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Government in Afghanistan Nears Collapse
The Nation Robert Dreyfuss July 6, 2011
Maybe Afghanistan’s politics is so dysfunctional and broken by war that it’s too much to expect any of it to make sense. But it seems to me that then United Nations is on the wrong side of the current fight to the death between President Karzai and Afghanistan’s parliament.
Afghans protest alleged killing of civilians by NATO
KHOST, Afghanistan, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Afghans in Dumanda district of Khost province, some 150 km southeast of capital Kabul, on Thursday staged a protest against the alleged killing of civilians by NATO-led troops.
Taliban denies peace talks with US
McClatchy Newspapers By JONATHAN S. LANDAY AND NANCY A. YOUSSEF Wed, Jul. 06, 2011
The Taliban categorically denied Wednesday that they're holding negotiations with the United States on a resolution to the decade-old war in Afghanistan, reiterating that they won't discuss a peace deal while any foreign forces remain in the country.
'Pakistani militants kill 38 Afghans'
Press TV July 7, 2011
At least 33 Afghan policemen and five civilians have been reportedly killed during the fighting that erupted when Pakistani militants crossed into eastern Afghanistan.
Military Commission Formed to Discuss Pakistan Border Shelling
Tolo news July 7, 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Gilani agreed on formation of a joint military commission to discuss missile attacks in border regions of Afghanistan.
Pakistan blames Afghan border tension on militants
ISLAMABAD, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Thursday blamed militants for the current cross-border attacks along its borders with Afghanistan and said there is a common concern between the two countries on this issue.
Afghan Forces Unable to Take Security Responsibility in Panjsher
TOLOnews.com Wednesday, 06 July 2011
Afghan security forces are unable to take responsibility for security in Panjsher province, one of the seven handover areas, local officials said on Wednesday.
Afghan War Troop Cut Includes Combat Units Amid Rising Violence
Bloomberg By Viola Gienger Jul 7, 2011
The U.S. troop cut of 10,000 this year in Afghanistan will include combat forces even as violence increases overall, a top commander said.
Slow Withdrawal Plan for British Troops in Afghanistan
New York Times By JOHN F. BURNS July 6, 2011
LONDON - Prime Minister David Cameron set a modest target for early British troop withdrawals from Afghanistan on Wednesday, deferring to British military commanders who had cautioned publicly against an accelerated schedule more closely paralleled on the American withdrawals announced two weeks ago by President Obama.
800 Marines to Return Home from Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal By JULIAN E. BARNES JULY 6, 2011
WASHINGTON - The U.S. will send home about 800 combat Marines later this year as part of the drawdown of the surge forces in Afghanistan, a top American commander said Wednesday.
Roadside bomb kills eight Afghan police
KABUL, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Eight policemen were killed as a roadside bomb struck a police van in Jauzjan province, 390 km north of Afghan capital city Kabul on Thursday, a private television channel reported.
Peace Council in Indirect Contacts with Taliban Leader
Tolo news July 7, 2011
A senior member of High Peace Council said on Thursday that there have been indirect contacts with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar that could end up fruitful in the reconciliation process.
Democrats challenge Obama's Afghan withdrawal plan
Reuters By David Alexander Thu Jul 7, 2011
WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers fed up with the lingering war in Afghanistan launched a new challenge to President Barack Obama's plan for a measured U.S. troop withdrawal over the next year as they resumed debate on Wednesday on a $649 billion defense spending bill.
10 Taliban insurgents join gov't in W Afghanistan
FARAH, Afghanistan, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Ten Taliban insurgents laid down their arms on Thursday in the country's Farah province, some 695 km west of capital city of Kabul, provincial police chief Sayed Mohammad Roshandil said.
Netherlands Sends Reduced Afghanistan Mission, As Canada Ends Combat Role
July 7, 2011 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Dutch military is sending 160 soldiers to Afghanistan as part of its new, scaled-down mission to the country.
The troops, mostly support staff for 225 military police trainers, will be deployed to the northern Konduz Province and will be under the protection of German troops.
Afghan Sports Federation's "Afghan Cup 2011" held in Washington D.C.
WASHINGTON, July 3 - Thousands of Afghans from all over the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Afghanistan gathered at Howison Park in Prince William County, Virginia, and the Maryland Soccerplex Stadium of Washington DC Metropolitan area to celebrate the Afghan Sports Federation's 14th annual "Afghan Cup"
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Government in Afghanistan Nears Collapse
The Nation Robert Dreyfuss July 6, 2011
Maybe Afghanistan’s politics is so dysfunctional and broken by war that it’s too much to expect any of it to make sense. But it seems to me that then United Nations is on the wrong side of the current fight to the death between President Karzai and Afghanistan’s parliament.
