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Max Forte's List: Afghanistan: Occupation and Resistance

    • Canada to offer Afghanistan cash, but no troops 

       
        
       CHICAGO—  From Monday's Globe and Mail 
       
    • Stephen Harper will pledge money to help Afghanistan pay for its own army after foreign troops leave in 2014, but he has so far resisted pressure to extend the Canadian Forces training mission there, officials say.

      At a NATO summit in Chicago where the alliance’s leaders were keen to show their war-weary publics that they’re sealing an accelerated exit strategy, the Prime Minister was in no rush to commit Canadian trainers to stay after 2014, when most other foreign soldiers will be gone.

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    • Mulcair hammers Harper over Afghan withdrawal after report says special forces could stay past 2014

       

           Apr 25, 2012

    • NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair says all Canadian military personnel must pull out of Afghanistan in 2014 as planned, after a report said the United States wants Canadian special forces to stay past the 2014 withdrawal date.

       

      The Pentagon has devised a plan for thousands of special forces to stay in the war ravaged country after the NATO withdrawal in 2014. The U.S has asked for soldiers from Canada and Australia to participate, Postmedia News has reported.

       

      Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during question period Wednesday that Canada “has not received a specific request” for an extension of its Afghanistan mission.

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    • NATO to pressure Canada to help foot bill for Afghanistan security

       

           May 19, 2012

    • Canada’s long-term involvement in Afghanistan will be centre-stage when Prime Minister Stephen Harper sits down with leaders from 60 countries for this weekend’s NATO summit in Chicago.

       

      The prime minister will be facing pressure from the U.S. and other allies to commit money to help cover the $4.1-billion per year that will be needed to sustain Afghanistan’s large army and police force after the majority of international troops withdraw in 2014.

       

      Securing adequate funding for those security forces at this summit is seen as the top priority for American and NATO officials.

       

      “What I’m hoping to see is a commitment to resourcing the Afghan national security forces post-2014,” U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, said recently. “I’m fairly confident we will see that and I think that will be the key to long-term success.”

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    • House GOP Leaders Block Amendment Solidifying Afghanistan Withdrawal Timeline   

          <!-- Date created -->    Friday, 18 May 2012 15:44     <!-- Item Author -->  <!-- span class="itemAuthor">  Written by   <a rel="author" href="/news/itemlist/user/55-alissa">alissa</a>  </span -->      By Robert Naiman, Truthout | News Analysis
    • "I can't let this be a war without end, and I can't lose the whole Democratic Party." That was President Obama, describing his Afghan war policy, according to Bob Woodward's 2010 book. But until this moment, the administration is still letting it be a war without end, and the Afghan war policy has lost not only the whole Democratic Party, but a substantial part of the Republican Party as well: the majority of Republican voters, for example.

       

      One thing the Afghan war policy hasn't lost: the GOP leadership. That was demonstrated Wednesday night when the GOP leadership blocked consideration in the House of a bipartisan amendment offered by Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) and Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) that would have nailed to the wall the current, slippery "timetable" for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

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    • Hundreds of protesters marching through Chicago

    • CHICAGO (AP) — Thousands of nurses and other protesters gathered Friday at a downtown Chicago plaza for a noisy but largely peaceful demonstration demanding a "Robin Hood" tax on banks' financial transactions, before a smaller but more raucous crowd broke away and began marching through city streets.

      The marchers chanted slogans and taunted police, who followed on bicycles and on foot. Police horses blocked some intersections as the breakaway groups wound through the city.

      Friday's demonstrations were the largest yet ahead of a two-day NATO summit that is expected to draw even larger protests.

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    • Visiting French President François Hollande told President Barack Obama on Friday that France's combat troops would leave Afghanistan by year's end and pledged to find a way "for our allies to pursue their mission" in talks at a looming NATO summit. The two leaders also bonded over jokes about fast food, a move that recalled ugly Franco-American tensions ahead of the war in Iraq.

       

      France will support Afghanistan "in another way, another form" Hollande told Obama as they met for the first time in the Oval Office. But "the date of the end of 2012 is, for (French) combat troops, the final date."

       

      Obama's NATO-backed strategy for ending the deeply unpopular war calls for shifting the burden of security to Afghan forces next year (a step the NATO summit in Chicago this weekend is expected to detail) on the way to a full withdrawal of alliance combat troops by the end of 2014. At the same time, he recently signed an accord with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that may keep American military trainers and counterterrorism troops in the war-torn country to 2024. U.S. officials have expressed hope that France will consider a similar compromise, which could avert a possible rush to the exits by other war-weary allies.

