Progress made in fight against Taliban, U.S. military says

BY KIM BARKER
Tuesday September 28, 2004
Chicago Tribune

KABUL, Afghanistan - (KRT) - The U.S. military said Monday that it has made significant progress fighting the Taliban in the last week, picking up 10 men who helped run and pay for Taliban missions in southeast Afghanistan and arresting at least five Taliban commanders.

The military also confirmed the death of an insurgent commander once held in the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Abdul Ghaffar, a commander in the Taliban base of central Uruzgan province, was killed with two other rebels in a gunfight Saturday night. Afghan officials said earlier that Ghaffar had rejoined the Taliban insurgency after being released from Guantanamo two years ago.

The U.S. has been pressured internationally to release or charge detainees in Guantanamo. A U.S. military official said the government would be criticized no matter what it does.

The U.S. military hoped the arrests of Taliban commanders would improve safety for the country's first direct presidential election, scheduled for Oct. 9.

Taliban members and other insurgents have vowed to disrupt the election, and in the past week, have stepped up their attacks against coalition troops. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded Saturday when militants attacked their vehicle with rockets and guns near the capital of southeastern Zabul province, the military statement said.

DoD Plans $1 Bn for Afghan Infrastructure

(Source: US Defense Security Cooperation Agency; web-posted Sept. 29, 2004)

On 28 September 2004, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Afghanistan of infrastructure and construction services, technical assistance as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1 billion.

The Government of Afghanistan has requested a possible sale of technical assistance to ensure provision of adequate facilities and infrastructure in support of the recruitment, garrison, training, and operational facilities and infrastructure for the Afghan National Army (ANA).

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will provide engineering, planning, design, acquisition, contract administration, construction management and other technical services for construction of facilities and infrastructure (repair, rehabilitation, and new construction) in support of the training, bed-down, and operational requirements of the ANA.

The scope of the program includes facilities and infrastructure in support of the ANA Central Corps in Kabul as well as simultaneously building four regional commands currently planned in Gardez, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif. The facilities and infrastructure planned for Central Corps include new temporary vehicle storage facilities, medical clinics, hospital steam plant, security walls, training barracks/facilities, dining facilities, recruit training facilities, training, maintenance and supply buildings, and utilities systems (including heating, water, sewer, and electricity).

The facilities to be provided at each of the four regional brigade locations include barracks, training, maintenance, and storage facilities, medical clinic, communications center, and required utilities (electricity including generation, heat, water, sewer, sewage treatment). Services include supply support, personnel training and training equipment, acquisition of engineer construction equipment, technical assistance to Afghan military engineers, and other technical assistance contractor engineering services and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $1 billion.

This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that we hope to help become an important force for political stability and economic progress in South Asia.

The Government of Afghanistan needs these services to support the recruitment, training, bed-down, and operational effectiveness of a military capability to establish security and stability throughout Afghanistan, and to promote the stability and development of a friendly, democratic central government.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not affect the basic military balance in the region.

The USACE is the principal organization that will direct the implementation of the provisions of this program. The USACE will provide services through both in-house personnel and contract services. Contracts will be procured in accordance with Federal Government contracting law and regulations. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

The estimated number of U.S. Government and contractor representatives to be assigned to Afghanistan to implement the provisions of this proposed sale will vary between 15 and 100 representatives. The ultimate number will be determined during the program execution. There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

Germany Extends Army’s Afghan Mission

(Source: Deutsche Welle German radio; issued Sept. 30, 2004)

Germany’s parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a one-year extension of the Bundeswehr’s Afghanistan mandate. The decision comes a day after a grenade attack on a German camp in Kunduz injured five.

A large majority of Social Democrat, Green and opposition conservative Christian Democratic parliaments voted in favor of extending the German armed forces mandate in Afghanistan for another year.

The extension ensures that a maximum number of 2,250 German troops can continue their role in the multi-national ISAF NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kabul and its surroundings as well as their work in two provincial reconstruction teams in Kunduz and Faizabad in northern Afghanistan.