In case you haven’t been following the news: last year’s parliamentary election was so chaotic and flawed that it resulted in the near-total disenfranchisement of Afghanistan’s Pashtun ethnic minority, which makes up a healthy 40 percent of the population. Many Pashtuns either didn’t vote, because of sympathy or support for the Taliban and dislike of the Afghan government, or couldn’t vote, because of Taliban threats and violence. As a result, in some provinces in the south and east where Pashtuns dominate, not a single Pashtun was elected to parliament. For Karzai, that was a disaster, especially since he’s trying to reach out to his Pashtun base as part of his search for a deal with the Taliban and its allies. Earlier this year, a special court appointed by Karzai ruled that sixty-two members of parliament, mostly non-Pashtuns, were elected fraudulently, a step toward installing Pashtun members in their place. Not surprisingly, Karzai’s opponents in parliament, especially Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras who oppo
se Karzai’s outreach to the Taliban, cried foul, challenged the constitutionality of the court, and demanded the impeachment of Karzai.
If the war in Afghanistan ever made any sense at all, this stuff makes it clear that it's close to hopeless. It also underscores the urgent importance of US efforts to find a political settlement that brings both Pashtuns and the Taliban into a deal and which mollifies the non-Pashtun groups that make up the old Northern Alliance, and who are rearming in the north to fight the Taliban if and when a deal begins to emerge.
Yesterday, the two sides actually came to blows in parliament! The government has all but ceased functioning, a constitutional crisis looms, and there are worries about armed factions relaunching the civil war that plagued the country in the early 1990s. It’s that bad. Members of parliament have started carrying guns.
Staffan de Mistura, the UN representative in Afghanistan, is meeting both sides in search of a political accord. But he’s also sided with the anti-Karzai forces. “A court is supposed to find criminals, not to change the outcome of the election,” he said. But that’s wrong. A court is precisely supposed to rule on the propriety of elections, although Karzai’s opponents challenge the validity of this particular court. Meanwhile, at stake is not neat legalities but the very fabric of Afghan politics and society: Will the Pashtuns, and eventually the Taliban, be integrated into Afghan politics, or not?
Needless to say, the more the Pashtuns are excluded and marginalized, the more they will turn to the waiting Taliban. Especially as US forces start to leave.
The parliament not only wants to impeach Karzai, but they’ve voted to fire Afghanistan’s attorney general and as many as six supreme court justices. And the sixty-two MPs whose election has been challenged by the court have refused to leave, making it the attorney general’s decision to enforce the court ruling and oust the MP’s, by force—thus arresting more than one-fourth of the Afghan parliament.
Stupid and messy, yes. (At least Karzai doesn’t have to deal with cult-like, tax-obsessed Republicans!) There’s lots at stake, including Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan and India, which back opposite sides in the incipient civil war.
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Afghans protest alleged killing of civilians by NATO
KHOST, Afghanistan, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Afghans in Dumanda district of Khost province, some 150 km southeast of capital Kabul, on Thursday staged a protest against the alleged killing of civilians by NATO-led troops.
The protestors claimed that the NATO-led troops during an airstrike in Kabalkhil village of Dumanda district on Wednesday hit a civilian house, killing over a dozen civilians.
"The bomb dropped by aircraft on Wednesday struck a house killing at least 13 people, all civilians and many of them children," a protester, namely Marjan Khan, told Xinhua.
Chanting anti-government and anti-NATO slogans, the protesters blocked the main highway linking Dumanda district to provincial Khost city and Gerdez city, the capital of the neighboring Paktia province, the protestors demanding punishment on those responsible for the killing of non-combatant citizens.
The protesters were peacefully dispersed later in the afternoon.
However, district police chief Hamidullah told Xinhua that the local administration has sent a team to investigate the claim and check if any civilians were killed or injured during the operation.
Nevertheless, he stated that at least 30 militants, possibly some of them civilians, had been killed during the operation against Taliban insurgents.
In the meantime, press department of NATO-led coalition in southeastern region of Afghanistan in a statement released Thursday confirmed the operation, saying the coalition troops had killed four people, all militants.
The deaths of Afghan civilians by NATO-led troops during operations against Taliban outfit have long been a contentious issue between the Afghan government and the U.S. and NATO forces in the insurgency-hit country.
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Taliban denies peace talks with US
McClatchy Newspapers By JONATHAN S. LANDAY AND NANCY A. YOUSSEF Wed, Jul. 06, 2011
The Taliban categorically denied Wednesday that they're holding negotiations with the United States on a resolution to the decade-old war in Afghanistan, reiterating that they won't discuss a peace deal while any foreign forces remain in the country.
"Certainly, our country is considered occupied even if one foreign soldier remain (sic) on our soil," the main Afghan insurgent group declared in the English version of a statement published on its website, alemarah-iea.net. "This can't be acceptable and tolerable to any Afghan."
News reports that peace talks are under way are "baseless and dubious," it declared.
The statement renewed uncertainty about President Barack Obama's strategy for withdrawing all U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, a process that starts this month with the withdrawal of 10,000 American troops by Dec. 31.
Negotiating a political settlement is a key pillar of Obama's strategy for ending the war. But there has been no apparent progress in at least three meetings held since November 2010 in Germany and Qatar between U.S. diplomats and a former close aide to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Some U.S. officials question how much influence the interlocutor, Tayyeb Agha, still wields.
