EU-DIGEST

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Netherlands

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Netherlands

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Euro Sceptics, Lisbon Treaty, US

Right now,as US General McChrystal has repeatedly made clear, the insurgents are actually winning. The urgency of sending reinforcements is to stop them from overrunning any population centers, to halt their momentum and ultimately to fight them to a standstill. That would give space for the development of Afghan governance and security forces, but it would also enhance prospects for some sort of political solution. Karzai has already reached out to the Taliban leadership through intermediaries in Saudi-brokered talks that have gone nowhere. It's generally acknowledged by Western officials that the outcome in Afghanistan will require a political solution that integrates most of those currently fighting for the Taliban. Right now, however, the Taliban have no interest in seeking compromise because they believe they can regain control of Afghanistan on the battlefield. Only if they're fought to a standstill, goes the argument, and if Taliban commanders see more to gain and less to lose in some form of power sharing, might they be prepared to settle for less than restoring what they lost when the U.S. invaded in 2001. Note EU-Digest: the Afghanistan war is starting to resemble the Viet-Nam war more and more.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, US

According to a recent poll from the Pew Research Center, 49 percent of Americans say the U.S. should mind its own business and let other countries take care of themselves. In 2002, only 30 percent of Americans favored such an isolationist stance. Obama also faces an uphill battle in persuading Congress to fund the troop buildup. And there’s no guarantee our NATO allies will back this effort with more troops of their own. Eight years of conflict in Afghanistan have not conclusively made the U.S., or the rest of the world, safer from the threat of terrorism. Afghanistan continues to struggle with an economy still much dependent on opium, a government fraught with corruption, the Taliban insurgency and other problems that a larger military presence likely won’t solve.

Labels: Afghanistan, US

For a president, the unit of measurement is real life. A leader is seen by citizens through the prism of their lives -- their job, their household budget, where they live and suffer. And, in the case of the war on terror, where they sometimes die. Political dreams and yearnings for the future belong elsewhere. That was where the political charmer Obama was able to successfully capture the imaginations of millions of voters. It is a place where campaigners -- particularly those with a talent for oration -- are fond of taking refuge. It is also where Obama set up his campaign headquarters, in an enormous tent called "Hope." In his speech on America's new Afghanistan strategy, Obama tried to speak to both places. It was two speeches in one. That is why it felt so false. Both dreamers and realists were left feeling distraught.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama

Jean-Pierre Maulny of France’s Institute for International and Strategic Studies (ISIS) was blunt in the daily Le Monde, which last week examined the trend. “Budgets are not up to what is at stake, and Europe is sinking into a formless neutrality,” he said. “We are seeing — this is new — a real trans-Atlantic decoupling.” Europeans spend $520 a year per capita on defense, a third less than Americans. Britain’s budget, the biggest along with France’s, could drop 10 percent in five years. Where Afghanistan is concerned, these cutbacks coincide with a quickly dissipating political will.

A Daily Telegraph/YouGov poll in August found 62 percent of respondents wanted troops to come home. In a separate poll, only 27 percent favored a long deployment. In recent German elections, Chancellor Angela Merkel defeated her Social Democrat opponent, who wants out of the war. She is committed to training Afghan police. But the influential weekly, Der Spiegel, estimated that 70 percent of Germans, like the defeated candidate, want out of a costly, painful and embarrassing quagmire.

Note EU-Digest: when are the politicians going to understand that people like you and me do not want to finance costly wars or be involved in them?

Labels: Afghanistan, EU

In the worst of times, my father always used to say, "A good gambler cuts his losses." It's a formulation imprinted on my brain forever. That no-nonsense piece of advice still seems reasonable to me, but it doesn't apply to American war policy. Our leaders evidently never saw a war to which the word "more" didn't apply. Hence the Afghan War, where impending disaster is just an invitation to fuel the flames of an already roaring fire. Meanwhile, the U.S. command in Afghanistan is considering a strategy that involves pulling back from the countryside and focusing on protecting more heavily populated areas (which might be called, with the first U.S. Afghan War of the 1980s in mind, the Soviet strategy). The underpopulated parts of the countryside would then undoubtedly be left to Hellfire missile-armed American drone aircraft. In the last week, three U.S. helicopters -- the only practical way to get around a mountainous country with a crude, heavily mined system of roads -- went down under questionable circumstances (another potential sign of an impending Soviet-style disaster).

Across the country, Taliban attacks are up; deadly roadside bombs or IEDs are fast on the rise (a 350% jump since 2007); U.S. deaths are at a record high and the numbers of wounded are rising rapidly; European allies are ever less willing to send more troops; and Taliban raids in the capital, Kabul, are on the increase. All this despite a theoretical 12-1 edge U.S., NATO, and Afghan troops have over the Taliban insurgents and their allies. In addition, our nation-building "partner," the hopeless Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- known in better times as "the mayor of Kabul" for his government's lack of reach -- was the "winner" in an election in which, it seemed, more ballot boxes were stuffed than voters arrived at the polls.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama

Next week in Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama will host a summit of European Union leaders to discuss a number of issues, including what to do next in Afghanistan. Despite the presence of about 70,000 troops under NATO command, the central Asian country has become increasingly violent and unstable. NATO's International Security Assistance Force has been looking for more troops in order to reverse course. While NATO's 28 member countries grapple with how to improve their chances of beating the Taliban, the alliance is facing growing criticism over how the mission has been conducted and whether it can go on for much longer.

