Afghanistan News & Discussion

[Gerard]

Menon said India wanted to help the situation in the island nation to create an involvement conducive for a negotiated political settlement without interfering in its internal affairs.

that worked so well in Nepal...

[Karan Dixit]

PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) - France will deploy the additional battalion of troops it has promised to send to Afghanistan before the end of August, Defence Minister Herve Morin said on Sunday.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20288241.htm

[A Sharma]

Mumbai hands build Kabul roads

When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s, Arun Mokashi had just returned home to Mumbai from the UK with a post-graduate degree in transport, planning and management.

When the various mujahideen factions took over in 1992, he was a consultant for the multi-crore road and rail Mumbai Urban Transport Project and was debating the need for a Metro corridor here. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1996, he was a transport specialist for the World Bank.

And now that the US is looking after Afghanistan, Mokashi, aided by Asian Development Bank, is one of the advisors to Afghanistan’s transport minister.

The 67-year-old is working on rebuilding Afghanistan’s transport infrastructure and the related regulations — rules that currently don’t exist.

“If there is a road accident in Afghanistan, the police may or may not record it,â€

[Rye]

So the Americans are now creating "Islam was a superpower" mindset -- and these folks want India's support in the "War on Terror"....not to worry, we already have Amar Chitra Kathas Thanks to Uncle Pai. Should be easy to create newer Indian publishing companies like those and pump out real Afghan history which has a lot of interesting stories and history.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/299540.html

[quote]
A comic book tries to redefine Islamic heroism

: Scott Atran is an anthropologist who studies the kids who keep Al Qaeda and its spinoffs going. When Atran went back to Washington to brief National Security Council and Homeland Security staff in January this year, he went armed — with comic books. He wanted to show that nothing cooked up by the Bush administration’s warmongers and spinmeisters comes close to delivering the kind of positive messages you can find in a commercial action adventure series called “The 99â€

[shyamd]

NDTV reporting 1 Indian and 1 Nepali worker Kidnapped near Herat, Afghanistan

[Vivek_A]

Afghan Ministry Bans the Broadcast of 5 Foreign Soap Operas

By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL

KABUL, Afghanistan — After four years of watching television programs test the boundaries of decorum and build devoted audiences in the process, conservatives are striking back.

In the latest battle of the long-simmering war between cultural conservatives and liberals, the minister for information and culture ordered television networks to stop broadcasting five soap operas on Tuesday, saying they were not in keeping with “Afghan religion and culture.â€

[Kalantak]

UK's RAF blows up 50 million pound spy plane in Kandahar

Apr 22
London

The British Royal Air Force has blown up a 50 million pound spy plane after it crash landed in Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban from accessing its secrets.

The unmanned Reaper robot aircraft came down during a Special Forces mission.

According to The Sun, a team of SBS men was dropped in to the crash site by helicopter to salvage top-secret gear, including a high-intensity camera and computer memory chips.

Then an RAF Harrier jet was scrambled to blow up the Reaper with a laser-guided 1,000lb bomb.

The six-month-old Reaper, flown by a remote pilot, is thought to have had an "engine flame-out". It was landed in one piece in desert 200 miles south west of Kandahar.

Last year, the RAF bought three Reapers, guided via satellite by RAF Top Guns from a US Air Force base in Nevada.

They provide intelligence on enemy movements and pinpoint targets.

Six fixed-wing RAF planes have now been lost in Afghanistan and Iraq in just three years.

50 million pound swaha!!!

[Raju]

From The Times
April 23, 2008

Mystery buyer of Afghan poppy resin thrives on drug trade

Everyone in this part of Helmand is waiting for the arrival of “The Businessmanâ€

[Kalantak]

Afghan leader: U.S. must stop targeting Taliban
Karzai says insurgent group's followers, sympathizers shouldn't be arrested.

[Gerard]

Afghan spying scandal grows

Kabul believes Germany’s foreign intelligence service may have spied on several Afghan ministers, a newspaper said on Saturday, after news broke that the agency illicitly monitored the economy minister’s emails.

[Kalantak]

Afghan president escapes assassination bid
Apr 27 02:45 PM

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unhurt after an assassination attempt by Taliban fighters with guns and rockets during an official celebration in the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.

Government ministers along with leaders of other political factions were seen ducking for cover after gunfire sounded at the celebration to mark the 16th anniversary of fall of the Afghan communist government to the mujahideen.

Karzai later appeared on state television.

"Today, the enemies of Afghanistan, the enemies of Afghanistan's security and progress tried to disrupt the ceremony and cause disorder and terror," Karzai said.

"Fortunately, Afghanistan's military forces surrounded them quickly and arrested some of the suspects," he said.

The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said three of its fighters were killed.

British ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles was standing on the front row of the dais alongside the U.S. envoy to Kabul.

"It was coming to the end of the 21-gun salute. I saw an explosion and a puff of dust to the left of the parade and then heard the crackle of small arms fire from all directions. After some hesitation my bodyguard frog-marched me away," he told Reuters.

All cabinet members and foreign diplomats present at the parade, along with General Dan McNeill, U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan, were safe and well, spokesmen said.

But one person was killed and 11 wounded, including a member of parliament, a Defence Ministry spokesman said.

TALIBAN ATTACKERS KILLED

A Reuters witness saw around four civilians wounded. The firing appeared to have come from a building located a few hundred metres (yards) from the site, a road which is blocked off for official parades with a dais on one side, close to the presidential palace.

