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NATO says district Afghan Taliban chief arrested
By Deb Riechmann Associated Press – Thu Jul 1, 8:52 am ET
KABUL, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai has signed a decree launching an Afghan program to lure Taliban foot soldiers off the battlefield, as troops continue rounding up mid- to senior-level militant commanders including a Taliban leader captured in a four-hour gunbattle in the south, NATO said Thursday.
New Afghan War Commander Briefs NATO Officials
VOA News July 1, 2010 Victor Beattie
Washington, D.C - General David Petraeus, the newly appointed commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has briefed alliance officials in Brussels on his plans for the war effort. Petraeus met with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Thursday, and addressed ambassadors of the North Atlantic Council, the alliance's top decision-making body.
Petraeus Vows No Change In Rules Of Engagement In Afghanistan
By Ahto Lobjakas Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 1, 2010
BRUSSELS -- General David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. and ISAF troops in Afghanistan, has vowed to do "everything humanly possible" to avoid casualties among Afghan civilians.
Senior U.S. commander restricts Humvee use in Afghanistan
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon CorrespondentJuly 1, 2010
Washington (CNN) -- The once-ubiquitous Humvee may become a rare sight in some parts of Afghanistan following a decision by the senior U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan to restrict the use of the vehicles in the field.
House Panel Denies Aid To Afghanistan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 1, 2010
A key panel in the U.S. House of Representatives has blocked $4 billion in aid to Kabul over rising corruption fears.
After Afghan Shift, Top U.S. Civilians Face Tricky Future
New York Times By MARK LANDLER June 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - As General David H. Petraeus takes command in Afghanistan, the two top American civilian officials in the war face an uncertain and tricky future, working with a newly empowered military leader, under the gaze of an impatient president who has put them on notice that his fractious war council needs to pull together.
NATO Forces Arrest District Afghan Taliban Chief
VOA News July 1, 2010
NATO says Afghan and international forces have captured a district Taliban leader after a four-hour gunbattle in southern Afghanistan.
Bold move to save Afghanistan: Bring back a king
If the United States values stability more than democracy, it will recognize that restoring Afghanistan’s constitutional monarchy is the only thing that will prevent Taliban rule and victory in the war.
The Christian Science Monitor By Shireen K. Burki / Opinion June 30, 2010
Stafford, Va. - US forces in Afghanistan just got another competent military commander in Gen. David Petraeus. However, the current US strategy that General Petraeus must enforce only guarantees mission failure in the long run because it bolsters an unpopular Afghan government.
Some Afghan military officers to get training in Pakistan
Washington Post By Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 1, 2010
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed to send a group of military officers to Pakistan for training, a significant policy shift that Afghan and Pakistani officials said signals deepening relations between the long-wary neighbors.
U.S. plane makes emergency landing in E. Afghanistan
KABUL, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A plane of the U.S. military made an emergency landing in Nangarhar province, east of Afghanistan, on Thursday, a statement of the Coalition said.
Children, aged 5, used to plant Taliban bombs in Afghanistan
Children as young as five are being used by the Taliban to lay bombs and carry weapons in a deadly new tactic in Afghanistan, it can be disclosed.
Telegraph.co.uk Thomas Harding in Sangin 30 Jun 2010
In the past five months the number child insurgents has increased almost fivefold in the town of Sangin, to a band of 40, who are used to run weapons, plant bombs and carry out tasks for the Taliban, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
AFGHANISTAN: NGOs want stronger UN humanitarian coordination
01 Jul 2010 17:38:57 GMT
DUBAI, 1 July 2010 (IRIN) - A consortium of 31 NGOs working in Afghanistan have expressed their "deep concern" over the ability of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to carry out its mission in the country because of low staffing levels.
Afghanistan withdrawal date reinforced by William Hague
Hague says Kabul should be able to take the lead 'by 2014' after Labour accuses Tories of confusion
Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 July 2010
William Hague was forced to clarify the government's thinking on Afghanistan today when he declared that he would be "very surprised" if Kabul's military was unable to take the lead by 2014.
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NATO says district Afghan Taliban chief arrested
By Deb Riechmann Associated Press – Thu Jul 1, 8:52 am ET
KABUL, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai has signed a decree launching an Afghan program to lure Taliban foot soldiers off the battlefield, as troops continue rounding up mid- to senior-level militant commanders including a Taliban leader captured in a four-hour gunbattle in the south, NATO said Thursday.
NATO said the Taliban district chief of Now Zad was captured and an unspecified number of insurgents were killed during an Afghan-international force operation Wednesday night in the remote Baghran district in northern Helmand province.
Taliban fighters inside the compound fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns before troops called in a precision airstrike, NATO said.
There were no casualties among civilians, Afghan troops or international service members, but an undisclosed number of Taliban were killed or wounded, the alliance said. Helmand provincial spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said 31 militants were killed.
The joint force seized dozens of automatic weapons, grenade launchers and 20 pounds of opium in the compound at Now Zad, a former insurgent stronghold where U.S. Marines have reported progress in winning over the population after a major offensive last summer.
NATO has reported that 130 mid- to senior-level Taliban have been killed or captured across the nation in the past four months.
As Afghan and international troops work to weaken the insurgency, Karzai signed a decree this week giving life to the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program, which has been in the works for months. The program would attract low- to midlevel fighters with promises of security, jobs, literacy and vocational training plus development aid for their villages.
NATO officials and Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top Karzai adviser who is crafting the program, have said that insurgents in seven of Afghanistan's 34 provinces — Herat, Helmand, Uruzgan, Paktia, Baghlan, Balkh and Day Kundi — have expressed interest in signing up for the reintegration program. To join, insurgents must renounce violence, respect the Afghan constitution and sever ties with al-Qaida or other terrorist networks.