Poll results released in September by the German Marshall Fund, a non-profit group that has offices on both sides of the Atlantic, found that only 37 per cent of Afghans think NATO should remain in their country. Fifty per cent of Afghans polled said NATO forces should leave immediately. In Europe, two-thirds of respondents said NATO is incapable of stabilizing the country. Even in the U.S., which initiated the war, the poll found that 56 per cent of Americans were optimistic about the mission. Regardless of public opinion, if NATO fails to stamp out the Taliban it would raise questions about whether Western countries need the alliance at all

Labels: Afghanistan, Nato

Afghanistan: Worried White House seeks to avoid another Vietnam - by Tim Reed

>The memory of the Vietnam War is holding an increasingly powerful sway over President Obama and his White House team as they explore ways to avoid the surge of troops into Afghanistan urgently being demanded by the US military. Mr Obama and his foreign policy circle have begun openly to use language born of the Vietnam disaster, such as “mission creep” and “quagmire”. It is a clear sign that the President harbours doubts about a deeper military commitment in Afghanistan. Vice-President Biden is leading calls for a change of plan, with a scaling back of troops in Afghanistan and a narrow focus instead on destroying al-Qaeda with increased aerial drone attacks in Pakistan. He has been warning for months against getting into a political and military “quagmire” in Afghanistan.

Labels: . journalism, Afghanistan, EU

The Afghanistan problem gets more difficult - by Jay Book

From the beginning eight years ago, the United States has failed to commit the resources and attention needed in Afghanistan. Barack Obama campaigned on correcting that problem and moved last spring to do so as president. Now he is once again being asked by military commanders to boost the number of U.S. troops committed to the effort.

So, in assessing the request for more troops, the most important question President Obama must ask of his commanders and advisers is this: How can the United States and its international allies succeed without a credible, legitimate Afghan government as a partner? How can we rally Afghan support for a government that does not deserve and doesn’t really even try to earn that support? The counter-insurgency approach drafted by Gen. David Petraeus and now being implemented in Afghanistan suggests that without a host government with some degree of credibility and legitimacy, such a war cannot be won. In the unclassified version of his assessment, McChrystal acknowledges that the Afghan war is a war of ideas and perception, and “The key to changing perceptions lies in changing underlying truths.”

Note EU-Digest: A less costly alternative in lives and materials would be to pull out of Afghanistan all together and rely heavily on aerial surveillance and unmanned attack drones to smoke out the Taliban and some special forces (stationed near the Afghan border)for mop up operations. Unfortunately unmanned attack drones could also mean more innocent local casualties, but at the same time these casualties would also create a threat to Taliban credibility and authority within the local Afghan communities. The sad fact today remains that a ground war with or without an unreliable Afghan government as a partner can never be won, whatever the military is saying. Just ask the Russians.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, US

"No more troops to Afghanistan" - by HDS Greenway

With General Stanley A. McChrystal’s report calling for additional troops now public, President Obama will soon have his King Henry moment; whether or not to send more troops into the ever-worsening war in Afghanistan. Much depends on his definition of the mission. Is it to defeat the Taliban in battle as Henry defeated the flower of French chivalry? There will be no famous victories in the irregular warfare that has so marked Afghanistan over the centuries. Is it to create a viable, democratic, centralized state on a Western model? When he came to power, Obama seemed to realize that the mission of his predecessor, George W. Bush, was too ambitious and that he should settle for simply making Afghanistan inhospitable to Al Qaeda. In the meantime, however, “mission creep’’ - the tendency of any mission to expand and grow if it is not carefully pruned - has been the order of the day. Obama runs the risk of turning Afghanistan into a full-fledged dependency of the United States.

Recently, when asked if he risked the fate of Lyndon Johnson whose presidency was consumed by a war started by his predecessors, but which he chose to reinforce, Obama replied: “You have to learn lessons from history. On the other hand, each historical moment is different. You never step into the same river twice. And so Afghanistan is not Vietnam.’’

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Obama, USA

Obama 'skeptical' about more troops-by Josh Gerstein

President Barack Obama is warning U.S. commanders that he's "skeptical" about whether more troops will make a difference in Afghanistan, saying he'll approve an upcoming request only if the forces fit into a strategy to beat back al-Qaida and protect the United States. "Until I'm satisfied that we've got the right strategy I'm not gonna be sending some young man or woman over there — beyond what we already have," Obama said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I'm not interested in just being in Afghanistan for the sake of being in Afghanistan or saving face or, in some way – you know, sending a message that America is here for the duration."

U.S. generals are preparing to seek as many as tens of thousands additional troops for the increasingly unpopular conflict, but in several of his five Sunday talk show interviews, Obama made clear that he's far from convinced about the need for a massive infusion of troops and won't be rushed on the decision.

Labels: Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Looking For the Way Ahead - by Simon Robinson

In an election campaign that has been interminably dull, even by German standards, the Sept. 4 missile strike on two oil tankers hijacked by Taliban insurgents in northern Afghanistan was always going to grab attention. The U.S. strike, called in by a German commander worried about the security of his troops, allegedly killed some 90 people, including dozens of civilians. It also reminded German voters that the distinction between supporting a combat mission — which is what they like to think their soldiers are doing — and tackling bad guys directly can blur pretty quickly in the Hindu Kush. The polite posturing of Germany's election campaign captures the mood in most European capitals at the moment. Both Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats of Frank-Walter Steinmeier remain committed to Berlin's 4,000-strong troop deployment in Afghanistan as part of the multinational force there.

Labels: Afghanistan

Italy Looks at Afghan Pullout After Deadly Blast - by Abdul Washeed

A powerful suicide bomb that killed six Italian soldiers here on Thursday prompted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy to declare that his nation had begun planning to “bring our young men home as soon as possible.”In Brussels, Mr. Berlusconi, a close American ally but in some political trouble at home, was careful to say that Italy would not unilaterally withdraw its 3,100 troops from Afghanistan, though he said he wanted the withdrawal to happen “as quickly as possible.” But it seemed the strongest expression yet from a European leader of the rising doubts about the Afghanistan mission among America’s allies.

