Bharat Rakshak

The SAIL-led consortium, which has bagged rights for three iron ore mines in Hajigak in Afghanistan, will spend about $11 billion on infrastructure creation, mining and setting up a 6-million tonne steel plant and a 1,000-MW thermal power plant.

Establishment of the steel plant, which will be situated about 200 km away from the three Hajigak mines, would depend on the availability of inputs such as coking coal and limestone, which were to be ensured by the Afghan Government, Steel Authority of India Chairman C. S. Verma said here [New Delhi].

There were enough reserves for coking coal and limestone in Afghanistan, he added.

The immediate plan for the consortium is to carry out a geological study of the mines over three years at an investment of $75 million. The cumulative reserves of the three mines are estimated at around 1.28 billion tonnes.

“We need some funds from the government. Afghanistan falls in the negative list and no financial institutions will take the exposure. It will be difficult for the consortium members to put in such an amount on their own from their reserves. So we need government assistance and aid,'' Mr. Verma said.

All the seven consortium members — SAIL, JSW Steel, NMDC, JSW Steel, JSW Ispat, Jindal Steel and Power and Monnet Ispat and Energy — will make a contribution proportionate to their stake in the venture towards the $75 million investment for detailed exploration of the mines.

The project is expected to provide direct employment to 8,000 people and 40,000 people indirectly. The consortium would also set up a 200-km long railroad, connecting the mines and the proposed steel plant, he said.

The Hajigak iron ore deposit, situated in the mountainous Bamyan province, 130 km west of Kabul, is one of several iron deposits within this area but is the largest located to date.

According to Afghan geological studies, the ore occurs within the Herat fault zone. An Afghan-Soviet study in the 1960s demonstrated the mineral potential of the region, and estimated the Hajigak resource (in-place) at 1.8 billion tonnes of iron ore with a concentration of approximately 62 per cent ferrous (Fe).

A feasibility study by Franco-German firm in 1972 suggested that occurrence of coking coal nearby at Shabashak made an integrated steel plant possible in the area.

Although the ore bodies were thought not to extend to a great depth (below 180 metres), there is no deep drilling to confirm this.

The reserves of the Hajigak's A, B and C blocks, for which development rights have been awarded, have been placed based on conservative estimates of around 484, 930 and 357 million tonnes respectively. For the smaller ‘D' block no official figure but analysts said it could be around 100 million tonnes.

a steel plant in the middle of nowhere will need electricity... and roads/rail and access to a port...

a steel plant in the middle of nowhere will need electricity... and roads/rail and access to a port...

This is an interesting and an amazing job opportunity for the Pashto / Dari speaking community in the US. Veritiss is currently looking for qualified personnel to serve as Pashto Linguists overseas in support of the reconstruction and peace keeping efforts in Afghanistan. The compensation for 12 months is between $185000 - $235000.

However, if you are interested to pursue a career with us as a Pashto/ Dari Linguists please feel free to get in touch with me as soon as possible. My name is Ayesha Qazi. I am a recruiter with Veritiss LLC.Please call me on 7035179006 or 7033919270.You can email me on ayesha.qazi@veritiss.com.

Job Requirements:

Must be a US citizen or Green Card Holders.

Must be willing to relocate (Afghanistan).

Must speak in Pashto/ Dari.

X Posted from the Pakistani Role in Global terrorism thread.

Yet another Islamic Terrorist incident linked to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Suicide bombings targeting shrines of the Mohammadden Shia / Shiite sect on the Muslim holiday of Muharram in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan which killed some 59 is claimed by a Sunni Mohammadden Islamic Terrorist organisation based in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

Pakistani militants claim responsibility for pilgrim slaughter

Around 32 years ago, Russian general Nikolai Ogarkov advised Leonid Brezhnev’s cabinet not to invade Afghanistan, saying that the country was unconquerable. Today US generals are asking Barack Obama to get the hell out of the place or else the Americans will have to leave the way they left Vietnam – in their underpants.
Are the Afghans really 10 feet tall? Is subduing Afghanistan an impossible task? Ogarkov, the chief of the Soviet Defense Staff, was of course being cautious. He referred to the rout of several British armies in Afghanistan in the 19th century. (On one notable occasion in 1842 the Afghans massacred a British army numbering over 21,000, allowing one soldier, William Brydon, to go back and tell the story).

