The Command Post
Global War on Terror
August 22, 2005
Winds of War: Aug 22/05

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

  • JK: Meanwhile, here’s some good news from Afghnistan. No, not Chrenkoff - but worthy. Just one of the good folks we’re working with to keep these briefings going after Arthur Chrenkoff retires.

Other Topics Today Include:
Turkey holding Zarqawi confederate?; AQ chief in Saudi killed (yes, again); Putin flirts with Jordan; US permanent troop presence in Iraq details; US teams up with 4 countries against MS-13; NYPD & its Middle Eastern employees; ACLU whining; Arab Bank fined; two states of emergency along the border with Mexico; US shopping mall security learns from the Israelis; US mediates release of hundreds of POWs in Morocco; Mugabe tottering; how Binnie got da Bomb; 27 terrorist training camps in Pak sez India; JI US embassy truck-bomb plot thwarted; UK wrings hands as terrorists broadcast demoralizing messages inciting the death of its soldiers in Iraq-from their UK facilities!; IRA doings; UK appoints fox to guard hens; secret spilled; Bakri and Little Bakri still in the news and mucho mucho more…

Read the Rest….

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August 09, 2005
Good News From Afghanistan: 9 August 2005

Note: Also available from “The Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. To James Taranto, Joe Katzman, and all of you who support the series, as always, many thanks.

Recently, a group of talented young Afghans found themselves abroad as great ambassadors for their country – for both good and bad reasons:

Four young Afghan students did more than merely stun their competitors when they came away with some of the top prizes at an international mathematics competition held recently in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They also changed how students from 22 other countries perceive Afghanistan.

Ahmad Mustafa Naseri and Mustafa Naseri, both 17 (and unrelated), students at the Turkish-run Afghan-Turk School in Kabul, won gold medals while Omid Sadiqyar and Mohammad Rafi Firoz, also 17 and students at a similar school in the northern Shiberghan province, were awarded silver medals following a day-long algebra competition in May.

Ahmad Mustafa said that while he was proud of his gold medal, he was saddened to discover that students from other countries thought of Afghanistan only as the home of terrorism, drugs production and internecine conflict.

“One competitor from Australia told me, ‘I was very surprised that Afghans were taking part in this competition – we always hear that Afghanistan is a major drug producer and a country for terrorists who are always fighting one another,’ ” said Ahmad Mustafa.

But now, Ahmad Mustafa said, the Australian promised to return home and talk of the talented and brave Afghans he had met.

The Australian student is not alone – the negative image of Afghanistan is quite widespread, as the latest Harris Poll shows:

While the U.S. public has been paying a fair amount of attention to the situation in Iraq, they have not been paying as much attention to Afghanistan. However, when asked specifically about the situation in Afghanistan, U.S. adults, on the whole, feel quite negative about the prospects for success.

Sadly, there simply aren’t enough gifted math students in Afghanistan to send abroad to unmake the negative image of their country being perpetrated by the Western media. Focusing almost exclusively on drugs and violence might make for exciting news, but it does great disservice both to the people of Afghanistan, who already have to work under great disadvantages to turn around one of the most impoverished nations on earth, but also to the international public, on whose strong support the Afghans are relying to rebuild their country.

Below, the past four weeks’ worth of stories from the other Afghanistan.

Posted by Winds of Change at 06:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 18, 2005
Monday Winds of War: July 18/05

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

  • DHS Secretary Chertoff announced plans to centralize intelligence and terror analysis, prioritize bioterrorism, and improve WMD detection systems for public transportation. The chain of command is being shaken up extensively as well. Controversially, a split-up of FEMA, the federal emergency management, preparedness and disaster response agency, is also in the cards. The department’s Emergency Preparedness Directorate may be dismantled.
  • Australia is stepping up with 150 SAS special forces troops for the Afghanistan mission in the Global War on Terror. This is up from its current troop deployment level of one (there was previously a larger contingent, later withdrawn). It may also send a 200-person provincial reconstruction team later. More.

Other Topics Today Include:
US wags finger at Iran; Iran thumbs nose at US; new bunker-busters to be tested soon; Israel could be destroyed by two nukes; targeted assassinations to resume; Syria blockading Lebanon; Chavez training 2 million; VA life sentence; Canadian sleeper cell; border, ferry worries; Colombia paramilitary disarmament plan; threat to NJ hospitals; cyanide plotter competent for trial; Lodi deportations; gas station robber/convert to Islam had target list of military, Jewish facilities in US; LRA rebels killed by Ugandans; Russia inflaming Ivory Coast situation; Norks come back to 6-way yak; Thai headchoppers headstrong; copious London bombing developments coverage; Italian sweep; Ireland home to a Qaeda cell; anarchists create entropy; Saudi wallets wide open for the terrorists; DIY splodeydopery; FBI whingeing discredited and much, much more…

Read the Rest…

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July 11, 2005
Good News from Afghanistan: 11 July 2005

Note: Also available from “The Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. As always, many thanks to James Taranto, Joe Katzman and all of you for your continuing support. Please also note that as this segment would have normally appeared last Monday but for the Independence Day weekend, it contains stories from the past five, and not the usual four, weeks.

In the early days of this series, I noted a story of three Afghan exchange students coming to Florida to learn about life in America. Now, year later, they are going back to their homeland:

Abdulahad Barak, Abdulahad Fazil and Khushal Rasoli joined Floridians and other Americans in a year punctuated by hurricanes, holidays and a presidential election focused largely on a U.S. war against a Muslim country. They watched as American media covered Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Afghanistan. They jumped on rides at Universal Studios, Disney World and Busch Gardens, and volunteered to help victims of nature’s wrath. Barak even got a chance to meet the president.

And they taught as much as they learned, helping Americans of other religions, or no religion, understand a little more about what it’s like to be a Sunni Muslim so far from home.

“I thought Christians here would be mostly against Muslim people,” said Barak, 16, who attended Coral Glades High School in Coral Springs. “But they have too much respect for Muslim people.”

He didn’t mean it quite that way. Barak knew very little English when he arrived last August as part of the Youth Exchange and Studies Program, coordinated by the State Department and World Link, an Iowa-based nonprofit group. He sometimes says “too much” when what he really means is “a lot.” But his English has improved dramatically, thanks to spending time with a South Florida family, in a South Florida school with American friends.

“There’s too much freedom here, about everything,” he said. “How they dress, where they go, wherever they want. They can’t do these things in other countries.”

Back home, the three want to pursue careers where they can help their fellow countrymen and women: doctor, pediatrician, and politician. “The three said they were most amazed by the U.S. presidential election, watching George W. Bush defending his record in televised debates against challenger John Kerry. The thought that it was even possible for a world leader to be deposed without violence was new to them.”

It’s just one of many things they will take home with them. Says Barak: “It was the first time we have ever seen an election… It was good to see people choosing their own leader.” And Rasoli adds: “I know when I go back that people are going to say bad things about America, about Jews and Christians… I am going to tell them no. They are wrong. It is not like that.”

Perhaps we need more exchanges to build in longer-term real understanding of our two cultures and societies. In the meantime, however, since we can’t all swap places with a family in Kabul for a month or two, it would be good to have comprehensive and balanced media reporting to build a clear picture of realities, challenges, and successes, and not just disjointed series of glimpses when something goes wrong. Below are the last five weeks’ worth of stories from Afghanistan that you might have missed.

Posted by Winds of Change at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 10, 2005
Taliban Execute Six Afghan Police
Six Afghan policemen have been beheaded after an ambush by suspected Taleban guerrillas, Afghan officials have said.

Four other police died and more were wounded when a 30-man convoy was caught in a two-hour gun battle in the southern province of Helmand.

The six police were seized and taken away. They were later found beheaded on a roadside after a lengthy search.

Read more…

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July 04, 2005
Second Missing U.S. Soldier Found

Reuters reports that a second American soldier missing in Afghanistan for the past week has been located:

The governor of Kunar, Assadullah Wafa, told Reuters Afghan forces received information on Sunday night that a wounded American was being treated by villagers in a remote mountainous part of the province:

“Our troops are trying to reach the place,” he said. “Villagers have him and are treating him for wounds. But the soldier has not been handed over as yet.

“He is safe and there is no danger to his life. This is a very difficult terrain — big trees and mountains.”

Wafa said the soldier was in the same area as that where a U.S. helicopter sent to rescue the troops was shot down by militants last Tuesday, killing all 16 U.S. Special Forces soldiers aboard.

From California Yankee.

Posted by Dan Spencer at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 03, 2005
Missing U.S. Soldier Rescued In Afghanistan

CNN reports that a member of the U.S. special operations reconnaissance team missing in Afghanistan since Tuesday has been rescued.

From California Yankee.

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July 02, 2005
US Planes Bomb Taliban Compound
American fighter planes have bombed a suspected Taleban hideout in the same area of eastern Afghanistan where US servicemen are missing, officials say.

A senior Afghan official told the BBC 25 people had been killed in two air raids on a house in Chechal village.

US military spokesman Lt Col Jerry O’Hara told the AP news agency: “We conducted an air strike on a target we deemed we had to hit immediately.”

He said the target was an “enemy compound” in Kunar province.

Lt Col O’Hara said the attack was carried out with precision-guided weapons on a target that was “intelligence driven”.

Read more…

Posted by Michele at 05:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 01, 2005
Team of U.S. Soldiers Missing in Afghanistan
A small team of U.S. soldiers was still missing Friday in the same mountains in eastern Afghanistan where a special forces helicopter was shot down earlier this week, and U.S. forces are using “every available asset” to find them, a U.S. military spokesman said.

The MH-47 Chinook helicopter — with 16 people on board who all died in the crash — had gone into the mountains Tuesday to “extract the soldiers.” The team on the ground has been missing since the chopper was downed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara said.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, meanwhile, claimed the rebels had captured a U.S. soldier in the area, near the town of Asadabad, close to the Pakistani border.

“One high-ranking American has been captured in fighting in the same area as the helicopter went down,” he told The Associated Press. “I won’t give you any more details now.”

Reacting to the claim, O’Hara said, “We have no proof or evidence indicating anything other than the soldiers are missing.”


Read more…

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June 30, 2005
Red Wing Down: The Afghan Chopper Crash

US forces suffered a tragic blow in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. A MH-47 Night Stalker was shot down while conducting a support mission for a special operations observation team working in the mountains at about 10,000 feet above sea level, alone in perhaps the most harsh and dangerous territory on the planet. The MH-47 serves in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and is a specialized helicopter designed for “overt and covert infiltrations, exfiltrations, air assault, resupply, and sling operations over a wide range of environmental conditions.”

The ground team came under heavy fire from al Qaeda/Taliban fighters and called for assistance. Reports indicate the crew of the Night Stalker and a Navy SEAL squad been lost after being shot down with an RPG, however ROFASix reports the likely culprit was an SA-16 Gimlet, an advanced Russian made surface to air weapon. Matt Heidt from Froggy Ruminations states “this would be the largest casualty incident in SEAL Team history.” The impact is felt in Rev. Donald Sensing’s home town.

The crash site has been secured, and the BBC is reporting the bodies of 13 Americans have been recovered. The special operations ground team is also unaccounted for at this time. An A-10 Thunderbolt and Predator drone provided air support at the crash site until the relief mission could be conducted.

The composition of the forces lost tells us plenty about the mission.

Read the Rest…

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Updates on Chopper Crash

While the statement was not definitive, the military said they did not expect to find survivors at the crash site. The crash would be the deadliest blow yet to American forces in Afghanistan
  • Afghan Insurgent Fire Seen as Causing U.S. Copter Crash
Military officials said Wednesday that it appeared that an American Chinook helicopter that crashed Tuesday in Afghanistan was brought down by hostile fire as it was landing during combat in a mountainous border area.
Posted by Michele at 08:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 29, 2005
Fate of 17 Us Troops in Afghan Crash Unclear
A U.S. military helicopter crashed during an anti-guerrilla mission in eastern Afghanistan after being hit by ground fire and the fate of 17 U.S. troops aboard was not known, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

The twin-rotor Chinook crashed in remote and mountainous Kunar province on Tuesday afternoon while bringing troops to reinforce soldiers on the ground carrying out an anti-al Qaeda operation, it said.

