News on Afghanistan - Page 69

mlurp · #**681** (**permalink**) 08-22-2012, 08:45 PM

Just one of several at the Asia site. I know spies are afoot but the Afgan Army/Police need no help with failures. IMHO!

And this war is just a

costing plenty in lives, minds and $$$$. Plus what each family member has to endure.

Quote:

.Afghans: Foreign spies at root of insider attacks

By DEB RIECHMANN | Associated Press – 6 hrs ago. 22 August 2012 .......

Associated Press/The Roanoke Times, Rebecca Barnett, File - FILE - In this Saturday, March 3, 2012 file photo, Maj. Gen. David Quantock salutes Army Sgt. Timothy John Conrad, 22, who was killed in Afghanistan …more

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan government blamed foreign spy agencies for a rising number of killings where government soldiers and policemen have gunned down their international partners, and ordered stricter vetting of recruits and screening of those in the 350,000-member Afghan security force.

The United States had no information suggesting that the insider attacks were the work of foreign intelligence services, a senior U.S. defense official said. Instead, he said attacks typically are carried out by Afghans acting on their own, although some might have had help, on occasion, from insurgent networks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence information about the attacks.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai summoned members of his national security council to the palace for an unscheduled meeting to discuss cases where members of the Afghan security forces or militants wearing their uniforms have turned their weapons on foreign troops. So far this year, there have been 32 insider attacks against coalition forces, resulting in 40 deaths, according to the NATO military alliance. That's up from 21 attacks for all of 2011, with 35 killed.

"The reports presented by the security officials in this meeting blamed the infiltration by foreign spy agencies into Afghan security force ranks as responsible for the rise in the individual shootings," Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said.

He said the foreign agencies were trying to undermine confidence in the Afghan security forces.
............................................... CONTINUED ..............................................

Afghans: Foreign spies at root of insider attacks - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**682** (**permalink**) 08-24-2012, 05:41 PM

To keep these links in reach of the readers.

There is plenty to read at each of these site.

Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Middle East News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Africa News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Europe News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Latin America News Headlines - Yahoo! News

iCasualties | OEF | Afghanistan | Fatalities Details

............................................. NEW ITEMS ................................................

ARMED FORCES JOURNAL

The Public Record | Intrepid New Journalism

Again my thanks to each reader..

mlurp · #**683** (**permalink**) 08-24-2012, 05:54 PM

At the Asia site are more news stories about Afghanistan.. And other good news.
While at the Middle East site there is a lot on Syria and a few counties some never heard much about.

Quote:

..NATO airstrike kills 12 militants in Afghanistan

By HEIDI VOGT | Associated Press – 25 mins ago. 24 August 2012 ...............

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan targeting a group of insurgents near the Pakistani border killed at least 12 militants Friday, the international military coalition said.

Pakistani intelligence and Afghan officials said Mullah Dadullah, the self-proclaimed leader of the Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan's Bajur tribal area was killed, although they offered conflicting reports on the exact location of the strike. NATO could not confirm that a senior militant had been killed.

Seems with all the recent talks Pakistan has yet to get the message about working together. When they seem to want possible false reports to sway their population into a false sense of security.

Just talk to the heads of all the NATO Forces and ask if a lie will work.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Adam Wojack said the attack took place late Friday afternoon in Kunar province near the Pakistan border, killing 12 militants.

Conflicting reports out of the rugged and remote regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border are common shortly after an attack.

Kunar provincial official Aslam Gul Mujahid said the airstrike killed 20 people, including Dadullah. Pakistani intelligence officials said Dadullah and 19 others were killed, but they said the airstrike took place in Pakistan's Bajur region, just across the border from Kunar.

The Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said the strike occurred after a cross-border attack by Pakistani Taliban militants who came from Afghanistan.

Jahangir Azam Khattak, a local Pakistani government official, said dozens of militants attacked a Pakistani post manned by anti-Taliban militiamen in the Salarzai area of Bajur. He said six militants were killed and four tribesmen were wounded.

Two Pakistani militiamen also were killed, local tribesmen said on condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety.

.................................................. CONTINUED ...........................................

NATO airstrike kills 12 militants in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**684** (**permalink**) 08-25-2012, 06:19 PM

Another big named enemy is gone to meet his virgins. Good Luck with that as by now there are none left.

Quote:

.Key Pakistani Taliban figure killed in Afghanistan

By KAY JOHNSON | Associated Press – 5 hrs ago. 25 August 2012 .......

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan killed a senior commander of the Pakistani Taliban who had close ties with al-Qaida, dealing a blow to the militants who operate on both sides of the countries' porous border.

