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Gun battle leaves 8 Afghan Taliban fighters dead
HERAT, Afghanistan, April 29 (Xinhua)-- Eight Taliban militants were killed and two others made captive as fighting flared up late Sunday in Kohsan district of Afghanistan's Herat province, 640 km west of Kabul, provincial police chief Rahmatullah Safi said Monday.
"Units of police launched operations against Taliban militants in Kohsan district late Sunday night. The operations lasted for few hours during which eight rebels had been killed and two others were captured,"Safi told Xinhua.
The operations was launched in the wake of abducting a police personnel, he said, adding the kidnapped policeman had been rescued safe and sound.
However, the police official did not say if there were any casualties on police personnel. The Taliban outfit has yet to make comment.
Taliban militants fighting the government and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan announced Saturday to launch their spring offensive codenamed "Khalid Bin Waleed" from April 28 and since then the militants have intensified their activities.
Karzai’s ‘ghost money’—he warned us in 2008
By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket
Word that the CIA gave Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office tens of millions of dollars in cash over a decade is a weird blend of shocking and entirely unsurprising. After all, when it comes to dollars, Karzai made his goals pretty clear as far back as December 2008.
The New York Times reported Monday that the CIA dropped suitcases, backpacks and shopping bags full of money for Karzai in a bid to purchase influence. The cash instead helped fuel Afghanistan’s raging corruption epidemic and empowered warlords, the Times said.
"The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan," one American official said, "was the United States." (Karzai recently said that, too.)
But here’s Karzai, letting everyone in on the plan during a joint December 2008 press conference in Kabul with then-President George W. Bush.
Karzai had been asked by Steven Lee Myers of The New York Times whether he hoped for a withdrawal timetable—a date certain when American troops would be gone.
Afghanistan won't let the "international community" leave "before we are fully on our feet, before we are strong enough to defend our country, before we are powerful enough to have a good economy, and before we have taken from President Bush and the next administration billions and billions of more dollars,” Karzai said. The transcript records “(laughter),” but it was more awkward and disbelieving than appreciative. “No way that they can let you go,” Karzai added. A joke? Half-joke? Moment of candor?
Bush’s response? “Yes, you better hurry up, in my case.”
The last Afghan president who stopped paying off this northern warlord ended up dead
By Steve LeVine | Quartz
By 1992, Najibullah, the Moscow-installed president of Afghanistan, had lasted three years as leader despite the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. But then he ran out of cash to pay a stipend to an important warlord in the north of the country. The warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum, responded by turning on Najibullah, forming an alliance with his enemies, and marching on Kabul. Najibullah was ousted by April.
We learn in the New York Times that the US is the latest to put Dostum on its payroll. With bags of cash channeled through Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the Central Intelligence Agency pays up to $100,000 a month to Dostum.
Next year–a quarter century after the Soviet pullout–it is US forces who will withdraw from Afghanistan. The question is how long Karzai can hang on in the likely case that the CIA halts or lowers the millions of dollars in cash in all that has been dropped off at his office every month.
The money goes to buy off the loyalty of Karzai’s retinue, and the local strongmen around the country who at least nominally are on his side. This is the way that Afghanistan has been governed since the Raj—the folks in Kabul keep a flow of patronage to the regions, and the regions stay on their side.
After the NATO troops go, a foreign presence will remain in the form of oil and mining concerns in the north of the country, mainly from China, such as the China Metallurgical Group Corporation and the China National Petroleum Corporation.
Karzai is scheduled to step down as president next year, and so the only issue in his case may be if he can stay in Afghanistan once his term is over. But history has a lesson there, too. In 1996, when the Taliban marched into Kabul, among their first acts was to execute Najibullah.
37 militants killed in Afghanistan within day: gov't
KABUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-seven Taliban militants have been killed in deferent operations within the last 24 hours across Afghanistan, said the country's Interior Ministry on Monday morning.
"The Afghan National Police (ANP) supported by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted several cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni and Paktika provinces, killing 37 armed Taliban over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.
Up to 13 militants were wounded and 11 were detained by ANP, the statement said, adding the ANP also found and seized weapons and explosive during the raids.
