pakistan - Robert Maguire on Diigo

10 Dec 09

Daily brief: 5 N. Va. men arrested, questioned in Pakistan on possible jihadist links | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...tan_on_possible_jihadist_links - Preview

technology innovation internet communication afghanistan waronterror terrorism US pakistan police payment

However,
recent reports say that a police source in Sargodha said the five men
have told FBI investigators that they went to Pakistan to take part in
jihad, while security officials report that the men were allegedly
planning to strike "sensitive installations" in Pakistan (CBS, AP, Reuters, AFP, McClatchy, AP).
Three Pakistanis have also been detained, one on suspicion of links to
the 2007 suicide attack outside the Pakistani air base at Sargodha (AJE).
Five
U.S. citizens from the suburbs of northern Virginia were arrested at
the home of an activist allegedly affiliated with Jaish-e-Mohammed in
Sargodha, a town in Punjab province in Pakistan, after going missing
from their U.S. homes about a week ago, and are currently being
questioned by Pakistani authorities on suspicion of links to terrorism (NYT, AP, BBC, Telegraph, Dawn). JeM was involved with the 2002 murder of Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal
reporter, and an assassination attempt on former Pakistani President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, though its roots are fighting Indian forces in
the disputed Kashmir territories (AJE, Bloomberg, AFP).
5 more annotations...
- The families of the men, aged 19 to 25, contacted authorities out of concern that their sons had made a "terrible decision" (AP). One
  of the men reportedly left behind a "disturbing" 11-minute video
  suggesting "young Muslims have to do something," with "jihadist
  overtones," but legal authorities caution that they do not have
  evidence that the tape was intended as a farewell, while a
  Washington-area imam said yesterday that there were no early signs the
  men had been radicalized (Wash Post, AP).
- Another
  U.S. citizen who allegedly traveled to Pakistan with suspect
  motivations, David Headley, yesterday pleaded not guilty to charges of
  helping coordinate the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that left some 160 people
  dead, and of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper (WSJ, AFP, BBC).
  Headley reportedly told investigators he has been working with the
  Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba since 2002, and his next hearing is set
  for January 12, 2010. India is planning to seek Headley's extradition (Reuters).
- The
  Afghan National Security Forces have seen a much-needed bump in
  recruitment following a recent pay raise, as nearly 2,700 Afghans
  applied in the first week of December -- about half of this month's
  recruiting objective (Wash Post, AP, NYT).
  The American commander in charge of training Afghan security forces,
  Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, said yesterday that a key issue in
  boosting the forces is ensuring a balance of Afghanistan's ethnic
  groups; currently, Tajiks make up 27 percent of the population but 41
  percent of the officers.
- A new New York Times/CBS poll finds
  that following U.S. President Barack Obama's address to the nation last
  week about his Afghanistan strategy, public approval of his handling of
  the war there jumped 10 points, to 48 percent, while 51 percent of
  those surveyed approve of the president's decision to send 30,000 more
  troops to the Afghan theater, compared with 43 percent disapproval (NYT). The full results of the poll are available here (NYT).
- A
  $70 million project to lay fiber optic cables in Afghanistan will bring
  the price of internet access down drastically, according to the
  minister for communications and information technology (Pajhwok). In a country of some 30 million people, only one million have internet access.

09 Dec 09

Interviewing Evil, Ctd - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/...interviewing-evil-ctd.html - Preview

psychology taliban islam muslims religion pakistan afghanistan waronterror politics interview suicide bombing violence suicide

08 Dec 09

How Americans See The World - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/...w-americans-see-the-world.html - Preview

pakistan approvalrating US politics afghanistan CFR iran republicans democrats liberals conservatives israel palestine

Only 16% of the public has a favorable
view of Pakistan, our essential partner in the new AfPak strategy --
barely more than have a favorable view of Iran (11%) -- and unfavorable
views of Pakistan have gone from 39% to 68% since last year. Yikes.
And the partisan gap on Israel is interesting, if not new: in the
general public, 68% of Republicans and 43% of Democrats say that they
sympathize with Israel more than with the Palestinians. Among [Council on Foreign Relations]
experts, a solid 41% plurality say that they sympathize with both
Israel and the Palestinians equally.

