US, NATO set to launch massive assault against Taliban-led militants

[yellow people]

Wikileaks Afghanistan: suggestions US tried to cover up civilian casualties


Wikileaks Afghanistan: suggestions US tried to cover up civilian casualties

Fresh evidence suggesting that US-led forces attempted to cover up civilian casualties in Afghanistan has emerged through leaked military documents.

By John Bingham
Published: 9:00PM BST 27 Jul 2010

US troops In Afghanistan Photo: GETTY

They include an internal account of a disastrous operation by US Marines near the city of Jalalabad in March 2007, in which 19 unarmed civilians are said to have died and up to 50 injured. US commanders later accepted that dozens of Afghan civilians had been killed or injured in the shootings, as the marines extracted themselves from the scene of a suicide bombing in which one of their number received shrapnel wounds.

But the original incident report makes no reference to the carnage, noting only that the servicemen had “returned to JAF (Jalalabad Air Field)”. The “war logs” also detail how US special forces arranged for six 2,000lb bombs to be dropped on a compound in Helmand Province in August 2007 in an incident in which up to 300 civilians were later claimed to have been killed.

According to extracts, an internal US account of the operation states that efforts had been made to ensure that “there were no innocent Afghans in the surrounding area”. It adds that commanders believed that “high value” Taliban targets were meeting in compound. The records log a total of 144 incidents involving Afghan civilian casualties, in which 195 non-combatants are said to have died and 174 injured.

They include at least 21 cases allegedly involving British forces which are said to have led to the deaths of at least 26 people, among them 16 children. The disclosures have led to allegations that coalition forces may have committed “war crimes” in Afghanistan. In London, the British Ministry of Defence said it was examining the leaks.

 

[yellow people]

Wikileaks Afghanistan: Taliban 'hunting down informants'


Wikileaks Afghanistan: Taliban 'hunting down informants'

The Taliban has issued a warning to Afghans whose names might appear on the leaked Afghanistan war logs as informers for the Nato-led coalition.

By Robert Winnett in Washington
Published: 7:00AM BST 30 Jul 2010

United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Photo: REUTERS

In an interview with Channel 4 News, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said they were studying and investigating the report, adding “If they are US spies, then we know how to punish them.” The warning came as the US military's top officer, Admiral Mike Mullen said that Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, may already have blood on his hands following the leak of 92,000 classified documents relating to the war in Afghanistan by his website.

<!-- BEFORE ACI --> "Mr Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family," he said. The US government has called in the FBI to help hunt those responsible for leaking tens of thousands of secret documents about the Afghanistan war. Robert Gates, the US Defense Secretary, warned that sources identified in the documents now risked being "targeted for retribution" by insurgents in Afghanistan.

He pledged a "thorough, aggressive investigation" to identify the leakers and said that steps were being taken to restrict access to classified documents in future. Bradley Manning, a 22-year old intelligence analyst, is the prime suspect in the leak inquiry. He is currently already in custody in Kuwait after being arrested for allegedly leaking other information earlier this year. However, he was previously caught boasting that he had leaked tens of thousands of documents on the Afghan war to the Wikileaks website.

The Pentagon suspects that Manning may have accomplices within the military. Earlier this week, Wikileaks published 90,000 documents – mostly reports detailing operations by American and other allied forces in Afghanistan between 2004 and 2009. The website is threatening to publish thousands more documents. In his first comments on the massive leak, Mr Gates said that "the battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world."

"Intelligence sources and methods, as well as military tactics, techniques and procedures will become known to our adversaries," he added. The defense secretary promised "a thorough, aggressive investigation to determine how this leak occurred, to identify the person or persons responsible, and to assess the content of the information compromised." Mr Gates promised to take steps to protect the lives of US service members as well as Afghans possibly exposed by the leaks. The massive leak jeopardised the trust vital to gathering intelligence in the "field", said Mr Gates, a former CIA director. "We have considerable repair work to do," he said.

 

[yellow people]

Wikileaks Afghanistan: Osama bin Laden alive


Wikileaks Afghanistan: Osama bin Laden alive

Osama bin Laden is alive and playing a key role in directing the war in Afghanistan, leaked US military files suggest.

By John Bingham
Published: 9:00PM BST

Osama bin Laden
Photo: AP

Multiple intelligence reports on the whereabouts of the al-Qaeda leader are contained among the documents. They disclose publicly for the first time that bin Laden is thought to be personally overseeing the work of suicide bombers and the makers of Taliban roadside bombs which have had a devastating effect on British and US troops.

They undermine rumours bin Laden had died and also appear to contradict comments by Leon Panetta, the CIA director, as recently as last month that there had been no intelligence on the al-Qaeda leader since the “early 2000s”. A secret “threat report” drafted by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in 2006 locates bin Laden as well as the Taliban leader Mullah Omar to the Pakistani city of Quetta as well as several villages on the Afghan border.

In 2008, he is reported to have presented an insurgent called Abdullah with an Arab bride as a reward for his work making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz. The previous year a newly developed poison, intended to kill coalition troops in Afghanistan, was named after Osama Kapa in recognition of bin Laden’s role in the Afghan war. Isaf’s August 2006 threat report detailed a high-level meeting was held in Quetta where six suicide bombers had been given orders for a suicide bombing mission to Afghanistan.

“These meetings take place once every month, and there are usually about 20 people present,” the report adds. “The place for the meeting alternates between Quetta and villages on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The top four people in these meetings are [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar, Osama bin Laden, Mullah Dadullah and Mullah [Baradar].”

