The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (March 2008)

[GAP]

The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (March 2008)          

News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
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Articles found March 1,2008

The ugly truth in Afghanistan
GRAEME SMITH AND PAUL KORING  From Saturday's Globe and Mail March 1, 2008 at 12:28 AM EST
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KABUL AND WASHINGTON — When managers from all the major humanitarian agencies in Kandahar gathered in a high-walled compound to swap war stories last month, it wasn't the tales of kidnappings and suicide bombs that caused the most worry. Nor was it the reports of insurgents enforcing their own brutal laws and executing aid workers.

"The scary thing was, no foreigners attended the meeting," a participant said. "Everybody had evacuated."

Most aid organizations quietly withdrew their international staff from Kandahar in recent weeks, the latest sign that the situation here is getting worse. It's now almost impossible to spot a foreigner on the city streets, except for the occasional glimpse of a pale face in a troop carrier or a United Nations armoured vehicle.

At least the foreigners can escape. For many ordinary people the ramshackle city now feels like a prison, with the highways out of town regularly blocked by Taliban or bandits. Residents have even started avoiding their own city streets after dark, as formerly bustling shops switch off their colourful neon lights and pull down the shutters. There is rarely any electricity for the lights anyway, partly because the roads are too dangerous for contractors to risk bringing in a new turbine for a nearby hydroelectric generator.
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Roadside Bomb Kills 3 in Afghanistan
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb struck a tractor in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing three people, including a woman and a child, and wounding seven others, an official said.

The blast hit a family as they were traveling between villages in the Ali Sher district of Khost province, said Gul Mohamaddin Mohammadi, a provincial health official.

A woman and 7-year-old child were among those killed, while seven others, including a woman and three children, were wounded in the explosion, Mohammadi said.

The explosion happened on a road used by foreign and Afghan troops. Militants regularly target forces with roadside and suicide bombs, but most of the victims have been civilians.
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[MarkOttawa]

Taliban invisible but for bombs
No Combat
Canwest News Service, March 1
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=344548

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN - Fighting has dropped off to zero in the province of Kandahar this year, according to the outgoing commander of the Canadian battle group here.

"In the past two months, the enemy has not had any direct contact with the coalition and I have no trouble with that," Lieutenant Colonel Alain Gauthier said yesterday while discussing what he described as an improved security situation in Panjwaii and Zahri districts, where most of the fighting with the Taliban has been concentrated since Canadian forces returned to a combat role in Kandahar two years ago.

However, there continues to be a high number of casualties caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and suicide attacks. Asked about this, Lt.-Col. Gauthier said: "That announces the end of the reign of the Taliban."

The colonel commanded a battle group that had been built around the 3rd battalion, the Royal 22nd Regiment, popularly known as the Van Doos. A large number of the battle group boarded aircraft for Quebec late yesterday after handing over responsibility for defending Kandahar to a Manitoba-based battle group.

"We maintained the initiative," Lt.-Col. Gauthier, who also served with the Van Doos in Timor, said in explaining his unit's strategy. "We didn't allow the repositioning of the supplies and weapons of enemy combatants."

At the handover ceremony, the Van Doos were praised by Brigadier General Guy Laroche, the Canadian task force commander, and by the incoming battle group commander, Lt.-Col. Dave Corbould, of the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, for their ability to adapt. It resulted in what Lt.-Col. Gauthier described as an enlarged "zone of security" to the west of Kandahar City.

Furthermore, the Van Doos "put in place circumstances so that Afghans could rejuvenate their lives," Lt.-Col. Gauthier said, citing the construction of a causeway, the paving of a road and the establishment of a ring of police substations.

The battle group lost 10 soldiers during its six months in Afghanistan. Only one death came as a result of direct combat. Seven soldiers died when their vehicles struck IEDs. Two others died when their vehicle rolled over.

Meanwhile the Canadian Forces have resumed the transfer of detainees to Afghan authorities after a pause of more than three months caused by credible evidence that a prisoner captured by Canadians was tortured while in Afghan custody.

The transfers "will happen on a case-by-case basis," Lt.-Col. Grant Dame said. Lt.-Col. Dame is chief of staff to Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the Canadian battle group commander.

"This is an operational decision, taking into account a number of factors, including Canada's obligations under international law and operational security considerations."

The colonel would not disclose how many prisoners Canada has in custody or how many might have been recently transferred to Afghan control.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

More troops for Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Department says
An Army general warns of strain on deployed troops.
CS Monitor, Feb. 26
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0227/p99s04-duts.html

The Defense Department says it needs more troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. But an Army general warns that troops already in the fight are under too much strain. The warning comes as violence in Afghanistan – unlike Iraq, where violence is down - is expected to increase.

The Defense Department announced that by July 2008, it will have more troops on the ground in Iraq than when the "surge was announced last January, while troop levels in Afghanistan will be at their highest since 2001, the Associated Press reports:

    "Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, operations chief for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that by July, the troop total [in Iraq] is likely to be 140,000. That compares with 132,000 when President Bush approved orders to send an additional five Army brigades to Iraq to improve security and avert civil war.

    Ham also announced that the Pentagon believes U.S. force levels in Afghanistan will stand at 32,000 in late summer, up from about 28,000 currently. The current total is the highest since the war began in October 2001, and another 3,200 Marines are scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this spring."..

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND MARCH 2

U.S. Plan Widens Role in Training Pakistani Forces
NY Times, March 2
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/world/asia/02military.html?ref=todayspaper

The United States military is developing a plan to send about 100 American trainers to work with a Pakistani paramilitary force that is the vanguard in the fight against Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas, American military officials said.

Pakistan has ruled out allowing American combat troops to fight Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal areas. But Pakistani leaders have privately indicated that they would welcome additional American trainers to help teach new skills to Pakistani soldiers whose army was tailored not for counterinsurgency but to fight a conventional land war against India.

Even though the training program would unfold over several months, it is being disclosed at a time of heightened operations in the unruly tribal areas along the Afghan border. At least eight people suspected of being Islamic militants were killed Thursday in a triple missile attack on a house used for training in the tribal areas.

For several years, small teams of American Special Operations forces have trained their Pakistani counterparts in counterinsurgency tactics. But the 40-page classified plan now under review at the United States Central Command to help train the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force of about 85,000 members recruited from ethnic groups on the border, would significantly increase the size and scope of the American training role in the country.

United States trainers initially would be restricted to training compounds, but with Pakistani consent could eventually accompany Pakistani troops on missions “to the point of contact” with militants, as American trainers now do with Iraqi troops in Iraq, a senior American military official said. Britain is also considering a similar training mission in Pakistan, officials said. A spokesman at the British Embassy here declined to comment...

At the request of Pakistan’s new army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Central Command two weeks ago sent a four-member intelligence team, led by a lieutenant colonel, to work closely with Pakistani intelligence officers in Islamabad. The Americans are helping with techniques on sharing satellite imagery and addressing Pakistani requests to buy equipment used to intercept the militants’ communications, a senior American officer said.

The United States is also helping to establish border coordination centers in Afghanistan just across the Pakistan border, where Afghan, Pakistani and American officials can share intelligence about Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups in and around the tribal areas.

The Pentagon has spent about $25 million so far to equip the Frontier Corps with new body armor, vehicles, radios and surveillance equipment, and plans to spend $75 million more in the next year. Over all, a senior Bush administration official said, the United States could spend more than $400 million in the next several years to enhance the Frontier Corps, including building a training base near Peshawar...

Until recently, the Frontier Corps had not received American military financing because the corps technically falls under the Pakistani Interior Ministry, a nonmilitary agency that the Pentagon ordinarily does not deal with. But American and Pakistani officials say the Frontier Corps is drawn from Pashtun tribesmen, who know the language and culture of the tribal areas, and in the long term is the most suitable force to combat an insurgency there.

American and Pakistani officials acknowledge that it will take several years to build the Frontier Corps into an effective counterinsurgency. American officials say they have seen some Frontier Corps members wearing sandals on patrol and wielding barely functional Kalashnikov rifles with little ammunition...

Bush warns Iran, calls for more NATO troops in Afghanistan
AFP, March 1
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCE0IP2aDdRpHV3U1tf-UYsC1J5w

...
Bush spoke after a two day summit with the Danish prime minister focusing on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, telling reporters he would lobby NATO members to offer more troops to the mission in Afghanistan.

"My administration has made it abundantly clear we expect people to carry a heavy burden if they are going to be in Afghanistan," Bush said.

The US president said he understood "there are certain political constraints on certain countries" but said he planned to press for more NATO troop contributions at a major summit in Bucharest in April.

"And so I am going to go to Bucharest with the notion that we are thankful for the contributions being made, and encourage people to contribute more," said Bush.

Rasmussen backed military action in Iraq and Afghanistan with Danish troops despite opposition to the conflicts in his country and other parts of Europe.

Some 550 Danes are serving in Afghanistan where most are deployed under British command in the volatile southern Helmand province.

The US administration has been pressing its allies to commit more troops to Afghanistan, but many countries face fierce opposition at home and will only allow their forces to be deployed for training missions -- not for combat in the south.

Bush on Friday held talks in Washington with NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer about Afghanistan, which is facing a fierce resurgency by the Islamic Taliban militia and their Al-Qaeda allies...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found March 3, 2008

Canadian soldier dies days before tour's end in Kandahar
Convoy struck by Taliban bomb
GRAEME SMITH AND COLIN FREEZE  From Monday's Globe and Mail March 3, 2008 at 1:09 AM EST
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KANDAHAR — From inside an army outpost carved into a craggy mountainside this winter, Trooper Michael Hayakaze reflected on the smiles of Afghan children. He said that whenever he saw them, it made him feel optimistic.

“When the kids come running up to the road and they smile, it's the best,” the 25-year-old soldier told a Washington Times reporter in December.

“When we first showed up, you know, they used to run and hide, or they would throw stones at our tanks,” he explained.

“And you know they get that from their parents. So if they're not afraid of us, that means it's getting better.”
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Wounded warriors; The U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl has become a crossroad between life and death for soldiers from many nations
Posted By Kathleen Harris
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Every day, they arrive by the busload - broken, bandaged and bloodied from war.

They are American, Canadian and from many other nations - "wounded warriors" delivered from Iraq and Afghanistan with blown-off limbs, severe burns and battle fatigue.

Some arrive fresh from conflict with blood still on their boots. Some come with less visible injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic back pain or severe headaches. Others need medical treatment or tests they can't get in the field.

When Canadian soldiers are injured in combat, they are evacuated here to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a sprawling, fast-paced American military hospital that is the biggest medical facility outside the U.S. For Canadian troops, it is the gateway between Kandahar and Canada, and a crossroads between the brink of death and life.

