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Afghan President Hamid Karzai takes a new shot at his Western backers
Hamid Karzai says that reconstruction and development units supported by the NATO force in Afghanistan should be phased out. NATO considers the units a way of reaching out to impoverished Afghans, but Karzai says they undermine the authority of his government.
By Aimal Yaqoubi and Laura King, Los Angeles Times February 8, 2011
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan and Dubai — In the latest salvo aimed at his Western backers, Afghan President Hamid Karzai declared Tuesday that reconstruction and development units supported by the NATO force should be phased out.
Kabul confirms US bases in Afghanistan
February 8, 2011 Press TV
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed US plans to set up permanent bases in his country, enabling its troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 deadline.
Taliban will not win back Afghanistan: Obama
Mon Feb 7, 4:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama renewed his vow to defeat Al-Qaeda and said the Taliban would never be allowed to regain control in Afghanistan in an interview to be shown Monday.
Abdullah Accuses Govt of Meddling in Parliament
TOLOnews Monday, 07 February 2011
Dr Abdullah Monday accused the Afghan government and some cabinet ministers of meddling in parliament affairs.
Rumsfeld Releases Memoir, Defends Handling Of Iraq, Afghan Wars
February 8, 2011 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld releases his memoir today, in which he admits "possible mistakes" but defends his handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Defence department hunts for record of payments to Kandahar warlord
The Canadian Press Mon Feb 07 2011
OTTAWA - Officials at the Defence Department are looking for records of payments to a warlord who signed on to help defend a Canadian base in Afghanistan.
Feature: Drug producer Afghanistan experiencing tragedy of drug problems
by Xinhua writer Yan Liang
KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan, known as one of the leading producers of drugs and causing health problems around the world, is experiencing the same tragedy today, despite an international effort to stamp the illegal trade out.
Taliban's spring offensive likely to target Afghan leaders cooperating with government
By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, February 7, 2011
When Taliban leaders return from Pakistan this spring to begin their annual offensive in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. commander believes they will undertake a major assassination campaign against local and tribal Afghan leaders and others who in recent months have begun cooperating with government officials and participating in the peace process.
2 Million Tonnes of Fuel to be Imported from Russia
Tolo news February 8, 2011
Two million tonnes of fuel is expected to flow into Afghanistan from Russia this month, senior officials in ACCI said Tuesday.
Afghan Banker Sentenced Over Embezzlement
Tolo news February 7, 2011
Former Head of Credits in Pashtany Bank is sentenced to five years in jail over charges of embezzlement in the bank, officials in Attorney General's Office said Monday.
Afghanistan's most loyal troops
Dogs play an increasing role in ferreting out roadside bombs in key provinces. As with their masters, not all of them get to come home.
Los Angeles Times By Tony Perry February 8, 2011
When Pfc. Colton Rusk was shot in Afghanistan by a Taliban sniper, a Marine dog named Eli immediately ran to him, guarding the downed Marine against further attack.
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai takes a new shot at his Western backers
Hamid Karzai says that reconstruction and development units supported by the NATO force in Afghanistan should be phased out. NATO considers the units a way of reaching out to impoverished Afghans, but Karzai says they undermine the authority of his government.
By Aimal Yaqoubi and Laura King, Los Angeles Times February 8, 2011
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan and Dubai — In the latest salvo aimed at his Western backers, Afghan President Hamid Karzai declared Tuesday that reconstruction and development units supported by the NATO force should be phased out.
The president's assertion appeared to catch NATO's International Security Assistance Force by surprise. A military spokesman said no timetable had been set for the shutdown of provincial reconstruction teams, known in military parlance as PRTs.
The teams, based at Western military installations, operate in 27 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, providing services such as community healthcare and educational support. While NATO considers the PRTs an essential means of reaching out to impoverished Afghans and helping turn them away from the Taliban, Karzai has long denounced them as one of a number of Western-created "parallel structures" that undermine the authority of his government.
In recent months, the Afghan president has sought to sharply curtail the operations of private security firms. He has also voiced objections to Western-funded aid projects that bypass government ministries and funnel money directly to contractors and subcontractors.
Over the past year and a half, Karzai has taken frequent rhetorical swipes at Western governments whose troops are waging the Afghan war and whose aid props up his administration. It has become a rarity for him to make a public appearance or policy statement without invoking the theme of foreign meddling, which he did again on Tuesday.
