"Attack breaks up unveiling of Afghan police training center; Mortar highlights security weakness" by Jon Gambrell, Associated Press / June 16, 2011
MAIDAN SHAR, Afghanistan — It took the US-led coalition $106 million to build Afghanistan’s largest police training center, while insurgents needed only a single mortar shell to show the challenges facing Afghan security forces....
We can't leave.
No one was hurt, but the attack pointed to the serious gaps in security as NATO spends billions to build a modern police force out of a recruitment pool that is almost entirely illiterate and remains terrified of Taliban attacks even after graduation.
“We’re dealing with a lost generation,’’ said US Major General James Mallory, who helps oversee NATO’s training mission.
Also yesterday, a suicide bomber killed eight people in an attack on a governor’s office in the northeast. Another suicide attack killed three civilians in a province on the Pakistani border.
The US Congress has set aside nearly $30 billion since the start of the Afghan war to develop the country’s army and police force. By the end of this year, NATO estimates it will have spent $20 billion in two years — most of it from the US — toward the same goal....
Good thing you didn't need that for anything, America.
The National Police Training Center in Wardak, where the walls have fresh paint, is part of the coalition plan to meet its goal...
That's all it bought, huh?
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Related:
"Two NATO service members were killed on Sunday in insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan. They were not identified.
In another development....
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Also see: Marine killed in Afghanistan is readied for burial
In Groton, a final honor for a fallen Marine (By Ben Wolford, Globe Correspondent)
Soldier from Blackstone perished in Afghanistan
"Rocket kills 4 Afghan children" by Amir Shah, Associated Press / June 18, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan — A rocket fired during fighting yesterday in Pakistan’s tribal region landed in eastern Afghanistan, killing four children in an area where militants launch attacks on US-led forces, officials said.
The rocket landed in Sirkanay district of Kunar Province, where more than 100 rockets have landed in the past few days from across the border, provincial police chief General Ewaz Mohammad said.
It was unclear who fired the rocket, though Mohammad said there had been Pakistani military airstrikes in the region....
Keep that in mind for later.
In recent days, the Pakistani Army has launched attacks against insurgent hideouts in the country’s northwestern Bajur tribal region. The mountainous region borders Kunar Province.
Meanwhile, NATO said yesterday that a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan had killed a coalition service member. The coalition said that the service member died Thursday. NATO provided no other details.
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"Karzai confirms US, Taliban talks; Suicide attack leaves nine dead" June 19, 2011|By Ahmad Massieh Neshat and Jon Gambrell, Associated Press
KABUL — President Hamid Karzai acknowledged yesterday that the US and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation’s nearly 10-year war, even as suicide attackers launched a bold assault in the heart of the county’s capital, killing nine people.
The attack, which occurred blocks from Karzai’s office, shows the parties have a long way to go....
Three men wearing camouflage fatigues that are frequently worn by Afghan soldiers stormed a police station near the presidential palace, with one of them detonating an explosives vest just outside the gates as two others rushed inside and began firing, an Interior Ministry statement said.
The crackle of gunfire echoed through the usually bustling streets for about two hours before security forces killed the two remaining attackers....
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message to the Associated Press.
Attacks in the Afghan capital have been relatively rare, although violence has increased since the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden in a US raid in Pakistan and the start of the Taliban’s annual spring offensive....
The assault occurred shortly after Karzai announced during a speech to youth at the presidential palace that members of his peace council and the United States have begun preliminary peace negotiations with the Taliban....
The what?
What the web cut from my printed paper:
Karzai's rambling speech was the latest tweak to the US-led coalition trying to control a message about a war grinding towards the decade mark. It probably overstates the progress of the delicate negotiations both his government face in identifying and wooing potential Taliban leaders.
U.S. empire-builders don't want peace and thus there will be none.
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Related: Gates has doubts on talks with Taliban
"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tacitly acknowledged the keys to finally ending the conflict will be political negotiations with the Taliban leadership and managing a highly contentious relationship with Pakistan."
I just thought that was important.
"Many Afghans are eager to see a US departure nearly 10 years after US forces invaded."
I just thought that was important.
We are, too, dear Afghans.
"US ambassador rebukes Karzai on criticism; Says comments attacking troops have been ‘hurtful’" by Associated Press / June 20, 2011
KABUL —Yesterday, a suicide attacker in northern Kunduz province blew up his explosives-laden car next to a German military convoy in northern Afghanistan, killing three Afghan civilians. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
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Either I've lost my hearing because of the endless shelling of media propaganda or I'm tuning it out.
"Afghans welcome, and worry about, drawdown plan; Eikenberry says US will support, not desert nation" June 24, 2011|By Debbi Wilgoren and Pamela Constable, Washington Post
JALALABAD, Afghanistan —America’s European allies also welcomed the drawdown announcement and made their own withdrawal promises yesterday. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said the approximately 4,000 French service members in Afghanistan would engage in a phased withdrawal mirroring that of the United States....
During the past week in Britain, there has been an unusual back and forth between Cameron and military leaders over the high cost of continuing military efforts in Afghanistan and Libya, especially at a time of wide austerity measures in Britain, including deep defense cuts....
