Leads to Tunisia?
"Afghans say US firms cheat them; System stacks deck for American contractors" July 10, 2011|By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Bryan Rhodes’s newly minted business scored a US-funded contract last year to help build a power plant in Kandahar, perhaps the most dangerous and crucial city in the American war effort.
Rhodes hired Afghans to do the work, and his company, IBS, was paid about a half-million dollars when they were done, according to the prime contractor on the project.
Then Rhodes left the country. Now his Afghan workers and vendors say that he owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills and that he has stopped all communication with them.
For Afghans, the problem is all too common. While much US criticism has been leveled at Afghan officials for the country’s seemingly systemic corruption, officials from both countries acknowledge that fraud and mismanagement by American companies also threatens the US mission here. And Afghans who risk their lives by braving Taliban threats to help in the US effort seethe as they walk away from the experience empty-handed....
So far, that investigation has been of little consequence to Rhodes: The Globe found him working in Tunisia, on another US-funded project, this one aimed at boosting the capacity of businesses in North Africa.
Rhodes stopped returning e-mails from the Globe after he was questioned about accusations he failed to pay subcontractors in Afghanistan....
The case raises troubling questions about how to stop contractors accused of failure to pay subcontractors from continuing to get US contracts overseas....
It can take months or even years for the US military to remove a defense contractor from the list of companies eligible for government contracts. US officials said that recommending that a company be disbarred is the only action they can take when they hear complaints, and they acknowledge that gives little comfort to Afghans that have been swindled.
“The US government has no legal recourse against a … contractor for failure to pay its subcontractor,’’ said Lieutenant Bashon Mann, a military spokesman.
A spokesman for the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, set up to investigate problems in US reconstruction contracts, said his office cannot take action unless the US government itself has been defrauded....
The US military has been advising Afghans who feel cheated by American firms to file suit for breach of contract in a US court. But few have the money or the connections to hire an American lawyer.
Instead, these Afghans are left with debts they can’t pay.
“This is a common problem,’’ said Azmat Fazly of Arian Mutahed Construction Co. He said an American firm paid only $21,000 on a $90,000 contract to supply carpets and furniture for housing trailers on Kandahar Air Base, a hub for the US military.
When he was working on the base, his family had to endure threats from the Taliban. Now, they are facing threats from carpet and furniture-sellers seeking the rest of their money.
At least one such case has made it to US courts. In May, an Afghan contractor hired the prestigious law firm Patton Boggs to sue Bennett & Fouch, a tiny defense contractor that he says owes him $2 million. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Texas, alleges that the company’s president, Sarah Lee, also known as Sarah Mitcham, tried to trick him into believing that she had committed suicide in the United States to stop his efforts to collect.
“It’s pretty disappointing that the best that [US Central Command] can do is: go try the US justice system,’’ said Chris Hellmich, lawyer for Jalal-uddin Saeed, the Afghan contractor. “Then they wonder why the counterinsurgency strategy isn’t working as well as it should.’’
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Rhodes also appears to have left Afghanistan with little warning, after five years in the country. He has worked mainly for the USAID-funded Afghanistan Small and Medium Enterprise Development project, dispensing advice and millions in grants to Afghan businesses.
AID =CIA
Before his career took off in Afghanistan, the California native had struggled with debt and creditors back home. In 2000, he filed for bankruptcy protection when he missed payments on his Jeep Wrangler. At the time, he owed thousands in federal taxes, credit card debt, and student loans, according to court records.
And then came 9/11.
Then Rhodes worked as a financial analyst for the real estate industry. After earning a degree in international development, he took a job with Catholic Relief Services in Herat, Afghanistan, supervising 35 employees. In 2006, Development Alternatives International, the USAID contractor, hired him....
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So how the hell do we get out of here?
"Rural Afghan battles rage on, general says" July 12, 2011|By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press
KABUL - Insurgent attacks are down in some heavily populated areas of Afghanistan where US-led coalition troops have been concentrated, but violence continues in rural areas, an outgoing American commander said yesterday.
Army Lieutenant General David Rodriguez, who directed day-to-day operations in the war, spoke briefly to reporters as he officially ended his job as head of the Joint Command and deputy commander of US forces in Afghanistan.
