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15 August 2012

 

 

 

FEATURE STORY

Armed uprising against Taliban forces insurgents from 50 Afghan villages

 

 

BUSINESS

No articles featured today

NATION

Death Toll Rises to 29 after Suicide Attack
Afghanistan war: Can the US gains last?
Why isn't anyone talking about Afghanistan?
Pentagon changing lingo for growing threat in Afghanistan
Afghan Attacks Kill Dozens in Deadliest Day for Civilians This Year
Guardian Angels in Afghanistan
GoA Demands Reason Behind Pakistan Military Attacks into Afghanistan
Afghanistan-Pakistan border fighting erupts in Kunar
Scores Killed in Suicide Attacks in Kunduz
Oliver North: Obama's Afghan Pullout Creating 'Bitter Harvest' of Troop Deaths
Taliban Showing New Willingness On Prisoner Swap
Taliban ‘Weapons Dealer' Capture in Helmand
US boosts intelligence after Afghan insider attacks
Malaysia can extradite accused Afghan to Australia
Karzai Appoints Former Defense Minister as Senior Military Advisor
Afghan girls inspired to maintain exercise
Corruption Another Challenge in Power Supply Projects
Afghans Olympic medalist warmly welcomed home

PRESS RELEASES

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FEATURE STORY 

Armed uprising against Taliban forces insurgents from 50 Afghan villages

An uprising against the Taliban has evicted the gunmen from 50 villages in eastern Afghanistan, according to local leaders, beginning a revolt that Kabul hopes will spread across insurgent-held territory.

Telegraph.co.uk
By Ben Farmer
14 Aug 2012
Andar

More than 250 men have taken up arms in Ghazni province and are fighting nearly daily skirmishes against determined Taliban attempts to retake the area.

Their armed campaign began in protest at insurgent edicts closing schools and bazaars, as well as resentment that the Taliban were outsiders taking orders from Pakistan.

In four months of fighting, the uprising has lost more than 20 members and claims to have cleared an enclave of Andar district which had previously been under tight Taliban control.

Its progress is being closely watched by Nato and Western officials who have long hoped the insurgents' repression might trigger a movement similar to the Sunni 'Awakening' brigades which turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But they are doubtful over who is directing the revolt and wary it has been hijacked by leaders from other armed factions.

Many in the uprising seem as opposed to the international coalition and Hamid Karzai as they are to the insurgents.

Lotfullah Kamrani, a 24-year-old graduate who now commands dozens of anti-Taliban fighters, said his men were in daily clashes, some lasting up to 10 hours.

Since kicking out the insurgents from around a sixth of Andar's villages they had been able to reopen shops in the district centre and boys' schools which had been long closed.

Militiamen on motorbikes patrol their fields and villages armed with a jumble of their own weapons left over from the Russian occupation and ensuing civil war.

"The Taliban are very strong, but according to my belief the community is on our side and they cannot stand against us," Mr Kamrani said.

As he showed off his force, they received a call that Taliban had been spotted near one of their villages and several of his men took to their motorcycles to chase them away.

Frustration with the Taliban had grown in recent years, he said, as they appeared to be controlled more and more by outsiders from Pakistan.

"They were applying the law of Pakistan here in Afghanistan. They were creating their own rules on the orders of Pakistan," he said.

Mohammad Nazir, a 42-year-old father of four, said the Taliban had initially been welcomed in Andar, but had grown tyrannical.

"We were helpless in many things," he said. "The schools were closed, the shops were closed, my sons were not able to go to school. We had talked about what to do many times in the past, but we decided to rise up in the spring."

The Taliban deny the rebellion is a popular movement, saying it is funded and directed by America and the Afghan government. They have promised to retake the area and this week distributed letters again threatening to kill those who resist. Privately though, they have tried to negotiate.

"The Taliban have requested many times for us to talk with them," said Mr Kamrani. "There's no trust left though."

Many observers are still suspicious of who is really behind the uprising. Local MPs and Western officials say that Asadullah Khalid, Mr Karzai's southern security chief, had tried to take control and steer it to other areas.

Mr Khalid and Mr Kamrani both confirmed he was helping the uprising to find ammunition, but claimed he was acting independently of the government because his family was from Ghazni province. The government had no involvement in the uprising, they said.

Another fear is that the fighting may only be a power grab by a rival armed faction which had been disguised as a popular movement.

Mohammad Aref Shah Jahan, a former intelligence chief in the province, said the revolt had been orchestrated by members of Hizb-i-Islami, a powerful faction dating from the war against the Russian invasion of the 1980s founded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and remembered for its brutality in the civil war. Hekmatyar has led his own insurgency against Nato and Mr Karzai since 2002.

Fighters conceded that many of their number had once belonged to this group, but denied they were organised along political lines.

Faizanullah Faizan, a former governor and senior Hizb-i-Islami commander now playing a leading role in the uprising, said: "It's a 100 per cent civilian uprising. It doesn't belong to any political party, but we are made up of all the old groups."

Nato commanders stress they are watching, but not giving support. Brigadier-General Lewis Boone, from the International Security Assistance Force, said: "The basic situation in Andar is they don't like us and they don't like the Taliban. They want to be left alone essentially. Are we looking at it closely? You bet we are. Is it another uprising like we saw in Iraq? I think that would be a leap."

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NATION

Death Toll Rises to 29 after Suicide Attack

TOLOnews.com
Tuesday, 14 August 2012

In the deadliest attack this year, more than 29 people, including four policemen, were killed and nearly 110 others were injured when three suicide bombers detonated their explosive in crowded areas of Nimorz's the provincial capital Zaranj on Tuesday.

"First, two suicide bombers detonated their explosive inside the bazaar, and then the third one blew himself up at the gate of government hospital, provincial police chief General Mohammed Musa Rasuli said.