"Three of our attackers have been killed and three managed to escape. Small arms and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) were used in the attack," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters from an undisclosed location.

Immediately after the attack, bandsmen in full dress uniform mingled with ordinary soldiers trying to get out of the line of fire. Other soldiers and Karzai's bodyguards, dressed in black, took up firing positions in roads near the parade ground.

The occasional crack of gunfire sent the crowds ducking and crouching behind vehicles.

Karzai has survived several assassination attempts since he came to power after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001 for failing to hand over al Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

The soft-spoken president has repeatedly offered to hold peace talks with the Taliban, but the hardline Islamist militants have said they will fight on till they topple Karzai's government and drive out the more than 50,000 foreign troops from Afghanistan.

Karzai's government is reliant on foreign aid and Western military support as it tries to bring peace and rebuild a country shattered by nearly 30 years of war.

Facing presidential elections next year, Karzai is looking increasingly besieged as frustration grows among both Afghans and his foreign backers over his failure to crack down on rampant corruption, appoint capable administrators and help bring security to the country.

[Philip]

The British PM says that the misison in Afghanistan is in "trouble",to his NATO partners,but he forgets that his financial cutbacks left British forces under equipped,underprotected and underarmed without key essential eqpt. the result of which several servicemen lost their lives.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... han129.xml

Nato's Afghan mission in trouble, says Brown
By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:32am BST 29/04/2008

The Nato mission in Afghanistan is "critically" short of key troops and equipment, Gordon Brown has told allies.

Gordon Brown has repeatedly tried to persuade France and Germany to bear more of the military burden in Afghanistan


The Daily Telegraph has obtained a confidential Foreign and Commonwealth Office paper which admits to a catalogue of problems and weaknesses in Western attempts to stabilise the country.

On the Nato mission, the paper warns: "Critical military gaps remain to be filled."

The three-page document, which summarises the British view of Afghanistan, was drawn up at Mr Brown's request to be distributed to Western allies.

Britain has 7,800 troops in Afghanistan as part of a 47,000-strong Nato deployment to defeat Taliban-backed insurgents and bolster the elected government.

advertisement
In a list of "critical areas to fill", the paper says Nato still needs three infantry battalions, more helicopters, more aircraft and more training teams to help the Afghan army.

It also raises concerns about the situation after November, when more than 2,300 US Marines are to be withdrawn from the south, where British forces are based.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly tried to persuade allies including France and Germany to bear more of the military burden in Afghanistan, but the paper concedes his efforts are largely failing.

He has also identified policing and justice as vital to the survival of democracy in Afghanistan, but Britain admits in the memo that efforts to train and support the Afghan police are going badly.

[putnanja]

400-ton reply to terror: India will airlift 5 power transformers to Kabul

[Avinash R]

US says dozen Taliban killed in Afghan raids
Tuesday 13 May, 2008

US-led troops and war planes killed around a dozen Taliban in battle in a southern Afghan district where major anti-insurgent operations are under way, the US military said on Monday.

The rebels were killed on Monday in southern Helmand province's Garmser district, which borders Pakistan and is said to be a nest of militants involved in an extremist insurgency hobbling Afghanistan.

Troops came under fire while searching compounds in Garmser for a Taliban commander involved in supplying weapons to rebels, the coalition said in a statement.

The troops returned fire and "around a dozen militant extremists were killed," it said.

Weapons and ammunition were also found, the force said, without giving further details.

US Marines and British troops who fall under NATO command launched an operation in Garmser two weeks ago, saying they aimed to push out Taliban and destroy insurgent support networks.

The Afghan government said yesterday that the fighting, including air strikes, had forced about 6,000 people to leave their homes Garmser.

The military says Garmser is a rebel gateway into Afghanistan from Pakistan, where extremist rebels are said to have bases.

The Taliban insurgency, launched after the rebels regrouped following their ouster from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001, is strongest in the areas bordering Pakistan.

[shyamd]

Indian National Mohammed Naeem who was held hostage was rescued after an operation conducted by Afghan Police.

[Sanjay M]

Chinese Brothels Popular in Afghanistan

[adiank]

Chicoms target huge copper deposits in Afghanistan

I don't get this. Why is Amerikhan giving all this to Chicoms. I thought WOT was for oil/minerals.

[Nayak]

Afghanistan's Indian soaps provoke culture debate

4 hours ago

KABUL (AFP) — "I'm not the father," Mehir Verani exclaims, accusing his virtuous wife Tulsi of having their son with another man.

Shocked, the beautiful woman throws her husband a tearful glance.

The music peaks ... and an episode of the most popular soap opera in Afghanistan ends, millions of viewers left hanging on for the next instalment in a tale many have followed since it first aired four years ago.

"I think this is another conspiracy against Tulsi," 50-year-old car-part salesman Noor Agha says of the Indian drama dubbed into Farsi. "I'm desperate to see how she will cope with it this time."

But just as Tulsi's honour was thrown into doubt, albeit only briefly, so has been the fate of the serial of the same name.

Islamic mullahs, backed by elements in the government, want it and others banned.

They say the serials and the hot topics they deal with -- such as Tulsi's alleged infidelity -- are corrupting Afghans as they emerge from the strict conservatism of the Taliban regime which banned television and movies.

Afghan culture has slunk towards a wannabe democracy comprising free media, pop music and fashion, they claim.

The information and culture ministry has ordered at least five Indian serials off the air. Most stations have complied but Tolo television has firmly refused to drop Tulsi which has been a ratings winner.