Figures released by the Afghan Interior Ministry showed more than 230 insurgents had been killed, 81 wounded and nearly 200 others detained during operations over the past one month across the country.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.
On Saturday, the Taliban announced that they would start the annual spring operation codenamed "Khalid bin Waleed," the name of a general in Islamic history, from Sunday.
Taliban Leader, Facilitator Arrested in Afghan, Nato Operation
TOLOnews.com 29 April 2013
A Taliban leader and a facilitator were arrested in a joint operation carried out by Afghan and Nato troops in southern Kandahar province Sunday, Isaf said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader and a Taliban facilitator during an operation in Kandahar City, Kandahar province, today," Isaf said in a statement.
The leader is believed to be responsible for coordinating assassinations, sniper ambushes and other attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Kandahar City. He is known to have directed the killing of Afghan National Army soldiers, recruited fighters for the insurgency, and used his residence as a safe house for fighters operating in the region.
The facilitator is alleged to be responsible for housing and directing suicide bombers throughout Kandahar province. He also has a history of acquiring and distributing weapons to insurgent fighters, and planning RPG and small arms attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.
It comes as, an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) facilitator was arrested in a joint operation in Burkah district of northern Baghlan province, Sunday.
The facilitator is believed to have been instrumental in procuring and distributing weapons and military equipment to IMU fighters in northern Afghanistan. He has also been involved in assassination operations and attack planning, and has served as a bodyguard for senior IMU leadership.
Meanwhile, two other Taliban leaders and three insurgents were arrested in separate operations in southern Helmand and Kandahar province Sunday, the Isaf statement said.
The first leader and two other insurgents were arrested in a joint operation in Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand province, Sunday.
The leader is believed to have been in charge of a cell of fighters responsible for planning and executing attacks against government officials in Helmand province. He has also facilitated the production and distribution of home-made explosive material for use in insurgent operations, and possesses experience working with improvised explosive devices.
The second leader and one other insurgent were arrested on Saturday in Nad 'Ali district of Helmand province. The leader is believed to have had operational control over a cell of fighters responsible for IED and direct fire attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. At the time of his arrest, he was planning an attack utilising IEDs. He has also facilitated the acquisition and distribution of weapons and money used to support insurgent operations.
Loss of U.S. air power a worry in Afghanistan
Afghanistan's own air force is not expected to be fully operational until 2016 at the earliest.
USA Today By Jim Michaels April 28, 2013
Washington - The Pentagon is accelerating the deployment of mortars and artillery to Afghanistan's fledgling army in an effort to help compensate for the loss of American air power, which has proved devastating against the Taliban over the years.
The loss of American firepower after 2014 will be a key challenge for the Afghan force and highlights stark choices the White House is confronting as it shapes a follow-on force.
Afghan commanders are worried about its impact on operations.
"They certainly haven't missed the fact that the finest air force on the planet is going home," said Marine Gen. John Allen, who stepped down as top coalition commander in February and has retired.
But Allen said mortars, artillery and helicopter gunships will give Afghan forces quick access to their own firepower.
The Pentagon has said it will leave advisers and a counterterrorism force in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends. Air power would be available for remaining U.S. counterterrorism forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been critical of air attacks, accusing the coalition of mistakenly killing civilians. The White House has also been pushing to limit the size of the post-2014 force in Afghanistan, which restricts the amount of support Americans can supply, analysts say.
"There is enormous political pressure to get the numbers down," said Fred Kagan, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute who has advised top commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kagan said Karzai's criticism might also have played a role in the American decision.
The Pentagon has said the decision is based on a strategy to transition security responsibility to Afghan forces as American and coalition forces withdraw.
Afghanistan's own air force is not expected to be fully operational until 2016 at the earliest, the Pentagon said. Even when it is, it won't have near the capabilities of the U.S. military, which leads the world in delivering powerful munitions accurately.
The Afghans' main close air support plane, a turboprop Super Tucano, won't be fielded until mid-2014, Air Force Maj. Gen. H.D. Polumbo, the top coalition air commander, told reporters recently.