 

[yellow people]

Wikileaks Afghanistan: FBI called in to hunt those responsible


Wikileaks Afghanistan: FBI called in to hunt those responsible

The FBI has been called in to help hunt those responsible for leaking tens of thousands of secret documents about the Afghanistan war.

By Robert Winnett in Washington
Published: 10:26PM BST 29 Jul 2010

United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Photo: REUTERS

Robert Gates, the US Defense Secretary, warned that sources identified in the documents now risked being "targeted for retribution" by insurgents in Afghanistan. He pledged a "thorough, aggressive investigation" to identify the leakers and said that steps were being taken to restrict access to classified documents in future.

<!-- BEFORE ACI --> Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the leakers "might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family". Bradley Manning, a 22-year old intelligence analyst, is the prime suspect in the leak inquiry. He is currently already in custody in Kuwait after being arrested for allegedly leaking other information earlier this year.

However, he was previously caught boasting that he had leaked tens of thousands of documents on the Afghan war to the Wikileaks website. The Pentagon suspects that Manning may have accomplices within the military. Earlier this week, Wikileaks published 90,000 documents – mostly reports detailing operations by American and other allied forces in Afghanistan between 2004 and 2009.

The website is threatening to publish thousands more documents. In his first comments on the massive leak, Mr Gates said that "the battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world."

"Intelligence sources and methods, as well as military tactics, techniques and procedures will become known to our adversaries," he added. The defense secretary promised "a thorough, aggressive investigation to determine how this leak occurred, to identify the person or persons responsible, and to assess the content of the information compromised."

Mr Gates promised to take steps to protect the lives of US service members as well as Afghans possibly exposed by the leaks. The massive leak jeopardised the trust vital to gathering intelligence in the "field", said Mr Gates, a former CIA director. "We have considerable repair work to do," he said. The Taliban last night issued a warning to Afghans whose names might appear on the leaked files as informers for the Nato-led coalition.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said they were studying and investigating the report, adding “If they are US spies, then we know how to punish them.”

 

[yellow people]

Soldier accused of leaking secrets flown to US


Soldier accused of leaking secrets flown to US

Updated on Friday, July 30, 2010, 18:57

Washington: A US soldier accused of leaking military video footage from Iraq and suspected in the release of thousands of classified documents about the war in Afghanistan has been transferred to a US military jail, the US Defense Department said on Friday.

Private First Class Bradley E. Manning arrived at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia on Thursday night, the Pentagon said, after his court martial proceedings were transferred from Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

Manning is facing four charges related to the leak to whistleblowing website WikiLeaks of a video showing a US Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad in July 2007 that killed several people.

He now is also suspected of involvement in the leak to the same website of thousands of pages of classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan.

The video of the helicopter attack was posted the Internet by WikiLeaks in April this year. It prompted an international outcry and renewed demands for compensation from the victims' families.

In addition to leaking the video, Manning, 22, is accused of illegally downloading more than 150,000 diplomatic cables, 50 of which he is alleged to have transmitted unlawfully to the danger of US national security.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that authorities have evidence linking Manning to the latest secret US material released by WikiLeaks -- 92,000 classified US military files on the Afghan war between 2004 to 2009.

The release sparked condemnation from the Pentagon, White House and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and fears that Afghan informants named in some of the documents could now be at risk.

The Pentagon said a criminal investigation into Manning's actions remains open.

In a statement, the Defense Department said his transfer to the United States had been requested "due to a potentially lengthy pre-trial confinement because of the complexity of charges and an ongoing investigation."

Bureau Report

 

[kensington]

July the deadliest month of Afghan war for U.S.



By ROBERT H. REID
Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan -- NATO announced Friday that six more U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan, bringing the death toll for July to at least 66 and surpassing the previous month's record as the deadliest for American forces in the nearly 9-year-old war.

In Kabul, police fired weapons into the air Friday to disperse a crowd of angry Afghans who shouted "death to America," hurled stones and set fire to two vehicles after an SUV, driven by U.S. contract employees, was involved in a traffic accident that killed four Afghans on the main airport road, according to the capital's criminal investigations chief, Abdul Ghaafar Sayedzada.

A statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said a vehicle carrying four U.S. contract workers was involved in a two-car accident near the airport.

"Our sympathies go out to the families of those Afghans injured or killed in this tragic accident," the embassy said.

Witnesses said foreigners fled the scene, but the embassy said the contractors were cooperating with local Afghan security forces.

Afghan police, some carrying riot shields, converged on the area, firing warning shots into the air to disperse the protesters. Sayedzada said the crowd burned two foreigners' vehicles, causing heavy black smoke to rise from the scene.

"It is our right to raise up our voice and protest when innocent Afghans are harmed," said Azizullah, a 25-year-old student, who like many Afghans uses one name.

Ahmad Jawid, who also was at the scene, asked: "Are we not Muslims? Are we not from Afghanistan? Infidels are here and they are ruling us. Why?"

A fatal traffic accident caused by a U.S. military convoy in 2006 triggered an anti-American riot in Kabul that left at least 14 people dead and dozens injured.

A NATO statement Friday said one service member died following an insurgent attack and two others were killed in a roadside bombing the same day in southern Afghanistan. A U.S military official confirmed all three were American troops.

Earlier in the day, a U.S. military official confirmed three other American service members died in two separate blasts in southern Afghanistan on Thursday.

The six deaths raised the U.S. death toll for the month to at least 66, according to an Associated Press count. June had been the deadliest month for the U.S. with 60 deaths.

