebuild their country as a stable, democratic and self-sufficient society since 2001,” stressed the importance of cooperation and working together.
More on link
Canadian commander's team honours soldier who died guarding 'The Boss'
Article Link
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service July 3, 2010
Cpl. Nick Bulger was honoured Saturday in a poignant act of remembrance by Brig.-Gen Jon Vance and the small band of soldiers who protect the commander of Task Force Kandahar.
Bulger was 30 years old when he was killed by a homemade landmine exactly one year ago while travelling as part of the general's tactical crew in Zhari district. It was the only time since the Canadian army came to Afghanistan in 2002 that the Taliban has killed a member of the commanding general's personal staff.
"A year ago today, we lost a good soldier," Vance told his current TAC, which is comprised of members of the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment.
More on link
IEDs pose real threat to troops: UNB prof
Published Saturday July 3rd, 2010
Article Link
When Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger were killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2003, the story of how it happened was a lot like the mission itself: new, controversial and difficult for many to understand.
Seven years later, it has grown all too familiar.
Short and Beerenfenger were on patrol on a dusty road near Kabul on the afternoon of Oct. 2, 2003, helping to stabilize the country after the fall of the Taliban, when a massive blast from a buried stack of anti-tank mines ripped apart their lightweight Iltis jeep.
They were family men who were devoted to their careers and proud to be part of Canada's first full combat mission in decades, a mission no one knew at the time would last as long as July 2011 - a date that's now just 12 months away.
Together, they now occupy a tragic place in its history: the first Canadian lives to be claimed by an IED, a cheap, insidious, accessible weapon that has since become one of the most substantial obstacles to NATO's efforts in Afghanistan.
"You can't defeat an army with (IEDs), but you can cause a collapse of morale," said Andrew Mack, director of the Human Security Report project on the Vancouver campus at Simon Fraser University.
"That collapse of morale is ultimately the thing that is going to cause (the international soldiers) to pull out."
To date, 100 Canadian Forces members and two civilians - Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry and Canadian journalist Michelle Lang - have been killed by IEDs or suicide bombers, which the military considers a type of IED.
IEDs are far from new. They've have been used in both traditional and untraditional conflicts, from resistance fighters blowing up railways during the Second World War to grenades hidden in cans in Vietnam.
More on link
The wounds of war: physical, psychological injuries legacy of Afghan battle
Article Link
By: Dene Moore, The Canadian Press 3/07/2010
Master Cpl. Jody Mitic was a sniper on patrol with his unit in Kandahar province in January 2007 when he stepped on a land mine and lost both legs below the knee.
In the split second it took for the charge to explode, Mitic's life changed instantly, irrevocably.
"I've been a soldier since I was 17 and I'd hoped to be a soldier until the day I died," the young father, nary a hint of self-pity in his voice, said in a recent interview. "In my heart I will be, but I'm just going to have to choose a new career path now."
Mitic is one of the more than 500 Canadian soldiers who have been wounded in action in Afghanistan; even more suffer from "invisible wounds" that range from mild depression to debilitating post-traumatic stress syndrome, experts say.
As Canada enters the final year of its combat mission in Afghanistan, already more than 27,000 Canadian troops have been deployed to the central Asian country that has put words like Taliban and "improvised explosive device" on the tip of every tongue.
Parliament's mandate for the combat mission in Kandahar expires in 12 months, but the fallout from the conflict will continue for years to come.
The Canadian Forces said in February that 529 soldiers had been injured in action from 2002 to the end of last year, and another 913 had suffered "non-combat" injuries.
More on link
Preparing for the exit from our Afghan burden
July 3, 2010 — MarkOttawa
Article Link
Unless, by some sudden change of its course, the government and Liberals reach an agreement on some sort of post-2011 CF mission:
The silent road home
Canada’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will be a lengthy, complicated process and the only thing the government will say with certainty is that all troops will be home by the end of next year, writes Matthew Fisher.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/3231230.bin
Soldiers with BRAVO Company, 1st battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment [part of CF's Task Force 1-10, current Task Force Kandahar details here] leave their base to patrol outside the village of Nakhonay in Afghanistan on June 11. Canadian troops will be leaving the war against the Taliban next year.
Photograph by: Denis Sinyakov, Reuters, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from Sheldon Alberts, canwest news service
Exactly one year from this Canada Day the Harper government officially begins its retreat from Kandahar.
However, details regarding the Canadian Forces’ withdrawal from the war against the Taliban are shrouded in far more secrecy than many combat operations here…
…All that anyone seems to be allowed to say is that Canadian troops are definitely leaving Afghanistan; combat operations will continue until the July 1, 2011, deadline; and all troops will be home by the end of next year.
The one disclosure — made a few weeks ago by a visiting air force general — was that Canadian helicopter operations in Kandahar are to end by early August next year [see Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing, more here--why could we not keep the Air Wing going, see here and here?].
In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. David Petraeus cautioned Americans to prepare for several more years of war in Afghanistan and cast the Obama administration’s July 2011 timeline to begin withdrawing troops as a highly flexible deadline…
It is now widely assumed, although not publicly announced, that U.S. troops will begin to take over Canada’s last combat responsibilities in the province from a battle group led by the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment, known as the Van Doos [the main part of next Task Force 3-10, photos here], sometime late next spring .
A series of ceremonial handovers is bound to take place between Canadian and American commanders between now and next Canada Day. They will mark the close of an unlikely chapter in Canadian military history — an unexpected combat deployment that was initiated with almost no public discussion by the Chrétien and Martin governments that is now ending with the first withdrawal of Canadian combat forces before the war they were fighting has concluded.