Ogarkov was more concerned about the political fallout. An invasion would “align the entire Islamic East against us” he warned. In fact, with Pakistan as a fallback option, the Mujahideen (which was being supplied by the US, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China to name just a few) could operate with impunity. The bear’s failure was its failure to swat Pakistan

However, despite Washington’s thanklessness for its valuable help in fighting the Afghans, Moscow is not interested in spoiling it for the US. Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, says: “In the event of NATO’s defeat in Afghanistan, fundamentalists who are inspired by this victory will set their eyes on the north. First they will hit Tajikistan, then they will try to break into Uzbekistan. If things turn out badly, in about 10 years our boys will have to fight well-armed and well-organised Islamists somewhere in Kazakhstan.”

But first a flashback: Afghanistan had always been a part of India; it was called Gandhar (modern Kandahar), a vibrant province that gave us excellent art, architecture, literature and scientific knowledge – a world far removed from today’s Taliban infested badlands.
It was an Indian province until 1735 when Nadir Shah of Iran, emboldened by the lack of strong central authority in India, ransacked Delhi and everything on the way. This was a highly opportunistic and reckless act because for the past 25 centuries India and Iran had respected each other’s borders, and though always a bit nervous of each other, the two empires never tried to subvert each other. Nadir Shah annexed Afghanistan and asked the Indians to forget about ever getting it back.
However, Ranjit Singh was not prepared to play according to the Persian script. Nadir Shah’s successor, Ahmad Shah Abdali, had been launching repeated raids into Punjab and Delhi. To check this Ranjit Singh decided to build a modern and powerful army with the employment of Frenchmen, Italians, Greeks, Russians, Germans and Austrians. Two of the foreign officers who entered the Maharaja’s service, Ventura and Allard, had served under Napoleon. Says historian Shiv Kumar Gupta: “All these officers were basically engaged by Ranjit Singh for modernisation of his troops. He never put them in supreme command.”

So how did Ranjit Singh manage to conquer such fierce mountain people? Mainly by using a blend of sustained aggression latter smoothened by Indian magnanimity.

Indeed, Nalwa had become a legend. He realised that to dominate the warlike tribes, the Indians had to give them the same treatment the Afghans had given the Indians in the past. Says Kirpal Singh, “Nalwa set up a very strong administration in the Peshawar valley. Because the Yusafzais were the most violent tribe, he levied a cess on every Yusafzai household. This cess was to be collected in cash or in kind. For its realisation, personal household property could be appropriated. There was scarcely a village that was not burnt. Part of the city of Peshawar was burnt and the residence of the governor near Kabul was razed to the ground. In such awe were his visitations held that Nalwa’s name was used by Afghan mothers as a term of fright to hush their unruly children.”

Since ancient times, Indians have observed Dharma Yuddha or the code of war fighting – civilians are never harmed (this was observed by Greeks 2500 years ago), places of worship are never damaged, and crops and trees are left untouched. It is this tradition that helped Ranjit Singh win a decisive victory in Afghanistan whereas the West is floundering.

First, terror tactics were followed by a period of liberal and secular Indian rule. In fact, secularism was the defining character of Ranjit Singh’s rule. There was no state religion, and religious tolerance was an article of his faith. He refused to treat Muslims like second class citizens. Compare this with the indiscriminate and regular strafing of wedding parties by US and European forces. Indoctrinated American soldiers are stepping off the plane with bagful of Bibles, trying to convert the locals, and furthering alienating the population.

On the other hand, when his victorious army passed through the streets of Peshawar, the maharajah issued strict instructions to his commanders to observe restraint: women, mosques and crops were not touched.

However, there is a key difference – Ranjit’s Singh’s forces functioned like clockwork with one aim in mind and that was to secure the empire. Today, the US is reluctant to do all the fighting, the British forces are simply not up to the task of taking on the fierce Afghans and rely on bribes to keep their soldiers from being butchered by the Taliban. Do you expect the Afghans to respect such opponents? A gaggle of nationalities, including the Ukrainians, Poles, Australians, New Zealanders, Czechs and Danes are not in Afghanistan to win the hearts and minds or introduce democracy. All they are interested in is sucking up to America and wrapping up their respective free trade agreements. In the meantime, they use civilians for target practice. At least the Russians fought like real men and earned the respect of the Mujahideen.

