US ignored Afghan drugs now financing Taliban

"To fight a Taliban insurgency flush with drug money for recruits and weapons, the Bush administration recognizes that it must also combat the drug trafficking it had largely ignored for years. But plans to clear poppy fields and pursue major drug figures have been frustrated by corruption in the Afghan government, and derided by critics as belated half-measures or missteps not likely to have much impact.
. . . The State Department and Pentagon repeatedly clashed over drug policy, according to current and former officials who were interviewed. Pentagon leaders refused to bomb drug laboratories and often balked at helping other agencies and the Afghan government destroy poppy fields, disrupt opium shipments or capture major traffickers, the officials say.
And the C.I.A. and military turned a blind eye to drug-related activities by prominent warlords or political figures they had installed in power, Afghan and American officials say.
. . . Administration officials say they had believed they could eliminate the insurgency first, then tackle the drug trade. “Now people recognize that it’s all related, and it’s one issue,” said Thomas Schweich, the State Department’s coordinator for counternarcotics in Afghanistan."

source
Risen, James. (The New York Times). Poppy Fields Are Now a Front Line in Afghan War. May 16, 2007.

posted: friday, may 18, 2007, 6:11 PM ET

tags: afghanistan drug

US killing Afghan civilians lately

"Air strikes called in by U.S. Special Forces soldiers fighting with insurgents in southern Afghanistan killed at least 21 civilians, officials said Wednesday. One coalition soldier was also killed.
Helmand provincial Governor Assadullah Wafa said Taliban fighters sought shelter in villagers' homes during the fighting in the Sangin district Tuesday evening, and that subsequent air strikes killed 21 civilians, including several women and children.
. . . The report of civilian casualties comes less than a week after Afghan officials said that 51 civilians were killed in the western province of Herat.
It also comes one day after the U.S. military apologized and paid compensation to the families of 19 people killed and 50 wounded by U.S. Marines Special Forces who fired indiscriminately on civilians after being hit by a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan in March.
Afghanistan's upper house of parliament on Tuesday passed a bill calling for a halt to all international military operations unless co-ordinated with the Afghan government, action seen as a rebuke of the international mission here." [1]

"Col. John Nicholson, an Army brigade commander in eastern Afghanistan, met Tuesday with the families of the 19 Afghans killed and 50 wounded when a Marine Special Operations unit opened fire on a crowded stretch of road near Jalalabad after a suicide bomber in a vehicle rammed their convoy.
. . . The company commander and the senior enlisted member from the unit involved in the incident were relieved of duty last month. With six other marines involved, they were returned to Camp Lejeune, N.C., until the investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is completed, said Maj. Cliff W. Gilmore, a spokesman for the Marine Special Operations Command.
. . . Anger among Afghans at American tactics has seemed to intensify since the March 4 incident. After an incident this month in western Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai warned at a news conference that continuing civilian casualties would not be tolerated." [2]

sources
[1] Khan, Noor. (The Associated Press). 21 civilians said killed by Afghan air strike. May 9, 2007.
[2] Cloud, David S. (The New York Times). U.S. Pays and Apologizes to Kin of Afghans Killed by Marines. May 9, 2007.

posted: friday, may 11, 2007, 2:27 PM ET
update: friday, may 18, 2007, 6:32 PM ET

tags: afghanistan

Pakistan tribes want modernity, not Taliban

Along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, (aka, Talibanistan), "tribal leaders interviewed by TIME say they do not support the aims of the jihadists. But the Taliban's campaign of fear has worn down local resistance. Malik Sher Muhammad Khan, a tribal elder from Wana, says, 'The Taliban walk through the streets shouting that children shouldn't go to school because they are learning modern subjects like math and science. But we want to be modern.' "

source
Baker, Aryn. (Time). The Truth About Talibanistan. March 22, 2007.

