The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (October 2006)

[The Bread Guy]

Governor General announces the first-ever awarding of Military Valour Decorations
http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4905

October 27, 2006

OTTAWA—Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, announced today the awarding of the first four Military Valour Decorations to members of the Canadian Forces who have displayed gallantry and devotion to duty in combat.

The recipients will be invited to receive their decoration from the Governor General at a presentation ceremony to be held at a later date.

Military Valour Decorations are national honours awarded to recognize acts of valour, self-sacrifice or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy. They consist of the Victoria Cross, the Star of Military Valour and the Medal of Military Valour. This marks the first time that these decorations, which were created in 1993, have been awarded.

Note that the rank used in this document reflects the substantive rank held by the member at the time of the incident.

Name/current posting, home town

Star of Military Valour
Sergeant Patrick Tower, S.M.V, C.D., Edmonton, Alta., and Victoria, B.C.

Medal of Military Valour
Sergeant Michael Thomas Victor Denine, M.M.V., C.D., Edmonton, Alta.
Master Corporal Collin Ryan Fitzgerald, M.M.V., Shilo, Man., and Morrisburg, Ont.
Private Jason Lamont, M.M.V., Edmonton, Alta., and Greenwood, N.S.

The citations for the recipients (Annex A), as well as additional information on the Military Valour Decorations (Annex B) are attached.

-30-

(....)


Governor General announces 24 Mentions in Dispatches and 27 Meritorious Service Decorations
http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4904

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, announced today the awarding of 24 Mentions in Dispatches and 27 Meritorious Service Decorations (military division) to individuals whose specific achievements have brought honour to the Canadian Forces and to Canada. 

The recipients will be invited to receive their decoration or insignia at presentation ceremonies to be held at a later date. The citations for these awards will be published at a later date.

Note that the rank used in this document reflects the substantive rank held by the member at the time of the incident ....


Statement by the Chief of the Defence Staff on the First-Ever Awarding of Military Valour Decorations
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/view_news_e.asp?id=2129

NR-06.079 - October 27, 2006

OTTAWA - General Rick Hillier, the Chief of the Defence Staff, issued the following statement today on the first-ever awarding of Military Valour Decorations to four Canadian soldiers.

"Today is a great, proud and historic day for the Canadian Forces and for Canada. Her Excellency the Governor General-the Commander-in-Chief of Canada-announced earlier today that four Canadian soldiers have been honoured with Military Valour Decorations for heroic and selfless acts in Afghanistan in recent months.

These are among the very highest honours we have to offer for those who show courage in the presence of the enemy. More than that, this is also a first - today is the very first time these awards have been given-the first time the high standard has been met-since they were created some 14 years ago.

The four honoured soldiers are:

Sergeant Patrick Tower, of Victoria, British Columbia - The Star of Military Valour;
and the Medal of Military Valour, to
Sergeant Michael Thomas Victor Denine, of Edmonton, Alberta.
Master Corporal Collin Ryan Fitzgerald, of Morrisburg, Ontario; and
Private Jason Lamont, of Greenwood, Nova Scotia.
You need only to read the citations for these soldiers to understand the meaning of true heroism: running across open terrain under heavy enemy fire to give aid to wounded and stranded comrades; clearing burning vehicles from a roadway under fire to allow others to get to safety; taking exceptional and resourceful measures under the worst possible pressure to suppress enemy fire and save the lives of fellow soldiers.

These actions reinforce my personal belief that the men and women of the Canadian Forces are among the best, brightest and bravest this country has to offer. Today all their comrades-in-arms in our military offer their heartfelt congratulations to these exceptional soldiers."

-30-


Prime Minister Harper and Minister O'Connor pay tribute to Canadian soldiers
http://www.conservative.ca/EN/1091/57415

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor today paid tribute to the four Canadian soldiers who were today named by Her Excellency the Governor General as the first-ever recipients of the Military Valour Decoration for their heroic actions in Afghanistan between May and August 2006.

Created in 1993 but never before awarded, the Military Valour Decoration expressly recognizes valour, self-sacrifice or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy. The soldiers named today are:  Sergeant Michael Thomas Victor Denine, of Edmonton, Alberta; Master Corporal Collin Ryan Fitzgerald, of Morrisburg, Ontario; Private Jason Lamont, of Greenwood, Nova Scotia; and Sergeant Patrick Tower, of Victoria, British Columbia.

"I know all Canadians will wish to join us in offering congratulations to the four Canadian soldiers honoured with Military Valour Decorations today,” said the Prime Minister.  "These awards are among the very highest recognition Canada has to offer our soldiers for bravery in the midst of armed conflict. All are being honoured for truly heroic actions, under enemy fire.”

"I offer my highest praise to these true Canadian heroes, who represent the very best of our Canadian Forces and of Canada.  They stand for the devotion to duty and steadfastness of all the men and women who serve this country, at home and abroad,” added Minister O’Connor.

Sergeant Denine, Master Corporal Fitzgerald, Private Lamont and Sergeant Tower will be presented with their decoration by Her Excellency the Governor General at a ceremony to be held at a later date.



Four Canadian soldiers to be honoured with medals for bravery in Afghanistan
Bill Graveland, Canadian Press, 27 Oct 06
http://www.cp.org/premium/ONLINE/member/elxn_en/061027/p102725A.html

Four Canadian soldiers who risked their lives in the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan will be the first to receive new medals for "gallantry and devotion to duty in combat."  Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean on Friday announced the national honours awarded to recognize acts of valour, self-sacrifice or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy. They consist of the Star of Military Valour and the Medal of Military Valour. It is the first time the decorations created in 1993 have been awarded. The actual medals themselves will be presented to the four soldiers at a ceremony at a later date.  "I'm very proud to introduce to you four Canadian heroes behind me," said Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, at an event Friday evening in Calgary where the four men received ribbons to mark the announcement ....


War heroes honoured
Four soldiers first to receive bravery medals since their creation
Nadia Moharib, Calgary Sun, 28 Oct 06
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/10/28/2155202-sun.html

Four Canadian soldiers recognized last night for selfless acts of bravery reluctantly accepted the honour of being singled out for their heroics in Afghanistan. Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, presented the recipients ribbons to mark the announcement at the 2006 Calgary Leadership Dinner. The actual medals, announced earlier by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to recognize acts of valour, self-sacrifice or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy, will be pinned on later.  Edmonton-based Sgt. Patrick Tower earned the Star of Military Valour, second only to the Victoria Cross in importance ....


Morrisburg soldier to receive valour decoration
Ottawa Citizen, 27 Oct 06
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=01870f73-4c7f-487b-8eac-773b9c11dd5f&k=22488

A Morrisburg soldier who risked his life in Afghanistan is among the first group of Canadians to be been honoured with one of Canada's first Military Valour Deorations for clearing an escape route from enemy territory in Afghanistan.  Master Cpl. Collin Ryan Fitzgerald was one of four soldiers named today by Rideau Hall, the first to receive such decorations since they were created in 1993. He will receive the Medal of Military Valour at a later ceremony with Governor-General Michaëlle Jean.  The medal is awarded for "an act of valour or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy."  On May 24, 2006, Master Cpl. Fitzgerald faced tremendous fire during an enemy ambush while he took the wheel of a burning platoon vehicle and steered it off a roadway. The vehicle had threatened to trap other soldiers inside enemy territory ....


Military announces first recipients of 'new' valour honours
CBC Online, 27 Oct 06
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/10/27/military-valour.html

Four Canadian soldiers who risked their lives in Afghanistan have become the first to receive medals for "gallantry and devotion to duty in combat."  Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean announced the national honours, which are awarded to recognize acts of valour, self-sacrifice or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy, on Friday.  The Star of Military Valour and the Medal of Military Valour were created in 1993, but this is the first time the decorations have been awarded. The actual medals themselves will be presented to the four soldiers at a ceremony at a later date ....


Combat medals recognize valour of 4 Canadians
CTV.ca, 28 Oct 06
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061027/combat_medals_061027/20061027?hub=Canada

Four Canadian soldiers who risked their lives in the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan will be the first to receive new medals for "gallantry and devotion to duty in combat."  Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean on Friday announced the national honours awarded to recognize acts of valour, self-sacrifice or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy. They consist of the Victoria Cross, the Star of Military Valour and the Medal of Military Valour. It is the first time the decorations created in 1993 have been awarded.  The Star of Military Valour is going to Sgt. Patrick Tower, who is based in Edmonton and is originally from Victoria, B.C. ....

 

[GAP]

Articles found 28 October 2006

Canadians support combat for a 'just cause'
Sat Oct 28 2006 By Chris Lackner
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/world/story/3751714p-4337371c.html

OTTAWA -- A majority of Canadians support military participation in "conventional combat missions," such as the Afghan counter-insurgency, as long as they're convinced the cause is just and progress is being made, according to a new poll conducted for the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute.
The survey revealed that 55 per cent of Canadians are willing to send troops into danger -- even if it leads to deaths and injuries -- as long as they believe in the military's goals.

"Some people might be surprised to see the level of Canadian commitment to getting on the playing field and not just sitting on the grandstands when it comes to military combat missions," said Greg Lyle, managing director at Innovative Research Group Inc., which carried out the survey.

Only 19 per cent of respondents said they've always been firmly opposed to combat missions, while 23 per cent said they'd be willing to send troops, but that casualties would affect their level of support.

"This isn't a blank cheque for the government to take troops wherever they want," Lyle said. "But if Canadians are convinced the cause is right and we're making a difference, they are prepared to send soldiers into harm's way -- even if there is no direct Canadian interest at stake and no Canadian lives at risk."

But the poll also showed Canadians are increasingly uneasy with the military's current role in Afghanistan.   
While 54 per cent support the troops presence, opposition to the mission has risen to 42 per cent from 36 since a similar poll was conducted in June.Dawn Black, defence critic for the New Democratic Party, said the poll demonstrates that the public is increasingly uncomfortable with the mission because it lacks focus and doesn't appear to be offering tangible benefits to Afghan civilians.
More on link

Al-Qaeda warns Canada
Quit Afghan mission or endure attack like 9/11, threat says 
Stewart Bell, National Post Saturday, October 28, 2006
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=e9f20f44-ec19-470c-9ac3-6c79218d4d91

OTTAWA - An al-Qaeda strategist has warned Canada to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or face terrorist attacks similar to 9/11, Madrid and the London transit bombings.

The threat, attributed to a member of the al-Qaeda information and strategy committee, condemns Prime Minister Stephen Harper for refusing to pull out of Afghanistan.

It also refers to Canada's "fanatic adherence to Christianity" as well as its purported attempts to "damage the Muslims" and its support for the "Christian Crusade" against al-Qaeda.

"Despite the strong, increasing opposition to spread its forces in the fire of South Afghanistan, it seems that they will not learn the lesson easily," Hossam Abdul Raouf writes.

"They will either be forced to withdraw their forces or face an operation similar to New York, Madrid, London and their sisters, with the help of Allah."

The document, written in July, was obtained and translated by the SITE Institute, a U.S. non-profit group that monitors terrorist Web sites for clients, many of them in government.

It is the second reference in recent weeks to al-Qaeda singling out Canada because of its role in Afghanistan.

Last month, Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, referred to Canadian troops in Kandahar as "second-rate Crusaders."

The increasing focus on Canada in jihadist propaganda follows last June's arrest of 17 terrorist suspects in Toronto and comes as Canada is debating its role in NATO-led combat operations in southern Afghanistan.

The text of the threat suggests that al-Qaeda is aware of divisions within Canada over the mission, pointing to public opinion polls and opposition within Parliament.

It is also consistent with analysis by Canadian intelligence officials who report that al-Qaeda views Canada as a "priority target" because of the country's high-profile role in Afghanistan and its close relationship with the United States in the war on terrorism.

"Despite the differences between the Canadian foreign policy and its U.S. counterpart, and despite the hatred the Canadian people harbour towards the Americans -- their bad neighbours who cannot hold back their damage from them -- they agree with them regarding leading the Christian Crusade in Afghanistan and confronting al-Qaeda there," it says.

"They use the same excuses that are used by the British and others. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: 'The Canadians learned from the 9/11 attacks against the U.S. that a terrorist threat can enter into our private borders. The Afghani government wants us there, and we are fighting a truly abominable enemy. This is in our national interest. I believe that what we are doing is extraordinary. We will take a commanding role in the province of Kandahar.' "

The suspected "homegrown" Canadian extremists arrested by the RCMP in Toronto on June 2 were allegedly motivated partly by their anger over Afghanistan. Authorities claim they intended to take hostages on Parliament Hill and kill the Prime Minister unless he withdrew troops from Afghanistan and released all Muslims from Canadian prisons.
More on link

Russian vets of Afghan war pity Canada
Red Army finally abandoned fight, 'it is impossible to win there'
Sat Oct 28 2006 By Matthew Fisher
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/world/story/3751713p-4337348c.html

MOSCOW -- Senior Sgt. Sergei Kirjushin spent the most intense 18 months of his life in Afghanistan in the late 1980s with an elite Red Army airborne regiment that sometimes fought Islamic holy warriors at such close quarters he could "feel their breath."
Like a surprisingly large number of the former Soviet Union's 620,000 Afghan war vets, the burly ex-paratrooper is aware the Canadian army is now fighting some of the very same mujahideen and their progeny for control of the same unforgiving, arid landscape.

Kirjushin's convinced nothing good will come of Canada's war in Afghanistan.

"It is really impossible to win there. No positive result can be expected," Kirjushin, whose shaved head gives him a ferocious look, said during a long, often grim conversation at the Afghan War Veterans Association in the centre of the Russian capital.

