The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (May '08)

[GAP]

The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (May '08)            

News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
Thanks for helping this "news only" thread system work!

Articles found May 1, 2008

Afghans relieved talks with Taliban may happen; Canada avoids direct role
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A strategy of talking to the Taliban - once ridiculed as "naive" by the Conservative government in Canada - is being test driven in the Kandahar countryside, much to the relief of some Afghans including one of the area's biggest power brokers.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half brother of Afghanistan's president, said something needs to be done to stop "the madness" of the deadly insurgency.

Canadian troops in Afghanistan are reported reaching out to low-and mid-level insurgents, encouraging them through local villagers to sit down with Afghan authorities and perhaps even NATO forces.

"I absolutely support the Canadian decision," Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council, told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday.

"It's a very wise and proper decision. There are people (with whom) we can talk and reason."

"There would be so many Taliban willing to come home. Nobody supports this madness; this killing of innocent people; the killing of women and children. They are not happy with it, we know this."
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B.C. protects civilian jobs of military reservists with labour law changes
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VICTORIA — B.C. is following through on a promise to protect the jobs of reserve soldiers who are serving in places like Afghanistan.

Labour Minister Olga Illich says the government is amending the Employment Standards Act to ensure reservists will have their jobs to come home to when their military duties are finished.

She says hundreds of reservists take time out from their civilian jobs to serve the country and they shouldn't have to worry about their jobs.

The legislation applies to reservists involved in overseas missions and domestic emergencies.

Reservists take unpaid leaves from their jobs and are paid by the Canadian Forces, and their civilian employers won't have to make benefit and pension contributions while the employee is on leave.
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Ottawa artist portrays those who serve
Art Babych May 1, 2008 Art Babych
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In a recent exhibition, artist Karen Bailey documented older women who work in the kitchen of Ottawa’s St. Thomas the Apostle Church.Ottawa
The dwindling numbers of aging women who serve in parish kitchens across the country seldom receive public recognition for their work but an Ottawa professional artist is doing something about it.

Karen Bailey – an Anglican who once worked as a waitress – is creating a body of work entitled, “Blanche Dot Doris,” that celebrates “the patience and perseverance of servers, the people they serve and the environment in which they work.”

Although her plan to document elderly women working in the kitchen of St. Thomas the Apostle Church was sidetracked by a two-week trip to Afghanistan last June as an appointed military artist, Ms. Bailey has produced enough paintings for a recent solo exhibition at the Dale Smith Gallery in Ottawa.
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Peacekeepers' wall expected to get boost
Calgary Herald Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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City Hall - Council will put any leftover money from the Legacy Parks program into extending a wall recognizing fallen Canadian peacekeepers.

The wall, located in Peacekeepers' Park in Garrison Green, is running out of room for names due to the military mission in Afghanistan.

Ald. Ric McIver suggested the city dedicate some money to extending the wall. The rest of council agreed, deciding that any surplus in the Legacy Parks program should be used for the project.
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Americans build elite Afghan commando force
The commando battalions, just a year old, are being trained and deployed nationally as a mobile, quick-reaction force.
By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the May 1, 2008 edition
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Rish Khvor, Afghanistan - Pvt. Said Reza says he's ready to be a soldier in his country's fight against extremists, and as he stands in uniform in the middle of a training camp here with his semiautomatic rifle, kneepads, and American-style dark glasses, he looks the part.

Private Reza has already graduated from basic soldier training. He volunteered to become a member of an elite unit of the Army that is being groomed to become a model force of Afghan warriors.

"The only thing I know is that these [extremists] are a bunch of people who sell their country for a very small amount of money," says Reza of the extremists he expects to fight. When asked if he's ready to take them on, his answer is simple: "Bali ho" – of course.

Trained to be "the best of the best," who fight in riskier, more complex political and military environments – say, taking on a popular tribal leader aligned with the Taliban – the Commandos are distinct from the regular Army but are expected to help define the image and capabilities of Afghan security forces as a whole. The goal is an elite, quick-reaction force that can act independently. It's a crucial addition for an uneven US-NATO mission that many military and civilian leaders agree has evolved in a way that has let the Taliban resurface.
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Tale of two cities: Canada's fortune in Kandahar depends on action in Kabul
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — In Kandahar, a poverty-racked city of mud walls and thatch roofs, suicide bombers prowl and a charismatic young governor derided by critics as corrupt and immoral has lost the confidence of both his constituents and the Canadian military.

Five hundred kilometres away in the gridlocked metropolis of blaring horns and outstretched hands that is Kabul, Canada and Kandahar together wait for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to do something about his problematic political emissary, Asadullah Khalid.

"I don't want him to even be a politician in the next government of Afghanistan," Malalay Ishaqzai, a politician from Kandahar who sits as a member of the Afghan national assembly, said in an interview with The Canadian Press in Kabul.

"He should be removed from the government and not given any other province or any other job. He's a useless person for the people of Kandahar."

It's a prime example of how the story of Canada's mission in Afghanistan has become a tale of two cities.
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[MarkOttawa]

Building Bridges in the Back of Beyond
Washington Post, May Day, by David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003253.html?wpisrc=newsletter

NARAY, Afghanistan -- This remote, mountainous patch of Afghanistan is near where Rudyard Kipling set his famous story "The Man Who Would Be King." And as you listen to Lt. Col. Chris Kolenda rattle off the names of the region's tribes and subtribes, you realize that he and other Americans here might be Kipling characters themselves...

Kolenda talks like an amateur ethnologist as he explains the tribal makeup of Kamdesh, an area just north of here where U.S. forces have been trying to woo the elders and mullahs away from the insurgents. He identifies a main tribe, four subtribes and 12 clans, each with its own history of feuds and friendships. If the U.S. military doesn't understand the local culture, Kolenda explains, it will make mistakes in trying to forge alliances that can stabilize the area.

The surprising fact is that Kolenda, a Nebraska native, and his soldiers in Task Force Saber are having some success. When he arrived here last June, this area was mostly a no-go zone for U.S. forces. That meant some hard fighting last summer to drive the insurgents away from population centers and deeper into the mountains.

Once he had pushed back the insurgents, Kolenda's strategy was to re-empower the traditional tribal structure, which had lost sway during 30 years of war to a new elite with guns and money. Working through tribal shuras, or local councils, he offered the elders a deal: If they would provide security, he would bring them economic development in the form of roads, bridges, schools and health clinics. He financed these projects mostly with quick cash from the Commander's Emergency Response Program, or CERP, which has proved to be one of the most potent American weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kolenda gradually won the tribal leaders' trust, traveling to one insurgent haven 16 times to meet with the elders. This year, attacks on U.S. forces in most parts of the region have largely ceased.

Alison Blosser, a young State Department officer, is using a similar approach to help guide the Provincial Reconstruction Team for Kunar province, based south of here in Asadabad. An Ohio State graduate, she speaks fluent Pashto, which she learned before taking up her previous assignment at the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan. Dressed in a head scarf and body armor, she might be a modern version of Gertrude Bell, the celebrated British adventurer and colonial administrator of the 1920s.

Blosser and her colleagues have employed what they call a "roads strategy" to bring stability to Kunar. The biggest project so far was building a paved two-lane road from Jalalabad in the lush flatlands up the Kunar River valley to Asadabad. The road is a magnet for economic development in what had been an insurgent stronghold, and the PRT is planning new roads into what Blosser calls the "capillary valleys" where the insurgents have fled.

The tribal elders see the prosperity the new roads have brought and want the same for their villages. "We say, 'Fine, but you have to guarantee security,' " Blosser says. That's the essence of the counterinsurgency strategy U.S. forces are using in Afghanistan. As the military clears new areas, the PRTs follow quickly behind with roads, bridges and schools .

Back in Kabul, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, the overall commander of American forces in Afghanistan [pity the author forgot about ISAF], reflects on how the counterinsurgency battles have changed the U.S. Army. Back when he was a battalion commander in the 1980s, he says, "I thought the world was move, shoot and communicate." The new generation, he says, understands that these traditional warrior skills won't win today's counterinsurgency wars [emphasis added}...

CIA Chief Sees Unrest Rising With Population
Washington Post, May 1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003258.html

Swelling populations and a global tide of immigration will present new security challenges for the United States by straining resources and stoking extremism and civil unrest in distant corners of the globe, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in a speech yesterday.

The population surge could undermine the stability of some of the world's most fragile states, especially in Africa, while in the West, governments will be forced to grapple with ever larger immigrant communities and deepening divisions over ethnicity and race, Hayden said...

European countries, many of which already have large immigrant communities, will see particular growth in their Muslim populations while the number of non-Muslims will shrink as birthrates fall. "Social integration of immigrants will pose a significant challenge to many host nations -- again boosting the potential for unrest and extremism," Hayden said.

The CIA director also predicted a widening gulf between Europe and North America on how to deal with security threats, including terrorism. While U.S. and European officials agree on the urgency of the terrorism threat, there is a fundamental difference -- a "transatlantic divide" -- over the solution, he said.

While the United States sees the fight against terrorism as a global war, European nations perceive the terrorist threat as a law enforcement problem, he said.

