When Marine Maj. Chris Bourbeau walked alone into an Afghan base last spring, he left behind his helmet, bulletproof jacket and rifle. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Tag Archives: Afghanistan
John Kerry arrives in Pakistan for key talks: AFP
US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Pakistan late Wednesday to press the new government on eliminating Islamist militant safe-havens as US-led troops prepare to leave Afghanistan. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Kerry in Pakistan to meet with new leadership over drones, Afghanistan
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Pakistan for meetings to ease tension over U.S. drone strikes, the war in neighboring Afghanistan and the fight against Islamic extremism. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Civilian Casualties Afghanistan: Deadly Attacks Rise As International Forces Hand Over Security
By The Huffington Post News Editors
(Refiles to expand coding; text unchanged)
* Casualties in Afghanistan up by 23 percent compared to 2012:U.N. report
* Women and children increasingly the victims in 12-year-old war
* Insurgents target areas already vacated by international forces
By Jessica Donati
KABUL, July 31 (Reuters) – Violence against civilians has risen by almost a quarter in Afghanistan as international forces hand security to Afghans, the United Nations said in a report on Wednesday, with insurgents striking in areas where troops have already left.
The report, presented by the Human Rights Director for the U.N. in Afghanistan, said the number of dead and injured civilians had increased by 23 percent in the first six months of 2013, compared to the same period last year.
Women and children are increasingly the victims of the 12-year-old war, the report said, noting a 30 percent leap in the number of children killed. The total civilian death toll stood at more than 1,300, with 2,533 reported injuries.
Mounting casualties are reinforcing fears about Afghanistan’s ability to tackle the Taliban insurgency on its own, after most foreign troops leave next year. The Afghan army faces one of the highest desertion rates in the world and a chronic lack of logistical and medical support.
“The stepped-up transition of security responsibilities from international military forces to Afghan forcse and closure of international forces’ bases was met with increased attacks by anti-government elements…,” Georgette Gagnon said in presenting the report.
The intensified attacks occurred “mainly at checkpoints, on strategic highways, in some areas that had been transitioned and in districts bordering neighbouring countries”.
Figures released in 2012 showed a decline in civilian deaths compared to the previous year.
The U.N. report said bombs, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs), remained the single greatest killer, claiming 53 …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
UN reports Afghan civilian deaths up 23 percent in first half of 2013
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan says the number of civilian casualties has spiked in the first half of this year as insurgents use the NATO drawdown to try to retake lost territory. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
UN mission: Civilian casualties in Afghanistan spike in first half of 2013
The U.N. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Pentagon Afghanistan Report Says Afghan Forces Will Need Help Beyond 2014
By The Huffington Post News Editors
WASHINGTON — Afghanistan’s military is growing stronger but will require “substantial” additional training and foreign financial aid after the American and NATO combat mission ends next year, the Pentagon told Congress on Tuesday.
The Pentagon’s assertion comes amid debate about the White House’s reluctance to announce how many – if any – U.S. forces should remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014 to help Afghan forces hold off the Taliban.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
US Has Been Building Afghan Dam Since 1950s
The US started construction on Afghanistan’s Kajaki dam in the early 1950s—and it’s still not done. “After using multiple contractors and subcontractors, spending tens of millions of dollars, and losing scores of US and coalition lives, the work is still not complete,” writes the special inspector general for Afghanistan… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Intel experts say it's unlikely the US helped New Zealand spy on reporter in Afghanistan
If the National Security Agency monitored phone conversations between a New Zealand journalist and his Afghan sources, as reported this weekend, it was more likely to have been done under standard military intelligence monitoring of enemy communications in war zones, intelligence officials and experts said Monday. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Afghan Women’s Rights At Risk In Peace Process: UN Watchdog
By The Huffington Post News Editors
* U.N. body warns of possible set-back to women’s rights
* Calls for women to have meaningful role in peace talks
* Increasing Taliban attacks on schools, suspected poisonings
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, July 29 (Reuters) – Women’s rights in Afghanistan risk being further undermined in the fragile country’s peace process due to entrenched patriarchal attitudes, a United Nations watchdog warned on Monday.
Afghan women have made hard-fought gains in education and work since the collapse of the Taliban government in 2001, but fears are growing these could suffer a reversal when most foreign forces leave by the end of next year.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women said the Afghan authorities had promised it that women would be able to participate in the peace talks, thereby rejecting Taliban demands for them to be excluded.
