September 22, 2008
[IDEM]"We cannot kill our way to victory. Admiral Michael Mullen
1. Preface
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The occupation in Afghanistan is about security for US bases and US "strategic interests."
The occupation is not about "security" for the Afghan people, any more than the occupation in Iraq is about "security" for the Iraqi people. Hiring of intelligence staff won’t help the present 'unintelligent’ US-NATO activities.
Nor will the present U.S. bombing campaign in Pakistan bring them "democracy" -- the many "apologies" for killing civilians ring hollow.
Too many innocent civilians have suffered murder for this U.S.-NATO "security" in the so-called "War on Terror." In the last two months, civilian deaths have multiplied exponentially. US contempt for life is evident.
The world is correct in worrying about the "two page note"that holds NATO in wedlock with Afghanistan. This same Washington Post article also writes about 'security’ for the death dealers: "the conduct of ongoing military operations gives U.S. troops "a status equivalent" to diplomatic immunity and exempting them from any Afghan "disciplinary authority" or legal jurisdiction. For this reason, immunity will be a problem in Afghanistan, just as it is in Iraq.
Afghanistan has never been and is not a "Just War;" is not the "Right War;" is not a "Good War." Unfortunately, many "Good people" believe that it is.
Following is a Timeline of US Policy Disasters.
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INDEX
1. Preface
2. Murder in Azizabad
3. Further deaths in Afghanistan
4. Afghanistan (Refugees, Women and Children, Opium)
5. Pakistan (General; Refugees; Dead in Pakistan)
6. Oil and Gas
7. Aid, Military Contracts, Contractors
8. United States: Reports, General, Bush - Troops, 9/11
9. US-NATO (General; Transportation)
10. NATO Coalition
11. US-NATO deaths
12. Human Rights (Reports, General, Rendition, Guantanamo)
13. References
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2. Murder in Azizabad
"no reason can justify killing of civilian in military operations." AIHRC (23.08.08)
AFGHANISTAN: More than 90 killed in coalition strikes: investigation
24.08.08. AFP/INL.
"The initial reports released by the US military boasted that it had successfully attacked a meeting of Taliban militants in Herat province, killing at least 30." James Cogan (26.08.08, Global Research)
Anti-US demonstrations in Afghanistan
24.08.08. Euronews/INL. Angry protests have broken out in Afghanistan following the deaths of scores of civilians in an air attack by US-led coalition forces on Friday.
" We want our children. We want our relatives. Can you give [them] to us? You cannot, so go away. " Quote from Afghan citizen.
Pouring Gas on the Afghanistan Bonfire
25.08.08. CHRIS HEDGES, truthdig. Coalition forces carried out an airstrike that killed up to 95 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, 50 of them children, And the mounting bombing raids and widespread detentions of Afghans are rapidly turning Afghanistan into the mirror image of Iraq. / Ghulam Azrat, the director of the middle school in Azizabad, said he collected 60 bodies after the bombing. … / "Most of these dead bodies were children and women. It took all morning to collect them." … / The seven-year war in Afghanistan has not gone well.
Pentagon Calls Air Strike in Western Afghanistan 'Legitimate'
25.08.08. VOA / Inl.
US investigating civilian deaths in Afghanistan
26.08.08. AP/InI.
UN Finds Evidence 90 Civilians Dead in US-Led Strikes
26.08.08. Agence France-Presse/truthout. "A United Nations team has found 'convincing evidence' that 90 civilians, including 60 children, were killed in US-led air strikes last week, the body's representative in Afghanistan said Tuesday. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) human rights team was sent to the western province of Herat after local claims that scores of civilians were killed in Friday's strikes."
How should international forces in Afghanistan be governed?
26.08.08 Your views. Aljazeera.
Afghanistan demands end to Nato air strikes on villagers
26.08.08. D. Pallister, Guardian.
U.S. Officials Describe Afghan Airstrike
27.08.08. E. Schmitt, NY Times. American military officials sought on Wednesday to refute claims that as many as 90 civilians — among them 60 children — were killed in airstrikes on a village in western Afghanistan last Friday. … / United States officials maintain that 25 militants and 5 civilians were killed in airstrikes called in after Afghan and American commandos came under heavy fire during a raid on the compound of a top Taliban commander. … /several American military officials gave this version of what took place.
US Massacres Afghan Kids
27.08.08. R. Dreyfuss, The Nation. So how, exactly, did the United States come to slaughter nearly a hundred Afghans, two-thirds of whom were children aged three months to sixteen years, while they slept? (summary of different news reports). … / By all rights, this ought to be a turning point for the Afghan war. the United States and NATO should get out and let the regional powers help Afghanistan deal with its problems--that means Pakistan, India, Russia, and Iran.
Children Killed By U.S. Airstrike In Afghanistan Were Guilty Of Sleeping
27.08.08. Winter Patriot, uruknet.
They are human too Mr Bush!