Labels: Afghanistan, Casualties, EU, Italy

President Karzai claims victory as EU demands inquiry into vote fraud - by Jerome Starkey

The first full count of votes in Afghanistan’s increasingly bitter election gave President Karzai the outright majority required to secure him another term as fresh allegations were made that the poll was widely rigged. Only “a miracle” could now stop Mr Karzai from winning, Waheed Omar, a presidential spokesman, said after the Independent Election Commission revealed the preliminary results with 100 per cent of the ballots counted yesterday. This made it almost impossible that any investigation would change the outcome, he added.

The Government also accused European Union officials of unwarranted interference after they claimed that a third of Mr Karzai’s vote may be fraudulent.

Labels: Afghanistan, Elections, EU

France leads EU criticism of Afghanistan air strike - by Andrew Rettman

France and Luxembourg have led EU criticism of Nato tactics in Afghanistan after a German-mandated bombing raid killed scores of people. German Nato forces in the Kunduz region in northern Afghanistan on Friday (4 September) called in the strike by a US F-15 jet after Taliban fighters seized two fuel trucks and began distributing free petrol to local villagers.The Afghan government said 60 people died, including "some" civilians. Meanwhile, tribal chiefs told DPA journalists on the ground that 150 people, many of them civilians, lost their lives.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, US

Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel want new UN plan for Afghanistan - by Patrick Wintour

and Angela Merkel today agreed to back a new UN conference either in London or Kabul to agree a fresh political course for Afghanistan in the wake of the controversial presidential elections. Brown flew to Berlin today for talks with Merkel to discuss Afghanistan, underlining the degree to which he fears international co-operation over the war and aid programmes has been too low.

The call for an international UN conference on Afghanistan was first raised by Ari Gaitanis, spokesman for the UN Peacekeeping Department on Friday. But Brown and Merkel may be seeking to extend the conference's remit and status.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU

Afghanistan - South Afghanistan key to Nato mission - by James Blitz

Thursday’s operation by US marines in the Helmand valley marks the start of the biggest military action by western powers in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The decision to move into parts of Helmand province where the British have been unable to venture – clearing out the Taliban from their sanctuaries – is one fraught with risk. But it marks a recognition by the Obama administration, and by Nato commanders, that establishing security in south Afghanistan is critical to the success of international efforts across the country.

Labels: Afghanistan

Afghan rocket attack kills Dutch soldier, wounds 5

An insurgent rocket attack hit "Camp Holland" The Netherlands' main military base in southern Afghanistan late Monday, killing one Dutch soldier and wounding five of his colleagues and two Afghan soldiers, a top military official said. Gen. Peter van Uhm, the country's defense chief, identified the dead man as Soldier First Class Azdin Chadli, 20. The soldier had arrived in Afghanistan just a week ago, Van Uhm said at a news conference in The Hague. Two of the wounded were in critical condition and were taken to Kandahar for treatment. A total of 19 Dutch soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since August 2006, when the government took the unpopular step of sending 1,650 troops to serve with the NATO-led force. One of the dead was Van Uhm's son, who was killed last year shortly after his father was promoted to military chief.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Netherlands, War

US Afghan envoy, Iranian minister meet in The Hague

Representatives from more than 80 countries have met in The Hague for a high-level conference on Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the NATO mission backs Afghan government efforts to work with moderate elements of the Taliban who reject violence. Afghan President Hamid Karzai stressed regional cooperation in tackling his country's problems. On the sidelines, US Afghanistan envoy Richard Holbrooke met with Mehdi Akhoonzadeh, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, who pledged Iranian support for reconstruction and anti-narcotics projects in Afghanistan. He also warned that the proposed US troop surge there would be a mistake. In the Obama administration's first direct contact with Tehran, the United States also handed over a letter seeking help to resolve three separate cases involving Americans, one a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran two years ago.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Nato, Netherlands

The US Department of State Acting Secretary spokesman Robert Wood announced that at the invitation of Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to the Netherlands to attend the “International Conference on Afghanistan: a Comprehensive Strategy in a Regional Context” in The Hague on March 31. Building on the achievements of the Conferences held in Bonn, in London and, most recently, in Paris last year, The Hague Ministry will reaffirm the solid and long-term commitment of the international community to supporting the Government of Afghanistan in shaping a better future for Afghanistan and its people. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke will accompany Secretary Clinton. The ministerial discussion will be co-chaired by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide, Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Rangin Dadfar Spanta and Foreign Minister Verhagen.

While in the Netherlands, Secretary Clinton will also have a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Verhagen to discuss issues of mutual interest.

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain. EU, Hillary Clinton, Maxime Verhagen, NATO. US, The Netherlands

Obama says deal with moderate Taliban possible

President Barack Obama says the U.S. is not winning the war in Afghanistan and he's willing to open the door to negotiating with some moderate Taliban leaders. Obama made the comments to the New York Times Friday in a half-hour interview on Air Force One.He pointed out the success in pulling moderate elements of the Iraqi insurgency away from the hardcore Al Qaeda membership, a strategy many have credited to significantly reducing violence in that country. "There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region," Obama told the newspaper, while stressing the circumstances in that area are more complex.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Pakistan, Taliban

Karzai is US stooge says Afghan deputy president - by Ben Farmer and Dean Nelson

In a clash which showed how fragile the Western-backed government has become, President Hamid Karzai was labelled a corrupt incompetent by his own understudy, Ahmad Zia Massoud. He responded in kind, saying Mr Massoud was part of an American conspiracy to oust him.The ferocity of the infighting reflects a collapse in support for the Afghan president - both within the Afghan coalitions who have supported him since his election in 2004, and among his backers in Britain, the United States, the European Union and NATO. During a visit to Kabul last week, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that British financial and military support for the Afghanistan would only continue if Mr Karzai's government raised its game. Tensions erupted after Mr Massoud made a speech blaming greed and corruption in the Karzai administration for the hunger and poverty in the country. He also said that Mr Karzai's plan to delay the May election until August 20 and extend his term until then was unconstitutional.

