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New security for US troops in Afghanistan to guard against Afghan insider threats
March 29, 2012 Associated Press
U.S. troops in Afghanistan now have far-reaching new protections against rogue killers among their Afghan allies, including assigned "guardian angels" -- fellow troops who will watch over them as they sleep.
Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, ordered the added protections in recent weeks to guard against insider threats, according to a senior military official. They come in the wake of 16 attacks on U.S. and coalition forces by Afghans that now represent nearly one-fifth of all combat deaths this year.
Some of the changes have been subtle, others less so.
In several Afghan ministries, Americans are now allowed to carry weapons. And they have been instructed to rearrange their office desks there to face the door, so they can see who is coming in, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the orders.
Two U.S. military officers working in the Afghan Interior Ministry, one of the most heavily guarded ministry buildings in Kabul, were gunned down at their desks on Feb. 25. While Allen did not detail the new measures in a briefing earlier this week, he acknowledged that changes had been made.
"We have taken steps necessary on our side to protect ourselves with respect to, in fact, sleeping arrangements, internal defenses associated with those small bases in which we operate," Allen said, adding that now someone is "always overwatching our forces."
The security measures came after the U.S. military mistakenly burned Korans and other religious materials in February, triggering anti-American demonstrations and riots. And on March 11, 17 Afghan civilians, including nine children, allegedly were killed by a U.S. soldier.
Allen issued a directive "to get every single troop in the war zone to read it and think" -- and to emphasize that troops should be aware of their surroundings as they go about their jobs, the military official said. Allen also issued other orders that more specifically dealt with security at the Afghan ministries.
Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for Allen, said the general "ordered commanders to take appropriate steps to protect his troops, prudent steps that make sense to our Afghan partners as well. But he also made it clear that we weren't coming to all stop, that the work must continue, and that we couldn't let the partnership itself become a casualty of war."
U.S. commanders and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta say the killings do not represent a trend, and they say that fewer than half of the killings have been by Afghans associated with the Taliban.
Instead, Allen said, these types of attacks come with fighting an insurgency and happened in Iraq and Vietnam. The enemy, he said, will do what it can to disrupt efforts to train and grow a nation's indigenous security force.
Still, the recent increase in Afghans gunning down troops they are serving with reflects increased tensions between Afghanistan and the U.S. just as the American-led coalition force escalates efforts to train Afghans to take over their own security so that most NATO forces can leave by the end of 2014.
Officials insist the killings have not hampered the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. But they come at a time when new, small advisory teams are heading into Afghanistan to enhance the training program, requiring them to work closely with Afghan military units.
So far this year, 16 NATO service members have been shot and killed by Afghan soldiers and policemen or militants disguised in their uniforms, according to an Associated Press tally. That equals 18 percent of the 84 foreign troops killed this year in Afghanistan. Of the approximately 80 NATO service members killed since 2007 by Afghan security forces, more than 75 percent were in the past two years.
In two separate incidents on Monday, Afghan security forces shot and killed one American and two British troops.
In one incident, two British service members were killed by an Afghan soldier in front of the main gate of a joint civilian-military base in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said. And in the second incident, a U.S. service member was shot and killed at a checkpoint in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan by a man who was believed to be a member of a village-level fighting force the U.S. is fostering in hopes of countering the Taliban insurgency.
According to the senior military official, the so-called guardian angels provide an extra layer of security, watching over the troops as they sleep, exercise or go about other daily activities.
Allen noted that the Afghans also have taken some similar steps to provide guards for their own forces.
The Afghans also have inserted their own intelligence officers into their units to help try to ferret out possible insurgents or rogue soldiers. And, since the ministry shooting, the Afghans have taken a number of steps to increase building security in the ministries and to improve the vetting of their workers.
"They are helping the troops to understand how to recognize radicalization or the emergence of extremism in some of those, in individuals who may in fact be suspect," Allen said.
He noted that there have also been some arrests by Afghan forces when they identified possible attackers within their ranks.
Afghans Demands Intervention After 'Pakistani Taliban' Attacks
By Rohullah Anwari, Frud Bezhan March 29, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
KONAR, Afghanistan -- Local Afghan officials have called for a military intervention in the country's northeast after scores of suspected Pakistani Taliban fighters overran several districts in Nuristan, a remote province bordering Pakistan.
Ghulamullah Nuristani, the security chief in Nuristan, says the militants captured the Kamdesh and Bargmatal districts of Nuristan two weeks ago and have torched dozens of homes and threatened to kill local villagers who work for the Afghan government.
Nuristani has called on NATO and the Afghan government to intervene, insisting that the small contingent of local police is powerless to stop the militants in Nuristan, from where U.S. forces withdrew in 2009.
"If anybody opposes them, the insurgents burn their homes and threaten to kill them. I have witnessed several houses being burned and seen many of the inhabitants beaten," Nuristani says. "Until the government intervenes, we don't have the resources [to fight back]. We can't do it alone."
It's not clear where the militants are from. Nuristani says they are members of the Pakistani Taliban, who control the Pakistani side of the border alongside Al-Qaeda operatives and fighters from the Hizb-e Islami group headed by notorious former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Calling For Help
Aziz Rahman, a village elder in Kamdesh, describes the militants as armed and wearing black clothing. He says the militants have set up a shadow government, opening local offices and collecting taxes from local residents.
"Kamdesh is under the control of the Taliban. The men in black clothing are here. They have opened a Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice," Rahman says. "They are teaching religious material and are telling people to do the right things. If people violate the rules, then they get punished."
Rahman says the new rules include a decree that states that all men must grow long beards and refrain from smoking tobacco. He says dozens of militants are roaming the streets in SUVs and searching locals at mosques and bazaars to ensure the new rules are being followed.
Villagers receive lashes and beatings if they violate the rules, he adds.
Mawlawi Ahmadullah Moahad, a member of parliament from Nuristan, issued a warning to the government on the deteriorating situation in Nuristan when he addressed parliament on March 24.
Moahad told parliament that the militants had crossed the border from Pakistan and had evicted hundreds of villagers from their homes and replaced them with families from the Pakistani town of Chitral, which is across the border in the Bajaur tribal agency.
Moahad said the government had so far ignored his pleas for military intervention in Nuristan and he has accused the NATO-led coalition force of failing to act.
Locals who have fled Nuristan to neighboring provinces tell RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that many people have died at the hands of the militants.
With few roads and communication networks in Nuristan, the reported deaths could not be independently confirmed.
U.S. Forces Pull Out
The recent incident in Kamdesh and Bargmatal districts is the first major confrontation since October 2009, when U.S. forces withdrew from the area after several deadly attacks that left 17 soldiers dead.
In July 2008, nine NATO soldiers were killed after some 200 heavily armed insurgents using machine guns and rocket propelled grenades attacked several Afghan military posts from their bases in Chitral.
Only a few months later, in October 2008, some 300 insurgents raided Camp Keating, the main NATO military base in Nuristan. Referred to as the Battle of Kamdesh, the base was nearly overrun, with more than 100 militants, eight U.S. soldiers, and seven Afghan soldiers being killed in the ensuing fighting.
Four days later, U.S. forces withdrew from all four of their bases in Nuristan, as part of a plan by General Stanley McChrystal to pull forces out of small outposts and relocate them closer to urban centers.
The cross-border attacks fuelled tensions between neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose governments accused each another of failing to deal with the militants. Afghanistan also accused Pakistan of launching hundreds of rockets into its territory.
Long Oppressed People
Nuristan, a remote and mountainous region, has a long history of violence.
Nuristanis, who many historians claim are descendants of an ancient Greek community who settled in the region after the conquest of the area by Alexander the Great, have long been persecuted by various Afghan leaders.
With their pagan religion and own ancient language, the small community was repeatedly targeted by successive Afghan kings who ransacked Nuristan and forced the inhabitants of the region, formally known as Kafiristan, or land of nonbelievers, to convert to Islam.
The name of the area was subsequently changed to Nuristan, which means land of the enlightened.
The arrival of religious extremism in Afghanistan has added to the plight of the Nuristanis, many of whom face a growing battle to save their language and their traditional ways of life.
Written by Frud Bezhan, based on reporting by Rohullah Anwari in Konar
200 French troops leave Afghanistan
By RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two hundred French troops said goodbye to the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday as part of France's accelerated pullout from the country.
In January, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a faster-track exit for France, breaking from previous plans to go along with to the U.S.-led coalition's plan to withdraw combat forces by the end of 2014.
