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Officials: Aviation brigade going to Afghanistan
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer – Fri Dec 19, 4:18 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates has approved the deployment of a combat aviation brigade to Afghanistan early next year, as the military begins a substantial buildup of forces there.
Nine militants killed in Afghanistan: official
Sat Dec 20, 5:09 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Eight Taliban-linked militants were killed in a joint operation by Afghan and US-led forces in volatile southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Saturday.
Hutton compares Taliban to Nazis
Sat Dec 20, 5:21 am ET
LONDON (AFP) – Defence Secretary John Hutton compared the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to the Nazis and said Western forces faced a long fight to defeat insurgents in Afghanistan, in an interview on Saturday.
Czech lawmakers do not extend Afghanistan mission
By KAREL JANICEK, Associated Press Writer – Fri Dec 19, 3:08 pm ET
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – The lower chamber of Czech parliament has failed to extend a mandate for the deployment of the country's troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other foreign missions for next year, meaning the soldiers will leave soon.
Three Danish soldiers die in Afghanistan: Denmark
Fri Dec 19, 10:01 pm ET
COPENHAGEN (AFP) – Three Danish soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan have been killed and one injured when their vehicle was hit by an explosion in southern Helmand province, according to the Danish military.
Taliban chief proposes formula to end crisis in Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-20 15:22:08
KABUL, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Taliban elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has forwarded a formula to end conflicts and bring about peace in his war-torn country, a local newspaper reported Saturday.
Afghan delegation in Tehran
Tehran, Dec 20, IRNA
A 80 member high-ranking Afghan delegation arrived in Tehran on Saturday.
Afghanistan on track to be lost cause: general
Jonathan Pearlman and Phillip Coorey Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - December 20, 2008
AUSTRALIA should prepare to deploy up to 6000 troops to Afghanistan and lobby for greater commitment to a war that the US-led forces are on track to lose, says a retired Australian general, Jim Molan.
Karzai Must Fight Graft to Secure Afghan Democracy, UN Says
By Michael Heath
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai must fight graft to strengthen democracy in the nation that is ranked among the world’s most corrupt, a United Nations envoy said.
Obama urged to act swiftly on Afghan crisis
Thu Dec 18, 6:15 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The incoming Barack Obama administration will inherit an urgent crisis in Afghanistan and must increase U.S. and NATO troop levels there while enlarging the Afghan army, a U.S. think tank recommended on Thursday.
Romanian border guards intercept lorry with Afghan refugees
Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:23:59 GMT
Bucharest - Romanian border police intercepted a lorry seeking to smuggle 21 Afghan refugees, the news agency Mediafax reported Friday in Bucharest. The agency said border guards stopped the lorry at the Romanian
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Officials: Aviation brigade going to Afghanistan
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer – Fri Dec 19, 4:18 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates has approved the deployment of a combat aviation brigade to Afghanistan early next year, as the military begins a substantial buildup of forces there.
The decision will send close to 3,000 additional U.S. forces into the country and will begin to meet an urgent need for combat and transport helicopters, senior defense officials said Friday.
They said that further announcements about the deployment of more ground troops — including Army or Marine combat units — are expected early next year. Officials declined to identify the combat aviation brigade because family members are only now being notified of the deployment.
Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces, has asked for at least 20,000 more troops to combat the escalating violence, particularly in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployment has not yet been announced.
Gates signed the order Thursday, just days after he returned from a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq, where he met with his top military leaders. During the stop in Afghanistan, Gates reaffirmed his commitment to meet McKiernan's request for more troops.
Officials acknowledge it will take time to get the four combat brigades and thousands of support troops to Afghanistan, as requested by McKiernan. The combat aviation brigade is expected to deploy in early spring.
En route to Afghanistan last week, Gates said that the Pentagon is moving to get three of the four combat brigades into Afghanistan by late spring or early summer. The combat aviation brigade, which includes Apache attack helicopters, as well as Black Hawk and Chinook aircraft, is considered a support force and does not fill the need for four combat brigades.
