Aid Workers Fight Secret War against HIV
31 May 2011
The checkpoints on Kabul's streets and concrete barricades around its key buildings are a reminder of the war Afghanistan has been in since 2001. But beneath some of its bridges are signs of another war - the battle against HIV. During a recent afternoon, aid workers weaved in and out among the hundreds of drug addicts who gather daily under a bridge in the Pul-e Sought-a neighbourhood of the city to smoke and inject heroin. Men of all ages huddle...
Read the post »
Afghanistan No Longer a Geostrategic Risk to the World: Canada's PM
31 May 2011
[...] Harper's visit to Afghanistan comes as Canada is in the midst of a transition from its combat mission to a training one. Canada's combat activity is due to end in July, when 950 soldiers will remain in the country to train Afghan military members.Still, Harper said much has been accomplished in Afghanistan during the past decade. "This country does not represent a geostrategic risk to the world. It is no longer a source of global terrorism,"...
Read the post »
Nato Risks Becoming "Occupying Force", Must End Airstrikes: Karzai
31 May 2011
Failure to stop would risk a national uprising, he warned, in a barely disguised reference to defeated British and Russian engagements in Afghanistan. The outspoken comments by the Afghan president immediately prompted a public standoff with the coalition as Nato headquarters in Brussels said air attacks "continue to be necessary". Analysts accused the Afghan president of political posturing and questioned his ability to dictate tactics. Mr Karzai...
Read the post »
Afghan Bank Commission Absolves Karzai’s Brother in Fraud Case
31 May 2011
A commission appointed by President Hamid Karzai to assess responsibility for the massive fraud at Kabul Bank issued its report on Sunday, absolving the president’s brother of any blame. The brother, Mahmoud Karzai, was among the bank’s politically connected shareholders and insiders who took out a total of $925 million in loans, often with no collateral or even documentation, the commission’s chairman, Azizullah Ludin, announced...
Read the post »
Taliban Infiltrate NATO-Afghan Meeting in North, Kill Afghan Police Generals
30 May 2011
A suicide bomber struck a security gathering in Afghanistan's north on Saturday, injuring a provincial governor and the German commander of foreign troops in the region, and killing at least six people — including two senior Afghan police commanders and two German soldiers, Afghan and coalition officials said. [...] NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed that two Western soldiers were killed in the attack, and German media,...
Read the post »
NATO Issues Apology after Air Strike Kills Civilians in SW
30 May 2011
International forces in Afghanistan were caught in a new row over civilian casualties on Sunday after reports that 14 civilians, including up to 12 children, had been killed in a coalition air strike in the southern province of Helmand. Afghan TV showed images of casualties being taken into hospitals and bereaved relatives cradling the bodies of several young children wrapped in bloody sheets. The exact number of casualties in the incident, which...
Read the post »
Taliban Suicide Bombers Strike Italian Base in "Peaceful" Herat
30 May 2011
Taliban insurgents led by suicide bombers attacked an Italian military base and set off another explosion in western Afghanistan on Monday, killing four people and wounding dozens, officials said. The Italian-run base was the main target of the assault, which lasted several hours, Afghan and Italian officials said, but the Taliban said a second bomb intended for the NATO facility had gone off prematurely in the center of Herat. The attacks were especially...
Read the post »
bin Laden Tried to Establish "Grand Coalition" of Militant Groups
30 May 2011
Osama bin Laden spent much of his last weeks alive planning a new attempt to bring the disparate factions among insurgents and militants fighting in Pakistan and Afghanistan together under the umbrella of al-Qaida. The terrorist leader, who had made repeated efforts to unify militant groups, was even considering risking leaving his safe house in Abbottabad, the northern Pakistani garrison town, to try to build a fresh alliance through face-to-face...
Read the post »
27 May 2011
Attacks against NGOs by armed opposition have remained stable and low throughout the Q1 (p.3), although the overall level of incidents, including criminal acts, has grown by 38%. The criminal sector saw an increase of 50% (p.4) with attacks by AOG increasing by a lower rate of 29% (or just four actual attacks). A total of seven persons have been killed, comparable to eight at Q1 2010, all by small arms fire either as a result of deliberate intent...
Read the post »
Afghanistan War Tactics Profoundly Wrong: Former UK Ambassador
27 May 2011
Britain's former ambassador to Afghanistan has attacked the conduct of the war by the US commander, General David Petraeus, describing the future CIA chief's tactics as counter-productive and "profoundly wrong". Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, who also served as the UK's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, added that Petraeus should be "ashamed of himself" for making claims of the number of insurgent commanders his forces had killed. "He has increased...
Read the post »