A showdown looms with the ministry referring the matter to the attorney general while the Mohseni family that runs the station says the ban is illegal and they will be prepared to go to court.

The influential clerics are unhappy in particular with women in the show: heavily made-up, they never cover their hair as all Afghan women do and wear Indian saris that expose arms and waists, pixellated out for Afghanistan.

The clerics also complain about depictions of Hindu idols and worship.

"In one scene a person bows to an idol. Don't you think this would have a negative impact on a child?" asks Egypt-educated cleric Hayaz Niazi from his Kabul mosque.

The serials also "step on" the custom of wearing a veil and show too much violence, he says, calling for television and media "based on our own culture and beliefs."

In a land scarred by decades of conflict, Tulsi offers Afghans an escape from their own hard lives with an insurgency raging and unemployment at 40 percent.

The Indian soaps portray romance and dating -- a taboo in Afghanistan where almost all marriages are arranged -- as well as heroism and the triumph of good over evil.

But some ordinary Afghans share the mullahs' concerns.

"When my kids see a kid worshipping a Hindu idol, demanding something from it and getting it right away, my kids will believe that can happen," says educated Kabul resident Bahram Sarway.

"I don't want them to forget the real God and go after stone-made gods," he says.

Tolo director Zaid Mohseni, who set up the station with US funding on his return from Australia after the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, scoffs at such arguments.

"To suggest that somehow people will suddenly stop being Muslims because of the airing of foreign content is not only short-sighted, but it is actually offensive to Muslims as it suggests that their faith is so fickle," he says.

He believes the ban -- which is being pushed by Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Khoram although others in his ministry distance themselves from it -- is partly politically motivated.

Pulling Tulsi from the schedules would mean a huge loss in advertising revenue which is financing other programmes, Mohseni says.

This includes hard-hitting and satirical news shows that are the only ones in the country prepared to criticise officials, including Khoram whom Tolo has repeatedly shown saying media freedom is "meaningless" and a Western import.

The government should be concentrating on more weighty matters, Mohseni says.

"We wish that issues such as corruption, poppy eradication, rule of law, how to attract investment and other important matters could be pursued with the same vigour by the government as this matter was," he says.

Media rights activists suggest President Hamid Karzai, who has expressed support for the ban, is trying to put pressure on media to please conservative elements ahead of an election next year.

"His popularity has suffered huge damage due to his failures in recent years, exposed by the free media," says Fahim Dashti, editor of the prominent Kabul Weekly and a spokesman for Afghanistan's National Journalists Union.

"I think he wants to stop media telling the people about his failures during the sensitive election campaign," he says.

"It also seems the president uses this to reflect himself as a good Muslim in an attempt to attract support from conservative circles and communities ahead of the elections."

[ramana]

A US and TSP joint study despite the disclaimer:

Taliban Org chart

Please read. Gives good description of Pashtun areas. Off course misses the ISI and TSP Army connection but we can supply that!

[Philip]

The Talib's are on the ropes (so says this report).If true it is a most positive development and further pressure should be brought to bear by upon all the pro-Pak elements in Afghanistan so that they are rendered ineffective.A defeat for the taliban means a deefat for the ISI and the Paki Islamists factions within and without the military.The democratic movement which has swept across the country has in some measure undercut the influence of the disgraced Musharraf regime and its doublespeak.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... at%27.html

Afghan insurgents 'on brink of defeat'
By Thomas Harding in Lashkar Gah
Last Updated: 10:31PM BST 01/06/2008

Missions by special forces and air strikes by unmanned drones have "decapitated" the Taliban and brought the war in Afghanistan to a "tipping point", the commander of British forces has said.

CHRISTOPHER PLEDGER
A member of 2 Scots acquires a personal escort as he patrols the town of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province

The new "precise, surgical" tactics have killed scores of insurgent leaders and made it extremely difficult for Pakistan-based Taliban leaders to prosecute the campaign, according to Brig Mark Carleton-Smith.

In the past two years an estimated 7,000 Taliban have been killed, the majority in southern and eastern Afghanistan. But it is the "very effective targeted decapitation operations" that have removed "several echelons of commanders".

This in turn has left the insurgents on the brink of defeat, the head of Task Force Helmand said.

"The Taliban are much weaker," he said from 16 Air Assault Brigade headquarters in Lashkar Gah.

"The tide is clearly ebbing not flowing for them. Their chain of command is disrupted and they are short of weapons and ammunition."

Last year's killing of Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban chief, most likely by the Special Boat Service, was "a seminal moment in dislocating" their operation in southern Afghanistan, said Brig Carleton-Smith, 44, who has extensive operational experience in Afghanistan and Iraq and has commanded elite Army troops.

"We have seen increasing fissures of stress through the whole organisation that has led to internecine and fratricidal strife between competing groups."

Taliban fighters are apparently becoming increasingly unpopular in Helmand, where they are reliant on the local population for food and water.

They have also been subjected to strikes by the RAF's American-made Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle and the guided Royal Artillery missile system, which have both proved a major battlefield success.

"I can therefore judge the Taliban insurgency a failure at the moment," said Brig Carleton-Smith. "We have reached the tipping point."

The task is now to regenerate the economy to win over the civilian population of Helmand, the base for 8,000 British soldiers.

Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, appears to be a town on the cusp of an economic boom if security remains stable.

A new airport will be ready by the end of this year and a packaging factory by the end of next year.

This could enable the soil-rich "fruit basket of Afghanistan" to export its food.

Alternative crops, such as wheat or rape, could prove a greater attraction than Helmand's massive opium trade, especially as international prices continue to rise.