05 Dec 09

Georgia to the rescue... again | FP Passport

blog.foreignpolicy.com/...georgia_to_the_rescue_again - Preview

georgia politics reference statistics nato afghanistan waronterror US pakistan bangladesh russia military aid

A big chunk of them will also come from Georgia, a non-NATO member with an ulterior motive:

But the rest of the troops mentioned are
either already deployed, or coming from a country whose desperate,
loose cannon leader is pretty much discredited internationally. From a
military perspective, Georgia's contribution is welcome news. But from
a
political perspective, it represents more that country's desperation to
join NATO than a grand victory for Obama's new strategy.

According to the Washington Post, NATO officials are counting on at least 900 troops from Georgia. Grunstein thinks it might be as high as 3,300.

04 Dec 09

About those civilian fatalities | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...bout_those_civilian_fatalities - Preview

drones politics reference US statistics civilians casualties waronterror pakistan afghanistan

we read it with great interest and were struck by one of Shane's anonymous
sources, a government official who claims that the more than 80 drone strikes
in less than two years have killed "more than 400" enemy fighters and "just
over 20" civilians.
A study we conducted in mid-October, based on a careful
analysis of the most accurate media counts of the strikes, found
that between some 370 and 540 militants were killed by drone strikes in Pakistan since the start of 2008. There have been a few more strikes since
the study was released, bringing the total of militants killed to between 384 and 578. So that's
close enough to be in the same range as the government official's estimate of
more than 400 militants killed.
1 more annotations...
- What is troubling -- and in our view, highly unlikely -- is the
  official's claim that only some 20 civilians have been killed by these drone
  strikes, a fatality rate of only around 5 percent. Given that one
  strike alone on the funeral of a suspected Taliban militant in South
  Waziristan in late June killed at least 18 people described as civilians, according
  to a report in the London Times, it
  seems implausible that only a handful more were killed in all of the 81 drone
  strikes that have occurred since the beginning of 2008.

Key to Afghan crisis: tea and education | csmonitor.com

www.csmonitor.com/...p07s01-wome.html - Preview

greg mortenson politics waronterror military counterinsurgency education women charity schools pakistan afghanistan statedept mullen mcchrystal petraeus obama

