"NATO, US look to Afghan jirga to boost unity; But security concerns rise over Iran’s role" by Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times | May 31, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Western leaders are banking on a national peace council set to begin here Wednesday to start a new chapter in Afghanistan’s political life, bringing the country together and strengthening President Hamid Karzai, even as security deteriorated yesterday in several areas of the country.
I'm tired of the insulting, cover story crap, readers, I really am.
In a joint news conference, the NATO commander, General Stanley A. McChrystal, and the senior civilian representative, Mark Sedwill, emphasized that the West supports the peace council, called a jirga, even as many Afghans question whether those attending will truly represent the many factions in the country.
“This is a big week for Afghanistan,’’ said Sedwill, who described the conference as “the first of a series of major political events that are going to set the agenda of 2010.’’
So their arrogant selves think.
The jirga will be followed by the Kabul Conference on economic development in July and parliamentary elections in September....
The best laid plans of mice and men....
Even as the peace efforts proceed in the capital, Kabul, security appears to be deteriorating in districts in the east and south of the country and on the western border, where Afghan insurgents trained in Iran are returning to fight and smuggling in weapons, General McChrystal said.
Related: Everything is Iran's Fault
A useful tactic when you want to attack someone.
“There is clear evidence of Iranian activities, in some cases supplying weaponry and training to the Taliban that is inappropriate,’’ McChrystal said. He did not say how many Taliban are involved or who is providing the support.
Translation:
Yeah, I thought I smelled something.
In Nuristan, on the country’s eastern border, hundreds of local and Pakistani Taliban have taken control of a remote district near the Pakistan border, Barg-e-Matal. The number of fighters who have crossed the border from Pakistan swelled through the week and now has reached between 1,000 and 1,500, said General Zaman Mamozai, the commander of the Afghan Border Police for eastern Afghanistan.
They are “mostly from Pakistan and are conducting collective attacks,’’ he said.
And Obomber is calling this progress?
It appears that many of the Taliban had come to Nuristan in search of a new haven after having come under attack from the Pakistani Army. There are few Afghan security forces in Nuristan’s rugged mountains and only a small number of American troops in the province.
NATO leaders say that they cannot control the entire country with the number of troops they have and must rely on Afghan forces in remote areas. But because not enough Afghans have been trained, NATO officials say they may have to live with some insurgent havens....
“The Taliban can still muster strength in places and there are a lot of unknowns there,’’ added a senior NATO officer, speaking about Nuristan on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record on the matter.
“If there are Taliban there, so what?’’ he said, adding that the district is far from any population center....I agree.
They just happen to LIVE THERE, you know?
--more--"
I'm not very hopeful about peace because we have herd and seen this talk for years with nothing coming of it.
"Taliban threaten delegates at peace conference; Afghan leaders will focus on reconciliation" by Kathy Gannon, Associated Press | June 2, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban dismissed this week’s national peace conference in Afghanistan yesterday before it had begun, threatening death to the 1,600 delegates in cassette messages distributed by the insurgent leadership.
At the three-day meeting, which begins today in a giant tent at Kabul Polytechnic University, participants will discuss how to reconcile with the fighters — even as the United States rushes in more troops to ramp up the nearly nine-year war.
But not an offensive!
But the meeting could open fissures in a society deeply divided after decades of conflict.
President Hamid Karzai will use the conference, known as a “peace jirga,’’ to seek endorsement of his plan to offer economic incentives to Taliban and other insurgent fighters willing to leave the battlefield.
On the eve of the conference, the Taliban said in a statement to news organizations that the jirga does not represent the Afghan people and was aimed at “securing the interest of foreigners.’’
It said the participants “are on the payroll of the invaders and work for their interests.’’
It is SAD when it is the "enemy" that tells the truth in your newspaper.
To reinforce the message, a recording was circulated last week by courier within the Taliban’s underground government, in which the chairman of the Taliban council, Mullah Abdul Ghani, warned that “the punishment for participating in the jirga is death.’’
Information about the cassette was provided by a Taliban member whose information has proven reliable over many years.
Another major insurgent group led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Hizb-i-Islami, called the conference “a useless exercise’’ because “only hand-picked people’’ were invited....
Related: CIA's Ace-in-the-Hole in Afghanistan
I told you the CIA would sabotage it.
