Articles found May 13, 2010
Fungus hits Afghan opium poppies
By Bethany Bell BBC News, Vienna
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US soldiers on patrol near a poppy field in Shahwali Kot district, Kandahar, 11 May
A fungal disease is thought to have infected 50% of the country's poppy crop
A serious disease is affecting opium poppies in Afghanistan, Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has said.
Mr Costa told the BBC that this year's opium production could be reduced by a quarter, compared with last year.
He said the disease - a fungus - is thought to have infected about half of the country's poppy crop. Afghanistan produces 92% of the world's opium.
Mr Costa said opium prices had gone up by around 50% in the region.
That could have an impact on revenues for insurgent groups like the Taliban which have large stockpiles of opium, he added.
The fungus attacks the root of the plant, climbs up the stem and makes the opium capsule wither away.
It was affecting poppies in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, the heartland of opium cultivation and the insurgency in Afghanistan, he said.
Nato 'blamed'
Some local farmers believe Nato troops are responsible for the outbreak, but Mr Costa denied that this was the case.
"I don't see any reasons to believe something of that sort," he said. "Opium plants have been affected in Afghanistan on a periodic basis."
Mr Costa also said this was an opportunity for the international community to bring in support to try to persuade farmers to turn away from planting opium.
He said the amount of opium produced by one hectare (2.47 acres) had almost doubled to 56kg (123lb) in the five years to 2009.
"Nature really played in favour of the opium economy; this year, we see the opposite situation," he added.
Mr Costa said that farmers now grew opium poppies in only five or six Afghan provinces, as opposed to all 34 five years ago.
end
Total Force Airlift Delivering in Afghanistan
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CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan – At a place where Operation Moshtarek, a NATO-Afghan joint offensive involving 15,000 Afghan, Canadian, American and British troops is still in full swing, military aircraft come in like clockwork.
Story by Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson Date: 05.12.2010 Posted: 05.12.2010 09:43
Airmen from across the force are showing the power of combat airlift and delivering supplies to warfighters on the frontlines of freedom in Afghanistan.
"MATVs are one of the most common things we deliver here," said Lt. Col. Melissa Coburm, a C-17 Globemaster III pilot from the 732nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan. "I feel important bringing better technology to our troops on the ground. It is good to know that we're making a difference," added the Colonel who is a reservist deployed from McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
Airlift keeps Airmen from the 451st Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron's Detachment 1 here busy. The unit's air traffic operations center and ramp operations have uploaded and downloaded more than 40,000 short-tons of cargo from almost 3,000 aircraft moving in and out of the airfield here since January 1. Moving cargo off of airframes such as C-17 Globemaster IIIs, C-130 Hercules, Russian-made IL-76s and DC-8s, aerial port Airmen are ensuring Coalition Forces get equipment and supplies they need.
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The Dutch, it seems, are having second thoughts. Will we?
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
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For more than a year now, the Canadian government has been relying on the Dutch to help ease our own military exit from Afghanistan next year.
The Dutch are scheduled to start pulling out this fall, nine months ahead of us, and have been seen as a comforting advance guard.
But when Canadians officials, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, were in Holland last week for the Second World War ceremonies, they were clearly told that the Dutch may now dodge such a controversial advance role.
In fact, there is now growing sentiment that the Netherlands will leave behind military or police trainers, along with hundreds of combat troops to protect them.
In other words, the Dutch will do what Harper is adamant Canada won't — bow to urgent appeals from NATO and especially Washington for a continued military presence in Afghanistan.
So polite
This Dutch shuffle at the door — "No, after you, Canada" — will now leave our government as the only alliance member planning to completely abandon the current fight.
It also brings with it a chilling message for our prime minister: that the Dutch are clearly concerned about some kind of NATO-wide opprobrium cascading down on those nations who want to leave the battlefield at this critical juncture.
After all, this change of heart is really quite dramatic (and likely disappointing for Harper). It was only this spring that the Dutch coalition government fell upon the suggestion that the Afghan mission be continued.
Labour bolted the coalition with the Christian Democrat's Jan Peter Balkenende in protest, and an election was set for early June.
But the conservative Balkenende is now trying to build new alliances to return him to power and the biggest surprise in recent days is that both the Green party and a moderate liberal alliance known as D66 have reversed themselves and now favour a significant Dutch training mission backed by hundreds of combat troops.