Shell-shocked troops confront the grim reality of a future as an amputee, or grapple with the guilt of survival as their comrades return to Canada in flag-draped caskets.
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Colonel keeps promise, brings all his soldiers home safe
Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service Published: Saturday, March 01, 2008
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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Before coming to Afghanistan last August, Col. Nicolas Eldouad made a promise to the families of his 450 troops that everything possible would be done to bring all his soldiers home alive.

Against very high odds, Eldouad has achieved that goal. The Van Doo battle group's National Support Element suffered no fatalities during its six months in the province of Kandahar despite having undertaken about 200 combat logistics patrols covering more than 1.2 million kilometres on notoriously dangerous roads seeded with hidden improvised explosives and shared with vehicles sometimes driven by suicide bombers.

"Luck is there, it is foolish to deny that, but we had confidence in each other and in ourselves that came as a result of confidence in our equipment, our training and our leadership," Eldouad said before flying out of Kandahar with many of his troops in the wee hours of Saturday morning. "That was the recipe for success.
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Czech PM wants allies 'more visibly' engaged in Afghanistan
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Visiting Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Friday urged NATO countries to play a larger role in routing insurgents from Afghanistan, noting his nation is doubling its troop deployment this year.

"Like Canada, we're calling upon other countries to take their share of responsibility and to participate even more visibly in peacekeeping and peace-building in Afghanistan," Topolanek said following meetings with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and several Canadian ministers.

He also indicated that the Czech Republic will double its number of soldiers taking part in the US-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan this year to about 550.
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Canadian soldiers accused of beating up expat
By Andreas Avgousti
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VIOLENCE unleashed upon the civilian population by foreign soldiers is fast becoming a problem for authorities.

In Paphos on Saturday night, two Canadian army soldiers are accused of beating up Briton James Sanford, 32, a resident of Paphos.

This is the latest of a string of similar events, happening around the island after soldiers hit the town at night.

Sanford was walking down Ayios Antonios road in Kato Paphos with his wife when the soldiers, in Cyprus for decompression following service in Afghanistan, started to make advances on the woman.

“Two of them crossed the street to where we were, one put his hand around her and spat at her feet.”

Sanford reacted, an exchange of words followed, “and then one of the soldiers hit me on the head with a bottle”, Sanford told the Sunday Mail.

Police eventually appeared on the scene, and Sanford was taken to Paphos General Hospital for treatment.

“I have 12 stitches on my face and my left eye is swollen.

“If my wife wasn’t there to shout for help I don’t know what could have happened to me.”

Canadian military police arrived at the hospital too and, according to Sanford,

“showed concern and a willingness to do something about it.”
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Making the mission work
TheStar.com - comment - March 02, 2008 Thomas Axworthy
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With political consensus reached, Canada must now ensure its efforts in Afghanistan succeed

Parliament is convulsed with the issue of whether Canada should commit to three more years of fighting a war in Afghanistan. A more realistic time frame would be to add 25 years to that perspective.

This sober assessment was the major theme of a conference hosted by Queen's University in Ottawa last week. As Parliament next door debated the government's motion to extend the combat role to 2011, speakers with first-hand experience in Afghanistan debated the realities of what it would actually take to protect Afghanistan from predators and to rebuild this shattered state.

The Manley Report on Afghanistan also addressed this issue. Most commentary focused on the recommendations that NATO provide another 1,000 troops in Kandahar. However, the report also had some very pertinent sections on Afghanistan's challenges in rebuilding.

Progress has been made but the problems, as the conference speakers reiterated, are vast, and the international community is poorly motivated and poorly organized to meet them
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Now This Is How I Like To See The Troops Return
Sunday, March 2, 2008
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All 450 accounted for. An incredible record, as these soldiers finished a six month tour of duty in the most dangerous region of Afghanistan with 12 hour shifts patrolling an area of over 1.2 million kilometres. The Van Doos battle group [Royal Vingt-Deuxième Régiment] were sent on convoys to forward operating bases at all hours of the day and night amid breakdowns and the constant need to check for lethal IEDs. Canadians have seen definite progress in Kandahar since last year, with fighting between Canadian Forces and the Taliban dropping off to nil.

In fact, the only evidence the Canadians have had of a Talban presence in the new year are the IEDs which continue to be a deadly threat to civilians and soldiers alike. Lt.-Col. Gauthier says that this "announces the end of the reign of the Taliban." Citing initiative on the part of the Army, and cutting supply lines, Canadian Forces have effectively quietened the Taliban in Kandahar. The Van Doos have lost 10 soldiers during the six months combat tour, but only one died in direct combat. Seven were killed from planted mines.

This good news comes amid warnings that the Taliban are undergoing new tactics to fight ISAF troops, using suicide bombings and IEDs as the central part of that strategy. The Taliban destroyed a communications tower in Kandahar yesterday in an attempt to hide their transmissions. The success Canadian soldiers have had in 2008 in Kandahar comes as a contradiction to the gloomy picture the media continues to write:
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Bush seeks troops to aid Canada
  Article Link

Urges NATO nations to do more in Afghanistan 1,000 more fighters needed in south

CRAWFORD, Texas -- U.S. President George W. Bush urged NATO members Saturday to come to Canada's aid in southern Afghanistan, promising to join the effort to convince European allies to meet Ottawa's demand for another 1,000-soldier strong battle group by early 2009.

Following a summit here with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Bush said his main goal at next month's NATO summit in Bucharest will be to press for the deployment of more troops in southern Afghanistan.

"I understand there's certain political constraints on certain countries. And so I am going to go to Bucharest with the notion that we're thankful for the contributions being made, and encourage people to contribute more," Bush said at a news conference on his Texas ranch. "The United States is putting in 3,200 additional Marines. We are trying to help Canada realize her goal of a thousand additional fighters in the southern part of the country."

Bush's remarks could provide Prime Minister Stephen Harper with some added negotiating power with nations like France, which last month signalled its desire to help Canada meet the military goal.
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Most military suicides follow tours abroad
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By CP
 
MONTREAL -- A Montreal newspaper reports that in the past decade, the Canadian military recorded between 10 and 14 suicides a year among its troops.

Montreal La Presse reports that 132 Canadian soldiers have committed suicide since 1997.

At least four cases involved soldiers committing suicide while they were serving in Croatia, Bosnia or Afghanistan.

The statistics show the majority of the deaths occurred after soldiers returned from missions abroad.

In the past five years, the numbers also show that the number of Canadian soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder has skyrocketed to 6,500 from 102.

The newspaper obtained the statistics from the Canadian military.
End

2nd mobile phone tower destroyed in S Afghanistan  
www.chinaview.cn  2008-03-02 20:54:33 
  Article Link

    KABUL, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Following Taliban outfit's threat to target mobile phone companies' towers in Taliban-held areas, the second boasting tower of ROSHAN mobile phone firm was destroyed in Afghanistan's troubled Helmand province, locals said.

    "Taliban destroyed the boasting tower of ROSHAN company in Sangin district Saturday night and since then there is no telephone facilities," an elder of the district told Xinhua but refused to be identified.

    However, Mohammad Hussain Andiwal, the police chief of Helmand province, when approached by Xinhua scribe confirmed the event, and adding "We cannot contact our men in Sangin as ROSHAN tower has been damaged."

    He did not say if Taliban insurgents were behind the attack.

    Feda Mohammad, who claims to speak for the Taliban militants in talks with media outlets, claimed responsibility for destroying the mobile company's tower in Sangin district.
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Suicide Bomb Hits US Base in Afghanistan
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber attacked a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, collapsing a guard post with American soldiers inside, an Afghan official said. Three NATO soldiers were wounded, a U.S. military official said.

Two Afghan policemen were wounded in the attack, said Lutfullah Babakarheil, a district chief.

The attacker in the eastern Khost province rammed the explosives-laden car into the gates of the U.S. military base in Yaqoubi district, said Babakarheil.

"There are American soldiers inside the collapsed guard room, but we do not know whether any are wounded or killed," he said.

Sgt. 1st Class Brian Lamar, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said three soldiers serving under a separate command — NATO's International Security Assistance Force — were wounded in the explosion and evacuated for medical care.

Lamar would not disclose the soldiers' nationalities because of strict rules set by NATO. However, the majority of international forces in Khost province are American
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[GAP]

Articles found March 4, 2008

Canada learning hard lessons in aid to Afghanistan: senior aid official
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Reconstructing Afghanistan is not going exactly as everyone had hoped, a senior Canadian aid official admits.

It's not just the lack of security that poses a problem but the challenge of figuring out what actually works on the ground, said Stephen Wallace, vice-president of the Afghanistan Task Force of the Canadian International Development Agency.

In an exclusive interview Monday with The Canadian Press, Wallace said Canada is learning hard lessons about how to allocate aid funding to rebuild the war-torn country.

"When you do 50 different programs in the country as Canada does, some work really well and some don't work so well," Wallace said in a telephone interview from his Gatineau headquarters.

"What do you do about it? From our standpoint, we will stop and have stopped the stuff that hasn't worked very well and we take the money into the stuff that can scale up and do more."

Canada is spending more than $100 million a year through 2011 on development in Afghanistan.
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PDAC: Afghanistan's mineral wealth awaits
Posted: March 03, 2008, 4:00 PM by DrewHasselback  Mining, PDAC 2008
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There is no shortage of dangerous places in the world miners are willing to venture to seek natural resources. But one country that may be overlooked by the global investment community is Afghanistan, which has an abundance of mineral resources, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Known deposits include everything from metals like copper, iron, nickel, gold and lead, to other interesting targets like sulfur, talc, marble and rubies.

An assessment by the USGS between 2005 and 2007 produced an estimate of nearly 60 million metric tons of known and undiscovered copper in Afghanistan. For known iron ore deposits, the number is a whopping 2.2 billion metric tons.

The Haji Gak area, which is roughly 100 kilometres west of Kabul, could prove to be home to the biggest iron ore deposit in Asia, according to Kurt Rainer Hengstmann, director of the program management unit of Afghanistan's Sustainable Development of Natural Resources Project.

The Aynak copper deposit just 35 kilometres south of the capital contains an estimated resource of 12.3 million tonnes of copper. Development of the project is awaiting a go-ahead from the government of Afghanistan and two state-run joint venture partners from China by the end of May. Then the rush will be on, since regulations give them only five years before commercial production must begin.
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US to train Pakistan troops hunting militants
Randeep Ramesh, South Asia correspondent guardian.co.uk, Monday March 3 200
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The United States will send dozens of military advisers to Pakistan to train soldiers who are fighting extremist groups in the country's restive tribal areas, it emerged today, the first meaningful deployment of American troops in the country.

After weeks of negotiations between the US and Pakistan's new army chief of staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, a squad of American trainers will arrive later this year to teach soldiers how to handle counter insurgency operations, rather than a conventional land war against India.

The trainers will focus on the Frontier Corps, a force of about 8,500 soldiers, drawn from tribal groups along the Afghan border. The majority of the Pakistani army comes from Punjab and is often regarded as a "foreign force" in the border region, which is dominated by Pashtuns.

