Afghan President Hamid Karzai pitched a little fit today after American condemnation of his country's release of 65 Taliban prisoners. These prisoners had killed NATO and Afghan soldiers as well as Americans. NATO also criticized the releases as a setback to security and the rule of law in Afghanistan.

It is crazy for Karzai to think that allowing these terrorists release will do anything but cause more deaths and fighting in the region. He thinks that it will help resuscitate the peace talks with the Taliban. Why does Karzai think the Taliban will abide by any treaty?
He is playing with his life along with the Afghans.

This story comes from Dawn. 

Karzai tells US to 'stop harassing' Afghanistan

his Turkish counterpart his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul Gul

Hamid Karzai talks with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul during lunch at the Cankaya Presidential Palace. 

Published 2014-02-13 22:33:47

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ANKARA: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday said Washington should respect his country's judicial authority after the release of 65 alleged Taliban fighters triggered US condemnation.

“Afghanistan is a sovereign country. If the Afghan judicial authorities decide to release the prisoners, it is of no concern to the US and should be of no concern to the US,” Karzai told reporters in Ankara.

“I hope that the United States will stop harassing Afghanistan's procedures and judicial authority”.

Read the rest of the article at Dawn here.

Secularism Officially Dies In Turkey, Secular Journalists and Military Generals Sentenced To Life In Prison By Erdogan's Islamists

 Turkish policeman shoving photo-journalist during protest in Istanbul. (Photo © Reuters)

This is significant.  I mean, REALLY significant when you see nearly 200 journalists and military generals in Turkey, who are secularists, being sentenced to lifetime prison terms - it marks the absolute end of the Turkish secular constitution and notes the beginning of the Islamic theocracy taking complete control of this country of Turkey.

Part of the reason for the importance is the fact that Turkey has had a special relationship with Europe, the West, the United States, and NATO all due to the fact that is has been fairly secular from its Muslim roots.  So what happens now?  You basically end up with an Iranian type regime privvy to the secrets and military strategies of the West.

Bottom line is this - Turkey must be removed from NATO immediately and if the Europeans are smart, they will burn Turkey's application to be in the European Union.

Turkey is now the land of sharia.  Fuck em.

The story comes from The Clarion Project.

Turkey: Top Secular Journalists, Generals Sent to Prison for Life

The sweeping life sentences given to close to 200 may mark the final ascendancy of Erdogan's Islamists over the country's secularists.

A Turkish criminal court convicted 254 defendants of trying to overthrow the Islamist government in a highly politicized trial that reached its conclusion yesterday after five years.

The convicted – all secular critics of Prime Minister Erdogan’s Islamization of Turkey -- included army officers, parliamentarians, politicians, journalists and writers from the highest positions in Turkish society. Many were given life sentences plus additional years with one prominent journalist sentenced to life in solitary confinement.

The court was able to hand down such harsh sentences by declaring that the defendants belonged to a terrorist group -- dubbed the Ergenekon network -- who had allegedly plotted to wreak havoc in Turkey to ultimately bring down Erdogan and his Islamist agenda for Turkey.

Charges brought against the original 273 defendants – many of whom have been detained since 2008 -- included membership in an underground terrorist organization, possession of illegal weapons and instigating an armed uprising.

Tens of thousands of Turks took to the streets to protest the verdicts which may well mark a point of no return for Turkey’s secularists, who were once politically dominate and traditionally controlled the military.

That dominance may no longer be the case with the current convictions and life imprisonment of Turkey’s top military brass. Those convicted included the former head of the Armed Forces Ilker Basbug, the former commander of the First Army Hurşit Tolon, the former Second Chief of General Staff Gen. Hasan Iğsız, former Gendarmerie Forces Cmdr. Şener Eruygur, among many other generals and colonels of the armed forces.

Prominent journalists and writers were also targeted in the trial. The chilling effect on Turkish society brought by these convictions is particularly worrisome.

In addition, secularists now fear that these convictions provide proof that Erdogan’s AKP Islamist party also controls the judicial branch of the government, sealing its ascendancy in the country once dominated by secular politicians.

The trial was largely viewed as a litmus test of Erdogan’s power over his opponents and critics, a struggle which began a decade ago with Erdogan’s election in 2003.

In a statement, convicted former Armed Forces head Basbug, who served as recently as 2010, said, "If in a country, the people are questioning the independence of judges, if people have doubts about the legality of the court rulings, then the rule of law cannot be claimed in that country."

One of the most high-profile journalists to be convicted was Tuncay Ozkan, the founder of the KanalTürk network. Ozkan was also given a life sentence.

The former chief editor of daily Cumhuriyet, Mustafa Balbay, who was also elected as a deputy of the main opposition party, Republican People's Party, was also convicted and sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison.

Akif Hamzacebi, his colleague from the Republican People's Party, said the verdict was unacceptable to the Turkish people: "This is a menace to the army of the republic of Turkey. If you are trying someone who has been the commander of Turkish armed forces for being a member of a terrorist organization, it means you are targeting and trying the army of the republic of Turkey. This nation won't accept this."

With helicopters overhead, battalions of hundreds of riot police stationed in front of the specially fortified courthouse, sprayed protesters with tear gas and water cannons, a familiar sight in Turkey.

"This trial was run with fake documents, fake evidence and secret undisclosed witnesses," said Ismail Aydogmus, identified as a 57-year-old writer from Istanbul. "The security precautions are taking place because the court is afraid of the verdict."

NATO Begins Withdrawal of Equipment From Afghanistan....Countdown To Taliban Takeover of the Country Begins

From DAWN.

Nato troops start equipment withdrawal from Afghanistan


QUETTA: The Nato and US troops have started withdrawal of their equipments from Afghanistan after more than ten years of war.

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan to oust Taliban government in the aftermath of tragic incident of September 11, 2001. They are set to withdraw all their forces by the end of 2014.

Pakistan is a key transit route for the Nato mission in landlocked Afghanistan, from where it is driven to the border from the Arabian Sea port of Karachi.

First convoy carrying weapons, armoured vehicles and trucks reached Quetta, the capital of Balochistan amid tight security on Tuesday evening.

Sources in frontier corps told Dawn.com that 50 trucks and armoured vehicles reached Quetta from Kandahar, the Taliban’s previous spiritual headquarter amid strict security measures.

They said levies and FC personnel guard the Nato convoy from Pak-Afghan border to Quetta. The convoy would leave for Port Qasim Karachi on Wednesday.

“Withdrawal of weapons and other equipments would continue in the coming days,” they said. Sources said security in and around Chaman, Pakistan’s bordering town with Afghanistan, was tightened following shifting of equipments.

Militants have attacked Nato supplies in different parts of Balochistan in the past.

Israel To Host 100s Of Foreign Fighter Pilots

By Findalis

Recently the Israeli Air Force (IAF) held training exercises with Hungry, Greece, Cyprus and Italy.  Now 100s of Fighter Pilots are coming to Israel for training exercises.

Hundreds of foreign pilots are scheduled to arrive in Israel for the largest-ever multinational training session to be held in the country, Channel 2 TV reported on Tuesday evening. The air forces would share theoretical information with each other and pilots would practice flying wing-to-wing with each other.

The names of countries set to partake in the joint exercise were under wraps.