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Returning troops see 'real progress' in Afghanistan
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By RICHARD LIEBRECHT Edmonton Sun Last Updated: May 12, 2010
Improving conditions in Afghanistan have bolstered the spirits of Edmonton’s latest returning soldiers.
“This rotation, I can definitely say I’ve seen an improvement in how the local nationals treat us over there. More children waving at us, less rocks being thrown at us,” said Cpl. Beau Smith, arriving home at Edmonton International Airport Wednesday evening.
Lt. Col. Jerry Walsh added a broader perspective.
“My soldiers tell me, they say sir, this is the hardest tour I’ve been on, but it’s the first tour we’ve seen real progress in Afghanistan. Where people did not live, they’re now living, and we’re talking about tens of thousands. It’s a real change.”
After seven months abroad, 92 Edmonton-based soldiers returned from Afghanistan.
Among them were members of Canada’s battle group and some soldiers who helped train the Afghan National Army.
It was the first tour for Cpl. Michael Hosken, who patrolled urban roads and Canadian installations.
Hosken said the mission was so quiet he wished he saw some more action.
“It was a lot of IEDs, that’s what it turned out to be. A lot of IEDs and not a lot of firefights,” he said.
Overall, it was an experience low in danger but high in reward.
“There are a lot of good things going on,” he said.
His troopmates were able to occupy one town through his entire tour.
“We’re providing a stable life they haven’t had in a long time,” said Hosken.
Walsh said there’s a sense that the mission in Afghanistan is clicking like never before.
“There’s no question there’s still a lot of work to be done. But what we’ve set in motion, and when I say we I mean ... the Afghans themselves, NATO, military, civilians, all the NGOs, everyone coming together now with a real focus and things are really coming together like they haven’t been in previous years,” he said.
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Afghan officer did not suggest shooting prisoner, diplomat says
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Steven Chase
Ottawa — Globe and Mail Update Published on Wednesday, May. 12, 2010 12:37PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, May. 12, 2010 5:54PM EDT
A Canadian diplomat is denying an allegation by a former military interpreter that he transferred a prisoner to Afghanistan’s notorious intelligence service even after it proposed executing the detainee.
Ed Jager, a Foreign Affairs officer, featured prominently in troubling allegations leveled by a former military translator last month.
Ahmadshah Malgarai, whose former Canadian Forces codename was “Pasha,” told MPs in April that he was present in the summer of 2007 when a colonel with Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security refused to take an ill captive and suggested shooting him instead.
Mr. Malgarai said Mr. Jager was there when this happened. But Mr. Jager told the Military Police Complaints Commission Wednesday he doesn’t recall such an incident.
“No ... I can say so categorically,” he told the commission hearings, which are probing allegations that Canadian soldiers knowingly handed over Afghan captives to torture at the hands of local interrogators.
Mr. Jager, who served as a political adviser in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008, is now posted to Brazil and was flown back by Foreign Affairs to attend the commission hearings.
It’s the second significant allegation made by Mr. Malgarai that the Canadian government has rejected. Last month Canada’s top soldier, Chief of the Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk, denied the ex-interpreter’s charge the military shot an unarmed teen in the back of the head during a raid.
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Ex-Liberal defence minister says 2005 Afghan prisoner deal was best available
Published On Thu May 13 2010
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Former Liberal defence minister Bill Graham says a flawed 2005 agreement on the transfer of Canadian detainees to the Afghans was better than no deal and dismissed suggestions torture was a big concern at the time.
“In the end the agreement was not perfect . . . but it was the best we could do at the time,” Graham told an all-party parliamentary committee. The panel is looking into whether the Conservative government transferred prisoners knowing there a chance of them being tortured or sexually abused.
Graham told the committee that for one thing, there was no monitoring provision in place to follow up on the welfare of Canadian prisoners turned over to Afghan authorities.
“It was not . . . evident to us that there was such a substantial risk” of torture, said Graham, defence minister from 2004 to 2006. Even so, he added, the government and its officials had decided it was the Afghans’ responsibility once the deal was signed to see that prisoners were not abused.
“I cannot honestly say that we foresaw all of that at the time. We didn’t or we might have acted differently.”
The 2005 agreement was replaced with a new agreement in 2007.