Just as the war ramps up this year with a surge of U.S. troops, Canada’s military footprint has already begun shrinking.
More on link
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
In Sangin, most dangerous Afghan district, British troops fear war will last 10 years
British troops fear they may need to keep fighting for control of Sangin, Afghanistan's most dangerous district, for another 10 years.
Sunday Telegraph, July 3
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7870537/In-Sangin-most-dangerous-Afghan-district-British-troops-fear-war-will-last-10-years.html
NATO retools in a key mission: Building an Afghan police force
Washington Post, June 30
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/29/AR2010062904791.html
Mark
Ottawa
British troops fear they may need to keep fighting for control of Sangin, Afghanistan's most dangerous district, for another 10 years.
Sunday Telegraph, July 3
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7870537/In-Sangin-most-dangerous-Afghan-district-British-troops-fear-war-will-last-10-years.html
NATO retools in a key mission: Building an Afghan police force
Washington Post, June 30
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/29/AR2010062904791.html
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 6,844
- Points
- 1,260
Envoy says reconciliation key to peace
Bill Graveland, Canadian Press, 5 Jul 10
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100705/national/afghan_peace_cda
Bill Graveland, Canadian Press, 5 Jul 10
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100705/national/afghan_peace_cda
More on link
Articles found July 6, 2010
Canada borrows $19-million worth of electronic defence systems from U.S.
Roadside bombs now accounting for nearly all combat deaths in the war in Afghanistan as Canada enters its final year of the war.
By TIM NAUMETZ Published July 5, 2010
Article Link
With roadside bombs now accounting for nearly all combat deaths in the war in Afghanistan, Canadian troops are borrowing $19-million worth of electronic defence systems from the United States to counter the threat as Canada enters its final year of the military mission in Kandahar.
Cabinet approved an unusual directive last month giving Defence Minister Peter MacKay (Central Nova, N.S.) authority to borrow the sophisticated gear from the U.S. Marine Corps, prompting opposition questions about whether the Canadian government has done all it could over the past four years to protect soldiers against the deadly toll from so-called Improvised Explosive Devices.
As the war has dragged on, Afghan insurgents who initially engaged Canadian troops in open combat with rocket propelled grenades and small arms have turned almost exclusively to the deployment of landmines and IEDS—to the point that last year the improvised bombs claimed the lives of 29 of 32 Canadian dead.
A Cabinet order dated June 17 authorizes Mr. MacKay to borrow an unspecified number of "Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Countermeasure System devices" from the Marines. The directive says the systems have a total replacement value of $19,059,336 in U.S. currency.
The order also authorizes Mr. MacKay to reimburse the U.S. up to that amount for any of the equipment that is lost or destroyed and to compensate the U.S. from any claims for injury, death or property damage that could result from Canadian use of the system.
More on link
Beyond McChrystal Lies a Bigger Tug of War
Article Link
WHILE the uproar set off by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s imprudent comments in Rolling Stone magazine has focused on the larger-than-life personalities involved, there is an important subtext: What does all this drama suggest about how the Pentagon and the State Department are sharing responsibility for the war in Afghanistan?
Perhaps a clue came during a secure video conference call between Washington and Kabul last Saturday. General McChrystal’s replacement, Gen. David H. Petraeus, called up the two top American civilian officials in the war — Richard C. Holbrooke, the special envoy; and Karl W. Eikenberry, the ambassador in Kabul.
The general raised a touchy issue: whether to buy generators to supply electricity to Kandahar. For months, the ambassador and many civilian development experts had opposed doing so now, because it didn’t fit long-term national plans for power generation. But Kandahar is the Taliban stronghold that is the American military’s next target. And General Petraeus, according to an official familiar with the conference call, said the basic services were so badly needed there that it justified going ahead.
The ambassador fell into line, the official said. In the perennial tug-of-war between civilian aspirations and military imperatives, score one for the Pentagon.
More on link
Fighting, but Not Calling It Combat
By TIM ARANGO Article Link July 2, 2010, 9:53 pm
In an air conditioned tent here in the middle of the desert, surrounded by a security wall of armored vehicles, the chatter drifted to America’s other war.
Nothing, said Maj. Bryan L. Logan, the squadron operations officer for the Third Squadron, Seventh Cavalry Regiment, makes the wives back home (there are only men here) more angry than when an acquaintance makes a remark such as, “You must be happy your husband is in Iraq rather than Afghanistan.”
The soldiers understand Iraq is still a dangerous place – more dangerous, in fact, for the local population than in Afghanistan. Americans just aren’t leaving the wire as much anymore in Iraq.
From late-March to late-April this year, 173 civilians died in Afghanistan, according to a government official there, The Associated Press reported. In April, 235 civilians were killed in Baghdad alone, according to an official at the Ministry of the Interior.
More on link
Canada borrows $19-million worth of electronic defence systems from U.S.
Roadside bombs now accounting for nearly all combat deaths in the war in Afghanistan as Canada enters its final year of the war.
By TIM NAUMETZ Published July 5, 2010
Article Link
With roadside bombs now accounting for nearly all combat deaths in the war in Afghanistan, Canadian troops are borrowing $19-million worth of electronic defence systems from the United States to counter the threat as Canada enters its final year of the military mission in Kandahar.
Cabinet approved an unusual directive last month giving Defence Minister Peter MacKay (Central Nova, N.S.) authority to borrow the sophisticated gear from the U.S. Marine Corps, prompting opposition questions about whether the Canadian government has done all it could over the past four years to protect soldiers against the deadly toll from so-called Improvised Explosive Devices.
