Tweet
Attacks Attest to Afghan Insurgents’ Spring Offensive
New York Times By ALISSA J. RUBIN April 10, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - In a further sign that the insurgents’ spring offensive is under way, suicide bombers struck in western and southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 16 people, according to Afghan officials in Herat and Helmand, where the attacks took place.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusuf, claimed that Taliban fighters were responsible for the attack in Helmand, but even hours after the bombing in Herat said he had no information on it.
The target of the bombing in Herat initially appeared to be the government center in the Guzara district, which is on the edge of the city on the road to the airport. The suicide bomber drove a sport utility vehicle almost to the gates of the government center, which at 8:45 in the morning was crowded, but as policemen opened fire, he detonated a huge bomb. If he had come closer to the district center building the casualties would have been far higher, but even so 12 people died in the blast, among them at least 3 were policemen who were killed as they tried to stop the bomber, said Sayid Aqa Saqib, the provincial police chief.
Though in the past few years fighting has been more a year-round than seasonal affair, combat does pick up sharply in eastern Afghanistan and parts of the north as the deep snow begins to melt in the mountain passes and fighters and supplies can more easily enter the country. It is early, however, to gauge the strength of this spring offensive because much local support for the Taliban comes from farmers — and they are too busy to fight because they are tending their poppy crops. Afghan military commanders say they expect the ranks of fighters to swell once the poppy harvest is in, but they also expressed optimism about their ability to face them down.
“The Taliban will not miss any possible opportunity if they ever get it against the Afghan government,” Gen. Mohammed Salim Ahsas said. “But, we are becoming stronger and have the ability to halt their attempts.”
In Herat, for instance, there have been numerous attempts by suicide bombers to attack targets, but they have failed, said Ghulam Mohayuddin Noor, the provincial spokesman. He said that government officials believe that the real target on Tuesday was the provincial governor, who was scheduled to be traveling on that road to the airport.
A police intelligence unit was tracking the bombing vehicle’s movements and called for it to stop, but the driver ignored the instructions, said the provincial police chief, Sayid Aqa Saqib, adding that there appeared to have been two people in the vehicle.
“When we told them to stop, they sped up, and as they approached the entrance, the police started to fire on them and the bombers blew themselves up,” he said. “There were two suspects in the vehicle, one in male clothes and one in female clothes, but we cannot tell if it was really a woman.”
Herat is Afghanistan’s second most populous city and a place that has seen relatively little violence in recent years. Some of the attacks that do happen can be large-scale, however. Last May there were two suicide bombings, one of them attacking the NATO provincial reconstruction team on the outskirts of the city. In February, after the mistaken burning of Korans by American military personnel at Bagram Air Base, there was a demonstration in the city in which several people were killed and many others wounded when a police truck filled with bullets exploded.
In Helmand Province, where at least four police officers were killed in the Musa Qala district headquarters when the suicide bombers attacked, the bombing was an ominous sign that despite an enormous effort on the part of American and Afghan forces, the area was not entirely secure. Helmand is scheduled to have thousands of United States Marines pull out over the next eight months in order to meet the goal of reducing the number of American troops in Afghanistan to pre-surge levels.
The attack on Musa Qala was the first in months since American Marines had painstakingly cleared the district of Taliban fighters. For several years, the Taliban had been so dominant in Musa Qala that they ran a parallel government, including a justice system and prisons. They allowed the growing of poppies, the precursor for opium, and there was a thriving narcotics bazaar when the Taliban were in control, said an elder in Musa Qala, who asked not to be named.
The target may well have been the district police chief, who has fought staunchly against the Taliban. He was critically wounded in the blast and was taken to a NATO base for treatment, said Daoud Ahmadi, the provincial governor’s spokesman.
Sangar Rahimi and Jawad Sukhanyar contributed reporting from Kabul, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
NATO soldier killed in S. Afghan blast
KABUL, April 11 (Xinhua) -- A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Wednesday in a blast in southern Afghan region, the ISAF forces confirmed in a press release.
"An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan today," the release said.
However, the brief statement did not disclose the nationality of the victim under the ISAF policy.
Troops mainly from the United States, Britain and Australia have been stationed in the southern region within the framework of ISAF to curb Taliban-linked insurgency there.
A total of 107 NATO soldiers, most of them Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.
5 Taliban militants killed, 18 detained within 24 hours: gov't
KABUL, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Five Taliban militants have been killed and 18 others detained in different Afghan provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Five armed Taliban insurgents killed and 18 other suspects captured during eight cleanup operations launched by police, army and international coalition forces in Kabul, Nangarhar, Baghlan, Helmand, Wardak, and Badakhshan provinces over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.
They also found and seized weapons, it said without saying if there were casualties on forces.
Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militant groups throughout the country recently as spring and summer, known as "fighting season" draw near.
However, the Taliban militant group in retaliation has conducted suicide attacks and roadside bombings against security forces especially in southern and eastern parts of the country.
Taliban claimed the responsibility for three suicide bombings on Wednesday that rocked western Herat and southern Helmand provinces leaving 22 people including 10 policemen dead and more than 60 others injured.
U.S., Afghan defense chiefs discuss long-term partnership
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Tuesday hosted Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak and Afghan Minister of Interior Bismellah Mohammadi at the Pentagon, discussing long-term partnership, the Pentagon said.
The officials met in the third session of the U.S. - Afghanistan Security Consultations Forum (SCF). The Afghan ministers met with Panetta, Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior defense officials to discuss long-term cooperation between the two countries.
The officials also used the opportunity to "reaffirm the importance of a strategic partnership, and address issues of immediate importance."
The Pentagon said the meetings included a review of security gains across Afghanistan and progress made towards transition of lead security responsibility to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The Pentagon said the two sides have completed transition in the first two of five tranches of provinces and municipalities where approximately 50 percent of the Afghan population now lives. Afghan forces are assuming the lead for security in those areas.
The Pentagon said ANSF are successfully providing effective security in these transitioning areas, and demonstrating their readiness for additional responsibility to assume a third tranche of transition.
The ministers agreed that continuing to build ANSF is a "key priority" for Afghanistan and the international community. Panetta expressed intention to support a sufficient and sustainable post- transition Afghan force. The Pentagon said the issue will be brought up at the upcoming International Security and Assistance Force ministerial meeting in Brussels next week, and with leaders at the NATO Summit in Chicago this May.
The U.S. side has just signed with the Afghans a memorandum of understanding regarding night raids, a contentious issue between the two, removing a major barrier in strategic partnership agreement negotiations. All U.S. forces are scheduled to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Afghan Force Will Be Cut After Taking Leading Role
New York Times By THOM SHANKER and ALISSA J. RUBIN April 10, 2012
WASHINGTON - Afghanistan’s defense minister said Tuesday that his government and the international coalition paying for the war effort had agreed in principle that Afghan security forces would undergo a significant reduction to about 230,000 personnel after the NATO mission ends in 2014.
Under current plans, Afghan security forces are to reach a peak of 352,000 by late this year. Afghan and alliance officials agree that it would be unwise to begin reducing that number before the end of 2014, because in the coming months the number of foreign forces will be reduced and Afghans will be taking over the leading role in defending their nation.
The defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, noted that the projected reductions beyond 2014 were the result of “a conceptual model for planning purposes” of an army, police and border-protection force sufficient to defend Afghanistan. But it also must be sustainable in the future with decreasing foreign contributions.
