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Afghan leader slams deadly US-led raid
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai Friday slammed a US-led raid that locals said killed four members of a family as well as an unborn baby shot dead in its mother's womb.
U.S. military concedes Afghan civilian casualties
KABUL, April 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has conceded that troops under its command in Afghanistan killed a group of civilians in an operation this week, not militants as earlier reported.
US: 27 suspected insurgents killed in Afghanistan
By Fisnik Abrashi Associated Press April 10, 2009
KABUL – Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops killed 27 suspected insurgents in two separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Friday.
Six Afghan police killed in Taliban attack
April 10, 2009
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province Friday, killing six policemen and wounding another seven, the provincial government said.
Analysis: A weak gov't troubles Afghanistan at war
By Robert Burns, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 10, 4:22 am ET
WASHINGTON – Presidential emissary Richard Holbrooke soaked up a lot of advice during three days of private meetings in Afghanistan and Pakistan this week. The lament of an Afghan lawmaker crystallized the problems facing the U.S. and its ally.
Holbrooke reaches out to Hekmatyar
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / April 10, 2009
The recent meeting between a deputy of Richard Holbrooke, the United States special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and an emissary of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA),
Top US general meets tribes ahead of Afghan surge
By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 10, 7:32 am ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The top U.S. general in Afghanistan reached out to influential Afghan tribesmen in regions where U.S. troops will soon deploy, apologizing for past mistakes and saying he is now studying the Quran, the Muslim holy book.
Afghan Politician Links Corruption, Taliban Rebound
NPR
Morning Edition, April 10, 2009 · Ashraf Ghani, a likely candidate for the Afghan presidency, has been outspoken about his country's problem with corruption, which he says is a danger on par with the Taliban.
Obama seeks $83.4 bln more for Iraq, Afghanistan
Fri Apr 10, 3:46 AM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama is asking lawmakers for 83.4 billion dollars more to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through 2009, White House aides said Thursday.
Australian FM: No Afghanistan request yet from US
By Desmond Butler, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 9, 6:37 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Australia's foreign minister said Thursday that the United States did not ask for more troops for Afghanistan during annual talks among the foreign and defense ministers from the two countries.
120 more troops likely for Afghanistan
Bernard Lagan, Washington April 11, 2009 The Age Australia
AUSTRALIA is set to send more troops to Afghanistan — most likely about 120 — to help protect voters from attack when they go to the polls in August.
Double boost for Afghanistan ahead of key clash
by David Legge Fri Apr 10, 1:04 am ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Minnows Afghanistan received a twin boost ahead of a make-or-break 2011 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Super 8 clash against mighty Ireland in South Africa Saturday.
Pakistani, Afghan round on Obama war plan
by Jitendra Joshi – Thu Apr 9, 11:41 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's anti-terror escalation may not prove enough to break the back of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the Pakistani and Afghan envoys here have warned.
Explosive-loaded Vehicle Seized in Kabul
www.quqnoos.com Written by Tamim Shahir Thursday, 09 April 2009
Kabul police have seized a huge amount of explosives in Paghman district of the capital province
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Afghan leader slams deadly US-led raid
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai Friday slammed a US-led raid that locals said killed four members of a family as well as an unborn baby shot dead in its mother's womb.
Karzai ordered a sweeping investigation and reiterated demands that foreign troops, who are in Afghanistan to fight extremist Islamic insurgents, conduct their operations in a manner that does not harm civilians.
The US military has admitted that the four people shot dead in the raid overnight Wednesday to Thursday in the eastern province of Khost were not "armed combatants" as first announced.
The nine-months pregnant woman had survived the shooting that killed her unborn child, said a relative, Afghan army officer Awal Khan. Khan's wife, brother and two children were killed.
An Afghan health official also said the unborn baby was shot dead in its mother's womb.
In a statement expressing sadness about the incident, Karzai said he had ordered his interior and defence ministries, the intelligence service and local government to investigate and present their findings to him Saturday.
Karzai had "for several years repeatedly asked the international military forces carry out their counterterrorism operations in ways that do not cause civilian casualties," the statement said.
He reiterated this demand and insisted that foreign forces adhere to a directive signed months ago to fully coordinate their operations with their Afghan counterparts and base them on accurate information, it said.
Although he has not formally announced his intentions, Karzai has hinted that he will put himself up for re-election August's presidential vote.