In the meantime, Allen said the coalition is taking a number of steps that will give Afghanistan's military a firepower advantage over the Taliban, including providing the additional mortars and arming their Mi-17 helicopters with rockets and gatling guns.
The additional firepower, which will be integrated into small units, will give Afghan troops the ability to respond quickly.
"The issue is having the right kind of combined arms capability," Allen said, referring to the tactics of coordinating firepower with the movement of troops on the ground.
Air power helped collapse the Taliban regime after the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in response to the September 2001 attacks. Since then, American airstrikes have helped give Afghan and coalition forces a critical advantage over the Taliban.
Taliban militants are unable to mass forces without risking a devastating attack, forcing militants to fight in small groups and resort to roadside bombs and terrorist strikes on civilian targets.
"U.S firepower is very intimidating to the Taliban," said David Barno, a retired three-star general who commanded coalition forces in Afghanistan and is now a senior adviser at the Center for a New American Security.
"Throughout this campaign, coalition air power has provided a critical asymmetric advantage," Polumbo said.
Some analysts worry the removal of air power will take a key advantage away from Afghan forces.
"It's incredibly important that Afghan security forces have access to this capability and that the Taliban know they have access to this capability," Kagan said.
"The Afghan security forces are happy to fight," he added. "They want to know they are going to win the fight at the end of the day. The nice thing about air support is it lets you end the discussion with the enemy."
Allen said by integrating mortars and artillery into Afghanistan's army, the coalition is providing a capability more in keeping with the Afghans style of fighting.
Afghan soldiers are particularly adept at mortars, a simple weapon system employed inside infantry units. Small mortars, such as the 60mm, can be packed on mules or carried in pieces by soldiers.
Already, as Afghan forces increasingly take the lead in operations, the coalition is backing off the frequency of air support.
Because of the concern over civilian or friendly casualties, regulations do not allow an Afghan unit to call for airstrikes unless a coalition air control team is accompanying the unit. Increasingly, Afghan forces are going out on their own and so lack the ability to call for coalition airstrikes.
Marine Maj. Gen. Charles "Mark" Gurganus, who recently returned to the United States after commanding coalition forces in southwest Afghanistan, said the coalition can currently provide the Afghans with air support if joint planning is conducted before an operation so a coalition team can be embedded with the Afghans.
"The trouble is if they go out and get into trouble we don't know where they are," Gurganus said. "We don't fire any weapons systems because one of their commanders gets in a little bit of a fight and runs out and says, 'I need fire support right now.' "
India, Russia agree on Afghan peace, but differ on drawdown
The Hindu By Vladimir Radyuhin April 29, 2013
Moscow - The Istanbul Process conference on Afghanistan held in Kazakhstan’s Almaty on Friday confirmed a close affinity of views between India and Russia, even as they differ in their assessments of the planned withdrawal of the U.S.-led NATO mission.
“India and Russia have a strong convergence of perceptions of how to move forward [on Afghanistan],” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said after arriving here from Almaty.
“India and Russia agree that the process of peace and reconciliation must be Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven. You can’t give readymade solutions to Afghanistan and tell it to apply them. Solutions have to come from within Afghanistan,” Mr. Khurshid told The Hindu.
Russia takes a similar stand
“We support the process of reconciliation. But it must be led by Afghans and conducted by Afghans,” Russia’s top diplomat for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said ahead of the Almaty conference. “It is not right when the Taliban speak to Americans, British or somebody else, who then communicate with the [Hamid] Karzai government.”
India, of course, is more concerned with Pakistan’s role in the Afghan reconciliation efforts. But the biggest difference between New Delhi and Moscow is over the modalities of the drawdown of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan.
Speaking at the Almaty conference, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov lashed out at U.S. plan to retain military presence in Afghanistan without the United Nations’ mandate. “We do not support plans to reformat the ISAF into a long-term foreign military presence in Afghanistan without a United Nations mandate and under a different guise,” he said.
Moscow is demanding that the NATO countries report to the U.N. Security Council on the implementation of its mandate for intervention in Afghanistan and seek a renewed mandate if they want to stay.
However, India does not support the Russian demand.
