• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread (MAY 2007)

Articles found May 31, 2007

Seven dead in NATO helicopter crash in Afghanistan
Wed May 30, 2007 6:46PM
Article Link

By Jim Loney

KABUL (Reuters) - Seven NATO soldiers died when their Chinook helicopter crashed on Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, the site of some of the heaviest recent fighting between Western forces and the Taliban.

Troops responding to the scene of the crash were ambushed and called for an air strike to eliminate the threat, NATO officials said.

NATO would not say immediately if the big, twin-rotor military helicopter was directly involved in a battle with Taliban guerrillas or whether it was shot down. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

"Clearly there were enemy fighters in the area," said Major John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. "It's not impossible for small arms fire to bring down a helicopter."

The helicopter went down in the southern province of Helmand, Afghanistan's main opium poppy-growing region, where Western forces have clashed repeatedly with Taliban militants in recent months following a winter lull in fighting.

"The entire crew of five died in the incident. There were also two military passengers who died," ISAF said in a statement. "One Afghan civilian was injured by small arms fire after the crash."

ISAF does not release the nationalities of soldiers killed or wounded in Afghanistan.

Chinook crashes in Afghanistan have killed at least 55 U.S. soldiers in the last two years
More on link

Defeating Afghanistan's drug fix
By Nick Grono and Joanna Nathan, Thu May 31, 4:00 AM ET
Article Link

Brussels and Kabul, afghanistan - It's spring in        Afghanistan, and poppy farmers are smiling. Heavy rains this winter portend a bumper opium harvest. Afghanistan already produces nine times the total opium output of the rest of the world combined, and while last year's crop was the largest the country has ever produced, this year's crop is likely to be even bigger.

The exploding drug trade is both a symptom and a source of instability and corruption. It is not just a case of evil drug traffickers taking advantage of a good but ineffective government to facilitate terrorism and insurgency – as frequently portrayed. The traffickers and their agents are all too often corrupt government officials themselves, who forge alliances of convenience with insurgent groups, including the Taliban, to protect their businesses and distribution routes.

There are no quick solutions to tackling this growing plague. But that doesn't mean policymakers can't make progress in undercutting the drug trade. The challenge will be to keep them focused on smart courses of action that yield long-term results – and away from superficially "easy" policies that end up backfiring.

In fact, when it comes to controlling drug production in Afghanistan, it is much easier to say what won't work than what will. For example, large-scale forced eradication (for example, by aerial spraying of crops, as advocated by some US policymakers), will not work. It might cause a temporary dip in production – but it will also force prices higher, thereby increasing incentives to produce more the following year. Indeed, it will probably benefit the drug traffickers who have a stockpile to sell at inflated prices, while farmers whose livelihoods are destroyed could be driven into the arms of insurgent groups.

Another superficially attractive solution that has been getting increasing attention is that of legalizing, or "licensing," the production of opium for medicinal purposes.

But this option would solve a problem that does not exist and fail to address several that do.
More on link

Kasuri blames int’l community for chaos in Afghanistan
Staff Report
Article Link

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri has said that the international community’s abandonment of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Soviet forces created the conditions that led to the rise of the Taliban and Al Qaeda and the consequent chaos in Afghanistan.

According to a Foreign Office statement, Kasuri told the G-8 Foreign Ministers’ Conference at Potsdam, Germany, that the existing situation in Afghanistan reflected how the country’s abandonment by the international community in 1989 had negative regional and global repercussions.

Kasuri said the situation in Afghanistan was complex and the world should evolve a collective approach and strategy. He said Pakistan welcomed the G-8 initiative to address the problems and challenges faced by Afghanistan and Pakistan. “The G-8 initiative represents international commitment to the long-term sustainable development of Afghanistan through building of physical and institutional infrastructure, strengthening of civil society, and capacity building. We are willing to work together with G-8 countries for the purpose,” he said.

Kasuri said extremism and terrorism were the common problems facing the world and they could be tackled through a holistic approach. He said the efforts to create peace and security in Afghanistan should go hand in hand with reconstruction and revival of the country’s economy.

Kasuri said Pakistan had more than 90,000 troops on the border with Afghanistan. He said that over 700 soldiers had lost their lives and thousands had been injured on this front. “We have contributed in different ways to alleviating the suffering of our Afghan brethren, including the provision of shelter to over four million Afghan refugees,” he said.
More on link

Canadian support for feeding the hungry in Afghanistan
Kabul, 30 May 2007
Article Link

With reference to recent questions regarding food assistance to Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, WFP states the following:

Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest countries, is also among the most challenging for WFP operations anywhere across the globe. The effects of two decades of war and civil unrest have been compounded by recurring natural disasters, including severe droughts, floods and harsh winters.

Access and movement has been fiercely restricted by growing insecurity, particularly in the south and east of the country. Despite the obstacles, WFP remains operational in almost all parts of the country, through its five area offices and four sub-offices.