Israel has held multiple exercises with other armies, and, in recent years, the Israel Air Force flew alongside foreign pilots in training runs in Greece, Hungry, Cyprus and Italy.

Israel can offer a great training ground — including low-altitude flying and drop zones for live ammo — for pilots from all over the world, Lt.-Col. Assaf told the channel.

Speaking with a helmet on his head to cover his face, and without revealing his family name, Assaf — one of the planning officers — described the benefits foreign air forces derivded when training in Israel. Israel’s knowledge of weapon systems owned by various Arab countries, and its years of experience, were of great value to its allies, the pilot said.

Source

In recent years there has been a move to bring Israel into the NATO fold.  It has only been by the veto from Turkey that Israel is not a member.  So this could be one step towards that.

-OR-

As Simply Jews mentions it:

Israel can offer a great training ground — including low-altitude flying and drop zones for live ammo...

Since the article doesn't go into further details re the drop zones, I think I can offer a few possibles, here:

Either way it is good news.

Bomb Iran

Click here if video doesn't load.

NATO Tells Pakistan To Eff Off, Signs Supply Route Deal With Central Asian Countries

Good for NATO.  The Pakistanis figured they had the ball in their court and wanted to take the opportunity of negotiations to reopen supply lines for NATO to spank America for the border battle accident and also for the bin Laden operation and in the end, NATO did a complete end run on Pakistan and has bypassed them completely for supply lines by contracting with the Central Asian "stans" to get it done.

From the report at DAWN:

Nato has concluded agreements with Central Asian nations allowing it to evacuate vehicles and other military equipment from Afghanistan and completely bypass Pakistan, which once provided the main supply route for coalition forces.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan had agreed to allow the reverse transport of alliance equipment.

Since Nato already has an agreement with Russia, the deal will allow it to ship back to Europe tens of thousands of vehicles, containers and other items through the overland route when the evacuation picks up pace later this year.

Pakistan shut down the southern supply routes six months ago after US airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at the Salala border post, forcing Nato to switch almost completely to the so-called Northern Distribution Network.

After months of stalemate, Pakistani leaders last month signaled that negotiations on the supply routes were progressing, just in time to secure an invitation to the weekend Nato summit in Chicago. But since then the two sides have made little progress in the talks, officials said.

The announcement on Monday appears to indicate that Washington and the allies are now preparing for the possibility that the supply link through Pakistan, said to be about six times cheaper than its northern alternative, may not be reopened at all.

Hopefully, this will not only mean the end of paying Pakistan for the use of the supply routes but will see an end to pretty much all aid to Pakistan - these pieces of shit need to learn a lesson and their playing the fence throughout the War in Afghanistan will come with a price.  A financial price - and right now, Pakistan needs every damn dime they can get their grubby Muslim hands on.  Well, fuck 'em.  Way to go NATO.

Nato strikes alternate supply route deals through Central Asia


BRUSSELS: Nato has concluded agreements with Central Asian nations allowing it to evacuate vehicles and other military equipment from Afghanistan and completely bypass Pakistan, which once provided the main supply route for coalition forces.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan had agreed to allow the reverse transport of alliance equipment.

Since Nato already has an agreement with Russia, the deal will allow it to ship back to Europe tens of thousands of vehicles, containers and other items through the overland route when the evacuation picks up pace later this year.

Pakistan shut down the southern supply routes six months ago after US airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at the Salala border post, forcing Nato to switch almost completely to the so-called Northern Distribution Network.

After months of stalemate, Pakistani leaders last month signaled that negotiations on the supply routes were progressing, just in time to secure an invitation to the weekend Nato summit in Chicago. But since then the two sides have made little progress in the talks, officials said.

The announcement on Monday appears to indicate that Washington and the allies are now preparing for the possibility that the supply link through Pakistan, said to be about six times cheaper than its northern alternative, may not be reopened at all. It is also likely to put pressure on Pakistan to ease its negotiating stance, which has been stuck in part on how much money the US and Nato should pay to transport the trucks through Pakistani territory.

Nato plans to hand over lead responsibility for the war against the Taliban to the Afghan army and police by the middle of next year, and withdraw its troops by the end of 2014. The alliance already has started drawing down its forces, which reached a peak of about 140,000 last year.

The Afghan security forces will have more than 350,000 members in the next few months. The international withdrawal is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.

“These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need,” Fogh Rasmussen told reporters.

He said the new deals would make “the use of the Russian transit arrangements even more effective.”

Moscow also has proposed allowing Nato to set up a logistics facility at the air base in Ulyanovsk, Russia, for troops and cargo heading in and out of Afghanistan.

Chickenshit Erdogan of Turkey Claims NATO Should Protect Its Syrian Border

What a clown this guy is....Prime Minister Erdogan, the pussy that tried to show his might against Israel and then backed down like a scared dog is now saying it's up to NATO to protect his border with Syria after some Syrian firing had gone into Turkey and killed people in refugee camps. So that's the tough Turkish stance? They can't even put troops up at the border to protect their own land? They demand that U.S. and British and German troops come defend their worthless Islamic asses?

I guess Prime Minister Erdogan is only comfortable in the use of his military when they are safely in F-16's and Apaches firing down on Kurdish civilians.

The story is from DAWN.

Turkey says Nato is option to defend Syrian border


STANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Nato is responsible for protecting his country’s borders, newspapers reported on Thursday, after gunfire from Syria hit a refugee camp on the Turkish side, wounding four people.

“We have many options. A country has rights born out of international law against border violations,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Hurriyet daily and other newspapers.

“Also, Nato has responsibilities to do with Turkey’s borders, according to Article 5,” added Erdogan, whose country is a Nato member.

Article 5 of the Nato treaty declares that an armed attack against one of its members will be considered an attack against all members and allows for the use of armed force. It has been invoked only once, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Erdogan, speaking to reporters on board a plane returning from an official visit to China, also said fire had again crossed the border into Turkey from Syria on Tuesday.

Erdogan said earlier this week that Turkey would take unspecified steps against Syria after stray bullets entered a refugee camp in the Turkish border province of Kilis on Monday.

Two Syrians and two Turkish aid workers were wounded.

He also accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of personal responsibility for killing civilians.

Assad’s forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the past year, according to a UN estimate. Damascus says rebels have killed more than 2,600 soldiers and security personnel.

Turkey, once an ally of Assad, has been calling for an international effort to put an end to the fighting in Syria that began in an uprising in March 2011.

Afghan In Army Uniform Turns Weapon On NATO Troops At Helmand Base, Two NATO Troops Dead

Officials say an Afghan in an army uniform has shot and killed two international service members inside a Nato base in southern Afghanistan.— AFP


Okay, first off, this is a breaking story from DAWN out of Pakistan and the details are extremely limited so we don't know the nationality of the two NATO troops that have been killed by a poser in an Aghan Army uniform - I'm assuming the attacker is a Taliban or at least a Taliban sympathizer who got himself a uniform to pull off this attack.

The fact that this happened in Helmand could mean the NATO troops are American, British or Canadian.

And once again we see how dangerous it is even on our bases in Afghanistan - this is something that Barack Hussein Obama doesn't seem to mention when he talks about a shift of U.S. support next year to the training of Afghan troops - he never brings up the air of distrust that has continued to spread as these types of attacks increase.