As the war has dragged on, Afghan insurgents who initially engaged Canadian troops in open combat with rocket propelled grenades and small arms have turned almost exclusively to the deployment of landmines and IEDS—to the point that last year the improvised bombs claimed the lives of 29 of 32 Canadian dead.
A Cabinet order dated June 17 authorizes Mr. MacKay to borrow an unspecified number of "Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Countermeasure System devices" from the Marines. The directive says the systems have a total replacement value of $19,059,336 in U.S. currency.
The order also authorizes Mr. MacKay to reimburse the U.S. up to that amount for any of the equipment that is lost or destroyed and to compensate the U.S. from any claims for injury, death or property damage that could result from Canadian use of the system.
More on link
Beyond McChrystal Lies a Bigger Tug of War
Article Link
WHILE the uproar set off by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s imprudent comments in Rolling Stone magazine has focused on the larger-than-life personalities involved, there is an important subtext: What does all this drama suggest about how the Pentagon and the State Department are sharing responsibility for the war in Afghanistan?
Perhaps a clue came during a secure video conference call between Washington and Kabul last Saturday. General McChrystal’s replacement, Gen. David H. Petraeus, called up the two top American civilian officials in the war — Richard C. Holbrooke, the special envoy; and Karl W. Eikenberry, the ambassador in Kabul.
The general raised a touchy issue: whether to buy generators to supply electricity to Kandahar. For months, the ambassador and many civilian development experts had opposed doing so now, because it didn’t fit long-term national plans for power generation. But Kandahar is the Taliban stronghold that is the American military’s next target. And General Petraeus, according to an official familiar with the conference call, said the basic services were so badly needed there that it justified going ahead.
The ambassador fell into line, the official said. In the perennial tug-of-war between civilian aspirations and military imperatives, score one for the Pentagon.
More on link
Fighting, but Not Calling It Combat
By TIM ARANGO Article Link July 2, 2010, 9:53 pm
In an air conditioned tent here in the middle of the desert, surrounded by a security wall of armored vehicles, the chatter drifted to America’s other war.
Nothing, said Maj. Bryan L. Logan, the squadron operations officer for the Third Squadron, Seventh Cavalry Regiment, makes the wives back home (there are only men here) more angry than when an acquaintance makes a remark such as, “You must be happy your husband is in Iraq rather than Afghanistan.”
The soldiers understand Iraq is still a dangerous place – more dangerous, in fact, for the local population than in Afghanistan. Americans just aren’t leaving the wire as much anymore in Iraq.
From late-March to late-April this year, 173 civilians died in Afghanistan, according to a government official there, The Associated Press reported. In April, 235 civilians were killed in Baghdad alone, according to an official at the Ministry of the Interior.
More on link
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
France: More military trainers to Afghanistan
AP, July 4
Mark
Ottawa
AP, July 4
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND JULY 7
Afghanistan: British troops to hand over northern Helmand to US Marines
British troops will hand over some of the most dangerous and heavily contested parts of Afghanistan to US forces, ministers will announce on Wednesday.
Daily Telegraph, July 6
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7875855/Afghanistan-British-troops-to-hand-over-northern-Helmand-to-US-Marines.html
Dent in Afghanistan war strategy: Why Kandahar locals turn to Taliban
The key to success in the Afghanistan war, Sen. John McCain said yesterday, is Kandahar. But despite efforts under way to improve governance, locals say they prefer the Taliban's quick justice to corrupt local courts.
CS Monitor, July 6
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0706/Dent-in-Afghanistan-war-strategy-Why-Kandahar-locals-turn-to-Taliban
Mark
Ottawa
Afghanistan: British troops to hand over northern Helmand to US Marines
British troops will hand over some of the most dangerous and heavily contested parts of Afghanistan to US forces, ministers will announce on Wednesday.
Daily Telegraph, July 6
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7875855/Afghanistan-British-troops-to-hand-over-northern-Helmand-to-US-Marines.html
Dent in Afghanistan war strategy: Why Kandahar locals turn to Taliban
The key to success in the Afghanistan war, Sen. John McCain said yesterday, is Kandahar. But despite efforts under way to improve governance, locals say they prefer the Taliban's quick justice to corrupt local courts.
CS Monitor, July 6
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0706/Dent-in-Afghanistan-war-strategy-Why-Kandahar-locals-turn-to-Taliban
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND JULY 8
In scramble for Afghanistan, India looks to Iran
Reuters, July 6
http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/2010/07/06/in-scramble-for-afghanistan-india-looks-to-iran/
Mark
Ottawa
In scramble for Afghanistan, India looks to Iran
Reuters, July 6
http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/2010/07/06/in-scramble-for-afghanistan-india-looks-to-iran/
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
“Afghanistan is hardly lost” – Hanson
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, July 8
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1278603792/0#0
Mark
Ottawa
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, July 8
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1278603792/0#0
Mark
Ottawa
George Wallace
Army.ca Dinosaur
- Reaction score
- 223
- Points
- 710
Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.
“Corruption: an industry and a culture in Afghanistan”
CTV News, July 8
LINK
ASHRAF KHIL & KABUL, Afghanistan — The men of the village sat cross-legged, listening to the candidate under a tent that was a reprieve from the sun but heaved with heat.
All generations of the village of Ashraf Khil it seemed were here (except the women) to see the candidate who would be their pick in upcoming parliamentary elections.
The audience was diligent and quiet for the most part until the candidate's speech turned to the issue of corruption. The men stirred. The very mention of the word set heads nodding and voices mumbling. Someone shouted something I didn't understand but others seemed to agree and even added Allah akbar!, or God is great, as punctuation.