A key need in Afghanistan is medical evacuation aircraft, and these helicopters would address that.
There are currently 31,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, including 14,000 with the NATO-led coalition and 17,000 fighting insurgents and training Afghan forces.
When the additional forces requested by McKiernan are in place, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will climb to more than 50,000.
"This is a long fight, and I think we're in it until we are successful along with the Afghan people," Gates said late last week, during his visit to Kandahar to meet with McKiernan. "I do believe there will be a requirement for sustained commitment here for some protracted period of time. How many years that is and how many troops that is I think nobody knows at this point."
He and McKiernan said a key goal in the coming years is to build up the Afghan security forces. McKiernan told reporters that it will be at least three or four years before the Afghan forces are capable of operating more independently.
Officials have indicated that the bulk of the added U.S. combat brigades will be sent to the southern region, but the aviation brigade probably will operate all over the country. A combat brigade includes roughly 3,500 troops, while aviation brigades are a bit smaller.
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Nine militants killed in Afghanistan: official
Sat Dec 20, 5:09 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Eight Taliban-linked militants were killed in a joint operation by Afghan and US-led forces in volatile southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Saturday.
The rebels were killed on Friday in Helmand province, which sees some of the worst violence of the insurgency waged by Taliban fighters since the hardline movement was ousted from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
Most of the districts in Helmand are said to be under the control of the rebels. The province is also Afghanistan's primary opium-growing region.
"In a joint operation by Afghan national police, national army and coalition forces in Helmand... eight of the enemies of peace and stability were killed," the interior ministry said in a statement.
Five other militants were wounded in the battle in Nad Ali district, it added.
Elsewhere in the province, one rebel was killed when a bomb he was planting alongside a road exploded prematurely, the ministry said.
More than 70,000 international troops are deployed in Afghanistan to help Kabul quell insurgent violence, which has claimed thousands of lives and hindered the internationally-backed reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.
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Hutton compares Taliban to Nazis
Sat Dec 20, 5:21 am ET
LONDON (AFP) – Defence Secretary John Hutton compared the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to the Nazis and said Western forces faced a long fight to defeat insurgents in Afghanistan, in an interview on Saturday.
Hutton told The Times that troops in the violence-scarred country were defending British values in the same way they did in World War II.
"We know that we must tackle the threat at source, it is not just going to go away," he said.
"It is a struggle against fanatics that may not challenge our borders but challenges our way of life in the same way the Nazis did."
After Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed on Thursday that most British forces would pull out of Iraq by the end of July next year, Hutton said troops would be in Afghanistan for the long haul.
"We will stay there as long as is necessary to secure all of our objectives -- it's going to be years," the minister said.
His words hint at the government's willingness to add more troops to its existing 8,000-strong contingent in Afghanistan, where fighting against a resurgent Taliban has cost the lives of 134 servicemen.
Hutton said: "The key thing now is not that the Taliban or Al-Qaeda can defeat us in Afghanistan, their tactic is to outlast us.
"That's what we've got to deal with. That's the nature of this counter-insurgency operation... It doesn't lend itself to instantaneous results.
"This is a very complex, challenging environment for us to be operating in."
British troops are mainly based in the southern province of Helmand, which has seen some of the worst Taliban attacks.
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Czech lawmakers do not extend Afghanistan mission
By KAREL JANICEK, Associated Press Writer – Fri Dec 19, 3:08 pm ET
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – The lower chamber of Czech parliament has failed to extend a mandate for the deployment of the country's troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other foreign missions for next year, meaning the soldiers will leave soon.
The mandate for as many as 415 Czech servicemen serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and for another unit of 100 elite troops with the U.S.-led operation against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, expires by the year's end.
"I am ashamed of the vote," Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said.
Topolanek said later Friday the government used its constitutional rights and delayed the troops' return home by 60 days, starting Jan 1.
