Blast kills at least 14 civilians in Afghanistan

Dec 30 A roadside bomb blew up next to a minibus at a crowded intersection on a major highway in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 14 civilians, officials said.

Kabul, Afghanistan
A minibus packed with civilians, including women and children, was blown apart by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province on Thursday, and officials said 14 passengers were killed and at least four wounded.

Afghan and NATO military officials blamed Taliban insurgents for what a NATO spokesman called a “despicable attack” meant to kill innocents.
It was at least the second time this month that a roadside bomb had killed more than a dozen civilians in Helmand, where American-led NATO forces have intensified their campaign against the Taliban over the past six months and insurgents have increasingly turned to roadside bombs known as IED (improvised explosive devices).

US : failed missile defence tests costs $100bn

Late on Wednesday, the US tested its newest round of interceptors, spending $100m to blast a missile from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean towards California.
The anti-ballistic missile system failed, as the kill vehicle designed to blow the projectile out of the sky missed its target, adding to a long-list of unsuccessful tests for the expensive weaponisation scheme.
Since the end of the cold war the US has spent "approximately $100bn" on missile defence systems, Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Missile Defence Agency, told Al Jazeera.
Wednesday’s failed long-range test was important because it involved an attempt to intercept a dummy warhead, rather than the usual testing scheme of just maneuvering the missile to a particular point in space, said Ian Anthony, the research coordinator for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think-tank in Sweden.




Despite constant technological problems with the system, the White House has requested $9.9bn for missile defence programmes for the next fiscal year (2011), Anthony told Al Jazeera.
Those vast sums of money concern Theodore Postol, a professor of science and international security at MIT and a former scientific adviser to the head of US naval operations. The weapons expert, hardly a liberal dove, just doesn’t believe missile defence can work technologically.

Technological failures and massive financial costs aside, if Barack Obama, the US president, is serious about reducing the possibility of nuclear war, then it seems developing new missile systems isn’t the best way to inspire international trust.

"The US will always say that missile defence is a defensive system," said Tom Sauer, a professor of international relations at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. "The problem is that the Russians or Chinese may perceive it as threatening or offensive. When it comes to missile defence, perspective is everything."
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister and a former KGB agent who is well versed in cold war history, called US plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe "very similar" to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war.
"The Bush administration planned to have a radar station in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland," Dr. Sauer said. Obama has not ended the missile programme in Eastern Europe, he has just amended it slightly.
"Current plans call for deployment of land-based SM-3 interceptors (a modified surface to air missile) in Poland and Romania to defend Europe against short to medium range ballistic missiles," said Missile Defense Agency spokesman Lehner.

Waste in U.S. Afghan aid seen at billions of dollars

Waste and fraud in U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan while fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban may have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, a special investigator said on Monday.

Arnold Fields, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said the cost of U.S. assistance funding diverted or squandered since 2002 could reach "well into the millions, if not billions, of dollars."

"There are no controls in place sufficient enough to ensure taxpayers' money is used for the (intended) purpose," said Fields, whose independent office was created in 2008 to energize oversight of what U.S. auditors have described as a giant, poorly coordinated aid effort that has sunk some $56 billion into Afghanistan since 2002.

Of that sum, some $29 billion has gone to building up Afghanistan's nascent security forces, many of whose members cannot read and are just learning to shoot.

Another $16 billion has gone to trying to develop this poor country, where life expectancy is just 45 years and only 28 percent of people are literate, and to strengthening governance, said Fields, a retired Marine Corps major general.

Experts believe it will take years to build an effective government that can provide basic services in Afghanistan, where corruption and the lack a functional justice system have driven many villagers into the arms of the Taliban.

Efforts to bolster Afghanistan's weak central government and in many cases its dysfunctional local leadership took center stage last week when a White House review of the nine-year-old war reported some military success but cautioned there was more to be done on improving governance and curbing corruption.

President Barack Obama is under pressure to show results in Afghanistan in the first half of 2011 so he can start bringing U.S. troops home in July.

