Afghanistan - News and Discussion

[Guest]

[url="http://www.trinetra.org.uk/#/life-as-a-hindu-in-afghanistan/4541070200"]Life as a Hindu/Sikh in Afghanistan[/url]

[Guest]

[url="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes"]U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan[/url]

WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.



The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.



An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberrys.

[sai_k]

It is a shame on us, that we could not do what Americans did in our neighborhood!.. $1t resource loss value on this shame.

[Guest]

[url="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/17/afghan-military-deserters-missing-air-force-base/"]EXCLUSIVE: Alert Issued for 17 Afghan Military Members AWOL From U.S. Air Force Base[/url]

A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members of the Afghan military who have gone AWOL from a Texas Air Force base where foreign military officers who are training to become pilots are taught English, FoxNews.com has learned.



The Afghan officers and enlisted men have security badges that give them access to secure U.S. defense installations, according to the lookout bulletin, "Afghan Military Deserters in CONUS [Continental U.S.]," issued by Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Dallas, and obtained by FoxNews.com.



The Afghans were attending the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The DLI program teaches English to military pilot candidates and other air force prospects from foreign countries allied with the U.S.



"I can confirm that 17 have gone missing from the Defense Language Institute," said Gary Emery, Chief of Public Affairs, 37th Training Wing, at Lackland AFB. "They disappeared over the course of the last two years, and none in the last three months."



Each Afghan was issued a Department of Defense Common Access Card, an identification card used to gain access to secure military installations, with which they "could attempt to enter DOD installations," according to the bulletin. Base security officers were encouraged to disseminate the bulletin to their personnel.

They must be working in grocery store or driving taxi.

[Guest]

Report: Karzai holds secret talks with top militant

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai has held face-to-face talks with Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of a particularly brutal militant group with ties to al-Qaida, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.



The presidential office reportedly denied that any meeting took place between Karzai and the Haqqani network, a group high on the CIA's hit list that is believed to have been behind some of the most sophisticated attacks across Afghanistan.



Pakistan's army chief and the head of the country's intelligence services are thought to have accompanied Haqqani to the talks, sources told Al Jazeera. Pakistan's intelligence and military officials have long been thought to foster close links with members of the Taliban and other militant groups working in Afghanistan.

It means Paki Army's another stooge will join Karazi government.

[Guest]

[url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100630/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan"]Fighting erupts at airport in eastern Afghan city[/url]

Ghafor Khan, a spokesman for the provincial police chief in Nangarhar province, said Wednesday that police heard blasts and gunshots from inside the airport. He says international forces have blocked access to the area.



The Taliban claims six suicide attackers entered the airport in Jalalabad, 125 kilometers east of the Afghan capital. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid says more than 30 people were killed in the morning attack, but the insurgent group often exaggerates accounts of their attacks.

[Capt M Kumar]

WASHINGTON: Strongly refuting the Pakistani claim that India has no role in Afghanistan, new US Commander General David Petraeus has said that New

Delhi has a legitimate interest in the region.



"India has legitimate interests in this region," Gen Petraeus, said in response to a question at his confirmation hearing for the US and NATO in Afghanistan before the Senate Armed Services Committee. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news...109322.cms



The Senate Armed Services Committee later in the day confirmed him by a voice vote. His nomination now goes to the full Senate for confirmation.

[ramana]

Can be x-posted in many threads...



Pioneer op-ed:

EDITS | Thursday, July 8, 2010 | Email | Print | | Back

Kayani roots for Haqqani

G Parthasarathy



There now appears to be recognition in New Delhi that direct allegations against Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism only invite bland and self-righteous denials. But the tone of India’s approach has changed after Daood Gilani aka James Headley spoke candidly to Indian investigators in the presence of ISI officials and revealed substantive details of how the plot to attack Mumbai was hatched and about the role of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, other senior members of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and serving and retired Army officials, some of whom hid their true identity.



Confronted with these details during the visit of Home Minister P Chidambaram to Islamabad, the Pakistanis have promised thorough investigations. It would be naïve to believe that given Hafiz Saeed’s close links with the ISI, Mr Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League and virtually all major Islamic parties, the Pakistani Government would have the will or the inclination to act against the real masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist outrage.



Rather than accuse Pakistan directly of complicity in the Mumbai carnage, Mr Chidambaram said, “Nobody is questioning anybody’s intentions. It is the outcome to become visible. We have agreed that there are certain outcomes we are looking forward to.”Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, normally upbeat on India-Pakistan relations, remarked, “In dealing with Pakistan our attitude should be trust, but verify. So only time will tell which way the animal will turn.”



Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna told visiting Pakistani journalists, “Mumbai is a deep scar. Pakistan must pursue those who were responsible.” He added, “Political will is needed to tackle terrorism. Does the will exist? India has it.” As a young Pakistani journalist noted, implicit in Mr Krishna’s comments was “the Indian assessment that Pakistan and more specially the Pakistani Army does not have the will”. Mr Krishna also left Pakistani journalists in no doubt that in a climate where there was a ‘trust deficit’ it would be unrealistic to expect major breakthroughs. He told the journalists, “It will take talks, lots of talks before an agreement.”



New Delhi evidently recognises that Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and his ISI chief are working overtime to get the Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, now based in Pakistan, to control southern Afghanistan through a deal they appear to be negotiating with a beleaguered Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is beset with fears of a precipitate American withdrawal. Simultaneously the ISI intends to keep the pot boiling in Jammu & Kashmir by backing Jama’at-e-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and target Indian interests through the LeT and the Taliban’s Haqqani network across Afghanistan and in Bangladesh. Pakistan’s assets in India like SIMI will also be used to keep Indian security agencies on edge, but a repetition of attacks like the Mumbai carnage could well be avoided for the present as any such attack will undermine Pakistani ambitions on its western borders with Afghanistan.



Both Sirajuddin Haqqani and his father Jalaluddin Haqqani have been long-term assets of the ISI. They are both members of the ruling council of the Taliban, headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar. More importantly, Jalaluddin Haqqani, together with the ISI, has helped Osama bin Laden’s jihadi network in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 1988, When the Americans invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, Osama bin Laden escaped from the American bombing of the caves where he was hiding in Tora Bora. He was escorted to north Waziristan and has since been protected by the Haqqani network there.



The Haqqani network, now led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, openly claims that its support for Al Qaeda today is “at its highest limit”. It also provides haven and support to jihadis from Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Chechnya, the Kurdish areas of Iran and Iraq, and even from Germany. While Gen Kayani has stonewalled and stalled American requests to crackdown on the Haqqani network on one pretext or another, the Americans are now dumbfounded to learn that behind their backs the Pakistani Army has been seeking to persuade the Afghans to give a leading role, probably involving de facto control of southern Afghanistan, to start with, for Sirajuddin Haqqani, their protégé who is an Islamic radical with demonstrably inseparable links with Al Qaeda.



The question that arises is that why is Gen Kayani, scheduled to retire in a few months, so keen on pushing ‘reconciliation’ with the Haqqani network, backed by his ISI geniuses? As well-known American analyst Jeffrey Dressler avers, “The Haqqanis rely on Al Qaeda for mass appeal, funding and training. In return, they provide Al Qaeda with shelter and protection, to strike at foreign forces in Afghanistan and beyond. Any negotiated settlement with the Haqqanis threatens to undermine the raison d'être of US involvement in Afghanistan for over the past decade.” One can only conclude that Gen Kayani and the ISI believe, like the Taliban leadership, that Taliban resistance will force an early American exit from Afghanistan, with the US willing to agree to any settlement that is “face-saving”.



Afghanistan’s neighbours and Russia have reacted with alarm to the ongoing Karzai-Kayani nexus which followed the sacking or sidelining of key officials suspicious of Pakistani intentions, like former Intelligence Chief Amrullah Saleh and Army Chief Gen Bismillah Khan by Mr Karzai. On July 1 an official spokesman of the Russian Foreign office warned: “Attempts by the Afghan leadership with the support of Western countries to establish a negotiation process with Taliban leaders to build a mechanism for national ‘reconciliation’ gives us serious cause for concern.” The spokesman added, “Work to return repentant Taliban militants to civilian life should not be replaced with a campaign to rehabilitate the entire Taliban movement.” The Chinese have noted that the Taliban have demanded unconditional American withdrawal as a precondition for any dialogue. Chinese ‘analysts’ aver, “War is prevailing and continuing (in Afghanistan) and the peace process has not started. Peace on the foundation of conditions is not possible, if the Taliban are not weakened.”



The entire Afghan strategy of Pakistan is being managed primarily by the Army establishment, with the elected Government sidelined. It is a high-risk strategy which could well flounder as it is apparent that while the Americans are confused they are hardly likely to leave Afghanistan to the mercies of an ISI-backed Sirajuddin Haqqani.



The major reason for Pakistan’s interest in having southern Afghanistan controlled by Haqqani is that it fears that the traditional Pashtun leadership in Afghanistan strongly rejects the Durand Line and supports the formation of a ‘Pashtunistan’. High-risk policies by Gen Ayub Khan, Gen Yahya Khan and Gen Pervez Musharraf, leading to conflict with India, have in the past proved disastrous for Pakistan. Will Gen Kayani lead his country to similar disaster with his ambitions in Afghanistan?