"The future of the reintegration process is promising," Maj. Gen. Philip Jones, director of a reintegration unit at NATO headquarters in Kabul, told reporters Thursday. "There continue to be small pockets of reintegration occurring around the country and a few larger groups are starting to express interest in it as well. People realize that this program is a benefit to entire communities."
Efforts to persuade insurgents to give up the fight come at the same time that violence is on the rise. June was the deadliest month of the war for the NATO-led force with at least 102 fatalities among international service members. On Thursday, an American service member died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, NATO said.
In northern Afghanistan, two rockets slammed into a base housing about 120 South Korean construction and security personnel in Parwan province, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said. About 120 construction and security personnel were at the base in Parwan province when the rockets struck Wednesday night.
The rocket attacks occurred a day before the South Korean reconstruction team planned to officially launch its rebuilding mission. South Korea withdrew troops from Afghanistan in 2007 following a hostage standoff in which the Taliban killed two South Koreans after demanding that Seoul immediately withdraw its forces.
Elsewhere, a woman and two men were killed Thursday by a roadside mine in Khas Kunar in Kunar district, police Chief Khalilulah Zyaeey said. According to the Ministry of Interior, an Afghan policeman died Thursday when his vehicle hit a roadside mine in Charkh district of Logar province. On Wednesday, two workers for a road construction company were killed and four others were wounded by a roadside bomb in Sabari district of Khost province, the ministry said.
The attacks occurred as Gen. David Petraeus, widely credited with turning around the war in Iraq, prepared to assume command of the U.S. and NATO force in Afghanistan. His predecessor, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was fired last week over critical remarks made by him and his staff about Obama administration officials in Rolling Stone magazine.
Petraeus was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday and flew immediately to Brussels, Belgium, where he briefed NATO officials Thursday.
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New Afghan War Commander Briefs NATO Officials
VOA News July 1, 2010 Victor Beattie
Washington, D.C - General David Petraeus, the newly appointed commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has briefed alliance officials in Brussels on his plans for the war effort. Petraeus met with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Thursday, and addressed ambassadors of the North Atlantic Council, the alliance's top decision-making body.
He pledged progress in the war and reiterated the alliance's efforts to do everything possible to reduce civilian casualties. The general also warned of tough fighting in the months to come. His visit comes just one day after the U.S. senate unanimously confirmed him as the new Afghan war commander.
Next, the general travels to Afghanistan, where he will take command of around 140,000 U.S and NATO soldiers who are at a critical junction in the Obama administration's counterinsurgency strategy to defeat the Taliban, rebuild the country and trust among the war-weary population.
Based on the success he helped guide in Iraq in 2007, VOA Pentagon correspondent Al Pessin says General Petraeus is ideally suited for the delicate task of working with U.S. ambassador Karl Eikenberry, President Hamid Karzai and leaders of the more than 40 coalition partners in Afghanistan.
"General Petraeus is one of the most politically and diplomatically experienced officers in the U.S. military, much more so than General McChrystal, on a par more or less with Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So, he is very much aware that he has to deal with those issues. He's also aware of the fact that he is not the lead person on those issues. That's more Ambassador [Karl] Eikenberry's ballywig [territory], " Pessin said. "But General Petraeus has to play a very delicate role of being a leader to some extent on those issues, but not being the number one on those issues."
The general is taking over amidst big expectations and a complex set of problems said
Christopher Snedden, Director of the Australia-based consultancy Asia Calling.
"It's much more tribal down south. There's not the insurgency problems up in the north because there are different groups up there, Uzbeks and Tajiks and various other people. But the Pashtuns down in the south, they are the ones that have to be placated. And to placate them is going to be very, very difficult." Snedden said. "And also, unlike Iraq perhaps, Pakistan and certainly those tribal areas in Pakistan are much more important in allowing groups like the Haqqani network to operate from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas [FATA] of Pakistan. And while Iran did support elements within Iraq, it wasn't able to so to same extent I don't think as those people in FATA are able to do with the Taliban."
To be successful, General Petraeus must win the hearts of minds of the people, a process he warns could take years, according to Amin Saikal, Director of Arab and Muslim Studies at Australia National University. But Saikal points out the problem of winning over the population is made more difficult by what he calls the dysfunctional and corrupt Kabul government, which he says has created a political vacuum exploited by the Taliban.
Saikal suggests a government overhaul is needed to address those thorny issues.
"It would have to be changed into a parliamentary system of government, which would be more responsive to a country so socially divided as Afghanistan. And, of course, one must not forget that Afghanistan in many ways historically has been the land of the 'strongman' and these actors will have to be locked into a national system of obligations and responsibilities. That can only be achieved through a parliamentary system of governance," said Saikal. "Not necessarily through a strong presidential system of governance as has been built up or put in place by President Karzai and his international supporters."
Amin Saikal also thinks it would be wise for General Petraeus to support a regional conference on Afghanistan's future that might include the five permanent U.N. Security Council members, along with Afghanistan's neighbors, as well as countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
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Petraeus Vows No Change In Rules Of Engagement In Afghanistan
By Ahto Lobjakas Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 1, 2010
BRUSSELS -- General David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. and ISAF troops in Afghanistan, has vowed to do "everything humanly possible" to avoid casualties among Afghan civilians.
Petraeus was speaking in Brussels after briefing NATO ambassadors about his plans.
He sought to assuage concerns among NATO allies that the United States will take a tougher approach in operations against insurgents in Afghanistan.
Petraeus acknowledged there were concerns among some troops at the current rules of engagement, which put restrictions on coalition attacks to limit civilian casualties. But he said he had no plans to make it easier for NATO troops to use lethal force and said keeping reducing civilian casualties to an "absolute minimum" would remain a key objective.
"In a counterinsurgency, the human terrain is the decisive terrain," he said, "and therefore you must do everything humanly possible to protect the population and, indeed, again to reduce the loss of innocent civilian life."
Petraeus' visit comes a day after the U.S. Senate confirmed him to replace General Stanley McChrystal, who was fired after he made disparaging comments about the Obama administration in "Rolling Stone" magazine.