The incident occurred in a bazaar as dozens were shopping for the Eid holiday, leaving charred and smoldering bits of cookies and dried fruit among the bodies.

An eyewitness said, "I was coming in with my sons and daughters to shop when I heard a bang. I fell to the ground and saw a heavy dust fill the sky."

"Five other suicide bombers were killed by police and three others were captured," the General added.

An Afghan official speaking on the condition of anonymity alleged that the "bombers came in from Zahedan city in southeastern Iran."

President Hamid Karzai, who is traveling to Saudi Arabia to attend the Organsation for Islamic Cooperation, strongly condemned the attacks, adding that the insurgents must be "desperate to have attacked fellow Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan."

The Isaf commander Gen John Allen condemned the bombings as "intentional mass murder".

"By targeting innocent civilians in populated areas, the insurgents have again shown they will kill non-combatants without hesitation to advance their backward looking plans for Afghanistan. Once again, I call on Mullah Omar to rein in his murderers. His intentions not to target civilians are hollow," Allen said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The deadly incident on civilians comes a week after the United Nations released a report showing a 15 per cent decrease in the number of civilian casualties in the first half of 2012.

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Afghanistan war: Can the US gains last?

Almost 11 years into the US-led war in Afghanistan, the situation still remains so tenuous in some parts of Afghanistan that locals worry about the safety of accepting aid from the West.

Christian Science Monitor
By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent
August 14, 2012
Qarah Bagh, Afghanistan

At a recent meeting of local government officials in east Afghanistan, a US Department of Agriculture representative lays out plans to build cold storage facilities for local farmers that would allow them to sell produce out of season at higher prices.

After listening quietly, Mohammad Hasan, a senior sub-governor asks a question that sparks nearly an hour of debate and ultimately questions whether the US mission here has worked at all.

“The Taliban threatens people not to accept development projects with American money,” he says. “How are we supposed to build these storage facilities? If we talk about them, the Taliban will kill us.”

Almost 11 years into the US-led war in Afghanistan and just weeks before the US military begins winding down its yearlong surge into Ghazni Province, the situation still remains so tenuous that locals worry about the safety of accepting development aid from the West.

For the past year, Ghazni has been home to one of the final major US military offensives in Afghanistan. Though the US military says it's made significant gains here, it remains unclear if these improvements can hold as the number of US troops drops.

The farming province became the focus of the US military because of the road that passes through it, linking Kabul and Kandahar, the nation’s two largest cities. Known as Highway 1, it connects Afghanistan to neighboring countries and is critical for trade.

With security established in Kabul and improving in Kandahar, US military planners wanted to eliminate the instability in the areas between them.

In Ghazni, the 1,000 Polish troops posted there reportedly lacked the resources to do much more than secure the area directly around the highway and did little to protect the outlying villages. As a result, the Taliban managed to gain a strong foothold in Ghazni.

Last summer, the US military took control of the province and increased the number of soldiers there to nearly 3,000.

“Overall the mission was to come in and produce a stronghold,” says US Army Lt. Matt Long, a platoon commander in Delta Company of the 2-504 Parachute Infantry Regiment. “I think we’ve significantly affected the area in what [the Taliban] can and can’t do.”

Throughout Afghanistan, whether these gains hold depends largely on the ability of the Afghan security forces that continue to take over responsibility for security ahead of the 2014 deadline.

In Qarah Bagh, many joint patrols are now planned and led by the Afghan military, with US troops there largely to support the Afghan National Army if it needs it.

Though US soldiers say that enough time remains to fine-tune their skills and get them ready for 2014, there remain questions about the ability of some Afghan soldiers.

At a recent training, an Afghan Army sergeant told of losing a friend who tried to remove a roadside bomb by taking several steps back and shooting at it with his rifle until it exploded and killed him.

“Prior to this [American] unit operating here, this Afghan National Army unit was really in a defensive fight to hold its own position and wasn’t really afforded the position to get much better,” says Lt. Col. William Ryan, security forces assistance team leader for the 2-504 PIR, who likens the Afghan military to a sports team without an off-season. “The contribution of the [the US Army] has … allowed the Afghan National Army to take time that it needs to get better.”

US military officials say “tactical and operational analysis” is still underway to determine how large a force will replace the current group of US soldiers currently stationed in Ghazni, but initial reductions are expected to be modest.

“What’s decisive is ultimately Afghans’ confidence in their security forces, both the police and the Army. Sure, us being here has had an impact on the enemy, but that impact is designed to give time and space to the Afghan security forces and the people to develop the relationship they need to have for our gains to be lasting,” says Maj. Jason Condrey, executive officer of the 2-504 PIR.

As US troop levels decrease, there is some question as to whether the Afghan forces will place the same level of focus on the villages far beyond the highway. Afghans tend to place greater emphasis on providing security through checkpoints than through patrolling.

“I think the highway will remain secure, but I don’t know about the villages,” says Lt. Kirk Shoemaker, a platoon leader in 2-504 PIR’s Charlie Company. He adds that while villagers are now open to speaking with American patrols that pass through, many seem to be waiting to see what will happen after the Americans begin to drawdown, he says.

In May, a group of villagers in Ghazni’s Andar district rose up against the Taliban after the group got too aggressive and had closed most of the area's schools. Despite hopes that the movement will spread to other areas of the province, no other uprisings have yet to materialize.

In the coming year, US Special Forces are expected to begin establishing Afghan Local Police units in the villages in Ghazni, which many say they hope will ensure that security does not slip away from the more remote areas of the province.

“Half the battle is the population. Once they all start turning on the Taliban, then the Taliban has no leg to stand on, and I do think we’ll get there sooner rather than later,” says Lt. Col. Praxitelis “Nick” Vamvakias, commander of the 2-504 PIR.

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Why isn't anyone talking about Afghanistan?