“The U.S. did take the Security Council sanction, but it’s not been a U.N. peace-keeping operation,” Mr. Khurshid said. “There is nothing more than the Security Council can do, except to support a peace process where redlines are clearly drawn — that talks are held only with those who abjure violence, give up contacts with terrorists and respect the Constitution of Afghanistan.”
The “redlines” agreed upon at the 2010 London conference were again reiterated in Almaty.
Russia is concerned that permanent military bases the Pentagon plans to set up in Afghanistan may be used to strike at Iran and project American power across Central Asia. India, however, is willing to accept continued U.S. military presence in Afghanistan without a U.N. mandate, though New Delhi agrees with Moscow that the ISAF is winding down too abruptly.
“We think the pullout is being done in a hurry; we do not want it to be done in a hurry. But it’s up to Afghanistan to discuss this with the U.S. We’ll go by what Afghanistan decides,” Mr. Khurshid said.
These differences apart, India supports Russia’s higher profile in Central Asia and is ready to interact closer with Moscow in the region. “If Central Asia moves in the right direction and continues its strong association with Russia, it will become a very solid link between India and Russia,” Mr. Khurshid said. “We need to ensure that Central Asia becomes a very strong bridge between ourselves and Russia.”
Mr. Khurshid is in Moscow for an inter-session meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission scheduled for Monday, which he co-chairs with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai Among 100 Top Thinkers
TOLOnews.com By TOLOnews.com 28 April 2013
Chairman of the Afghan Transition Coordination Commission Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzia has taken second place in the list of one hundred top thinkers of the world in 2013 in a poll result announced by Prospect Magazine in Britain.
Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is believed to be among those thinkers of the world who have been able to put their ideas in practice.
Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is now in charge of Transition Coordination Commission from foreigners to Afghan government. Previously he was minister of finance and candidate of 2009 presidential elections of Afghanistan. He has also been the chancellor of the Kabul University in the past.
He is already looking beyond the current crisis in Syria raising important questions about what kind of state it will eventually become.
Richard Dawkins the famous British biologist has taken the first place in the top ten list.
Mohammd Alberadi the former director general of the UN's international atomic energy agency , Asghar Farhadi a famous Iranian film maker and winner of Oscar, and Sherel Sen Berek operational in charge of Facebook enterprises are among the one hundred top thinkers.
Poll results announced in the magazine were based on the votes received via the internet.
Taliban Ambush Police Check-Post in Jawzjan, Kill 3
TOLOnews.com 29 April 2013
Taliban insurgents have attacked a police check-post in northern Jawzjan province Sunday night, killing 3 police soldiers, local officials said.
The incident took place in Qoshtepa district of the province, when a number of Taliban insurgents attacked the check-post and took over control of it, district governor Aminullah said.
"There were only three police soldiers in the check-post who were killed by the Taliban insurgents. We will try to recapture the post," Aminullah said.
More security forces have been sent to the area and there is no information about the exact number of insurgents, he said.
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Qoshtepa district is considered one of the insecure areas in the province, where insurgents frequently target the local security forces' check-posts.
$300 Million Dollars Needed for Shahtoot Dam: Officials
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie 28 April 2013
Afghan Deputy Minister of Water and Energy on Saturday said that the construction of Shahtoot Dam requires about two hundred million dollars and the ministry has contacted a number of financial Institutions to fund the project.
Ministry officials say that whenever the designing process is completed, constructing process of the Shatoot Dam will be started as soon as possible.
"Because the project requires a lot of funds. After the designing, with the cooperation of the World Bank, we are trying to receive the fund which is around 250 to 300$ million dollars, We've had several meetings with the World Bank officials," Deputy Minister of Water and Energy Shujauddin Ziayee told TOLOnews.
The ministry says that the designing of the Shahtoot Dam has been given to Poyab Company of Iran.
The ministry said that with the construction of Shahtoot Dam, it would provide potable water to more than 2 million residents of Kabul, besides facilitating irrigation of 4000 hectares of land in the districts of Charasiab and Khairabad; in addition to providing drinking water to the first phase of the New City of Dehsabz.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
HERAT, Afghanistan, April 29 (Xinhua)-- Eight Taliban militants were killed and two others made captive as fighting flared up late Sunday in Kohsan district of Afghanistan's Herat province, 640 km west of Kabul, provincial police chief Rahmatullah Safi said Monday.
