The UN Security Council extended the NATO mission in Afghanistan for one year. The resolution was adopted with a record vote of 14 in favor and none against. The one vote did not poll as the Russian Federation abstained from voting. The Security Council also asked the member states to contribute personnel, equipment and funding to strengthen the force and makeit more effective. It also stressed the need for improvement of the Afghan security services to find a long-term solution to the security problem in Afghanistan. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
Closer cooperation between coalition troopsand Afghan security forces is helping stem violence that’s been on the rise ineastern Afghanistan, Army Col. Jonathan Ives, commander of Task ForceCincinnatus, told Pentagon reporters on 2 October. But he also attributed manyinroads being made to the Afghan people themselves. As they develop moreconfidence in their national security forces and in the coalition’s commitmentto their region, they’re becoming partners in stabilizing the region, he said.Ives cited Operation Naruz Hallah, a mission planned and led by the AfghanNational Army to focus on threats that had been escalating in the isolatedKapisa province. His own task force, with includes about 1,000 troops from theUnited States, New Zealand, South Korea and Turkey operating in RegionalCommand East under Combined Joint Task Force 82, had been working up a plan toaddress the threat when the Afghans approached them with their own plan inJuly. (American Forces Press Service)
Coalition teams working to rebuildcommunities in Iraq and Afghanistan have a new resource. The ProvincialReconstruction Team Playbook, a first-of-its-kind guide, has just beenpublished by the Army’s Center for Lessons Learned, at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Two of the center’s top leaders spoke about the document during a conference call on24 September with online journalists and “bloggers.†The playbook offersinformation such as the concept, intent and principles of PRTs. It also delvesinto specific and unique challenges faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. (American Forces Press Service )
Coalition and Afghan forces teamed up to killabout 40 Taliban extremists and capture three others during two separateoperations in Afghanistan’s Helmand and Ghazni provinces on 21 September,officials said. The combined force used precision munitions to kill many of the40 Taliban fighters who died during the operation in Helmand province,officials said. (American Forces Press Service )
Several suspected militants were killed andfour others were detained on 22 September during an operation by Afghan andcoalition forces in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. The combined forcessuspected the compounds, located in the Gairo district, were providingsanctuary to anti-coalition militants. AK-47 rifles, hand grenades androcket-propelled grenades were found during a search of the site. (BlackanthemMilitary News, American Forces Press Service)
Afghan and coalition forces detained twosuspected militants in Afghanistan’s Paktika province, and Afghan NationalPolice detained an improvised explosive device maker in Nangarhar province on30 September. (American Forces Press Service)
Canadian troops in Afghanistan have a newweapon against deadly roadside bombs. Military officials unveiled the first oftheir new RSD Husky armored vehicles. The South African-built Huskies areequipped with sophisticated metal and electronic detectors that scan roads andditches for improvised explosive devices, roadside bombs and landmines. (PakTribune)
The recent speedy landing and launch of oneof the world’s largest aircraft promises to bring “tremendous†capability forthe movement of critical cargo across the region, according to 455th AirExpeditionary Wing officials at Bagram Air base. An Air Force C-5 Galaxytransport landed at Bagram Air base on Sept. 22 without interrupting wingflying operations, a first for Bagram, according to Col. Jon Sutterfield,commander of the 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Group. (American Forces PressService)
President Bush and Afghan President HamidKarzai agreed on 27 September on the need to work jointly to fight narcoticstraffic, terrorism and a resurgent Taliban, and on the need for theinternational community to help Afghanistan use its natural resources to meetits electricity needs, a White House official said. The two, in New York for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, met for about 30 minutes.Bush used the session for an update on conditions in Afghanistan six yearsafter the U.S.-led invasion and for a public display of renewed support forKarzai who took office on the heels of the Taliban’s defeat. (Pak Tribune)
The US army in Afghanistan has offeredrewards of up to $200,000 for information leading to the capture of 12 Talebanand al-Qaeda leaders. Posters and advertising hoardings have been put up aroundeastern Afghanistan with the names and pictures of the 12. Rewards for thefugitives range from $20,000 to $200,000. The army says that none of those onthe wanted list are internationally recognised names, but all are responsiblefor road or suicide bombs. A US military spokesman told the BBC that 300,000posters have been sent out and nearly 200 billboards made, for posting in seveneastern Afghan provinces where a US-led coalition is most actively trying tohunt down insurgents. (Pak Tribune)
