 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serving you since 1998 | ||||||||||||
|
|
White House moves away from 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal timeline
The Obama administration is walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the Afghanistan war in an effort to de-emphasize the president's pledge that he would begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011.
By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers Tuesday, November 9, 2010
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has decided to walk away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the Afghanistan war in an effort to de-emphasize the president's pledge that he would begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials said Tuesday.
Official: White House will review Afghan war strategy but won't offer Plan B
By Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A White House review of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy next month will judge "how this current approach is working" but will not suggest alternatives if aspects of the policy are found to be failing, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
NATO Blames Taliban for 100 Afghan Civilian Deaths Last Month
VOA News November 10, 2010
The NATO-led force in Afghanistan says insurgents were responsible for the deaths of more than 100 Afghan civilians last month and more than 200 civilian injuries, despite the Taliban's claims that it has protected ordinary citizens.
10 civilians injured as bomb blasts in E Afghan province
KABUL, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ten civilians sustained injuries as a bomb blasted in Jalalabad city, the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, on Wednesday, local television channel reported.
Two NATO vehicles damaged in northern Afghan province
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Two vehicles of NATO- led forces were damaged as a mortar mine fired by insurgents hit them in northern Kunduz province on Wednesday, spokesman of the alliance in Kunduz province Lieutenant Colonel Burchardi said.
US takes on violent Afghan valley that bled Brits
The Associated Press By SEBASTIAN ABBOT Tuesday, November 9, 2010
SANGIN, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines who recently inherited this lush river valley in southern Helmand province from British forces have tossed aside their predecessor's playbook in favor of a more aggressive strategy to tame one of the most violent places in Afghanistan.
Blazing The Bumpy Road To Peace In Afghanistan
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty By Abubakar Siddique November 09, 2010
KABUL - Mohammad Mohaqiq lays claim to one of the more notable transformations in modern-day Afghanistan.
Taliban attack leaves 7 Afghan police dead
TRINKOT, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants stormed a police checkpoint in southern Uruzgan province in the wee hours of Wednesday killing seven policemen, deputy to provincial governor Khudai Rahim confirmed. "The attack happened in Khas Uruzgan district at 01:00 a.m. local time as a result seven policemen were killed and two others sustained injuries," Rahim told Xinhua.
Suicide car bomb rocks district in E Afghanistan, killing 1
KHOST, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- A suicide car bomb attack targeted Dwamanda district in Khost province east of Afghanistan Wednesday evening killing at least one police and injured four others, deputy to provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqub said.
Premature explosion kills 3 militants in W Afghanistan
ZARANJ, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Three militants died as their mine exploded prematurely in Afghanistan's western Nimroz province late Tuesday night, police said Wednesday.
Taliban leader killed in S Afghanistan: NATO
KABUL, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) eliminated a Taliban leader during an operation in southern Afghanistan, according to an ISAF statement released on Wednesday. "Mirza Jan, a Taliban leader and facilitator for Ghazni-based senior leadership was killed during an overnight operation in Ghazni province Tuesday," the statement said.
Former Afghan envoy hits at military advice
FT By Alex Barker and Elizabeth Rigby November 9 2010
Senior military officers consistently offered ministers “misleadingly optimistic” advice about progress in Afghanistan that “distorted understanding of the problem”, according to Britain’s former envoy to the region.
Saudi Departure a Blow for Taliban Peace Talks
CBS News by Farhan Bokhari November 9, 2010
Saudi Arabia's unexpected withdrawal from is role in peace talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban has jeopardized prospects for an early end to the bloody fighting in Afghanistan, senior Western and Arab diplomats in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region tell CBS News.
Poll: More Afghans See Their Country on Right Track
VOA News November 9, 2010
A new survey says more Afghans think their country is heading in the right direction, even though many believe it is still plagued by a lack of security.
Blazing The Bumpy Road To Peace In Afghanistan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 9, 2010 By Abubakar Siddique
KABUL -- Mohammad Mohaqiq lays claim to one of the more notable transformations in modern-day Afghanistan.
Code For Security Firms Reins In Violence, Mercenaries
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 9, 2010
A U.S. and British-backed code of conduct has been signed in Geneva by major private security operators, including some operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army alleges that sergeant led 'kill team' targeting Afghan civilians
By Craig Whitlock Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 9, 2010
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH - A soldier charged with leading a conspiracy to randomly target and kill unarmed Afghan civilians made his first appearance in a military courtroom Tuesday and listened to prosecutors present details of perhaps the most serious war-crimes case to emerge from the Afghan conflict.
Back to Top
White House moves away from 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal timeline
The Obama administration is walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the Afghanistan war in an effort to de-emphasize the president's pledge that he would begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011.
By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers Tuesday, November 9, 2010
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has decided to walk away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the Afghanistan war in an effort to de-emphasize the president's pledge that he would begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials said Tuesday.
The new policy will be on display next week during a NATO conference in Lisbon, Portugal, where the administration hopes to introduce a timeline that calls for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014, according to three senior officials and others speaking anonymously as a matter of policy. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said Afghan troops could provide their security by then.
The Pentagon also has decided not to announce specific dates for handing security responsibility for several Afghan provinces to local officials and instead intends to work out a more vague definition of transition when it meets with its NATO allies, the officials said.
What a year ago had been touted as an extensive December review of the strategy now will be less expansive and will offer no major changes in strategy, the officials said. U.S. Central Command, the military division that oversees Afghanistan operations, hasn't submitted a withdrawal order for forces for the July deadline, two of those officials said.
