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Why Afghanistan is the wrong war

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    Reuters

    A suicide bomber penetrated a foreign army base in Afghanistan to kill eight U.S. CIA employees on Wednesday, one of the spy agency's largest death tolls, and a separate attack killed four Canadian troops and a journalist

    A "well-dressed" Afghan army official detonated a suicide vest at a meeting of CIA officials in southeastern Khost province, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

    "This deadly attack was carried out by a valorous Afghan army member when the officials were busy gaining information about the mujahideen, in the (fitness) club," he wrote in an email.

    The attack is one of the most ambitious of the war, highlighting the Taliban's reach and coordination at a time when violence has reached its highest levels since the overthrow of the Taliban regime by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.

    It was also the second Afghan army killing in as many days on the foreign troops and officials who are meant to be mentoring them, casting a shadow over plans to bolster the Afghan army and police to allow their troops to eventually bring them home.

    U.S. President Barack Obama is sending 30,000 extra troops to tackle the violence and NATO allies are contributing thousands more. An Afghan army official said on Wednesday that Washington had pledged $16 billion to train the army and air force.

    When asked how the attacker managed to launch an assault in a foreign military base, Taliban spokesman Mujahid replied: "Since the man was an officer, he had not much difficulties."

    U.S. officials said the dead Americans were CIA employees. Some people were also wounded in the explosion, defence officials said, but no U.S. or NATO troops were among them.

    The CIA has been expanding its presence in the country, stepping up strikes against Taliban and al Qaeda militants along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    Forward Operating Base Chapman, the site of the suicide attack, is near the Pakistan border, in one of the areas of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.

    The agency's role hunting terrorism suspects in Afghanistan has been criticised by both Afghans and human rights groups.

    JOURNALIST KILLED

    The five Canadians -- four soldiers and a journalist -- were killed when their armoured vehicle was hit by a bomb in southern Kandahar province, the Canadian Defence Ministry said.

    The blast, about 4 km (2.5 miles) outside Kandahar, struck the patrol as it was visiting community reconstruction projects.

    The Khost base targeted by the suicide attacker is also a centre for reconstruction projects, a key part of Obama's strategy to stabilise the country.

    Washington has pledged a "civilian surge," adding hundreds of U.S. experts to support work on development projects that aim to undermine support for the Taliban and other insurgents.

    But foreign aid agencies warned earlier this year that the shift into the military bases, and the use of military personnel to carry out development projects, risked a dangerous blurring of the boundaries between troops and civilians.

    The journalist killed was Michelle Lang, 34, on assignment for the Canwest News Service. She was on her first assignment in Afghanistan and had been in the country since December 11.

    She is the third journalist to die in Afghanistan this year.

    The attack brought Canada's military deaths in Afghanistan to 138. Canada has a 2,800-strong military mission in Afghanistan, but the mission has become increasingly unpopular at home and it is scheduled to be withdrawn at the end of 2011.

    Comment


    • Taliban must join security forces, says Brit general - Telegraph
      When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? - George Canning sigpic

      Comment


      • Oops :))

        14 terror suspects mistakenly kill themselves - CNN.com
        When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? - George Canning sigpic

        Comment


        • Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww great thinking .Throw more money at them and invite the enemy within , wake up General .

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Knaur Amarsh View Post

            C,mon Knaur , spare a thought for the terrible TERRIBLE tragic waste of human resources ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,



            The BUS could have been used for public service .
            Attached Files

            Comment


            • Originally posted by tankie View Post
              C,mon Knaur , spare a thought for the terrible TERRIBLE tragic waste of human resources ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,



              The BUS could have been used for public service .
              Jeez man, expected better from you. As a former armyman, surely you should know training accidents happen, so it was not a terrible waste. Can't you just imagine Achmed standing up in the bus saying, now watch carefully how to detonate this thing me friends, am going to show ONCE and ONCE only :))
              When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? - George Canning sigpic

              Comment


              • Originally posted by Knaur Amarsh View Post
                Jeez man, expected better from you. As a former armyman, surely you should know training accidents happen, so it was not a terrible waste. Can't you just imagine Achmed standing up in the bus saying, now watch carefully how to detonate this thing me friends, am going to show ONCE and ONCE only :))
                Not on my shift Mr , not on mine , when i was teaching gunnery , if people didnt take it in , they were , hmmm , er , given homework

