I just learned something.
"Congress uneasy over plans to leave Afghanistan" by Deb Riechmann | Associated Press July 20, 2014
WASHINGTON — Afghanistan’s disputed election and Iraq’s unraveling are giving members of Congress and US allies in the region reason to think President Obama should reconsider his decision to withdraw virtually all Americans troops from Afghanistan by the close of 2016.
Told it was going to be 2014, you know, the final withdrawal.
Btw, better sign that agreement. Maliki did not, and you see what is happening to him.
The White House says Afghanistan is different from Iraq, mired in sectarian violence since shortly after US troops left, and that the drawdown decision is a done deal.
Some lawmakers, however, are uncomfortable with Obama’s plan, which responds to the American public’s war fatigue and his desire to be credited with pulling the United States out of two conflicts. Ten senators, Republicans and Democrats, raised the drawdown issue at a congressional hearing Thursday.
Well, he is going back into Iraq (we never really left, not with the Green Zone), and we will be staying in Afghanistan -- but the conventional myth is Obama ended the wars (as he started new ones in Libya and Syria).
They argued that it is too risky to withdraw US troops out so quickly, especially with the Afghan presidential election in the balance. They do not want to see Afghanistan go the way of Iraq; they fear the Afghan security force, while making gains, will not be ready for solo duty by the end of 2016.
If you listen to these guys we will BE THERE FOREVER, and maybe that is the plan.
So all that pre$$ about progress regarding the U.S-trained Afghan Army was just smoke-up-the-ass?
Under Obama’s plan, announced in May before Sunni militants seized control of much of Iraq, about 20,200 American troops will leave Afghanistan during the next five months, dropping the US force to 9,800 by year’s end.
That number would be cut in half by the end of 2015, with only about 1,000 remaining in Kabul after the end of 2016.
Not even leaving then!
Marine General Joseph Dunford, the top US commander in Afghanistan, testified in the past week before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He spoke highly of the 352,000-strong Afghan security force that assumed responsibility in June 2013 and lauded them for keeping violence down during the recent election.
Which proves?
Related (his next mission): Boston native nominated to lead Marine Corps
The US withdrawal plan is based on being able to fix the Afghan security force’s shortcomings by the end of 2016.
Dunford laid out his best-case scenario under the current plan [and] his worst-case outcome:
We have been told so many lies before.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said, ‘‘There’s a disaster in the making to our homeland and to losing all the gains we fought for inside of Afghanistan by drawing down too quick and not being able to help the Afghans in a reasonable fashion.’’
Same as Iraq, which now sending troops back in!
--more--"
No chance of closing the flood gates before they open?
"89 killed in worst Afghanistan bombing since 2001" by Rahim Faiez | Associated Press July 16, 2014
No chance of closing the flood gates before they open?
"89 killed in worst Afghanistan bombing since 2001" by Rahim Faiez | Associated Press July 16, 2014
KABUL — A suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives near a busy market and a mosque in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 89 people in the deadliest insurgent attack on civilians since the 2001 US-led invasion.
The blast destroyed numerous mud-brick shops, flipped cars over, and stripped trees of their branches, brutally underscoring the country’s instability as US troops prepare to leave by the end of the year and politicians in Kabul struggle for power after a disputed presidential runoff.
We better stay, chi bono?
General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman, said the bomber detonated his explosives as he drove by the crowded market in a remote town in Urgun district, in the Paktika province bordering Pakistan. Azimi gave the death toll and said more than 40 other people were wounded.
Nearby hospitals were overwhelmed, and dozens of victims were transported over dangerous roads to the capital, Kabul.
Ahmad Shah, a gas station employee who rushed to the site to help, said he loaded dozens of people who were injured or killed into vehicles.
‘‘I saw the smoke, and the town was burning. There were dead bodies everywhere,’’ he said outside a hospital in Kabul.
Associated Press video footage of the aftermath showed mounds of twisted debris and the charred shells of cars flipped over on top of one another. Azimi said more than 20 shops and dozens of vehicles were destroyed.
Many victims were buried in the rubble, said Mohammad Reza Kharoti, administrative chief of Urgun district.
‘‘It was a very brutal suicide attack against poor civilians,’’ he said. ‘‘There was no military base nearby.’’
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and the Taliban issued a statement denying involvement, saying they ‘‘strongly condemn attacks on local people.’’ Several other insurgent groups operate in Afghanistan.
As I implied, it was a false flag.
The UN mission in Afghanistan said initial reports ‘‘suggest that the attacker prematurely detonated after police detected the explosives in his vehicle.’’
