Articles found 10 October 2006
PM must make case for Afghanistan
October 10, 2006
http://winnipegsun.com/Comment/Editorial/2006/10/10/1992252.html
Canadians deserve the straight goods on Afghanistan.
A Senate defence report urges Prime Minister Stephen Harper to explain the mandate and achievements of the conflict to the public.
It's good advice, but Harper has already been working on it.
A new Ipsos Reid poll shows support for Canada's mission rose to 57% in late September. That's up from 47% in late July and 51% in early September.
The rise comes after a speech by Harper to the UN stressing the global importance of the mission. And in Canada, Afghan President Hamid Karzai explained how vital the military action is to his country's struggle against oppression.
The rising public support for the Afghanistan mission is no coincidence. And it comes even as the number of Canadian casualties mounts.
The death of Trooper Mark Wilson in a roadside bomb attack Saturday brings the total to 40 soldiers killed and hundreds wounded since the Afghan conflict began four years ago.
As the death toll climbs, so does our national sorrow.
In yet another poll last week, 59% of respondents agreed our soldiers in Afghanistan "are dying for a cause we cannot win." And even in the Conservative hotbed of Calgary, 55% of people responding to a Sun online poll asking the same question said yes.
These polls reveal a nation torn between the importance of the mission and the loss of Canadian life. This reinforces a call by Senate defence committee chairman Colin Kenny for a "very clear statement about what the government expects to get for putting the lives at risk and and spending all that money."
His committee urges spending more to equip our troops and chanelling some aid money through the military to promote goodwill among Afghans in the zone where Canadians face fierce opposition from the Taliban.
Still, says Kenny, "it is up to the government to make the case and we think if the case is well made, there will be a significant amount of public support for it."
Harper has already established the importance of our participation internationally as "a Canada that doesn't just criticize, but one that can contribute" and reflects our values and interests.
Now it is time for him to bring home the message about how the Afghan mission reflects the values we've fought and died for during our 149 year history.
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Germany nabs 'bin Laden Webmaster'
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/10/germany.alqaeda.reut/index.html
BERLIN, German (Reuters) -- German police arrested an Iraqi man on Tuesday who they suspect aided al Qaeda by posting messages from Osama bin Laden and other leaders of militant Islamist groups on the Internet, the prosecutor's office said.
Authorities believe the 36-year-old suspect, identified only as Ibrahim R., broadcast numerous audio and video messages from al Qaeda chief bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and the late leader of al Qaeda in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on the Web.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement that Ibrahim R. was able to "circulate the messages worldwide and thereby support the groups in their terrorist acts and goals".
The man was arrested at his home near the northwestern town of Osnabrueck. His apartment was also searched.
This is the latest in a series of arrests of suspected al Qaeda members and supporters in Germany.
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Iran criticizes inadequate aid for Afghanistan reconstruction Vienna
Oct 10, IRNA Switzerland-Iran-Afghanistan
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0610101565123136.htm
Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pour- Mohammadi in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday criticized the inadequate international assistance for reconstruction and development that reaches Afghanistan.
Pour-Mohammadi, who arrived in Geneva earlier Monday upon an invitation of UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, was addressing the opening ceremony for the 11th session of a UN commission for voluntary return of Afghan refugees.
He said inadequate international aid has led to a "worrying downward trend in repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland." He said that one million Afghan refugees have not yet signed up to return to their country besides 950,000 Afghans who manage to stay in Iran illegally, adding that "of the over 599,000 Afghan refugees who have entered Iran with proper documentation, some one- third of them have settled in Iran (illegally) and have not returned to Afghanistan."
The minister cited terrorism, production of illicit drugs and human trafficking as among the main concerns in Afghanistan, and called on the international community to raise their contributions to help fight these evils.
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Afghanistan reports progress in inquiry into journalists' killings
dpa German Press Agency Published: Tuesday October 10, 2006
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Afghanistan_reports_progress_in_inq_10102006.html
Kabul- Progress has been made in the hunt for the perpetrators in the killings of two German journalists in Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday, three days after their deaths. Ministry spokesman Semarai Bashari would not disclose what kind of progress Afghan authorities had made.
There have been no arrests in the killings of Karen Fischer, 30, and Christian Struwe, 39, journalists with the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle who were shot Saturday night in the tent they had pitched near a road in northern Afghanistan.
They were the first German journalists killed there since the fall of the Taliban regime at the end of 2001.