Much of the Taliban operation is run by Mullah Omar and to a lesser extent al-Qa'eda from their headquarters in Quetta, across the border in Pakistan.

The ability of what is known as the Quetta Shura leadership had been "hugely reduced" and its influence "increasingly marginalised", the brigadier said. Michael Ryder, the senior Foreign Office official in Helmand, agreed that intelligence assessments suggested that the Taliban had become "fractured and fragmented".

"There's a lot of suspicion from southern Taliban commanders of the agenda of Quetta Shura," he said, with the leaders trying to draw in an estimated £20 million a year from the opium trade.

The number of Afghans involved in the insurgency has also fallen, with increasing numbers of Pakistanis, Chechens, Uzbeks and Arabs found dead on the battlefield.

However, with the shortage of helicopters still a problem, most movement is by road and Brig Carleton-Smith warned that British forces must prepare for an increasingly Iraq-style insurgency as the Taliban modified its tactics from pitched battles to ambushes and roadside bombs.

[Tilak]

'Clip ISI's wing and save world from terrorism'
Updated: Monday , June 02, 2008 at 11:59:01

New Delhi, June 2: With the country seeing decades of internal strife, former Afghanistan president Sighatullah Al-Mojaddedi on Monday asked the US to rein in Pakistan's ISI and "save" the world from terrorism.

Terming ISI as a "government" within a government and "threat" to the entire world, Al-Mojaddedi, the present chairman of Afghanistan Senate, said Washington should seriously think of curbing the role of ISI or face consequences.

"It is their (US') duty to do so to break the nexus between the ISI and the terror groups or otherwise the whole world would be engulfed by terrorism," Al-Mojaddedi said.

The Afghan senator was in India to attend a conference on anti-terrorism.

"ISI is supporting various terror groups and has become threat to the entire world and this needs to be checked," Al-Mojaddedi said.

Claiming that the roots of nearly 90 per cent of terror activities or groups across the world can be traced to Pakistan, Mojaddedi said the US should give special attention and intervene by using force to break the nexus between ISI and these numerous groups.

Pakistan has become a "breeding ground" for terrorists who are "exported" to other countries to continue with their subversive activities, Mojaddedi said.

"There are training camps in Pakistan (rpt) Pakistan where terrorists from various countries are trained," he said, adding ISI "has become a government within the Pakistani government."

[putnanja]

There’s a new class in Kabul: those with security. The most privileged among them, the foreigners

CHINESE TAKEAWAY - Afghan Copper

[archan]

4 Marines die in Afghanistan; 870 inmates escape:AP
Big success for the tall bunnies I guess.

[JE Menon]

This looks like an action planned and held in abeyance until an opportune time, such as that provided by the famous border incident in which so many FC soldiers died, and the dog did not bark in the night...

America is slowly learning that, yes, mofo, indeed, Paki military is using Taliban as a tool against them too...

On the other hand, maybe not, they probably think this mission was Taliban's revenge for the same

[Karan Dixit]

KABUL, Afghanistan: A string of lights spells out the name of the bar in the back of the basement in capital letters, PARADISE. A dozen Chinese women in skintight miniskirts and halter tops flit around clusters of beefy Western men and flirt in broken English.

Many Afghans blame prostitution on immoral Chinese women and Western men and say it is un-Islamic. The highly publicized crackdown on Chinese prostitutes has led to rampant harassment of women of East Asian origin. Police often single out Asian women in spot checks on Kabul's streets.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/ ... itutes.php

[Karan Dixit]

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, at a conference in support of Afghanistan Thursday, expressed support for the "Afghan-owned and Afghan-led process" that would help in propelling the country towards the path of "stability, security and prosperity".

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action ... s&id=72846

[shyamd]

Afghanistan threatens 'self defence' raids into Pakistan

Afghanistan threatened to mount cross-border raids into Pakistan when President Hamid Karzai insisted on his country's right to "self defence".
Leaders of the Taliban insurgency in southern and eastern Afghanistan are known to be based in the lawless Tribal Areas inside Pakistani territory and along the country's north-west frontier. The self-proclaimed leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, has publicly ordered his followers to cross the border and attack Nato forces inside Afghanistan.

Mr Karzai said Afghanistan had every right to respond. "When they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and to kill coalition troops it gives us the right to go back and do the same."

The president delivered a specific warning to Mehsud, who has become Pakistan's most prominent extremist, and Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the deposed Taliban regime who is also believed to have found sanctuary across the border. "Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house," said Mr Karzai. "And the other fellow, Mullah Omar of Pakistan should know the same."


Mr Karzai added: "This is a two-way road. And Afghans are good at the two-way road journey. We will complete the journey and we will get them and we will defeat them. We will avenge all that they have done to Afghanistan for the past so many years."

Pakistan's new government has agreed a ceasefire with Taliban militants in the Tribal Areas and negotiations are continuing. Afghan officials and Nato commanders say these deals usually result in more cross-border attacks into Afghan territory. Incidents of this kind rose by 50 per cent in April, according to Nato officials.

But Nato forces and America's separate counter-terrorism operation have also been more active in frontier region. Unmanned drones have conducted a series of air strikes inside Pakistani territory.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister, said his country desired only good relations with "brotherly" Afghanistan. He said no one could prevent all movement across the 1,500 mile frontier "even if Pakistan puts its entire army along the border".