He emphasized that the ultimate size of the Afghan security force would be weighed against the battlefield effectiveness of the insurgency, and could be slowed or accelerated depending on the security climate in coming years.
“It will be subject to revision based on the realities on the ground,” General Wardak said. The reductions, he added, “will be gradual.”
“There will be enough time to improve further the security situation,” he said.
As NATO presidents and prime ministers prepare to meet next month in Chicago, a central question is how large an Afghan security force the international alliance will agree to continue financing.
Almost all the money for the Afghan forces — including the cost of salaries, equipment and training — is now provided by foreign governments. The costs are topping $7 billion a year, although that number is a bit deceptive because it includes one-time purchases for sophisticated equipment like armored vehicles, helicopters and communications equipment.
American and other alliance officials acknowledge that the amount of money available for the Afghan security forces beyond 2014 is expected to drop to about $4.1 billion per year, a reality that would require a reduction in the size of Afghanistan’s army and police force.
“If something is unsustainable, either you have to find the resources to sustain it or you have to reduce the size of the project," said a senior Western official in Kabul. “They are still embarked on a project whose dimensions are too ambitious.”
American and alliance officials have said that a tentative division of costs under discussion would call for the United States to contribute $2.3 billion to $2.7 billion annually, with the Afghan government contributing $500 million and donations from allies covering the rest.
General Wardak spoke at a late-afternoon news conference at the Afghanistan Embassy here after a day of meetings at the Pentagon that included Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, the Afghan interior minister, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Mohammadi noted the continuing gaps in training and equipment faced by the Interior Ministry’s police forces, and said that the international community was not yet at the end of its obligations to Afghanistan.
“Of course we are forever grateful as a nation and as public officials for the help and training that we have received thus far,” General Mohammadi said. “However, during our long conversations today with the folks in the Pentagon, we did receive assurances, especially from the secretary of defense, that this training gap and this equipment gap will be filled.”
Thom Shanker reported from Washington, and Alissa J. Rubin from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Is Lack of Diversity a Factor in Our Failure in Afghanistan?
The Huffington Post By Richard Dickerson Former senior director for strategic communication, USAID 10/04/2012
In her 2010 Statement on Diversity and Equal Opportunity, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that "Diversity is one of America's greatest strengths." She charged every leader in the department with ensuring "that the workplace for which they are responsible runs on the principles of equity, fairness and inclusion." And she concluded that "In representing the United States to the world we need a workforce that reflects and respects the rich composition of our nation."
We do need such a workforce -- but we don't have it.
I arrived at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan on August 1, 2010 as an employee of USAID, the independent government agency charged with delivering economic and humanitarian assistance abroad. For the next 11 months, I traveled extensively throughout southern Afghanistan -- visiting Kandahar city, Dand, Helmand, Herat, Uruzgan, Zabul, Panjaway and Kakretz -- working in communications and public outreach.
I had heard a great deal about the talented people who work for the State Department and USAID. But it did not take long for me to realize that those stories were largely myths. Their lack of diversity was only exceeded by the lack of leadership and competence. Eventually, I began to wonder if the two deficits might be connected.
The people I met who worked with USAID and State were largely white men who defined themselves by how many years they had worked at their agency and the positions they had held. I was struck that few ever spoke of any tangible impact they made.
I participated in numerous meetings in which there would be 40-plus attendees and maybe two or three black people. After one particular meeting, when USAID staff at Kandahar Airfield briefed senior officials from Washington, I asked whether it was it important for the staff to reflect the makeup of the country. At first, the official from Washington acted as if he did not understand the question, then he attempted to make a joke, and finally he asked what country I was referring. The next day during a staff meeting a senior USAID official suggested that we should be careful what questions we ask. I was later told that this was not the time or place to ask this type of question.
But here's what I'm wondering: When is a good time? When is a better time than when there are 44 civilians attending a meeting to discuss Afghan policy and how the US government will interact with the Afghan government and its people and there are two black people in the room?
This is not just an academic question. The U.S. government has been in Afghanistan for more than 10 years, with white men consistently in charge. In my mind, lack of diversity is one of the reasons our policy initiatives keep failing.
When you constantly pick the same people with similar backgrounds to serve and lead, it's hard for new and different ideas to be considered -- or even discussed. In Afghanistan, I repeatedly recognized a lack of creativity in examining solutions and problems. And when the vast majority of the staff have similar backgrounds, it's easy for groupthink to set in. There is a value to different perspectives that come from different experiences, including a minority experience. A greater diversity of backgrounds, for instance, would be more receptive to questions.
One case in point: The people I worked with didn't seem to understand the importance of religion in the lives of Afghans. But I, a black man of the South, recognized it as something that could help the mission. I eventually spent a significant amount of time working on religious outreach. The religious leaders were the most credible messengers, and if we were going to reach the masses we needed to have a dialogue with the religious leaders. It's been 11 years now; does the U.S. government have a religious engagement plan for Afghanistan? If not, why not? What resources, including people, time and money have been allocated for a religious engagement program?
I saw an inordinate amount of time spent discussing poorly-performing programs. I suggested that we should immediately terminate those programs which were not working. We were cutting and reducing programs at home, so this seemed like a fairly logical suggestion. But there was no willingness to even entertain the idea. It is clear in retrospect that USAID tried to run too many programs at the same time, and failed miserably to monitor or provide metrics that would fairly measure their effectiveness.
That could also be result of another problem: For many of the bureaucrats I'm talking about, there seemed to be little true interest in policy issues, success of the mission, or even what the mission was. For them, the pay, the perks, and the prestige of their Afghanistan assignments were better than they had at home.
Finally, there's another way in which the lack of diversity harms the mission: The failure to have a diverse presence in Afghanistan provides ample evidence to those who oppose American policy that America doesn't practice what it preaches. Even the illiterate know that America is more than middle aged white men.
What message is the U.S. sending to the world when the overwhelming majority of staffers in the agencies charged with implementing US foreign policy are white men? Do white men have some peculiar talent and ability that will allow them to be successful in the pursuit and development of foreign policy and international development? The results of the last 10 years in Afghanistan suggest, if anything, the opposite.
Suicide attacks kill 19 in Afghanistan
Reuters – Tue, Apr 10, 2012
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed at least nineteen people in attacks across Afghanistan on Tuesday, including 11 Afghan police, as insurgents ramped up violence ahead of the traditional summer fighting months.
Two bombers, including one wearing a head-to-toe covering burqa, blew up a car laden with explosives on the airport road outside the western city of Herat, killing eight civilians and three police, provincial governor spokesman Mohiddin Noori said.
Twenty-three people were wounded in the attack, which took place in a usually peaceful part of the country near the border with Iran.
In volatile southern Helmand province, three suicide attackers targeted the district governor's office in Musa Qala district, killing eight police. Two of the bombers were shot dead, but one managed to detonate explosives.
"The first one opened fire on Afghan police. In response he was killed by our forces, while the second one detonated himself and police killed the third," said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor.
A NATO spokesman on Monday said insurgents had so far shown no sign of planning a repeat of last year's unified spring offensive against foreign and Afghan forces, preferring isolated attacks on small units and bases.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the Helmand attack, saying it had been targeting the district governor and police chief, as well as other government officials.
"Our Mujahidin are resisting and have brought huge fatalities to the enemy," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said.
The Taliban last year launched "Operation Badr" - named after a famous seventh century victory by the Prophet Mohammed - vowing to target NATO military bases, convoys and Afghan government officials, as well as foreign companies.