posted: sunday, march 25, 2007, 2:39 AM ET

tags: al qaeda taliban talibanistan

Qaeda threat from Afghan-Pakistan, not Iraq

"Attacking the United States clearly remains on bin Laden's agenda. But the likelihood that such an attack would be launched from Iraq, many experts contend, has sharply diminished over the past year as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has undergone dramatic changes. Once believed to include thousands of 'foreign fighters,' it is now an overwhelmingly Iraqi organization whose aims are likely to remain focused on the struggle against the Shiite majority in Iraq, U.S. intelligence officials said.
. . . [O]fficials estimated that Iraqis make up 90 percent of AQI's several thousand fighters.
. . . [B]in Laden appears to have regained his stature among Muslim extremists and bolstered his ability to draw recruits. 'As people around the world sign up to fight jihad,' the intelligence official said, 'before they were always going to Iraq. Now we see more winding up in Pakistan.'
As al-Qaeda recoups its numbers and organizational structure in the lawless and inaccessible territory along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, it is seen as having little need for major bases in western Iraq, where the flat desert topography is ill-suited for concealment from U.S. aerial surveillance."

source
DeYoung, Karen & Pincus, Walter. (The Washington Post). Al-Qaeda in Iraq May Not Be Threat Here. March 18, 2007.

posted: monday, march 19, 2007, 11:12 PM ET
update: friday, march 23, 2007, 8:49 PM ET

tags: iraq al qaeda osama bin laden

Afghanistan needs time, ambassador says

"The departing American ambassador to Afghanistan, Ronald E. Neumann, said Monday that he did not see the Taliban as the big threat it appeared to represent a year or two ago, and that he was leaving feeling 'reasonably optimistic' about the state of the insurgency and the country’s progress.
. . . The ambassador said that the Afghan Army, which initially had been envisioned as a light force reliant on American allies, was being strengthened, with a goal of building it to 70,000 troops, and that it was being supplied with armored vehicles, aircraft and body armor.
The program to develop a police entity was two years behind that of the army, he said, but current plans also call for more support for the police.
. . . Mr. Neumann said people in Afghanistan and abroad should understand that it would take considerable time to see results in the country. It had taken four years to set up a military justice system for the Afghan National Army — from drafting the law to training legal personnel — before the army could hold its first court-martial, he said. Plans to train a civilian judiciary are proceeding, but the effects will not be felt on the ground even in a year’s time, he said."

source
Gall, Carlotta. (The New York Times). U.S. Diplomat ‘Optimistic’ About Afghanistan. March 13, 2007.

posted: wednesday, march 14, 2007, 9:09 PM ET

tags: afghanistan

Iraq vs. Afghan withdrawal

"President Bush approved 8,200 more U.S. troops for Iraq and Afghanistan on top of reinforcements already ordered to those two countries, the White House said Saturday, a move that comes amid a fiery debate in Washington over the Iraq war." [1]

Why aren't people demanding that the U.S. exit Afghanistan like they are Iraq? It seems like many of the same objections would apply to both situations. Death and injury to American soldiers, imposing America's system of government on another country, the length of time, the expense. Where's the fiery debate over the Afghan war, or any debate, for that matter?

source
Baker, Peter. (The Washington Post). Additional Troop Increase Approved. March 11, 2007.

posted: tuesday, march 13, 2007, 9:14 PM ET

tags: iraq afghanistan

Afghan opium farmers & traffickers support Taliban / Afghan people support government, NATO spokeswoman says

"In its largest offensive yet, thousands of NATO troops moved Tuesday into the mountains of southern Afghanistan where hundreds of hardcore Taliban insurgents hold sway -- an operation in the world's biggest opium-producing region aimed at winning over a population long supportive of militant fighters.
. . . Helmand is the world's biggest producer of opium, and a new U.N. drug assessment indicates this year's poppy harvest could be higher than last year's record output. The U.N. says Taliban fighters protect poppy farmers and tax the crop, deriving money for their insurgency -- perhaps as much as hundreds of millions of dollars.
Aside from offering protection, the Taliban also derives its strong local support from ethnic and tribal ties.
. . . U.S. intelligence officials say Taliban fighters have flooded into Helmand over the last several months, and there are now more fighters there than anywhere else in the country." [1]