U.S. and NATO commanders had warned casualties would rise as the international military force ramps up the war against the Taliban, especially in their southern strongholds in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan last December in a bid to turn back a resurgent Taliban.

British and Afghan troops launched a new offensive Friday in the Sayedebad area of Helmand to try to deny insurgents a base from which to launch attacks in Nad Ali and Marjah, the British military announced. Coalition and Afghan troops have sought to solidify control of Marjah after overrunning the poppy-farming community five months ago.

The American deaths this month include Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley from Kingman, Arizona, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, from the Seattle area. They went missing last week in Logar province south of Kabul. McNeley's body was recovered Sunday, and Newlove's body was pulled from a river Wednesday evening, Afghan officials said.

Senior military officials in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the sailors were never assigned anywhere near where their bodies were found.

Newlove's father, Joseph Newlove, told KOMO-TV in Seattle he was baffled why his son had left the relative safety of Kabul. "He's never been out of that town. So why would he go out of that town? He wouldn't have," he said.

New York Times reporter David Rohde was kidnapped in Logar in 2008 while trying to make contact with a Taliban commander. Rohde and an Afghan colleague escaped in June 2009 after seven months in captivity, most spent in Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Elsewhere, violence continued Friday.

Four Afghan civilians were killed and three were injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Zabul province of southern Afghanistan, provincial spokesman Mohammed Jan Rasoolyar said. When police arrived at the scene, Taliban fighters opened fire. One insurgent was killed, the spokesman said.

In Kandahar, a candidate in September's parliamentary election escaped assassination Friday when a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded, city security chief Fazil Ahmad Sherzad said. The Interior Ministry said a woman and a child were killed and another child was wounded.
Associated Press Writers Mirwais Khan in Kandahar and Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report.

 

[chowka]

British troops launch biggest offensive of summer in Afghanistan


British troops launch biggest offensive of summer in Afghanistan

Hundreds of British troops on Friday launched their biggest offensive of the summer to wrest a Taliban stronghold in Helmand from insurgent control.

By Ben Farmer in Nad-e-Ali
Published: 11:51AM BST 30 Jul 2010
<!-- COMMENTS DISABLED IN SECTION PROPERTIES -->
Operation Tor Shezada, or Black Prince, began in the early hours of Friday with helicopters carrying soldiers deep into rebel-held territory in the southern tip of Nad-e-Ali district in Helmand.

Their target is the town of Saidabad, which commanders said was the last part of British-garrisoned Nad-e-Ali which remains beyond the Afghan government’s control. The operation is intended to build on Operation Moshtarak, which was launched in February and was the largest operation in the nine-year Afghanistan campaign. The push saw a combined force of 15,000 British, American and Afghan troops attempt to bring peace to the district.

However, Saidabad was never cleared and is both a symbolic and tactically significant location. The town is the site of a critical canal crossing where insurgents can freely cross with weapons and motorbikes, allowing the Taliban to resupply Marjah to the south, where US marines have been locked in battle since Moshtarak began.

It also houses an insurgent “shadow government” and is defended by up to 180 fighters, hidden among the 6,000 residents’ scattered m&d-walled compounds. Major Andy Garner, the officer in charge of Corunna Company, 1st Battalion, the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, said: “It is a small safe haven or staging post where they can move forward from and stage attacks.

It is an area they can move freely in and out of.” As the push began, the Daily Telegraph accompanied Corunna Company on foot across farmland towards the area in the dark. “The plan is to steal the area rather than to fight for it,” Lt Col Frazer Lawrence, commander of forces in Nad-e-Ali, told this newspaper. Habibullah, the district governor, issued radio appeals for villagers to stay inside as troops advanced.

Commanders believed the Taliban were taken by surprise and the advance faced no resistance as it leapfrogged form compound to compound.
However, as day came and the temperature climbed to a sweltering heat, teenage boys darted in and out of the tree line, watching the troops’ progress. They were believed to be Taliban scouts.

Bomb disposal experts painstakingly started to clear the main route south to the town. The two-mile road will later be reinforced by checkpoints aimed at permanently keeping it clear of home-made bombs. British commanders have hailed Nad-e-Ali as a beacon of progress since Taliban fighters were cleared from the district in Moshtarak.

Commerce in the town of Nad-e-Ali, which gives its name to the district, sharply increased over the last 12 months and the busy bazaar now has 250 shops and solar powered street lights recently fitted by the British. Soldiers believe security has improved so much that soon they will be able to stop wearing helmets on patrols through the town.

Afghans visiting bazaars in Nad-e-Ali before the offensive said security had improved in recent months, but added that they still felt caught between rebel and Nato-led forces. Mullah Reedi Gul, a stallholder, said the Taliban held sway less than two miles into the countryside. “Inside the bazaar it’s very good and business is very good, but outside it is still insecure,” he said. “When the Taliban come into our villages, they use our compounds for ambushes and then the Nato soldiers come and blame us.”

 

[yellow people]

Al Qaeda says held talks on hostage killed in Sahara


Al Qaeda says held talks on hostage killed in Sahara

ALGIERS | Sun Aug 1, 2010 9:23am EDT

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda's North African wing said in an audio recording the group had been negotiating the release of a hostage it executed last month, contradicting French officials who had said there were no talks.

Michel Germaneau, 78, was killed after a raid in the Sahara desert involving French troops failed to free him. France said it launched the raid because his captors had given no proof he was alive and did not engage in talks on his release.