Corruption is something that strikes a similar chord in any village or city anywhere in Afghanistan. It is the nation's bond. Bribes, graft, and outright embezzlement are pervasive and flourish at every level and at every scale. Corruption is both an industry and a culture.
Take Ashraf Khil as an example. The village has no school or clinic for 2,400 people. There is no electricity and barely a road. The way the men tell it district officials have long been aware of their needs but the money they were promised never seemed to make it.
Is there corruption in the government?
Of course, they said, almost scoffing, and went on to list the many ways that corruption warps their lives. They pay bribes to register a car, or to get a job, or to keep the jobs they already have.
"When we make bricks from mud out in the field," one man said, "the police come and we have to pay them 50 or 100 Afs."
A dollar or two is a lot to lose when the day's wage is not much more than that. Refusing to pay can be costlier.
"You think you can spend a quiet night in your village if you don't?" asked a labourer who loads trucks and forfeits a third of his salary to local police and officials. He said refusers land in jail.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In its second national survey on corruption, the group Integrity Watch Afghanistan (www.iwaweb.org) found that Afghans paid nearly a billion dollars in bribes in 2009. The average kickback was US$180 and it is the poor who get ripped off the most.
"It has soared to levels not seen before," says Lorenzo Delesgues, one of the authors of the report who questioned 6,500 people across the country. A third of households paid a bribe to get a public service. Corruption was listed among Afghanistan's most corrosive problems after insecurity and unemployment.
One of the more disturbing trends shows that half of those polled believe corruption is fostering the growth of the Taliban. In 33 of 34 provinces, the Taliban has established ‘shadow governments' and a system of courts that resolve criminal accusations or property disputes in a day.
"Taliban justice is swift and they provide security," said Haroon Mir, who heads a think-tank in Kabul. "The Taliban have one advantage over the Afghan government in that they are not corrupt."
A former Taliban ambassador told me in an interview that Afghans are pleased with the Taliban system because it is free of delay and bribery.
"The spirit of the Taliban Islamic Movement and the people who are supporting it is high. Very high," he stressed, suggesting it may matter less whether the Taliban can outfight NATO forces because in many ways they are out-governing Afghans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corruption is the known and open wound in Afghanistan that has been exacerbated by billions of dollars in foreign aid that has flowed into the country for years. Studies show less than half of every development dollar actually reaches a project.
If reports are to be believed there are also billions being secreted out of Afghanistan, allegedly in boxes and suitcases through Kabul airport to tax havens like Dubai. A number of Afghan businessmen and officials are said to be owners of lavish villas in the Gulf.
If Afghanistan's total GDP (gross domestic product) is about US$13.5 billion, the alleged carry-on migration of nearly US$3 billion would suggest not all of those ‘transfers' were necessarily licit. The U.S. Congressional Committee that controls handouts has frozen about US$4 billion in aid until it is convinced the money is doing more than lining pockets.
When Afghan president Hamid Karzai renewed his claim to power he vowed to fight corruption. He talked about ending the "impunity and violations of the law." Karzai is often quick to blame Western influence and waste, as a resentful and often defensive stance when he is criticized for his lack of action.
Karzai formed the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption with a big splash and a lousy budget. To date, the commission is expected to tackle a multi-billion dollar scourge with only US$2 million.
"It's not nearly enough," says Qaseem Ludin, the Afghan-Canadian who is the Office's deputy chair. He explained that budget increase is bogged down in paperwork and bureaucracy. Ludin's frustration is obvious though he is far more diplomatic in explaining it.
"There are a lot of hurdles," he concedes.
A centrepiece of the Office's new powers was the decree by Karzai for ministers and officials to declare their assets. A number of ministers, including some in Karzai's own cabinet, have so far refused or simply ignored the requirement.
Karzai's declaration was the first to be made public: net monthly earnings of US$525, less than US$20,000 in a German bank, and no land. I asked Ludin if he thought Afghans actually believed that.
"Well, he's the president," he said, "he has expenses."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the Integrity Watch survey Afghans are far less tolerant of corruption and the lavish lifestyles they see thriving around them. The disparity of wealth is striking.
In Kabul, massive Hummers and kitted-out Lexus SUVs cause traffic jams in a city that still lacks a proper sewage system. Near the airport there is a billboard announcing that ‘Land Rover Has Come to Town.' Restaurants buzz with the banter of drunk contractors and the war's sleazy profiteers. There is a building boom of gaudy mansions with gauche pillars on streets where kids are routinely eating from garbage.
"The authorities put it in their pockets," said a carpenter repairing a storefront. "Only the rich get richer."
Despite inroads by the Taliban in the countryside it seems the vast majority of Afghans still look to the president to fix corruption. They also claim to surveyors that they feel guilty about paying bribes but figure it is the only way to get things done. If it is habit at every level of government it is seen as not only acceptable but a tactic of survival.
"Corruption compromises everything," says Thomas Ruttig, an analyst who has spent decades in Afghanistan. "It feeds the warlords, undermines the administration and international effort. It gets poisoned from the inside like a cancer."
Some people chuckle at the idea the disease might ever be cured, or even controlled. Mohammed Ismail has had the past few years to ponder this. A car dealer accused of supplying vehicles for the Taliban to repurpose as bombs, he is at the half-way point of a 10-year sentence at Kabul's notorious Pul-e-Charki prison.
Like most prisoners he claims his incarceration on something short of innocence. For 20 minutes, Ismail berated Afghan 'justice' as a system that is neither "Islamic law nor infidel law" but a tool for regimes to take revenge in family feuds, make money, and settle scores.