Although the original plan sees a deployment that stretches until 2015, the current forecast is that the trainers will be in Pakistan for up to two years. Initially the US military advisers would not be allowed out of their training camps. However, a widely discussed 40-page memo circulating in Washington eventually sees US troops accompanying Pakistani soldiers on missions against the militants
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Fate of Afghan mission decided
March 13 By The Canadian Press
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OTTAWA — The minority Conservative government has set aside March 13 as the day Parliament will vote on the fate of Canada’s Afghan mission.

Tory sources say there will be one more day of debate and a vote prior to the two-week House of Commons Easter break.

The government’s motion — a compromise with the opposition Liberals — calls for Canadian troops to remain in Afghanistan until July 2011 and withdraw by the end of year.

The three-year extension hinges on NATO supplying another 1,000 troops specifically for Kandahar and for the Defence Department to quickly acquire battlefield helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft.
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Fellow soldiers bid farewell to Trooper Hayakaze
Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service  Published: Monday, March 03, 2008
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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- As the sun rose to the mournful skirl of bagpipes, Trooper Michael Yuki Hayakaze was given a solemn farewell by about 3,000 fellow soldiers at a grim memorial today in Afghanistan.

Hayakaze died Sunday when the vehicle he was in struck an improvised explosive device on a road about 45 kilometres west of the Canadian base in Kandahar. He was part of a convoy bringing supplies forward to an Afghan army unit working with the Canadians.

The 25-year-old trooper from the Edmonton-based Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) was scheduled to return to Canada in a few days with the last of his unit, which will soon complete its tour of duty in Afghanistan.
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2 NATO Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan
By FISNIK ABRASHI
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide attack on a government office guarded by Afghan and NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan left two alliance soldiers dead and four more wounded, a U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday.

The bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gates of the building in the Yaqoubi district of Khost province on Monday, causing a guard post to collapse and trapping soldiers inside, officials said.

Sgt. 1st Class Brian Lamar, a U.S. military spokesman, said two NATO soldiers were killed and four others wounded in the attack. Lamar would not disclose the soldiers' nationalities. The majority of international forces in Khost province are American.

The explosion also killed two Afghan civilians and wounded three Afghan policemen, said provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub.

The attack happened at an Afghan government building inside a compound that also houses a unit of U.S. soldiers.
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[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND MARCH 5

Commander: No spring offensive expected
AP, March 5
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080305/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_afghanistan;_ylt=AupZ9U8PRSeSnjdgbkn7D8xvaA8F

The top military commander in the Mideast said Wednesday that he does not expect Taliban forces in Afghanistan to launch a spring offensive this year.

If anything, he said, he sees the momentum continuing to swing in the direction of coalition forces.

"The spring offensive is going to be by our people, as they move out and take advantage of the situation [emphasis added] that they helped create through their good works there in the fall of last year," Adm. William Fallon told the House Armed Services Committee.

The U.S. is sending another 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan, in part to stave off any uptick in violence that might come with the warmer weather.

Fallon said the influx of troops will give Gen. Dan McNeil, head of forces in Afghanistan, the "shot in the arm he needs to really go after the security, particularly in the south, where he intends to deploy those forces."..

Fallon said that despite an increase in violence last year, coalition forces still have degraded the Taliban's ability to attack. The rise in suicide attacks, while alarming, is confined to about 10 percent of the total districts in Afghanistan, he said...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found March 6, 2008

Canada seeks helicopters for Afghanistan transport
The Canadian Press March 5, 2008
Article Link

Ottawa -- Canada is in the final stages of high-level talks with the United States to acquire six battlefield helicopters for operations in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says.

Supplying air transport to get soldiers off the bomb-strewn highways of Kandahar was one of the major conditions set down by the Manley panel for Canada's continued military involvement in the war-torn country.

Mr. MacKay said the Defence Department has been pursuing three options -- all of them involving variants of the Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift aircraft: Persuading the U.S. Army to let Canada's air force slip ahead in the production line; leasing older, refurbished Chinooks under a U.S. Army program until an existing Canadian order is filled; or leasing helicopters from another country.
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Canadian soldiers sentenced for beating British man
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PAPHOS, Cyprus — A Cyprus court has sentenced two Canadian soldiers for beating up a British man.

Guillaume Simon, 26, was fined $3,000 today in court in Paphos, Cyprus, after pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm.

Matthew Louis Pelletier, 31, pleaded guilty to assault and was fined $750.

The soldiers, who were in Cyprus for decompression following a tour in Afghanistan, beat James Sanford on Saturday night.

Sanford was out with his wife and says the two soldiers made advances on her.
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NATO may ask Russians for logistics help in Afghanistan
Peter O’Neil, Canwest News Service  Published: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
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BRUSSELS -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, meeting today to consider new strategies to bring development and peace to increasingly violent Afghanistan, is looking to its old Cold War rival for help.

NATO is seeking assistance from Russia even though Afghans on both sides of the current struggle have bitter memories of the old Soviet Union's brutal 1979 invasion and decade-long occupation that ended in a humiliating withdrawal of troops by Moscow.

The transatlantic alliance will stop short of asking for Russian troops or the dreaded attack helicopters used in Afghanistan during the 1980s, since that would represent a huge propaganda coup for the Taliban insurgents.

But NATO is interested in Russian help in transporting equipment and troops into Afghanistan through Russian territory, officials said Wednesday
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Care packages finally make it to soldiers
1,700 packages. Roxboro Legion celebrates its efforts
PATRICIA ENBORG, Freelance
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Months of planning, soliciting goods and assembling care packages for Canadian troops in Afghanistan have finally paid off for the Roxboro Legion. They've just received confirmation that their 1,700 packages have arrived safely in Kandahar.

Members of the Roxboro Legion, General Vanier Branch 234, had aimed to have the goods arrive in time for Christmas, but in early December, they were informed by the military their packages couldn't be flown overseas due to logistical and security reasons. They were then told the care packages would be sent by container ship instead.

Legion members gathered last Saturday night to pay tribute to the many volunteers and those who contributed to the massive project. It was the idea of Captain Mike Bisson of the Royal Canadian Hussars. He had been the recipient of an unexpected care package from a legion branch in Ontario while serving as a peacekeeper in Bosnia several years ago. So moved by the gesture, he suggested the Roxboro Legion do the same for Quebec soldiers.
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Al Qaeda in Afghanistan calls for foreign recruits
Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:37 GMT
  Article Link

DUBAI, March 6 (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan has urged more Muslims to join and finance the group's war there, saying Western troops are close to defeat.

"Your brothers in Afghanistan are waiting for you and longing to (welcome) you," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in an audio recording posted on an Islamist Web site.

"The time for reaping the fruit of victory and empowerment has come ... The infidel enemy has been badly wounded at the hands of your brothers and is close to its demise so assist your brothers to slaughter him," added the militant leader, speaking with an Egyptian-sounding accent.

U.S. and NATO troops are fighting a fierce insurgency by al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan. A top al Qaeda commander there was killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike in neighbouring Pakistan in January.
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Norwegian to be U.N. envoy to Afghanistan-radio
Thu Mar 6, 2008 8:38am EST
Article Link

OSLO, March 6 (Reuters) - A senior Norwegian Foreign Ministry official will be named the U.N.'s new envoy to Afghanistan, Norway's NRK radio said on Thursday.

It said that Kai Eide, a former Norwegian ambassador to NATO who has also worked a special U.N. envoy in the Balkans, would be appointed to the job to coordinate humanitarian work with a NATO-led military campaign.

"Eide will today be named as the new U.N. envoy to Kabul," NRK said in an unsourced report. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry declined comment, saying any announcement about the post would be from the United Nations.
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Taliban surge not expected
Article Link

WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. military commander in the Mideast says he doesn't expect the Taliban to launch a spring offensive this year.

Admiral William Fallon says that, if anything, he expects the military momentum in Afghanistan to continue to swing in the direction of coalition forces.

Fallon told the House of Representatives armed services committee that any spring offensive is going to be carried out by coalition forces. Fallon concedes that while the situation in Afghanistan is still not ideal, he says recent improvements have been encouraging.

The United States plans on sending another 3,200 marines to Afghanistan this year, in part to stave off any uptick in violence that might come with the warmer weather.
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Taliban destroy mobile phone tower in southern Afghanistan
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Taliban militants have blown up another telecom tower in southern Afghanistan - the fourth such attack since a threat from insurgents to phone companies.

A police official says the militants targeted the electricity generator and equipment base station of an Areeba-owned tower yesterday morning on the main highway in southern Zabul province.

No one was reported hurt in the incident.

The militants believe U.S. and other foreign troops are using mobile phone signals to track insurgents and launch attacks against them. But communications experts say the U.S. military can use satellites and other means to pick up mobile phone signals without the phone company's help.

A Taliban spokesman issued a threat late last month, saying militants would blow up towers across Afghanistan if the companies did not switch off their signals at night.
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[GAP]

Articles found March 7, 2008

France warms to plea for help from Canada
TheStar.com March 07, 2008 Mitch Potter EUROPE BUREAU
Article Link

BRUSSELS–As NATO builds momentum toward a "renewal of vows" for Afghanistan, Canada and France yesterday revealed their foreign ministers will embark on a joint mission to Kabul next month in a move that could presage the announcement of badly needed reinforcements for Kandahar province.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, speaking after what he termed "a rich exchange of views" with his NATO counterparts, hinted anew that France is poised to assume a more robust role in Afghanistan in such a way that, either directly or indirectly, will ease the burden on Canadian soldiers.

The size and destination of French reinforcements for Afghanistan will be revealed by President Nicolas Sarkozy at the NATO summit April 2-4 in Bucharest, Romania.

Kouchner, who was speaking to reporters after a meeting at alliance headquarters in Brussels, then referred vaguely to an upcoming journey with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier.

"You never know," said Kouchner, smiling cryptically, "We may end up together in Afghanistan at the beginning of April."
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Military recruiting hundreds to combat PTSD
Updated Thu. Mar. 6 2008 10:36 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

The Canadian military's surgeon general went before the House of Commons Defence Committee Thursday to discuss serious mental health problems potentially affecting thousands of soldiers returning from Afghanistan.

Brig.-Gen. Hilary Jaeger told the committee that she is in the process of recruiting 450 mental health personnel to help Canada's army cope with addiction, depression, and post-traumatic stress (PTSD).

Psychological problems have become an increasingly important issue for the military in recent years as it has expanded its traditional peacekeeping status into a greater combat role.
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Czech Republic sends first civilian experts to Afghanistan 
www.chinaview.cn  2008-03-07 10:50:25   
  Article Link

    PRAGUE, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic Thursday sent first three civilian experts on agriculture, construction and geology to Afghanistan as part of its Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the central Logar province.

    The experts are expected to stay in Logar for around one year, while the whole Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team will stay there for three to five years.