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Lack of an ax contributed to copter crash
Oct. 9, 2006, 11:27PM By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4247192.html
Report cites numerous reasons why 10 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - A helicopter crash that killed 10 U.S. troops last May was caused by a series of mishaps, a new report concluded. Problems included a nighttime landing on a small mountaintop zone, trees that were too close to the runway and soldiers who lacked axes to cut them down.
Maj. Matt Hackathorn, a military spokesman at the U.S. base at Bagram, north of Kabul, said Monday that the May crash came "as a very hard lesson" in the difficulties of flying in Afghanistan.
Hackathorn said the military averages about 25 helicopter flights a day in eastern Afghanistan.
The CH-47 Chinook — a large transport helicopter with two overhead rotors — had such a small landing zone that only its two rear wheels could touch down, while its front two wheels hovered off the mountain's side, the report from the Accident Investigation Division of the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center found.
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Afghan copter crash blamed on mishaps
Oct. 9, 2006, 1:51PM By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4246237.html
KABUL, Afghanistan — A helicopter crash that killed 10 U.S. troops last May was caused by a series of mishaps, a new report concluded. Problems included a nighttime landing on a small mountaintop zone, trees that were too close to the runway and soldiers who lacked axes to cut them down.
Maj. Matt Hackathorn, a military spokesman at the U.S. base at Bagram, north of Kabul, said on Monday that the May crash came "as a very hard lesson" in the difficulties of flying in Afghanistan.
The CH-47 Chinook _ a large transport helicopter with two overhead rotors _ had such a small landing zone that only its two rear wheels could touch down, while its front two wheels hovered off the mountain's side, the report from the Accident Investigation Division of the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center found.
Making matters tougher, it had to land at night between trees with only about 5 feet of clearance on either side of its rotors. Soldiers tried to cut down the most problematic tree but had no ax; instead they used a pick, hammer and knife.
"The job proved easier said than done," said the report, which appeared in the October issue of Flightfax magazine, a military publication on Army aviation safety.
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UN Security Council plans to send mission to Afghanistan
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 9:24:00 AM
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1057748
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council plans to send a mission to Afghanistan in November to study the deteriorating situation on the ground in the wake resurgence of Taliban militants.
Voicing "alarm" over deteriorating security situation and threat posed by growing production of illegal drugs, Japan's UN envoy and council president Kenzo Oshima said the mission would give a message about UN's commitment to bring peace to the war torn country.
The press statement followed briefings to the Council by Tom Koenigs, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the situation prevailing there.
UNODC released a survey last month that showed illicit opium production in Afghanistan has increased to a record 6,100 tons this year, a rise of 49 per cent on last year's figures. Afghanistan now accounts for 92 per cent of the world's supply of opium, the raw material used to make heroin.
Oshima expressed regret at the casualties suffered by Afghan and international forces, as well as civilians, as a result of attacks by the Taliban, Al-Qaida and other groups.
The Council members, he said, remain convinced that the best way to solve the interconnected problems of security, governance, development and the illegal drug trade is to continue to build "sound and resilient institutions," strengthen the rule of law and tackle corruption.
The Council, the statement said, welcomes the recent extension of the presence of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) into new provinces.
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U.S. Resolve in Afghanistan Undiminished After Authority Transfer
By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1491
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2006 – Yesterday’s transfer of authority for the final section of Afghanistan to NATO control does not diminish the U.S. commitment to the country one iota, a Defense Department official said here.
“We don’t see that as a handing over the job to NATO,” said Mark Kimmitt, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Near East and South Asian affairs. “In fact,” he noted, “the United States will remain on the ground and the majority contributor to forces on the ground through NATO and through our own independent capabilities.”
More than 12,000 U.S. servicemembers will come under the NATO–led International Security Assistance Force. That will bring ISAF’s strength to about 31,000 military members from 36 nations.
Kimmitt spoke to European journalists who cover NATO during a Pentagon roundtable yesterday. He said the United States sees the NATO presence as a way to further internationalize the situation inside Afghanistan. The move will bring more resources and more countries into Afghanistan, he said.
The International Security Assistance Force began operations in and around the Afghan capital of Kabul in 2002. NATO took command of the force on Aug. 11, 2003. It expanded to the north, based around Mazar-e-Sharif, in 2004, and to the west, around Herat, in 2005. The alliance took charge in the south, around Kandahar, earlier this year. British Army Gen. David Richards commands the force. U.S. Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill will take command early next year.