Foreign Policy (blog)
By Stephen M. Walt
Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Remember the war in Afghanistan? You know: It was the "good war," fought in response to Al Qaeda's attack on 9/11 and the Taliban's refusal to turn them in, and subsequently justified by 1) the need to prevent future terrorist "safe havens," 2) the desire to liberate Afghan women, 3) the imperative to bring democracy and modern governance to an underdeveloped tribal society, and 4) as always, the need to preserve American "credibility."

Writing on the New Yorker's website, reporter Dexter Filkins warns that our long and costly effort there is likely to be a failure. We're getting out, he says, but there is little sign that we will leave behind a properly functioning Afghan state. He notes that neither Obama nor Romney are saying much about the war in this campaign (in part because there is about an angstrom's worth of difference in their respective positions). But he says "You can bet that, whoever the president is, he'll be talking about it [after we're gone]."

Three points. First, it is not really news to hear that our Afghan project is failing, because the effort to impose a centralized state from the outside was probably doomed from the start. It's possible that a focused international effort from 2002 onward would have succeeded (and especially if the geniuses in the Bush administration hadn't taken their eye off the ball in order to invade Iraq), but the odds are against it. Plenty of people have been warning for years now that this war was going to end up a failure, which is why some of us opposed Obama's decision to escalate the war in 2009 and called for disengagement instead.

Second, even if Filkins' pessimism is right, it is not clear why the next president will want or will have to spend a lot of time worrying about Afghanistan. If Afghanistan were truly a vital strategic interest, it wouldn't be all that hard to convince Americans to pony up the resources to stay. But the fact is that Afghanistan isn't a vital interest: it's a land-locked and impoverished country thousands of miles from our shores. The only reason that we went there in the first place is because a handful of misguided crackpots decided to hide out there, and subsequently got very lucky in staging a dramatic attack on U.S. soil. Once they were scattered and/or killed, Afghanistan reverted to being the strategic backwater it has always been. The American people understand this, yet Obama had to concoct a face-saving strategy of escalating first in order to withdraw later. If the next president-whoever it is-is smart, he'll spend as much time worrying about Afghanistan as Carter and Reagan spent worrying about Vietnam. Which is to say: hardly any.

Third, this whole sad episode should really be seen as a colossal failure of the American national security establishment. The futility of the Afghan campaign was apparent years ago, and we've heard plenty of testimony from returning soldiers, diplomats, and aid workers that the ISAF effort wasn't likely to work. Even those who continued to defend the effort usually had to admit that success was going to require a decade or more of additional commitment and hundreds of billions of dollars in additional aid. Yet our national security apparatus couldn't reach the conclusion to withdraw without first escalating the war, and without wasting more soldiers' lives and a few hundred billion more dollars.

I've offered my own thoughts on why it's hard to end costly wars here; today I'll simply say it's even harder when the culture of the national security establishment rewards hawkish postures, and tends to view anyone who counsels moderation or prudence as some sort of weak-willed idealist. Nothing does more than hard-headed and realistic assessments of the costs and benefits of alternative course of action, even when the writing was on the wall a long time ago.

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Pentagon changing lingo for growing threat in Afghanistan

CNN (blog)
By Larry Shaughnessy
August 14th, 2012

The war in Afghanistan is evolving with a growing number of attacks by Afghan security force personnel on American troops, incidents that have been called "green-on-blue" attacks. It's a term that the Pentagon wants to go away.

So far this year the number of such attacks is nearly double the number for the same period last year. And this year 37 Americans have died, compared with 28 in 2011.

"Make no mistake about it, I've been very concerned about these incidents ... because of the lives lost and because of the potential damage to our partnership efforts," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at a Pentagon news conference Tuesday.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said the name "green-on-blue" is a misnomer.

"I think you'll hear us start talking about these incidents more as 'insider attack,' rather than green-on-blue, because what that does is it understates the effect that this is having on the ANSF itself," he said, referring to the Afghan National Security Forces. "You know, they're suffering from the same ... trend that we're suffering from."

Panetta said the attacks, whatever they are called, are a sign the Taliban is getting desperate.

"The reality is, the Taliban has not been able to regain any territory lost, and so they're resorting to these kinds of attacks to create havoc," he said.

There are multiple efforts under way to try to prevent insider attacks, he said.

Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, "is meeting with the security ministers to talk about further steps to take in order to protect against these attacks. And he's also meeting with the village elders. These are the people who usually vouch for individuals," Panetta said.

On a separate issue relating to the Afghan conflict, Panetta is upbeat about improving relations with Pakistan.

He said U.S. officials are "encouraged, frankly, that Pakistan has now taken a more positive, visible step to advance our shared objective of a secure and peaceful Afghanistan. Their decision to open up the NATO supply lines means a great deal to us."

Pakistan had shut down the supply lines after a friendly-fire incident last November in which coalition forces killed 24 Pakistani Army soldiers at a checkpoint.

"Similarly, cross-border cooperation with Pakistan is increasing," Panetta said. "General Allen is meeting on a regular basis with (Pakistan's military chief) Gen. (Ashfaq Pervez) Kiyani and trying to improve that kind of cross-border cooperation. And it's helping us try to confront the challenge of these insurgent sanctuaries, which exist on both sides of the border."

Panetta said whether the news from Afghanistan is good or bad, Americans should remember there's a war going on.

"There are a lot of other things going on in this country (the United States) that can draw our attention, from the Olympics to political campaigns to droughts to some of the tragedies we've seen in communities around the country," Panetta said. "But I thought it was important to remind the American people ... that young men and women are dying in order to try to protect this country."

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Afghan Attacks Kill Dozens in Deadliest Day for Civilians This Year

New York Times
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
August 14, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan

Bombings and shootings took the lives of at least 43 Afghans on Tuesday in the deadliest day for civilians this year as insurgents struck while people were preparing for the Muslim holiday that ends the month of Ramadan.