Civilian casualties caused by international forces in Afghanistan have sparked frequent anger and resentment, and Karzai has warned they threaten to widen the divide between authorities and ordinary people.
The United Nations said in February that a record 2,118 civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict in 2008, with nearly 40 percent of the deaths caused by pro-government forces, including US-led and NATO troops.
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U.S. military concedes Afghan civilian casualties
KABUL, April 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has conceded that troops under its command in Afghanistan killed a group of civilians in an operation this week, not militants as earlier reported.
Investigations showed the late Wednesday night raid in an area of southeastern Khost had resulted in "killing two males, two females and wounding two females. There are reports of an infant also killed," the military said in a statement.
"We deeply regret the tragic loss of life in this precious family," the late Thursday statement quoted Brigadier General Michael Ryan of the U.S. forces as saying. "Words alone cannot begin to express our regret and sympathy and we will ensure the surviving family members are properly cared for."
Civilian casualties caused by foreign forces hunting militants have sapped support for the presence of the troops in Afghanistan more than seven years since a U.S.-led invasion overthrew the Taliban from power.
The casualties have also been a major source of friction between the Afghan government and the West.
The father of a seven-day-old boy said on Thursday his infant son died in the raid. A female school teacher was also killed and the child's mother wounded, the father said.
Hundreds of civilians were killed in operations by Afghan and foreign forces last year alone in Afghanistan, according to human right groups and the Afghan government.
Violence in Afghanistan has reached its highest level since the U.S.-led invasion despite a growing number of foreign troops and has spread from the south and east to the outskirts of the capital, Kabul.
(Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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US: 27 suspected insurgents killed in Afghanistan
By Fisnik Abrashi Associated Press April 10, 2009
KABUL – Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops killed 27 suspected insurgents in two separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Friday.
The fighting took place in the region at the center of the Taliban-led insurgency, where President Barack Obama has ordered thousands of new U.S. troops to join the fight to try to reverse militant gains over the last three years.
The combined force killed 15 suspected insurgents Friday in fighting and airstrikes in Helmand province's Lashkar Gah district, the coalition said in a statement.
Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said up to 36 insurgents were killed and 18 others wounded, based on information provided by a local informant.
It was impossible to independently verify either claim.
Another 12 insurgents died in fighting Thursday in neighboring Uruzgan province, the coalition said.
There were no Afghan or coalition casualties in either clash, the statement said.
Separately, insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Helmand's Nava district, killing six officers and wounding seven others, Ahmadi said.
The lightly armed police force has been hit hard by militants. Hundreds of officers died in militant attacks last year. Propping up the force, considered weak and beset by corruption, is one of the elements of Obama's Afghan strategy.
Obama plans to add 21,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines to the 38,000 Americans already fighting across Afghanistan.
His strategy calls for an increased focus on boosting the capabilities of Afghanistan's security forces and improving the effectiveness of the government in Kabul.
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Six Afghan police killed in Taliban attack
April 10, 2009
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province Friday, killing six policemen and wounding another seven, the provincial government said.
The attack occurred in the Nawa district, just outside the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.
"This morning (the) Taliban attacked a police post. In the clash, six police were killed and seven were wounded," Ahmadi said.
The seven wounded policemen were in hospital, he said.
A Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, told reporters the attack was carried out by his group, which is waging an insurgency strong in Helmand and elsewhere in southern Afghanistan.
Ahmadi said Afghan and foreign troops operating in the same area overnight killed 36 Taliban militants. Officials seized only seven bodies, he said.
Another 18 insurgents were wounded but were able to escape, he said.
The US military released a statement saying its men working with Afghan forces killed 15 militants in the area late Thursday.
It could not be immediately confirmed if it was the same incident. The various forces operating in Afghanistan often give conflicting casualty tolls for the same battles.
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Analysis: A weak gov't troubles Afghanistan at war
By Robert Burns, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 10, 4:22 am ET
WASHINGTON – Presidential emissary Richard Holbrooke soaked up a lot of advice during three days of private meetings in Afghanistan and Pakistan this week. The lament of an Afghan lawmaker crystallized the problems facing the U.S. and its ally.
"The Taliban are not strong, we are weak" the lawmaker said, referring to the radical Islamic movement that has stalemated U.S. forces and the frail Afghan government. "That's why they look strong."