"Afghanistan belongs to Afghans," he told a news conference in Kabul. "Afghans don't want government from abroad. Afghans don't want a European government. Afghans don't want an American government. Afghans don't want a Pakistan government. Afghans don't want an Iranian government."
Karzai is not the only critic of the PRTs, however. Some international aid groups have long expressed reservations about the militarization of development assistance, saying it endangers all those associated with humanitarian efforts. U.S. officials have also acknowledged that the process of vetting projects and tracking the disbursement of development money is deeply flawed.
Still, Karzai's broadside could foreshadow increasing pressure from him for the Western force to adhere to a timetable laid out by President Obama more than a year ago, calling for the pullback of American forces to begin in July of this year. Senior U.S. commanders and policymakers have since backed away from that timeframe, saying the scope and timing of the drawdown of more than 100,000 American troops will be based on battlefield progress.
The Afghan leader has said he will unveil a plan next month for the start of the handover of security responsibilities to the Afghan police and army. NATO and the Obama administration have endorsed the notion of handing over most security responsibilities to Afghan forces by 2014, but Western officials acknowledge it will take a concerted effort to bring the Afghan army, and particularly the police, to a reasonable standard of competence in the next three years.
The winter months traditionally bring a lull in military operations in Afghanistan, but Western and Afghan officials say they expect confrontations with the insurgents to intensify starting next month when Taliban fighters begin filtering back from havens in Pakistan. The NATO force on Tuesday reported the deaths of two of its members in separate explosions in the south. It did not disclose their nationalities.
laura.king@latimes.com
Special correspondent Yaqoubi reported from Kabul and Times staff writer King from Dubai.
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Kabul confirms US bases in Afghanistan
February 8, 2011 Press TV
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed US plans to set up permanent bases in his country, enabling its troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 deadline.
The decision comes after negotiations between Karzai and US officials and senators on a range of strategic issues, including the establishment of permanent military bases in Afghanistan, DPA reported.
"Yes they want this (permanent bases) and we have been negotiating with them," Karzai said at a press conference in his presidential palace on Tuesday.
"We believe that a long-term relationship with the United States is in the interest of Afghanistan," Karzai added, expressing hope for the establishment of a relationship that brings security and economic prosperity to Afghanistan and an end to violence.
The Afghan president did not give a date for finalizing the deal, but said any long-term partnership would need to be approved by the parliament and the grand tribal council known as the Loya Jirga.
Karzai also emphasized that long-term US bases would not be "used as base against other countries and that Afghanistan is not a place from where our neighbors could be threatened."
If an agreement is reached on permanent bases, the US troops will remain on the Afghan soil beyond the planned transfer of security responsibilities by the end of 2014 -- a process scheduled to start in the spring this year.
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Taliban will not win back Afghanistan: Obama
Mon Feb 7, 4:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama renewed his vow to defeat Al-Qaeda and said the Taliban would never be allowed to regain control in Afghanistan in an interview to be shown Monday.
Pressed on FOX News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor to say whether the United States would win the war, now in its 10th year, Obama replied: "I can say we will defeat Al-Qaeda and that the Taliban will not be retaking Afghanistan."
However, according to excerpts released in advance, he immediately cautioned: "I can't say anything with 100 percent certainty, but am confident that our troops have done an incredible amount of work.
"They are on the offensive rather than being on the defensive and we're starting to transition so that Afghan security forces are taking over," he added.
Obama hinted at the need to work with the Taliban, who have led an increasingly potent insurgency since being driven out of Kabul by a November 2001 US-led invasion. "The Taliban are still going to be an element in Afghanistan," he conceded.
In his State of the Union address last month, Obama reiterated pledges to start withdrawing some of the nearly 100,000 US troops in July and to begin handing over security duties to Afghan forces this year.
Top US officials have suggested an initial mid-2011 withdrawal date will only involve the return of a small number of troops, with NATO leaders aiming to hand over security for to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.
Obama piled on pressure in Monday's interview on Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai to tackle the corruption seen as a major problem for the NATO-led coalition's efforts to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.
"I trust that he cares about his country and he cares about the relationship with the United States, but I do think that he's got some big changes that he has to make in his government to be legitimate in the eyes of the Afghan people over the long term."
The US president was also quizzed about the US drawdown in Iraq, particularly about concerns that its powerful neighbor and sworn US enemy Iran would try to dominate the vital oil-rich country once American forces leave.