"They tend not to view terrorism as we do, as an overwhelming international challenge. Or if they do, we often differ on what would be effective and appropriate to counter it," Hayden said. He added that he could not predict "when or if" the two sides could forge a common approach to security...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND MAY 2

Afghanistan: complex policy issues
Conference of Defence Associations, May 2
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1209747523/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found April 5, 2008

Canadian Forces to buy more minesweepers: report
Updated Mon. May. 5 2008 7:25 AM ET The Canadian Press
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- National Defence is looking to buy more specialized armoured vehicles to detect roadside bombs, the biggest scourge facing troops in Afghanistan, The Canadian Press has learned.

The army is drawing up a proposal to purchase as many as 30 vehicles for both overseas and training duty, say senior Defence sources in Ottawa.

"Commander CEFCOM (Canadian Expeditionary Force) is asking for greater capacity,'' said a source who has seen the planning. "We're interested in buying larger numbers so we have more deployable sets.''

The Expedient Route Opening Capability system -- known by its acronym EROC -- involves three vehicles working in tandem to sweep roadways before the arrival of combat or supply convoys.

The Defence sources, who spoke on the condition of not being named, said last week that the proposal involves buying 10 more EROC sets sometime in the near future.
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Sandwiched between Taliban and poppies, Marines face day of fire in southern Afghanistan
The Associated Press Friday, May 2, 2008
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GARMSER, Afghanistan: Gunfire rang out at Sgt. Dan Linas' patrol, pinning his squad down against a dirt berm. The Marines looked across the field on their left, at three mud huts and a grove of trees, in search of the muzzle flash.

Then they trained their M-16s and opened fire.

The sun had barely risen above the horizon, but for the Marines of Bravo Company's 2nd Platoon, the daybreak firefight was just the first in a series of engagements Friday that saw the troops respond with earsplitting barrages of machine-gun fire, mortars and artillery, most of which landed just 600 meters (yards) from the troops' position.

To the Marines' east, north and south lay bountiful fields of opium poppies, to the west an unseen enemy.

Airstrikes and artillery have thundered through this southern Afghan town since early Tuesday when the Marines moved into Garmser, a town classified as Taliban territory where no NATO troops operate. Cobra helicopters have concentrated rounds of fire on mud house hideouts, and artillery has rattled the countryside.
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MacKay dismisses reports of Canada-Taliban talks
Updated Sat. May. 3 2008 10:55 PM ET The Canadian Press
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ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Defence Minister Peter MacKay is denying reports from Afghanistan that Canadian soldiers are reaching out to members of the Taliban in order to establish peace in the war-torn country.

Canadian military officials in Afghanistan have been quoted as saying they're trying to engage in a dialogue with insurgents -- a move that federal New Democrat Leader Jack Layton has long supported.

"I was pleased to hear that our military on the ground were looking at opening up lines of communication with the insurgents,'' Layton said Saturday while attending a provincial NDP convention in St. John's.

"Our party has always argued that we've got to carve out a path towards peace, it's got to involve some negotiations and discussions, even with those combatants with whom we're engaged in combat.''
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Troops accused of passing captives to Afghan torturers
Tom Hyland May 4, 2008
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Page 1 of 2 | Single page
PRISONERS captured by Australian and Dutch troops in Afghanistan allege they have been beaten after being handed over to the notorious Afghan secret police.

While the Australian Defence Force says there is no evidence prisoners taken by Australian troops have been mistreated, official documents show three have complained they were beaten around the head by secret police after being captured by the Dutch-Australian taskforce.

The Dutch documents show prisoners are routinely handed over to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS), which human rights groups accuse of torturing and abusing prisoners.

International law prohibiting torture outlaws returning a person to the custody of a nation where they risk torture or other ill-treatment.

The heavily censored foreign and defence ministry documents, released to a Dutch newspaper, do not specify the nationality of the troops who captured the men.
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Things Canadians Don't Even Talk About
04 May 2008
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Those who complain about Canada not doing enough for its soldiers in Afghanistan, should spend some time examining the UK deployment to Afghanistan. While Canadian troops are served up constantly improved equipment, often as fast as it's requested, British troops languish away, and die, because of bureaucratic and poltical stubborness.

So it is, that discussions and debates taking place in the UK, aren't even contemplated in Canada.

I've often said that "progressives" are the last people you want covering your back ... the British provide us with a perfect case in point:

The circumstances are redolent of other incidents we have reported but, in this case, Marine Watson was riding in an unarmoured Pinzgauer utility truck (pictured).

A request had been made for a Viking but none had been available and Mr Walker ruled that, had one been provided, Watson – who had returned to his vehicle when the firing broke out - would have survived.

Of course, the Viking – as noted above – does offer protection against gunfire but does not resolve the mine/IED threat. One other vehicle – apart from the Mastiff - that goes a long way towards doing that is the Cougar/Ridgeback and it is perhaps appropriate that, at long last, the British government formally placed the long-awaited order for 157 of them last week.
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Teachers raise funds for Afghan women
Tonya Zelinsky, Calgary Herald Published: Sunday, May 04, 2008
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What: Afghani Teacher Fundraising Dinner

Women from all walks of life and of all ages were spotted Breaking Bread recently when they gathered together to help women suffering from injustices in Afghanistan.

Hosted by Breaking Bread For Women in Afghanistan, the annual Afghani Teachers Fundraising Dinner was designed to support much-needed education project for Afghan women and girls.
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[GAP]

Articles found May 6, 2008

Canadian troops start takeover in Afghanistan
Updated Sat. Feb. 25 2006 8:15 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
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Canadian troops have officially started taking over from their American allies on the front lines of Kandahar province in Afghanistan.

Up until this point, the U.S. Task Force Gun Devils have been heading the military presence in the southern region of the country. But it will now be controlled by soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

The handover will be completed next week, but at the first of several ceremonies to be held, the head of the U.S. forces in the region gave his Canadian counterparts an ominous order.

"When the enemy rears its ugly head, I expect you to kill and capture them and defeat them," Lt.-Col Bert Ges, the head of the Task Force Gun Devil told the Canadian troops. "Keep up the aggressiveness and continue on the fight against the enemy."

"The change today is similar to a line change in hockey," Ges said. "It's still the same team going down the ice ready to score, just a different capability out there."

No one in Afghanistan is underestimating the unpredictability of this mission, particularly Capt. Slade Lerch. For the past seven months he's been embedded with U.S. forces.

He has lost friends in the line of duty, and
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Auditor general to release latest report on government spending
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OTTAWA — We get another peek Tuesday at how the federal government is spending our tax dollars - and what the country's auditor general has to say about it.

Sheila Fraser will deliver her latest report that will focus on eight items, including how the government is funding child welfare programs on reserves, and whether the services are comparable to what's offered off-reserve. Another chapter in her report will look at how Transport Canada is overseeing airline safety.

Fraser has also studied whether Canadian troops in Afghanistan are getting proper supplies when they need them.

There has been growing tension between the Harper government and the auditor general since earlier this year, when Fraser said she received a notice that the government wanted to vet her public communications
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Hillier looking for LAV-3 replacement
David ********, Canwest News Service Published: Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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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 out the vehicle's suspension and other technical aspects have been pushed to the limit by the improvements.

That, in turn, prevents more armour or other systems from being installed in the vehicles.

"We're going to have to look at what we can do in the army for a fleet of fighting vehicles," said Hillier.

"That's what we need to work through right now and be able to offer our minister, and therefore the government of Canada, some recommendations."

The LAV-3s are the backbone of the army's combat fleet.

Hillier said military personnel are examining what types of vehicles might fit the bill, including "what's on the market or what's in development right now that could be on the market pretty soon."

He didn't provide details on how much such a program would cost because it depends on how many vehicles are ordered.

The U.S. military is developing a fleet of armoured vehicles but Hillier suggested that program is too far off for Canada's needs. He noted his preference is to continue with purchasing off-the-shelf equipment that can be delivered relatively fast.
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'Winning is no longer about killing'; Outgoing leader of combat training says Kingston plays major role in new world of warfare
Posted By Ian Elliot
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Like many officers of his generation, Maj.-Gen. Stuart Beare trained to fight a Cold War suddenly turned hot with two standing armies clashing along a border, likely in Germany.

For Beare, the outgoing commander of CFB Kingston's Land Force Doctrine and Training System - essentially the Canadian army's combat college - it's not like that anymore. He's one of the senior officers adapting the Canadian Forces to the new world of warfare, where superiority on the ground and in the air does not equal victory against ragtag groups of combatants who fight using improvised explosive devices rather than tanks.

"We're not in Afghanistan to burn gas and shoot bullets," said the blunt-spoken Beare, a former gunner who is moving to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa after turning over command of the 2,500-strong Kingston-based unit to Maj.-Gen. Marquis Hainse.

"Winning is no longer about killing, and everyone who is over there right now gets that. They see it with their own eyes and they understand it."

Today's battleground is much more nuanced than the traditional two armies clashing in the night, Beare said. Kingston has quietly carved out a major role in planning how modern campaigns in Afghanistan and elsewhere are waged.

While elements of traditional warfare are still present, combat capability is now also a supporting arm of reconstruction and development.
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Chopper hit by rebel fire in Afghanistan
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KABUL (AFP) — A civilian helicopter was hit by insurgent gunfire in mountainous eastern Afghanistan on Monday, forcing it to make an emergency landing at a NATO military base, the alliance force said.