ask American schoolchildren how often they talk with their grandparents about the important events of history in
the past
maybe 10 percent
31 more annotations...
- erected 80 schools
- perhaps 80 percent of kids
  respond affirmatively
- In rural villages where the Taliban has not exerted its will on the community
- in areas where home-grown and foreign Taliban fighters have established brutal strongholds
- no child raises a hand
- It's a message that has sparked a paradigm shift in the attitude of top US military brass, one that began during the last
  years of the Bush administration.
- Adm. Mike Mullen, President Obama's handpicked chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, found a copy of "Three Cups of Tea"
  awaiting him on his nightstand. It had been placed there by his wife, Deborah. "Three Cups of Tea" also reached the hands
  of Gen. David Petraeus, leader of the US Central Command, and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who recently requested 40,000 additional
  troops. It is required reading for US officers in the region.
- Mullen and Petraeus summoned Mortenson to meetings at the Pentagon, and he used maps to give them a virtual tour of the country,
  pointing out some areas that have been virtually impenetrable to US ground forces, telling them the names of shuras and mullahs
  they needed to contact.
- "Many of the elders I know are really angry at the Americans," Mortenson says. "It has less to do with our presence and more
  to do with the huge outcries caused by drones and bombers attacking suspected Taliban hangouts but killing a lot of innocent
  people."
- What mystified Mullen was how Mortenson was able to build schools in places where the US has suffered its stiffest resistance
  and casualties. Just one of Mortenson's schools has been attacked by the Taliban at a time when fundamentalists opposed to
  women's empowerment have violently tried to thwart girls' education.
- Since 2007, according to UNICEF, 850 schools have been bombed, burned, or destroyed in Afghanistan and 600 in neighboring
  Pakistan. Former President Clinton has said of Mortenson: "He is effective in an area where Americans are not popular, because
  he relates to people as human beings."
- Mullen
- says the Joint Chiefs chairman has been
  "riveted" by Mortenson's grasp of tribal nuances. The two men often exchange e-mails.
- 'Why don't you come and see it for yourself?' "
- "The community must want the school," he says. "It's not ours
  to give them. What they're really doing is consciously choosing to create a different future."
- "God does not like terrorists. Terrorism is not promoted in the Koran," says Muhammad Azan from Maidan Wardak Province in
  central Afghanistan. "They are not only the enemy of America; they are our enemy. All of us have to work together to stop them."
- But if "the other kind of soldiers are sent," he says, referring to National Guard troops with
  expertise in civil engineering and farming, their presence as teachers would be welcomed.
- Part of McChrystal's request specifically asks for soldiers with skills beyond warfighting.
- He explains Mortenson's influence by telling a story: When his unit first deployed during the summer of 2007, rocket attacks
  were launched daily from a valley on the east side of the Kunar River near the Pakistan border, a nettlesome hiding area for
  Al Qaeda.
- Instead, US officers requested a face-to-face meeting
  with the shuras.
- Local elders told them that, earlier, a US platoon had stormed into the same town in the middle of the night and forcefully
  searched villagers' homes, infuriating them. Soon, in response, shelling began of the US military outpost.
- As Kolenda listened, the topic turned to the value of education. Not long afterward, Kolenda's unit returned – not with loaded
  weapons, but bearing truckloads of school supplies.
- The dynamic changed instantly. The formerly hostile elders made their own trip to the US base.
- "They brought with them about 100 thank-you notes written in Pashtun from children," Kolenda says, noting that he had contacted
  Mortenson and inquired about setting up a school in the village. It became the first one built in Kunar Province. Once the
  classrooms opened, the shelling magically stopped.
- "Despite our differences, caring for children and our families and communities are examples of things we truly hold dear to
  our hearts and in common" with Afghans, Kolenda says. "Doing our best to see the world through their eyes and working together
  with them to meet their core needs often forms a very important foundation to a relationship based on mutual trust and respect."
- This is not a war that will be won with superior firepower, Kolenda says. "You must work on the smaller issues first to build
  mutual respect and credibility," he says. "Once you reach that point and all parties are confident in the relationship, then
  you can move on to more sensitive issues. Insurgents tend to prey on disaffected groups and communities."
- "Community, community, community. It is the social nexus rather than the individual," Kolenda says. "The shura and jirga [circle of elders] are examples par excellence of Afghan community decisionmaking at work."
- "If you sweat for it, you protect it," is a saying of local tribal leaders. The schools Mortenson has helped bring are not
  merely new buildings, they act like old-fashioned community barn raisings.
- Two summers ago, a girls' school in the village of Lalander, Afghanistan, received written warnings from the Taliban. Then
  came death threats. They culminated in a dozen men ransacking the school and warning that if any girl or family member returned,
  they would face severe consequences.
  
  Angered, the schoolmaster rode his bicycle 20 miles to alert the presiding tribal elder, who had a daughter attending a similar
  school. The elder responded, Mortenson says, by having the equivalent of "a local posse" round up the offenders. A few were
  killed. Armed guards were then assigned to protect the school around the clock. Not only did the threats disappear, but support
  for the school grew stronger.
  
  "There are many different kinds of Talibans, some extremist, some not," says Shoukat Ali, a former Taliban who teaches at
  one of Mortenson's schools in Pakistan. He joined the Taliban as a teenager to fight against the Indian Army in the disputed
  region of Kashmir. He was enticed because he had no job.
  
  "The extremists are small in number," Mr. Ali says. "They can be minimized. If the people have opportunities for jobs, to
  own land, and go to school, most of the problems with the Taliban will go away."
  
  If Mortenson has any advice for Mr. Obama, it would be to call together a large gathering of shuras and listen to them.
  
  "It would do more good than spending another $1 billion on combat operations or foreign aid. He would ingratiate himself,
  help calm down some of the lingering hostilities, and probably save some soldiers' lives," Mortenson says.
- Mortenson says his respect for US commanders has grown immeasurably. Half a decade ago, he wrote a scathing op-ed article
  excoriating the way that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was conducting the war.
  