The shift, begun privately, came in part because U.S. officials realized that conditions in Afghanistan were unlikely to allow a speedy withdrawal.
"During our assessments, we looked at if we continue to move forward at this pace, how long before we can fully transition to the Afghans? Of course, we are not going to fully transition to the Afghans by July 2011," one senior administration official said. "Right now, we think we can start in 2011 and fully transition sometime in 2014."
Another official said the administration also realized in contacts with Pakistani officials that the Pakistanis had concluded wrongly that July 2011 would mark the beginning of the end of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
That perception, one Pentagon adviser said, has persuaded Pakistan's military — key to preventing Taliban sympathizers from infiltrating Afghanistan — to continue to press for a political settlement instead of military action.
"This administration now understands that it cannot shift Pakistani approaches to safeguarding its interests in Afghanistan with this date being perceived as a walkaway date," the adviser said.
The midterm elections have eased pressure on the Obama administration to begin an early withdrawal. Some congressional Democrats this year pressed to cut off funding for Afghanistan operations. With Republicans in control of the House beginning in January, however, there will be less push for a drawdown. The incoming House Armed Services chairman, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., told Reuters last week that he opposed setting the date.
On Tuesday, a White House official said the administration might withdraw some troops in July and may hand some communities over to Afghan authorities. But he said a withdrawal from Afghanistan could take "years," depending on the capability of the Afghan national security forces.
He also said the December review would measure progress in eight areas, although he declined to specify what those are. Congress will receive a report by early next year, but Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan, will not testify.
"This is designed to be an inside-the-administration perspective," the White House official said, adding it will "set the policymaking calendar" for the Obama administration's first six months of next year.
De-emphasizing deadlines also allows the administration greater flexibility in responding to conditions in Afghanistan, officials said.
While the Taliban are facing increasing coalition airstrikes, they have no driving incentive to negotiate with an unpopular government. U.S. officials quietly worry that while they, too, are seeing some drops in violence and the Taliban's hold in pockets of Afghanistan, those limited improvements aren't leading to better governance.
A U.N. report issued in August showed that civilian casualties rose 31 percent during the first half of the year compared with the previous year; 76 percent were caused by the Taliban, it said. More than 400 U.S. troops have been killed this year.
Christopher Preble, director for foreign-policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said he's not surprised that the scope of the December review has narrowed and that Obama administration officials no longer are highlighting the July 2011 date.
"The very players who were arguing so strenuously for a deepening of our involvement in Afghanistan a year ago are unlikely to now declare that their earlier recommendations were faulty," he said.
McClatchy Newspapers correspondents Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay contributed to this report.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Official: White House will review Afghan war strategy but won't offer Plan B
By Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A White House review of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy next month will judge "how this current approach is working" but will not suggest alternatives if aspects of the policy are found to be failing, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
The review, one year after the strategy was announced last December, will provide policymakers with an assessment of whether it is "delivering the sorts of effects that we want based on the resources committed" and is "performing at the right pace," the official said.
Assessment data began to flow in from civilian and military forces in Afghanistan two weeks ago, said the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. Input from U.S. allies will also be gathered at a NATO summit in Lisbon that Obama is set to attend at the end of next week.
The report will provide "a catalog of open policy issues that need to be addressed" in the spring, the official said, leading to the July deadline Obama has set to begin a phased withdrawal of about 100,000 U.S. troops. A declassified version of the conclusions will be made public in late December or early January, he said.
Among other elements, the assessment will look at progress in forming local defense forces in Afghanistan, the size and capacity of the Afghan army and police, and progress in reconciliation talks between the government and the Taliban.
"There are not active talks ongoing," the official said. "However, the fact that there are talks about talks, and potential outreaches to senior Taliban, is an important dimension of the review."
The review will also assess progress by President Hamid Karzai's government in stemming official corruption. In Kabul this week, Afghan officials said a decision to drop corruption charges against a Karzai aide has outraged Afghan investigators who worked on the case and could undermine the pursuit of other corruption investigations.
One police commander, upset that the attorney general is not pursuing the case against Mohammad Zia Salehi, asked Interior Minister Besmillah Khan Mohammadi on Tuesday to drop six cases against Afghan policemen suspected of involvement in drug trafficking, suggesting that justice could not be served in the current political climate. Mohammadi, however, told the commander to proceed, the officials said.
"When I heard about Salehi, it really disappointed me, 100 percent," said one Afghan police official involved in the case.
Salehi, an official in Afghanistan's National Security Council who played a role in negotiations with the Taliban, was arrested in July on allegations of soliciting a bribe in return for helping to quash a separate corruption investigation. He was also accused of using a presidential slush fund, partly involving money from Iran, to pay off Karzai's supporters with cash and luxury vehicles.
The evidence was collected by a special Afghan police unit trained and advised by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, and the arrest was carried out by another U.S.-backed Afghan unit known as the Major Crimes Task Force.
But on the same day that Salehi was arrested, Karzai personally intervened to free him from jail. The palace's swift response led to a review of other corruption investigations and had a chilling effect on anti-corruption work, according to officials involved.
Salehi's case became a symbol of the delicate balance that the United States must strike in fighting graft and bribery at the highest levels of Afghan politics. Since then, U.S. anti-corruption efforts have been carried out less publicly to avoid provoking Karzai.
After weeks with little mention of Salehi, the attorney general's office decided this week to drop all charges against him, said Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari. The New York Times reported the decision Monday.