                Comment


                • Originally posted by tankie View Post
                  Not on my shift Mr , not on mine , when i was teaching gunnery , if people didnt take it in , they were , hmmm , er , given homework
                  When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? - George Canning sigpic

                  Comment


                  • Suicide attack on CIA agents 'was planned by bin Laden inner circle' - NYPOST.com

                    US intelligence officials believe the suicide bomb attack that killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan last month was planned with the help of Osama bin Laden’s inner circle, raising fears that the al-Qaeda leader is enjoying a lethal resurgence.

                    The attack, carried out by a Jordanian triple-agent whom the CIA believed was about to divulge the whereabouts of al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, could not have taken place without the prior knowledge and assistance of the Haqqani network, US officials believe. The powerful Taliban faction is thought to be shielding bin Laden.

                    The suicide bombing by Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, one of the deadliest attacks against the CIA in its history and the most lethal for 25 years, has also significantly increased tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan because of Islamabad’s repeated failure to target the Haqqanis.

                    The Haqqanis operate and largely control a large swath of territory on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border near the Afghan town of Khost, a Taliban hotbed where the CIA officials were killed at a remote agency base on December 30.

                    It is also the area where the U.S. believes bin Laden is hiding, with the help of the Haqqanis and their Pakistani guardians. One former CIA bin Laden hunter told The Times of London that the CIA has in its possession electronic intercepts of a Pakistani Army officer tipping the Haqqanis off to a raid; and another in which a member of the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service, boasts that the “Haqqanis are our guys.”
                    Pakistan has ignored repeated U.S. demands to target the strongholds of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin, a former legendary Mujahidin commander who was once a U.S. ally during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The network is said to be behind several audacious attacks, including the July 2008 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.

                    Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA unit tracking bin Laden, said it is inconceivable that the CIA attack could have been carried out without the prior knowledge of the Haqqanis.

                    “There is no way this operation would have occurred in Khost without the knowledge and active support of Jalaluddin Haqqani and/or his son,” said Scheuer.

                    “They and their organization own the area – and especially right round Khost – and nothing occurs that would impact their tribe or its allies without their knowledge or okay. Both men, moreover, would be delighted to help bin Laden in any way they can."
                    Triple Jordanian-Pakistani-CIA agent working for the Talibs apparently, base security director ( also killed in attack) drove him into the compound so he wasn't searched anywhere.
                    Last edited by Knaur Amarsh; 10 Jan 10,, 20:50.
                    When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? - George Canning sigpic

                    Comment


                    • Triple Jordanian-Pakistani-CIA agent working for the Talibs apparently, base security director ( also killed in attack) drove him into the compound so he wasn't searched anywhere.
                      according to WaPo, he was about to be searched by the Xe contractor-security guards when he detonated; the reason why they didn't search him previously was because they were afraid that the taliban were monitoring the outer gate of the base. still seems like sloppy tradecraft to me.
                      There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by astralis View Post
                        according to WaPo, he was about to be searched by the Xe contractor-security guards when he detonated; the reason why they didn't search him previously was because they were afraid that the taliban were monitoring the outer gate of the base. still seems like sloppy tradecraft to me.
                        Thanks Astralis, I think ABC News said he was driven in the car by the Afghani base security director Arghawan, so they were let through without searching.
                        When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? - George Canning sigpic

                        Comment


                        • it was leaving afghanistan unbilt after US proxy war

                          Originally posted by Parihaka View Post
                          9/11 demonstrated the folly of ignoring Afghanistan.
                          Until we learn from past mistakes we are bound to fall again. We left afghanistan as soon USSR left. This war torn country was not supported thus it fell prey to alqaida for its survival. Now if we say we ignored alqaida developing in it- it is wrong. If we had supported them, they would not have fallen prey to al qaida. Until the roots are there , tree will re flourish. Kill the route cause. just cutting the branches does not serve the purpose fully. Again we have a chance now to strengthen the country as per aspiration of majority of its people, support the country to develope and donot support the corrupt our liking based govt, is the solution to avoid any future al qaida.