The remark by the parliamentarian, who asked for anonymity because of concern over Taliban retribution, reflected a central paradox of the war: The insurgents cannot defeat the U.S. and NATO on the battlefield, yet they have drawn tens of thousands more American troops into the conflict and inflicted a growing toll in blood and disaffection.
Ordinary Afghans are deeply disappointed in a government sapped by corruption and unable to provide basic services. And now it is about to enter a perilous period led by a holdover president.
Many Afghans view the Taliban, which brutally ruled the country from the mid-1990s until U.S. forces drove it from power in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as a more tolerable alternative.
It was clear from Holbrooke's trip that the Obama administration feels a sense of urgency. It worries not only about losing the patience of the American public but also about Afghan disillusionment.
Administration officials hope that a presidential election scheduled for August will lay the groundwork for a turnaround. Their way out of the Afghan conflict is pinned to getting the government on a more solid footing so that the country's army and police can grow strong enough to secure the nation without foreign troops.
Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, believes that the Taliban's strength is easily overstated. Yet he predicts that even as 21,000 additional U.S. troops flow into the country in coming months, progress will not be immediate.
"I think we're going to see another violent year," he told several reporters who accompanied Holbrooke and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on their trip. After attending meetings in Kabul and Islamabad, the senior officials visited New Delhi, India, before returning to Washington.
Why is the violence still rising?
"It's going up," McKiernan said, "not because the Taliban are stronger. It's going up because the insurgency is very resilient and very adaptive." Echoing the warning from the Afghan legislator, McKiernan expressed concern that already-low Afghan support for the government is declining further.
Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, worried aloud about the time he spent on the trip dealing with the short-term issue of who will lead Afghanistan between May, when President Hamid Karzai's term expires, and August, when elections are to be held.
After leaving Afghanistan, Holbrooke said he had won agreement from the major Afghan political figures that Karzai should remain in office during the interim period.
But even keeping Karzai in office during that holding period leaves the impression among some Afghans that the Obama administration is promoting his candidacy. Holbrooke insisted repeatedly on the trip that the U.S. neither supports nor opposes Karzai or any other candidate for the presidency.
Beyond concerns about the upcoming election, there are still other unsettling pieces of the Afghan puzzle:
_Pakistan. The Afghan conflict is unlikely to be settled until the problem of Taliban and al-Qaida havens inside Pakistan is fixed. Al-Qaida's presence in Pakistan still gives it the capability to again launch a major attack on the United States. That is why Obama said the core goal of his strategy is to dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan.
_Security. It will be years before the Afghan army and police are capable of providing it on their own, and the size of those forces will have to grow well beyond the numbers Obama cited when he announced his new strategy. The current goal is 134,000 in the army, plus 82,000 police, by the end of 2011. That may have to be doubled, several American officials said privately.
_The economy. Agriculture, a potentially powerful engine of revitalization for landlocked, resource-poor Afghanistan, has not been a big focus of international assistance since 2001. Holbrooke vowed to change that, but it remains a long-term prospect.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE — Robert Burns has covered national security affairs for The Associated Press since 1990.
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Holbrooke reaches out to Hekmatyar
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / April 10, 2009
The recent meeting between a deputy of Richard Holbrooke, the United States special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and an emissary of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), is by all accounts a landmark move in the United States' stated aim of involving militant groups in ending the conflict in Afghanistan.
The choice of Hekmatyar also indicates just how desperate the US is in finding an escape route from the escalating crisis in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar is a declared terrorist with a reported $25 million price on his head. The 61-year-old engineer from Kunduz province and his anti-government fighters are responsible for large numbers of attacks against Afghan and international forces, mainly in the northeast of the country. For years, Washington has branded Hekmatyar an irreconcilable militant.
The HIA, founded by Hekmatyar, was one of the most effective mujahideen groups to fight the Soviet invasion during the 1980s. But, according to reports, the party became a favorite of Pakistan's intelligence agency and Hekmatyar's men were known as the most fundamentalist of all Afghan resistance fighters.