"Units of police launched operations against Taliban militants in Kohsan district late Sunday night. The operations lasted for few hours during which eight rebels had been killed and two others were captured,"Safi told Xinhua.
The operations was launched in the wake of abducting a police personnel, he said, adding the kidnapped policeman had been rescued safe and sound.
However, the police official did not say if there were any casualties on police personnel. The Taliban outfit has yet to make comment.
Taliban militants fighting the government and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan announced Saturday to launch their spring offensive codenamed "Khalid Bin Waleed" from April 28 and since then the militants have intensified their activities.
Karzai’s ‘ghost money’—he warned us in 2008
By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket
Word that the CIA gave Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office tens of millions of dollars in cash over a decade is a weird blend of shocking and entirely unsurprising. After all, when it comes to dollars, Karzai made his goals pretty clear as far back as December 2008.
The New York Times reported Monday that the CIA dropped suitcases, backpacks and shopping bags full of money for Karzai in a bid to purchase influence. The cash instead helped fuel Afghanistan’s raging corruption epidemic and empowered warlords, the Times said.
"The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan," one American official said, "was the United States." (Karzai recently said that, too.)
But here’s Karzai, letting everyone in on the plan during a joint December 2008 press conference in Kabul with then-President George W. Bush.
Karzai had been asked by Steven Lee Myers of The New York Times whether he hoped for a withdrawal timetable—a date certain when American troops would be gone.
Afghanistan won't let the "international community" leave "before we are fully on our feet, before we are strong enough to defend our country, before we are powerful enough to have a good economy, and before we have taken from President Bush and the next administration billions and billions of more dollars,” Karzai said. The transcript records “(laughter),” but it was more awkward and disbelieving than appreciative. “No way that they can let you go,” Karzai added. A joke? Half-joke? Moment of candor?
Bush’s response? “Yes, you better hurry up, in my case.”
The last Afghan president who stopped paying off this northern warlord ended up dead
By Steve LeVine | Quartz
By 1992, Najibullah, the Moscow-installed president of Afghanistan, had lasted three years as leader despite the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. But then he ran out of cash to pay a stipend to an important warlord in the north of the country. The warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum, responded by turning on Najibullah, forming an alliance with his enemies, and marching on Kabul. Najibullah was ousted by April.
We learn in the New York Times that the US is the latest to put Dostum on its payroll. With bags of cash channeled through Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the Central Intelligence Agency pays up to $100,000 a month to Dostum.
Next year–a quarter century after the Soviet pullout–it is US forces who will withdraw from Afghanistan. The question is how long Karzai can hang on in the likely case that the CIA halts or lowers the millions of dollars in cash in all that has been dropped off at his office every month.
The money goes to buy off the loyalty of Karzai’s retinue, and the local strongmen around the country who at least nominally are on his side. This is the way that Afghanistan has been governed since the Raj—the folks in Kabul keep a flow of patronage to the regions, and the regions stay on their side.
After the NATO troops go, a foreign presence will remain in the form of oil and mining concerns in the north of the country, mainly from China, such as the China Metallurgical Group Corporation and the China National Petroleum Corporation.
Karzai is scheduled to step down as president next year, and so the only issue in his case may be if he can stay in Afghanistan once his term is over. But history has a lesson there, too. In 1996, when the Taliban marched into Kabul, among their first acts was to execute Najibullah.
37 militants killed in Afghanistan within day: gov't
KABUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-seven Taliban militants have been killed in deferent operations within the last 24 hours across Afghanistan, said the country's Interior Ministry on Monday morning.
"The Afghan National Police (ANP) supported by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted several cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni and Paktika provinces, killing 37 armed Taliban over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.
Up to 13 militants were wounded and 11 were detained by ANP, the statement said, adding the ANP also found and seized weapons and explosive during the raids.