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Fungus hits Afghan opium poppies
By Bethany Bell BBC News, Vienna
Article Link
US soldiers on patrol near a poppy field in Shahwali Kot district, Kandahar, 11 May
A fungal disease is thought to have infected 50% of the country's poppy crop
A serious disease is affecting opium poppies in Afghanistan, Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has said.
Mr Costa told the BBC that this year's opium production could be reduced by a quarter, compared with last year.
He said the disease - a fungus - is thought to have infected about half of the country's poppy crop. Afghanistan produces 92% of the world's opium.
Mr Costa said opium prices had gone up by around 50% in the region.
That could have an impact on revenues for insurgent groups like the Taliban which have large stockpiles of opium, he added.
The fungus attacks the root of the plant, climbs up the stem and makes the opium capsule wither away.
It was affecting poppies in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, the heartland of opium cultivation and the insurgency in Afghanistan, he said.
Nato 'blamed'
Some local farmers believe Nato troops are responsible for the outbreak, but Mr Costa denied that this was the case.
"I don't see any reasons to believe something of that sort," he said. "Opium plants have been affected in Afghanistan on a periodic basis."
Mr Costa also said this was an opportunity for the international community to bring in support to try to persuade farmers to turn away from planting opium.
He said the amount of opium produced by one hectare (2.47 acres) had almost doubled to 56kg (123lb) in the five years to 2009.
"Nature really played in favour of the opium economy; this year, we see the opposite situation," he added.
Mr Costa said that farmers now grew opium poppies in only five or six Afghan provinces, as opposed to all 34 five years ago.
end
Total Force Airlift Delivering in Afghanistan
Article Link
CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan – At a place where Operation Moshtarek, a NATO-Afghan joint offensive involving 15,000 Afghan, Canadian, American and British troops is still in full swing, military aircraft come in like clockwork.
Story by Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson Date: 05.12.2010 Posted: 05.12.2010 09:43
Airmen from across the force are showing the power of combat airlift and delivering supplies to warfighters on the frontlines of freedom in Afghanistan.
"MATVs are one of the most common things we deliver here," said Lt. Col. Melissa Coburm, a C-17 Globemaster III pilot from the 732nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan. "I feel important bringing better technology to our troops on the ground. It is good to know that we're making a difference," added the Colonel who is a reservist deployed from McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
Airlift keeps Airmen from the 451st Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron's Detachment 1 here busy. The unit's air traffic operations center and ramp operations have uploaded and downloaded more than 40,000 short-tons of cargo from almost 3,000 aircraft moving in and out of the airfield here since January 1. Moving cargo off of airframes such as C-17 Globemaster IIIs, C-130 Hercules, Russian-made IL-76s and DC-8s, aerial port Airmen are ensuring Coalition Forces get equipment and supplies they need.
More on link
The Dutch, it seems, are having second thoughts. Will we?
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Article Link
For more than a year now, the Canadian government has been relying on the Dutch to help ease our own military exit from Afghanistan next year.
The Dutch are scheduled to start pulling out this fall, nine months ahead of us, and have been seen as a comforting advance guard.
But when Canadians officials, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, were in Holland last week for the Second World War ceremonies, they were clearly told that the Dutch may now dodge such a controversial advance role.
In fact, there is now growing sentiment that the Netherlands will leave behind military or police trainers, along with hundreds of combat troops to protect them.
In other words, the Dutch will do what Harper is adamant Canada won't — bow to urgent appeals from NATO and especially Washington for a continued military presence in Afghanistan.
So polite
This Dutch shuffle at the door — "No, after you, Canada" — will now leave our government as the only alliance member planning to completely abandon the current fight.
It also brings with it a chilling message for our prime minister: that the Dutch are clearly concerned about some kind of NATO-wide opprobrium cascading down on those nations who want to leave the battlefield at this critical juncture.
After all, this change of heart is really quite dramatic (and likely disappointing for Harper). It was only this spring that the Dutch coalition government fell upon the suggestion that the Afghan mission be continued.
Labour bolted the coalition with the Christian Democrat's Jan Peter Balkenende in protest, and an election was set for early June.
But the conservative Balkenende is now trying to build new alliances to return him to power and the biggest surprise in recent days is that both the Green party and a moderate liberal alliance known as D66 have reversed themselves and now favour a significant Dutch training mission backed by hundreds of combat troops.