"Iran is a big neighbor of Iraq's, and those two countries will have a relationship. But Iraq, I'm confident, is going to be able to maintain its independence and to maintain a strong partnership with the United States," Obama said.
Just 50,000 US troops are currently in Iraq, down from a peak of more than 170,000 and ahead of the full withdrawal in late 2011.
Starting in 2012, the US presence in Iraq will consist of up to 20,000 civilians at sites that include two embassy branches, two consulates, and three police training centers. The figures includes armed private security personnel, support staff and diplomats.
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Abdullah Accuses Govt of Meddling in Parliament
TOLOnews Monday, 07 February 2011
Dr Abdullah Monday accused the Afghan government and some cabinet ministers of meddling in parliament affairs.
Abdullah Abdullah, Leader of Change and Hope party, warned of much more problems in the house, if the interventions were not stopped.
Elections special tribunal is a big obstacle to any decision in the House of Representatives and the government uses it as a tool to create fear and control the house, Abdullah said.
"If political sides interfere, it's normal because parliament is a political place. But when the government meddles through government authorities and ministers, it is not legally acceptable," Abdullah told TOLOnews.
The comments came as the Afghan parliament has been unable to choose a Speaker for over ten days now.
On Monday five new faces in the Afghan parliament enrolled their names to run for the house speaker's seat.
Temporary head of the house said the number of candidates to the post might increase.
The legislators are expected to vote for house speaker on Tuesday.
The new candidates include Ebrahim Malikzada from Ghor province, Monawar Shah Bahaduri from Herat, Dr Mohyiuddin Mehdi from Baghlan, Khaled Pashtun from Kandahar and Abdul Satar Khawasi from Parwan.
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Rumsfeld Releases Memoir, Defends Handling Of Iraq, Afghan Wars
February 8, 2011 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld releases his memoir today, in which he admits "possible mistakes" but defends his handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In his book, "Known And Unknown," Rumsfeld acknowledges that the intelligence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction -- one of the main justifications for launching the Iraq invasion in 2003 -- was wrong, but defends his decisions on the war.
In an interview with ABC news on the eve of the book's release, Rumsfeld said, "What you know today can help you unthink your thinking about tomorrow."
Rumsfeld said, "It can't help you with things you were thinking about back then," and added, "Back then there was reasonable confidence that [Saddam Hussein] had these weapons."
Rumsfeld, one of the most divisive members of his administration, served as defense secretary under former President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006.
compiled from agency reports
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Defence department hunts for record of payments to Kandahar warlord
The Canadian Press Mon Feb 07 2011
OTTAWA - Officials at the Defence Department are looking for records of payments to a warlord who signed on to help defend a Canadian base in Afghanistan.
Documents tabled in Parliament last week show Haji Toorjan received $2.5 million to provide an additional layer of defence around the Kandahar provincial reconstruction base that delivered aid and development help.
Those records show payments started in 2008, but access to information documents and published reports suggest Toorjan’s 40-man militia band was on the payroll in 2007 and perhaps earlier.
In the Commons, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon is defending the use of hired guns.
He says Ottawa signed a non-binding international best-practices deal last November that governs the action of the armed contractors.
The federal government has no overall policy to govern the conduct of the military contractors, who have been accused of contributing to instability in Afghanistan.
Both Foreign Affairs and National Defence rely on individual contracts to make sure no human rights abuses take place.
The NDP’s foreign affairs and defence critics say that’s not good enough and point to the United States, which has clamped down on companies that do jobs formerly carried out by soldiers.
The documents tabled last week show Ottawa spent $41 million on mercenaries, including local warlords and contractors whose conduct has been criticized by the U.S. Senate.
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Feature: Drug producer Afghanistan experiencing tragedy of drug problems
by Xinhua writer Yan Liang
KABUL, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan, known as one of the leading producers of drugs and causing health problems around the world, is experiencing the same tragedy today, despite an international effort to stamp the illegal trade out.
There are around one million Afghans suffering from drug addiction, of whom 13 percent are children and 20 percent are women, but only five percent of the drug users can get medical treatment, spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Health Kargar Noorughli told Xinhua on Monday.
According to him, about 50,000 of them use heroin, 150,000 use narcotics, more than 500,000 of them take hashish and around 180, 000 of them are taking relief drugs.
