An injured Afghan child from the Bala Baluk, district of Afghanistan, is seen on a bed at the hospital in Farah province of Afghanistan Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Abdul Basir Khan, a member of Farah's provincial council, said villagers brought some 30 bodies, including women and children, to Farah city to show the province's governor, that they had been killed by coalition airstrikes. Estimates of the total number of dead varied widely, and no officials were able to travel to Bala Baluk on Tuesday because the region is so dangerous. The top U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan, Col. Greg Julian, confirmed U.S. coalition forces participated in the battle. Julian said several wounded Afghans sought medical treatment at a military base in Farah, but officials were still investigating the reports of civilian deaths. (AP APhoto/Abdul Malek)
...(click title to entry - thank you) Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered a probe Wednesday into the killings, and the U.S. military sent a brigadier general to Farah to head a U.S. investigation, said Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. spokesman. Afghan military and police officials were also part of the investigative team.
Karzai, currently in the United States, will raise the issue of civilian deaths with Obama, a statement from Karzai's office said. The two presidents were scheduled to hold their first face-to-face meeting later Wednesday....
Joint Counter Narco-Terrorism Successes in Afghanistan (click here)
By Michael Braun
NBC Nightly News reported yesterday evening (May 4, 2009) on a successful counter narco-terrorism operation involving U.S. Army Special Forces working shoulder-to-shoulder with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Team (FAST), Afghan Army Commandos and Counter-Narcotics Police/Afghanistan (CNPA) officers. Notice that I used the term 'counter narco-terrorism operation' rather than 'counter-narcotics operation', because in Afghan virtually every aspect of the drug trade is unequivocally linked to the Taliban and the insurgency....
Gates reluctant to build up US forces in Afghanistan beyond 68,000 (click here)
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said orders to deploy more than the 68,000 US troops to Afghanistan "would be a hard sell, " according to interview excerpts released late Friday. "It would be a hard sell. There’s no question about it," Gates said in an excerpt of an interview with CNN set to air on Sunday.
Gates responded to President Barack Obama’s approved plan to double the number of US troops in Afghanistan to 68,000 by the end of the year, in addition to the 32,000 assisting NATO troops from other countries. The top US Commander in Afghanistan, Army General David McKiernan had requested an extra 10,000 troops be deployed by 2010, to which Gates expressed reservations.
"Between the American military commitment and our coalition partners, we will have about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. That’s only about 10,000 shy of what the Russians had and I think we need to think about that," Gates said in the interview excerpt.
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed that Gates’ comments in the CNN interview reflected his concerns about moving beyond the approved 68, 000-troop level. "My view is that it would be a far better investment to focus on building the strength of the Afghan army and the Afghan police, making sure that of the numbers of people we have there, there are adequate trainers so that we can accelerate the growth of those forces," he said
Suffolk donates used bulletproof vests to Army unit in Afghanistan
7:53 PM EDT, May 5, 2009
Bulletproof vests that have exceeded their recommended life spans for use as personal protection will be donated to the military for use in Afghanistan - where they will line floors, doors and windows of military vehicles as an added layer of protection, Suffolk officials said Tuesday.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and the county legislature authorized the donation and the presentation of 660 decommissioned vests at Police Headquarters in Yaphank. The vests should no longer be used as "personal body armor," officials said. However, they can save lives on the battlefield when soldiers use them to reinforce military vehicles.
A Suffolk resident and Suffolk police sergeant, Lt. Col. Matthew Bjelobrk, is head of the Army command in southern Afghanistan that will receive the vests. Members of the Air National Guard 142nd Aviation Brigade were to load the vests Tuesday onto a transport truck for shipment to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.
-- JOHN VALENTI
Talibanisation & Musharraf (click here)
By Shehryar Mazari Wednesday, 06 May, 2009
09:56 AM PST
Three decades ago Zia Haq chose the Hezb-i-Islami leader, Gulbadin Hikmatyar, as his favoured successor to Soviet rule in Afghanistan. After Zia’s death, the security establishment disenchanted with Hikmatyar’s lack of success replaced him in 1994 with the recently discovered Taliban. The Taliban’s seizure of Kabul in 1996 provided a boost for Pakistan’s security establishment. It provided Pakistan a foothold in Afghanistan and much-desired strategic regional depth to counter India.
Following the 9/11 attack in the US by Al Qaeda which was being sheltered by the Taliban Musharraf was forced to disown the Taliban regime. However, within days he announced on TV ‘I have done everything for the … Taliban when the whole world was against them….We are trying our best to come out of this critical situation without any damage to Afghanistan and the Taliban.’
Shortly afterwards, when the Taliban were ousted by the US-led invasion, Musharraf allowed tens of thousands of Taliban to enter Pakistan’s tribal belt, believing that opposing them would sideline Pakistan from the regional power game in Afghanistan. What was not revealed then was that a large number of Al Qaeda militants had used this opportunity to stealthily move into Pakistan as well. However, fearing direct US intervention, Musharraf vocally denied their existence within Pakistan....