To date, however, the US has failed miserably in attracting mainstream Afghan forces of the past back into the political process, including tribal warlords, the Taliban, the Northern Alliance and the HIA. This means, as Peter Lee wrote last month in Asia Times Online, "...the unpredictable Hekmatyar, who has survived the jihad, the civil war, defeat at the hands of the Taliban, exile in Iraq, an assassination attempt by the CIA, and return to Afghanistan as an insurgent leader, is the great hope of all parties as the only Pashtun strongman untainted by al-Qaeda and possibly capable of taking on the Taliban." (See Taliban force a China switch, Asia Times Online, March 6, 2009.)
The insurgents loyal to Hekmatyar have now emerged as the most important component of anti-Western coalition resistance in Afghanistan. While most of Taliban-led resistance is situated near the Pakistan Afghanistan borders, insurgents loyal to Hekmatyar hold complete command over Kapissa province's Tagab valley, only 30 kilometers north of Kabul. The HIA, whose political wing has offices all over Afghanistan and keeps 40 seats in the Afghan parliament, is fully geared to replace President Hamid Karzai in the upcoming presidential elections.
Now, eight years after the US attack on Afghanistan, Washington is initiating dialogue with Hekmatyar through his longtime lieutenant Daoud Abedi, the link between the Hekmatyar and the West. Abedi is an Afghan-American based in California as well as a prominent businessman, social worker and a former representative of the HIA.
In an exclusive interview from his home in Los Angeles, Abedi explains what was discussed between himself and the US official representing Holbrooke and the White House.
ATol: Please shed light on your recent visit to the region of Pakistan and Afghanistan and your meeting with US officials on behalf of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan.
Dauod Abeidi: Brother Shahzad, first of all, I thank you for the call and I appreciate your attention regarding Afghanistan and international affairs. I always read your articles and I am enlightened by your writings. May Allah reward you. ... As you know, I represented HIA in the US. Yes, I was approached by the US government here and we did speak. We want a new policy of the US for Afghanistan and [we want] to bring peace to this war-torn country. ... Based on that, I spoke to some people here and al-Hamdullilah [thank God] the results of the talks were positive ... This is something which I personally started and forwarded to our Hezb brothers in Afghanistan ... The purpose of those meetings was to see how we can bring peace Afghanistan and to make sure foreign troops leave Afghanistan as soon as possible.
ATol: Could you please name the officials who you met?
DA: I think since talks are still going, it is best to keep that [quiet] for the moment. You will hear more about the talks [but] since they are ongoing I think it is better to keep it that way.
ATol: Could you please confirm whether Pakistan is involved in this dialogue process - or is this just between the HIA and the US?
DA: I have not met with any Pakistani official at all. This is my personal initiative since I know what the HIA wants and what the Taliban wants in order to see if we could make a situation possible in which foreign troops leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. This is the demand of both sides, the HIA and the Taliban. This is the first priority: that foreign troops must leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. And based on that we [want] to find the way to bring peace to this war torn country.
ATol: Have the Americans agreed to any schedule for the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan?
DA: President Obama has mentioned many times that they are not staying there forever. They want to leave Afghanistan as soon as there is a peace through the Afghans and [create] a possibility that allows [them] to leave. So we are hopeful and there is no other way to bring peace to Afghanistan except that foreign troops leave and that the Afghan people decide their own future and their own type of government.
ATol: Were Taliban on board for this dialogue process, or were they just apart?
DA: There was the discussion about the Taliban. Taliban are also the sons of Afghanistan. They are sacrificing for Afghanistan and for the freedom of Afghanistan so we are hopeful that they will give a positive answer to our request as well.
ATol: Is there any chance that HIA shall join the Afghan government in the near future?
DA: No. There is no such chance because we want to solve the problems through all Afghans. We are not planning to take sides against one another. The HIA's stance is to bring peace in Afghanistan and we all know that peace cannot come to Afghanistan without Hezb-e-Islami. Because of that issue, we are trying to work with all sides especially with the Taliban and with the US. The Kabul government has not been able to bring peace to Afghanistan and based on that we are hoping Kabul will also understand [it is] time for the Afghan people to choose their own future leaders in the government.
ATol: Has Hekmatyar given approval for these talks [with the US]? Is he ready for any immediate truce with NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] troops?
DA: Brother Hekmatyar has approved my talks. But as I have mentioned, this was started by myself and later he gave his approval with the condition of the departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
ATol: Would [Hekmatyar] agree to any immediate ceasefire with the NATO troops?