"There is no justice without a bribe," he says, "there is only the pocket law."
The Integrity Watch survey declared the judiciary among the most corrupt institutions.
I asked another prisoner, Hajji Halat Daad, if he thought he might be released under a decree from Karzai to free nearly a thousand Taliban prisoners. He actually laughed.
"There was a decree last year, too," he smiled through scrabbled teeth, "but it didn't happen because the official here wanted a bribe. An exit fee."
Sources at the U.S. Treasury Department in Kabul say they have long held out hope of a "high-profile conviction" to set an example. Ludin, the anti-corruption deputy, confirms that dozens of Afghan officials, some of them important, are being investigated.
So far nothing has happened to suggest to Afghans it is anything but business as usual.
“Corruption: an industry and a culture in Afghanistan”
CTV News, July 8
LINK
ASHRAF KHIL & KABUL, Afghanistan — The men of the village sat cross-legged, listening to the candidate under a tent that was a reprieve from the sun but heaved with heat.
All generations of the village of Ashraf Khil it seemed were here (except the women) to see the candidate who would be their pick in upcoming parliamentary elections.
The audience was diligent and quiet for the most part until the candidate's speech turned to the issue of corruption. The men stirred. The very mention of the word set heads nodding and voices mumbling. Someone shouted something I didn't understand but others seemed to agree and even added Allah akbar!, or God is great, as punctuation.
Corruption is something that strikes a similar chord in any village or city anywhere in Afghanistan. It is the nation's bond. Bribes, graft, and outright embezzlement are pervasive and flourish at every level and at every scale. Corruption is both an industry and a culture.
Take Ashraf Khil as an example. The village has no school or clinic for 2,400 people. There is no electricity and barely a road. The way the men tell it district officials have long been aware of their needs but the money they were promised never seemed to make it.
Is there corruption in the government?
Of course, they said, almost scoffing, and went on to list the many ways that corruption warps their lives. They pay bribes to register a car, or to get a job, or to keep the jobs they already have.
"When we make bricks from mud out in the field," one man said, "the police come and we have to pay them 50 or 100 Afs."
A dollar or two is a lot to lose when the day's wage is not much more than that. Refusing to pay can be costlier.
"You think you can spend a quiet night in your village if you don't?" asked a labourer who loads trucks and forfeits a third of his salary to local police and officials. He said refusers land in jail.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In its second national survey on corruption, the group Integrity Watch Afghanistan (www.iwaweb.org) found that Afghans paid nearly a billion dollars in bribes in 2009. The average kickback was US$180 and it is the poor who get ripped off the most.
"It has soared to levels not seen before," says Lorenzo Delesgues, one of the authors of the report who questioned 6,500 people across the country. A third of households paid a bribe to get a public service. Corruption was listed among Afghanistan's most corrosive problems after insecurity and unemployment.
One of the more disturbing trends shows that half of those polled believe corruption is fostering the growth of the Taliban. In 33 of 34 provinces, the Taliban has established ‘shadow governments' and a system of courts that resolve criminal accusations or property disputes in a day.
"Taliban justice is swift and they provide security," said Haroon Mir, who heads a think-tank in Kabul. "The Taliban have one advantage over the Afghan government in that they are not corrupt."
A former Taliban ambassador told me in an interview that Afghans are pleased with the Taliban system because it is free of delay and bribery.
"The spirit of the Taliban Islamic Movement and the people who are supporting it is high. Very high," he stressed, suggesting it may matter less whether the Taliban can outfight NATO forces because in many ways they are out-governing Afghans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corruption is the known and open wound in Afghanistan that has been exacerbated by billions of dollars in foreign aid that has flowed into the country for years. Studies show less than half of every development dollar actually reaches a project.
If reports are to be believed there are also billions being secreted out of Afghanistan, allegedly in boxes and suitcases through Kabul airport to tax havens like Dubai. A number of Afghan businessmen and officials are said to be owners of lavish villas in the Gulf.
If Afghanistan's total GDP (gross domestic product) is about US$13.5 billion, the alleged carry-on migration of nearly US$3 billion would suggest not all of those ‘transfers' were necessarily licit. The U.S. Congressional Committee that controls handouts has frozen about US$4 billion in aid until it is convinced the money is doing more than lining pockets.
When Afghan president Hamid Karzai renewed his claim to power he vowed to fight corruption. He talked about ending the "impunity and violations of the law." Karzai is often quick to blame Western influence and waste, as a resentful and often defensive stance when he is criticized for his lack of action.
Karzai formed the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption with a big splash and a lousy budget. To date, the commission is expected to tackle a multi-billion dollar scourge with only US$2 million.
"It's not nearly enough," says Qaseem Ludin, the Afghan-Canadian who is the Office's deputy chair. He explained that budget increase is bogged down in paperwork and bureaucracy. Ludin's frustration is obvious though he is far more diplomatic in explaining it.
"There are a lot of hurdles," he concedes.
A centrepiece of the Office's new powers was the decree by Karzai for ministers and officials to declare their assets. A number of ministers, including some in Karzai's own cabinet, have so far refused or simply ignored the requirement.
Karzai's declaration was the first to be made public: net monthly earnings of US$525, less than US$20,000 in a German bank, and no land. I asked Ludin if he thought Afghans actually believed that.
"Well, he's the president," he said, "he has expenses."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the Integrity Watch survey Afghans are far less tolerant of corruption and the lavish lifestyles they see thriving around them. The disparity of wealth is striking.