President Bush will ask Congress for another$42 billion to fund operations in the war on terror in fiscal 2008, DefenseSecretary Robert M. Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee on 26September. Gates; Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte; Marine Gen.Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Defense DepartmentComptroller Tina W. Jonas testified before the committee. The request bringsthe total supplement for fiscal 2008 to $190 billion, Gates said priority willbe preparing our NATO forces and the U.S. joint team to defeat future enemies.â€Â(American Forces Press Service)
The security and well-being of thetrans-Atlantic community depend on successfully stabilizing Afghanistan so that it will not be a source of narcotics or a haven for terrorists, U.S. and European officials say. The United States and its European allies have contributed$26.8 billion to Afghanistan since 2001, enabling the country to make largestrides in providing better lives for its people. In health care, more than 80percent of the population now has access to medical facilities, compared with 9percent in 2004. More than 4,000 medical facilities have opened during the pastthree years and more than 600 midwives have been trained and sent to everyprovince. In terms of infrastructure, more than 4,000 kilometers of roads havebeen completed and construction has started for 20,000 new homes for Afghansreturning to Kabul. (U.S. Dept Of State)
NATO was making progress on reconstructionprojects in Afghanistan and in securing the main ring highway linking Kabul with the rest of the country, Brig. Gen. Pavel Macko said on 4 October. NATO troopsin the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, had succeeded inlowering the number of Taliban militant raids on the nation’s large ring road â€â€the country’s main economic lifeline, he said. He said securing the highway hadallowed the Afghan government to assess national infrastructure and determinewhich reconstruction projects were needed in areas that previously were hard toreach due to threats from insurgents.The highway also has been used by opiumtraders to move their illicit crops from fields to selling points. The generalsaid could not assess NATO’s entire plan for the year, as some efforts werestill ongoing. Offensive operations would continue despite the coming winter,he said. This week, NATO forces launched a new operation  Operation Pamir â€â€meant to keep pressure on the insurgents through the winter, when Talibanmilitants traditionally retreat to higher ground to regroup. (InternationalHerald Tribune)
WHAT’S GOING RIGHT • British and US forces committed to Afghanistan for the long haul. • Millions of exiles have returned. • Osama bin Laden andthe Taleban are supported by no more than 10 per cent of the population. • NATOtroops are winning when battle is joined, making progress in eliminating theTaleban’s battlefield leadership. • Improved infrastructure is helping theAfghan economy to recover and is also making it easier for NATO to confineTaleban insurgents to the mountains. • Hamid Karzai’s government is relativelystable, although concerns remain about the past of some politicians and linksto the drugs trade. • As losses mount for the militants, talks between MrKarzai and the Taleban become more likely.
ISAF’s Turkish Battle Group and Civil-MilitaryCooperation teams have delivered humanitarian provisions packages for 500Afghan families in Khud Hill. The Turkish Task Force organized the humanitarianaid project. Turkish soldiers, ISAF Post Operations Humanitarian Relief Fundand the Turkish CIMIC contributed to the project. The provision boxes containedthe basic food staples such as flour, sugar, vegetable oil, tea, macaroni,dates, rice, beans and other basic needs. (NATO)
The German government has agreed to extendthe country’s military mission in Afghanistan, news reports said. The 3,000German troops currently serving as part the NATO-led International SecurityAssistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan will stay for another year, the GermanNews Agency (DPA) reported. The government also agreed to extend the deploymentof six Tornado reconnaissance jets in Afghanistan to help fight Talibanmilitants. (Pak Tribune)
Canada will decide by April whether or not toextend its mission in Afghanistan where 70 of its troops have died battling theTaliban, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said, cited by AFP .He said the decisionwould be made by the time of the NATO summit in Romania in April. (Pak Tribune)
As Afghanistan continues to grapple with anongoing insurgency, weak governance and a growing narcotics industry,Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has cited an effective plan to ensure security asthe war-torn nation’s most pressing need. "The most urgent priority mustbe an effective, integrated civilian-military strategy and security plan for Afghanistan," Mr. Ban wrote in his latest report on the situation in the country andits implications for peace and security. "A coordinated military responseis still needed to defeat insurgent and terrorist groups, but success in themedium term requires the engagement of communities and the provision of lastingsecurity in which development can take place," he added. TheSecretary-General stated that a key to sustaining security gains in the longterm is increasing the capability, autonomy and integrity of the Afghan NationalSecurity Forces, especially the Afghan National Police. (UN News Service)