    The Czech government planned to send another 50 soldiers to Logar, bringing the number of Czech troops in the province to 139.It also mulls to expand the total number of soldiers dispatched to the war-torn Asian country to 415 this year.

    After Lithuania and Hungary, the Czech Republic has become the third NATO member with a PRT in Afghanistan.
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British PM condemns public abuse of military
PETER GRIFFITHS Reuters March 7, 2008 at 6:36 AM EST
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LONDON — British prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday that the armed forces should be free to wear uniforms in public after one airbase banned them following reports of abuse by members of the public over the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“I condemn absolutely any members of the public who show abuse or discrimination to our armed forces,” he said after the station commander at RAF Wittering told staff to dress in civilian clothes when they visit the city of Peterborough.

“They should be thanked for the great job that they're doing, and they should be encouraged to wear the uniform in public.”

The prime minister said the government would support police in taking action to ensure that soldiers can wear their uniform in public.

The reports of insults come as Mr. Brown is trying to foster greater public respect for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last year, he asked Labour MP Quentin Davies to conduct a review of public attitudes towards the military. Mr. Davies has toured the United States and Canada to see the higher level of support given to soldiers there.
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[tomahawk6]

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49202

General Says Infiltration Down in Eastern Afghanistan
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, March 6, 2008 –

A number of factors have combined to decrease the level of Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan, the commander of NATO’s Regional Command East said here March 4.

Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez sat down with reporters soon after accompanying Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a visit to the Korengal Valley, one of the hottest areas in his command.

Rodriguez said there has been a decrease in Taliban and al Qaeda infiltration into Afghanistan’s eastern provinces, but that it remains a problem the command will deal with. The border with Pakistan is porous, and the mountainous terrain lends itself to smuggling, even during peace. There are also ties of family and tribe across the border. Still, NATO and Afghan security forces are making inroads against Taliban infiltration, the general said.

“The intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance effort out here is good,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone is helping us bring in more over time. Because of the terrain – it’s mountainous, it’s tough – you couldn’t see everything with any ISR that we have right now. The terrain is so undulating. We do a good job of maximizing the equipment that we do have.”

The command disrupts infiltration with a combination of forward operating bases, patrolling and of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. “None of them alone is going to solve everything. That’s how complex and difficult it is,” he said.

The troubles in Pakistan’s federally administered tribal areas across the border are being felt in Afghanistan. There have been fewer Taliban trying to infiltrate.

“The Taliban are very opportunistic,” the general said. “They flow and move where the opportunities present themselves. With all of the things going on inside Pakistan right now, that has had an impact in what is going on along the border.”

But the troubles in Pakistan are only a part of the decrease. “We’ve had some successful significant operations,” he said. “We’ve had more Afghan national security forces than we’ve had as they grow that capacity.”

NATO is establishing border cooperation centers. Under the concept, Afghan, Pakistani and NATO personnel will share data on infiltration across the border. The first of those goes into operation later this month, the general said.

The general said the command works mostly with the provincial governments and that the provincial capacity is growing faster than the central government’s capacity. “It takes more to turn a big ship than a small one,” he explained.

Rodriguez’s command is a NATO force, and he praised the Polish combat team for their work in Regional Command East. The Polish forces, he said, have done everything they’ve been asked to do and more. “There are no caveats,” he said. Some NATO countries restrict how their forces in Afghanistan can be used.

“When they first came to train with us in the United States, they hadn’t done any counterinsurgency operations,” Rodriguez said. “But they really stepped out here. For their second deployment, they brought more engineers and civil affairs people, which is just what we need.”

The general also said the New Zealand-led provincial reconstruction team and an Egyptian hospital that treats more than 3,000 Afghans a month are important resources for the command.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Key Afghan district slow to recover despite 2-year Canadian security effort
CP, March 6
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gIRW5_e7p1nSX4OEGsF9ghsaRdHw

PANJWAII DISTRICT, Afghanistan — The sweet smell of life hangs over the bazaar in the centre of Panjwaii, a district that begins about 35 kilometres outside Kandahar city.

Spices and nuts overflow from fruit and vegetable carts. Donkeys laden with hay clop along the road. Rhinestones twinkle off fabrics waving in the wind.

It wasn't always this way.

On the other side of the highway, in cemetery after cemetery, poles strung with dusty flags mark the graves of hundreds of people who have lost their lives in the fighting over this crucial piece of land.

About an hour and half away by road, in the middle of the Canadian compound at Kandahar Airfield, there is a similar memorial.

A marble monument with plaques bearing the names and faces of all of 79 Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan - at least 22 of them in Panjwaii. Trooper Michael Hayakaze was killed there last Sunday by a roadside bomb.

The Panjwaii is the heartland of Kandahar province. Its return to the prosperity it knew more than 30 years ago has been a priority for Afghans and Canadians since Canada took over military operations in Kandahar in 2006.

After two years, the bazaar is only now coming back to life. The struggle is continuing in efforts to move past securing the district and jump into full-scale development...

Canada's strategy in the district consists of four steps: secure, hold, stabilize and develop.

Fighting to secure the Panjwaii has been underway since June 2006, when military leaders said after a series of skirmishes that the area had been pacified.

Only two months later, Panjwaii was the scene of the heaviest fighting Canada has seen to date in Kandahar - Operation Medusa, a lengthy campaign that saw 15 Canadian killed, dozens injured and the death of 600 to 1,000 insurgents.

The operation was declared a success in ridding the area of the large Taliban presence, but pockets of the insurgency still bubbled up in various villages and towns.

Meanwhile, aid agencies continued with the tentative steps forward they had started before the fighting...

Throughout the first half of 2007, the military worked at holding onto the Panjwaii through stepped-up efforts to train and equip the Afghan National Army and police.

The Afghan government launched an ambitious series of local development projects through a program called Community Development Councils, or CDCs, funded in part by CIDA.

CDCs get together to make a list of projects they'd like to see in their villages, and then together with the Afghan government, fund and complete them.

There are now 40 CDCs operating in Panjwaii.

The aim of the program is to shore up support for the local government by providing development under the Afghan flag. In turn, this is supposed to decrease support for the insurgency.

"In 2006, we had to go looking for people to give aid," said Zia. "But now they are coming to us looking for assistance."

Through the middle of 2007, aid and security were working in tandem, and the Afghan army was slowly getting stronger.

By the end of the summer, the military felt confident enough to pull back and let local police, who had only weeks of training, hold down the fort.

The Taliban attacked.

The police were "too weak," said Haji Agha Lalai, Panjwaii's representative on the Kandahar provincial council. "Seventeen, eighteen police were killed. The Taliban had all the power again."

About one-third of the Panjwaii fell back under Taliban control.

Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, commander of all of Canada's overseas missions, admitted the Canadian Forces had overestimated the success of the initial training program.

"Certainly in Panjwaii district in particular, it didn't work," he said on a recent visit to Kandahar. "They were not able to operate independently and to provide security in those areas."

For the military, it was back to trying to secure the region.

The fall of 2007 saw an operation to regain the lost territory and revitalize the training program for police.

"I had just moved back when the fighting started again," said Nasir Ahmad, 14.

"But now I think it has gotten better."

A series of checkpoints have now been established across Panjwaii, manned by Canadian and Afghan forces, and work began on the Joint District Co-ordination Centre that would oversee security efforts in the region.

Police are also undergoing stronger, more extensive training in the coming weeks.

"Security is 90 per cent better now," said Maj. Gul Bacha, the Afghan National Army commander at the co-ordination centre.

The Civil Military Co-operation teams also stepped up their development efforts, building bridges, canals and starting the work for a major road-paving project.

"Now the area is in our control," said Bismillah Khan, the police chief in Panjwaii...

With threat levels still high, aid to Panjwaii remains focused on humanitarian assistance.

It is having an impact. In 2007, almost 2,000 tonnes of food was distributed and the polio eradication campaign reached more than 27,000 children under five years old each month.

But only three of the area's 35 schools are open. A one-day health clinic run by the military attracted hundreds of people, as the area only has one clinic itself.

Choufani said there are plans to expand schools and medical facilities in Panjwaii, but the local governments should be able to support them.

Zia acknowledged that while the CDCs are a good idea, funding for a second round of projects hasn't materialized in all cases.

What needs to happen, Lalai said, is for the large non-governmental organizations to get into the area to start the bigger projects like building clinics, schools and running training and teaching programs.

But the military and CIDA say Panjwaii isn't ready.

"Is it secure enough for the non-governmental organizations to be streaming into (Panjwaii)?" asked Gauthier.

"It's not."

As he strolled down the bazaar, Baran Shah pointed to a bombed out storefront he said was destroyed by a suicide bomber months ago.

"We leave it here to remind us of what can happen if we don't take responsibility for ourselves," he said.

"Of course, the better sign that we were succeeding is if someone would just open a new shop."

Hamid Karzai gets his way as UN appoints low-profile envoy
The Times, March 7
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3501174.ece

The United Nations named a little-known Norwegian diplomat as its special envoy for Afghanistan yesterday, weeks after its preferred candidate, Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, was rejected by President Hamid Karzai.

Kai Eide,
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0624832020080306

a one-time UN envoy to the Balkans [January 1997 - January 1998], was named yesterday to the new “super envoy” post which the international community is heavily relying on to help co-ordinate efforts to lift Afghanistan out of its backward slide into insecurity.

The job has been surrounded in controversy since Lord Ashdown emerged as the front-runner, only to be shot down by Mr Karzai, apparently over the former Royal Marine’s demands for far-reaching powers.

Mr Ashdown’s rejection was met with dismay in diplomatic circles, who argued that only such respected figure could wield the influence required to reverse Afghanistan’s current decline.

But Mr Karzai, an increasingly weak figurehead seen by many as a puppet of the West, balked at the prospect of such a powerful mandate being handed to a foreigner of Lord Ashdown’s stature.

Specifically there were concerns that he would seek a mandate along the lines of that he had as High Comissioner to Bosnia, potentially undermining Mr Karzai’s fragile leadership...

Mr Eide was one of a handful of candidates left after Lord Ashdown’s withdrawal. John Manley, the former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister, had been regarded as another lead candidate, but he reportedly withdrew late last week [maybe just a bit earlier], apparently spooked by Lord Ashdown’s experience.

Norway, as a member of Nato, has 500 troops serving in Afghanistan, but so far all have been deployed to the relatively peaceful north. The US, as the lead military force in Afghanistan, is leaning heavily on its Nato allies to deploy more troops to the far more restive south, where the Taleban insurgency has been gaining ground, and now controls more than 10 percent of the country’s territory.

(Norway's troops cleared to go to south Afghanistan
Reuters, Feb. 27
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSL2762757

Norway's defence ministry said on Wednesday [Feb. 27] it would allow some of its soldiers stationed in Afghanistan to go to the south of the country where battles against the Taliban and al Qaeda have been the toughest.

