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  • An interesting development here. Makes one wonder why Kunar and Nangarhar have come under bombardment from the Pakistani military; whether its the anti-Pakistan TTP they're targeting, or providing firing cover for the Afghan Taliban as alleged being a possibility in the article? And where is the respect for 'sovereignty' now?

    But that aside. Its disturbing how low the Taliban have stooped this week. Firstly with a suicide-bomb attack on a hospital and then using an 8-year old girl to trigger a bomb attack on the police. Has Karzai publicly addressed these two episodes yet? Or would that jeopardize his desire to negotiate peace with his 'brothers'? Disgusting, all of them.

    ===

    Karzai Accuses Pakistan of Rocket Attacks on Afghanistan - WSJ.com

    Associated Press

    KABUL, Afghanistan—President Hamid Karzai on Sunday accused Pakistan of firing 470 rockets into two eastern Afghan provinces over the past three weeks, a deadly rain of artillery that Afghan officials said killed 36 people, including 12 children.

    The attacks came in areas of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces where NATO forces have withdrawn, and where Pakistani Taliban moved in behind fleeing civilians, Afghan border officials said.

    The Afghan president indicated that Pakistani government forces are responsible for the bombardment, and "they should be stopped immediately." And "if they are not being carried out by Pakistan, Pakistan should make it clear who is behind the attacks," he said in a statement issued by the presidential palace.

    NATO reported, meanwhile, that five service members were killed in at least three insurgent attacks in western, southern, and eastern Afghanistan on Sunday. The international coalition gave no other details. The deaths bring to at least 53 the number of NATO service members killed in June, and to more than 200 the number this year.

    Mr. Karzai said he discussed the rocket barrage with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zadari during an antiterrorism conference in Tehran on Saturday, the same day the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman spoke of the attacks and warned that Afghanistan would defend itself.

    "The government of Pakistan should understand that there will be a reaction for killing Afghan citizens," said spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi.

    In response to the Pakistani barrage, Afghan security forces in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktika fired artillery across the border at least twice on Friday, Mr. Azimi said. Afghan security officials said NATO also fired into Pakistan on June 17. NATO and Pakistan military officials earlier denied any knowledge of such border fire from the Afghan side.

    The Afghan president said he also discussed the border attack with Afghan NATO commander Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry during his regular national-security council meeting on Sunday.

    American and Afghan officials have pressured Pakistan to end its security forces' longstanding relationship with the Taliban movement, viewed as a tool for Pakistani influence over strategically placed Afghanistan. Such major artillery support for a Taliban operation, however, would be one of the most blatant recent examples of Pakistani support and bodes ill for the testy relationship among the three countries.

    Afghan border police spokesman Edris Mohmand, who reported 36 Afghans killed by the rockets, including 12 children, said 2,000 families have fled districts threatened by the barrage, including Asmar and Nangalam in Kunar, and Goshta district in Nangahar.

    "All these attacks have been from Pakistan's side, and for sure they are Pakistani weapons being used against innocent Afghans," Mr. Mohmand said. "The border police in the eastern region have been equipped with heavy artillery, but we are waiting for orders from the interior minister."

    NATO has recently withdrawn many of its combat troops from forward operating bases and combat outposts in Kunar and Nangarhar. Both provinces continue to be heavily contested by Taliban fighters.

    The Afghan government spokesman, Mr. Azimi, said the Afghan Defense Ministry "asks the president of Pakistan to stop the artillery firing and compensate the losses caused."

    Violence has been on the rise across Afghanistan since the country's Taliban Islamists launched a spring offensive and promised retaliation for the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a U.S. raid in Pakistan on May 2.

    In one chilling episode on Saturday, insurgents gave an eight-year-old Afghan girl a bomb concealed in a handbag and detonated it as she approached Afghan policemen in southern Afghanistan, killing her, Afghan authorities said. They said no one else was hurt in the attack, which took place in the Char Chino district of Uruzgan province.