The aircraft received direct and indirect fire as it was approaching its landing zone and crashed about 1-2 km (half to one mile) away, said U.S. military spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts.

“Whether or not that caused it to crash, we do not know yet,” he told a regular news briefing.

Yonts said he did not know the fate of those aboard and declined to provide more details on the grounds that fighting was continuing in the area against a “very determined enemy.”

“We do have a large force engaging that enemy and at the same time we are trying to care for our servicemen that were on the aircraft,” he said.

Kunar Governor Asadullah Wafa said the helicopter was hit by a rocket and a spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, claimed the guerrillas shot down the aircraft in the village of Shorak using “a new type of weapon” he did not describe.

Read more…

Posted by Michele at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 25, 2005
Another 76 Insurgents Killed In Afghan Fighting

The Associated Press reports that Afghan forces have found the bodies of another 76 Taliban fighters:

The new fatalities bring the death toll to 178 from fighting in the Miana Shien district of Kandahar province since Tuesday, ministry spokesman Zahir Marad said.

“Our forces have collected the bodies of 76 more rebels from the battlefield,” he said. Marad said he had not received any reports from Afghan army commanders as to whether the fighting was still continuing.

Two Taliban commanders, Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Brader, are still believed to be surrounded in the mountainous region.

From California Yankee.

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June 23, 2005
Senior Taliban Commanders Hunted In Afghan Fighting

Reuters reports that Afghan forces are closing in on a number of senior Taliban commanders in southwestern Afghanistan:

The commanders included Mullah Dadullah, a member of the Taliban’s 10-man leadership council headed by elusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, and Mullah Brother another commander thought close to Omar, a Defence Ministry spokesman said

“Mullah Brother, Mullah Dadullah, Mullah Abdul Hakim, Mullah Abdul Hanan and Mullah Abdul Basir are in that area,” Mohammad Ishaq Paiman said. “The operation is ongoing.”

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said it appeared the guerrillas had been building up strength to launch attacks on the main southern city of Kandahar and elsewhere ahead of Afghanistan’s September 18 elections.

From California Yankee.

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Over 100 Insurgents Killed In Afghan Fighting

Something is going on in Afghanistan.

The Associated Press reports that more than100 insurgents have been killed in three days of fighting in Southern Afghanistan:

“A total of 102 Taliban have been killed since the fighting started on Tuesday,” Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Marad said, 26 more than were reported on Wednesday evening. “These deaths will have a huge impact on the rebels. Many are trying to flee. But we have them surrounded.”

[. . .]

Gen. Salim Khan, commander of 400 Afghan policemen who took part in the fighting, said the insurgents had been hit hard.

“Their camps were decimated. Bodies lay everywhere. Heavy machine guns and AK-47s were scattered alongside blankets, kettles and food,” he told The Associated Press. “Some of the Taliban were also killed in caves where they were hiding and U.S. helicopters came and pounded them.”

American AC-130 gunships, AH-64 Apache helicopters, A-10 attack planes and Harrier jump jets bombarded the rebels and had a “devastating effect on their forces,” said another U.S. spokesman, Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara.

From California Yankee.

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June 20, 2005
Afghanistan Foils Plot to Kill U.S. Ambassador

The Associated Press reports that Afghan intelligence officials thwarted a plot to assassinate U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad:

Three Pakistani men armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles, were arrested in the Qarghayi district of Laghman province on Sunday, just 150 feet from where Khalilzad had planned to inaugurate a road with Afghanistan’s interior minister, the officials told The Associated Press.

[. . .]

Khalilzad canceled his appearance at the road opening at the last minute and was never in danger, the official said. The interior minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, also canceled his appearance.

From California Yankee.

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June 06, 2005
Good News from Afghanistan: 6 June 2005

Note: Also available from “The Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. As always, thanks to James Taranto, Joe Katzman, and all of you for continuing support. Please also note that because of the Memorial Day weekend, the publication of this “Good news” has been postponed, so it now contains the news for the past five, and not the usual four, weeks.

Over the last few weeks, Afghanistan has been in the news again - unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. The media pack has made a brief re-appearance in Afghanistan to report on carefully staged “spontaneous” riots, which briefly erupted around the country, ostensibly in protest over a report in “Newsweek” (later retracted) about desecration of Koran by the American military personnel at Guantanamo Bay.

Sadly, in the rush of commentary about Afghanistan’s slide into anarchy and America’s deteriorating position in Kabul, most of the international media again missed or downplayed many other stories, some of them arguably far more consequential than an anti-government rampage whipped up by opponents of President Karzai. Take this story, for example:

A crowd of 600 Afghan clerics gathered in front of an historic mosque yesterday to strip the fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar of his claim to religious authority, in a ceremony that provided a significant boost to the presidency of Hamid Karzai.

The declaration, signed by 1,000 clerics from across the country, is an endorsement of the US-backed programme of reconciliation with more moderate elements of the Taliban movement that Karzai has been pursuing ahead of the country’s first parliamentary elections, due in September.

Symbolically, the ulema shura, or council of clerics, was held at the Blue Mosque in the southern city of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban movement.

At the same venue in 1996 the Taliban leader held up a cloak said to belong to the Prophet Mohammed, which is kept in a shrine in the mosque. He was proclaimed Amir ul-Mumineen or Leader of Muslims by the same clerical body, one of the few occasions the title has been granted anywhere in the Islamic world in the modern era.

This important gathering and its implications were reported by only a handful of news outlets around the world - in stark contrast to the news several days later about the assassination at the hands of the Taliban of the head of the council and the suicide bombing at the historic mosque during his funeral, which appeared through hundreds of media outlets around the world.

Faced with this sort of media coverage, President Karzai expressed his exasperation during his recent visit in the United States: “Sometimes - rather often - neither our press, nor your press, nor the press in the rest of the world will pick up the miseries of the Afghans three years ago and what has been achieved since then, until today.”

Below, then, the last five weeks’ worth of stories that were yet again completely overshadowed by terrorism and violence.

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May 02, 2005
Afghan Arms Dump Explosion Kills 28
A hidden weapons cache exploded in northern Afghanistan on Monday, killing 28 people and injuring more than 70, officials said.

The weapons were stored in Bashgah, a village in Baghlan province 75 miles north of Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal said. The cause of the blast was not known.

“It’s damaged the whole village, including the mosque and six houses,” Mashal said.

Read more…

Posted by Michele at 09:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Good News from Afghanistan: 2 May 2005

Note: Also available at the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. Big thanks, as always, to James Taranto, Joe Katzman, and everyone else supporting this project.

Sometimes, a simple story can better encapsulate the essence of a situation than dozens of learned articles and reports. This is one such story:

They practice on concrete rather than on grass, and their kit is far from uniform, but Afghanistan’s premier women’s football team is looking forward to making history this summer when it plays its first international match.

Even before they step onto the pitch at the Banuwan women’s competition in Iran in August, the women of Kabul Selected will have overcome more obstacles than most athletes.

The team has been playing in organised leagues for a little more than a year. When they began, most training took place behind closed doors. While they still lack the amenities available to male players, the best players from the capital’s 12 girls’ teams have moved into the open.

The team is now practicing next to the grass pitch of Kabul Athletic Stadium, where the Taliban used to conduct their public executions - making one wonder whether, perhaps, God is a woman, after all.

Just as it reveals the triumphs, the story also illustrates the challenges facing Afghanistan and its people: lingering discrimination and the need to maintain the struggle against ingrained conservative attitudes, lack of resources and an all too slow flow of foreign assistance. But positive development should not be overshadowed by negativity; Afghanistan has had enough of it for the past quarter of a century. The difference now is the unparalleled range of opportunities opening to Afghans, and the fact that with some much needed and generous help they are starting to make the better tomorrow happen. Below are some of their stories from the past month.

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April 06, 2005
Chopper Crash Kills at Least 16 in Afghanistan [Updated]
A U.S. military helicopter crashed in bad weather in southeast Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, including four American crew members, the military said.

An Afghan police official said the death toll could be higher, and that all aboard appeared to be American, but the U.S. military would not confirm that or give the nationalities of the passengers.

Bad weather appeared to have caused the crash of the Chinook helicopter near Ghazni city, 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore told The Associated Press.

Read more…

Update: Latest reports say 16 dead, including four American crew.

Posted by Michele at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 04, 2005
Good News from Afghanistan: 4 April 2005

Note: Also available at the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. Many thanks, as always, to James Taranto and Joe Katzman for their support for this ongoing project, and to all of you fellow readers and bloggers who continue to assist and publicize it.

Like Grinch who stole Christmas, Taliban in their days had banned the popular holiday of Nowroz, the first day of the Afghan year. A few weeks ago, people all around Afghanistan got the chance to celebrate, for the fourth time in their free country, a new beginning. “The new year arrived with snows and rains. May it be full of peace and security as well,” Allah Mohammad, a resident of Kabul, had expressed a popular sentiment.

Considering how much snow fell on Afghanistan this winter, wishing for an equal bounty of peace, security, and prosperity might be somewhat optimistic. But even a moderate precipitation of good and stable government and economic growth will guarantee that this war-shattered, impoverished and traumatized country continues its slow and often painful - yet at the same time very inspiring - ascent from the nightmare of its past twenty-five years of history.

Below are some snapshots from that journey that no longer attracts much media attention, but one that, nonetheless, matters a lot not only to the Afghans themselves but also all those around the world who believe in the redeeming power of freedom.

Posted by Winds of Change at 02:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 14, 2005
Monday Winds of War: March 14/05

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report today.

Today’s Winds of War briefing is brought to you by Bill Roggio of the fourth rail and evariste of Discarded Lies.

Top Topics

Other Topics Today Include:

  • Iranian nuclear games: Roulette; Fun in Palestine; Nour free at last; Legitimizing Hezbollah?; The Homeland update; Aryans hearts Islamists; The Blind Sheikh still can speak to his flock; GPSC thinks big; The Nigerian Time-bomb; JI heart MILF; China hearts hates Taiwan; Khan!!!!!!; The dangers of outsourcing, to the Indians; New sheriff in Chechnya; A variety of European failures on the policing front; Kofi hearts Hezbollah; UN Peacekeepers heart Rape; Terrorist marketing strategies; and much, much more…

Read the Rest…

Posted by Winds of Change at 07:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 07, 2005
Good news from Afghanistan, 7 March 2005

Also available from the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. Many thanks to James Taranto, Joe Katzman, and all of you readers and fellow bloggers for your help with the series. Send tips to goodnewsafghanistan, here @windsofchange.net

“Before my arrival in Virginia in August of last year, I had never slept in my own bedroom, attended school with boys, or gone out in public without covering my hair. I never thought I’d come to the USA. The odds were against me: Most people from Afghanistan have never traveled outside its borders,” writes Ghizal Miri, a 15-year old Afghan woman who is one of the forty high school students spending a year in the United States under a scholarship program.

In her letter (“Thanks, America, for sowing seeds of freedom in my Afghanistan”) to the local newspaper in a community where she currently lives, Miri recounts her personal odyssey, contemplates her dreams and opportunities, and also writes about the progress at home since the overthrow of the Taliban regime: “Believe it or not, my country has made great advances toward improvement. Most people in the U.S. do not hear of these advances, however. I’m not saying that problems don’t exist or that everyone’s happy. Security, drugs, organized crime, corruption, and poverty are still in Afghanistan, but significant advances have been made over the past three years to improve things.”

As Afghanistan falls off the media map of the world, here is the snapshot of the previous month’s efforts by the Afghan people to rebuild their lives and their country.

Posted by Winds of Change at 02:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 07, 2005
Good News from Afghanistan: 7 February 2005

Note: Also available at the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. Thanks to James Taranto and Joe Katzman for the continuing support and to all of you who make this project worthwhile through your readership, feedback, linkage and publicity.