Norway has about 500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission there and has for months resisted pressure from its allies to send its soldiers to the volatile south.

But a group of 50 soldiers, to be sent to the war-torn state in October to help train the Afghan army, will be able to accompany Afghan troops into southern Afghanistan.

"This means that they can be sent throughout all of Afghanistan," ministry spokeswoman Solveig Dagfinrud said, when asked if troops would go into south Afghanistan.

"The government believes it is important to give ownership to the Afghan people, and the training of the Afghan army is one of such measures," Dagfinrud said...

)

Rice Presses NATO Allies to Expand Afghan Force
NY Times, Feb. 7
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/world/europe/07diplo.html?ref=todayspaper

BRUSSELS — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, tiptoeing through a minefield of European squabbling, on Thursday urged NATO allies to step up troop contributions and other efforts to help defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan...

...she...prodded reluctant European allies to bolster the NATO-led international contingent in Afghanistan, which numbers about 40,000. The American force is about 26,000 troops, some of whom serve in the NATO contingent, and the Pentagon will send 3,200 more marines.

“We have been concerned about burden-sharing,” Ms. Rice said. “The Canadians have made clear that they desire a partner in the south, and we have made clear that NATO needs to deliver on that and we have to respond as an alliance.”

Canada’s 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, who serve in the southern area where the Taliban insurgency is strongest, have had heavy casualties, including 78 deaths. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he will withdraw his force on schedule next year unless NATO adds 1,000 troops. He has said that if NATO agreed to do so, the government would introduce a motion in Parliament to prolong the Canadian mission for a year beyond February 2009.

French officials say that they will probably contribute a substantial number but do not plan a formal announcement until the NATO summit meeting next month in Bucharest, Romania.

A senior Bush administration official said that the Afghanistan mission was a major issue at the NATO meeting. She said the meeting was not as contentious as the debate among Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his European counterparts about troop contributions. But, she indicated that much conflict continued between countries that had sent troops to the most dangerous zones and those that had not sent troops to the battle zones.

“You can’t have some allies talking about how they’re developers and some talking about how they’re fighters,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under diplomatic rules. “We all have to be both.”

The ministers are working on a “vision statement” for the Bucharest meeting to lay out, particularly for Europeans and Canadians, why NATO is in Afghanistan.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found March 9, 2008

Ramp ceremonies never get easier, says military chaplain
Matthew Fisher ,  Canwest News Service Published: Saturday, March 08, 2008
Article Link

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - There are many emotionally draining jobs with the Canadian battle group in Afghanistan. One of the toughest of them all may be that of the military padre who bids farewell to fallen Canadians before they are flown home to their families.

"Do the ramp ceremonies get any easier? No they don't," said Maj. Pierre Bergeron, who has presided at the departure of 13 Canadian soldiers who have died here since last summer. He has also attended at least a dozen memorials for soldiers from other coalition countries who have been killed in action.

The airfield services have been held for for each of the 79 Canadian soldiers who have died here. The established protocol is for sergeants major to marshal as many as 2,500 mourners from all the coalition countries onto the tarmac, gathering them in long rows on both sides of a gap where a slow-moving light armoured vehicle carrying a flag-draped casket stops.
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Patriot love, personal
By RON CORBETT
Article Link

When the snow starts to melt, the Canadian flags will reappear on the front lawn of Claire and Richard Leger. The ones that have faded over winter will be replaced. The others will be straightened and braced.

They started with four flags embedded in the rock garden in front of their home. The flags represented their son, Marc, and the three soldiers who died with him on April 17, 2002, when American fighter pilot Harry Schmidt dropped a bomb on a Canadian training exercise in southern Afghanistan.

For a long time, those four flags stood alone. It would be six months before more Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan, and the Legers remember talking at the time -- after the deaths of Cpl.Robbie Beerenfenger and Sgt. Robert Short -- about how their families must be suffering and was there anything they could do to help? The next day they planted two more flags.

It has gone like that every year since, and if you don't remember the ebbs and flows of the Afghanistan mission, the Legers do. It is as tangible to them as planting a flag in a garden.

On Thursday, Parliament will vote on extending the Afghan mission for another two years. The debate leading up to this week's vote has been contentious, although it now seems certain the motion will pass
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Afghanistan welcomes Norway's Eide as new U.N. envoy
Sat Mar 8, 2008 By Jon Hemming
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KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan government on Saturday welcomed Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide as the new U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, a role meant to better coordinate international efforts to bring development and head off a Taliban insurgency.

Eide's appointment, expected to be confirmed by the U.N. Security Council within the next week, brings to an end a tussle between the Afghan government and the United States and other powers that had wanted a heavyweight diplomat to boost coordination between U.N. and NATO forces fighting the Taliban.

"We look forward to working with Mr. Eide," said Afghan presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada.

"He has been the key person in the Norwegian government focusing on Afghanistan, so he has the knowledge of the country, he has the international experience and the backing of the United Nations and all the major players and the Afghan government supports his appointment," he said.
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Khorshied Samad: Upholding a promise to Afghanistan's women
Posted: March 08, 2008, 2:50 PM by Marni Soupcoff Khorshied Samad
Article Link

We must remember that it has been only six years since the Taliban regime was driven from Kabul

International Women’s Day, which we celebrate today, comes at a time when many Western countries, including Canada, are debating their future role in Afghanistan. These nations either have decided, or soon will decide, the direction and focus of that role for some years to come. Many issues have been raised, and arguments presented both pro and con with regard to NATO’s mission.

However, if we are still striving to help the Afghan people — and, especially, to support women and children in their quest for human security and socio-economic opportunities — we must remember that progress is impossible without a relatively secure and peaceful environment. If this is to be achieved, Canada and its allies have a key role to play in the troubled areas of my war-torn nation.
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Canadian leads huge humanitarian delivery to Afghans
Matthew Fisher ,  Canwest News Service Published: Friday, March 07, 2008
Article Link

ZHARI DASHT, Afghanistan -- A Canadian naval officer who volunteered for a year-long tour of duty in Afghanistan was the unlikely leader of a U.S.-funded relief convoy that brought more than 27 tonnes of aid to what an American officer called "the poorest of the poor" in the heart of Taliban country this week.

Many thousands of internally displaced Afghans on the run since the war against the Red Army ended in the 1980s, converged on a bleak desert plain of yellow sand to greet Cmdr. Michael Burke of Sarnia, Ont., and his American troops. They also fought with each other over rice, beans, bedding, clothing and toys in almost biblical scenes of joy and desperation.

"An extraordinary amount of planning went into this one," said Burke, who was the executive officer of a Canadian warship not long ago before becoming chief of staff to the American army colonel who runs NATO's Afghan Regional Security Integration Command. "The potential for a disaster was huge. It could have been a riot, a suicide bomber, an IED (improvised explosive device)."
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The working wounded
In Afghanistan, Canadian fighters have been sustaining serious injury on a scale not seen since Korea. When they return, what prospects are there for soldiers who can't soldier any more? Siri Agrell investigates
SIRI AGRELL From Saturday's Globe and Mail March 7, 2008 at 11:22 PM EDT
Article Link

Inside the offices of the Royal Canadian Regiment sniper unit, Master Corporal Jody Mitic spends most of his day alone. Occasionally, other soldiers will poke their heads through the office door to say hello, or to let him know that they've shovelled his driveway.

Sitting at a wooden desk typing e-mails on an outdated PC, he's the only soldier here dressed in civilian clothes. His prosthetic feet rest on the bottom drawer of a dented filing cabinet. The steel rods that now serve as his shins peek out between his worn hiking shoes and the cuffs of his baggy warm-up pants.

On his left forearm a dramatic tattoo displays the Roman numerals I-XI-MMVII — Jan. 11, 2007, the date when, as the leader of an elite sniper team doing reconnaissance in Afghanistan, MCpl. Mitic stepped on a land mine and triggered the explosion that took both his legs from just below the knee. After extensive rehabilitation, the 31-year-old returned to work at CFB Petawawa a year later.

"I don't know how long I'll be here, because I'm not deployable," he says. "I'm kind of in the way."
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Don Martin: What you didn't hear about this week
Don Martin, National Post  Published: Friday, March 07, 2008
Article Link

It featured another Liberal no-show in the role of Official Opposition, abortion rights alarms, new education tax deductions and the beginning of the end for a Canadian Prairie icon.

Good grief, what a week. Heck, death penalty policy even hit the agenda as the government moved to seek clemency from a beheading sentence imposed on a young Canadian in Saudi Arabia.

So what hogs the headlines and tops the newscasts? A three-year-old bribery allegation from a dead MP and an alleged comment on U.S. political doublespeak that the Prime Minister's chief of staff can't recall saying.

Readers screeching at Parliament's fixation on the Chuck Cadman caper and the unimaginatively christened NAFTA-gate controversy to the exclusion of real issues have a point.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have had cause to gloat on several fronts, yet found himself serving as the goat instead.
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Panel investigating Marine shooting in Afghanistan completes work
Friday, March 7, 2008 By ESTES THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
Article Link

RALEIGH, N.C. - A special panel of Marine officers that heard four weeks of testimony about a Marine shooting that killed up to 19 Afghan civilians delivered its report Friday, but it won't be made public.

The findings of the Court of Inquiry are classified, said Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson. The court, a rarely used administrative hearing, was expected to recommend whether criminal charges be filed against two officers who led the special operations unit accused in the March 2007 incident.

The officers' military attorneys aren't allowed to discuss the case, and their civilian lawyers didn't immediately return messages seeking comment Friday.
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Clearing canals: In Afghanistan simple projects change many lives
Article Link

ZAKAR KALAY, Afghanistan — Drew Gilmour's eyes widened as the van took a turn on the bumpy rural road and suddenly dry dusty land was replaced by soaking wet earth.

"This is just since this week?" he asked, in disbelief. Yes, the Afghan engineer replied proudly. All this, just this week.

What Gilmour was staring at was hundreds of hectares of previously dead farmland now awash in water from a series of irrigation canals finally completed in a village about 18 kilometres from Kandahar city.

Water started running through the first of them this week.

Gilmour's company, Development Works, a private company which receives funding from the Canadian government, is overseeing the clearing of about 26 kilometres of canal altogether in the village.

Eventually, more than 3,600 hectares of farmland will be opened up for use, allowing farmers to increase their harvests by as much as 50 per cent.
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Anti-Taliban vote could be a gain for Canadian troops
Richard Foot, Canwest News Service  Published: Friday, March 07, 2008
Article Link

It may be the best news for Canadian Forces since their arrival in Kandahar in 2005 -- yet it comes neither from inside Afghanistan, nor as a result of Canada's gruelling military efforts there.

In historic elections across Pakistan on Feb. 18, voters in North-West Frontier Province threw out the fundamentalist Islamic parties that have controlled the provincial government -- and provided safe haven to the Taliban -- since 2002.