Members of the 205th Afghan National ArmyCorps advised by coalition forces killed more than 100 insurgents during combatin Afghanistan’s Helmand province on 26th September. The combined force waspatrolling near Regay village to clear the area of extremist Taliban fighters.Several dozen insurgents attacked the convoy from an extensive trench systemand several compounds with small arms, machine guns, mortars androcket-propelled grenades. (American Forces Press Service)
Gen. Muhammad Salem Ihsas took charge as Kabul police chief, on 23 September, replacing Gen. Asmatullah Daulatzai. Gen. Daulatzai has been appointed as administrative head of the Interior Ministry, paving the ground for the former Parwan police head to succeed him. In an exclusive chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, Interior Ministry spokesman Zmaray Bashary said the change was aimed at improving the security situation in the capital. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
Afghanistan’s Government and its people are open to negotiations with the Taliban in the interests of ending the fighting there, a top United Nations envoy said. Speaking to reporters in New York, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Tom Koenigs, pointed to the activities across Afghanistan in observance of the Day as evidence of a deep-seated desire for lasting security. (Pak Tribune)
Afghan health officials said they had brokered a deal with Taliban leaders to allow the immunization of children in rebel-held areas in a rare sign of co-operation between the warring sides. The deal was made as part of a programme by Unicef to vaccinate more than a million Afghan children against polio after a recent outbreak of the debilitating viral infection that has been eliminated from all but four countries in the world. (Pak Tribune)
The main spokesman for the extremist Taliban movement, Yousuf Ahmadi, has been arrested in southern Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said on 27 September. Ahmadi was arrested with his brother yesterday in volatile Helmand province, where the Taliban are in control of several districts, the ministry said in a statement. (Pak Tribune)
While the Taliban and the Afghan administration of President Hamid Karzai play political football with the idea of peace talks, the stumbling block remains al-Qaeda, which is firmly opposed to any dialogue unless it can gain something for itself states an Asia Times commentary. The al-Qaeda is certainly looking for some kind of "amnesty" for itself. Until this happens, the Taliban’s commanders in southwestern Afghanistan might win some breathing space, but there can be no guarantee of any lasting political settlement in the region. (AP, Asia Times)
Saighan district of Bamyan province will be announced as a Peace District, as 70 different sorts of weapons plus ammunitions were planned on being surrendered by 13 commanders on 19 September in Saighan centre. On the 21st September, ANBP team participated in the of celebration Peace Day along with Bamyan Provincial Governor, all governmental departments, New Zealand PRT, UN agencies of Central Highlands. (ANBP)
Across Afghanistan, thousands of people rallied behind the country’s biggest-ever peace effort, on 21 September, even as fighting continued in the south. From Kandahar to Kunduz, from Herat to Jalalabad, peace events were taking place, and on a scale never seen before in Afghanistan. In the capital, Kabul, some 1500 people gathered at one of the city’s best known schools. President Hamid Karzai released a Peace Day statement via national radio. In the eastern city of Jalalabad at least 500 people joined a peace march, a day after thousands poured through the streets of the western city of Herat in what media reports described as one of the biggest rallies Afghanistan has ever seen. In the Central Highlands around 200 people took part in a clean up campaign for peace in Band-e-Amir national park Enthusiastic celebrations took place in Kandahar and Zabul provinces on 20 September and doves and balloons were released into the air. (UNAMA)
Security has improved in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in the past year, the provincial governor said on 20 September, but it will be a long time before Taliban insurgents are completely defeated in their former capital. Taliban rebels no longer mount large offensives and try to avoid head on clashes with the mostly Canadian NATO forces in the Kandahar region, but in the last year have instead turned to asymmetric warfare — suicide attacks and roadside bombs. While the threat that Taliban rebels might retake Kandahar and other major towns in the south has subsided, the number of security incidents in the region has roughly doubled in the past year. (Reuters)
Four staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were released on 29 September after being seized by an armed group in Wardak Province, south-west of Kabul on 26 September. Two of the staff members involved are from Afghanistan, one is from Myanmar and the other from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. (ICRC)