Sarkozy said France would speed up its withdrawal timetable, pulling out 1,000 — 400 more than its previous target — of its current 3,600 soldiers by year-end and withdraw all combat forces by the end of 2013. His announcement came a week after four unarmed French troops were killed by an Afghan soldier in Kapisa province in eastern Afghanistan.
The French troops waiting to board their flight out of Afghanistan were not stationed in Kapisa, but in Surobi district, about 45 kilometers (30 miles) east of Kabul.
They said they were elated to leave and thought the Afghan forces they left behind were ready to go solo.
Capt. Nicolas from Battle Group Picardie said his daughter was born in June and he was in Afghanistan in September.
"I think she might be able to say a couple of words now," said Nicolas, who was not permitted to release his last name. "I'm really happy to go home to hear her."
A 32-year-old lieutenant named Jeremie, who also did not disclose his last name, said the security situation in Surobi had improved.
"We were under fire only once in the last four months," he said. "It wasn't a big attack. We came under fire from one direction."
He said the Afghan security forces were adept at finding weapons caches and defusing bombs.
"I think I can say that they do their jobs — maybe not quite good, but good," he said.
The NATO-led international force in Afghanistan has been steadily handing over responsibility for security to the government's army and police ever since the alliance's last summit in Lisbon in 2010. There, NATO leaders decided to move the Afghans into the lead role in fighting the Taliban by 2014 and end the coalition's combat role.
However, Sarkozy, who is engaged in a tough re-election campaign ahead of the April vote, has been under political pressure to withdraw French troops even earlier. Polls show most French want an early pullout and his main challenger, Francois Hollande, has said that his hope would be to bring home all French forces this year.
Capt. Francois, deputy commander of one of the units in Surobi, said the French troops played a support role in missions led by the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.
"From what I've seen, they have the capacity and the ability and it seems to me that they are a professional army," he said.
In Paris, French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said that after more French troops leave in the next few days, about 3,400 French troops will still be in Afghanistan. There are no specific plans yet for the withdrawals scheduled for 2013, he said.
France, one of the top five troop-contributing nations in the international force, has lost 92 troops since 2001.
Maj. Philippe Baille, a spokesman for the French contingent in Afghanistan, said that after 2014, French soldiers will continue training Afghan security forces and providing logistical support for the Afghan army.
In addition to pulling out troops, about 1,300 vehicles and the equivalent of 1,700 containers of materials will be repatriated by 2014, he said. For now, the equipment is being flown to Abu Dhabi and then transferred onto boats headed for France, he said.
The troops that left on Wednesday were from the 1st Infantry Regiment from Sarrebourg, the 3rd Engineer Regiment from Charleville-Mezieres and the 1st Artillery Marine Regiment from Couvron.
It was feared that France's announcement could step up pressure on other European governments like Britain, Italy and Germany to pull out their troops faster. So far, that hasn't happened.
Defense Secretary Philip Hammond, who visited Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, said Britain has made a long-term commitment to the Afghan people.
"We will help to finance the Afghan national security forces for many years after 2014. We have taken responsibility for running the Afghan National Army officer academy which we will build outside Kabul," Hammond said. "We have not yet taken the decision about what if any military footprint we will retain after 2014."
Britain has announced that it will withdraw 500 troops by the end of this year, reducing the size of its contingent in Afghanistan to 9,000.
___
Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to this report.
NATO supply convoy ambushed in west Afghanistan
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents ambushed a NATO coalition supply convoy in a mountainous area of western Afghanistan, sparking a three-hour firefight in which an Afghan soldier, five Afghan security guards, and 14 attackers were killed, officials said Thursday.
Najibullah Najibi, a spokesman for the Afghan National Army's western region, said the battle raged Wednesday along a highway regularly used by coalition supply trucks in Bala Buluk district of Farah province.
"The fighting was intense and we sent in extra forces," Najibi said.
There were varying estimates of the number of militants killed.
Raouf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Afghan National Police in the west, said more than 30 militants were killed and 10 others were wounded.
Sayed Abdul Wahid, an official of the Arya security company, said his workers who were fighting with AK-47s were overpowered by militants using heavy weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. He said five of his employees were killed and five others were wounded by insurgents who burned three vehicles in the convoy.
Separately, the coalition said a NATO service member was killed in a roadside bombing Thursday in southern Afghanistan. No other details were disclosed.
So far this year, 86 international troops have been killed in Afghanistan.
35 insurgents killed, 12 detained in Afghanistan within 24 hours
KABUL, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 35 insurgents were killed and 12 others detained during military operations conducted by Afghan forces and NATO-led coalition troops within 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Thursday morning.
"Afghan National Police (ANP) in collaboration with army and NATO-led coalition troops conducted 12 joint operations in nine provinces around the country over the past 24 hours killing 35 armed insurgents and detaining 12 others," the ministry said in a statement.
They also found and seized weapons and ammunition including 27 AK-47 guns and 14 anti-vehicle mines besides confiscating seven motorbikes and two vehicles used by insurgents, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the security forces.
The ANP during separate operations also found and defused 10 anti-vehicle mines in southern Kandahar and eastern Nangarhar provinces over the same period of time, it added.
Afghan officials often use the word "insurgents" referring to the Taliban, however, the militant group has yet to make comments.
Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) troops have intensified cleanup operations throughout the post-Taliban country recently as spring and summer, known as "fighting season", are drawing near in the country.
Former official gets prison over Afghanistan bribe
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A federal judge in Atlanta sentenced a former Defense Department official on Wednesday to a year and eight months in prison for taking nearly $100,000 in bribes from a company seeking a contract in Afghanistan.
Desi Deandre Wade, 40, of Climax, Georgia, was arrested in August after traveling to Atlanta from Afghanistan for the Fire Rescue International Conference, officials said.
While at the convention, Wade, then the Defense Department's chief of fire and emergency services in Kabul, accepted $95,000 in cash from an Afghan-based company in exchange for the guarantee of a government contract, prosecutors said.
The cash was in Wade's backpack when he was arrested, authorities said.
The contractor had contacted U.S. authorities in Afghanistan last summer and reported that Wade was soliciting bribes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney told Reuters.
The contractor agreed to work with the government as a confidential informant in the investigation, McBurney said.
Under the scheme, Wade would provide the company with other bidders' quotes so that it would be the low bidder and get the contract, according to prosecutors. Wade, who earlier had accepted $4,000 from the same contractor, pleaded guilty to the charges in December and was fired from his job.
He could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for the crime.
"Bribery costs our taxpayers countless millions every year," said Sally Yates, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
"When a corrupt contractor like this defendant demands a bribe, he builds that cost into the bid - meaning that, in the end, the taxpayer bears the expense of the corrupt contractor's greed."
(Editing By Colleen Jenkins and Mohammad Zargham)
No U.S. access to sites of Afghan killings, officials say
By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN March 29, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. military officials have yet to gain access to the sites where 17 Afghans were killed in Kandahar, an obstacle that could make it more difficult to prosecute the American soldier accused of the multiple homicides.
U.S. personnel have not been able to collect DNA from the sites or access the areas, although DNA collected by Afghan investigators may have been received, an official said.
However, DNA has been found in blood on the clothing of the suspect, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.
"We do not have access to the crime scene," said the U.S. official, who has knowledge of the investigation but did not want to be identified discussing an ongoing inquiry.
Prosecution faces major hurdles in massacre case
His account gives new insight into what apparently occurred the night of the March 11 attacks on two villages in the Panjwai district, near a remote U.S. outpost.
His comments on the lack of U.S. access to the sites of the killings also tally with what Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" late Wednesday.
Browne said that it was "not a traditional crime scene," making it tough for prosecutors to make a case.
"There is no crime scene. The military has not even been back to the villages where this allegation stems from. They haven't been back there. So there's no crime scene, there's no DNA, there's no fingerprints, there's no confession," he said.
"You know, the Afghan people traditionally, I understand, and understandably, bury their dead very quickly. So it's going to be a tough case for the prosecutors."
The U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said Bales, 38, was meant to have been on duty guarding the base that night, and would have had full body armor and weaponry as standard.
He said he did not think alcohol had fueled the crime. "I do not think that drinking played a big role, but there may have been some level of drinking," the official said.
Officials: Bales sneaked off base twice during rampage
Bales was allegedly first spotted leaving the base around 1 a.m. by an Afghan guard. It is not clear why the guard did not alert Bales' superiors at that time, and the official said Bales was not noticed when he returned to the compound an hour later.