The worst death toll came in the southwestern province of Nimruz, where suicide bombers struck the provincial capital, Zaranj, as throngs of people were shopping for the Id al-Fitr holiday this weekend. The bombings killed at least 29 people and wounded 57, said Gen. Mohammed Musa Rasuli, the provincial police chief.

In Kunduz Province in northern Afghanistan, a remotely detonated bomb on a motorcycle exploded in a bazaar just after the evening prayer that breaks the Ramadan fast, killing 10 people, said Sheikh Saadi, the district governor. The bombing occurred in Dasht-e-Archi, a district in the province’s west.

And in Badakhshan Province, in the far northeast of the country, a district governor and three policemen were killed in a Taliban ambush as they were driving through a remote area, said Abdul Rasul Rasekh, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

President Hamid Karzai, who was traveling in Saudi Arabia, strongly condemned the attacks in a statement that said, “The terrorists are so desperate and abject that they kill our innocent Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan.”

The attack in the small city of Zaranj was startling for the planning on the part of the insurgents, who carried out considerable damage despite being largely thwarted by the police. Eleven attackers appear to have converged on the city in the past several days, taking up positions in safe houses, police and provincial officials said.

The first inkling of trouble came on Monday night when police officers, acting on a tip, found two potential suicide bombers in a safe house with a large amount of explosives and weapons. They killed the two men, and on Tuesday they caught three more suspects in the plot and took them into custody. But just a few hours later, at 3 p.m., explosions began in multiple places, General Rasuli said.

The first two bombs, one near the governor’s office and the other targeting a police car, did little damage but “created panic in the town as people rushed toward the provincial hospital to see if any of their relatives had been hurt,” General Rasuli said.

As people gathered in front of the hospital, just across from a crowded market, another bomber struck, and that explosion caused the majority of the casualties, the general said. He added that three other bombers had been shot elsewhere in the city.

The identities and motives of the bombers were not immediately clear, and the Taliban did not claim responsibility. Nimruz is relatively quiet for a province in the south of Afghanistan and has not seen the insurgent activity common to neighboring areas.

Abdul Khalil, a doctor at the public hospital, had gone to his private practice for the afternoon when he heard the bombs going off. “I heard the provincial hospital was calling on the people and on private hospitals to help them with blood donations,” he said by cellphone as he rushed back to help his colleagues.

Another witness, Mohammed Akbar Sharifi, the head of the provincial agriculture department, spoke by cellphone from the hospital where he had taken his wounded nephew. “I heard three loud explosions followed by gunfire,” he said. “The city has been locked down.”

Just before hanging up, he could be heard saying: “Hello, Doctor, this is my nephew. Please help him.” The doctor’s reply was captured as well: “We have so many in a critical situation, and there are many more in bad shape. We are helping them. We will come to you, too.”

Sangar Rahimi, Jawad Sukhanyar and Habib Zahori contributed reporting.

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Guardian Angels in Afghanistan

The Pentagon's attempt to reduce the growing trend of "green on blue" violence.

Foreign Policy
BY JOHN REED
AUGUST 14, 2012

An increase in Afghan security forces attacking their NATO counterparts -- or what have been called "green on blue" incidents -- is prompting the U.S. military to implement a host of new safeguards, top Pentagon officials announced Tuesday, Aug. 14.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will increase intelligence and counterintelligence efforts aimed at stopping attacks before they occur, establish forensic teams that will analyze attacks, improve the vetting process for Afghan security forces, and require that a NATO service member, dubbed a "guardian angel," observe any gathering of NATO and Afghan troops. The guardian angel will "watch people's backs and hopefully identify people that would be involved in those attacks," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters during an Aug. 14 briefing at the Pentagon.

There have been 27 green-on-blue incidents so far in 2012, which have led to 37 deaths, according to ISAF. There have been several such attacks in the last week, killing three NATO troops and wounding two.

The safeguards will be implemented by ISAF commander Gen. John Allen. "General Allen is meeting with the [Afghan] security minister to talk about further steps to take in order to protect against these attacks, and he's also meeting with the village elders," said Panetta. "These are the people who usually vouch for these people -- they have to sign something that vouches for the character of these individuals. He's going back to them to ensure that that's being done properly."

At the briefing, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that, as part of his upcoming tour of the Middle East, he will travel to Kabul next week to talk with Allen about how to protect against what he called an "insider attack threat." "I think you'll hear us start talking about these incidents more as 'insider attack' rather than 'green on blue' because that understates the effect this is having on the ANSF [Afghan national security forces] itself. They're suffering casualties from the same trend that we're suffering" from, said Dempsey.

Allen will also meet with all his one-star generals in Afghanistan to discuss ways to end the attacks. Meanwhile, Afghan defense officials will hold a summit to discuss how to fight the problem. Dempsey noted that the Afghan security forces have "discharged hundreds of soldiers who did indicate that some of these young men had the capability to be radicalized." These soldiers were known to have consumed terrorist propaganda or frequently traveled back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Dempsey.

The attacks may cause ISAF to increase the ratio of NATO mentors to Afghan troops being trained, according to Maj. Gen. Tod Wolters, who was in charge of the Air Force's presence in Afghanistan from May 2011 until May 2012.

While "99.9 percent" of coalition troops and Afghan security forces share a high level of trust, "it just takes one green-on-blue incident where some yo-yo goes off and does something stupid, and now you start to levy some uncertainty on that trust that was established," Wolters said in an Aug. 14 talk at the Air Force Association. "That's a big deal because it forces us to go back and look at the math equation as far as the ratio is concerned in this Security Force Assistance model."