Attacker in Afghan uniform kills two Nato troops


KABUL: Officials say an Afghan in an army uniform has shot and killed two international service members inside a Nato base in southern Afghanistan.

Nato spokesman Maj. Jason Waggoner says the attack happened Monday morning in southern Afghanistan. He says a man in an Afghan army uniform killed two service members and the gunman was shot dead. He declined to provide further details.

A Western official in southern Afghanistan confirmed that the incident happened at a base in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, but declined to give further details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been officially released.

After the Pakistanis Blame America/NATO For Weeks Over Airstrike That Killed Paki Soldiers, NOW Pakistan Admits It Was Afghan Commander They Blame

Pakistani officials demanded action against the accused Afghan National Army commander by Nato officials in Afghanistan. – File Photo


Good grief - after weeks of the Pakistanis dragging America and NATO over the coals over an airstrike that went bad and killed Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan/Pakistan border, after the Pakistanis halted supplies to American soldiers in Afghanistan and after they forced Americans out of air bases in Pakistan and calling for a halt to all drone attacks.....AFTER ALL OF THAT now the fucking Pakistanis come out with a report that puts 100% of the blame for the attack on an Afghan army commander.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, huh?

From the report at DAWN:

According to a BBC report, Pakistan’s military officials on Monday blamed an Afghan commander for the November 26 Nato strike on Salala check post in Mohmand agency, DawnNews reported.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the accused Afghan commander conspired on the instructions of Indian and Afghan intelligence to dismantle Pakistan’s ties with US and Nato.

According to the published report, Pakistani military officials were probing the incident on their own and also handed few details of the investigative report to their Nato counterparts across the border on Monday.

Pakistani officials demanded action against the accused Afghan National Army commander by Nato officials in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s investigative report did not indicate involvement of any American officials in the attack.

You know, I've had it with the Pakistani government leadership and their military leaders - they feel the need to placate the damn radical islamists in their country from time to time ...they stir up the "Hate America" crowd just to build themselves up and look tough to the "Great Satan" and then when it's all done and said, it's nothing but lies. It's a little like going up against the Democrat party in America. Lie your way to political advantage no matter who or what it hurts in the process.

So, American and NATO troops have paid the price for this bullshit game that the Pakistanis play and it has to stop. Will we ever get a Commander-in-Chief who is going to sit down with the Pakistanis and lay things on the line? Ever?

Pakistan blames “Afghan commander” for Nato attack: BBC


KARACHI: According to a BBC report, Pakistan’s military officials on Monday blamed an Afghan commander for the November 26 Nato strike on Salala check post in Mohmand agency, DawnNews reported.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the accused Afghan commander conspired on the instructions of Indian and Afghan intelligence to dismantle Pakistan’s ties with US and Nato.

According to the published report, Pakistani military officials were probing the incident on their own and also handed few details of the investigative report to their Nato counterparts across the border on Monday.

Pakistani officials demanded action against the accused Afghan National Army commander by Nato officials in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s investigative report did not indicate involvement of any American officials in the attack.

According to the report Afghani troops, without any prior notice, were patrolling an area at Pak-Afghan border which required 72 hours prior notice to Pakistani forces.

The troops deployed at Salala check post opened fire on Afghan patrol team considering them militants and subsequently Nato air defence helicopters, came to afghan team’s rescue, attacked the Pakistani post.

According to Pakistan officials, Afghans knew exact location of the post hence calling Nato for help was a pre-planned scheme.

However the ISPR rebuffed the BBC report calling it inaccurate.

Russians Point Finger of Blame At U.S. & NATO For Violating Pakistani Sovereignty...Umm...Wanna Talk About Eastern Europe, Guys?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. — File Photo by AFP

Talk about pot calling the kettle black. The Russian Foreign Minister got all high and mighty today criticizing the U.S. and NATO for violations of Pakistan's sovereignty after the border clash that left some 25 Pakistani soldiers dead. Well, Mr. Russian Foreign Minister...how about you step down off your pedestal of sovereignty purity and we'll discuss a little about Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania and perhaps even touch upon Georgia and the Ukraine. You wanna talk about Russian respect for nations of this world?

Jerks.

The story is from DAWN.

No excuse to violate Pakistan sovereignty: Russia


MOSCOW: Russia’s foreign minister, commenting on the Nato cross-border air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, said on Monday that a nation’s sovereignty should always be upheld, even when hunting “terrorists”.

“The Russian Foreign Minister… emphasised the unacceptability of violating the sovereignty of states, including during the planning and carrying out of counter-terrorist operations,” the ministry said in a statement.

No Jews Allowed

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

In the new Palestinian State.  That is if Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen has his wish.

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas told visiting US Congressmen on Thursday he wants the security of a future PA state to be handed to NATO under US command, the Maan news agency reported Friday.

The PA state must also be "empty of settlements," Abbas said, according to official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA.

Members of the US Congress and Senate delegation, headed by Democrat Senator Steny Hoyer, met with Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday, and quizzed Abbas on Israel's designation as a Jewish state, the status of refugees, and reconciliation between Abbas' Fatah party and rival Hamas, Presidential adviser Nimir Hamad said.

Abbas reiterated the Palestinian Authority's well-known positions on these matters, Hammad added, and specified that security responsibility for the Palestinian Authority would be handled by a third party, suggesting the US-Europe military alliance NATO.

In September 2010, Abbas outlined his government's acceptance of international forces from NATO or similar to the UNIFIL force operating in southern Lebanon playing a role in PA security, as long as forces did not include one single Israeli, whether from the civilian population or the military.

Abbas is currently pursuing a unilateral recognition of PA statehood based on pre-1967 lines at the United Nations in September.

Source

No Jews allowed in their "hallowed" land.  Not even if that Jew was a member of a NATO force.  The land must be cleansed of all contamination by those evil people.  And Sheik Barack Hussein Obama will not only support this idea, but will commit thousands of American troops (No Jews will be permitted to go) to the idea.

Just another way Sheik Obama will destroy Israel.

From the WTF Files....NATO/Afghan Forces Attack Pakistani Troops At Border Check Point, 3 Afghans Killed, 2 Pakistanis Wounded

I am still trying to figure this article out from DAWN where there is the claim that NATO and Afghan forces attacked a security checkpoint at the Afghanistan/Pakistan border with the end result of three Afghan troops being killed and two Pakistani security personnel being wounded. I'm not sure if we have AP and Dawn News reporters high on something or if indeed this indeed happened.

According to the story:

Two Pakistani personnel were wounded when Afghan and Nato forces attacked the Pakistani border check post in South Waziristan’s Angoor Adda area on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.

Pakistani security forces retaliated the attack on the Pak-Afghan border and three Afghan soldiers were killed as a result.

Exchange of fire at the site of the clash was ongoing between Pakistani and Afghan forces.

However, no official statement confirming the incident was issued by the government.

Moreover, an AP report quoted officials as saying that Afghan and Pakistan forces traded artillery fire in two places along the border.

Now, we have seen some isolated incidents of trading artillery fire between the Pakistanis and the Afghans over the years but I do not recall ever before seeing a claim of an actual attack on a Pakistani checkpoint. At the same time, I think this claim in the article that NATO forces were involved is bullshit.

This might be some Pakistani reporter who has some nationalistic hair up his ass or a tender spot for the Taliban trying to just stir things up but obviously, if we DO have NATO forces in a firefight with Pakistani troops, it's pretty darn big news.