Petraeus will take charge of the some 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan this weekend. Credited with masterminding the successful counterinsurgency "surge" in Iraq, the four-star U.S. general will oversee President Barack Obama's injection of an additional 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, which will peak this August.
Petraeus appeared intent to smooth the feathers his appointment had ruffled in NATO capitals, which diplomats say were not consulted in advance by Washington.
He indicated the broad counterinsurgency strategy pursued by McChrystal -- geared toward pushing the Taliban out from key areas in the south as well as important urban centers -- will not change.
The U.S. general will also have to contend with the growing unpopularity of the war among allied publics, with the Netherlands scheduled to pull out its troops this year and Canada next year.
Petraeus today said the success of that strategy accounts for the increased numbers of NATO casualties, which are now higher than at any point since 2001 when the United States toppled the former Taliban regime.
"When you take away the enemy's safe havens and sanctuaries -- particularly ones that are as important as, say, those in central Helmand Province, in Marjah now, in Nadi Ali, even Lashkar [Gah] -- when you take away his safe havens," he said, "the enemy fights back."
U.S. and NATO officials have in recent months encouraged political reconciliation between the government of President Hamid Karzai and the more moderate Taliban leaders. However, Taliban leaders are reported to have turned down the offer.
Petraeus today defended ISAF's record in Afghanistan since the announcement of Obama's surge, saying the increase in fighting follows a known pattern. He said the Taliban had the momentum until early this year, but NATO is now turning the tables. He noted that casualty levels in Iraq also went up once the surge was under way -- only to come down drastically later.
Asked about his short-term criteria of success, Petraeus said he is looking for the expansion of security in key districts, "not entire provinces," as well as boosting the numbers and training levels of Afghanistan's own troops.
Petraeus also indicated he will take a close interest in the way NATO and Karzai's administration interact with the Afghan population in a bid to cultivate popular support for the ISAF mission. He said NATO would in future show greater "inclusivity" and "transparency" towards the Afghan population, in explaining the decisions taken and the way international aid money is distributed.
Petraeus said NATO is building on an outreach drive launched earlier this year by Karzai himself.
"When [Karzai] did a shura council a month or so ago, there were individuals willing to stand up with the microphone and camera on and criticize the Afghan government and, indeed, the president himself, which [Karzai] did in self-criticism also," Petraeus said. "That's the kind of approach, that's the kind of inclusivity and representation, that is essential to achieve the support from all the people of an area -- and not leave some feeling that they don't have a seat at the table."
Western donors, too, are increasingly concerned about the way their money is being spent in Afghanistan. U.S. lawmakers on June 30 blocked $3.9 billion in aid to Kabul citing concerns over corruption and mismanagement.
Petraeus said earlier this month it will take "a number of years" before the Afghan Army and police are able to take over responsibility for the security of the country.
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Senior U.S. commander restricts Humvee use in Afghanistan
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon CorrespondentJuly 1, 2010
Washington (CNN) -- The once-ubiquitous Humvee may become a rare sight in some parts of Afghanistan following a decision by the senior U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan to restrict the use of the vehicles in the field.
Maj. Gen. John Campbell, commander of Joint Task Force-101, ordered this week that the use of Humvee vehicles outside a military base would have to specifically be approved by a colonel -- one of the most senior field grade positions in the military.
Prior to this, the use of High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV, or Humvee) had to be approved by a lower-ranking officer, according to Task Force spokesman Maj. Patrick Seiber.
Seiber said the decision was not specifically in reaction to a number of deadly IED attacks on troops in recent weeks, but is part of trying to improve protection for the force. The Humvee is heavily armored, but its flat bottom and low-to-the-ground profile has made it particularly vulnerable to attacks using improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. In recent years, the military has fielded a new series of armored vehicles with V-shaped hulls to deflect the blast of roadside bombs, but even some of those have been destroyed in large-scale attacks.
Campbell's decision comes amid the release of figures showing that June has been the deadliest month of the war for the coalition across Afghanistan, with 101 coalition troops killed and about 400 U.S. troops wounded.
Casualties due to IED attacks continue to skyrocket. The Pentagon reports that in May 2010, the latest data available, the number of coalition forces -- including Afghans -- that were killed or wounded by IED attacks was 284, more than double the 104 killed or wounded in the same month last year. The number of overall IED attacks reached 1,128, compared to 513 in May 2009. The Pentagon statistics on IEDs include Afghan troop casualties because those units are suffering very high attacks rates, according to the Pentagon.
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House Panel Denies Aid To Afghanistan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 1, 2010
A key panel in the U.S. House of Representatives has blocked $4 billion in aid to Kabul over rising corruption fears.
The State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee said the $4 billion will be withheld until the U.S. government's audit office conducts a review of how aid money is spent in Afghanistan.
Chairwoman Nita Lowey said, "I do not intend to appropriate one more dime for assistance to Afghanistan until I have confidence that U.S. taxpayer money is not being abused to line the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials, drug lords, and terrorists."
She said she had written to the federal auditors of the Government Accountability Office asking them to audit all U.S. aid to Afghanistan from the last three years.
The block of funding will not affect U.S. military or humanitarian aid spending in Afghanistan, but could affect infrastructure projects.
One congressman on the committee, Mark Kirk, worried the move could imperil important projects such as improvements to Kandahar's electrical system, which he said is an important step to winning over area residents to the U.S. mission.
The decision to block the $4 billion came as the same subcommittee approved Washington's larger plans to spend $53 billion in foreign aid worldwide in the upcoming budget year starting October 1.
Pressure On Kabul
The blockage of funds is the strongest expression yet of U.S. lawmakers' anger with persistent reports of rampant corruption in Afghanistan despite drives to curb it.
In the latest such report, "The Washington Post" reported on June 28 that top officials in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government "have repeatedly derailed corruption investigations of politically connected Afghans" and helped "the nation's elite move millions of dollars overseas."