"As every nation that goes to fight in Afghanistan discovers, nobody has ever conquered that place. Even children were involved. They would blow up our tanks."

Col. Alexander Khmel, who as a young artillery officer spent a year with an infantry unit in Afghanistan and still has four pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body from his time there, shared Kirjushin's dark pessimism about the task facing Canadian troops.   
"Please send my personal condolences to your army and to the families of those who have already died," said Khmel, who retired from the Red Army last year.

"If your army stays there, further losses are inevitable. Lots of them. I really feel sorry for your boys."

Military analyst Alexander Golts, who covered the Afghan war for the Red Army newspaper, provided a more nuanced but equally discouraging assessment of the latest war in a distant place where Russian troops used to call the enemy "dukhi" or 'ghosts" because they would often hide their weapons and quietly mix in with the local population at the end of a losing battle only to resurface somewhere else to continue the fight.

"An American general once told me that a civilized nation can't win a guerrilla war until it stops being civilized itself," said Golts. "I think that that is true in Afghanistan.

"Any attempt to bring outside principles to Afghanistan by military force cannot work because this is a traditional society that simply does not understand principles, whether they are principles of freedom or principles of communism. They only see us as invaders."

The former Soviet Union's' Afghan misadventure lasted a decade. When it was over in 1989 about 15,000 Soviet soldiers and more than one million Afghans were dead.

A timely paper written last year for NATO by Col. Oleg Kulakov, a serving Russian army officer who spent five years in Afghanistan as a military interpreter, discussed many of the difficulties that bedeviled the Red Army there between 1979 and 1989.
More on link

Aerial cavalry makes life-or-death difference
PAUL KORING From Saturday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061028.wxafghan28/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Raining death and destruction from the sky. Making horrific headlines when things go wrong.

Close air support, or CAS, doesn't sound nearly as deadly, nor as crucial, nor as rapid-reacting as it is. But allied warplanes wheeling above or laying down withering fire on Taliban fighters — sometimes only tens of metres from embattled Canadian troops — make a daily life-or-death difference in Afghanistan.

“Our guys sleep better at night when they hear those jets,” said Captain Tim Spears, the senior forward air controller for the Canadian battle group.

Just the sound of the warplanes, or even the drone of an unmanned aerial vehicle, can thwart an attack, sending Taliban fighters scurrying for cover. “They know the sound; they know we can see them and hurt them,” Capt. Spears said.

On balance, Canadian and other NATO troops are far safer and need take far fewer risks because of air power. But it can also go terribly wrong.

Only this week, a fierce controversy was set off when NATO warplanes, targeting Taliban fighters, killed at least 11 civilians, including women and children. Some local Afghan officials set the number of deaths at scores of civilians.

Last month, Canadian soldiers suffered a “friendly fire” attack when a U.S. A-10 Warthog mistakenly sent a burst of cannon fire into a group of Canadian soldiers. One was killed. Dozens were hurt. The careful, complex system of checks and balances failed. But even in the grim aftermath, some of the wounded Canadians credited close air support with saving their lives in the fierce battles of Operation Medusa.

Bombings or missile strikes by NATO's combat aircraft in Afghanistan, mostly American but also British and Dutch, rarely make news, except when things go wrong: Celebratory gunfire at a wedding is mistaken for insurgents shooting; women and children are killed when a bomb hits a Taliban compound or the dreaded “blue on blue” toll of friendly fire occurs.
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Medical discharges thinning military's ranks
GLORIA GALLOWAY From Saturday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061028.wxsoldiers28/BNStory/National

OTTAWA — The number of Canadian Forces members who were fired because they were too ill or injured to serve in a battle zone doubled between 2002 and 2005 — a puzzling increase that comes even as the military tries to bolster its ranks.

"They are letting go of so many people," said Brenda MacDonald, an ex-military nurse who was released because of a medical illness and who wants the Forces to find jobs for the released soldiers within the Department of National Defence.

The trend appears to be at odds with a recent decision to forgo physical-fitness tests for new recruits. But some veteran members of the Forces suggest there has been a concerted effort to drive out people with disabilities, even as the standards are being weakened for newcomers.

Under a policy called "universality of service," all members of the military must be physically able to participate in missions. If a medical condition prevents deployment, a member of the Forces is released with no guarantee of being placed in another job within the Defence Department or any other branch of government.
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Karzai expresses ‘pain' over Afghan civilian deaths
Canadian Press
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061027.wkarzai1027/BNStory/International/home

Kandahar — President Hamid Karzai expressed “sadness” and “pain” on Friday amid reports that dozens of civilians may have been killed in a NATO operation in southern Afghanistan's Panjwaii district.

Speaking at a new conference in the Afghan capital, Mr. Karzai did not specify how many civilians lost their lives in the NATO bombing and artillery attacks, but said Afghan authorities were conducting an investigation.

Local Afghan officials put the number as high as 80, while NATO officials said they did not believe more than a dozen civilians had been killed in the fighting.

Mr. Karzai said only that “numbers” of civilians were killed when the bombs and shells destroyed three houses, killing most of the people inside.
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An unknown soldier
When Private Mark Graham died in Afghanistan, reports recalled his past Olympic track glory. But as GREG McARTHUR writes, he kept running all his life -- away from confusion and outsized expectations, and into his early grave.
GREG MCARTHUR From Saturday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061027.cover28/BNStory

Mark Graham woke up, stood on the rocky hillside and swatted the sleeping Francois LePage, whose feet were dangling off the side of the armoured vehicle they manned together. “Wake up,” he said. “Let's go to the fire. I'm freezing.”

These would be the last words they would ever exchange.

The rest of the soldiers in Charles Company's Eighth Platoon that Monday morning in September were already tearing into their breakfast rations, readying themselves for another strike at their objective, a schoolhouse in the Afghan village of Pashmul that they had failed to seize the day before.

Then, suddenly, sparks began dancing at their feet. Next came the sound — the whir of a Gatling gun, spraying the camp with corn-cob-sized bullets. When the rounds hit the ground, they shattered into hot metal that pierced the heads, backs, arms and legs of the Canadians. The near-molten shrapnel collided with bones and organs and split into more pieces, so tiny that most will never be retrieved.
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Women and children killed, NATO admits
Civilians die as Taliban-held compound hit
PAUL KORING  From Friday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061027.wafghan27/BNStory

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — NATO rejected the contentions of some local Afghan officials yesterday that its warplanes had killed scores of civilians, but admitted some women and children died during air strikes on a Taliban-held compound.

"What is being reported as civilian casualties are the bodies of insurgents," said a senior NATO officer in Kandahar, who spoke on condition that he not be identified. The officer has access to the detailed operational logs and reports from coalition troops close to the scene of the air strikes both during the attacks and in the immediate aftermath. He said he was aware of "nothing that could have caused that many civilian casualties."

However, he said 11 civilians, including women and children, were believed killed -- and others injured -- in the third and largest of a series of running battles between Taliban and NATO forces on Tuesday and into the early hours of Wednesday morning. He also said that the preliminary post-attack assessment showed "we hit what we intended to hit," so that if there were civilian casualties it wasn't as a result of a bomb missing the target but rather civilians being inside or close to a Taliban-held compound.

But the fallout from the latest civilian casualties -- whatever their scale -- will be a setback for Canadian efforts to win local support in the contested Panjwai area west of Kandahar. There was anguish at a mass funeral in Kandahar and the anger among relatives of the dead and wounded civilians in hospitals.
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Bush discusses Afghanistan, Sudan with NATO chief
October 28, 2006         
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/28/eng20061028_315928.html

U.S. President George W. Bush met with visiting NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in the White House on Friday and they discussed issues including Afghanistan and Sudan's Darfur, White House spokesman Tony Snow said at a briefing.

"As for the president's meeting with the NATO secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, they had a good meeting," Snow said.

"They talked a lot about NATO's role in Afghanistan and ways of moving forward. Also (they) talked about their shared interest in Darfur and getting something done there," Snow said.

The meeting came amid a planned NATO summit due in Riga, Latvia next month.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan took over authority of the east of the country from the U.S.-led coalition at the beginning of the month, putting 12, 000 coalition troops, mainly Americans, under NATO command.

Bush has also called for a role for NATO in Sudan's conflicts- stricken Darfur region.

Source: Xinhua
End

Defence analyst decries changing role of Canadian forces in Afghanistan

Will Afghanistan become Canada’s Iraq? – Steven Staples.
By Wayne Thibodeau The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=4435&sc=2

Canada has all but abandoned its peacekeeping role and an Ottawa defence analyst is blaming the United States.

In a 27-page report called Marching Orders, Steven Staples says Canada’s role in Afghanistan has compromised the country’s role as a leader in peacekeeping.

Staples prepared his report for The Council of Canadians which held its annual general meeting in Charlottetown Friday.

Staples said Canada’s slide of support for UN peacekeeping did not begin overnight but it has been greatly exacerbated since the 9-11 attacks on the U.S.

“Our military is being transformed from one of the best peacekeeping forces in the world to nothing more than a U.S.-led war fighting force,” Staples told reporters in Charlottetown Friday.

“Already, we have spent more than $5 billion on the war in Afghanistan, which the government now admits is such a thing — a war. Next year, we will spend $1.4 billion on the mission in Afghanistan. We will spend $6 million on UN peacekeeping — a pittance.”
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Antigonish among towns to protest role in Afghanistan
By JIM MacDONALD
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/537178.html

ANTIGONISH — Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay can expect a crowd outside his constituency office in Antigonish this afternoon, denouncing Canada’s role in Afghanistan.

The town is one of 34 locations across the country where demonstrators will urge Prime Minister Stephen Harper to withdraw troops in the devastated country until the territory is safe for peacekeepers.

"We’re making ourselves targets by supporting the American offensive there when we can be helping the people," local organizer Jasmine Graham said Thursday night.

The event, called Canadian Troops Out of Afghanistan, is being organized by the Collectif Echec a la guerre, the Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Islamic Congress.

About 200 people are expected to set out from Antigonish town hall about noon and march to Mr. MacKay’s office, where a moment of silence will be observed for fallen soldiers and Afghan civilians.

The protesters will then head to St. F.X., where peace activist Steven Staples will give a presentation entitled Missile Defence to Afghanistan: How Citizens are Confronting the Bush Agenda in Canada.
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Commander shares views on Afghanistan
Jeff Hurst, Cambridge
http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/cam/news/news_646423.html
 
(Oct 27, 2006)
Taliban may be the universally hated name when it comes to terrorism, but it's only one of the deadly challenges facing Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

There are also armed gangs, drug lords, criminals, tribal leaders, corrupt police officers and incompetent government officials. But perhaps the biggest challenge is that 80 per cent of the population doesn't know who to believe in.

"They (Afghan citizens) want to believe life will be better," said Brig.-Gen. Dwight Davies, during a lecture Friday at the Brantford campus of Wilfrid Laurier University.

Deputy commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM) in Afghanistan, Davies was part of a weekend conference entitled From Courcelete to Kandahar: The Canadian Army, 1916-2006.

The 30-year military veteran said the conflict in Afghanistan is a totally new experience for Canadian soldiers. There's no good guys versus bad guys, no solid battle lines or rules of engagement.
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AFGHANISTAN: D'ALEMA, DON'T LEAVE THE COUNTRY TO THE TALIBAN
(AGI) - Milan, Oct 27 -
http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200610271856-1256-RT1-CRO-0-NF82&page=0&id=agionline-eng.italyonline

The international community must change its approach in Afghanistan, in a "difficult" challenge. "But we don't want to leave the country to the Taliban, it would be a defeat for the population and for all of us". Massimo D'Alema, foreign minister, talking during the Italian-German forum, turned to the matter of Afghanistan to repeat that it is necessary to change the approach of the international community in that country because "we will not win on a military level only, we need to intensify and develop a economic and political cooperation that involves the community much more". Finally, the foreign minister made a recommendation: "it is necessary to make an effort to avoid civilian victims when using force".
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German Afghanistan Veterans Suspended Amid Skull-Photo Scandal
By Brian Parkin and Claudia Rach
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=ai9wuhtib4sI&refer=europe

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung today ordered the suspension of two soldiers who posed for photos with a human skull during a 2003 mission with ISAF peace- keepers in Afghanistan. The pictures were published this week.

Snapshots of German soldiers holding human remains appeared in the Bild Zeitung newspaper on Oct. 25, prompting the army to launch an investigation to find the culprits. Further photographs depicting soldiers from other units stationed in Afghanistan were published by RTL television yesterday. Tampering with human remains is a punishable offence in Germany

Jung told reporters outside parliament that the army had suspended two of the six soldiers depicted in Bild's photos. ``I've also asked the Inspector-General of the Army to review troop training before and during service'' in Afghanistan. Jung has called the photos ``loathsome.''
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Afghanistan radio station to be rebuilt
by Rebecca S. Bender, 10/27/2006
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=16635
 
An Internews radio station in Afghanistan gutted by a firebomb in August will be granted a new lease on life with the help of a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for Democracy as well as equipment donations.

Radio Istiqlal, a community radio station in the remote province of Logar, Afghanistan, was burned to the ground around 2 a.m. on Aug. 11 after a firebomb was thrown through a window by an unknown person. A station manager on duty in the building was able to escape with only minor injuries, but the equipment and the structure were entirely lost.

A call for assistance went out shortly thereafter, and the National Endowment for Democracy responded with a grant. A number of smaller, individual donations came in as well, according to an Internews news release, and a local media development organization, Nai, donated production equipment.