Obama and his top aides assert that conditions are ripe for negotiations, contending that the surge of 33,000 U.S. troops last year has turned the tide against the Taliban-led insurgency and that Afghan security forces will be ready to assume responsibility for security nationwide by the end of 2014.
However, the No. 2 U.S. military commander in Afghanistan conceded Wednesday that overall violence is at record levels with no sign of diminishing. Forty-five U.S. troops were killed in June, making it the deadliest month of the year, and this month at least eight coalition troops have been killed, including one American.
While violence is down in areas where the U.S. added forces, it's up in places that were once relatively calm as Taliban fighters fled the surge troops.
Still, the commander, Army Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, insisted in a teleconference with Pentagon reporters that the surge had made indisputable gains against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
"The bottom line is we have destroyed their (the Taliban's) support bases and their supplies," Rodriguez said. "There is much intelligence that says they are having a tough time supplying themselves."
Rodriguez and other U.S. officials say they're not worried about the security situation because the U.S. surge troops will be replaced with 70,000 Afghan forces.
"Even as we pursue this transition to Afghan security responsibility, we are redoubling our efforts to pursue a peaceful end to this conflict," the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, told the U.N. Security Council Wednesday.
Efforts to kick-start talks with the Taliban also are being pursued by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Afghan lawmakers and former senior insurgents. But many experts and some U.S. officials are dubious that a peace accord can be achieved - let alone implemented.
With the U.S. slashing its 100,000 forces amid growing public opposition to the war and Obama facing re-election next year, the Taliban have little incentive to negotiate, experts say.
The Taliban "don't want to go down that road because, as far as they are concerned, all this talk about negotiations shows how desperate the Americans and everyone else are" about pulling out, said Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department intelligence analyst now with the Middle East Institute.
Last month, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged that the United States and allies had had "preliminary" contacts with Taliban members, without specifying details.
In its statement - replete with grammatical and punctuation errors - the Taliban said that the only talks they've conducted with unnamed countries involved prisoner swaps. It cited the freeing of 21 South Korean Christian missionaries kidnapped and held for six weeks in 2007 and two French journalists released last week after 18 months in captivity, and said that "direct and indirect contacts" were taking place about other prisoners.
"The rumor about negotiation with America is not more than the talks aimed at the exchange of prisoners," it said.
The Taliban are holding a U.S. soldier, Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, of the 1st Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, who was taken prisoner two years ago. They also captured a Canadian tourist reportedly named Colin Rutherford this year. The identities of other captives to whom the statement referred weren't known.
The Taliban said that no legitimate insurgent leader has held talks, and that the U.S. has been duped by impostors posing as interlocutors in order to win cash awards. That was an apparent reference to a Pakistani shopkeeper who engaged in talks with the Afghan government last year posing as a senior insurgent leader.
"This is because the Americans are so weary in the war of Afghanistan and are facing defeat, that everyone can pull fast on them while capitalizing on their precarious and miserable situation," said the statement, apparently meaning to use the expression "a fast one."
Rodriguez, the military commander, said that the drawdown would begin this month with the departure of two Army National Guard squadrons - Nebraska's 1st Squadron, 134th Cavalry Regiment, and Iowa's 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, totaling 800 troops - that won't be replaced.
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'Pakistani militants kill 38 Afghans'
Press TV July 7, 2011
At least 33 Afghan policemen and five civilians have been reportedly killed during the fighting that erupted when Pakistani militants crossed into eastern Afghanistan.
"The report we have now from the area is that 33 border police and five civilians, two of them women, have been killed," Nuristan provincial governor Jamaluddin Badr said.
Militants attacked police posts in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan, AFP reported on Wednesday.
Badr said almost 40 militants have been killed during the two days of fighting between Afghan police and Pakistani militants.
Afghanistan's interior ministry put the death toll for Afghan police at 12, adding that “dozens” of militants were killed in a clearance operation.
"The situation in the border areas of Kamdesh district has returned to normal and police are strengthening their positions," ministry said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday to express concerns over the militants' attack, Gilani's office said.
Escalating violence on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has displaced more than 200 Afghan families, according to local officials.
Afghanistan says nearly 800 rockets, mortars and artillery shells have been fired from Pakistan into Afghan villages since late May, leading to the death, injury and displacement of dozens of civilians.
Pakistan has denied targeting Afghan land, saying that Pakistani villagers have also sustained casualties in attacks by Afghan militants.
General Aminullah Amerkhail, an Afghan top border police commander for the eastern region, has resigned from his post in protest at Karzai's stance toward the issue, saying Kabul should respond with counter-attacks.
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Military Commission Formed to Discuss Pakistan Border Shelling
Tolo news July 7, 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Gilani agreed on formation of a joint military commission to discuss missile attacks in border regions of Afghanistan.
A senior military official in defence ministry said under the order of President Karzai a delegation formed comprised of officials from defence institutions and Isaf and left Kabul for Islamabad.
Yesterday evening Pakistan's premier discussed the recent border shelling into Afghanistan by telephone and emphasised that such sort of attacks would be prevented in the future, a statement by Karzai's Office said.