In an audio recording posted on radical Islamist forums, Abdelmalek Droudkel, the leader of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- also known by the nom de guerre Abu Musab Abdul-Wadud, contested the French account.

"France's president launched a cowardly military action while negotiations were under way to release Michel Germaneau," said the voice on the recording. The recording's authenticity could not be independently verified but the voice was the same as in previous recordings issued by Droudkel.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised to punish Germaneau's killers and Prime Minister Francois Fillon said last week that France was at war with al Qaeda's north African branch. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has denied there is any increased threat of militant violence in France following the raid and the hostage's execution.

(Additional reporting by Firouz Sedarat in Dubai; Writing by Lamine Chikhi; editing by Tim Pearce)

 

[yellow people]

WikiLeaks guilty, at least morally: Robert Gates

​

WikiLeaks guilty, at least morally: Robert Gates

ABC News' Christiane Amanpour interviews U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates (R) during Amanpour's premiere broadcast on the set of ''This Week'' at the Newseum in Washington, in this photograph taken on July 30, 2010 and released on July 31. The interview airs on August 1.

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON | Sun Aug 1, 2010 9:11am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks is at least morally guilty over the release of classified U.S. documents on the Afghan war, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday, as investigators broaden their probe of the leak. The whistle-blowing website published tens of thousands of war records a week ago, a move the Pentagon has said could cost lives and damage the trust of allies by exposing U.S. intelligence gathering methods and names of Afghan contacts. Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, appeared on television talk shows renewing those concerns amid fears WikiLeaks may publish more documents.

"My attitude on this is that there are two areas of culpability. One is legal culpability. And that's up to the Justice Department and others -- that's not my arena," Gates told the ABC News show "This Week with Christiane Amanpour." "But there's also a moral culpability. And that's where I think the verdict is 'guilty' on WikiLeaks. They have put this out without any regard whatsoever for the consequences."

The release of the classified documents has fanned doubts about President Barack Obama's strategy to turn the tide in the unpopular war. July was the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the conflict started in 2001. Mullen, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," called the leak "unprecedented" in its scope and volume. The U.S. investigation is focusing on Bradley Manning, who worked as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, U.S. officials say.

Manning is already under arrest and charged with leaking a classified video showing a 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists. Adrian Lamo, who reported Manning to authorities this year after receiving what appeared to be incriminating messages from him, told Reuters he believed U.S. investigators were also looking at people close to Manning with ties to WikiLeaks.

Lamo said in a telephone interview he told investigators he believed Manning would have needed outside help. "I didn't believe he had the technological ... expertise to pull this off by himself," Lamo said. U.S. officials declined to comment on the investigation. Gates said last week he had brought in the FBI so the probe could go "wherever it needs to go." Manning, being held at a detention facility at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, has not been officially named as a suspect in the latest leak.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said his group held back 15,000 papers to protect innocent people from harm and was reviewing them at the rate of about 1,000 a day. In an interview with the BBC last week, he did not say if and when they would be published. The group's stated aim is to expose government and corporate corruption. Assange has accused Gates of attacking WikiLeaks to distract attention from civilian killings and other bloodshed in the Afghan conflict.

WHAT'S THE WAR STRATEGY?

Gates voiced frustration at critics who say the United States lacks a plan to win the war, despite Obama's lengthy review last year which ended with a December decision to deploy an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. "I think that the president's strategy is really quite clear," Gates said. "I hear all the stories that say what's the strategy, what's the goal here?"

The objective, Gates said, was to reverse the momentum of Taliban insurgents, deny them access to towns and cities and ramp up Afghan security forces so they can defend themselves and prevent al Qaeda from returning to the country. Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the release of the documents had not caused any revelations that would affect the war strategy.

U.S. officials have portrayed them as a collection of outdated, ground-level reports that lack analysis or perspective. One of the documents released by WikiLeaks raised concerns the Taliban might have surface-to-air Stinger missiles to shoot down U.S. aircraft. Asked whether the Taliban had any Stinger missiles, Gates said: "I don't think so."

The leaked documents also threw an uncomfortable spotlight on links between Pakistan's spy agency and insurgents who oppose U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan. Gates said links to insurgents was a concern but he and Mullen voiced support for recent moves by Islamabad and Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency. "What I see is a change in the strategic calculus in Pakistan," Gates said.

(Editing by John O'Callaghan)

 

[yellow people]

Six Afghan civilians die in roadside bomb blast


Six Afghan civilians die in roadside bomb blast

KANDAHAR | Sun Aug 1, 2010 5:49am EDT

KANDAHAR Afghanistan (Reuters) - Six civilians were killed on Sunday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, an official said, as civilian casualties continued to mount amid an increase in violence by insurgents.

Nine civilians were wounded in the blast, which hit their vehicle on the western edge of Kandahar city, said Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Roadside bombs are a favorite weapon for Taliban insurgents in their campaign against foreign forces and the Afghan government, but civilians often fall prey to such attacks. According to government figures at least 40 non-combatants were killed in various parts of the country last week.

(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fox)

 

[yellow people]

A demonstrator holds a picture during a rally in Kabul August 1, 2010.

Demonstrators use a loudspeaker to chant slogans during a rally in Kabul August 1, 2010.

A demonstrator holds a picture during a rally in Kabul August 1, 2010.

An Afghan demonstrator attends a rally in Kabul August 1, 2010.