It was then, during about 30 minutes when he was on the base, that he returned to his accommodation and woke at least one roommate, another U.S. Army soldier, the official said.
"The exact conversation is unclear," the official said, but Bales claimed he had been killing Afghan civilians off the base, which his roommate dismissed as nonsense.
A different Afghan guard then saw Bales leave the base a second time. He alerted his command that someone had left the outpost, and the information was passed to the U.S. soldier in charge of the base.
"The whole base was woken up," the official said, for an accountability check -- a rare instance in which a small unit of soldiers on a base have to count their number.
A search party was then formed, but within a few meters of leaving the compound, it ran into Bales, who had been spotted by a surveillance camera returning toward the base.
That was at 3:30 a.m., about 2½ hours after he first left the base, the official said, stressing that fashioning a precise timeline of that night has been challenging.
U.S. soldiers noticed Bales had blood on him, and he dropped to the ground saying nothing, the official said.
Bales has maintained his silence on the killings since, the official said, his apparent last words to U.S. personnel being to his roommate.
In response to suggestions Bales was traumatized in part by a recent injury to a U.S. colleague, the official said that a soldier at the base had lost a leg in a explosion three or four days earlier but that there was no reason to suspect Bales had been present at the scene of that blast.
In addition to the 17 charges of murder "with premeditation," Bales faces six counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault.
He returned to the United States earlier this month and is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Lawyer Says U.S. Military Suspect Had Depression After Iraq
March 29, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The lawyer for the U.S. soldier charged with killing 17 civilians in southern Afghanistan said the soldier had experienced a traumatic incident while in Iraq and was suffering from depression at the time of the killings.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over the March 11 slaughter in Kandahar Province.
He is currently being held in a military prison in the U.S. state of Kansas.
In his new comments, his lawyer, John Henry Browne, gave no details about the traumatic incident experienced by Bales in Iraq.
He also downplayed reports Bales had confessed to the Afghan killings and said there was no solid evidence in the case.
The lawyer has previously said Bales has only a sketchy memory of the night of the massacre.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Details Offered on How Suspect Could Have Left Afghan Base
New York Times By JAMES DAO and TAIMOOR SHAH March 28, 2012
It is among the more intriguing mysteries swirling around the killings of civilian villagers in southern Afghanistan: How could the Army staff sergeant charged with 17 counts of murder have left his combat outpost, located in a dangerous region, not once but twice in the middle of the night to commit the shootings, as the Army says he did?
But new details have emerged this week that offer possible explanations for how Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the 38-year-old soldier charged with the killings, might have slipped away from his outpost in Kandahar Province early on March 11.
In recent interviews, American and Afghan officials said that the outpost in the rural Panjwai district was guarded by Afghan soldiers that night, as it probably was on most nights, because there were relatively few American soldiers based there, possibly only a platoon. Platoons typically have between 25 and 40 soldiers.
Officials have speculated that it might have been easier for Sergeant Bales to walk past an Afghan security guard than an American guard, who probably would have known him and perhaps would have been less willing to let him leave without proper authorization.
American officials said Sergeant Bales killed the civilians, at least nine of them children, in two villages, one to the south of his combat outpost and another to the north. In between the shootings, the officials said, he returned to the outpost for an unspecified period of time. As he came back into the outpost, he was spotted by at least one Afghan security guard, said Gen. Abdul Hameed, the corps commander for the Afghan National Army in Kandahar Province, in an interview.
It is not clear whether that guard notified anyone at the time about Sergeant Bales’s return. But while he was in the outpost between shootings, Sergeant Bales himself told at least one American soldier that he had shot people in a nearby village, an American official said.
Asked why the soldier, who has not been identified, did not immediately notify superiors of what Sergeant Bales had told him, the American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the criminal investigation, replied, “Because the individual did not believe it.”
Sergeant Bales’s civilian lawyer, John Henry Browne, has said that Sergeant Bales has not confessed to the shootings. He is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., waiting for the military’s grand jury process to begin.
It is almost unheard of for American soldiers to leave bases in Afghanistan on their own. However, it appears that the setup at Camp Belambi, as the outpost is known, would have made it easier to slip away unnoticed.
The camp is located in what appears to be a traditional Afghan residential compound, with high mud walls surrounding buildings of mud and wood. Though the American soldiers there, led by a small Army Special Forces team, had bolstered the walls with dirt-filled Hesco barriers, barbed wire and a guard tower, the outpost was not as heavily fortified as larger operating bases, where several layers of walls typically surround residential areas.
General Hameed said that one of the Afghan soldiers on guard duty that night saw an American soldier return to the outpost around midnight. A second Afghan soldier who was on guard duty later that night reported seeing an American leave the outpost about two hours later, General Hameed said.
That second guard notified his superiors of the departure. When American commanders became aware that a soldier was missing, they first checked sleeping quarters, toilets and the kitchen area before organizing a patrol to look outside the compound, General Hameed said. But before the patrol left, a high-powered infrared camera on a small blimp spotted Sergeant Bales nearby.
An American official said that imagery from the camera showed Sergeant Bales lying facedown in a nearby field. It was not clear what he was doing, but then he stood up and walked toward the outpost, where he was disarmed.
At larger bases, surveillance video is typically monitored at all times, American officials said. But because Camp Belambi has relatively few soldiers, it is possible that no one was watching when Sergeant Bales left the outpost the first time, officials said.
Mr. Browne has said the sergeant has limited memories of that night and has suggested that he has post-traumatic stress disorder. Sergeant Bales’s wife, Karilyn, said in a television interview that she saw no signs of the disorder, but Mr. Browne said his client was most likely “protecting” her and had frequent nightmares.
Tough job for new German envoy to Afghanistan
Deutsche Welle - Thu Mar 29, 6:19 am ET
On April 1, Michael Koch begins his new job as Germany's special envoy for Afghanistan. Among Germany's top diplomats there are few as capable for handling this difficult task.
Unlike his predecessor, Michael Steiner, who was known for getting loud if necessary, Koch is a man of quiet words. Born in Kansas City, he inherited his diplomatic aplomb from his father, a German diplomat who was posted there. Koch began his own diplomatic career in 1986.
Prior to his new job as special envoy to Afghanistan, Koch was the German ambassador to Pakistan, and before that, head of the political affairs department at the German embassy in New Delhi. He is considered to be a very knowledgeable expert on the entire region.
"I am sure that Michael Koch is a good choice for this post," said Johannes Pflug, the Afghanistan expert of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) and a member of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament. "He was not only ambassador in Pakistan, but also headed the planning committee for Afghanistan in the foreign ministry from 2004 to 2008," said Pflug.
Experienced diplomat
Afghanistan and Pakistan are not the first difficult postings in Asia for the German diplomat. In the 1990s, Koch was the charge d'affairs in Myanmar (Burma) in one of the most isolated countries on the Asian continent. Wherever he served Koch was noticed for his special abilities.
"He is what one generally refers to as a 'file cruncher'; a person who not only constantly reads reports, books and magazines, but also remembers what he has read," notes Pflug enthusiastically.
In his new job, Koch may find himself occasionally reminding others to keep their promises to provide aid to Afghanistan after the international community withdraws its troops in 2014. His predecessor, Michael Steiner, made sure that the long-term aid was agreed on at the Afghanistan conference in Bonn in December 2011.
Complicated conditions
Koch takes over from Steiner at a difficult time. Taliban insurgents are feeling stronger in the wake of repeated speculation that ISAF forces will withdraw early and know that time is on their side. Many miles away in the United States, the presidential election campaign is in full swing, which many observers believe will have a direct impact on the outcome of negotiations in Afghanistan.
"The first difficulty Michael Koch will be confronted with is the presidential election in the US. Many hardliners among [President Obama's] Democrats do not want any negotiations with the Taliban at the moment," says Pflug.
Among German foreign policy experts, however, the consensus is that there can be no military, and only a civil, solution in Afghanistan. In Pflug's view, there is no alternative to talks with the Taliban.
the Pakistani journalist and Taliban expert, Ahmed Rashid, agrees with that assessment. He says Koch's task in the coming months will be to get the stumbling blocks out of the way in these talks.
"In the months ahead, there are going to be a lot of complications; a lot of problems, and it may be that the Taliban or the Americans enlist the help of Germany to break some deadlock, or hold up in the talks," says Rashid.