Nazari said the only evidence against Salehi involved wire-tapped conversations in which he allegedly solicited the bribe. Under Afghan law, Nazari said, taped phone conversations in financial cases are not admissible in court. He said the case could be reopened if new evidence is discovered.
Partlow reported from Kabul. Special correspondent Javed Hamdard contributed from Kabul.
Back to Top
Back to Top
NATO Blames Taliban for 100 Afghan Civilian Deaths Last Month
VOA News November 10, 2010
The NATO-led force in Afghanistan says insurgents were responsible for the deaths of more than 100 Afghan civilians last month and more than 200 civilian injuries, despite the Taliban's claims that it has protected ordinary citizens.
NATO said the Taliban's message does not match the reality that every day, insurgents are deliberately killing, injuring and intimidating Afghans.
The international security force described the contradiction as hypocrisy.
It outlined four main ways that the Taliban bullies civilians, including indiscriminate violence, oppressive practices, imposing extremist ideology and preventing the growth and development of basic services.
The statement comes as coalition forces push to crack down on militant fighters in Afghanistan, particularly in the country's volatile south.
NATO said two of its service members were killed in separate insurgent attacks Wednesday, one in the the south and the other in the east. The force did not provide further details.
This year has been the deadliest for international forces in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. More than 625 troops have been killed.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
Back to Top
Back to Top
10 civilians injured as bomb blasts in E Afghan province
KABUL, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ten civilians sustained injuries as a bomb blasted in Jalalabad city, the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, on Wednesday, local television channel reported.
"Ten civilians were wounded in bomb explosion and evacuated to hospitals this morning," the private Tolo television channel aired in its news bulletin.
However officials have yet to make comments.
No groups or individuals have claimed of responsibility so far.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Two NATO vehicles damaged in northern Afghan province
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Two vehicles of NATO- led forces were damaged as a mortar mine fired by insurgents hit them in northern Kunduz province on Wednesday, spokesman of the alliance in Kunduz province Lieutenant Colonel Burchardi said.
"Two vehicles were slightly damaged as a mortar mine fired by insurgents hit the troops in Jan Ghareq village of Qalai Zal district today," Burchardi confirmed in talks with Xinhua.
There were no casualties on the troops, he emphasized.
Meantime, Zabihullah Mujahid who claims to speak for Taliban outfit in talks with media via telephone from unknown location contended that four troopers were killed in the gun battle lasted for a while in Qalai Zal district on Wednesday.
Earlier in the morning the NATO-led forces in a statement confirmed that insurgents' attack left one soldier dead in the southern region where Taliban militants are active.
More than 620 NATO soldiers with majority of them Americans have been killed since January this year in Afghanistan.
Back to Top
Back to Top
US takes on violent Afghan valley that bled Brits
The Associated Press By SEBASTIAN ABBOT Tuesday, November 9, 2010
SANGIN, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines who recently inherited this lush river valley in southern Helmand province from British forces have tossed aside their predecessor's playbook in favor of a more aggressive strategy to tame one of the most violent places in Afghanistan.
U.S. commanders say success is critical in Sangin district - where British forces suffered nearly one-third of their deaths in the war - because it is the last remaining sanctuary in Helmand where the Taliban can freely process the opium and heroin that largely fund the insurgency.
The district also serves as a key crossroads to funnel drugs, weapons and fighters throughout Helmand and into neighboring Kandahar province, the spiritual heartland of the Taliban and the most important battleground for coalition forces. The U.S.-led coalition hopes its offensive in the south will kill or capture key Taliban commanders, rout militants from their strongholds and break the insurgency's back. That will allow the coalition and the Afghans to improve government services, bring new development and a sense of security.
"Sangin has been an area where drug lords, Taliban and people who don't want the government to come in and legitimize things have holed up," said Lt. Col. Jason Morris, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. The unit took over responsibility for Sangin in mid-October nearly a month after the British withdrew.
That withdrawal - after more than 100 deaths over four years of combat - has raised concerns among some in Britain about the perception of U.S. Marines finishing a job the British couldn't handle. Many claimed that happened in the Iraqi city of Basra in 2007.
U.S. commanders denied that's the case in Sangin and said the withdrawal was just the final step in consolidating British forces in central Helmand and leaving the north and south to the Americans. Sangin is located in the north of the province.
But one of the first things the Marines did when they took over Sangin was close roughly half the 22 patrol bases the British set up throughout the district - a clear rejection of the main pillar of Britain's strategy, which was based on neighborhood policing tactics used in Northern Ireland.
The bases were meant to improve security in Sangin, but the British ended up allocating a large percentage of their soldiers to protect them from being overrun by the Taliban. That gave the insurgents almost total freedom of movement in the district.
"The fact that a lot of those patrol bases were closed down frees up maneuver forces so that you can go out and take the fight to the enemy," Morris said during an interview at the battalion's main base in the district center, Forward Operating Base Jackson.
As Morris spoke, the sound of heavy machine gun fire and mortar explosions echoed in the background for nearly 30 minutes as Marines tried to kill insurgents who were firing at the base from a set of abandoned compounds about 500 feet away.
The Marines later called in an AC-130 gunship to launch a Hellfire missile, a 500-pound bomb and a precision-guided artillery round at the compounds, rocking the base with deafening explosions that shook dirt loose from the ceilings of the tents. Tribal elders later said the munitions killed seven Taliban fighters.
The battalion has been in more than 100 firefights since it arrived, and the proximity of many of them to FOB Jackson illustrates just how much freedom of movement the Taliban still have in Sangin.