"It is a serious situation," Czech military chief of general staff Lt. Gen. Vlastimil Picek said. "It is a very bad signal for our partners," he said.
Of the 192 lawmakers present in the 200-seat house, only 99 deputies voted to extend the deployment by one more year and to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by another 230 soldiers. The governing coalition needed 101 to win.
Seventy-five deputies voted against the move, while 18 abstained.
The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 along with Hungary and Poland. They were the first three post-communist countries to do so.
The chamber's decision Friday means the end of all current foreign missions. The 550 troops deployed in the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo — the mission known as KFOR — will have to be withdrawn, as well five officers who were slated to train officers on Iraq for one more year.
The Czech Republic will also not make available next year 229 soldiers for NATO's rapid reaction force or NATO's Response Force and 1,800 more for an EU battle group unit.
Three Czech service members have died in Afghanistan.
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Three Danish soldiers die in Afghanistan: Denmark
Fri Dec 19, 10:01 pm ET
COPENHAGEN (AFP) – Three Danish soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan have been killed and one injured when their vehicle was hit by an explosion in southern Helmand province, according to the Danish military.
"Three Danish soldiers... in the Danish battalion were killed and one was injured on Friday afternoon when their armoured vehicle drove over a roadside bomb or mine," the military said in a statement.
The blast occurred near the town of Gereshk. The injured soldier was transported to a field hospital at Camp Bastion for treatment, the military added.
The deaths bring to 21 the number of Danish troops killed in the country since Copenhagen deployed soldiers there as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in 2001 -- one of the highest per-capita death tolls among coalition forces.
"It is a sad day for Denmark," Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen declared, saying he was "deeply touched" by the deaths of three soldiers in "the fight to assure the safety and better living conditions of others."
He said in a statement: "My thoughts go out to the families of the victims and their comrades in Afghanistan," paying homage to the Danish soldiers in that country who "are contributing through their efforts to the hope of many people, and who deserve our respect and support."
Denmark currently has some 700 troops in Afghanistan, most of whom are stationed in the Helmand province under British command.
Helmand sees some of the worst of the Taliban insurgency and most of its districts are said to be controlled by the rebels, despite the efforts of NATO troops.
Friday's deaths came just two weeks after two other Danish soldiers were killed on December 4 in clashes with enemy forces near Gereshk.
Those deaths came just a day after Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Defence Minister Soeren Gade toured the Gereshk district following a visit to Danish troops in Helmand.
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Taliban chief proposes formula to end crisis in Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-20 15:22:08
KABUL, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Taliban elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has forwarded a formula to end conflicts and bring about peace in his war-torn country, a local newspaper reported Saturday.
"Mullah Omar delivered his plan through Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz," daily Outlook quoted Iranian television channel Press TV as saying.
Without going into the details of the formula, the newspaper added that the adamant Taliban chief, contrary to the past, in the plan stressed for timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
"Peacekeeping troops from Muslim countries should replace the NATO and U.S. troops to ensure a smooth transition until the Afghans can reach a consensus government," Omar insisted in the formula, according to the newspaper.
Another demand made by Mullah Omar is about sharing power with the current Afghan regime as he also demanded the consolidation of the Taliban fighters into the Afghan army and amnesty for them.
Taliban spokespersons were not immediately available for comments.
Omar, who has not been seen in public since being ousting from power by U.S.-led troops in late 2001, had previously conditioned any talks with President Hamid karzai's government with the pullout of more than 70,000-strong international forces from Afghanistan.
With mediation of Saudi Arabian Kingdom, a meeting was held between Taliban and pro-government figures including some Afghan parliamentarians in Riyadh some three months ago.
President Karzai, besides appreciating the talks, called on Saudi Arabian leader to play a role in strengthening security in Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, the fugitive Taliban chief, whose name is among the wanted men by the United States, in the formula warned to intensify attacks on foreign troops if the White House sends additional troops to Afghanistan.
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Afghan delegation in Tehran
Tehran, Dec 20, IRNA
A 80 member high-ranking Afghan delegation arrived in Tehran on Saturday.