  "Our military is now actually ahead of the curve, not behind it," he says. "When you hear the expression 'All politics is
  local' in this country, people get it. Well, in Afghanistan, all politics – as well as culture, cooperation, and the hope
  of any progress – is local, too."
- In September, Mortenson joined Afghan clerics in building a school in Deh Rawod, in the desolate Oruzgan Province in south-central
  Afghanistan, a region that has provided a haven for Taliban leader Muhammed Omar. The clerics wanted first to visit another
  school to get an idea of its possible impact, so they went with Mortenson to an existing school in a neighboring village.
  
  They strolled out into the school playground, which had a swing set, says Mortenson, showing photographs of clerics swinging
  and their usually stern faces smiling as their robes flapped in the breeze. "In that moment they discovered something else
  that schools can be, something they didn't have as children," Mortenson says. "It was like a light bulb went on."

Going to school on Afghans' problems | Marketplace From American Public Media

marketplace.publicradio.org/...pm-mortenson-q - Preview

greg mortenson politics waronterror military counterinsurgency afghanistan pakistan schools charity women education

03 Dec 09

the highlights of Richard Armitage's interview with Prism - By Tom Ricks | The Best Defense

ricks.foreignpolicy.com/...s_bush_s_errors_egypt_s_novels - Preview

armitage torture law democracy bush waronterror nsc statedept diplomacy isi pakistan afghanistan intelligence iraq cooperation conservatives republicans

an
interesting interview
to Prism
"The second surprise was frankly how successful we were for
the first 4 years-almost 5 years-at keeping the ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Service
Intelligence] relatively out of it. They were so shocked with the speed at
which we invaded Afghanistan that I think the ISI felt it was only a matter of
time until we prevailed."
5 more annotations...
- Armitage's timeline here suggests to me that
  Afghanistan started really falling apart when the ISI went back in. That's an
  interesting conclusion
- He says Bush and his war cabinet never formally
  considered whether to invade Iraq. "Never to my knowledge, and I'm pretty sure I'm right on
  this, did the President ever sit around with his advisors and say, 'Should we
  do this or not?' He never did it."
- The Bush administration didn't
  understand democracy and how to encourage it.
- "The Bush administration's push
  for votes as though voting equals democracy was wrong-headed because a vote is
  something that happens inside a democracy, but is not necessary for a democracy.
  You can have a democratic system without having people raise their hands and
  have a secret ballot. Loya jirgas to some extent are these."
- He believes Bush administration actions undercut the
  American position abroad. "It's harder and made more complex when we abuse the
  writ of habeas corpus here or when we torture people."

02 Dec 09

Obama: Cunning Again? - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/...obama-cunning-again.html - Preview

obama style politics US afghanistan pakistan taliban waronterror

I love the time line that Obama has proposed for withdrawing our troops
from Afghanistan. Crafty. The neocons (McCain for one) are already
saying that it gives comfort to the enemy, that they will just wait
until we leave and then attack again. And the reason this is bad is
what?

I think the hope of the White House is that the Taliban
will lay low. If the Taliban want to wait until we leave, perhaps
there is time for the Afghans to train and begin to defend themselves.
If the Taliban attacks, there are enough troops to counter their
attacks and weaken them by attrition. A win/win for us.

Obama
is also telling the Afghans in the street that we are leaving, which
hopefully will say to them that we are not their enemy, not their
occupiers, and hopefully keep ordinary patriotic Afghans from joining
the Taliban.

Very cool.