Suitable sites for the new Radio Istiqlal are still being sought, Internews’ communications and corporate affairs Senior Vice President Annette Makino said Thursday.

“There have been a couple of false starts,” she said, noting that one site that had looked hopeful was subsequently ruled out because of broadcasting accessibility problems. “If all else fails, they’ll probably rebuild in that same spot.”

Workers hope to have the station up and running by December, when the heavy snowfall starts, Makino said.

Radio Istiqlal was started by Internews in 2004 and broadcast 10 hours of Afghan news and entertainment each day.

“Afghanistan is a very challenging environment for radio stations to survive in,” Jan McArthur, country director for Internews in Afghanistan, stated in a news release. “(Y)et these independent, local stations are vitally important if democracy and civil society are to have a chance of flourishing here.”

The individual or group behind the firebombing has not been identified, though local authorities speculated that the event was related to an anonymous flyer, which appeared around the same time, condemning Western values and lifestyles as decadent, corrupt and immodest.
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[GAP]

Articles found 29 October 2006

Fraser hands reins to Dutch after Afghan mission
Updated Sun. Oct. 29 2006 1:50 PM ET Canadian Press
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061029/afghanistan_fraser_061029/20061029?hub=Canada

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- After more than eight months in the kind of high-stress zone that tries tough souls, Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser is about to hand over command in southern Afghanistan.

It's a rotational change of guard Wednesday that will see Dutch Maj.-Gen. Ton Van Loon take over as NATO leader in the South.

Fraser will soon head home to Edmonton and his wife Poppie, their two sons and an aging Akita dog named Seiko.

"This environment is more dangerous than I've ever seen anywhere else in the world," he said in a parting interview with The Canadian Press.

"Over here, everybody is a target. The Taliban respects nobody. A reporter, the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN, military, Afghan. Everybody is an equal target of opportunity for them."

From Cyprus to the height of Bosnia's ugly civil war, Fraser has seen nothing in 26 years and seven missions that equals southern Afghanistan.

Still, he thinks the situation in Kandahar is misconstrued.

"Security is probably the most over-used, ill-defined word in the lexicon in this country.

"There's tens and hundreds of thousands of people going about living their lives downtown. And that place is just bustling," he said of the ramshackle sprawl of vegetable vendors and low-rise buildings near the main military base at Kandahar Airfield.

"Suicide attacks are a concern," he says. "The Taliban have gone and demonstrated complete disregard for attacking the people. Because what they're attacking is success."

Few women are seen on Kandahar streets even in full veils, and local Afghans who welcome foreigners describe growing intimidation and fear.

"I don't agree with that assessment," Fraser says. "A lot of those people don't get out of their houses. What they have is a perception. Eight months ago, Kandahar city wasn't as busy as it is now.

"You've got to put it into context."

Forty-two Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002. Since March, Fraser has watched 34 times as members of his military family were honoured and sent home in caskets.

There's no shortage of debate -- some of it stingingly critical -- about mounting troop and civilian death tolls, the slow pace of reconstruction and the prospects of success against those who would revert Afghanistan to a repressive terrorist incubator.

Fraser's optimism is steadfast.

Afghan police and security forces are being built from nothing, he says.

Several provincial governors have restored enough law and order to move on to budgets, education "and other issues that any governor or provincial premier would have to deal with."

North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops are advancing into parts of the country that were virtual no-go zones even a year ago, he says. The list includes Spin Boldak, a notoriously cut-throat border conduit for smugglers, mercenaries and suicide bombers who move from Pakistan into Afghanistan all but unimpeded.

"We are making progress," Fraser says. "That's a good news story. That's an expansion of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's footprint."

Holding that ground ultimately depends on whether military leaders can help deliver enough locally driven development. How better to convince Afghans to shun a growing anti-government insurgency than to offer new health clinics, schools and credit for new businesses?

Too many Afghans, though, are still waiting five years after a resurgent Taliban was defeated. It doesn't help that many people have lost faith in a widely corrupt Afghan government that doubles as a bastion for former warlords accused of vicious abuses.

Further complicating Canada's aid efforts is the refusal of several international agencies to work in the South. CARE and World Vision are among those who say the military's foray into road building, well digging and school projects has blurred the line between unarmed aid workers and combat troops.

They want soldiers to stick with security.

Fraser calls that "Old Think."

"The new reality is we're all working complementary to each other in an environment that is dangerous.

"These people deserve nothing less than our international community's 100-per-cent commitment to provide them hope and opportunity in a safe environment.

"It's worth it," he says. "And this is do-able. But it comes at a cost."
End

Canadian convoy travels through 'Ambush Alley'
Updated Sat. Oct. 28 2006 11:32 PM ET Paul Workman, CTV News
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061026/kandahar_convoy_061028/20061028?hub=TopStories

South Asia Bureau Chief -- The ramp comes up and we're locked inside a Canadian Forces "Bison," an armored vehicle that's uncomfortable, dark and as the day moves forward, increasingly warm. Sweatingly warm. There is one tiny window out the back but you really can't see anything. You're wearing a helmet and a heavy flak jacket, and in spite of it all, the ride makes you feel sleepy.

Perhaps it's the tension. You're in a Canadian military convoy moving down the highway toward Kandahar City and there's more than a chance of being hit by a roadside bomb, or a suicide attack. It could be a yellow and white Corolla taxi, it could be a truck packed with explosives, or it could be a motorcycle with a bomb hidden under the driver's clothes. The soldiers in the convoy have seen it all, or at least been warned to expect it all.
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Francis Silvaggio reports from Afghanistan on the Canadian troops reaction to an anti-war rally across the country.
Video Report

http://video.canada.com/VideoContent.aspx?&popup=1


End

A bad day? 'You have no idea, buddy'
Soldiers find they can never really go home
Sun Oct 29 2006
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/world/story/3752005p-4337953c.html
By Lee Rosenberg

'Being here, you begin to put things into perspective. Back home you get a speeding ticket and it ... ruins your day. Here you don't get blown up and it's a good day' -- Pte. Sean Parker 

PASHE, Afghanistan -- Pte. Sean Parker was in an Australian hostel when he overheard a conversation that sent him into a stony silence. A young woman was complaining to a friend about how mean her mother was, about how sometimes she really hated her.

Parker, 24, had just fought in the trenches of Operation Medusa, a Canadian-led offensive that resulted in large insurgent casualties. He watched men die beside him. He had also lost a friend and section mate weeks earlier. And now this.   
It was a moment of reckoning, the Edmonton native says, one where he quickly understood the war in Afghanistan had made him different from others, perhaps even changed him forever.

"It's hard to explain," Parker says, sitting on the rough gravel in a mountainous base overlooking the Tailbone heartland of Panjwaii and Pashmul. He hasn't showered or eaten a freshly cooked meal in weeks.

More often than not, home has been a square patch of dirt behind his section's LAV armoured vehicle.

"Being here, you begin to put things into perspective. Back home you get a speeding ticket and it ... ruins your day. Here you don't get blown up and it's a good day."

Parker is among the 2,300 Canadian soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan who are entitled to an 18-day vacation that falls at some point during their six-month tour. (Those who serve longer may also be entitled to R and R periods of three to four days that can only be taken at a select location).

The transition from battle zone to beach vacation, especially for the 1,200 frontline soldiers like Parker, is jarring. They've found it difficult adjusting to the outside world.

"I have really good friends back home, but I realized after this tour, that my military friends will always be my best friends," said Cpl. Andrew Harris, 24.

Harris decided to spend time among family and friends in his Burlington, Ont., home. He says he faced many of the same challenges as other soldiers who choose to vacation in Thailand, Australia and Europe. "When they bitch and complained about the small things that everyone back home takes for granted, you just look at them like 'you have no idea, buddy.' "

Infantry soldiers in Pashmul are treated to nightly "light shows," which often include hours of gunfire, artillery attacks and aerial bombardments. They live under constant threat of enemy attack.

"I'll admit that bangs made me jump," Harris says of his trip home.
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How the West short-changed Afghanistan
The Sunday Times October 29, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-2422241,00.html

We went to war to restore democracy and prosperity to Afghanistan, and spent billions on building new homes, hospitals and highways. But five years and thousands of lost lives later, everything is crumbling and the ferocious Taliban are back. Where did it all go wrong? Fariba Nawa reports on the troubles of her homeland
 
The supposedly "posh" apartment where I am writing this is in one of dozens of buildings constructed in 2004 near downtown Kabul. It is part of the extensive reconstruction process taking place in Afghanistan in the midst of war. The landlord is a businessman who built the shiny five-storey apartment block with tinted windows as an investment in what then seemed an equally shiny new economy. Across the way are a mosque and a wedding hall, and the call to prayer competes with Afghan pop music. Lately, the roar of fighter jets has added another level to the noise, as security in Kabul declines to its worst state in five years. During the morning rush hour earlier this month, the windows shook from an explosion that injured more than a dozen police several blocks away.

There are three of us in the flat, including my fiancé and an American friend, and we pay £165 a month in rent, the going price in the city. But few locals could afford such luxury: a civil servant’s salary is £27 a month. And this is no Trump Tower. We’re not sure if our building is earthquake-safe, since no seismic standards are enforced in this construction boom. Afghanistan is to earthquakes as Florida is to hurricanes – we know that when the ground shakes, the walls crack and the doorframes shift.

Our bathroom drains emit the stench of sewage; the pipes inside the walls leak, and the water seeps into the plaster. The lightest touch sends disintegrated wallboard cascading to the floor. There’s no insulation in the walls, and the gaps in our misshapen door and window frames allow icy winds to blow in. The building’s exterior was never finished with a primer or sealant, so when it rains, the moisture soaks through and beads on the interior walls. Metal beams supporting the ceiling of our living room are rusting, the rust is bleeding through the paint, and the paint is cracking. The list goes on.

I consider myself lucky. These flawed buildings and services are an inconvenience, but I could leave. Yet the shoddy reconstruction effort in Afghanistan since the Taliban were theoretically ousted has had far greater consequences for Afghans, and now, it seems, for westerners, who have footed the bill for these botched efforts. Amid the detritus of rubble and lost opportunities, the Taliban have returned.
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The Crusaders Admit: Our Troops are Being Defeated in Afghanistan; An Analytical Study of the Crusader Forces Occupying Afghanistan
By SITE Institute
http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications222806&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

Prepared by Hossam Abdul Raouf, a member of the Committee of Information and Strategy for al-Qaeda, and Editor-in-Chief of the “Vanguards of Kharasan” electronic periodical, a 66-page analytical study of the “Crusader” occupation of Afghanistan was recently distributed to jihadist forums. The piece, written between June and July 2006, follows an admission that American, allied, and NATO forces are being defeated in Afghanistan. In the pursuit of proving this claim, as well as showing the might and initiative of the Mujahideen, the author focuses on news articles concerning the “Afghani problem,” which were published by English Pakistani newspapers, such as the Nation, the Dawn, and the Frontier Post, as well as quotations from American Congressmen and U.S. and British military commanders.


The introduction to the document, previously translated by the SITE Institute , summarizes Raouf’s goals in the analysis as proving Western “Crusader” hubris and selfishness in the Afghan occupation, especially by the United States, and deliberate attempts by the commanding regimes to obfuscate the reality of the ground war. The analysis then pursues the signs and indications of the Crusader’s defeat in Afghanistan, highlighting reasons for U.S. withdrawal and their handing greater authority to NATO forces in the southern provinces, and reviewing the conditions of British, Canadian, Dutch, Australian, and other foreign forces.


Hossam Raouf observes that the reduction of U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year is due to a confluence of factors, including the strength of the Taliban and their firm control in many Afghan provinces, failure of U.S. intelligence to locate Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership, and the transfer of forces to cover the “great losses” in Iraq. He also claims that American soldiers are suffering mental collapse, and refers to evolving tactics and methods of the Mujahideen in combat as additional reasons. On the latter point, suicide bombings, termed as the “Islamic nuclear bomb that the enemy cannot face,” by Taliban commander Mullah Dadallah, is one of the strategies imported from the Iraq insurgency. The author adds: “While suicide attacks were not accepted in the Afghani culture in the past, they have now become a regular [phenomenon]!”
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NATO soldier killed in S. Afghanistan
October 29, 2006         
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/29/eng20061029_316176.html

One soldier of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed and eight others injured in Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province, said an ISAF statement received Sunday.

"One ISAF soldier was killed and eight others wounded when their convoy was caught in the blast of an improvised explosive device earlier Saturday," it added.

However, the statement withheld the nationalities and identities of the victims, adding in accordance with the NATO policy, ISAF does not release the nationalities of casualties prior to the relevant national authority doing so.

But it said Dutch forces have been stationed in the troubled Uruzgan province.

Two civilians were also injured in the incident, the statement said.

On the other hand, a purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi said that 25 foreign troops have fighter being killed or injured in the operation conducted by Taliban operatives.

He added the incident took place in Darwishan area north of provincial capital Tirin Kot where four military vehicles were also damaged.

Ahmadi also confirmed that five Taliban fighters were killed and three others were wounded.

More than 2,500 people, mostly according to officials were militants, have been killed since beginning this year in Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua
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Older vets reach out to troops returning from Iraq, Afghanistan
ELLIOTT MINOR Associated Press
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/15873444.htm

COLUMBUS, Ga. - Jack Wagner was wounded twice during two tours in Vietnam, but instead of a hero's welcome upon his return, he was advised to ditch his uniform to avoid the wrath of anti-war protesters.