In their place, voters elected a coalition of moderate, staunchly secular groups including the Awami National Party (ANP), a Pashtun movement remarkable for its dislike of Islamic jihadism and the Taliban.

While the national election results -- and the victory of two opposition parties hostile to President Pervez Musharraf -- dominated headlines in Canada after the election, many experts say the vote in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) has huge but little-understood implications for the war in Afghanistan.
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[GAP]

Articles found March 10, 2008

Canada's revolving door to Afghanistan
Documentary precedes government vote on extending mission
Maria Kubacki, Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, March 09
Article Link

Early in, early out -- that was the plan back in February 2002 when Jean Chretien's Liberal government sent Canadian troops to Afghanistan as part of an international coalition mandated to drive out the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

It was supposed to be a short-term mission, but six years later, Canada is still mired in a messy war that's claimed the lives of 79 Canadian soldiers, so far.

A new Global Television documentary examines how Canada ended up digging itself in deeper and deeper in Afghanistan.
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India’s 2008-2009 Military Budget
Article Link

China’s 2008 military budget and its 2-decade string of uninterrupted double-digit budget growth have been attracting a great deal of attention lately. The official figure is now $58.8 billion, but there is no accountability or transparency, and outside estimates place the real figure between $100-180 billion.

India’s democratic, accountable government presents fewer transparency issues, and the simultaneous growth of its economy and of pressures orchestrated by China have resulted in a rising military budget of its own. The rise has been slower, but the recent 2008/09 budget proposes from Rs 960 billion in 2007/08 to Rs 1056 billion in 2008/09 (a 10% hike, from about $24 billion to about $26.6 billion at USD exchange). That’s hike of about 10%; compare to India’s 2007 consumer price inflation index of 5.51% in 2007.

Of that budgetary total, Rs 480 billion has been earmarked for the purchase of military hardware, as opposed to pay, pensions, maintenance, and the other expenses of running a military. That’s a rather sharper hike of almost 23.3% over 2007/08. The question is whether India will be able to spend it…
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Britain pledges food aid to Afghanistan 
www.chinaview.cn  2008-03-09 23:44:20 
  Article Link

    LONDON, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Britain has promised an extra 3 million pounds (about 5.9 million U.S. dollars) in new funding to help meet growing food shortages in Afghanistan.

    The money will be given to a joint United Nations and Afghan government appeal for 40 million pounds in food aid to be used to alleviate malnutrition, particularly among pregnant and breastfeeding women, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander announced on Sunday.

    Alexander said "Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and least able to cope with spiraling food prices combined with severe winter weather. Providing an immediate safety net will help avoid a humanitarian crisis and end the immediate suffering."

    He said that the food shortage is evidence of the impact of rising global food prices hitting the poor hardest.
More on link

Woman Earns Silver Star in Afghan War
By FISNIK ABRASHI –
Article Link

CAMP SALERNO, Afghanistan (AP) — A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.

After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said.

"I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there," Brown told The Associated Press on Saturday at a U.S. base in the eastern province of Khost.

Brown, of Lake Jackson, Texas, is scheduled to receive the Silver Star later this month. She was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling near Jani Kheil in the eastern province of Paktia on April 25, 2007, when a bomb struck one of the Humvees.

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said.

She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out.
More on link

A field trip like none other
My surreal memoirs from the USO tour in Afghanistan
Posted: Sunday March 9, 2008 10:50PM; Updated: Sunday March 9, 2008 11:05PM
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- I talked with commissioner Roger Goodell Friday night about my USO trip with NFL players Luis Castillo, Tommie Harris and Mike Rucker, and I probably got a little excited about our week in the middle of the war. "Sounds like a life-changing experience for you,'' Goodell said.

Not exactly, but close. More like the greatest field trip of all time. Quick story. Last Wednesday, we're flying in a C-17 cargo plane from the staging airbase for the war -- in Kyrgyzstan, 400 miles northeast of the Afghanistan border -- and as we approach the border, we're over the most beautiful snowcapped mountain peaks, with an elevation of about 15,000 feet.

Air Force pilot Matt Jarrett rose from his seat in the cockpit and put on an armored vest and combat helmet. Hmmm. I waited for an explanation. As he fetched the armor plate to put under his seat, the friendly Jarrett said in a cool monotone: "Not that anything's going to happen, but what I'd like you to do when we cross into Afghanistan is to look out your window for us as we go. If you see anything unusual down there, or anything that looks like it's tracking on the plane, in as normal a voice as you can, alert us that something's up out there. OK?''
More on link

Wars to cost $12 billion a month, new book says
BY CHARLES J. HANLEY • ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 10, 2008
Article Link

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost approximately $12 billion a month -- triple the rate of their earliest years -- Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and coauthor Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

Beyond 2008, working with best case and realistic to moderate scenarios, they project the wars, including long-term U.S. military occupation, will cost between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion by 2017.

Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs alone could add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has done its own projections and comes in lower, forecasting a cumulative cost by 2017 of $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion for the two wars.

Variations in such estimates stem from the sliding scales of assumptions, scenarios and budget items that are counted. Whatever the estimate, the cost will be huge, the auditors of the Government Accountability Office say.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

Marines see re-run in Afghan theatre
National Post, March 10, by Matthew Fisher
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=364227

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -A forward party of 3,200 U.S. Marines is already on the ground preparing to begin combat operations next month. It is not the first time that there have been jarheads at the Kandahar Airfield.

As the Marines are fond of saying, they were the tip of the spear when the province of Kandahar became the last Taliban and al-Qaeda redoubt to fall to U.S. forces, 11 weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E5D91E3AF934A15752C1A9679C8B63

Choppering 650 kilometres from assault ships in the Arabian Sea to Kandahar, the Marines routed forces loyal to Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden.

After holding the area for about one month, the jarheads handed over what was then thought to have been the last gasps of the Afghan war to elements of the U.S. army's 101st Airborne Division and 10th Mountain Division and a 845-man strong battle group built from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry led by then-Lieut. Col. Pat Stogran...

Now, six years after the Taliban and al-Qaeda were thought to have been crushed, Marines and the Patricias, who have just arrived for another tour, are once again taking up arms against exactly the same enemy in roughly the same place. An infantry battalion out of southern California is on its ways to Kandahar to devote itself to mentor Afghan police.

More interesting, from a Canadian point of view, is the deployment to Kandahar from North Carolina of the 24th MEU, or Marine Expeditionary Unit, which has at its centre a reinforced infantry battalion.
http://192.156.19.109/meus/24thmeu.nsf/
http://the24thmeu.wordpress.com/

Officially, everyone here remains tight-lipped about how many of the Marines will be deployed alongside the Canadians here.

However, that has not stopped rampant speculation about this or about how robust the storied Marines' rules of engagement will be.

Given the Marines fierce fighting doctrine and the fact that the first of nearly [th 30 Marine aircraft -- Harrier attack jets, Cobra attack helicopters and troop helicopters -- have begun to arrive, as well as recent hawkish comments from political and military leaders in the U.S. about what their mission was expected to achieve, wherever the Marines end up, it is clear that they will add a more aggressive dimension to the war against the Taliban...

The Marines streaming into Afghanistan today are coming for only seven months.

However, encouraged by comments by Marine Corps commandant General James Conway, who has publicly lobbied to move most or all of the more than 20,000 Marines in Iraq to Afghanistan, the buzz around Marine bases in the United States these days has shifted from Iraq's Anbar province to Kandahar.

Some stateside Marine units have already been told to develop counter-insurgency training cycles designed to put them in the Afghan theatre next year.

Whether other NATO countries chose to answer Canada's plea for more boots on the ground in Kandahar, the Manley Panel's intentionally low demand that 1,000 combat troops be sent to the province will undoubtedly be met by the Marines.

Afghanistan: in advance of the vote (Conference of Defence Associations round-up)
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1205175257/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Yrys]

Army medic's Afghan knife drama

BBC, Monday, 10 March 2008

A Territorial Army medical officer from Caernarfon in Gwynedd helped save the life of a 10-year-old Afghan boy.

Major Stephen Gallacher was working in a field hospital in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when the boy had a three-inch knife removed from his head.
Now back working at Ysbyty Gwynedd's A&E department in Bangor, Mr Gallacher has just been awarded three medals for his army work. The father-of-four
said his experience in Afghanistan was an "eye-opener". "The boy's injury was really a freak incident," said Mr Gallacher. The charge nurse at Bangor,
who works as a senior nurse with 208 Field Hospital in Afghanistan, added: "It was a horrendous sight, I did not think he would survive."

Picture of X-ray image of the knife embedded in the boy's head in  link

The 10-year-old had been stabbed when he tried to protect his father during a row with a customer in his shop in Kandahar. The customer lunged
for the boy's father and stabbed the boy with the knife going in behind his eye and penetrating the front of his brain. His father took him to a military
base in Kandahar and pleaded with doctors to save him, and he was flown to Camp Bastion where Mr Gallacher was based for the operation at a
tented field hospital. "The father came with him and had a translator explained what was being done," explained Mr Gallacher. "The father was very
quiet and calm and the whole situation was very surreal, because if the same thing had happened in Bangor the whole family would be here with a
lot of crying. "When the child was discharged later there was no police involvement either, the village elders were going to deal with it. It was really
weird," he added.

Results in minutes

Life in Afghanistan was an eye-opener, he added, as the country has no hospitals and the army was only able to provide "life, limb and eyesight" treatment.
Techniques and experiences from the field are useful when back at Ysbyty Gwynedd with some things even more high-tech in the Territorial Army, he said.
"In Bangor I'd wait 20 to 30 minutes for a series of trauma x-rays, but in the field they used digital x-rays which give us the results in minutes which means
decisions can be made quickly," he added.

Mr Gallacher was presented with two campaign medals and a long-service medal, at an award ceremony in Liverpool, for his part in the Afghan mission.

Afghan doctors face legal action

By Pam O'Toole, BBC News, Monday, 10 March 2008

Doctors in the western Afghan city of Herat have been warned by the government of legal action if they continue with their ongoing strike.

Several hundred doctors and medical workers started an indefinite strike on Saturday in protest at a recent rise in the number of attacks on medical
staff. The strike was caused by the kidnapping of the son of a local doctor. He was the latest of a number of doctors or doctors' relatives to be abducted
over the past year. Kidnappers are reported to have demanded $300,000 (£149,000) for his release.

Rest of article on link

 

[GAP]

Articles found March 12, 2008

Bomb Hits Canadian Troops in Afghanistan
By NOOR KHAN
Article Link

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

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

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

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

Most NATO troops based in Kandahar are Canadian.

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

Two Afghan children, two women killed in exchange of fire: ISAF
Article Link

KABUL (AFP) — Two Afghan women and two children were killed when NATO soldiers were attacked by insurgents in southern Afghanistan and returned fire, the alliance force said Wednesday.

International Security Assistance Force troops were shot at Tuesday and immediately fired back, ISAF said in a statement.