There are signs that the drought which has gripped Afghanistan for the past several years might be finally breaking. “In the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, about 3 1/4 inches of rain fell in Kandahar over a two-day period… Rainfall for December was four times the normal amount for the month… North of Kandahar Air Base, the Tamak River rose so high the water was nearly touching the bottom of the main bridge leading into town. Meanwhile, near Kabul, rainwater filled some smaller streams that are usually bone-dry this time of year.”

According to Khoshhal Murad, a United Nations interpreter in Kabul, Afghans are saying “this is a sign from God.”

“When the Taliban were in power, Murad said, some of its leaders grew so frustrated by the drought they randomly rounded up dozens of people, drove them into the desert and demanded they pray for rain. It didn’t come. ‘You can’t force people to pray,’ Murad said. ‘They should have gone out in the desert themselves.’

“Murad said his father told him this is the most rain he has seen in more than 30 years.”

The drought has broken throughout Afghanistan - both literally and metaphorically. As Kim Hart of the “American Journalism Review” writes, “with the establishment of a new government and building of infrastructure, a continuing U.S. military presence and the hunt for terrorists, Afghanistan is rife with stories of long-term consequence.” Unfortunately, as Hart notes, there’s hardly anyone left in Afghanistan to report it:

“Once a journalism hot spot, Afghanistan was all but left behind when the media’s spotlight turned to the conflict in Iraq. In June/July 2003, [the “American Journalism Review”] reported that only a handful of reporters remained in the struggling country on a full-time basis, while other news organizations floated correspondents in and out when time and resources permitted.

“A year and a half later, Afghanistan has become even more of an afterthought. Only two news organizations—Newsweek and the Washington Post—have full-time reporters stationed in Kabul, the capital. Other major newspapers, such as the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, rely on stringers in Afghanistan and correspondents based in New Delhi, India, to cover the region, a stark contrast to the hundreds of reporters pouring into Iraq since the war began. The New York Times uses a stringer, albeit a full-time one. Television networks have nearly disappeared.”

As the old saying goes, all dressed up and nowhere to go. Just when after decades of bloodshed and despair Afghanistan is finally getting back on its feet the media has already moved off to cover another crisis and another quagmire somewhere else - perhaps in Iraq. But as citizens of countries whose servicemen and women have liberated Afghanistan from under the Taliban yoke and which continue to participate in rebuilding of the country, we deserve to be told when all that blood, sweat and money is bringing good results. Below are the last month’s stories from Afghanistan that you might have missed.

Posted by Winds of Change at 06:29 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 10, 2005
Good News from Afghanistan, Jan 10/05

Note: Also available at the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. Thanks to James Taranto and Joe Katzman for their support for this project, and thanks to readers and bloggers who have done so much to publicize the series and make it better.

Stephen Hayes from “The Weekly Standard”, who has traveled to Afghanistan to witness the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai, quotes from the speech by the country’s first democratically elected leader:

Whatever we have achieved in Afghanistan—the peace, the election, the reconstruction, the life that the Afghans are living today in peace, the children going to school, the businesses, the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community—is from the help that the United States of America gave us. Without that help Afghanistan would be in the hands of terrorists—destroyed, poverty-stricken, and without its children going to school or getting an education. We are very, very grateful, to put it in the simple words that we know, to the people of the United States of America for bringing us this day.

Sounds familiar? It shouldn’t. As Hayes writes, “Sadly, most Americans never heard these words. Gratitude, it seems, is not terribly newsworthy. Neither is democracy. The Washington Post played Karzai’s inauguration on page A-13, a placement that suggested it was relatively less important than Eliot Spitzer’s decision to run for governor of New York or the decision of the U.S. government to import flu vaccine from Germany.” As columnist Charles Krauthammer commented on the mainstream media’s reaction to the inauguration, “Miracle begets yawn.”

Yet, ironically, one of the most comprehensive and most optimistic overviews of the tremendous progress achieved in Afghanistan over the past three years comes, of all places, from an official Chinese press agency Xinhua (just consider the surreal picture of Chinese newsmen celebrating democratic election and defeat of “anti-US” Taliban). If you want to read the “good news from Afghanistan” in one short, sharp piece, go Xinhua; if you are after more detail about all the positive - and under-reported, yawn-inducing - developments in Afghanistan over the past month, read on.

Posted by Winds of Change at 12:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 14, 2004
Taliban Security Chief Captured

From Reuters via The Australian :

Afghan security forces have captured Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar’s personal security chief as he travelled in a van to the southern city of Kandahar, provincial officials said today.

The capture of Toor Mullah Naqibullah Khan, who headed Mullah Omar’s household security during his time in power, could help US and Afghan forces track down his boss, one of the most wanted fugitives in the US-led war on terror.

Osama bin Laden, who ran his al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban, is also believed to be at large in the area.

We have arrested top Taliban figures Toor Mullah Naqibullah Khan and Mullah Qayoom Angar on the way between Arghandab and Kandahar,” a senior Kandahar security official who requested anonymity said.

They were carrying a satellite telephone and some important documents.

“We are hopeful we will arrest more Taliban figures and we hope that we can arrest their leader, Mullah Omar.
[…]
With the latest capture, security forces have picked up 19 militants since Saturday night, including the brother of a former Taliban governor of Kandahar.
[…]
They were picked up following a tip-off from a Taliban insider, a security official said.

Posted by Alan Brain at 09:32 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 13, 2004
Good News from Afghanistan, Dec 13/04

Note: Also available from the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. As always, big thank you James Taranto and Joe Katzman for their support in publicizing the good news - and to all of you who read it, link it, and pass it on.

A few days ago, hundreds of Afghan leaders and some 150 foreign dignitaries, including the Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, got to witness a historic event; the swearing in of Afghanistan’s first democratically elected president, Hamid Karzai:

Wearing a black lambskin hat and traditional striped silk coat over his shoulders, Mr. Karzai took his oath before the aging former king, Zaher Shah. The president himself then swore in his two vice presidents, Ahmed Zia Massoud and Mohammed Karim Khalili, who represent the two largest ethnic minorities, the Tajiks and the Shia Hazaras, after Karzai’s own ethnic group, the Pashtuns.

“We have now left a hard and dark past behind us, and today we are opening a new chapter in our history, in a spirit of friendship with the international community,” said Karzai in his inauguration speech, switching between Pashto and Dari, Afghanistan’s two main languages.

The irony of the situation, if irony is indeed the correct word, is that the country that only three years ago was still ruled by the most dictatorial and backward of regimes can now claim to have one of the few democratically elected leaders in the whole region. Electing a president, of course, is only a start; great many challenges remain for this impoverished and war-scarred country. How much still remains to be done to improve security, eradicate the scourge of drugs, and rebuild the physical and human infrastructure should not blind us to how much has already been achieved in the three years since the overthrow of the Taliban regime - indeed, how much continues to be achieved every day throughout Afghanistan, for most part out of the media spotlight. Below is a snapshot of the past month’s unsung efforts to face and meet the challenges.

Posted by Winds of Change at 12:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 30, 2004
Plane Wreckage Found in Afghanistan, Bodies Recovered

See previous story here.


Rescuers found the wreckage of a missing plane used by the U.S. Air Force and recovered the bodies of several Americans who were aboard when it crashed in snow-covered mountains over the weekend, Afghan police said Tuesday.

The transport plane, which was carrying three U.S. soldiers and three American crew members, was located southeast of Bamiyan in the heart of the Hindu Kush mountains, said Ghulam Mohammed, a senior police official in Bamiyan.

“They found pieces of the engine and the wheels scattered on top of Baba Mountain,” which rises to 16,600 feet and was covered in fresh snow, Mohammed said

.

Read more…

Posted by Michele at 03:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Military Plane Goes Missing Over Afghanistan
The U.S. military said Tuesday that it was searching for six Americans who were aboard an aircraft that went missing over Afghanistan (search).

It said troops and planes were scouring an area of the Hindu Kush mountains (search), from where it had received a signal from an emergency locator transmitter.

It was unclear if the missing aircraft crashed, and a spokesman for the military said officials had not given up hope of finding the three soldiers and three crew members alive.

Read more….

Posted by Michele at 04:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 25, 2004
Al-Qaeda Called To Action In Afghanistan

Agence France-Presse reports that Major General Eric Olson, second in command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, says that al-Qaeda is believed to have called its followers to action in response to the Afghan election:

“I think there now is a call out to do something to reverse the momentum that right now is going in the direction of freely elected governments,” Olson said in an interview here.

According to AFP, U.S. intelligence has found evidence of Taliban anger and disarray because of the success of the elections, which drew millions of Afghans to the polls despite the threat of insurgent attacks.

From California Yankee.

Posted by Dan Spencer at 01:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 23, 2004
Three UN Hostages In Afghanistan Freed

Well here's some good news out of Afghanistan. The three UN hostages have been released.

AP

Three U.N. workers kidnapped in Afghanistan have been released unharmed after more than three weeks in captivity, officials said Tuesday. "They are out," U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.

Officials said the three were freed overnight and were in the Afghan capital. One Western official said doctors were examining the three at a NATO field hospital in Kabul.

...

Armed men seized Philippine diplomat Angelito Nayan, British-Irish citizen Annetta Flanigan and Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo in Kabul on Oct. 28, the first such abduction in the Afghan capital since the Taliban fell three years ago.

...

News of the release came hours after U.S. and Afghan forces raided two houses in downtown Kabul on Monday and detained 10 people in connection with the abductions.

Tipped by: In The Bullpen

Other Commentary:

The Jawa Report, which has much more backstory on the terrorists, the workers and their ordeal.

Originally posted at Diggers Realm

Posted by Digger at 01:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 09, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia -stans Summary: Nov 9/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

  • A new government decree in Uzbekistan requires that all merchants must obtain new government licenses, open bank accounts, use cash registers, and sell their goods themselves. The new law would effectively eliminate much of the bazaar trading that is the lifeblood of Uzbek commerce and essential for most families to make ends meet. In response, a crowd of 10,000 rioted in Kokand, a city in the Ferghana Valley. Protesters raided a warehouse, set fire to police cars, and surrounded the mayor’s office. A smaller protest outside Ferghana city took place as women blocked a road and threatened to set themselves on fire (a very common form of suicide in Central Asia) unless officials reopened markets.

Other Topics Include: More on Uzbekistan Riots; Bush & Central Asia; Corruption High in the Region; India Follows China’s Lead; The Emptying of Tashkent; Terrorism Warning in Uzbekistan; Monitoring the Carolina Vote With Kazakhs; Saakashvili’s Honeymoon Over in Georgia; Armenia Pushes Back Iraq Deployment; Georgia Boosts Iraq Commitment and Receives Renewed US Military Assistance; Iran Tells Afghans to Go Home; Afghanistan’s Oldest Voter; Red Sox Nation’s Imperial Overstretch

Read The Rest…

Posted by Winds of Change at 07:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 23, 2004
Karzai's Lead Narrows

The Associated Press reports that Karzai still appears on course to secure a majority and avoid a run-off vote even though his share has slipped from around 60 percent to around 55 percent:

With 6.3 million, or three-fourths, of votes counted as of Saturday morning, the interim leader had 3,426,845 votes or 54.5 percent. Former Education Minister Yunus Qanooni was second with 17.3 percent.

[. . .]

“This really shows the nature of the consensus,” Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani told The Associated Press. “This is not an ethnic vote.”

Karzai has swept eastern and southern regions dominated by his fellow Pashtun tribesmen, as well as more ethnically mixed cities such as the capital Kabul, Herat in the west, and Mazar-e-Sharif in the north.

Posted by Dan Spencer at 07:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 21, 2004
Charity Looking for Help to Ship 7 Tons to Afghanistan

Master Corporal Storring is a Canadian Soldier who was deployed with the ISAF Peacekeeping force near Kabul. Project Mercury Hope is his effort to mobilize civilians to help the soldiers help the orphans of Afghanistan. I spoke with them by phone yesterday.

The problem: They have 7 tons of goods ready to go, and need to find a way to ship it to Kabul for distribution.