“This is a positive first step because everybody realizes war is not the solution. We have to have a political solution,’’ said Hamid Gailani, a prominent lawmaker from southern Afghanistan. “If there is no sound understanding and cooperation between the Afghan government and the coalition forces, then God save us all.’’
Then WHY are we having TONS of IT!!!???
Some members of Afghanistan’s ethnic minorities also fear Karzai might be too eager to sell out their interests in hopes of cutting a deal with the Taliban, who, like him, are Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group.
Hey, ANYTHING that will STOP the KILLING!!!!
About 20 percent of the delegates will be women, a group that also suffered under Taliban rule.
Of course, being annihilated by US missiles and having their homes turned to rubble is much better treatment.
Malalai Joya, who was expelled from Parliament after a blistering verbal attack on warlords who dominate Afghanistan’s Legislature, said she feared the jirga would lead to an eventual unity between warlords and Taliban.
“They insult us with this word ‘peace,’ ’’ she said. “They want only to make unity with these bloody criminal warlords and with the Taliban and the terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.’’
And they are ALL OURS, AmeriKa!!!!!!!!!
Although Taliban members will not attend, some delegates played key roles in the Islamist movement and doubtless maintain contacts with the militants.
Like Karzai's brother?
They include Naeem Kuchi, a former Taliban commander who spent more than two years in US custody at Guantanamo Bay.
Then he was TORTURED!!
Kuchi was among the Taliban commanders who led a massacre of ethnic Hazaras in Bamiyan Province, site of the ancient statues of Buddha that were destroyed during Taliban rule.
Yeah, my college instructor said it was because the U.N. wanted to spend millions restoring the Buddha as Afghans starved -- something the MSM never tells you.
It is just icky bad Taliban in the lying, agenda-pushing, war-promoting paper.
Another prominent former Taliban delegate is Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi, a former Taliban corps commander for eastern Afghanistan. He expressed disappointment that the insurgents would not attend.
“Our country is sick. This jirga is a kind of prescription but I fear this prescription can’t fix our country,’’ Rocketi said.
I know a couple others that are, too.
Now that everyone is together the CIA can send a message:
"Meeting on truce with Taliban is halted by attacks; Jirga’s disruption stirs questions on likelihood of peace" by Ernesto Londono, Washington Post | June 3, 2010
Remember, readers, the Washington Post is the CIA 's newspaper.
Yup, straight from the horse's mou..., well, try the other end.
KABUL, Afghanistan — A meeting of Afghan officials hoping to forge a plan to negotiate a truce with the Taliban got off to an ominous start yesterday, as militants launched a spate of attacks and engaged in a lengthy gun battle with security forces nearby.
The outbreak of violence during the first day of the meeting, known as a peace jirga, raised fresh questions about the Afghan government’s ability to reach a truce with the Taliban and other armed groups.
And CUI BONO?
Who thinks we must win on the battlefield first?
The Taliban claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attacks and had previously denounced the three-day session as a ploy by foreign occupiers....
So the lying MSM tells us.
President Hamid Karzai extended an olive branch to the Taliban.
“They are not the enemy,’’ Karzai said. “They are the sons of this land.’’
THAT'S RIGHT!
******
Karzai, seemingly unfazed by the first blast, urged the 1,500 or so in attendance to remain seated in the large white tent where the meeting was taking place. As his speech was ending, a gunfight broke out nearby.
Did he know something?
Karzai and the foreign dignitaries at the event, including US Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and General Stanley McCrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, were quickly whisked away in a long convoy of sport utility vehicles.
Hmmmmm!!!
Related: AmeriKa's Family Feud in Afghanistan
Yeah, right.
Afghan officials later said three would-be suicide bombers wearing burqas — the enveloping head-to-toe garment worn by some women in Afghanistan — had taken positions in a building near the gathering.
Uh-huh.
A few minutes after Karzai’s speech, a mortar landed a few yards away from the tent.
Two of the suicide bombers, who were wearing burqas, were fatally shot and a third was taken into custody, said Waheed Omer, a spokesman for Karzai. They did not detonate their explosives....
PFFFFFFTTT!!!
The timing of the gathering, which was originally scheduled for April, coincides with stepped-up military operations in Kandahar, a southern province that the Taliban view as their spiritual heartland.