28.08.08. Aijaz Zaka Syed, khaleej times. But is this the first incident of its kind when the brave soldiers of the coalition of the willing mistook women and children for the militants? As far as the Afghan people are concerned, there's little difference in the Soviet occupation and the current reign of terror. Only the markings on those fighter jets have changed from Russian to English.
Russia takes up US attack in Afghanistan at UNSC
28.08.08. daily times.pk. Drafts statement seeking condemnation of US airstrike that killed 90 civilians; Afghanistan says wants to regulate US troops’ presence and use of air strikes.
Only a Two-Page 'Note' Governs U.S. Military in Afghanistan
28.08.08. K. DeYOUNG, Washington Post. … Civilian casualties, long a recurring problem in Afghanistan, tripled last year as thinly spread U.S. and NATO forces grew more dependent on air power against a resurgent Taliban. … / casualties due to airstrikes have reached more than 200 through the first eight months of this year, compared with 321 in 2007 and 116 in 2006. / According to the U.S. Air Forces Central Combined Air and Space Operations Center, the number of strikes this year in which munitions were dropped totaled 2,368 as of Aug. 4. The equivalent number for the same period in Iraq was 783.
No tears in west for 60 Afghan children
29.08.08. Ameen Izzadeen, dailymirror.lk./ICH. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), as this force is properly known, is responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in Afghanistan. August 22, the US troops in ISAF killed 95 civilians, including 60 children and 19 women, adding to the ever increasing number of civilian deaths.
Afghan official 'saw bodies of 50 children' killed in US strike
30.08.08. daily star. An Afghan politician told AFP Friday how he had helped dig out the bodies of women and children after US-led air strikes a week ago, reiterating with another official that around 90 civilians were killed.
Civilian casualties strain NATO
30.08.08. Washington Times. Death toll in recent strike cited. An errant attack last week on civilians by U.S.-led coalition forces has widened a rift between the Afghan government and the international community that may change the nature of foreign military operations in Afghanistan.
US, UN launch joint probe into deadly Afghan raid
30.08.08. AP. A top NATO official says the U.S.-led coalition, the U.N. and Afghan officials will launch a joint probe into a deadly raid in western Afghanistan. (see below 03.09.08)
Afghan puppet army: " US only defended themselves from Afghan sleeping children"
31.08.08. AP / uruknet. Afghan Commission: U.S. Troops Were Fired on First in deadly raid. An Afghan army commander said that U.S. and Afghan troops were fired on first from a village where a government investigative commission says scores of civilians were killed, according to a report released Sunday. / There were no "foreign or internal Taliban" among the victims, the report said. The commission found that 15 men, 15 women and 60 children were killed. That finding was backed by a preliminary U.N. report. The commission said eight houses were destroyed and seven damaged...
Collateral Killing
31.08.08. Washington Post editorial. Too many innocent Afghans are dying in U.S. airstrikes. [editorial supports sending more troops to Afghanistan]
The massacre at Azizabad, Herat"
01.09.08. Professor Marc Herold, uruknet. 76-91 civilians killed (61 children, 15 women, 15 men) including … [Substantial list of names of those killed and wounded in Azizabad] Authoritative report on the massacre.
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Pentagon denies responsibility for US massacre of Afghan villagers
01.09.08. Tom Eley, uruknet. All the evidence suggests that US claims are utterly bogus. According to an anonymous NATO official, the US assault on Azizabad lasted for several hours, and involved ground troops, gunships, and drones. The battle destroyed or damaged 15 houses. And yet the US military wishes world opinion to believe that it was the victim of an attack that resulted in only a single American injury, and that virtually all those who died in the building were "Taliban."... The criminal and reckless US bombardment of Azizabad has been largely buried by the US media, which has been far more preoccupied with the "disproportionate" Russian response to Georgia’s invasion of South Ossetia.
Ongoing Afghan battle kills over 220 'militants’ in South
01.09.08. xinhuanet. The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the U.S.-led Coalition forces have killed more than 220 "militants" during clean-up operations in southern Afghan province of Helmand since Aug. 25, said a Coalition statement released hereon Monday.
AFGHANISTAN: Endless Massacre
01.09.08. AGI / uruknet. WITNESSES SAY 70+ CIVILIANS KILLED IN AIR STRIKE. Over 70 civilians have reportedly been killed in an air strike by international forces in the Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Reuters received reports of this from a number of residents in Sangin, the district where the bloodshed allegedly occurred. At the moment the news has not yet been confirmed by the Afghan government, which last week threatened to reconsider the role of foreign troops after another air strike on 22 August, killed 90 civilians, including over 50 children. / The command of the US-led contingent has not commented on the charges but said that last week in the Helmand province 220 suspected Taliban fighters had been killed.