More on link
Returning troops see 'real progress' in Afghanistan
Article Link
By RICHARD LIEBRECHT Edmonton Sun Last Updated: May 12, 2010
Improving conditions in Afghanistan have bolstered the spirits of Edmonton’s latest returning soldiers.
“This rotation, I can definitely say I’ve seen an improvement in how the local nationals treat us over there. More children waving at us, less rocks being thrown at us,” said Cpl. Beau Smith, arriving home at Edmonton International Airport Wednesday evening.
Lt. Col. Jerry Walsh added a broader perspective.
“My soldiers tell me, they say sir, this is the hardest tour I’ve been on, but it’s the first tour we’ve seen real progress in Afghanistan. Where people did not live, they’re now living, and we’re talking about tens of thousands. It’s a real change.”
After seven months abroad, 92 Edmonton-based soldiers returned from Afghanistan.
Among them were members of Canada’s battle group and some soldiers who helped train the Afghan National Army.
It was the first tour for Cpl. Michael Hosken, who patrolled urban roads and Canadian installations.
Hosken said the mission was so quiet he wished he saw some more action.
“It was a lot of IEDs, that’s what it turned out to be. A lot of IEDs and not a lot of firefights,” he said.
Overall, it was an experience low in danger but high in reward.
“There are a lot of good things going on,” he said.
His troopmates were able to occupy one town through his entire tour.
“We’re providing a stable life they haven’t had in a long time,” said Hosken.
Walsh said there’s a sense that the mission in Afghanistan is clicking like never before.
“There’s no question there’s still a lot of work to be done. But what we’ve set in motion, and when I say we I mean ... the Afghans themselves, NATO, military, civilians, all the NGOs, everyone coming together now with a real focus and things are really coming together like they haven’t been in previous years,” he said.
More on link
Afghan officer did not suggest shooting prisoner, diplomat says
Article Link
Steven Chase
Ottawa — Globe and Mail Update Published on Wednesday, May. 12, 2010 12:37PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, May. 12, 2010 5:54PM EDT
A Canadian diplomat is denying an allegation by a former military interpreter that he transferred a prisoner to Afghanistan’s notorious intelligence service even after it proposed executing the detainee.
Ed Jager, a Foreign Affairs officer, featured prominently in troubling allegations leveled by a former military translator last month.
Ahmadshah Malgarai, whose former Canadian Forces codename was “Pasha,” told MPs in April that he was present in the summer of 2007 when a colonel with Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security refused to take an ill captive and suggested shooting him instead.
Mr. Malgarai said Mr. Jager was there when this happened. But Mr. Jager told the Military Police Complaints Commission Wednesday he doesn’t recall such an incident.
“No ... I can say so categorically,” he told the commission hearings, which are probing allegations that Canadian soldiers knowingly handed over Afghan captives to torture at the hands of local interrogators.
Mr. Jager, who served as a political adviser in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008, is now posted to Brazil and was flown back by Foreign Affairs to attend the commission hearings.
It’s the second significant allegation made by Mr. Malgarai that the Canadian government has rejected. Last month Canada’s top soldier, Chief of the Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk, denied the ex-interpreter’s charge the military shot an unarmed teen in the back of the head during a raid.
More on link
Ex-Liberal defence minister says 2005 Afghan prisoner deal was best available
Published On Thu May 13 2010
Article Link
Former Liberal defence minister Bill Graham says a flawed 2005 agreement on the transfer of Canadian detainees to the Afghans was better than no deal and dismissed suggestions torture was a big concern at the time.
“In the end the agreement was not perfect . . . but it was the best we could do at the time,” Graham told an all-party parliamentary committee. The panel is looking into whether the Conservative government transferred prisoners knowing there a chance of them being tortured or sexually abused.
Graham told the committee that for one thing, there was no monitoring provision in place to follow up on the welfare of Canadian prisoners turned over to Afghan authorities.
“It was not . . . evident to us that there was such a substantial risk” of torture, said Graham, defence minister from 2004 to 2006. Even so, he added, the government and its officials had decided it was the Afghans’ responsibility once the deal was signed to see that prisoners were not abused.
“I cannot honestly say that we foresaw all of that at the time. We didn’t or we might have acted differently.”
The 2005 agreement was replaced with a new agreement in 2007.
More on link