The international community, led by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 23 September, reposed confidence in the leadership of President Hamid Karzai and assured full support to his government. Convened at the personal initiative of UN chief, it was for the first time that such a high-level meeting discussed threadbare issues related to Afghanistan. The meeting was co-chaired by Ban Ki-Moon and Karzai. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on world leaders to provide more help in strengthening his country’s military and police forces to battle resurgent Taliban militants. While Karzai praised the U.S. for helping Afghanistan build its security forces to their present capabilities, he also urged international forces to avoid the unintentional killings of civilians. (Pak Tribune)
Afghan Ambassador to US Said T. Jawed has hailed as a success the just-concluded visit of President Hamid Karzai. During the trip, not only did the president address the UN General Assembly and co-chair a high-level UN meeting on Afghanistan but also held crucial discussions with a number of world leaders. His (Karzais) participation as a panelist in the Clinton Global Initiative (meeting) in the presence of more than 40 (present and past) heads of state only reflected his standing in the world community, Jawed told Pajhwok Afghan News in an interview. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
President Hamid Karzai has rejected a draft law that envisages a commission for monitoring and overseeing implementation of the Constitution. The president sent it back to the Wolesi Jirga with certain reservations. Both Houses of Parliament have already accorded approval to the proposed law that has five chapters and 20 articles. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
Reiterating its stance for lasting peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan on 2 October said a stable and peaceful Afghanistan was in the interest of that country. "No country stands to gain as much as Pakistan from peace and stability in Afghanistan," said Riaz Mohammad Khan, head of the Pakistani delegation to the United Nations while addressing the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly here. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO) and Afghanistans Ministry of Commerce and Industries signed an industrial memorandum in Mashhad, southeastern Iran, MNA reported. The sides inked the memo to boost bilateral industrial and economic ties by developing industrial parks. Based on the agreement, ISIPO is obliged to cooperate with the Afghan ministry on construction of three industrial parks in Afghanistan. (Pak Tribune)
Key countries involved in Afghanistan urged the United Nations on 23 September to expand its role there…. An 18-nation meeting at U.N. headquarters also pressed Afghan President Hamid Karzai, heading Kabul’s delegation, to promote national reconciliation through an "inclusive political dialogue" with the country’s turbulent factions. (Reuters Foundation)
Germany has promised to increase its annual assistance for Afghanistan to 125 million euros next year. Addressing a news conference here on 2 October, German ambassador to Kabul Hans Ulrich Seidt said the assistance was 100 million euros a year earlier. However, it will be increased by 25 million next year. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
In the famed Panjshir Valley — a remote, sparsely populated mountain region that is almost entirely ethnic Tajik — an unprecedented synergy among the local government, the people and U.S. soldiers has helped spark a development boom that is modernizing and transforming the valley, which became Afghanistan’s 34th province three years ago. Ambassadors, politicians, NATO and U.S. military officials "all ask the same thing: ‘Can we do this in other provinces?’ " said Panjshir Gov. Bahlol Bahij. He extols his zero tolerance for opium poppy cultivation and his systems for working with the U.S. military and foreign aid workers and for stopping the spread of the extremist Taliban into his province. But many aspects of Panjshir make it unique. Panjshir province is almost entirely Tajik and Sunni Muslim, so the region lacks many of the ethnic, religious and cultural differences that have fueled the insurgency elsewhere in Afghanistan. The province, about 1 1/2 times the size of Rhode Island, has 300,000 residents and is isolated. (Pak Tribune)
On 20 September, the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), and the FAO Representative in Afghanistan are signed two project documents on seed and fertilizer distribution and on plant protection. The first project, funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation, aims at distributing 200 tonnes of quality declared seed, with equivalent fertilizers, to 4 000 flood affected families. The project of US$500,000 is part of a bigger campaign that aims at helping the disaster-affected vulnerable farmers resuming their activities, as well as to allow the returnees to have means to restart activities in the areas of return. (FAO)
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced a US$1.1 million purchase of 4,000 metric tons of locally grown wheat in Hirat, Afghanistan, as a way of overcoming continuing security problems hampering food deliveries, while at the same time supporting poor Afghan farmers. (WFP)