US probe finds fewer Afghan deaths than UN claimed
02.09.08. Jason Straziuso, AP. A U.S. investigation [ by whom? ] into U.N. and Afghan allegations that dozens of civilians were killed in fighting around a village found Tuesday that seven of the dead were civilians. … / No Afghan officials have confirmed that the Afghan government would take part in a three-way investigation [see 03.09).
Nato tries to hide Afghan massacres
02.09.08. socialist worker / INI. Latest attacks destroy second Afghan village killing 70 | Over 500 civilians killed by Nato forces this year. / Nato is attempting to cover up a series of massacres committed by its forces in a murderous campaign of airstrikes on Afghanistan.
Afghans accept U.S. probe offer on civilian deaths
03.09.08. Reuters / Wired.
VIDEO. Pressure Mounts in Afghanistan (Reuters, 04.09.08,)
Afghans seek punishment for civilian deaths in raid
04.09.08. Reuters. Hundreds of Afghans gathered near a village bombed by U.S.-led coalition forces to call on the government to punish those responsible for civilian deaths in the raid.
Karzai says NATO Ties Strained as US Continues to Dispute Herat Toll
04.09.08. anti-war. Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited the scene of last month’s deadly US air strike in Herat Province today. During the visit President Karzai vowed "swift punishment" for those responsible for the incident, and warned that relations with NATO had been strained by the large number of civilian deaths
Bush 'Regrets' Civilian Casualties In US Strike
04.09.08. AFP / ICH.
AP IMPACT: Afghans fed up with government, US
05.09.09. Kathy Gannon, AP. Mohammed makes it clear that the tribal chiefs have lost all faith in both their own government and the foreign soldiers in their country. / Such disillusionment is widespread in Afghanistan
Collateral Tragedies
05.09.08. Mark Thompson, Time. There is no fog of war at 20,000 ft. above Afghanistan. .. / On the ground, the picture is much less clear. .. / As U.S. air strikes doubled from 2006 to 2007, the number of accidental civilian deaths soared, from 116 to 321. / The military dismisses such tallies as exaggerated, and their provenance is often murky. In no case is it murkier than in the Aug. 22 strike on the western Afghan village of Azizabad. ..
Atrocity in Azizabad: More Child Sacrifices on the Terror War Altar
08.09.08. CHRIS FLOYD, uruknet. Every day, the shame mounts, the lies grow more brazen and more brutal, and the dishonor spreads and deepens -- ineradicable, like a white garment soaked with blood. But the mass death visited upon the sleeping, defenseless citizens of Azizabad encapsulates many of the essential elements of this global campaign of "unipolar domination" and war profiteering: the callous application of high-tech weaponry against unarmed civilians; the witless attack that alienates local supporters and empowers an ever-more violent and radical insurgency; and perhaps the most quintessential element of all -- the knowing lies and deliberate deceits that Washington employs to hide the obscene reality of its Terror War..-
THE 2 Videos
Evidence Points to Civilian Toll in Afghan Raid
07.09.08. CARLOTTA GALL, NY Times. "The Afghan government, human rights and intelligence officials, independent witnesses and a United Nations investigation back up their account, pointing to dozens of freshly dug graves, lists of the dead, and cellphone videos and other images showing bodies of women and children laid out in the village mosque. / Cellphone images seen by this reporter show at least 11 dead children, some apparently with blast and concussion injuries, among some 30 to 40 bodies laid out in the village mosque." Some "differing accounts" given.
US has new information on Afghan civilian deaths
07.09.08. Reuters. Afghan and Western officials say Afghanistan's intelligence agency and the U.N. both have video of the aftermath of the Aug. 22 U.S. airstrikes on the village of Azizabad showing dozens of dead women and children.
US to begin new inquiry into Afghan civilian deaths
08.09.08. AFP. US General David McKiernan said in a statement late Sunday there was "emerging evidence" about the incident. / In light of this, "I feel it is prudent to request that US Central Command send a general officer to review the US investigation and its findings with respect to the new evidence," he said.
Harrowing video film backs Afghan villagers' claims of carnage caused by US troops
08.09.08. Tom Koghlan, timesonline. (edited) video of massacre. These are the images that have forced the Pentagon into a rare U-turn. Until yesterday the US military had insisted that only seven civilians were killed in Nawabad on the night of August 21. / .. In the video scores of bodies are seen laid out in a building that villagers say is used as a mosque / … The US military said that its findings were corroborated by an independent journalist embedded with the US force. He was named as the Fox News correspondent Oliver North / .. Sources close to one of the investigations said that a video film was shot by Afghan officials the morning after the attack. It corroborates the doctor’s footage but has not been made public. / .. list of civilian casualties in Afghanistan.
Raw Video: Afghans Civilians Killed by U.S.? (edited) same video on youtube.