Figures released by the Afghan Interior Ministry showed more than 230 insurgents had been killed, 81 wounded and nearly 200 others detained during operations over the past one month across the country.
The Taliban insurgent group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.
On Saturday, the Taliban announced that they would start the annual spring operation codenamed "Khalid bin Waleed," the name of a general in Islamic history, from Sunday.
Taliban Leader, Facilitator Arrested in Afghan, Nato Operation
TOLOnews.com 29 April 2013
A Taliban leader and a facilitator were arrested in a joint operation carried out by Afghan and Nato troops in southern Kandahar province Sunday, Isaf said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader and a Taliban facilitator during an operation in Kandahar City, Kandahar province, today," Isaf said in a statement.
The leader is believed to be responsible for coordinating assassinations, sniper ambushes and other attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Kandahar City. He is known to have directed the killing of Afghan National Army soldiers, recruited fighters for the insurgency, and used his residence as a safe house for fighters operating in the region.
The facilitator is alleged to be responsible for housing and directing suicide bombers throughout Kandahar province. He also has a history of acquiring and distributing weapons to insurgent fighters, and planning RPG and small arms attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.
It comes as, an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) facilitator was arrested in a joint operation in Burkah district of northern Baghlan province, Sunday.
The facilitator is believed to have been instrumental in procuring and distributing weapons and military equipment to IMU fighters in northern Afghanistan. He has also been involved in assassination operations and attack planning, and has served as a bodyguard for senior IMU leadership.
Meanwhile, two other Taliban leaders and three insurgents were arrested in separate operations in southern Helmand and Kandahar province Sunday, the Isaf statement said.
The first leader and two other insurgents were arrested in a joint operation in Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand province, Sunday.
The leader is believed to have been in charge of a cell of fighters responsible for planning and executing attacks against government officials in Helmand province. He has also facilitated the production and distribution of home-made explosive material for use in insurgent operations, and possesses experience working with improvised explosive devices.
The second leader and one other insurgent were arrested on Saturday in Nad 'Ali district of Helmand province. The leader is believed to have had operational control over a cell of fighters responsible for IED and direct fire attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. At the time of his arrest, he was planning an attack utilising IEDs. He has also facilitated the acquisition and distribution of weapons and money used to support insurgent operations.
Loss of U.S. air power a worry in Afghanistan
Afghanistan's own air force is not expected to be fully operational until 2016 at the earliest.
USA Today By Jim Michaels April 28, 2013
Washington - The Pentagon is accelerating the deployment of mortars and artillery to Afghanistan's fledgling army in an effort to help compensate for the loss of American air power, which has proved devastating against the Taliban over the years.
The loss of American firepower after 2014 will be a key challenge for the Afghan force and highlights stark choices the White House is confronting as it shapes a follow-on force.
Afghan commanders are worried about its impact on operations.
"They certainly haven't missed the fact that the finest air force on the planet is going home," said Marine Gen. John Allen, who stepped down as top coalition commander in February and has retired.
But Allen said mortars, artillery and helicopter gunships will give Afghan forces quick access to their own firepower.
The Pentagon has said it will leave advisers and a counterterrorism force in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends. Air power would be available for remaining U.S. counterterrorism forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been critical of air attacks, accusing the coalition of mistakenly killing civilians. The White House has also been pushing to limit the size of the post-2014 force in Afghanistan, which restricts the amount of support Americans can supply, analysts say.
"There is enormous political pressure to get the numbers down," said Fred Kagan, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute who has advised top commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kagan said Karzai's criticism might also have played a role in the American decision.
The Pentagon has said the decision is based on a strategy to transition security responsibility to Afghan forces as American and coalition forces withdraw.
Afghanistan's own air force is not expected to be fully operational until 2016 at the earliest, the Pentagon said. Even when it is, it won't have near the capabilities of the U.S. military, which leads the world in delivering powerful munitions accurately.
The Afghans' main close air support plane, a turboprop Super Tucano, won't be fielded until mid-2014, Air Force Maj. Gen. H.D. Polumbo, the top coalition air commander, told reporters recently.