"That made a lot of Vietnam veterans go in the closet. They didn't want to be labeled as baby killers," said Wagner, the 59-year-old national commander of the 4,800-member Combat Infantrymen's Association.

After being disparaged by demonstrators, Vietnam veterans also found themselves shunned by some of the World War II and Korean War veterans who made up the bulk of membership in the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and other leading veterans groups.

"All we wanted was for someone to say, 'Welcome Home,'" said Wagner of Cape Coral, Fla.

With World War II veterans dying at a rate of 1,100 per day and many Korean War vets now in their 70s, it's Vietnam veterans like Wagner who have taken the helm of some of the nation's leading veterans organizations. They know the importance of extending a welcoming hand to the latest generation of combat veterans - the more than 1 million Americans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Even though many of us may disagree on the way this war is being handled, we are in total support of those young troops," said Wagner during his group's recent annual convention in Columbus. "We want to promote camaraderie and open our arms to all those who have seen the horrors of war from the front line."

Veterans groups have traditionally been guided by a patriotic spirit and a desire to honor the sacrifices of those who served. They also realize that new members are vital to their survival.
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Protesters demand withdrawal from Afghanistan
Updated Sat. Oct. 28 2006 11:20 PM ET  CTV.ca News Staff
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061028/afghanistan_protests_061028/20061028?hub=TopStories

Groups of people rallied in cities and communities across Canada on Saturday, demanding the withdrawal of this country's troops from the NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan.

"Troops out now!" was a common chant by demonstrators across the country. Many seemed opposed to the fact Canada was involved in combat in Afghanistan, rather than carrying out a traditional peacekeeping mission.

There were nearly 200 people protesting and waving placards in Halifax, almost 500 marching in Montreal and 600 in Vancouver.

CTV News' Denelle Balfour reported there were several hundred people attending the Toronto rally, which gathered outside the downtown U.S. consulate.
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NATO asked to pay for Afghan victims
POSTED: 0655 GMT (1455 HKT), October 28, 2006
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/28/afghan.civilians.ap/index.html

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A leading human rights organization said NATO-led troops are not doing enough to prevent civilian casualties in Afghanistan and called on the Western military alliance to establish a program to compensate victims' families.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said NATO's recent operations in Afghanistan have resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians across the country.

"While NATO forces try to minimize harm to civilians, they obviously are not doing enough," Sam Zarifi, the group's Asia research director, said in a statement released in New York on Friday. "NATO's tactics are increasingly endangering the civilians they are supposed to be protecting and turning the local population against them."

Dozens of civilians were reported killed in southern Afghanistan earlier this week during clashes between NATO-led troops using airstrikes and artillery and insurgents using civilian areas as cover in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province.

Human Rights Watch said NATO has relied extensively on the use of aircraft to attack insurgent positions, adding that in June 2006, U.S. Central Command reported 340 air strikes in Afghanistan, double the 160 strikes carried out in Iraq in the same month.

"NATO should reconsider the use of highly destructive but hard-to-target weaponry in areas where there is a clear risk of considerable civilian casualties," Zarifi said, referring to bombs and missiles launched by airplanes that can easily miss their target.

"We heed the calls for maximum caution in our operations to minimize civilians casualties," said Maj. Luke Knittig, the spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
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Canada threatened by Al-Qaida over Afghanistan: report
October 29, 2006         
http://english.people.com.cn/200610/29/eng20061029_316135.html

The Al-Qaida network has threatened Canada with terrorist attacks if the country still refuses to pull out its troops from Afghanistan, the National Post reported on Saturday.

The threat came from a document written by Hossam Abdul Raou, a member of the Al-Qaida information and strategy committee, the newspaper said.

The Canadians "will either be forced to withdraw their forces or face an operation similar to New York, Madrid, London," Raouf wrote.

The document was translated by a U.S. non-profit organization, the SITE Institute, which monitors the Internet for terrorist threats, the newspaper said.

The document also condemns Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for keeping troops in Afghanistan and refers to Canada's alleged attempts to "damage the Muslims" and support for a "Christian crusade" against Al-Qaida.

Raouf wrote that "despite the strong increasing opposition to spread its forces in the fire of south Afghanistan, it seems that they (Canadians) will not learn the lesson easily."

Canada has more than 2,000 troops deployed in Kandahar, working with NATO to fight Taliban forces since the mission started in 2002.

Source: Xinhua
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Afghanistan security is worsening, study says
By Philip Dine St. Louis Post-Dispatch Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.29.2006
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/153355

WASHINGTON — Security in Afghanistan is deteriorating, with the budding Afghan army one of the few rays of hope in a nation where conditions are dire, according to a study funded by the U.S. government.

"The security sector shows the most dramatic decline" of the five areas studied, said an interim report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies made available to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Last year, efforts to stabilize and secure the country were seen as a success. Today, however, Afghans feel less safe than they did a year ago."

At the same time, progress is being made in building the Afghan National Army, and Afghans continue to have confidence that as the army gains strength security will greatly improve.

The report says that Afghans have not yet lost faith in their government or the international community, but that the country is "at a tipping point" and the effort to rebuild Afghanistan will fail unless "the needs of ordinary Afghans are met."

"Afghans are less hopeful today than they were a year ago. The state-building mission has lost ground, and is slipping further into the danger zone," the report says.

The Washington-based think tank is evaluating progress in a study funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project has included 1,000 lengthy interviews with Afghans, equally divided between men and women, throughout Afghanistan.
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Afghanistan war is 'cuckoo', says Blair's favourite general
Ned Temko and Mark Townsend Sunday October 29, 2006 The Observer
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,1934425,00.html

Tony Blair's most trusted military commander yesterday branded as 'cuckoo' the way Britain's overstretched army was sent into Afghanistan.
The remarkable rebuke by General the Lord Guthrie came in an Observer interview, his first since quitting as Chief of the Defence Staff five years ago, in which he made an impassioned plea for more troops, new equipment and more funds for a 'very, very' over-committed army.

The decision by Guthrie, an experienced Whitehall insider and Blair confidant, to go public is likely to alarm Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence more than the recent public criticism by the current army chief Sir Richard Dannatt. 'Anyone who thought this was going to be a picnic in Afghanistan - anyone who had read any history, anyone who knew the Afghans, or had seen the terrain, anyone who had thought about the Taliban resurgence, anyone who understood what was going on across the border in Baluchistan and Waziristan [should have known] - to launch the British army in with the numbers there are, while we're still going on in Iraq is cuckoo,' Guthrie said.
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AFGHANISTAN: RANIERI, WE'LL STAY BUT NEED TO REFLECT
(AGI) - Turin, Oct. 28 -
http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200610281822-1214-RT1-CRO-0-NF51&page=0&id=agionline-eng.arab

"Italy will continue to carry out its task, in the framework of the NATO decisions, but everyone is aware of the necessity of a serious reflection on how things are going in Afghanistan, in order to avoid the risk that the situation gets out of control." This was stated by the president of the Chamber's foreign affairs commission, Umberto Ranieri, speaking today in Turin at the work of the 30th European meeting of the Trilateral Commission. Precisely Italy's foreign policies and Italy's role on the international field was discussed during the first Trilateral meeting. Ranieri observed, "Italy has committed itself to carrying out an important role in international politics, in the construction of Europe, with the conviction of a re-launch of the multilateral approach as proven by the mission in Lebanon. A multilateral approach also determined by a need compared to the evident difficulty of America's unilateral policies." As for this, Ranieri cited the situation in Iraq and said "there is the need to find a way out." As for Europe, the president of the foreign affairs commission underlined "the importance of the Germany E.U. presidency, which will start in January, from which we expect an impulse to re-start the process for the European constitution." Even the parliamentary member from Forza Italia, Margherita Boniver, spoke on Italian foreign policy by underlining that in this framework "that discontinuity that was spoken of so much in the electoral campaign does not exist at all. And this is shown by the fact that, despite the many doubts on the mission in Lebanon, the opposition voted in favour of the mission and demonstrated a sense of responsibility that was not present in the past legislature from those who were at the time the opposition parties." (AGI) -
281822 OTT 06
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Achakzai urges govt to shun interference in Afghanistan
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=104181

PISHIN: President Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM), Mehmood Khan Achakzai, has called for an end to interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan so that Pakistan and the whole region remains safe from any possibilities of an impending war.

He said this while addressing a mammoth public meeting in Quetta on Saturday, which was also addressed by party’s Provincial president Abdul Rauf and others and was replete with revolutionary poetry and anthems orated by Raza Shaidan.

He warned that the country and this region was passing through a critically disastrous phase and the situation of the country was worsening day by day. This would have to be changed through a popular mandate.

He espoused three major allegations currently being faced by Pakistan, which include illegal export of nuclear material and technology to Iran, N. Korea and Libya, labeling every arrested terrorist as being trained in Pakistan, while the third most serious and heinous one blames the incumbent military rulers of Pakistan for constantly meddling in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, and which was pushing the entire region towards the brink of a never-ending war.
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2.2% Pay Raise Effective January 2007 - US Forces
American Forces Press Service | Jim Garamone | October 25, 2006
http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,117560,00.html?ESRC=marine-a.nl

WASHINGTON – With the 2.2 percent across-the-board pay raise that is part of the Fiscal 2007 National Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Department will reach its goal to bring military basic pay to the 70th percentile when compared to civilians with comparable education and training, a top DoD compensation official said.

The goal grew out of the 9th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation released in 2002, which concluded that basic pay did not adequately compensate an increasingly educated military force.

Virginia Penrod, DoD’s director of military compensation, said the 2.2 percent across-the-board pay raise – which kicks in Jan. 1, matches the employment cost index for the year. ECI measures the growth in private-sector wages. Current law ties any military pay raise to the index.

Also helping DoD reach its goal, she said, is targeted pay raises for servicemembers in grades E-5 to E-7 and warrant officers that go into effect April 1.
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Taliban leaders refuse talks with Karzai
Associated Press
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061028.wafghan28/BNStory/Front

KABUL — Taliban leaders have ruled out talks with President Hamid Karzai's government as long as foreign troops remain in Afghanistan, a purported statement from the hardline militia said Saturday.

On Friday, Mr. Karzai told reporters he was ready to negotiate with fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar if he stops receiving support from neighbouring Pakistan — where the Afghan leader alleges Mr. Omar is hiding.

Mr. Karzai made a similar offer in an interview with The Associated Press in January, telling Omar to “get in touch” if he wanted to talk peace. Fighting in the country has since escalated sharply as a resurgent Taliban has battled NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces in the bloodiest clashes since the hardline regime fell in late 2001.

Over the past two years, hundreds of Taliban supporters, including some senior officials, have reconciled with the government, but there have apparently been no high-level talks with the rebel leadership.
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Ghulam Ishaq Khan, once led Pakistan
Oct. 28, 2006. 01:00 AM RIAZ KHAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1161985810262&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who became Pakistan's president in 1988 after the death of his predecessor in a plane crash, died yesterday after a bout of pneumonia. He was 91.

Ishaq Khan had been ill for about three months. He died in Peshawar, the northern city where he spent most of his life, his son-in-law Irfanullah Marwat said.

A career bureaucrat, Ishaq Khan was a close ally of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and held the post of chairman of Pakistan's Senate, when the military dictator was killed in a plane crash Aug. 17, 1988, in eastern Pakistan along with U.S. Ambassador Arnold L. Raphel and several top Pakistani generals. The plane exploded minutes after takeoff. Just why it blew up has been the subject of much subsequent theorizing.
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[MarkOttawa]

Taliban plan to fight through winter to throttle Kabul
Sunday October 29, 2006, The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1934251,00.html

Militia fighters are operating just an hour's drive from the capital's suburbs, confident of undermining Western support for the war [my emphasis]

The Taliban are planning a major winter offensive combining their diverse factions in a push on the Afghan capital, Kabul, intelligence analysts and sources among the militia have revealed.

The thrust will involve a concerted attempt to take control of surrounding provinces, a bid to cut the key commercial highway linking the capital with the eastern city of Jalalabad, and operations designed to tie down British and other Nato troops in the south.

Last week Nato, with a force of 40,000 in the country including around 5,000 from Britain, said it had killed 48 more Taliban in areas thought to have been 'cleared'. 'They have major attacks planned all the way through to the spring and are quite happy for their enemy to know it,' a Pakistan-based source close to the militia told The Observer. 'There will be no winter pause.' The Taliban's fugitive leader, Mullah Omar, yesterday rejected overtures for peace talks from President Hamid Karzai and said it intended to try him in an Islamic court for the 'massacre' of Afghan civilians.

Since their resurgence earlier this year the Taliban have made steady progress towards Kabul from their heartland in the south-east around Kandahar, establishing a presence in Ghazni province an hour's drive from the suburbs. They do not expect to capture the capital but aim to continue destabilising the increasingly fragile Karzai government and influence Western public opinion to force a withdrawal of troops. 'The aim is clear,' said the source. 'Force the international representatives of the crusader Zionist alliance out, and finish with their puppet government.'

A winter offensive breaks with tradition. 'Usually all Afghans do in the winter is try and stay warm,' said a Western military intelligence specialist in Kabul. 'The coming months are likely to see intense fighting, suicide bombings and unmanned roadside bombs. That is a measure of how much the Taliban have changed.'..

The Taliban are planning a major winter offensive combining their diverse factions in a push on the Afghan capital, Kabul, intelligence analysts and sources among the militia have revealed.

The thrust will involve a concerted attempt to take control of surrounding provinces, a bid to cut the key commercial highway linking the capital with the eastern city of Jalalabad, and operations designed to tie down British and other Nato troops in the south.