"Tragically, a group of civilians received fire causing the death of two women and two children," the statement said.

A number of the attackers were also killed but no ISAF soldiers were harmed, it said, giving no details.

Ten other civilians were taken to an ISAF base where a wounded child was treated.

The statement did not say in which part of southern Afghanistan the incident had occurred or make clear if the civilians were killed by NATO soldiers or the insurgents.

"No matter the cause, we deeply regret the loss of innocent life and injuries sustained to the civilians," said ISAF spokesman, Brigadier General Carlos Branco. "We will continue to determine what happened."
More on link

Three Edmonton soldiers to receive medals
Jim Farrell, edmontonjournal.com Published: Tuesday, March 11
Article Link

EDMONTON - Three Edmonton soldiers will be travelling to Ottawa to receive medals from Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean for their service in Afghanistan, Rideau Hall announced today.

Warrant Officer Ian Long of 3 Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry will receive the prestigious Meritorious Service Cross for his leadership under fire. Maj. Thomas Bradley of the Edmonton-based 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group will get the Meritorious Service Medal for having developed an organizational framework to secure the Kandahar City Afghan development zone. As chief of operations at Joint Task Force Afghanistan headquarters, Bradley spent eight months developing that strategic plan. It proved successful and subsequently spread to much larger areas, the Governor General's office said in its press release.
More on link

Canadian soldier found dead in Kandahar, not related to combat: military
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — An investigation has been launched after a Canadian soldier was found dead at the main military base in Kandahar.

The body of Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet was found Tuesday afternoon in sleeping quarters at the Kandahar Air Field. Ouellet, 22, was with the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Man. "The soldier's death is not related to combat, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche said in a briefing at the air field, 12 hours after Ouellet's body was found.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service will look into the circumstances surrounding the death.

The CFNIS is the major crimes investigative unit of the Canadian military police and probes all incidents involving Canadian military personnel or property at home or abroad.

A statement released by the Department of National Defence said enemy action had been ruled out.

The military released no further information, citing the investigation.
More on link

Laura Secord is bringing the flavours of springtime to members of Canadian Forces stationed in Kandahar
Article Link

    2,500 famous Secord Eggs are en route to Afghanistan in time for Easter

    MISSISSAUGA, ON, March 11 /CNW/ - Thousands of men and women of the
Canadian Forces serving in Afghanistan are getting a special delivery from
Laura Secord as the Canadian chocolate maker today announced that it has
donated 2,500 of its famous Secord Easter Cream Eggs to soldiers stationed in
Kandahar.
    "Laura Secord is proud of the important contribution and brave efforts
being made by members of the Canadian Forces and our hope is to deliver a
small but traditional taste of Easter to the Canadian personnel serving in
Afghanistan," said company President Jamie Ardrey.
    The Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) welcomed the special
delivery by Laura Secord.
    "Receiving these Laura Secord Easter treats is great for the morale of
our troops," says Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency Manager, Deployed
Operations, Gordon Wells. "A touch of home around the holiday season means a
great deal to all deployed Canadian Forces members who are away from their
families."
More on link

CITY HONOURS FALLEN SOLDIER
Article Link

Hundreds of firefighters, police officers and other citizens lined sidewalks last night to salute trooper Michael Hayakaze, who was killed March 2 in Afghanistan.

Cop cruisers escorted a black hearse carrying the body of the 25-year-old soldier through Chinatown en route to a funeral home. His family will announce funeral details Friday.

Hayakaze was stationed at CFB Edmonton and was a member of Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) Armoured Regiment.
More on link

Police Kill 4 Suspects in Afghanistan
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Police backed by NATO-led troops have killed four suspected criminals in western Afghanistan after a spate of kidnappings and robberies.

Regional police spokesman Rauf Ahmadi says the forces clashed with suspects Tuesday in the Guzara district of Herat province.

Ahmadi says the operation also netted 15 other people suspected of involvement in criminal activities.
More on link

Factories shut in protest at Afghan unrest: official
Article Link

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) — Scores of factories shut up shop in Afghanistan's western city of Herat Monday as workers joined doctors and nurses in a strike to demand better security, representatives said.

About 200 health workers in the city stopped working Saturday complaining of a rise in criminality, including kidnappings, as well as attacks linked to an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban movement.

Workers at around 250 small factories at the city's main industrial park joined them on Monday, said the chairman of the city's industrial union, Toryalai Ghawsi.

"We don't have security in this industrial park. Unless the security to ensure our safety is provided, we will not open," he said.

Doctors were meanwhile refusing to go to hospitals and private clinics were closed, expect for emergency cases, said Sayed Hassan Farid, spokesman for the city's doctors' union.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

Panel says no way to predict end of Canada's Afghan mission
CBC, March 11
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/03/11/manley-afghanistan.html

Manley panel: Don't expect firm deadline for mission
CTV, March 11
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080311/afghanistan_vote_080311/20080311?hub=TopStories

Don't set date: Panel
Panel says no to fixed exit date on eve of critical vote
Ottawa Sun, March 12
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2008/03/12/4976751-sun.html

NATO reluctance in Afghanistan risking lives: US chief
AFP, March 11
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNnHMqwapHDMI0VnorWF6wtVaZrw

Foot-dragging by European members of NATO in the struggle against Afghanistan's resurgent Taliban is risking the lives of alliance troops, NATO supremo General John Craddock said Tuesday.

Afghanistan and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are at a "critical juncture," he said at a hearing of the Senate's foreign relations committee.

Ahead of a NATO summit next month in Romania, Craddock bemoaned restrictions placed by some governments on their forces' operations in Afghanistan.

"These caveats, like shortfalls, increase the risk to every soldier, sailor, airman and marine deployed in theater," the US general said.

"NATO's level of ambition has exceeded its political will to support," he said, citing weak coalition governments in Europe as one drag on ISAF deployments.

The US government, which is deploying 3,200 more Marines to Afghanistan, has criticized nations including Germany, Italy, France and Spain for not doing more to pursue the Taliban and Al-Qaeda diehards on the Pakistan border.

ISAF commanders in Afghanistan want around 7,500 extra troops to be deployed in the battle-ravaged south, along with transport helicopters and intelligence resources [emphasis added].

Berlin last month agreed to a NATO request to deploy a rapid reaction force in northern Afghanistan, but again ruled out a fixed combat role in the south, where US, Canadian and British forces have borne the brunt of Taliban attacks.

Canada has warned that it could withdraw its 2,500 troops from Afghanistan if NATO fails to send reinforcements to the south.

Last week, US officials welcomed a "long-term commitment" to Afghanistan made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the April 2-4 summit in Bucharest.

"It is clear that the French are thinking through their contributions in Afghanistan," Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs [I knew him in Belgrade in the mid-80s - MC], told the Senate hearing.

"President Sarkozy is looking at his options and we're working with the French," [emphasis added] he said...

The NATO-led ISAF comprises more than 47,000 troops from 40 nations, including 19,000 from the United States, according to updated figures given by Craddock [emphasis added]...

Resignation of Centcom Commander Admiral Fallon--a March 12 e-mail from the Executive Director of the Conference of Defence Associations:
http://www.cda-cdai.ca/english-frame.htm

Yesterday, Admiral William Fallon, Commander of US Central Command, resigned
from his post, citing perceived differences between his views and those of
the US administration.

Many in the press have referred to an Esquire magazine article on Fallon by
Thomas Barnett, entitled "The Man Between War and Peace". A link is provided
below to this lengthy and fascinating article.
http://www.esquire.com/features/fox-fallon

We would like to remind readers that Admiral Fallon was a speaker at the CDA
conference last month, and that Thomas Barnett spoke at the CDA Institute
seminar in March 2005. [link below to my post on the meeting - MC:]
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2008/02/conference-of-defence-associations.html

Thom Shanker in the New York Times reports on this development. See link
below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/washington/12military.html

Sara Carter in the Washington Times (link below) reports on the differences
between Fallon and the US President over Iran.
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080312/NATION/165288
292/1001

An article in the Wall Street Journal (link below) provides a political and
military context to the move, in light of internal US military debate over
Iraq.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120527897136528683.html

A report in the Washington Post (link below) outlines the differences of
opinion over Iraq between Admiral Fallon and General David Petraeus.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090801
846_pf.html

The Los Angeles Times has published an article by Max Boot that outlines the
reasons why Fallon's tenure as Commander US Central Command could be viewed
as a failure. Link is below.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-boot12mar12,0,5337128.story

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Canada to get help in Kandahar: U.S. commander
Marines will help troops, search still on for more NATO troops
Canwest News Service, March 12, by Matthew Fisher
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=370841

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Canada will get the additional NATO combat forces in Kandahar that Parliament is expected to demand if it approves a motion Thursday to extend the mission there to 2011, according to the White House and the U.S. commander of all 50,000 coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Gen. Dan McNeill also told Canwest News Service in an exclusive interview Wednesday that U.S. Marines being deployed to southern Afghanistan in April for seven months, would help the Canadian battle group, fighting the war against the Taliban in the province of Kandahar.

"You should say to the Canadian people that I am not likely to be sitting on my thumbs after the Marines depart," Gen. McNeill said of the deployment of 3,200 Marines to the south that ends this fall. "We will have here a credible force and with some exceptions I am able to move some of it around the battlefield to take care of business where I need to."

In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said Wednesday he was personally assured last week by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Washington would do everything in its power to find a partner with 1,000 troops to join Canada in Kandahar province...

The exact mission of the incoming Marines has been something of a mystery since Washington made the unexpected announcement in mid-January. There was "a high probability that some of the Marines under ISAF control will be involved in tactical operations in Kandahar," Gen. McNeill said. "About the middle or end of April, you will have somewhere between three and four times the number of American shooters in the south than you have today . . . Two thousand of them (will be) under the NATO flag, and 1,200 under the OEF (the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom) flag. In effect, they will all be in support of operations that the Canadian task force is doing there. [emphasis added]"

In a rare public acknowledgment of the vital secret role that Canada's Joint Task Force commandos have been playing in Afghanistan as part of OEF rather than the NATO force, Gen. McNeill complimented these special forces on "some mighty fine work against insurgent bombers last year." He wondered why the JTF, whose missions in Afghanistan the Canadian military has adamantly refused to comment on, had not received more media attention in Canada [emphasis added].

Gen. McNeill was also full of praise for Canada's top general, Rick Hillier.

"He is a skilled dude isn't he?" he said. "It is more than just speaking to the Canadian people. I doubt there is a person in the Canadian uniform today who has not clearly heard where he wants to go and I doubt you can find anyone in a Canadian uniform who doesn't want to get there with him."

While acknowledging that the Marines would assist the Canadians in Kandahar, he cautioned they also likely would be involved in fighting elsewhere in the south, too, and possibly even in the east of the country where the U.S. army [oops!] has responsibility [emphasis added].