The row lasted for ten minutes and had to be broken up by cabinet colleagues, who eventually moved the men onto the meeting's business agenda.

Labels: Afghanistan, Karzai

NATO considers British proposal permanent force for Eastern Europe

NATO is examining whether to set up a permanent military force in Eastern Europe to encourage regional allies to send combat troops to Afghanistan, the alliance’s top civilian official said on Friday. The idea, proposed by Britain to ease concerns in Eastern Europe about Russian belligerence since its war with Georgia, would see 3,000 troops drawn from the NATO Response Force (NRF), a contingent for use in the world’s hot spots. Britain’s idea was floated just as the United States announced that it would send some 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where NATO was struggling to cope with a Taliban-led insurgency.

Note EU-Digest: Most European countries have shown very little enthusiasm for NATO troop expansion in Afghanistan mainly because there are no solid long term plans or an exit strategy and insecurity as a result of a corrupt central government there.

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain, EU, Nato

U.K. Presses Europe for More Afghan Troops After Obama’s Surge- Kitty Donaldson and Mark Deen

Defense Secretary John Hutton rebuffed suggestions that the U.K. needs to bolster its presence in Afghanistan, calling on European allies to do more after President Barack Obama sent another 17,000 U.S. troops there. After years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the British military is already overstretched and unable to add troops immediately, officers say. “The ball is absolutely in Europe’s court now, and we need to pick it up if we are going to be seen to be responsible, effective allies of the U.S. who are doing all the heavy lifting in Afghanistan,” Hutton said. The U.K. already has almost 8,300 troops in the theatre, the second-biggest contingent after the U.S. The U.S. currently has about 37,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Note EU-Digest:The EU (Europe) is right in being hesitant on Afghanistan. NATO has no serious long term plan as to "how to proceed on Afghanistan". There is a corrupt government there and the financial priorities of our own continent presently outweigh any further expenditures on nebulous military activities.

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain, Europe, Nato, US

The Party is over for Karzai: - Afghan leader considered unreliable by Obama administration - by Dexter Filkins

Karzai, a Bush White House favorite, now finds himself not so favored at all. President Barack Obama has said he regards Karzai as unreliable and ineffective. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said he presided over a "narco-state." The Americans making Afghan policy, worried that the war is being lost, are vowing to bypass Karzai and deal directly with the governors in the countryside. At home, Karzai faces a widening insurgency and a population that blames him for the lack of economic progress and the corrupt officials that seem to stand at every doorway of his government. His face, which once adorned the walls of tea shops across the country, is today much less visible.

Karzai is seeking re-election Aug. 20 to another five-year term. In a poll commissioned by private Afghans, 85 percent of those surveyed said they intended to vote for someone other than Karzai.

Labels: Afghanistan, Karzai, US

Obama May Face 'Rebuff' from Europe on Military Step-Up in Afghanistan - by Robert Hunter and Bernhard Gwertzman

Consulting Editor, CFR.org
Robert E. Hunter, U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) during the Clinton administration, says despite U.S. calls for a stepped-up military role by European NATO members in Afghanistan, he thinks there will only be a "token response." He pointed to opinion surveys showing "there's not a single European country that wants to see more of its troops go to Afghanistan." The issue will be raised early by the Obama administration, Hunter says, "and if the United States pushes too hard on asking for new forces, it will lead to a rebuff, and at the beginning of an administration you don't want to be rebuffed."

There's no doubt that there is not a lot of confidence in Karzai. There are even supposedly members of his own family who are on the take when it comes to poppy production and the like. Recognizing, however, that Afghanistan is an amazingly complicated place, that competent central government has been the gross exception rather than the rule in that country, to say that somebody other than Karzai could do a better job is putting the wish ahead of what the facts are likely to be.

Note EU-Digest: What is being left out of the above discussion is to negotiate directly with more moderate factions of the Taliban.

Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, EU

Dutch NATO chief critizises corrupt Hamid Karzai Kabul Government - Shouting matches in the palace - by Bette Dam

Dutch NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has cast off his politeness. Although the alliance is in Afghanistan at the invitation of its President Hamid Karzai, widespread corruption within the administration led Mr de Hoop Scheffer to publicly criticise the Kabul government in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. Behind the scenes discussions with the president about his weak administration are said to have been going on for much longer.A Dutch diplomat in Camp Holland told me that the Netherlands, a NATO member, is simply waiting for the appointment of a new president. "Only then will something change in the area." The Dutch have repeatedly criticised Uruzgan's local Education Minister, Mualim Rachmatullah. He has been in power in Uruzgan since Mr Karzai's reign and is likely to remain there.