DA: A ceasefire is possible once talks are over and we know the exact schedule for the departure of the foreign troops. This has not been discussed yet, but we are hopeful that if there is an accepted date for the departure of the foreign troops, then all sides could talk - the HIA, Taliban and the foreigners - and see if we could agree on a ceasefire as a goodwill gesture. But that can be done only when there is a confirmed date of departure.
ATol: What would be the future of al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden once any peace deal is signed between the HIA, the Taliban and NATO? Where would they stand [on such a deal]? DA: First of all, nobody knows where Shiekh Osama Bin Laden is. It is not proven that he is in Afghanistan. The second thing is, al-Qaeda doesn't have big numbers of members. Foreign forces searched Afghanistan inch by inch and they could not find one al-Qaeda member. If they are somewhere else, we are not aware. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, they are not there.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Top US general meets tribes ahead of Afghan surge
By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 10, 7:32 am ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The top U.S. general in Afghanistan reached out to influential Afghan tribesmen in regions where U.S. troops will soon deploy, apologizing for past mistakes and saying he is now studying the Quran, the Muslim holy book.
Gen. David McKiernan met with villagers in Helmand and Kandahar — two of Afghanistan's most violent provinces — in an attempt to foster good will ahead of the U.S. troop surge that will send 21,000 more forces here this summer to stem an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency.
McKiernan said he wanted to show respect to tribal elders by traveling to Kandahar on Wednesday to explain some of the mistakes U.S. forces have made in the past — such as arresting people based on information taken from one side in a tribal fight, or killing civilians during operations.
"I'm trying to connect to the local population in a bottom-up way and try to explain what the new U.S. strategy means and why they're going to see an increased force presence where they live," McKiernan said during the trip to Kandahar aboard the seven passenger jet he flies in.
McKiernan for the first time disclosed precise locations where the combat troops arriving this summer will deploy. The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, expected to arrive in May or June, will deploy in eastern Farah province and from Lashkar Gah — the capital of Helmand province, the world's largest opium producing region — south toward Garmser.
An Army Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis in Washington state expected in July and August will deploy in Kandahar province, in the eastern districts around Spin Boldak and northern regions around Arghandab, Khakrez and Shah Wali Kot, he said.
Some 250 tribesmen traveled to a sparkling new Afghan army base just outside the main NATO base in Kandahar for two separates sessions with the four-star general on Wednesday.
McKiernan explained to elders from Spin Boldak how the U.S. is training the Afghan army and police so that U.S. troops can one day leave, apologized for past mistakes committed by U.S. soldiers and said the Iraq war had diverted resources from Afghanistan that were needed to fight the Taliban.
"Until (militant) safe havens are eliminated across the border in Pakistan, there cannot be peace in Afghanistan," he said, generating enthusiastic applause from the elders.
U.S. and Afghan officials say that Taliban militants use lawless areas in northwest Pakistan as safehavens to train, arm and rest. Insurgents then travel back over the Afghan-Pakistan border to launch attacks.
Afterward, several Afghan elders spoke. One picked up on McKiernan's Pakistan message.
"When you come here and the Taliban is pushed out, why doesn't the violence stop? Destroy their safe havens," the Afghan said.
McKiernan told the Afghans that President Barack Obama's new strategy is to combat instability in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region as a whole. He said that in the future, Afghan forces will enter villagers' homes if necessary, a pledge that brought another round of applause. He then said he was studying the Muslim holy book.
"I'm reading a very good book now about this part of the world. It's written in English, but it's all about you — it's the Quran," McKiernan said to applause. Moments later an Afghan man stood up and gave McKiernan a bright purple, red and green cloth in which to wrap the translated version of holy book.
Government leaders from Kandahar province were not invited to the meeting. McKiernan said he wanted to talk straight to the tribal leaders in the hope their words weren't influenced by the presence of possibly corrupt government officials. Government leaders were invited to a similar session in Helmand last week.
During a second session with Afghans from Arghandab, Khakrez and Shah Wali Kot, which has seen more violence than the Spin Boldak region, McKiernan faced a tougher audience.
No one applauded during his speech. Afterward, Haji Saran Wal praised McKiernan for admitting past U.S. mistakes and for saying the Iraq war depleted resources. Then he asked McKiernan to prohibit house searches by U.S. forces.
Back in Kabul, while driving to NATO's headquarters, McKiernan called the day "pretty positive."