Afghan Children Killed In US-Led Raid Appear On New Video
08.09.08. Huff Post / ICH. A second video shows three young children wrapped in white shrouds. A fourth child has gruesome head wounds. In total, the bodies of at least 10 children can be seen. / The two videos, both obtained by The Associated Press, give weight to Afghan and U.N. findings that scores of civilians, including 60 children and 15 women, died in the Aug. 22 U.S.-led raid in the village of Azizabad. U.S. special forces and Afghan commandos carried out the operation
[ NB: 09.08.08 Youtube video of massacre was removed by 5 am. At 7 am, the notice reads: "This video is not available in your country" (ie, UK). On the Huff Post, the BBC video has this message: "THIS CONTENT IS NOT AUTORIZED INSIDE THE UNITED KINGDOM."]
VIDEO: Afghans Civilians Killed by U.S.. AP. This is one of two videos obtained by AP that appear to show the bodies of children and adults covered in blankets and white shrouds lend weight to Afghan and U.N. allegations that a U.S.-led raid killed scores of civilians. (Sept. 8)..
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Afghanistan: U.S. backs off the air war
08.09.08. Military Watch, Baltimore sun. The Air Force has cut back sharply on the number of daily air strikes it is flying in Afghanistan, as civilian casualties from bombing have risen sharply along with protests from the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and from the United Nations.
[note air strikes in section 3.]
Afghans say will open graves to show civilian deaths
09.09.08. Sharafuddin Sharafiyaar, Reuters/uruknet. Relatives of Afghans killed in a U.S.-led coalition raid in western Herat province offered on Tuesday to dig up graves to support claims of large-scale civilian deaths. But they said that U.S.-led forces must leave Afghanistan "in shame" if it was proven that an American account of the Aug. 22 air strike in Shindand district that most of the victims were Taliban fighters was wrong. The incident has ou! traged Afghans and opened a rift between coalition forces on the one hand and the Afghan government and the U.N. on the other, which both say that more than 90 civilians were killed...
Fox News & Oliver North Involved with U.S. Afghanistan Massacre Cover-up
09.09.08. Invictus/uruknet. Perhaps the most amazing political news surrounding the Nawabad massacre is that the Pentagon says it relied for its account, in part, on corroborative evidence by the embedded journalist on the scene: Fox News "reporter" Oliver North! [see above 08.09]
Afghans hail Bush's move to send more troops
10.09.08. Reuters. "The government has a common stance on this: we need and welcome more foreign troops to tackle the war along with local forces," said chief presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzadan/"In the long term, the strengthening of national entities, their training and equipping, is the solution," he added.
[see below. Bush Troop Surge, Section 8]
Afghanistan After Seven Years of War: You Call This a Good War?
11.09.08. Sharon Smith, uruknet. In early September, the Pentagon closed its investigation into allegations that U.S. bombs killed 92 Afghan civilians, including as many as 60 children, as they slept peacefully in the village of Nawabad on the night of August 21st. [history of atrocities] ... Obama did not utter a word of criticism about rising civilian casualties ... The war on Afghanistan is no more justified than the war on Iraq.
Tom Engelhardt’s superb roundup with succinct comments on Azizabad
Slaughter, Lies, and VIDEO in Afghanistan
11.09.08. TOM ENGELHARDT, Tomgram. The Value of One, the Value of None: An Anatomy of Collateral Damage in the Bush Era. … The incident in Azizabad may represent the single deadliest media-verified attack on civilians by U.S. forces since the invasion of 2001. … not just Vice President Cheney but the President and his top officials have remained self-protectively embunkered throughout their years in office. The 60 or so children slaughtered in Azizabad, each of whom belonged to some family, don't matter to them. But they do matter. And when you kill them, and so many others like them, you surely play with fire.
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Afghans arrested over disputed air strike deaths
12.09.08. Reuters. Afghan police have arrested three men on suspicion of giving false information which led to the death of civilians in a U.S. air strike in western Afghanistan last month, the interior ministry said on Friday. / Anger has mounted over the August 22 raid in the village of Azizabad in western Herat's Shindand district in which the Afghan government says more than 90 people, mostly women and children, were killed, an allegation backed by the United Nations.
Afghanistan: US killed civilians after false tip
15.09.08. J. STRAZIUSO, AP. An American bombing that killed up to 90 Afghan civilians last month was based on false information provided by a rival tribe and did not kill a single Taliban fighter, the president's spokesman said Sunday. / "There was total misinformation fed to the coalition forces," Humayun Hamidzada, the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told The Associated Press.