Last week Nato, with a force of 40,000 in the country including around 5,000 from Britain, said it had killed 48 more Taliban in areas thought to have been 'cleared'. 'They have major attacks planned all the way through to the spring and are quite happy for their enemy to know it,' a Pakistan-based source close to the militia told The Observer. 'There will be no winter pause.' The Taliban's fugitive leader, Mullah Omar, yesterday rejected overtures for peace talks from President Hamid Karzai and said it intended to try him in an Islamic court for the 'massacre' of Afghan civilians.

Since their resurgence earlier this year the Taliban have made steady progress towards Kabul from their heartland in the south-east around Kandahar, establishing a presence in Ghazni province an hour's drive from the suburbs. They do not expect to capture the capital but aim to continue destabilising the increasingly fragile Karzai government and influence Western public opinion to force a withdrawal of troops. 'The aim is clear,' said the source. 'Force the international representatives of the crusader Zionist alliance out, and finish with their puppet government.'

A winter offensive breaks with tradition. 'Usually all Afghans do in the winter is try and stay warm,' said a Western military intelligence specialist in Kabul. 'The coming months are likely to see intense fighting, suicide bombings and unmanned roadside bombs. That is a measure of how much the Taliban have changed.'..

British troops hide from bombers
The Sunday Times, October 29, 2006

BRITISH troops in the two main towns in the southern Afghan province of Helmand have been forced to stay in their barracks by the threat of Taliban suicide bombers.

The decision to keep the troops in their bases follows intelligence that suicide bombers are waiting in the province’s two main towns to attack British troops, said Lieutenant-Colonel Andy Price.

The would-be suicide bombers in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah and in the town of Gereshk were wired up with explosives and waiting for a British convoy. “We have suicide bombers physically walking around in Lashkar Gah and Gereshk looking for us — a lot of them are not locals,” Price said. “More and more they’re following the Iraqi example.”

Price, spokesman for the British forces in Helmand, said there was a “lockdown” of the two British bases. “There is no movement, no soldier, no police or the Afghan army,” he said. “We’re not going out and the Afghan police and army aren’t going out.”

The “lockdown” raises questions about how the Royal Marine commandos who last month replaced British paratroopers in Helmand will provide security to allow reconstruction projects to go ahead.

Lieutenant-General David Richards [actually full General now, I believe], the Nato commander in Afghanistan, has said that he wants British troops to withdraw from the northern outposts of Helmand and concentrate on creating safe development zones in Lashkar Gah and Gereshk...

Taking the Fight to the Taliban (article in NY Times Magazine about US troops in south; Canadians mentioned at very end)
By ELIZABETH RUBIN, Published: October 29, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29taliban.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[The Bread Guy]

Choppers could carry troops into Afghanistan
Murray Brewster, Canadian Press, via Globe & Mail 29 Oct 06
Article Link - Permalink

Ottawa has quietly amended its contract with the maker of the navy's new Cyclone helicopters to ensure that the choppers will not only be able to hunt submarines, but also carry troops.  The design change, expected to add roughly $5-million to the overall price tag, would allow the air force to assign the choppers to a wide variety of different roles — including potential air support for the army in Afghanistan.  The Defence Department, however, denies that it's making the move with the Afghan mission specifically in mind.  Colonel Dave Burt, director of air requirements for the department, acknowledged that being able to strip the H-92 quickly of its sonar and radar gear, and strap in troop seats, was not part of the initial design for the Cyclones, the long-awaited replacements for the decades-old Sea Kings ....



Canadian general hands reins to Dutch after gruelling Afghan mission
Sue Bailey, Canadian Press, 29 Oct 06
Article Link

After more than eight months in the kind of high-stress zone that tries tough souls, Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser is about to hand over command in southern Afghanistan.  It's a rotational change of guard Wednesday that will see Dutch Maj.-Gen. Ton Van Loon take over as NATO leader in the South.  Fraser will soon head home to Edmonton and his wife Poppie, their two sons and an aging Akita dog named Seiko.  "This environment is more dangerous than I've ever seen anywhere else in the world," he said in a parting interview with The Canadian Press ....


Experienced Dutch commander takes over
Canadian Forces Army feature, 27 Sept 06
Article Link

Starting in November of this year, Canadian soldiers in southern Afghanistan will come under the command of Dutch Brigadier-General Ton van Loon.  BGen van Loon will be responsible for the multinational force patrolling the six provinces in the southern part of Afghanistan, an area of about 220,000 square kilometres. Included in the force are 2,500 Canadians responsible for Kandahar province.  He will be taking over from BGen David Fraser who has led the Multi National Brigade for Regional Command South for the last nine months. Formal transfer of authority will occur on November 1.   BGen van Loon has been in the Royal Netherlands Army since 1977. He possesses a tremendous amount of operational experience, serving in Germany, England and as commander the 11th Field Artillery Battalion during an operational deployment in Kosovo in 1998 ....



More on CAN in AFG



After the fighting and dying, the Taleban return as British depart
Anthony Loyd & Tahir Luddin, Times Online (UK), 30 Oct 06
Article Link

AMONG the many battles in his life, Nafaz Khan recalls the long fight for Musa Qala as one of special significance. As the former chief of police and militia commander in the northern Helmand town it was there that he fought alongside British troops against the Taleban.  ''I loved those British soldiers,'' he said. “They were great fighters and knew each of my men by name. Together we killed many, many Taleban.”  Soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment, who were withdrawn from Musa Qala this month as part of a deal with Afghan tribal elders after more than two months of heavy fighting, remember the experience as one of violence, dirt, heat and lack of water. For Mr Khan, though, it held particular deprivation ....



US urges Nato allies to help south Afghanistan mission
Daniel Dombey, Stephen Fidler and Rachel Morarjee, Financial Times, 29 Oct 06
Article Link

The US is pushing its Nato allies to send more troops and support to help in Afghanistan ahead of a showpiece summit next month.  Officials say Washington is putting pressure on Spain, France, Italy and Germany, all of which have soldiers elsewhere in the country, to free up their troops to move into the south, where the most bitter fighting in Afghanistan is taking place.  “Wouldn’t it be better if Germany and France . . .  could be willing to have those troops sent sometimes on a periodic, temporary basis to help the Dutch, British, US and Canadians that are undertaking the major share of the fighting?” Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, asked last week ....



Tribal council hails Taleban, Qaeda chiefs ‘heroes of Islamic world’ 
The Penninsula Online (Qatar), 30 Oct 06
Article Link

Describing as Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar as “heroes of the Islamic world”, a meeting of pro-Taleban tribal militants and elders in Pakistan have vowed to fight the “enemies of peace” in Bajaur Agency.  A ‘jirga’ (tribal council) of the Mamoond tribe and local pro-Taleban militants in the Umree area of Mamoond tehsil of Khar district announced that tribal people would protect Pakistan’s borders. The announcement comes days after the political administration of Bajaur Agency released nine suspected Al Qaeda militants, triggering rumours that a North Waziristan-like peace accord was also likely in Bajaur, which overlooks Afghanistan’s Kunar province where Bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are suspected to be hiding ....


Pro-Taliban Tribesmen Hold Anti-US Rally
Iran Daily, 29 Oct 06
Article Link

About 5,000 pro-Taliban tribesmen held an anti-US rally in a remote Pakistani tribal region near the east Afghan border, vowing to continue their holy war against America and its allies.  According to AP, the rally was held Saturday near Damadola, a village on the outskirts of Khar where an alleged US missile attack killed an Al-Qaeda leader and civilians earlier this year, prompting protests against Washington.  Pakistani officials have said the attack was targeting Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader Ayman Al-Zawahri, but that he was not there at the time.  “We are mujahedeen (holy warriors) and we will continue jihad against Americans and their allies,“ said Faqir Mohammed, a pro-Taliban leader who is wanted by Pakistan security forces for allegedly backing militants in the region ....


Pro-Taliban tribesmen rally against U.S.
Associated Press, 28 Oct 06
[http://24hour.startribune.com/24hour/world/story/3405307p-12514297c.html]Article Link[/url]

About 5,000 pro-Taliban tribesmen held an anti-America rally in a remote tribal region near the Afghan border on Saturday, vowing to keep waging a holy war against "infidels."  The rally was held 125 miles northwest of the capital Islamabad near Damadola, a village near the site of an alleged U.S. missile attack that killed several al-Qaida members and civilians in January.  The missile attack prompted protests against Washington.  "We are mujahedeen (holy warriors) and we will continue jihad against Americans and their allies," said Faqir Mohammed, a pro-Taliban leader who is being sought by Pakistani security forces for allegedly backing foreign militants.  Mohammed said he was not afraid of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf or the coalition forces in Afghanistan.  "Any one who supports Americans is our enemy," he said ....

 

[GAP]

Articles found October 30, 2006

Losing the PR war at home and abroad
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD  From Monday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061030.wxblatchford30/BNStory/National/home

TORONTO — If the Taliban are clobbering the Canadian Forces in the Afghan public relations war, as some fear, then bloody hell if the same thing isn't happening here at home.

Over the weekend, modestly attended and utterly banal peace marches held in cities across the country led Saturday radio and TV newscasts and print websites (including The Globe and Mail's) and Sunday newspapers, but barely a scintilla of attention was paid to the awarding of prestigious Canadian military decorations and honours.

The awards were announced midafternoon on Friday -- in plenty of time for newspaper deadlines -- but rated only a mention in some major Saturday papers, including The Globe (which ran only a brief, as we call minuscule stories, and then in only some editions) and the National Post. In Toronto, for instance, the only daily to run a proper story on Saturday was the Sun.

In a world where the word "hero" has all but lost its meaning -- attached as it is to almost anyone who endures a mild trauma without mental collapse or meets the now low threshold of nominal good citizenship -- about 40 gallant Canadian soldiers went almost entirely unrecognized by the press, and thus by their countrymen.

It is little short of disgraceful, and I have to say, when I saw my own newspaper on Saturday -- we managed to run four other Canadian Forces-related stories that day, including one which suggested that soldiers are low-achieving losers in flight from dead-end jobs -- I was ashamed.

Virtually all those honoured are members of 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry or those support and reserve units attached to them; they were the Canadian Battle Group in Kandahar during what the military calls Roto 1, the period from January-February this year through the end of August.

Many of them are soldiers I got to know during my two tours as an embedded reporter in Afghanistan; a couple, including Sergeant Patrick Tower, the big dog among them all, I know well.

Two of the awards -- for Captain Nichola Goddard, a 26-year-old from the 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo, Man., who was given the Meritorious Service Medal, and 22-year-old Private Kevin Dallaire, who was mentioned in dispatches -- were made posthumously. Capt. Goddard and Pte. Dallaire were both killed in action, respectively, on May 17 and Aug. 3.

Four of the decorations, including Sgt. Tower's, were awarded for the first time since 1993, when Canada created its own military honours, including a Victoria Cross, separate and distinct from the traditional British awards. So the announcement was momentous for two reasons -- first, the remarkable courage of those honoured, and second, because in four cases, the awards were historic.

Sgt. Tower won the Star of Military Valour, in prestige behind only the Victoria Cross, which has never been awarded.

The official citation reads as follows: "Sgt. Tower is recognized for valiant actions taken on Aug. 3, 2006, in the Pashmul region of Afghanistan.

"Following an enemy strike against an outlying friendly position that resulted in numerous casualties, Sgt. Tower assembled the platoon medic and a third soldier and led them across 150 metres of open terrain, under heavy enemy fire, to render assistance. On learning that the acting platoon commander had perished, Sgt. Tower assumed command and led the successful extraction of the force under continuous small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire. Sgt. Tower's courage and selfless devotion to duty contributed directly to the survival of the remaining platoon members."

Three other soldiers were awarded the Medal of Military Valour.

Sergeant Michael Denine's citation reads as follows: ". . . on May 17, while sustaining concentrated rocket-propelled grenade, machine gun and small arms fire, the main cannon and the machine gun on his light armoured vehicle malfunctioned. Under intense enemy fire, he recognized the immediate need to suppress the enemy fire and exited the air sentry hatch to man the pintle-mounted machine gun.

"Completely exposed to enemy fire, he laid down a high volume of suppressive fire, forcing the enemy to withdraw. Sgt. Denine's valiant action ensured mission success and likely saved the lives of his crew."

Master-Corporal Collin Fitzgerald, with B Company 1PPCLI out of Shilo, won his MMV for "outstanding selfless and valiant actions carried out on May 24, 2006, during an ongoing enemy ambush involving intense, accurate enemy fire.

"MC Fitzgerald repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire by entering and re-entering a burning platoon vehicle and successfully driving it off the roadway, permitting the remaining vehicles trapped in the enemy zone to break free. MC Fitzgerald's courageous and completely selfless actions were instrumental to his platoon's successful egress and undoubtedly contributed to saving the lives of his fellow platoon members."

Private Jason Lamont, a medic, earned his MMV on July 13, when "an element of the reconnaissance platoon came under heavy enemy fire from a compound located in Helmand Province, and was isolated from the rest of the platoon.

"During the firefight, another soldier was shot while attempting to withdraw back to the firing line and was unable to continue. Without regard for his personal safety, Pte. Lamont, under concentrated enemy fire and with no organized suppression by friendly forces, sprinted through open terrain to administer first aid. Pte. Lamont's actions demonstrated tremendous courage, selflessness and devotion to duty."