"I would ask that you be understanding of me when I tell you that I won't play all the cards in my hand," he said, in explaining why he could not divulge more of the Marine's part in his evolving battle plan. "The insurgents read our papers just as closely as we do."

Among the possibilities was to have the Marines support British troops who have been involved in heavy fighting at, what Gen. McNeill called "the door that leads to Kandahar."

Wherever the Marines go in the coming months, the four-star general said he expected they would add a new dimension to the battle.

"They are bringing a number of the things that I have said clearly and consistently that NATO has failed to resource here -- numbers of soldiers, flying machines and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance platforms."

After revealing that he had become a close reader of Canadian media reports, Gen. McNeill said he took strong exception to some media assessments in Canada that the war in Afghanistan had become a "mission impossible."

"I believe that those who utter such things have not considered the facts," he said.

After Operation Medusa, which was undertaken by battle groups led by the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry and the Royal Canadian Regiment during the summer and fall of 2006 "the media was replete with (stories of) Taliban being resurgent and coming back," McNeill said. "But it looks like that didn't happen. It looks like the force to recognize on the battlefield last year was NATO and its Afghan allies and the brothers from OEF . . .

"The only thing they (the Taliban) accomplished in 2007 was to stay in the newspapers (through IED attacks and suicide bombings). They did not accomplish that much on the battlefield. [emphasis added]"

One of the reasons Gen. McNeill felt progress had been made since he took command about one year ago was the growing number of IEDs -- the cause of most Canadian and NATO casualties in Afghanistan -- being discovered...

Another positive was that coalition forces had "had much success in disrupting (the Taliban's) command and control and it resulted in killing a lot of (their) low- to mid- and high-level leadership [emphasis added] and that has had an effect on the battlefield in the south and the east. There has been some of that in Kandahar and there will be a few more of it in Kandahar. I will make that prediction."

An area were there had been "some dramatic improvements in past year" had been in the east of the country [emphasis added], Gen. McNeill said. This had been achieved by doubling the number of U.S. troops there and by "generous" discretionary funds the U.S. Congress had allocated for American commanders to spend, he said...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found March 13, 2008

Charter does not apply to Afghan detainees: ruling
Updated Wed. Mar. 12 2008 8:24 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

Canada's Federal Court has rejected Amnesty International's bid to have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply to Afghan detainees captured by Canadian soldiers.

Justice Anne McTavish ruled that Afghan detainees do have rights under the Afghan constitution and international law, but they do not have rights under the Canadian Charter.

"(The court has) accepted the government's arguments. We are obviously very pleased about that," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in question period.

Amnesty International had hoped to stop Canada from transferring prisoners to Afghan authorities. The move followed reports that some detainees were being tortured by the Afghans.

A lawyer for the group said troops are complicit in abuse if they know prisoners could be harmed by local authorities.

"If the Canadian Forces are aware that individuals they are handing over are likely to be tortured, or at risk of being tortured, they are complicit in the act," lawyer Paul Champ told CTV's Mike Duffy Live on Wednesday.
More on link

A Look at Life and Death in Kandahar
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Article Link

Opinions are flying these days about Canada’s role in Afghanistan. With today's news of the death of Bombardier Jérémie Ouellet, 22, of Manitoba's Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, the number of Canada's dead reached 81. Maybe the chatter isn’t surprising as Parliament votes tomorrow (March 13) on a motion put forth by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to extend Canada’s mission in the war zone from February 2009 to 2011.

It’s likely the motion will pass… If you want some insight into what that means to those living the life, tune in tonight to Life and Death in Kandahar, Gillian Findlay’s compelling and remarkable report on the fifth estate at 8 PM, or screen it at cbc.ca. It's a 44-minute documentary about the Canadian-run military hospital at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, the largest NATO facility of its type.

Full disclosure: Though I screen all material with a conscious eye to objectivity, I took particular care to check my own reactions to this piece. A career military man and member of the Canadian army medical corps (above, the late Sergeant-Major Michael J. Cunningham) raised me. I thought all kids grew up with somebody who rushed into the street with an army-issued medical kit anytime a kid scraped his knee or bonked her head.

Life and Death in Kandahar is riveting. Findlay and her four-member crew spent four weeks (in January 2008) filming at the trauma hospital at KAF, as the soldiers call it. The fifth estate crew was afforded full cooperation by the military and 24/7 access to the hospital's emergency and critical care bays, where patients classified as "alphas, bravos and charlies" are triaged and treated for things like blast wounds caused by car bombs and other explosives (called IEDs). IEDs have taken more Canadian lives than combat injuries in Afghanistan.

Findlay's piece offers an unflinching and unprecedented look at what war looks like:

It looks like a bloody, critically wounded 24-year-old soldier from Quebec; like army nurse Captain Rhonda Crew, choppering into the field on an evacuation mission; or like a flag-draped coffin being transported by APC to a farewell ramp ceremony. And tragically, it also looks like the horribly scorched face of an eight-year-old Afghan boy wounded by an explosion.
More on link

Memo To The NDP : Wars Are Expensive
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Article Link

Another reason why Jim Flaherty should not have run us down to the knife's edge in his latest budget is the recent report that Canada is overbudget in Afghanistan. Montreal's La Presse has indicated that the 2007-08 budget for Afghanistan is $1 billion overbudget based on estimates which cannot be confirmed yet. But before we start moaning and crying about the numbers, let's consider for a moment the cost overruns. Documents obtained under Access to Information indicate the mission has only cost $7.5 billion since 2001, and $538 million more over the first half of this fiscal year than expected. Personally, I think that's absolutely cheap. That Canada has managed to effectively participate in a war zone for next to nothing speaks volumes about the strength of our troops. And it's not like the government is buying lollipops and candy canes, for God's sake. For instance:

The Defence Department says the projected budget for the Afghanistan mission through 2009 was $4.5 billion, but was adjusted to $5 billion because of the additional equipment purchased to protect soldiers. It says the increase does not count as a cost overrun.

They can spent $10 billion extra, for all I care, if it means the Army can participate more effectively in the arena of combat, and return with the troops intact. But then again, we're not talking about $10 billion more, we're talking about being $1 billion over-budget. And much of it has to do with the Department of Defense scrambling to shore up the requirements of staying in Afghanistan under the recommended terms of the Manley Report:

"So we can't send the Salvation Army in. We've got to send the Canadian army in and they've got to be equipped and capable and able to do the job, but if that's all we do ... this will not end happily."
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Afghan unrest kills five civilians, NATO soldiers wounded
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — Bomb blasts struck two NATO convoys in Afghanistan Wednesday, wounding four foreign soldiers, while five civilians were killed in separate extremist-linked unrest, officials said.

In an attack claimed by Taliban insurgents, a suicide car bomb struck a Canadian armoured vehicle driving through the southern city of Kandahar, the Canadian military said.

An Afghan man was killed, his body badly burned by the blast, which also set a house alight, and at least one civilian was wounded, witnesses and officials said.

A Canadian soldier with NATO's International Security Assistance Force was also injured, said ISAF spokesman Captain Mark Gough.

"It was a suicide car bomb attack against a Canadian convoy.... One military vehicle was damaged," said another ISAF spokesman, Captain Fraser Clark.
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Women and children killed in Afghanistan by British air strike
By John Bingham Thursday, 13 March 2008
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Two women and two children were killed in an air strike called in by British forces in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said. It is understood that the incident in Helmand Province took place after British troops had called in air support to help extricate them from a Taliban ambush at an undisclosed location in the southern part of the war-ravaged province.

The four bodies were found alongside one injured civilian as soldiers went to inspect the area.

The MoD said in a statement yesterday: "We can confirm UK forces were involved in an operation in the south of Helmand Province. We deeply regret that this incident happened and do everything we can to mitigate this from happening. This incident is currently under investigation and it would be inappropriate for us to comment."

The tragedy highlights the responsibility on the shoulders of British forward air controllers – the role filled by Prince Harry until he was forced to return from his posting in Afghanistan less than two weeks ago.
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Troops in Afghanistan bid farewell to comrade
Updated Wed. Mar. 12 2008 5:19 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
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The remains of another Canadian soldier are on the way home from Afghanistan, though few details have been released about the circumstances of his death.

Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet, 22, was found dead in his sleeping quarters at Kandahar Airfield on Tuesday, within just weeks of his arrival to Afghanistan.

On Wednesday during a sombre ramp ceremony his flag-draped coffin was loaded on a Canadian transport flight for the trip home.

Military officials have said Ouellet's death was not combat related, but few other details have been released -- a fact that Maj. Pierre Bergeron, the senior chaplain for soldiers in Afghanistan, touched on during the ceremony.
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Pakistan army: Shell fired by US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan kills 4 Pakistanis
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani army says an artillery shell fired by U.S.-led coalition forces in neighboring Afghanistan has killed four Pakistanis across the border.

An Army spokesman says five artillery shells fired by coalition forces against militants in Afghanistan strayed into Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region Wednesday. One shell hit a house, killing two women and two children.

Pakistan shares a long border with Afghanistan and has protested incidents of coalition fire landing in its territory in the past.
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41 Taliban Killed in South Afghanistan
By AMIR SHAH
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan and international forces killed 41 Taliban militants in a battle in southern Afghanistan, and a suicide car bomb attack on a convoy of U.S. troops left six Afghan civilians dead in Kabul, U.S. and Afghan officials said Thursday.

None of the four American troops traveling in the two armored vehicles of the convoy was badly wounded in the Thursday attack, said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. forces. The troops were traveling in one SUV and one truck, he said.

Six Afghan civilians were killed and up to 20 others wounded in the blast, Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal said. The attacker was driving a white Toyota Corolla, he said, a favorite among suicide car bombers.

In a mobile phone text message to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the suicide bomber as Abdullah.

The suicide car bomb turned into a fiery hull that burned on the main airport road long after the attack, which also damaged several other vehicles.

U.S. troops and international security contractors surrounded the area after the blast.
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[GAP]

Suicide blast kills six in Kabul
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KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber rammed his sedan into a convoy carrying U.S. troops near the Kabul airport Thursday, killing at least six civilians and wounding 18 others, authorities said.

Four American troops who were part of the convoy suffered "scratches," in the explosion, said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. forces.

The attack occurred near a bus stop during the morning rush hour, said Kabul Police Chief Salim Asas.

In recent months, Afghanistan has seen a surge in deadly attacks targeting police officials and American and coalition forces.

In January, two suicide bombers and several gunmen in police uniforms attacked a luxury hotel in Kabul. A Norwegian journalist was killed, along with at least seven other people, in the brazen attack on Serena Hotel. Norway's foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, was in the hotel at the time and escaped unhurt.

Afghan officials blame the attacks on the Taliban, the Muslim militia that once ruled most of Afghanistan before the United States invaded the country, routed them and installed a new government six and a half years ago.

Last month the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said a resurgent Taliban has regained control of between 10 and 11 percent of Afghanistan.
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