Mr Karzai said the storming of the main jail in Kandahar by Taliban fighters, in which 450 prisoners escaped, was evidence of the country's need for continued international assistance. The incident was "indicative of the weaknesses that we still have". "Therefore it's all the more reason for us to work harder and keep building Afghan institutions and intelligence and to be a lot more alert and steadfast in our resolve in confronting terrorism," he said.

A state of emergency was declared Kandahar yesterday as an operation was launched to hunt down the escaped prisoners. Fifteen Taliban fighters were reported to have been killed in an American-led operation, which included air strikes.

[SSridhar]

The Destruction of Sarposa - by Stratfor

Friday June 13 turned out to be an unlucky day for the guards at Sarposa prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. At approximately 9:20 p.m. local time, some 30 Taliban insurgents launched a complex and highly coordinated attack on the facility. The operation freed all 1,100 inmates incarcerated there, including a reported 350 to 400 Taliban militants. The attack also resulted in the deaths of several guards — reports on the actual number vary between six and 15.

The assault reportedly began with the detonation of a massive vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) at the prison’s main gate. The suicide device reportedly was concealed inside a tanker truck and, according to a Taliban spokesman, contained 1,800 kilograms of explosive material. The powerful device shattered the prison’s front gate and guardhouse, causing substantial damage to shops and other buildings in the neighborhood.

Either shortly after or at the same time as the attack on the main gate, a second suicide bomber approached the back gate of the compound on foot and detonated his device, breaching the gate and neutralizing the guards. A Taliban assault team armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and small arms then stormed the prison. According to some eyewitness reports, many of the attackers entered the prison on motorcycles — a form of transport frequently used by the Taliban to move personnel. Some fighters reportedly engaged the surviving guards while others broke open the cell doors.

The prisoners were then rushed through the gate to a caravan of waiting vehicles staged by the Taliban to transport them to safety. In recent days, the Taliban have taken over several villages in the Arghandab district, located just northwest of the city of Kandahar, where they reportedly laid mines, destroyed bridges and prepared fighting positions in the area. At least some of the Taliban fighters participating in these recent activities are possible Sarposa escapees.

Many observers have expressed shock over the storming of Sarposa prison. But the attack — and its success — is not at all surprising when viewed in the context of historical operations undertaken to free jihadist prisoners in Afghanistan and elsewhere and given conditions on the ground in the Kandahar area, the general preparedness of Afghan security elements and the construction and location of this particular prison.

A Focus on Prisoners

Jihadists have long placed a high importance on their imprisoned comrades. This emphasis became publicly evident by the number of statements and threats generated following the arrest of Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman (the “Blind Sheikh”) in New York in 1993. However, even prior to his arrest, Abdul-Rahman and his followers had discussed plans for a different prison break. They considered several possible approaches, one of which was a truck bomb attack combined with an armed assault, to rescue El Sayyid Nosair from Attica State Prison in New York. The group had even conducted detailed surveillance of the facility. Nosair was serving a sentence in Attica after being convicted on weapons charges relating to the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane. Although convicted of assault and firearms possession, Nosair was acquitted of the murder charges.

The jihadist emphasis on colleagues in captivity has continued to the present day. In addition to propaganda decrying the captivity of their comrades, jihadists have also conducted a number of operations to free imprisoned colleagues, such as the December 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814, which eventually ended up in Kandahar after short stops in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. More recently, Taliban forces have kidnapped foreigners and held them in exchange for their imprisoned comrades. {That was the same technique that Omar Saeed Sheikh adopted in India before he was caught}

In April 2005, al Qaeda in Iraq militants under the command of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi launched a remarkably similar attack against the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad. Like the Sarposa incident, the attack on Abu Ghraib included a suicide VBIED attack against the prison’s main gate followed by an attempt to storm the prison by an assault team. In the Abu Ghraib case, the initial VBIED attack was unable to reach or breach the prison’s gate, and the assault team was prevented from entering the facility. However, the assault team displayed a great deal of determination and continued the attack on the prison for several hours before finally being repelled. The al Qaeda assault team suffered heavy casualties, but not before wounding 18 U.S. servicemen and 12 prisoners during the protracted battle.

In addition to armed assaults, there have also been many clandestine attempts to free jihadist prisoners from captivity. Several of these attempts have involved tunnels, such as in the February 2006 jailbreak in Sanaa, Yemen, or the October 2003 break from Sarposa prison in Kandahar in which 41 Taliban prisoners, including the brother of the Taliban defense minister, escaped through a tunnel. High-profile jihadists have also managed to escape from prisons in places as diverse as Pakistan and Singapore.

Escapes are not confined to prisons with sand cell floors, poorly trained personnel or revolving doors and complicit prison guards, as it would seem in the case of Yemeni prisons. In addition to the Singapore incident, militants have also escaped from U.S.- and British-run prisons in Iraq. In Afghanistan, four high-profile al Qaeda militants escaped from a U.S. detention facility at the Bagram Air Base outside Kabul. The escapees, dubbed the “Bagram Four,” included Abu Yahya al-Libi, a charismatic and credentialed al Qaeda theologian who has since become one of the organization’s main spokesmen.

Location, Location, Location

Like in real estate sales, in insurgency and counterinsurgency operations, location is vital — and Kandahar is quite an interesting location. While Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan, Kandahar has been the spiritual and physical capital of the Taliban. Even when the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan and assumed control of the government, their real headquarters remained in Kandahar, the place where they first emerged as a force in Afghan politics and where their leader Mullah Omar resided. Osama bin Laden also resided in Kandahar with many of his al Qaeda followers. Although the Taliban and al Qaeda militants were quickly forced to flee the city following the U.S. invasion in October 2001, much of the population in the area has remained ideologically committed to the Taliban, and we have long considered Kandahar city and province to be Taliban strongholds. From the perspective of the Afgha n government and coalition forces, Kandahar is very much hostile territory.