A survey on Drug Use in Afghanistan issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Jan. 20, said that rising opium prices may encourage Afghan farmers to plant more of the narcotic crop, and the poppy cultivation will spread this year, or even extend into provinces that had become poppy-free in recent years.
Over 90 percent of the world's supply of opium used to make heroin are provided by the Afghan producers, and Afghanistan is also the largest supplier of hashish, a potent cannabis resin.
According to the survey, the soaring prices are caused by market speculation that there will be shortages because of the opium blight which reduced production by half last year and the uncertainty among opium farmers regarding future cultivation due to the ongoing military operations in Afghanistan.
Poverty and high unemployment rate in Afghanistan are considered to be some of the major causes of the drug problems, which lead to crimes, loss of productivity in workplaces and a drug-related health crisis for the Afghan people.
"It is more than 9 years that I'm addicted to drugs. Poverty, unemployment, without education and easy access to drugs are the reasons for that, when I get out from here, I become addicted again due to unemployment," said Ebrat Ullah, a drug addict from Kandahar province to receive treatment in the Nejat center.
There are more than one hundred patients receiving medical treatment to get rid of drugs in the Nejat center, west of Afghan capital Kabul, a nurse working for the Nejat center named Masoud told Xinhua.
"We have about 50 diagnosis and treatment centers for drug addicts across Afghanistan, including 20 supported by the government and NGOs. About seven to ten thousand addicts can receive treatment annually, but it makes just 5 percent, which is far from enough," said Kargar Noorughli.
"Many of them are taking drugs as a kind of self-medication against the hardships of life, and some of them had begun taking drugs as migrants or refugees in neighboring countries, especially in Iran," said Noorughli.
"In our opinion, if the government could be able to remove the cultivation and production of drugs in our country, we could get rid of drugs, otherwise impossible," said Dawood, who is under medical treatment in the Nejat center.
Twenty out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, according to Afghan officials, are poppy-free and the effort to eradicate the menace in the remaining provinces is going on.
Experts say that, more opium cultivation suggests that the Taliban insurgency has spread across a wider region of the war- ridden country, which means there might be more conflicts and more poverty for the Afghan people in the coming years.
In this regard, according to experts, a continued effort to invest in alternative livelihood programmes in Afghanistan by international donors and the Afghan government is the key to the tackling of the drug problem, which is vital not only to the Afghan people, but also to the international community as a whole.
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Taliban's spring offensive likely to target Afghan leaders cooperating with government
By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, February 7, 2011
When Taliban leaders return from Pakistan this spring to begin their annual offensive in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. commander believes they will undertake a major assassination campaign against local and tribal Afghan leaders and others who in recent months have begun cooperating with government officials and participating in the peace process.
The reason: While Taliban leaders have used the winter to withdraw to Pakistan to rearm and retrain their forces, U.S. and coalition forces have destroyed hidden support bases, carried out Special Forces raids on those Taliban leaders remaining in Afghanistan and deployed 110,000 more troops than there were last year, 70,000 of them Afghans.
"The enemy is . . . going to be focused on the leadership much more than it ever has, the political leadership, the people who are supporting the government and the government leaders," said Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan under Gen. David Petraeus.
Rodriguez, talking to reporters and others last week, provided new details to support the generally optimistic view of Afghanistan recently offered by Obama administration officials and nongovernment experts just back from visits.
"We have reduced the support bases inside Afghanistan . . . [and] we'll continue to keep the pressure up on their leadership, all designed to reduce the effectiveness of the insurgency," Rodriguez said.
Over the past 12 weeks, with the Taliban less active, coalition forces conducted "operations to make the environment of the enemy much more inhospitable than it was last year," Rodriguez said. They discovered and cleared 1,250 caches of Taliban arms hidden in Afghanistan. Last year the number destroyed was 163, he said.
Pressure on the Taliban leadership that remains inside Afghanistan was applied through an increased counterterrorism program. Special Forces night raids were "ramped up" with the help of better intelligence generated from increased tips from local people who see more Afghan security forces around them, according to a senior U.S. official, who asked that his name be withheld. Some 85 percent of these raids took place without a shot being fired, and most saw the right person or people being taken in; 90 percent of them were local Taliban and not foreign fighters, this official said.
Rodriguez said that when the Taliban offensive begins in March, he believes "they will not be as direct in their confrontations as they were last year."