"NATO said the offensive was aimed at countering the Taliban insurgency, which has joined forces with drug traffickers to make Helmand the most lawless province in Afghanistan.
. . . 'We know there are hundreds of foreign fighters' in southern Afghanistan, Colonel Collins said. 'They are from Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.' He said hard-core Taliban, who number in the 'high hundreds,' are able to recruit young men in the districts and are supported by militias trafficking in narcotics." [2]

"Lt. Col. Angela Billings, a spokeswoman for NATO forces, said the time is right to try to break the insurgents' grip on the area.
'Afghanistan is a different place than it was nine months ago. The local population is tired of the unrest,' Billings said. 'They're definitely behind [NATO forces] and the Afghan national security forces. They believe in the government, and they want to be supportive.' " [3]

source
[1] The Associated Press. NATO Launches Offensive Against Taliban. March 6, 2007.
[2] Gall, Carlotta. (The New York Times). NATO Mounts Largest Attack on Taliban in the South. March 7, 2007.
[3] Witte, Griffe. (The Washington Post). NATO Offensive Targets Taliban In S. Afghanistan. March 7, 2007.

posted: wednesday, march 7, 2007, 8:45 PM ET
update: thursday, march 7, 2007, 12:04 AM ET

tags: afghanistan drug

Afghan people still don't support U.S.?

"The shooting [of 16 civilians] will be a setback for American forces in Afghanistan, who have been working to contain the continuing insurgent attacks, in particular roadside bombs and suicide attacks, and win the support of the people with reconstruction and development projects. Deadly riots shook Kabul last May after American troops were involved in a fatal car crash and then opened fire on the crowd."

source
Gall, Carlotta. (The New York Times). 16 Civilians Die as U.S. Troops Fire on Afghan Road. March 5, 2007.

posted: tuesday, march 6, 2007, 5:03 PM ET

tags: afghanistan

VPs Cheney and Abdul-Mahdi get bombed

"A suicide bomber blew himself up on Tuesday morning outside the gate of the United States air base near Kabul where Vice President Dick Cheney was staying, killing at least 23 people. The vice president heard the blast from a mile away.
. . . A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, and said in a telephone call to the Reuters news agency that the attack had been aimed at Mr. Cheney." [1]

"An explosion inside the Ministry of Public Works on Monday wounded an Iraqi [Shiite] vice president and the public works minister and killed at least five people, in what officials described as a possible assassination attempt.
. . . Adel Abdul-Mahdi, one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, was approaching a conference room lectern to address ministry employees at the time of the blast, which tore through walls and hurled him to the ground, witnesses said. His guards threw themselves on top of him, and he was immediately taken to an American-run hospital inside the Green Zone where witnesses said he was received in a wheelchair, covered in dust but smiling.
Statements from several offices of the Shiite-led Iraqi government later said he was released and had returned to work.
The public works minister, Reyad Ghareeb, was seriously wounded, news agencies reported. It was not clear if his wounds were life-threatening." [2]

sources
[1] Wafa, Abdul Waheed & Gall, Carlotta. (The New York Times). A Mile From Cheney, Afghan Bomber Kills at Least 23. February 28, 2007.
[2] Cave, Damien. (The New York Times). Bombing at Iraqi Ministry Wounds 2 Top Officials. February 27, 2007.

posted: thursday, march 1, 2007, 1:18 AM ET

tags: iraq afghanistan dick cheney adel abdul-mahdi

Iraq diverted U.S. from Afghanistan and al Qaeda

"Almost five and a half years ago, America — united by the shock of 9/11 — understood exactly what it needed to do. It had to find, thwart and take down the command structure of Al Qaeda, which was responsible for the deaths of 3,000 innocent people on American soil. Despite years of costly warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, America today is not significantly closer to that essential goal.
At a crucial moment, the Bush administration diverted America’s military strength, political attention and foreign aid dollars from a necessary, winnable war in Afghanistan to an unnecessary, and by now unwinnable, war in Iraq. Al Qaeda took full advantage of these blunders to survive and rebuild. Now it seems to be back in business.
. . . American intelligence and counterterrorism officials believe that Al Qaeda has rebuilt its notorious training camps, this time in Pakistan’s loosely governed tribal regions near the Afghan border. Camp graduates are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq — and may well be plotting new terrorist strikes in the West."