This attack against Saraposa prison was well-planned and executed with a great deal of precision. The location of the attack, Kandahar, allowed the Taliban to play on their home field and provided advantages they have lacked when conducting operations in places such as Kabul. Even though not all of the residents in the Kandahar area support the Taliban, most fear them and do not believe that coalition forces can protect them from Taliban retribution. Therefore, even people who are not strong Taliban supporters would be grudgingly willing to assist them rather than risk reprisals.

This base of contacts and ideological supporters in Kandahar made it easy for the Taliban to conduct surveillance on sites such as the Sarposa prison, and is also very helpful in the logistical aspects of planning and executing attacks there. Smuggling the Taliban assault team into the city, along with their weapons and a large VBIED, was undoubtedly accomplished with the aid of these sympathizers, as was the escape of the released prisoners.

In the end, this home-field advantage allowed the Taliban to launch their attack without detection and gain the crucial element of tactical surprise. It also allowed them to get all of their elements into the fight at the right time, something they were unable to accomplish in the April 27 attack in Kabul.

Another factor leading to the success of the Sarposa attack was the nature of the facility itself and the guards in charge of its integrity. The prison was very old and its mud brick and rock-and-mortar construction was not designed to withstand a serious military attack. Even with some of the recent upgrades to its guard towers, the facility was incapable of withstanding the explosion of an 1,800 kilogram VBIED in close proximity to its front gate. In fact, few facilities in the United States could withstand such an attack, but U.S. facilities typically have concentric rings of security that must be breached in order to get to the main gate. The Sarposa prison is located right on the street and did not have much room to provide standoff space or for such concentric rings.

There are reports that the attack on the prison was coordinated with the prisoners on the inside via a cell phone. This is not beyond the realm of possibility, as the smuggling of cell phones into prisons is a problem faced by authorities in many countries, including the United States.

While the guards at Sarposa prison had reportedly received guidance from Canadian corrections officials, they had neither the training nor the weaponry to withstand the type of assault the Taliban launched against them. Prison guards are not trained or equipped to serve as combat troops. We have not seen reliable reports on the number of guards who fled, survived or perhaps called in sick the night of the attack. The commander of the prison reportedly has been placed in custody and is under investigation, though Afghan officials assert that this move is merely standard procedure. In any such case, the possibility of collusion on the part of the guards must be considered.

The vulnerability of the Sarposa facility and the limitations of the guards defending it is further highlighted when compared with a similarly executed but unsuccessful attack. On March 3, the Taliban launched an attack against a compound housing a better-prepared force of NATO and Afghan troops in Khost. In the March incident, the VBIED was engaged before it could get close to the gate. While two NATO soldiers were killed in the assault, the remaining troops were able to repel the attackers before they could overrun the complex.

Although Sarposa is the largest prison in southern Afghanistan, due its relative lack of security, most high-value Taliban prisoners are kept at Afghanistan’s main prison, Pol-e-Charkhi in Kabul, or at the U.S. detention facility at Bagram. However, even those facilities are not in the best condition, as evidenced by the escape of the Bagram four and violent jihadist-fomented riots and escapes at Pol-e-Charkhi.

The United States has long recognized the vulnerability of Afghan prisons, including its own facility at Bagram. It has reportedly paid more than $20 million to add a high-security wing at the Pol-e-Charkhi facility.

Last month, Afghan lawmakers strenuously objected when a Pentagon spokesman announced a plan to replace the deteriorating facility at Bagram, which currently holds some 630 al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners, with a new facility capable of holding 1,100 prisoners. At the time, Afghans called the plan an illegal affront to the country’s sovereignty. It will be interesting to see if the tone of the debate changes after the destruction of Sarposa.

[Avinash R]

taliban are busy watching old rambo movies and turning reel life plots into real life ones.

[Sanjay M]

See, this is why you need the Saddams and the Najibs to fight the jihadis, and to use strongarm tactics such as razing entire villages, liquidating entire clans, etc.

But the Americans spent all kinds of treasure to destroy the Najibs and the Saddams. So now they are reaping the consequences of their ill-thought actions, bereft of any effective opponents to the jihadis.

[Johann]

Sanjay,

Najeeb and Saddam had nothing in common in the style of counter-insurgency.

Najeeb was the one who recognised that there was no hope of defeating the Muj - that was one of the reasons why the Soviets promoted him in 1986.

He launched the 'national reconciliation' effort, which basically attempted to co-opt at least a sizable portion of Muj groups in to the government, making it palatable by removing all overtly communist ideology, while introducing Islamic symbols. Politically it was clever - not unlike what worked in Tajikistan later. For that matter thats what succeeded in many of Russia's muslim-majority republics, including Chechnya.

The problem was that

a) Najeeb's government needed very large volumes of Soviet aid even after Soviet withdrawal to remain viable against the well-funded, heavily armed Muj. When the Soviet Union in its death throes cut that aid, that was the end. The Najeeb govt could have held on to the cities and major roads if the aid had continued. To make a rough analogy, given the level of external material support for the NVA, the South Vietnamese depended on American aid to survive. When the Americans cut aid to the south in 1974 while the Soviets poured arms and supplies to the north, that was the end.

b) None of the Muj groups were seriously tempted even before the Soviet aid cutoff- certainly not given the amount of money the Saudis were throwing at them even after Soviet withdrawal in 1989. Both the Pakistanis and the Saudis smelled victory, and saw no reason to quit. Why accept a Muj+ex-commie govt when they could have an all-Muj govt? The USG for their part at the time percieved no particular stake in Najeeb's success, and deferred to Saudi and Pakistani priorities.