War in Afghanistan News reports.  Operations are reported in the following provinces:  Paktiya, Zabul, Paktika and Wardak.
Afghan and Coalition Forces were busy in Wardak Province last night with one Taliban leader killed, another captured, 605 kg of hashish, artillery shells, detonation fuses, RPG boosters, mortars and more were also recovered.
Paktiya Province
Afghan National Police and ISAF forces retrieved an IED from a local hospital in Tsamkani District, Paktiya province today. The IED, covered in a scarf and placed in a trash bag, consisted of two mortar rounds connected to a cell-phone trigger. ANP and ISAF removed the IED from the hospital courtyard and secured the area.
Also.....
A suicide bomb detonated at a bazaar near an International Security Assistance Force operating base in Gardez District, Paktiya province today.More information will be released when it is available.
Zabul Province
An Afghan National Police patrol discovered two drug caches in Qalat District. The Afghan police clearing operation, conducted in two different compounds, resulted in a discovery of 1,333 pounds (605 kg) of hashish and one detained suspected insurgent in possession of drugs.
Paktika Province
Afghan and coalition forces detained one suspected insurgent and killed another during an operation targeting a Taliban leader in Paktika province last night.The targeted individual plans and implements improvised explosive device ambushes and attacks, as well as provides guidance to fighters in his network.
Based on intelligence reports, the security force targeted a compound in Yosuf Khel District. Afghan forces used a loudspeaker to call for all occupants to exit the compound peacefully before moving to clear the building. During initial clearance, the security force killed an individual who threatened the security force.
After the area was secure, the security force conducted initial questioning at the scene before detaining the suspected insurgent. The security force also found a machine gun on target.
The assault force ensured the safety of the women and children for the duration of the search.
Wardak Province
An Afghan civilian tip led an ISAF patrol to a weapons cache in Maidan Shahr District, Wardak province. The cache consisted of two 140 mm artillery shells, one 107 mm rocket, one 122 mm rocket warhead, one 122 mm shell, one 125 shell, one 57 mm shell, two 82 mm mortar shells, 100 detonation fuses, 200 small arms rounds, 10 rockets-propelled grenade boosters and motors.

Afghanistan, 25th november

Sorry for not being able to update this blog in 10 days now, but i've been really busy.

 Afghanistan War: US Says Violence Reaches All-Time High

Violence in Afghanistan has reached an all-time high, with clashes up fourfold since 2007, the Pentagon has said.

In a twice-annual report to the US Congress, the Pentagon said progress had been "uneven", with only modest gains against the Taliban insurgency.
The Pentagon also reported gains in security, governance, and development in key areas.
But it warned the Taliban was exploiting perceptions Nato countries would soon withdraw combat forces.
'Resilient insurgency' In a report covering the period between 1 April and 30 September, the Pentagon attributed much of the increase in violence to the growth in the coalition force after US President Barack Obama's escalation this year.
"Efforts to reduce insurgent capacity, such as safe havens and logistic support originating in Pakistan and Iran, have not produced measurable results." the report states.
"The insurgency has proven resilient with sustained logistics capacity and command and control."
But it cited evidence Nato counter-insurgency efforts had "localised" effects in areas of Helmand and Kandahar provinces, and said the Nato strategy had yielded "cumulative effects".
"Security is slowly beginning to expand," the report states.
"Indications of local resistance to insurgents continue to emerge alongside positive indications, such as newly opened schools and police stations."
The Pentagon also said Taliban fighters were exploiting moves among Nato countries to withdraw combat forces.
Canada is due to pull its combat forces out in 2011, and President Barack Obama has also said he will begin removing US troops in July 2011, with security duties to be turned over to Afghan police and army units.
"The Taliban's strength lies in the Afghan population's perception that coalition forces will soon leave, giving credence to the belief that a Taliban victory is inevitable," the report says.
"The Taliban is not a popular movement, but it exploits a population frustrated by weak governance."
America would deny it is going to leave, says the BBC's Mark Mardell in Washington, but a handover by collation forces in four years' time is exactly what was agreed at the Nato summit last weekend.
Very indirectly, the US defence department is suggesting the strategy of American, British and other politicians is the cause of the Taliban's success, our correspondent adds.

Approximately 97,000 US troops and 48,800 troops from other countries are in Afghanistan at present.
Since January 2009, when Mr Obama took office, the US has more than tripled the number of civilians in the country, to 1,100, including diplomats, criminal investigators and drug enforcement agents and agricultural experts.

15th november, Afghanistan

US military base attacked in Afghanistan

A US military base has come under heavy rocket attack in eastern Afghan province of Kunar, blowing up a fuel tank there and destroying six armored vehicles in the base.

“The forward operating base in Kunar province in the district of Asadabad received small arms fire and a round from a rocket-propelled grenade,” an ISAF spokesperson said on Monday.

No injuries or fatalities were reported, the spokesperson added on condition of anonymity.

“The RPG struck a fuel bladder. The fire is under control at this time. The fire did destroy six MRAPs (mine-resistant armored protected vehicles) and an ambulance.”