26 Nov 09

Running the Table | Foreign Policy

www.foreignpolicy.com/...running_the_table - Preview

foreignpolicy US politics healthcare statistics reference palestine israel iran afghanistan bioterror waronterror pakistan obama

We need a surge in Afghanistan. It worked in Iraq!
Afghanistan is Obama's Vietnam!
11 more annotations...
- Afghanistan will turn into an al Qaeda safe haven unless more troops are sent!
- There's no reason for the war in Afghanistan. We should pull out now!
- Israel is trying to cooperate. We should put more pressure on the Palestinians!
- The Palestinians are trying to cooperate. We should put more pressure on Israel!
- Iran
  Diplomacy is failing. We need to bomb Iran before they can build nukes!
- There’s no proof Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. What are we worried about?
- Health Care
  America has the best health care in the world!
- Every country in Europe has created a single-payer system!
- Bioterror: The risk of an accident from the U.S. bioterrorism research program is greater than the risk of a bioterror attack.
- Green China: There's a lot less than meets the eye to China's efforts to get emissions under control.
- Iran's Green Revolution: Mir Hossein Moussavi, Mohammad Khatami, and Mehdi Karroubi have less influence over the movement than you think.

24 Nov 09

Daily brief: Obama expected to announce Afghanistan decision December 1 | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...fghanistan_decision_december_1 - Preview

US politics afghanistan waronterror pakistan warondrugs poppies corruption karzai war tax

"middle-ground option that
would deploy an eventual 32,000 to 35,000 U.S. forces" to the Afghan
theater (AP, NPR, Reuters, AP, AFP)
The
top U.S. and NATO commander in the country, Gen. Stanley McChrystal,
and the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, Amb. Karl Eikenberry, have both
reportedly been told to prepare to testify before Congress "as early as
next week," so they can offer support for the president's decision (Washington Post, NPR).
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen are also expected to
brief Congress on the subject (Los Angeles Times).
3 more annotations...
- "war tax on the wealthy" to pay for
  additional troops mentioned by some in the Senate, and three House
  Democrats -- all committee chairmen -- have proposed an increase in
  taxes for families to begin in 2011, the amount of which would be based
  on how much they earn (Politico, AP, Reuters, New York Times).
- the Afghan
  attorney general's office yesterday announced that up to 15 current and
  former government officials are being investigated on allegations
  including embezzlement and fraud (Washington Post, BBC, Guardian, McClatchy, Telegraph, ABC).
- U.S. officials announced yesterday that the
  U.S. plans to give nearly $40 billion to 27 of Afghanistan's 34
  provinces that either reduced by 10 percent or eliminated entirely the
  cultivation of poppies, the raw ingredient for heroin and a source of
  corruption and funding for the Taliban (AP).
  And clerics in Helmand province, the source of more than half of the
  country's opium, said yesterday to a large gathering in the capital of
  Lashkar Gah that poppies are prohibited and asked farmers not to grow
  them (Pajhwok).

18 Nov 09

Daily brief: Clinton in Kabul for Karzai's inauguration | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...kabul_for_karzais_inauguration - Preview

US politics waronterror pakistan statistics taliban afghanistan schools approvalrating obana karzai corruption

Whether
Karzai will appoint reformers or stack his cabinet with political
friends remains an open question that worries Afghan and international
observers alike (AFP, Independent).
U.S. officials have reportedly given Karzai a list of 40 people it
considers "clean enough" to participate in his new cabinet.