3. Further Deaths in Afghanistan
REPORT
Afghanistan: Civilian Deaths From Airstrikes
08.09.08. Human Rights Watch. Link to 43-page report. Rapid response airstrikes have meant higher civilian casualties, while every bomb dropped in populated areas amplifies the chance of a mistake. "Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch
Summary
08.09.08. Richard Norton –Taylor, Guardian. Civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and Nato air strikes have nearly tripled over the past year, with the onslaught continuing in 2008 and fuelling a public backlash, a leading human rights group says today. / The report by Human Rights Watch says that despite changes in the rules of engagement which had reduced the rate of civilian casualties since a spike in July last year, air strikes killed at least 321 civilians in 2007, compared with at least 116 in 2006. In the first seven months of this year at least 540 Afghan civilians were killed in fighting related to the armed conflict, with at least 119 killed by US or Nato air strikes, such as this July's attack on a wedding party which killed 47, says Human Rights Watch.
GENERAL
NB: No suicide attacks listed
Sangin, Helmand
Coalition forces kill more than a dozen 'Taliban’ in Afghanistan
27.08.08. topnews.in. Afghan and coalition forces on Monday spotted a large number of heavily armed militants gathering in small groups and preparing to attack soldiers in Sangin district of the restive Helmand province, the US military said in a statement.
Paktika
Nearly 50 "Taliban" killed in Afghanistan-officials
27.08.08. Reuters / Wired. An air strike killed 30 Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan and Afghan police killed 18 more militants in the south of the country, officials said on Wednesday.
Over 100 Killed in Fighting Along Afghan-Pakistan Border
27.08.08. anti-war.com. 40 "Taliban" were reported killed in airstrikes after attacking government-run checkpoints in Paktika, not far from Waziristan. Further west, in southern Helmand province, another 18 "Taliban" were killed by provincial police. It was also reported today that the Taliban are gaining an increasing level of influence in the city of Kandahar. More…
Afghan opposition wants international crisis meet
27.08.08. Reuters / wired. Afghanistan is going through a critical period and an international meeting including Taliban-led insurgents should be held to ward off crisis, the country's main opposition group said on Wednesday.
Khost
Occupation forces kill ex-Afghan cricketer - officials
29.08.08. daily news.lk / ICH. Rahmat Wali, 32, who played for the war-torn country's national team between 2001 and 2006, was killed when troops attacked his home in the eastern province of Khost, the national team captain, Nawrooz Khan Mangal said. He said Wali had no ties to Taliban or other insurgents.
Waziristan
US missile attack in Waziristan injures 4
29.08.08. daily times.pk. A missile fired from a United States drone injured a woman and three children in South Waziristan late on Wednesday night, officials and residents told Daily Times on Thursday.
Uruzgan and Paktika
U.S. says at least 24 "militants" killed in Afghanistan
29.08.08. AP / usa tody/ICH. More than a dozen militants were killed after they attacked a coalition base in Shaheed Hasas district of the southern Uruzgan province on Thursday, the coalition said. Two Afghan guards died during the attack. … / Separately, about a dozen 'militants’ were killed during a raid by coalition troops in the eastern Paktika province, also on Thursday, the coalition said.
N. Kunduz
A Woman and Two Children Shot Dead at German Checkpoint in Afghanistan
29.08.08. DPA news ageny / uruk. An Afghan woman and two children were killed and four other children injured as German soldiers opened fire on a civilian vehicle in the northern province of Kunduz, Afghan police said Friday, Aug. 29. The incident -- which occurred south-east of the provincial capital city, also called Kunduz -- took place Thursday evening in a region where German troops lead operations for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force! (ISAF), Defense Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said in Berlin.
Kapisa
Another 5 Afghan Civilians Killed In US-led Strikes
30.08.08. AFP/uruknet. Two senior Afghan police officers alleged Saturday that the U.S.-led coalition killed five civilians in air strikes aimed at Taliban insurgents, but the force denied causing any civilian casualties. … / "Five civilians, including two women and a child, were killed in an air strike by coalition forces early this morning," Sayed Sakhidad, criminal investigation police chief for Kapisa province outside Kabul, told AFP.
Sarwan Qala, Sangin
'500 civilians killed, injured in Afghanistan’
01.09.08. The int. news. "Foreign forces have been conducting operation in Sarwan Qala area of Sangin district for the last five days in which artillery and aircraft are being used," Dad Muhammad Khan, member of Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament), told Afghan Islamic Press. / "The dead and injured were lying in the area and there is no one to shift the injured. Yesterday, I raised the issue in the parliament but the government has done nothing so far," he said.
E. Kabul
Afghan family killed in house raid
01.09.08. Aljazeera.net/uruknet. A family of four, including two children, have been killed in an overnight raid by international troops, a police official and witnesses said. / Residents in Hud Kheil in the east of the capital said one of the two children was eight months old and grenades killed the family members during a joint Afghan-US special forces operation. / US special forces said they were not involved. Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said they were investigating media reports.