The current mandate of the German troops expires on Oct. 13.

25 Terror Suspects Nabbed in Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer
Sat, Oct 02, 2004

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan intelligence agents backed by international peacekeepers arrested 25 people allegedly linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida in an early morning raid in eastern Kabul Saturday, a spokesman for the peacekeepers said.

Lt. Cdr. Ken MacKillop said the raid took place between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the Policharki district of the capital. He gave no details about what the men were allegedly plotting or whether it was linked to presidential elections on Oct. 9.

MacKillop said nobody was injured in the operation. Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s Intelligence Service had no comment.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the 18,000-strong U.S.-led military coalition warned the historic election was entering a dangerous phase and the Taliban were likely to try to disrupt it, despite all the efforts of Afghan and international security forces.

"We are getting to a more dangerous time," said spokesman Maj. Scott Nelson. "As we get closer to the election we expect to see more activity. We think we've done a good job along with the government of Afghanistan to disrupt a lot of their operations, but it only takes one person with a car bomb to get in there and get lucky and do something."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3635-2004Oct3.html


Reuters
Sunday, October 3, 2004; 9:42 AM

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan guards backed by U.S. helicopter gunships raided a Taliban safe house, killing one man and arresting 15, to prevent attacks during this week's presidential election, officials said on Sunday.

The raid on Saturday night near the town of Spin Boldak came a day after 60 Taliban guerrillas planning to disrupt the election were intercepted nearby as they slipped across the border from Pakistan.

Local Afghan border guard commander Abdul Raziq said his men raided the house after a strafing run by U.S. helicopter gunships. One man was killed and nine were wounded.

In Kabul, the United Nations said the election campaign had been marred by intimidation and official partiality, but it expected the vote to be relatively free and fair.

As the candidates, their supporters and security forces prepared for the Oct. 9 poll, President Hamid Karzai received a boost from one of his predecessors, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who heads the Jamiat-e-Islami, a major Islamic faction.

"In the light of previous agreements, Jamiat emphasizes and announces its support once again for Karzai's candidacy," said Rabbani, president in the mid-1990s after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the ouster of Moscow's protege, Najibullah.

His support was not unexpected since his son-in-law, Ahmad Zia Masood, is Karzai's running mate, but Rabbani reminded the president to abide by agreements with the Jamiat to maintain Islamic values, counter foreign influences and crack down on corruption.

Karzai, one of 18 candidates, has barely campaigned because of security constraints. He escaped an assassination attempt last month in the southeast, blamed on the Taliban -- ousted from power by U.S.-led forces in 2001 for refusing to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

On Sunday, Karzai left for Berlin to accept an international award. He will return on Monday.

INTIMIDATION

The United Nations, which has made a study of the Afghan political situation along with the local human rights commission, said there were several instances of intimidation and partiality shown to particular candidates by government officials during the campaign.

The U.N. report said local officials in many areas were favoring either Karzai or his main challenger Yunus Qanuni.

"These less positive elements, perhaps inevitable after 25 years of war, are balanced not only by the fact that Afghans now have political choices before them but above all by the overwhelming wish of Afghans to vote and to create a government that represents their concerns," said Filippo Grandi, deputy special U.N. representative in Afghanistan.

"People are very eager to vote," he told reporters, but added: "It's a mixed picture. You are asking me if the environment is entirely free and fair. Of course it is not.

"But in balance people can cast their vote in most areas of the country with a relative degree of freedom and fairness."

Over 10.5 million Afghans have registered to vote. About 300,000 to 500,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan and another 600,000 in Iran are also eligible to participate.

In Pakistan, 320,000 Afghan refugees shrugged off Taliban threats and registered to vote and more were expected to follow.

Karzai is seen likely to get the most votes, but it is unclear if he will muster the 51 percent needed for an outright win. If no one gets a majority, the top two candidates will contest a runoff election in November.