They mounted high profile suicide attacks on heavily-guarded Afghan and foreign bases in the months after, culminating in a September attack on the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul by militants who occupied a nearby building site.
NATO's spokesman, German Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, said last year's attacks, including the assassination of the head of the Afghan government peace council in charge of reconciliation efforts, had failed to revitalize the insurgency.
But the Taliban may be emboldened with the planned post-summer withdrawal of 23,000 U.S. soldiers, and with 2012 being the final year of NATO's surge in troop numbers ahead of the pullout of most combat troops by end-2014.
(Reporting by Sharafuddin Sharafyar in HERAT and Abdul Malek in HELMAND, Writing by Rob Taylor and Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Afghan elite raiders say they are U.S. equals
Reuters By Mirwais Harooni and Rob Taylor Tue Apr 10, 2012
KABUL - It's a special-forces entry like no other and guaranteed to spoil the element of surprise, but Afghanistan's new elite soldiers insist they will be no less effective in countering insurgents than controversial night raids by U.S. forces.
Under cover of darkness, Afghan soldiers will surround the homes of suspected insurgent targets and then shout a demand that those inside separate into men and women before storming the door, safeguarding conservative cultural sensitivities.
"We announce eight to 10 times that we are Afghan security forces and won't harm you. We ask them to take women and children to one side of the home and males to the other," said Colonel Jalaluddin Yaftali, the commander of Afghan special forces.
"We operate very carefully and find our target," Yaftali told Reuters in an interview.
Surprise night raids in pursuit of militants have long fanned anti-Western sentiment in Afghanistan, with many locals seeing them as violations of privacy, especially of women, in conservative southern areas where Taliban support is strongest.
On Sunday, Afghanistan and the United States reached an agreement that only Afghan forces would be able to search residential homes or compounds, while Afghan police and soldiers would have to protect women and children, as well as culturally sensitive places.
The agreement, reached after months of at-times tense negotiations, also gives Kabul the power to veto operations and removed a major obstacle to a wider pact to secure a U.S. presence after withdrawal of most foreign combat troops in 2014.
The hope is that the strategy will lower civilian casualties in night raids and reverse some of the calamitous damage they have caused to President Hamid Karzai's popularity as foreign combat troops hand over to Afghan security forces.
Under the deal, Afghan police and soldiers are supposed to seek an Afghan judicial warrant before conducting raids. Afghan authorities will also have control over prisoners taken and will decide whether to allow U.S. interrogators access to detainees.
U.S. defence officials insist that not much is changing in special forces operations, which occur mostly at night, and say they have been almost 100-percent Afghan-led since last year.
CONCERNS
Some security analysts, and privately even some members of the Afghan military spoken to by Reuters, worry that the constraints now attached may make raids less effective, and see fewer carried out.
Western commanders have seen the raids as one of the most effective anti-insurgent tactics and the danger is that shouted warnings could give targets time to escape in Afghanistan's warren-like, mud-walled villages and home compounds.
A U.S. defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the new arrangement might, hypothetically, slow the pace of efforts against the Taliban and its allies in the crucial period when foreign forces begin to withdraw.
"In theory could this severely hamper operations in Afghanistan? Potentially," the official said. However, he added: "In practice, do we think it will do so? No, because both sides understand the importance of these operations."
U.S. officials insist they do not expect the warrant requirement to slow quick-strike raids. They also note that, in theory, the Afghan constitution allows for warrantless search/detention in some situations if warrants are requested within 48 hours of a raid taking place.
Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby said that since the shift to an Afghan lead in special-forces raids in December, more than 350 raids had been carried out and insurgent targets were located in more than three-quarters of those.
He said the agreement would apply only to U.S. special forces units and not other foreign contingents with special forces, including the British and Australians.
Yaftali said he did not think the new law would create problems for operations.
"Whatever we do is according to the Afghan constitution," he said. "In most of the cases in Afghanistan, we get to our target without any fighting or fatalities, because our operation is fast and accurate."
"During our night raids we have killed many so-called shadow governors for the Taliban, self-nominated Taliban police chiefs and shadow district governors, as well as their commanders and fighters," he said.
He said his unit, planned to number about 3,000, but still only half that size, was as well-equipped as NATO forces, with American M4 rifles and night-vision gear. It had also recruited female soldiers to search women-only compounds, he said.
"Right now our personnel operate independently and around the country. Our operations are in cooperation with a U.S. technical team," Yaftali said.
A new Operational Coordination Group, or OCG, to be set up by the Afghan government will oversee special forces operations, with the U.S. providing intelligence, helicopter and air support, as well as medical evacuation, security and support.
There will also be a bilateral oversight committee chaired by Afghan Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak and NATO's top commander in the country, U.S. Marine General John Allen.
U.S. officers spoken to by Reuters in southern Kandahar province welcomed the change, saying it would help free up American troops and deepen cooperation with Afghan forces.
"I think it's a natural progression," said Colonel Todd Wood, commander of the 1/25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has been in charge of three districts for the past year.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kimball, Rob Taylor and Hamid Shalizi in KABUL; Missy Ryan in WASHINGTON; Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by David Brunnstrom)
U.S., Afghan Officials Seek to Halt 'Green on Blue' Attacks
Wall Street Journal By JULIAN E. BARNES April 10, 2012
WASHINGTON - Top Afghan security officials outlined a series of steps Tuesday to prevent attacks by Afghan security forces on U.S. and international troops, a rising cause of death among allied service members.
Following meetings at the Pentagon, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said improved drug testing and background checks could help curb attacks by Afghans on U.S. forces, known in military parlance as "green on blue" incidents.
"The issue of green on blue [attacks] was discussed in detail today because it is very serious," Mr. Wardak said at a news conference. "It is very tragic....It is totally unacceptable, so we are taking a lot of preventative measures."
This year, 17 North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops have been killed by Afghan security forces, usually in unprovoked attacks and without warning. Since May 2007, more than 80 NATO service members have been killed in such incidents.
Mr. Wardak reiterated an earlier request that the National Directorate of Security, the country's spy agency, monitor Afghan soldiers. Because Afghan security forces are nearing targeted goals for troop levels, Mr. Wardak said the government also will be able to do more thorough initial background checks to stem the violence.
He said efforts to raise awareness about the green on blue attacks among Afghan units and to have soldiers watching for fellow troops who could turn on them or international forces already have helped prevent attacks.
Mr. Wardak and Interior Minister Bismellah Mohammadi are in Washington this week for a series of meetings on the U.S.-Afghan security relationship.
The Pentagon meetings also focused on proposed cuts to Afghan forces after 2014, when the Afghan government is due to take the lead for security in the country.
Afghanistan now has nearly 352,000 troops, an Obama administration target. However, NATO member countries have expressed concern about the cost of maintaining such a large force. One proposal discussed at NATO meetings would reduce the country's forces to about 230,000.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in February, Mr. Wardak criticized that proposal, saying it would lead to a "catastrophe."
In the news conference Tuesday, Mr. Wardak emphasized that the cuts would not go into effect immediately, and that they would be based on "realities on the ground," as he has long demanded.
Mr. Mohammadi acknowledged that Afghanistan realized that the U.S. could not continue supplying Kabul at current levels indefinitely.
"We don't wish to be a burden on the international community and the United States forever," Mr. Mohammadi said.