Nalwa and Ranjit Singh showed how a mixture of ferocity, valour and compassion could tame Afghanistan. At the end of the day, the Indians just did a much better job of fighting.

Instead of relying heavily on Pakistan as a supply corridor, the United States should expand its cooperation with Russia, which has been playing an increasingly important role in military transit to and from Afghanistan. This would serve as both a hedge and a warning to the generals who control Pakistan.

In the last two years, the Northern Distribution Network through Russia and Central Asia has evolved from a peripheral component of American wartime logistics to the principal path for non-combat supplies into Afghanistan. These routes -- which traverse Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Azerbaijan and Georgia -- carry approximately 52% of all coalition cargo into Afghanistan. And under a 2009 air transit deal with Russia, 225,000 Americans have traveled there through Russian airspace on more than 1,500 military flights.

The choice is between Pakistan on one hand, and Russia and Central Asian nations on the other. And Russia, unlike Pakistan, has not hosted militants who are killing Americans on the battlefield.

Nalwa and Ranjit Singh showed how a mixture of ferocity, valour and compassion could tame Afghanistan.

So this is how the genocider Pakbarians are attaining their "strategic depth" ? The whole civilized world need to see this pic:

"Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That's critical," US Vice-President Joe Biden said in an interview to the Newsweek magazine.

"There is not a single statement that the (US) President has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens US interests," he said.

If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us. So there's a dual track here, Biden added.

"One, continue to keep the pressure on al-Qaida and continue to diminish them. Two, put the government in a position where they can be strong enough that they can negotiate with and not be overthrown by the Taliban," he said.

"And at the same time try to get the Taliban to move in the direction to see to it that they, through reconciliation, commit not to be engaged with al-Qaida or any other organization that they would harbor to do damage to us and our allies," Biden said.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, supporting Biden's statement, said the Vice-President does not regret having said this.

"We didn't invade Afghanistan. We did not send US military personnel into Afghanistan because the Taliban were in power. They had been in power. We went into Afghanistan because al-Qaida had launched an attack against the US from Afghanistan," he said.

An increase in the area of Afghanistan under poppy cultivation in response to rising opium prices and poverty lends urgency to an initiative aimed at encouraging farmers to switch to cultivating saffron. Prized by chefs worldwide and priced at up to $6,000 per kilogram, the versatile spice has had a significant impact on the economy of India's Jammu and Kashmir state.
- Athar Parvaiz

Taliban insurgents may be receiving weapons, ammunition and combat equipment from elements in the Pakistan army, a report by the United States military has suggested.

Early-morning patrols on November 26 by Afghan and U.S. troops at Maya village in KhasKonar district, east of Kabul, led to the recovery of an estimated 3,000 rounds of Pakistan military-issue rifle rounds packed into bandoleers, two Pakistan military-issue binoculars, and multiple sets of salwar-kameez clothing made from Pakistan military uniforms, the report states.

The report, authored by Brigadier-General Stephen Clark, was produced after an investigation into the November 25 U.S. Air Force (USAF) strike, which led to the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers and plunged the troubled relationship between the two countries to an all-time low.

The report, the full text of which was released by December-end, focuses mainly on the circumstances that led to the air strike.

It also casts light, though, on the deep suspicions the Afghan and U.S. troops harbour on the intentions and affiliations of their ostensible allies across the border in Pakistan.

The KhasKonar clash

Late on the night of November 25, the report says, ground forces sent to comb the area around Maya came under intense fire from a position on the ridgeline running along the border.

The USAF flew an F-15E at low altitude, dispensing flares — a move intended, among other things, to signal to the attackers, if they were Pakistani troops, that their target were western forces.

Fire continued, though, to rain down on the patrols, and air-strikes were called in a little after midnight.

Before the bombs hit, the report states, the International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) eastern regional command informed a Pakistani liaison officer of their plans to carry out the attack. The liaison officer was, however, given the wrong coordinates, and he informed the ISAF that there were no Pakistani troops in the area.