No one was injured in the incident in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

"The helicopter made a landing at an ISAF base, in central Kunar, after taking machine gunfire from an unknown number of insurgents," ISAF said in a statement.

"The aircrew inspected the aircraft and found one bullet hole that did minor damage to the helicopter."

The chopper was contracted by the military, the force said without being able to immediately provide further information.

Insurgents battling the Afghan army and its international allies have shot at several military helicopters, most often missing.

But a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) brought down a Chinook helicopter in Kunar in June 2005, killing 16 US soldiers. The province has steep mountains on which insurgents are said to operate.
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WASHINGTON: Afghanistan, Iraq wars deplete elite forces, top leader says
THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: May 6th, 2008 01:00 AM
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The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making such heavy use of the nation’s Green Berets and other elite warriors that they cannot fulfill their roles in other parts of the world, the military’s top commando told The Associated Press on Monday.
“We’re going to fewer countries, staying for shorter periods of time, with smaller numbers of people than historically we have done,” Adm. Eric T. Olson said in his first interview since becoming commander of U.S. Special Operations Command last July.

Olson, himself a combat veteran, saw little chance that the demand for his special operations forces in Iraq will decline anytime soon. Even as the overall American force there shrinks – from about 158,000 now to about 140,000 by the end of July – the number of special operations forces in the war zone is likely to increase, he said.

The Associated Press
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[GAP]

Articles found May 7, 2008

$1.3b for Navistar to Equip Afghan & Iraqi Militaries
06-May-2008 18:26 EDT
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The U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command recently awarded Navistar Defense a follow-on contract to provide medium tactical trucks and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

Under the multi-year, $1.283 billion contract, Navistar will supply 7,072 vehicles based on their severe service International 7000 Series truck. The order will include General Troop Transporter, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), water tankers, wreckers and hazardous material truck variants. In addition, Navistar will supply all required spare parts necessary to support several years of scheduled maintenance. Approximately half of the 2008 order will be delivered during the first year of the contract, with nearly 1,000 units expected to be delivered in FY 2008 (i.e. before Oct 1/08).

This award follows a $430 million contract, 2,900 vehicle contract awarded in 2005, bringing the overall total to $1.71 billion and 9,972 trucks. Navistar release. Note that the International 7000 truck chassis is also the basis of the blast-resistant MaxxPro 4×4 patrol vehicle, which is currently the lead vehicle in the USA’s 15,000+ vehicle MRAP (Mine Resistant, ambush Protected) program.

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'Canada's Afghan Mission Seen Hit By Supply Woes', Reuters, 6 May 2008
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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 of her office's investigation of supply operations. 'But unless the problems we found can be resolved, the Canadian Forces could have increasing difficulty supporting the mission.' The Canadian military, which has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, has been able to maintain combat equipment close to its goal of 90 percent serviceability. But maintenance of support vehicles, including critical land-mine detection vehicles, has presented many more difficulties
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Canadian soldier killed in ambush in Afghanistan
Ryan Cormier, Canwest News Service  Published: Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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A Canadian soldier was killed and another was wounded by enemy fire during an ambush in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Cpl. Michael Starker, a reservist and medic, was on a foot patrol when the attack occurred in the Pashmul region of the Zhari district.

The Calgary soldier was taken to the Kandahar Airfield after the attack that took place around 11:45 a.m. local time, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

An unidentified soldier was injured in the same attack, but the soldier was in stable condition Tuesday and notified his family of his injuries himself.

"At the time of the incident, our soldiers were conducting a civil-military co-operation patrol in the area, when they came under attack," said Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, commanding general of Task Force Afghanistan.
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Chief Of The Defence Staff General Rick Hillier
May 7, 2008, by Adam Day
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Editor’s note: On April 15, while the magazine was preparing to go to press, General Rick Hillier announced he will be stepping down as Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff. The move was expected to become effective in July.

Rick Hillier is still grinning, even if just barely. After more than three years at the head of Canada’s armed forces and at the centre of relentless media attention and political controversy over the war in Afghanistan, Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier, Canada’s sometimes embattled top soldier, remains determined and steadfastly optimistic.

Hillier is optimistic not only about the mission in Afghanistan, where he says there is progress every day, even if it is slow and incomplete, but also about the future of the Canadian Forces, which he says is finally becoming an organization that its members want to be a part of.

Handpicked to become chief of defence staff by former Prime Minister Paul Martin and his Defence Minister Bill Graham, Hillier burst into the public spotlight in early 2005 with his out­spoken views, boisterous charisma and strongly enunciated vision for a new Canadian Forces.
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2 police killed in roadside blast in eastern Afghanistan
The Associated PressPublished: May 7, 2008
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KABUL, Afghanistan: A roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two officers, while another blast in the same area killed a suspected would-be suicide bomber, officials said.

The attack on the police car occurred just outside the capital of Khost province as the officers traveled from their homes to work, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.

The powerful explosion destroyed the vehicle, Pacha said.

Insurgents often target the police force, which is more vulnerable and exposed than the better trained and equipped Afghan national army. Over 920 police officers were killed by militants in 2007.
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[geo]

Singapore sends military engineers to Afghanistan

(AFP)
Mon May 5, 2008
SINGAPORE

Singapore is sending two military construction engineering teams to Afghanistan, the defence ministry said Monday.

In the tiny city-state's latest military contribution to the area, 12 team members will be deployed in two groups over about six months in central Bamiyan province, the ministry said.

They are to supervise construction of a regional health training centre and will be part of the New Zealand Defence Force provincial reconstruction team, it said.

"This deployment is part of Singapore's overall contribution to the international humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Singapore last year sent a five-man medical team to Bamiyan, and a Singapore Air Force refuelling aircraft left last month for the Gulf where it will support multi-national forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ministry said earlier.

Singapore, which US President George W. Bush visited in 2006, has been an unwavering US ally.



Afghan air corps soars again Air Force

DefenseTalk.com
News Agency
May 6, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan

Graduates completed the first orientation course for the Afghan National army air corps April 30 at the Kabul Air Corps Training Center here.

The four-week inaugural course laid the foundation for the air corps soldiers as they began their careers in the ANAAC.

"This is an exciting new age," said Brig. Gen. Jay H. Lindell, the Combined Air Power Transition Force commander. "I congratulate you as you build, and rebuild, the Afghan air corps."

During the course, KACTC instructors taught 20 students airfield safety, computer instruction, the history of the air corps, logistics and equipment maintenance.

With the help of advisors and instructors from the U.S. Air Force, private contractors and former air corps members, the ANAAC is being rebuilt after nearly two decades of neglect.

"Many of the instructors are former members of the Afghan air corps," General Lindell said. "They have returned, wanting to give back to their country."

Students of the orientation course received technical training in ground support and other services crucial to the maintenance of military aircraft and helicopters.

"We are just in the beginning stages," said Lt. Col. James Langford, the KACTC education director. "This class did very well. If you had been here when they arrived four weeks ago, you would have seen students like any of our typical (U.S.) Airmen recruits."

In addition to the regular coursework, the students received instruction on sexual harassment, military values and participated in a physical conditioning program.

More advanced classes will be taught by October and class size will increase to 30 students, Colonel Langford said.

"During the course, they also learned to stand guard at installation entry points, conduct vehicle searches and stand watches at public buildings and airports," the colonel said. "After graduation, they are all going to join Afghan National Security Forces. Initially they will be stationed here in Kabul, but later they will move on to other locations around the country."

"Our students did very well. The instructors have taught them many things," said Temor Shah, the director of the KACTC. "Later this year, more American advisors will arrive for a year-long deployment, instructing the next round of students."

The curriculum will expand to include a 12-week course on fixed-wing aircraft, rotary-wing maintenance and aircraft logistics, Colonel Langford said.

The program is a welcome addition to our country's defense, Mr. Shah said.

 

[MarkOttawa]

India not to take up new road projects in Afghanistan
India eNews, May 6
http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20080506/116224.htm

After the latest killings of its personnel by Taliban militants in Afghanistan, India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Tuesday said it is unlikely to take up any more projects in the insurgency-plagued country.

'In Afghanistan, we unfortunately had casualties. We have 300 men working in the country, and about 400 personnel of ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) are there for the inner security cordon [emphasis added],' BRO Director General Lt. Gen. A.K. Nanda told reporters here.

'For the outer cordon of security, we have recruited around 1,400 Afghan gunmen. But one is not very sure of their loyalty,' Nanda said on the eve of the 48th raising day of the BRO.

On April 12, two personnel of the BRO were killed and five injured in a suicide attack in southwest Afghanistan's Nimroz province. Two other BRO personnel were killed earlier in the year.

BRO sources told IANS that the organisation has been paying around 4,000-5,000 Afghanis (Afghanistan currency) to the local gunmen, but their loyalties are a major cause of concern for the Indian authorities.

'The threat is there and we have to live with that. Because of the threat, we would like to finish the work as early as possible,' Nanda added.

The BRO has completed about 80 percent of the work on the 219-km road from Zaranj to Delaram on the Iran-Afghanistan border and construction of the last 30 km is going on. The road will link the highways of the land-locked country to Iranian ports and open the Afghan market to Indian goods as currently there are no transit facilities through Pakistan.