Presumably
not included on the "clean enough" list is the president's half-brother
Ahmed Wali Karzai, who has become a "symbol of cronyism and a lightning
rod for criticism of all that is wrong with Karzai's administration" (AP). Alexandra Zavis has a must-read on the plague of corruption in Afghanistan (Los Angeles Times).
4 more annotations...
- Two
  new polls on Afghanistan were released earlier today, the first from
  Washington Post/ABC finding that while Americans are nearly evenly
  split on whether Obama should order a smaller or larger number of U.S.
  troops to Afghanistan, almost half believe Obama's policies are not
  making much difference in making the U.S. safer from terrorism (Washington Post).
  The second poll from CBS found that 69 percent of Americans think the
  war in Afghanistan is going badly, and only 38 percent of those
  surveyed approve of Obama's performance in handling Afghanistan, down
  from 58 percent in April (CBS). The full results of the polls can be found here (Washington Post, CBS).
- Another
  new report released today comes from the British aid agency Oxfam,
  finding that seven of ten Afghans surveyed believe poverty and
  unemployment are to blame for the country's ongoing conflict (BBC, AFP).
  The full report, which assesses that after the past three decades of
  war the "social fabric of the country is fractured," is available from
  Oxfam (Oxfam).
- After
  the Pakistani Army took journalists on a second guided tour of South
  Waziristan yesterday, veteran correspondents Pam Constable and Sabrina
  Tavernise have essential reads on the site of the one-month-old
  Pakistani military offensive in the militant-infested tribal agency on
  the border with Afghanistan (Washington Post, New York Times).
  Zahid Hussain reports that commanders believe most of the region's some
  10,000 militants have melted into the imposing mountains or fled to
  neighboring agencies, foreshadowing a long struggle (Wall Street Journal, Times of London).
  There has been no reporting about civilian casualties caused by the
  operations, though more than 300,000 Pakistanis have fled the conflict
  zone.
- The Pakistani Army took the cadre of reporters to a school
  in Ladha, a town in South Waziristan that Taliban militants used as a
  base, and showed a school that officials claimed was used as a training
  camp for suicide bombers (AP, Al Jazeera).
  In Sararogha, a nearby village that is also a militant stronghold,
  Chris Brummitt reports seeing a school with a room used by the Taliban
  as a pseudo-courthouse complete with documents detailing a property
  dispute. The U.S. is reportedly putting pressure on Pakistan to expand
  its anti-militant offensive into North Waziristan and the Baluchi city
  of Quetta, believed to be home to the leadership of the Afghan Taliban (Telegraph).

Informed Comment: Pakistani Military Takes Taliban Strongholds; Maulana Fazlullah Surfaces in Afghanistan

www.juancole.com/...ni-military-takes-taliban.html - Preview

US politics taliban schools pakistan afghanistan waronterror

On Tuesday, for instance, Pakistani troops took the militant stronghold of Laddah, South Waziristan,, reporting that they found a large cache of jihadi literature, mainly in Arabic. The town, formerly of 10,000, appears to have been a training camp for guerrillas, including "Arabs and Uzbeks." The Pakistani arm's assault on the place left it in ruins, and all 10,000 civilian inhabitants had already fled, albeit the remaining militants put up a hard fight.
3 more annotations...
- Last week, the military similarly took Sararogha, of which there likewise doesn't seem to be much left. Islamabad says its troops killed 180 Taliban in the course of the campaign. The town is alleged to have been a center for the training of suicide bombers. The Taliban Movement of Pakistan had already done a lot of damage to its buildings in 2008 when they took it. The Pakistani military warned inhabitants to leave before they went in, and locals are eager to return, though it is doubtful much is left of their homes.
  
  The 30,000 crack Pakistani troops fighting in South Waziristan are now focusing on the important city of Makin. They began the campaign in October and have rapidly swept the Taliban before them.
- In a blow to Pakistan's hopes of finishing off the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, it was announced Tuesday that Maulana Fazlullah, a leader of the Swat Taliban was not killed when the Pakistani army retook the valley, but rather has fled to Afghanistan.
  
  On the other hand, the widespread rejoicing of the people of Swat over the defeat of the Taliban in their area, and the appearance of anti-Taliban banners there, augurs ill for Maulana Fazlullah's political future.
- In the Khyber tribal area, Taliban blew up a village girls' school on Tuesday. The Taliban's ideology differs from mainstream Islam in disapproving of women knowing how to read and write; the male Taliban are often poor, rural males with a smattering of seminary study, and apparently they need someone to feel superior to, so women are it.

12 Nov 09

Why is Richard Holbrooke going to Russia? (Updated) | The Cable

thecable.foreignpolicy.com/...hard_holbrooke_going_to_russia - Preview

afghanistan pakistan waronterror holbrooke russia politics US

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told The Cable that Holbrooke is going to Russia "for meetings with his special representative counterpart and to discuss U.S.-Russia cooperation regarding Afghanistan," but said he couldn't be more specific.