A U.S. defense official acknowledged that Afghan and American officials did discuss potential cuts to the Afghan security forces. But the official emphasized no decisions have been made on what the exact conceptual target for the security forces should be.
Afghan endgame: Pakistan likely to attend NATO summit in Chicago
The Express Tribune By Qaiser Butt April 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is likely to attend a key summit convened by the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) in the United States where world leaders will discuss the endgame in the war-torn Afghanistan.
“Nato had extended a formal invitation to Islamabad early last year when the summit’s schedule was finalised,” a Foreign Office official told The Express Tribune, requesting anonymity.
Nearly 50 heads of state and government will attend the summit which will be held on May 20 and 21 in Chicago.
Islamabad had boycotted the December 2011 conference in the German city of Bonn in protest at a deadly Nato air raid on its border posts that killed two dozen troops.
But Pakistan will not skip the Chicago conclave.
“It is, however, yet to be decided as to who should represent Pakistan at the summit,” said the official. “Ideally, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should attend the summit.”
The Chicago summit will principally focus on three crucial issues: Nato’s commitment to Afghanistan through transition and beyond; ensuring that the alliance has the capabilities it needs to defend its population and territory and to deal with the challenges of the 21st century; and strengthening the alliance’s network of partners across the globe.
Nato has already announced its commitment to supporting Afghanistan beyond 2014 when foreign troops withdraw from the country and Afghan forces take over the security responsibility. Pakistan is seen as key to a stable Afghanistan beyond 2014.
“It goes without saying that we need positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan and in the region. And my bottom-line is very clear: We need a strong partnership with Pakistan,” Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had told a news conference on September 30, last year.
Isaf Says Taliban Has No Unified Front
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 10 April 2012
The day after a top Isaf spokesman said there had been no official declaration from the Taliban of a spring offensive, at least 42 Afghan people became casualties of suicide bombings in Herat and Helmand provinces.
Nineteen of the 42 have been confirmed dead.
German Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson told Reuters on Monday that so far there had been no repeat of last year's signs that the Taliban were presenting a unified assault, rather, they seemed to be doing more isolated attacks on small coalition units.
"No announcement has been made by the insurgency, but we are looking at what they are doing at the moment. They are focusing on attacks on individual posts, on small groups, outposts of soldiers," he said.
"We haven't seen any cohesive action and we are waiting how they are positioning themselves in their attempt to regain momentum. We are very optimistic that we will be, as last year, able to stop all the efforts that they are throwing against us."
Two suicide bombers killed 11 people and wounded as many as 22 others in an attack on the government district headquarters on Tuesday at around 8.45 am.
This was followed by an attack in Helmand at around 11am on a police office in Musa Qala by three suicide bombers, which killed eight police officers and wounded the district police chief.
There were three other reports of bombs in other districts of Helmand, the only deaths being two insurgents who accidently blew themselves up while loading explosives into a car in the Sangin district.
Last spring, the Taliban kicked off their spring offensive, "Operation Badr", with an official statement on April 30 saying they would target Nato military bases, convoys and Afghan government officials, as well as foreign companies and their workers.
The insurgents went for more spectacular attacks last year than had been seen in the past, most notably the attack on the US Embassy.
Sentenced Drug Smugglers Face Up To 20 Years in Prison
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Afghanistan's Appeals Court of the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) sentenced 12 people in the past week for offences related to illegal drug activity, the anti-narcotics body said Tuesday.
The sentences, ranging from five to 20 years in prison, await approval by the Supreme Court, CJTF press officer Ajmal Tareen told TOLOnews.
The cases were all separate incidents, according to Tareen.
Ten of the 12 people were arrested in Baghlan, Helmand, Kandahar, Panjshir, Nangarhar and Kunduz provinces. Between them, authorities seized 33 kilograms of heroin, more than 100 kg of opium, more than 10,000 litres of chemical liquids and 150 litres of alcohol, according to the statement released by the UK-backed CJTF.
A police officer from Helmand who received bribes to allow the smuggling was also among those arrested, and another of the 12 was a Pakistani citizen, the statement added.
This closely follows the CJTF's statement on March 25 that 20 drug traffickers had been convicted in sentences ranging up to 20 years for trafficking a collective 168 kg of heroin, 12 kg of opium, 96 kg of morphine, 30 kg of hashish and 240 litres of liquid chemicals used in the refining of narcotics.
Head of the CJTF Yar Mohammad Hussain Khil said Sunday that more than 700 people had been arrested in drug trafficking-related cases in the past year - 28 of them were Afghan security officials.
The CJTF is a national body that investigates and prosecutes serious narcotics-related offences. It is comprised of investigators from the Ministry of the Interior, prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney-General, and judges from the Afghanistan Supreme Court, working alongside each other in an independent Central Narcotics Tribunal.
It was established with the backing of the UK in 2005.
Afghan, Iranian Asylum Seekers Demand That Indonesia Send Them To Australia
April 10, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Around 120 mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers are refusing to leave a ship that rescued them at sea unless Indonesia provides a new vessel to allow them to continue on to Australia.
The ship that rescued them this week from a sinking wooden boat near Java took them to the Indonesian port of Merak.
But the asylum seekers say they fear that if they disembark, Indonesian authorities will put them in jail rather than forward them to Australia.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and often jails asylum seekers awaiting refugee status.
Based on reporting by AFP
Brazil's Embraer says hopeful on Afghan plane deal
Reuters By Lily Kuo Tue Apr 10, 2012
WASHINGTON - Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer, which won and abruptly lost a contract with the U.S. Air Force to supply up to $1 billion in light attack planes to the Afghan government, said on Tuesday that winning the bid again would prove there were no politics involved.
Embraer President and Chief Executive Frederico Curado said the issue of the contract was raised by the Brazilian government in meetings with the White House on Monday and that the company expects to be able to bid again within a few weeks.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's visit with President Barack Obama on Monday highlighted some strains between the countries, with Rousseff complaining about U.S. monetary policy and U.S.-sponsored sanctions on Iran. The Embraer contract cancellation was another point of tension.
Privately held Sierra Nevada Corp and Embraer beat out Hawker Beechcraft to win the deal in December.
But the Air Force in February canceled the initial contract award, valued at $355 million, when it discovered an error while preparing for a lawsuit filed by Hawker challenging the decision in federal claims court.
The cancellation raised suspicions in Brazil that it was done so that Obama, who faces reelection in November, would not be seen moving jobs abroad.
"We have to in principle trust what we were told ... If we have the same bidding process, the same specs ... we have to believe that we will be selected again and that will prove that there were no politics involved," Curado said.
Embraer, which booked $180 million in orders in March for its Super Tucano light attack fighters in Burkina Faso, Angola and Mauritania, has hoped to extend orders to NATO countries.
The Air Force contract would have been a step in that direction, lifting the company into the upper class of global defense contractors.
Curado dismissed the possibility that U.S. jobs would be lost to the Brazilian commercial planemaker, the world's third-largest.
"It's inaccurate to say the least," he said, citing the fact that the final assembly of the planes would be in the United States. "It would be a U.S.-built aircraft. It would be another export product for the United States in all purposes," Curado said.
A winning bid, the company said, would help sustain 1,200 existing jobs at Embraer, Sierra Nevada, and U.S. suppliers and subcontractors.