On the day that Sgt. Tower performed so nobly, Aug. 3, four young Canadians were killed in combat -- first, Corporal Chris Reid, and shortly afterward, Sergeant Vaughn Ingram, Corporal Bryce Jeffrey Keller and Pte. Dallaire -- a number of others were badly wounded, and still more felled by the devastating summer heat.

The scene, as it's been described for me in detail by participants from many corners of the battle, was nightmarish and horrific. Sgt. Tower was not only courageous, he remained calm enough to take care of his troops in ways great and small, and sufficiently devoted that once having led his men to safety, he was ready to go back out into the thick of the danger. As he told Commanding Officer Ian Hope and Regimental Sergeant-Major Randy Northrup, who themselves were awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, "Good to go, sir."

Oh, and Sgt. Ingram was Sgt. Tower's best friend.

The key to the SMV and MMV is a phrase I love, because it is so soldierly, so understated: The awards are given for an act of valour, self-sacrifice or devotion to duty "in the presence of the enemy."

Well, the boys are back home now, minus their friends and mates killed in action or accident, and not all of the living have their limbs or their eyes, and all are changed. There are many days when they must wonder if somehow, they aren't still in the presence of some enemy even less readily identifiable than the Taliban.

cblatchford@globeandmail.ca
End

Wounded Canadian back on duty in Afghanistan
Updated Sun. Oct. 29 2006 11:56 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061029/wounded_major_061029/20061029?hub=TopStories

A Canadian soldier wounded in a Sept. 4 friendly fire incident in Afghanistan was anxious to return to duty. He got his wish on Sunday as he landed at the Kandahar airfield.

"I was coming back if I had to buy my own ticket," Major Matthew Sprague, from C Company of the Royal Canadian Regiment, told CTV News.

It feels strange to be back, Sprague said, but he was determined.

"If you're a soldier and you're in a battle and you get wounded, and you can get back to the battle, I think you have a duty to do so," he said.

Within hours of landing, Sprague was putting on new battle gear over his healed wounds.

Talking to CTV's Paul Workman, he pointed to the spot on a hillside near the Masum Ghar operating base where he and his troops came under friendly fire in September from a U.S. A-10 Warthog.

Sprague's company were scattered on the hillside, just after dawn, that morning. The Canadian troops were burning garbage, which attracted the American aircraft's fire for a few short but deadly seconds.

Medic Shannon Fretter recalled watching the jet swoop down.

"I just ran for my medical bag and headed to the largest patch of blood and started working," Fretter said.

It was a frightening moment. The mistaken attack killed one soldier and wounded more than 30 others.

Sprague had a gaping wound in his head and shrapnel in his back, shoulder and buttocks.

Afghanistan has been a very deadly mission for Sprague's C Company. A day before the friendly fire episode, four other soldiers were killed in a clash with the Taliban
More on link

Breaking the Afghan drought
Paul Koring, 29/10/06 at 11:06 AM EST

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - It's hot, dusty and dry – especially dry. Very dry. As in "no beer". The big sprawling air base where about half of Canada's 2,300 soldiers are based in southern Afghanistan is an alcohol-free zone (except in the British and French officers' messes which are off-limits to Canadians). And its an alcohol free-mission. Almost.

Last Saturday was one of those warmly-welcomed exceptions. Pallets of donated cold beer (Molsons, Coors and Moosehead) plus German sausage and blaring music made for Oktoberfest-lite in Afghanistan.

Bavarians might not have recognized it, nor might most Canadians. But for the hundreds of Canadian soldiers pouring back a few wet ones (actually there was a strict limit of two) it was a deeply meaningful experience celebrating the nation's multi-ethnic heritage. As for the soldiers out in the field, they will – they were promised – get their two beers when they rotate into the main base for a few days relief.
End

Pakistani attack on al Qaeda kills 80
Updated Mon. Oct. 30 2006 6:24 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061030/pakistan_alqaeda_061030/20061030?hub=World

Pakistani troops and helicopters firing missiles killed as many as 80 militants training at a religious school used as an al Qaeda training center near the Afghan border, officials said.

Local leaders said all those slain when the school, or madrassa, was destroyed were civilians.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said initial estimates based on intelligence sources on the ground indicated that the attack killed about 80 suspected militants, who appeared to be in their 20s and were from Pakistan and other countries.

"These militants were involved in actions inside Pakistan and probably in Afghanistan," Sultan told The Associated Press.

The bodies of 20 men killed in the attack were lined up in a field near the madrassa, in Chingai village near Khar, the main town in the Bajur tribal district, before an impromptu burial attended by thousands of local people, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Dozens of villagers sifted through the rubble of the madrassa, shifting blocks of smashed concrete and mud bricks aside to try to find survivors. Some picked up body parts scattered across the area and placed them in plastic bags normally used for fertilizer.

"We heard helicopters flying in and then heard bombs," said one of the villagers, Haji Youssef. "We were all saddened by what we have seen."

Among the dead was Liaquat Hussain, a local Islamic cleric who ran the madrassa, locals said. Several of his aides also died, they said.

The attack came two days after 5,000 pro-Taliban tribesmen held an anti-American rally in the Bajur area near Damadola, a village close to the site of an alleged U.S. missile attack that killed several al Qaeda members and civilians in January.
More on link

Kandahar
Globe and Mail Update
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061025.wworldfact1025/BNStory/GlobeSportsOther/

Kandahar is one of the oldest cities that the world has known with a history that serves as a tumultuous record of the region itself.

Kandahar's history dates back to the ancient Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata, putting its origins as early as 5000 years ago, but the present city itself was founded by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

The capital of Kandahar province, the city lies 450 km south-west of Afghanistan's capital Kabul, and has a population of about 316,000.

In its rich and turbulent history, rule of Kandahar has often changed hands. India and Persia long fought over the city, which was strategically located on the trade routes of central Asia. It was conquered by Arabs in the 7th century and by the Turk Ghaznavids in the 10th century.

Genghis Khan sacked it in the 12th century, after which it became a major city of the Mongol empire until their defeat. Babur, founder of the Mughal empire of India, then took Kandahar in the 16th century, and that was later contested by the Persians and by the rulers of emerging Afghanistan, who made it the capital of their newly independent kingdom in 1748.

British forces occupied Kandahar twice during the 19th century, and during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, Kandahar witnessed heavy fighting that killed many civilians. After the Soviet withdrawal, the city slowly fell into the hands of the local Pushtun militia.

Then, in August 1994, the city was thrust back into the international spotlight as the Taliban emerged from the city and set out to conquer the country by applying its ultra-conservative version of Islamic Sharia law: television was banned, women were barred from attending school, driving and working outside the home.

Although they managed to hold 90 per cent of the country's territory, they were ostracized by the rest of the world for their policies, including their treatment of women and support of terrorists.

The Taliban was ousted from power in December 2001 by international forces. Canada sent 40 elite anti-terrorist troops to Kandahar on Dec. 19, 2001. That was increased to 800 the following year and 1,800 in 2003.

September 2006 was the bloodiest month of combat Canada's military had endured since the Korean War. Canada has about 2,300 troops in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is a coalition of NATO members and other contributing nations, deployed under the authority of the United Nations Security Council and under the command of NATO. Canada has agreed to keep troops in Afghanistan until 2009.
End

Afghanistan celebrates opening of Command and General Staff College
By COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN, COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
Oct 30, 2006, 04:21
http://www.blackanthem.com/News/military200610_1819.shtml

Blackanthem Military News, KABUL , Afghanistan – The Afghan Command and General Staff College held a ceremony Oct. 28 marking the start of the first class to attend this school meant for generals in the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army.

“Over the next six months you will participate in the first ever Senior Command and Staff College offered by the Afghan National Army,” said Maj. Gen.  Robert Durbin, Commanding General, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, speaking to the students.  “You will increase your effectiveness by improving your knowledge about the art and science of leadership and command.”
           
The course is modeled after the U.S. Army and NATO Command and General Staff Colleges.
           
According to Col. Mohammad Yaqub, instructor at the Command and General Staff College, general officers from the police and army will learn strategic thinking, interagency cooperation and overall contingency planning.
           
“Throughout the six months, officers, ambassadors and strategic experts will speak to the students explaining how to think about the big picture,” said Yaqub.  “They will learn how to use every resource available to them and how to request additional assets from allies if the need arises.”
           
Durbin added, “This course of instruction will allow the Afghan National Army and Police the opportunity to see how they fit into the international political and military environment and how to effectively integrate non-governmental organizations and media with the full spectrum of military operations, from humanitarian relief to counterinsurgency.”
End

Britons want their troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan
http://www.bloggernews.net/11269

A survey conducted by The Daily Telegraph has shown that a majority of Britons support the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of the situation in both these countries. About 7, 500 British troops are currently in Iraq, commanding a number of coalition troops throughout the southeastern provinces of Iraq and another 4,500 British troops are serving in Afghanistan as a part of the NATO force in the country. 56% of 1,722 people surveyed want the British forces to the withdrawn from Iraq in 12 months time and 19% want the troops to be withdrawn immediately. 37% of the respondents want the troops to be pulled out of Iraq at some point within the next year.

The respondents gave a similar kind of response in the case of Afghanistan with more than 80% of the respondents supporting the troop withdrawal within a 12-month time frame, while the rest of the respondents want the withdrawal to happen immediately. More than three-fourth of the respondents were not happy with the way the British government is handling the situation in Afghanistan and 81% of the respondents believe that the British forces are over-stretched at the moment. The findings of this survey could put more pressure of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is already being criticized for his military policies on Iraq and Afghanistan.
More on link

Afghanistan: NATO Should Do More to Protect Civilians
30 Oct 2006 12:39:07 GMT Source: Human Rights Watch
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/fc76b329865a85e3ada3e36a571887de.htm

(New York, October 30) ? NATO forces operating under the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force to Afghanistan (ISAF) need to take greater precautions to protect civilians and establish a program to compensate Afghans who have lost family members, are injured or suffer property damage due to their actions, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent ISAF operations have resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians across the country. Although an ISAF statement expressed regrets about civilian casualties, it denied any wrongdoing.

"While NATO forces try to minimize harm to civilians, they obviously are not doing enough," said Sam Zarifi, Human Rights Watch's Asia research director. "NATO's tactics are increasingly endangering the civilians that they are supposed to be protecting, and turning the local population against them."

According to media reports, more than 60 civilians were killed this week in heavy fighting between NATO forces and insurgent forces in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. NATO has admitted that at least 12 civilians were killed in NATO air and ground operations in Panjwai. Another two dozen were reportedly killed last week during clashes in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand province, during which NATO used heavy aerial bombardment.

On October 24 in southern Kunar province, NATO forces test-fired mortar rounds in a residential area that killed one girl and injured two other seven-year-old girls. And according to media reports, on July 31 in Helmand province, NATO aircraft fired upon a pickup truck, killing 13 members of a family, including nine children, who were trying to flee the fighting.
More on link

Backsliding in Afghanistan
Bit by bit, the U.S. is losing control in the country because of a resurgent Taliban, drought and inadequate aid.
October 30, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-afghan30oct30,0,3034225.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail

WITH WINTER approaching, all the indicators for Afghanistan have headed south. We are on the brink of losing Afghanistan to the resurgent Taliban and to the poverty and despair in which U.S. forces found it five years ago.

Among the many signs that the almost $12 billion the U.S. has poured into Afghanistan since 2003 for reconstruction has been neither sufficient nor well spent: Afghans will go hungry again this winter unless they receive massive food aid. Fierce fighting between NATO and Taliban forces in a wide swath of the south has conspired with drought to destroy farmers' crops. Both the drought and the renewed warfare were predicted. The Bush administration's failure to prevent either disaster stems from its stubborn view that Afghanistan can be fixed on the cheap.

ADVERTISEMENTDrought is an old enemy in Afghanistan, yet spending on water projects has lagged, as has all infrastructure work in a nation where 70% of the people are poor farmers. Without wells, ditches and modern irrigation techniques, the cycle of poverty that leaves families no choice but to grow poppies or starve will never be broken.

But in 2004, the administration invested only $23 million in water projects; it allocated $243 million to counter-narcotics and police training. Both sums, of course, are grossly inadequate. But the imbalance is telling. The administration has never matched its belated rhetorical commitment to "nation building" in Afghanistan with the troops and money that might have made that possible.
More on link

70 militants die in attack at base in Afghanistan
Posted on Mon, Oct. 30, 2006 ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/world/15882977.htm

KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO and Afghan troops killed 70 suspected militants who attacked a military base in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said yesterday.

Some 100 to 150 militants attacked a base north of Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan on Saturday, said Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for the NATO-led force. The alliance and Afghan troops fought back for several hours, killing 70 insurgents, Knittig said, upgrading an earlier estimate of 55 dead. One Afghan soldier was wounded. It was impossible to independently verify the death toll at the remote battle site.

Yesterday, a roadside blast killed one NATO soldier and wounded eight in Uruzgan, the alliance said. Three civilians were wounded.

Saturday's fighting in Uruzgan province came a day after an international human rights group said NATO's tactics increasingly endanger civilians and are turning the population against the Western alliance. NATO's top commander apologized Saturday for civilian deaths but said insurgents endanger civilians by hiding among them.
End

Stable Afghanistan part of Pak policy: PM
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=29843
   
ISLAMABAD: Federal ministers Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind and Muhammad Ejaz-ul-Haq met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz separately here at the Prime Minister House Sunday evening. The ministers discussed with the Prime Minister overall political situation and important subjects pertaining to their respective ministries.

According to the Prime Minister House Yar Muhammad Rind who is Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions told the prime minister that the registration of Afghan refugees is going on in a smooth manner that would provide their exact data and facilitate their repatriation to Afghanistan.