'By July this year we are likely to pull out from Afghanistan after finishing the project,' Nanda said.

Over 4,000 Indians are engaged in construction activities at various infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. India has pledged $850 million for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country, making New Delhi the fifth largest donor there.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found May 8, 2008

New General To Take Up Command Of Canadian Troops
The Canadian Press, 7 May 2008
Article Link

"The next commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan hit the ground in Kandahar Wednesday and says he believes the mission will take on a different flavour during his nine month tour. Brig.-Gen. Dennis Thompson says evolving conditions in the war-torn region mean there will be more of an emphasis on the civilian side of development and reconstruction. He says there will still be a military aspect and doesn't expect the army will be adopting a defensive posture just because the focus is shifting. The Conservative government is in the process of refocusing the mission and setting down objectives to be achieved before the military mission runs out in 2011. Thompson will be laying the groundwork for that and for a civilian administration at the provincial reconstruction base, which Canada operates in Kandahar City. He will be replacing Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the current commander, in the near future."
More on link

Corrupt officials not receiving Canadian money: ambassador
Juliet O'Neill ,  Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA - Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada assured MPs Wednesday that Canadian aid funds are not winding up in the "pockets or bank accounts" of corrupt government officials.

Ambassador Omar Samad made the comment at a Commons committee as he urged Canada to support a request by Afghanistan to ensure a greater portion of international aid arriving in the country is channelled through the government, rather than non-government organizations and private corporations.

Afghanistan will be making that case at an international donors' conference next month in Paris where authorities will discuss the fate of billions of dollars in assistance while the security situation in the country has worsened.
More on link

U.S., NATO battle on uneven Afghan patchwork
Thu May 8, 2008 8:03am EDT
Article Link

By Luke Baker

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan, May 8 (Reuters) - Last week U.S. Captain Roger Hill led a patrol into the Jaldez valley, just southwest of Kabul, and was immediately ambushed from three sides by 50 Taliban fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades.

The army of attackers, robed and bearded, fired somewhere between 25 and 30 grenades at his convoy, Hill said, pinning the patrol down in a furious two-hour gun battle that ended only when U.S. fighter planes swooped in for support.

It was a relatively rare and surprisingly staunch attack for that area of Afghanistan, reminiscent in its intensity to episodes in Iraq, where Hill spent more than a year. Yet asked where he would rather be deployed, he is clear.

"I feel like we're getting somewhere here. In a way we've had to start much more from scratch in Iraq than in Afghanistan," he said. "Here there's a sense of progress."
More on link

Pullout by key U.S. manufacturer thins ranks of drone bidders
STEVEN CHASE May 8, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA -- The world's top manufacturer of aerial drones is pulling out of a $93-million competition to supply surveillance equipment that Canada must acquire by next February as a condition of keeping soldiers in Afghanistan.

The move by U.S.-based General Atomics, which makes the well-known Predator drones, reduces the competition for the contract and could leave Ottawa hostage to only one possible supplier: Elbit Systems of Israel and its Hermes pilotless aircraft.

It will also make it more difficult for the Canadian Forces when it comes to interoperability with their U.S. partners in Afghanistan, because the Americans use General Atomics Predator drones for the same mid-level surveillance.

Under a Canadian Forces program called Project Noctua - Latin for owl - the military is in a hurry to lease pilotless surveillance aircraft for at least two years to help soldiers battle the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The schedule is tight, even though the military has been trying to acquire drones ever since Canadian soldiers moved to Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province in 2005.

A January report on the future of Canada's war effort in Afghanistan prodded Ottawa to act on the drones by saying their acquisition should be one of the conditions for extending the country's military mission to 2011.

After a drawn-out debate, Parliament approved an extension of the mission in Afghanistan to 2011 from 2009, as long as allies supplied 1,000 soldiers to help Canada and the military acquired helicopters and drones by February, 2009.

Last month, however, General Atomics wrote to John Sinkinson, an official at Canada's Public Works Department, informing him that it won't bid on the deal.

Sources say the deal breaker for General Atomics is that Ottawa wants the drones by January, 2009 - just six months after the contract is signed, which it contends is not possible.
More on link

Clinic planned for servicemen, women with 'mental injuries'
Announcment in Ottawa meant to acknowlege service-related stress conditions
Norma Greenaway, Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA -- At least 1,500 of the 20,000 men and women who have served in the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan since 2001 have suffered from service-related stress conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression or addiction, according to federal government figures released Wednesday.

The figures were provided by the Department of National Defence as Greg Thompson, the federal minister of Veteran Affairs, announced the planned creation of a clinic in Ottawa for servicemen and women struggling with a range of "mental injuries."

The Ottawa clinic, which is expected to treat between 100 and 150 clients annually after it opens at the end of the year, is one of several planned across the country.
More on link

At Least 7 Killed in Eastern Afghanistan Attacks
By VOA News 07 May 2008
  Article Link

A series of explosions and gunbattles in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least seven people, including two NATO soldiers.

NATO officials released a statement Wednesday saying two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops and one civilian were killed by a blast during a routine patrol in the province of Khost near the Pakistani border. Another two soldiers were wounded.

NATO did not release the soldiers' nationalities, but the majority of foreign troops in Khost are from the United States.

Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in Khost, killing two police officers on their way to work
More on link

Ex-Gitmo Detainees Returning To Afghanistan, Iraq Battlefields
May 7, 2008 11:30 p.m. EST
Article Link

Windsor Genova - AHN News Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - More than 10 former detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have returned to the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq and either died or were captured in suicide bombings or firefights.

According to CNN, the Pentagon identified Kuwaiti Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi on Wednesday as among the ex-detainees. He died in a suicide bomb attack in Mosul, Iraq, on April 26. The attack killed two policemen and four other people.

Based on U.S. military records of detainees at the Cuban prison, Al-Ajmi, 29, was detained without charges at Guantanamo from 2001 to 2005. He claimed to have fought with the Taliban but said he was forced to make the claim while in U.S. custody.

Al-Ajmi was transferred to Kuwaiti custody in November 2005 and was released after a trial there.

Cmdr. Jeff Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, told CNN that "there is an implied future risk to U.S. and allied interests with every detainee who is released or transferred from Guantanamo."

The Cuban prison still holds 270 detainees, with 65 scheduled for release to their countries. Since the prison opened in 2002, more than 500 detainees have been repatriated to home countries
More on link

Afghanistan: Two Iranian Men Detained On Suspicions Of Spying
Article Link

Two Iranian men have been detained in Afghanistan in separate incidents on suspicion of spying near NATO and Afghan military installations.

Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the governor of Afghanistan's southwestern province of Nimroz, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that one of the detained men was captured with documents and photographs that prove he had links with militants.

Azad said the man was captured trying to enter the city of Zarang, on the border with Iran. "He had a camera that had photographs of weaponry indicating clear ties with [Afghanistan's] enemies," Azad said.

In a second incident, near Afghanistan's southeastern border with Pakistan, authorities say they detained an Iranian man who was preparing information for what they believe was an attack against NATO and Afghan security forces.

No Passport, Documents

Wazir Pacha, the assistant police chief in the southeastern Afghan province of Khost, said the man was not carrying any passport or documents and that he initially had pretended to be mentally ill. But Pacha says the man later confessed that he was on an information-gathering mission.

Police in Khost played an audio recording for journalists in which the man confesses he was preparing maps of NATO and Afghan military installations in Khost, which lies just across the border from Pakistan's volatile tribal region of North Waziristan.

In that recording, the man says he is from the town of Shiraz and
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

Combat Debut
AW&ST, May 5, p. 17 (text subscriber only)

The French air force has for the first time dropped AASM GPS-guided bombs in combat. A Rafale fighter delivered two of the bombs on Apr. 20 during a mission in Afghanistan. The aircraft was patrolling with a Mirage 2000D when a Canadian ground controller called in an air strike to suppress adversary fire. Cloud cover obstructed the fighters from delivering the laser-guided bombs usually called for, so the Rafale dropped the first AASM, developed by Sagem. Another call for fire 30 min. later caused the same pilot to drop the second weapon, although weather had cleared sufficiently for the Mirage 2000D to deliver a GBU-12 laser-guided bomb as well.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND MAY 9

Pentagon Is Open to Moving More Marines to Afghanistan
Washington Post, May 9
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803319.html

The Marine Corps may begin shifting its major combat forces out of Iraq to focus on Afghanistan in 2009 if greater security in Iraq allows a reduction of Marines there, top Pentagon officials said yesterday.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the proposal by the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, to focus his force on Afghanistan -- which they rejected late last year -- could be reconsidered.

"Should we be in a position to move forces into Afghanistan, I think that certainly would come back into consideration," Mullen said at a Pentagon briefing. He said that he understands it is challenging for the Marines to have "a foot in both countries" and that Conway seeks to "optimize the forces that he has," but stressed that any shift is likely to occur "down the road."

Gates said he agrees that the Marine Corps shift is "a possibility" for next year. He explained that when he earlier said the change "wouldn't happen on my watch," that was not an unchangeable policy decision -- he meant it would not unfold until 2009, when he plans to step down.