So what GP is saying is Sirajuddin Haqqani is going to get control of Southern Afghanistan ie the area that is west of Durand Line. Is this the TSPA idea to hedge the Durand Line issue?



Looks to me the TSPA goal of transforming "bad" Taliban into "good" Taliban is to hedge the Durand line. How does it advance their strategic depth goal?





Any insights from our members?

[Guest]

Its not only Southern Afghanistan but Pakistan is planing to swallow whole Afghanistan. Pakistan had suddenly started catching Al-Queda/Taliban/ISI assets from Karachi and other places. Southern will go to Haqqani, Masud will take East Afghanistan, Western Afghanistan will under control of DrugLord/WarLord (can't recall his name).



Paki Army will be in full control of Drug production and transit, which will not only support Paki Army but also terrorism in India. Later they have to get rid of Karzai and his brother. Already Karazi and his buddies are buying properties in Dubai etc from our tax money.

Pakistan main objective is control on drug trade and full control on future Aid to Afghanistan from rest of world.

We may see lot of bumping of people in Afghanistan, Northern alliance guys are watching this show, don't under estimate them. Kerry forced out Abdullah Abdullah, I doubt he is sitting happy.



OB will take face saving deal and will settle with Masud, Radio Mullah etc as ministers and Mullah Omar as spiritual leader. This will happen before 2012 election in US.

[Guest]

[url="http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jul/07/slide-show-1-writer-william-dalrymple-on-afghanistan.htm"]'All Americans in Afghanistan know that their game is over'[/url]

[Capt M Kumar]

Unconvinced of the United States' staying power in Afghanistan, Karzai is seeking a rapprochement with the Taliban movement, with the ultimate goal of drawing it into the political process. But his overtures have raised alarm among those who fear such a result could realign power along ethnic lines.



The Taliban movement is drawn almost solely from Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns. And leaders of the country's other significant minorities — Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras — are worried they may be left out in the cold as Karzai moves to woo insurgents and consolidate his base of support among fellow Pashtuns. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/...5264.story

[Guest]

WikiLeaks

[url="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010"]Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010[/url]

[Guest]

Kayani wants Indian mission in Afg closed

pioneer.com

IANS | Toronto

Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, whose forces sponsor a large-scale guerrilla war through Afghan proxies to keep New Delhi out of Afghanistan, wants Indian consulates in the war-torn country to be closed, says a Canadian diplomat and former deputy head of the UN mission in Kabul.



Chris Alexander, who was Canada's ambassador in Kabul from 2003 to 2005 and later deputy of the UN mission until 2009, said Gen. Kayani is calling the shots on Afghanistan and prepared to support suicide attacks in Afghanistan's cities.



[color="#FF0000"]The Pakistani general has even told President Hamid Karzai that he can broker a peace deal with the Taliban - only if Indian consulates in Afghanistan are closed[/color].



Writing in the Globe and Mail under the title 'The huge scale of Pakistan's complicity', Alexander said: "The Pakistan army under Gen. Kayani is sponsoring a large-scale, covert guerrilla war through Afghan proxies - whose strongholds in Balochistan and Waziristan are flourishing. Their mission in Afghanistan is to keep Pashtun nationalism down, India out and Mr. Karzai weak."



"The principal drivers of violence are no longer, if they ever were, inside Afghanistan... ISI is the main driver of the conflict... Gen. Kayani and others will deny complicity. But as the WikiLeaks material demonstrates, their heavy-handed involvement is now obvious at all levels," the Canadian diplomat said.



Because of this policy, he said "reconciliation has failed to get off the ground: the Pakistan-based Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the official name for the Taliban and its allies - clearly prefer to fight".



Without Pakistani military support, "the Islamic Emirate's combat units would collapse like a house of cards. Peace and reconciliation would prosper", he said.



Giving many examples of how Gen. Kayani controls the principal drivers of the Afghan violence, the Canadian diplomat said: "First, in February, Pakistan's security forces began arresting a dozen or so Taliban leaders - whose presence on their soil they had always noisily denied - presumably because these insurgent commanders had shown genuine, independent interest in reconciliation.



"Second, the chief of Pakistan's army staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, this year once again successfully resisted US pressure to launch military operations in Balochistan and North Waziristan, where the Islamic Emirate is based.



"Third, Gen Kayani told Mr. Karzai this spring that the condition for peace in Afghanistan would be the closing of several Indian consulates, while offering to broker deals with Islamic Emirate leaders, whom he considers a `strategic asset'.