Appreciation for Germany's mediator role
Koch's predecessor last year made a considerable contribution toward getting talks with the Taliban going in the first place. Germany earned a great deal of trust among the participants at the talks in the Arab emirate of Qatar, says Rashid, because "Germany was not pursing its own political agenda at the negotiations." The Karzai government, the Taliban and even Pakistan trust Germany because of this, he notes, refering to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "However, Germany must be careful not to be sidelined by the United States," says Rashid.
Michael Koch has good connections in the US from his time in the 1990s as the chief-of staff for Werner Weidenfeld, the coordinator of German-American relations in the German foreign ministry at the time.
Most experts think that a lasting political solution in Afghanistan must be supported by the key powers in the region and that means India, Pakistan and Iran. But unlike Germany, Washington currently has no diplomatic ties with Tehran. "Koch could help establish channels of communication," says Rashid. US relations with Pakistan are also at a low point following last year's raid to kill Osama bin Laden. Koch's tenure as German ambassador to Pakistan could also help build bridges here.
In any case, Koch's negotiating skills will be needed sooner or later. "Germany is still going to be very deeply involved in the peace process. A lot of messaging, which is going on between the Taliban and Karzai, has been through the Germans. So, I think Ambassador Koch will still play an important role in that," Rashid concludes.
Author: Daniel Scheschkewitz /gb
Editor: Shamil Shams
TAPI gas pipeline: Final round of talks in Kabul on April 19
Business Recorder By ABDUL RASHEED AZAD Thursday, 29 March 2012
ISLAMABAD - Final round of talks among the four participating counties of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project would be held in Kabul on April 19 to finalize the structure of the much-needed energy project for India and Pakistan.
Federal Secretary Petroleum Mohammed Ejaz Chaudhry, after his return from India where he attended 7th Asia Gas conference, stated this while talking to a group of journalists here on Wednesday. Ejaz said Pakistan has requested Turkmenistan for the same gas price which it had agreed with Afghanistan, adding that the price would be around 50 cents per Million British Thermal Units (mmbtu).
He maintained that India has also appreciated Pakistan’s suggestion regarding pricing of TAPI gas but has not yet accepted the proposal.
The 1,680-km long TAPI gas pipeline is targeted to bring 3.2 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (bcfd) of natural gas from Turkmenistan’s gas fields to Multan and end at the northwestern Indian town of Fazilka.
Pakistan also intends to import 750 million cubic feet of gas daily for 25 years from Iran, according to the terms of the agreement. The secretary said that a high level Pakistani delegation will also visit Russia on April 2-3 to invite Russian Gas Company Gazprom to bid for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.
Gazprom has submitted the Expression of Interest in response to Inter Sate Gas Company’s invitation in August 2011, Ejaz said and added that Pakistan and Gazprom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2005.
He said Afghanistan has refused to purchase TAPI gas, however would allow the gas to be transited through their country to India and Pakistan. This implies 750 mmcfd destined for Afghanistan would now be available for Pakistan and India. Talks between the two nuclear rivals on this are expected on 19 April.
According to Ejaz, Gazprom has expressed an interest in the construction of IP as well as Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline projects.
On a question, he said if the relevant authorities approve Pakistan could import petroleum products from India.
Ejaz said Pakistan will also invite Indian oil/gas exploration and production companies to invest in Pakistan’s oil/gas sector, but it is subject to the approval of relevant authorities.
The government has asked the two parties to import 400 mmcfd of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) each and the Petroleum Ministry would soon issue tender. He said the government would provide offtake guarantee to the importers of LNG.
On a question regarding high price of LNG which stands at $18 per mmcfd, Ejaz said the government would utilize LNG for power generation and has asked the interested companies to set a price of LNG less than furnace oil.
U.S. Military Commanders Move to Mend Pakistan Rift
Wall Street Journal By TOM WRIGHT March 28, 2012
Senior U.S. military commanders met with their Pakistani counterparts on Wednesday, the first such contacts since relations were ruptured when U.S. helicopters accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in an airstrike in November.
Gen. James Mattis, who as commander of the U.S. Central Command is the senior U.S. military officer in the region, and Gen. John Allen, the U.S.'s top commander in Afghanistan, met Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was encouraged by the meeting and hoped it would help "reset the relationship."
Gen. Dempsey, speaking aboard a military aircraft on a visit to Brazil, said the U.S. hoped Pakistan would agree to reopen routes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had used to supply its troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistan shut the routes after the November airstrike on the border, causing supply bottlenecks and forcing NATO to find alternative routes. Pakistan also suspended high-level civilian and diplomatic meetings with U.S. officials and ejected the U.S. from an air base it had been using to launch drone strikes.
Pakistan military spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas declined to say whether the meeting Wednesday would result in the reopening of the supply routes. A Pakistan army statement said the meeting would focus on an inquiry into the November incident and how to improve border coordination.
The meeting shows how U.S.-Pakistan relations, despite sustained tensions in the past year, have endured because both sides continue to rely on each other for a number of strategic goals, says Ayaz Amir, a Pakistani opposition politician and newspaper columnist. "The relationship was never about to completely rupture," Mr. Amir said.
The U.S. needs Pakistan to play a role in helping wind down the war in Afghanistan, not least allowing NATO to use its soil to provision troops, while Pakistan relies on civilian and military funding from the U.S., he said.
In the past year, U.S. and Pakistani politicians have at times called for a complete break in ties. The killing of two men by a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency contractor in Pakistan just over a year ago initiated a new low in relations, sparked a wave of anti-U.S. protests and led Pakistan to deny visas to U.S. officials.
The unilateral U.S. raid on Pakistan soil that killed Osama bin Laden in May deepened Pakistani distrust of its ally.
Some U.S. officials and politicians, meanwhile, said Pakistan was continuing to support Islamist militants in Afghanistan, a view that gained currency with the revelation that bin Laden had been hiding for years in a Pakistani garrison town. Some members of the U.S. Congress called for a suspension in the billions of dollars in annual aid to Pakistan.
Officials in India, a U.S. ally that has troubled ties with Pakistan, added pressure on Washington to take a harder line with Islamabad.
U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pushed back against calls to suspend aid because of the long-term importance of the relationship to both countries.
But the U.S. has continued with policies that are unpopular in Pakistan, including drone strikes on militants in Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials have called on the U.S. to halt the strikes, which the U.S. considers a vital weapon. The stalemate over the drone program continues to be the biggest sticking point in the relationship, U.S. and Pakistani officials say.
Mr. Obama, after meeting Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Seoul on Tuesday, acknowledged strains in relations but said the U.S. was committed to getting things right. Mr. Gilani made similar comments.
A U.S. official said 80% of regular meetings have carried on, including those regarding civilian aid and military affairs, despite a suspension in high-level visits. Mrs. Clinton met with her Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, in the U.K. last month.
But both nations are unable to move as fast as they would like to restore ties because of domestic audiences who remain suspicious of the other country, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general. "The governments on both sides, for their own domestic reasons, they become hostage to their own rhetoric," he said.
A Pakistani parliamentary commission last week, taking a populist approach, called for an end to drone strikes and an apology from the U.S. for the killings of its soldiers. Pakistan's military can't reopen supply routes until the parliamentary debate about U.S. ties is over, analysts said. —Adam Entous, Siobhan Gorman and Julian E. Barnes contributed to this article.
Write to Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com
US, Pakistani Generals Hold First Talks Since Deadly Cross-Border Strike
VOA News March 28, 2012
Pakistan's army chief has met with with top U.S. commanders for the first time since a November NATO airstrike on a border post killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, causing relations between the two countries to sink to a new low.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met Wednesday with the head of U.S. Central Command, General James Mattis, and the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, at Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi outside Islamabad.
The Pakistani military said the commanders would discuss the investigation into the November 26 cross-border attack and improvements in border coordination procedures.
The deadly strike brought relations between the United States and Pakistan to a new low and prompted Pakistan to block NATO supply routes into Afghanistan.
In January, Pakistan's army rejected a U.S. military probe that blamed the attack on mistakes made by both sides. The army said it did not agree with U.S. findings that American forces acted in self-defense and with appropriate force after being fired on by Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan's military said the attack was deliberate.
The country's parliament is now debating new rules of engagement with the United States. A parliamentary committee reviewing U.S. ties is demanding a U.S. apology for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers and an end to U.S. drone strikes.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Pakistan's review of its ties with the United States should not only respect Pakistan's sovereignty but also U.S. security needs. He acknowledged that relations between the two countries have been strained in recent months.