Embraer also announced the signing of an agreement on Monday with Boeing Co to cooperate on research and technology in aircraft safety, aviation biofuels, and cockpit safety and efficiency. (Reporting By Lily Kuo; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
New York Times By ALISSA J. RUBIN April 10, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan - In a further sign that the insurgents’ spring offensive is under way, suicide bombers struck in western and southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 16 people, according to Afghan officials in Herat and Helmand, where the attacks took place.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusuf, claimed that Taliban fighters were responsible for the attack in Helmand, but even hours after the bombing in Herat said he had no information on it.
The target of the bombing in Herat initially appeared to be the government center in the Guzara district, which is on the edge of the city on the road to the airport. The suicide bomber drove a sport utility vehicle almost to the gates of the government center, which at 8:45 in the morning was crowded, but as policemen opened fire, he detonated a huge bomb. If he had come closer to the district center building the casualties would have been far higher, but even so 12 people died in the blast, among them at least 3 were policemen who were killed as they tried to stop the bomber, said Sayid Aqa Saqib, the provincial police chief.
Though in the past few years fighting has been more a year-round than seasonal affair, combat does pick up sharply in eastern Afghanistan and parts of the north as the deep snow begins to melt in the mountain passes and fighters and supplies can more easily enter the country. It is early, however, to gauge the strength of this spring offensive because much local support for the Taliban comes from farmers — and they are too busy to fight because they are tending their poppy crops. Afghan military commanders say they expect the ranks of fighters to swell once the poppy harvest is in, but they also expressed optimism about their ability to face them down.
“The Taliban will not miss any possible opportunity if they ever get it against the Afghan government,” Gen. Mohammed Salim Ahsas said. “But, we are becoming stronger and have the ability to halt their attempts.”
In Herat, for instance, there have been numerous attempts by suicide bombers to attack targets, but they have failed, said Ghulam Mohayuddin Noor, the provincial spokesman. He said that government officials believe that the real target on Tuesday was the provincial governor, who was scheduled to be traveling on that road to the airport.
A police intelligence unit was tracking the bombing vehicle’s movements and called for it to stop, but the driver ignored the instructions, said the provincial police chief, Sayid Aqa Saqib, adding that there appeared to have been two people in the vehicle.
“When we told them to stop, they sped up, and as they approached the entrance, the police started to fire on them and the bombers blew themselves up,” he said. “There were two suspects in the vehicle, one in male clothes and one in female clothes, but we cannot tell if it was really a woman.”
Herat is Afghanistan’s second most populous city and a place that has seen relatively little violence in recent years. Some of the attacks that do happen can be large-scale, however. Last May there were two suicide bombings, one of them attacking the NATO provincial reconstruction team on the outskirts of the city. In February, after the mistaken burning of Korans by American military personnel at Bagram Air Base, there was a demonstration in the city in which several people were killed and many others wounded when a police truck filled with bullets exploded.
In Helmand Province, where at least four police officers were killed in the Musa Qala district headquarters when the suicide bombers attacked, the bombing was an ominous sign that despite an enormous effort on the part of American and Afghan forces, the area was not entirely secure. Helmand is scheduled to have thousands of United States Marines pull out over the next eight months in order to meet the goal of reducing the number of American troops in Afghanistan to pre-surge levels.
The attack on Musa Qala was the first in months since American Marines had painstakingly cleared the district of Taliban fighters. For several years, the Taliban had been so dominant in Musa Qala that they ran a parallel government, including a justice system and prisons. They allowed the growing of poppies, the precursor for opium, and there was a thriving narcotics bazaar when the Taliban were in control, said an elder in Musa Qala, who asked not to be named.
The target may well have been the district police chief, who has fought staunchly against the Taliban. He was critically wounded in the blast and was taken to a NATO base for treatment, said Daoud Ahmadi, the provincial governor’s spokesman.
Sangar Rahimi and Jawad Sukhanyar contributed reporting from Kabul, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
NATO soldier killed in S. Afghan blast
KABUL, April 11 (Xinhua) -- A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Wednesday in a blast in southern Afghan region, the ISAF forces confirmed in a press release.
"An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan today," the release said.
However, the brief statement did not disclose the nationality of the victim under the ISAF policy.
Troops mainly from the United States, Britain and Australia have been stationed in the southern region within the framework of ISAF to curb Taliban-linked insurgency there.
A total of 107 NATO soldiers, most of them Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.
5 Taliban militants killed, 18 detained within 24 hours: gov't
KABUL, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Five Taliban militants have been killed and 18 others detained in different Afghan provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Five armed Taliban insurgents killed and 18 other suspects captured during eight cleanup operations launched by police, army and international coalition forces in Kabul, Nangarhar, Baghlan, Helmand, Wardak, and Badakhshan provinces over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.
They also found and seized weapons, it said without saying if there were casualties on forces.
Afghan forces and some 130,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militant groups throughout the country recently as spring and summer, known as "fighting season" draw near.
However, the Taliban militant group in retaliation has conducted suicide attacks and roadside bombings against security forces especially in southern and eastern parts of the country.
Taliban claimed the responsibility for three suicide bombings on Wednesday that rocked western Herat and southern Helmand provinces leaving 22 people including 10 policemen dead and more than 60 others injured.
U.S., Afghan defense chiefs discuss long-term partnership
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Tuesday hosted Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak and Afghan Minister of Interior Bismellah Mohammadi at the Pentagon, discussing long-term partnership, the Pentagon said.
The officials met in the third session of the U.S. - Afghanistan Security Consultations Forum (SCF). The Afghan ministers met with Panetta, Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior defense officials to discuss long-term cooperation between the two countries.
The officials also used the opportunity to "reaffirm the importance of a strategic partnership, and address issues of immediate importance."
The Pentagon said the meetings included a review of security gains across Afghanistan and progress made towards transition of lead security responsibility to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The Pentagon said the two sides have completed transition in the first two of five tranches of provinces and municipalities where approximately 50 percent of the Afghan population now lives. Afghan forces are assuming the lead for security in those areas.
The Pentagon said ANSF are successfully providing effective security in these transitioning areas, and demonstrating their readiness for additional responsibility to assume a third tranche of transition.
The ministers agreed that continuing to build ANSF is a "key priority" for Afghanistan and the international community. Panetta expressed intention to support a sufficient and sustainable post- transition Afghan force. The Pentagon said the issue will be brought up at the upcoming International Security and Assistance Force ministerial meeting in Brussels next week, and with leaders at the NATO Summit in Chicago this May.
The U.S. side has just signed with the Afghans a memorandum of understanding regarding night raids, a contentious issue between the two, removing a major barrier in strategic partnership agreement negotiations. All U.S. forces are scheduled to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Afghan Force Will Be Cut After Taking Leading Role
New York Times By THOM SHANKER and ALISSA J. RUBIN April 10, 2012
WASHINGTON - Afghanistan’s defense minister said Tuesday that his government and the international coalition paying for the war effort had agreed in principle that Afghan security forces would undergo a significant reduction to about 230,000 personnel after the NATO mission ends in 2014.
Under current plans, Afghan security forces are to reach a peak of 352,000 by late this year. Afghan and alliance officials agree that it would be unwise to begin reducing that number before the end of 2014, because in the coming months the number of foreign forces will be reduced and Afghans will be taking over the leading role in defending their nation.
The defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, noted that the projected reductions beyond 2014 were the result of “a conceptual model for planning purposes” of an army, police and border-protection force sufficient to defend Afghanistan. But it also must be sustainable in the future with decreasing foreign contributions.