Nato, Afghan forces attack Pakistani check post; two wounded


PESHAWAR: Two Pakistani personnel were wounded when Afghan and Nato forces attacked the Pakistani border check post in South Waziristan’s Angoor Adda area on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.

Pakistani security forces retaliated the attack on the Pak-Afghan border and three Afghan soldiers were killed as a result.

Exchange of fire at the site of the clash was ongoing between Pakistani and Afghan forces.

However, no official statement confirming the incident was issued by the government.

Moreover, an AP report quoted officials as saying that Afghan and Pakistan forces traded artillery fire in two places along the border.

In one incident, a Pakistani official said two soldiers were wounded on Wednesday in the Angoor Adda.

Villager Ahmadullah Wazir said several shops were damaged.

Separately, Pakistani officials and Afghan military official Abdul Rahman said that border guards exchanged fire in North Waziristan late on Tuesday. No injuries were reported.

The incidents appear unrelated. The Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

Afghan and Pakistan forces occasionally trade fire but the incidents rarely escalate or have diplomatic consequences.

Breaking: Gaddafi Compound Hit By NATO Air Strike

A damaged car in Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli. Photograph: Reuters

Just a day after some U.S. politicians called for Moammar Gaddafi to be assassinated a NATO air strike has his Gaddafi's compound - an office building in the compound was hit but the whereabouts of Gaddafi is not currently known.

From the article at the Guardian:

An office building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound has been destroyed early as Nato air strikes hit close to the base from where the Libyan leader is believed to be directing government strategy in the civil war.

At least two large missiles or bombs struck a multistorey building in Bab al-Aziziya, the sprawling complex in the centre of Tripoli, shortly after midnight. Another building, a ceremonial reception area where Gaddafi hosted a delegation from the African Union two weeks ago, was badly damaged.

The roof of the office building, which also housed a library in which Gaddafi liked to read according to an official, caved under the impact. The ground over a wide area was covered in shattered masonry, broken glass and metal, with pools of water forming between piles of rubble. Three hours after the blast, thick dust was still in the air when the foreign media was taken to the site.

Reports of light injuries from the blasts varied from none to 45. The Libyan leader's location was not known.

Gaddafi's supporters, who gather at Bab al-Aziziya nightly to act as human shields against Nato air strikes, climbed on the shattered building as chunks of masonry still fell. They waved loyalist green flags and chanted pro-Gaddafi and anti-Nato slogans.

I guess the signal is pretty clear to Gaddafi at this point - your days are numbered. At the same time, Gaddafi has to have been expecting this for weeks so I'd guess he's either way underground at the moment or he has changed locations. It will be interesting to see if the normally defiant leader emerges to shake his fist at NATO or if he stays underground or on the move.

Gaddafi compound hit in Nato attack


An office building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound has been destroyed early as Nato air strikes hit close to the base from where the Libyan leader is believed to be directing government strategy in the civil war.

At least two large missiles or bombs struck a multistorey building in Bab al-Aziziya, the sprawling complex in the centre of Tripoli, shortly after midnight. Another building, a ceremonial reception area where Gaddafi hosted a delegation from the African Union two weeks ago, was badly damaged.

The roof of the office building, which also housed a library in which Gaddafi liked to read according to an official, caved under the impact. The ground over a wide area was covered in shattered masonry, broken glass and metal, with pools of water forming between piles of rubble. Three hours after the blast, thick dust was still in the air when the foreign media was taken to the site.

Reports of light injuries from the blasts varied from none to 45. The Libyan leader's location was not known.

Gaddafi's supporters, who gather at Bab al-Aziziya nightly to act as human shields against Nato air strikes, climbed on the shattered building as chunks of masonry still fell. They waved loyalist green flags and chanted pro-Gaddafi and anti-Nato slogans.

Inside the second building, furniture, picture frames and chandeliers lay amid rubble and covered with dust. The South African president, Jacob Zuma, along with two other Africa presidents, held talks here with Gaddafi earlier this month on a peace proposal.

It was the second time Nato had struck inside the compound since its military campaign started. A missile hit another administrative building in the early days of the strikes, causing extensive damage.

In the early hours of Saturday, two missiles hit a site a few hundred metres from Bab al-Aziziya. Nato appeared to have targeted an underground bunker, which was visible from the craters caused by the missiles.

Three members of the US Senate armed service committee called on Sunday for more military intervention in Libya. Republican Lindsey Graham told CNN that Gaddafi "needs to wake up every day wondering: will this be my last?'"

Monday's strike on Gaddafi's compound followed two days of heavy assault on the besieged city of Misrata by government forces. Despite the Libyan government's claims that troops had pulled back from the city, forces on the ground stepped up shelling and rocket fire following gains made on the ground by rebels.

NATO Operation In Northern Afghanistan To Capture Taliban Leader Ends Up Killing 10 Taliban

I'm putting up this blurb because of the significance of the aggressive search for a Taliban leader in northern Afghanistan by NATO forces - this is northern Afghanistan where at one point in time, about 2 years ago there was very little effort on the part of NATO to do anything. Apparently that has changed. First off, regarding this story, there is only a reference to "NATO troops" - so we don't know exactly which country's forces were involved in this operation but much of the north is handled by German troops...that would be my guess but I'm not positive.

From the report at DAWN:

Nato says it has killed more than 10 insurgents and captured two others in an operation targeting a Taliban leader in north Afghanistan.

The coalition said in a statement Monday that its forces, along with their Afghan counterparts, were searching for a Taliban leader who was the district leader of Khanabad in Kunduz province. The coalition says he is linked to Taliban leaders in Pakistan and is involved in aiding the insurgents with roadside bombs and weapons.

Nato said troops attempted to draw the occupants out of the compound where the man was believed to be. When that failed, they entered the compound, a gunbattle ensured, and several insurgents were killed.

There's no question that more and more Taliban activity has been going on in the North but as I alluded to above, it wasn't that long ago that other NATO countries were complaining about the level of German troops in Afghanistan because they had drawn the task of northern Afghanistan where very little resistance had been met by the Taliban. Well, it appears that NATO is finally making some solid moves in the north. At least 10 Taliban could attest to that...well, I mean if they could say something now.

Nato kills more than 10 insurgents in Afghanistan


Nato said troops attempted to draw the occupants out of the compound where the man was believed to be. When that failed, they entered the compound, a gunbattle ensured, and several insurgents were killed.

KABUL: Nato says it has killed more than 10 insurgents and captured two others in an operation targeting a Taliban leader in north Afghanistan.

The coalition said in a statement Monday that its forces, along with their Afghan counterparts, were searching for a Taliban leader who was the district leader of Khanabad in Kunduz province. The coalition says he is linked to Taliban leaders in Pakistan and is involved in aiding the insurgents with roadside bombs and weapons.

Nato said troops attempted to draw the occupants out of the compound where the man was believed to be. When that failed, they entered the compound, a gunbattle ensured, and several insurgents were killed.

Kunduz police chief Abdul Rahman Sayedhkaili said 13 people were killed.

NATO Troops Call In Air Support During Firefight in Eastern Afghanistan, 20 Taliban Killed

As is often the case, the Taliban took a chance on ambushing a NATO patrol (most likely a French patrol) and the end result wasn't so good for the Taliwhackers as air support was sent in from NATO and 20 Taliban were killed when it was all over.