Afghans demonstrate after children die in troop raid
01.09.08. AFP/uruknet. Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets Monday in protest at what they said was the murder of four civilians, including two baby boys, in an early morning raid by international troops. / The demonstrators showed journalists the bloodied bodies of the children shot dead with their father on the eastern outskirts of the capital, an AFP reporter said. .. / A press office official at NATO, whose troops are in charge of security in Kabul, said: "We have no indication whatsoever that NATO forces were involved in this incident."
Afghan children killed by Nato fire
01.09.08. al jazeera. Nato officials said that the attack on Monday happened by accident. NATO admits strike (02.09.08. Guardian)
Killings of 5 Afghan children inflame tensions
01.09.08. AMIR SHAH, AP / uruknet.
The Afghan War's Heavy Toll On Children
03.09.08. Brian McAfee, Counter Currents. Again today reports coming out of Afghanistan indicate more dead children. … / Rebuilding Afghanistan's infrastructure, food aid and agricultural support are common sense endeavors we should be engaged in.
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'US troops are committing war crimes'
02.09.08. Parwiz Shamal, quqnoos/ICH. Afghan rights group accuses foreign troops of deliberately killing civilians,. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said on Tuesday that, according to their own investigations, civilians are killed in most operations conducted by US forces.
Helmand
British soldiers kill 200 "Taliban" in Afghan dam operation
02.09.08. telegraph / ICH. A major secret British operation to boost the economy in Afghanistan's Helmand province has been completed after a force of 5,000 troops fought for a week to drive a huge dam turbine through Taliban lines. [see 'transportation’]
Herat
Two civilians, eight Taliban killed in Afghan raid: army
05.09.08. Reuters / ICH. A U.S.-led coalition air strike killed a woman and child and eight Taliban fighters in western Afghanistan on Friday, a top Afghan army official said.
U.S. says 2 civilians among 8 dead in Afghan strike
05.09.08. Reuters. Two civilians were among eight people killed in a U.S.-led coalition operation in western Afghanistan on Friday, the U.S. military said, the latest in a mounting toll of civilian deaths that has outraged Afghans. / The military said fighting erupted after coalition and Afghan army troops were ambushed by militants during a reconnaissance patrol in Farah province. / Troops backed by close air support killed six "militants", it said in a statement. "Two civilians were killed and two wounded during the conduct of the insurgent ambush operation."
Afghans fed up with government, U.S.
05.09.08. AP. Mohammed makes it clear that the tribal chiefs have lost all faith in both their own government and the foreign soldiers in their country. Such disillusionment is widespread in Afghanistan, feeding an insurgency that has killed 195 foreign soldiers so far this year, 105 of them Americans.
Waziristan (?)
FOCUS | Scores Killed by Pilotless US Aircraft
05.09.08. Pir Zubair Shah, Jane Perlez, NY Times / Truthout. : "A missile strike from a remotely piloted United States reconnaissance aircraft killed 6 to 12 people in a group of houses in southern Afghanistan, very close to the border with Pakistan, Pakistani residents of the area said Friday." [ The New York Times report below states that the damage and civilian deaths were the result of, "A missile strike from a remotely piloted United States reconnaissance aircraft ..." Reconnaissance aircraft do not carry missiles. That contradiction is not addressed by The Times. - ma/TO]
The Attack on the Haqqanis
10.09.08. Moon of Alabama, uruknet. Haqqani, an Afghan, is currently one of the Taliban’s most senior commanders battling the Americans in eastern Afghanistan. His father, Jalaluddin, is a longtime associate of bin Laden’s. The Haqqanis are believed to be overseeing operations from a hiding place in the Pakistani tribal agency of North Waziristan. Two days later the U.S. attacked the residence of the Haqqani clan: The drones were apparently targeting the house or the madrassa established by former Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani during the 1978-88 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, residents said. At least 23 people died in that attack. The Haqqani men are said to be in Afghanistan at the time of the attack and were not hit...
Another criminal US missile strike inside Pakistan
10.09.08. Peter Symonds, WSWS/uruknet.
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US's 'good' war hits Pakistan hard
10.09.08. Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times/uruknet. Seven years after the United States led the invasion of Afghanistan in search of al-Qaeda and to topple the Taliban government, US President George W Bush has added neighboring Pakistan to the list of countries that are "a major 'war on terror' battleground", while also announcing a "quiet surge" of troops into Afghanistan. /… What Bush didn't spell out is that it is also in the US's interests that Pakistan get tough on militants, and that the US is increasingly taking matters into its own hands inside Pakistan. In the the latest incident on Monday, at least 25 people were killed in a missile attack by unmanned Predator drones on a Pakistani village near the Afghan border.
Khost
Troops kill 10 insurgents in Afghanistan: coalition
07.09.08. AFP.
Reuters says
U.S. forces, Afghan police kill over 20 Taliban
07.09.08. Reuters
More dead in Khost
2 killed, 10 injured by errant NATO bomb
09.09.08. CBC. The bomb was aimed at a site in eastern Khost province used by insurgents to fire rockets. However, the weapon malfunctioned and struck a civilian house two kilometres away, according to a NATO statement.