The Dutch I spoke to say he is a crook: you cannot conclude any agreements with him, the money is disappearing, and the man is mainly focused on his own building companies, people in Camp Holland have told me. The Dutch want to build schools in Uruzgan but are frustrated by the unreliable education minister, who continues to enjoy Mr Karzai's support.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Nato

Poll shows: EU voters resistant on Afghan war Poll shows: EU voters resistant on Afghan war - by James Blitz

Any attempt by Barack Obama to get European Union members of Nato to send more troops to Afghanistan will be strongly rebuffed by EU voters, according to a new opinion poll for the Financial Times. As Mr Obama prepares to be sworn in as US president today, a Harris poll for the FT shows that clear majorities in the UK, France, Italy and Germany believe their governments must not send more forces to Afghanistan, irrespective of demands that the new American head of state might make. The opinion poll shows that Mr Obama continues to enjoy high approval ratings in these four EU states. At least three-quarters of people in each of the countries surveyed, which also included Spain, believe the new president will have "a positive impact on the course of international events".

Labels: Afghanistan, EU

Russia offers Afghan defence help

Russia has said it is ready to help Afghanistan's defence sector by supplying equipment to the nation's armed forces.A statement from Mr Medvedev said Russia was "ready to provide broad assistance for an independent and democratic country that lives in a peaceful atmosphere with its neighbors". He added: "Co-operation in the defence sector... will be effective for establishing peace in the region." The Afghan presidency said Russia was also prepared to provide any other assistance that would help bring peace.

There have been complaints in Afghanistan that despite the huge Western presence its armed forces have not been properly equipped. The US has pledged to send up to 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan in 2009, adding to the 32,000 troops already there.

Labels: Afghanistan, Russia

Labels: Afghanistan, EU

France pays tribute to 10 fallen soldiers in Paris ceremony

France held a commemoration ceremony on Thursday to honour 10 French soldiers killed in a gun battle with insurgents earlier this week in eastern Afghanistan, as questions are being raised over the official account of how the soldiers died. French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined dignitaries and the soldiers' families inside Paris's Invalides palace, where France's war dead are honoured, as lines of uniformed men and women filled the boulevard outside the iconic building. Under the great dome of the Napoleonic institution rested 10 identical coffins bearing the bodies of the soldiers, whose deaths mark the largest single loss of life for any of the international forces engaged in combat in Afghanistan in more than three years.A majority of the French are opposed to the mission in Afghanistan, and the opposition Socialists are demanding a parliamentary committee meet to examine this week's battle. Reports also emerged Thursday of Afghan officials claiming that four of the French soldiers were captured and then executed by the Taliban, the CBC's Common said. Survivors were quoted as saying NATO air support arrived late and then bombarded French positions, while Afghan soldiers called in as backup reportedly also fired on the French.

Labels: Afghanistan, France, Nato

Ten French and 20 US troops killed in Afghanistan battle

Ten French soldiers have been killed in fighting with Taliban insurgents east of the Afghan capital, an Afghan military official said today. The soldiers, part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), were killed in a major battle with insurgents that began on Monday about 30 miles east of Kabul, he said.The Taliban said on its Web site that 20 US soldiers had been killed in the fighting, which they said erupted after militants ambushed a convoy of Afghan and foreign forces late on Monday.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, France

Afghanistan: No 1 Heroin Producer in the world: "A bottomless Pit which is hard to sell in Europe" - by Celestine Bohlen

As allied casualties mounted - more than 840 at last count - popular support for the war has waned in Europe, limiting the ability of government leaders to respond to urgent pleas for help from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which leads the international force. Continued involvement hinges on a comprehensive plan for the country's reconstruction, which was the focus of an international conference in Paris last week. European leaders "want a new strategy that's more saleable at home," says Daniel Korski, author of "Afghanistan: Europe's Forgotten War" and a senior fellow at the London-based European Council on Foreign Relations. "It is part of an outreach to the domestic audience that there's more to this than the military component." When the war was started in late 2001 in response to the attacks of Sept. 11 against New York and Washington, the fight against Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies had broad support in both the United States and Europe, in stark contrast to the more divisive, costlier and deadlier Iraq war that began two years later. Since then, Afghanistan has increasingly been caught in a spiral of violence and corruption, fueled by a booming opium trade that has put local officials in thrall to a criminal narcotics racket.

Heroin production in Afghanistan has tripled since 2001 and now accounts for 90 percent of the world supply, according to U.S. figures. Profit from the drug trade helps fund Taliban insurgents, who have stepped up attacks. In 2003, there were three suicide bombings. In 2007, there were 130.

Labels: Afghanistan, Europe, Heroin, Nato, Taliban

Germany to Send Troops to Western Afghanistan

German Defense Minister Jung has approved a short-term deployment of 45 German soldiers from their base in northern Afghanistan to the west of the country to help flush out insurgents. According to German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the troops will be deployed to stop the Taliban and other Afghan insurgents using one of the country's main roads to travel from the volatile south to carry out attacks in the west and north. Jung approved the request from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Thursday, a spokesman from his ministry said.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Germany

For the complete report from the New York Times click on this link

Son of Top Dutch General Is Killed in Afghanistan

A roadside bomb attack on a patrol of Dutch soldiers on Friday killed the son of the Netherlands’ top military officer, a day after his father took command of his country’s armed forces, officials said. Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, the son of Gen. Peter van Uhm, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion seven miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in Oruzgan Province, a spokesman, Lt. Gen. Freek Meulman, said. Through a spokesman, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called Lieutenant van Uhm’s death “an unprecedented tragedy” and said the weekly Dutch cabinet meeting had been briefly halted so ministers could reflect privately. There was no immediate comment from General van Uhm, who took up a new job as the overall commander of the Dutch military on Thursday in a ceremony outside Parliament in The Hague.Friday’s bombing brings the death toll of Dutch soldiers to 16 since the Netherlands began contributing combat forces to NATO’s Afghanistan mission in August 2006. The Dutch have 1,650 troops in southern Afghanistan.