Its current operation aims to provide 520,000 metric tons of food to 6.6 million Afghans between January 2006 and December 2008 at an overall cost of nearly US$385 million.

Resourcing is a constant concern; under the current funding situation, WFP will run out of food in September and requires an additional US$27 million to keep operations going until the end of the year. Canada has been one of WFP's most reliable, consistent and generous donors. With respect to operations in the south of the country:
More on link

US Air Force Conducts Leaflet Drop Over Afghanistan
Thursday May 31, 2007 (0015 PST)
Article Link

KABUL: The US Air Force tells ANN the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron conducted a leaflet drop over Afghanistan last week in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The squadron -- based out of Dyess Air Force Base, TX -- dropped 80,000 leaflets on an area known to be inhabited by the Taliban in an effort to send specific messages, according to the Air Force.

"We dropped 6-by-4 inch leaflets," said Capt. Keith Englin, a 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron C-130 Hercules pilot and mission commander for the flight. "In this case, it was over enemy territory."

For crew members, this latest assignment was a change of pace. Their usual job is dropping supplies to troops on the ground.

"(The leaflet drops) are different from what we normally do, because we're not talking to anyone on the ground," Captain Englin said. "Instead of hitting a specific spot like we normally do (with a standard airdrop), we're trying to hit a one kilometer radius."

The leaflets read, "The ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) are ridding Helmand of the foreign Taliban" on one side and "The Taliban are commanded by foreigners who seek to destroy Afghanistan. There is no honor in fighting alongside the enemies of Afghanistan" on the other.
More on link

Special forces deploy in Afghanistan
Thursday May 31, 2007 (0015 PST)
Article Link

CANBERRA: Australia's special forces task group is now fully deployed inside Afghanistan and intent on making life uncomfortable for Taliban insurgents, defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston says.
But Air Chief Marshal Houston declined to give a Senate estimates committee hearing many details of their planned activities.

He said the insurgents had proved adept at use of the internet.

"We have announced the deployment of the special operations task group but I won't be saying too much about the way they conduct their operations because as we have seen, the Taliban have a great capacity for gaining information," he said.

"If we say something over here in Australia, they exploit the electronic media, particularly the internet to find out what we are saying.
More on link

Al-Qaida escapee from U.S. detention in Afghanistan lashes out at U.S. Saudi allies
By Associated Press Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - Updated: 07:01 AM EST
Article Link

CAIRO, Egypt - An al-Qaida militant who escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan turned up in an online video posted Wednesday, assailing the Saudi royal family for its alliance with the United States.

    The 45-minute video of Abu Yahia al-Libi, who broke out of the Bagram Air Base prison north of Kabul in 2005, was monitored by the IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor that watches for al-Qaida messaging.

    According to its transcript, al-Libi, whose nom de guerre means "the Libyan" in Arabic, gives a lengthy diatribe, accusing Saudi royals of seeking the White House’s "praise" and "gratitude."
More on link

G8 foreign ministers meet with counterparts from Pakistan, Afghanistan
David Rising, Canadian Press Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Article Link

Germany - The foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan are to meet with their Group of Eight counterparts Wednesday amid concern the acrimony between the two Asian neighbours is helping the Taliban inflict mounting losses on NATO troops and Afghan civilians.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the G8 presidency, helped broker the meeting with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta and his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri, during a trip to both countries this month.

Other officials on hand included U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Before their afternoon meeting with the Afghan and Pakistani officials, the G8 foreign ministers travelled from Berlin to the venue in nearby Potsdam aboard a high-speed train.

Rice had no comment on arrival at the station, where snipers wearing black balaclavas guarded the entrances and helicopters hovered overhead.

Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said, "inevitably there will be discussion about Afghanistan and about burden sharing," and about "how we continue with the whole-of-government approach that has to focus on reconstruction and development," particularly in the country's south.

Some 2,500 Canadian troops are serving in the south, the country's most violent area. Some other contributors to NATO forces, such as Germany and France, restrict use of their forces to the relatively peaceful north
More on link

Primping and preening become an Afghan passion
TheStar.com May 31, 2007 Rosie DiManno CITY COLUMNIST
Article Link

Beauty parlours are suddenly all the rage in Kabul but few are permitted to behold feminine beauty

KABUL–Underneath the veil is the painted face.

Exotically and dramatically bedaubed: Slashes of liner that curl out to the temple, a palette of shadow colours on the eyelid, kohl smudged inside upper and lower lid, lips glossed to a high sheen and vividly outlined.

Afghan women love their makeup, and arguably none more so than those who never expose their faces to the world beyond their homes and female compounds.

Even those who continue to wear the burqa decorate hands and feet – appendages unhidden by the sacklike covering – with ornate henna stencils that creep provocatively up the ankle, up the wrist.