In Kabul, massive Hummers and kitted-out Lexus SUVs cause traffic jams in a city that still lacks a proper sewage system. Near the airport there is a billboard announcing that ‘Land Rover Has Come to Town.' Restaurants buzz with the banter of drunk contractors and the war's sleazy profiteers. There is a building boom of gaudy mansions with gauche pillars on streets where kids are routinely eating from garbage.
"The authorities put it in their pockets," said a carpenter repairing a storefront. "Only the rich get richer."
Despite inroads by the Taliban in the countryside it seems the vast majority of Afghans still look to the president to fix corruption. They also claim to surveyors that they feel guilty about paying bribes but figure it is the only way to get things done. If it is habit at every level of government it is seen as not only acceptable but a tactic of survival.
"Corruption compromises everything," says Thomas Ruttig, an analyst who has spent decades in Afghanistan. "It feeds the warlords, undermines the administration and international effort. It gets poisoned from the inside like a cancer."
Some people chuckle at the idea the disease might ever be cured, or even controlled. Mohammed Ismail has had the past few years to ponder this. A car dealer accused of supplying vehicles for the Taliban to repurpose as bombs, he is at the half-way point of a 10-year sentence at Kabul's notorious Pul-e-Charki prison.
Like most prisoners he claims his incarceration on something short of innocence. For 20 minutes, Ismail berated Afghan 'justice' as a system that is neither "Islamic law nor infidel law" but a tool for regimes to take revenge in family feuds, make money, and settle scores.
"There is no justice without a bribe," he says, "there is only the pocket law."
The Integrity Watch survey declared the judiciary among the most corrupt institutions.
I asked another prisoner, Hajji Halat Daad, if he thought he might be released under a decree from Karzai to free nearly a thousand Taliban prisoners. He actually laughed.
"There was a decree last year, too," he smiled through scrabbled teeth, "but it didn't happen because the official here wanted a bribe. An exit fee."
Sources at the U.S. Treasury Department in Kabul say they have long held out hope of a "high-profile conviction" to set an example. Ludin, the anti-corruption deputy, confirms that dozens of Afghan officials, some of them important, are being investigated.
So far nothing has happened to suggest to Afghans it is anything but business as usual.
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND JULY 9
Petraeus reviews directive meant to limit Afghan civilian deaths
Washington Post, July 9
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/08/AR2010070806219.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead&sid=ST2010070806293
British combat role in Afghanistan 'could be over in three years'
Ambassador Sir William Patey sees need for long-term partnership between the two countries
The Guardian, July 8
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/british-combat-afghanistan-timescale
Mark
Ottawa
Petraeus reviews directive meant to limit Afghan civilian deaths
Washington Post, July 9
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/08/AR2010070806219.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead&sid=ST2010070806293
British combat role in Afghanistan 'could be over in three years'
Ambassador Sir William Patey sees need for long-term partnership between the two countries
The Guardian, July 8
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/british-combat-afghanistan-timescale
Mark
Ottawa
Articles found July 11, 2010
2400 Canadian Soldiers on 72 Hour Notice For Gulf Deployment
Article Link
Originating Article Link
Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation in a civil emergency.
The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S.
There is potential for the agreement to militarize civilian responses to emergency incidents. Also underway is a plan for the two nations to put in place a joint plan to protect common infrastructuresuch as roadways and oil pipelines.
If U.S. forces were to come into Canada they would be under tactical control of the Canadian Forces but still under the command of the U.S. military.
News of the deal, and the allegation it was kept secret in Canada, is already making the rounds on left-wing blogs and Internet sites as an example of the dangers of the growing integration between the two militaries.
More on link
Obama wiggling on pledge to exit Afghanistan
Article Link
Paul Koring
Washington — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Jul. 05, 2010 8:32PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010 8:04AM EDT
Unless he can contrive to decisively win the war in Afghanistan in the next 12 months, Barack Obama must stage a successful retreat under attack, the toughest manoeuvre for any supreme commander, even when fought on the political battlefield at home.
Mr. Obama is caught in the pincer between his pledge to start pulling troops out of Afghanistan by next July and the starkly evident reality that the raging Taliban insurgency may require more U.S. reinforcements instead of repatriating any of the 100,000 already there.
Mr. Obama left himself some wiggle room when he made the initial promise, and one of his senior lieutenants is now floating a strategy that could mean using the Canadian pullout to cover the President’s exposed political flank.
More on link
Canadian colonel says security ring will result in safer city in days
Article Link
By: Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 10/07/2010
A senior military official said Saturday that the security cordon that has been set up around Kandahar city should show almost immediate results in guaranteeing the safety of the Afghan people.
As of July 1, a ring of security checkpoints started to set up on major routes in and out of Kandahar city and being staffed with a formidable combination of Afghan and NATO forces.
The 13 checkpoints, which include search areas for vehicles, aren't unlike a border crossing between Canada and the United States.
The idea is to keep out the Taliban and keep the criminal element in check in terms of narcotics and weapons.
"This is going to have an effect within days for the communities and subdistricts and possibly weeks for the city itself and perhaps months for the city to be able to operate and deliver effective governance," explained Lt.-Col. Simon Bernard, the head of mid and long term planning for Task Force Kandahar.
"If we're looking at it at the provincial level that of course will take months if not years. Delivering Kandhar city is really the key piece for the south and after that we can use the inkspot analogy and increase security from Kandahar city to the outskirts and districts around the city."
The number of checkpoints will likely go as high as 20 depending on need or even 30 if needed said Bernard.