"I think it was a good give-and-take session," he said.
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Afghan Politician Links Corruption, Taliban Rebound
NPR
Morning Edition, April 10, 2009 · Ashraf Ghani, a likely candidate for the Afghan presidency, has been outspoken about his country's problem with corruption, which he says is a danger on par with the Taliban.
Ghani, a former finance minister of Afghanistan, tells NPR's Renee Montagne that the Taliban's resurgence over the past few years can be attributed to government corruption in Afghanistan.
"Corruption is dangerous because corruption [creates] a vacuum of government," Ghani says. "All that you need in a situation of insurgency is for the population to turn its back to the government. That creates the space for the insurgency to operate, and that is what has happened. This is why it is so dangerous."
Ghani says that the responsibility for tackling corruption rests with Afghanistan, but that the international community can become a catalyst.
"During the Bush administration, there was an implicit endorsement [of corruption] by not calling attention to it, by not supporting civil society organizations, by not supporting reformers within the government. An implicit partnership of tolerance had developed," Ghani says.
Aside from governmental reforms, Ghani also says that the men who serve as the Taliban's foot soldiers need to be taken into account.
"The rank and file, the people who daily staff the insurgency, are alienated youth, unemployed youth. These are wounded young men," says Ghani. "One needs to bring them back to the society. It's the usual problem of exclusion of a significant youth force in a country that has gone to violent conflict."
Ghani says that disenchantment with the government of President Hamid Karzai "is universal." Though Afghans believe they have a choice in upcoming elections, Ghani says that the playing field is "not level" and favors Karzai.
"Afghan civil society and [the] international community have to come together to create the checks and balances in the monitoring arrangement, [so] that the population can exercise its legitimate right."
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Obama seeks $83.4 bln more for Iraq, Afghanistan
Fri Apr 10, 3:46 AM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama is asking lawmakers for 83.4 billion dollars more to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through 2009, White House aides said Thursday.
"The supplemental will likely go to Congress today," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters, using the term for a request for money outside the usual budget process. Another White House aide provided the dollar figure.
"A supplemental is required in order to fund the new strategy in Afghanistan and fund the process in Iraq that will lead to a drawdown of all of our combat troops," said Gibbs.
The request is likely to include aid money for Pakistan as part of the revamped Afghan war strategy, and could include help for the Palestinians, another US official said.
Obama had firmly opposed using supplementals to fund the two wars and grouped them in his regular budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins October 1, but the US military needs money now.
"We can't wait until the appropriations process is done in September or August or September to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in June," said Gibbs.
"The honest budgeting and appropriations process that the president has talked about falls somewhat victim to the fact that this is the way that wars have been funded previously," the spokesman said.
But "this will be the last supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan," he promised.
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Australian FM: No Afghanistan request yet from US
By Desmond Butler, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 9, 6:37 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Australia's foreign minister said Thursday that the United States did not ask for more troops for Afghanistan during annual talks among the foreign and defense ministers from the two countries.
Stephen Smith said after the meetings that the two sides discussed Afghanistan in detail.
"No decisions were made, and no requests made, and no commitments given," Smith said. "But it was a very helpful discussion, so far as the Australian government coming to a conclusion about what, if anything, we can do further to help."
Australia has said it is considering sending more military trainers to Afghanistan as part of U.S.-led efforts to bolster coalition troops. Smith said he expects a decision from his government within weeks.
Smith and Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Asked whether the United States would ask Australia for combat troops, Gates demurred.
"Australia has been there with us throughout and has been in the thick of the fighting, has lost too many of its sons," he said. "We and the Afghans can use all the help we can get. What Australia is prepared to do is clearly up to the Australians."
A report this week in the respected newspaper The Australian said Canberra was planning to order some 250 additional noncombat troops to Afghanistan to train domestic security forces.
"We would always, of course, consider any requests from our closest and most important ally," Fitzgibbon said. "We talked about what the partner nations more generally can do to further promote progress in Afghanistan."
NATO recently agreed to contribute 5,000 more troops to bolster the intensified U.S. push for more security in Afghanistan's cities and its efforts to train soldiers and police in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are gaining strength more than seven years after the hard-line Islamic regime was ousted by U.S.-led forces.
President Barack Obama has decided to send 21,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines this year to buttress 38,000 American troops fighting the Taliban.