Daily brief: U.S. ambassador to Kabul cautions against more troops | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...l_cautions_against_more_troops - Preview

iran US waronterror afghanistan pakistan politics nato obama taliban

The
president reportedly felt it necessary after yesterday's meeting to
clarify that U.S. commitment to Afghanistan is "not open-ended" and
that Kabul must improve governance in the country, according to an
administration official (AFP, CNN, Al Jazeera).
Helene Cooper assesses, however, that the international community lacks
sufficient leverage over Karzai and will not fully pull out of the
country (New York Times). And analysts and officials alike lament the continued involvement of warlords in Afghanistan's political system (AP).
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asserted yesterday that he
expects allies to provide more resources for NATO's training mission in
Afghanistan.
3 more annotations...
- Taliban
  fighters are expanding their control of Afghanistan's eastern
  Nuristan province, and militant leaders claim to have reopened schools
  and appointed local officials in the area, while some video footage
  shows Taliban brandishing what appear to be U.S.-made weapons (Al Jazeera).
  Some 150,000 Afghans have reportedly been forced to flee fighting
  across the country between the Taliban and coalition forces,
  particularly the war-ravaged southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar,
  and Uruzgan, creating a serious hurdle for the Obama administration's
  plans to stabilize the country (Wall Street Journal).
- A
  Pakistani public affairs officer working for the Iranian consulate in
  Pakistan was shot and killed in Peshawar
- (BBC, CNN, Dawn)

11 Nov 09

An articulate plan for security | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...n_articulate_plan_for_security - Preview

US politics diplomacy statedept military waronterror taliban al-qaeda pakistan afghanistan statistics reference

As someone who talks to many Afghans -- from government
officials to shopkeepers, students and others -- and the international
community on a daily basis, the answer is very clear: Afghans need security and
stability before anything else can be put forth.
In terms of security, more troops are fundamental. But this
has to be spelled out clearly by the Obama administration. When speaking to
Afghans here, they agree that more troops are needed, but an entire plan is
also needed to know when the troops will arrive, where they will be deployed, what
will they carry out, and -- this is what concerns Afghans a lot -- when they
will be leaving. The what part is the most important one; Afghans here agree
that more troops are necessary to support Afghanistan's own security forces,
the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police.
2 more annotations...
- Among the increased number of troops, Afghanistan needs many experts to
  train and coach Afghans in security-related issues. Not only will
  this involve Afghans in rebuilding their own country, but it will also enable
  them to see results coming from their work. This will also allow a realistic
  timetable for U.S.
  forces to leave: as soon as effective and transparent outcomes are seen.
- Moreover, focus needs to be placed on clearing out Taliban
  strongholds in the border region of Pakistan
  and Afghanistan.

More talking, not more troops | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...more_talking_not_more_troops - Preview

US politics diplomacy statedept military waronterror taliban al-qaeda pakistan afghanistan statistics reference

Building a country at gunpoint has failed.
But how many roads are
built in rural Afghanistan
these days without paying bribes to local insurgents? How many Pashtun
villagers would get polio vaccinations without permission from the Taliban?
Making the country better doesn't necessarily require fighting the insurgents;
in many cases, it requires working with them.
3 more annotations...
- A mythology has emerged that Afghanistan was abandoned and immediately fell
  to pieces; in fact, the Najibullah government survived as long as money flowed
  from Moscow.
  Without foreign troops to support the regime, Najibullah bribed his opponents
  and gave up territory to local tribes. That's not a great model, but it's
  better than escalating war.
- A Georgetown
  University study reached two
  conclusions about that period of history: 1) the Afghan rebels were good at
  resisting invaders, but poorly organized for conventional war; and 2) the
  insurgents squabbled among themselves after the common enemy departed.
- he
  organizations that could deliver the best intelligence about al Qaeda are the
  Taliban, the Haqqani network, and the Hekmatyar group. Fighting terrorism
  doesn't necessarily require killing insurgents; in many cases, it requires
  working with them.