The same day, "The Wall Street Journal" reported that more than $3 billion -- including large amounts of U.S. aid money -- had been flown out of Afghanistan in recent years.
The U.S. lawmakers' action is likely to increase pressure upon both U.S. President Barak Obama and Karzai to reign in corruption or risk seeing mounting U.S. public anger.
The congressional action on June 30 came on the same day that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul to discuss corruption and other issues.
"We have watched with interest from Washington the positive steps that President Karzai and his cabinet have taken to help improve governance and enforce the rule of law,” Holder told reporters in Kabul. “We applaud President Karzai for his actions and encourage him to continue his efforts as much work remains to be done."
The U.S. administration has consistently urged Karzai to make targeting corruption and Afghanistan's drug trade the priorities of his second term, saying both have helped fuel the resurgence of the Taliban.
Karzai has equally vowed to make cracking down on corruption a priority, including by strengthening the powers of investigators.
After signing a document on March 18 giving more authority to the High Office of Oversight and Anticorruption, Karzai called the move “a step forward toward fighting administration corruption, bribery, and embezzlement in Afghanistan's government system.”
“This will give more power and authority to Mr. Usmani [the anticorruption commission chief] and his administration, also more authority for justice and our judicial system. We are hopeful that this will be useful and for the benefit of the Afghan people," Karzai said.
Weakened Trust
But the latest media reports suggest that despite such anticorruption drives, there is little to show corruption is actually being curbed in Kabul.
"The Washington Post" report on June 28 quotes U.S. officials as saying privately that "above a certain level, people are being very well protected."
The newspaper quotes the unnamed U.S. officials as saying "Afghan prosecutors and investigators have been ordered to cross names off case files, prevent senior officials from being placed under arrest, and disregard evidence."
Corruption in Afghanistan is thought to not only enrich powerful officials but also to weaken ordinary Afghans' trust in the central government's legitimacy and efficiency.
At the same time, there are fears that a portion of the aid money sent to Afghanistan is directly helping to fund the Taliban in the form of bribes and protection payments.
The "Global Post" reported late last year that "in Afghanistan, one of the richest sources of Taliban funding is the foreign assistance coming into the country."
The news service noted that "virtually every project includes a healthy cut for the insurgents" as contractors pay the Taliban not to attack projects.
The report said that in some cases, projects are completed and the contractors are enriched only to see the projects later destroyed by the Taliban after the protection payment expires.
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After Afghan Shift, Top U.S. Civilians Face Tricky Future
New York Times By MARK LANDLER June 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - As General David H. Petraeus takes command in Afghanistan, the two top American civilian officials in the war face an uncertain and tricky future, working with a newly empowered military leader, under the gaze of an impatient president who has put them on notice that his fractious war council needs to pull together.
Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative to the region, and Karl W. Eikenberry, the ambassador to Afghanistan, both hung on to their jobs in the uproar that followed Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s career-ending quotes in Rolling Stone magazine.
But privately, at least one senior White House official suggested using General McChrystal’s exit as an excuse for a housecleaning, according to senior officials. That was rejected as too disruptive during a military campaign that relies heavily on civilian support, these people said.
In recent days, other administration officials have begun floating the idea that Ambassador Eikenberry might be replaced by Ryan C. Crocker, the highly regarded former ambassador in Iraq who forged a close partnership with General Petraeus during the successful Iraq troop increase. Such a prospect is viewed as remote, given Mr. Crocker’s prestigious new post at Texas A&M University. But the fact that his name is being invoked underlines the challenges that confront Ambassador Eikenberry, as he adapts to a new partner — one who has strong ideas about how soldiers and diplomats should work together in war.
It also illustrates the remarkably powerful role that General Petraeus will assume in the nine-year-old war, setting him up as almost a viceroy in Afghanistan and a key broker in negotiations between President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan over an eventual political settlement.
Before General Petraeus’s arrival, some critics said the White House had created a problem by recruiting several forceful, ambitious personalities and giving them jobs with overlapping responsibilities. Administration officials acknowledge that, as one said, “there are obviously a number of substantial personalities on the team.” But the White House believes that the current lineup can mesh, and that a difficult war demands this much talent.
Still, the McChrystal blow-up has reverberated through the State Department. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton instructed Ambassador Eikenberry and Mr. Holbrooke to take a hard look at the civilian team, two officials said. She is not wedded to the current lineup if it continues to bog down in internecine battles, they said.
“You can’t have a major shift in a civ-mil structure without having the civilian side take a step back and look at everything,” said a senior State Department official, using the jargon for a civilian-military campaign.
General Petraeus, whose appointment was approved 99-0 by the Senate on Wednesday, took pains at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday to back a unified civilian and military effort. He noted then that he had telephoned Mr. Holbrooke and would rendezvous with Ambassador Eikenberry in Brussels, so the two could land in Kabul together.
“Holbrooke has been my wingman, to a great degree,” General Petraeus said in an interview. “We have had, and do have, a very good relationship.” That role, he said, will now fall to Ambassador Eikenberry.
Ambassador Eikenberry was highly critical of the Pentagon’s proposal last year to send 60,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, which led to a difficult relationship with General McChrystal. But in fact General Petraeus was the true architect of the plan.
The ambassador, a retired lieutenant general and former commander in Afghanistan, graduated from West Point in 1973, a year ahead of General Petraeus, but they did not know each other at the academy. The two share a scholarly bent: General Petraeus holds a Ph.D. from Princeton, while Ambassador Eikenberry has master’s degrees from Harvard and Stanford.
While they were never assigned together, their careers intersected twice. In Iraq, General Eikenberry led an assessment of Iraqi security forces while General Petraeus was commanding the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul. When General Eikenberry was commander in Afghanistan, General Petraeus led an assessment of Afghan National Security Forces.