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U.S. Prepares for Operation to Aid Pakistan
By Senior Airman J.G. Buzanowski, USAF Special to American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1484
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 6, 2006 – A joint team of airmen and soldiers is in Pakistan preparing for Operation Promise Keeping, a follow-up mission to aid the people in remote northern parts of the country devastated by an earthquake last year.
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake centered roughly 60 miles northeast from here struck Oct. 8, leaving more than 73,000 people dead, 128,000 injured and 3.4 million homeless.
Two days later, a coalition of nations formed Operation Lifeline, providing food, water, shelter and medical care until the operation's conclusion in March.
Operation Promise Keeping picks up where Lifeline left off, officials said, bringing rebuilding supplies to the people as they prepare for the winter near the Himalaya Mountains. According to a release from the U.S. Embassy here, the United States has pledged $206 million in earthquake reconstruction assistance to Pakistan over the next four years.
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Jones: Drug Lords Threaten Afghan Stability Efforts
By Gerry J. Gilmore American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1471
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2006 – Powerful drug lords constitute a growing threat to security and stability efforts in Afghanistan, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe said here yesterday.
NATO forces pummeled Taliban insurgents in recent stand-up fighting in southern Afghanistan, Marine Gen. James L. Jones said yesterday at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting.
However, Jones told council members and reporters, the Taliban aren’t the only problem, and he noted another, growing threat to Afghan stability.
“The narcotics cartels have their own armies and their own capabilities,” he pointed out. “They’re conducting a massive exploitation effort.”
Drug czars want to continue making millions from Afghanistan’s opium-poppy crops, explained Jones, who’s also commander of U.S. European Command. About 90 percent of Afghanistan-originated narcotics end up in drug marketplaces across Europe, he noted.
The narco-traffickers coerce Afghan farmers and officials through violence or bribery to ensure that the drugs reach their markets, he said.
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Afghan, Coalition Forces Capture Terrorist
American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1505
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2006 – Afghan and coalition forces captured a suspected terrorist today after searching a compound in Farah, U.S. military officials reported.
Intelligence linked the terrorist to recent makeshift car bomb attacks in the Farah region.
During the search of the compound, the suspect tried to evade capture by running from the scene. Elements of the force pursued the suspect and captured him after nearly an hour-long chase through the surrounding countryside.
Three other people were detained during the operation and will be questioned to determine their involvement with terrorist activities in the Farah region, officials said.
The operation ended with no injuries reported.
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Slain hero protects Afghan valley
Locals attribute `safety' to slain hero
Tajik leader ousted Russians, Taliban
Oct. 10, 2006. 08:13 AM MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1160430612578&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home
PANJSHIR VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN—Some guest lodgings come replete with hair dryer, coffee maker and alarm clock. This one comes with pre-dawn call-to-prayer and a rocket-propelled grenade under the bed.
Such are the idiosyncrasies of the impregnable Panjshir Valley, which despite the occasional surprise that lurks beneath a traveller's mattress, remains far and away the safest place in Afghanistan.
That this is northern Afghanistan doesn't guarantee security from an emboldened Afghan insurgency, a fact borne brutally three days ago in neighbouring Baghlan province, where two German journalists working for national broadcaster Deutsche Welle were slain by unidentified gunmen. That their valuables were left untouched suggests the attack was political rather than criminal.
But here in the panoramic Panjshir, a 100-kilometre ribbon of lush green farmland armoured left and right by Hindu Kush mountain ridges impassable to all but the hardiest mujahideen, worry melts away.
The rusting hulks of nearly a 100 Soviet tanks remain in situ today, including one whose cannon protrudes from the rapids of the fast-flowing Panjshir River. If their guns are silent, each still booms the legacy of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the so-called "Lion of Panjshir," whose venerated exploits shredded Communist attempts to tame the valley.
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Behind the burqa
Students grateful for chance to learn
Still fear deadly wrath of Taliban
Oct. 7, 2006. 08:11 AM MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1160171411347&call_pageid=968332188492&col=Columnist1016110013469
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—Peel back the burqa, and the eyes of Afghanistan's seldom seen future stare back in frustration, fear and the feeling time is not on their side.
The teenage girls of Kandahar offer little insight on the work of the Canadians in their midst, except a solemn prayer that the foreign boots of NATO not leave them, not now especially.
But they can tell you everything about how frightening it is to walk the streets of Afghanistan's second-largest city today, nearly five years after the fall of the Taliban.