Obama made the comments alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of an international nuclear summit in Seoul.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
March 29, 2012 Associated Press
U.S. troops in Afghanistan now have far-reaching new protections against rogue killers among their Afghan allies, including assigned "guardian angels" -- fellow troops who will watch over them as they sleep.
Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, ordered the added protections in recent weeks to guard against insider threats, according to a senior military official. They come in the wake of 16 attacks on U.S. and coalition forces by Afghans that now represent nearly one-fifth of all combat deaths this year.
Some of the changes have been subtle, others less so.
In several Afghan ministries, Americans are now allowed to carry weapons. And they have been instructed to rearrange their office desks there to face the door, so they can see who is coming in, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the orders.
Two U.S. military officers working in the Afghan Interior Ministry, one of the most heavily guarded ministry buildings in Kabul, were gunned down at their desks on Feb. 25. While Allen did not detail the new measures in a briefing earlier this week, he acknowledged that changes had been made.
"We have taken steps necessary on our side to protect ourselves with respect to, in fact, sleeping arrangements, internal defenses associated with those small bases in which we operate," Allen said, adding that now someone is "always overwatching our forces."
The security measures came after the U.S. military mistakenly burned Korans and other religious materials in February, triggering anti-American demonstrations and riots. And on March 11, 17 Afghan civilians, including nine children, allegedly were killed by a U.S. soldier.
Allen issued a directive "to get every single troop in the war zone to read it and think" -- and to emphasize that troops should be aware of their surroundings as they go about their jobs, the military official said. Allen also issued other orders that more specifically dealt with security at the Afghan ministries.
Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for Allen, said the general "ordered commanders to take appropriate steps to protect his troops, prudent steps that make sense to our Afghan partners as well. But he also made it clear that we weren't coming to all stop, that the work must continue, and that we couldn't let the partnership itself become a casualty of war."
U.S. commanders and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta say the killings do not represent a trend, and they say that fewer than half of the killings have been by Afghans associated with the Taliban.
Instead, Allen said, these types of attacks come with fighting an insurgency and happened in Iraq and Vietnam. The enemy, he said, will do what it can to disrupt efforts to train and grow a nation's indigenous security force.
Still, the recent increase in Afghans gunning down troops they are serving with reflects increased tensions between Afghanistan and the U.S. just as the American-led coalition force escalates efforts to train Afghans to take over their own security so that most NATO forces can leave by the end of 2014.
Officials insist the killings have not hampered the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. But they come at a time when new, small advisory teams are heading into Afghanistan to enhance the training program, requiring them to work closely with Afghan military units.
So far this year, 16 NATO service members have been shot and killed by Afghan soldiers and policemen or militants disguised in their uniforms, according to an Associated Press tally. That equals 18 percent of the 84 foreign troops killed this year in Afghanistan. Of the approximately 80 NATO service members killed since 2007 by Afghan security forces, more than 75 percent were in the past two years.
In two separate incidents on Monday, Afghan security forces shot and killed one American and two British troops.
In one incident, two British service members were killed by an Afghan soldier in front of the main gate of a joint civilian-military base in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said. And in the second incident, a U.S. service member was shot and killed at a checkpoint in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan by a man who was believed to be a member of a village-level fighting force the U.S. is fostering in hopes of countering the Taliban insurgency.
According to the senior military official, the so-called guardian angels provide an extra layer of security, watching over the troops as they sleep, exercise or go about other daily activities.
Allen noted that the Afghans also have taken some similar steps to provide guards for their own forces.
The Afghans also have inserted their own intelligence officers into their units to help try to ferret out possible insurgents or rogue soldiers. And, since the ministry shooting, the Afghans have taken a number of steps to increase building security in the ministries and to improve the vetting of their workers.
"They are helping the troops to understand how to recognize radicalization or the emergence of extremism in some of those, in individuals who may in fact be suspect," Allen said.
He noted that there have also been some arrests by Afghan forces when they identified possible attackers within their ranks.
Afghans Demands Intervention After 'Pakistani Taliban' Attacks
By Rohullah Anwari, Frud Bezhan March 29, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
KONAR, Afghanistan -- Local Afghan officials have called for a military intervention in the country's northeast after scores of suspected Pakistani Taliban fighters overran several districts in Nuristan, a remote province bordering Pakistan.
Ghulamullah Nuristani, the security chief in Nuristan, says the militants captured the Kamdesh and Bargmatal districts of Nuristan two weeks ago and have torched dozens of homes and threatened to kill local villagers who work for the Afghan government.
Nuristani has called on NATO and the Afghan government to intervene, insisting that the small contingent of local police is powerless to stop the militants in Nuristan, from where U.S. forces withdrew in 2009.
"If anybody opposes them, the insurgents burn their homes and threaten to kill them. I have witnessed several houses being burned and seen many of the inhabitants beaten," Nuristani says. "Until the government intervenes, we don't have the resources [to fight back]. We can't do it alone."
It's not clear where the militants are from. Nuristani says they are members of the Pakistani Taliban, who control the Pakistani side of the border alongside Al-Qaeda operatives and fighters from the Hizb-e Islami group headed by notorious former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Calling For Help
Aziz Rahman, a village elder in Kamdesh, describes the militants as armed and wearing black clothing. He says the militants have set up a shadow government, opening local offices and collecting taxes from local residents.
"Kamdesh is under the control of the Taliban. The men in black clothing are here. They have opened a Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice," Rahman says. "They are teaching religious material and are telling people to do the right things. If people violate the rules, then they get punished."
Rahman says the new rules include a decree that states that all men must grow long beards and refrain from smoking tobacco. He says dozens of militants are roaming the streets in SUVs and searching locals at mosques and bazaars to ensure the new rules are being followed.
Villagers receive lashes and beatings if they violate the rules, he adds.
Mawlawi Ahmadullah Moahad, a member of parliament from Nuristan, issued a warning to the government on the deteriorating situation in Nuristan when he addressed parliament on March 24.
Moahad told parliament that the militants had crossed the border from Pakistan and had evicted hundreds of villagers from their homes and replaced them with families from the Pakistani town of Chitral, which is across the border in the Bajaur tribal agency.
Moahad said the government had so far ignored his pleas for military intervention in Nuristan and he has accused the NATO-led coalition force of failing to act.
Locals who have fled Nuristan to neighboring provinces tell RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that many people have died at the hands of the militants.
With few roads and communication networks in Nuristan, the reported deaths could not be independently confirmed.
U.S. Forces Pull Out
The recent incident in Kamdesh and Bargmatal districts is the first major confrontation since October 2009, when U.S. forces withdrew from the area after several deadly attacks that left 17 soldiers dead.
In July 2008, nine NATO soldiers were killed after some 200 heavily armed insurgents using machine guns and rocket propelled grenades attacked several Afghan military posts from their bases in Chitral.
Only a few months later, in October 2008, some 300 insurgents raided Camp Keating, the main NATO military base in Nuristan. Referred to as the Battle of Kamdesh, the base was nearly overrun, with more than 100 militants, eight U.S. soldiers, and seven Afghan soldiers being killed in the ensuing fighting.
Four days later, U.S. forces withdrew from all four of their bases in Nuristan, as part of a plan by General Stanley McChrystal to pull forces out of small outposts and relocate them closer to urban centers.
The cross-border attacks fuelled tensions between neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose governments accused each another of failing to deal with the militants. Afghanistan also accused Pakistan of launching hundreds of rockets into its territory.
Long Oppressed People
Nuristan, a remote and mountainous region, has a long history of violence.
Nuristanis, who many historians claim are descendants of an ancient Greek community who settled in the region after the conquest of the area by Alexander the Great, have long been persecuted by various Afghan leaders.
With their pagan religion and own ancient language, the small community was repeatedly targeted by successive Afghan kings who ransacked Nuristan and forced the inhabitants of the region, formally known as Kafiristan, or land of nonbelievers, to convert to Islam.
The name of the area was subsequently changed to Nuristan, which means land of the enlightened.
The arrival of religious extremism in Afghanistan has added to the plight of the Nuristanis, many of whom face a growing battle to save their language and their traditional ways of life.
Written by Frud Bezhan, based on reporting by Rohullah Anwari in Konar
200 French troops leave Afghanistan
By RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two hundred French troops said goodbye to the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday as part of France's accelerated pullout from the country.
In January, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a faster-track exit for France, breaking from previous plans to go along with to the U.S.-led coalition's plan to withdraw combat forces by the end of 2014.