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the Monday attack, NATO says.

Taliban spokesperson Zabillulah Mujahid said the group was responsible and claimed that a helicopter and an ammunitions dump were also destroyed in the attack.

“Heavy casualties were also inflicted on foreign soldiers in the base,” he added, although the Taliban regularly exaggerates details of its attacks, particularly foreign fatalities.

Taliban militants have stepped up attacks on foreign forces as the US is intensifying operation against the Taliban in the war-torn country.

Eastern Afghanistan is the scene of fierce fighting between Taliban-led militants and forces.

Meanwhile, eleven US-led foreign soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan over the weekend.

More than 640 foreign troops have been killed in war-torn Afghanistan so far in 2010.


Five NATO troops killed as Afghanistan violence soars

KABUL (Reuters) –
Five troops serving with the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan were killed on Sunday, including three in a clash with Taliban fighters (who are referred to by Reuters as insurgents) in the east, the coalition said, one of the worst daily tolls in a month.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave no other details about the clash in the east, including the nationalities of those killed. The majority of troops serving in the volatile east are American.
Earlier on Sunday, ISAF said two of its soldiers had been killed in separate explosions in the south.
The deaths send a sobering message to NATO leaders holding a summit later this week in Lisbon with Afghanistan top of the agenda. Many European NATO leaders are under increasing pressure to justify their continued support for the drawn-out war.
U.S. President Barack Obama is set to review his Afghanistan war strategy in December amid sagging public support, after his Democratic party suffered a mauling in mid-term elections.
Violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since US-backed Afghani forces overthrew the Taliban nine years ago, with civilian and military casualties at record levels despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops.
The Washington Post newspaper reported on Sunday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants the U.S. military to reduce its visibility and the intensity of its operations in Afghanistan and end the use of night raids.
Such raids incite Afghans to join the insurgency, he said.
"The time has come to reduce military operations," Karzai told the Post in an interview. "The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan ... to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life."
Obama plans to begin withdrawing some U.S. troops from July 2011, and Karzai has set 2014 as the target for Afghanistan to take over complete security responsibility from foreign forces. About 100,000 of the foreign troops in Afghanistan are American.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that they viewed Karzai's 2014 plan as a realistic goal.
CIVILIAN, MILITARY TOLL GROWS
The five casualties on Sunday were the worst suffered by ISAF since October 14, when eight of its troops were killed in five separate incidents.
At least 642 ISAF troops, about 440 of them American, have been killed in Afghanistan in 2010, by far the deadliest year of the war. Three were killed on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the fall of the Taliban in Kabul.
The spike in violence is largely a result of increased NATO operations against the Taliban-led insurgency, and U.S. and NATO commanders have been talking up recent successes.
Acceptance of the need for a negotiated settlement is growing among NATO members, amid tentative steps toward peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban leaders.
However, insurgents have also stepped up attacks against Afghan and foreign targets in recent weeks.
On Saturday, Taliban fighters attacked a NATO base at the main airport in Jalalabad, the latest in a series of incidents across the country over the previous 24 hours.
Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, and civilian casualties caused by foreign forces hunting militants have long been a major source of tension between Karzai and Washington and led to a falling-out last year.
Also on Sunday, ISAF said one Afghan child had been killed inadvertently and one wounded by artillery fire. The wounded child was taken to an ISAF hospital for treatment.
An ISAF patrol had come under fire in the Zharay district of southern Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold and returned fire with artillery, the coalition said.
"Our thoughts and concerns are with the families of this terrible accident," U.S. Army Colonel Rafael Torres, an ISAF spokesman, said in a statement.
In a mid-year report, the United Nations said civilian casualties had risen 31 percent in the first six months of 2010 from the same period last year, with more than three quarters of the deaths blamed on insurgents.
In contrast, deaths attributed to "pro-government" forces -- Afghan and foreign troops -- fell sharply, the U.N. report said, largely because commanders had tightened engagement rules, particularly the use of airstrikes and night raids.

14th November, Afghanistan

JALALABAD – NATO claims a body count of eight insurgents, including two suicide bombers. They were killed in an attack on a ISAF forward operating base. Taliban spokesmen claim 60 or more foreign troops were killed. NATO denies any casualties occurred.
KUNAR – ISAF troops came under attack killing three insurgents and suffering no casualties.
KUNDUZ – A bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded killed 10 civilians and wounded 18.
S. AFGHANISTAN – Three ISAF soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack according to a NATO statement. The statement did not provide any further details of the attack or the nationality of the service members killed.