The ISAF called off planned airstrikes after the Pakistani army reported its troops were being hit, but by then, the soldiers were dead.

The Pakistan post, the report says, overlooked an “insurgent training facility, C2 [command and control] node and logistic hub.” In addition to the Pakistani military equipment recovered from an objective, the report describes using the code-name OCTAGON. It says rifles, improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades were also found.

Though the report does not address the inevitable suspicion—that Pakistani personnel at the post might have assisted or overlooked the operations at the insurgent base — it records a climate of suspicion that clouded cooperation between the Pakistani forces and ISAF troops.

The captain in-charge of the operation at Maya, it says, provided specific grid-references of his targets to his superiors at the ISAF, but insisted that only their general area be communicated to the Pakistan army, presumably to avoid the prospect of their being leaked to insurgents. {So much for the confidence in the Most Allied Non-Nato Ally !}

Multiple errors

The report admits that the multiple errors in communication and planning “set the conditions for the death and injury of large numbers of PAKMIL personnel and the destruction of [the] PAKMIL border post,” but adds that “the catalyst for this tragedy was ultimately the initial and continuing engagement by PAKMIL forces on coalition forces who, in turn, responded accordingly and appropriately”. {Wow, they slip-in a direct accusation of the Pakistani Army}

Ever since 2008, when escalating terror strikes by a resurgent Taliban led to a sharp deterioration in the situation in Afghanistan, the ISAF has had an increasingly fraught relationship with the Pakistan army. That June, an air strike claimed the lives of 11 Pakistani troops.

In September 2010, three Pakistani soldiers were killed in a helicopter attack on a post in Kurram.

Last year, at least four Pakistani soldiers were killed in artillery exchanges.

Pakistan has rejected Brigadier-General Clark's report, and responded by blockading the ISAF supplies carried from the Karachi port to its troops in Afghanistan.

Its demand for a formal apology has been rejected by U.S. President Barack Obama.

^ That shows US naivety or double-game.

Irrespective of their motive US world-view is inimical to Bharat and Dharmic interests.

KABUL: Gunmen launched multiple attacks in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday, with blasts and gunfire erupting in the heavily guarded, central diplomatic area and at the Afghan parliament in the west, witnesses and officials said.

Gunfire appeared to be coming from various directions in the barricaded diplomatic area of the city, close to both the US and British embassies, while smoke appeared to be billowing from the nearby German embassy, Reuters witnesses said.

Embassy alarms were sounding.

Attackers also fired rockets at the parliament building, in the west of the city, and at the Russian embassy, a spokesman for the parliament said.

Afghan media said insurgents had stormed the Star Hotel complex near the presidential palace and the Iranian embassy and black smoke was pouring from the building.

The embassies were not immediately available to comment.

The apparently coordinated attack is bound to intensify worry in the run-up to the planned withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

Afghan security forces, who are responsible for the safety of the capital, were scrambling to reinforce areas around the so-called green diplomatic section of the city centre.

Taliban rocks Kabul in wave of terror attacks
Taliban insurgents launch multiple attacks on Afghan cities. Ben Farmer reports from the ground in Kabul on a day of turmoil for the war-wrecked nation.

By Ben Farmer, Kabul
15 Apr 2012

When Mohammad Zakir saw several Kalashnikov-toting men leap from an expensive-looking car in Kabul’s diplomatic enclave, he assumed it was just another Afghan powerbroker’s retinue of bodyguards.

Seconds later the car mechanic was sprinting for his life after the gunmen who had emerged from behind the 4x4 vehicle’s tinted windows readied their assault rifles, opened fire on a group of nearby police officers and headed for a nearby construction site from which they would unleash the latest wave of terror on Afghanistan’s capital.

The gunfire which soon echoed across the city came as a stark interruption to a balmy spring day and heralded the beginning of an audacious nationwide assault, the largest in 11 years, which saw the Taliban declare the beginning of their “spring offensive” and suicide attackers again penetrate the most fortified districts of the city.

“I saw one Afghan intelligence officer shot. He just fell to the ground where he was,” Mr Zakir, 27, told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday in the chaotic aftermath of the attacks. “I turned and ran and got away. Nine of my staff are still trapped in the garage though and I don’t know if they can get out.”