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    • Men in Afghan uniforms kill two NATO troops: ISAF

    • Two NATO troops were killed by two men in Afghan police uniforms in southern Afghanistan Saturday, the military said, with Afghan sources identifying the victims as British soldiers based in Helmand province.

       

      A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the attackers were believed to be insurgents dressed as police, but a senior Afghan security official said they had been in the police force for a year.

       

      "We are aware of the claims that the shooters were AUP (Afghan Uniformed Police); however, operational reports indicate these were insurgents dressed in AUP uniforms and not actual AUP," ISAF said.

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    • Afghanistan security deal Obama signed has holes
       
    • WASHINGTON (AP) — The 10-year security compact that President Barack Obama signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai contains promises the United States and Afghanistan cannot guarantee they will keep, and loopholes for both nations.

      The deal signed Tuesday also allows either nation to walk away on a year's notice. That could allow the next U.S. president, or the next Afghan leader, to scuttle a deal negotiated by his or her predecessor.

      For Obama, the agreement represents a compromise with Karzai after messy negotiations over U.S. military detention of Afghan suspects and raids on Afghan homes that offend Afghans.

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    • Obama’s trip came amid criticism at home that the president is using the anniversary of bin Laden’s death to advance his reelection prospects — featuring his decision to launch the mission in campaign videos and other political settings, for example. As Republican critics have called his leadership abroad weak, Obama has held up the bin Laden operation as evidence that he is willing to make risky decisions to protect U.S. interests.

      His arrival here was timed to make the “strategic partnership agreement” official before an important NATO summit this month — and, in the words of one senior administration official traveling with Obama, to take advantage of “a resonant day for both our countries on the anniversary of the death of bin Laden.”

      Obama used his time with the troops to emphasize the sacrifices they and their families have made over more than a decade of conflict, saying that in doing so they made the bin Laden mission successful and put the long war on a path to its conclusion.

      The hours-long visit was directed almost entirely toward an American audience, unfolding while most Afghans slept. It also served to promote detente after some of the tensest months in U.S.-Afghan relations.

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    • KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban struck back less than two hours after President Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday, targeting a foreigners’ housing compound with a suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people.

       

      It was the second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban’s continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even when security had been tightened for Obama’s visit and Wednesday’s anniversary of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan.

      Obama arrived at Bagram Air Field late Tuesday, then traveled to Kabul by helicopter for a meeting with President Hamid Karzai in which they signed an agreement governing the U.S. presence after combat troops withdraw in 2014. Later, back at the base, he was surrounded by U.S. troops, shaking every hand. He then gave a speech broadcast to Americans back home, before ending his lightning visit just before 4:30 a.m.

      The U.S. president, who is in the midst of a re-election campaign, touted the Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden a year ago Wednesday, noting that the operation was launched from a base in Afghanistan.

      He also said that “the tide has turned” over the last three years.

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    • U.S.-Afghan pact ‘does not rule out drone strikes’

       

           May 2, 2012

    • KABUL — The pact between the United States and Afghanistan could leave the door open for continued drone strikes against insurgent targets in Pakistan after 2014, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker indicated Wednesday.

       

      “There is nothing in this agreement that precludes the right of self-defense for either party and if there are attacks from the territory of any state aimed at us we have the inherent right of self defense and will employ it,” he said.

       

      Crocker was responding to a question about controversial drone strikes on Taliban and Al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan at a briefing on the deal signed in Kabul overnight by U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.

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    • Surprise Obama Afghanistan trip sees president sign deal on post-war promises
    • Published On Tue May 01 2012
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    • Man dressed in Afghan army uniform fires on coalition forces, killing U.S. service member
    • Published On Thu Apr 26 2012
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    • Australia will withdraw Afghanistan troops early, PM Julia Gillard says

       

           Apr 17, 2012

    • SYDNEY — Australia said Tuesday it will bring its troops home from Afghanistan a year earlier than planned with most soldiers withdrawn in 2013 after significant security gains over the past 18 months.

       

      Canberra, a key coalition ally of the United States, has repeatedly said it intends to remain in the war-wracked nation until 2014 but Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Afghans would now be ready to take responsibility earlier.

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    • Stephen Harper says Canadian troops could stay in Afghanistan past 2014
    • Published On Wed Apr 25 2012
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    • NATO reaches 'important stage' in Afghan war: general

    • NATO is at an "important stage" in the war in Afghanistan, with insurgents losing ground while Afghan forces grow in strength as foreign troops gradually go home, a top general said Wednesday.

       

      Painting a positive picture of developments on the ground, British Lieutenant General Adrian Bradshaw, deputy commander of the NATO-led operation, said enemy attacks were down 10 percent in 2011 and expected to continue fading until foreign combat troops leave in late 2014.