But the reaction of Karzai’s political opponents, and the Taliban, ranged from skepticism to disdain....
That's usually the reaction I have to the articles in my Boston Globe.
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"35 killed by bomb at Afghan clinic; Taliban deny responsibility" by Solomon Moore, Associated Press / June 26, 2011
KABUL — A suicide car bomber blasted a small clinic yesterday in eastern Afghanistan, causing the building to collapse as mostly women and children lined up for vaccinations, maternity care, and other services. At least 35 people were killed in one of the deadliest attacks against civilians this year.
Guards saw a sport utility vehicle charging toward the Akbarkhail Public Medical Center, a compound that provides health care for the mountainous area in the Azra district of Logar Province. But before anyone could shoot the driver or blow out the tires, the SUV smashed through a wall and exploded, officials said.
Wary of being blamed for civilian casualties, the Taliban denied they were behind the bombing. Violence has been on the rise since the Islamic movement launched its spring offensive and promised retaliation for the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
“This attack was not done by our fighters,’’ Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a telephone interview.
This time I believe it.
"Now stop and think here for a moment. All revolutions depend on public support. Revolutionaries try to first win the people before they take on the government. So, no revolutionary goes out and murders civilians in cold blood. Did Washington and his men just mow down a marketplace of their fellow colonials for the heck of it? No, they did not. Washington and the Founding Fathers knew that their revolution to build a new country needed the support of those who would live in that country. This is true for every revolution in history. Therefore, these acts of terror being blamed on the insurgency must all be fakes, committed by intelligence agencies working for the governments to be blamed on the insurgents in order to destroy public support for the revolution." -- Wake the Flock Up
We call them false flags.
Survivors of the blast and others who heard the explosion frantically dug through the rubble with shovels and bare hands....
The bombings raised concerns about the readiness of Afghans to take over their own security as the US and other NATO nations begin to withdraw forces....
Hmmmmmmmm. Cui bono?
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And remember those Pakistan airstrikes?
"Karzai blames Pakistan for rocket attacks across border; 36 are killed in the east, officials say; Afghan artillery fired in retaliation" by Rahim Faiez, Associated Press / June 27, 2011
KABUL — President Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan yesterday of firing 470 rockets into two eastern Afghan provinces over the past three weeks, a deadly rain of artillery that Afghan officials said killed 36 people, including 12 children.
The attacks came in areas of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, where NATO forces have withdrawn and where Pakistani Taliban moved in behind fleeing civilians, Afghan border officials said.
Karzai indicated Pakistani government forces are responsible for the bombardment, and “they should be stopped immediately.’’
In response to the Pakistani barrage, Afghan security forces in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktika fired artillery across the border at least twice on Friday, spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.
And “if they are not being carried out by Pakistan, Pakistan should make it clear who is behind the attacks,’’ he said in a statement issued by the presidential palace.
Meanwhile, NATO reported that five service members were killed in at least three insurgent attacks in western, southern, and eastern Afghanistan.
The international coalition gave no other details. But the Spanish Defense Ministry said two of the dead were Spanish soldier....
Karzai said he discussed the rocket barrage with the Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zadari, during an antiterrorism conference in Tehran on Saturday....
Related: Countering State Sponsored Terrorism
I suppose the AmeriKan media can say they reported on it now, huh?
Violence has been on the rise across Afghanistan since the country’s Taliban launched a spring offensive and promised retaliation for the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a US raid in Pakistan on May 2.
On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew up his sport utility vehicle at a health clinic in eastern Afghanistan while women and children lined up for maternity care and vaccinations. At least 35 were killed.
The vehicle smashed through a wall at the Akbarkhail Public Medical Center before anyone could shoot the driver or blow out the tires, local officials said. The force of the blast caused the building to collapse.
Survivors frantically dug through the rubble with shovels and bare hands. At least 53 other people were wounded, said the provincial public health director, Dr. Mohammad Zaref Nayebkhail.
The Taliban denied it was behind the bombing in the Azra district in Logar Province.
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And the propagandists are desperately scraping the bottom of the barrel:
"Insurgents set off bomb held by girl " by Globe Wire Services / June 27, 2011
KABUL — Insurgents tricked an 8-year-old girl in a remote area of central Afghanistan into carrying a bomb wrapped in a cloth and then detonated the bomb remotely when she was close to a police vehicle, Afghan authorities said yesterday.
Only the girl was killed in the blast on Saturday, which occurred in Uwshi Village of Charchino District, said Fazal Ahmad Shirzad, the police chief of Uruzguan Province.
Shirzad said he believed that the girl was completely unaware that the bag that she had been given by Taliban insurgents held a bomb.
The girl’s body was later “taken to a nearby security check post, and the police called her relatives,’’ he said.
The insurgency occasionally uses children in its attacks in Afghanistan to avoid suspicion.
In May, a 12-year-old boy detonated a vest packed with explosives inside a bazaar in the Barmal District of the eastern province of Paktika, killing four civilians.
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