Gates said that the Pentagon is still looking at options to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan in 2009, but that there is no plan to extend the seven-month deployment of about 3,200 Marines dispatched there this spring. "I'd be loath to" extend the Marines beyond November, when they are scheduled to leave Afghanistan, he said.

A senior military official said this week that after a "vigorous debate," Mullen, Conway and other members of the Joint Chiefs recently hammered out their priorities for employing stretched U.S. ground forces: first, Iraq; next, Afghanistan; and finally, bringing troops home to increase the amount of time they have in the United States to train and recuperate...

Afghanistan: policy, conflict, context
Conference of Defence Associations, May 9 (media round-up)
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210341334/

Note esp.:

Petraeus, Afghanistan and the Lessons of Iraq
By George Friedman, Strategic Forecasting, May 6
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210270201

Rules urged for spies in Afghanistan
War zone work commendable despite lack of guidance, inspector-general says
Globe and Mail, May 9
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080509.wcsis09/BNStory/

Canada's spies working in Afghanistan are doing so without a rulebook, the watchdog that reviews CSIS's operations says.

Eva Plunkett, Inspector-General of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, says the agents are doing "commendable work" but that laws governing the spy service need to be updated now that agents are being dispatched to war zones.

A "suitable policy framework" is needed to tell the spies what they should and should not do, she says in her "Top Secret" annual report to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, which was posted, partly censored, on a federal website this week.

The findings allude to - but don't actually explain - the nature of CSIS's clandestine support for Canadian soldiers battling the Taliban.

"As you are aware, the Service has been in Afghanistan [CENSORED]," the public report says. "As such, the Service's role in Afghanistan is relatively new, but I am impressed with [CENSORED] on which I am informed."

But then, the Inspector-General notes their lack of guidelines: "The Service should now be well-positioned to develop a suitable policy framework to guide future [CENSORED] activities in this theatre. I do believe that those who serve in this environment deserve to be equipped with the policy framework to guide their work."..

In the new report from Ms. Plunkett, she points out that CSIS's legal relationship with both the Foreign Affairs and National Defence Departments are completely out of date, suggesting it's not clear where the role of being a soldier or diplomat stops and being a spy begins. This, she says, represents "a lacuna in the operational policy framework."

Parliament generally needs to clarify what Canada's spies can do in 2008, the Inspector-General says.

"Employees are keenly waiting for the related legislative provisions they view will be an invaluable tool to aid their intelligence-gathering capabilities," she says...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND MAY 10

Afghan cricket team aims for world cup glory
The Times, May 10
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article3904526.ece

Taj Malik has more to worry about than rain stopping play or the wicket his team will have to bat on.

The charismatic coach of the Afghan cricket team has been threatened by a suicide bomber for not picking a particular player, while his brother and one of his star bowlers bear the scars of bullet wounds from years of war.

But Mr Malik, 32, and his players say that nothing will stop them achieving their dream of getting to the Cricket World Cup in 2011...

Afghanistan has had an international team only since the Taleban were ousted in 2001 but the potential is amazing. In 2006 the Afghans beat the MCC by 202 runs, getting the former England captain Mike Gatting out for a duck. Hamed Hassan, their fastest bowler, and team-mate Mohammed Nabi, 24, were recruited later by the MCC for several matches.

Asian Cricket Council: Afghanistan
http://www.asiancricket.org/c_afghan.cfm

Afghanistan are the rising stars of Asian cricket. Already with a global following, they play with dash and panache, care only for winning and consider every match played to be a matter of national honour. Since becoming ACC members their progress has been rapid and had it not been for tactical naïveté and an ability to countenance anything else but big hits against spinners, it would be they and not Hong Kong who would be in the next Asia Cup...

Top Pashtun leader in Washington for talks
Gulf Times, May 10
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=217482&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23

Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali is in the United States to brief top officials of the Bush administration on the new Pakistani coalition government’s non-violent anti-terrorism policy of which political engagement is a vital element.  He is the first head of a ruling coalition member-party from Pakistan to visit the US after the formation of the new government...

There was an agreement within the elected government in Pakistan that Wali will be Pakistan’s point man for the implementation of the post-election strategy to curb terrorism.

While briefing the prime minister, his cabinet members and heads of the ruling coalition parties on the war against terror early last month, Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani had also turned towards the ANP to take the lead role in this context.

He suggested that with a relative peace in Swat and the ANP having won seven seats from the area it should take over the process of establishing security there...

Based on the public statements made by the ANP leadership over the last couple of months it has been demonstrated that the ANP has been the lead political party that has established contact with militant groups, including the Taliban in the tribal areas, or Fata.

Fully backed by leaders of the ruling coalition parties, Wali is trying to demonstrate to the Americans the wisdom of trying a new approach against the backdrop of total failure of the past policy, sources said.
This is his second trip to the US in the last couple of years to discuss the anti-terrorism policy with the key US policy-makers. During his last trip in 2006,  he also visited the Centcom headquarters in Tempa, Florida.

Although not confirmed he may have visited Centcom again this time around. Sources privy to the visit say that apart from Washington, Wali has plans of visiting other cities as well, including Chicago.
On the agenda were meetings with senior officials at the White House and the US State Department, including National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Yrys]

Canada to renovate old U.S. barracks in Kandahar

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Canadian military engineers have taken the first step in plans to rebuild dilapidated apartments that serve as barracks for Afghan National Army
soldiers and their families in the Kandahar area.

On Sunday, the engineers inspected the  barracks, mostly bombed out shells of 1960s-style apartments originally built by American involved in airport construction.
Despite that, more than 1,000 people live in the apartments, officially known as Camp Shirzai but which the Americans have tried to rename Camp Hero.Canadian
troops started making supply drops at the camp's school soon after they arrived in February 2006 and planned to do renovations.

But instead an entirely new school was built nearby. Now, the Canadians want to do more for the soldiers and their families. Warrant Officer Steven Beaudet, who
is stationed in Moncton, N.B. with the First Engineer Support Unit, says he figures about 60 per cent of the six apartment buildings can be safely rebuilt.

Many of the buildings had holes blown in them -- or their roofs shot away -- by artillery fire in 2001 as the Taliban tried to organize a last stand at nearby Kandahar
airfield. Beaudet's unit, located at the provincial reconstruction base in Kandahar, did a tour of the buildings Sunday, taking photographs and measurements that will
be used to determine the safety of each structure.

Their arrival caused a bit of a stir among Afghan soldiers, who didn't want the Canadians taking pictures of the interiors of the buildings with their wives and children
inside. Like many Muslims, the soldiers are extremely sensitive about the privacy of women. A representative of the Canadian International Development Agency
accompanied the soldiers.

It was unclear whether CIDA would consider funding the renovations because. The CIDA official refused to speak to reporters at the scene and military officers were
uncertain what the arrangements might be.

 

[GAP]

Articles found May 12, 2008

Job creation should top of Canada's Afghan strategy: Kandahar leaders
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The adage that 'idle are the devil's workshop' may date to the 12th century, but it has a particularly poignant ring today in southern Afghanistan as the annual poppy harvest winds down and NATO forces brace for a possible spike in violence.

Village leaders and power brokers throughout Kandahar province are pleading with the Canadian military and development officials to focus more money and attention on massive make-work projects.

Such jobs, usually back-breaking construction work, would serve to keep chronically under-employed, or jobless Afghan males of fighting age - between 18 and 25 - from falling into the clutches of Taliban recruiters.

"I would like to see the Canadians to mostly focus on the projects (where) they can create jobs," said Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the provincial council in Kandahar and half brother to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Canada's Conservative government, through a special cabinet committee chaired by Trade Minister David Emerson, is in the process of setting benchmarks - objectives to be achieved in Kandahar before the military mission ends in 2011.
More on link

Bomb Hits Canadian Troops in Afghanistan
Suicide Car Bomber Attacks Canadian Troops in Southern Afghanistan; 1 Civilian Killed
By NOOR KHAN Associated Press Writer KANDAHAR, Afghanistan March 12, 2008 (AP)
Article Link

A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan Wednesday, killing a passing civilian and wounding one soldier.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene in Kandahar said a Humvee vehicle of the convoy was burned and destroyed. NATO troops cordoned off the area, preventing journalists and police getting near the vehicles.

A passing truck driver was killed in the attack, and two civilian passers-by were wounded, said police officer Nematullah Khan.

Capt. Mark Gough, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in the south, said one ISAF soldier was lightly wounded in the attack.

Most NATO troops based in Kandahar are Canadian.

Khan had said earlier that two Canadian troops were wounded. The discrepancy in the numbers could not immediately be reconciled because of lack of access to the scene.
More on link

Questions Raised by New Book on Canada's JTF-2.
10 May, 2008 Jonathan Montpetit THE CANADIAN PRESS
Article Link

Questions are being raised about a first-hand account of Canada's secretive Joint Task Force 2 commando unit, a book whose author was arrested on the eve of its launch last week.

Several presumably top-secret missions are detailed in "Nous etions invincibles" ("We Were Invincible"), which is billed as a memoir of Denis Morisset's time in the unit from 1993 to 2001.