General Petraeus declined to discuss personnel issues, while Ambassador Eikenberry and Mr. Holbrooke turned down requests for an interview. Mr. Crocker, now the dean of the George Bush School of Government at Texas A&M, did not return a call for comment.
For Mr. Holbrooke, the new landscape is challenging in other ways. Officials said his job security was less in doubt than it was six months ago, when his ouster was the subject of Washington chatter. Yet he has arguably become a less central player: Jacob J. Lew, a deputy secretary of state, manages much of the civilian influx in Afghanistan that Mr. Holbrooke helped shape, while the embassy in Kabul is carrying it out. Mr. Holbrooke’s current portfolio has played to his weaknesses, his own allies admit. He is best as a high-level negotiator, and not as comfortable with the nitty-gritty work of helping Afghanistan build an economy.
These days, Mr. Holbrooke has become a globe-trotting diplomat, trying to retain flagging European allies while seeking to draw influential Muslim countries like Egypt into helping Afghanistan. At a recent conference of 35 countries in Madrid, Mr. Holbrooke drummed up more support from allies for the Afghan government’s campaign to reintegrate Taliban fighters into mainstream society.
Mr. Karzai’s longer-term effort to reconcile with Taliban leaders, and his negotiations with Pakistan, could propel Mr. Holbrooke back into a central role. Were these talks to become more serious, several officials said, Mr. Holbrooke’s negotiating skills could be put to use, as a broker and guardian of American interests. For now, though, as evidence of General Petraeus’s influence, he will do most of the shuttling between Kabul and Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
On his last visit to the region, Mr. Holbrooke met with Mr. Karzai and with senior Pakistani officials, including the army chief of staff, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Mr. Holbrooke’s past run-ins with Mr. Karzai, several officials said, have not hindered his ability to deal with the Afghan leader, and Pakistani officials said they trusted him. Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, said that Mr. Holbrooke took time to understand Pakistan’s concerns. “Ambassador Holbrooke is liked by some, admired by others and seen as effective, even by those who may not like him,” Mr. Haqqani said.
Still, General Petraeus is indisputably the key player, and he has wasted no time asserting his control. On a secure videoconference call last Saturday, a person familiar with the call said, General Petraeus threw his support behind a costly, and controversial, plan to install temporary generators to supply more electricity to Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold that is the next major American military target.
Mr. Holbrooke and Ambassador Eikenberry swiftly assented.
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NATO Forces Arrest District Afghan Taliban Chief
VOA News July 1, 2010
NATO says Afghan and international forces have captured a district Taliban leader after a four-hour gunbattle in southern Afghanistan.
In a statement Thursday, NATO said a large number of insurgents were killed in the fighting in the remote Baghran district of Helmand province. NATO said troops captured several insurgents after the battle, including the Taliban chief of Now Zad, a district southwest of the fighting.
Meanwhile, South Korean officials say two rockets have hit the country's base in northern Afghanistan.
A South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said construction workers and security personnel were at the base in the province of Parwan when the rockets hit, but no one was hurt in the attack. The spokesman said security personnel fired two rockets back in response.
The incident comes as South Korean's civilian reconstruction team prepares to officially launch its mission in Afghanistan Thursday. South Korea withdrew troops from Afghanistan following a hostage standoff with the Taliban in 2007. Insurgents murdered two South Korean volunteers after taking a group hostage.
On Wednesday, Afghan and international forces repelled an insurgent attack on an airfield in northeastern Afghanistan, preventing the militants from entering the base. Taliban militants stormed the airfield in the city of Jalalabad, detonating a car bomb and firing rocket-propelled grenades.
Several insurgents were killed, and at least two troops were wounded.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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Bold move to save Afghanistan: Bring back a king
If the United States values stability more than democracy, it will recognize that restoring Afghanistan’s constitutional monarchy is the only thing that will prevent Taliban rule and victory in the war.
The Christian Science Monitor By Shireen K. Burki / Opinion June 30, 2010
Stafford, Va. - US forces in Afghanistan just got another competent military commander in Gen. David Petraeus. However, the current US strategy that General Petraeus must enforce only guarantees mission failure in the long run because it bolsters an unpopular Afghan government. This, in turn, ensures increased support for the insurgency led by the Taliban, who love to boast that they have Allah and time on their side.
It’s time that Western leaders answer a politically incorrect but vital question: Do they care more about establishing democracy than stability? Because if the mission is still about ensuring that Afghanistan – as a relatively cohesive state – remains free from Taliban and Al Qaeda, then the West should be willing to consider a dramatic step: reinstatement of a constitutional monarchy.
Pushing for a constitutional monarchy runs counter to America’s traditional antipathy toward monarchies as a form of governance, but in the case of Afghanistan, it’s probably now the only alternative to the Taliban rule that seems almost inevitable once NATO forces withdraw.
After weathering nine years of war, the Taliban have grown stronger, not weaker. Fueled by money and support from Pakistan and the Arab Khaleej states, they are getting more brazen in their attacks. Girls increasingly resist going to school, terrified that their classes might be bombed, or acid thrown in their faces, as they walk home. Shopkeepers have stopped selling videos and other “un-Islamic” items.
Meanwhile, the Karzai government, which won reelection amid wide reports of ballot fraud, continues to lose popular support. Corruption is rife. The drug and smuggling mafias are back and many are closely affiliated with the Afghan government.
In this environment, Afghans are hedging their bets. They don’t want the Taliban to return to power, but they understand that survival means siding with the winner.
It didn’t have to be this way.
In 2001, most Afghans welcomed US forces as saviors, not crusaders.
Thanks to their presence, Afghans were able to resume cherished pastimes banned under the Taliban: They played soccer, flew kites, danced the Attan, and, most importantly, they laughed out loud. Afghans could tend to their beloved rose gardens, or drive their buses and cars, blaring loud music. Woman could seek medical help, and widows could find employment, without running the risk of being beaten, or worse: stoned or shot to death in the soccer stadium.