Clinton said that the four officials also talked about Iran, nonproliferation and Asian regional issues among other topics.
"There are few countries that have been closer than the United States and Australia, and I think holding this AUSMIN meeting during the Obama administration's first 100 days underscores the importance we attach to our alliance," she said.
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120 more troops likely for Afghanistan
Bernard Lagan, Washington April 11, 2009 The Age Australia
AUSTRALIA is set to send more troops to Afghanistan — most likely about 120 — to help protect voters from attack when they go to the polls in August.
Officials attending talks in Washington between the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and senior Australian ministers confirmed the most likely means of meeting an expected request for more troops would be to deploy an extra army company to Afghanistan.
It is believed the fresh deployment would cover the period leading up to and beyond the Afghanistan elections, but would not be a permanent bolster to existing personnel.
The additional troops would be in line with increases announced last week by NATO countries in response to a request from US President Barack Obama.
Britain committed to 900 more troops for the period of the elections, and Spain and Germany pledged an additional 600 troops each.
Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, speaking in Washington after he and Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon met Ms Clinton and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, said there had been no formal request for more Australian troops to be sent to Afghanistan.
Mr Smith said: "We had a discussion about what, if anything, more Australia could do in the civil reconstruction or training area, in a military contribution — and also, importantly, any temporary contribution we could make for the election in August this year."
Officials later said that the US was avoiding making a formal request for more troops until it received an indication on what Australia would agree to.
The officials all but ruled out the sending of additional SAS troops or commandos to Afghanistan because Australia's special forces were already stretched on other overseas deployments, notably in Iraq.
Asked directly by a journalist at a post-meeting press conference if the US was specifically seeking extra combat troops from Australia — such as special forces — Mr Gates said that the United States and the Afghans could "use all the help we can get".
Mr Fitzgibbon later appeared to suggest that the Obama Administration's top decision makers, including Ms Clinton and Mr Gates, had confessed they were struggling to find strategies to contain the Afghan insurgency, rooted across the border in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Mr Fitzgibbon, appearing in an address to a Washington think tank after the talks, told a Pakistan specialist who questioned him: "You might be able to give me a little bit of advice about how to deal with issues in places like the FATA. Because — I probably shouldn't say this — but around the table at AUSMIN today, some of the country's leading thinkers in this regard were scratching their heads. I should say some of the country's leading decision-makers, rather than thinkers.
"I am not suggesting there is a difference, but I thought I should clarify that."
Mr Fitzgibbon's disclosure followed an announcement that Mr Obama was seeking an extra $US83.4 billion ($A116.1 billion) in funding for combat operations and foreign aid.
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Double boost for Afghanistan ahead of key clash
by David Legge Fri Apr 10, 1:04 am ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Minnows Afghanistan received a twin boost ahead of a make-or-break 2011 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Super 8 clash against mighty Ireland in South Africa Saturday.
Star batsman-cum-wicketkeeper Karim Sadiq is available after serving a one-match suspension for attempting to trip a Dutch opponent during a first-round game.
And spinner Nusratullah Nasrat, a replacement for ineligible Riffatullah Momand, arrived here Thursday and will also be considered for selection by coach Kabir Khan.
After consecutive first round losses to Kenya, the Netherlands and United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan enter the second phase of the final qualifying tournament for the World Cup desperately seeking a change of fortune.
But the odds are stacked against them as Ireland are on a roll, winning all their first round matches against Uganda, defending champions Scotland, Oman, Canada and Namibia.
The Irish, shock conquerors of Pakistan at the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, are favoured not only to overcome the Afghans, but win the tournament and clinch one of four qualifying places for the ODI cricket showpiece.
Former Pakistan Test cricketer Khan accepts the tag of outsiders, but says he continues to dream of Afghanistan tackling giants like South Africa, Australia and India at the World Cup.
"Our mission of qualifying for the World Cup is very difficult now as we probably need to win all four Super 8 fixtures, but that dream remains deep inside me," he said.
"We have learnt from mistakes made against other teams, especially the better ones like Kenya and the Netherlands, and will carry that experience into the Super 8."
Team manager Sayed Aminzai backed his coach: "Our bowlers have impressed in South Africa while there is no lack of talent among the batsmen, who just need more exposure at this level."
Many of the Afghan team developed their cricket skills at refugee camps in neighbouring Pakistan having fled violence at home, to where they returned when the Taliban was ousted eight years ago.
