Marines Ignore Poppy To Not Upset Afghan Locals
06 May 2008
'', Associated Press, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Last week, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit moved into southern Helmand province, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region, and now find themselves surrounded by green fields of the illegal plants that produce the main ingredient of heroin. The Taliban, whose fighters are exchanging daily fire with the Marines in Garmser, derives...
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Polish Officers And Pilots Reluctant To Serve In Afghanistan
06 May 2008
'', Warsaw Business Journal, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "The latest group of soldiers left for the mission in Afghanistan and this marks the third shift of the Polish troops in that country. Within several weeks they will be joined by the rest of the contingent, which will total 1,600 soldiers. However, this time authorities had problems putting together the contingent as many officers...
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Freed Guantanamo Men Face Trial
06 May 2008
'Freed Guantanamo Men Face Trial', Al Jazeera, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Five Afghan detainees who were released from Guantanamo Bay last week have been sent to jail upon their arrival in Afghanistan. They had been detained at Guantanamo Bay with the Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami al-Hajj. Al-Hajj and the Afghan detainees were on the same plane after they were released from the US military prison. The detainees, who have been taken to the Pul-i-Charkhe...
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No US Troop Increase In Afghanistan Without Deeper Cuts In Iraq: Pentagon
06 May 2008
'', Agence France Presse, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "The Pentagon said Tuesday that any sizeable increase in much-needed US forces in Afghanistan will depend on deeper troop cuts in Iraq than currently planned. Military commanders, worried about a persistent and growing Taliban challenge, have said they require up to three more brigades, or about 10,000 troops, to fill...
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Canada's Afghan Mission Seen Hit By Supply Woes
06 May 2008
'Canada's Afghan Mission Seen Hit By Supply Woes', Reuters, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Weaknesses in its supply chain could threaten the Canadian military's ability to sustain its mission in Afghanistan, a Canadian watchdog reported on Tuesday [6 May 2008]. 'So far, the military has been able to adapt and adjust so that operations have not been significantly affected,' Auditor-General Sheila Fraser told reporters as she released the report...
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Iran Seeking To Keep Afghanistan Unstable: US Official
06 May 2008
'', Agence France Presse, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Iran is seeking to keep Afghanistan weak and unstable, delivering arms to the Taliban whilst ostensibly supporting Kabul's government, a senior US state department official said in Paris Tuesday [6 May 2008]. 'They (Iran) interfere in a variety of different ways, perhaps not as violently as they do sometimes in Iraq,' Richard Boucher,...
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Afghanistan's Development And Functionality: Renewing A Collapsed State
06 May 2008
John Shroder, '', GeoJournal, Volume 70 Numbers 2-3 / October 2007, p. 91-107
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan has long been backward and underdeveloped where centuries of desertification, deforestation, overgrazing and environmental degradation have combined with successive invasions, violence, and terrorism to reduce the population to abject poverty. In the post 9/11 world,...
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Canadian General Hillier Looking for LAV-3 Replacement
06 May 2008
'Canadian General Hillier Looking for LAV-3 Replacement', Canada.com / Calgary Herald, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Canada's armoured vehicles are limited in the amount of protection they can carry so the military is starting to look for a replacement, the country's chief of defence staff says. Gen. Rick Hillier said the LAV-3s are excellent and many improvements have been made to ensure troops in Afghanistan are better protected, but he pointed...
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Putting The Afghan Army On Wheels
06 May 2008
'Putting The Afghan Army On Wheels', The Strategy Page, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "Over the last three years, the Afghan Army got its wheels back. The pre-2001 Taliban Afghan Army rode a motley collection of Russian cast-offs, and commercial trucks. The new Afghan Army, which began recruiting in 2002, inherited this collection of vehicles, and found them inadequate. So in 2005, the Afghan Army began getting the first of some 5,000 Ford F 350...
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Build More Infrastructure Say MEPs Back From Kabul
06 May 2008
'Build More Infrastructure Say MEPs Back From Kabul', European Parliament, 6 May 2008
EXCERPT: "The international community needs to concentrate on improving security and building more infrastructure, according to a group of MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) just back from Afghanistan. During the visit they met Afghan President Karzai and members of parliament. They also saw for themselves how some European funded projects are...
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