The Marines have worked to improve security by significantly increasing the number of patrols compared to the British and by pushing into areas north and south of the district center where British forces rarely went. That process started when the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment deployed to Sangin in July and fought beside the British until the current battalion took over.
Even though the battalion has slightly fewer forces than the 1,200-strong British Royal Marines unit that was here previously, commanders say they have been able to step up the number of patrols because they have far fewer Marines stuck guarding bases.
But some analysts have speculated that the coalition would need at least one more battalion in Sangin if it wanted to clear and hold the whole district. Some Marines said privately that more forces would be necessary, especially in the Upper Sangin Valley where coalition troops had not gone in years until recently.
The battalion's current area of operations is roughly 25 square miles and contains a mix of lush fields around the Helmand River, dense clusters of tall mud compounds and patches of barren desert. It contains some 25,000 people, but many of Sangin's residents live outside the area in which the Marines operate. The entire district is roughly 200 square miles, and district governor Mohammad Sharif said it houses about 100,000 people.
The battalion has gotten help from a pair of Marine reconnaissance companies operating in the Upper Sangin Valley and a company of Georgian soldiers based on the West side of the Helmand River. There are also several hundred Afghan army and police in Sangin, but they are fairly dependent on the Marines for supplies and logistics.
In addition to conducting more patrols, the Marine battalion has adopted a more aggressive posture than the British, according to Afghan army Lt. Mohammad Anwar, who has been in Sangin for two years.
"When the Taliban attacked, the British would retreat into their base, but the Marines fight back," said Anwar.
Insurgents fired at members of 1st Platoon, India Company, during a recent patrol near the battalion's main base, and the Marines responded with a deafening roar of machine gun fire, grenades, and mortars. They also tried to launch a rocket that turned out to be a dud.
"The Taliban like to engage us, and I like to make it an unfair fight," said India Company's commander, Capt. Chris Esrey of Havelock, North Carolina. "If you shoot at us with 7.62 (millimeter bullets), I'm going to respond with rockets."
But Taliban attacks have taken their toll. Thirteen Marines have been killed and 49 wounded since the battalion arrived. Most of those casualties have come from IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, that the insurgents hide in compounds, along trails and in dense fields where they are hard to detect.
The Marines believe their operations are beginning to improve security, and they say tips have started to trickle in from locals on the location of IEDs.
But some villagers have complained about the increased number of patrols since the Taliban often plant IEDs along the routes the Marines travel.
"You should open more bases and patrol less because when you patrol on foot, the Taliban bury IEDs that threaten children and other civilians," local landowner Tuma Khan told a Marine during a patrol.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Blazing The Bumpy Road To Peace In Afghanistan
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty By Abubakar Siddique November 09, 2010
KABUL - Mohammad Mohaqiq lays claim to one of the more notable transformations in modern-day Afghanistan.
Having made a name for himself as a guerrilla commander who fought the Red Army in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, Mohaqiq left the battlefield for the political arena, where he has become a key leader of the Hazara minority and just won a second term in parliament.
As a legislator, he once publically questioned the notion of the government negotiating with the Taliban. But on that issue, too, his ideas have evolved, and he is now ready to make his transformation complete -- from warlord to peacemaker.
"People who are fighting each other can make peace. People who have no problem with each other do not need to make peace," Mohaqiq says. "There is no need of peace with people who are not fighting the Taliban and people against whom the Taliban are not aiming their fight. That is why the warring sides in Afghanistan need to reconcile with each other."
Mohaqiq, as one of 70 members of the High Peace Council recently formed by the government to facilitate peace efforts, is now in position to help make reconciliation a reality. Joining him on the council are former Taliban, women, civil society representatives, and fellow former mujahedin leaders who fought the Soviets and, in most cases, the Taliban.
The thinking is that council members' years of informal contacts with the armed opposition will greatly aid the collective effort to forge a lasting peace. And unlike the past, this endeavor benefits from the international donors' support and funding.
Idea Gaining Traction
Shaida Mohammad Abdali is deputy national security adviser for President Hamid Karzai, whose previous calls for reintegrating moderate Taliban into Afghan society came under fierce criticism. Those criticisms have waned with the rise of insecurity in Afghanistan and falling Western public support for the war, and now the idea of bringing Taliban foot soldiers on board by offering them jobs and security, as well as calls to directly negotiate with fugitive Taliban leaders in Pakistan, is gaining traction.
Abdali says that the High Peace Council has been tasked with moving the peace process forward, while consciously avoiding zero-sum games that have sabotaged peace efforts in the past.
As an olive branch, Kabul has pushed for confidence-building measures such as the removal of nearly 50 Taliban members from UN blacklists. And the Afghan government is also taking steps to address one of the main sticking points in the effort to get the Taliban and allied insurgent groups to come together for peace -- the presence of foreign troops on Afghan soil.
According to Abdali, Kabul is eyeing 2014 as the time to take over responsibility for its own security and has already formed commissions to identify regions where it can start. Progress toward this goal, according to Abdali, could pave the way for the departure of Western forces.
"If the Taliban want an end to the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan, that can be best achieved by embracing peace," Abdali says. "When the government and the opposition sit for talks and search for peace, and when the foreigners sense that Afghan security forces can protect this country and its people, they will be motivated to leave."
'None Of This Will Be Easy'
British Major General Philip Jones agrees. He heads the Force-Reintegration Cell behind the high blast wall of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Kabul headquarters. This office provides key support to the Afghan High Peace Council. He sees the lack of trust among Afghans as the major challenge to the peace process.
