Police Reform in Afghanistan is 'Vital' for Democracy, Counterinsurgency Efforts
30 August 2007
"Insecurity will worsen and democracy risks failing in insurgency-ridden Afghanistan if the police are not reformed and depoliticised," the International Crisis Group warns in a new report. "Overlooked for years in favour of building the army and today too often misused as a military auxiliary to fight the Taliban, they often remain more a source of fear to communities than protection. Instead of increasing coercive power...
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Canadian Aid Questioned in New Report
29 August 2007
A new report by the Senlis Council questions the efficacy of Canadian development assistance in Kandahar. The report, entitled 'The Canadian International Development Agency in Kandahar: Unanswered Questions', records the observations of Senlis Council staff during a recent visit to Kandahar province. They found little evidence of Canadian aid helping people in Kandahar's Mirwais hospital or in its largest refugee camp.
The Council also found...
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Afghan Opium Production Up 34 Percent in 2007; New Record Set
26 August 2007
Afghanistan will produce record levels of opium in 2007, reports. According to a new United Nations survey released Monday, the area under opium cultivation rose to 193,000 hectares from 165,000 in 2006, and increase of 17 percent. The total opium harvest will be 8,200 tonnes, up 34 percent over last year and twice the amount produced two years ago.
The report notes a widening North-South divide. A significant drop...
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Canadians Dying Three Times As Fast As Their Allies: Globe and Mail
25 August 2007
Canadian soldiers are getting killed in Afghanistan at more than three times the rate of British troops in Helmand province and more than four times the rate of U.S. soldiers in the east and south, The Globe and Mail reports. The heavy losses are attributed to the increased use of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, by insurgent forces.
The IED threat is heightened "by the fact that Canadian troops have yet to receive the latest...
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Declassified Documents Detail Pakistan-Taliban Ties
16 August 2007
"Newly declassified intelligence documents reveal the depth of U.S. officials' concern that Pakistan was providing funds, arms ? and even combat troops ? to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for years before the Sept. 11 attacks," the reports. "The documents, released under a Freedom of Information Act request by George Washington University's National Security Archive and posted on its Web site, add detail to what...
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Over 1,000 Afghan Civilians Killed Since April: Interior Ministry
16 August 2007
At least 1,060 Afghan civilians have been killed in fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan security forces backed by international troops since April, the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) news service reports. "Civilian deaths in military operations conducted by international forces - particularly US troops operating outside NATO writ - and their Afghan allies have roughly balanced that of the Taliban,"...
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76 Civilian Contractors Killed in Afghanistan: Labor Department
15 August 2007
At least 76 contractors working for American firms have been killed in Afghanistan, according to new data released by the US Labor Department. In addition, at least 879 contractors have been injured during the US mission in the volatile country. The data, compiled by the U.S. Labor Department's Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation, was released to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), only after she personally requested it, according...
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Transnational Rebels: Neighboring States as Sanctuary for Rebel Groups
15 August 2007
Idean Salehyan, 'Transnational Rebels: Neighboring States as Sanctuary for Rebel Groups', World Politics, Volume 59, Issue 2 January 2007, pages 217-242
New research on civil wars confirms that rebel access to bases in neighbouring countries has a significant effect on the prolongation of conflict. In an article published in the journal World Politics, Idean Salehyan argues that national borders "place fundamental limitations...
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How a 'Good War' in Afghanistan Went Bad
13 August 2007
In a lengthy in Sunday's New York Times, David Rohde and David Sanger provide an overview of the decisions and 'sweeping miscalculations' that sent the Afghanistan mission 'off course.' According to officials, the Iraq campaign robbed the Afghanistan mission of scarce intelligence and reconstruction resources at critical times, including elite C.I.A. teams and Special Forces units involved in the search for terrorists. Development efforts...
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A Perilous Course: U.S. Strategy and Assistance to Pakistan
10 August 2007
A new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides a comprehensive review of U.S. military and economic assistance to Pakistan. The report, [PDF], also examines the strategic importance for including Afghanistan in Pakistan's assistance and reconstruction efforts. Pakistan has become a safe haven for Al Qaeda, providing a base for cross-border raids into...
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