The first sign of the onslaught for those Kabul residents lucky enough not to be in the immediate line of fire was the rattle of sporadic shooting and then a volley of explosions which rumbled through the Wazir Akbar Khan diplomatic district at around 1.45pm.

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It soon emerged that the four heavily armed men Mr Zakir had seen had stormed a nearby half-built tower block and were using it as a base from which they could launch a rocket and machinegun assault on the diplomatic residences and luxury hotels below.

Cars and pedestrians quickly deserted the main thoroughfares as shots crackled above their heads and smoke rose from buildings struck by rockets. The British and German embassies, as well as a Nato base in the district, were all hit. As The Daily Telegraph reached the scene, soon after the attack began, back streets were filling with Afghan commandos and snipers.

Commandos could be seen creeping along the balconies of adjoining buildings as they manoeuvred into position to fire on the attackers. By last night however, many hours after the attack began, the tower was still under siege.

The attack was one of the most brazen assaults on the Afghan capital in more than 10 years since the American-led invasion.

In total, fighters armed with machine guns, rockets and suicide vests struck eight sites across Kabul and three provincial capitals outside the city. Some of the attackers were dressed as women in burkas.

One target in Kabul was the Afghan parliament building where several MPs and their bodyguards told how they were forced to join forces with police officers to repel the attackers.

“I shot up to 400 or 500 bullets from my Kalashnikov at the attackers,” Mohammad Nahim Lalai Hamidzai, an MP from Kandahar said. “They fired two rocket-propelled grenades at the parliament. The fight was around the parliament, the Russian Embassy and Vice President Khalili’s house.”

Simultaneous assaults were meanwhile launched in three other cities in the east, as a Taliban spokesman boasted the militants could “attack anywhere we want”.

“These attacks are the beginning of the spring offensive and we had planned them for months,” Zabihullah Mujahid said.

He claimed it was revenge for the burning of Korans in February at an American air base north of Kabul and the massacre of 17 civilians by a rogue US soldier in Kandahar. More violence would follow.

As night fell, fighting continued in at least two places in Kabul and the evening calls to prayer were punctuated by occasional explosions or shots.

Nineteen insurgents died in the encounters across the country and two were captured. Fourteen police officers and nine civilians were wounded, the ministry of interior said.

The Foreign Office in London said British embassy staff had all been accounted for, but were locked down in the embassy grounds.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said: “The Afghan National Security Forces responded to the attacks bravely, promptly, and effectively, once again illustrating the significant progress that has been made in ensuring that Afghans can look after their own security.

“Britain stands with the government and people of Afghanistan as they work to build a peaceful future.”

Sunday’s attack appeared to undermine Nato’s assertion that it has broken the back of the Taliban-led insurgency to the point where it is incapable of launching a coordinated offensive.

There will also be concern that heavily-armed militants managed to penetrate the capital’s “ring of steel” and seize building sites in a repeat of tactics used to attack the American embassy in September.

Despite the scale of Sunday’s attacks, the Nato coalition tried to dismiss them as “largely ineffective” and said they proved the Afghan forces would soon be ready to take charge of securing the country.

Gen John Allen, commander of the coalition, said he was “enormously proud” of how the Afghan forces had performed.

And Ryan Crocker, the American Ambassador, said: “We’ve seen a very professional performance by Afghan security forces. They are able to deal with events like this on their own.”

Report says that the Afghan troops performed well in the attacks.We hope.Why wasn't the Indian embassy targeted? Perhaps because the ISI planned the whole offensive and didn't want to rock the boat when India,sorry,"snake-oil" Singh, was giving Pak/ISI so many concessions (including the right to manipulate our economy through FDI) across the table which it could never win on the battlefield!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... tacks.html

Xcpt:
Taliban rocks Kabul in wave of terror attacks
Taliban insurgents launch multiple attacks on Afghan cities. Ben Farmer reports from the ground in Kabul on a day of turmoil for the war-wrecked nation.

Saffron could be killer of Afghan heroin


Given the benefits of cutting into the narco-jihadi revenues, India (GoI, pvt companies, even non-profits) should help set up Afghan saffron co-ops and invest in them.