    The insurgency has occasionally used children in its attacks, to avoid detection.

    The girl was killed on the same day that a suicide bomber blew up his sport utility vehicle at a health clinic in eastern Afghanistan while women and children lined up for maternity care and vaccinations. At least 35 were killed.

    The vehicle smashed through a wall at the Akbarkhail Public Medical Center before anyone could shoot the driver or blow out the tires, local officials said. The force of the blast caused the building to collapse.

    Survivors frantically dug through the rubble with shovels and bare hands. At least 53 other people were wounded, said the provincial public-health director, Dr. Mohammad Zaref Nayebkhail.

    The Taliban denied they were behind the bombing, which occurred in Azra district in Logar province.

    The Taliban claim they don't target civilians, but the movement is fractured and Saturday's attacks shared characteristics of other recent violence.

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Tronic View Post
      WTF that is just a new low in cowardly... fkin ridiculous.. all these evil fks will burn in hell!
      Despicable scum of the earth. Hanging would be too good for them.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by dave lukins View Post
        Despicable scum of the earth. Hanging would be too good for them.
        In the words of Hunter S Thompson "Castration - Double castration!" CHOP!
        sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
        If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

        Comment


        • How could any one, even a sick fcuk like a Talibunny have the heart to do this. I am extremely worried about the fate of the Afghans after USA leaves. Are the Afghans going to be sacrificed like sheep.......

          Meanwhile Pak Army spokesman denies intentionally bombarding Afghanistan.
          Pakistan denies firing rockets into Afghanistan | Pakistan | DAWN.COM

          ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday denied accusations by Afghanistan that it fired hundreds of rockets into two eastern Afghan provinces over the past three weeks, killing 36 people, including 12 children.

          Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said no rounds have been intentionally fired into Afghanistan. He said it is possible that a few rounds may have accidentally fallen into Afghanistan when security forces targeted militants carrying out cross-border attacks into Pakistan.
          Seek Save Serve Medic

          Comment


          • Isnt Cameron just the man for the moment , threatens to sack top brass








            The head of the Army has publicly challenged the PM's 2015 deadline for pulling out of Afghanistan.

            Gen Sir Peter Wall said he was not sure David Cameron's cut-off date would turn out to be "absolute".

            He said the Army was aiming to "deliver against that deadline". But he added: "Whether it turns out to be an absolute timeline or a more conditions-based approach nearer the time, we shall find out."

            Sir Peter's comments - on a BBC documentary to be shown tonight - come after RAF and Royal Navy chiefs complained of the strain caused by Mr Cameron's decision to commit UK forces to Nato's anti-Gaddafi operation in Libya. Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant said future operations could be compromised if the campaign dragged on.

            He said airmen were overworked and morale was "fragile".

            And Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope said the Libyan operation was "unsustainable" for the Royal Navy.

            But an exasperated Mr Cameron has slapped down senior officers for complaining.

            He said: "There are moments when I wake up, read the newspapers and think 'Well look, you do the fighting and I'll do the talking'."

            The PM insisted the Libya campaign was going well, adding: "I'm very content of the support I'm getting from Britain's military. They are performing magnificently."

            Mr Cameron has repeatedly insisted British troops will leave Afghanistan by 2015. He said recently of the deadline: "It won't slip because the British people deserve a clear end point."





            Senior members of the military will lose their jobs if they allow costs to get out of control and fail to manage budgets, under radical reforms to the Ministry of Defence.

            The heads of the army, Royal Navy and RAF will be held accountable as never before, and will also be responsible for making significant cuts to the numbers of officers in their ranks.

            All three services have become overladen with top brass, according to a report by Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd's of London.

            His proposals have been accepted wholesale by the coalition government, with the defence secretary, Liam Fox, saying the MoD had been bedevilled by poor management.