Mullah Dadullah was killed Friday in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, which lies just across the border from the Pakistani tribal area of Bajur, the military alliance said. He was the Pakistani Taliban leader in Bajur, and NATO said Saturday that Dadullah also was responsible for the movement of fighters and weapons across the frontier as well as attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Eleven other militants were also killed in the airstrike in Kunar's Shigal district, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Pakistani border, including Dadullah's deputy, identified only as Shakir, the coalition said.

Dadullah's death will be a blow for the Taliban in Bajur, where the Pakistani military launched an offensive against militants in 2010, because he was an experienced commander and close to al-Qaida, said Mansur Mahsud, an Islamabad-based expert on Pakistani militants. But he said it's unlikely to have much of an impact on the broader Pakistani Taliban movement that operates in the rest the country's rugged, lawless tribal region along the Afghan border.

"He wasn't that senior in the group, and he wasn't that influential in the six other tribal agencies outside Bajur," Mahsud said.

Still, the killing of a foe of the Pakistani government is likely to be well received in Islamabad at a time when Pakistan's military is said to be preparing an offensive in North Waziristan, the base of the powerful Haqqani network that has been behind a string of high-profile attacks on Western targets in Kabul.

............................................ CONTINUED .................................................

Key Pakistani Taliban figure killed in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

60 comments

Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mr. wonder · #**685** (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 11:58 AM

Obama Afghanistan Deaths Top Those of Bush
August 24, 2012

Sgt. Louis R. Torres of Oberlin, Ohio, died August 22, 2012, of injuries sustained by an explosive device in Kandahar two weeks earlier.

Now the longest conflict in U.S. history, the Afghanistan war has taken the lives of 2,000 Americans, half of whom were killed in just the past two and a half years.

During the first nine years of the war, about 1,000 military personnel died. Then, the Obama administration decided to deploy a “surge” of new troops to the conflict, resulting in a dramatic increase in casualties since 2010.

It took only 27 months for the U.S. to experience 1,000 fatalities following the deployment of 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Of the second 1,000 who have died, 75% were Caucasian, 90% were enlisted personnel, and half were killed in either Kandahar or Helmand provinces, where the U.S. focused much of the surge in an effort to cripple the Taliban and other forces. Their average age was 26, according to The New York Times.

The U.S. Army has endured the largest number of casualties. The units hit hardest were the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, and the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, New York.

The Marine Corps unit suffering the most wounded and dead was the Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton, California.

At 128 months and counting, the Afghanistan war is the nation’s longest conflict.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

In Toll of 2,000, New Portrait of Afghan War (by James Dao and Andrew Lehren, New York Times)

mr. wonder · #**686** (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 12:03 PM

CBO And The Pentagon Are LYING - New Brown University Report Pegs The Real Cost Of Current Wars At $4 TRILLION
August 3, 2012

Here are the relevant links for this story:

The Watson Institute of Brown University Report
Home | Costs of War
Business Insider Built An Excellent 1-Page Slideshow From The Report
The Actual Cost Of America's Wars Is $2.7 Trillion Higher Than Congress Will Admit - Business Insider

Summary from Yahoo:
Yahoo

A new report out of Brown University estimates that the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq--together with the counterinsurgency efforts in Pakistan--will, all told, cost $4 trillion and leave 225,000 dead, both civilians and soldiers.

The group of economists, anthropologists, lawyers, humanitarian personnel, and political scientists involved in the project estimated that the cost of caring for the veterans injured in the wars will reach $1 trillion in 30 or 40 years. In estimating the $4 trillion total, they did not take into account the $5.3 billion in reconstruction spending the government has promised Afghanistan, state and local contributions to veteran care, interest payments on war debt, or the costs of Medicare for veterans when they reach 65.

The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, has assessed the federal price tag for the wars at $1.8 trillion through 2021. The report says that is a gross underestimate, predicting that the government has already paid $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion.

More than 6,000 U.S. troops and 2,300 contractors have died since the wars began after Sept. 11. A staggering 550,000 disability claims have been filed with the VA as of 2010. Meanwhile, 137,000 civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq have died in the conflict. (Injuries among U.S. contractors have also not yet been made public, further complicating the calculations of cost.) Nearly 8 million people have been displaced. Check out Reuters' factbox breaking down the costs and casualties here.

mr. wonder · #**687** (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 12:05 PM

Hundreds of millions wasted in Afghan reconstruction projects, finds report
August 3, 2012

Source: BCC

Money on Fire

Hundreds of millions of US taxpayer dollars may have been wasted on poorly managed infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, a report to Congress says.