The World Cup qualifying journey began a year ago against Japan at Victoria College on the Channel island of Jersey, and progressed via Tanzania and Argentina to the South African Highveld.
In other games Saturday, Netherlands appear too strong for Namibia in Pretoria but fixtures between Canada and Kenya in Benoni and Scotland and United Arab Emirates in Johannesburg appear evenly balanced.
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Pakistani, Afghan round on Obama war plan
by Jitendra Joshi – Thu Apr 9, 11:41 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's anti-terror escalation may not prove enough to break the back of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the Pakistani and Afghan envoys here have warned.
Both ambassadors called on the United States and its allies to provide more cash and military tools to defeat terrorism on the battlefield and alleviate the poverty and ignorance that sustains extremist ideology.
Pakistan's Husain Haqqani welcomed the new Obama strategy on Thursday, but contrasted the aid given to nations in the extremist epicenter with the multi-billion-dollar bailouts extended to US companies in distress.
"The resources that are being committed may look big to some but very frankly, I think that a company on the verge of failure is quite clearly able to get a bigger bailout than a nation that is accused of failure," he said.
"Why does Afghanistan or Pakistan get less resources allocated to solving a bigger problem (extremism) ... than say for example some failed insurance company or some car company whose real achievement is that they couldn't make cars that they could sell?"
Obama last month put Pakistan at the center of the fight against Al-Qaeda as part of a new strategy dispatching 4,000 more troops, in addition to an extra 17,000 already committed, and billions of dollars to the Afghan war.
The plan includes a focus on Al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan and boosting civilian efforts to build up both Afghanistan and Pakistan, notably in agriculture and education.
Afghan ambassador Said Jawad, speaking alongside Haqqani at a forum organized by Washington's Atlantic Council think-tank, also said Obama's new strategy marked a welcome reorganization of US goals.
But he stressed that Afghanistan needed more help for a major expansion of its security forces, from the 134,000 army troops and 82,000 police personnel foreseen in the Obama plan.
To counter the resurgent Taliban, he said, the Afghan army should number at least 250,000 and the police 150,000.
"Right now you are paying with your blood and treasure in Afghanistan by sending your sons to fight for us," Jawad said.
"The most sustainable way is to create this capacity in us," he said, insisting Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government was already tackling the endemic police corruption identified by foreign donors.
"The police force, the judicial system, was neglected for a very long time," Jawad said. "We are paying a price for that right now."
Obama Thursday wrote to US lawmakers asking for an extra 83.4 billion dollars this year to pay for military efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"This funding request will ensure that the full force of the United States -- our military, intelligence, diplomatic, and economic power -- are engaged in an overall effort to defeat Al-Qaeda and uproot the safe haven from which it plans and trains for attacks on the homeland and on our allies," he wrote.
Haqqani welcomed a bill introduced in the US House of Representatives that would triple economic assistance for Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollars a year and shore up democratic rule by attacking hotbeds of extremist schooling.
The Pakistani ambassador said his government welcomed US demands for accountability for how aid money is spent, but rejected "intrusion" by Congress through onerous conditions.
While complaining about US missile attacks on suspected militants, Haqqani acknowledged US suspicions that Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence foments extremist groups as a counter to India's regional influence.
But he said that Pakistan, under civilian leadership, now stood united in viewing the fight against militancy as a struggle "to save the soul of our nation."
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Explosive-loaded Vehicle Seized in Kabul
www.quqnoos.com Written by Tamim Shahir Thursday, 09 April 2009
Kabul police have seized a huge amount of explosives in Paghman district of the capital province
Head of Investigation Department of Kabul Police Headquarters, Brig. General Sayed Abdul Ghafar, said they have arrested the driver of the vehicle, the only person attempted the smuggling.
More than 200kg of explosives with other components have been discovered from the vehicle.
“Police stopped the vehicle at a checkpoint where they found out the explosive,” said B.G Abdul Ghafar.
Local residents have informed the police after they have found out that the explosives were loaded in the vehicle in the western Paghman district of Kabul.
The operation was jointly conducted by Afghanistan and international troops in the district where the established temporary check posts to prevent the smuggling effort.
Meanwhile, Kabul police declared uncover of some artillery from the city on Thursday night. Four men have been captured on charges of weapons.
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