[Sanjay M]

US, NATO deaths in Afghanistan pass Iraq toll

[Kakkaji]

Is this 'Taliban resurgence' confined to the Pushtun areas in the South and West, or are the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras etc. also involved?

[Philip]

Is Bush secretly preventing Osama's elimination or capture? The article below throws doubt about the Bush administration's willingness to go after Bin Laden.If one understands the true relationship between the Bin Laden family and the Bush family,business partners in many ventures for decades,beggars the above question.Osama's survival also assists the so-called war on terror,by extending the military mandate and occupation of Iraq,which may go on forever-and-ever,raking in billions to US war profiteers like Halliburton,Blackwater and the oil MNCs.

White House in-fighting stalled Osama bin Laden hunt in Pakistan
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 9:20PM BST 30/06/2008
The White House has blocked a secret Pentagon plan to pursue Osama bin Laden in the tribal areas of Pakistan, it has been reported.

EPA
Intelligence agencies have concluded that bin Laden has re-established a network of new training camps
For six months, the possibility of killing or capturing the al-Qa'eda leader and mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks has diminished because of political in-fighting, according to the New York Times.

Late last year, the newspaper said, senior Bush administration officials, casting aside long-held concerns about the diplomatic ramifications, drafted a plan to enable US Special Forces to operate in the lawless tribal areas.

But the classified Pentagon order, which was designed to mark a shift from what some officials saw as an aversion to risk, became bogged down in a Bush administration turf war and has not been carried out.

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A defence official was quoted as saying there was "mounting frustration" within the Pentagon over the continued delay in sending special operations teams into Pakistan's tribal regions, where senior al-Qa'eda operatives are thought to be based.

Bush administration lawyers and State Department officials are said to be concerned about military missions not being authorised by the US ambassador in Islamabad while other argue that the opportunity for success has passed.

Codenamed "Operation Cannonball" by the CIA, the hunt for leading al-Qa'eda figures in Pakistan is seen by CIA officers in Afghanistan as best way to prevent another attack on the United States.

But the newspaper reported that CIA operatives in Pakistan had played down the al-Qa'eda presence there and senior CIA figures at the agency's headquarters had intervened to ease tensions between its Kabul and Islamabad stations.

With just over six months left before the end of George W. Bush's presidency, bringing bin Laden – whom Mr Bush said in 2001 was wanted "dead or alive" – to justice remains a priority.

Intelligence agencies have concluded that bin Laden has re-established a network of new training camps and recruits have risen to up to 2,000 in recent months from 200 earlier this year.

But sending US forces into Pakistan would be carry significant risks both politically and militarily. The tribal areas are populated by bin Laden sympathisers, making it unlikely that even the best-planned raid could succeed.

State Department officials are concerned that such a move would also trigger a diplomatic outcry from the Pakistani government and could destablilise President Pervez Musharraf.

A series of aerial drone attacks have been carried out against Taliban and al-Qa'eda leaders in Pakistan, killing several key figures and narrowly missing bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in one strike.

In an attack earlier this month, however, several Pakistani border guards were accidentally killed by US forces, increasing Pakistani unwillingness to allow American strikes on its territory.

Taliban forces in Pakistan, allied with al-Qa'eda, have grown much stronger in the country's border areas and threatened its regional capital of Peshawar last week.

Pakistan's new coalition government has made a series of truces with Islamist fighters. At the weekend, it was forced to launch an offensive to push the them back from Peshawar. Pakistan described the operation as a success, though there were no reports of anyone being killed.

Al-Qa'eda had a network of terrorist camps from which to plan attacks on the West, just as it had before September 11, 2001, the New York Times stated.

But Ryan Crocker, US ambassador in Baghdad and former ambassador in Islamabad, said: "I do wonder if it's in fact the case that al-Qa'eda has really reconstituted itself to a pre-9/11 capability, and in fact I would say I seriously doubt that.

"Their top-level leadership is still out there, but they're not communicating and they're not moving around. I think they're symbolic more than operationally effective."

[Avinash R]

US helicopter shot down as Afghan violence rises
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 21:35

A helicopter belonging to US-led coalition troops was shot down by small-arms fire in Afghanistan today and America's top military officer said he was increasingly concerned about the rising violence.

The US military said there were no serious injuries when the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter was brought down south of Afghanistan's capital.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington the Taliban had become more effective.

"I am, and have been for some time now, deeply troubled by the increasing violence there," he said. "The Taliban and their supporters have, without question, grown more effective and more aggressive in recent weeks, and as the casualty figures clearly demonstrate."

In May, more US and coalition troops were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq for the first time since those wars began, according to the Pentagon. More than 70,000 foreign troops are now deployed in the country.

The Taliban have vowed to step up their campaign of guerrilla, suicide and roadside bomb attacks this year to undermine Afghan support for the government in Kabul and pressure foreign troops to pull out.

"It has been a tough month in Afghanistan, but it's also been a tough month for the Taliban," US President George W. Bush said in Washington. "One reason why there have been more deaths is because our troops are taking the fight to a tough enemy."

Pilots landed the stricken Blackhawk helicopter safely and evacuated all personnel before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where Taliban militants are active.

