30 November 2010
[pdf], CNA // CNA Center for Naval Analyses // CNA Strategic Studies, 15 November 2010
EXCERPT: "This book provides a glimpse into what relatively small military units?teams, platoons, companies, and highly dispersed battalions?have done to roll back the insurgency in some of the more remote areas of Afghanistan. The focus is on counterinsurgency at the tactical and local levels. The...
Read the post »
Afghan Officials Free Top Taliban Fighters: Report
30 November 2010
Exclusive: Afghan Officials Free Top Taliban Fighters, Reuters, 30 November 2010
EXCERPT: "Afghan security forces are freeing captured senior Taliban for payment or political motives, with President Hamid Karzai and his powerful brother among those authorizing and requesting releases. The practice is so systemic that the Taliban have a committee focused on getting their fighters out of jail. It undermines the deterrent effect of arrest...
Read the post »
Tajikistan: The Next Jihadi Stronghold
30 November 2010
[by Ahmed Rashid], The New York Review of Books, 29 November 2010
EXCERPT: "[...] The key issue today is the extent to which the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and their Central Asian allies such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and its splinter, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), are returning to Tajikistan and Central Asia. The much-feared IMU has a long history here: the group's fighters wrought...
Read the post »
"Dramatic Increase" in Wounded Afghan Civilians
30 November 2010
Afghanistan: Huge Rise in War Wounded Civilians, Channel4 News, 30 November 2010
EXCERPT: "The number of war wounded civilians in southern Afghanistan has increased dramatically this year following the military troop surge, an exclusive Channel 4 News investigation has found. Thousands more patients are being admitted at one hospital in Kandahar alone - a threefold increase on the previous year in an area which has seen vicious fighting....
Read the post »
Nine Private Security Guards Kidnapped by Gunmen
30 November 2010
, AFP, 30 November 2010
EXCERPT: "Nine Afghan private security guards from a construction company have been attacked and kidnapped by unknown militants in eastern Kabul province, the interior ministry said Tuesday. The guards were taken on Monday in the Tizin area of Surobi district, a known hotspot for insurgents 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of the Afghan capital, the ministry said in a statement....
Read the post »
30 November 2010
Building Police Capacity in Afghanistan: The Challenges of a Multilateral Approach, National Defence University // Center for Complext Operations // PRISM, December 2010
EXCERPT: "An effective police force is critical to achieving Afghan aspirations for stability and U.S. strategic objectives in Afghanistan. As the most visible representation of the government in towns and villages across the country, police capacity must be the highest...
Read the post »
Number of Afghan Asylum Seekers Spikes
29 November 2010
, The Washington Post, 27 November 2010
EXCERPT: "The number of Afghans who are fleeing their country and seeking political asylum abroad has spiked dramatically during the past two years, a sign that people here are giving up the dream of a peaceful homeland to seek security and employment elsewhere The increase has coincided with a sharp escalation...
Read the post »
Afghanistan: Exit vs Engagement
29 November 2010
Afghanistan: Exit vs Engagement, International Crisis Group, 28 November 2010
EXCERPT: "U.S. military operations in Afghanistan are now entering their tenth year and policymakers in Washington are looking for a way out. A policy review is due in December but the outline is already clear: U.S. forces will try to pummel the Taliban to bring them to the table, responsibility for security will increasingly be transferred to Afghan forces...
Read the post »
Karzai Seen as "Weak", His Brother as "Corrupt Drug Baron": Leaked Cables
29 November 2010
, AFP, 29 November 2010
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan said Monday its relations with the United States would not be affected by leaked cables portraying President Hamid Karzai as weak and paranoid, and his brother as a corrupt drugs baron. The American diplomatic cables raised the issue of suspected high-level corruption within the Afghan government, long a concern among Western backers who...
Read the post »
Uniformed Suicide Bombers Attack Police HQ, Kill at Least 13
29 November 2010
, The Associated Press, 28 November 2010
EXCERPT: "Gunmen firing on a car killed a local government official and two of his relatives on Sunday in the country's east, officials said. The attack took place as Abdullah Ahmadzai, a member of Logar province's governing council, was driving into the provincial capital of Puli Alam. Ahmadzai's brother and cousin were also killed...
Read the post »