​

 

[yellow people]

Pakistan's leader says world losing Afghan war


Pakistan's leader says world losing Afghan war

By PAISLEY DODDS

updated <abbr style="display: inline;" class="dtstamp updated" title="2010-08-03T17:08:39">8/3/2010 1:08:39 PM ET</abbr>

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari addresses reporters following his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday Aug. 2, 2010.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

LONDON — The U.S.-led coalition's battle against the Taliban has already been lost because of its failure to win over the Afghan people, Pakistan's president warned Tuesday before tough talks this week with Prime Minister David Cameron, who has accused the country of exporting terrorism.

President Asif Ali Zardari told the French daily Le Monde online that the coalition had "underestimated the situation on the ground and was not conscious of the scale of the problem" against the Taliban largely because "we have lost the battle to conquer the heart and soul" of the Afghan people. Long-term help — not just military reinforcements — was needed.

"To win the support of the Afghan population, we must bring them economic development and show that we cannot only change their lives, but above all improve them," Zardari was quoted as saying. Zardari is set to meet with Cameron on Friday. The talks have been overshadowed by Cameron's remarks last week that Pakistan had looked two ways in dealing with terrorists.

The visit of Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, comes amid growing concern that some elements in Pakistan's intelligence service and military have been sympathetic to militants — a claim supported in Wikileaks, the self-described online whistle-blower that recently posted leaked U.S. military documents alleging Pakistan's unwillingness to sever its historical ties to the Taliban.

"Pakistan and its people are the victims of the terrorists," said Zardari, who said Britain and Pakistan needed unity — not division on the fight against terrorism. Pakistan has lost some 2,500 of its security forces in the past few years during battles against insurgents. Zardari denied allegations that elements in Pakistan were cooperating with the Taliban and said the Wikileaks documents citing Pakistan predated his time as president.

Cameron's comments — made last week during his visit to Pakistan's nuclear rival, India — caused a diplomatic row. Pakistan's intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha called off a trip planned to London because of the dispute, while Britain's envoy in Pakistan was summoned to Islamabad. Dozen of protesters from the Islamist group Shababe Milli, meanwhile, burned an effigy of Cameron in the port city of Karachi over the weekend.

The Pakistani leader is also facing mounting criticism at home for his government's handling of deadly floods that have killed 1,500 people, some of the worst in recent history. Also marring the visit were a series of revenge attacks that killed at least 45 people in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, after the assassination of a prominent lawmaker.

One analyst said Zardari's decision to carry out the visit left him scratching his head. "With all the floods, the shooting in Karachi ... David Cameron's comments, I can't imagine he's going to have very much positive to take home," said Gareth Price, the head of the Asia program at London's Chatham House think tank. "The politically astute move would seem to be to have canceled the whole trip to Europe and say: 'I need to be there.'"

Pakistan is one of Britain's most important allies in fighting terrorism — nearly 1 million people of Pakistani origin live in Britain and Pakistani intelligence has been crucial in several terror investigations, including the 2005 suicide attacks that killed 52 London commuters and the 2006 trans-Atlantic airliner plot. Many of the plots have had links back to Pakistan. Cameron defended his comments Tuesday, but stressed the importance of Friday's talks.

"The key thing is to build on the relationship that we have and to make sure we are co-operating on security issues," he said. Britain is one of the largest donors to Pakistan and is expected to increase aid by an estimated 40 percent as Britain cuts other foreign aid in an effort to boost support in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Britain offers about 120 million pounds ($190 million) per year in aid to Pakistan and announced in June it plans to prioritize work to improve access to education, particularly for women. An additional 5 million pounds ($8 million) of emergency aid has been promised following the floods. Last year, Pakistan's powerful military rejected U.S. attempts to link billions of dollars in foreign aid to increased monitoring of its anti-terror efforts.

Analysts have warned any breakdown in intelligence sharing and other types of cooperation would hurt the fight against a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. U.S. and NATO commanders have repeatedly said the war cannot be won unless Islamabad does more to tackle extremists on its side of the border.

"There is a huge amount of international tension about what Pakistan is doing to deal with the issue of terrorism," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Director for the Asia-Pacific. "What remains very much in doubt is whether Pakistan's civilian government has an overall plan or the capacity to address or control the insurgency in the northwest."

The 55-year-old Zardari has long been haunted by corruption allegations dating back to governments led in the 1990s by his late wife who was assassinated in 2007 after her return from exile to Pakistan. He spent several years in prison under previous administrations and allegations he misappropriated as much as $1.5 billion. Zardari has routinely denied any wrongdoing but there have been growing calls to re-open an alleged corruption case involving Zardari and his late wife that had been heard in a Swiss court.

Zardari will be holding private talks on Wednesday and Thursday with Pakistani officials, community members and other British officials before meeting Cameron on Friday. He is also expected to speak Saturday at a rally of his Pakistan Peoples Party in Birmingham.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

[yellow people]

Families pay tribute to two British servicemen killed in Afghanistan


Families pay tribute to two British servicemen killed in Afghanistan

The families of two British servicemen killed in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan have paid tribute to their loved ones.

Published: 1:23PM BST 03 Aug 2010

Sergeant Dale Alanzo McCallum of 1st Battalion Scots Guards and Marine Adam Brown Photo: PA

Marine Adam Brown, of Alpha Company, 40 Commando Royal Marines, died in an explosion while on foot patrol in the Sangin District of Helmand province on Sunday.

Lance Sergeant Dale Alanzo McCallum, of 1st Battalion Scots Guards, was shot dead on the same day during an operation in Lashkar Gah when his checkpoint came under fire.