We’d be interested in hearing from people in the blogosphere who might have sugeestions for them, or organizations who may be able to partner with Project Mercury Hope in order to get this done. If you can help or have some suggestions, please notify us here.

Posted by Winds of Change at 02:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Nathan's Central Asia -Stans Summary: Sept 21/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

  • NATO cancelled exercises planned to take place in Azerbaijan and may have big consequences for the Azeri government. The decision was made after mounting public protest over the planned presence of Armenian officers. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are members of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, and Azerbaijan is viewed by some as a potential future member of the alliance and a potential host for a US base in the coming realignment of forces. Tensions between the two countries are related to an earlier war in which Armenians captured Nagorno-Karabakh.

Other Topics Include: Turkestan; Kazakhstan Votes; Secret Mission Removes Uzbek Uranium; “Borat” Give Kazakhstan a Bad Name; It’s Cotton Time; Japan and Korea Pursue Central Asia Partnerships; Kazakhstan Tightens Borders; Georgia, Russia, and Pankisi; Idema Sentenced; Elections Near in Afghanistan

Read The Rest…

Posted by Winds of Change at 12:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 20, 2004
Chrenkoff's Good News from Afghanistan

Note: Also available from the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff.

The third anniversary of a significant event had passed recently without much notice or commentary, not unexpectedly overshadowed by another, more prominent third anniversary. On September 9, 2001, two al Qaeda suicide bombers impersonating foreign journalists assassinated Ahmad Shah Massoud, the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. Rightly so, this event came to be seen as a prelude to S11, the opening shot in al Qaeda’s renewed offensive against the West as well as its enemies within Afghanistan.

Three years can make a huge difference. The presidential campaign in Afghanistan has officially commenced on September 7. Perhaps it would have been more symbolic had it started two days later, but the very fact that a country which for a quarter of a century has been successively ravaged by the Soviet occupation, a bloody civil war, and a theocratic dictatorship is now embarking on its very own democratic journey is an achievement in itself and a cause enough for celebration.

Getting to this point has not been easy, but Afghanistan slowly and steadily continues to achieve normalcy; mostly out of the media spotlight. Here are some stories of hope and promise that you might have missed over the last month while the mainstream media continued to focus on violence and mayhem, or not at all.

Posted by Winds of Change at 02:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 29, 2004
Explosion Kills Six In Kabul

The Associated Press reports that an explosion in the office of an American defense contractor in Kabul Sunday, killing as many as six people:

The blast hit the office of Dyncorp Inc., an American firm that provides security for Afghan President Hamid Karzai on behalf of the United States and works for the U.S. government in Iraq, said Nick Downie of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office.

[. . .]

Dyncorp Inc. is a division of Computer Science Services, Inc., based in El Segundo, Calif.

From California Yankee.

Posted by Dan Spencer at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 24, 2004
Good News From Afghanistan

Note: Also available at the WSJ Opinion Journal, Winds of Change.NET, and at my blog, Chrenkoff (here). Kudos and thanks to James Taranto, one of the few in the mainstream media who continues to spread the good news.

The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, has seen it all in his 89 years: after four decades on the throne, a coup that saw his deposed, and another three decades in exile, he is now back in his homeland, living the peaceful life of a private citizen, albeit in the security of a private mansion on the grounds of the presidential palace in Kabul. Asked recently by an interviewer about his country’s future, Mohammad Zahir Shah replied: “I am not a fortune-teller, but I am optimistic.”

For the past quarter of a century, one need not have been a fortune teller to expect that Afghanistan’s near future would remain grim. A communist coup, followed by the Soviet invasion and occupation, then the civil war between former mudjahedin freedom fighters, and finally the oppressive Taliban theocracy have all drastically reduced the number of optimists in this unlucky corner of Central Asia.

But optimism is back, and since the overthrow of Mullah Omar’s regime almost three years ago it has been making a slow but steady comeback. For all the continuing security problems and sporadic fighting with the Taliban and al Qaeda remnants, Afghanistan’s resurrection has been an unheralded success story of the recent times. Huge challenges remain, to be sure, but for the first time in a generation there is real hope that the country is finally breaking out of the cycle of violence and succeeding in its first steps on the road to normalcy.

The Afghans know it’s happening, but we in the West, looking at Afghanistan through the prism of mainstream media coverage, are far less aware of all the positive developments taking place over there. Here is some good news from the last four weeks that you might have missed while the media, true to their form, continued to focus on the negatives.

Posted by Winds of Change at 03:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 17, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia "-Stans" Summary: Aug 17/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

JK: And a big happy first blogiversary to Nathan Hamm!

TOP TOPIC

  • Three simultaneous suicide bombings took place in Tashkent at the end of July, targeting the US and Israeli embassies as well as the Uzbek General Prosecutor’s office. The bombings took place as the trial of 15 accused of involvement in the March bombings got underway.
  • Sporadic fighting in South Ossetia has continued throughout much of the summer. Georgian and Ossetian troops clashed almost nightly throughout much of July and early August. To try to keep the situation under control, a ceasefire was negotiated last week. It was promptly violated.

Other Topics Include: Terrorist Defendants & Groups in Uzbekistan; State Department Cuts Aid to Uzbekistan; but, Department of Defense Boosts Aid to Uzbekistan; The Dear Leader Commands It; The Role of Clans in Central Asian Politics; More on South Ossetia; Georgia Vows to Protect Its Waters; Voter Registration Ends in Afghanistan; and, Meskhetian Turks Finally Find A Home.

Read The Rest…

Posted by Winds of Change at 03:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 09, 2004
Taliban Splits

Reuters reports that the Taliban has split.

A rift has emerged in the ranks of Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban militia, with members of the breakaway faction saying they no longer recognise fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Sabir Momin, who was the Taliban’s deputy operations commander in southern Afghanistan, said on Monday the dissident group is named Taliban Jamiat Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Muslim Army of the Taliban).

Momin told Reuters the faction had the support of about one third of Taliban fighters, and did not recognise the one-eyed Mullah Omar, one of the world’s most wanted men for helping shelter Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network until late 2001.

Omar’s men deny the split.

Duplicate post from The Argus

Posted by Nathan Hamm at 02:02 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
August 06, 2004
CSTO to Operate in Afghanistan?

Russia and three Central Asian members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (an military alliance of six post-Soviet states) conducted anti-terrorism exercises in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.

In its report, the AP says that Kyrgyzstan’s president hinted that the CSTO may be preparing to conduct anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan:

“We don’t have to wait for militants from Afghanistan to cross the Afghan-Tajik border, but we should take preventive measures rather than allow them to come to the region,” Akayev said.

Russian and Tajik border guards are hard-pressed to stop the movements of drugs and militants across this border.

Posted by Nathan Hamm at 03:38 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
August 03, 2004
50 Suspected Taliban Killed (UPDATED)

Voice of America:

U.S-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say they have killed up to 50 suspected insurgents linked to the ousted Taleban government.

The fighting in the eastern province of Khost erupted Monday morning after Taleban insurgents attacked a military post in the region, which borders Pakistan.

A U.S. military spokesman, Major Rick Peat, says the coalition forces called in air support to repel a force of about 50 militants. He describes the fighting as some of the heaviest within the past two years. “They attacked the outpost with rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire, and the Afghan forces, along with a very small contingent of U.S coalition forces, repelled their attack,” he says.

The spokesman could not confirm whether the enemy force came from the Pakistani side of the border, where Afghan and U.S. officials suspect Taleban militants have found refuge for raids into Afghanistan.

12:55 UPDATE: Associated Press reports say up to 70 Taliban may have been killed:

In one of the bloodiest clashes since the fall of the Taliban, Afghan troops backed by U.S. warplanes killed as many as 70 militants in a daylong battle near the Pakistani border, military officials said Tuesday.

An Afghan commander said government forces heard militant radio messages in Arabic and the Chechen language, suggesting al-Qaida fighters were involved.

“We could hear the enemy,” said Gen. Nawab, an Afghan commander who uses one name. “I’m sure there were foreigners involved.”

Only two Afghan soldiers were reported killed in the fighting, an indication of the militants’ vulnerability to American air power.

The battle began at about 2 a.m. Monday, when dozens of militants armed with rockets, mortars and machine guns hit a border post in Khost province, a former al-Qaida stronghold 120 miles south of the capital, Kabul.

The U.S. military said it sent a B-1 bomber, A-10 ground-attack aircraft and helicopter gunships and flew in Afghan reinforcements, eventually forcing the assailants to flee “in panic.”

U.S. spokesman Maj. Rick Peat said pilots reported seeing 40 to 50 bodies on the battlefield near the mountainous Pakistani border. Several wrecked vehicles were also spotted.

Nawab put the rebel toll as high as 70, saying the militants had dragged away many dead and wounded as they retreated into Pakistan. Afghan forces recovered only 10 bodies, he said.

Cross-posted from Backcountry Conservative.

Posted by Jeff Quinton at 12:48 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
July 28, 2004
Bomb Kills 6 in Afghanistan

Bloomberg:

At least six people were killed, including two United Nations workers, when a bomb exploded inside a mosque in the central Afghan province of Ghazni, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The UN workers, who weren’t identified, were registering Afghans for October’s presidential election when the bomb exploded, while two other unidentified UN personnel who were injured were flown by UN helicopters to the U.S. military base at Bagram, north of the capital, Kabul, the statement said.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the world body’s has a report that only two people were killed in the attack — an Afghan working on the joint UN-Afghan voter registration effort and an individual who was registering to vote. Haq said the UN believes no UN workers were killed in the bombing.

Cross-posted at Backcountry Conservative.

Posted by Jeff Quinton at 12:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 27, 2004
Chrenkoff's Good News from Afghanistan: July 26/04

Yes, it’s a new feature on Winds of Change.NET - and a new team member, too!

“We are becoming hopeful day by day. We cannot develop our country, in which the fighting existed for 23 years, within two years. We had lots of problems in the past but they are being solved day by day.”
Ghalib Shah Azizi,
Head of Afghanistan’s Northern Chamber of Commerce

If there is one place where good news is harder to come by than Iraq, it’s Afghanistan. For that we should partly blame our poor understanding of Afghan realities, and consequently, unrealistic expectations. An isolated, poor, largely rural country with harsh landscapes and limited natural resources, Afghanistan has been for the past quarter of a century cursed with constant violence and oppression. Good news from Afghanistan will not in any foreseeable future mean mushrooming shopping malls and health care clinics in every village. For the people who have suffered so much for so long, relative peace and absence of theocracy are a good start.

But, as is the case with reporting from Iraq, we shouldn’t let the media off the hook so easily, either. For all the fashionable talk about Iraq distracting the Bush Administration from the war on terror, it’s largely been the media who have ignored Afghanistan except for the occasional story about another skirmish with the Taliban remnants or the explosion in opium cultivation.

CBS’s veteran journalist, Tom Fenton, recently had this to say about the work of his media colleagues:

“You know the old saying: No news is good news. But in the news business, it is just the opposite: Good news is no news - which is why you have been hearing so little from Afghanistan recently.

“Iraq has been grabbing the headlines. Even the most confirmed optimist would find it hard to see a ray of light there today. But there is a growing body of evidence that things are beginning to improve in Afghanistan. To see why, you need to travel around Afghanistan a bit. That’s something the media find hard to do in Iraq now - many news crews rarely venture out of their hotels in Baghdad.”

Not to mention in Kabul. If they did, they would arguably find more stories like these:

Posted by Winds of Change at 12:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2004
Bomb Attack in Afghanistan (Herat)

The BBC is reporting a bomb attack in Herat. The bomb was reportedly on a bicycle (?!) and killed at least five civilians, including a child.

Posted by Erik at 05:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 08, 2004
Anti-Terror Vigilantes Arrested in Afghanistan

Three foreigners, including one American, have been arrested in Kabul.

Three foreigners, including at least one U.S. national, arrested in Kabul were apparently waging a private war against supposed terrorists, illegally holding Afghans, the Afghan interior minister said on Thursday.

The group, captured along with four Afghans after a brief shootout in Kabul on Monday, had been illegally detaining and interrogating locals, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said.