Labels: Afghanistan, Dennis van Uhm, EU, The Netherlands, War

Germany Supporting Construction of 33 More Police Stations in Afghanistan

Germany Supporting Construction of 33 More Police Stations in Afghanistan

Germany is once again stepping up its support for the new police force in Afghanistan. Currently 33 police stations are being built with German assistance in the north of the country. The aim of the program is to extend policing beyond the urban centers by improving police infrastructure in rural areas. As part of the effort, Thomas Ossowski, the head of the German Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kunduz, together with the provincial governor inaugurated a new building for the traffic police in Kunduz and a new police headquarter in the Qal-e-Zal district on April 5. A large number of locals attended the handover ceremony.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Germany

AFGHANISTAN: More, But of What? - by Claudia Ciobanu

At the Bucharest summit, NATO adopted an undisclosed "comprehensive" security strategy in Afghanistan, which combines military with civilian efforts. The publicised discussions on Afghanistan, however, were focused on the numbers of troops. "I am very grateful to the international community," said Afghan President Hamid Karzai Apr. 2, during a conference organised by the German Marshall Fund on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit in Bucharest. "We are very thankful. Give us more. "We are not failing, we are succeeding in Afghanistan," said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the meeting, when confronted with numbers illustrating the increase of violence in Afghanistan in 2007. But the officials' declaration of optimism is put into perspective by the mere fact that one of their most important missions at the summit in Bucharest was to sign a new document outlining a change of strategy for security in Afghanistan.

Labels: Afghanistan

America Wrong, Europe Right

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is again beating up on Europeans for not doing more in Afghanistan, a now familiar theme in his blame-anybody-but-us strategy. With 3,200 more Marines being deployed to the country to stem the Taliban resurgence and with a new military focus on Pakistan -- and with the Iraq war seemingly put in the "pause" box -- Gates has found religion in the other war against terrorism. Speaking to NATO two weeks ago, he questioned why some were "ready to fight and die in order to protect people's security and others ... are not." In Australia this weekend, he lauded our Pacific ally's contribution, warning that military failure in Afghanistan could lead to more terrorism in Europe.

The public image that Gates has created is not only that the European contributions are weak and worthless, but that if there were more shooters from Europe, somehow the war would be going better. This is a false proposition: The Afghanistan war may require a renewal, and it may even demand greater resources. But the notion that we can just ship the Iraq surge strategy to the country and win is thoughtless, and the non-lethal European approach, as slow and excruciating as it might be to the Bush administration, is ultimately the right approach.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Nato

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Henri Kissinger

Germany rejects US demand to increase Afghan deployment - by Tony Paterson

A bitter diplomatic row between Germany and the United States deepened yesterday after Berlin flatly rejected demands from Washington that it deploy troops in war-torn southern Afghanistan and angrily dismissed the request as "impertinent" and a "fantastic cheek". Germany currently has some 3,200 soldiers stationed in comparatively tranquil northern Afghanistan and the capital Kabul as part of the current Nato peacekeeping mission. It has been urged to deploy troops in the south before but has consistently refused. Yesterday however, it became clear that Washington had stepped up pressure on Berlin to commit troops to the south.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Germany, US

Polish soldiers face more dangerous missions this year

This is going to be a year of more dangerous foreign missions for Polish soldiers. Although the decision to pull out 900 troops from Iraq by October has already been approved by Poland’s president, the present contingent of 1200 soldiers in Afghanistan is to be enlarged to 1600. Starting this spring Poland will also participate in the EU military mission in Chad.

Labels: Afghanistan, Chad, EU, Military, Poland

Pakistan: Bhutto assassination - blow to Pakistan and democracy but opportunity for EU to establish new regional strategy

Pakistani opposition leader and former premier Benazir Bhutto, who was challenging the dictator Pervez Musharraf, was assassinated at a party rally late Thursday, plunging Pakistan into a deep crisis, less than two weeks before elections. She was shot in the neck before a suicide bomber blew himself up at a park in the northern city of Rawalpindi, killing around 30 people. It happened minutes after Bhutto had addressed supporters. This was the second assassination attempt against Mrs. Bhutto, since her homecoming in October, when her convoy was hit in the deadliest such attacks in Pakistani history, leaving 139 dead. Mrs. Bhutto only survived then after ducking down at the moment of impact behind her armored vehicle. Bhutto, 54, became the first ever female prime minister of a Muslim nation, when she took the helm in 1988 for the first of her two premierships. Her father, also a prime minister, was hanged by the military in 1979, after being ousted from power. Following the assassination, Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister of Pakistan, said he held President and Military Dictator Pervez Musharraf "responsible" for the assassination and said inquiries should only be conducted after Musharraf steps down. Sharif told Bhutto supporters outside the General Hospital in Rawalpindi, where Benazdir Bhuto lay mortally wounded, that he would join hands with Buttho's PPP and fight their "war".

Benazir Bhutto, with some mysterious foresight, said on Tuesday that dictatorships in Pakistan had always nurtured extremism. The former premier also said she hoped that “total powers would be transferred from the present dictatorship to democratic institutions”.

Political and democracy-wise, everything looks gloomy and hopeless for Pakistan at this tragic moment. After Mrs. Benazir Bhutto was forcefully eliminated from the election process, and with the independent judicial system in Pakistan put out of commission by Musharraf himself, the election, if held, would be a total farce. Musharraf, at least for the moment, seems to hold all the cards in his hands. He and his allies inside and outside Pakistan can blame Al Quada and Taliban terrorists for the assassination, while he declares Marshall law to stay in power. Fortunately, there are also forces who can topple the Musharraf regime, forcing the military back to the barracks and restore democracy. The EU has a unique opportunity in this respect to take the lead in the international community to make this happen. For one, the EU can break off diplomatic and economic trade relations with Pakistan until the military returns to the barracks and gives its powers to a government of reconciliation, preparing for democratic elections based on the principles of Pakistan's great leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The success of the EU in this effort to restore democracy to Pakistan could also help establish a new European political strategy for the region. A strategy based on dialog and inclusion, as opposed to the present policy of confrontation and war, which is a total failure.