From the report at Breitbart:

NATO troops killed more than 20 insurgents in fighting in eastern Afghanistan Saturday after a patrol came under fire, the coalition said, while in the north, Germany's chancellor made a surprise visit to her nation's troops.
In southern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber targeting a district chief in the city of Kandahar killed two passers-by, including a child, and wounded at least nine more people, authorities said.

Saturday's gunbattle between NATO forces and insurgents took place in the Tagab district of Kapisa province, where coalition forces called in air support after their patrol came under fire, NATO said. It added that Taliban commanders were among the more than 20 insurgents killed.

The fighting came a day after more than five insurgents were killed in a three-hour firefight in the same district following sniper fire on Afghan and international forces manning a checkpoint, NATO said. The coalition did not say what nationality the international troops were, but French forces are stationed in the area.

About 3,850 French troops are deployed in Afghanistan, mainly in Kapisa and the Surobi district north and east of Kabul. A French soldier was killed Friday after a reconnaissance mission came under fire in the neighboring district of Alasay in Kapisa, bringing the total number of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 51.

One thing that we are very aware of by now in the Afghanistan War and that is that the Taliban just don't do well when we attack from the air - in an ambush scenario, the Taliban are rarely within effective retaliation distance of our troops and when it does get a little heated, the Taliban simply hoof it off over a mountain crest and away they go, hoping to have killed a few of our troops. But when AH-64's or fixed wing support is called in, those Taliban find out there's a problem with their escape route and that is usually the reason we see some of these double digit death tolls from an ambush.

NATO kills 20 insurgents in eastern Afghanistan


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - NATO troops killed more than 20 insurgents in fighting in eastern Afghanistan Saturday after a patrol came under fire, the coalition said, while in the north, Germany's chancellor made a surprise visit to her nation's troops.
In southern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber targeting a district chief in the city of Kandahar killed two passers-by, including a child, and wounded at least nine more people, authorities said.

Saturday's gunbattle between NATO forces and insurgents took place in the Tagab district of Kapisa province, where coalition forces called in air support after their patrol came under fire, NATO said. It added that Taliban commanders were among the more than 20 insurgents killed.

The fighting came a day after more than five insurgents were killed in a three-hour firefight in the same district following sniper fire on Afghan and international forces manning a checkpoint, NATO said. The coalition did not say what nationality the international troops were, but French forces are stationed in the area.

About 3,850 French troops are deployed in Afghanistan, mainly in Kapisa and the Surobi district north and east of Kabul. A French soldier was killed Friday after a reconnaissance mission came under fire in the neighboring district of Alasay in Kapisa, bringing the total number of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 51.

Separately NATO said a coalition soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, but it did not release the nationality of the casualty or the location of the attack.

Another soldier died of a noncombat injury in the north of the country on Friday, NATO said. The German military said one of its soldiers, a 21-year-old, died of a gunshot wound that appeared to be the result of an accident at a military post in Baghlan Province, but the matter was being investigated.

More than 670 international troops have died in Afghanistan so far this year. Germany currently has nearly 4,700 troops serving in Afghanistan and plans to start gradually withdrawing in late 2011.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her defense minister and the military's chief of staff arrived in Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan where Germany has a base, on a surprise visit early Saturday.

She later continued to another German base at Mazar-i-Sharif, also in the north, where she met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Before meeting Karzai, she said she planned to discuss administration and corruption with the Afghan leader.

"The progress here is not as we would envision," she said.

Merkel thanked troops in Kunduz for their "extremely dangerous" deployment.

"You are embroiled in battles of the kind one has in war," Merkel said. "That is an entirely new experience for us."

Later, in Mazar-i-Sharif, she said that "we haven't known something like this since the second World War."

To the south, a suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday near an armored car carrying a district chief in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killing two civilians—including a child—and wounding at least another nine, Afghan authorities said. NATO said the bombing had wounded 11 children.

The bomber targeted Ahmadullah Nazak's car in a residential and shopping area of the city as the official was traveling to a meeting, said Zalmai Ayubi, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor. Nazak was unharmed.

"I am safe and sound, and all of those who were in the car are also safe and sound," Nazak told The Associated Press shortly after the explosion. He did not say how many people had been in the car with him.

Irfan Hameed, a doctor at the local hospital, said the bodies of a man and a boy killed in the blast were taken to the hospital, which was also treating five men and four children wounded in the attack.

Violence has been on the rise across much of Afghanistan, with the southern provinces of Kandahar—the birthplace of the Taliban—and Helmand seeing much of the fighting. NATO forces have poured troops into both provinces.

Separately, NATO said Saturday it had killed a senior Taliban leader in an airstrike in Badghis province in northern Afghanistan the previous day.

The military coalition said in a statement that the Taliban leader, Mullah Tor Jan, had been appointed by the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban command council based in Pakistan. The airstrike that killed him followed a firefight that broke out as Afghan and international forces pursued "an armed individual" to a cave complex, the coalition said.

Badghis deputy chief of police, Abdul Jabar Khan, said Tor Jan was a senior Taliban commander responsible for planting mines along routes used by Afghan and international forces and for organizing attacks on police stations.

Taliban Hit Kandahar Base With Car Bomb, 6 NATO Troops Killed

Oh man, this is bad news, folks. I hate to say it but this is going to end up being our guys, American troops - now, the official word right now is only that the six troops killed in this car bombing attack are NATO troops but this area, in Kandahar province is almost all U.S. troops.

Here's some of the details of this horrific attack from DAWN:

A suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near the gates of a military base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six Nato troops and two Afghan soldiers, officials said.

Afghan officials said the attack took place in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, where the US poured in troops this summer as part of a surge of forces to try to oust the Taliban from its southern strongholds.

Gen. Abdul Hamid, the Afghan army chief for the province, said the attacker drove a minibus into the entrance of the base Sunday morning just as vehicles were preparing to move out on a patrol.

”They were leaving the compound and at that moment, the minibus attacked and they hit right at the entrance of the base,” Hamid said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for all the attacks launched on them in the area in recent months.

Nato said only that the service members had been killed in an insurgent attack and declined to identify their nationalities. Most Nato troops in the south are American. More than 670 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in the whole of 2009.

As you can see, two Afghan troops were also killed in this Taliban attack. I can't figure out how a minibus gets this close to the entrance of a base at this time and stage of the War in Afghanistan - I mean, this was a favorite tactic of the Taliban for a long time but we have staved it off for quite some time. The only thing I can think of is that this vehicle approached at the same time that a normal delivery or visit to the base would normally be done - something about this had to have been viewed as normal for this vehicle to get to this point at the base.

I think we've all see these VBIED attacks on videos and we know just how big of a load of explosives the Taliban stick into one of these minibuses - it's incredible how they pack them in and so if it gets anywhere close to some troops heading out on patrol with humvees, etc., it's going to be as deadly as it apparently was.

Man, oh man, what a horrific day. Prayers going out.

Car bomb kills six Nato troops in Afghanistan


KABUL: A suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near the gates of a military base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six Nato troops and two Afghan soldiers, officials said.

Afghan officials said the attack took place in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, where the US poured in troops this summer as part of a surge of forces to try to oust the Taliban from its southern strongholds.