“The violence has gone down where we’ve focused our efforts,’’ he said before boarding a plane bound for Europe. “You have to watch it very carefully because the violence is now outside, instead of inside, the populated areas. It takes a lot work to really understand the nuances of what’s happening.’’
Over the weekend, General David Petraeus, the outgoing commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said insurgent attacks in May and June were down slightly from the same months last year. Petraeus, retiring from the military to become the next CIA director, said it appeared the downward trend would continue through July.
The Taliban issued a statement rejecting that assessment.
“This is a baseless statement, and there is no reality in it,’’ the insurgent group said in an e-mail. The message said the Taliban have not decreased attacks and called Petraeus’s comments propaganda.
Rodriguez maintained that fighting was down. “The violence has been down for a little while, and it’s not in the densely packed areas, but outside more often than not,’’ he said. “But, look, these things go up and down.’’
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Elsewhere in Afghanistan, 24 mine-clearing workers kidnapped last week in the southwest were released.
I never read that they were kidnapped.
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Maybe we can get some directions from the new guy:
"Obama's pick to lead Afghan war gingerly backs withdrawal plan" June 29, 2011|By Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Marine general expected to carry out President Obama's order to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan next month said yesterday he supports the plan but cautioned that successfully winding down the war will require progress on a wide front, including more help from allies and less Afghan corruption....
At the same hearing, Navy Vice Admiral William McRaven, the nominee to be the next commander of US Special Operations Command, underlined the severity of the problem of Pakistani havens for extremist groups such as the Haqqani network, whose fighters move back and forth across the border to attack US and Afghan forces.
McRaven said he and Allen both believe that the Pakistani government could, if it chose, do more to alleviate the problem.
"It is both a capacity issue for the Pakistanis and I think potentially a willingness issue," McRaven said.
Allen's move to Kabul is part of a broader turnover of top military and civilian leaders of the war effort. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is retiring tomorrow, to be replaced by CIA Director Leon Panetta, and the US ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, is about to be relieved by veteran diplomat Ryan Crocker.
Related: Goodbye, Gates
Panetta's Poops
I Don't Like Eik
I don't like any of them.
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The last guy leave a map?
"Petraeus expects Afghan war to shift to east" July 05, 2011|By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press
KABUL - The outgoing commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan said the focus of the war will shift in upcoming months from Taliban strongholds in the south to the porous eastern border with Pakistan where Al Qaeda factions and others hold sway.
On his last Fourth of July in uniform before becoming CIA director, General David Petraeus said more special forces, intelligence, air power, and possibly some ground troops will be moved - probably by fall - to battle insurgents along the mostly rugged mountainous border with Pakistan....
Separately yesterday, a missing British soldier was confirmed dead in an apparent insurgent attack in the south, hours after Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in the country to hail improved security and announce plans for the withdrawal of hundreds of his nation’s troops....
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And don't ask these guys for directions:
"On Afghan visit, 3 senators voice concerns on US withdrawal; Say Obama’s drawdown plan is risky for nation" July 04, 2011|By Solomon Moore, Associated Press
KABUL - Three US senators visiting Kabul said yesterday they are worried that President Obama’s planned withdrawal of 33,000 American troops by September 2012 could undermine Afghan morale, embolden the insurgency, and hamper efforts to defeat Taliban fighters.
John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsay Graham said they are heartened by the progress of Afghan security forces, but worry that Obama’s withdrawal plan could deplete American military strength before dealing a decisive blow to the Taliban, especially in eastern Afghanistan....
Related: Military looks into 'psy-op' charge
Yeah, I'm really going to believe anything they say or saw.
Lieutenant General John R. Allen, a Marine general expected to carry out the president’s drawdown order, has said the schedule is a bit more aggressive than the military had anticipated. Allen has cautioned that successfully winding down the war will require new progress on a wide front, including more help from allies and less Afghan corruption.
During a stop at the Kabul headquarters of the foreign military contingent, called the International Security Assistance Force, McCain said he’s concerned there may not be enough American troops for a move from southern Afghanistan to the east to “finish the job there.’’
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Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, cited gains in Afghan security force recruitment and capability and said he was optimistic that native forces would soon be ready to take over security. But Graham also worried that Obama’s withdrawal plan may reduce US troop strength in Afghanistan too quickly.