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Progress brewing in one Kandahar café
How a former exile is battling the Taliban with billboards, espresso and the Internet
Oct. 5, 2006. 05:33 AM MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159998617510&call_pageid=968332188492&col=Columnist1016110013469
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—In many ways, Mohammed Naseem is the canary in the coal mine of southern Afghanistan. As long as he and others like him draw breath, there will remain a chance for a peaceful Afghan future.
We first encountered Naseem seven months ago, when the native Kandahari turned entrepreneur-in-exile was back in his hometown and well into the process of carving out a niche market in highway billboards.
That may sound dull to Western ears, as it did to us, initially. But consider that most living Afghans are wholly unaccustomed to highways, let alone billboards. More than a few of his friends thought he was a bit crazy to pump his life savings, at as much as $2,000 a pop, into the erection of roadside signage.
But Naseem made a go of it. His crews were fast on the heels of the slow spread of internationally funded highway building, which continues today despite insurgent attacks on road workers. Advertisers bought in and the money began to flow.
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Clinging to hope in the city of dread
Kandahar governor endures tough job
Acknowledges huge challenges ahead
Oct. 4, 2006. 01:00 AM MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159912238780&call_pageid=968332188492&col=Columnist1016110013469
Ask the governor of Kandahar whether he expects to see Afghanistan back on its feet in his lifetime and a slightly bitter, bemused smile crosses his lips.
"I don't know about my life, how long it will be," a weary Asadullah Khalid says, his eyes flashing added meaning. "But I hope."
Though he is barely 36, Khalid knows there are many who would have him dead today, given half a chance. It is a risk that comes with the territory for this appointee of President Hamid Karzai, who stands foremost among Canada's partners in the drive to push back the Taliban insurgency.
Barely a month ago, Khalid admits, his days were looking numbered as a gradual buildup of Taliban fighters just beyond Kandahar's western limits hit a crescendo that threatened to overtake the city. Kandaharis later interviewed by the Toronto Star described a city of dread, with many braced for a bloody Taliban reckoning.
Then came the purge known as Operation Medusa, the Canadian-led NATO assault on the massing of militants in the Panjwaii and Zhari districts. Hundreds died in the two-week operation, and whatever its ultimate fallout, the short-term dividend is a city returned to its former self.
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Kabul explosion 'injures eleven'
10. October 2006, 01:35
AfghanNews.net
BBC News - At least 11 people, including a number of police officers, have been injured in an explosion in the Afghan capital, Kabul, say police.
A bomb fixed to a bicycle exploded as a police van passed by, Kabul police official Alishah Paktiawal told the AFP news agency.
He said some civilians travelling in a taxi behind the bus were also hurt.
Bomb blasts in Kabul are generally rare, although there have been a number of suicide bombings in recent months.
Mr Paktiawal said that "a remote-controlled bomb fixed on a bicycle on the roadside which targeted a ministry of interior police bus" caused the explosion.
The windows of the bus and neighbouring shops were shattered by the blast, a report said.
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British hire anti-Taliban mercenaries
8. October 2006, 15:39 By Christina Lamb, The Sunday Times
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1295
BRITISH forces holed up in isolated outposts of Helmand province in Afghanistan are to be withdrawn over the next two to three weeks and replaced by newly formed tribal police who will be recruited by paying a higher rate than the Taliban.
The move is the result of deals with war-weary locals and reverses the strategy of sending forces to establish “platoon houses” in the Taliban heartland where soldiers were left under siege and short of supplies because it was too dangerous for helicopters to fly in.
Troops in the four northern districts of Sangin, Musa Qala, Nawzad and Kajaki have engaged in the fiercest fighting since the Korean war, tying up more than half the mission’s available combat force. All 16 British soldiers killed in the conflict died in these areas.
“We were coming under as many as seven attacks a day,” said Captain Alex Mackenzie of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, who spent a month in Sangin. “We were firing like mad just to survive. It was deconstruction rather than reconstruction.”
Lieutenant-General David Richards, commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, has long been critical of tying up troops in static positions, while the British government has grown increasingly concerned that it was affecting public support for the mission.
Since taking command of the British forces at the end of July, Richards has been looking for a way to pull them out without making it look like a victory for the Taliban.
“I am confident that in two to three weeks the securing of the districts will be achieved through a different means,” he said. “Most of the British troops will then be able to be redeployed to tasks which will facilitate rapid and visible reconstruction and development, which we’ve got to do this winter to prove we can not only fight but also deliver what people need.”