Gen. Abdul Hamid, the Afghan army chief for the province, said the attacker drove a minibus into the entrance of the base Sunday morning just as vehicles were preparing to move out on a patrol.

”They were leaving the compound and at that moment, the minibus attacked and they hit right at the entrance of the base,” Hamid said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for all the attacks launched on them in the area in recent months.

Nato said only that the service members had been killed in an insurgent attack and declined to identify their nationalities. Most Nato troops in the south are American. More than 670 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in the whole of 2009.

Sunday’s attack was the second incident in two weeks to kill so many service members. On Nov. 29, an Afghan policeman turned his gun on his American trainers in the east, killing six of them before he was gunned down. The Taliban claimed that they had sent him to join the police as a sleeper agent. Before that, five US soldiers were killed in a Nov. 14 insurgent attack on their unit in eastern Afghanistan.

Also Sunday, Nato said a joint Nato-Afghan force killed a Taliban leader and captured a key member of another militant group in the east.

The Taliban leader was involved in weapons smuggling and attacks in eastern Wardak province, according to a statement. Nato identified him only by his first name, Fedahi.

Nato said two men threatened coalition troops as they entered a compound Saturday night where they had heard Fedahi was staying. They shot and killed both men, one of whom was later identified as Fedahi, the statement said. It said no civilians were harmed in the operation.

In a separate raid in eastern Khost province Saturday night, Nato and Afghan troops captured a leader of the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based Taliban faction closely tied to al-Qaida.

Coalition troops nabbed the insurgent in a compound in Terayzai district, Nato said. The detainee, it said, has conducted bomb attacks and ambushes against Afghan and coalition troops. – AP

Taliban Calls NATO Agreement For 2014 Withdrawal From Afghanistan a "sign of failure of the American government"

As the countries of NATO signed an agreement for total withdrawal from the Afghanistan War in 2014, the Taliban were quick to try and humiliate every one of the NATO alliance countries and especially the United States of America. I don't know about you, but there are certain groups in this world that just should not get away with mocking America.

From the report at DAWN:

The Taliban on Sunday called Nato’s plan to begin withdrawing troops from the Afghan battlefield next year and cede full control to local forces by 2014 a “sign of failure” for the US government.

The hardline group said the agreement signed in Lisbon on Saturday showed that Washington had “failed to get additional military assistance of the Nato member countries” or a commitment to continue operations in the long term.

“It is a good news for Afghans and all freedom-loving people of the world and it is a sign of failure for the American government,” it said in an emailed statement.

“In the past nine years, the invaders could not establish any system of governance in Kabul and they will never be able to do so in future.”

The statement entitled “Response of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as regards Lisbon Meeting” comes after the Taliban on Saturday scoffed at the alliance’s plan to bring the war in Afghanistan to an end within four years.

Now, between the signal previously from our Commander-in-chief that the U.S. would start withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2011 and now this official decision by NATO to withdraw completely by 2014, I ask you ... will there be ANY effort on our part to win this war in the next one for three years? And I ask you, won't this further put our troops in even more danger on this battlefield?

You know, I've disagreed with many regarding the aim of the War in Afghanistan - many critics have said this was another example of "nation building" in a country that can't be rebuilt and I've stated that we have NOT tried to nation-build Afghanistan - we have done nothing in Afghanistan like we did in Iraq. For me, the War in Afghanistan has always been about one thing and that is to never allow al Qaeda to regain their position in this country so they can once again plot and execute major attacks on America. Well, our President and the leaders of NATO have now made it official - al Qaeda WILL be back in their hundreds of training camps in Afghanistan in at least three years, the Taliban WILL be back in control of the country of Afghanistan and the jihadis of the world WILL once again have a fortress in which to plan world wide attacks.

You can yap all you want about how impossible it is to win a war in Afghanistan but I am convinced if you let our military commanders unleash our dogs of war without any constraints...without any attention paid to world whining and the fake objections of Hamid Karzai, the Taliban CAN be routed from Afghanistan. And here is what Barack Hussein Obama has never acknowledged - that in order to defeat al Qaeda, you have to defeat the Taliban. Our worthless Commander-in-chief has always made this about al Qaeda and he has totally ignored the Taliban - that's a bit like a surgeon deciding that the only thing he has to do is cut out a tumor and ignores the fact that the tumor is in the middle of the patient's brain.

So once again, it appears the spineless Leftists of our country and the West have won again. So, prepare yourselves for 2014 and 2015 and 2016 for the next wave of 9/11 attacks, America. And when the body count in our country mounts and we bury our dead, just remember we had the chance to stop it all and we simply....gave up.

Nato withdrawal plan ‘sign of failure’ for US: Taliban


KABUL: The Taliban on Sunday called Nato’s plan to begin withdrawing troops from the Afghan battlefield next year and cede full control to local forces by 2014 a “sign of failure” for the US government.

The hardline group said the agreement signed in Lisbon on Saturday showed that Washington had “failed to get additional military assistance of the Nato member countries” or a commitment to continue operations in the long term.

“It is a good news for Afghans and all freedom-loving people of the world and it is a sign of failure for the American government,” it said in an emailed statement.

“In the past nine years, the invaders could not establish any system of governance in Kabul and they will never be able to do so in future.”

The statement entitled “Response of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as regards Lisbon Meeting” comes after the Taliban on Saturday scoffed at the alliance’s plan to bring the war in Afghanistan to an end within four years.

The group claimed that the agreement showed that foreign forces were “doomed towards the same fate as those that tread this path before them”, despite a massive troop surge earlier this year to quell fierce fighting in the south.

The plan will see the 48 countries of the 150,000-strong Nato-led force in Afghanistan begin transferring parts of the battlefield to local police and military and move Western troops into a supporting role by the end of 2014.

Washington, however, warned that “some hard fighting remains ahead” and did not rule out combat operations continuing beyond 2014.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen pledged that the allies would stand by Kabul after their combat mission ends.

The Taliban on Sunday repeated its call for the immediate withdrawal of foreign forces, calling the 2014 cut-off date an “irrational decision”, as it prolonged a “meaningless, imposed and (unwinnable) war”.

“They should not postpone withdrawal of their forces even be it for one day,” the statement added.

Nato commanders and officials have been upbeat about progress in Afghanistan, particularly in the volatile south, which is the Taliban’s spiritual home.

US President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the Nato-led allies “are achieving our objective of breaking Taliban momentum” after committing extra resources to the war.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Brigadier-General Josef Blotz on Sunday said that foreign and Afghan troops had broadly halted the Taliban advance and won support in key Afghan population centres.

“Recent developments have shown that progress is possible. Our job now is to build on that progress to increase the momentum that has been achieved and over time to help the Afghan government prepare to sustain the progress,” he added.

Violence, though, remains a daily reality for both troops and ordinary Afghans, with military and civilian casualties at an all-time high in the nine-year war.

In a sign of the difficulties of securing the war-torn country, four civilians were killed in two separate suicide bomb attacks in eastern Laghman province on Saturday.

Nato also admitted that its troops accidentally killed three civilians when they came under fire during operations in Kunar province, also in eastern Afghanistan, on Friday.

A survey published late Friday gave a gloomy prediction that most people in southern Afghanistan thought the Taliban would return after Nato troops leave.