The prime minister said on the occasion that a strong and stable Afghanistan is part of Pakistan's policy because we want Afghanistan to develop and prosper so that Afghan refugees in Pakistan can gradually return to their homeland and live a more settled life. He said the government of Pakistan would extend all possible assistance to enable them to resettle in their own country with the support from UNHCR.

Shaukat Aziz assured Yar Mohammad Rind that the government would continue to strive for the uplift and welfare of Balochistan. Sardar Rind belongs to that province and heads the largest tribe of Balochs. The prime minister told the minister that the government has taken several steps to provide employment opportunities to the people of Balochistan including increasing their quota in federal jobs from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent. "We are also focusing on the youth of Balochistan to provide them skills and to create self-employment opportunities for them," he added.

The political situation in Balochistan in general also came under discussion during the meeting. Sardar Rind said that recent visit of the prime minister and his meetings with local notables and leaders were very well received by the local people. He also briefed the prime minister about the status of ongoing development schemes in his constituency.

The Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Muhammad Ejazul Haq who called on the prime minister at the PM House, briefed him about the arrangements made by his ministry for Hajj and said that 150,000 persons will perform Hajj this year. He said that Hajj flights would start from 5th December.

The prime minister asked the ministry to ensure proper arrangements for the accommodation, medical care and transportation of Hajjis and look after their other needs so that they can perform Hajj in a trouble-free manner.
More on link

82nd Airborne, Afghan Army Share Ideas
By Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky, USA Special to American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1902

FORT POLK, La., Oct. 30, 2006 – Members of the Afghan National Army have conducted training on American military equipment to prepare for upcoming missions at the Joint Readiness Training Center here.
Forty-two Afghan soldiers and police officers arrived here Oct. 23 to train with 82nd Airborne Division soldiers preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

“We’ve been working to familiarize (the Afghan soldiers) with our .50 caliber (machine gun), M107 sniper rifle and night vision goggles,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Colin Cleek, a member of the scout and sniper platoon of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

The 82nd Airborne paratroopers also trained the Afghan soldiers on map reading.

“Though many of the 42 ANA soldiers grew up in a war-torn country and have combat experience, they did not have modern equipment to work with,” Army Staff Sgt. James Darnell, a platoon sergeant, said.

At Fort Polk, the Afghans are learning tactics and how to use weapon systems. “The better they are trained, the better prepared they will be to counter the enemy,” Darnell said.

The Afghan soldiers were pleased with the training and seemed eager to take on a greater responsibility for their country’s security, U.S. officials said.
More on link

Afghanistan Celebrates Opening of Command and General Staff College
American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1915

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2006 – The Afghan Command and General Staff College held a ceremony Oct. 28 marking the start of the first class to attend the school, which teaches generals in the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army.
“Over the next six months, you will participate in the first ever senior Command and Staff College offered by the Afghan National Army,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, commander of Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, told the first class of students. “You will increase your effectiveness by improving your knowledge about the art and science of leadership and command.”

The course is modeled after the U.S. Army and NATO command and general staff colleges.

Afghan Col. Mohammad Yaqub, an instructor at the Command and General Staff College, explained that general officers from the police and army will learn strategic thinking, interagency cooperation and overall contingency planning.

“Throughout the six months, officers, ambassadors and strategic experts will speak to the students explaining how to think about the big picture,” Yaqub said. “They will learn how to use every resource available to them and how to request additional assets from allies if the need arises.”
More on link


The Bundeswehr's Excesses in Afghanistan
DESECRATORS OF THE DEAD See Pictures of Germany's AOR, etc below
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,445356,00.html

The photos of German soldiers posing with skulls in Afghanistan have endangered the mission of an army deployed to win the "hearts and minds" of Afghans. The government has promised tough disciplinary actions.

German State Secretary of Defense Christian Schmidt was practically gushing with praise for Germany's troops, calling them "citizens in uniform" with strong characters and rock-solid ethics. Schmidt, a member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), even ventured to characterize the Bundeswehr's soldiers as "well-balanced individuals."

That, at least, was the theory.

Schmidt's statement was released to the press last Wednesday. On the same day, the German public got a taste of a completely different reality when images were published showing German soldiers who had placed a skull onto the hood of a Mercedes "Wolf" all-terrain truck as a sort of war trophy, a soldier pressing his naked genitalia against a skull and soldiers using the remnants of skulls as decorations, all the while smiling for the camera.

The scandalous photos from Afghanistan, published by the tabloid Bild and distributed worldwide last week, have plunged the Bundeswehr into its biggest crisis in years. They fly in the face of a concept under which German soldiers are meant to serve as ambassadors of democracy, and under which they are meant to seek acceptance in crisis regions like Afghanistan and Lebanon, a strategy intended to boost their own security. Only if it manages to win the "hearts and minds" of the local population, says Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), can the German military prevail over the enemy in such countries.
More on link

 

[GAP]

More articles found 30 October 2006


AFGHANISTAN: Drought-stricken farmers appeal for urgent assistance
30 Oct 2006 18:00:41 GMT Source: IRIN
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/4e70e51b2038a6f9aac4704ffce9fa72.htm

MAIMANA, 30 October (IRIN) - Farmers in the northwestern Afghan province of Faryab say they are desperate for help to survive the winter after the devastating drought that destroyed this year's crops.

Their calls come after last week's appeal to donors from the government and from the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) to provide urgent help for those in need.

For now, the lost harvest is forcing farmers like Ali Mohammad, 45, from Pashtoon Kot district, to sell their emaciated animals in an effort to feed their families after crops failed two months ago.

"I only got 70 kg from my wheat yield this year [compared to] nearly 900 kg in a good year. So in one month we will be starving and winter is getting closer," Mohammad said, as he jostled with dozens of other farmers trying to sell their livestock at the provincial capital's market.

As a result of the drought, there has been a 55 percent loss in rain-fed wheat in provinces in the north and northeast compared with 2005, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in Kabul.

Production of wheat, which is a third rain-fed and accounts for 80 percent of all cereal output, is expected to fail sharply. Official estimates put total output in 2005 at 3.7 million mt, down 13 percent on 2005, while total cereals production is expected at 4.8 million mt compared to domestic demand of around 6 million mt. Faryab province, home to 1 million people, has been hit particularly hard by the drought as almost 90 percent of agricultural land is watered by rain, leaving an estimated 180,000 farmers without water.

"Farmers have lost over 80 percent of their rain-fed wheat crops due to very low precipitation this year," said Assadullah Bahar, head of the provincial agriculture and livestock department of Faryab in Maimana city.
More on link

EU, Russia express concern over worsening drug situation in Afghanistan Brussels
Oct 30, IRNA  EU-Russia-Council
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0610302261181608.htm

The European Union and Russia held the fifth meeting of their Permanent Partnership Council on Freedom, Security and Justice in Helsinki Monday.

The two sides "welcomed the development of effective cooperation in the fight against terrorism, including issues such as
radicalisation and recruitment, cyber-crime and the use of the internet for illegal purposes, terrorist financing," said a joint statement issued after the meeting this afternoon.

The EU and Russia "welcomed the strengthening of cooperation in the sphere of drugs and expressed their common concern about the deteriorating drugs situation in Afghanistan."
"They stressed the need for further close and broad cooperation at the international level," noted the statement.

At the meeting, the EU was represented by Finland's Minister of Justice Leena Luhtanen and Minister of the Interior Kari Rajam, the current EU Presidency, Finland, Franco Frattini, EU Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, among others.

Russia was represented by Viktor Ivanov, aide to the Russia President Rashid Nurgaliyev, Interior Minister, Vladimir Ustinov, Justice minister and Yury Chaika, Prosecutor General.

The meeting discussed movement of persons, migration and asylum, organised crimes including money laundering, trafficking in human beings, and corruption .
More on link

AFGHANISTAN: FATHER OF ITALIAN JOURNALIST LAUNCHES APPEAL
Rome, 30 Oct. (AKI)
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.354776785&par=
   
The father of an Italian photojournalist kidnapped in Afghanistan launched an appeal on Monday for his liberation on Italy's first Islamic radio, 'Radiocom Islam'. Commenting on a rally Saturday promoted in the central Italian city of Ancona by the country's largest Muslim organisation, the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy (UCOII), Marcello Torsello said: "The message I am trying to send out is that Gabriele is one of them, like the Afghan people, he is a Muslim, he loves this population, and is working so that the world will know how they are living and how much help they need."

Gabriele Torsello, a Muslim convert, was kidnapped between October 12 and 14 while he was travelling from Lashkar Gah, the capital of the volatile Helmand province to neighbouring Kandahar - the two parts of the country where fighting between insurgents and NATO forces is fiercest.

The kidnappers had warned they would kill him unless the Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman, who has been granted asylum in Italy, was not handed over to an Islamic court for trial and Italy's 1,800 troops left Afghanistan.

Italian charity in Afghanistan, Emergency, which is involved in negotiations for Torsello's release, said it had spoken with the abductors last Monday after the ultimatum expired and it had guaranteed the photojournalist was in good condition.

Italian mediators, who have reportedly contacted Torsello's captors through Emergency, are allegedly ready to grant humanitarian aid in exchange for his release.

Last week, UCOII made an appeal for Torsello's release on the Arabic language satellite television channels, Al Jazeera and the US government-funded Al Hurra.
More on link

Pak FM to visit Afghanistan to review jirga modalities Islamabad
Oct 30, IRNA Pakistan-Kasuri
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0610304652183401.htm

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri will visit Afghanistan soon to firm up modalities for convening of grand Jirgas or council of elders on both sides of the Durand Line, the Foreign Office said on Monday.

Foreign Office spokesperson, Ms. Tasnim Aslam said in her weekly news briefing in Islamabad that an understanding for such Jirgas was reached between President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at a meeting hosted by President Bush in Washington.

The spokesperson expressed her surprise on a reported statement by NATO commanders that attacks inside Afghanistan have increased following North Waziristan peace agreement.

She said these remarks have come at a time when NATO itself was trying to conclude similar deals inside Afghanistan and one or two agreements have already been finalized in different areas of Afghanistan.

The spokesperson said the challenges facing Afghanistan cannot be addressed by trying to shift responsibility to Pakistan.

A comprehensive approach focused on reconstruction, reconciliation and willing hearts and minds was necessary to resolve the Afghan problem.

Siachen: To a question she said Pakistan believes that all issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir and Siachen are resolvable given political will and commitment.

In this connection, she pointed out Pakistan and India were close to signing an agreement on Siachen in 1989.

Responding to another question she said Pakistan condemns human rights violations in the Indian-controlled Kashmir.
More on link

Jones: NATO’s Afghanistan Success Wasn’t Achieved Overnight
By Gerry J. Gilmore American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=1943

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2006 – NATO’s security and reconstruction achievements in Afghanistan are the result of years of planning and incremental implementation, the organization’s supreme allied commander in Europe said in the Afghan capital Oct. 28.
Afghanistan was not even on NATO’s mission list in 2003, Marine Gen. James L. Jones, who was visiting the country, told reporters at a Kabul news conference.

Yet today, Afghanistan “is NATO’s most ambitious and most important mission,” the general said. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force helps provide stability across Afghanistan by combating Taliban extremists and other criminals and assisting in national reconstruction efforts.

Yet, “it takes time to generate political will and the capabilities of the alliance to engage at these strategic distances,” the four-star general said.

Jones, who also is commander of U.S. European Command, recalled that NATO began its Afghanistan mission in Kabul in 2003. ISAF operations expanded into northern Afghanistan in 2004, and then moved west in 2005.

The ISAF took responsibility for Afghanistan’s southern region on July 31, and earlier this month it assumed responsibility for the eastern portion. Today, about 20,000 NATO forces are in Afghanistan, with 37 countries involved in reconstruction efforts.

“So, we have spent the better part of the last three years building the force, raising political support, getting the international decisions so that we could get to where we are,” Jones explained.

The southern part of Afghanistan is the traditional home of the Taliban. And, there was a shortage of anti-terrorist troops in the south until NATO forces moved into the area, Jones noted.

“Since July of this year, we have … put as many as 9,000 NATO troops into the south,” which disrupted the activities of the Taliban, drug traffickers and other criminals, Jones said.

“We’ve upset any number of things that are acting as cancers” against Afghanistan’s recovery and reconstruction, Jones said.

NATO forces soundly defeated Taliban troops and other criminal elements in recent fighting in southern Afghanistan during Operation Medusa, the general said. There’s been a marked decrease in insurgent activity in southern Afghanistan since Operation Medusa concluded, he said.
More on link

 

[The Bread Guy]

Wounded Canadian back on duty in Afghanistan
CTV.ca, 29 Oct 06
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061029/wounded_major_061029/20061029?hub=TopStories

A Canadian soldier wounded in a Sept. 4 friendly fire incident in Afghanistan was anxious to return to duty. He got his wish on Sunday as he landed at the Kandahar airfield. "I was coming back if I had to buy my own ticket," Major Matthew Sprague, from C Company of the Royal Canadian Regiment, told CTV News. It feels strange to be back, Sprague said, but he was determined. "If you're a soldier and you're in a battle and you get wounded, and you can get back to the battle, I think you have a duty to do so," he said. Within hours of landing, Sprague was putting on new battle gear over his healed wounds ....