Karzai, handpicked by Washington for the presidency, is a Pashtun, the country's largest ethnic group and its traditional rulers. Qanuni is a Tajik, from northeastern Afghanistan.

Analysts say voting in the divided and war-torn nation, where no elections have been held since the 1960s, could go mostly along ethnic lines, although Karzai has wide recognition.

But he is also criticized by many for being too pro-Washington. President Bush has cited Afghanistan as a foreign policy success and is a key ally.

U.S. Presses NATO To Take Over Afghan Operations

By JIM MANNION, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, POIANA BRASOV, Romania

The United States on Oct. 13 pressed its NATO allies to begin military planning for possibly taking over command of operations in Afghanistan from U.S. forces as early as next year.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also was pushing the alliance to put NATO trainers on the ground in Iraq quickly, now that it has agreed on an expanded mission there, U.S. officials said.

U.S. ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said Oct. 12 that NATO defense ministers were likely at their informal meeting in Romania on Oct. 13 to instruct their military authorities to report back in February with options on how to merge the NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

"That’s the direction the alliance has been heading for many months now and it will likely be the result of tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) discussion," Burns had told reporters here.

Germany immediately opposed any merger of U.S. and NATO forces in the volatile central Asian nation, setting the stage at the two-day meeting for another fractious debate over the alliance’s military role outside Europe.

Burns suggested Oct. 12 that U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan could be brought under NATO command quickly once the plans had been drawn up.

"It could be 2005, it could be 2006, it depends on how things go. It really depends on what the military leaders will tell us -- how would you do this, how difficult would it be, on what basis would it be," he said.

But German Defense Minister Peter Struck said NATO’s mandate in Afghanistan was to stabilize the country, not to fight international terrorism.

"Therefore, we are against a merger of the two mandates," he said.

Germany has 2,500 troops in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), making it one of biggest contributors to the 9,000-strong force. Separately, the United States has nearly 20,000 of its own troops in Afghanistan. They are still seeking to pacify the country’s southeastern border regions three years after the fall of the hard-line Islamic Taliban regime after a U.S.-led invasion.

Rumsfeld first floated the idea of having NATO taking over all military operations in Afghanistan in December 2003. But the idea has until now remained in the background while NATO struggles to expand its Afghan peacekeeping operation.

If NATO were to take the lead role in Afghanistan, it would relieve the stress on U.S. forces, which are tied down by the insurgency in Iraq. It also would mark a further expansion of NATO military commitments outside Europe.

But NATO has struggled to come up with the forces for even a modest expansion of the ISAF force.

It completed the first phase of an expansion of the force from Kabul to relatively trouble-free areas in northern Afghanistan just before the country’s Oct. 9 presidential election. But it has so far failed to carry out a planned expansion to the west.

"I know the U.S., Secretary Rumsfeld and others will be pushing for the European allies to put their men, women, materiel, assets into the west to establish these provincial reconstruction teams," Burns said Oct. 12.


DefenseNews.com

But German Defense Minister Peter Struck said NATO’s mandate in Afghanistan was to stabilize the country, not to fight international terrorism.

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Is this some kind of joke, that's exactly why these so called US allies went with us to Afghanistan, to fight the international war on terror. Getting Al-Queda (an international terrorist organization) was first and foremost. Unbelievable.

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Originally posted by Tours732:
A Salute to our Troops who are fighting in and around Afghanistan.

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Somewhere scratching their A____. NATO should take over the mission in Afghanistan. The US has done the hard part. They are not holding up their end of the mission as usual.

A bunch of cry babies. The European SOldiers do their duty outstanding. Its the politicians that are refusing to honor their obligation.

Afghanistan is supposed to be a worldwide joint operation. Every country agreed to provided humanitarian relief as well as security.