Sarkozy said France would speed up its withdrawal timetable, pulling out 1,000 — 400 more than its previous target — of its current 3,600 soldiers by year-end and withdraw all combat forces by the end of 2013. His announcement came a week after four unarmed French troops were killed by an Afghan soldier in Kapisa province in eastern Afghanistan.
The French troops waiting to board their flight out of Afghanistan were not stationed in Kapisa, but in Surobi district, about 45 kilometers (30 miles) east of Kabul.
They said they were elated to leave and thought the Afghan forces they left behind were ready to go solo.
Capt. Nicolas from Battle Group Picardie said his daughter was born in June and he was in Afghanistan in September.
"I think she might be able to say a couple of words now," said Nicolas, who was not permitted to release his last name. "I'm really happy to go home to hear her."
A 32-year-old lieutenant named Jeremie, who also did not disclose his last name, said the security situation in Surobi had improved.
"We were under fire only once in the last four months," he said. "It wasn't a big attack. We came under fire from one direction."
He said the Afghan security forces were adept at finding weapons caches and defusing bombs.
"I think I can say that they do their jobs — maybe not quite good, but good," he said.
The NATO-led international force in Afghanistan has been steadily handing over responsibility for security to the government's army and police ever since the alliance's last summit in Lisbon in 2010. There, NATO leaders decided to move the Afghans into the lead role in fighting the Taliban by 2014 and end the coalition's combat role.
However, Sarkozy, who is engaged in a tough re-election campaign ahead of the April vote, has been under political pressure to withdraw French troops even earlier. Polls show most French want an early pullout and his main challenger, Francois Hollande, has said that his hope would be to bring home all French forces this year.
Capt. Francois, deputy commander of one of the units in Surobi, said the French troops played a support role in missions led by the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.
"From what I've seen, they have the capacity and the ability and it seems to me that they are a professional army," he said.
In Paris, French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said that after more French troops leave in the next few days, about 3,400 French troops will still be in Afghanistan. There are no specific plans yet for the withdrawals scheduled for 2013, he said.
France, one of the top five troop-contributing nations in the international force, has lost 92 troops since 2001.
Maj. Philippe Baille, a spokesman for the French contingent in Afghanistan, said that after 2014, French soldiers will continue training Afghan security forces and providing logistical support for the Afghan army.
In addition to pulling out troops, about 1,300 vehicles and the equivalent of 1,700 containers of materials will be repatriated by 2014, he said. For now, the equipment is being flown to Abu Dhabi and then transferred onto boats headed for France, he said.
The troops that left on Wednesday were from the 1st Infantry Regiment from Sarrebourg, the 3rd Engineer Regiment from Charleville-Mezieres and the 1st Artillery Marine Regiment from Couvron.
It was feared that France's announcement could step up pressure on other European governments like Britain, Italy and Germany to pull out their troops faster. So far, that hasn't happened.
Defense Secretary Philip Hammond, who visited Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, said Britain has made a long-term commitment to the Afghan people.
"We will help to finance the Afghan national security forces for many years after 2014. We have taken responsibility for running the Afghan National Army officer academy which we will build outside Kabul," Hammond said. "We have not yet taken the decision about what if any military footprint we will retain after 2014."
Britain has announced that it will withdraw 500 troops by the end of this year, reducing the size of its contingent in Afghanistan to 9,000.
___
Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to this report.
NATO supply convoy ambushed in west Afghanistan
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents ambushed a NATO coalition supply convoy in a mountainous area of western Afghanistan, sparking a three-hour firefight in which an Afghan soldier, five Afghan security guards, and 14 attackers were killed, officials said Thursday.
Najibullah Najibi, a spokesman for the Afghan National Army's western region, said the battle raged Wednesday along a highway regularly used by coalition supply trucks in Bala Buluk district of Farah province.
"The fighting was intense and we sent in extra forces," Najibi said.
There were varying estimates of the number of militants killed.
Raouf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Afghan National Police in the west, said more than 30 militants were killed and 10 others were wounded.
Sayed Abdul Wahid, an official of the Arya security company, said his workers who were fighting with AK-47s were overpowered by militants using heavy weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. He said five of his employees were killed and five others were wounded by insurgents who burned three vehicles in the convoy.
Separately, the coalition said a NATO service member was killed in a roadside bombing Thursday in southern Afghanistan. No other details were disclosed.
So far this year, 86 international troops have been killed in Afghanistan.
35 insurgents killed, 12 detained in Afghanistan within 24 hours
KABUL, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 35 insurgents were killed and 12 others detained during military operations conducted by Afghan forces and NATO-led coalition troops within 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Thursday morning.
"Afghan National Police (ANP) in collaboration with army and NATO-led coalition troops conducted 12 joint operations in nine provinces around the country over the past 24 hours killing 35 armed insurgents and detaining 12 others," the ministry said in a statement.
They also found and seized weapons and ammunition including 27 AK-47 guns and 14 anti-vehicle mines besides confiscating seven motorbikes and two vehicles used by insurgents, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the security forces.
The ANP during separate operations also found and defused 10 anti-vehicle mines in southern Kandahar and eastern Nangarhar provinces over the same period of time, it added.
Afghan officials often use the word "insurgents" referring to the Taliban, however, the militant group has yet to make comments.
Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) troops have intensified cleanup operations throughout the post-Taliban country recently as spring and summer, known as "fighting season", are drawing near in the country.
Former official gets prison over Afghanistan bribe
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A federal judge in Atlanta sentenced a former Defense Department official on Wednesday to a year and eight months in prison for taking nearly $100,000 in bribes from a company seeking a contract in Afghanistan.
Desi Deandre Wade, 40, of Climax, Georgia, was arrested in August after traveling to Atlanta from Afghanistan for the Fire Rescue International Conference, officials said.
While at the convention, Wade, then the Defense Department's chief of fire and emergency services in Kabul, accepted $95,000 in cash from an Afghan-based company in exchange for the guarantee of a government contract, prosecutors said.
The cash was in Wade's backpack when he was arrested, authorities said.
The contractor had contacted U.S. authorities in Afghanistan last summer and reported that Wade was soliciting bribes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney told Reuters.
The contractor agreed to work with the government as a confidential informant in the investigation, McBurney said.
Under the scheme, Wade would provide the company with other bidders' quotes so that it would be the low bidder and get the contract, according to prosecutors. Wade, who earlier had accepted $4,000 from the same contractor, pleaded guilty to the charges in December and was fired from his job.
He could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for the crime.
"Bribery costs our taxpayers countless millions every year," said Sally Yates, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
"When a corrupt contractor like this defendant demands a bribe, he builds that cost into the bid - meaning that, in the end, the taxpayer bears the expense of the corrupt contractor's greed."
(Editing By Colleen Jenkins and Mohammad Zargham)
No U.S. access to sites of Afghan killings, officials say
By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN March 29, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- U.S. military officials have yet to gain access to the sites where 17 Afghans were killed in Kandahar, an obstacle that could make it more difficult to prosecute the American soldier accused of the multiple homicides.
U.S. personnel have not been able to collect DNA from the sites or access the areas, although DNA collected by Afghan investigators may have been received, an official said.
However, DNA has been found in blood on the clothing of the suspect, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.
"We do not have access to the crime scene," said the U.S. official, who has knowledge of the investigation but did not want to be identified discussing an ongoing inquiry.
Prosecution faces major hurdles in massacre case
His account gives new insight into what apparently occurred the night of the March 11 attacks on two villages in the Panjwai district, near a remote U.S. outpost.
His comments on the lack of U.S. access to the sites of the killings also tally with what Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" late Wednesday.
Browne said that it was "not a traditional crime scene," making it tough for prosecutors to make a case.
"There is no crime scene. The military has not even been back to the villages where this allegation stems from. They haven't been back there. So there's no crime scene, there's no DNA, there's no fingerprints, there's no confession," he said.
"You know, the Afghan people traditionally, I understand, and understandably, bury their dead very quickly. So it's going to be a tough case for the prosecutors."
The U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said Bales, 38, was meant to have been on duty guarding the base that night, and would have had full body armor and weaponry as standard.
He said he did not think alcohol had fueled the crime. "I do not think that drinking played a big role, but there may have been some level of drinking," the official said.
Officials: Bales sneaked off base twice during rampage
Bales was allegedly first spotted leaving the base around 1 a.m. by an Afghan guard. It is not clear why the guard did not alert Bales' superiors at that time, and the official said Bales was not noticed when he returned to the compound an hour later.
