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POPSChechen, North African and Pakistani Fighters Helping Taliban
Defense Minister Requests More International Troops, Says Thousands Bolstering Taliban Insurgency (AP) Thousands of foreign fighters have poured into Afghanistan to bolster the Taliban insurgency, the country's defense minister said Saturday as he called for more international troops. The remarks come as the U.S. debates whether to substantially increase its forces in Afghanistan or to conduct a more limited campaign focused on targeting al Qaeda figures - most of whom are believed to be in neighboring Pakistan. An American and two Polish troops were killed by bombs in the latest violence reported by NATO forces. U.S. military officials said they could not immediately comment on the claim of a recent influx of foreign fighters. Afghanistan's interior minister, who also spoke to parliament, endorsed a strategy promoted by the top U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal to focus on protecting civilians rather than simply killing insurgents.
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POPS Afghan War Units Begin Two New Efforts The moves underline the military's efforts to remake itself in response to the Afghan war despite the Obama administration's signals that it is far from committed to the current counterinsurgency approach. President Barack Obama met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates Monday as part of the ongoing White House review of Afghanistan policy, which is being re-evaluated in light of the country's flawed presidential elections and the Taliban's recent gains. A senior military official acknowledged that the Afghan Hands initiative, the most important of the new efforts, could be modified or scaled back if the White House decides on a new strategy. "None of this is inflexible or set in stone," the official said. The strategic review comes amid worsening violence across Afghanistan. At least 16 U.S. troops have already been killed in October, matching the entire American death toll for October 2008. Mr. Gates, speaking to an Army gathering on Monday . . .
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POPSObama’s First Military Order by Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. DON’T SHOOT BACK AT TALIBAN TERRORISTS!!! The first order from America’s new commander is that the Marines must not return enemy fire for fear of killing an Afghan non-combatant. ABC Correspondent Mike Boettcher, who is embedded with Golf Company, reports that the young Marines, when ambushed by Taliban forces with automatic weapons, were ordered to shoulder their rifles. Their command, Boettcher writes, warned them that “one civilian casualty could negate the No. 1 objective of this operation " - winning the trust and respect of the farmers of the Helmand River Valley.” How are the Marines expected to win the trust and respect of the farmers? By not disturbing the opium poppy fields which remain in full bloom. The Marines of Bravo’s Company 1st Platoon sleep beside groves of poppies Troops of the 2nd Platoon walk through the fields on strict orders not to swat the heavy opium bulbs.
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POPSTaliban Fighters Dress in Burqas To Slip Away From Marines Marine Sgt. Nathan Harris hands a plate of tea cups to a child in Mian Poshteh, Afghanistan. Gaining trust of locals is crucial to the military's mission to prevent Taliban fighters from returning. Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan "Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in " only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women’s burqa robes. The fighters, who may owe their lives to the new U.S. commander’s emphasis on limiting civilian casualties, were among hundreds of militants who have fled the offensive the Marines launched last week in southern Helmand province. Marine officers say keeping the Taliban from returning so the Afghan government can establish a stable presence will be a bigger challenge. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/07/2009-07-07_taliban_fighters_dress_in_burqas_to_slip_away_from_marines_in_afghan_
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POPSMullah Sprung From Gitmo Now Leads Taliban In Afghan Campaign According to some accounts, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar appointed Zakir as a senior military commander in mid-2008. He quickly developed a reputation as a charismatic leader. By this time, the Taliban had established a system of shadow-government structures in parts of Afghanistan: provincial governors, military commanders, and mullahs who served on Islamic courts. The Taliban's goal, as with many insurgent groups, has been to provide more effective law and order than the Afghan government. But it has been one of the most oppressive governments in modern history, banning many forms of entertainment, prohibiting women from working, and conducting public executions of suspected collaborators. It was in this context that Zakir made his defining contribution to the southern insurgency -- and created an opportunity for US forces to exploit. Early this year, he began to reorganize the Taliban.
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POPSOperation KHANJAR will rapidly move to introduce the initial essential aspects of governance and economic development into these newly secured areas. These efforts will be focused upon providing immediate assistance to the population, and in setting the conditions for successful elections in August. Today’s operation is designed to separate and isolate the Taliban from the population who has long suffered the effects of their presence. This large scale operation is not without risk to the many thousands of brave and dedicated Afghan and coalition troops participating. This operation is designed to boldly demonstrate to the Afghan people the determination and dedication of the Government and Coalition Forces in ridding the area of Taliban insurgents who prey upon the people. The Taliban offer no future, no hope, and we will work to provide immediate security gains to the local citizens of the Helmand River valley.