Where are they????

it did the heart good to see the good people of afganistan voting..it made me proud knowing how they are able to do that..sacrifices made my our men and women in uniform..so that another human being can have freedom..it doesnt get any better than that..the good people of iraq see that too and hope..you know they have got to be talking about it..and more of their freedoms coming if we just stay stedfast and be patient..
and dont pay any attention to the moron twofaced liar kerry
blairs having the same probem with his opponet

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“Having supported the war, having urged us to go to war, [he] is now trying to capitalize on anti-war sentiment to try to give himself credibility,” Blair said, to loud cheers of support from his own Labour Party lawmakers.

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Originally posted by AzB:
blairs having the same probem with his opponet

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“Having supported the war, having urged us to go to war, [he] is now trying to capitalize on anti-war sentiment to try to give himself credibility,” Blair said, to loud cheers of support from his own Labour Party lawmakers.

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I heard this being played on NPR as I was awakening this morning...Blair really b|tch-slapped his political nemesis on that one!

Turkey To Send 1,800 Troops to Afghanistan

By BURAK EGE BEKDIL, ANKARA

The Turkish military will contribute an additional 1,800 troops to an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

A senior Foreign Ministry official here said Oct. 14 that the troops will join the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan as Turkey takes over command of the force from Eurocorps in February.

“Sending more troops will be part of the task of taking over ISAF’s command,” the official said. “There is an understanding between the military and the government on sending troops to Afghanistan.”

The official said the entire contingent would come from the 3rd Army Corps, stationed in Istanbul.

Currently, 8,000 troops from 36 countries — including 240 from Turkey — comprise the ISAF.

Turkey previously commanded the ISAF for six months in 2002. Created in early 2002 by the United Nations to assist the new Afghan government, ISAF at first was led by individual nations for six-month rotations.

NATO took charge of the operation in August 2003. The five-nation Eurocorps military force began its six-month command Aug. 9 as the NATO-led ISAF expanded for the first time beyond Kabul to several other areas of Afghanistan.

DefenseNews.com

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Originally posted by bandydoo:
Where is NATO??

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NATO Rejects Single Afghan Command
France, Germany Reject US Plan to Fuse Afghan Commands

(Source: Voice of America; issued Oct. 13, 2004)

France and Germany have turned down a U.S. proposal that the NATO peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan and the bigger U.S.-led force fighting insurgents there be merged into one single command. No way! That was the French and German reaction to the U.S. suggestion that the two Afghan commands be unified.

NATO has about 9,000 troops in Afghanistan who are mainly engaged in peacekeeping and reconstruction work in Kabul, the capital, and some northern provinces. The alliance wants to move into the more troubled western part of the country and is calling on its members to commit troops and equipment for that operation.

The U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom has twice as many troops and is concentrated in Afghanistan’s southeastern provinces, where it is engaged in combat operations against remnants of the Taleban and al-Qaida.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told reporters after the meeting that the two commands have different missions and that it would make no sense to unite them.

She says there is some sense in trying to create synergies between the two forces, but, for France, there is no logic to merging their operations.

Her German colleague Peter Struck also rejected the idea of a fusion of the two commands, saying German troops are in Afghanistan to help stabilize the country and not to fight terrorists.

NATO officials have been touting the idea that the two commands could be brought under one general, but maintain their separate missions. But Ms. Alliot-Marie dismissed even that suggestion, saying it would be counterproductive. She did not explain why.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged the allies to provide NATO’s nascent training mission in Iraq with the instructors and additional personnel it needs so that the operation can be up-and-running by the time Iraqis hold elections next January.

But France reiterated its refusal to take part in the training mission, and German minister Struck backed away from a previous hint that his country might at some unspecified later date provide troops there. He was quickly slapped down by his own government, which has insisted it will not take part in any military operations in Iraq.

The flurry over Afghanistan overshadowed NATO’s announcement that its new rapid response force of 17,000 troops is ready to go into action. The force’s goal is to react to crises around the world in five days time.

2 Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

God bless you fallen warriors...you're sacrifice will not be forgotten.

So... you mean Blair's opponent is John Kerry too? ;-)

"I supported the war"
"I am against this unjust war"

LOL

I guess every country has a few like him...