The rebel group indicated on Sunday it was eyeing a return to power, claiming in its statement that it had put together a “comprehensive policy for the future Afghanistan”. – AFP

Joke of the Year: Afghanistan, U.S. and NATO Support Peace Process With Taliban

I'm serious...this is probably the biggest story of lunacy on the net right now, as account after account is going up about how the Afghans have sat down with Taliban leaders to discuss some parameters for peace in Afghanistan and that now, it is reported that U.S. and NATO officials have aided in bringing the sides together.

For what? So the Taliban can lie across a table instead of lieing through an internet message or a phone call? You'd think by now, these high up security officials in the U.S. and NATO would have gotten sick of finding egg on their faces every six months but apparently not. Apparently the Obama administration is all in on self-humiliation.

From the story at The Nation:

Today, it’s widely reported (in the Post, the Times, RFE/RL, and many other outlets) that the movement of Taliban leaders from Pakistan to Afghanistan and back was facilitated by the United States, NATO, and ISAF. At a NATO meeting in Brussels, Secretary Clinton and Secretary Gates said that the United States would do “whatever it takes” to support Karzai’s plan to reconcile with the Taliban.

According to AP, the head of the newly appointed High Peace Council in Afghanistan, former president Burnahuddin Rabbani—no softie when it comes to the Taliban—said that he's "convinced that the Taliban are ready to negotiate peace."

That’s a direct shift from the administration’s refusal to support Karzai’s peace talks proposals since 2009, especially his January 2010 suggestion in London, which caught US officials off guard and led some, including Richard (“Don’t call me Dick!") Holbrooke to fulminate against the idea. Specifically, Holbrooke denounced the idea of taking top Taliban leaders off the UN blacklist, something that many Taliban officials and supporters of peace talks believe is critical to facilitate talks.

Okay, this story's been out for about a week or so and the reason I am finally addressing it is because I'm hearing MORE about it on the MSM instead of less of it, like I expected. You see, sometimes I'm a fool. Sometimes I revert back to this belief that someone in the U.S. government and in NATO actually has a brain.

Here's the deal. Real simple. The Taliban coming to talk about a peace settlement in Afghanistan would be like Ted Bundy having come to a teen age girls' pajama party as a chaperone. It would be like Ted Kennedy having spoken at a temperance league event. It would be like Barack Hussein Obama addressing the national meeting of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Taliban want peace in Afghanistan like I want to live under Communism and work in a potato field.

Let me list some observations why we should NEVER, EVER sit down with the Taliban for ANY kind of talks:

• In Pakistan, the Taliban there signed over two dozen peace agreements with the Pakistani government and military over a period from 2007 thru 2009. Not ONE of those agreements did the Taliban ever live up to and to my best recollection, the longest that peace last was about 45 days.


• The Taliban worship the most extreme version of Islam and in that worship, they follow to a tee the fact that islam MUST dominate and that jihad must be carried out. Allah and Mo make no mentions of "agreements" or "compromise."


• The Taliban have had it pretty cushy over the past two years as America has floundered with military troop levels and policy in the Afghan War - why should they want peace? They are actually winning at this point in many experts' view.


• The Taliban lie like you and me breathe, eat and drink water.


• The Taliban once ruled Afghanistan from Kabul - they had a stranglehold on the people and complete ownership of the opium empire. The Taliban were able to enforce the strictest Sharia law in the world and get awfully rich at the same time. The Taliban don't want some seats in an Afghan government...they don't want a couple of provinces...they don't want to go to work as stable boys....they WANT WHAT THEY HAD!

I don't know why it is so difficult for everyone to get that last point - but it's all too similar to the situation in the Middle East where the Palestinians and Hamas and Syria and Iran want nothing to do with a peace settlement with Israel - they want Israel destroyed and cast to the four corners of the globe. But yet, our minions in the government make the trek up the hill every fucking year to pretend that peace can be made.

I'm actually in favor of talks with the Taliban if they agree to have every single leader and commander in their movement at a single meeting...and I mean including Mullah Omar. I want them to leave no one home to mind the cave. Then as they all sit in that great hall for the meeting, all Afghans and Westerners take a break and leave and that building is hit with six 2,000 pound JDAMs. That's the kind of "talk" that the Taliban deserve.

NATO Backs Taliban Peace Talks


Momentum is building on peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan.

Not long ago, I reported on General Petraeus’s comments that the Taliban was signaling an interest in talking peace with President Karzai’s government. It was also reported that not only had talks gotten started, but that the talks involved senior Taliban representatives who could speak for the Quetta Shura Taliban, the top leadership council in Quetta, Pakistan. And it was reported that sometime last summer, the Obama administration shifted policy, abandoning its previous view that talks with the Taliban would be useless until the insurgents were pushed to the brink of military defeat, and that now the White House is ready to fully engage in search of a political settlement.

Today, it’s widely reported (in the Post, the Times, RFE/RL, and many other outlets) that the movement of Taliban leaders from Pakistan to Afghanistan and back was facilitated by the United States, NATO, and ISAF. At a NATO meeting in Brussels, Secretary Clinton and Secretary Gates said that the United States would do “whatever it takes” to support Karzai’s plan to reconcile with the Taliban.

According to AP, the head of the newly appointed High Peace Council in Afghanistan, former president Burnahuddin Rabbani—no softie when it comes to the Taliban—said that he's "convinced that the Taliban are ready to negotiate peace."

That’s a direct shift from the administration’s refusal to support Karzai’s peace talks proposals since 2009, especially his January 2010 suggestion in London, which caught US officials off guard and led some, including Richard (“Don’t call me Dick!") Holbrooke to fulminate against the idea. Specifically, Holbrooke denounced the idea of taking top Taliban leaders off the UN blacklist, something that many Taliban officials and supporters of peace talks believe is critical to facilitate talks.

Until recently, the United States supported only “reintegration,” that is, the inclusion of low-level Taliban defectors into Afghan society. But it opposed “reconciliation,” meaning full-on peace talks with the Taliban organization. That seems to be changing.

Until now, the United States has demanded that the Taliban accept the Afghan constitution, renounce violence, and reject Al Qaeda. The Taliban, for its part, has one central condition: the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from the country. The July 2011 deadline that President Obama has set for the start of an American withdrawal could easily serve as a starting point for a deal with the Taliban over an American departure, and Taliban leaders have said so.

Despite the postive noises from Gates and Clinton, it's unlikely that either is behind the shift in American policy. (Indeed, it's good that Gates will be leaving the administration soon, since his appointment was probably the single worst that Obama made on after being elected.) If anyone is behind the policy change, it's Obama himself, now fortified by Tom Donilon, the new national security adviser, who is widely known to be a skeptic of the war. In fact, according to Bob Woodward's latest book, Obama's Wars, Gates said that if Donilon ever became national security adviser it would be a "disaster." (Goodbye, Mr. Gates!) The other leading skeptic in the White House is Vice President Biden, and Donilon's wife is a senior official on Biden's staff.

Pakistan Pushes Back Hard On NATO Apache Incursions Into the Country, Report of 3 Pakistani Soldiers Killed In Latest NATO Strike

Okay, I don't trust this latest information about 3 Pakistani soldiers being killed at a security checkpoint by NATO Apache attack helicopters one bit - for one thing, the report is coming from a "Reuters" source and secondly, this comes out JUST as we are seeing the Pakistani outrage over previous helicopter incursions into Pakistan over the weekend.