“We have had official assurances … I would like to consider a government’s word as credible,” Nicole Ameline, committee chair, told a news briefing.
But the committee of independent experts voiced concern that “women’s interests and needs may be compromised in the peace negotiations due to deep rooted patriarchal attitudes”.
In addition, meaningful participation by women in the peace process is jeopardised by the fact that there are only nine women in the 70-member High Peace Council, the Afghan body created in 2010 to broker peace with the Taliban.
“We have 18 months (before the NATO withdrawal) that consist of a turning point and we have to be absolutely mobilised,” said Ameline, a former French minister.
“There could be backsliding and we cannot accept that.”
The committee said there was already an increasing number of attacks on girls’ schools by Taliban groups opposed to their education, with girls falling ill in school from suspected poisoning in some instances. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Karzai appoints new members of Afghan electoral body
President Hamid Karzai on Monday selected nine new members of Afghanistan’s main electoral body, with analysts saying his choices were intended to support his favourite in next April’s election. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Afghan women's rights in balance as pull-out looms: UN
The fate of Afghanistan’s women hangs in the balance as the 2014 withdrawal of international forces looms, a UN human rights watchdog warned Monday, denouncing a raft of abuses there. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Soldier's Dog Given Away by 'Friend' While He Served in Afghanistan (PHOTO)
A soldier’s dog has been given away while he was serving in Afghanistan, according to reports, leaving the soldier desperately pleading for whoever has him to return him. …read more
Source: The Christian Post
Taliban bomb kills nine in Afghanistan
A roadside bomb blamed on the Taliban tore through a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, killing nine people and wounding 15, officials said on Monday. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
New Zealand defense chief says no evidence of unlawful spying on journalist in Afghanistan
New Zealand’s acting defense force chief said Monday that there is no evidence the military unlawfully spied on a journalist in Afghanistan who was freelancing for U.S. news organization McClatchy. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
New Zealand denies allegation it spied on reporter in Afghanistan
New Zealand’s acting defense force chief has denied a report that it spied on a journalist working for an American news organization in Afghanistan last year.
Afghanistan Justice Program Found To Have ‘Serious Deficiencies’ By Inspector General
By The Huffington Post News Editors
WASHINGTON — An award made to an organization to promote the rule of law in Afghanistan does not appear to contain basic provisions that would allow the State Department to ensure proper oversight of a project expected to cost U.S. taxpayers $50 million, federal inspectors said Thursday.
In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said there were “serious deficiencies” in the government’s award to the International Development Law Organization, which is based in Rome, for the Afghanistan Justice Training Transition Program.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Josh Hall, Soldier Who Lost Leg In Afghanistan: ‘I Got To Bleed For My Country And I’d Do It All Over Again’ (VIDEO)
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Josh Hall made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and says he would do it all over again, if he had the chance.
While securing an area in Afghanistan taken from the Taliban last summer, Hall, 23, stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device and lost his left leg in the blast, WJHL reports. The resilient soldier spent months recovering at Walter Reed, a time he describes as one his darkest, because he was laying idly while his fellow servicemen continued pursuing their duties.
But Hall has no regrets. He told the news outlet that he’s considering going to medical school to become a trauma surgeon and says he would return to combat if he could.
Read More…
More on Afghanistan
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Congress To Probe Lethal Crash That Killed SEAL Team 6 Members
Congress has launched an investigation of the helicopter crash that killed 30 Americans in Afghanistan, including members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 unit, The Hill has learned. [WATCH VIDEO]
The victims’ families say the Pentagon hasn’t provided answers to their many questions about the deadly attack, which took place on Aug. 6, 2011, three months after Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by Team 6 forces.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on National Security, told The Hill, “We’re going to dive into this.”
Chaffetz said he met with the victims’ families about a month ago in what he described as an “emotional” gathering. He is poised to send questions to the Pentagon and may hold hearings on the matter.
Charlie Strange, whose son Michael was among those killed, said he asked President Obama two years ago at Dover Air Force Base to fully investigate. The death toll in the crash was the largest of any single incident for the U.S. military during the Afghanistan war.
Read More at The Hill . By Bob Cusack.
With 'Afghanistan's Got Talent' Coming Soon, Islamic Parliamentarian Vows Jihad Against Talent, Reality Shows
An Islamic parliamentarian in Afghanistan warns that he will start a jihad against shows such as the planned “Afghanistan’s Got Talent” and already existing shows of similar nature because of an unwanted Western influence upon the country. …read more
Source: The Christian Post