Several witnesses said the driver was in a four-wheel-drive vehicle and hit two vehicles parked on the edge of the market, leading police to open fire. Then the explosion happened.
Abdul Khan, who is from the area, rushed to the hospital in Kabul to donate blood. ‘‘Most of the people in the town lost three to four family members,’’ he said, adding his cousin had been killed.
It was the deadliest insurgent attack against civilians since the US invasion that ousted the Taliban in 2001. It exceeded the toll from twin bombings Dec. 6, 2011, that targeted Shi’ite Muslims and killed 80 people in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif.
We can't leave!
--more--"
Related:
"Afghan security forces fought back against a fierce Taliban onslaught by about 800 militants in in Helmand province — which was touted as a showcase of a major US military offensive to drive out the militants in 2009 — as clashes that have killed dozens of people, including at least 35 civilians, stretched into a fourth day. The ongoing clashes in Helmand come as the Taliban have launched their so-called summer offensive, in which fighters take advantage of warmer weather and easier movement in the mountainous country to increase attacks, posing a major test of the capabilities of Afghan forces. At least 57 people — including 35 civilians, nine soldiers, and 13 policemen — have been killed and more than 1,000 families displaced since the fighting began, provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak said. He said dozens of militants also had been killed, but he could not give a figure."
Just what the border region needs, more refugees.
"Insurgents have stepped up attacks as part of their annual offensive when they take advantage of warmer weather to move more freely in the mountainous country. Taliban fighters fired two rockets into the military side of the Kabul airport on Thursday, which is in one of the most heavily guarded areas of the Afghan capital, underscores the resiliency of militants led by the Taliban who are fighting against the Western-backed government. A bomb hidden inside a garbage bin exploded in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing one person and wounding five others, police spokesman Shir Jan Durani said, and a land mine struck children who were playing on a field in the western Herat province, killing a girl and a boy and wounding eight children, provincial chief of police Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said. The United Nations, meanwhile, said the number of child casualties caused by the conflict in Afghanistan rose by 30 percent in 2013 compared with the previous year, with at least 545 killed and 1,149 wounded."
Related: Civilian casualties surge in Afghan fighting, UN says
I'm not seeing progress, sorry.
"Five American troops were killed in southern Afghanistan in a rare friendly fire airstrike that hit a team of Afghan and US troops conducting a security operation ahead of Saturday’s presidential runoff election, US and Afghan officials said Tuesday. Seeking to beat back the assault, the US troops called in an airstrike. Munitions dropped from a B-1B bomber appears to have killed the Americans, according to an official briefed on the preliminary investigation who was not allowed to speak on the record. At least two of the casualties were Special Operations troops, the official said. US officials see Saturday’s election as a turning point in the war and have expressed concern that violence could mar the legitimacy of the vote. The Taliban have called the election a Western-designed charade and has vowed to derail it with violence."
How many corners have we turned in over twelve years?
I'm sure someone will get a medal out of it, so it's kinda all worth it.
I am told the vote went well, but the runoff not so much. I mean, the campaign opened with a bang but the violence sullied the lead-up to the vote despite the boost of security. Still, turnout was good and US officials expressed optimism that violence wouldn’t be the dominant theme of the historic day as a credible election would go a long way to enable the United States to wind up its combat mission here by the end of the year and keep a residual force — as well as sustained financial aid — for years to come.
Well, Abdullah was the front-runner against the World Bank official fingered by the Taliban(??). Having been upset at Karzai stealing the last election from him, he was in no mood to accept it again as the complaints of fraud surge. He called for U.N. involvement in the process as a way out as protests began and a NATO air base came under attack, as the protests are but the latest maneuver by the Abdullah campaign, which has already leaked two sets of recordings that supporters say show election officials and key government employees engaging in fraudulent behavior on behalf of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former Finance Minister and World Bank official.
Indeed, mass fraud was admitted but there is hope amid the Taliban's summer offensive, with the potential that the political crisis could turn violent and threaten Western interests and warnings of dire consequences if the election did not proceed -- like someone setting up their own government and threatening to tear the country in half while bringing the entire political system to the brink. So the U.S. sent the great problem-solver John Kerry over to fix things and he brought them back from the brink the old-fashioned way (too bad he can't say the same for Gaza).
"Money dealers said that the value of the Afghan currency improved after the deal, and ordinary Afghan citizens in the capital and political leaders were univocal in their praise — although some cautioned that it must still be implemented and that the way ahead is still difficult."
So is the ongoing war, and it could be months before we know who will be the declared winner. Whoever it is we have already lost.
Related: Standing By My Secretary of State
Over on the border the U.S. looks like it is having problems with its supply lines.