Jones, who is on his fourth duty tour in Afghanistan since 2002, sees the peace process as a human as well as a political process. His organization's main role is to help the High Peace Council to devise the mechanics of demobilizing fighters and supporting them to reintegrate into the economy and society. With a budget of nearly $230 million in donor pledges, the Afghan peace and initiative council has reintegrated hundreds of insurgents in just its first three months of its operation.
Drawing on the lessons of Northern Ireland, Jones sees Afghan peace as difficult but achievable.
"None of this will be easy," Jones says. "It takes bold people with courageous hearts to step across into dialogue when they had been fighting for so long. In many respects, for some people out there it is easier to keep fighting. But we all have been living the development of this Afghan peace process and people are still skeptical and criticize elements of it.
"But we very strongly believe this is a very earnest offer in reaching out. And it's an opportunity that doesn't come that often. We have come to a point in the conflict where there really is an opportunity for rapprochement, for peace. There is nothing about victor and vanquish; it is about coming to a settlement."
The Role Of Al-Qaeda
The key international diplomat facilitating such an Afghan compromise is UN special envoy Staffan De Mistura. He says that the conflict in Afghanistan can only be resolved by political dialogue among Afghans. He says the Taliban are Afghan political actors affected and influenced by Al-Qaeda.
"When they ask for the foreign military presence to leave, I am sure they may be thinking also about some kind of disconnection from the other foreign presence," he says. "That is, the foreigners from Al-Qaeda who are influencing them."
De Mistura has served in 18 war zones in a diplomatic career spanning four decades. He was in Kabul 22 years ago and saw how the reconciliation policies of Afghanistan's last socialist president, Mohammad Najibullah, failed in the wake of the Red Army's departure from Afghanistan. To avoid such an eventuality, he wants a Bonn II and a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan.
These initiatives would remove the failures of the 2001 conference in Bonn, Germany, when a transitional government was established but no Taliban were even invited. The Marshall Plan would address chronic poverty on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, where the Taliban are most active.
De Mistura calls for continued support to Afghanistan as Western forces prepare to begin a drawdown next year.
"Transition should not mean abandonment. It should still mean a commitment in the future of a stable Afghanistan which could be friendly to its neighbors and at the same time can [get] the neighbors to respect its sovereignty," he says. "Something along those lines could take place, especially if there is a frank, good dialogue with the Taliban."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Taliban attack leaves 7 Afghan police dead
TRINKOT, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants stormed a police checkpoint in southern Uruzgan province in the wee hours of Wednesday killing seven policemen, deputy to provincial governor Khudai Rahim confirmed. "The attack happened in Khas Uruzgan district at 01:00 a.m. local time as a result seven policemen were killed and two others sustained injuries," Rahim told Xinhua.
However, he did not give more details.
Taliban militants who vowed to overthrow the Afghan government and evict NATO-led forces from the post-Taliban country have intensified their activities.
Taliban-linked activities left two security guards of a construction company dead in the eastern Khost province and injured three others on the same day Wednesday.
Furthermore, Taliban-led militancy injured at least 10 civilians in the eastern Nangarhar province and damaged two vehicles of NATO-led forces in the northern Kunduz province on the same day Wednesday.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Suicide car bomb rocks district in E Afghanistan, killing 1
KHOST, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- A suicide car bomb attack targeted Dwamanda district in Khost province east of Afghanistan Wednesday evening killing at least one police and injured four others, deputy to provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqub said.
"A terrorist slammed his explosive-laden car at the entry gate of Dwamanda district headquarters at around 05:00 p.m. local time leaving one police dead and injured four others including two police constables and two Afghan soldiers," Yaqub told Xinhua.
The suicide bomber was also killed in the blast, he added.
Two police vehicles were also damaged in the blast, he said.
Meantime, Taliban outfit has claimed of responsibility.
Zabihullah Mujahid who claims to speak for the Taliban militants in talks with media via telephone from undisclosed location said that a Taliban fighter Abdul Ghafar carried the suicide car bomb attack killing over a dozen soldiers.
However, the police officer Yaqub rejected the claim as mere propaganda, saying only one policeman was killed in the blast.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Premature explosion kills 3 militants in W Afghanistan
ZARANJ, Afghanistan, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Three militants died as their mine exploded prematurely in Afghanistan's western Nimroz province late Tuesday night, police said Wednesday.
"Three Taliban rebels were busy in planting a mine on a road in Dilaram district late Tuesday night to target security forces but the device went off prematurely killing all the trio on the spot," deputy to provincial police chief Mohammad Musa Rasouli told Xinhua.
Taliban militants who are largely relying on suicide attacks and roadside bombings have yet to make comment.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Taliban leader killed in S Afghanistan: NATO
KABUL, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) eliminated a Taliban leader during an operation in southern Afghanistan, according to an ISAF statement released on Wednesday. "Mirza Jan, a Taliban leader and facilitator for Ghazni-based senior leadership was killed during an overnight operation in Ghazni province Tuesday," the statement said.
The insurgent leader had distributed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to insurgent groups in the area, the statement further stressed.
Taliban militants have yet to make comments.
The NATO-led troops also on Tuesday reported arresting a senior Taliban commander in Musa Qala district of Helmand province but the outfit has not made any comment so far.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Former Afghan envoy hits at military advice
FT By Alex Barker and Elizabeth Rigby November 9 2010
Senior military officers consistently offered ministers “misleadingly optimistic” advice about progress in Afghanistan that “distorted understanding of the problem”, according to Britain’s former envoy to the region.