The book's more explosive claims include that JTF2 members took part in the assassination of a suspected war criminal and conducted an unauthorized intelligence operation in Afghanistan years before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Morisset also says he was among four JTF2 members who served as bodyguards for General Romeo Dallaire during the UN Mission in Rwanda during 1994.
More on link

Deal to buy Chinooks has gone ahead, says senator
$375 million: Canadian pilots are training at U.S. base in Afghanistan
Ethan Baron, The Province Published: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Article Link

A helicopter purchase for Canadian Forces in Afghanistan -- until now kept under wraps -- has gone ahead, said Senate defence committee chair Colin Kenny.

Six massive Chinook transport helicopters are on the ground in Afghanistan, and Canadian pilots are at a U.S. air force base training to fly them, Kenny said.

"Our sources tell us that we've got six American Chinooks that are going to be signed over to us," Kenny said.

Last month, the Defence Department acknowledged it was in discussions with the U.S. to obtain the Chinook heavy-lift helicopters for Afghanistan, but provided no further information.

Details of the purchase were revealed by a U.S. government defence agency, including a potential price of $375 million US for the aircraft, equipment, technical support and training.

Kenny, who spent five days in Afghanistan last month, said he believes the six Chinooks there now are the result of that deal.

"The Americans have brought them in," Kenny said. "[They're] going to be signed over to us."
More on link

Afghan, NATO forces say eight insurgents killed in combat
May 11, 2008, 7:54 GMT  Article Link

Kabul - Afghan and NATO forces killed eight insurgents and captured four others in combat operations in the south-eastern region of the country, officials said on Sunday.

In Zurmat district of south-eastern province of Paktia, five militants were killed and three others were wounded in an Afghan army operation backed by NATO troops on Saturday, Niaz Mohammad Khalil, district administrative chief, said.

He said the operation began in the area after police found the dead bodies of two Afghan security forces in the area.

Khalil said one police officer and one army soldier had been kidnapped from their homes by militants during their holidays and were later killed.
More on link

Corrupt officials not receiving Canadian money: ambassador
Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Article Link

OTTAWA - Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada assured MPs Wednesday that Canadian aid funds are not winding up in the "pockets or bank accounts" of corrupt government officials.

Ambassador Omar Samad made the comment at a Commons committee as he urged Canada to support a request by Afghanistan to ensure a greater portion of international aid arriving in the country is channelled through the government, rather than non-government organizations and private corporations.

Afghanistan will be making that case at an international donors' conference next month in Paris where authorities will discuss the fate of billions of dollars in assistance while the security situation in the country has worsened.
More on link

'We were abandoned"
An elite unit of snipers went from standouts to outcasts -- victims, many say, of a witch hunt driven by jealousy and fear
MICHAEL FRISCOLANTI | May 15, 2006 ( Maclean's article(GREAT READ!) )
Article Link

Lying low beside the rifle, his stomach touching the ground, Cpl. Rob Furlong concentrated hard on his breathing. In, out. In, out. In, out. Deep, but not too deep. Slow, but not too slow. The tiniest twitch -- a heavy exhale, perhaps, or a breath held one second too long -- could jerk his weapon ever so slightly, turning a sure hit into a narrow miss. In the sniping world, where one shot should always equal one kill, steady breathing is just as crucial as steady aim.

On that March afternoon in 2002, Cpl. Furlong squinted through the scope of his McMillan Tac-50, a sleek bolt-action rifle almost as long as he is. In his crosshairs were three men, each lugging weapons toward an al-Qaeda mortar nest high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Master Cpl. Tim McMeekin, hunkered behind his fellow sniper, saw the same trio through the lens of his Vector, a binocular-like device that uses a laser to pinpoint targets thousands of metres away. Speaking quietly, both soldiers agreed on the obvious: take out the biggest threat first, in this case the man in the middle carrying the RPK machine gun. According to the Vector, he was exactly 2,430 m away -- nearly 2 1/2 kilometres.

A Newfoundland boy with pale blue eyes and a chiselled frame, Furlong adjusted the elevation knob on his scope, the barrel of his gun pointing higher and higher with each turn. He knew the routine, had practised it a thousand times back at the base in Edmonton. The farther away the target, the higher the rifle should point. Wind blowing to the left? Aim slightly right. Most snipers will tell you it's not much different than a golfer and his caddie lining up a long putt. Calculation. Instinct. And a little bit of luck. "You can teach a certain amount of it," Furlong says. "But there is a large percentage that you must have naturally. A good shooter is born. You can't teach someone to be a good shot if they don't naturally have it."

The 26-year-old stared through the scope, his left finger tickling the trigger. In, out. In, out. Behind him, McMeekin gazed through his Vector, reconfirming the precise distance one last time. "Stand by," Furlong said.
More on link

Afghan police seize car stuffed with explosives
Ryan Cormier ,  Canwest News Service Published: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Article Link

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Police seized a vehicle filled with a variety of explosive materials in the province of Kandahar Saturday afternoon.

Provincial Police Chief Sayed Aka Sakib told a news conference that two vehicles were seized and searched - a Toyota Corolla full of the deadly cargo and a taxi being used a guide vehicle.

Three men inside the vehicles were arrested.

Two were apparently Pakistani while the third was an Afghan from the Panjwaii district, where many Canadian soldiers are stationed.

As the investigation progressed, it led Afghan National Security Forces to two bombs, one near a Kandahar-area school that Canadian soldiers defused, Sakib said. The second was in the Spin Boldak region, the most common route for materials and Taliban insurgents moving from Pakistan to Afghanistan. That one also was defused.

A fourth man connected to the plot reportedly was also arrested.

The variety of explosives inside the vehicle was a sample of weapons favoured by the insurgency - mines, IEDs and gunpowder, a common tool of suicide bombers.
More on link

 

[GAP]

Articles found May 14, 2008

Layton doesn't understand realities of war
Monday May 12th, 2008
Article Link

Good on Defence Minister Peter MacKay for not mincing words issuing a reality-check on the latest eruption of ill-considered enthusiasm for "dialogue" with Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan.

A Globe and Mail report recently quoted Canadian Armed Forces spokespersons in Afghanistan as saying they're attempting to engage in a dialogue with insurgents -- something federal New Democrat Leader Jack Layton has long advocated.

"I was pleased to hear that our military on the ground were looking at opening up lines of communication with the insurgents," Layton was quoted commenting last weekend. "Our party has always argued that we've got to carve out a path towards peace, it's got to involve some negotiations and discussions, even with those combatants with whom we're engaged in combat."

Hmmm. . . who else would we be engaged in combat with? But never mind. Defence Minister MacKay made a point of emphasizing to the Canadian Press that the military members who talked to the Globe and Mail don't speak for the federal government, or reflect official Canadian Armed Forces policy.

"We are not talking to the Taliban. We are not having direct discussions with terrorists. We won't, will not, that will not change," MacKay said, further noting that the Afghan government has lead responsibility to draw people away from the Taliban's grip, and will be supported in such efforts by the Canadian military.

The Harper government's stance on this matter is correct and Taliban Jack and his fellow-travelers are way off-base. The NDP styles itself a champion and defender of women's rights, but seems astonishingly sanguine about seeking compromise with those who would consign Afghan women and girls back to the status of oppressed chattels. As for Layton's prescription to "negotiate" with these murderers rather than fighting them, his faith in the power of the bargaining table is tragicomically naive. The only thing the Taliban is willing to "negotiate" is their unconditional return to absolute power.
More on link

UK troops 'should do longer Afghan tours'
Date: 13 May 2008 By Jerome Starkey
Article Link

VICTORY over the Taleban in Afghanistan would be achieved more quickly if British troops lengthened their tours of duty, according to the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan.

General Dan McNeill, of the United States army, said longer tours would lead to a swifter victory against the insurgents, which could, in turn, result in a cut in the number of international troops as early as 2011.

He said soldiers on 15-month tours had outperformed British troops, who spend six months at a time in Afghanistan, and he revealed he had met British defence chiefs to discuss ways of improving the UK's counter-insurgency strategy.

He said: "Tour length does matter. If you can embrace a tour length that keeps your force on the ground for a longer period of time, but at the same time does not jeopardise the health of your volunteer force, you are likely to see better results in counter-insurgency operations."

The general, who is nearing the end of a marathon 17-month stint in Kabul, said longer tours were key to winning the counter-insurgency because they let soldiers develop a better understanding of the country.
More on link

Afghan baby dies in Digger firefight with Taliban: inquiry
Paul Maley | May 13, 2008
Article Link

A SIX-MONTH-OLD baby and a teenage girl were killed during a firefight in Afghanistan between Australian troops and Taliban militants.

But a report into the battle, in which Australian soldier Luke Worsley also died, has not recommended the Diggers change their rules of engagement.

The Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, yesterday said the baby was in a room from where a man and a woman, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, opened fire on Australian troops on November 23 last year.

It was found crying by an Australian soldier as the Diggers stormed a mud hut near their base at Tarin Kowt, in southern Afghanistan.

The infant was placed out of harm's way as the Australians continued the fight. But when the soldiers returned, the child was dead. It is believed it may have died as a result of a concussion blast from a grenade.

The firefight erupted as the Australian troops were conducting a search and clearance operation. Another casualty of the battle was a girl aged between 13 and 16. She was killed when Australian troops attacked a building from which an insurgent had been firing, killing Worsley. It was unclear how the girl died.