Here's some of the info from the report at DAWN:

Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in a Nato helicopter attack in Kurram Agency, a border region with Afghanistan, security and military officials said, apparently the fourth such strike in recent days.
The attack by two Nato helicopters took place early in the morning in Teri Mangal village in Kurram Agency, an ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border.

“The helicopters shelled the area for about 25 minutes. Three of our soldiers manning a border post were killed and three wounded,” a senior security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

He did not say whether Pakistan responded to the strike.

Pakistan on Monday expressed outrage at violation of its airspace by Nato helicopters in Afghanistan over the weekend, saying it would consider “response options” to any future incursions.

It's hard to say just how upset the Pakistanis are about the Apache strikes inside of Pakistan - the Pakistani government, in the past, has publicly decried issues with NATO and U.S. military actions but in private has supported them, but this time I think they are drawing the line. Let's face it, over the past month the number of UAV strikes inside of Pakistan has gone through the roof and the Pakistanis haven't said a peep but word of the first helicopter strike inside the border drew first criticisms. And it seems to be building.

It's my guess that there will be some high level smoothing of ruffled feathers and some assurances from NATO that it won't happen again. And then it will happen again further down the line. Let's hope so.

Nato helicopters kill three Pakistani soldiers in Kurram



PARACHINAR: Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in a Nato helicopter attack in Kurram Agency, a border region with Afghanistan, security and military officials said, apparently the fourth such strike in recent days.
The attack by two Nato helicopters took place early in the morning in Teri Mangal village in Kurram Agency, an ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border.

“The helicopters shelled the area for about 25 minutes. Three of our soldiers manning a border post were killed and three wounded,” a senior security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

He did not say whether Pakistan responded to the strike.

Pakistan on Monday expressed outrage at violation of its airspace by Nato helicopters in Afghanistan over the weekend, saying it would consider “response options” to any future incursions.

Two Nato Apache helicopters killed 30 insurgents on Pakistani soil after a rare manned pursuit across the border from eastern Afghanistan late on Friday, after militants attacked a remote Afghan security outpost in Khost province, Nato forces said.

On Saturday, two Kiowa helicopters returned to the area and killed another four, Nato-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) said in a statement in Kabul on Sunday.

Monday saw another possible border violation, with six militants killed in Kurram, a Reuters reporter in the area said. But an ISAF spokesman said it was “near the border,” rather than in Pakistan.

ISAF said in a statement issued late on Sunday that helicopters crossing into Pakistan were following its rules of engagement.

The rugged border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is seen by Washington as a critical battleground in its fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Incursions into Pakistan are extremely rare and the United States prefers to use unmanned aerial drones for its attacks on militant positions in Pakistan's borderlands, known to be a haven for militant groups.

The United States has stepped up missile strikes by pilotless drone aircraft in the border areas in recent weeks.

So far 21 strikes have been carried out by the US drones in September, the record number in a month.

Western security sources said on Wednesday a militant plot to stage coordinated attacks in Europe has been disrupted in its early stages by drone strikes in Pakistan. —Reuters

NATO Plans Massive Operation To Clear Kandahar, Afghanistan Area of Taliban by November

Now THIS is what I'm talking about! We're finally seeing some aggressiveness on the part of both NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan towards the Taliban - anyone want to disagree with me now that Petraeus was going to make a difference? I'd like to point out that we are back in the airstrike business in Afghanistan, as well.

Anyway, here's part of the report of the new operation slated for the Kandahar area, from Reuters via Breitbart:

Afghan and NATO forces are planning an offensive to clear Taliban insurgents from areas around the city of Kandahar by late November, the NATO commander for southern Afghanistan said on Tuesday.

Some 10,000-12,000 Afghan soldiers and 5,000 police backed by thousands of international troops will focus operations against an estimated 1,000 insurgents in districts west of the strategic city, British Major-General Nick Carter said.

"It will happen in the next two to three months, but our expectation is that by mid- to the end of November that we will have rid those areas very much of the Taliban," he told reporters in Brussels by video conference from Afghanistan.

"You need to dominate the population and dominate the ground ... in order to achieve the solution."

Now, as you read this report, you will see all of the numbers being given for Afghan army troops to be in this operation and vague terms as to how many NATO forces and more specifically, American troops, will be involved. This is par for the course as our military higher ups and our political leaders try to bolster the morale and prestige of the Afghan army. Well, believe me, this is going to be a U.S. operation and I would say it's going to resemble Marjah with mostly Marines involved. Now, I would say that the Brits will probably put a good number of their forces in as well.

It's been far too long since the Taliban have gone unchecked in the area surrounding Kandahar and someone has finally gotten some balls and said "that's enough." I say that is Petraeus but it might be lower level people who finally have the ear of the top commanders.

Either way, let's all pray for the safety of our troops going into this operation - the Taliban won't give up this acreage willingly - it is going to be bloody and I can only hope that all of the blood will be Taliban blood.

NATO aims to oust Taliban from Kandahar by November


(Reuters) - Afghan and NATO forces are planning an offensive to clear Taliban insurgents from areas around the city of Kandahar by late November, the NATO commander for southern Afghanistan said on Tuesday.

Some 10,000-12,000 Afghan soldiers and 5,000 police backed by thousands of international troops will focus operations against an estimated 1,000 insurgents in districts west of the strategic city, British Major-General Nick Carter said.

"It will happen in the next two to three months, but our expectation is that by mid- to the end of November that we will have rid those areas very much of the Taliban," he told reporters in Brussels by video conference from Afghanistan.

"You need to dominate the population and dominate the ground ... in order to achieve the solution."

Carter, whose near 28,000-strong regional force includes Americans, British, Slovaks, French, Belgians, Canadians and Romanians, said international troops would fight alongside the Afghan forces and provide air and other logistical support.

He said that in the past year the combined Afghan international forces in the Kandahar region had succeeded in seizing the initiative back from the insurgents in a region considered the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

However, hundreds of insurgents were operating "with a degree of freedom" south of Afghanistan's Highway One -- the main road that sweeps across southern Afghanistan -- and the aim was to protect the vital ring road and population centers.

"SPORTING CHANCE"

The key to the long-term success of the operation would be to ensure the establishment of Afghan administration in areas cleared of insurgents.

"You can't get stability unless you have security and governance working in parallel," he said. "It's about Afghan human capacity ... These things take time and if we give it time, there's a sporting chance it will prevail." Carter said NATO forces were also looking to double electricity supplies over the next 6-9 months to Kandahar city, where hundreds of businesses have folded in the past two years.

"If you haven't got employment ... you will begin to drive people to all kinds of potentially nefarious activity or indeed insurgency. So it's important that all that happens in tandem."

There has been a big increase in foreign troop numbers to around 15,000 in Kandahar province since U.S. President Barack Obama announced the deployment of 30,000 more U.S. troops to try to create conditions to train Afghan forces so that they can eventually take over security duties from NATO.

A major thrust against the insurgents had been expected earlier this year to demonstrate progress by the year end, when the White House plans another review of the Afghan operation.

But NATO and the U.S. military said the offensive would unfold more slowly than originally planned, given fierce Taliban resistance and the need to prepare local authorities to provide services once security improves.