"Fourth, Gen Kayani blithely told a Washington audience that he remained wedded to `strategic depth' - that is, to making Afghanistan the kind of proprietary hinterland for Pakistan, free of Indian or other outside influence, which it was from 1992 to 2001."



He said the Pakistan army's interference in Afghanistan violates the UN Charter and poses a threat to world peace. "It deserves serious discussion in multilateral forums, including the UN."

[HareKrishna]

could be

[Bharatvarsh2]

[quote name='HareKrishna' date='05 August 2010 - 12:32 PM' timestamp='1281029069' post='107769']

Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0...z0vklfPmO7





http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0...38,00.html

[/quote]

Nice propaganda.



No coincidence that all of a sudden Western media outlets like Forbes and Time have been covering Afghan women with the waning support for the war.



They never ask if the majority of Afghan women want foreign troops there and I suspect the answer is no considering the horrific birth defects of the babies due to DU and having their families wiped out in drone strikes.



Also since when is it the West's job to police the world and impose "womens lib" at gun point on foreign countries?



http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/02/netherl...man_2.html



Most of the comments there point this out, following 2 for example:

Posted by Arrichion | 08/05/10 01:21 PM EDT

Ms. Esman you are another chickenhawk.



Where in the US constitution does it say for us to go impose our lifestyle and culture abroad, since when is it the job of the US military to "liberate" Afghan women?



Did you even ask the Afghan women whom you are using as pawns for your agenda if they like the continued presence of foreign troops in their country?



Oh right, i forgot their opinions really don't matter to upper class feministas such as yourself living in the safety of US.



Why should Dutch men murder Afghan men on the say so of feminists like you Ms. Esman?



Did you know that in the US that by law a cuckold is forced to pay CS to kids that have been proven not to be theirs through paternity testing under Lord Mansfields law?



Do you know how humiliating that is for men?



So would it be okay for Iran and China to invade America to "liberate" American men?



You think most men are still the naive saps they were a 100 years ago when women like you handed white feathers to 14 and 16 year old boys on the street to shame them into going into WW1 while the women sat at home safely?



Who are you trying to fool by bringing up women in the military when everyone knows that physical standards are lowered for women, that they do not serve in combat, that many of them get pregnant to avoid doing their job and that over 98% of the casualties have been men?



If you are so worried about the status of Afghan women go fight your own damn war along with your fellow feminists.





Posted by Arrichion | 08/05/10 01:41 PM EDT

"Forbes, what is she doing writing for you?"



She is just doing her job of propaganda.



You think its a coincidence that with waning support for the war we have been inundated with nonsense about Afghan women in our media recently, remember that Time magazine cover of the Afghan girl with her nose cut off and now this.



In our society men are expendable beasts of burden and many men still buy into the chivalry nonsense.



Remember when that plane landed in the Hudson River, in the rescue efforts they did the "women and children first" nonsense with the passive acceptance of the male passengers, even though women are supposedly equal to men. Western women want to have their cake and eat it too.



These images and propaganda about Afghan women seek to harness that self sacrificing instinct of men to incite them into killing other men in Afghanistan for the feminist agenda.



Remember that while you are out risking your life for some nebulous concept of "liberating" Afghan women your wife can cheat with impunity back home, no-fault divorce you and basically reduce you to penury through alimony and property division. I have known veterans who had this happen to them and there were no Ms. Esman's there when they put the gun to their heads and killed themselves after the humiliation.

[HareKrishna]

Yes.Nice propaganda.

[Bharatvarsh2]

its a wrong thigh to impose morality and save milion from suffering?

afghans are not ready for democracy,but maybe if westerners will stay there for another 50 years who knows.

and they should be payed for their moral job,lets say whit some natural resources.

So the West is in there to impose "morality" on Afghans?



Also what "morality" is this?



Is this the same morality that says bikinis are ok but tries to forbid women from wearing burqas?



I thought it was there to get al qaeda.



As the comments rightly point out if its ok for the West to impose its culture at gun point on the Afghans then it should be ok for China or Iran to invade the US to "liberate" American men from the anti male laws.

[HareKrishna]

i dont know either

[agnivayu]

Afghanistan is a land locked wasteland. Probably won't amount to much unless it's back under Hindu control. Lot's of Indian movies are popular in Afghanistan also, and even in many Muslim countries in the middle east like Turkey. But Turkish Muslims are very much Islamic from my travels there. The "moderate" ones are about equal to Evangelical Bible Belt Redneck Christians.



Does Romania have troops in Afghanistan?

[Pandyan]

Yes. Romania has troops.