After the fall of the Taliban, the overwhelming majority of Afghans – across ethnic lines – wanted to reinstate the constitutional monarchy that had served Afghanistan so well in the past.
During the long reign of King Zahir Shah (1933-1973), Afghanistan blossomed into a modern state. It became the largest exporter of raisins in the world, and was renowned in the region for its carpets, fruits, melons, and semi-precious stones. Kabul rivaled Islamabad as a city of modernity and culture, and was considered by Westerners in the 1960s as the Geneva of Asia.
There was relative stability in this historically strife-ridden state, which enabled completion of large-scale development projects like dams and roads. Most important, the only “Taliban” were religious students who studied the Koran.
Afghans saw their king as fair and inclusive. Under Zahir Shah, the central government established Afghanistan’s first professional standing Army, yet generally left the provinces alone in their handling of day-to-day affairs. Kabul did not try to force its “modernization” program upon the conservative elements, especially in the Pashtun belt inhabited by proud tribes who were deeply skeptical of anything “foreign” being imposed on them.
So memorable was this period that Afghans at the Bonn Conference in 2001, which was set up to plan the future of Afghanistan’s government, clamored to reinstate Zahir Shah and the 1964 Constitution that set forth equal rights for all Afghans before the law.
Yet this broad desire was stymied.
What happened? Washington sought the counsel of certain expatriate Afghans with self-interested agendas in 2001 that had long divorced themselves from their people and culture. Their heeded advice did not mirror the hopes and aspirations of Afghans who had stayed behind to endure the brutality of the Soviets, the warlords, and then the Taliban. So Afghan-American kingmakers thrust Hamid Karzai as the new head of government, relegating Zahir Shah to photo-ops for the Western press.
Today, President Karzai is derisively called the “mayor of Kabul,” as his mandate barely extends outside the cities. The 2004 Constitution does not mirror the hopes and aspirations of its people. The Afghan National Army is dubbed “The Northern Alliance Forces” by Pashtuns. And Kabul tries to exert control over the provinces by direct fiat, defying their history of fierce independence.
At this stage, Washington and its coalition partners have tough choices: 1) Leave or 2) Fix the political mess they helped to create.
The US military surge that Petraeus now directs will probably just delay the descent into chaos once NATO begins pulling out in 2011. Saving Afghanistan now requires encouraging Karzai and his political and military leadership to accept some painful options that might include comfortable exile. It requires holding another Afghan loya jirga (grand council) to determine if Afghans want a constitutional monarchy reinstated under a charismatic descendant of Zahir Shah.
His lineage would serve as a reminder of what was, and what can be. It would be a public relations nightmare for the Taliban. If NATO is serious about its mission it needs to ensure that Afghanistan’s commander-in-chief is seen as legitimate in the eyes of Afghans.
Shireen K. Burki is currently completing a book on state-society relations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. An ethnic Pashtun, she served at the United States Marine Corps’ Center For Advanced Operational Culture Learning from 2006 to 2008 as an expert on South Asia and Southwest Asia.
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Some Afghan military officers to get training in Pakistan
Washington Post By Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 1, 2010
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed to send a group of military officers to Pakistan for training, a significant policy shift that Afghan and Pakistani officials said signals deepening relations between the long-wary neighbors.
The move is a victory for Pakistan, which seeks a major role in Afghanistan as officials in both countries become increasingly convinced that the U.S. war effort there is faltering. Afghan officials said Karzai has begun to see Pakistan as a necessary ally in ending the war through negotiation with the Taliban or on the battlefield.
"This is meant to demonstrate confidence to Pakistan, in the hope of encouraging them to begin a serious consultation and conversation with us on the issue of [the] Taliban," Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Karzai's national security adviser, said of the training agreement.
The previously unpublicized training would involve only a small group of officers, variously described as between a handful and a few dozen, but it has enormous symbolic importance as the first tangible outcome of talks between Karzai and Pakistan's military and intelligence chiefs that began in May. It is likely to be controversial among some Afghans who see Pakistan as a Taliban puppet-master rather than as a cooperative neighbor, and in India, which is wary of Pakistan's intentions in Afghanistan.
Some key U.S. officials involved in Afghanistan said they knew nothing of the arrangement. "We are neither aware of nor have we been asked to facilitate training of the Afghan officer corps with the Pakistani military," Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, head of the NATO training command in Afghanistan, said in an e-mail. But Afghanistan, he said, "is a sovereign nation and can make bilateral agreements with other nations to provide training."
The United States has spent $27 billion to train and equip Afghan security forces since 2002, and President Obama's war strategy calls for doubling the strength of both the army and police force there by October 2011 to facilitate the gradual departure of U.S. troops.
Gen. David H. Petraeus, confirmed Wednesday as the new U.S. and NATO war commander, said this week that the United States wants to "forge a partnership or further the partnership that has been developing between Afghanistan and Pakistan." In addition to taking military action against Taliban sanctuaries inside its borders, Petraeus said, it is "essential" that Pakistan be involved "in some sort of reconciliation agreement" with the insurgents.
U.S. officials are generally pleased with the rapprochement between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the rapid progress of the talks has given some an uneasy feeling that events are moving outside U.S. control. Karzai told the Obama administration about his first meeting with Pakistani intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha when he visited Washington in May, but "he didn't say what they talked about, what the Pakistanis offered. He just dangled" the information, one U.S. official said.
That session, and at least one follow-up meeting among Karzai, Pasha and the Pakistani army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, included discussion of Pakistan-facilitated talks with Taliban leaders, although the two governments differed on whether the subject was raised with a Pakistan offer or an Afghan request. Both governments denied subsequent reports that Karzai had met face to face with Pakistan-based insurgent leader Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Hedging their bets
Pakistan and Afghanistan have long held each other at arm's length. The border between them is disputed, and Afghans resent Pakistan's support for the Taliban government during the 1990s and its tolerance of insurgent sanctuaries. But as they have assessed coalition prospects in the war, both governments appear to have turned to each other as a way of hedging their bets against a possible U.S. withdrawal.