            In his 84-page report, Levene noted that inter-service rivalry had added to the problems and recommended the creation of a new joint forces command, headed by a high-ranked military commander, as one way of breaking down the barriers between them.

            Levene said this would help in areas where the military boundaries are blurred, such as cyberwarfare and military intelligence. His other proposals include:

            Extra powers for service chiefs so that they can take more direct control of their budgets.

            A smaller but more strategic defence board. Up until now, all three heads of the armed forces have sat on the board. Now only the overall head of the military, the chief of the defence staff, will sit on it with the defence secretary.

            Streamlining the MoD's internal decision-making – it will have fewer senior posts and the people who hold them will face more accountability.

            Increasing the length of service in some posts from two to five years.

            In one startling admission, Levene said the MoD and military chiefs often showed a disregard for costs.

            "Finance and the need for affordability are not regarded as sufficiently important throughout the organisation," he said, adding that service chiefs who failed to bring in projects on time and within budget should face the axe.

            "We are quite clear that, unlike in the department today, budgetholders must be held to account. If their performance does not meet requirements they should be removed from their post ... we are in no doubt that mechanisms should be put in place to allow this to happen."

            Levene said his proposals were designed "to help prevent defence from falling back into such a poor financial situation in the future".

            There was broad political support for his reforms, but Prospect, the union representing defence civil servants, said the plans could be stifled by vested interests within the department.

            "The kind of culture change Lord Levene recommends is likely to take a long time to work through," said Steve Jary, the union's national secretary.

            "Senior military officials owe their positions to the old structures and are unlikely to give them up without a struggle."

            Jim Murphy, Labour's shadow defence secretary, said the MoD still faced "a black hole in its finances" and called for clarity on the scale of the budgetary problems.

            Answering questions in the Commons, Fox sought to calm fears within the army over possible further cuts.

            Though the army is committed to making thousands of redundancies, there has been speculation that more would be necessary to prick a ballooning defence budget. "We have no plans to reduce the size of the army in this parliament," Fox told MPs.


            Lyin bastards
            Last edited by tankie; 29 Jun 11,, 14:47.

            Comment


            • [
              War dead are to be driven out of the back gate and down side roads to avoid the public when repatriations are flown into RAF Brize-Norton. Andrew Robathan, Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, admitted that the decision to avoid public scenes of emotion had been taken deliberately. Words fail me. A friend of mine posted this reply below , and I agree[/B]


              This **** Robathan claims it is to avoid public scenes of emotion, don't these heroes deserve the honour of a civic parade then or is the real reason to appease certain ethnic minorities that could prove favourable to this shitty government come election time

              Comment


              • Originally posted by tankie View Post
                [
                War dead are to be driven out of the back gate and down side roads to avoid the public when repatriations are flown into RAF Brize-Norton. Andrew Robathan, Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, admitted that the decision to avoid public scenes of emotion had been taken deliberately. Words fail me. A friend of mine posted this reply below , and I agree[/B]


                This **** Robathan claims it is to avoid public scenes of emotion, don't these heroes deserve the honour of a civic parade then or is the real reason to appease certain ethnic minorities that could prove favourable to this shitty government come election time

                Hopefully someone from Wootton-Bassett will organise a new parade route.

                Comment


                • This situation reads like its starting to resemble parts of Central-East Africa where armed gangs and militia's rampage across international borders.

                  ===

                  Deadly Shelling by Pakistan Into Afghanistan Is Stoking Tensions - NYT

                  Afghans infuriated by shelling from Pakistan - The Washington Post



                  Pakistani Taliban attack kills up to 38 Afghans - AFP

                  By Yasar Hameed (AFP) – 9 hours ago

                  ASAD ABAD, Afghanistan — Up to 33 police and five civilians were killed in fighting after Taliban crossed over from Pakistan and attacked a remote region in eastern Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.

                  Nuristan provincial governor Jamaluddin Badr said about 40 rebels also died in the two days of clashes that followed weeks of tit-for-tat allegations of cross-border attacks that have fanned diplomatic tensions.