"Fighters kill Pakistan soldiers near Afghan border
Militants killed a Pakistan army captain and two soldiers in a cross-border attack early Saturday in a tribal region near Afghanistan, as an airstrike killed 13 suspected extremist fighters, authorities said. A group of some 60 militants carried out the attack, entering from Afghanistan, said Shah Nasim, a senior government administrator there (AP)."
"4 Taliban gunmen stage raid on Kabul airport; Attack comes as election recount is about to start" by Erin Cunningham | Washington Post July 18, 2014
And they didn't have much of an air force to begin with as the Taliban offensive heats up in the Sangin district of Helmand.
Related(?): At the Pakistan Airport
Gotcha coming and going.
KABUL — Security forces continue to battle the Taliban-led insurgency in many parts of the country. At least a dozen explosions and the sound of heavy gunfire pierced the predawn calm in Kabul at about 4:30, as insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades from a building roughly a mile from the airport runway, according to security officials.
Fighter jets swooped over the city as Afghan forces fought and eventually killed the militants in a four-hour gun battle....
Also in the capital, the Independent Election Commission announced that it had started inspecting votes from the June 15 poll, which election officials acknowledged was marred by widespread fraud....
Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister and aide to legendary mujahideen commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, had accused the commission of helping rig the vote for his opponent, former finance minister and World Bank executive Ashraf Ghani.
When the commission last week released preliminary results that showed Ghani with 56 percent of the vote, Abdullah cried foul, and some of his most powerful supporters warned that they might declare a parallel Cabinet. Ghani finished second to Abdullah in the first round of voting on April 5, but Abdullah fell short of a majority, necessitating the runoff....
Abdullah actually LOST VOTES in the run-off? STINKY!
The presidential election was supposed to mark Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of power. But the dispute over the runoff results challenged that endeavor. In a last-minute effort to stave off the potential collapse of the Afghan state, the White House dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to help resolve the impasse.
The two sides reached a vague agreement Saturday that reportedly outlined the principles of the audit and a more general framework for a national consensus government after the new results are announced. Kerry was instrumental in leading the negotiations.
But soon afterward, officials from both campaigns said there were disagreements over whether the election commission or an international institution such as the United Nations would be in charge of the recount, suggesting that the accord was already in trouble....
He must be getting used to the feeling.
Also Thursday, Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of President Hamid Karzai’s palace guard in the eastern province of Paktia, wounding four. Karzai had been scheduled to visit the nearby province of Paktika to honor the victims of a deadly car bombing this week.
Related: Suicide bomber kills Karzai’s cousin
It's election-related.
--more--"
I think that about sums up this post.
Related:
"Afghan security forces fought back against a fierce Taliban onslaught by about 800 militants in in Helmand province — which was touted as a showcase of a major US military offensive to drive out the militants in 2009 — as clashes that have killed dozens of people, including at least 35 civilians, stretched into a fourth day. The ongoing clashes in Helmand come as the Taliban have launched their so-called summer offensive, in which fighters take advantage of warmer weather and easier movement in the mountainous country to increase attacks, posing a major test of the capabilities of Afghan forces. At least 57 people — including 35 civilians, nine soldiers, and 13 policemen — have been killed and more than 1,000 families displaced since the fighting began, provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak said. He said dozens of militants also had been killed, but he could not give a figure."
Just what the border region needs, more refugees.
"Insurgents have stepped up attacks as part of their annual offensive when they take advantage of warmer weather to move more freely in the mountainous country. Taliban fighters fired two rockets into the military side of the Kabul airport on Thursday, which is in one of the most heavily guarded areas of the Afghan capital, underscores the resiliency of militants led by the Taliban who are fighting against the Western-backed government. A bomb hidden inside a garbage bin exploded in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing one person and wounding five others, police spokesman Shir Jan Durani said, and a land mine struck children who were playing on a field in the western Herat province, killing a girl and a boy and wounding eight children, provincial chief of police Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said. The United Nations, meanwhile, said the number of child casualties caused by the conflict in Afghanistan rose by 30 percent in 2013 compared with the previous year, with at least 545 killed and 1,149 wounded."
Related: Civilian casualties surge in Afghan fighting, UN says
I'm not seeing progress, sorry.
"Five American troops were killed in southern Afghanistan in a rare friendly fire airstrike that hit a team of Afghan and US troops conducting a security operation ahead of Saturday’s presidential runoff election, US and Afghan officials said Tuesday. Seeking to beat back the assault, the US troops called in an airstrike. Munitions dropped from a B-1B bomber appears to have killed the Americans, according to an official briefed on the preliminary investigation who was not allowed to speak on the record. At least two of the casualties were Special Operations troops, the official said. US officials see Saturday’s election as a turning point in the war and have expressed concern that violence could mar the legitimacy of the vote. The Taliban have called the election a Western-designed charade and has vowed to derail it with violence."