While building Afghanistan's weak army is a key component of U.S. strategy, more than 300 Afghan soldiers are currently being trained under bilateral agreements in other countries, including Turkey and India, Pakistan's traditional adversary. Pakistan has been pushing for months for a training deal, and Spanta said that a "limited" number of officers would be part of the new agreement. Details were still under discussion, but a senior Pakistani government official said the program was expected to begin "soon."
Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington and an advocate of a Pakistani training program, said the plan could expedite joint operations between the two militaries and reduce suspicions about Pakistan within the Afghan army.
"This is a major move," Nawaz said. "It will have a powerful signaling effect in both countries."
Fears of Pakistani military influence persist among Afghan ethnic minorities and some in Karzai's government, including one official who compared the training initiative to the Soviet education of Afghan officers in the 1960s and 1970s that he said was "the start of all evil in Afghanistan."
"Pakistanis never trust Afghans. And Afghans never trust Pakistanis," according to a senior Afghan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his job. "But because the current situation is getting worse and worse, Karzai has to say okay to the Pakistanis and shake hands."
'We have doubts'
Another Afghan official, citing Karzai's recent firing of two top security officials who were highly critical of Pakistan, said the Afghan leader may be moving too far, too fast. The firings, the official said, were a "triumph for the ISI," Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, which has had a history of backing the Taliban and other militant groups in Afghanistan.
Afghan skeptics noted that Pakistan still refuses Afghanistan's demand to extradite Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was captured in Karachi in a joint Pakistani-U.S. raid early this year, or to arrest other senior leaders with whom they believe Pakistan retains ties. "If they were able to arrest Mullah Baradar why haven't they arrested [Afghan Taliban leader] Mullah Omar? Or Haqqani? This is something we have doubts about," one senior Afghan official said.
Baradar, who reportedly had engaged in talks with the Karzai government, "was interested and more willing to negotiate," the official said. "He was tired of fighting. Pakistan wants to use the Taliban as a pressure element. They don't want the Taliban to be in direct contact with the Afghan government."
Some U.S. officials expressed similar wariness about Pakistan's intentions. "What the Pakistanis and the Taliban want," one said, "is a cleaning of the house," including replacement of the Afghan officer corps, currently dominated by ethnic Tajiks whom Pakistan sees as hostile to its interests.
But other officials in all three countries rejected that analysis and pointed to a broader thaw in Afghanistan-Pakistan relations over the past year. Pakistani scholarships have been accepted by a number of Afghan university students, and Pakistan is training Afghan civilian officials, Spanta said.
"We have seen a paradigm shift in the relationship," said Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan. "And of course, both sides are benefiting from it."
DeYoung reported from Washington.
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U.S. plane makes emergency landing in E. Afghanistan
KABUL, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A plane of the U.S. military made an emergency landing in Nangarhar province, east of Afghanistan, on Thursday, a statement of the Coalition said.
"A U.S. aircraft made a precautionary landing in Nangarhar Province, Kunar district, eastern Afghanistan, today after reported having mechanical problems," the statement added.
The aircraft landed safely with no injuries or damage to personnel or the aircraft, it emphasized.
It said that the incident is currently under investigation.
The incident took place just a day after Taliban militants attacked an airbase in Jalalabad city, the capital of Nangarhar province, on Wednesday, which left four attackers dead.
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Children, aged 5, used to plant Taliban bombs in Afghanistan
Children as young as five are being used by the Taliban to lay bombs and carry weapons in a deadly new tactic in Afghanistan, it can be disclosed.
Telegraph.co.uk Thomas Harding in Sangin 30 Jun 2010
In the past five months the number child insurgents has increased almost fivefold in the town of Sangin, to a band of 40, who are used to run weapons, plant bombs and carry out tasks for the Taliban, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
According to military intelligence sources there are about 12 children being routinely used in the Sangin area just to plant bombs.
The Taliban have resorted to the tactic because they know that British troops are unlikely to fire on children planting IEDs (improvised explosive devices). They have also been forced into the change because sophisticated surveillance technology is able to pick up Taliban IED planting teams and take action against them.
On one occasion surveillance cameras picked up two children under 10 walking along the main road with one placing an IED in a hole followed by another covering it up with a bag of stone and earth.
"They know that we won't engage the kids," said an intelligence source with 40 Commando, Royal Marines, based in Sangin. "The kids are less aware of the risks and will to do anything for a quick buck.
"But it's really exploiting children. The parents are upset they do this but they are very, very intimidated by the Taliban."
There have been 44 roadside bombs in Sangin in the past months, a fifth were carried out by children.
At least one child has been killed in the last month laying an IED. Two other youngsters from his team turned up at the Marines' base one missing a hand and the other was later found with batteries, tape and wire on him.
"We have child accessories not child soldiers," said Major Ed Moorhouse, commander of Charlie Company, 40 Cdo. "They are entirely indoctrinated from an early age, very battle hardened and the Taliban know that our Western values inhibit us from firing on children."
In another incident that left the Marines deeply shocked a teenage boy, believed to be 14, arrived at a compound where he started chatting to one of commandos.
"We were having a joke, he wrote his name on my hand and then asked me if I was an officer," said Marine Tim Jones, 26, a Pashtun speaker. "He just seemed like a normal teenager but he had come in with an agenda."
Twenty minutes later the boy returned and went up to the corporal in charge of the patrol who was carrying a radio and detonated a suicide vest. But it is believed the boy put the vest on the wrong way round and caused only minor injuries to the corporal while killing himself.
"It's still difficult to take in that they are using kids to fight against us," said MnE Jones. "You feel sorry for them really because they are taken away at such a young age that they don't get a chance to choose."
Children are also used to approach Royal Marine patrols to identify commanders or officers who are then targeted by bombers or gunmen.