Marine Brown, 25, was born in Frimley, Surrey, and lived with his wife, Amy, whom he married in December last year, in Burtle, near Glastonbury, Somerset. L/Sgt McCallum, 31, was born in Hanover, Jamaica.

These latest British deaths bring the British death toll in Afghanistan to 327.

 

[chowka]

Surgery for woman mutilated by Taliban


Surgery for woman mutilated by Taliban

AAP August 7, 2010, 9:00 am

Operation hope

An Afghan teen, who had her nose and ears hacked off by the Taliban, will undergo a reconstructive surgery in US.

A horrifically mutilated Afghan woman who appeared on a controversial Time magazine cover is to undergo surgery in the United States to rebuild her face, officials said on Friday. The 18-year-old youngster - identified in media reports only by her first name Aisha - will meet with surgeons to discuss how to replace her nose, which was sliced off by the Taliban after she fled her abusive in-laws.

The Afghan teenager has become a symbol of a debate amongst commentators over the nature of the US mission in Afghanistan, with Time arguing Aisha's case demonstrates why the Taliban should never be allowed to return to power.

"Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years," Time's managing editor Richard Stengel wrote in an editorial accompanying the August 9 edition of the magazine.

Aisha, whose ears were also hacked off in the attack in 2009 in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan, was taken in by the American Provincial Reconstruction Team for Oruzgan and the Women for Afghan Women (WAW) non-governmental organisation after being left for dead.

The Grossman Burn Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian hospital in California which provides surgical procedures to victims of serious injuries worldwide, said Aisha would be treated for free. "The surgery is being donated by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Peter Grossman and the team at The Grossman Burn Center," foundation chairwoman Rebecca Grossman told AFP. "The Grossman Burn Foundation is covering additional cost related to Bibi Aisha."

The foundation cited a United Nations report which estimated nearly 90 per cent of Afghan women suffered from domestic violence. "Bibi Aisha is only one example of thousands of girls and women in Afghanistan and throughout the world who are treated this way," the foundation said. The foundation did not confirm the date of Aisha's surgery.

 

[yellow people]

A United States Marine from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines carries his weapons and ammunition during an operation
to clear the area of insurgents near Musa Qaleh, in northern Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan. -- PHOTO: AP



​

 

[yellow people]

British doctor and nine others killed in Afghanistan ambush

A British doctor, Dr Karen Woo, was among ten aid workers ambushed and shot dead by gunmen in a remote area of northern Afghanistan, it emerged today.

By Andrew Alderson and Ben Farmer in Kabul

​

Dr Karen Woo, killed in Afghanistan

The body of Dr Woo, whose family came from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was found on Friday next to three bullet-riddled four-wheel drive vehicles. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which also claimed the lives of six Americans, a German and two Afghan interpreters. The attack happened in the Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan province in Afghanistan.

It is understood that the victims were lined up, robbed and shot dead with AK-47 rifles. "Yesterday (Friday) at around 8am, one of our patrols confronted a group of foreigners. They were Christian missionaries and we killed them all," said Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the Taliban. Dr Woo was returning to Kabul after working in an eye clinic in the Nuristan province when her convoy was attacked.

She had previously worked for private health care firm Bupa before she decided to do aid work in Afghanistan. Her parents and two brothers were too upset to comment on her death. Gen Agha Noor Kemtuz, the provincial police chief, said it was unclear what the group had been doing in Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan.

He said villagers had reported finding the abandoned vehicles in Afghanistan and an investigation team was sent to the densely-forested scene on the border with Nuristan province, one day's drive from the provincial capital Faizabad. He said: "We couldn't find any passports or anything." The dead were believed to be medical workers on an eye care mission from International Assistance Mission (IAM), a Christian charity specialising in health and economic development.

A statement from IAM said: "We have been informed that 10 people, both foreign and Afghan, were murdered in Badakhshan. "It is likely that they are members of the International Assistance Mission (IAM) eye camp team. "The team had been in Nuristan at the invitation of communities there. After having completed their medical work the team was returning to Kabul.

"At this stage we do not have many details but our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those who are presumed killed. "If these reports are confirmed we object to this senseless killing of people who have done nothing but serve the poor. "Some of the foreigners have worked alongside the Afghan people for decades." Sources close to the organisation said they had not been involved in proselytising.

A United States embassy spokeswoman said: “We have reason to believe that several American citizens are among the deceased. “We cannot confirm any details at this point, but are actively working with local authorities and others to learn more about the identities and nationalities of these individuals.”

Badakhshan is considered one of the safer, though most remote provinces in Afghanistan. The poverty-stricken region attracts a small number of hikers and adventure tourists. Dr Woo recently wrote on a website that she wanted to use the medium of health care to show people living outside of Afghanistan what was happening in the country.

On an online charity forum, Bridge Afghanistan, she wrote: "The things that I saw during that visit made me, as a doctor, want to be able to bring back the human stories both good and bad. "For the last few months I've been working with a small team of journalists and filmmakers as part of Bridge Afghanistan to put together a plan for the documentary I envisioned."

 

[yellow people]

Iraq general says army not ready for U.S. pullout


Thursday August 12, 2010

Iraq general says army not ready for U.S. pullout

LONDON (Reuters) - The Iraqi army will not be able to ensure the country's security until 2020 and the United States should keep troops in Iraq until then, Britain's Daily Telegraph quoted Iraq's most senior officer as saying. Lt Gen Babakir Zebari told a defence conference in Baghdad that the Iraqi army would be unable to cope without backing from U.S. forces, the newspaper reported on Thursday.