The model Wolters referred to is the coalition's plan to shift from counterinsurgency warfare, in which NATO troops lead combat missions, toward supporting Afghan troops who lead and conduct missions. This shift is critical as NATO prepares to withdraw most of its troops from Afghanistan by 2014.

"Any time you have one of these green-on-blue incidents, as you can well imagine, you're probably a little less prone to have one coalition member support 50 Afghan security members. You might be in a position where you desire to have five or six coalition members," said Wolters, noting that these were examples, not the actual ratios. Changing the ratio even slightly, Wolters added, could affect how quickly the United States withdraws troops.

While Panetta did say that the Taliban has begun to use insider attacks to hit NATO forces with increasing frequency, he was quick to point out that there are multiple kinds of attackers. "It's clear that there's no one source that is producing these attacks," said Panetta. "Some of it is individuals who for one reason or another are upset and suddenly take it out" on NATO troops; other attacks are conducted by "self-radicalized" Afghans with no ties to the Taliban or by insurgent groups that have infiltrated the Afghan security forces.

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GoA Demands Reason Behind Pakistan Military Attacks into Afghanistan

TOLOnews.com
Tuesday, 14 August 2012

The Afghan government will ask the Pakistani Government about its military's cross-border attacks on Afghan border police in eastern Kunar, Police Commander Colonel Gul Nabi Ahmadzai said on Tuesday.

Pakistan's military attacked Afghan checkpoints in eastern Kunar province on Tuesday morning, killing one Afghan border policeman and injuring five others.

At about 4:00 am local time, the Pakistani military started shelling border police outposts in the Din Shay area of Dangam district, Edrees Mohmand, a spokesman for the eastern zone border police in Afghanistan said. Afghan security forces then returned fire.

"We have sent a letter to the Afghanistan, Pakistani and ISAF Cooperation Center. Also, the Afghan Interior Ministry has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow the issue through diplomatic means. Our forces have not violated the border regulations and the attacks were carried out by Pakistan," Ahmadzai said. He added that the battle between Afghan and Pakistani forces continued up until 6:30 AM.

Pakistan's cross-border attacks on Afghanistan's eastern provinces of Kunar and Nimroz have been condemned nationwide. ISAF and the Afghan government have begun an investigation about the rocket attacks, which have continued for more than three months.

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Afghanistan-Pakistan border fighting erupts in Kunar

BBC News
14 August 2012

There is heavy fighting between Afghan and Pakistani forces in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan, Afghan officials say.

Fighting started at around 0400 (0030 GMT) following an attack on a border police commander's convoy, according to border police sources.

According to Afghan officials in Kunar, one border policeman was killed and five were injured.

The Afghan authorities have since sent hundreds of troops to the area.

The attack was from the Pakistani side of the border in the area of Binshay, Dangam District, Afghan police say.

Afghan officials in Kunar province have told the BBC that both sides have been using heavy and small weapons and a Dangam District tribal elder said the fighting was ongoing.

The border district of Dangam lies 40km (25 miles) east of the provincial capital.

Afghan officials have in the past accused Pakistan's military of firing the rockets across the border - a claim Pakistan denies.

The Governor of Kunar Province, Fazullah Waheedi, says that in the past three months there have been 3,160 cross border attacks in five districts, killing eight people and wounding 25.

Earlier this month, the Afghan parliament dismissed the country's defence and interior ministers over alleged security failures, including the shelling of Afghan territory from Pakistan.

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Scores Killed in Suicide Attacks in Kunduz

TOLOnews.com
Wednesday, 15 August 2012

At least 18 civilians were killed and 38 others were injured in a blast in northern Kunduz province on Tuesday night.

The incident in the Archi district, when explosives packed inside a motorcycle detonated, killed mostly women and children, a spokesman for the Kunduz provincial police chief, Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, said.

No group, including the Taliban, has claimed responsibility.

Last night, a suicide bomber attempted to enter a Nato base in the Imam Sahib district in Kunduz and was gunned down by police security forces.

Most of those at the base are local policemen being trained by Nato.

Yesterday, in the deadliest attack this year, more than 29 people, including four policemen, were killed and nearly 110 others were injured when three suicide bombers detonated their explosives in crowded areas of Nimroz's provincial capital, Zaranj, on Tuesday.

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Oliver North: Obama's Afghan Pullout Creating 'Bitter Harvest' of Troop Deaths

NewsMax
By Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walte
Tuesday, 14 Aug 2012

Decorated military veteran and best-selling author Oliver North tells Newsmax the killing of American soldiers by our Afghan allies is the “bitter harvest” of Obama’s decision to schedule a withdrawal of our forces.

North also says Israel has “no choice” but to attack a nuclear-armed Iran, Syria is on the brink of collapse, another 9/11 attack on the United States is “entirely likely,” and Americans have a chance to hire a new U.S. commander-in-chief in the November election and “fire the guy” who is there now. North served in the U.S. Marines for 22 years and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also served on the staff of the National Security Council during the Ronald Reagan administration.

North now hosts “War Stories with Oliver North” on the Fox News Channel and is the founder of the Freedom Alliance foundation. His latest book is “American Heroes in Special Operations.”

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, North was asked, now that Mitt Romney has chosen Paul Ryan as his running mate, if he should have tapped someone with more foreign policy experience like General David Petraeus.

“I’m a military guy. I’m not a political character. But I think from what I hear of the folks that I keep company with, and they’re conservatives, they’re excited by the fact that Paul Ryan is the running mate to Romney,” North says.

“The hope is that he’ll be able to bring to bear some attention on details of national security policy that are going to be as good as his ideas on the budget and reducing our debt.

“My hope is that’s the team we’re going to send to the White House. We have a chance to hire a new commander-in-chief, head of state and chief executive on November 6. God knows we need to fire the guy who’s there now and hire the new team.”

So far this year 34 Americans have been killed by our supposed allies in Afghanistan.