Orders to cease fire were ignored by the enemy.
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Poppy harvest creates easy work, good money
Updated Mon. May. 12 2008 8:45 AM ET Paul Workman, CTV South Asian Bureau Chief
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KANDAHAR -- You can tell when it's poppy season around Kandahar and Helmand provinces because the roads are crowded with pickup trucks, and the pickup trucks are crowded with young men going back and forth to work in the fields. So many trucks that a Canadian military officer I met last year, wondered if it was the beginning of the Taliban's spring offensive.

It was an offensive all right, on the fields of delicate pink flowers and green gummy pods that produce most of the world's supply of heroin.

In Afghanistan, the poppy harvest is not unlike the autumn grape harvest in France, or tobacco season in southern Ontario. Large numbers of itinerant workers make their way to the fields where they can pick up a couple of weeks of steady employment. For many Afghan families, it's a vital part of their yearly income. The going rate of pay is about $10-a-day, and the work doesn't seem that difficult -- if you discount the risk.

I asked an Afghan colleague if there were any poppy fields near Kandahar City, and a few days later, I got a call to be ready to go for a drive at 7 o'clock the next morning. We climbed into his car and headed west through the city. A right turn down a farmer's lane, a short walk through a grain field, and there before us -- voila -- a gentle, pastoral scene of harvest time in southern Afghanistan.
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Widow of fallen Calgary medic supports Canadian mission in Afghanistan
Calgary Herald Published: Tuesday, May 13
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CALGARY - The widow of a Calgary medic killed in an ambush in Afghanistan last week says losing her husband hasn't changed her opinion of Canada's mission in the war-torn country.

"I support Canada as a peacekeeping nation and what happened to Mike hasn't changed that for me," Nicole Starker said in an interview with the Calgary Herald on Tuesday - on the one-week anniversary of her husband's death outside of Kandahar.

"His death provides a real connection to what's happening overseas."

Cpl. Michael Starker, 36, was on foot patrol when his group was attacked in the Pashmul region of the Zhari district May 6.

The reservist, who worked as a paramedic for Calgary EMS, was serving with the Calgary-based 15 Field Ambulance unit as a medic.

Nicole Starker, 35, said she never expected anything would happen to her husband when he left for Afghanistan in February.

"He said, 'Nothing is going to happen to me, there's nothing to worry about,' and I honestly believed him.

"I thought he was too good a guy for anything to happen to him."
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[GAP]

Afghan army commander in Kandahar asks Kabul for extra troops
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The commander of Afghan army troops in Kandahar has asked his country's Defence Ministry to send two more battalions of soldiers to the troubled southern province.

Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa Naibi, who is in charge of the Afghan 205 Corps, said he recently made the request to the Afghan army's chief of staff, who was on an inspection tour of troops in Kandahar a couple of days ago.

Naibi added that he is hopeful it will be granted.

"The request we had, we handed it over to him, now he will analyze and decide," he said Wednesday following a change of command ceremony involving the general in charge of Canada's mission in the war-torn country.

"If I get two more kandaks (battalions) I will provide security for (the) whole province," Naibi said.

Brig.-Gen Guy Laroche, who formally stepped down Wednesday after 10 months as commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said more Afghan troops would definitely help.

An Afghan unit belonging to the 205 Corps' 1st Brigade is currently in charge of Zhari district, which LaRoche described as "the most difficult piece of ground in southern Afghanistan."

The Afghan battalion - roughly 650 soldiers - took over security in the region long-known as a hotbed of Taliban support in January.

"What we have seen the past four months is remarkable," LaRoche said in his final interview before handing over command to Brig.-Gen Denis Thompson.

"They are taking the initiative. They are very proactive."

Laroche said that if everything goes well another Afghan unit will be able to take over security in the neighbouring Panjwaii district, perhaps by the fall.

The fledgling Afghan army recently has been carrying more of the fight against the Taliban in rural areas outside of Kandahar, with Canadian troops playing a supporting role.
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[GAP]

Articles found May 15, 2008

Afghans, troops pave way to safer road
Work being done on route by locals could mean difference between life and death for Canadian soldiers
KATHERINE O'NEILL  May 15, 2008
Article Link

BAZAR-E-PANJWAI, AFGHANISTAN -- Road construction at this time of year is a fact of life around the world, including war-torn Afghanistan.

However, work being currently done by a small army of Afghans on a key dirt road that snakes through the Panjwai district could mean the difference between life and death for Canadian soldiers deployed to the volatile area.

In many respects, the front line in the war in Afghanistan is on its dirt roads because Taliban insurgents use them to hide improvised explosive devices. The majority of the 84 Canadians killed in the conflict died in roadside bomb attacks.

"First and foremost, this will give soldiers more freedom of movement," said Captain Guy Dumont, a Canadian soldier helping to supervise the major road-construction project. "It's not hard right now to blow one up."
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Canadian soldiers facing increased threat
Taliban, Pakistan deals may increase military activity
Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service  Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
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OTTAWA - Canada and its allies in Afghanistan face increased threats from Taliban extremists operating from safe havens thanks to recent deals struck with Pakistan, NATO warned yesterday.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said attacks in eastern Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan, rose 50% in April.

"There is a real concern in NATO that this is at least in part due to agreements that have been struck with militants on the other side of the border," Mr. Appathurai said.

Deals between Pakistan's government and extremists in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan may have created "safe havens" where Taliban fighters can regroup before launching new strikes inside Afghanistan. He said the situation may be "leading to higher levels of extremist and military activity inside Afghanistan."

Pakistan has been heavily criticized in the past for trying to negotiate with extremists in its border region.

Lieutenant-General Walter Natynczyk, the vice-chief of the defence staff, said Canadian troops in the southern region around Kandahar are well positioned to guard against any upsurge in violence in the eastern region, which is under American command. He suggested NATO's success in the southern sector have pushed Taliban forces to increase activity in other parts of the country.
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Afghanistan protests to Iran over border killings
ReutersPublished: May 14, 2008
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KABUL: Afghanistan has protested to neighbouring Iran over the killing of a number of its nationals by Iranian forces, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry summoned the Iranian charge d'affairs and expressed its strong concern on Tuesday about the killings which happened a day earlier on Iranian soil near the south-western Afghan province of Nimroz.

It was the second killing of Afghans by Iranian forces in less than a month, the ministry said in a statement. It did not give details of Monday's incident or numbers involved.

Afghanistan's western border is generally peaceful though smugglers occasionally clash with security forces. Iran is a conduit for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of opium.

Last month, an Afghan teacher was killed and two Iranian border guards were wounded in a gunbattle between Iranian and Afghan forces in Nimroz, the Afghan government said.
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Hunger adds to Afghanistan's nightmare
By Carlotta Gall Published: May 14, 2008
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: Thieves raided the city flour market in broad daylight a few weeks ago, shooting and wounding two people before escaping with their loot.

"We are not feeling safe," Haji Hayatullah, one of the flour merchants, said sitting on the floor of his shop with sacks of flour stacked around him. "We don't have security and we don't trust the government to provide it." The merchants got together and hired eight private security guards.

Yet their fears remain, not only about gunmen, but also because they sense a growing hunger and desperation in the general population.

Flour and bread prices doubled in the space of two weeks in Afghanistan last month after Pakistan stopped wheat and flour exports. The traders said they smuggled in flour through a mountain road instead. A government distribution of flour in Kandahar and its outlying districts eased cost fears slightly and the price of flour dropped back down a bit.

Yet with inflation at 22 percent just in the month of February for food staples, prices remain too high for most.
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Residents: missile strike hits Pakistan village
By HABIBULLAH KHAN
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KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suspected missile strike late Wednesday destroyed a house and killed about a dozen people in a Pakistan border village that was targeted by the U.S. military two years ago in the hunt for al-Qaida's No. 2 leader.

Residents said at least two explosions rocked Damadola village, in the Bajur tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, around 8 p.m. They reported seeing drone aircraft flying in the area before the blasts and said Taliban militants cordoned off the area afterward.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the incident or any claim of responsibility. Pakistan's army said it had no information about a missile strike.

The explosions came as Pakistani authorities and Taliban militants exchanged dozens of prisoners in the latest step in a peace process that is stirring growing alarm in the West. NATO claims it militant incursions into Afghanistan have increased.

Pakistan has said it does not allow U.S. forces to operate on its territory. But villagers in the region, which is a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, have reported seeing U.S. drones fire missiles at suspected militant targets on several occasions in recent years.

Villager Ibrahim Khan said at least 15 people were killed in the explosions in Damadola. He said local Taliban leaders had gathered for a feast at the targeted house. He reported secondary explosions, suggesting weapons had been stored inside.
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Enemies securing U.S. night-vision gear
By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY
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WASHINGTON — Thefts and illegal exports of advanced military night-vision gear are rising sharply and U.S. officials say some of the equipment has reached enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq, where it could erode the advantage U.S. troops have in after-dark combat.
The government has prosecuted more than two dozen businesses and individuals over the past 18 months for stealing night-vision gear or skirting prohibitions on foreign sales, according to a USA TODAY review of federal documents and public records.

In at least five cases, prosecutors linked shipments to terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. A few others were headed to Iran and Taliban forces in Afghanistan, court records show; several were destined for China and Japan.