Instead, because of the different conditions, they are "going to be focused on the [local Afghan] leadership much more than it ever has," using "assassination hit teams, IEDs [roadside bombs], indirect things," Rodriguez said.
Why does he think that?
"That has been their response in the local areas each time we've seen it over the past year," he said.
Illustrating his point, the Long War Journal Web site reported last week that a Taliban regional commander last month kidnapped 21 Afghan tribal leaders in the eastern province of Kunar. He demanded that relatives of the hostages had to resign their jobs with the Afghan army, police or NATO forces before his captives would be released.
In situations in which increased security and better local government leadership starts to work, the Taliban "response is to go after those leaders," Rodriguez said.
Afghans who once fought with the Taliban are now successfully being wooed over to the government side.
"Now," he said, "there are reintegration councils built, and U.S. and international funds are now starting to flow in," with the result that it has drawn 1,000 Afghans, some 200 in just the past month.
The effort "has got to earn the trust and confidence of the people," Rodriguez said, "so those thousand have to be treated well, and the program has to be run effectively."
Faced with President Obama's date of a July start for the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a joint Afghan-NATO transition board is being put together to begin work on recommendations that would go to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Obama in the next month or two, Rodriguez said.
"Over time, obviously, we do want to reduce our numbers in specific locations, based on conditions, and then either reinvest that transition gain or dividend in a contiguous area or in the training mission, or ultimately begin to send some of [the U.S. troops] home," Petraeus said recently on "PBS NewsHour."
Rodriguez said some of those changes already are being made. He cited Zad, in Helmand Province, where a year ago there were two Marine battalions. Now, he said, there is only a single Marine company, plus some individuals because the Afghan army and police can provide the same level of security that just over a year ago took two battalions.
When U.S. forces went into the Helmand River Valley last year, Rodriguez said, "There were five of us to every one Afghan National Security Forces; now there's one-to-one in that area."
He said security is being expanded there as quickly as possible "to withstand the challenges that will come in the summer."
In discussing withdrawal, he said that the eastern section of Afghanistan was the "most complex" in terms of terrain and therefore "the last place where we would pull out combat troops."
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2 Million Tonnes of Fuel to be Imported from Russia
Tolo news February 8, 2011
Two million tonnes of fuel is expected to flow into Afghanistan from Russia this month, senior officials in ACCI said Tuesday.
Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) signed the Russia fuel contract with private Dawi Company. The company will start shipping the fuel as soon as possible, officials said.
ACCI estimated that Afghanistan needs around 1,800,000 tonnes of fuel each year and the shipment of fuel will massively help drop fuel prices, which were doubled in the past two months.
Based on the contract the company is in charge to buy the fuel in Russia and ship it to Afghanistan and then distribute it to companies in fuel market.
Head of ACCI Mohammad Qurban Haqjo said the contract will be monitored by ACCI.
"The contract has been signed with a big company and after the fuel arrives, it will be distributed to small companies in order to make them part of the process," Mr Haqjo said.
Ministry of Commerce and Industries is also in an effort to prepare the ground for fuel deals.
"We don't want to be dependent to one fuel source, because when there is any problem, we should have other alternatives available," said Commerce and Industry Minister, Anwarul Haq Ahadi.
Small fuel companies should be provided with opportunities to do fuel deals so that fuel is not monopolised by one hand.
After Iran blocked fuel trucks to cross into Afghanistan, the country plunged into fuel crisis and prices doubled which later led into anti-Iran demonstrations in some provinces.
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Afghan Banker Sentenced Over Embezzlement
Tolo news February 7, 2011
Former Head of Credits in Pashtany Bank is sentenced to five years in jail over charges of embezzlement in the bank, officials in Attorney General's Office said Monday.
Khodadad Azimi, the former head of credits in the bank, was sentenced to imprisonment by counter-narcotics court.
Attorney General's Spokesperson, Amanullah Eman, said Mr Azimi had embezzled $300,000 while working for Pashtany Bank, a government bank based in Kabul.
Along with Mr Azimi two other people including head of Maiwand Meraki Construction Company and his deputy have also faced prison sentences for a couple of years, after being found involved in the case.
"Counter-narcotics court has sentenced the former head of the credits in the bank to five years in jail," said Mr Eman.
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Afghanistan's most loyal troops
Dogs play an increasing role in ferreting out roadside bombs in key provinces. As with their masters, not all of them get to come home.