“This is the bitter harvest of Barack Obama’s decision to announce withdrawal,” North observes.

“Even though it was announced over a year ago, what you’re seeing is the rush to the exits. The need to increase the number of recruits for the Afghan National Security Forces, meaning the Army and the police, their intelligence services, has gone up dramatically. The ability to screen them as they’re coming in and vet out those who might be terrorists is almost gone.

“So the end result is the terrorists now know if they’re going to kill an infidel, you’ve only got a short window in which to get it done. You’re going to see a whole lot more of this. It’s become the number-one killer of Americans, replacing the IED as the most lethal part of this war, and it’s all because an announcement was made telling everybody, the enemy included, when we were leaving.”

Is radical Islam still a threat to American citizens and interests? North was asked.

“Well you certainly wouldn’t know it by the way this White House and the State Department are acting, but yes, it is,” he responds.

“[Some Americans] think the War on Terror is won just because bin Laden is dead and oh, by the way, Barack Obama did it. The fact is radical Islam will continue to be a major threat to American interests and our citizens, and another attack like 9/11 or the embassy attacks back in the 90s under the Clinton administration are entirely likely unless America does more to make sure that radical Islam does not get a toehold in places where they can train for those kinds of activities.

“You see Yemen and Somalia rising to the fore in places where we need to have U.S. forces. We need to have U.S. friends in that part of the world and friends in that part of the world are not easy to find, particularly given the way we treat Israel. These are our friends. Goodness gracious, what do we want, more enemies?”

North does not support the use of targeted attacks by drones to deal with the terrorist threat.

“I’m going to break company with a lot of our conservative friends in this,” he says. “I find the idea that American citizens can be killed by a Predator flying with hellfire missiles with only the authority of the president of the United States, the attorney general, the director of the FBI, the director of National Intelligence and some National Security Council staff making a decision, and the president whips out of his pocket his little list of people on his targeted capture/kill list and makes a decision like that to kill an American citizen, I find it to be very dangerous.”

Massive cuts in defense spending will automatically be implemented at the start of next year unless the White House and Congress do something to stop them. North discussed the impact this could have on national security.

“You already see the rise of China in the Pacific, even though there’s a promise that we’re now going to have a specific strategy as Mr. Obama announced a year ago,” he tells Newsmax.

“The ability to carry that out and actually build friendships and military relationships with those in the Pacific is going to be limited by the lack of ships, aircrafts and troops. We’re going to lose 100,000 U.S. Army soldiers, 20,000 Marines, up to 40 ships taken out of the Navy inventory, no modernization of our nuclear weapons system and, of course, ballistic missile defense off the table, as far as Barack Obama is concerned, until after his election.

“The bottom line of it is this country cannot afford not to have a preeminent national security apparatus. That means military and intelligence capabilities. You don’t have it today. We’ll have less tomorrow if the sequester goes through.”

Regarding the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, North stated: “The Israelis are at least smart enough now, knowing how badly this White House leaks, not to tell them what the plans are. So I really don’t know, but obviously the window is closing.

“They have a very good fix on the fact that the Iranians are much closer than anybody expected to developing a nuclear weapon. My sense is that the Israelis have good relationships with other intelligence services, not necessarily our own anymore, but others who also have concerns about Pakistan and Iran and where those nuclear weapons might end up and are going to tell the Israelis if they see a warhead being put on the end of a missile that could take out Israel.

“I think the Israelis will certainly act, and because it’s an existential threat to Israel they have no choice.”

Syria, North also tells Newsmax, “is certainly on the brink of collapse. And we know that there are plentiful munitions, perhaps even biological weapons of mass destruction that are MIA right now in Syria.

“There’s no doubt that the days of the Assad regime are limited. The question is what happens in the aftermath? We don’t know an awful lot about those in the so-called Free Syrian Army that is leading the efforts to unseat him.

“We’ve got to get some intelligence so we know who the players are. We don’t today. We’re counting on Turkey and we’re counting to a certain extent on the Iraqis to tell us information that they probably could find out or know and we don’t. We’ve got to know who the folks that are going to be running Damascus will be over the course of the next several months.”

Asked who the Islamist leaders of Iran, Egypt and other countries would prefer to win the American presidential election, North says: “Hard to tell. I’ve not heard a great deal of the foreign policy plans and the national security plans of the Romney administration. I’ve been writing about it for months trying to get them to lay out how they would be different than Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama. Hopefully they would be but we don’t know because we haven’t heard.

“So it’s hard to tell what the other side really would like to have. But you know what it was like when Jimmy Carter was running for re-election and Ronald Reagan was running? There was no doubt they wanted Carter but they got Reagan. Hopefully we’ll get Romney this and it will be better than what we’ve had.”

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Taliban Showing New Willingness On Prisoner Swap

NPR
By Dina Temple-Raston
August 15, 2012

There are new glimmers of hope for the only known U.S. prisoner of war held captive in Afghanistan — 26-year-old Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban more than three years ago. After lengthy discussions, it appears his captors may be more receptive than ever before to finding a way to send him home.

Watching Bergdahl in Taliban propaganda videos is heartbreaking. In the first videotape released soon after he disappeared from his forward operating base in Afghanistan in 2009, the young man is wearing a traditional shalwar kameez. He is shown eating, cross-legged on the floor. Then he is prompted, in English, by someone off-camera.

"Well I am scared," Bergdahl begins. "Um ... I am scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner."

A rooster crows in the background before the camera cuts to another scene.

Bergdahl has appeared in five Taliban propaganda videos. U.S. officials say they believe he is healthy and is being treated relatively well. He is thought to be in the hands of the Haqqani network in northwest Pakistan, which works closely with the Taliban. The Haqqani network is thought to be moving Bergdahl around so U.S. authorities won't be able to find him.