Critics, including many members of Parliament who boycotted the jirga, have described the process as a political gambit by Karzai to create the appearance of a national consensus for a preconceived plan.
The government wants to get the Taliban to renounce violence, agree to abide by the constitution, and join the political process.
The Taliban, however, see Karzai’s government as an extension of a foreign occupying force.
Safia Seddiqi, a member of Parliament from Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, said the jirga will probably be a failure.
“While we have violence at the national gathering, it’s very difficult to talk about reconciliation,’’ she said. “It means they are not ready to talk.’’
Fauzia Kofi, a lawmaker from Badakhshan, in northeastern Afghanistan, said most members of Parliament decided not to attend because they see the gathering as a political stunt.
That explains the relentless MSM attention.
She said the government is engaged in a battle with extremists who are unwilling to negotiate.
“That war needs to be won,’’ said Kofi, who was among the parliamentarians who decided not to attend the jirga.
But Staffan de Mistura, the top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan, said the gathering could be the first step in a long and difficult process to reach an armistice.
“There is sufficient will by everyone to understand that this cannot be won militarily by anyone,’’ de Mistura said.
“It’s going to be hard, tense, and slow.’’--more--"
More: Taliban talks plan could get OK
Well?
"Afghan jirga backs talks with Taliban; Meeting ends without clear strategic vision" by Ernesto Londono, Washington Post | June 5, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — The government-appointed delegates to the conference, known as a peace jirga, urged Karzai to push for the removal of certain insurgent leaders from a UN sanctions list, the release of some detainees in American custody, and for the US-led international force to do more to avoid civilian casualties.
But some of the event’s organizers acknowledged that a truce with the Taliban remains elusive and that the jirga was just the beginning of what is likely to be a long, challenging process. The Taliban, which sees the Karzai government as the byproduct of a foreign invasion, assailed the gathering and launched an attack near the site on the opening day of the three-day conference....
And then they stopped?
Message received and point made, right?
Many Afghans, including some delegates, criticized the meeting as fruitless....
Unlike past jirgas, which have served as debate forums for dueling sides, there were few signs of dissent or radical viewpoints. No active Taliban leaders participated....
US officials had worried that the gathering could become a forum for airing grievances against foreign troops. In the end, though, Karzai and the delegates were circumspect in their criticism of foreign military operations. Karzai said his country would need robust foreign military support for some time to come.
Translation: the war and occupation will never end.
Stepped-up US-led military efforts in Kandahar created an awkward backdrop for the reconciliation talks.
That's an understatement.
As the conference was wrapping up, the NATO command in Afghanistan announced that the top Taliban leader in Kandahar city was killed in a military operation last week. In a statement, the military said that Mullah Zergay was gunned down when coalition troops came under fire as they approached his hideout.
Translation: NATO forces (or whoever) executed him.
Time to CLEAN HOUSE, 'eh, Karzai?
"Afghan security chiefs forced to resign over attack; Both officials considered close to US" by Ernesto Londoño, Washington Post | June 7, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s intelligence chief and interior minister resigned yesterday, taking responsibility for failing to prevent an attack on a government conference held in Kabul last week....
Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and Amrullah Saleh, general director for national security, were considered close to the United States, and had earned a reputation for being reformists in a government widely regarded as ineffectual. Saleh has a close relationship with the CIA that dates to Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s.
Why else would he dump 'em?
The resignations occurred at a delicate time. Amid a spike in violence....
Related:
"little new fighting"
I.... sigh, readers.
Can't believe a word they say.
President Hamid Karzai’s government, meanwhile, is attempting to lay the groundwork for an armistice with the Taliban and other armed groups....
Every now and then this talk gets bandied about and we never have it so excuse me, readers....
The Taliban took responsibility for the rocket attacks and gunfight that unfolded Tuesday....
Okay, so says my lying, war-promoting Zionist MSM.
Even if you take it at face value it means we are losing and they are lying.
Karzai said he appointed Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal as interim minister and Ibrahim Spinzada, an engineer, as the new spy chief.
Saleh was a senior figure in the Northern Alliance that helped the United States oust the Taliban regime in 2001.
Oh, the WARLORDS who were WORSE than the Taliban?