It was then, during about 30 minutes when he was on the base, that he returned to his accommodation and woke at least one roommate, another U.S. Army soldier, the official said.
"The exact conversation is unclear," the official said, but Bales claimed he had been killing Afghan civilians off the base, which his roommate dismissed as nonsense.
A different Afghan guard then saw Bales leave the base a second time. He alerted his command that someone had left the outpost, and the information was passed to the U.S. soldier in charge of the base.
"The whole base was woken up," the official said, for an accountability check -- a rare instance in which a small unit of soldiers on a base have to count their number.
A search party was then formed, but within a few meters of leaving the compound, it ran into Bales, who had been spotted by a surveillance camera returning toward the base.
That was at 3:30 a.m., about 2½ hours after he first left the base, the official said, stressing that fashioning a precise timeline of that night has been challenging.
U.S. soldiers noticed Bales had blood on him, and he dropped to the ground saying nothing, the official said.
Bales has maintained his silence on the killings since, the official said, his apparent last words to U.S. personnel being to his roommate.
In response to suggestions Bales was traumatized in part by a recent injury to a U.S. colleague, the official said that a soldier at the base had lost a leg in a explosion three or four days earlier but that there was no reason to suspect Bales had been present at the scene of that blast.
In addition to the 17 charges of murder "with premeditation," Bales faces six counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault.
He returned to the United States earlier this month and is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Lawyer Says U.S. Military Suspect Had Depression After Iraq
March 29, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
The lawyer for the U.S. soldier charged with killing 17 civilians in southern Afghanistan said the soldier had experienced a traumatic incident while in Iraq and was suffering from depression at the time of the killings.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over the March 11 slaughter in Kandahar Province.
He is currently being held in a military prison in the U.S. state of Kansas.
In his new comments, his lawyer, John Henry Browne, gave no details about the traumatic incident experienced by Bales in Iraq.
He also downplayed reports Bales had confessed to the Afghan killings and said there was no solid evidence in the case.
The lawyer has previously said Bales has only a sketchy memory of the night of the massacre.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Details Offered on How Suspect Could Have Left Afghan Base
New York Times By JAMES DAO and TAIMOOR SHAH March 28, 2012
It is among the more intriguing mysteries swirling around the killings of civilian villagers in southern Afghanistan: How could the Army staff sergeant charged with 17 counts of murder have left his combat outpost, located in a dangerous region, not once but twice in the middle of the night to commit the shootings, as the Army says he did?
But new details have emerged this week that offer possible explanations for how Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the 38-year-old soldier charged with the killings, might have slipped away from his outpost in Kandahar Province early on March 11.
In recent interviews, American and Afghan officials said that the outpost in the rural Panjwai district was guarded by Afghan soldiers that night, as it probably was on most nights, because there were relatively few American soldiers based there, possibly only a platoon. Platoons typically have between 25 and 40 soldiers.
Officials have speculated that it might have been easier for Sergeant Bales to walk past an Afghan security guard than an American guard, who probably would have known him and perhaps would have been less willing to let him leave without proper authorization.
American officials said Sergeant Bales killed the civilians, at least nine of them children, in two villages, one to the south of his combat outpost and another to the north. In between the shootings, the officials said, he returned to the outpost for an unspecified period of time. As he came back into the outpost, he was spotted by at least one Afghan security guard, said Gen. Abdul Hameed, the corps commander for the Afghan National Army in Kandahar Province, in an interview.
It is not clear whether that guard notified anyone at the time about Sergeant Bales’s return. But while he was in the outpost between shootings, Sergeant Bales himself told at least one American soldier that he had shot people in a nearby village, an American official said.
Asked why the soldier, who has not been identified, did not immediately notify superiors of what Sergeant Bales had told him, the American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the criminal investigation, replied, “Because the individual did not believe it.”
Sergeant Bales’s civilian lawyer, John Henry Browne, has said that Sergeant Bales has not confessed to the shootings. He is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., waiting for the military’s grand jury process to begin.
It is almost unheard of for American soldiers to leave bases in Afghanistan on their own. However, it appears that the setup at Camp Belambi, as the outpost is known, would have made it easier to slip away unnoticed.
The camp is located in what appears to be a traditional Afghan residential compound, with high mud walls surrounding buildings of mud and wood. Though the American soldiers there, led by a small Army Special Forces team, had bolstered the walls with dirt-filled Hesco barriers, barbed wire and a guard tower, the outpost was not as heavily fortified as larger operating bases, where several layers of walls typically surround residential areas.
General Hameed said that one of the Afghan soldiers on guard duty that night saw an American soldier return to the outpost around midnight. A second Afghan soldier who was on guard duty later that night reported seeing an American leave the outpost about two hours later, General Hameed said.
That second guard notified his superiors of the departure. When American commanders became aware that a soldier was missing, they first checked sleeping quarters, toilets and the kitchen area before organizing a patrol to look outside the compound, General Hameed said. But before the patrol left, a high-powered infrared camera on a small blimp spotted Sergeant Bales nearby.
An American official said that imagery from the camera showed Sergeant Bales lying facedown in a nearby field. It was not clear what he was doing, but then he stood up and walked toward the outpost, where he was disarmed.
At larger bases, surveillance video is typically monitored at all times, American officials said. But because Camp Belambi has relatively few soldiers, it is possible that no one was watching when Sergeant Bales left the outpost the first time, officials said.
Mr. Browne has said the sergeant has limited memories of that night and has suggested that he has post-traumatic stress disorder. Sergeant Bales’s wife, Karilyn, said in a television interview that she saw no signs of the disorder, but Mr. Browne said his client was most likely “protecting” her and had frequent nightmares.
Tough job for new German envoy to Afghanistan
Deutsche Welle - Thu Mar 29, 6:19 am ET
On April 1, Michael Koch begins his new job as Germany's special envoy for Afghanistan. Among Germany's top diplomats there are few as capable for handling this difficult task.
Unlike his predecessor, Michael Steiner, who was known for getting loud if necessary, Koch is a man of quiet words. Born in Kansas City, he inherited his diplomatic aplomb from his father, a German diplomat who was posted there. Koch began his own diplomatic career in 1986.
Prior to his new job as special envoy to Afghanistan, Koch was the German ambassador to Pakistan, and before that, head of the political affairs department at the German embassy in New Delhi. He is considered to be a very knowledgeable expert on the entire region.
"I am sure that Michael Koch is a good choice for this post," said Johannes Pflug, the Afghanistan expert of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) and a member of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament. "He was not only ambassador in Pakistan, but also headed the planning committee for Afghanistan in the foreign ministry from 2004 to 2008," said Pflug.
Experienced diplomat
Afghanistan and Pakistan are not the first difficult postings in Asia for the German diplomat. In the 1990s, Koch was the charge d'affairs in Myanmar (Burma) in one of the most isolated countries on the Asian continent. Wherever he served Koch was noticed for his special abilities.
"He is what one generally refers to as a 'file cruncher'; a person who not only constantly reads reports, books and magazines, but also remembers what he has read," notes Pflug enthusiastically.
In his new job, Koch may find himself occasionally reminding others to keep their promises to provide aid to Afghanistan after the international community withdraws its troops in 2014. His predecessor, Michael Steiner, made sure that the long-term aid was agreed on at the Afghanistan conference in Bonn in December 2011.
Complicated conditions
Koch takes over from Steiner at a difficult time. Taliban insurgents are feeling stronger in the wake of repeated speculation that ISAF forces will withdraw early and know that time is on their side. Many miles away in the United States, the presidential election campaign is in full swing, which many observers believe will have a direct impact on the outcome of negotiations in Afghanistan.
"The first difficulty Michael Koch will be confronted with is the presidential election in the US. Many hardliners among [President Obama's] Democrats do not want any negotiations with the Taliban at the moment," says Pflug.
Among German foreign policy experts, however, the consensus is that there can be no military, and only a civil, solution in Afghanistan. In Pflug's view, there is no alternative to talks with the Taliban.
the Pakistani journalist and Taliban expert, Ahmed Rashid, agrees with that assessment. He says Koch's task in the coming months will be to get the stumbling blocks out of the way in these talks.
"In the months ahead, there are going to be a lot of complications; a lot of problems, and it may be that the Taliban or the Americans enlist the help of Germany to break some deadlock, or hold up in the talks," says Rashid.