Labels: Afghanistan, Benazir Bhutto, EU, Pakistan

Afghanistan Expels High-Level UN, EU Diplomats

Two high-level United Nations and European Union diplomats face expulsion from Afghanistan for allegedly holding talks with the radical Islamist Taliban. The organizations are working to clear up the "misunderstanding." A government official said that acting European Union mission head Michael Semple and senior UN official Mervyn Patterson had held an illegal meeting with members of the Taliban and must leave by Thursday, Dec. 27.Semple, an Irishman, and Patterson, a Briton, were charged with having talks with the Taliban in the southern province of Helmand without the knowledge of the government in Kabul, which accused them of endangering the security and sovereignty of Afghanistan.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU

Afghanistan - Operation Enduring Freedom: 193 Europeans killed

Of the 746 coalition fatalities since the conflict started 193 were European. Australia, Canada and the US together so far have had 553 casualties. Among the coalition forces there have been 7,171 wounded of which 4,324 required medical air transport out of the combat zone. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview that his war-torn country will need foreign troops for at least another decade. "I believe it will take another 10 years, at least 10 years," he told Bild newspaper when asked for how much longer the country will need German troops.

Labels: Afghanistan, Casualties, EU

Rep. Lantos offends Dutch Lawmakers - by Desmond Butler

Dutch lawmakers who visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison this week said they were offended by a testy exchange in Washington with a senior congressional Democrat. The lawmakers said that Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that "Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay."

Before the Guantanamo exchange, the lawmakers had discussed a debate in the Netherlands about whether the country should maintain its 1,600 troops serving in NATO's Afghanistan operations. "You have to help us, because if it was not for us you would now be a province of Nazi Germany," Lantos said, according to the Dutch lawmakers. "The comments killed the debate," said Harry van Bommel, a member of the Socialist Party. "It was insulting and counterproductive." It was not the first time that Lantos had offended European political circles. In May, he lashed out at the former leaders of France and Germany. His comments, which included calling former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a "political prostitute," provoked a rebuke from German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Guantanamo, Netherlands, Tom Lantos, US Congress

Time to Shift Focus in Afghanistan - by Christoph Hasselbach

In Europe, many NATO member countries are getting fed up with demands, primarily from Washington, for greater military involvement in Afghanistan -- demands that have persisted ever since the launch of the NATO mission. For years, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has been doing the rounds of the European capitals lobbying for more troops, helicopters and transport aircraft, only to be fobbed off with vague promises. Germany has finally agreed to extend its broad activities in Afghanistan by deploying reconnaissance tornados, but it refuses to send soldiers to the hostile south of the country. Given the public's waning support for the mission and Berlin's political status quo, this is simply out of the question.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Nato

"Most Dutch want end to Uruzgan mission"

More than 50 percent of the Dutch population does not think the military mission in Uruzgan should be extended beyond 1 August 2008. The majority of those who oppose extension of the mission would prefer that the troops be pulled out of Afghanistan immediately. The AD reported this on Friday on the basis of a survey the paper conducted among 1,000 Dutch. The survey indicates that an extension of the mission is only supported by 45 percent of the population. The respondents primarily doubted the point of the mission. Almost a third thinks that the Dutch soldiers are not able to accomplish anything in Afghanistan.

Labels: Afghanistan, Council of Europe, Netherlands

AFGHANISTAN AND EUROPE - "The Netherlands - the best friend America has in Europe"

The Netherlands is probably the only country in the world, next to Afghanistan itself, which has an official Netherlands government sponsored program for its schools, promoting the benefits of keeping the Dutch military in Afghanistan. Dutch envoys have also gone to other European countries to urge them in sending additional troops to Afghanistan. Most recently to Norway. Why all this activity? For one, the Balkenende Government had made a deal with the US Government during the Iraq war that they would be sending some 1000 troops to Iraq in exchange for dredging contracts near the port of Basra, and the appointment of Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who belongs to the same political party as Mr. Balkenende, as NATO’s Secretary General. The other crucial point is that this fall the Dutch parliament will be discussing the extension of Dutch troop deployment in Afghanistan. Obviously the coalition Government of Prime-Minister Balkenende is using every "spin-masters" trick to win this parliamentary debate, and stay in favor with America. In the meantime, the war in Afghanistan, which is badly managed and has already cost the Dutch 10 military deaths and a drain on the economy of several million euro's per week, is not going well.

The majority of the Dutch population is either brain-dead or does not seem to be interested in what is going on in Afghanistan. In general, the Dutch do not approve of President Bush personally, but otherwise the 16 million strong population is totally in love with American culture and life-style. They act and dress like Americans, eat their food, dance to their music, watch and copy their TV shows, drive in SUV's when they can afford it, and overcrowd the roads. Like the majority of the US population, they have also taken a negative view on the benefits of immigration.

The bottom line about Afghanistan's importance to the Dutch Government is that for the government staying friendly with the US is a far more important issue than working towards a strong and united European Union. Two years ago, the Netherlands voted against the EU Constitution, mainly because the Government had not done their "homework" and stood by while populist and right wing politicians took center stage.