They will also carry guns or rocket-propelled grenades for the Taliban to be used in ambushes or are asked to connect IEDs to batteries.
Taliban commanders are also thought to develop a "cult of hero worship" around children.
"They are fully aware that we will not engage children except in extreme circumstances," said Company Sergeant Major Buck Ryan.
"I feel for the children. I have a 14-year-old son and to think of him doing something like that, to kill people, is horrific.
"Life is cheap out here, there's no question of that."
During one gunfight on a police check point yesterday, witnessed at a distance by The Daily Telegraph, an eight-year-old girl was struck in the back of the head by a bullet believed to have been fired by insurgents. She was in a stable condition after the bullet skimmed the top of her head causing a deep gauge.
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AFGHANISTAN: NGOs want stronger UN humanitarian coordination
01 Jul 2010 17:38:57 GMT
DUBAI, 1 July 2010 (IRIN) - A consortium of 31 NGOs working in Afghanistan have expressed their "deep concern" over the ability of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to carry out its mission in the country because of low staffing levels.
"Basic coordination, planning and information-management requirements exceed OCHA's capacity, especially in the regional offices," said a letter from the NGO and Humanitarian Reform Project (NHRP) to John Holmes, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of OCHA, on 24 June.
"As the humanitarian needs in Afghanistan are at a critical stage, we call on you to urgently redouble recruitment efforts and investigate secondment options to strengthen OCHA Afghanistan's effectiveness in facilitating independent and principled humanitarian coordination, outreach and response."
The NHRP was established in September 2008 as a three-year project to increase the effective engagement of international, national and local NGOs in humanitarian reform.
The membership of NHRP includes ActionAid, an anti-poverty agency; CARE International UK; the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD); the International Rescue Committee, a relief agency working in conflict areas; the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), which works with refugees; Oxfam, and Save the Children UK.
The NGOs have urged OCHA to strengthen and protect humanitarian space; ensure that humanitarian coordination is proactive, accountable, inclusive and appropriate to improve effectiveness of the response; and to prioritize strengthening OCHA's information management capacity.
OCHA response
Holmes accepted the criticism "in the spirit in which it is intended" in an interview on 30 June in New York, and recognized that there were staffing problems in Afghanistan, largely because of worsening security in the country and slow bureaucratic procedures.
He said new international recruits were due to arrive in mid-July, and all OCHA's regional offices would be staffed at the right levels in the next two to three weeks.
"We still have some way to go and, frankly, it's not easy for us - as for anyone else - to recruit for Afghanistan, for obvious reasons of security and difficulty of operating."
He added: "If we are going to do a lot more, clearly the donors have got to come forward with the resources."
Holmes did not accept NHRP's criticism that OCHA was too closely identified with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and whose political mandate it said was at "odds with principled humanitarian action based on neutrality, impartiality and independence".
Afghanistan was a "frustrating place for the humanitarian community" to work because large parts of the country were inaccessible, and military and civilian roles were "so hopelessly entwined". But, "Clearly, there are some issues if they [NGOs] have written to me in this way." Holmes commented.
"We have to take those concerns seriously, and I will be taking them seriously, and sending a very considered response to them," he said. "But I think they may reflect some of the frustrations about the situation in general more than just about what we are doing."
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Afghanistan withdrawal date reinforced by William Hague
Hague says Kabul should be able to take the lead 'by 2014' after Labour accuses Tories of confusion
Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 July 2010
William Hague was forced to clarify the government's thinking on Afghanistan today when he declared that he would be "very surprised" if Kabul's military was unable to take the lead by 2014.
The foreign secretary spoke out as Labour accused the government of a confused approach. Twenty four hours earlier Liam Fox, the defence secretary, had warned an early withdrawal of forces would act as "a shot in the arm to jihadists" across the world.
Hague, who outlined the government's approach to foreign policy, endorsed David Cameron's declaration that British troops would return home by the time of the next election, due to take place in 2015.
"We are committed to the Afghans being able to conduct their military operations and security and that takes time," Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme before his speech at the Foreign Office. "But I would be very surprised if that took longer than 2014."
He clarified the government's thinking after Fox waded into a row in Washington over the withdrawal of Nato forces. In a speech to the rightwing Heritage Foundation he said an early withdrawal would risk a return to civil war and betray the sacrifices of soldiers who gave their lives.
An early draft of his speech made no mention of Cameron's declaration last week. In the final version of his text Fox endorsed Cameron's view, though he later told the BBC that British troops would be among the last to leave Afghanistan.
Some ministers believe the defence secretary, who is close to rightwing Republicans, was aligning himself with hawks in Washington who are sceptical of President Barack Obama's plan to start drawing down troops next year. General David Petraeus, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, told his Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday that the 2011 withdrawal date had not been recommended by the military.
Bob Ainsworth, the shadow defence secretary, said the British government was confused. "It is vitally important that the government speaks with one voice when it comes to Afghanistan but this week all we have seen is confusion," he said.
The contrasting signals from ministers overshadowed Hague's speech in which he outlined the government's "agile and energetic" foreign policy.
He warned that Britain's influence across the world would decline unless links with emerging countries were boosted and a "generation gap" overcome by ensuring more British officials take on senior roles in the EU.
"The world has changed, and if we do not change with it Britain's role is set to decline with all that means for our influence in world affairs, our national security and our economy," he said.
As a first priority, Britain should bolster links with emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China and "increasingly significant economies" such as Turkey and Indonesia. Emerging economies would be up to 50% larger than those of the current G7 by 2050.
"Yet we export more to Ireland than we do to India, China and Russia put together," he said.
Hague pledged to play an active role in the EU, though the government would make more of an effort to reach out to the 10 eastern European countries that have joined since 2004.
He also criticised the last government for failing to ensure that British officials were well represented in EU institutions. Britain represents 12% of the EU population but accounts for just 1.8% of staff at entry-level policy grades in the European commission.
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