It was the second coalition helicopter to crash in a week. The other incident, in the northeast Kunar province, is under investigation but indications are that the helicopter crashed due to mechanical failure, a U.S. military spokesman said.

Removed from power in 2001 by US-led troops, the resurgent Taliban said it shot down the helicopter with anti-aircraft rockets and said that all on board were killed.

The Taliban have brought down a number of aircraft, but so far they are not thought to have obtained surface-to-air missiles that could alter the balance of the war dramatically.

Many historians believe it was the Afghan mujahideen's acquisitions of such missiles that tipped the war against the Soviet occupation in their favor in the 1980s.

International troops rely heavily on aircraft to transport troops and supplies around the rugged mountainous country.

Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of NATO forces on Wednesday, wounding two Canadian soldiers, three policemen and two civilians on a road near the southern town of Spin Boldak which lies on the border with Pakistan, said border police commander Abdul Razaq.

Hours later, the governor of southwestern Nimroz survived a suicide attack but three of his bodyguards were killed.

Admiral Mullen said he expected to see the Taliban use more suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

[Sanjay M]

Car bomb hits Indian Embassy in Afghanistan

38 minutes ago

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb struck the Indian Embassy in the Afghan capital on Monday, killing or wounding at least 15 people, officials and Afghan media said.

Taliban insurgents have vowed to step up their campaign of suicide bombings this year to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and drive out foreign forces.

The Indian Embassy is directly opposite the Interior Ministry, but the bomber struck the embassy side of the street where dozens of people were waiting in line for visas.

[Neshant]

Either I am reading too much into theiir difficulties or they are indeed struggling to contain the Taliban.

Another 3 to 5 years of this and they (the US) will be totally exhausted and demoralised fighting the Taliban.

If history repeats itself, at some point they will just withdraw their forces like the Soviets did and leave the Afghan govt to fend for itself.

[Rishi]

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news ... ul/332396/

28 dead, 141 hurt in blast near Indian Embassy in Kabul

[Sanjay M]

Either I am reading too much into theiir difficulties or they are indeed struggling to contain the Taliban.

Another 3 to 5 years of this and they (the US) will be totally exhausted and demoralised fighting the Taliban.

If history repeats itself, at some point they will just withdraw their forces like the Soviets did and leave the Afghan govt to fend for itself.

Oh, that's glaringly obvious. And it won't just be the Afghans left to fend for themselves, we'll be stuck battling Taliban again too. J&K will again be awash in terror, and bleeding India. We'll have more Mumbai bombings, plane hijackings to Kandahar, and direct attacks on parliament, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/world ... istan.html

Suicide Bomber Kills 40 in Afghan Capital

By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and ALAN COWELL
Published: July 8, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — In a massive explosion Monday that reverberated around the city, a suicide bomber killed at least 40 people and injured 140 at the gates of the Indian Embassy in the Afghan capital, the Interior Ministry said.

In New Delhi, the Foreign Ministry said the military attaché, who held the rank of brigadier, a senior diplomat and three other Indians were killed in the attack. The dead also included six Afghan policemen.

[RamaY]

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news ... ul/332396/

28 dead, 141 hurt in blast near Indian Embassy in Kabul

Either I am reading too much into theiir difficulties or they are indeed struggling to contain the Taliban.

Another 3 to 5 years of this and they (the US) will be totally exhausted and demoralised fighting the Taliban.

If history repeats itself, at some point they will just withdraw their forces like the Soviets did and leave the Afghan govt to fend for itself.

US pulling off its forces from Afghanistan will make Taleban invincible. That will make the Ummah think (rightly or wrongly) that they defeated both the 20th centure super powers in Afghanistan. This would embolden them and make life hell for the entire world in general and for India in perticular.

I think India should start working closely with US/Nato/Russia to ensure that this doesnt happen. If it means India stepping up its direct presense, it is the tough decision India should make soon. India should join the west (strategic embrace) overtly and escalate and resolve the pakistan issue once and for all.

The main reason for Taliban's resurgance is Pakistan's (perceived) need for strategic depth. Pakistan should be made understand very clearly once and for all that: it doesnt have the strategic depth and doesnt need one because pakistan is split into pieces.

This whole strategy has to be planned in next 2-5 years timeframe with clear objectives such as -
1. Complete annihilation of Taliban forces on both sides of durand line. Inda/Russia/US/EU should offer $10B (1+2+4+3) annual budgetory support for Afghanistan for next 20 years
2. India recaptures POK. Revokes Article370. And buys over the small tract of Afghanistan with direct access to CAR.
3. Balochistan is freed and IBI (Iran-Balochistan-India) pipeline gives enough economic support to sustain this new country. India should provide $1B per year annual budgetary support to Balochistan if needed for next 20 years.
4. Pakistan is made nuke-nude either by US or by India forcebly. It might be reasonable interms of economic/life costs to have a all-out war with Pakistan even if it results in a small-scale nuclear war.. do a cost benefit analysis. Use the BMD extensively to avoid this scenario.

The strategic outlook for India should be:
1. Reawakening of Indian nationalism. Unfortunately (really very sadly) India needs an atomic attack for its population to realize the clear and present dangers and renounce petty-politics/social-desorders/cultural-apathy/civilizational-prejudice.
2. Permanent solution to Pakistan problem. Clear message to muslim-separatism in India.
3. Direct access to CAR energy resources
4. Force china to show its cards. Demostrate what India can do.
5. Make clear to the world that India's right at the highest table.