                  But the interior ministry contradicted the toll and said 12 policemen had died and another five were wounded.

                  Dozens of rebels who began crossing the border from Pakistan on Tuesday triggered the fight, Badr told AFP, attacking police posts in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan.

                  "The report we have now from the area is that 33 border police and five civilians, two of them women, have been killed," he said.

                  He said most of the dead rebels were Pakistan Taliban.

                  The interior ministry said that "dozens" of rebels were killed in a clearance operation that lasted several hours, 12 of them Pakistanis.

                  "The situation in the border areas of Kamdesh district has returned to normal and police are strengthening their positions," it said.

                  The escalating conflict in the rugged border zone between Afghanistan and Pakistan has forced more than 200 Afghan families to flee so far, according to local officials, and is escalating tensions between the uneasy neighbours.

                  For weeks, security forces on both sides of the unmarked border have issued claim and counter-claim over cross-border rocket and guerrilla attacks that have reportedly killed dozens of villagers and terrified hundreds of others.

                  The rise in violence in an area swamped with Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked fighters underscores the problems faced in attempts to forge contacts between militants and regional power brokers and peacefully resolve a decade of war.

                  US troops earlier this year abandoned their easternmost outposts in the furthest reaches of Kunar and Nuristan provinces and since then insurgents have flooded back into Afghan valleys by the border, analysts say.

                  Afghan officials say about 800 rockets, mortars and artillery shells have been fired from Pakistan into Afghan villages since late May, leaving dozens of civilians dead, injured or displaced.

                  The Pakistan army denies it has targeted Afghan territory, saying that a few stray rounds may have crossed the border and complaining that villages on its side of the border have themselves been the victim of Afghan-based Taliban violence.

                  On Wednesday, Pakistani officials accused several hundred militants of infiltrating the border and attacking a village in the Pakistani district of Upper Dir, killing an anti-Taliban elder and setting fire to three boys schools.

                  "The village militia and Pakistan troops are retaliating," district police chief Mir Qasim Khan told AFP.

                  In Afghanistan, the top border police commander for the eastern region, General Aminullah Amerkhail, has resigned in protest at Kabul's reluctance to respond with counter-attacks, and ministers have reacted with fury.

                  President Hamid Karzai has appealed for calm over the issues, but has expressed "deep concerns" with Pakistan's top commander General Ashfaq Kayani and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in a recent meeting.

                  Comment


                  • 1980s Reply

                    There's been a concerted effort by the Pakistani gov't to build a countervailing argument against the sanctuaries on their lands. We saw that in action here with Agnostic Muslim.

                    The argument, of course, ignores that our troops have been in battle for nearly a decade along the eastern frontier of Afghanistan and that, unlike Pakistan, we've traveled 6,000 miles to do so. It's also interesting that there have been a number of purportedly "huge" attacks yet no accounts exist of the battles and the actual reported casualties have been scanty by comparison with battles fought at COP Restrepo, Waigal and other locales within the Konar/Nuristan area. It's almost as though these attacks have been orchestrated by the Pakistani government to provide a ready justification for the subsequent cross-border shelling.

                    The use of artillery and mortars is also an interesting feature. Pakistan fully understands that these are area-fire weapons and cannot possibly be expected to target enemy elements with precision unless timely forward observation is provided. That hasn't appeared to be the case whatsoever. So why use these weapons at all? Clearly, Pakistan wishes to illustrate the absence of PREDATOR from their inventory.