The statement said Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak is a also included in the commission to discuss an immediate end to Pakistani missile attacks into Afghanistan.
Missile attacks that have continued for over a month have killed more than dozens and many others have been left homeless.
Afghans infuriated by the attacks yesterday held rallies in Kunar province and urged the government to bring an immediate end to the attacks.
Defence Ministry Spokesman General Zaher Azimi said: "Based on previous agreements between Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Pakistan and on the order of Mr President a delegation consisted of representatives from security organisations and an Isaf envoy today left for Pakistan to discuss issues regarding incidents in eastern regions of the country."
Pakistan has fired 760 missiles into Afghanistan targeting residential areas in eastern border regions and more than 40 people have been killed and 50 others have been wounded, based on statistics provided by security institutions.
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Pakistan blames Afghan border tension on militants
ISLAMABAD, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Thursday blamed militants for the current cross-border attacks along its borders with Afghanistan and said there is a common concern between the two countries on this issue.
Pakistan and Afghanistan say that militants launched attacks in border regions of both countries in recent weeks which caused casualties of the security forces and civilians.
Pakistan says that its 55 security personnel were killed and over 80 others injured in five attacks from Afghan side in a month time. Afghanistan also says that hundreds of rockets were fired and militants from Pakistani territory attacked security men.
"This situation is being created by militants causing loss of human life and damage to property in Pakistan as well as in border regions of Afghanistan," Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said at the weekly press briefing.
She said Pakistan has categorically stated that it would support and facilitate the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process in that country, adding that Pakistan is supporting the process because it is in its national interests to have peace and stability in Afghanistan.
She pointed out that there is two-tier mechanism to support peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan involving Pakistan and the United States and Afghanistan and next meetings of these groups would be held in Islamabad for which dates are being discussed.
The spokeswoman said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday took up the issue with Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressing serious concern over the development.
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Afghan Forces Unable to Take Security Responsibility in Panjsher
TOLOnews.com Wednesday, 06 July 2011
Afghan security forces are unable to take responsibility for security in Panjsher province, one of the seven handover areas, local officials said on Wednesday.
General Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, Panjsher police commander said as Panjsher province is bordered by insecure provinces, after the foreign troops' withdrawal the province will face many challenges.
"Due to limited number of forces in Panjsher, we cannot take the security responsibility for this province. And because Panjsher is bordered by insecure provinces, we need a huge force," Mohammad Qasim said.
However, Panjsher governor, US ambassador in Kabul and security transition chief accepted that there could be challenges after foreign troops withdraw, but said that Afghan security forces will be able to take the security responsibility for the province.
"We are facing some challenges in security of Panjsher province, and lack of police forces. But we try to solve these challenges in cooperation with Ministry of Interior Affairs," Keramuddin Karim, Panjsher governor said.
Meanwhile, security transition chief, Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said that after the withdrawal, International Community's aid to Afghanistan will be decreased.
"The world will decrease its aid, because the International situation is changing and due to that our responsibility for protecting our national interests are increasing too. We should know the situation clearly," Dr Ahmadzai said.
But US ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, said it is important that Afghans take the responsibility for security.
"In the years ahead now, What the Afghan people I believe aspired for is now they want their own sovereignty; they have the confidence of standing on their foundation and increasingly now they want to be providing for their own security. They want their own government to be in charge," Mr Eikenberry said.
US President Barack Obama has announced that in the next summer about 33,000 US troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan. Panjsher is among 7 provinces where Afghan security forces are to undertake security responsibilities.
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Afghan War Troop Cut Includes Combat Units Amid Rising Violence
Bloomberg By Viola Gienger Jul 7, 2011
The U.S. troop cut of 10,000 this year in Afghanistan will include combat forces even as violence increases overall, a top commander said.
U.S. Army Lieutenant General David Rodriguez, the outgoing operations commander for the 48-nation coalition in Afghanistan, said several units already slated for withdrawal won’t be replaced, while others will end their tours early.
“We can do that without a significant change in risk,” Rodriguez told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday, speaking from Afghanistan via video link. He is returning to the U.S. after serving more than 40 months in Afghanistan during the past 4 1/2 years.
While violence has dropped where the troops have been focused in the south, it has increased elsewhere, including in the eastern part of the country and at the edges of the most populated areas, he said. A planned addition of 70,000 Afghan soldiers and police in the next year will help fill in gaps from the departure of U.S. forces, he said.
The coalition, led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, aims to preserve the military gains it has won with last year’s “surge” of 33,000 U.S. troops and about 7,000 from other nations. President Barack Obama last month announced that all of the additional American forces will be removed by September 2012. Others in the coalition are considering force cuts. ‘Uncertainties Remain’
While the coalition effort has made progress, “serious problems and uncertainties remain,” said Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy group in Washington, after a recent visit to Afghanistan.
“This progress may be wasted unless the U.S. and its allies do a better job of assessing the risks that remain in the war, resourcing it over time and showing the necessary strategic patience,” he wrote in a June 20 report with CSIS research associate Adam Mausner.
Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the U.S., Eklil Ahmad Hakimi, said his country and its international supporters plan a conference in Bonn in December to discuss progress in the transition to Afghan control and toward reaching a peace agreement with the Taliban.
The meeting will mark the 10th anniversary of the agreement that established a transitional government after the U.S.-led invasion following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Afghanistan should be ready by then to move from its reconstruction phase to development, he said.
“That’s our hope, that with the help of our international partners we can make a new road map for the development of Afghanistan for the next 10 years,” Hakimi said in an interview in Washington July 5. Afghan Control
The coalition plans to hand over control of security to Afghan forces later this month in the first seven districts and provinces announced by President Hamid Karzai in May, including most of Kabul and Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province. Ceremonies in each area will formalize the handoff, Zahir Tanin, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council in New York.
Talks have begun on a “transition dividend,” Staffan de Mistura, head of the UN mission to Afghanistan, told the council yesterday. Some military savings, he said, “may be utilized in order to promote and ensure that the Afghan local authorities, in the areas that are being transitioned, have the feeling that there will be a continuing interest and substantive support to development.” Progress Cited
U.S. military officials have warned since late last year that violence probably would increase as military pressure on the Taliban increases and the militants seek to recover lost ground.
Led by Taliban suicide attacks and assassinations, violence increased by 51 percent in the past three months compared with the same period in 2010, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report released before 12 people died when guerrillas stormed a major hotel in Kabul last week.
Violence overall probably won’t decline until next year and conditions remain “fragile and reversible,” said Rodriguez. Still, “progress is indisputable” against the Taliban, he said.
The coalition has captured or killed more than 1,000 insurgents in the past six months, a 250 percent increase over the same period last year, and the number of weapons caches uncovered and destroyed has risen 300 percent, Rodriguez said. Afghan Security Forces
“We have destroyed their support bases and their supplies,” said Rodriguez, who returns to the U.S. next week to become head of U.S. Army Forces Command.
The Afghan security forces also are getting stronger, he said. They responded “very, very quickly” to the Kabul hotel attack and “successfully prevented numerous suicide bombers from killing hundreds of civilians,” Rodriguez said.
The ability of Afghan civilian officials to maintain control over areas that have been cleared of insurgents still lags behind, Rodriguez said. The U.S. still needs more cooperation from neighboring Pakistan to intercept fighters and roadside bombs moving across the border, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net.
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Slow Withdrawal Plan for British Troops in Afghanistan
New York Times By JOHN F. BURNS July 6, 2011
LONDON - Prime Minister David Cameron set a modest target for early British troop withdrawals from Afghanistan on Wednesday, deferring to British military commanders who had cautioned publicly against an accelerated schedule more closely paralleled on the American withdrawals announced two weeks ago by President Obama.
As part of what he called a "hard-headed" approach to the war, Mr. Cameron told the House of Commons that the British pullout would be limited to 500 troops in 2012, on top of 460 being withdrawn this year. The 2012 number is about half of what Mr. Cameron and his Downing Street security team were previously considering. Moreover, none of the 500 soldiers to be pulled out next year will be combat troops.
The British plan will leave a force of 9,000, still the second-largest foreign troop presence in Afghanistan, after the United States. By announcing the cautious scale of the 2012 pullout, Mr. Cameron balanced popular unrest about the war against the advice of British military commanders. They had cautioned against a larger 2012 withdrawal, saying it would deny them the combat troops they needed for two more full "fighting seasons" — this year and next — to consolidate recent gains against the Taliban.
Similar arguments were made unsuccessfully by American military officials, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, the United States commander in Afghanistan, when President Obama was reviewing his own plan earlier this summer. In his announcement on June 22, Mr. Obama said American troop levels would be cut by 10,000 this year and 23,000 by September 2012, effectively reversing the surge ordered by Mr. Obama in 2009 that has been credited with blunting the momentum of the Taliban.
Mr. Obama’s decision prompted critics on both sides of the Atlantic to say that he was putting the recent war gains at risk, particularly in Helmand Province, the most active center of the Taliban insurgency, where the bulk of the American surge troops have been fighting alongside British units. While General Petraeus and other American commanders have limited their public demurrals to saying the American cuts were more "aggressive" than they would have liked, some critics in Britain, including the recently retired top military officer, Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, have suggested that Mr. Obama’s schedule was set less by military realities than with an eye to next year’s presidential election.
In the Commons, Mr. Cameron, comparing the British withdrawal plan to Mr. Obama’s, cited the American leader’s avowal that the mission in Afghanistan was changing "from combat to support," as Afghan’s forces ready themselves to take the lead in the war. But the prime minister cautioned against direct comparisons, noting the large disproportion in the two countries’ troop commitments. American withdrawals over the next 14 months will leave about 70,000 American troops in Afghanistan, still more than half the total force deployed by the 48 nations that make up the international force.
Still, Mr. Obama’s decision to reduce the American deployment by a third, with combat troops accounting for most of that figure, gave fresh momentum to the long-running and increasingly fractious debate across Europe about the prospects for military success in Afghanistan. That has been especially true in those countries that contribute the bulk of the non-American forces deployed there.
In Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, public opinion has been running strongly against the war, fueled in large part by the 375 British troops that have been killed there, a number that, proportional to the number of troops deployed, is higher than the 1,651 American troops who have lost their lives. The costs, too, have been heavy, with British officials saying the expense since 2001 has now exceeded 14 billion pounds, equivalent to more than $22 billion.
Mr. Cameron’s preparation for Wednesday’s withdrawal announcement, centering on a trip to Helmand earlier this week, was jarred when a 20-year-old British soldier from a Scottish regiment was found dead 14 hours after he left his remote Helmand base alone after a stint of sentry duty at the base’s gates. His body was found three miles away, with a shot to the back of his head. The Taliban, who displayed the body publicly before dumping it in the canal, acknowledged killing him.
Mr. Cameron’s announcement means that British combat withdrawals will now be concentrated in 2013 and 2014, ahead of the December 2014 deadline he has set for an end to British combat operations. Mr. Obama has left the date for an end to all American combat operations vague, saying the "process of transition" to Afghan troops and police will come at the end of 2014.
Mr. Cameron signaled that a significant British force, estimated by commanders at about 2,000, would remain past 2015 for noncombat duties, including running a new officer’s training academy that Britain has agreed to establish — called "Sandhurst in the sand" by officers, after the military academy in Britain. But Mr. Cameron, who faces a general election in 2015, told questioners in the Commons that the deadline for an end to British combat operations would not be altered, even if progress in the war with the Taliban falters.
He said, "The country needs to know that there is an end point.”
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800 Marines to Return Home from Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal By JULIAN E. BARNES JULY 6, 2011
WASHINGTON - The U.S. will send home about 800 combat Marines later this year as part of the drawdown of the surge forces in Afghanistan, a top American commander said Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, due to step down shortly as the No. 2 commander in Afghanistan, said the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine regiment, a combat unit of more than 800 people stationed in Helmand province, will return home later this summer and not be replaced. Pentagon officials clarified later that the Marine unit will leave by the end of the year.
The drawdown of Marines is separate from a previously announced redeployment of two National Guard battalions, also totaling 800 soldiers, which will be sent home with their replacements sent to Kuwait rather than Afghanistan.
Gen. Rodriguez said while there will be some other gradual draw downs during the summer, most the remainder of this year's draw down of 10,000 forces will occur in the fall, he said. Gen. Rodriguez spoke to reporters in the Pentagon from his command post in Afghanistan via video conference.
President Barack Obama announced last month that 10,000 troops will be sent home from Afghanistan this year and that the remainder of the surge of 33,000 troops will be home by the end of September 2012.
The intensity of fighting in Afghanistan usually tapers off in the fall, as mountain passes begin to become more difficult to traverse and the supply of fighters and weapons from Pakistan is cut off.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates had said hoped to keep combat troops in place as long as possible, sending support troops home first. But Gen. Rodriguez said troops sent home this year will include a mix of combat and support units.
Although Gen. Rodriguez repeatedly said he saw "indisputable progress" in Afghanistan, he acknowledged that the level of attacks, particularly in eastern Afghanistan, remained higher than during the same time period last year.
Critics of the surge have pointed to the unyielding violence as a sign that the U.S. strategy is not working. But Gen. Rodriguez suggested that a higher percentage of attacks were ineffective, with insurgents shifting to less deadly "direct fire" attacks. And many of the attacks have moved from population centers to more rural areas.
"It is a rural insurgency, so what we see happening is the violence is on the edge of the population center instead of the center," he said.
Gen. Rodriguez said it remains to be seen when overall violence levels will decline, but he said it would likely be next year. He cited progress in discovering hidden supplies of weapons and stopping new weapons flowing in from Pakistan.
"The bottom line is we have destroyed their support bases and their supplies," he said. "There is much intelligence that says they are having a tough time supplying themselves."
But he noted weapons continue to flow in and called on Pakistan to increase its cooperation on preventing roadside bombs and insurgents from sneaking into Afghanistan.
"We need more support and help from Pakistani military," he said. "What we really need is less of the IEDs, less homemade explosives across the border, as well as the bomb makers and leadership that moves across the border."
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Roadside bomb kills eight Afghan police
KABUL, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Eight policemen were killed as a roadside bomb struck a police van in Jauzjan province, 390 km north of Afghan capital city Kabul on Thursday, a private television channel reported.
"The gruesome incident happened in Faizabad district today when a police vehicle ran over a mine," Tolo television aired in its news bulletin.
Anti-government militants had planted the mine, the television quoted police spokesman in northern region Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai as saying.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops stationed in Afghanistan have intensified their activities since launching spring offensive in May 1.
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Peace Council in Indirect Contacts with Taliban Leader
Tolo news July 7, 2011
A senior member of High Peace Council said on Thursday that there have been indirect contacts with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar that could end up fruitful in the reconciliation process.
Deputy Head of High Peace Council Mawlawi Attaullah Ludin said there have been contacts with people close to Taliban leader and leader of the Hezb-e-Islami party.