More on link
Top commanders meet in bunker in Afghanistan
Article Link
U.S. and Canadian leaders share thoughts behind fortifications
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service July 10, 2010
NATO's new Afghan commander, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, sent a message to the Taliban on Friday with his first meeting outside Kabul since taking up the job last weekend.
Petraeus met for 15 minutes with Canada's Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance at a heavily fortified checkpoint that had recently been erected to prevent insurgents from getting into or out of Kandahar City.
The checkpoint, which has enormous concrete blast walls to impede suicide bombers, leads into what is regarded as one of the most volatile districts in Kandahar City and has been an important infiltration point for Taliban hooking down into the provincial capital from the northeast from Pakistan.
It is an area where the Red Army was sometimes ambushed by the mujahedeen in the 1980s.
It was not revealed what Vance, who commands NATO forces in Kandahar City, discussed with Petraeus, but the alliance and the Taliban have identified the city as the potentially decisive battleground in their nearly nine-year war.
More on link
Afghanistan air drops provide life support to troops
Article Link
With the roads in southern Afghanistan fraught with danger for land convoys, some vital supplies are now being air-dropped into the coalition troops' more remote forward operating bases by the RAF.
The airfield at Kandahar airbase works night and day, seven days a week, transporting troops and equipment into this landlocked country.
In the blazing afternoon sun, a heat-haze rises from the tarmac as soldiers from 47 Air Despatch Squadron load up huge pallets of water and rations into the back of a Hercules C-130 aircraft.
It is a method dating back to the air drops of World War II, when British troops operating in France were re-supplied by air.
Today, air drops are being used for the smaller Nato patrol bases and checkpoints scattered across Helmand province - still one of the most hostile areas of Afghanistan.
More on link
Afghan police chiefs brief NATO mentors
Article Link
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service July 11, 2010
s scores of veteran Afghan policemen ran around the regional training centre grounds on Saturday pretending to fire red-coloured fake assault rifl es, police chiefs from across southern Afghanistan watched through the windows of a hall where they were meeting with senior NATO officers charged with expanding and improving the much maligned force.
"I don't think we anticipated the degree of difficulty that there would be for the commanders in the field," said Maj.-Gen. Mike Ward, the Canadian army officer who has headed all police training in Afghanistan since last year.
One of the biggest headaches has been that 40,000 of Afghanistan's 107,000 policemen have never had any formal training. While trying to recruit and educate tens of thousands of new policemen to help confront the Taliban, there was also an urgent parallel need to train all those who had never had any training in the first place.
Other major difficulties included a high turnover rate, drug abuse and the question of how to add lustre to a force that Afghans have regarded for years as being grossly corrupt.
More on link
2400 Canadian Soldiers on 72 Hour Notice For Gulf Deployment
Article Link
Originating Article Link
Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation in a civil emergency.
The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S.
There is potential for the agreement to militarize civilian responses to emergency incidents. Also underway is a plan for the two nations to put in place a joint plan to protect common infrastructuresuch as roadways and oil pipelines.
If U.S. forces were to come into Canada they would be under tactical control of the Canadian Forces but still under the command of the U.S. military.
News of the deal, and the allegation it was kept secret in Canada, is already making the rounds on left-wing blogs and Internet sites as an example of the dangers of the growing integration between the two militaries.
More on link
Obama wiggling on pledge to exit Afghanistan
Article Link
Paul Koring
Washington — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Jul. 05, 2010 8:32PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010 8:04AM EDT
Unless he can contrive to decisively win the war in Afghanistan in the next 12 months, Barack Obama must stage a successful retreat under attack, the toughest manoeuvre for any supreme commander, even when fought on the political battlefield at home.
Mr. Obama is caught in the pincer between his pledge to start pulling troops out of Afghanistan by next July and the starkly evident reality that the raging Taliban insurgency may require more U.S. reinforcements instead of repatriating any of the 100,000 already there.
Mr. Obama left himself some wiggle room when he made the initial promise, and one of his senior lieutenants is now floating a strategy that could mean using the Canadian pullout to cover the President’s exposed political flank.
More on link
Canadian colonel says security ring will result in safer city in days
Article Link
By: Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 10/07/2010
A senior military official said Saturday that the security cordon that has been set up around Kandahar city should show almost immediate results in guaranteeing the safety of the Afghan people.
As of July 1, a ring of security checkpoints started to set up on major routes in and out of Kandahar city and being staffed with a formidable combination of Afghan and NATO forces.
The 13 checkpoints, which include search areas for vehicles, aren't unlike a border crossing between Canada and the United States.
The idea is to keep out the Taliban and keep the criminal element in check in terms of narcotics and weapons.
"This is going to have an effect within days for the communities and subdistricts and possibly weeks for the city itself and perhaps months for the city to be able to operate and deliver effective governance," explained Lt.-Col. Simon Bernard, the head of mid and long term planning for Task Force Kandahar.
"If we're looking at it at the provincial level that of course will take months if not years. Delivering Kandhar city is really the key piece for the south and after that we can use the inkspot analogy and increase security from Kandahar city to the outskirts and districts around the city."
The number of checkpoints will likely go as high as 20 depending on need or even 30 if needed said Bernard.
More on link
Top commanders meet in bunker in Afghanistan
Article Link
U.S. and Canadian leaders share thoughts behind fortifications
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service July 10, 2010
NATO's new Afghan commander, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, sent a message to the Taliban on Friday with his first meeting outside Kabul since taking up the job last weekend.
Petraeus met for 15 minutes with Canada's Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance at a heavily fortified checkpoint that had recently been erected to prevent insurgents from getting into or out of Kandahar City.