AfPak experts advise Obama | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...afpak_experts_advise_obama - Preview

US politics diplomacy statedept military waronterror taliban al-qaeda pakistan afghanistan statistics reference

Graeme Smith, More
talking, not more troops

J Alexander Thier, Prioritize
in Afghanistan

Michael Innes, Nearly
Anywhere Terrorists Operate
Gretchen Peters, It's not about the number of troops

Asma Nemati, An
articulate plan for security

Peter Bergen,
Time
for the heavy lifting

Daily brief: Obama reportedly considering 4 Afghanistan options | The AfPak Channel

afpak.foreignpolicy.com/...sidering_4_afghanistan_options - Preview

afghanistan pakistan waronterror aid insurgents payment karzai obama NATO hillary

Three
of Obama's top advisers -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense
Secretary Robert Gates, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike
Mullen -- are reportedly coalescing around a proposal to send 30,000 or
more U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan (New York Times).
Obama is expected to
ask NATO allies to contribute 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan to "help
break the deadlock," though his request is set to be ignored, reports
Michael Evans (Times of London)
4 more annotations...
- British public is becoming increasingly skeptical of involvement in
  the conflict, as a new poll shows that four of five of those surveyed
  don't believe U.K. involvement is helping keep the streets of Britain
  safe (Independent).
- A
  key part of Western strategies in Afghanistan is convincing Taliban
  fighters to lay down their arms, and correspondingly, international
  forces are reportedly planning to spend substantial amounts of money to
  this end (Telegraph).
  Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to reach out to militants
  next week in his inaugural address, scheduled for November 19 (AFP).
  And the chief U.S. inspector for reconstruction aid to Afghanistan said
  yesterday that the aid process -- which has given some $40 billion to
  Afghanistan since 2002 -- so far has been "sloppy" (Reuters).
- the ascendancy of
  the Taliban and the relative decline of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, citing
  some 400 al Qaeda fighters on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan
  border, compared with "tens of thousands" of Taliban insurgents (Washington Post)
- The operation
  that led to the seizure of 250 tons of ammonium nitrate from a
  warehouse in Kandahar last weekend also recovered about 2,000 devices
  like triggers and timers, and the bomb-making material is used in the
  overwhelming majority of roadside bombs in Afghanistan (AP, New York Times).

10 Nov 09

Interview on the Charlie Rose Show

www.state.gov/...131713.htm - Preview

hillary statedept US politics berlin wall coldwar waronterror afghanistan pakistan iraq clinton history

QUESTION: Is Germany on board with respect to Afghanistan?

SECRETARY CLINTON: I think Germany is committed to the effort in Afghanistan. They’re waiting, like the rest of the world is, the United States, and through President Obama, to announce our intentions and our way forward. But they have a deep understanding of why this is important for NATO, why this is important for the larger international community. And I think that given the right measures of accountability that we need to be seeking from President Karzai and his government, we’re going to see a commitment not just from Germany, but from many of our NATO allies.

Robert Maguire's Library tagged pakistan → View Popular

Daily brief: 5 N. Va. men arrested, questioned in Pakistan on possible jihadist links | The AfPak Channel

Interviewing Evil, Ctd - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

How Americans See The World - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Georgia to the rescue... again | FP Passport

About those civilian fatalities | The AfPak Channel

Key to Afghan crisis: tea and education | csmonitor.com

Going to school on Afghans' problems | Marketplace From American Public Media

the highlights of Richard Armitage's interview with Prism - By Tom Ricks | The Best Defense

Obama: Cunning Again? - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Running the Table | Foreign Policy

Daily brief: Obama expected to announce Afghanistan decision December 1 | The AfPak Channel

Daily brief: Clinton in Kabul for Karzai's inauguration | The AfPak Channel

Informed Comment: Pakistani Military Takes Taliban Strongholds; Maulana Fazlullah Surfaces in Afghanistan

Why is Richard Holbrooke going to Russia? (Updated) | The Cable

Daily brief: U.S. ambassador to Kabul cautions against more troops | The AfPak Channel

An articulate plan for security | The AfPak Channel

More talking, not more troops | The AfPak Channel

AfPak experts advise Obama | The AfPak Channel

Daily brief: Obama reportedly considering 4 Afghanistan options | The AfPak Channel

Interview on the Charlie Rose Show

Selected Tags

Related Tags

Sponsored Links

Top Contributors

Groups interested in pakistan

Argos Media

International Politics of the Middle East

India around the web

Asia

Afghanistan -- Pakistan

Pakistan Top Stories