John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction, found that project "planning, co-ordination and execution" had been weak.

Security costs were likely to rise in the short-term, he added, as private companies hand over to Afghan forces.

The quarterly report released on Monday also found that several construction projects were so far behind schedule that they were unlikely to be completed before US troops leave the country.
'Extraordinary funds'

It said "a significant portion" of the US government's $400m (£254m) investment in large infrastructure projects in fiscal year 2011 alone may have been wasted because of the poor planning.
read more..
BBC News - Millions wasted in Afghan reconstruction projects, finds report

mr. wonder · #**688** (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 12:10 PM

Congressional Probe Reveals Cover-Up of “Auschwitz-Like” Conditions at U.S.-Funded Afghan Hospital
August 2, 2012

A congressional investigation has revealed a top U.S. general in Afghanistan sought to stall an investigation into abuse at a U.S.-funded hospital in Kabul that kept patients in “Auschwitz-like” conditions. Army whistleblowers revealed photographs taken in 2010, which show severely neglected, starving patients at Dawood Hospital, considered the crown jewel of the Afghan medical system where the country’s military personnel are treated. The photos show severely emaciated patients, some suffering from gangrene and maggot-infested wounds. The general accused of the cover-up is Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, one of the nation’s highest-ranking commanders in Afghanistan, who served as the commander of the $11.2-billion-a-year Afghan training program. We speak to Michael Hastings, contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and a reporter for BuzzFeed, which has been following the story closely.

Congressional Probe Reveals Cover-Up of "Auschwitz-Like" Conditions at U.S.-Funded Afghan Hospital

Congressional Probe Reveals Cover-Up of "Auschwitz-Like" Conditions at U.S.-Funded Afghan Hospital

mlurp · #**689** (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 02:28 PM

Some find posts mr.wonder, and a lot of info to read... And my

for posting them in this thread. I just hope some of the members see these. And to help with that I am going to use the scroll box to let others know you posted these 4...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. wonder

Obama Afghanistan Deaths Top Those of Bush
August 24, 2012

Sgt. Louis R. Torres of Oberlin, Ohio, died August 22, 2012, of injuries sustained by an explosive device in Kandahar two weeks earlier.

Now the longest conflict in U.S. history, the Afghanistan war has taken the lives of 2,000 Americans, half of whom were killed in just the past two and a half years.

During the first nine years of the war, about 1,000 military personnel died. Then, the Obama administration decided to deploy a “surge” of new troops to the conflict, resulting in a dramatic increase in casualties since 2010.

It took only 27 months for the U.S. to experience 1,000 fatalities following the deployment of 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Of the second 1,000 who have died, 75% were Caucasian, 90% were enlisted personnel, and half were killed in either Kandahar or Helmand provinces, where the U.S. focused much of the surge in an effort to cripple the Taliban and other forces. Their average age was 26, according to The New York Times.

The U.S. Army has endured the largest number of casualties. The units hit hardest were the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, and the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, New York.

The Marine Corps unit suffering the most wounded and dead was the Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton, California.

At 128 months and counting, the Afghanistan war is the nation’s longest conflict.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

In Toll of 2,000, New Portrait of Afghan War (by James Dao and Andrew Lehren, New York Times)

Great posts mr.wonder, I had wished you would have posted a link to this one though.

mlurp · #**690** (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 04:06 PM

we got another top enemy, yet his replacement is already in the fight. And as mr.wonders post show this longest war we have had has it roots in our MIC.
Because our Generals study Sun Tzu on the Art of War The Oldest Military Treatise in the World. Before they make it to being Generals, yet they defy the wisdon with in it, thats how this war has drgged on for so long.

As I have said before it is Viet-Nam all over again. Where another top General, Westmoreland, tried to defy the logic and in the end we lost it. As we left without any Honor.

And in the end here the same BS will happen as it did in Iraq. But this time Pakistan might become involved to deeply and that will cost them to. Knowing when to back it up is wisdom seldom used..

Quote:

.Afghanistan says Badruddin Haqqani is dead

By HEIDI VOGT and RAHIM FAIEZ | Associated Press – 1 hr 24 mins ago.

Associated Press/ Ishtiaq Mahsud, File - FILE -- In this Sunday Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, a Pakistani Taliban militant holds a rocket-propelled grenade at the Taliban stronghold of Shawal, in Pakistani tribal …more

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani network was been killed in an airstrike in Pakistan, Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Sunday, providing the first public confirmation of rumors that have been swirling for days about the key member of a militant group the U.S. considers one of the most dangerous in the region.