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POPS Tragic Workplace Accident At least they all got to say goodbye. (& allahu akbar) That’s something. The incident happened in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan where mainly British troops are struggling against a growing Taliban-led insurgency. In a separate incident in Helmand, nine policemen were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in Nari Sarraj district, the Interior Ministry said. Elsewhere, four Taliban insurgents were killed and seven policemen and two civilians wounded during a battle just outside Ghazni city, about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. On Friday, Washington is set to unveil a review of its strategy in Afghanistan, which is expected to emphasise the need to expand Afghan security forces and strengthen the country's heavily aid-dependent economy. Reporting by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Valerie Lee
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POPSBritish Commander: Taleban Cannot be Defeated He says the American strategy is doomed to fail. The Taleban (which denied any knowledge, role or involvement of themselves or bin Laden in 9/11) are tough, despite the image portrayed in media: the Taleban, tactically, is reasonably resilient, certainly quite dangerous and seems relatively impervious to losses. Its potency is as a force for influence.” The war in Afghanistan is not about "terrorism". (Repetition and mere allegation do not equal truth). It's about "regime change" and oil pipeline from the Caspian region (to Pakistan and the sea).
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POPSIran Supplying Equipment To Taliban To Fight British Evidence found by UK special forces is understood to concern the supply of the same bomb-making equipment Iran provides to insurgents in Iraq, namely components for explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs. It is not clear whether the bomb that last week killed four British SAS reservists in Helmand province was such a device, although British military commanders fear that increasing Iranian involvement in Afghanistan may render irrelevant attempts to increase the number of armoured vehicles in the conflict. Yesterday four coalition soldiers were killed by a bomb in the province of Kandahar. Meanwhile, as investigations continue into the use of Snatch Land Rovers in southern Afghanistan in which the four UK troops died last week, new figures obtained by The Observer reveal that more than 700 armoured vehicles that could be deployed to protect British personnel in Helmand are out of action.
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POPSTaliban Dismisses Shah Mansoor Senior Afghan Commander The senior Taliban leadership has been heavily attrited over the past year. Four members of the Taliban Shura Majlis, or executive council, have been killed or captured since December 2006. Mullah Berader was killed in an airstrike in August 2007. Mullah Dadullah Ahkund was a member of the Shura Majlis. Mullah Obaidullah Akhund was arrested in Pakistan in January 2007. He has since been released by the Pakistanis in exchange for hundreds of their captured soldiers. Mullah Akhtar Usmani was killed in an airstrike in Helmand province in December 2006. Qari Faiz Mohammad, a member of the Taliban's military shura, was killed in a raid in Helmand province in July 2007. Afghan forces also captured Taliban spokesman Dr. Muhammad Hanif in January 2007. He was later released in an exchange for an Italian hostage. In June 2007, NATO forces killed Mullah Mahmud Baluch, a senior Taliban commander in Helmand and Nimruz provinces.
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POPS Six Hour Fire-Fight With Taliban Fighters In Kandahar KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A six-hour battle in southern Afghanistan left over 50 Taliban fighters killed or wounded, while a homicide bomber targeting a police patrol ended in three civilian deaths, officials said Monday In Helmand's capital of Lashkar Gah, meanwhile, a homicide bomber blew himself up next to a taxi stand Monday, killing three civilians and wounding five other people, including a policeman, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal
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POPSHow to Lose a War: The American Way An American military spokesman denied that the request for American forces to leave was ever made, either formally or otherwise, or that they had caused most of the casualties. But the episode underlines differences of opinion among NATO and American military forces in Afghanistan on tactics for fighting Taliban insurgents, and concerns among soldiers about the consequences of the high level of civilians being killed in fighting.
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POPS60 dead, including Taliban, after boat sinks Too bad O.B.L. wasn't one of them. Of note is the large numbers that attended a rally in Pakistan the REAL hotbed of Al Queda. We need to be done with Pakistan once and for all, they are a big problem, not a help.
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