The three foreigners arrested included at least one U.S. national, he told a news briefing.

The U.S. embassy said the three identified themselves as Americans, but their nationalities still had to be confirmed.

“They apparently said that their aims were to act against those carrying out terrorist attacks,” Jalali said. “But they did not have a legal relationship with anyone and the United States was also chasing them — they are actually rebels.”

Jalali said the group, wearing local and foreign military uniforms according to police, had illegally held eight people.

Posted by Nathan Hamm at 04:03 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
July 01, 2004
Marines Say Hold 'High Value' Taliban Commander

REUTERS: Marines Say Hold ‘High Value’ Taliban Commander

U.S. Marines arrested a Taliban commander they described as a “high value” provincial target and killed another guerrilla in a sweeping operation in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan on Thursday.

The Marines did not name the commander detained in the Tarin Kot region whose face matched a photo on their list of wanted guerrillas.

But Captain James Martin, commander of Bravo Company of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, described him as a “high-value target for the province.”

“He appears to be possibly a very important Taliban who we arrested in a cordon and search effort,” he told a Reuters reporter accompanying hundreds of Marines, Afghan National Army soldiers and militia forces.

But the best quote is:

“If you fire on Marines, they are going to kill you,” said Martin, the company commander.
Posted by Laurence Simon at 04:02 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
June 29, 2004
Robi & Nitin's S. Asia Briefing: June 29/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

THE THAW AND THE MELT

  • There was positive movement on the diplomatic level between India and Pakistan. Diplomats formalized nuclear risk reduction measures (NRRMs), agreed to disagree on Indus river water sharing, and began high-level discussions on the Kashmir dispute. The latter included a quiet low-profile meeting between J N Dixit, India’s National Security Advisor and Tariq Aziz, General Musharraf’s key point-man.
  • Even as there is progress on the diplomatic front, cross-border infiltration and terrorism in Kashmir follow set patterns, with violence picking up come summer, as melting Himalayan snows open infiltration routes that even India’s over 700km long fence is unable to completely plug. In the days immediately preceding the talks, jihadi terrorists slit the throats of a railway engineer, and massacred 12 villagers including several young children.

Other Topics Today Include: Double agents and nuclear con-men in India; Palace intrigues and provincial rebellions in Pakistan; Nuclear Proliferation; India and Israel; Much ado about something in Bangladesh; Potential missteps in Afghanistan; Dalai Lama rejects Colonel Saunders in Tibet.

Read The Rest…

Posted by Winds of Change at 12:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 27, 2004
Taliban Slaughters Registered Voters

Would-be voters slaughtered in Afghanistan.

Suspected Taliban gunmen stopped a van packed with people on a road in southern Afghanistan, then sprayed the occupants with bullets after finding that they had registered to vote, a local police official said Sunday. Ten people were killed.

The attack, which occurred Friday on a road in southern Uruzgan province, was the deadliest yet in a wave of violence aimed at sabotaging the nation’s first free vote, scheduled for September.

On Saturday, a bomb ripped through a bus carrying female election workers in the eastern city of Jalalabad, killing two of them and wounding 13 others. A spokesman for the Taliban claimed responsibility.

Posted by Nathan Hamm at 02:03 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 15, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia "-Stans" Summary: June 15, 2004

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

  • In its quest to reassert sovereignty over all of its territory, Georgia has been putting pressure on South Ossetia, a province that seeks to become part of Russia. In recent developments, Georgia alleges that Russia has transported weaponry into Ossetia to dissuade Georgia from aggression. Russia, of course, denies the charges and the OSCE backs them up.

Other Topics Include: More on South Ossetia; Russian and Chinese Great Game Moves; Kazakstan and Uzbekistan Dabbling in the Space Game; Kazakstan’s Slick Opposition Party; Continuing Erratic Behavior in Turkmenistan; A US Free Trade Deal in Central Asia; Armenia Fights For Its Rights (to Nuclear Power); Violence Flares in Afghanistan; Vikings Returning to Central Asia; and much more.

Read The Rest…

Posted by Winds of Change at 09:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 29, 2004
Afghans Arrest Suspected Kabul Suicide Recruiter

REUTERS: Afghans Arrest Suspected Kabul Suicide Recruiter

Afghan police have arrested a man suspected of trying to recruit students to carry out suicide attacks on international peacekeepers in Kabul, a spokesman for the multinational force said on Saturday.

In a separate operation, 36 people were detained by Afghan security forces and peacekeepers when explosives were discovered in Bagrami, on the eastern outskirts of the capital.

Commander Chris Henderson, spokesman for the 6,400-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, said he knew of no connection between the suspect’s activities at the university and two deadly suicide attacks on ISAF forces earlier this year.

“He was discovered at the (Kabul) university apparently encouraging students to conduct suicide attacks against ISAF,” Henderson told a news briefing in Kabul, adding that the Taliban sympathizer was arrested on Thursday afternoon.

“There was no suspected threat against anyone other than ISAF, yet it was the police that discovered this person and the police had acted independently and they did so very, very quickly.”

Posted by Laurence Simon at 10:08 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Army finds Tillman likely killed by friendly fire

CNN: Army finds Tillman likely killed by friendly fire

U.S. Army Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former professional football player killed last month in Afghanistan, probably died from friendly fire, a Pentagon source told CNN Saturday.

The Army is expected to announce the findings of its investigation into Tillman’s death at a news conference in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

Tillman joined the Army after the September 11, 2001 attacks — turning down a multimillion dollar contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals.

He served as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan.

Posted by Laurence Simon at 07:47 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 21, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia -Stans Summary

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

  • For the second time in less than a year, Georgia approached the brink of civil war only to step back. The results and players were nearly the same, but this time, it was the leader of Ajaria, a semi-independent region on the Black Sea, who fled.

Other Topics Include: More on Ajaria; Russo-Uzbek Love-in; US Trains Uzbek NCOs; Russian Border Guards to Leave Tajikistan; Afghanistan’s Disarmament Plan Hits Snags; Turkmen Education System in Freefall; The Makings of a To’y; and, Disabled Athletes in Afghanistan

Read The Rest…

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May 04, 2004
Taliban Kill 14

Taliban guerrillas have killed nine government troops and five policemen in Southern Afghanistan.

According to Reuters:

The Islamist fighters killed the nine soldiers in an ambush on a patrol in Kandahar province’s remote district of Meya Nishin late Monday, according to Taliban spokesman Haji Latif Hakimi.

Khalid Pashtun, a spokesman for Kandahar’s governor confirmed the ambush, but said he had heard only five soldiers were killed.

Doctors in neighboring Zabul province told Reuters they had received the bullet ridden bodies of five policemen abducted on Monday in the Shah Joy district.

“We have killed the five that we kidnaped,” Taliban commander Mullah Rozi Khan told Reuters.

Four government soldiers were killed Sunday in Zabul in a mine blast.

Posted by Dan Spencer at 12:59 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 20, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia -stans Summary: Apr 20/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

Other Topics Today Include: Much More on the Tashkent Bombings; Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections; The Ajarian Thorn in Georgia’s Side; I Love You Turkmenbashi!; Armenia Protests; China’s Designs on Central Asia; When Congressmen Get Involved in Custody Cases; Sgt. Hook: Live From a Mountaintop in Afghanistan; Coolio Comes to Baku; and, Much More.

Read The Rest…

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April 08, 2004
Provincial Capital in Afghanistan Is Seized by a Warlord's Forces

NY TIMES: Provincial Capital in Afghanistan Is Seized by a Warlord’s Forces

Forces loyal to Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum seized control of the capital of Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, forcing the governor to flee and drawing a sharp rebuke from President Hamid Karzai and his ministers in Kabul.

The central government ordered in troops of the Afghan National Army, along with their American trainers, but they arrived too late to prevent the takeover of power. It was more a political coup than a military clash, with just some shooting in the air in the city, witnesses said. But militia loyal to General Dostum had seized control in four districts throughout the province, they said.

The governor and his top officials fled in the morning after a demonstration turned violent and protesters began stoning the governor’s office, the interior minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, told a news briefing. The governor of a neighboring Sar-e-Pul Province also fled his post, he said. There were no reported casualties.

(Good luck to the Spanish troop reinforcements going there, unless the incoming government pulls troops out of Afghanistan due to Al-Qaida pressure, too.)

Posted by Laurence Simon at 11:13 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 25, 2004
U.S. Places 2,000 More Marines Near Afghanistan

REUTERS: U.S. Places 2,000 More Marines Near Afghanistan

The United States has placed about 2,000 Marines with special operations training aboard Navy ships in the Gulf, poised for use in Afghanistan, where the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives is intensifying, defense officials said on Thursday.

U.S. commanders have not yet decided how many of the Marines deployed with the seven-vessel naval Expeditionary Strike Group, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, will be sent into Afghanistan, officials said.

The Marines are from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The Wasp strike group, carrying 2,000 to 2,200 Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, left North Carolina on Feb. 19 for a scheduled six-month deployment in the Gulf region and arrived in recent days, officials said.

“Some of the those Marines will participate in and support operations in Afghanistan,” said a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Posted by Laurence Simon at 01:42 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 24, 2004
JAG Meddling in Afghanistan

Out the door to a dinner, but here’s something to pass up the food chain.

Roadracing World, a motorcycle roadracing magazine and website I read regularly, intermittently publishes letters from riders and racers stationed over in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here’s an excerpt from one published today:

“My former NCOIC was severely injured in a terrible roadside bomb yesterday. He was in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle commander’s hatch when it exploded and some shrapnel hit him in the back of the neck. Luckily the convoy he was in was right next to a U.S. base so they managed to air-evacuate him almost immediately. He spent about 6 hours in surgery and they almost declared him dead twice. They finally managed to stabilize him but they weren’t showing any brain activity. So basically they thought he had brain stem damage. But this morning he was doing better and they are putting him under observation for 2 days to see if the swelling in his brain goes down before they try to evacuate him to Germany. My soldiers are pretty upset. He is now the 3rd soldier that I personally know who has been killed or severely injured here. He had a month left to go—he has a wife and 3 kids back in Germany. We are all just praying for his recovery.

The other bad news is that for some reason the stupid idiots at the Corps level JAG are deciding to clean out the jails here in Iraq. Well, instead of letting out the low-level weapons violators they are letting out the terrorists that are involved in putting out these roadside bombs—because they claim that we don’t have enough evidence against them. In the last two weeks three major figures in the main bad guy group here have gotten out—and we have already seen the results as one of our unit’s informants has already been assassinated. So it seems like everything we have worked for for the last year and the 13 deaths our unit has sustained has been for nothing. We are all pretty discouraged.”

If the latter is true, than someone needs to get hammered. We’re still at war, and to the extent that the JAG staff is applying peacetime public-defender standards (and remember, I’m the pro-defense attorney liberal) there’s something seriously wrong.

If anyone knows more about this, I’d love to hear about it: armed [at] armedliberal {dot} com… or in the comments section over at the original Winds of Change.NET post.

Posted by Winds of Change at 03:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Networked Force

In Dr. Evil Cornered, Robin Burke and Tom Roberts were talking about communications and U.S. forces, and how that affected our NATO allies in Afghanistan. That’s something’ve I covered before in U.S. Military — Back to the Future! Here’s Robin…

“US troops are begining to deploy some rather advanced technologies on the battlefield, plus fighting doctrines to leverage these technologies. The other NATO countries can’t begin to match these capabilities and integrating those troops with our forces that do use them is a recipe for real problems…. How on earth would you integrate large numbers of NATO forces into those scenarios, even if there weren’t the ego / geopolitical games about targetting and risk taking???”

…and Tom Roberts:

“Non US forces don’t even have digital communications for the most part. In many cases the Coalition forces have to be lent commo gear so that their HQs can talk with US forces. This creates a dichotomous pace of operations in any NATO command as well. Without heavy US liaison elements, the NATO forces don’t know what is going on. To a certain extent the Canadian friendly fire deaths by Kandahar two years ago were due to such issues (along with two US pilot’s very poor judgments), but you might notice that when US forces swing into an offensive situation either allies get totally integrated into the US force structure (like the Canadian snipers were at Tora Bora or the Aussie SAS is with us Spec Forces) or they get totally out of the way.”