The Taliban rejected reports of Badruddin Haqqani's death, however, saying that he was alive and well in Afghanistan.

Haqqani's death would be a serious blow to the organization founded by his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani. The group, which has ties to both the Taliban and al-Qaida, has been blamed for a series of high-profile attacks and kidnappings in Afghanistan, particularly in and around the capital city of Kabul, and poses perhaps the biggest threat to stability in the country.

Shafiqullah Tahiri, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security intelligence agency, said Haqqani was killed last week in an airstrike in Pakistan. He did not provide any further details, and would not say what information the agency's operatives were basing their conclusion on.

U.S. officials have declined comment on the reports.

But Tahiri's account is similar to one provided Saturday by a senior Taliban leader who said Haqqani was killed in a drone strike. It also hews closely to a version provided by Pakistani officials who said Saturday that they were 90 percent sure the militant commander was killed in a missile attack Tuesday in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region.

The Taliban, who are closely allied with the Haqqani network, rejected all reports of Haqqani's death.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said Haqqani is alive and in good health in Afghanistan.

"A number of media have reported that Badruddin Haqqani has been killed. We would like to inform all media that this rumor is not correct," Mujahid said in the email to reporters late Saturday. "Badruddin Haqqani is in the country and is occupied with his operational responsibilities. He is alive and healthy. The rumor about him being killed is more propaganda of the enemy."

In a telephone call with The Associated Press on Sunday Mujahid again maintained that Haqqani was alive.

The territory where the American drone strikes generally occur are in Pakistan's remote and dangerous tribal regions, making it difficult for reporters or others to verify a particular person's death. And the U.S. does not comment publicly on its drone program, which is widely reviled by the Pakistani public and has been a source of tension with Islamabad.

The al-Qaida-allied Haqqani tribe runs a mafia-like smuggling operation and occasionally turns to terrorism with the aim of controlling its territory in eastern Afghanistan. The Haqqanis use Pakistani towns to plan, train and arm themselves with guns and explosives, cross into Afghanistan to attack NATO and Afghan forces, then retreat back across the border to safety.

Badruddin is considered a vital part of the Haqqani structure and is believed to have played an active role in kidnappings, extortion and high-profile operations in Afghanistan. Tahiri said that Haqqani's responsibilities included arranging foreign suicide bombers, maintaining relations with other insurgent groups, recruiting Pakistani Taliban fighters for the Haqqani group and overseeing operations in southeastern Afghanistan and in Kabul.

"He was the mastermind of the organized suicide attacks in Kabul," Tahiri said, referring to a number of high-profile strikes in the Afghan capital targeting everything from hotels to Western embassies. Every time there has been a highly complex attack in Kabul involving coordination between multiple insurgents, American officials have pointed the finger at the Haqqanis.

In the latest such attack in June, gunmen stormed a lakeside hotel outside of Kabul and opened fire on Afghans having dinner, killing 18 people. The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan quickly attributed the attack to the Haqqani network, which has long operated as a sort of arm of the Taliban in the eastern part of the country.

Still, there are likely people waiting in the wings to replace Badruddin, said former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, now an opposition leader.

"They are going to find another person to replace him. What I know is that his elder brother, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is playing a larger role in the Haqqani network," Saleh said in an interview on Afghanistan's Tolo television. He said until the group's ability to operate across Afghanistan and Pakistan is limited, "killing their commanders or leaders will have its effect, but not that large of an effect."

The U.S. State Department has designated Badruddin, along with his father and brothers — Nasiruddin and Sirajuddin — as terrorists. The State Department said in May 2011 that Badruddin sits on the Miram Shah Shura, a group that controls all Haqqani network activities and coordinates attacks in southeastern Afghanistan.

Badruddin is also believed to have been responsible for the 2008 kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde, the department said.

After their father effectively retired in 2005, Badruddin and his brother Sirajuddin expanded the network into kidnapping and extortion, both highly profitable for the organization, according to a recent report by the West Point, N.Y.-based Combating Terrorism Center. Afghan intelligence authorities have released intercepts of Badruddin orchestrating an attack against the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in 2011, the CTC said.

The U.S. has long viewed the Haqqani network as one of the biggest threats to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well as the country's long term stability. The group has shown little interest in negotiating with the Washington, and has pulled off some of the highest-profile and most complex attacks in Afghanistan, although not necessarily the most deadly.

___

Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana in Islamabad and Anwarullah Khan in Khar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Afghanistan says Badruddin Haqqani is dead - Yahoo! News

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