That is ONE REASON the TALIBAN TOOK POWER!
Here is ANOTHER:
"The U.S. government was well aware of the Taliban's reactionary program, yet it chose to back their rise to power in the mid-1990s. The creation of the Taliban was "actively encouraged by the ISI and the CIA," according to Selig Harrison, an expert on U.S. relations with Asia. "The United States encouraged Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to support the Taliban, certainly right up to their advance on Kabul," adds respected journalist Ahmed Rashid. When the Taliban took power, State Department spokesperson Glyn Davies said that he saw "nothing objectionable" in the Taliban's plans to impose strict Islamic law, and Senator Hank Brown, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia, welcomed the new regime: "The good part of what has happened is that one of the factions at last seems capable of developing a new government in Afghanistan." "The Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis. There will be Aramco [the consortium of oil companies that controlled Saudi oil], pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that," said another U.S. diplomat in 1997."
Ain't that a kick in the head?
Want another one?
See WHAT OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FOR IN AFGHANISTAN
Not to "protect" us from "terrorists," that's for sure!!!
Atmar had served in Afghanistan’s Communist-era intelligence agency.
Couldn't trust him, either!
“They appear to be forced resignations and reflect significant worries of Karzai’s administration over the loyalty of those leading key security agencies in the country,’’ said Candace Rondeaux, senior analyst on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group think tank.
General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement that he respected the Afghan president’s authority to make this “difficult decision.’’
The shakeup in security chiefs follows Karzai’s visit to Washington in May, which had eased strains in the bilateral relationship. US officials say the Afghan delegation had impressed them with their preparations for the visit, which was viewed as a boost to Karzai after a turbulent year marred by prolonged controversy over his reelection in a fraud-marred poll in August.
Related: Why Obama Went to Afghanistan
Say what you want about the U.S. criminal Karazai, but he knows how to play the "game."
Saleh had served as intelligence chief since 2004 and had a longstanding relationship with the CIA in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda....
Any wonder he was sacked?
"12 troops killed in Afghan attacks; 7 Americans swell the toll, highest of year" by Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press | June 8, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Karzai’s decision Sunday to replace two of the country’s top security officials fueled speculation about divisions within the Afghan leadership over reaching out to the Taliban.
The government said the two officials were replaced because of an armed attack on the peace jirga, which caused no casualties among the delegates but embarrassed the Karzai administration.
Both officials had a long background of opposition to the Taliban. Intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh was a senior figure in the former Northern Alliance, which helped the United States oust the Taliban regime in 2001. Interior Minister Hanif Atmar fought mujahedeen opposed to the Soviet occupation.
Did you SEE what they LEFT OUT, dear readers?
Let's give them one more chance.
"Ex-Afghan spy chief argues against talking to Taliban" by Matthew Pennington, Associated Press | June 10, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — The nation’s ousted intelligence chief said yesterday that President Hamid Karzai is pursuing a dangerous strategy in seeking peace with the Taliban because the insurgents are giving nothing in return.
Hey, what do you know, the Taliban behave just the way Israel does!!!
Amrullah Saleh, speaking at his heavily secured Kabul home, said he did not want “a small terrorist group to dominate the political scene in Afghanistan.’’
Hey, Zionists own the AmeriKan government and no one is worried.
“I am in favor of peace, but I am against bowing to the Taliban,’’ he said.
Might lose his head.
He also expressed concern over the Afghan leader’s plan to free militant prisoners without prior screening by the National Directorate of Security that he led for six years, acting as the key partner of the CIA.
And THAT thus strips him of ALL CREDIBILITY!
He is a CIA ASSET that must have been plotting against Karzai!
See: Afghanistan, Karzai torpedoes 'Americans'
Saleh and Interior Minister Hanif Atmar — who was in charge of police — resigned Sunday....
Both men were highly regarded by Western officials.
Saleh’s comments reflect deep unease among former figures in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, who have long been allied to Karzai but oppose his efforts to negotiate with Taliban leaders. The Taliban have demanded that NATO and US forces withdraw before any talks.
Nearly nine years after the Northern Alliance, backed by the United States, forced the Taliban regime from power, the Islamist movement has bounced back.....
And now they have a friend in Krazy Karzai.
Better watch your back, Hamid.