Los Angeles Times By Tony Perry February 8, 2011
When Pfc. Colton Rusk was shot in Afghanistan by a Taliban sniper, a Marine dog named Eli immediately ran to him, guarding the downed Marine against further attack.
Even Marines who rushed to Rusk's side were initially kept at bay by the snarling Labrador, who had been Rusk's inseparable companion through training and then deployment to a dangerous place called the Sangin Valley.
Rusk, 20, a machine gunner and dog handler from the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, died from his wounds that brutal day in early December.
Out of gratitude for Eli's loyalty to their son, Darrell and Kathy Rusk, with the support of Marine brass, arranged to adopt Eli and take him to their ranch in Orange Grove, Texas, near Corpus Christi.
Such adoptions are unusual, though not unprecedented. Last week, Rusk's family took possession of Eli at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, a major training site for military dogs.
Trainers at Lackland and other sites are busy these days. Dogs are playing an increasing role in the U.S.-led fight in Sangin and neighboring Kandahar province — particularly in ferreting out the buried roadside bombs that are the Taliban's weapon of choice.
"They're Afghanistan's forgotten heroes," said Sgt. ShainNickerson, 24, of Rayland, Ohio, whose German shepherd, Aja, accompanies him on patrol in Sangin. "They're out there every day risking their lives to keep Marines safe."
During a visit with wounded Marines at the military hospital in Bethesda, Md., Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos asked how many had a bomb-sniffing dog with them when they were injured. Half did not.
The Marine Corps is now on a crash program to increase the number of its dogs in Afghanistan. "I'd like a dog with every patrol," Amos said.
The director of the Marine program to provide guard dogs and bomb-sniffing dogs says that despite all the money spent on high-tech methods to find buried roadside bombs — estimated at upwards of $20 billion — well-trained dogs are still the most effective.
"Electronic equipment is great in the laboratory, but out on the battlefield, you can't beat the dogs," said Bill Childress, manager of the Marine Corps working dog program. "The most versatile, mobile piece of equipment we can find is the dog's nose."
In four months, Marines using dogs, electronic gear and intelligence from villagers have found more than 400 buried roadside bombs in Sangin, long a Taliban stronghold. More than 100 bombs exploded before discovery.
That 4-to-1 ratio is considered a sign of success in the grinding fight against improvised explosive devices. Still, 31 Marines have been killed and more than 140 wounded since late September.
In Afghanistan, the Marine Corps has 170 bomb-sniffing dogs, Childress said. The plan is to begin, by late summer, increasing that number to about 280, spread among 20,000 Marines and sailors.
Dogs have deployed with the U.S. military since before the Civil War — a history explained on the website of the nonprofit United States War Dogs Assn. On the site — http://www.uswardogs.org — is a K-9 Wall of Honor listing dogs and handlers who have died during or after combat. Rusk's name has been added to the site.
As in other wars, the bonding between the dogs and their Marine handlers in Afghanistan is the stuff of legend.
When Lance Cpl. William Crouse IV, 22, of Woodruff, S.C., and his dog, Cane, were hit by a roadside bomb just days before Christmas, Crouse's dying words as he was being evacuated by helicopter called for the Navy corpsmen to save his wounded dog.
"Get Cane in the Blackhawk!" Crouse cried out before losing consciousness.
Cane did not survive, becoming the fifth Marine dog to die from roadside bomb blasts in Afghanistan. Four other Marine dogs have died from heat stroke and one from friendly fire.
One of the dogs killed by a roadside blast was a German shepherd named Grief. His handler, Cpl. Al Brenner, 22, of Jackson, N.J., suffered a broken arm, a severed finger and injuries to his legs and groin.
Once he's finished with surgeries and rehabilitation, Brenner wants to reenlist and train dogs for work in Afghanistan. "Without dogs, you're just poking around with a stick, just waiting to get blown up," he said.
For Eli, the ceremony welcoming his return at Lackland Air Force Base was brief but emotional. The 4-year-old Labrador, who did two combat tours in Afghanistan, was declared retired from military service.
On his Facebook page, Colton Rusk wrote of Eli, "Whatever is mine, is his." Rusk's phone calls to his family from Afghanistan were filled with references to the dog.
Among the Rusk family's most prized possessions are pictures of Colton and Eli before they deployed to Afghanistan. Kathy Rusk wears a necklace with a picture of the two.
"You're going home," she said with a catch in her voice as she hugged Eli.
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