Off-Target NATO Bomb Kills 2 Afghan Civilians
09.09.08. Rahim Faiez, AP / ABC. As Karzai decries civilian deaths, NATO bomb misses target by 1 1/2 miles and kills 2 Afghans
2 killed, 10 injured in Afghanistan by errant NATO bomb
10.09.08. CBC. the weapon malfunctioned and struck a civilian house two kilometres away, according to a NATO statement.
Tirin Kot, Uruzgan
Afghanistan bombing kills three coalition troops, local contractor
10.09.08 AFP. … The new deaths raise to 201 the number of international soldiers to die in Afghanistan this year. / Meanwhile, in the southern Uruzgan Province, troops were tipped off about a Taliban gathering on the outskirts of the town of Tirin Kot and sent in a strike early Tuesday, provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat said. "The coalition forces bombed them and killed 16 Taliban and wounded another nine," Himat said./ .. And late Monday aircraft bombed a group of Taliban militants who had attacked a district center in eastern Paktia Province, a spokesman for the provincial government told AFP. "Twelve Taliban were killed in the NATO air strike. Nine of them are Chechens and three are Afghans and Pakistanis," the spokesman said.
Uruzgan and Paktika
27 militants killed in Afghan airstrikes
09.09.08. Rahim Faiez, AP. Over 27 'militants’ killed in 2 separate Afghan airstrikes. Uruzgan: 15 'militants’ killed; Paktika: 12 'militants’, including nine Chechen fighters killed.
TALIBAN
Secrets of the Taliban's success
10.09.08. SAYED SALEEM SHAHZAD, , asia times / uruknet. ...In an interview with Asia Times Online, Mullah Abdul Jalil, a pioneer of the Taliban movement in Kandahar, elaborated. "There is a lot of rhetoric out of anger and frustration against the West because of the NATO oppression of the Afghan people, but the Taliban leadership still strictly abides by its code of conduct for the resistance against foreign occupation forces in our country," said Jalil, who served as deputy foreign minister and foreign minister during the Taliban regime (1996-2001).
US at the 'edge of historical defeat': Taliban
11.09.08. Hindustan times.
Taliban call for unity against US
11.09.08. The News International/uruknet. ..."The United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) must avoid killing innocent people in Afghanistan and stop bid to divide its people on race, language, ethnic and regional lines," the Taliban said in a statement on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of 9/11 attacks. Afghans always remained united against infidelity, foreign aggression and never accepted foreign interference, the Taliban said. "All the international organisations, governm! ent and nations should unite against the cruel policies of US, extend their moral role in the independence of occupied countries and put an end to the insecurity, fighting and injustices in the world," the Afghan Islamic Press quoted the Taliban as saying. The Taliban said the US and Nato had failed in Afghanistan as the West had admitted that all the country except Kabul was in the control of Taliban...
American Imperialism v/s Talibanisation
12.09.08. Farooq Tariq, Kashmir Watch. Pakistan is under imperialist siege. Parts of Pakistan are targeted regularly by the NATO forces based on the Afghani-Pakistan border. Killings by missiles have become an everyday event. Innocent tribal men, women and children are the targets of this imperialist aggression. ../ The 3 August 2008 direct attack by NATO forces at Anghoor Ada in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan left 20 dead and scores injured. The excuse is curbing individual terrorism. However this is state terrorism in open collaboration with American imperialism
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Death Squads
From Afghanistan to Africa: The Return of U. S. Death Squads
10.09.08. C. Hallinan, uruknet. United Nations officials charge that secret "international intelligence services" are conducting raids to kill Afghan civilians, then hiding the perpetuators behind an "impenetrable" wall of bureaucracy. /..Suspicion has fallen on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which led such teams into Afghanistan during the 1990s in an attempt to capture or kill Osama bin Ladin, and again during the 2001 invasion.
Tagab district, Kapisa
10 militants killed in Afghanistan
12.09.08. AP.
U.S. to include Pakistan in Afghanistan strategy
10.09.08. Reuters. The U.S. military, faced with rising insurgent violence in Afghanistan, will revise its strategy for the region to include militant safe havens in neighboring Pakistan, the top U.S. military officer said Wednesday.
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Tagab district, Kapisa
10 militants killed in Afghanistan
12.09.08. AP.
Report: U.S.-NATO Airtrikes Over Afghanistan Are Killing Innocent Civilians
12.09.08. Ali Gharib, IPS News/alternet. "Civilian deaths act as a recruiting tool for the Taliban and risk fatally undermining the international effort to provide basic security."
Does killing Afghan civilians keep us safe?
