"Karzai adviser is killed by gunmen" July 18, 2011|By Jack Healy, New York Times
KABUL - A close adviser to President Hamid Karzai who had been a fierce foe of the Taliban in Afghanistan’s south was killed last night after a small team of gunmen stormed his walled home in the capital.
The slain aide, Jan Mohammed Khan, was a former governor of the southern Oruzgan Province who had been one of Karzai’s trusted allies and a regular presence inside the presidential palace. He was killed alongside a member of Parliament from Oruzgan, Mohammed Hosham Watanwal.
The men’s deaths were confirmed by General Mohammed Zahir, a police official in Kabul. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack.
The killings marked another potentially heavy blow for Karzai, coming just days after his powerful half-brother was assassinated by a close associate in southern Afghanistan.
Related: Karzai's Brother Killed in Kandahar
Zahir said police killed one of the gunmen in yesterday’s attack before he could detonate the suicide vest he was wearing, while the other was still barricaded inside the home. The surviving gunman was believed to be alone in the house....
Hundreds of police officers, soldiers, and Afghan intelligence officers swarmed the scene in one of Kabul’s more affluent neighborhoods, filling the streets where government officials and businessmen live behind high walls and steel gates, protected by many men with guns.
Gee, how the hell did "Taliban" get in there?
Sporadic gunfire rang through the dark streets, but it was unclear who was shooting.
The slaying of another Karzai ally from Afghanistan’s still-violent southern belt heightened concerns that militants were attempting to weaken the president’s standing and unravel fragile security gains there after months of intense fighting by NATO and Afghan forces....
Well, I guess AmeriKa will just have to keep 70,000 troops there until 2014 like Panetta said.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for killing Ahmed Karzai, but the motives of the gunmen - who was himself killed - remain unknown.
Shouldn't it be gunMAN?
Related: Bodyguard who killed Karzai's brother was trusted CIA contact
I guess you can see why I am having a hard time reading the newspaper these days.
I'm simply tired of reading shit lies and obfuscations that present a totally distorted and untrue picture of reality.
Imprisoned during the Taliban’s rule, Khan was seen as an eager and bitter foe of insurgents who worked with the NATO-led coalition during his time as governor. But he was dogged by accusations of corruption and failure to provide basic public services, lost his post in 2006 and was brought to Kabul.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said that Afghan officials had not requested any help from coalition forces.
The attacks occurred as international military forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan. The allied coalition announced yesterday that it had turned over control of Bamiyan Province in the center of the country to Afghan police, as part of its plan to allow foreign troops to withdraw in full by the end of 2014.
Bamiyan Province is one of seven areas that will be put under Afghan security control this month in a first round of the transition. Another, Panjshir Province in the east, began being transferred this month. The sectors have had little violence since the overthrow of the Taliban and had little coalition troop presence.
Under the transition timetable, all international combat troops would leave in just over three years. Bamiyan and Panjshir are the only two provinces that will be handed over in their entirety during this month’s transition phase.
Other areas to be handed over are the provincial capitals of Lashkar Gah in the south, Herat in the west, Mazer-e-Sharif in the north and Mehterlam in the east. Afghan forces will also take control of all of Kabul Province except for the Surobi district.
Yeah, whatever. I'll believe it when there is not one more f***ing boot on the ground -- soldier or contractor.
--more--"
"Allen takes Afghan command; 3 soldiers die in bomb attack" by Jack Healy, New York Times / July 19, 2011
KABUL - While the militants have suffered big military setbacks, they continue to kill coalition troops and Afghan civilians and officials nearly every day.
General John R. Allen,’s first day in command offered a grim snapshot of the difficulties. Three NATO soldiers were killed yesterday by an improvised bomb in eastern Afghanistan, and another died in a separate incident in the south, NATO forces said in statements.
Elsewhere in Kabul, Afghan officials gathered at the presidential palace to pay tribute to the second powerful political figure to be assassinated in less than a week. Jan Mohammed Khan was a former governor from the south and a close ally of the president who was gunned down at his home Sunday night.
To gain entry, the two killers pretended to be members of Khan’s tribe, seeking his assistance as a tribal elder, Afghan officials said yesterday. Khan gave one of the men 3,000 Afghanis - about $60 - before they began shooting, the officials said. A member of Parliament was also killed in the attack.
The two gunmen in turn were killed by Afghan security forces, though one of them held off police for nearly eight hours. Police finally set off a bomb in the room inside Khan’s home where the gunman had taken refuge.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, as they did for the assassination last Tuesday of President Hamid Karzai’s powerful half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was shot dead by a close associate.
Fading away already?
A Karzai spokesman yesterday lionized both of the slain men as national heroes, dismissing as defamation the widespread criticism of both men’s unsavory alliances and suspected ties to the drug trade.
Another reason the CIA would have wanted to shut him up.
The spokesman, Waheed Omer, said their deaths were part of a concerted attempt to disrupt Afghanistan’s security....
Gee, who would want to do that, cui conditions-based bono?
--more--"
And the page A3 photo that directed my attention to the page A7 piece:
"TRANSITION IN AFGHANISTAN -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai awarded a medal to General David Petraeus, outgoing commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, in Kabul yesterday. Petraeus's successor, General John R. Allen, will guide NATO-led forces through the handoff of security control to Afghan forces by the end of 2014. Three NATO soldiers were killed on Allen's first day on the job by an improvised bomb in eastern Afghanistan (Boston Globe July 19 2011)."
Related:
Petraeus' Private Eyes
Petraeus' Propaganda
And he is getting a medal?
What Works for AmeriKa in Afghanistan
Assassinations, that's about it.
Also see:
"Al-CIA-Duh" Invades Afghanistan
CIA Assassins Lend a Helping Hand in Afghanistan
CIA Strike Teams Swoop Into Afghanistan
The Boston Globe Bucks Up the CIA
The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Blackening Out Blackwater Assassins
More Assassins Headed to Afghanistan
You would think they just sat around all day, huh?