                    Finally, what remains fascinating throughout these harangues offered within this narrative is the consistent position of the P.A. refusing serious cross-border coordination of combat operations and the continued poor staffing of the Joint Intelligence Center at Torkhum.
                    "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                    "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by S2 View Post
                      The use of artillery and mortars is also an interesting feature. Pakistan fully understands that these are area-fire weapons and cannot possibly be expected to target enemy elements with precision unless timely forward observation is provided. That hasn't appeared to be the case whatsoever. So why use these weapons at all? Clearly, Pakistan wishes to illustrate the absence of PREDATOR from their inventory.
                      As the Americans and ISAF will be continuously replaced by the Afghans, I feel artillery and mortar firing will become more and more of a norm. The PA is well known to use artillery and mortar fire as cover to facilitate cross border movement of insurgents in Kashmir. This is just the tip of the iceberg, those guns will very soon turn on ANA positions. Ofcourse, the blame will than be tossed at the Afghan army for firing into Pakistani territory first thus inviting a response.
                      Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
                      -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by S2 View Post
                        It's almost as though these attacks have been orchestrated by the Pakistani government to provide a ready justification for the subsequent cross-border shelling.
                        I wouldnt be surprised if this was the case. The irony is evidently lost on the Pakistanis when they complained about cross-border raids from the Taliban into Pakistan recently. Suspicious as you say but even if true, nobody is going to care or sympathize with them. And they and everyone knows why that is...

                        Comment


                        • Dismantling US bases as the Taliban fight on

                          In hindsight i wonder now if it was not a mistake for the 2010 surge of US forces to have focussed first on Qandahar and Helmand in the south rather than the Afghan provinces bordering FATA in the east since that is where the bulk of the cross-border insurgents and their safe havens are based. Guess we'll never know.

                          =======
                          BBC News - Dismantling US bases as the Taliban fight on
                          By Quentin Sommerville
                          BBC News, Paktika province, Afghanistan

                          In a barren dust-bowl, in the eastern province of Paktika, an American base is disappearing back into the desert.

                          Combat Outpost Kushamond is the biggest base yet to close in Afghanistan. But it will not be handed to Afghan forces because they don't have the capacity to keep it running.

                          Huge armoured vehicles are loaded on to transporters. Some 70,000 vehicles will be shipped back to the States. The Afghans will be left with simpler, cheaper vehicles.

                          Many Afghan soldiers are now literate, though only to primary school level. But a school-child cannot read a mechanical engineering manual - so little equipment will be left behind.

                          Preparing a single MRAP, the heavily armoured Mine Resistant Armoured Protection vehicles used by international forces to protect themselves against Taliban roadside bombs, takes 90 days. There are thousands waiting to be returned.

                          The soldiers on the base have had to stop patrolling, so that they could concentrate on the dismantling.

                          The commanding officer, Captain Giles Wright, says they are still taking the fight to the Taliban.

                          "Here recently, we were able to take out a major Taliban command post…it's sad to see this key terrain go, however I'm confident we'll be just as effective, if not more so, once this is gone," he said.

                          Fractured partnership

                          But some officers are saying the exercise in removing these bases is a distraction. Others go even further and say you can't wage a war and wind it up at the same time, and that the mission here in Afghanistan, as it winds down, is now at odds with itself.

                          It has been a terrible few months for the Nato mission - the photographs of US soldiers posing with the corpses of suicide bombers is only the latest in a series of setbacks including the burning of copies of the Koran by US soldiers and the murder of Afghan civilians by a US soldier.

                          Each event created another fracture in the partnership.

                          Veteran commanders and diplomats say things have never been this bad. Western capitals have lost faith in President Karzai. Important agreements on night raids and detention facilities have been signed, but the underlying relationship is one of mistrust.

                          The Taliban attack on Kabul earlier this week was a reminder that, far from being defeated, the insurgents may be becoming more sophisticated - Nato didn't see this attack coming.

                          The war here started with a promise to make Afghanistan a better, safer, place. But as it enters its eleventh year, hope and ambition are on the wane.

                          Nato's senior civilian representative, Sir Simon Gass, emphasised that peace and security in Afghanistan are some way off.