12.09.08. LA Times/ICH. This week, as we remember the nearly 3,000 American citizens who died in the rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or in a remote field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, we also should think about the civilians who are still dying in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Is in Its Worst Shape Since 2001, European Diplomat Says
15.09.08. A. Smale, NY Times. The envoy, Francesc Vendrell, a Spanish diplomat with eight years’ experience in Afghanistan, especially criticized the growing number of civilian deaths in attacks by American and international forces. / Those deaths have created "a great deal of antipathy" and widened the distance between the Afghan government and citizens, he said
Wardak
NATO forces kill 11 militants, detain 20 in Afghanistan
16.09.08. South Asia News.
General: far more US troops needed in Afghanistan
16.09.08. AP. The senior U.S. general (Gen. David McKiernan) in Afghanistan said Tuesday he is fighting the war with too few ground troops, and that even the reinforcements President Bush announced last week are insufficient. He said the shortage compels him to use more air power, at the cost of higher civilian casualties.
Gates and Mullen signal US concern at Afghan violence
17.09.08. Financial times. The US's two most senior defence officials made separate visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan yesterday marking the mounting concern in Washington about extremist havens in the ungoverned border areas.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates apologizes for Afghan civilian casualties
18.09.08. J. BARNES, LA Times. He pledges additional steps by the U.S. to avoid errant bombings and to compensate families of the dead more quickly.
Tirin Kot
Karzai ally killed in battle with NATO troops
18.09.08. Noor Khan, AP.
4. Afghanistan: Refugees, Women, Opium
REFUGEES
Afghanistan's refugee challenge
12.08.08. Aunohita Mojumdar, al jazeera. With five million refugees repatriated since 2001 and three million still harboured mainly in Pakistan and Iran, Afghanistan continues to face formidable challenges in addressing the needs of its refugee population.
AFGHANISTAN: REMEMBERING AFGHAN REFUGEES
11.09.08. M. Ashraf Haidari, eurasianet. … the international commitment to Afghanistan seems to have lost traction. One way that Americans can honor the September 11 victims is by keeping Afghan reconstruction efforts on course, and doing their part to ensure that millions of Afghan refugees feel secure enough to return home.
FAMINE
Good security, but empty stomachs
28.08.08. the national.ae. For villagers across the central province of Bamiyan, life is a constant battle for survival.
Afghanistan faces humanitarian crisis -UK's Oxfam
30.08.08. Reuters / Wired. Afghanistan needs urgent help to avert a humanitarian crisis this winter, with millions facing some of the worst conditions for more than 20 years, [Oxfam] said on Saturday. / Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world with more than half of the population living below the poverty line and millions of Afghans facing constant food shortages. / About 1,000 people died in the last, exceptionally severe winter marked by bitter cold and heavy snowfall.
Disaster in Afghanistan
O1.09.08. John W. Warnock, Global Research, ca. .. The focus of the mass media is almost entirely on the military activities of the Canadian and NATO forces. There is absolutely no coverage of political developments. The news on the economy is limited to the state of the poppy industry. This is no accident. The North American media, including the CBC, has strongly supported the U.S./NATO strategy and the administration of President Hamid Karzai. Contrary to the mainstream message, things are not going well. Topics include: Rise in civilian casualties; The approaching famine; What is happening to women’s rights? Change of regime in Afghanistan; Canadian government stresses militarism;
War and Drought Threaten Afghan Food Supply
18.09.08. CARLOTTA GALL, NY Times. A pitiable harvest this year has left small farmers all over central and northern Afghanistan facing hunger, and aid officials are warning of an acute food shortage this winter for nine million Afghans, more than a quarter of the population.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN
An Afghan Woman Who Stands Up to the Warlords
18,08.08. Farooq Sulehria, counterpunch. Afghanistan lives in the fear of the US-sponsored war lords. These hated warlords are not scared by the Taliban-monster raising its head in the south. Ironically, they live in the fear of an unarmed girl in her late twenties: Malalai Joya. [interview with Malalai Joya]
Taking Stock: Afghan Women and Girls
4 reports
Afghan Women Behind Closed Doors
28.08.08. ANN JONES, Tomgram. … Now, a promised new American surge in Afghanistan threatens to be too much, too late. Bent on victory again, Americans are easily manipulated by false information to call in air strikes and wipe out whole villages -- men, women, and children -- even with no enemy in sight. / You don't see women among the protesters because they are at home behind closed doors, confined, just as they were before the American "liberation."
Afghanistan's opium crop sowing misery for women
30.08.08., chron com. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said Afghanistan now produces about 93 percent of the world's opium, yielding an estimated $3 billion a year. / The UNODC statistics also indicate the amount of opium cultivated here has increased every year since 2001, when the U.S. military first deposed the Taliban. [stories of women]
Self-Immolation On The Rise Among Women
09.09.08.
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