<table align="right" border="0" width="20%"><tbody><tr><td>

</td></tr><tr><td>An Iraqi soldier patrols near U.S. military armoured vehicles as the U.S. army prepares to leave a military base in Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, July 15, 2010.(REUTERS/Bassim shati/Files)
</td></tr></tbody></table> Under the Obama administration's plans, U.S. forces are due to start withdrawing from Iraq at the end of August, apart from 50,000 troops who will support and train Iraqi forces before leaving the country by the end of 2011. "At this point, the withdrawal is going well, because they are still here," Zebari was quoted as saying.

"But the problem will start after 2011 -- the politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011." "If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the U.S. army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020."

Violence in Iraq has fallen since the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006-2007, but the number of violent civilian deaths, from daily bombings, shootings and other attacks, rose sharply in July.

U.S. officials have said they expect violence to worsen as al Qaeda insurgents exploit the failure of political factions to agree on a new government after a parliamentary election in March. In Washington, U.S. officials gave a positive assessment of the situation in Iraq on Wednesday, emphasising the growing capability of Iraq's security forces.

(Writing by Tim Pearce in London; Editing by Nopporn Wong-Anan)
Copyright © 2010 Reuters

 

[yellow people]

Bin Laden's cook sentenced to 14 years in jail


Bin Laden's cook sentenced to 14 years in jail

Ibrahim al-Qosi, who admitted helping Osama bin Laden avoid capture, expected to serve two years after plea deal

Reuters
guardian.co.uk, <time datetime="2010-08-12T07:36BST" pubdate="">Thursday 12 August 2010 07.36 BST</time>

<figure>

<figcaption>Ibrahim al-Qosi pleaded guilty at the Guantánamo Bay court to conspiring with al-Qaida. Photograph: Janet Hamlin/AFP/Getty Images

</figcaption> </figure> A US military tribunal has sentenced Osama bin Laden's former cook to 14 years in prison, but he is expected to serve far less under a plea deal that remains secret. Sudanese-born Ibrahim al-Qosi pleaded guilty last month in the war crimes court at the Guantánamo Bay US naval base to charges of conspiring with al-Qaida and providing material support for terrorism. Qosi, 50, has been held at Guantánamo for more than eight years.

Military officials said it could be several months before his full plea agreement was made public. But the al-Arabiya television network based in Dubai quoted unidentified sources as saying Qosi's sentence had been capped at two years. Qosi acknowledged that he knew al-Qaida was a terrorist group when he ran one of the kitchens in Bin Laden's Star of Jihad compound in Afghanistan.

Qosi, who met Bin Laden in Sudan and travelled with him to Afghanistan, also admitted helping the al-Qaida leader escape US forces in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan. He said he had no involvement in or prior knowledge of terrorist attacks. Qosi was the first Guantánamo captive convicted under the administration of Barack Obama, whose efforts to shut down the detention camp have been blocked by Congress.

Qosi's sentencing hit a snag because, according to the judge, the US military ignored orders to develop a plan specifying how prisoners would serve their sentences after conviction in the Guantánamo tribunals. Qosi wanted to avoid serving his in solitary confinement. His plea deal required the convening authority overseeing the trial to recommend that Qosi serve his time in Camp Four, where detainees live communally under fewer restrictions than in the other camps.

But military rules forbid housing convicted criminals with other detainees. The judge, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Nancy Paul, said an assistant defence secretary ordered two years ago that the army and the military's Southern Command, which oversees the Guantánamo base, develop a detailed plan for housing prisoners after their conviction.

"This has not been done," the judge said. She said the absence of any written policy or plan was "especially troubling" because another trial was under way, for a young Canadian, and could produce another conviction. She ruled that Qosi's plea agreement was valid because it called only for a recommendation that he be housed in the communal camp, and did not guarantee he would be.

The judge directed that Qosi remain in Camp Four for 60 days while the military worked out where he would serve the rest of his sentence. Qosi is the fourth captive convicted in the tribunals created to try non-US terrorism suspects after the al-Qaida attacks of 11 September 2001. Two served short sentences and were sent home to Australia and Yemen.

The only other convict remaining at Guantánamo is Ali Hamza al Bahlul, a Yemeni who was an al-Qaida videographer. He is serving a life sentence for conspiring with al-Qaida and providing material support for terrorism. "He is separated from the general population," said a Guantánamo spokesman, Navy Commander Brad Fagan. He declined to elaborate except to say that "he's by himself".

Defence lawyers said that once Qosi returned to Sudan he would enter a programme run by the Sudanese intelligence service that was designed to rehabilitate those with radical views. Nine other Sudanese captives had gone through the programme upon repatriation from Guantánamo, they said. After completing the programme Qosi would live with his family but would be monitored to ensure he had no contact with radicals.

 

[yellow people]

Last Afghan Wikileaks out soon


Last Afghan Wikileaks out soon
Aug 14, 2010 1:12 PM | By Sapa-AFP

<hr class="space">
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed Saturday to publish the last batch of secret documents on the Afghan war in "a couple of weeks", despite Pentagon pleas they would put further lives at risk.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attends a seminar at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation headquarters in Stockholm August 14, 2010. News reports said that WikiLeaks plans to release soon about 15,000 documents on the Afghan war it held back last month. WikiLeaks caused an uproar when it published more than 70,000 documents in July, at a time when U.S. public and congressional support for the nine-year war in Afghanistan is flagging. The defense department said the leak -- one of the largest in U.S. military history -- put U.S. troops and Afghan informers at risk. Assange told Swedish TV channel SVT on Thursday that WikiLeaks had a responsibility to publish the documents. REUTERS/Scanpix/Bertil Ericson (SWEDEN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) SWEDEN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SWEDEN Photograph by: SCANPIX SWEDEN Credit: REUTERS

Asked at a press conference in Stockholm when the final batch of 15,000 classified files on the Afghan war would be published, Assange said that "We're about half way through, so a couple of weeks." The announcement at a seminar on the control of information came after the Pentagon on Friday renewed pressure on the whistleblower website not to release the documents, saying they posed greater risks than previously released files.