He emphasized that the ultimate size of the Afghan security force would be weighed against the battlefield effectiveness of the insurgency, and could be slowed or accelerated depending on the security climate in coming years.
“It will be subject to revision based on the realities on the ground,” General Wardak said. The reductions, he added, “will be gradual.”
“There will be enough time to improve further the security situation,” he said.
As NATO presidents and prime ministers prepare to meet next month in Chicago, a central question is how large an Afghan security force the international alliance will agree to continue financing.
Almost all the money for the Afghan forces — including the cost of salaries, equipment and training — is now provided by foreign governments. The costs are topping $7 billion a year, although that number is a bit deceptive because it includes one-time purchases for sophisticated equipment like armored vehicles, helicopters and communications equipment.
American and other alliance officials acknowledge that the amount of money available for the Afghan security forces beyond 2014 is expected to drop to about $4.1 billion per year, a reality that would require a reduction in the size of Afghanistan’s army and police force.
“If something is unsustainable, either you have to find the resources to sustain it or you have to reduce the size of the project," said a senior Western official in Kabul. “They are still embarked on a project whose dimensions are too ambitious.”
American and alliance officials have said that a tentative division of costs under discussion would call for the United States to contribute $2.3 billion to $2.7 billion annually, with the Afghan government contributing $500 million and donations from allies covering the rest.
General Wardak spoke at a late-afternoon news conference at the Afghanistan Embassy here after a day of meetings at the Pentagon that included Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, the Afghan interior minister, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Mohammadi noted the continuing gaps in training and equipment faced by the Interior Ministry’s police forces, and said that the international community was not yet at the end of its obligations to Afghanistan.
“Of course we are forever grateful as a nation and as public officials for the help and training that we have received thus far,” General Mohammadi said. “However, during our long conversations today with the folks in the Pentagon, we did receive assurances, especially from the secretary of defense, that this training gap and this equipment gap will be filled.”
Thom Shanker reported from Washington, and Alissa J. Rubin from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Is Lack of Diversity a Factor in Our Failure in Afghanistan?
The Huffington Post By Richard Dickerson Former senior director for strategic communication, USAID 10/04/2012
In her 2010 Statement on Diversity and Equal Opportunity, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that "Diversity is one of America's greatest strengths." She charged every leader in the department with ensuring "that the workplace for which they are responsible runs on the principles of equity, fairness and inclusion." And she concluded that "In representing the United States to the world we need a workforce that reflects and respects the rich composition of our nation."
We do need such a workforce -- but we don't have it.
I arrived at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan on August 1, 2010 as an employee of USAID, the independent government agency charged with delivering economic and humanitarian assistance abroad. For the next 11 months, I traveled extensively throughout southern Afghanistan -- visiting Kandahar city, Dand, Helmand, Herat, Uruzgan, Zabul, Panjaway and Kakretz -- working in communications and public outreach.
I had heard a great deal about the talented people who work for the State Department and USAID. But it did not take long for me to realize that those stories were largely myths. Their lack of diversity was only exceeded by the lack of leadership and competence. Eventually, I began to wonder if the two deficits might be connected.
The people I met who worked with USAID and State were largely white men who defined themselves by how many years they had worked at their agency and the positions they had held. I was struck that few ever spoke of any tangible impact they made.
I participated in numerous meetings in which there would be 40-plus attendees and maybe two or three black people. After one particular meeting, when USAID staff at Kandahar Airfield briefed senior officials from Washington, I asked whether it was it important for the staff to reflect the makeup of the country. At first, the official from Washington acted as if he did not understand the question, then he attempted to make a joke, and finally he asked what country I was referring. The next day during a staff meeting a senior USAID official suggested that we should be careful what questions we ask. I was later told that this was not the time or place to ask this type of question.
But here's what I'm wondering: When is a good time? When is a better time than when there are 44 civilians attending a meeting to discuss Afghan policy and how the US government will interact with the Afghan government and its people and there are two black people in the room?
This is not just an academic question. The U.S. government has been in Afghanistan for more than 10 years, with white men consistently in charge. In my mind, lack of diversity is one of the reasons our policy initiatives keep failing.
When you constantly pick the same people with similar backgrounds to serve and lead, it's hard for new and different ideas to be considered -- or even discussed. In Afghanistan, I repeatedly recognized a lack of creativity in examining solutions and problems. And when the vast majority of the staff have similar backgrounds, it's easy for groupthink to set in. There is a value to different perspectives that come from different experiences, including a minority experience. A greater diversity of backgrounds, for instance, would be more receptive to questions.
One case in point: The people I worked with didn't seem to understand the importance of religion in the lives of Afghans. But I, a black man of the South, recognized it as something that could help the mission. I eventually spent a significant amount of time working on religious outreach. The religious leaders were the most credible messengers, and if we were going to reach the masses we needed to have a dialogue with the religious leaders. It's been 11 years now; does the U.S. government have a religious engagement plan for Afghanistan? If not, why not? What resources, including people, time and money have been allocated for a religious engagement program?
I saw an inordinate amount of time spent discussing poorly-performing programs. I suggested that we should immediately terminate those programs which were not working. We were cutting and reducing programs at home, so this seemed like a fairly logical suggestion. But there was no willingness to even entertain the idea. It is clear in retrospect that USAID tried to run too many programs at the same time, and failed miserably to monitor or provide metrics that would fairly measure their effectiveness.
That could also be result of another problem: For many of the bureaucrats I'm talking about, there seemed to be little true interest in policy issues, success of the mission, or even what the mission was. For them, the pay, the perks, and the prestige of their Afghanistan assignments were better than they had at home.
Finally, there's another way in which the lack of diversity harms the mission: The failure to have a diverse presence in Afghanistan provides ample evidence to those who oppose American policy that America doesn't practice what it preaches. Even the illiterate know that America is more than middle aged white men.
What message is the U.S. sending to the world when the overwhelming majority of staffers in the agencies charged with implementing US foreign policy are white men? Do white men have some peculiar talent and ability that will allow them to be successful in the pursuit and development of foreign policy and international development? The results of the last 10 years in Afghanistan suggest, if anything, the opposite.
Suicide attacks kill 19 in Afghanistan
Reuters – Tue, Apr 10, 2012
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed at least nineteen people in attacks across Afghanistan on Tuesday, including 11 Afghan police, as insurgents ramped up violence ahead of the traditional summer fighting months.
Two bombers, including one wearing a head-to-toe covering burqa, blew up a car laden with explosives on the airport road outside the western city of Herat, killing eight civilians and three police, provincial governor spokesman Mohiddin Noori said.
Twenty-three people were wounded in the attack, which took place in a usually peaceful part of the country near the border with Iran.
In volatile southern Helmand province, three suicide attackers targeted the district governor's office in Musa Qala district, killing eight police. Two of the bombers were shot dead, but one managed to detonate explosives.
"The first one opened fire on Afghan police. In response he was killed by our forces, while the second one detonated himself and police killed the third," said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor.
A NATO spokesman on Monday said insurgents had so far shown no sign of planning a repeat of last year's unified spring offensive against foreign and Afghan forces, preferring isolated attacks on small units and bases.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the Helmand attack, saying it had been targeting the district governor and police chief, as well as other government officials.
"Our Mujahidin are resisting and have brought huge fatalities to the enemy," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said.
The Taliban last year launched "Operation Badr" - named after a famous seventh century victory by the Prophet Mohammed - vowing to target NATO military bases, convoys and Afghan government officials, as well as foreign companies.