In the meantime, Allen said the coalition is taking a number of steps that will give Afghanistan's military a firepower advantage over the Taliban, including providing the additional mortars and arming their Mi-17 helicopters with rockets and gatling guns.
The additional firepower, which will be integrated into small units, will give Afghan troops the ability to respond quickly.
"The issue is having the right kind of combined arms capability," Allen said, referring to the tactics of coordinating firepower with the movement of troops on the ground.
Air power helped collapse the Taliban regime after the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in response to the September 2001 attacks. Since then, American airstrikes have helped give Afghan and coalition forces a critical advantage over the Taliban.
Taliban militants are unable to mass forces without risking a devastating attack, forcing militants to fight in small groups and resort to roadside bombs and terrorist strikes on civilian targets.
"U.S firepower is very intimidating to the Taliban," said David Barno, a retired three-star general who commanded coalition forces in Afghanistan and is now a senior adviser at the Center for a New American Security.
"Throughout this campaign, coalition air power has provided a critical asymmetric advantage," Polumbo said.
Some analysts worry the removal of air power will take a key advantage away from Afghan forces.
"It's incredibly important that Afghan security forces have access to this capability and that the Taliban know they have access to this capability," Kagan said.
"The Afghan security forces are happy to fight," he added. "They want to know they are going to win the fight at the end of the day. The nice thing about air support is it lets you end the discussion with the enemy."
Allen said by integrating mortars and artillery into Afghanistan's army, the coalition is providing a capability more in keeping with the Afghans style of fighting.
Afghan soldiers are particularly adept at mortars, a simple weapon system employed inside infantry units. Small mortars, such as the 60mm, can be packed on mules or carried in pieces by soldiers.
Already, as Afghan forces increasingly take the lead in operations, the coalition is backing off the frequency of air support.
Because of the concern over civilian or friendly casualties, regulations do not allow an Afghan unit to call for airstrikes unless a coalition air control team is accompanying the unit. Increasingly, Afghan forces are going out on their own and so lack the ability to call for coalition airstrikes.
Marine Maj. Gen. Charles "Mark" Gurganus, who recently returned to the United States after commanding coalition forces in southwest Afghanistan, said the coalition can currently provide the Afghans with air support if joint planning is conducted before an operation so a coalition team can be embedded with the Afghans.
"The trouble is if they go out and get into trouble we don't know where they are," Gurganus said. "We don't fire any weapons systems because one of their commanders gets in a little bit of a fight and runs out and says, 'I need fire support right now.' "
India, Russia agree on Afghan peace, but differ on drawdown
The Hindu By Vladimir Radyuhin April 29, 2013
Moscow - The Istanbul Process conference on Afghanistan held in Kazakhstan’s Almaty on Friday confirmed a close affinity of views between India and Russia, even as they differ in their assessments of the planned withdrawal of the U.S.-led NATO mission.
“India and Russia have a strong convergence of perceptions of how to move forward [on Afghanistan],” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said after arriving here from Almaty.
“India and Russia agree that the process of peace and reconciliation must be Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven. You can’t give readymade solutions to Afghanistan and tell it to apply them. Solutions have to come from within Afghanistan,” Mr. Khurshid told The Hindu.
Russia takes a similar stand
“We support the process of reconciliation. But it must be led by Afghans and conducted by Afghans,” Russia’s top diplomat for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said ahead of the Almaty conference. “It is not right when the Taliban speak to Americans, British or somebody else, who then communicate with the [Hamid] Karzai government.”
India, of course, is more concerned with Pakistan’s role in the Afghan reconciliation efforts. But the biggest difference between New Delhi and Moscow is over the modalities of the drawdown of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan.
Speaking at the Almaty conference, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov lashed out at U.S. plan to retain military presence in Afghanistan without the United Nations’ mandate. “We do not support plans to reformat the ISAF into a long-term foreign military presence in Afghanistan without a United Nations mandate and under a different guise,” he said.
Moscow is demanding that the NATO countries report to the U.N. Security Council on the implementation of its mandate for intervention in Afghanistan and seek a renewed mandate if they want to stay.
However, India does not support the Russian demand.