The Afghan delegation is going to participate in the first International Conference on Afghanistan Economic Reconstruction in Tehran.
The event will be held at Olympic Hotel in Tehran from December 22-24.
Some expert gatherings and exclusive meetings will be conducted on the sidelines of the conference.
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Afghanistan on track to be lost cause: general
Jonathan Pearlman and Phillip Coorey Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - December 20, 2008
AUSTRALIA should prepare to deploy up to 6000 troops to Afghanistan and lobby for greater commitment to a war that the US-led forces are on track to lose, says a retired Australian general, Jim Molan.
The call comes as Kevin Rudd, returning from the Middle East, told the Herald he had no plans to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan but was committed to the war and believed the Australians were making progress.
In an interview aboard his aircraft on the way back from Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates, he warned Australians should prepare for a long and protracted mission.
"I've always said we're in Afghanistan for the long haul, for a long time," he said. "We've got to be serious. It's tough, protracted work. We're of a mind to see it through in partnership with our friends and allies."
Molan, who spent 40 years in the military and is an expert on counter-insurgency, said the Federal Government had played down the need for a greater commitment and warned that the international forces were heading towards failure. In a paper that lays out a long-term blueprint for success in the seven-year-old war, he said the US-led forces needed to engage with the Taliban, work with Afghanistan's neighbours towards a Bosnia-style diplomatic agreement and further strengthen the Afghan police and army.
"Recent Australian deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are almost entirely political because they lack military logic," he said. "Australian troops are fighting well at the tactical level. If nothing changes, they will continue to perform brilliantly until we lose the war - like Vietnam."
Australia has about 1080 troops in Afghanistan.
Molan, a retired major general who served in Iraq as a commander of coalition forces, said Western governments had shown strong support for their troops but "seem ashamed of their commitment".
He said the Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, should pressure the military to prepare a force of 6000 troops by 2011, which would enhance its position to urge its coalition partners to bolster their commitments.
Mr Rudd yesterday appeared to lay down some markers on Afghanistan before a visit to Australia by the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, in February, and expected pressure from the US for Australia to increase its troops.
"We have no plans to increase troops … ," Mr Rudd said.
By 2011 Australia will have spent $600 million in aid for Afghanistan. In a gesture of intent, Mr Rudd will today announce $5 million to help Afghanistan hold presidential elections next year, including $3 million to help the Afghan Independent Election Commission try to sign up 2 million voters.
Following his visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday, Mr Rudd spent time in the United Arab Emirates, dining with the Crown Prince, Sheik Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and holding a separate meeting with the Vice- President, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
Australia is reportedly consolidating its entire Middle-East command structure and aircraft crews in a single secret base in the UAE. About 40 personnel from Baghdad have moved there to join 160 flight and ground crew staff for the two Orion surveillance aircraft stationed in the region. Personnel in Kuwait and Qatar, where the C-130 Hercules aircraft are stationed, are also expected to be shifted.
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Karzai Must Fight Graft to Secure Afghan Democracy, UN Says
By Michael Heath
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai must fight graft to strengthen democracy in the nation that is ranked among the world’s most corrupt, a United Nations envoy said.
“Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development,” Kai Eide said in Kabul at an event attended by the Afghan president and senior government ministers. “It means taking money away from the most needy, fuelling their frustration and anger.
A survey earlier this year by Integrity Watch Afghanistan found the average Afghan household pays about $100 in bribes each year, the UN said, adding about 70 percent of Afghans survive on less than $1 a day.
Karzai, who plans to seek re-election next year, has been accused of failing to address graft in his administration and tackle the opium trade that is helping finance the Taliban insurgency. Berlin-based Transparency International, an anti- graft group, said Afghanistan is perceived as one of the 10 most corrupt countries of 180 nations it studied last year.
Afghanistan provides more than 90 percent of the world’s supply of opium, the raw ingredient for heroin, and the Taliban will generate at least $100 million from this year’s opium crop, according to the UN.