source
The New York Times. (Editorial). Al Qaeda Resurgent. February 25, 2007.

posted: tuesday, february 27, 2007, 10:58 AM ET

tags: iraq afghanistan al qaeda

Afghanistan will take 5-10 more years, analyst says

" 'We're talking about much more serious problems than the president discussed today,' said Anthony H. Cordesman, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In testimony to the House Foreign Relations Committee earlier in the day, Cordesman said any victory in Afghanistan will take five to 10 more years."

source
Baker, Peter & DeYoung, Karen. (The Washington Post). Bush Promises Strong Effort to Counter Resurgent Taliban. February 16, 2007.

posted: sunday, february 18, 2007, 11:59 PM ET

tag: afghanistan

U.S. helped Iran's rise by defeating Iran's enemies

"In the vacuum created by the U.S. overthrow of Iranian foes in Afghanistan and Iraq, it [Iran] is exerting a power and prestige that recalls the heady days of the 1979 Islamic revolution, when Iranian clerics led the toppling of a U.S.-backed government.
"The United States is the first to be blamed for the rise of Iranian influence in the Middle East," said Khaled al-Dakhil, a Saudi writer and academic. "There is one thing important about the ascendance of Iran here. It does not reflect a real change in Iranian capabilities, economic or political. It's more a reflection of the failures on the part of the U.S. and its Arab allies in the region."
. . . Iran has found itself strengthened almost by default, first with the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan to Iran's east, which ousted the Taliban rulers against whom it almost went to war in the 1990s, and then to its west, with the American ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, against whom it fought an eight-year war in the 1980s."

source
Shadid, Anthony. (The Washington Post). January 30, 2007. With Iran Ascendant, U.S. Is Seen at Fault.

posted: thursday, february 1, 2007, 3:01 AM ET

tags: iran iraq

Bush to request $10.6 billion for Afghanistan

"President Bush plans to ask Congress for $10.6 billion in aid for Afghanistan, primarily to beef up the country’s security forces, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.
The aid request would come before what is expected to be another spring offensive by resurgent forces linked to the Taliban, the former rulers of Afghanistan. In Washington, the Pentagon announced Thursday that it was delaying the departure of a 3,200-soldier combat brigade from Afghanistan for as long as three months, increasing the American force level there to around 24,000. An additional 20,000 soldiers from other NATO countries are also deployed there.
The aid request would include $8.6 billion for training and equipping Afghan security forces and would go toward increasing the size of Afghanistan’s national army by 70,000 and its local police forces by 82,000, said a senior American official familiar with the issue.
An additional $2 billion would go to reconstruction projects like building roads, laying down electric power lines, development in rural areas, and counternarcotics efforts, administration officials said. The officials said that they planned to use some of the money to help Afghanistan and Pakistan battle the Taliban and other insurgents along the Afghan-Pakistan border."

source
The New York Times. Bush to Seek More Aid for Afghanistan as Taliban Regroups. January 26, 2007.

posted: sunday, january 28, 2007, 7:12 PM ET

tags: afghanistan bush

Gates open to Afghanistan troop increase

"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that American and NATO military commanders in Afghanistan, worried about a resurgent Taliban insurgency, had asked for additional troops and that he was sympathetic to the request.
Speaking to reporters after a two-day visit to Afghanistan . . . Mr. Gates said commanders had 'indicated what they could do with different force levels,' but he would not divulge the size of the increases under consideration. A senior Defense official said late Tuesday that the commanders were seeking fewer than 3,500 more American troops as well as about 1,000 more troops from NATO allies.
. . . The appeal follows the Bush administration’s announcement last week that it was sending more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, where the United States already has about 132,000 troops.
. . . 'There’s no reason to sit back and let the Taliban regroup,' Mr. Gates said. 'I think it’s very important that we not let this success in Afghanistan slip away from us.'

source
The New York Times. Gates Backs Generals’ Afghan Distress Call. January 18, 2007.

posted: thursday, january 18, 2007, 4:12 AM ET

tags: afghanistan gates