Old crones who beg for money on the streets, extending upturned palms through car windows, reveal dirty nails laminated with colour, red and pink and orange
More on link

MILNEWS.ca - Kajaki Dam Complex
Approximate location of Kajaki Dam Project, on Helmand River
Map Link

NOTE: This data is provided for information purposes only, and cannot be guaranteed for navigation, survey or other precision purposes. You should, where possible, verify the information before acting on it.

Created by: milnewstbay

Created: May 31, 2007 07:48 AM
Last modified: May 31, 2007 07:48 AM
More on link
 
This is not the way to fight terrorism
Toronto Star, May 31, by Thomas Walkom
http://www.thestar.com/article/219817

In this country, the debate over Afghanistan has focused narrowly on the role of Canadian troops. Should they stay or come home? If they do stay, should they continue offensive counterinsurgency combat operations against the Taliban or play a more traditional "peacekeeping" role providing protection for aid-givers?

In fact, the real questions posed by Afghanistan are far more fundamental. They have to do with the war on terror itself and the way it is prosecuted. Specifically, they have to do with whether terror can be defeated by war. There is growing evidence it cannot...

In Afghanistan itself, anger is steadily mounting against foreign troops. In March a survey by the non-profit, London-based Senlis Institute found that roughly half of those polled in the area of Afghanistan where Canada is operating, now believe the Taliban will win. More than a quarter openly admit to supporting the Taliban.

That doesn't mean a quarter of the Afghan population wants to bomb the CN Tower. The Taliban is a complicated mix of tribal traditionalists, Islamic zealots and Afghan nationalists. Yet, perversely, the Western fixation with Al Qaeda seems to have raised that organization's prestige within the Taliban.

What is to be done? One answer is to wage counterinsurgency warfare in a smarter way. That's the message delivered to a parliamentary committee this week by Senlis board member Noreen MacDonald. She says Canada should spend more on aid, to win the allegiance of Afghans. Only if there is popular support, she says, can the military battle be won.

While this approach is not foolish, it continues to cast the problem of Afghanistan – like the problem of terror generally – in largely military terms. In fact, both problems are fundamentally political. Canadians may not like the obscurantist, misogynist ways of the Taliban. But plenty of Afghans do....

So, forget the war on terror. Terror feeds on war. Paradoxically, the precondition for success in Afghanistan is peace. This is not a bromide but a fact.

However, peace is not easy. It requires political accommodation – not only with those of whom we approve but with those whose views we detest. This will be the hard part. The alternative is worse.

Voters need coherent story line
Toronto Star, May 31, by James Travers
http://www.thestar.com/article/219816

At his most gung-ho, Peter MacKay makes Afghanistan sound like a future Club Med. Along with the Prime Minister, the foreign affairs minister measures progress there in numbers of schools opened, kilometres of roads paved and refugees returning home.

When they aren't lying, statistics are compelling.

Precise and persistently repeated, MacKay's are persuasive. Or at least they would be if academics, ginger groups and critics didn't from time to time offer their own finely parsed anecdotal evidence.

This week it's the Senlis Council. In a report and parliamentary testimony, the research group warned that Afghanistan development is so slow it jeopardizes the hearts-and-minds military mission and recommended that the Canadian International Development Agency be stripped of its mandate.

So whom should Canadians believe? Should they trust insiders with everything to lose, or outsiders who have something to gain?

The answer is both a little and neither entirely. MacKay is looking through one end of the telescope and seeing sunny promise while Senlis is peering through the other at a landscape bathed in gloomy shadow. But more significant than their different perspectives and divergent strategies is their shared conclusions and steady patience. Neither believes withdrawal is a viable option or, with the exception of extremists, in anyone's short- or long-term interest.

That unanimity is unusual. It's also surprisingly unhelpful.

In using selected facts to support poles-apart tactics, the federal government and its most credible critics are exacerbating the uncertainty that plagues the mission and is the common denominator in consistently ambivalent opinion polls.

What's been missing from the beginning, and what could now connect MacKay optimism to Senlis pessimism, is a narrative. A mission bouncing between 9/11 retribution and failed-state reconstruction is in urgent need of a single, coherent story line that voters and taxpayers can both believe and follow to a final chapter...

It requires a national audience with the patience and nuanced understanding to accept that putting a new foundation under a fragile state is back-breaking work with unpredictable results.

Among other difficult things, it requires judicious acceptance of what constitutes military success, a functioning democracy in a state emerging from feudalism and the tolerably clean administration of an economy greased by narcotics and corruption.

These aren't comfortable topics in a Canada operating within a cultural context that couldn't be much different.

But the alternative of trying to understand Afghanistan and its challenges through the fragments of carefully chosen, often conflicting facts leads first to confusion and then to the suspension of public trust.

Mark
Ottawa
 
Back
Top