They mounted high profile suicide attacks on heavily-guarded Afghan and foreign bases in the months after, culminating in a September attack on the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul by militants who occupied a nearby building site.
NATO's spokesman, German Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, said last year's attacks, including the assassination of the head of the Afghan government peace council in charge of reconciliation efforts, had failed to revitalize the insurgency.
But the Taliban may be emboldened with the planned post-summer withdrawal of 23,000 U.S. soldiers, and with 2012 being the final year of NATO's surge in troop numbers ahead of the pullout of most combat troops by end-2014.
(Reporting by Sharafuddin Sharafyar in HERAT and Abdul Malek in HELMAND, Writing by Rob Taylor and Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Afghan elite raiders say they are U.S. equals
Reuters By Mirwais Harooni and Rob Taylor Tue Apr 10, 2012
KABUL - It's a special-forces entry like no other and guaranteed to spoil the element of surprise, but Afghanistan's new elite soldiers insist they will be no less effective in countering insurgents than controversial night raids by U.S. forces.
Under cover of darkness, Afghan soldiers will surround the homes of suspected insurgent targets and then shout a demand that those inside separate into men and women before storming the door, safeguarding conservative cultural sensitivities.
"We announce eight to 10 times that we are Afghan security forces and won't harm you. We ask them to take women and children to one side of the home and males to the other," said Colonel Jalaluddin Yaftali, the commander of Afghan special forces.
"We operate very carefully and find our target," Yaftali told Reuters in an interview.
Surprise night raids in pursuit of militants have long fanned anti-Western sentiment in Afghanistan, with many locals seeing them as violations of privacy, especially of women, in conservative southern areas where Taliban support is strongest.
On Sunday, Afghanistan and the United States reached an agreement that only Afghan forces would be able to search residential homes or compounds, while Afghan police and soldiers would have to protect women and children, as well as culturally sensitive places.
The agreement, reached after months of at-times tense negotiations, also gives Kabul the power to veto operations and removed a major obstacle to a wider pact to secure a U.S. presence after withdrawal of most foreign combat troops in 2014.
The hope is that the strategy will lower civilian casualties in night raids and reverse some of the calamitous damage they have caused to President Hamid Karzai's popularity as foreign combat troops hand over to Afghan security forces.
Under the deal, Afghan police and soldiers are supposed to seek an Afghan judicial warrant before conducting raids. Afghan authorities will also have control over prisoners taken and will decide whether to allow U.S. interrogators access to detainees.
U.S. defence officials insist that not much is changing in special forces operations, which occur mostly at night, and say they have been almost 100-percent Afghan-led since last year.
CONCERNS
Some security analysts, and privately even some members of the Afghan military spoken to by Reuters, worry that the constraints now attached may make raids less effective, and see fewer carried out.
Western commanders have seen the raids as one of the most effective anti-insurgent tactics and the danger is that shouted warnings could give targets time to escape in Afghanistan's warren-like, mud-walled villages and home compounds.
A U.S. defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the new arrangement might, hypothetically, slow the pace of efforts against the Taliban and its allies in the crucial period when foreign forces begin to withdraw.
"In theory could this severely hamper operations in Afghanistan? Potentially," the official said. However, he added: "In practice, do we think it will do so? No, because both sides understand the importance of these operations."
U.S. officials insist they do not expect the warrant requirement to slow quick-strike raids. They also note that, in theory, the Afghan constitution allows for warrantless search/detention in some situations if warrants are requested within 48 hours of a raid taking place.
Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby said that since the shift to an Afghan lead in special-forces raids in December, more than 350 raids had been carried out and insurgent targets were located in more than three-quarters of those.
He said the agreement would apply only to U.S. special forces units and not other foreign contingents with special forces, including the British and Australians.
Yaftali said he did not think the new law would create problems for operations.
"Whatever we do is according to the Afghan constitution," he said. "In most of the cases in Afghanistan, we get to our target without any fighting or fatalities, because our operation is fast and accurate."
"During our night raids we have killed many so-called shadow governors for the Taliban, self-nominated Taliban police chiefs and shadow district governors, as well as their commanders and fighters," he said.
He said his unit, planned to number about 3,000, but still only half that size, was as well-equipped as NATO forces, with American M4 rifles and night-vision gear. It had also recruited female soldiers to search women-only compounds, he said.
"Right now our personnel operate independently and around the country. Our operations are in cooperation with a U.S. technical team," Yaftali said.
A new Operational Coordination Group, or OCG, to be set up by the Afghan government will oversee special forces operations, with the U.S. providing intelligence, helicopter and air support, as well as medical evacuation, security and support.
There will also be a bilateral oversight committee chaired by Afghan Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak and NATO's top commander in the country, U.S. Marine General John Allen.
U.S. officers spoken to by Reuters in southern Kandahar province welcomed the change, saying it would help free up American troops and deepen cooperation with Afghan forces.
"I think it's a natural progression," said Colonel Todd Wood, commander of the 1/25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has been in charge of three districts for the past year.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kimball, Rob Taylor and Hamid Shalizi in KABUL; Missy Ryan in WASHINGTON; Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by David Brunnstrom)
U.S., Afghan Officials Seek to Halt 'Green on Blue' Attacks
Wall Street Journal By JULIAN E. BARNES April 10, 2012
WASHINGTON - Top Afghan security officials outlined a series of steps Tuesday to prevent attacks by Afghan security forces on U.S. and international troops, a rising cause of death among allied service members.
Following meetings at the Pentagon, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said improved drug testing and background checks could help curb attacks by Afghans on U.S. forces, known in military parlance as "green on blue" incidents.
"The issue of green on blue [attacks] was discussed in detail today because it is very serious," Mr. Wardak said at a news conference. "It is very tragic....It is totally unacceptable, so we are taking a lot of preventative measures."
This year, 17 North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops have been killed by Afghan security forces, usually in unprovoked attacks and without warning. Since May 2007, more than 80 NATO service members have been killed in such incidents.
Mr. Wardak reiterated an earlier request that the National Directorate of Security, the country's spy agency, monitor Afghan soldiers. Because Afghan security forces are nearing targeted goals for troop levels, Mr. Wardak said the government also will be able to do more thorough initial background checks to stem the violence.
He said efforts to raise awareness about the green on blue attacks among Afghan units and to have soldiers watching for fellow troops who could turn on them or international forces already have helped prevent attacks.
Mr. Wardak and Interior Minister Bismellah Mohammadi are in Washington this week for a series of meetings on the U.S.-Afghan security relationship.
The Pentagon meetings also focused on proposed cuts to Afghan forces after 2014, when the Afghan government is due to take the lead for security in the country.
Afghanistan now has nearly 352,000 troops, an Obama administration target. However, NATO member countries have expressed concern about the cost of maintaining such a large force. One proposal discussed at NATO meetings would reduce the country's forces to about 230,000.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in February, Mr. Wardak criticized that proposal, saying it would lead to a "catastrophe."
In the news conference Tuesday, Mr. Wardak emphasized that the cuts would not go into effect immediately, and that they would be based on "realities on the ground," as he has long demanded.
Mr. Mohammadi acknowledged that Afghanistan realized that the U.S. could not continue supplying Kabul at current levels indefinitely.
"We don't wish to be a burden on the international community and the United States forever," Mr. Mohammadi said.
A U.S. defense official acknowledged that Afghan and American officials did discuss potential cuts to the Afghan security forces. But the official emphasized no decisions have been made on what the exact conceptual target for the security forces should be.