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, a former ambassador to Kabul and outgoing special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that the “military machine” brooked no dissent and dismissed critics for being “defeatist”.
The criticisms lay bare the deep disagreements in Whitehall over strategy in Afghanistan and the resentment over military misjudgments made in the deployment to Helmand province.
“I have a number of practical suggestions. It is a question of political and civilian officers having the confidence to question some of the very optimistic military advice they get,” Sir Sherard told the committee.
“I saw over my three and a half years papers that went to the ministers which were misleadingly optimistic and officials or ministers that questioned them were accused of being defeatist.”
He warned that there would be no “military solution” to Afghanistan and that military strategy had made an inevitable “political settlement” with the Taliban harder to achieve. The “tragedy” of Britain’s involvement in Afghanistan had been the inability to mix military pressure with a viable political reconciliation process.
“We have got, on both sides of the Atlantic, extremely capable and extremely enthusiastic and unquenchably optimistic military machines, who have adopted a can-do attitude and driven forward,” he said. “This has distorted the understanding of the problem.”
Sir Sherard backed the idea of a 2015 deadline for the withdrawal of combat troops set by David Cameron. But he said Britain’s engagement with Afghanistan would need to last much longer, to support a military training programme and a “50-year” aid effort. “I support the idea of deadlines,” he said. “I think the Taliban can read the politics in the western ...countries as well as anyone. They are perfectly aware that the next British general election will be in 2015.”
“It is a risk and it needs to be accompanied by a vigorous political strategy – strike with one hand and offer a political process with the other,” he said. For this reason, Sir Sherard advised against a rapid military withdrawal next year: “If we were to leave precipitately, there would be chaos and civil war”.
Sir Sherard served as ambassador to Kabul for two years before being appointed as the foreign secretary’s special representative to the region in 2009. He has not been replaced by a full time representative.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Saudi Departure a Blow for Taliban Peace Talks
CBS News by Farhan Bokhari November 9, 2010
Saudi Arabia's unexpected withdrawal from is role in peace talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban has jeopardized prospects for an early end to the bloody fighting in Afghanistan, senior Western and Arab diplomats in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region tell CBS News.
The withdrawal from the talks, announced in a Nov. 7 statement by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, surprised long-time observers of the desert Kingdom, where such policy moves are rarely made public, let along broadcast on state television.
The Taliban has consistently denied they are involved in any peace negotiations with the Afghan government, but the talks, including discussions involving high-level militant commanders, have been widely reported.
As al Qaeda's faction in Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia, becomes a more viable threat, diplomats say the Saudi's have grown weary of Taliban commanders supporting al Qaeda militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
"You have the Saudis getting increasingly impatient because of the growing threat of al Qaeda from Yemen," a senior European diplomat in Islamabad told CBS on condition of anonymity.
"The Saudis have drawn a red line for the Taliban and told them enough is enough. This (statement) is evidence of the Saudis running out of patience," added an Arab diplomat based in Islamabad, who also asked not to be identified.
The net effect, according to both of these sources, could be a major blow the negotiation efforts, and thus Washington's attempt to bring the security situation on the ground under control, paving the way to a political settlement in Afghanistan.
"There has been much talk of a Saudi intermediation, but we outlined conditions after the Taliban gave refuge to terrorists," said Prince Saud Al-Faisal in the statement carried by Saudi media. "We got a request then from President Karzai to mediate and we said there will be no mediation unless the Taliban have good intentions and stop giving refuge to terrorists, but unfortunately, communications stopped."
A recent poll conducted by the Asia Foundation shows that a vast majority of adult Afghans -- some 83 percent -- are in favor of a negotiated solution with the Taliban and other militant groups to end the endless violence in their country.
Saudi Arabia's role in Afghan affairs dates back to the 1980s, when the oil rich Kingdom stepped in to support a group of U.S.-backed insurgents known as the "mujahideen".
Armed and trained by the CIA and Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) counter-espionage agency, the Mujahideen were built up to block the advance of troops from the former Soviet Union. Osama bin Laden first entered Afghanistan with the knowledge of Saudi Arabia's intelligence officials, according to experts.
Since the 1989 withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia has sought to unite factions of disparate Afghan warlords, seeking to build a common front of Islamic groups to preside over the country.
During the Taliban rule of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia emerged as just one of three countries to recognize the clerical regime led by religious zealots, though its relations with the Taliban were adversely affected when the movement's leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, refused to expel bin Laden from the country.
The European diplomat who spoke to CBS News in Islamabad said the Saudi decision to abandon the talks was prompted, in part, by the rise of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based faction which poses a direct threat to the Kingdom.
"Before the (AQAP) buildup in Yemen, the Saudis saw the Taliban backing for al Qaeda as a somewhat distant threat. Now, it is a threat knocking on their door," the European official told CBS.
A second Arab diplomat, based in the Middle East, told CBS the Saudi decision would undermine U.S.-backed efforts to secure peace in Afghanistan.
"Saudi Arabia may not be the main arbitrator in this situation, but the Kingdom has a great deal of clout directly with the Taliban, and also with Pakistan, which is a powerful player. Now, without the Saudis, there will be an additional challenge for the U.S." said the diplomat.
The European diplomat agreed with the assessment, adding that the U.S. and other players would likely urge the Saudis to return to the peace process.
"In diplomacy, doors are never shut for ever," concluded the official.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Poll: More Afghans See Their Country on Right Track
VOA News November 9, 2010
A new survey says more Afghans think their country is heading in the right direction, even though many believe it is still plagued by a lack of security.
