to Åf-Pak the way we've done in Iraq

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Baghdad Devastated by Massive Blasts, 136 Killed, 500 Wounded, Ministries Destroyed

 

Two massive blasts shook central Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 136 people and wounding 500, and destroying three government ministry buildings, according to the Times of London's Oliver August reporting from Baghdad. It was the most destructive attack of 2009. August notes that the likely perpetrators were either Baathists from the old regime or Sunni Muslim extremists, both of whom want to stop a new, Shiite- and Kurdish- dominated status quo from settling upon Iraq.

I read s/t the other day about some of our troops being back in the fray.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/25-2

snip

Washington just arm-twisted Karzai into agreeing to a run-off vote that will likely be as bogus as the last one. In Afghanistan, ethnicity and tribe trump everything else. Karzai is a Pashtun, but has almost no roots in tribal politics.

The suave Abdullah, who is also in Washington's pocket, is half Pashtun, half Tajik. But he is seen as a Tajik who speaks for this ethnic minority which detests and scorns the majority Pashtun. Tajiks will vote for Abdullah, Pashtun will not. If the U.S. manages to force Abdullah into a coalition with Karzai, Pashtun -- 55% of the population -- won't back the new regime which many Afghans will see as western yes-men and Tajik-dominated.

Abdullah also has some very unsavoury friends from the north: Former Afghan Communist Party bigwigs Mohammed Fahim and Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostam -- both major war criminals. Behind them stand the Tajik Northern Alliance and resurrected Afghan Communist Party, both funded by Russia and backed by Iran and India.

Ironically, the U.S. is now closely allied with the Afghan Communists and fighting its former Pashtun allies from the 1980s anti-Soviet struggle. Most North Americans have no idea they are now backing Afghan Communists and the men who control most of Afghanistan's booming drug trade.

***********************

Not to be cynical, but of course we'd back the drug traders.  More $ for us.

to what the French Foreign Minister had as his take and i think the French NATO troops are in a key spot currently

~~~~~~~~~

Author: Avaz Yuldoshev

DUSHANBE, October 20, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The Independent Electoral Commission of Afghanistan has established a world record for counting votes at the presidential election that was held in the country on August 20 already, Mr. Thierry Mariani, Special Envoy of France for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, remarked at a meeting with reporters in Dushanbe on October 19.

Two months have passed since the presidential election was held in Afghanistan, however, the election results have not yet been announced and this evokes concern, Mr. Mariani noted.  According to him, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner recently visited Kabul to look into the situation that emerged.

Mr. Mariani said that the French military contingent will not leave Afghanistan until international terrorism is defeated.  “It is very difficult for us to explain our people what for French citizens are dying in Afghanistan, but we will stay in this country, until goals of the Operation Enduring Freedom are reached,” he said.

According to him, if the NATO forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan, international terrorists and drug traffickers will pour into central Asia.  “I think that in this case, the whole world will be in danger,” Mr. Mariani stressed.   

http://www.asiaplus.tj/en/news/47/58266.html

so I'm not sure what your point is.  The beginning of my Afghan. article is this:

Published on Sunday, October 25, 2009 by The Toronto Sun/Canada

Americans Pull Strings in Afghan Election

by Eric Margolis

Henry Kissinger once observed that being America's ally can be more dangerous than being its enemy.

Take poor Hamid Karzai, the amiable former business consultant and CIA "asset" installed by Washington as Afghanistan's president. As the U.S. increasingly gets its backside kicked in Afghanistan, it has blamed the powerless Karzai for its woes and bumbling.

You can almost hear Washington rebuking, "bad puppet! Bad puppet!"

The U.S. Congressional Research service just revealed it costs a staggering $1.3 million per annum to keep an American soldier in Afghanistan. Costs for Canadian troops are likely similar. This huge expense can't go on forever.

The U.S. government has wanted to dump Karzai, but could not find an equally obedient but more effective replacement. There was talk of imposing an American "chief executive officer" on him. Or, in the lexicon of the old British Raj, an Imperial Viceroy.

I've been sending her emails and she always responds quickly.  I'm quite concerned.

Last couple of times she went missing, she was on a wonderful trip.  Perhaps this time, too?

Monday, 26 October 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/default.stm

Afghan poll rivals rule out deal Afghan President Hamid Karzai and rival Abdullah Abdullah rule out any power-sharing deal. UN confident over Afghan run-off Run-off faces huge challenges Uncertain future ahead

Here is a list of NATO countries and the number of military personnel they have deployed in Afghanistan (in October 2006):

• Belgium, 300, whose main task is to secure the airport at Kabul;
• Bulgaria, 150, in 2007, Bulgaria plans to send 200 more soldiers;
• Canada, 2500, 44 have died;
• Czech Republic, 100, this force is to rise to 150 when Czech forces assume control of Kabul Airport;
• Denmark, 389, three have died;
• Estonia, 79, Estonia plans to increase this force to 120;
• France, 1700, French forces are deployed in Kabul, nine French soldiers have been killed since the start of the mission;
• Germany, 3000, German forces are deployed in the north, 18 German soldiers have died since the start of the mission, the German mandate does not allow German troops to be used in the south and east in fighting against the Taliban insurgency;

• Greece, 171;


• Hungary, 159;


• Iceland, 20;


• Italy, 1800, nine have died during the mission;


• Latvia, nine;


• Lithuania, 115;


• Luxembourg, 10;


• Netherlands,
  1907, Netherlands forces have been deployed in various missions
  including some operations in the south, four soldiers have died;


• Norway, 450, one has died;


• Poland 100, Poland plans to send an additional 1200 troops;


• Portugal, 156, one has died;


• Romania, 72, four have died, Romania plans to send an additional battalion;


• Slovakia, 57;


• Slovenia, 49;


• Spain,
  800, 18 died in a helicopter crash in 2005, 62 died in a plane crash in
  Turkey in 2003 en route to Spain, one other soldier was killed;


• Turkey, 825;


• United Kingdom, 5,800, 44 have died;


• United
  States, 12,000 under NATO command, an additional 8,000 under American
  command, 296 Americans have died during the mission.

Is the source iffy ?

http://www.rabble.ca/news/afghanistan-canada-and-nato-allies