Appreciation for Germany's mediator role
Koch's predecessor last year made a considerable contribution toward getting talks with the Taliban going in the first place. Germany earned a great deal of trust among the participants at the talks in the Arab emirate of Qatar, says Rashid, because "Germany was not pursing its own political agenda at the negotiations." The Karzai government, the Taliban and even Pakistan trust Germany because of this, he notes, refering to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "However, Germany must be careful not to be sidelined by the United States," says Rashid.
Michael Koch has good connections in the US from his time in the 1990s as the chief-of staff for Werner Weidenfeld, the coordinator of German-American relations in the German foreign ministry at the time.
Most experts think that a lasting political solution in Afghanistan must be supported by the key powers in the region and that means India, Pakistan and Iran. But unlike Germany, Washington currently has no diplomatic ties with Tehran. "Koch could help establish channels of communication," says Rashid. US relations with Pakistan are also at a low point following last year's raid to kill Osama bin Laden. Koch's tenure as German ambassador to Pakistan could also help build bridges here.
In any case, Koch's negotiating skills will be needed sooner or later. "Germany is still going to be very deeply involved in the peace process. A lot of messaging, which is going on between the Taliban and Karzai, has been through the Germans. So, I think Ambassador Koch will still play an important role in that," Rashid concludes.
Author: Daniel Scheschkewitz /gb
Editor: Shamil Shams
TAPI gas pipeline: Final round of talks in Kabul on April 19
Business Recorder By ABDUL RASHEED AZAD Thursday, 29 March 2012
ISLAMABAD - Final round of talks among the four participating counties of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project would be held in Kabul on April 19 to finalize the structure of the much-needed energy project for India and Pakistan.
Federal Secretary Petroleum Mohammed Ejaz Chaudhry, after his return from India where he attended 7th Asia Gas conference, stated this while talking to a group of journalists here on Wednesday. Ejaz said Pakistan has requested Turkmenistan for the same gas price which it had agreed with Afghanistan, adding that the price would be around 50 cents per Million British Thermal Units (mmbtu).
He maintained that India has also appreciated Pakistan’s suggestion regarding pricing of TAPI gas but has not yet accepted the proposal.
The 1,680-km long TAPI gas pipeline is targeted to bring 3.2 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (bcfd) of natural gas from Turkmenistan’s gas fields to Multan and end at the northwestern Indian town of Fazilka.
Pakistan also intends to import 750 million cubic feet of gas daily for 25 years from Iran, according to the terms of the agreement. The secretary said that a high level Pakistani delegation will also visit Russia on April 2-3 to invite Russian Gas Company Gazprom to bid for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.
Gazprom has submitted the Expression of Interest in response to Inter Sate Gas Company’s invitation in August 2011, Ejaz said and added that Pakistan and Gazprom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2005.
He said Afghanistan has refused to purchase TAPI gas, however would allow the gas to be transited through their country to India and Pakistan. This implies 750 mmcfd destined for Afghanistan would now be available for Pakistan and India. Talks between the two nuclear rivals on this are expected on 19 April.
According to Ejaz, Gazprom has expressed an interest in the construction of IP as well as Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline projects.
On a question, he said if the relevant authorities approve Pakistan could import petroleum products from India.
Ejaz said Pakistan will also invite Indian oil/gas exploration and production companies to invest in Pakistan’s oil/gas sector, but it is subject to the approval of relevant authorities.
The government has asked the two parties to import 400 mmcfd of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) each and the Petroleum Ministry would soon issue tender. He said the government would provide offtake guarantee to the importers of LNG.
On a question regarding high price of LNG which stands at $18 per mmcfd, Ejaz said the government would utilize LNG for power generation and has asked the interested companies to set a price of LNG less than furnace oil.
U.S. Military Commanders Move to Mend Pakistan Rift
Wall Street Journal By TOM WRIGHT March 28, 2012
Senior U.S. military commanders met with their Pakistani counterparts on Wednesday, the first such contacts since relations were ruptured when U.S. helicopters accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in an airstrike in November.
Gen. James Mattis, who as commander of the U.S. Central Command is the senior U.S. military officer in the region, and Gen. John Allen, the U.S.'s top commander in Afghanistan, met Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was encouraged by the meeting and hoped it would help "reset the relationship."
Gen. Dempsey, speaking aboard a military aircraft on a visit to Brazil, said the U.S. hoped Pakistan would agree to reopen routes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had used to supply its troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistan shut the routes after the November airstrike on the border, causing supply bottlenecks and forcing NATO to find alternative routes. Pakistan also suspended high-level civilian and diplomatic meetings with U.S. officials and ejected the U.S. from an air base it had been using to launch drone strikes.
Pakistan military spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas declined to say whether the meeting Wednesday would result in the reopening of the supply routes. A Pakistan army statement said the meeting would focus on an inquiry into the November incident and how to improve border coordination.
The meeting shows how U.S.-Pakistan relations, despite sustained tensions in the past year, have endured because both sides continue to rely on each other for a number of strategic goals, says Ayaz Amir, a Pakistani opposition politician and newspaper columnist. "The relationship was never about to completely rupture," Mr. Amir said.
The U.S. needs Pakistan to play a role in helping wind down the war in Afghanistan, not least allowing NATO to use its soil to provision troops, while Pakistan relies on civilian and military funding from the U.S., he said.
In the past year, U.S. and Pakistani politicians have at times called for a complete break in ties. The killing of two men by a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency contractor in Pakistan just over a year ago initiated a new low in relations, sparked a wave of anti-U.S. protests and led Pakistan to deny visas to U.S. officials.
The unilateral U.S. raid on Pakistan soil that killed Osama bin Laden in May deepened Pakistani distrust of its ally.
Some U.S. officials and politicians, meanwhile, said Pakistan was continuing to support Islamist militants in Afghanistan, a view that gained currency with the revelation that bin Laden had been hiding for years in a Pakistani garrison town. Some members of the U.S. Congress called for a suspension in the billions of dollars in annual aid to Pakistan.
Officials in India, a U.S. ally that has troubled ties with Pakistan, added pressure on Washington to take a harder line with Islamabad.
U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pushed back against calls to suspend aid because of the long-term importance of the relationship to both countries.
But the U.S. has continued with policies that are unpopular in Pakistan, including drone strikes on militants in Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials have called on the U.S. to halt the strikes, which the U.S. considers a vital weapon. The stalemate over the drone program continues to be the biggest sticking point in the relationship, U.S. and Pakistani officials say.
Mr. Obama, after meeting Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Seoul on Tuesday, acknowledged strains in relations but said the U.S. was committed to getting things right. Mr. Gilani made similar comments.
A U.S. official said 80% of regular meetings have carried on, including those regarding civilian aid and military affairs, despite a suspension in high-level visits. Mrs. Clinton met with her Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, in the U.K. last month.
But both nations are unable to move as fast as they would like to restore ties because of domestic audiences who remain suspicious of the other country, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general. "The governments on both sides, for their own domestic reasons, they become hostage to their own rhetoric," he said.
A Pakistani parliamentary commission last week, taking a populist approach, called for an end to drone strikes and an apology from the U.S. for the killings of its soldiers. Pakistan's military can't reopen supply routes until the parliamentary debate about U.S. ties is over, analysts said. —Adam Entous, Siobhan Gorman and Julian E. Barnes contributed to this article.
Write to Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com
US, Pakistani Generals Hold First Talks Since Deadly Cross-Border Strike
VOA News March 28, 2012
Pakistan's army chief has met with with top U.S. commanders for the first time since a November NATO airstrike on a border post killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, causing relations between the two countries to sink to a new low.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met Wednesday with the head of U.S. Central Command, General James Mattis, and the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, at Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi outside Islamabad.
The Pakistani military said the commanders would discuss the investigation into the November 26 cross-border attack and improvements in border coordination procedures.
The deadly strike brought relations between the United States and Pakistan to a new low and prompted Pakistan to block NATO supply routes into Afghanistan.
In January, Pakistan's army rejected a U.S. military probe that blamed the attack on mistakes made by both sides. The army said it did not agree with U.S. findings that American forces acted in self-defense and with appropriate force after being fired on by Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan's military said the attack was deliberate.
The country's parliament is now debating new rules of engagement with the United States. A parliamentary committee reviewing U.S. ties is demanding a U.S. apology for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers and an end to U.S. drone strikes.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Pakistan's review of its ties with the United States should not only respect Pakistan's sovereignty but also U.S. security needs. He acknowledged that relations between the two countries have been strained in recent months.
Obama made the comments alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of an international nuclear summit in Seoul.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com