Talks Gain Traction

In the past couple of months, U.S. officials familiar with the talks say the discussions with the Taliban about Bergdahl have found new momentum. The talks had stalled in March after an American serviceman left his base in southern Afghanistan and shot and killed 16 villagers. But in recent months, the Taliban expressed an interest in getting back to where things had left off. One of the key topics of discussion: trading a handful of Taliban prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl.

Richard Barrett, the coordinator of the U.N.'s al-Qaida and Taliban monitoring team, has been tracking the prisoner discussions. The U.N. is involved because, among other things, the Security Council has leveled travel restrictions against the Taliban leaders who may be part of the swap. The Security Council would have to provide an exemption for the exchange to take place.

"Right now, everyone is waiting on everyone else to make the first move," Barrett says. And even if the discussions were to move forward, which he understands is happening, "it has to wait a little bit on the mechanics being sorted out."

U.S. officials familiar with the discussions say that it is in this area of "mechanics" where there has been the most movement. Broadly, the U.S. has made clear that if the Taliban renounces al-Qaida publicly, other initiatives would be triggered. Among those early plans: a transfer of five Taliban leaders now at Guantanamo Bay to Qatar, where they would be under some sort of house arrest. In exchange for their move out of Guantanamo, the Taliban would have to get the Haqqani network to release Bergdahl.

'Number Of Moving Pieces'

U.S. officials say this proposal was floated in March. What appears to have changed is the Taliban's receptiveness to it.

James Cunningham, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, tiptoed around the issue in a roundtable with reporters in Kabul.

"How shall I put this? We see reflections," he said of moves by the Taliban. "There are a number of moving pieces that are possible. We haven't made any decisions in any way, shape, or form as far as I know, about any transfers."

To prepare for those decisions, there need to be understandings and groundwork laid. As envisioned now, if there were to be a swap, it would include the Taliban's former ministers of defense, interior and intelligence, all of whom have been in Guantanamo for the past decade. There are a dozen other Afghan detainees at the military prison, but only these key political leaders of the Taliban are the focus of current discussions.

"These are really important people and I think it would be more than symbolic," says the U.N.'s Barrett. "They would be under house arrest, but they could be joined by their families and so on. There would be an office there in Qatar and presumably they would be in communication with their Taliban friends. You could argue that their release could give a boost to the movement. Whether it was a boost toward peace or a boost toward war that would remain to be seen."

A Change Of Heart

Clearly that is one of the many things left to be worked out. The hope is that the prisoner release would just be the beginning. The thought is that confidence-building measure would lead to broader talks between the U.S. and the Taliban and would eventually pave the way for the one thing that is required for lasting peace in Afghanistan: formal reconciliation talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

U.S. officials say they aren't sure why the Taliban has shown this sudden change of heart. They say the Taliban may now have a better idea of what the future of its country looks like — there are now a U.S.-Afghan strategic partnership agreement, global backing of Afghanistan and a realization that the U.S. will still have a role in Afghanistan after 2014. That might be a future of which it wants to be a part.

Barrett says the prisoner swap and what follows it won't be easy for either side. Both have a careful calculus to make.

"It is that casting of an agreement as victory, or at least not defeat, that is really important for both sides," he said.

Even if both can eventually declare victory, there is another wild card: how trading five Taliban leaders for America's only known prisoner of war will be received by both the Afghan and the American people.

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Taliban ‘Weapons Dealer' Capture in Helmand

TOLOnews.com
Wednesday, 15 August 2012

A Taliban weapons dealer was captured in a joint Afghan and Nato operation in southern Helmand province on Wednesday, Isaf said in a statement.

"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban weapons dealer during an operation in Sangin district inHelmand province today," Isaf said.

The weapons dealer provided homemade explosives and other improvised explosive device (IEDs) material to Taliban fighters.

At the time of his arrest, he was involved in plans to smuggle a large quantity of homemade explosives into the region for use in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

The security force also detained two suspected insurgents during the operation.

Another Taliban leader was captured in joint forces operation in Nahr-e-Saraj district of the province today. The Taliban leader recruited fighters and provided them with weapons and explosives.

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US boosts intelligence after Afghan insider attacks

Reuters
14/08/2012
WASHINGTON

The Pentagon said on Tuesday it was expanding counterintelligence staff in Afghanistan after a rise in insider attacks by Afghans thought to be friendly to U.S. forces but who have killed 37 coalition troops so far this year.

Last Friday, six U.S. troops were killed in two separate incidents, one which saw an Afghan police commander and several of his men kill three U.S. Marines after inviting them to a Ramadan breakfast to discuss security.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he was deeply concerned by the killings "because of the lives lost and because of the potential damage to our partnership efforts."

The increasing number of incidents have eroded trust between the allies just as NATO combat troops prepare to hand over security control to Afghan forces by 2014.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same news conference that the U.S. military was bolstering counterintelligence expertise at the battalion level and above in Afghanistan.

He said the same was occurring within Afghan forces, which he said had so far discharged hundreds of soldiers who showed a risk of radicalization -- including travel back and forth to Pakistan, where many militants enjoy safe haven.

So far in 2012, there have been 29 attacks, resulting in 37 coalition deaths, 21 of which were among U.S. forces. For the same period last year, there were 16 attacks and 28 deaths.

In all of 2011, there were 35 coalition troops killed, 24 of whom were U.S. troops.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Malaysia can extradite accused Afghan to Australia

AP
Aug 15, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

Malaysia's highest court has refused to free an Afghan carpet seller expected to be extradited to Australia on charges of people smuggling.

Kuala Lumpur police arrested Said Mir Bahrami last August on the request of Australian officials, who believe he organized the travel of illegal immigrants to Australia through Indonesian waters.