Latest contingent of soldiers from CFB Valcartier leaves for Afghanistan
Martin Ouellet, Canadian Press, 30 Oct 06
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=2dc899d2-bb98-457f-bc93-704d68170634&rfp=dta

A contingent of 76 soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Valcartier left Monday evening for a dangerous mission of several months in Kandahar, the scene of violent clashes with insurgent Taliban fighters. "The army is respected throughout the world now," Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor told soldiers before their 22-hour flight to Afghanistan. "I would say that you are the best army we have in the world. You are the best-trained soldiers and I know that you're going to succeed." O'Connor said the soldiers are embarking on a noble mission. "The people of Afghanistan need our help. They have spent more than 30 years either under the Soviet yoke or civil war or under the Taliban."  More than 50 of the soldiers will protect rebuilding projects in the dangerous Kandahar region during their nine-month stay ....


'We're ready as we're going to be'
Soldiers to train Afghan national army and assist in rebuilding projects
Mark Cardwell, Montreal Gazette, 31 Oct 06
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=6607e450-a642-4a18-afcb-8b60d1d9bee0&k=36372

It was a send-off that Pte. Jonathon Leduc says he won't soon forget.  "It really makes you realize how important this mission is," the 20-year-old infantryman said about the throng of senior politicians and military officers who turned out to wish him and 73 others best wishes as they boarded a plane for Afghanistan at the airport here last night.  Fifty-three of the soldiers from the Valcartier Canadian Forces Base will bolster a provincial reconstruction team - or PRT - that is providing protection at Canadian bases in the southern area of Afghanistan around Kandahar.  They will be in country for nine months.  The other 21 soldiers will, for the next four months, be part of a military monitoring team that is training and mentoring members of the Afghan army ....



More News on CAN in AFG here



Canada commits six jets to NATO
CF-18s could end up in Afghanistan
Critics accuse government of flip-flop
Bruce Campion-Smith, Toronto Star, 31 Oct 06
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1162248614282&call_pageid=968332188492

Just a month after the defence department denied any plans to dispatch CF-18 fighter jets to Afghanistan, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has opened the door to a possible deployment.  With opposition critics accusing the government of a flip-flop, O'Connor told the Commons yesterday: "Recently we made a commitment to NATO that we will have six CF-18s ready for NATO if they require us. That is why the money was spent to fix up these CF-18s."  The Toronto Star revealed last month that Ottawa was making preparations in case its fighter jets were needed in Afghanistan. That included a $1.9 million contract with the U.S. government for "deployment support" for the CF-18s ....



More troops at risk, general warns
Ottawa says CF-18s ready for Afghanistan
Paul Koring, Globe & Mail, 31 Oct 06
http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/story/RTGAM.20061031.wxafghanfraser31/BNStory/Afghanistan/home
Permalink

More Canadian soldiers will be killed but the cost in blood must be paid in Afghanistan unless Canadians want to fight Islamic jihadists at home, Brigadier-General David Fraser said yesterday as he prepared to hand over command of NATO and Canadian forces in war-torn southern Afghanistan.  His comments came as Canada has begun to consider increasing its contributions of military hardware, such as buying protective gear for Afghanistan's police force, as well as readying tanks, helicopters and CF-18 fighter jets for possible use in the country.  "I don't want my sons to be doing what I'm doing here on the shores of Canada," the general said in an interview.  "This is the home of the Taliban, the Taliban are a threat to nations around the world, including our own," Gen. Fraser said ....



$203M more for Afrganistan
Increased Taliban threat cited
Alan Findlay, Edmonton Sun, 31 Oct 06
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/10/31/pf-2185892.html

The federal government detailed $203 million in previously unanticipated National Defence spending in Afghanistan yesterday, citing an increased threat posed by the Taliban. "With the decision to continue the leadership role in Afghanistan, the threat posed by enemy forces has evolved and increased, putting the safety of Canadian military and civilian personnel working in the region at high risk," states the supplementary booklet of Treasury Board spending estimates ....


$1B needed to sustain Forces
Tories: Afghan mission, new equipment leave military short on funds for fiscal 2006Eric Beauchesne, Ottawa Citizen, 31 Oct 06
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=e8287a00-2e0d-46cf-945a-bb82a09efcd4

The government is seeking Parliament's approval to spend nearly $1 billion to sustain Canada's military through the rest of this fiscal year, including hundreds of millions of dollars to support the mission in Afghanistan and to buy new equipment.  Those are among the supplementary spending estimates, totalling $9.2 billion, presented yesterday to Parliament ....


Tabling of the 2005-2006 Supplementary Estimates (A)
Treasury Board news release, 27 Oct 06
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/media/nr-cp/2005/1027_e.asp

Supplementary Estimates (A),
2005-2006, 27 Oct 06 (.pdf)

The Government of Canada today tabled in the House of Commons the 2005-2006 Supplementary Estimates (A) totalling $13.5 billion.  "These Supplementary Estimates are essential in delivering on the Government's priorities and moving forward on its agenda, as articulated in the Budget 2005 and in the Speech from the Throne," said Minister Alcock.  These Supplementary Estimates are within and consistent with the $196.4 billion in overall planned spending for 2005-2006, as set out in the February 23, 2005 Budget.  With these Supplementary Estimates, the government is seeking Parliament's approval to spend $7 billion in expenditures that were not sufficiently developed or known to be reflected in the Main Estimates tabled on February 25, 2005 ....

 

[cplcaldwell]

Just found this a bit old. Relates to other threads on Citations and Decorations.

Hero Para is in line for VC
Manchester Evening News
Chris Osuh
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/225/225580_hero_para_is_in_line_for_vc.html

A PARATROOPER from Manchester has been nominated for the Victoria Cross for saving the life of a wounded American soldier while under fire from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Private Peter McKinley, 21, could become only the second living serviceman in 40 years to be awarded Britain's highest military honour.

He endured a 15-minute barrage of grenades and machine-gun fire as he treated the US serviceman during one of the fiercest battles of the current campaign fought by the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment.

Army chiefs are now putting his name forward for a VC for the "massive act of bravery". Pte McKinley was one of 100 Paras sent from their base to rescue an American supply convoy ambushed by Taliban fighters at Sangin in northern Helmand province.

The Paras formed a defensive cordon around the Americans, but as night descended, dozens of Taliban, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, launched a blistering attack. Two American soldiers were badly wounded when grenades tore into the jeep where they were sheltering.

First-aider Pte McKinley heard their desperate screams for help and ran across open ground to the vehicle as enemy rounds whistled overhead.

Training
He found the American sergeant had suffered serious facial injuries and other wounds including a broken arm, a neck injury, and fragments in his legs.

Pte McKinley said: "They were still firing at us when I ran back to the Humvee. The sergeant was in a pretty bad way but my training just kicked in and I spent about 15 minutes looking after his wounds, stemming the blood and keeping his airway clear."

Major Will Pike, the commander of A Company, described the soldier's actions as "massively impressive". He added: "He was very brave while completely disregarding his own safety. He also treated the American soldier beyond the level that as team medic he is expected to perform. We have a lot of private soldiers who are very young and just out of training but have proved very steady under fire."

To earn the VC soldiers have to display conspicuous bravery or daring or perform a prominent "act of valour or self-sacrifice in the face of the enemy".

An MoD spokesman said: "We can confirm Pte McKinley provided medical treatment to a US soldier whilst under sustained attack."


© Copyright 2006 Manchester Evening News. If you wish to use this article for commercial purposes please contact our syndication department.

Shared Under the Fair Dealings Provisions of the Copyright Act, RSC

 

[The Bread Guy]

No plans for CF18s in Afghanistan: O'Connor
mytelus.com, 31 Oct 06
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cbc/canada_home&articleID=2435394

There are no plans to deploy Canadian CF-18 fighter jets to Afghanistan, Minister of National Defence Gordon O'Connor said Tuesday.  O'Connor was responding to questions in Parliament about newspaper reports that Canada had agreed to send six CF-18s to NATO if the Alliance asked for them.  It's the second time this week that the issue has come up in the House of Commons ....



Alberta prairie stands for Afghan desert as New Brunswick troops prepare  
Bob Weber, Canadian Press, 31 Oct 06
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=070c9ffc-b277-4abb-98a2-e30e364068df&k=63347

The frostbitten Alberta prairie was a poor facsimile of Kandahar's dusty desert, but the bullets were real enough. About 150 soldiers from the New Brunswick-based Royal Canadian Regiment were engaged in their final round of live-fire training Tuesday before heading to Afghanistan, a deployment that their commanders expect will include both fighting and development work - and the embedding of Canadian soldiers with the Afghan military. "The new component we're putting on the ground is the Observer-Mentor Liaison Team," said Col. Mike Cessford, who will assume deputy command of Task Force Afghanistan next February ....



Who pays for Afghanistan's Tim Hortons?
Canadian taxpayer foots nearly $4-million bill
Hannah Boudreau, Brian Liu, globalnational.com,  Ottawa Citizen, 31 Oct 06
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=925e280d-e9fc-402e-a121-151618ddd9d6&k=17995

....  through Access to Information requests, Global National has learned that it took a lot more than thirsty soldiers longing for a "double-double" morale boost to open the Afghan coffee shop -- to the tune of nearly $4 million in Canadian taxpayers' dollars .... Upon the March announcement of the plans to open the Kandahar branch, Tim Hortons announced in a press release that it would convert a trailer normally used for restaurant renovations and deliver it to the Canadian Forces for use in Afghanistan.

Documents obtained now show that in fact, two trailers were purchased and retrofitted at the cost of $378,000. And renting the two Illyushin-76 cargo planes to transport the trailers over? The Canadian government picked up the $425,000 tab for that too.

The costs don't stop there:

- First delivery of ingredients: $1.4 million
- Sustaining the business through the first year: $550,000
- Engineering work to establish the outlet: $350,000
- Operation and maintenance: $150,000
- Salaries: $650,000
- Training: $30,000 ....



More on CAN in AFG Here



Nato force too weak for early Afghan success, says general
Rachel Morarjee, Financial Times, 1 Nov 06
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/393dc05c-694e-11db-b4c2-0000779e2340.html

Nato does not have enough troops in Afghanistan to ensure an early victory over Taliban militants, the alliance's military commander in the country said yesterday.  "If you said to me, if your aim is to win, I'd say no. I haven't got enough [to] win this, say, in the next six months, but I can continue to make sufficient improvements to keep the people here confident in us and in their government," General David Richards said in an interview with the Financial Times.  Gen Richards said that with the 31,000 Nato forces currently in Afghanistan it would be possible to "persuade through substantive improvement, the people of this country that we are making real progress ....



U.S., Afghanistan to hold strategic dialogue next year
Reuters, 31 Oct 06
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061101/ts_nm/afghan_usa_dc

The United States will hold senior-level talks with Afghanistan next year, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday, stressing American support for Kabul as it confronts rising violence from the Islamist Taliban. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the spike in clashes and suicide bombings in Afghanistan this year did not represent a threat to President Hamid Karzai's government.  "While we've seen an increase in the number of attacks in the regions and some of the provincial cities and even in Kabul and Kandahar themselves over the past few months, we do not believe that these attacks pose a strategic threat to the central government," he said.  Burns, who will hold strategic talks with Karzai in Kabul in January, said the clashes also were the result of NATO and other allied troops "taking the battle to the Taliban, along with the Afghan forces" in southern and eastern parts of the country ....



Hekmatyar Stresses Expulsion of Foreign Troops
Zarghona Salihi, Pajhwok Afghan News, 7 Oct 06
http://www.afgha.com/?q=en/node/1344

Leader of the Hezb-i-Islami Jihadi party Gul Badin Hekmatyar has termed expulsion of foreign forces and formation of a government without participants of Bon Conference the only way to end war in Afghanistan.  A three-page statement issued by Hekmatyar at fifth anniversary of US attack on Taliban, a copy of which is available with Pajhwok Afghan News, stated participants of Bon Conference had inked invasion of Afghanistan.  Representatives of several Jihadi factions except Hekmtyar and Taliban attend the Bon Conference that led to the formation of first interim, transitional and finally elected government of Hamid Karzai ....


Afghanistan will be ‘third Vietnam’ for US: Hekmatyar
Daily Times (PAK), 31 Oct 06
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\10\31\story_31-10-2006_pg7_26

Afghanistan will prove a “third Vietnam” for the United States and Afghans will continue their jihad against the coalition forces, former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said in a four-page statement issued from an undisclosed location on Monday.  Hekmatyar said that he was happy at the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq, which he said showed that the US was being defeated there and in Afghanistan. He said that US President George Bush had compared Iraq with Vietnam and claimed that Afghanistan would “become the third Vietnam for the US after Iraq” ....


Afghanistan will be third Vietnam for US: Hekmatyar
IRNA, 31 Oct 06
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0610317851175642.htm

Afghanistan will prove a third Vietnam for the United States and Afghans will continue their jihad against the coalition forces, former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said in a four-page statement issued from an undisclosed location on Monday. According to the Pakistani daily 'Daily Times', Hekmatyar said that he was happy at the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq, which, he said, showed that the US was being defeated there and in Afghanistan ....



Three German soldiers confess involvement in Afghan skull scandal
People's Daily Online (CHN), 1 Nov 06
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200611/01/eng20061101_316993.html

Three German soldiers have confessed their involvement in a scandal in which German peacekeepers in Afghanistan were shown in newspaper photos as playing with human skulls, the Luebecker Nachrichten daily reported on Tuesday.  Gen. Christof Munzlinger, the commander of Germany's 18th Armored Brigade, was quoted as saying that the three soldiers "have confessed completely to the case, and have shown remorse over the incident."  He said the soldiers were at a unit in Bad Segeberg in northern Germany, without identifying them ....