       

      "We are at an important stage in the campaign where as we start to hand over more and more responsibility to our Afghan partners, we are finding that the insurgents are under pressure," he told reporters via videolink from Kabul.

       

      "Their momentum has been reversed and we expect that progress to be maintained through this coming late spring and summer and on towards our eventual handover of combat operations completely to the Afghan national security forces in late 2014," Bradshaw added.

       

      Although the Taliban were able to mount an attack in Kabul last week, Bradshaw said Afghan forces successfully dealt with the assault on their own.

       

      He also stressed that it was the first successful incursion into the capital in seven months, though insurgents have "almost continuously" tried to hit the city.

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    • Three strikes and you're out, Afghan government tells unruly clerics

    • KABUL/HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan has stepped up efforts to stop clerics from inciting violence or preaching anti-government slogans in mosques, giving unruly mullahs three chances to change their ways or face dismissal and possibly jail.

       

      In Afghanistan, where most men go to Friday prayers, sermons are a critical influence on both sides of the conflict with insurgents looking to gain support and recruits, and NATO and Afghan forces aiming to counter militant messages as Western combat troops look to pull out by the end of 2014.

       

      A recent decree by the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs aims to dampen anti-Western and pro-insurgent messages from religious leaders at mosques whose opinions are often more trusted and valued than those of the government, which in many rural and regional areas is seen as a remote presence.

       

      "If we encourage our people to be at peace, they accept it, and if we encourage them to do anything, they accept, because they know that whatever we tell them is according to the holy Koran and Islam," said Mawlavi Mohammad Asghar, an imam in Kabul.

       

      Of around 126,000 mosques in Afghanistan, only about 6,000 are registered and funded by the government. The others are built by the people and their imams are supported by that neighborhood. In rural areas where the Taliban are most active, Friday sermons are often in favor of the insurgency.

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    • A New U.S.-Afghan Strategic Partnership: Should the Taliban Be Afraid?
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    • US to defend Afghanistan for decade after drawdown

    • KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Washington has pledged in a newly agreed strategic pact to help defend Afghanistan militarily for at least a decade after the country formally takes control of its own security, an Afghan official said Monday.

      The draft agreement signed on Sunday also says the U.S. will only take such actions with Afghan agreement. The United States also pledged it will not launch attacks on other countries from Afghan soil, according to sections of the accord read out in parliament by Afghan National Security Adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

      Afghan officials had previously said that they would not allow their country to be used to launch drone attacks into Pakistan or other neighboring countries after the deadline for most foreign forces to withdraw by the end of 2014.

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    • Veteran Disrupts CNN's War Mongering

       
       
       
                   
            

      By davidswanson - Posted on 23 April 2012

            
         
           

      Scott Camil, a veteran of the second-longest U.S. war in history, that on Vietnam, radically changed a discussion of the longest war in U.S. history, that on Afghanistan, on CNN on Sunday.

       

      CNN's Don Lemon tried repeatedly to explain troops posing with body parts as an inscrutable result of war, without questioning the justification of that war.  Repeatedly, Lemon instructed viewers not to judge soldiers. 

       

      A guest to whom Lemon devoted a great deal of time, Dr. Terry Lyles, followed Lemon's leads and was praised by Lemon as the best guest he'd heard from on the topic.  Lyles suggested the problem was one of public relations: "We need to do a better job," he said, "you know, with them psychologically to help them understand that the world is watching.  Be careful about what you do and what you capture while what you're doing every day is very difficult."

    • Scott Camil took a different tack, saying: "Well no we don't know what it's like to be in combat unless you've been in combat, but I think the real question is: you're nit picking when you're talking about things like people posing with bodies.  The real question should be why are we at war in the first place? Why are we killing so many people in the first place? The concern over posing with someone that's dead, it seems to me the fact that that person is dead and that we're killing people is more important than what happens after they're dead." 

       

      Camil's comment was so effective that the next panelist to speak shifted to his topic.  Holly Hughes remarked: "Scott hit the nail on the head because now we've opened a dialogue.  What are we talking about now?  Shouldn't we be more upset that we're out there killing people? . . . Maybe we need to assess why we're there in the first place." 

       

      Camil continued: "What I understand is what it's like to be in a war zone and I understand the behavior in a war zone.  And I would say that, first of all, that war is really an institution made up of criminal behavior.  When we as civilians want to solve our problems, we're not allowed to murder people and burn their houses down.  I don't see why war is an acceptable means of conflict resolution.  And furthermore, the majority of people that die are innocent civilians."

       

      Some fundamental truths are rarely spoken on television.

       

      Watch the video:

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