The checkpoint, which has enormous concrete blast walls to impede suicide bombers, leads into what is regarded as one of the most volatile districts in Kandahar City and has been an important infiltration point for Taliban hooking down into the provincial capital from the northeast from Pakistan.
It is an area where the Red Army was sometimes ambushed by the mujahedeen in the 1980s.
It was not revealed what Vance, who commands NATO forces in Kandahar City, discussed with Petraeus, but the alliance and the Taliban have identified the city as the potentially decisive battleground in their nearly nine-year war.
More on link
Afghanistan air drops provide life support to troops
Article Link
With the roads in southern Afghanistan fraught with danger for land convoys, some vital supplies are now being air-dropped into the coalition troops' more remote forward operating bases by the RAF.
The airfield at Kandahar airbase works night and day, seven days a week, transporting troops and equipment into this landlocked country.
In the blazing afternoon sun, a heat-haze rises from the tarmac as soldiers from 47 Air Despatch Squadron load up huge pallets of water and rations into the back of a Hercules C-130 aircraft.
It is a method dating back to the air drops of World War II, when British troops operating in France were re-supplied by air.
Today, air drops are being used for the smaller Nato patrol bases and checkpoints scattered across Helmand province - still one of the most hostile areas of Afghanistan.
More on link
Afghan police chiefs brief NATO mentors
Article Link
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service July 11, 2010
s scores of veteran Afghan policemen ran around the regional training centre grounds on Saturday pretending to fire red-coloured fake assault rifl es, police chiefs from across southern Afghanistan watched through the windows of a hall where they were meeting with senior NATO officers charged with expanding and improving the much maligned force.
"I don't think we anticipated the degree of difficulty that there would be for the commanders in the field," said Maj.-Gen. Mike Ward, the Canadian army officer who has headed all police training in Afghanistan since last year.
One of the biggest headaches has been that 40,000 of Afghanistan's 107,000 policemen have never had any formal training. While trying to recruit and educate tens of thousands of new policemen to help confront the Taliban, there was also an urgent parallel need to train all those who had never had any training in the first place.
Other major difficulties included a high turnover rate, drug abuse and the question of how to add lustre to a force that Afghans have regarded for years as being grossly corrupt.
More on link
George Wallace
Army.ca Dinosaur
- Reaction score
- 223
- Points
- 710
GAP said:
Just to put this OLD news into perspective:
Commander - Canada Command
Lieutenant-General W. Seminaniw, CMM, MSC, CD
Lieutenant-General Semianiw is the Commander of Canada Command headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.
Lieutenant-General Semianiw enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 1982 and was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry also known as the PPCLI. After completing his infantry officer classification training, he joined the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the PPCLI where he served in a variety of command and staff appointments. He later commanded the 1st Battalion PPCLI.
Lieutenant-General Semianiw has served at the Brigade, Area, Division, and Task Force levels in a variety of command and staff appointments at home and abroad. He has served at the National Defence Headquarters as the Army G3, and on the Joint Staff as the J3 Land and J5 Policy Coordinator. He has also served at the Privy Council Office of Canada, and as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Deputy Minister Military Personnel.
He was responsible for CF operations in Afghanistan in 2005. On his return from Afghanistan he was appointed the Commandant of the Canadian Forces College. He was subsequently appointed the Assistant Chief of Military Personnel and then Chief of Military Personnel from 2007 until 2010. Lieutenant-General Semianiw was appointed the Commander of Canada Command in July 2010.
Lieutenant-General Semianiw is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College. He holds a Master of Arts in Military Studies, and a Master in Defence Studies. He has also completed the Joint Warfighter Component of the U.S. Military General/Flag Officer Capstone Programme and the NATO General Officer's Course.
Lieutenant-General Semianiw’s awards include Commander of the Order of Military Merit, the Meritorious Service Cross and the Order of St John.
Lieutenant-General Semianiw is married to Nancy nee Paradis and has two children.
- Reaction score
- 147
- Points
- 710
ARTICLES FOUND JULY 12
Britain's top general in Afghanistan admits 'courageous restraint' must change
Britain's most senior general in Afghanistan has admitted that rules for opening fire on Taliban insurgents must be "re-examined" following complaints from soldiers that they were too restrictive.
Daily Telegraph, July 11
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7884017/Britains-top-general-in-Afghanistan-admits-courageous-restraint-must-change.html
Afghanistan's North Heats Up
Insurgents Kill 11 Police as a Reprise of Violence in the Region Presents a Challenge for NATO
WSJ, July 12
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580104575360541911931032.html
Karzai to push for removing up to 50 ex-Taliban officials from U.N. blacklist
Washington Post, July 12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/11/AR2010071103505.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead
Distrust Slows U.S. Training of Pakistanis
NY Times, July 11
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/world/asia/12training.html?ref=todayspaper
Mark
Ottawa
Britain's top general in Afghanistan admits 'courageous restraint' must change
Britain's most senior general in Afghanistan has admitted that rules for opening fire on Taliban insurgents must be "re-examined" following complaints from soldiers that they were too restrictive.
Daily Telegraph, July 11
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7884017/Britains-top-general-in-Afghanistan-admits-courageous-restraint-must-change.html
Afghanistan's North Heats Up
Insurgents Kill 11 Police as a Reprise of Violence in the Region Presents a Challenge for NATO
WSJ, July 12
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580104575360541911931032.html
Karzai to push for removing up to 50 ex-Taliban officials from U.N. blacklist
Washington Post, July 12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/11/AR2010071103505.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead
Distrust Slows U.S. Training of Pakistanis
NY Times, July 11
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/world/asia/12training.html?ref=todayspaper
Mark
Ottawa