Which brings up two things I talked about in my article clips:

Read the Rest…

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March 23, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia "-Stans Summary" March 23/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus.

TOP TOPICS

  • If you are reading this briefing, you’re probably the type of person who knows that, at the very least, a whole lot of something is happening in Pakistan and Afghanistan right now. It would be foolhardy for me to give a blow-by-blow here, but Operation Mountain Storm is well underway and is designed to capture, kill, or flush into Afghanistan the militants taking refuge in Pakistan’s tribal regions. For reports of various engagements over the past month, check out the Winds of War Archive at this very blog or Eye on the World’s brief report.
  • Civil war was narrowly averted in Georgia this month following a quickly-escalating crisis precipitated when officials in the semi-autonomous region of Ajaria barred President Saakashvili from entering the region.
  • In the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh connects the dots between Libya, Pakistan’s nuclear arms market, and Operation Mountain Storm. The Agonist has more information, courtesy of Stratfor.

Other Topics Today Include: Major Afghsanistan briefing; More on Yo’ldosh & the IMU; Georgia’s Ajaria Problem; Uzbekistan, Human Right, and The West; Turkmenistan’s Continuing Slide Towards Absurdity; and, Much More.

Read The rest…

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March 21, 2004
The IMU's Last Stand

The Telegraph is reporting that the “al Qaeda leader” holed up in a fortress near Wana is Tohir Yo’ldosh with his Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan:

officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan identified Tahir Yuldash, the leader of several hundred Central Asian Islamic fundamentalist fighters, as the key figure being protected by up to 400 al-Qa’eda militants.

Yuldash, a founder of the hardline Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, teamed up with bin Laden in Afghanistan but has been based in Pakistani tribal areas since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001. His cordon of bodyguards is fighting the Pakistani onslaught with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

The IMU, gathering strength in Wana after it was devestated by the war in Afghanistan, may be making its final stand.

Posted by Nathan Hamm at 12:19 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
March 08, 2004
Life in Purgatory

TERRY BOYD visits the 10th Mountain Division at Firebase Purgatory, southeastern Afghanistan.

Purgatory, about 60 miles southeast of Kandahar, is first and foremost a firebase. Its presence is meant to tell the locals in this former Taliban stronghold that there’s a new sheriff in town — one that requires its soldiers to have a variety of skills to tackle missions that change as quickly as the weather at 10,000 feet. Like many of the thousands of soldiers in Afghanistan, these soldiers have to try to keep a volatile area as stable as possible, all the while preparing for the worst. They fight the enemy when needed and try to build confidence in others living there.

Go learn what it’s like to live in a former Taliban town.

Originally posted at The Indepundit

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March 06, 2004
U.S., Afghan Forces Kill Nine Militants, Capture 14

AP: U.S., Afghan Forces Kill Nine Militants, Capture 14

American and Afghan troops killed nine suspected Islamic militants during a gun battle in the eastern province of Paktika, the U.S. military said on Saturday, in one of the heaviest clashes reported in recent months.

In separate operations, 14 suspected rebels were detained in a U.S. air assault in the east on Thursday and two senior Taliban commanders were captured by Afghan forces on Friday after an attack on a post near the Pakistan border killed seven government soldiers.

The clash involving U.S. forces on Friday began when they opened fire on a group of 30 to 40 armed men apparently trying to move to the side of their sniper position east of Orgun-E, 170 km (106 miles) south of Kabul, in order to launch an attack.

“They were armed, they were acting in a hostile manner, so we fired on them and then we pursued them with the Afghan National Army,” U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty told a news briefing in Kabul. “Nine of them were killed in that battle, and there were no coalition casualties.”

Posted by Laurence Simon at 08:27 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
February 24, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia "-stans Summary": Feb 24/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus.

TOP TOPIC

  • Cross-border cooperation between Pakistani, US, and Afghan forces has dramatically increased recently. Pakistani troops are confronting tribal leaders to drive al Qaeda across the border into the waiting arms of US troops in a “hammer and anvil” strategy. Every day, US and Pakistani forces appear to be on the verge of major operations along the tribal regions on Pakistan’s Afghan border. In late-breaking news, Darren Kaplan informs us that Task Force 121, Saddam Hussein’s captors, are on their way to Afghanistan.
  • Georgia’s President Saakashvili sent in Special Forces to root out rebels/bandits on the Abkhaz border, and the Abkhaz leadership seems to be happy about it. But, were Russian peacekeepers the real target of Georgia’s anti-guerilla operations around the Abkhaz conflict zone? Much like in Tajikistan, Russian peacekeepers appear to be letting bandits move across borders in which they should be contained and not protecting ethnic Georgians who have returned to the area. Georgia may be trying to drive them out to take advantage of the turmoil in Abkhazia… The breakaway region has refused to participate in direct talks with Georgia.
  • The IFPA says that the US should re-conceptualize its security relationships (the full report can be found here) in Central Asia. The crux of the argument is that the US should move towards a long-term vision for its military presence in the region rather than sticking with the ad-hoc arrangements made post-9/11. A quick glance shows this report well worth reading.

Other Topics Today Include: Khan Wilhelm; A Bad Month for Jihadists in Turkestan; The Chicken Sandwich Transforms Kyrgyzstan; Russia Revives Soviet Ob-Redirection Plans; The Uzbek Model of Economic Reform; Afghan Militia Disarmament A Success?; Uighurs Under Siege Across Central Asia; and, Much More.

Read The Rest…

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February 09, 2004
Robin's Winds of War: Feb 9/04

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today’s “Winds of War” is brought to you by Robin Burk.

TOP TOPICS

  • As our Sunday discussion noted, terrorism is going regional in response to the successful efforts to dismantle much of al Qaeda’s leadership.

Other Topics Today Include: hunting al Qaeda on the border; poppies and fake dollars; LET Down Under; assembling bombs mid-flight; Palestinian Authority in chaos; Sharon and Gaza; Iranian moderates cave; GITMO tribunals; emerging hotspots in the Andes and Sri Lanka; Asian free trade zone; weather and the war on terror; Turkish relaxation.

Read the Rest…

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February 06, 2004
Rumsfeld: NATO to Have Greater Role in Afghanistan

AP is reporting that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld sees NATO having more of a role in the future of Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday he expects the NATO alliance to expand its military contribution greatly in Afghanistan by summer and eventually take over the entire operation except for the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

If that should occur, it would be a remarkable evolution from the months immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Then, the United States welcomed British military help in Afghanistan but carried out the most intensive phase of the war largely by itself against Afghanistan’s militant Muslim rulers and the al-Qaida fighters harboring in the Central Asian country.

More than 11,000 U.S. troops still are in Afghanistan, and NATO has about 8,000 providing security mainly in the capital, Kabul. NATO is not involved in combat operations in Afghanistan.

The article goes on:

One reason for U.S. interest in getting more NATO help in Afghanistan: the military already is stretched thin by Iraq, where at least 100,000 troops will remain for at least another year.
Posted by Jeff M at 03:43 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 29, 2004
Seven GIs Killed in Afghanistan Blast

FOX:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven U.S. solders are dead and one is missing Thursday after an explosion in Afghanistan.

U.S. Central Command (search) said the explosion happened at 3 p.m. near the city of Ghazni, which is 60 miles southwest of Kabul. An Afghan interpreter was also injured in the blast, which occurred while the soldiers were working around a weapons cache.

Several wounded soldiers were evacuated to Bagram Air Base (search) for treatment.

Posted by John Moore at 02:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 28, 2004
Nathan's Central Asia -Stans Summary: Jan 28/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia’s “-stans” (including Afghanistan) is courtesy of Nathan Hamm, whose creds include a stint in Uzbekistan as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Nathan’s regular blog is The Argus.

TOP TOPICS

  • Uzbekistan now has the dubious distinction of being the first former Soviet state to officially receive a failing grade in the State Department’s annual review of human rights records of recipients of aid under the Nunn-Lugar disarmament program. Under this program, the President has the right to waive the human rights requirement on national security grounds, and Bush has done so. Still, failing what used to be an annual act of going through the motions sends a strong signal to Uzbekistan.

Other Topics Today Include: US & Russia Square off in the Caucasus; India’s 20-Year Plan & Central Asia; UN Criticizes Turkmenistan’s Human Rights Record; Uzbekistan Risks Sanctions & Losing US Aid Over Human Rights; The ICG Offers Solutions to Rising Extremism; Uzbekistan’s “Princess” Wanted in New Jersey; and, Much More.

Read The Rest…

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January 22, 2004
Five siblings may reunite in Afghanistan

Army News Service

lWith her husband and five children in the military, Terri Lamb said she doesn’t mind when friends mention the movie “Saving Private Ryan” or compare her family to the Sullivan brothers. “To me, it’s a real honor to compare them to a family that sacrificed so much,” Terri said of the five Sullivan brothers who all perished aboard the USS Juneau when a torpedo sank the ship during World War II. “I look at it as if they are true patriots.”

Terri admitted that when her husband Sgt. Maj. Mike Lamb was deployed to Bosnia last year and she heard that her son Spc. Jason Lamb was about to deploy to Afghanistan, she was initially concerned. “That made me just a little bit nervous,” Terri said.

Now her son Spc. Richard Lamb is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in the spring with a 25th Infantry Division unit out of Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii. Her oldest son Spc. Scott Lamb is now at Fort Polk, La., but he is scheduled to deploy with the 25th Inf. Div. to Afghanistan at the end of the summer.

Her son-in-law, Spc. Jerry Diaz, is already in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y. And her daughter, Airman Renee Lamb, could possibly deploy to Afghanistan in April, Terri said. Spc. Timothy Lamb with the Indiana National Guard is the only son not yet scheduled to deploy.

But Terri is taking the deployment news in relative stride these days. “I’m very proud of them,” Terri said. “It’s amazing that they’ve all gone this route. They’re doing it for very unselfish reasons.” One of the amazing aspects, Terri said, is that neither she nor her husband encouraged their children to join the military.

“I was very much reluctant to encourage them to join the Army,” said Sgt. Maj. Mike Lamb who serves with the Army Training and Doctrine Command headquarters at Fort Monroe, Va. He’s the top enlisted Soldier in the office of the TRADOC Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training. “Neither my wife nor I pushed them in any direction. It was their decision,” he said. “I didn’t want them to feel any pressure.”

“I encouraged them to go to college,” said Terri, who works as an academic adviser for St. Leo University. Despite that, four of her children enlisted in 2001, even before Sept. 11, within a period of less than six months. And both parents said they are extremely proud of the decisions their sons and daughter made.

During holiday visits, Terri said it’s easy to gather the family in one room. “We just yell `specialist’ and everybody comes running,” she said.

In Terri’s job as a college counselor, she works at the post Education Center at Fort Eustis, Va., where she recommends course direction for Soldiers. She said a number of her clients recently returned injured from Iraq or Afghanistan, and she feels a special tie to all of them. “Any Soldier who comes to my door is part of my family too,” Terri said.

via Sgt. Hook

Posted by Chuck Simmins at 11:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Korean Soldiers at Bagram

BAGRAM, Afghanistan, Jan. 21, 2004 – The more than 200 Republic of Korea soldiers serving at the air base here welcomed their president’s top military adviser for a Jan. 19 visit.

Retired Lt. Gen. Hee-Sang Kim, accompanied by Maj. Gen. Ki Seok Song, operations director for the South Korean joint chiefs of staff, stopped in Bagram as part of a tour to deliver words of support from the South Korean people to their soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq in support of the global war on terrorism.

Bagram is home to three deployed South Korean units: the “Dong-yi” medical group, the “Da-san” engineer group and a small civil affairs unit that is part of the Parwan Provincial Reconstruction Team.

In the evening, all of the South Korean soldiers here gathered in the Enduring Faith chapel to hear a message from Kim about the importance of their work in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s situation today is the same as that in Korea 50 years ago after the Korean War, Kim said. He told the soldiers the work they’re doing gives hope to the Afghan people and helps them develop their country, and he expressed South Korea’s pride in their performance.