"We still are hopeful that WikiLeaks will not publish those documents and put further lives at risk," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan. "We are concerned that the additional documents that they have may cause even greater risks than the ones they released previously," he said, calling them "potentially more damaging". However, the Australian former computer hacker said that "We proceed cautiously and safely with this material as it was always intended... line by line."

Assange vowed that all the documents would be published but that there would be some redactions including "the names of innocent parties that are under reasonable threat". WikiLeaks has already released 76,000 classified documents about the war, including of allegations that Pakistani spies met with the Taliban and that deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of international forces were covered up.

But the documents also included the names of some Afghan informants, prompting claims that the leaks have endangered lives. The website said last month that it had delayed the release of the final 15,000 documents "as part of a harm minimization process demanded by our source".

 

[yellow people]

Military deaths pass 2,000 as Afghan war review looms


Military deaths pass 2,000 as Afghan war review looms

By Sayed Salahuddin and Paul Tait
KABUL | Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:02pm EDT

Soldiers with the U.S. Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division shield themselves from the dust as a Medivac helicopter takes off outside Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 30, 2010.

KABUL (Reuters) - Total foreign military deaths in Afghanistan have passed 2,000 since the war began in late 2001, unofficial tallies showed on Sunday, in the approach to U.S. and Afghan elections and a U.S. strategy review. The U.S. military accounted for more than 60 percent of the deaths but the total still lags the list of Afghan civilian casualties, which a U.N. report last week showed had risen sharply despite a drop in the number blamed on foreign troops.

The deaths of at least one more U.S. service member, an Australian and a Briton announced in the past two days have pushed the total of foreign military deaths to 2,002 since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition. The total is less than half that suffered during the seven years of the Iraq war but is a significant milestone nonetheless, with NATO allies like the Netherlands pulling out of the alliance and others reviewing their future roles.

President Barack Obama has promised a strategy review in December after November mid-term Congressional elections where his Democrats face a backlash from an increasingly skeptical public. Afghans also face parliamentary elections on September 18. A presidential ballot a year ago was marred by fraud. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is under pressure to show independence from his Western backers and this week asked Obama for a review of how the war is being conducted.

Violence has hit its worst levels since the Taliban were toppled despite the presence of almost 150,000 foreign troops, with the insurgency spilling out of Taliban strongholds in the south and east into the north and west. U.S. Army General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said on Sunday he saw areas of progress but meeting Obama's goal of starting to withdraw troops by July 2011 would depend on conditions at the time.

He described the battle against the Taliban as an "up and down process" and said it was premature to assess its success. "What we have are areas of progress. We've got to link those together, extend them," Petraeus said in an interview aired on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" programme. Petraeus, who replaced the sacked General Stanley McChrystal in June, said he would give his "best professional military advice" to Obama about the withdrawal timetable.

LOWER EXPECTATIONS

Obama, who has boosted U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, plans a strategy review in December after the mid-term elections. Congress supported his troop surge but polls show the U.S. public remains uncertain about the effort. At the same time, U.S. commanders have warned of a tougher fight ahead as troops take on the Taliban in their southern strongholds and confront other insurgents like the al-Qaeda linked Haqqani network in the east.

Leaders in Washington have also sought to lower expectations of what can be achieved. Disputes over the Afghan war have already brought down a Dutch government in February and a German president in May. According to www.iCasualties.org, an independent website that monitors foreign troop deaths, 2002 troops have been killed since 2001, 1,226 of them Americans. British losses total 331, with the remaining 445 shared among the other 44 coalition partners.

Its figures were matched by a tally kept by Reuters. June 2010 was the bloodiest month of the war with 102 killed as foreign forces pushed ahead with operations in southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Another 88 were killed in July, with the total for the year so far standing at 434, according to iCasualties, fast approaching 2009's 521.

The losses in Afghanistan are less than half of those in the Iraq war, where at least 4,723 foreign troops have been killed since 2003, 4,405 of them American. But, with Washington dramatically cutting troop numbers in Iraq before the formal end of combat operations on August 31, attention is certain to be focused back on the Afghan conflict. Just as was the case in Iraq, civilians are bearing the brunt of the conflict in Afghanistan.

A U.N. mid-year report last week showed civilian casualties had risen by 31 percent over the first six months of 2010, compared with the same period last year. That figure included 1,271 killed. Civilian casualties caused by U.S. and other foreign forces have long been a source of friction between the Afghan government and its Western backers and led to a major falling-out between the two sides last year.

It also resulted in two tightenings of tactical directives, first by McChrystal and then by Petraeus in June, limiting the use of aerial strikes and house searches. The U.N. report said Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 76 percent of casualties. Deaths caused by "pro-government forces" fell to 12 percent of the total from 30 percent last year, due mainly to a 64 percent fall in deaths caused by aerial attacks.

(Additional reporting by John Whitesides in Washington; Editing by Ralph Boulton)