                          Comment


                          • Until we learn from past mistakes we are bound to fall again. We left afghanistan as soon USSR left. This war torn country was not supported thus it fell prey to alqaida for its survival. Now if we say we ignored alqaida developing in it- it is wrong. If we had supported them, they would not have fallen prey to al qaida. Until the roots are there , tree will re flourish. Kill the route cause. just cutting the branches does not serve the purpose fully. Again we have a chance now to strengthen the country as per aspiration of majority of its people, support the country to develope and donot support the corrupt our liking based govt, is the solution to avoid any future al qaida.
                            Actually we threw our hands up and walked away after Pakistan's proxy lobbed rockets into Kabul, after other Mujahideen beat him into the city,;4 years after the Soviets left.
                            To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

                            Comment


                            • Still no admission that the troops were badly supplied , the truth is out there Mulder




                              A row over Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to troops in Afghanistan shows the war and military spending will remain potent issues in this year's election despite Brown's efforts to defuse them


                              Brown had to negotiate a potential minefield on Friday when he testified at an official inquiry into Britain's role in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

                              With an election weeks away and the opposition Conservatives ahead in the polls, Brown wanted to avoid giving ammunition to Conservatives and former military chiefs who accuse him of failing to give the armed forces the equipment they need.

                              At the same time, Brown, who was finance minister at the time, knows many Britons strongly opposed the invasion.

                              Brown steered a fine line, denying he had left the military short of funding and backing then Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to join the operation while implying he had not pushed vigorously for military action.

                              Immediately after testifying, Brown jetted off to Afghanistan to thank British soldiers who took part in a major offensive against Taliban insurgents in Helmand province.

                              Although Brown insisted the visit was long planned, political opponents and commentators said it was no coincidence that Brown wanted to be pictured showing his support for British troops immediately after his questioning at the inquiry.

                              Conservative former prime minister John Major accused Brown of using the army as a "party political prop."

                              "To use them as a cynically timed pre-election backdrop is profoundly unbecoming conduct for a prime minister," he said.

                              By testifying at the inquiry and visiting Afghanistan, where Britain has 9,500 troops, Brown has ticked off two of the things he must do before calling the election, widely expected to be on May 6. Another hurdle will be the budget, which reports say is likely on March 24.

                              BROWN ACCUSED

                              Brown failed to halt accusations that he had restricted funding for the British military, depriving them of critical equipment such as helicopters and armoured vehicles, during his decade as finance minister before 2007.

                              "To say Gordon Brown has given the military all they asked for is simply not true," Charles Guthrie, a former chief of the defence staff, told The Daily Telegraph.

                              Conservative defence spokesman Liam Fox said the budget for helicopters was cut by 1.4 billion pounds ($2.11 billion) in 2004, when Brown was at the Treasury, while British forces were fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

                              "The Ministry of Defence was working on a peacetime budget effectively, (while) fighting two wars," he told the BBC.

                              The allegation that the Labour government put British soldiers' lives at risk by not giving them the best protection against roadside bombs is highly sensitive with voters.

                              It is sure to be an election issue as are questions over the rising British death toll in Afghanistan and the government's objectives in keeping forces there.

                              "The issue (in the election) is going to be the rights and wrongs of Afghanistan and the benefits of a continued presence," said Paul Beaver, an independent defence analyst.

                              On the day Brown visited Afghanistan, two more British soldiers were killed, bringing the British death toll to 270.

                              The debate on the Afghan mission is part of a wider discussion on the British military's future at a time when it is a prime candidate for cuts to rein in a gaping budget deficit.

                              Since becoming prime minister, Brown has been at pains to give the military the equipment they need in Afghanistan.

                              The Ministry of Defence said on Saturday it would soon give details of an order for 200 new patrol vehicles to replace lightly armoured Snatch Land Rovers in which at least 37 British soldiers have died since 2005

                              Comment


                              • Murder, for the third time:

                                "Three British soldiers have been killed and four injured by a rogue Afghan soldier in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said. "

                                BBC News - Three British soldiers killed in Afghanistan

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