Since arriving in Afghanistan in late August, the current engineer group has completed 46 construction projects, the biggest of which was the expansion of the Bagram airfield’s taxiway and runway.

The medical group, the fourth Korean unit of its kind to be deployed to Afghanistan, has treated more than 16,000 Afghan patients since arriving here in late August. In total, the four medical units have treated more than 84,000 Afghans over the last two years.

For medical group interpreter Sgt. Andrew Kyungyoon Kim, and many others, it was a surprise to see such a high-ranking government official come all the way to Afghanistan to visit a relatively small group of soldiers.

The sergeant said one of the most impressive aspects of the entire visit was a simple gesture made by the distinguished visitor.

“We had spent a lot of time setting up a special room for him and his entourage, but he said he wanted to sleep in the tents with the soldiers,” said the translator. “It showed me that they wanted to feel what we are feeling out here.”

Posted by Chuck Simmins at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 21, 2004
Kandahar Kids Continue Recovery at Combat Support Hospital
BAGRAM, Afghanistan, Jan. 20, 2004 – On Jan. 6, a series of explosions ripped through the east side of the city of Kandahar, and 11 days later the effects of those explosions were still evident on the children in the 452nd Combat Support Hospital here.

As many as 14 people were killed and dozens were wounded in the double bomb blast in the "spiritual home of the Taliban," just one day after Afghanistan adopted a new constitution, according to a statement from the office of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

The victims were mainly children from the nearby Abdul Ahad Karzai primary school, named after the president's father, who was assassinated by Taliban agents five years ago. Many were transferred to medical facilities at Kandahar Air Field, while others were evacuated to Bagram.

"We received 11 victims total – all of them being children," said Capt. Mary Jo Literski, a nurse with the 452nd CSH out of Milwaukee, Wis. "For our facility, that's a large number of casualties all at once."

Literski said most of the injuries were shrapnel wounds from the explosion, many of them requiring surgery. "The shrapnel only makes a small puncture mark when it goes in, but then it does a lot of damage on the inside. So most of them needed abdominal surgery to get the shrapnel out and repair the damage to the internal organs," Literski said.

She said that without the medical care provided at the U.S. hospital, many of the children would have died.

"(In Afghanistan) there is a medical system, but it's very limited," Literski said. "Their surgical capabilities are almost not available."

Although the hospital gets casualties from Kandahar often, the large number of children has prompted visits from media and service members concerned with the children's welfare, Literski said.

She said several service members have come to the hospital to visit the children and bring them gifts.

"The kids in general are very gracious of the care that we give them," Literski said. "Initially, they seem frightened because they don't understand the language and they don't understand what we're doing. After sometimes hours and sometimes days, you can see the difference in the children in how they react to you – how they trust you," she said.

The children are not the only ones who benefit from the services provided by coalition forces, since the health care providers get a lot of satisfaction from helping patch up the victims of a country in turmoil, Literski said.

Karzai condemned the attack as an "act of cruelty and barbarism," and said it would only strengthen his resolve to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.

Posted by Chuck Simmins at 09:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 20, 2004
Combined Forces Command Afghanistan Statement

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In Oruzgan province this weekend, coalition forces did engage five armed adult males who were fleeing from a known terrorist compound. Currently, we have no indications that civilians were killed in that incident. We reiterate our adherence to the rules of land warfare and to stringent rules of engagement.

Saturday evening coalition forces received intelligence that in a compound in Oruzgan province, in the Cahar Cineh Valley, there was a gathering of mid-level Taliban leadership.

Coalition Special Operations Forces and Afghan Militia Forces were sent to capture or kill the Taliban leaders at that compound. At approximately 8:00 p.m. on Saturday we observed 5 armed men leave the compound and move toward the coalition forces which have cordoned off the original compound. The commander on the ground verified that these individuals were indeed armed and, at night, moving toward a known coalition military unit.

At approximately 8:12 p.m. on Saturday an aircraft engaged those 5 individuals in a streambed.

Our forces moved toward the engagement site, but a large massing of armed personnel then came out of nearby compounds and gathered near the streambed. In order to avoid a larger engagement in the area of the compounds that might incur civilian casualties our forces halted and observed the activity from secure positions. Those people near the streambed recovered the bodies from the streambed.

The next day, coalition forces searched a number of compounds and the streambed without finding anything of significance.

In the process of 72 hours of operation in this area, we detained six individuals.

Typically, the Taliban are attempting to spread disinformation, propaganda, in order to discredit the coalition.

Let me lay out the facts,

--the only time of our firing was at 8:12 p.m. on Saturday, not 4 a.m. on Sunday.

--there were no helicopters in the area either at the time of the engagement on Saturday or at 4 a.m. on Sunday.

--at no time in the past 5 days did a US helicopter fire any ordnance of any kind in Oruzgan province.

--at no time during this operation were shots fired from any weapons system, ground or air, at any house compound or walled structure.

--our aircraft did not engage noncombatants. We clearly identified and engaged 5 armed adult males.

We have stringent rules of engagement and we continuously assess and refine those rules of engagement. In this case, as there are allegations of civilian casualties, we have reviewed the incident, but, as I stated above, there is no indication that any civilians were involved.

The coalition's long-term commitment to the people of Afghanistan is unwavering. While we continue to destroy terrorist organizations and their infrastructure, we enable and assist the accelerated growth of Afghan political, civil and military institutions.

Posted by Chuck Simmins at 11:21 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
December 15, 2003
Robin's Winds of War: Dec 15/03

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report. Today's briefings are brought to you by guest blogger Robin Burk. Note that these entries are a private effort, and do not represent the official position of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

TOP TOPICS

  • Are we at the tipping point in the War on Terror? Victor Davis Hanson thinks we may be at that point in Iraq, at least. And he wrote that before they captured Saddam!

  • The military success that VDH cites is due in large part to the strong professionalism of the US armed forces, who have stayed the course to patiently dismantle militant networks, extract intelligence and fight back when attacked. That applies to our reservists and National Guard as well, as this first-hand account of October's Battle of the Boneyard outside Kabul last October shows.

Other Topics Today Include: Why Gitmo is so important; the UN prepares to leave Afghanistan; Assasination attempt on Musharraf; Iran's nuclear program; IAEA ineffective; Another Canadian al-Qaeda; Chaplain Yee; JI in Indonesia; Venezuela; expanding the U.S. military; Saddam - riches to rags.

Read The Rest...

Posted by Winds of Change at 02:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 11, 2003
Dan's Winds of War: Dec 11/03

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report. Today's briefings are brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

* US News and World Report has an excellent article on how Saudi money finances al-Qaeda's war against the West. You can read my analysis of the situation here. As the article notes, the Saudis have paid off numerous individuals from both sides of the political fence in order to further their objectives, one of whom appears to be Republican Grover Norquist, whose connection with what I have affectionately termed the "Wahhabi lobby" you can read about here.

* Alphabet City and yours truly (along with several other bloggers) have taken a look at the wiretap transcripts made by Italian authorities in Milan on Ansar al-Islam. It's quite chilling and provides a good look at how al-Qaeda operates in Europe as well as fitting yet another piece of the puzzle together, namely that Hizb-ut-Tahrir is an al-Qaeda front organization.

* Newsweek is reporting that bin Laden is increasingly diverting resources to support the Iraqi insurgency, resulting in him cutting $1.5 million from the Taliban's monthly budget and pulling over 300 operatives from northern Pakistan to send them to the Gulf.

* The Center for Defense Information has a nice profile up of the Turkish Hezbollah, the al-Qaeda affiliate that orchestrated the Istanbul bombings along with the Great Islamic Eastern Raiders' Front.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; USA Homeland Security Briefing; Operation Avalanche; Taliban arrests in Spin Boldak; Zadran arrested in Pakistan; Chechen suicide bombing in Moscow; Sufaat may be freed; internal debate in JI; Islamists and commies fighting side-by-side; the Robot is caught; and elephant hijackers!

Read the Rest...

Posted by Winds of Change at 01:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 30, 2003
Good News For A Change

Worth reading: The New Brunswick Home News Tribune writes about what Raritan Valley Community College is doing to raise funds for a secular school in Afghanistan.

Posted by Alan at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 23, 2003
Afghanistan: Helicopter crash kills 5 U.S. soldiers

USAToday is reporting that five U.S. soldiers were killed and seven injured when their helicopter crashed Sunday near the American military headquarters north of Kabul.

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November 19, 2003
Nathan's Asia "-Stans" Summary: Nov 19/03

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia's "-stans" courtesy of Nathan Hamm, whose creds include a stint in Uzbekistan as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Nathan's regular blog is The Argus.

TOP TOPICS


Other Topics Today Include: Russia's Quest for a Liberal Empire; India Marches North; Special focus: Afghanistan; A Landmark Agreement on the Caspian; World Bank Backs BTC Pipeline & Rebukes Uzbekistan; Karimov is not Hussein; and much more.

READ THE REST...

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October 30, 2003
Dan's Winds of War: Oct 30/03

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. In addition, we also have our in-depth Iraq Report. Today's briefings are brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

Top Topics

* Most readers of my Winds of War by now are quite familiar with the antics of a certain Jordanian Palestinian named Ahmed al-Khalayeh, the real name of an al-Qaeda leader far better known as Abu Musab Zarqawi. Rewards for Justice has now placed a $25,000,000 reward, putting him in the same category as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, unemployed potenate former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and al-Qaeda military commander Saif al-Adel.

* As my colleague Andrew Olmstead noted in his own Winds of War on Monday, suicide bombers in Baghdad celebrated the beginning of Ramadan with four simultaneous attacks on three Iraqi police stations and the headquarters of the International Red Cross. The death toll from those bombings now stands at 40, with 200 wounded. See more on this in today's Iraq Briefing.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; USA Homeland Security Briefing; al-Qaeda bases in the Sahara; GSPC plot against the US Embassy in Mali; Jemaah Islamiyyah training camps in Indonesia; a fresh round of violence in Sulawesi; Willie Brigitte Virgile's resume and arrest; Australia on alert; Bimbo's arrest in General Santos; US/Afghan troops vs. the Taliban in Afghanistan; support for the Taliban in northern Pakistan; the Saudi airline threat; Hizb-ut-Tahrir's global sha'riah plans; Mugabe has a stroke; and a Turkish brothel on wheels!

read the rest...
 

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October 24, 2003
Nathan's Asia -stans Summary: Oct 24/03

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus.

TOP TOPIC

* Azerbaijan has a new President, the son of the old one. In an election likely full of massive fraud, Ilham Aliyev has been declared the winner with approximately 3/4 of all votes.

* Baku has been rocked by unrest amidst protests by opposition parties, including the Musavat Party of self-proclaimed winner Isa Gambar. Exit polls by the Turan Information Agency indicate that Gambar received a plurality of the votes. Two opposition leaders and hundreds of protesters have been arrested in a police crack-down, while 73 journalists were attacked during and immediately after the election.

* Meanwhile, the OSCE is "concerned," while Russia and France are reportedly pleased with the outcome. The U.S. reaction is mixed, recognizing the results of the election while independent monitors sent by the Bush administration heap scorn on its conduct.

Other Topics Today Include: Georgia's Parliamentary Elections; Russian Business Leader Seeks Empire; Is Kazakstan Moving Towards Dynasty?; Positive Political and Economic Developments in Uzbekistan; The Ferghana Valley and Islamic Extremism; Afghanistan's New Constitution; The US Military Footprint in Central Asia; The Taliban Pours Into Afghanistan; Russia Moves to Join the Islamic World; and, a Peace Corps Volunteer Fights a Small Battle Against Uzbek Agricultural Policy.

read the rest....
 

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September 23, 2003
Nathan's -stans Summary: Sept 24/03

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia's "-stan" countries, including Afghanistan, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus.