“The U.S. did take the Security Council sanction, but it’s not been a U.N. peace-keeping operation,” Mr. Khurshid said. “There is nothing more than the Security Council can do, except to support a peace process where redlines are clearly drawn — that talks are held only with those who abjure violence, give up contacts with terrorists and respect the Constitution of Afghanistan.”
The “redlines” agreed upon at the 2010 London conference were again reiterated in Almaty.
Russia is concerned that permanent military bases the Pentagon plans to set up in Afghanistan may be used to strike at Iran and project American power across Central Asia. India, however, is willing to accept continued U.S. military presence in Afghanistan without a U.N. mandate, though New Delhi agrees with Moscow that the ISAF is winding down too abruptly.
“We think the pullout is being done in a hurry; we do not want it to be done in a hurry. But it’s up to Afghanistan to discuss this with the U.S. We’ll go by what Afghanistan decides,” Mr. Khurshid said.
These differences apart, India supports Russia’s higher profile in Central Asia and is ready to interact closer with Moscow in the region. “If Central Asia moves in the right direction and continues its strong association with Russia, it will become a very solid link between India and Russia,” Mr. Khurshid said. “We need to ensure that Central Asia becomes a very strong bridge between ourselves and Russia.”
Mr. Khurshid is in Moscow for an inter-session meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission scheduled for Monday, which he co-chairs with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai Among 100 Top Thinkers
TOLOnews.com By TOLOnews.com 28 April 2013
Chairman of the Afghan Transition Coordination Commission Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzia has taken second place in the list of one hundred top thinkers of the world in 2013 in a poll result announced by Prospect Magazine in Britain.
Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is believed to be among those thinkers of the world who have been able to put their ideas in practice.
Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is now in charge of Transition Coordination Commission from foreigners to Afghan government. Previously he was minister of finance and candidate of 2009 presidential elections of Afghanistan. He has also been the chancellor of the Kabul University in the past.
He is already looking beyond the current crisis in Syria raising important questions about what kind of state it will eventually become.
Richard Dawkins the famous British biologist has taken the first place in the top ten list.
Mohammd Alberadi the former director general of the UN's international atomic energy agency , Asghar Farhadi a famous Iranian film maker and winner of Oscar, and Sherel Sen Berek operational in charge of Facebook enterprises are among the one hundred top thinkers.
Poll results announced in the magazine were based on the votes received via the internet.
Taliban Ambush Police Check-Post in Jawzjan, Kill 3
TOLOnews.com 29 April 2013
Taliban insurgents have attacked a police check-post in northern Jawzjan province Sunday night, killing 3 police soldiers, local officials said.
The incident took place in Qoshtepa district of the province, when a number of Taliban insurgents attacked the check-post and took over control of it, district governor Aminullah said.
"There were only three police soldiers in the check-post who were killed by the Taliban insurgents. We will try to recapture the post," Aminullah said.
More security forces have been sent to the area and there is no information about the exact number of insurgents, he said.
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Qoshtepa district is considered one of the insecure areas in the province, where insurgents frequently target the local security forces' check-posts.
$300 Million Dollars Needed for Shahtoot Dam: Officials
TOLOnews.com By Shahla Murtazaie 28 April 2013
Afghan Deputy Minister of Water and Energy on Saturday said that the construction of Shahtoot Dam requires about two hundred million dollars and the ministry has contacted a number of financial Institutions to fund the project.
Ministry officials say that whenever the designing process is completed, constructing process of the Shatoot Dam will be started as soon as possible.
"Because the project requires a lot of funds. After the designing, with the cooperation of the World Bank, we are trying to receive the fund which is around 250 to 300$ million dollars, We've had several meetings with the World Bank officials," Deputy Minister of Water and Energy Shujauddin Ziayee told TOLOnews.
The ministry says that the designing of the Shahtoot Dam has been given to Poyab Company of Iran.
The ministry said that with the construction of Shahtoot Dam, it would provide potable water to more than 2 million residents of Kabul, besides facilitating irrigation of 4000 hectares of land in the districts of Charasiab and Khairabad; in addition to providing drinking water to the first phase of the New City of Dehsabz.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com