In a poll released Tuesday by the Asia Foundation, 47 percent of those surveyed said Afghanistan is on the right track. That is up from 42 percent in 2009.
A lack of security was listed as the nation's top problem, followed by unemployment and corruption.
This year's survey showed a large jump in the number of Afghans who say they support efforts to negotiate with armed groups. More than 83 percent of those surveyed said they back talks with insurgents, up from 71 percent in 2009.
The Asia Foundation surveyed more than 6,400 Afghan adults in June and July.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Blazing The Bumpy Road To Peace In Afghanistan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 9, 2010 By Abubakar Siddique
KABUL -- Mohammad Mohaqiq lays claim to one of the more notable transformations in modern-day Afghanistan.
Having made a name for himself as a guerrilla commander who fought the Red Army in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, Mohaqiq left the battlefield for the political arena, where he has become a key leader of the Hazara minority and just won a second term in parliament.
As a legislator, he once publically questioned the notion of the government negotiating with the Taliban. But on that issue, too, his ideas have evolved, and he is now ready to make his transformation complete -- from warlord to peacemaker.
"People who are fighting each other can make peace. People who have no problem with each other do not need to make peace," Mohaqiq says. "There is no need of peace with people who are not fighting the Taliban and people against whom the Taliban are not aiming their fight. That is why the warring sides in Afghanistan need to reconcile with each other."
Mohaqiq, as one of 70 members of the High Peace Council recently formed by the government to facilitate peace efforts, is now in position to help make reconciliation a reality. Joining him on the council are former Taliban, women, civil society representatives, and fellow former mujahedin leaders who fought the Soviets and, in most cases, the Taliban.
The thinking is that council members' years of informal contacts with the armed opposition will greatly aid the collective effort to forge a lasting peace. And unlike the past, this endeavor benefits from the international donors' support and funding.
Idea Gaining Traction
Shaida Mohammad Abdali is deputy national security adviser for President Hamid Karzai, whose previous calls for reintegrating moderate Taliban into Afghan society came under fierce criticism. Those criticisms have waned with the rise of insecurity in Afghanistan and falling Western public support for the war, and now the idea of bringing Taliban foot soldiers on board by offering them jobs and security, as well as calls to directly negotiate with fugitive Taliban leaders in Pakistan, is gaining traction.
Abdali says that the High Peace Council has been tasked with moving the peace process forward, while consciously avoiding zero-sum games that have sabotaged peace efforts in the past.
As an olive branch, Kabul has pushed for confidence-building measures such as the removal of nearly 50 Taliban members from UN blacklists. And the Afghan government is also taking steps to address one of the main sticking points in the effort to get the Taliban and allied insurgent groups to come together for peace -- the presence of foreign troops on Afghan soil.
According to Abdali, Kabul is eyeing 2014 as the time to take over responsibility for its own security and has already formed commissions to identify regions where it can start. Progress toward this goal, according to Abdali, could pave the way for the departure of Western forces.
"If the Taliban want an end to the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan, that can be best achieved by embracing peace," Abdali says. "When the government and the opposition sit for talks and search for peace, and when the foreigners sense that Afghan security forces can protect this country and its people, they will be motivated to leave."
'None Of This Will Be Easy'
British Major General Philip Jones agrees. He heads the Force-Reintegration Cell behind the high blast wall of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Kabul headquarters. This office provides key support to the Afghan High Peace Council. He sees the lack of trust among Afghans as the major challenge to the peace process.
Jones, who is on his fourth duty tour in Afghanistan since 2002, sees the peace process as a human as well as a political process. His organization's main role is to help the High Peace Council to devise the mechanics of demobilizing fighters and supporting them to reintegrate into the economy and society. With a budget of nearly $230 million in donor pledges, the Afghan peace and initiative council has reintegrated hundreds of insurgents in just its first three months of its operation.
Drawing on the lessons of Northern Ireland, Jones sees Afghan peace as difficult but achievable.
"None of this will be easy," Jones says. "It takes bold people with courageous hearts to step across into dialogue when they had been fighting for so long. In many respects, for some people out there it is easier to keep fighting. But we all have been living the development of this Afghan peace process and people are still skeptical and criticize elements of it.
"But we very strongly believe this is a very earnest offer in reaching out. And it's an opportunity that doesn't come that often. We have come to a point in the conflict where there really is an opportunity for rapprochement, for peace. There is nothing about victor and vanquish; it is about coming to a settlement."
The Role Of Al-Qaeda
The key international diplomat facilitating such an Afghan compromise is UN special envoy Staffan De Mistura. He says that the conflict in Afghanistan can only be resolved by political dialogue among Afghans. He says the Taliban are Afghan political actors affected and influenced by Al-Qaeda.
"When they ask for the foreign military presence to leave, I am sure they may be thinking also about some kind of disconnection from the other foreign presence," he says. "That is, the foreigners from Al-Qaeda who are influencing them."
De Mistura has served in 18 war zones in a diplomatic career spanning four decades. He was in Kabul 22 years ago and saw how the reconciliation policies of Afghanistan's last socialist president, Mohammad Najibullah, failed in the wake of the Red Army's departure from Afghanistan. To avoid such an eventuality, he wants a Bonn II and a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan.
These initiatives would remove the failures of the 2001 conference in Bonn, Germany, when a transitional government was established but no Taliban were even invited. The Marshall Plan would address chronic poverty on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, where the Taliban are most active.