TOP TOPIC

* India's former ambassador to Uzbekistan presents a clear picture of the shadowy great power competition in Central Asia. These competing influences has led to little multilateral policy coordination, leaving none of the three powers dominant in the area. As a result, Central Asia's governments have been able to pick and choose benefits without firmly committing themselves to a particular camp.

Other Topics Today Include: Al-Qaeda's 2,000 men & plans for Central Asia; Confessions of a terrorist; China and Russia's Great Game moves; The Taliban's changing tactics; America's "new" plan for Afghanistan is more of the same, literally; Attacks on human rights activists rise in Uzbekistan; India-Israel cooperation leaves Pakistan in the cold; Azeri election; Missionaries are buying converts and drawing ire; and a look at the state of education in the region.

read the rest! »

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September 22, 2003
Andrew's Winds of War: Sept 22/03

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Andrew Olmsted, and is split into an Iraq Report and this briefing on the Wider War.

TOP TOPICS

  • Winning the war against the Islamofascists is still a long-term project; The Braden Files reposts a Stratfor article by Dr. George Friedman that examines al Qaeda's goals and strategy 2 years later, and notes what the United States needs to do next to keep the pressure on.

  • A Muslim Chaplain assigned to Guantanamo has been charged with: sedition, aiding the enemy & espionage. Further details here.

  • Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has apparently told U.S. interrogators that the scope of the 9/11 plot was originally far larger, involving ten planes taking off from both coasts. While the first instinct on hearing this is to thank our lucky stars they scaled the attack back, one wonders how much of this is true and how much is bravado.

Other Topics Today Include: The EU, Russia & Iran's bomb; Too late to stop a nuclear Iran?; China's NK dilemma; Japan backing away from no-nukes tradition; The Taliban on the rise again in Afghanistan; Afghan battle reports; Syrian WMD; Is Israel preparing to ramp up the war; Israelis happy, despite all; No, Geitner - I AM your father....

read the rest! »

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September 14, 2003
Pak Complicity in Propping Up Al-Qaeda?

Let’s see … how does that go? The friend of my enemy … or the enemy of my friend … whatever. The point is that US intelligence has released a report suggesting that Pakistan helped Al Qaeda members launch their operations in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

There are several stories on the report, but of additional interest is the variety in it’s reporting. Compare these two headlines and leads …

From the Hindustan Times:

US report brings out Pak complicity in propping up Al-Qaeda: It’s more or less official now. Declassified portions of US intelligence documents bring out what has always been known: Pakistan’s complicity in propping up not only the Taliban, but also Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Islamabad, it is now revealed, had directed the Taliban to facilitate Al-Qaeda’s expansion.
From ABC News (Australia):
Pakistan rejects report it assisted Al Qaeda in Afghanistan: Pakistan has dismissed as baseless a United States intelligence report claiming it helped Al Qaeda members launch their operations in Afghanistan in the 1990s.
At least we’ve established there’s no media bias (to the Left or Right) …

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September 03, 2003
Suspected Taliban burn school in central Afghanistan

USA TODAY

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Suspected Taliban set fire to an elementary school south of Kabul, scattering leaflets saying girls should not be allowed in the classroom, an official said Wednesday.

The blaze late Tuesday destroyed two rooms and two tents at the coed Moghul Khil school, said Amir Jhan, military spokesman for the region.

No one was arrested but Amir blamed supporters of the hardline Islamic militia, which ruled Afghanistan until it was ousted by U.S.-led troops in 2001.

Before the attackers fled, they scattered leaflets saying girls should not go to school, and threatening a "reaction" against teachers who teach them, he said.


More...

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August 25, 2003
Taleban fighters bombed

BBC:

Up to 50 suspected Taleban fighters have been killed in a joint Afghan-US military operation in south-eastern Afghanistan, local officials in the region say.

A spokesman for the governor of Afghanistan's Zabul province said Afghan troops had overrun a Taleban base after US forces bombed it on Monday.

"We have seen 40 to 50 dead bodies," the spokesman, Ahmadullah Watan Dost, told Western news agencies.


More...

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August 23, 2003
U.S. Soldier Killed in Eastern Afghanistan

Fox News:

A U.S. special operations soldier was killed in action in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. military said Friday.

In a neighboring province, meanwhile, coalition troops arrested four people and seized weapons stored in caves by insurgents.

Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Tapper, 32, of Camden County, N.J., died from injuries suffered on Wednesday, the Defense Department said in Washington. The U.S. military's Central Command said his injuries were sustained during a "hostile fire incident" around Orgun in Paktika province.


More...

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August 22, 2003
Central Asia "-Stans Summary": Aug. 22/03

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia, guest blogged by Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan got a feel for the area while with the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan.

Top Story

* Cross-border confrontations between Afghan and Pakistani troops continue, and Hamid Karzai warned Pakistan that Afghanistan will not tolerate these incidents. The Telegraph also has a report from the frontlines.

Other Topics Today Include: More reports from Afghanistan; Naval exercises complicate a Caspian compromise; SCO takes aim at Uighur separatism; Uzbek-Kyrgyz border problems; Iran and Pakistan plan to boost trade in Central Asia; Rising violence and a new plan for Afghan reconstruction; India looking for a perch in Central Asia; Birth of a dynasty in Azerbaijan?; Kazakhstan eager to enter WTO; Uzbek human rights activist jailed for homosexuality.

Posted by Winds of Change at 02:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 13, 2003
Two Students Killed While Making Bomb in Kabul

Whaddaya know ... there IS justice in the world.

Two university students were killed and one wounded in Afghanistan's (search) capital on Wednesday when a bomb they were making -- apparently in preparation for a terrorist attack -- exploded by accident, police said.
Via FOXNews.

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August 04, 2003
Winds of War: August 4/03

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday.

TOP TOPICS


Other Topics Today Include: Defining our enemies, defining ourselves; Duelling WMD reports; Iraq - view from the streets; German post-occupation history 1945-49; Shredders revisited; Rebuilding the oil industry; NK and the bomb; Terrorists strike in the USA; Regime decapitation; Afghanistan; Syria; Good fences in Israel and India; Chechnya; and 50 things every guy should know.

read the rest! »

Posted by Winds of Change at 03:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 31, 2003
Dan's Winds of War: July 31/03

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

  • As Andrew noted on Monday, there was recently a coup attempt in the Philippines. While the actual plot was foiled, about 70 of the plotters (members of the Filippino equivalent of the Special Forces) managed to escape and then proceeded to seize control of a major commercial center in Manila, holding the Australian ambassador and 2 Americans hostage. The plotters finally surrendered, but are claiming a moral victory. It appears that the renegade soldiers had some significant backing within elements of the Filippino government, as at least one cabinet member has been detained in connection with the plot.

  • Something extremely weird took place recently took place in Malawi. First, five al-Qaeda operatives, including a member of the Saudi royal family, were arrested by the CIA and the Malawian National Intelligence Bureau, as they were on a watch list of people linked to Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. A judge initially tried to block the deportation order, but all five suspects were placed in US custody and presumably en route to Guantanamo, prompting a riot in Blantyre that got so far out of hand that the government had to call in the army to restore order. But no sooner are things back to normal in Blantyre than do the five individuals in question turn up in Sudan, claiming that they have been cleared of all charges.

  • RFE/RL has a fairly thorough analysis up of Iran's relationship with al-Qaeda and a plausible explanation why the nation is behaving in the manner it is.

Other Topics Today Include: Iraq and Iran updates; President Bush's press conference; more possible hijackings; thwarted attack against the US Embassy in Ottawa; seiges underway in Monrovia and Buchanan; battles against the Taliban and warlords in Afghanistan; al-Qaeda's brain trust, terrorist training camps and shoot-outs in Saudi Arabia; a raid on al-Muhajiroun; Equatoria Guinea's new god, a peaceful transition of power in Sao Tome; Australia's planned deployment in the Solomon Islands; an update on the kidnapped Algerian tourists; and a satire by Mark Steyn on how today's BBC might take the news of Mussolini's death.

read the rest! »
 

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July 30, 2003
Taliban 'kids' using pen bombs

NEWS.com:

Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists are using children carrying pen bombs to attack US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan, a US military spokesman said after two children were injured by an exploding pen.

"There are reports of anti-coalition forces typically using non-threatening children, women and handicapped people to approach coalition forces with exploding ink pens as a method of attack on the coalition," Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram Air Base 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul.

"I can only characterise the use of children to behave in such a manner as despicable," he said.


More...

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Central Asia Briefing: July 30/03

July 30/03: Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings normally run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia and "the -stans," including Afghanistan.

TOP TOPIC

  • Taliban forces based in Pakistan are intensifying attacks on US and Afghan government forces. According to the top US general in Afghanistan, Taliban fighters and affiliated Islamic militants have divided eastern Afghanistan into three zones for launching attacks. Meanwhile, al Qaeda is organizing openly in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

Other Topics Today Include: al-Qaeda's new Afghan offensive; Afghanistan/Pakistan ties strained; The new Afghan Army; "aid" workers; Preserving Afghanistan's cultural heritage; Azeris in Iran push for change; Russian-led rapid reaction force in Kyrgyzstan; Chechnya - a lesson for China?; 'Oil curse' for Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan?; Central Asia's water crisis; and The Agonist cheats death in Tibet.

read the rest! »

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July 15, 2003
Suspected Taliban Kill 5 Afghan Policemen

AP:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Suspected Taliban fighters attacked a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan, killing the police chief and four other officers, an official said Tuesday.

Two other policemen were wounded in the attack Monday in Ghorak district, 72 miles northwest of Kandahar, said Mohammed Salim, deputy police chief in Kandahar.

About 12 suspected Taliban drove up to the district police headquarters in two cars and a pickup truck. They stormed the station killing police chief Sakza Mama and his men.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Salim blamed the Taliban, who are usually the first ones to be accused of any attack on government offices in Afghanistan.
More...

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July 05, 2003
Three Dutch Peacekeepers Wounded in Afghan Blast

Reuters:

KABUL - Three Dutch peacekeepers were wounded in Afghanistan when their vehicle was hit by an explosion while they were on patrol north of the capital, Kabul, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

All three were in stable condition but the man most seriously hurt in the Friday evening blast was expected to be sent back to Europe for medical treatment on Saturday, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force said.

The cause of the blast, while the men were on patrol in the Shomali plain on the northern outskirts of Kabul, was being determined.


More...

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July 04, 2003
New Operation Launched in Afghanistan to Stop Fleeing Taliban, Al Qaeda

Fox News:

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S.-led coalition forces launched an operation in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan aimed at denying Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives a haven in Pakistan border regions, a military spokesman said Friday.

Operation Haven Denial, centered in Paktika and Khost, began Wednesday, Lt. Douglas Lefforge said in a statement released from Bagram Air Base, the U.S. military headquarters located north of Kabul.

"The purpose of this operation is to prevent the re-emergence of terrorism, deny anti-coalition fighters sanctuary and prevent further attacks against NGOs (nongovernment organizations), coalition forces and equipment," Lefforge said.


More...

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June 24, 2003
Taliban Form 'Resistance Force'

CNN:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The elusive leader of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, Mullah Omar, has named a 10-member council to organize resistance to U.S. and allied forces in the country, a news report said Tuesday.

The Pakistani-based newspaper The News said the announcement was made in an audiotape sent from Mullah Omar's hiding place inside Afghanistan.

In the recording he calls on Taliban fighters to make sacrifices to drive out U.S. and other foreign troops and the "puppet" government of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai, the paper said.

Full article...

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May 06, 2003
Taliban Ambush Afghan Deminers in Third Attack

Taliban have been firing on deminers (people who remove mines).

Posted by Judith Weiss at 03:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 01, 2003
Rumsfeld declares war over in Afghanistan

Rumsfeld declares war over in Afghanistan

U.S. combat operations are over in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared in Kabul Thursday, the same day President George W. Bush is expected to announce the same thing about Iraq from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

"We have clearly moved from major combat activity," Rumsfeld said in a joint news conference with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace. "The bulk of the country today is permissive (and) secure."

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April 27, 2003
Photos from Afganistan

Just some photos from Afganistan. So we don't forget.

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