But Mr Ludin declined to provide further details about the contacts.
The Taliban releasing a statement on Wednesday dismissed any contact between the government and the Taliban.
The statement only confirms that some contacts which are focused on exchange of prisoners between the Taliban and the government.
Mr Ludin said: "It is up to the Taliban how they project their policies and what they include in their statements, but we will follow our path."
"We don't say that we have direct contact with Mullah Mohammad Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, but the contacts have to be at the level of their representatives."
High Peace Council has previously requested UN Security Council to remove names of some of the Taliban leaders in sanctions list who could be helpful in reconciliation process.
But the Taliban still stick to their preconditions, saying there won't be any peace deal between Afghan government and the Taliban until the full withdrawal of foreign forces from the country.
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Democrats challenge Obama's Afghan withdrawal plan
Reuters By David Alexander Thu Jul 7, 2011
WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers fed up with the lingering war in Afghanistan launched a new challenge to President Barack Obama's plan for a measured U.S. troop withdrawal over the next year as they resumed debate on Wednesday on a $649 billion defense spending bill.
Democratic members of the House of Representatives proposed a series of amendments to the 2012 fiscal year defense appropriations bill aimed at forcing a speedier U.S. troop withdrawal, including by cutting funding for combat operations.
"The whole premise of this war is wrong. Fighting in Afghanistan does not enhance the security of the United States," said Representative Jerrold Nadler.
"We should withdraw our troops now, all of them, as rapidly as physically possible."
Representative James McGovern said Obama's Afghan strategy was not sustainable given difficult economic times at home.
"While we serve as an ATM machine for a corrupt government in Kabul, we tell our own people that we have no money for roads and bridges and schools and teachers and police and firefighters and jobs," he said.
The debate came two weeks after Obama announced his plan to withdraw 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year and another 23,000 by the end of next summer. The remaining 66,000 U.S. troops would be slowly withdrawn until a final transition to Afghan security control in 2014.
Obama's decision angered some Republicans and Democrats who had hoped for a speedier withdrawal at a time when U.S. budget deficits have hit $1.4 trillion, and the $14.3 trillion U.S. national debt is leading to demands for a sharp cutback in government spending.
Final votes on the Afghanistan amendments were not expected until Thursday. Lawmakers also planned amendments challenging U.S. involvement in the NATO-led and U.N.-mandated no-fly zone to protect citizens in Libya.
The spending bill being debated by the House envisions a Pentagon base budget of about $530.5 billion and funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan of about $118.7 billion.
Those amounts are about $8 billion less than what Obama had requested.
BATTLE OF THE BANDS
Penny-conscious House lawmakers made little headway in trimming more from Pentagon funding on Wednesday, but the Republican-led chamber did agree to raise spending for U.S. military bands to $320 million, overturning a Democratic bid to cut the request by $120 million.
"The facts about our bands are that they are an integral part of the patriotism that keeps our soldiers' hearts beating fast," said Representative John Carter, who introduced the amendment to eliminate the curb on band funding.
Nadler, who opposed the amendment, said it was difficult to justify the funding at a time when social programs for the needy were facing cuts.
"I love John Philip Sousa," he said, referring to the composer of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and other marching tunes. "I love military bands, I love marching bands, but people have to eat. And we're being savaged in the budget that we're passing and in the negotiations on the debt ceiling."
Representative Betty McCollum, who had cut $120 million in band funding during committee deliberations, said the Army alone had more than 100 bands employing 4,600 professional musicians and support staff.
Carter said there were some 250 military bands and a band played some 1,200 "musical missions" per 12- to 15-month deployment. He said cutting the band funding would not save American taxpayers "one red cent."
The House rejected several amendments that would have sliced hundreds of millions of dollars from research and development funding and the secretary of defense's budget.
Representative Paul Broun sought to eliminate money for military environmental and HIV research, saying they duplicated work done elsewhere.
"Here we see research being conducted by a military that does not focus on the core mission of national security," Broun said. "HIV research is being conducted ... in my home state of Georgia at the Centers for Disease Control as well as the National Institutes of Health."
But other lawmakers said research on the virus that causes AIDS was a legitimate military function because it poses a threat to military personnel serving overseas in areas where the HIV virus is more widespread.
(Editing by Todd Eastham)
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10 Taliban insurgents join gov't in W Afghanistan
FARAH, Afghanistan, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Ten Taliban insurgents laid down their arms on Thursday in the country's Farah province, some 695 km west of capital city of Kabul, provincial police chief Sayed Mohammad Roshandil said.
"A 10-member group of Taliban under the command of Mullah Bismillah has given up insurgency and joined government-initiated peace and reintegration process in Khaki Safed district on Thursday morning," Roshandi told Xinhua. According to the police chief, the former insurgents also handed over their weapons to security authorities in the district, north of provincial capital Farah city.
However, the militant group who announced on April 30 to launch spring offensive against Afghan and NATO-led forces have yet to make comments.
In efforts to end the nearly 10-year war and Taliban-led insurgency, Afghan President Hamid Karzai set up a 70-member High Council for Peace in September 2010 to accelerate the government- backed national reconciliation with Taliban and associated militants.