Karzai in July denied allegations by former U.S. counter narcotics official Thomas Schweich that his government is reluctant to prosecute corrupt officials and drug lords for fear of losing political support.
State Credibility
Graft “undermines the credibility of the state by damaging its ability to provide basic services,” Eide said, according to a statement on the UN’s Web site yesterday. It must be fought “to ensure the confidence of Afghans in their future and the continued commitment of public opinion in donor countries.”
In June, Karzai asked for $50 billion in aid to rebuild the nation shattered by three decades of war at a conference of about 85 countries and aid groups. He proposed a five-year plan to develop Afghanistan’s infrastructure, build up its security forces, cut poverty and strengthen the rule of law.
International donors pledged at least $20 billion to Afghanistan at the meeting, half of it from the U.S.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks against Afghan troops and the 70,000 international soldiers deployed in the country.
The Taliban movement has a “permanent presence” in almost three-quarters of Afghanistan and is closing in on Kabul, according to the International Council on Security and Development, a Paris-based research organization.
The council, which has full-time offices in Afghanistan, said earlier this month Taliban fighters have advanced out of their bases in the south and east and are infiltrating the capital.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net.
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Obama urged to act swiftly on Afghan crisis
Thu Dec 18, 6:15 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The incoming Barack Obama administration will inherit an urgent crisis in Afghanistan and must increase U.S. and NATO troop levels there while enlarging the Afghan army, a U.S. think tank recommended on Thursday.
The security measures must be matched by efforts to build the rule of law and achieve sustained economic development in Afghanistan, and to boost security in neighboring Pakistan, the Washington-based Brookings Institution said.
The "memo to the president" by Brookings security expert Vanda Felbab-Brown painted a bleak picture of a growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, an al Qaeda stronghold in that country's mountainous border with Pakistan and of troubling Pakistani political and economic weakness.
"A complete state failure in Pakistan would generate a grave and severe crisis, as would any serious military confrontation between India and Pakistan," said the memo.
"Across the border in Afghanistan, failure against the Taliban would indicate how limited the United States and the international community can be in helping countries achieve security and development," it said.
Obama, who takes office on January 20, vowed during his election campaign to boost U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, convince NATO allies to increase their troop contributions and to press for better governance in Afghanistan.
There are 65,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including more than 30,000 from the United States, struggling to combat worsening insurgent violence.
Felbab-Brown wrote that Obama should step up counterinsurgency aid and training for the Pakistani military and undertake military action against major jihadist targets in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas only with great care to avoid civilian casualties.
Afghanistan needs U.S. help in expanding the Afghan National Army and reforming the Afghan National Police, said the memo, which urged targeting high-level drug traffickers.
The Obama administration should try to cultivate Afghan tribal leaders, but it would be a mistake to expect them to play a military role in the counterinsurgency. Beyond trying to demobilize individual fighters, efforts to negotiate with the Taliban "hold little promise of success," it said.
With promoting social and economic development critical to shoring up security and battling the opium trade, Obama's policy should bring improvements in infrastructure, irrigation and microcredit and job creation, said the memo.
Last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai, India, blamed on Pakistan-based militants, will likely put any peace talks between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan on hold, but "it is critical that your administration help the two countries de-escalate the current tensions and avoid a military confrontation or a proxy war," wrote Felbab-Brown.
(Reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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Romanian border guards intercept lorry with Afghan refugees
Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:23:59 GMT
Bucharest - Romanian border police intercepted a lorry seeking to smuggle 21 Afghan refugees, the news agency Mediafax reported Friday in Bucharest. The agency said border guards stopped the lorry at the Romanian- Hungarian border point of Nadlac. The lorry was on its way from Greece to Italy, where the Afghan refugees were aiming to enter the country illegally, the report said.
It said the 21 - all males aged between 12 and 22 years - were hidden in a secret compartment in the lorry's cargo hold. Officials began criminal investigations against the refugees, Mediafax said.
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