Bahrami had denied the accusation and sought to be released on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Malaysia's Federal Court cleared the main obstacle to his extradition Wednesday by ruling the Home Ministry was empowered to hold him under extradition laws.

Officials could not immediately be contacted for details on when Bahrami might be extradited.

More than 7,000 asylum seekers - many from war-torn countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka - have reached Australian shores so far this year.

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Karzai Appoints Former Defense Minister as Senior Military Advisor

TOLOnews.com
By Rezwan Natiq
Tuesday, 14 August 2012

President Hamid Karzai appointed the former Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak as his senior military advisor said in a presidential statement released on Monday.

Wardak will focus on reform, development and training of Afghan National Security Forces, according to the statement.

Last week, Wardak was dismissed from his Defense Minister post after weak responses, according to lawmakers, to Pakistan's cross-border rocket attacks into Afghanistan. He was then ordered by President Karzai to retain his position until a nominee was suggested to Parliament.

Wardak, however, resigned from his position of nine years mission at the Ministry of Defense.

ISAF said in a press conference that Wardak's dismissal was a step back as he is one of its closest allies, but his dismissal would not have a negative impacts on the security transition.

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Afghan girls inspired to maintain exercise

Xinhua
By Abdul Haleem
Aug. 14 , 2012
KABUL

"By attending the London Olympics I have given the message to all the Afghan girls that they are talented, they can do sport, they can attend international competitions and above all they can earn honor to their country," Tahmina Kohistani told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The only Afghan girl, Kohistani, 23, who competed in running at London Olympics but failed to win medal, was joyful for representing Afghan women there in the international contests.

"Although I could not earn medal in the contest, I was able to represent Afghan women with talent and so, I am proud to be the first Afghan girl attending Olympic Games," said the ambitious Kohistani after returning home.

In the conservative Afghanistan it was unbelievable 11 years ago when Taliban regime was in power.

The fundamentalist regime which collapsed in late 2001 by the U.S.-led military campaign had banned schools for girls and confined women to their houses. The outfit has also imposed series of restrictions on men athletes including sporting long beard and wearing long trousers during playing.

In the national sport stadium -- Ghazi Stadium, Kabul where the athletes in the post-Taliban Afghanistan exercise daily to improve their ability, Taliban militants during their six-year reign often awarded punishment including execution and chopping hands and feet to alleged criminals there each Friday which is the Muslim Weekly holiday.

A six-member Afghan team which includes Rohullah Nikpa and Nisar Ahmad Bahawi in taekwondo, Masoud Azizi and Tahmina Kohistani the only female in running, Aimal Faisal and Ajmal Faizi Zada in boxing and judo represented Afghanistan in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

In the men's 68kg category, the Afghan taekwondo player, Nikpa after beating his rivals Michal Loniewski from Poland 12-5, Martin Stamper from Britain 5-3, David Boui of Central African Republic 14-2 and losing to Iranian player Mohammad Bagheri Motamed had earned Bronze medal, the second of its kind earned by Afghanistan, both by Nikpa, 25.

However, the remaining five had lost in the London 2012 international tournaments.

The team returned home Tuesday morning and the exciting Afghans awarded red-carpet welcome to Olympic medalist Rohullah Nikpa and his entourage as thousands of people including government officials and lawmakers waiting in long queue at Kabul International Airport to receive the Olympic hero and associates.

A long convoy of motorcades and horse riders were slowly moving on the road leading to the airport to welcome the athletes.

"I would try my best to win gold medal in the next Olympic Games," Nikpa told Xinhua amid hundreds of his admirers.

The people waiting to receive the athletes were proud of the earning a medal -- the bronze in the London Games.

"It is a matter of pride for Afghans that their country has secured position among the medal winning nations," a sport fan and athlete Ahmad Adeeb Wali, 21 told Xinhua at Ghazi Stadium; while eagerly waiting among thousands of people to receive the six athletes which includes Ms. Tahmina Kohistani, the ambitious girl inspiring Afghan females to support sport in Afghanistan.

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Corruption Another Challenge in Power Supply Projects

TOLOnews.com
Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Afghanistan's Energy and Power Minister, Mohammad Ismail Khan, while speaking to the Senate, said that various power supply projects have been halted due to insecurity.

256 people were killed while shifting a turbine into the Kajaki Dam of Helmand province. Khan added that officials charge unlawful tax rates from power supply companies in Nangarhar province.

Khan said to the Senate that " in a projects in Nangarhar, we employed 30 security guards but we paid over 120 people salaries, including officials and imams."

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Afghans Olympic medalist warmly welcomed home

Xinhua
Aug. 14, 2012
KABUL

The inciting Afghans awarded red-carpet welcome to Olympic medallist Rohullah Nikpa who returned home on Tuesday as thousands of people waited in long queue at Kabul International Airport.

A long convoy of motorcades and horse riders were slowly moving on the road leading to the airport to welcome the medallist. The roads as well as government building were seen decorated with the pictures of the Nikpa and banners inscribed with slogans encouraging sport and athletes.

Afghan taekwondo player, Rohullah Nikpa, was the first Afghan athlete who had won bronze medal in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and secured again bronze in London Olympics 2012 on Aug. 9.

Hundreds of people were accompanying their athletes from airport to Kabul sport stadium, where thousands of people were waiting to welcome them.

The emotional and happy fans were chanting "Thank you for win", "Victory is yours," and "Afghanistan, Afghanistan" when meeting the players at the stadium.

The Afghan parliament is going to formally appreciate Nikpa and his team on Wednesday; while sport fan and businessmen will also award the Olympic medallist privately.

A six-member Afghan team which includes Rohullah Nikpa and Nisar Ahmad Bahawi in taekwondo, Masoud Azizi and Tahmina Kohistani the only female in the team in running, Aimal Faisal and Ajmal Faizi Zada in boxing and judo represented Afghanistan in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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