Insurgents kill 9 police in southern Afghanistan (click here)
By FISNIK ABRASHI – 15 hours ago
KABUL (AP) — Insurgents staged two attacks against police in Afghanistan on Thursday, killing nine officers and wounding six others, officials said, in the latest violence against the lightly armed force that has born the brunt of rising attacks across the country.
Washington has pushed to significantly increase the number of Afghan police and improve their training as a key part of a revised U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan that President Barack Obama is expected to unveil fully on Friday.
The strategy is aimed at countering Taliban militants, who have made a comeback following their initial defeat by U.S.-led forces in 2001. Obama has already pledged to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to battle the Taliban and could send even more as part of the administration's new strategy....
The body of a suspected Taliban militant lies lifeless on the back of a police vehicle with his heavy machine gun after he was killed in a battle with the Afghan forces on the outskirts of Ghazni province west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 26, 2009. Taliban militants attacked a police convoy in central Ghazni province Thursday, wounding six policemen, said regional police spokesman Iqbal Gul Sapan. Four militants were also killed in the clash in Nani village near the provincial capital, he said.(AP Photo/Rahmat Naikzad)
Everyone paying attention? Whenever Russia and the USA allied to win 'a peace' they have never failed !!!!!
Thank you !!!!! This is one good way to hit the reset button. I hope this dispells any ill intent by Russia ever again !!!!
17:27
26/ 03/ 2009
MOSCOW, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia hopes to increase international effectiveness in assisting the Afghan government in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
Speaking ahead of Friday's Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference on Afghanistan, Lavrov said there must be "more coordination" on combating terrorism and drug trafficking.
Russia's proposals "are directed, first of all, at increasing the efficiency of international cooperation in the work of supporting the efforts of the government of Afghanistan in the struggle against the threat of terrorism and illegal drugs," Lavrov said....
February 2001: "It has been decided to break down all statues/idols present in different parts of the country. This is because these idols have been gods of the infidels, who worshipped them, and these are respected even now and perhaps may be turned into gods again. The real God is only Allah, and all other false gods should be removed." - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar
Taliban leader plans to reclaim Afghanistan, U.S. says (click here)
Mullah Mohammed Omar has reassembled his power base, U.S. officials say as they outline strategy in Afghanistan. Thousands of additional U.S. troops will be sent to train Afghan forces.
By Greg Miller and Julian E. Barnes
4:14 PM PDT, March 26, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- Afghanistan's former Taliban leader is pursuing a strategy to reclaim power, the top U.S. intelligence official said today, identifying a key administration concern as the White House prepared to unveil a new plan to step up combat operations and stabilization efforts.
The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was driven from power by the U.S. invasion in 2001 but has reassembled much of his base in Pakistan, where he leads a council of Islamic hard-liners accused of directing insurgent attacks across the border in Afghanistan....
NATO confirms first high-level meeting with Iran on Afghanistan (click here)
www.chinaview.cn
2009-03-27 02:52:39
BRUSSELS, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held their first secret and informal talks in 30 years in Brussels where NATO is headquartered, focusing on Afghanistan, the alliance confirmed here Thursday.
The meeting took place on March 9 between NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Martin Erdmann and Iran's Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union, Ali-Asghar Khaji, NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero told Xinhua.
"It was a very informal contact and they basically discussed Afghanistan," she added. "You know the secretary-general (Jaap de Hoop Scheffer) has said recently that Iran should be involved in a regional approach in regard of Afghanistan."...
American Galbraith is UN deputy Afghanistan envoy (click here)
Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:47pm EDT
* Galbraith to handle political issues in Afghanistan
* U.N. denies tensions with U.S. over envoy Eide
* Had assisted Holbrooke in past (Adds quotes, details, background; byline)
By Patrick Worsnip
UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Reuters) - The United Nations namedU.S. diplomat and academic Peter Galbraith on Wednesday to be deputy envoy to Afghanistan to assist Richard Holbrooke, U.S. point-man for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Galbraith, 58, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, succeeds Christopher Alexander of Canada as political deputy to U.N. special envoy Kai Eide. Alexander completes his assignment at the end of March, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. Another deputy deals with humanitarian and development issues.
Montas said Galbraith would handle electoral, parliamentary and other political issues in the conflict-ridden nation where presidential elections are due in August, as well as peace and stability, security sector reform and human rights....
Sources: Obama to add US troops in Afghanistan (click here)
By ANNE GEARAN and PAMELA HESS – 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerned about the faltering war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama plans to dispatch thousands more military and civilian trainers on top of the 17,000 fresh combat troops he's already ordered, people familiar with the forthcoming plan said Thursday.
Obama also will call for increasing aid to neighboring Pakistan as long as its leaders confront militants in the border region. The president plans to lay out his revamped strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday.
Several sources told The Associated Press the strategy includes 20 recommendations for countering a persistent insurgency that spans the two countries' border, including sending 4,000 military trainers to try to increase the size of the Afghan army....
Rudd Tells Obama Australian Forces in Afghanistan for Long Haul (click here)
By Michael Heath
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged Australian troops will remain in Afghanistan “for the long haul,” even as more than two-thirds of voters said in a poll this week they were against sending more soldiers there.
Rudd, visiting Washington, held his first meeting with President Barack Obama two days ago. The U.S. leader had been expected to ask one of his country’s closest allies to expand its 1,100-strong force in Afghanistan.
Asked on the PBS television show “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” whether Obama made the request, Rudd said: “No he did not,” according to an audio file. “Our discussion was about the American thinking as it’s unfolding through America’s own review of its long-term strategy.”
Rudd withdrew Australian combat troops from Iraq last year and, like Obama, has said Afghanistan is the front line in the international campaign against terrorism. He acknowledged in the interview that the war in Afghanistan is “increasingly unpopular” both in Australia and elsewhere.
“But the bottom line is this: It’s the right place to be,” he said....