A sub-agreement has been signed between the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) to provide safe drinking water for Afghan returnees from Pakistan, Iran as well as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The focus is mainly in areas of high return. (UNHCR)
Construction work on 47 schools, costing about five million dollars, began in the southeastern Khost province on 1 October. Aziz Ahmad Hashmi, director education department, told Pajhwok Afghan News the schools would be built in Alisher and Tani districts at the cost of $4.7 million by the end of the current year. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
The Minister of International Cooperation, joined the Afghanistan Minister of Education to announce that Canada’s New Government is taking a leadership role to increase the access to and quality of education in Afghanistan, by providing a significant investment to Afghanistan’s largest education program, the Education Quality Improvement Project (EQUIP). (Canadian International Development Agency - CIDA)
A historical Buddhist-era site has been discovered east of Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of the northern Balkh province, an official said. Information and Culture Ministry officials in Kabul, informed of the discovery, sent a team of experts to the area. (Pak Tribune)
In the relatively liberal northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a local television station has started to show a different image of Afghan women with an extremely low-budget take on the hit "America’s Next Top Model", a reality TV show in which judges choose prospective models from a group of contestants over several weeks. More than 10 other models due to take part in the programme failed to turn up after hearing that members of the international press would be present, fearing the wider broadcast of the show could lead to trouble for them, their friends said. But on the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif, it was hard to find anyone who objected to the programme, especially among the young. (Pak Tribune)
The United States is working build opportunities, specially for women, in Afghanistan, a senior Bush administration official has said. Karen Hughes, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs told Pajhwok Afghan News the Bush administration was working to rebuild economic, health and educational opportunities for girls and women in Afghanistan. Hughes, who has personally been to Afghanistan a number of times, said the country had done remarkable progress over the previous few years, but a lot was yet to be achieved. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Afghan health authorities announced a joint three-day anti-polio campaign in the southern and some eastern areas of the country. The program was due to begin on September 19 and would be linked to Peace Day in Afghanistan on September 21, the three parties said in a statement. Many districts in the southern region have been missed during the polio campaigns this year due to insecurity, attacks and other violence,’ the statement said. (Pak Tribune)
The Accountability and Transparency project, which will be implemented jointly by the Finance Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme, was formally inaugurated by Finance Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady and UNDP County Director in Afghanistan Anita Nirody. The main goal of the ACT project is to support the government, in view of achieving the Compact benchmarks and developing a broader anti-corruption strategy within the ANDS, in preparing the groundwork for strategic anti-corruption policies and programmes by testing pilots in key public institutions, providing an integrity monitoring system including the necessary diagnostics and surveys, and by raising awareness and educating the public at large, as well as the civil service. (Pajhwok Afghan News)
- You do realize that, aside from having to post all the hundreds of positive Iraq news stories to have a hope in hell of keeping up with the enemy supporting mediots, any Lefturd who wanders by and absent mindedly actually reads this stuff will be stoned out of the commune and lose his/her hammer and scickle pin don’t you? Course you wouldn’t do that intetionally. Heh.
TW: an hanging …Not nearly good enough for the MSM….
Comment by Big Bang Hunter on 10/14 @ 9:35 pm #
- You do realize that, aside from having to post all the hundreds of positive Iraq news stories to have a hope in hell of keeping up with the enemy supporting mediots, any Lefturd who wanders by and absent mindedly actually reads this stuff will be stoned out of the commune and lose his/her hammer and scickle pin don’t you? Course you wouldn’t do that intetionally. Heh.
TW: an hanging …Not nearly good enough for the MSM….
Comment by RTO Trainer on 10/14 @ 10:23 pm #
(Looks around)
Who? Me?
Comment by JD on 10/15 @ 3:38 am #
Liar ! Lies, lies, and damn lies.
Comment by drjohn on 10/15 @ 12:51 pm #
Sorry- RTO
Comment by drjohn on 10/15 @ 12:53 pm #
I was so caught up in this that I posted the apology in the wrong thread.
Nice work, RTO.
Comment by Diana on 10/15 @ 4:29 pm #
Thanks, RTO. It’s a magnificent roundup.
Comment by Pablo on 10/15 @ 10:01 pm #
Well, this is the good war. And I’ll just ignore that other post.
Comment by gail on 10/17 @ 8:49 pm #
Great job, RTO!!
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