If it's not too late, the Netherlands better wake up to the fact that their future lies within the European Union and not with America. It certainly would be a wise decision for the Netherlands Government to divert the millions of euro's it is now wasting on the Afghanistan military campaign, to promoting the actual results of more than 50 years of prosperity the Netherlands population is enjoying, thanks to their membership in the European Union. That is the story that needs to be told to its youth.

All EU-Digest Commentary can be used only if its source is identified.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Netherlands, US

The Taliban Hydra - by Abdul R. Karim

In retrospect, the Americans can be forgiven for their near sightedness five years ago. When the US led coalition began its war in Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, it was easy to be optimistic.

Fast forward five years, and we have a vicious insurgency that shows no signs of abating. At least ¼ of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces have a heavy Taliban presence, while almost half the country is under the sway of Taliban law and gun. The government controls the urban centers and the Coalition controls the roads when their patrols make their rounds. But it is when the sun sets, within the rural parts of the country which are home to the majority of Afghans, that the Taliban re emerge. In many parts of the south, locals take their disputes to Taliban courts, as opposed to government judiciary institutions. Those with grievances avoid the corrupt Afghan police, a despised and mistrusted force, instead seeking redress from the Taliban. Curfews, laws (in some parts, the use of motored vehicles have been banned) and edicts are strictly enforced by the Talibs. In most of the south and east of the county, aid agency presence is virtually non existent, and schools remain empty.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Taliban, US

British Criticize US Air Attacks in Afghan Region - by Carlotta Gall

A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

Other British officers here in Helmand Province, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized American Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area. They also expressed concerns that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban.

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain, EU, Nato

For the complete report from the Guardian Unlimited click on this link

Britain's most senior generals have issued a blunt warning to Downing Street that the military campaign in Afghanistan is facing a catastrophic failure, a development that could lead to an Islamist government seizing power in neighbouring Pakistan. Amid fears that London and Washington are taking their eye off Afghanistan as they grapple with Iraq, the generals have told Number 10 that the collapse of the government in Afghanistan, headed by Hamid Karzai, would present a grave threat to the security of Britain.

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain

The cost of war to the US: EURO 8.7 billion ($12 billion) a month

The boost in US troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war for the US there and in Afghanistan to EURO 8.7 billion ($12 billion) a month, according to the US nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. Debate within the Bush administration about the next phase of the president's Iraq strategy is centering on a report to be presented to Congress this week that says the Baghdad government has failed to meet any of its targets for political, economic and other types of progress.

Labels: Afghanistan, Iraq, US Economy

9 Dutch soldiers dead - Did the Dutch Government hide the truth about the Dutch troop deployment in Afghanistan?

Tuesday's suicide attack in southern Afghanistan, which left at least 17 civilians dead and a number of Dutch soldiers injured, has again raised questions about Dutch involvement in Afghanistan. A year ago, the deployment of Dutch troops in the Afghan province of Uruzgan was sold to the Dutch public as primarily a reconstruction mission but it's becoming clearer by the day that this is a military operation with all the attendant risks.This makes the debate about extending the mission beyond its current 2008 deadline a controversial one. Now that it's clear the Dutch are in Afghanistan to fight, how will the government persuade the country to accept the dangers of staying on?

The line between propaganda and truth is sometimes hard to determine, the only sure thing is that there are going to be some fireworks in the Dutch parliament when the extension of the mission is debated later this summer. Comment EU-Digest: In the run-up to the 2006 decision to participate in the mission, the Dutch government put the emphasis on reconstruction and the resolution to send troops to Afghanistan passed.Now they have been caught lying it is interesting to see what they will say when it comes to extending the mission beyond 2008. In the meantime 9 Dutch soldiers have already been killed.

Labels: Afghanistan, Council of Europe, The Netherlands

Labels: Afghanistan, EU

Rift growing over NATO's Afghan tactics - by Peter Graff

A U.S. commander's repudiation of a cease-fire in Afghanistan that was backed by his British predecessor reveals rifts among the main Western allies over how to defeat Taliban insurgents and win hearts and minds.

The aggressive U.S. approach "doesn't seem to be in tune with the philosophy of the British Army," he said. "On several occasions, senior British commanders have expressed a desire to try to modify the allegiances of potential insurgents, rather than try to kill them."

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain, Nato

U.S. drawdown in Europe may be too much

The commander of the U.S. European Command may not have enough troops to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq and conduct routine operations. If not, one of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's main reforms to the U.S. military may have to be rolled back -- that is, pulling troops out of "traditional" U.S. deployments in "old Europe" to garrisons in the United States, with more frequent, shorter deployments to newer areas, like Eastern Europe.

Gen. Bantz Craddock, the chief of U.S. European Command, told the Senate Armed Serviced Committee Thursday the drawdown of U.S. troops in Europe from roughly 100,000 to 60,000 is causing him concern.

Labels: Afghanistan, Europe, US Troops

"And Then There Were None" - by Richard May

Several European allies are quickly losing interest in fighting what they perceive as America’s expansionist war in the Middle East and South Asia, and have begun withdrawing and distancing themselves from Afghanistan. CDI Scoville Fellow Richard May examines the causes and indications of this phenomenon in his latest commentary.

Britain has announced that it would be pulling 1,600 troops out of Iraq and the Dutch have said that they will follow suit. This presents a sharp blow to the Bush administration and its efforts in the war in Iraq. The move signals that Europe is growing tired of American adventurism in the Middle East. Britain and the Netherlands, who are following the British lead, are not the only European countries that have grown weary of the United States presence in Iraq, but most countries don't have troops that they can withdraw to show their displeasure. Instead, the European countries that lack troops in Iraq may illustrate their dislike for the United States in another place: Afghanistan.

Labels: Afghanistan, EU, Iraq, Military, US