De Mistura calls for continued support to Afghanistan as Western forces prepare to begin a drawdown next year.
"Transition should not mean abandonment. It should still mean a commitment in the future of a stable Afghanistan which could be friendly to its neighbors and at the same time can [get] the neighbors to respect its sovereignty," he says. "Something along those lines could take place, especially if there is a frank, good dialogue with the Taliban."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Code For Security Firms Reins In Violence, Mercenaries
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 9, 2010
A U.S. and British-backed code of conduct has been signed in Geneva by major private security operators, including some operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The voluntary code is aimed at preventing abuse and reining in excess violence in lawless conflict zones.
Almost 60 firms, including U.S. firms Triple Canopy, Xe Services (formerly Blackwater), and Britain's G4 Security signed up, while the code has the backing of 35 countries.
Blackwater became notorious in 2007 when its guards opened fire in a Baghdad square, killing 17 civilians.
The code includes a pledge that staff cannot invoke contractual obligations or "superior orders" in a conflict zone to justify crimes, killings, torture, kidnappings, detentions, or summary executions.
Companies also pledge that their staff will not use firearms except in self-defense.
Afghanistan's government has ordered private security firms to disband and leave the country amid growing anger among ordinary Afghans.
compiled from agency reports
Back to Top
Back to Top
Army alleges that sergeant led 'kill team' targeting Afghan civilians
By Craig Whitlock Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 9, 2010
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH - A soldier charged with leading a conspiracy to randomly target and kill unarmed Afghan civilians made his first appearance in a military courtroom Tuesday and listened to prosecutors present details of perhaps the most serious war-crimes case to emerge from the Afghan conflict.
Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs, 25, of Billings, Mont., is accused of leading a "kill team" of soldiers that murdered three unarmed Afghan men, hoarded body parts and photographed one another posing with their victims between January and May. Although the Army has not revealed a motive, other soldiers charged in the case have said they acted simply because they thought they could get away with it - and did so for months without attracting scrutiny.
Four other soldiers from the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, also face murder charges. Most of the defendants have described Gibbs as the ringleader, portraying him as a methodical killer who planned the attacks, planted evidence to cover them up, carved fingers off corpses and intimidated other members of the unit to keep silent.
In a pretrial hearing Tuesday at this base near Tacoma, Wash., the military laid out its charges against Gibbs. They include three counts of murder, conspiracy, dereliction of duty, assault with a dangerous weapon and attempting to impede an investigation. The Article 32 hearing is the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing; a military judge will determine in the coming weeks if there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a court-martial.
Capt. Andre Leblanc, the lead prosecutor, called Gibbs a charismatic leader who persuaded other soldiers to join his "kill team" soon after he was assigned to the platoon in November 2009.
"That's when things start going south, that's when people start getting killed, that's when he forms his team," Leblanc said. "He wraps these soldiers up in acts of unspeakable cruelty and indifference."
Gibbs, who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, sat largely expressionless in the courtroom, flanked by his two lawyers. He declined to address the court but, when asked by the judge, Col. Thomas P. Molloy, he said that he understood the charges against him and was satisfied with his legal defense.
Gibbs's civilian lawyer, Phillip Stackhouse, has said that the killings were combat-related and were therefore justified.
On Tuesday, he raised doubts about the thoroughness of the Army's investigation. Stackhouse noted that the charges against his client are based almost entirely on confessions by two other soldiers accused of murder, Spec. Jeremy Morlock and Spec. Adam Winfield.
Stackhouse also questioned why Army criminal investigators did not interview potential Afghan eyewitnesses to the third alleged murder, which took place May 2 in the village of Qualaday, in Kandahar province.
Some villagers had complained to Army commanders that the killing was staged. But Special Agent Anderson D. Wagner, of the Army's Criminal Investigations Command, testified that investigators are waiting for permission from Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to revisit the village and conduct interviews.
Wagner said that special permission was necessary because of the sensitivity of the alleged crimes. "If you go and interview Afghan civilians, basically saying U.S. soldiers had wrongfully killed your family member, when there's a battalion element still out there, it puts them at risk," he said.
Stackhouse expressed surprise at the delay. "Just to be clear: It's five months after the fact."
"Yes, sir," Wagner replied.
Army criminal investigators missed other opportunities. A freelance journalist embedded with Gibbs's platoon returned with the unit to the scene of the May 2 killing three days later and recorded its interactions with villagers. Special agents were aware the audio files existed but did not contact the journalist, concerned that publicity could have a "negative impact" on the case, according to Army investigative files.
The recordings - obtained by The Washington Post - show that platoon members tried to convince Afghans that they shot the Afghan civilian, a cleric known as Mullah Adahdad, in self-defense after he attacked them with grenades. The Army has since concluded that the cleric was unarmed and that Gibbs, Morlock and Winfield staged the shooting.
First Lt. Stefan Moye, the platoon commander, testified Tuesday that he had no reason to think the shooting might have been suspicious. Moye was present in the village during the May 2 killing but did not witness the shooting.
"What was described to me, I had no reason not to believe that's how it played out," Moye said.
He testified that he accepted explanations from Morlock and Winfield that they were attacked first. He said he saw Gibbs moments after the shooting but did not speak with him.
"He seemed kind of flushed, like the events that had happened shocked him," Moye said.
Moye was the only member of Gibbs's unit to testify Tuesday. Several others declined to answer questions, citing the right against self-incrimination.
Back to Top
Disclaimer:
This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles
on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles
and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright
laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).