How many corners have we turned in over twelve years?
I'm sure someone will get a medal out of it, so it's kinda all worth it.
I am told the vote went well, but the runoff not so much. I mean, the campaign opened with a bang but the violence sullied the lead-up to the vote despite the boost of security. Still, turnout was good and US officials expressed optimism that violence wouldn’t be the dominant theme of the historic day as a credible election would go a long way to enable the United States to wind up its combat mission here by the end of the year and keep a residual force — as well as sustained financial aid — for years to come.
Well, Abdullah was the front-runner against the World Bank official fingered by the Taliban(??). Having been upset at Karzai stealing the last election from him, he was in no mood to accept it again as the complaints of fraud surge. He called for U.N. involvement in the process as a way out as protests began and a NATO air base came under attack, as the protests are but the latest maneuver by the Abdullah campaign, which has already leaked two sets of recordings that supporters say show election officials and key government employees engaging in fraudulent behavior on behalf of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former Finance Minister and World Bank official.
Indeed, mass fraud was admitted but there is hope amid the Taliban's summer offensive, with the potential that the political crisis could turn violent and threaten Western interests and warnings of dire consequences if the election did not proceed -- like someone setting up their own government and threatening to tear the country in half while bringing the entire political system to the brink. So the U.S. sent the great problem-solver John Kerry over to fix things and he brought them back from the brink the old-fashioned way (too bad he can't say the same for Gaza).
"Money dealers said that the value of the Afghan currency improved after the deal, and ordinary Afghan citizens in the capital and political leaders were univocal in their praise — although some cautioned that it must still be implemented and that the way ahead is still difficult."
So is the ongoing war, and it could be months before we know who will be the declared winner. Whoever it is we have already lost.
Related: Standing By My Secretary of State
Over on the border the U.S. looks like it is having problems with its supply lines.
"Fighters kill Pakistan soldiers near Afghan border
Militants killed a Pakistan army captain and two soldiers in a cross-border attack early Saturday in a tribal region near Afghanistan, as an airstrike killed 13 suspected extremist fighters, authorities said. A group of some 60 militants carried out the attack, entering from Afghanistan, said Shah Nasim, a senior government administrator there (AP)."
"4 Taliban gunmen stage raid on Kabul airport; Attack comes as election recount is about to start" by Erin Cunningham | Washington Post July 18, 2014
And they didn't have much of an air force to begin with as the Taliban offensive heats up in the Sangin district of Helmand.
Related(?): At the Pakistan Airport
Gotcha coming and going.
KABUL — Security forces continue to battle the Taliban-led insurgency in many parts of the country. At least a dozen explosions and the sound of heavy gunfire pierced the predawn calm in Kabul at about 4:30, as insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades from a building roughly a mile from the airport runway, according to security officials.
Fighter jets swooped over the city as Afghan forces fought and eventually killed the militants in a four-hour gun battle....
Also in the capital, the Independent Election Commission announced that it had started inspecting votes from the June 15 poll, which election officials acknowledged was marred by widespread fraud....
Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister and aide to legendary mujahideen commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, had accused the commission of helping rig the vote for his opponent, former finance minister and World Bank executive Ashraf Ghani.
When the commission last week released preliminary results that showed Ghani with 56 percent of the vote, Abdullah cried foul, and some of his most powerful supporters warned that they might declare a parallel Cabinet. Ghani finished second to Abdullah in the first round of voting on April 5, but Abdullah fell short of a majority, necessitating the runoff....
Abdullah actually LOST VOTES in the run-off? STINKY!
The presidential election was supposed to mark Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of power. But the dispute over the runoff results challenged that endeavor. In a last-minute effort to stave off the potential collapse of the Afghan state, the White House dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to help resolve the impasse.
The two sides reached a vague agreement Saturday that reportedly outlined the principles of the audit and a more general framework for a national consensus government after the new results are announced. Kerry was instrumental in leading the negotiations.
But soon afterward, officials from both campaigns said there were disagreements over whether the election commission or an international institution such as the United Nations would be in charge of the recount, suggesting that the accord was already in trouble....
He must be getting used to the feeling.
Also Thursday, Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of President Hamid Karzai’s palace guard in the eastern province of Paktia, wounding four. Karzai had been scheduled to visit the nearby province of Paktika to honor the victims of a deadly car bombing this week.
Related: Suicide bomber kills Karzai’s cousin
It's election-related.
--more--"
I think that about sums up this post.
