Conflict Zone: Afghanistan

[kantoking]

No quick exit for troops in Afghanistan, Nato head says

There will be no quick exit for international forces from Afghanistan, the secretary general of Nato warned this morning at a high-level conference in Kabul.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the meeting of foreign ministers that coalition troops would stay in the country even after Afghan troops had taken complete control of security.

He said that when the full transition finally happened, "international forces won't leave, they will simply move into a supportive role".

Opening the conference, held in a government building in central Kabul, the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said he "remained determined" that Afghan security forces should take full responsibility of all military and police operations by 2014.

For most European countries, a transition to Afghan control that would allow them to take their troops home cannot happen swiftly enough.

An Afghan policeman keeps watch as people walk on a street in Kabul, ahead of the Kabul Conference July 19, 2010. Afghanistan will ask at the major international conference on Tuesday for more control of billions of dollars pledged to reconstruct the war-torn country.

An Afghan National Army soldier poses for a picture at Combat Outpost Jelwar, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Sunday, July 18, 2010.

Ammunition of Afghan National Army soldiers is seen inside one of their tents at Combat Outpost Jelwar, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Sunday, July 18, 2010.

Romanian soldiers wait to catch a flight in Kandahar Airfield, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday, July 16, 2010.

[kantoking]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10687527

Afghan President Hamid Karzai: "We face a vicious common enemy"

Afghan leader Hamid Karzai has opened an international conference in Kabul, renewing a call for his country to control its own security by 2014.

Afghanistan had not yet achieved good governance, he admitted, adding its allies faced "a vicious common enemy".

He was addressing representatives from 70 states in Afghanistan's largest aid meeting for three decades.

The US and its allies want assurances from Mr Karzai that he will tackle corruption and promote good governance.

Reuters reported that the final communique from the conference will say Afghan forces should begin taking security responsibility in some areas by the end of this year.

"Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) should lead and conduct military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014," the news agency quoted the communique as saying.

[AlyannaFizzer]

kawawa na naman yung mga civilians.

[kantoking]

US Army Staff Sergeant of the Second Battalion, 101 st. Airborne Division Gregory Robinson walk using a prosthetic leg after doing his laundry at Wilson Forward Operating Base, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 17, 2010. Sergeant Robinson lost his leg after an RPG attack outside Kandahar City in 2006.

[kantoking]

KABUL — An Afghan soldier opened fire at a training exercise in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two US civilian trainers and a fellow Afghan soldier in the second similar shootout in just a week.
The shooting raised further questions about the quality of the fledgling Afghan army as the international community endorsed a roadmap for President Hamid Karzai for Afghanistan to take security responsibility by 2014.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was investigating whether the gunman, believed to have been an army trainer, turned his gun on his comrades in a deliberate attack or by accident during the basic training exercise.

The shooter also died.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...EOb3FSECiomJ4A

[kantoking]

A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.

The disclosures come from more than 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict obtained by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks in one of the biggest leaks in US military history. The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the fighting over the last six years, which has so far cost the lives of more than 320 British and more than 1,000 US troops.

Their publication comes amid mounting concern that Barack Obama's "surge" strategy is failing and as coalition troops hunt for two US naval personnel captured by the Taliban south of Kabul on Friday.

The war logs also detail:

• How a secret "black" unit of special forces hunts down Taliban leaders for "kill or capture" without trial.

• How the US covered up evidence that the Taliban have acquired deadly surface-to-air missiles.

• How the coalition is increasingly using deadly Reaper drones to hunt and kill Taliban targets by remote control from a base in Nevada.

• How the Taliban have caused growing carnage with a massive escalation of their roadside bombing campaign, which has killed more than 2,000 civilians to date.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...military-leaks

[kantoking]

An Afghan fire fighter sprays water on a fire after a convoy of NATO fuel tankers was attacked by militants in Behsod district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov 14, 2010.

An Afghan police officer points to the site of fire after a convoy of NATO fuel tankers was attacked by militants in Behsod district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov 14, 2010. An Afghan Officials say insurgents set fire to a convoy of NATO fuel tankers in eastern Afghanistan, while a bomb blast in the south killed a NATO service member and other civilians.

[kantoking]

Seven NATO troops died after attacks in Afghanistan on Sunday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.
Five troops died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan, ISAF said, though it did not provide details about the attack.

Another ISAF service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan, ISAF said Sunday, after earlier announcing the death of another servicemember in an IED attack in the southern part of the country.

It was not clear whether those two troops died as a result of the same attack.
Sunday marked the deadliest day for NATO forces in Afghanistan since October 14, when 7 NATO troops were killed.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/as...ion=cnn_latest

[kantoking]

David Cameron says during speech that event will be starting point for transferring responsibility to Afghan forces

A starting point for a timetable for transferring security responsibility to Afghan forces will be set out at the Nato summit this weekend, David Cameron disclosed tonight in the prime minister's annual set-piece foreign policy speech.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...tan-withdrawal

[Migs42]

People should be reminded that winning the war is about fulfilling the objectives not to annihilate the enemy side.

We shouldn't expect is that the Taliban will be eliminated instead what we should expect is a safer stable Afghanistan.

[kantoking]

U.S. Army soldiers with Charlie Troop, 389th Cavalry Squadron, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division take cover inside an empty school building after receiving fire from enemy locations Charkh, Logar province, Afghanistan, Nov. 13.

[kantoking]

A TOP NATO official said Wednesday that a complete handover of security to Afghan forces by 2014 was "realistic, but not guaranteed'', and the transition could last into 2015 "or beyond''.

Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, cautioned that there could be "levels of violence that are, by Western standards, pretty eye-watering'' even after 2014.

Mr Sedwill spoke on the eve of a NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, at which the alliance is expected to agree on a framework for the eventual departure of international troops from Afghanistan, where they've been fighting for nine years.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/bre...-1225955530474

[kantoking]

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino-American soldier killed in action in Afghanistan will be buried with full US military honors in Siquijor province on February 4.

A US embassy press statement said Sgt. Zainah ‘Caye’ Creamer, 28, was killed when an improvised bomb exploded while she was conducting route and building clearance for an air assault mission in Howz E Madad, Kandahar on January 12.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-fi...ce=twitterfeed

[lechon x]

http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/...t=60361&page=2

[paenggoy]

"Twelve children killed in another US massacre in Afghanistan"

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/ma...afgh-m30.shtml

[paenggoy]

"European think-tank warns: Insurgency strengthening in Afghanistan"

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/ju...afgh-j05.shtml

[paenggoy]

"Afghanistan signs oil contract with Chinese giant"

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/ja...afch-j10.shtml

[paenggoy]

http://www.youtube.com/v/a4UPPaHbhkY

[paenggoy]

"Afghanistan signs oil contract with Chinese giant"

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/ja...afch-j10.shtml

[paenggoy]

"Truth, lies and Afghanistan"

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030