Afghanistan's Army 'Nothing Without NATO'
21 December 2007
'', Jane's Foreign Report, 20 December 2007
EXCERPT: "On 3 December, the Afghan Ministry of Defence called for the country's fledgling indigenous defence force, the Afghan National Army (ANA), to increase in size to . According to ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi, such a number would be sufficient to provide security to the entire country, and would 'cost international forces...
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Dutch Parliament Backs Afghanistan Extension Through 2010
19 December 2007
John Tyler, 'Dutch Parliament Backs Afghanistan Extension', Radio Netherlands, 19 December 2007
EXCERPT: "In an at times heated debate, the Dutch parliament has approved extending the mission to the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan. Dutch soldiers will remain part of the NATO ISAF mission until December 2010. The three parties that make up the governing coalition approve extending the mission, along with two opposition parties. [...]
...
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Use of Air Strikes in Afghan Conflict 'Rising Sharply': Report
18 December 2007
William Arkin, '', Washington Post, 16 December 2007
EXCERPT: "The U.S. currently has some 28,000 troops in Afghanistan and NATO also has 28,000. This number is insufficient, and as violence has increased and the Kabul-based government has been challenged along the edges of the country, the pace of activity for those troops has increased. Missing in this ground-war-centric analysis is the role...
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U.S. Orders Review of Afghanistan Mission
18 December 2007
Thom Shanker and Steven Lee Myers, '', New York Times, 16 December 2007
EXCERPT: "Deeply concerned about the prospect of failure in Afghanistan, the Bush administration and NATO have begun three top-to-bottom reviews of the entire mission, from security and counterterrorism to political consolidation and economic development, according to American and alliance officials.
"The reviews are...
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18 December 2007
Alexander Szandar and Susanne Koelbl, 'Germany Faces Taliban Pincer in Afghanistan', Spiegel Online, 17 December 2007
EXCERPT: "[T]he Taliban is upping the pressure on northern Afghanistan. The group's Islamist holy warriors have begun to march northward and are already practically at the Bundeswehr's doorstep. Western intelligence agents have noticed that the Taliban is advancing in two directions in a pincer movement. Some Taliban...
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Added Armour Proves its Value
18 December 2007
Scott Taylor, 'Afghans damage Leopard tank 'behond repair'', Chronicle-Herald, 17 December 2007
EXCERPT: "Recent news reports have claimed that Afghan insurgents damaged one of Canada's Leopard 2A6M main battle tanks 'beyond repair.' In the original incident report, the tank was described as "disabled," and senior officials deny that the vehicle was destroyed. Also not confirmed is whether a conventional landmine or an improvised...
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Dutch Provincial Reconstruction Team Profiled
14 December 2007
Sebastiaan J. H. Rietjens, 'Managing Civil-Military Cooperation: Experiences from the Dutch Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan', Armed Forces and Society, Vol. 34, No. 2, 173-207 (2008)
ABSTRACT: "From a management perspective, this article presents a process model to analyze cooperation between military and civilian actors in peace support operations. By means of multiple case study research, the article applies the model...
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New Australian Government Reaffirms Afghanistan Commitment
14 December 2007
Jane Hutcheon, 'Aust to 'stay the course' in Afghanistan', ABC News, 14 December 2007
"Australia's new Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has reaffirmed Australia's troop commitment in Afghanistan at talks in Edinburgh between eight countries. Mr Fitzgibbon said Australia, as one of the forces in southern Afghanistan, would be making a significant contribution to a strategic plan for the war-torn nation, a plan which could be agreed to...
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U.S. Defense Secretary Critical of NATO Allies
13 December 2007
Ann Scott Tyson, ',' Washington Post, 12 December 2007
EXCERPT: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates sharply criticized NATO countries yesterday for not supplying urgently needed trainers, helicopters and infantry for Afghanistan as violence escalates there, vowing not to let the alliance 'off the hook.' Gates called for overhauling the alliance's Afghan strategy over the next three to five years, shifting...
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Opium is a 'Low Risk Crop in a High Risk Environment'
13 December 2007
David Mansfield and Adam Pain, 'Evidence from the Field: Understanding Changing Levels of Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan', Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, November 2007
EXCERPT: "The reasons behind changing levels of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan's rural provinces must be better understood and reflected in counter narcotics strategies, argues a new briefing paper from the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation...
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