Heavy floods kill nearly 30 in Afghanistan -U.N. (click here)
Wed May 6, 2009 2:11am EDT
KABUL, May 6 (Reuters) - Floods caused by heavy rains have killed nearly 30 people and damaged more than 1,200 houses in Afghanistan in the past two weeks, the United Nations said.The floods had affected 10 of the country's 34 provinces and left hundreds without shelter, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement late on Tuesday.OCHA, the Afghan government and aid groups are coordinating aid efforts to help those affected. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Dean Yates)
Afghanistan: Flooding OCHA Situation Report No. 2 (click here)
This report was issued by OCHA Afghanistan. It covers the period from April 20 to April 26 2009.
HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES
- Flooding has occurred in Balkh and Faryab provinces in the Northern Region; Badakhshan province in the North East Region; and Heart and Badghis provinces in the Western Region.
- Assessments and distributions are ongoing.
- Government is calling for pre-positioning of assistance items in expectation of more flooding in the near future....
...On April 21, ANDMA chaired a Provincial Disaster Committee Meeting. Participants reported the outcome of assessments in Mazar City, Nahri Shahi district. In Kach Guzar, Islamabad, Nursatabad #1 and Nursatabad #2, Sujdai Kala Khana, Nasogi Babashir, Yolmarab, Abotalib, and Wali Asan communities, 240 families have lost everything and are considered to be greatest need ("Priority Group A"). These families are in need of tents, blankets, plastic sheeting, family kits, water jerry cans and food. An additional 157 families ("Priority Group B") are in need of blankets, plastic sheeting, family kits, water jerry cans and food.
- ANDMA is facilitating the distribution of 6000 loafs of bread per day in Chemtal and in Nahri Shahi and has provided 300 blankets to affected families in Mazar.
- RRD Balkh has provided 200 bags of wheat (100 kg / person) in Chemtal and will provide 50 tents, 500 blankets, 200 water jerry cans, and 200 plastic sheets.
- ARCS will provide 190 tents....
AFGHANISTAN: Thousands affected by floods, landslides, earthquakes (click here)
KABUL, 29 April 2009 (IRIN) - Flash floods, landslides and earthquakes in different parts of Afghanistan in the last 10 days or so have damaged thousands of houses, killed hundreds of livestock and made thousands homeless, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said.
At least 15 people lost their lives and over a dozen of others were injured by floods in Herat, Badakhshan, Parwan, Faryab and Takhar provinces over the past two weeks, according to the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA).
“In Balkh Province [northern Afghanistan] about 1,500 families need emergency assistance,” said Sheilagh Henry, an OCHA field coordinator.
Over 2,000 families were also affected by floods in Herat Province, (western Afghanistan); about 800 families were hit in Badghis Province (northwestern Afghanistan); and hundreds more were affected in several other provinces, Henry said....
The primary problem with Hamid Karzai's running mate is his death wish. If Mohammad Qasim Fahim comes into power due to assassination of Karzai it will probably have occurred as a coup. I think President Karzai is setting himself up for assassination. It seems completely obvious to me.
Mohammad Qasim Fahim has never been a man of peace. He is regressive and was once removed by Karzai in a military position years ago. I believe the powerful presence of Fahim at this point in time, when Karzai only recently selected to run for re-election shows exactly where the country was headed did the USA NOT re-engage the issue and re-engage it redefined to include the Taliban in Pakistan.
Afghanistan was headed for certain rule by the warlords at the pleasure of the Taliban. Al Qaeda, minimally Mullah Omar was on the cusp of taking over the influence of the entire region with designs on Pakistan's nuclear capacity. I am sorry for the civilian losses, but, the balance of power in the region hangs by a thread and the people need to ally the USA and NATO to gain peace in their provinces.
This is much larger than Afghanistan or Pakistan together, there is a real threat to nuclear war with minimally India should these two nations not be stabilized. Karzai needs to completely reject the influence of The Taliban and find a suitable running mate the people of Afghanistan can love and trust.
Karzai's choice of running mate raises concerns in the West (click here)
Jon Boone in Kabul
May 6, 2009
DIPLOMATS and human rights workers lashed out at Hamid Karzai's decision to select a powerful warlord accused by Western officials of involvement in criminal gangs and arms smuggling as a running mate in Afghanistan's presidential election.
Mr Karzai's decision to defy international pressure and appoint Mohammad Qasim Fahim as one of his two vice-presidential candidates for the August 20 poll showed the world and the Afghan people that the President was "moving the country backwards", said a Western diplomat in Kabul.
Mr Karzai made his announcement on Monday when he went to the Independent Election Commission in person to register as a candidate, hours before leaving for meetings in Washington with President Barack Obama and Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari.
The former militia leader, who goes by the honorary title of Marshal Fahim, is disliked by many Afghans suspicious of the wealth he has acquired since 2001 and disliked by the West for his opposition to the disbandment of the private armies of Afghanistan's warlords. An official with an international mission in Kabul said Mr Fahim had been linked to kidnap gangs operating in the capital. He is also accused of murdering prisoners of war during the mujahideen government in the 1990s....