“Withdrawal is what the enemy hopes to hear,’’ said Graham. “Our goal is to make sure that the enemy doesn’t hear withdrawal and the Afghan people don’t hear withdrawal.’’
I knew it was just talk.
Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said it was important to reassure Afghans that they will continue to receive help long after the 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of US troops.
“We’re certainly going to be here in great numbers until the end of 2014 and I hope as a result of a strategic long-term partnership with Afghanistan that we will have a military presence here and cooperation here with our Afghan partners for a long time after that,’’ said Lieberman.
The senators were skeptical about Western efforts to reach a negotiated peace with the Taliban’s leadership and suggested that political compromises with the insurgents could betray the Afghan people.
“I don’t think there will be serious negotiations with the Taliban until they are convinced that they cannot succeed in attaining their goals through the force of arms on the battlefield,’’ said McCain.
Same as the Nazi Neo-Cons running the U.S. empire.
Shortly before the senators’ news conference in Kabul, an improvised bomb exploded on the other end of the capital, wounding three Afghan policemen, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.
Making the point to them that we must stay, 'eh?
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"18 civilians killed in attacks, bombing
KABUL - A roadside bomb ripped through a van carrying a family yesterday in southern Afghanistan, killing all on board - the deadliest incident in a string of attacks that killed 18 civilians. The Ministry of Interior said four women and two children were among 13 people killed in the van in Zabul Province. Also yesterday, two gunmen killed Wakil Mohammad Khan, a member of the local council in Nahri Sarraj district of Helmand Province (AP).
Uh-oh, checkpoint ahead:
"Taliban hit checkpoints in remote Afghanistan; Nearly two dozen police officers die in the northeast" July 07, 2011|By Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban fighters mounted an attack yesterday on several Afghan border police checkpoints, overrunning them and killing nearly two dozen police officers in a remote area of northeastern Afghanistan, according to the provincial governor....
The checkpoints were burned and several civilians were killed, including three women and two children. A number of houses were burned as well as border police outposts, said Jamaluddin Badar, governor of Nuristan Province, where the attack took place in the Gordish Valley in Kamdesh District....
However, the area is remote and there is little phone coverage, so numbers are hard to verify.
Mounting the attack were Taliban and foreign fighters including Pakistanis, Badar said. His account was supported by the former governor, Tamim Nuristani, who was in touch with people in Kamdesh District yesterday.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and accused the Pakistani Taliban of carrying it out.
Both Western officials and the former governor said that while there are Pakistani fighters who have crossed the border as well as Arabs and Uzbeks, the main dynamic in the area is a longtime rivalry between Taliban fighters who control the rural areas and Hizb-e-Islami fighters who control the district centers and tend to be more allied with the government.
At stake in Nuristan are illegal gem and timber smuggling routes, though the province is so remote that the United States has little military presence there....
Also in eastern Afghanistan, there were reports of civilian casualties after a NATO attack on insurgents in a remote area of Khost District. According to the provincial police chief, Sardar Mohammed Zazai, eight children, and two women were killed when NATO forces dropped a bomb on a house where the Taliban took shelter as they were being pursued by a joint US-Afghan force.
A NATO spokesman said he was familiar with the attack but did not have details. He also said there might have been civilians present where the Taliban took shelter.
In Parwan Province, just northwest of the capital, a cargo plane traveling from Azerbaijan to one of the largest NATO bases in Afghanistan crashed in mountains less than 30 miles from its destination late Tuesday, killing everyone on board, according to Afghan and US officials.
The plane was carrying pallets and a piece of heavy equipment, said Major James Lowe, at the US Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, near Mascoutah, Ill. “It was a standard resupply mission,’’ he said....
As the French found out in Vietnam and the German in Russia, airdrops don't work.
Interesting that the airplane crash was an afterthought, 'eh?
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Taliban infiltrator kills NATO soldier
KABUL - A man in an Afghan Army uniform shot and killed a NATO service member yesterday, and the Taliban said the assailant was a sleeper agent who had infiltrated the Afghan military. The shooting was part of a spate of weekend attacks that killed at least 10 people, including three other foreign troops (AP)."
Just driving in circles.