"It's extremely serious — you're talking about adversaries of the United States getting equipment that we make to give our soldiers an advantage in the field," says Charles Beardall, the Pentagon's deputy inspector general for investigations.
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[MarkOttawa]

Afghanistan's police force a weak link: general
CTV News, May 14
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080514/Afghanistan_army_080514/20080514?hub=Canada

Afghanistan's police force is about three years behind the Afghan National Army in its development, and that poses a problem, says Canada's outgoing commander in Afghanistan.

"There's still a lot of work left to be done, and I think everybody in Afghanistan understands that," Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche told reporters in Kandahar on Wednesday.

The capacity of the Afghan police must be built up, otherwise it will have an impact on the country's security in the long term, he said.

This is a task for not just Canada but the entire international community in Afghanistan, he said...

Laroche officially handed over command responsibility to Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson on Wednesday, ending a tour of duty that began in August...

At the handover ceremony, an Afghan army commander in Kandahar province told reporters he has asked the army's chief of staff for another two battalions of troops.

"If I get two more kandaks (battalions) I will provide security for (the) whole province," said Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa Naibi, who heads the Afghan 205 Corps.

A unit from the 205 Corps' 1st Brigade is in charge of Zhari District, having taken over responsibility in January.

"What we have seen the past four months is remarkable," Laroche said.

"They are taking the initiative. They are very proactive."

Laroche hoped that another Afghan unit could take over security in Panjwaii, with Canadian troops playing a supporting role.

"Are we going to get more in the near future? I'm not sure," he said.

"The more troops you've got, the more progress you're going to make and more rapidly you're going to meet the finish line."..

Soldiers have heard it before
Toronto Sun, May 15, by Greg Weston
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2008/05/15/5571016-sun.php

...
Our men and women in uniform will be reassured to hear that the Conservative government is planning to replace all of the destroyers, frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, search-and-rescue planes, fighter jets, tanks and other land combat vehicles.

The bad news is a 20-year military plan based on a shopping list of military toys [emphasis added] needed today is interesting, but practically useless...

Bolstering our Forces
National Post, May 14, editorial

...
While Monday's announcement by Mr. Harper is largely stitched together from the military spending increases announced by his government since it came to office nearly two-and-a-half years ago, it serves to highlight the different approach on national defence that the Prime Minister has brought to Ottawa. His vision fails to articulate where and how all the new gadgets and gewgaws [emphasis added] his government is buying will be used...

NATO considering change of command structure in S Afghanistan
Xinhua, May 14
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/15/content_8173550.htm

NATO is considering changing its command in southern Afghanistan from current rotation between countries to a permanent commander, alliance officials said Wednesday.

Recommendations from ISAF Commander Gen. Dan McNeill are being provided to NATO's Military Committee, which will discuss the issue, Military Committee Chairman Gen. Raymond Henault told reporters.

"I don't know what the outcome of those recommendations will be. We'll have to wait until the chain of command has made formal recommendations to the Military Committee," he said.

Gen. Henault said the 26 NATO allies will take "due consideration" of the recommendations.

"We'll have to come to an agreement ultimately on those recommendations, look at the pros and cons as we always do, takingin to very strong and due consideration of SACEUR's recommendations."

"Changes will not occur until that whole series of discussions has occurred and the decision making has been completed in that context," he said.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Gen. John Craddock said Thursday in Washington that options are open. He added that "from a military perspective, unity of command does make a lot of sense."

But he stressed that a decision has to be made in the political sector [emphasis added]...

He [SACEUR] said the Military Committee is aware that there is a view to have an American as permanent commander of NATO troops fighting in southern Afghanistan.

Command in the region has been alternating between Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, the three countries which, together with the United States, have combat troops in the south.

The three countries may have a point of view although the SACEUR is in charge of NATO operations, said Boudreau.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

CDA media round-up (scroll down a bit for Afstan):
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1210867001/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[geo]

U.S. Planning Big New Prison in Afghanistan

The New York Times - World
By ERIC SCHMITT and TIM GOLDEN
Published: May 17, 2008
WASHINGTON

The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.

The proposed detention center would replace the cavernous, makeshift American prison on the Bagram military base north of Kabul, which is now typically packed with about 630 prisoners, compared with the 270 held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Until now, the Bush administration had signaled that it intended to scale back American involvement in detention operations in Afghanistan. It had planned to transfer a large majority of the prisoners to Afghan custody, in an American-financed, high-security prison outside Kabul to be guarded by Afghan soldiers.

But American officials now concede that the new Afghan-run prison cannot absorb all the Afghans now detained by the United States, much less the waves of new prisoners from the escalating fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The proposal for a new American prison at Bagram underscores the daunting scope and persistence of the United States military’s detention problem, at a time when Bush administration officials continue to say they want to close down the facility at Guantánamo Bay.

Military officials have long been aware of serious problems with the existing detention center in Afghanistan, the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. After the prison was set up in early 2002, it became a primary site for screening prisoners captured in the fighting. Harsh interrogation methods and sleep deprivation were used widely, and two Afghan detainees died there in December 2002, after being repeatedly struck by American soldiers. Four prisoners escaped in July 2005.

Conditions and treatment have improved markedly since then, but hundreds of Afghans and other men are still held in wire-mesh pens surrounded by coils of razor wire. There are only minimal areas for the prisoners to exercise, and kitchen, shower and bathroom space is also inadequate.

Faced with that, American officials said they wanted to replace the Bagram prison, a converted aircraft hangar that still holds some of the decrepit aircraft-repair machinery left by the Soviet troops who occupied the country in the 1980s. In its place the United States will build what officials described as a more modern and humane detention center that would accommodate as many as 1,100 detainees and cost more than $60 million.

“Our existing theater internment facility is deteriorating,” said Sandra L. Hodgkinson, the senior Pentagon official for detention policy, in a telephone interview. “It was renovated to do a temporary mission. There is a sense that this is the right time to build a new facility.”

American officials also acknowledged that there are serious health risks to detainees and American military personnel who work at the Bagram prison, because of their exposure to heavy metals from the aircraft-repair machinery and asbestos.

“It’s just not suitable,” another Pentagon official said. “At some point, you have to say, ‘That’s it. This place was not made to keep people there indefinitely.’”

That point came about six months ago. It became clear to Pentagon officials that the original plan of releasing some Afghan prisoners outright and transferring other detainees to Afghan custody would not come close to emptying the existing detention center.

Although a special Afghan court has been established to prosecute detainees formerly held at Bagram and Guantánamo, American officials have been hesitant to turn over those prisoners they consider most dangerous. In late February the head of detainee operations in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, traveled to Bagram to assess conditions there.

In Iraq, General Stone has encouraged prison officials to build ties to tribal leaders, families and communities, said a Congressional official who has been briefed on the general’s work. As a result, American officials are giving Iraqi detainees job training and engaging them in religious discussions to help prepare them to re-enter Iraqi society.

About 8,000 detainees have been released in Iraq since last September. Fewer than 1 percent of them have been returned to the prison, said Lt. Cmdr. K. C. Marshall, General Stone’s spokesman.

The new detention center at Bagram will incorporate some of the lessons learned by the United States in Iraq. Classrooms will be built for vocational training and religious discussion, and there will be more space for recreation and family visits, officials said. After years of entreaties by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United States recently began to allow relatives to speak with prisoners at Bagram through video hookups.

“The driving factor behind this is to ensure that in all instances we are giving the highest standards of treatment and care,” said Ms. Hodgkinson, who has briefed Senate and House officials on the construction plans.

The Pentagon is planning to use $60 million in emergency construction funds this fiscal year to build a complex of 6 to 10 semi-permanent structures resembling Quonset huts, each the size of a football field, a Defense Department official said. The structures will have more natural light, and each will have its own recreation area. There will be a half-dozen other buildings for administration, medical care and other purposes, the official said.

The military plans to request $24 million in fiscal year 2009 and $7.4 million in fiscal year 2010, to pay for educational programs, job training and other parts of what American officials call a reintegration plan. After that, the Pentagon plans to pay about $7 million a year in training and operational costs.

There has been mixed support for the project on Capitol Hill. Two prominent Senate Democrats, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia and Tim Johnson of South Dakota, have been briefed on the new American-run prison, and have praised the decision to make conditions there more humane.

But the senators, in a May 15 letter to the deputy defense secretary, Gordon England, demanded that the Pentagon explain its long-term plans for detention in Afghanistan and consult the Afghan government on the project.

The population at Bagram began to swell after administration officials halted the flow of prisoners to Guantánamo in September 2004, a cutoff that largely remains in effect. At the same time, the population of detainees at Bagram also began to rise with the resurgence of the Taliban.

Military personnel who know both Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site, 40 miles north of Kabul, as far more spartan. Bagram prisoners have fewer privileges, less ability to contest their detention and no access to lawyers.

Some detainees have been held without charge for more than five years, officials said. As of April, about 10 juveniles were being held at Bagram, according to a recent American report to a United Nations committee.

The growing number of detainees at Bagram — up from barely 100 in early 2004 — has been caused largely by the intensifying war in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials say all but about 30 of the prisoners are Afghan, most of them Taliban fighters.