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Netherlands Sends Reduced Afghanistan Mission, As Canada Ends Combat Role
July 7, 2011 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The Dutch military is sending 160 soldiers to Afghanistan as part of its new, scaled-down mission to the country.
The troops, mostly support staff for 225 military police trainers, will be deployed to the northern Konduz Province and will be under the protection of German troops.
A total of 545 Dutch soldiers and police trainers will assist NATO in Afghanistan through 2014, a big step back from the Netherlands' previous commitment of 1,600 soldiers.
The bulk of the troops was withdrawn last year after the Dutch government collapsed over whether to extend their deployment.
Meanwhile, Canada ended its combat mission in Afghanistan today after nine years and the death of 157 men.
The departure of nearly 3,000 troops comes as Western forces begin to announce gradual drawdowns of troops ahead of a full withdrawal in 2014.
A separate Canadian training mission involving 950 troops will work in Kabul with Afghan security forces.
compiled from agency reports
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Afghan Sports Federation's "Afghan Cup 2011" held in Washington D.C.
WASHINGTON, July 3 - Thousands of Afghans from all over the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Afghanistan gathered at Howison Park in Prince William County, Virginia, and the Maryland Soccerplex Stadium of Washington DC Metropolitan area to celebrate the Afghan Sports Federation's 14th annual "Afghan Cup" sporting and cultural event. This year's four-day event was kicked off by the launch of ASF's new web address at www.afghansportsfederation.com at a pre-tournament dinner reception for team representatives, ASF officials, Afghan Embassy diplomats, community leaders and members of the media at the Wesfield Marriott. The games began on June 30th and came to a successful conclusion on Sunday July 3rd, 2011. The championship games, cultural events and the Afghan picnic were held at the internationally renowned "Germantown Soccerplex Stadium" in Maryland.
After the conclusion of the championship games, which included women's volleyball, men's volleyball, men's basketball, youth soccer, and women and men's soccer (football), trophies and awards were presented to the champions, followed by a live concert by famous Afghan artist Mr. Mahboobullah Mahboob until midnight on Sunday.
This year's cultural/sporting events were the biggest hosted by the Afghan Sports Federation, with thousands of spectators from all over the United States, Canada and Europe including international sponsors and local Afghan food vendors. Hundreds of athletes, both males & females, with thousands of their fans and supporters came to watch the games and enjoyed the festivities.
The final day of the program commenced with the volleyball championship games for both men & women, which was followed by a spectacular basketball championship game in the afternoon. The indoor gymnasium was packed with leagues of spectators cheering for their favorite teams. Later outside, the women's soccer game kicked off at 4pm between California rivals, Tracy FC & Itifaq FC that was the highlights of the games in conjunction with the women's World Cup being played in Germany this month. The men's Soccer Championship game between Pamir Football Club of New Jersey and Brishna Football Club of New York ended in a 1-0 win by Brishna.
This year's ASF special guests and trophy presenters were Afghanistan Ambassador to the United States Ambassador Eklil Hakimi in his first major public appearance who had encouraging words for fans and handed the men's soccer championship trophy to the wining team, former US Ambassador to United Nations Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad attended the women's soccer match with his wife, Afghanistan's Human Rights commissioner Mr. Nadir Naderi, and industrialist Mr. Ehsan Bayat.
ASF officials including, Executive Director Mr. Atiq Panjshiri, Board Secretary Mr. Zia Panjshiri, Ms Awista Zazay, Mr. Esmael Husseini, Mr. Assad Amin, Mr. Esmat Abbassi, Mr. Abdullah Monawar, Mr. Wyce Baber and Afghan Sports Federation President Mr. Ajmal Ghani A. presented medals and trophies as well to the Champions.
The men's basketball championship was won by The City of Virginia whose captain Yusuf Ansary was joined by MVP Yusuf Samey to claim their prizes .The men's volleyball champion was Virginia Boys whose trophy was given to Azi Wasiq, their coach. The women's soccer championship game was won by Tracy of California and the MVP was Ms Helai Arghandiwal who is also part of Afghanistan's Women's National soccer team squad.
Atiq Panjshiri & Ajmal Ghani A. presented ASF's first special "Lifetime Achievement Award" to Mr. Ehsanullah Bayat for his continued support of athletes and sports and ASF activities for the past 14 years. Mr. Bayat has been a supporter of the events since it's first year in 1998.
This event was the largest gathering of Afghans outside of Afghanistan for a sporting and cultural event; the Afghan Sports Federation's staff, volunteers, officials, and management performed professionally despite many challenges. The Afghan media including televisions and radio stations covered the events extensively. Everything went according to our expectations and we have received rave reviews from fans; we hope to duplicate these programs in Afghanistan," said Mr. Ajmal Ghani A., President of the Afghan Sports federation. Mr. Ghani dedicated the events to the people of Afghanistan and its athletes.
For more information and pictures of the event visit: www.afghansportsfederation.com
contact: Ajmal Ghani A.
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