I do like how we're trying to pull Europe out of their shell. Maybe it'll pay off in a decade or so ;-)

"Common sense isn't."

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Originally posted by Gladewalker:
So... you mean Blair's opponent is John Kerry too? ;-)

"I supported the war"
"I am against this unjust war"

LOL

I guess every country has a few like him...

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Do you think France has one that's like the anti-Kerry?

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I do like how we're trying to pull Europe out of their shell. Maybe it'll pay off in a decade or so ;-)

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It may be too late for some of them...*cough*frogs*cough*.

Digging this one up

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1258-2004Oct27.html

The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 27, 2004; 5:22 AM


KABUL, Afghanistan - A bomb hit a U.S. military convoy in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, injuring three American troops and an Afghan soldier, the military said.

The bomb exploded near the injured soldiers' Humvee near Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, a U.S. military statement said.

Two of the U.S. soldiers were evacuated to the American base at Kandahar for treatment. One had shrapnel injuries and one had a possible concussion. Both were in stable condition, the statement said.

The third American and a soldier from the Afghan National Army were treated at the scene for cuts.

The United States has some 17,000 troops in Afghanistan hunting remnants of the Taliban regime ousted three years ago as well as al-Qaida militants and followers of renegade warlords.

The soldiers come under regular attack in areas including Zabul, a lawless province on the Pakistani border, where U.S. forces say they have killed scores of militants this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A520-2004Oct26.html

By STEPHEN GRAHAM
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 26, 2004; 9:42 PM


KABUL, Afghanistan - More than two weeks after Afghanistan's first presidential election, vote counting wrapped up Tuesday and interim leader Hamid Karzai emerged with a resounding victory.

With his inauguration to a five-year term a month away, the U.S.-backed Karzai already is under pressure to ditch his coalition with powerful warlords and tackle a booming narcotics industry that has become a major economic force in one of the world's poorest nations.

Officials declared the vote count complete Tuesday afternoon, giving some 1,500 weary staff at eight counting centers a well-earned rest in the middle of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Investigators were still examining about 100 suspect ballot boxes, but the election's chief technical officer said the count was effectively "over and done."

"It's just these last dribs and drabs to be approved," David Avery told The Associated Press. "It's really nothing that can affect the outcome."

Showing 98.4 percent of the votes counted, the Web site of the U.N.-Afghan election commission said Karzai had 55.5 percent of the votes, 39 points ahead of his closest rival, former Education Minister Yunus Qanooni.

An estimated 8.2 million ballots were cast in the historic vote Oct. 9, a turnout that U.S. and Afghan officials hailed as a nail in the coffin of the former ruling Taliban, whose threats to disrupt the election proved hollow.

Karzai, 47, a member of the Pashtun community, the largest ethnic group in this diverse and often divided country, portrayed himself as the best candidate to weld a unified Afghanistan.

He also promised to double the income of Afghans and pursue a reformist agenda that can finally begin to deliver basic services such as health and education to people impoverished by a quarter-century of fighting.

So far, the country's re-emergence - cities such as Kabul and Kandahar are in the grip of a real estate boom - appears to be founded more on lucrative drug exports than the legal economy.

Under pressure from the United States, Karzai is expected to announce a crackdown on refiners and traffickers who use Afghan opium poppies to supply most of the world's heroin.

"His mind is made up to do something, finally," a Western official who advises the Afghan government on counternarcotics policy said on condition of anonymity. "They know that this government will not survive if they don't take action."

Karzai must deal with the opium traffickers at the same time he grapples with regional leaders who still control much of the country with the help of private militias that have so far escaped a U.N.-sponsored disarmament drive.

Francesc Vendrell, the European Union's special representative, said Karzai took an important step before the election by excluding Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim, a powerful warlord, from his presidential ticket and then sidelining the most influential warlord in western Afghanistan, Ismail Khan.

"He's now got a mandate to have