                          "I don't think it will ever be possible... to ensure that Kabul is entirely safe. We've seen attacks of this sort before unfortunately in Kabul, and I expect that we will see similar attacks in the future," he said.

                          Further east in Paktika, near the border with Pakistan, the men of 2-28 Taskforce, from Combat Outpost Margah, head out on a patrol. The fight in Afghanistan is moving from the south of the country to the east, where the Taliban pour over the border from Pakistan.

                          The fight is becoming harder, even though attacks by the Taliban are down - that is because their company, and companies across Afghanistan, are already seeing their numbers reduced.

                          A third of American forces, some 30,000, will have left by September, followed by 500 British soldiers by the end of the year.

                          Afghans will take their place. In Brussels Nato, foreign and defence ministers are preparing for a Chicago conference next month which will likely secure funding for the Afghan security forces beyond 2014, when most foreign troops leave.

                          The UK has already committed $110m (£68m) to the cause, and the Afghan government will pay half a billion dollars. Other nations, principally the United States, will make up the rest. It's thought that $4.1bn (£2.5bn) can sustain Afghan security forces of 228,500 personnel.

                          Fading hope

                          But in Paktika, US officers say their partners are unlikely to be able to hold the area, and complain that the command between the Afghan police, army and intelligence service is fractured.

                          Platoon leader, Lieutenant Miller, listed the challenges facing the transfer of power.

                          "It's definitely a big task - look at what it's taken a coalition of modern military forces to accomplish. And then you have the Afghans, who aren't an army on their own, and do need a lot of help. I foresee they'll have a lot of issues with resupply and logistics. And it's going to be a matter of whether they decide this is something they want to keep up."

                          The soldiers take pride in being focused on the fight in front of them: taking care of the men to their left and right, and surviving another days' battle.

                          America has turned its back on this war, and these soldiers feel it, said Lieutenant Archangel Muscato.

                          "When I go back, people I hang out with, 18-24 year olds, they don't really ask me about the war. They don't really know, they might be even shocked that there is a war still going on. There's a disconnect in the States," he said.

                          Nato's plans for success in Afghanistan are based on hopes that will likely never become true: that, by the end of 2014, the Afghan government will be competent and credible, and the army ready.

                          And that a weakened Taliban will want to talk peace.

                          The war is about to become harder: foreign troops must battle the Taliban, reduce their own numbers, and train Afghans.

                          But the insurgents have to do one thing only - and that is to fight.

                          Comment


                          • 1980s Reply

                            "'...When I go back, people I hang out with, 18-24 year olds, they don't really ask me about the war. They don't really know, they might be even shocked that there is a war still going on. There's a disconnect in the States,..'"

                            This young officer is delusional. It's always been that way. The engagement of our citizenry in this war has been negligible...and was intended as such by our political leadership. Bush hoped to make this invisible to the American public. He was successful.

                            Obama didn't really change anything. Our "surge" was a token half-measure to assuage the conscience of him and others to their true intent-departure ASAP.

                            So it shall be.
                            "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                            "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

                            Comment


                            • S2,

                              don't see why the young officer is delusional. he doesn't seem particularly surprised that this is in the case.

                              in any case, a well-known "drawback" of the professional military. the public is in a state where it constantly says "Thin red line of 'eroes" but has little idea what it is they do, or where they are, or what's involved. trading hero worship for a wilful ignorance. you are spot on that this squares perfectly with what political leadership wants.

                              not that the alternative is necessarily better. to the extent that the public DOES care, it's often a contradictory mess of jingoistic "kill 'em all and let god sort them out" and bleeding-heart humanitarianism.
                              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


                              • Astralis Reply

                                "don't see why the young officer is delusional. he doesn't seem particularly surprised that this is in the case..."

                                You would probably be correct that I unfairly assessed his view. Not enough there, really, to judge delusional or surprise. Without reading more than is there, it stands of its own accord and would coincide with mine.
                                "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                                "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

                                Comment

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