Afghan endgame: Pakistan likely to attend NATO summit in Chicago
The Express Tribune By Qaiser Butt April 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is likely to attend a key summit convened by the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) in the United States where world leaders will discuss the endgame in the war-torn Afghanistan.
“Nato had extended a formal invitation to Islamabad early last year when the summit’s schedule was finalised,” a Foreign Office official told The Express Tribune, requesting anonymity.
Nearly 50 heads of state and government will attend the summit which will be held on May 20 and 21 in Chicago.
Islamabad had boycotted the December 2011 conference in the German city of Bonn in protest at a deadly Nato air raid on its border posts that killed two dozen troops.
But Pakistan will not skip the Chicago conclave.
“It is, however, yet to be decided as to who should represent Pakistan at the summit,” said the official. “Ideally, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should attend the summit.”
The Chicago summit will principally focus on three crucial issues: Nato’s commitment to Afghanistan through transition and beyond; ensuring that the alliance has the capabilities it needs to defend its population and territory and to deal with the challenges of the 21st century; and strengthening the alliance’s network of partners across the globe.
Nato has already announced its commitment to supporting Afghanistan beyond 2014 when foreign troops withdraw from the country and Afghan forces take over the security responsibility. Pakistan is seen as key to a stable Afghanistan beyond 2014.
“It goes without saying that we need positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan and in the region. And my bottom-line is very clear: We need a strong partnership with Pakistan,” Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had told a news conference on September 30, last year.
Isaf Says Taliban Has No Unified Front
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 10 April 2012
The day after a top Isaf spokesman said there had been no official declaration from the Taliban of a spring offensive, at least 42 Afghan people became casualties of suicide bombings in Herat and Helmand provinces.
Nineteen of the 42 have been confirmed dead.
German Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson told Reuters on Monday that so far there had been no repeat of last year's signs that the Taliban were presenting a unified assault, rather, they seemed to be doing more isolated attacks on small coalition units.
"No announcement has been made by the insurgency, but we are looking at what they are doing at the moment. They are focusing on attacks on individual posts, on small groups, outposts of soldiers," he said.
"We haven't seen any cohesive action and we are waiting how they are positioning themselves in their attempt to regain momentum. We are very optimistic that we will be, as last year, able to stop all the efforts that they are throwing against us."
Two suicide bombers killed 11 people and wounded as many as 22 others in an attack on the government district headquarters on Tuesday at around 8.45 am.
This was followed by an attack in Helmand at around 11am on a police office in Musa Qala by three suicide bombers, which killed eight police officers and wounded the district police chief.
There were three other reports of bombs in other districts of Helmand, the only deaths being two insurgents who accidently blew themselves up while loading explosives into a car in the Sangin district.
Last spring, the Taliban kicked off their spring offensive, "Operation Badr", with an official statement on April 30 saying they would target Nato military bases, convoys and Afghan government officials, as well as foreign companies and their workers.
The insurgents went for more spectacular attacks last year than had been seen in the past, most notably the attack on the US Embassy.
Sentenced Drug Smugglers Face Up To 20 Years in Prison
TOLOnews.com Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Afghanistan's Appeals Court of the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) sentenced 12 people in the past week for offences related to illegal drug activity, the anti-narcotics body said Tuesday.
The sentences, ranging from five to 20 years in prison, await approval by the Supreme Court, CJTF press officer Ajmal Tareen told TOLOnews.
The cases were all separate incidents, according to Tareen.
Ten of the 12 people were arrested in Baghlan, Helmand, Kandahar, Panjshir, Nangarhar and Kunduz provinces. Between them, authorities seized 33 kilograms of heroin, more than 100 kg of opium, more than 10,000 litres of chemical liquids and 150 litres of alcohol, according to the statement released by the UK-backed CJTF.
A police officer from Helmand who received bribes to allow the smuggling was also among those arrested, and another of the 12 was a Pakistani citizen, the statement added.
This closely follows the CJTF's statement on March 25 that 20 drug traffickers had been convicted in sentences ranging up to 20 years for trafficking a collective 168 kg of heroin, 12 kg of opium, 96 kg of morphine, 30 kg of hashish and 240 litres of liquid chemicals used in the refining of narcotics.
Head of the CJTF Yar Mohammad Hussain Khil said Sunday that more than 700 people had been arrested in drug trafficking-related cases in the past year - 28 of them were Afghan security officials.
The CJTF is a national body that investigates and prosecutes serious narcotics-related offences. It is comprised of investigators from the Ministry of the Interior, prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney-General, and judges from the Afghanistan Supreme Court, working alongside each other in an independent Central Narcotics Tribunal.
It was established with the backing of the UK in 2005.
Afghan, Iranian Asylum Seekers Demand That Indonesia Send Them To Australia
April 10, 2012 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Around 120 mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers are refusing to leave a ship that rescued them at sea unless Indonesia provides a new vessel to allow them to continue on to Australia.
The ship that rescued them this week from a sinking wooden boat near Java took them to the Indonesian port of Merak.
But the asylum seekers say they fear that if they disembark, Indonesian authorities will put them in jail rather than forward them to Australia.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and often jails asylum seekers awaiting refugee status.
Based on reporting by AFP
Brazil's Embraer says hopeful on Afghan plane deal
Reuters By Lily Kuo Tue Apr 10, 2012
WASHINGTON - Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer, which won and abruptly lost a contract with the U.S. Air Force to supply up to $1 billion in light attack planes to the Afghan government, said on Tuesday that winning the bid again would prove there were no politics involved.
Embraer President and Chief Executive Frederico Curado said the issue of the contract was raised by the Brazilian government in meetings with the White House on Monday and that the company expects to be able to bid again within a few weeks.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's visit with President Barack Obama on Monday highlighted some strains between the countries, with Rousseff complaining about U.S. monetary policy and U.S.-sponsored sanctions on Iran. The Embraer contract cancellation was another point of tension.
Privately held Sierra Nevada Corp and Embraer beat out Hawker Beechcraft to win the deal in December.
But the Air Force in February canceled the initial contract award, valued at $355 million, when it discovered an error while preparing for a lawsuit filed by Hawker challenging the decision in federal claims court.
The cancellation raised suspicions in Brazil that it was done so that Obama, who faces reelection in November, would not be seen moving jobs abroad.
"We have to in principle trust what we were told ... If we have the same bidding process, the same specs ... we have to believe that we will be selected again and that will prove that there were no politics involved," Curado said.
Embraer, which booked $180 million in orders in March for its Super Tucano light attack fighters in Burkina Faso, Angola and Mauritania, has hoped to extend orders to NATO countries.
The Air Force contract would have been a step in that direction, lifting the company into the upper class of global defense contractors.
Curado dismissed the possibility that U.S. jobs would be lost to the Brazilian commercial planemaker, the world's third-largest.
"It's inaccurate to say the least," he said, citing the fact that the final assembly of the planes would be in the United States. "It would be a U.S.-built aircraft. It would be another export product for the United States in all purposes," Curado said.
A winning bid, the company said, would help sustain 1,200 existing jobs at Embraer, Sierra Nevada, and U.S. suppliers and subcontractors.
Embraer also announced the signing of an agreement on Monday with Boeing Co to cooperate on research and technology in aircraft safety, aviation biofuels, and cockpit safety and efficiency. (Reporting By Lily Kuo; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
www.afghanistannewscenter.com