The districts will be guarded by new auxiliary police made up of local militiamen. They will initially receive $70 (Ł37) a month, although it is hoped that this will rise to $120 to compete with the $5 per fighting day believed to be paid by the Taliban. “These are the same people who two weeks ago would have been vulnerable to be recruited as Taliban fighters,” said Richards.
“It’s employment they want and we need to make sure we pay more than the Taliban.”
The withdrawal of the British troops will coincide with the departure of 3 Para, whose six-month deployment is coming to an end. The battalion will be replaced by Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade who started arriving last week.
Locals in these districts are fed up with the fighting that has led to the destruction of many homes, bazaars and a school. A delegation of more than 20 elders from Musa Qala met President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday evening and demanded to be allowed to look after their own security. “The British troops brought nothing but fighting,” they complained. They pledged that if allowed to appoint their own police chief and district chief, they would keep out the Taliban.
The other crucial factor has been Nato’s success last month in inflicting the heaviest defeat on the Taliban since their regime fell five years ago. The two-week Operation Medusa in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province left between 1,100 and 1,500 Taliban dead, many of whom were believed to be committed fighters rather than guns for hire.
“Militarily it was against the odds — it was only because the Taliban were silly enough to take us on in strength when we had superior firepower and because of very, very brave fighting on the part of Americans, Canadians, British and Dutch, as well as the Afghan national army,” said Richards.
The Taliban, emboldened by their successes in Helmand, had changed their strategy from hit-and-run tactics to a frontal attack, apparently intending to try to take the key city of Kandahar. They had taken advantage of a change of command of foreign troops in the south from American to Canadian and eventually Nato to move large amounts of equipment and men into the Panjwayi district southwest of the city. The area was a stronghold of the mujaheddin during the Russian occupation and contains secret tunnels and grape-drying houses amid orchards and vineyards alongside the Argandab River.
After initial setbacks, including the crash of a British Nimrod aircraft in which 14 servicemen died and an incident in which an American A10 bomber strafed Canadian forces, killing one and wounding 35, Nato forces turned the situation around. Wave after wave of Taliban arriving on pick-ups to join the fight were mown down. More than 100 are believed to have been captured and reports from Quetta in neighbouring Pakistan suggest that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, has instructed his men to return to their old guerrilla tactics.
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Afghans enjoy freedom despite growing fear
7. October 2006, 10:56 By Abdul Saboor, Reuters
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1291
Five years after U.S. forces launched their offensive to oust Afghanistan's Taliban, Shakeela Jan says she is happy to have the freedom to work but that she travels to her job every day in fear.
U.S.-led forces routed the Taliban in weeks following the October 7, 2001 launch of Operation Enduring Freedom. Five years later, the hardline Islamists and their militant allies have mounted their most sustained campaign of violence.
Women were banned from working under the Taliban. Now, Jan works with a dozen other women in a Ministry of Communications call center.
"We're worried when we come to work. You can see how the situation is getting worse every day," said January
There have been 56 suicide attacks in Afghanistan so far this year compared with 17 the whole of last year. Dozens of people have been killed in blasts in Kabul over the past month.
"People have to have security where they live but there's no security. How can we work and enjoy working outside our homes?" Jan asked.
About 40,000 foreign troops, half of them American, are in Afghanistan -- the most since 2001. Fighting is largely confined to the countryside in the south and east. But bombers have struck across the country.
On Saturday a NATO soldier was killed in the south after his patrol was attacked by insurgents. Nearly 500 members of NATO and U.S.-led forces have died in Afghanistan since 2001.
Gunmen also ambushed two German journalists traveling in northern Afghanistan, killing them both. Police said the two, a man and woman, were working on a documentary.
ANNIVERSARY NOT MARKED
The anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led offensive is not being marked in Afghanistan. Most people are not aware of it.
"The purpose of the American invasion of Afghanistan was to destroy al Qaeda, but they couldn't," said former policeman Abdul Mohib, when asked about the anniversary.
"Now we see al Qaeda is stronger than five years ago and people are suffering a lot because of their underground operations
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Afghan, Coalition Forces Capture Terrorist
American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1505
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2006 – Afghan and coalition forces captured a suspected terrorist today after searching a compound in Farah, U.S. military officials reported.
Intelligence linked the terrorist to recent makeshift car bomb attacks in the Farah region.
During the search of the compound, the suspect tried to evade capture by running from the scene. Elements of the force pursued the suspect and captured him after nearly an hour-long chase through the surrounding countryside.
Three other people were detained during the operation and will be questioned to determine their involvement with terrorist activities in the Farah region, officials said.
The operation ended with no injuries reported.
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