US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, seen here meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, promised that Washington will not abandon Afghanistan despite a timeline for the withdrawal of US troops, officials said. (AFP/Raveendran)
Handover of security duties, funds for reconciliation to top Afghanistan conference agenda
An international conference on Afghanistan next week will aim to set a tentative timetable to switch security duties from foreign troops to local forces, and seek to spur efforts to reconcile Taliban fighters with the government, Britain's ambassador to Kabul said Wednesday.
Afghan Taliban sceptical of peace talks - ex-envoy
A former top diplomat for the Taliban said a new government plan to persuade insurgents to lay down their arms in exchange for jobs or money was corrupt and would only hinder efforts to reach a peace deal.
Iraq list of excluded candidates has more Shi'ites
More Shi'ite candidates than Sunnis have been barred from Iraq's election because of links to Saddam Hussein's Baath party, politicians said on Wednesday, potentially defusing a row that threatened to reopen sectarian wounds.
Gates: Al-Qaeda has assembled a 'syndicate' of terror groups
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that al-Qaeda was using proxy terrorist groups to orchestrate attacks in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of a broader strategy to destabilize the region.
Gates Says Al Qaeda Seeks to Trigger India-Pakistan War
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said al Qaeda is working with an array of local militant groups to destabilize South Asia and trigger a war between India and Pakistan, an indication of growing U.S. fears about new terror attacks throughout the volatile region.
Iraqi politician Saleh al-Mutlak gives a press conference in Baghdad on January 8. A parliamentary official told MPs that all 511 candidates banned from running in Iraq's general election had links to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's political and military infrastructure. (AFP/File/Sabah Arar)
It's true that many of the disqualified politicians were once Baathists. But Iraq needs reconciliation, not payback. Any bans must be careful, selective and well-explained. They should not disqualify people like the defense minister — a former Baathist, but one who turned against the party in the 1990s and was imprisoned and tortured by the regime. Moreover, in recent years he has served the new Iraqi government loyally.
Before the surge of American troops in 2007 and the so-called Anbar Awakening, many Iraqi Sunnis boycotted Iraq's elections in the belief that the system was rigged against them. This created a self-fulfilling prophecy when the elections took place without them and the resulting government was dominated by Shiite and Kurdish groups. This vicious cycle helped fuel civil war.
Civil war is a very real prospect for Iraq. Unfortunately, USF-I insists on pointing out how violence today is far lower than its peak in 2007; a fact continually becoming irrelevant in the wake of this political crisis. I am by no means suggesting that the sky is falling, but rather noting the fact that it is sliding in that direction yet again.
An Afghan policeman keeps watch in front of a shopping centre, burnt after a Taliban attack, in Kabul January 19, 2010. Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on the center of Kabul on Monday, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up at several locations and militants battling security forces from inside a shopping center engulfed in flames. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
Taliban Leaders Unlikely to Accept Offer, Gates Says
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that there could be a surge of Taliban followers willing to reintegrate with the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai, but that for now an Afghan government reconciliation with the Taliban leadership was unlikely.
Taliban Strike Heart of Afghan Capital
The Taliban launched a coordinated attack on the Afghan capital Monday, paralyzing the city for most of the day as militants set off explosions, took over buildings and attempted to disrupt the swearing-in of new cabinet ministers.
Gates: US seeks stability between India, Pakistan
The United States would like to help India and Pakistan focus less on each other and more on the terrorism threat, but the two countries prefer to settle their differences themselves, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday
Could a Ban on Sunni Candidates Imperil Iraq's Election?
Like the knee-jerk decision to dismantle the Iraqi army, the U.S. decision in 2003 to ban members of the former ruling Baath Party from joining the new Iraqi government was one of the biggest blunders of the early American occupation of post-Saddam Iraq. It instantly alienated an entire spectrum of civil servants and politicians, many of whom didn't have much loyalty to the old regime and could have been enlisted in the construction of a new government. And because many of them were Sunni, it helped widen the sectarian split in Iraqi society that eventually led to civil war.
Saddam's Cousin 'Chemical Ali' Sentenced to Death
Pakistani 'Al Qaeda' scientist trial begins in NY
The trial of a Pakistani neuroscientist educated in the United States and accused of trying to kill US personnel in Afghanistan was due to start Tuesday in New York. US authorities say Aafia Siddiqui, 37, is an Al Qaeda-linked, would-be terrorist who tried to murder American officers on July 18, 2008, after she was detained by security services in Afghanistan.
Five Americans in Pakistan Allege Torture
Five young Americans arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of trying to join militant Islamist groups allege they are being tortured in custody.
Kabul "under control" after brazen Taliban assault
Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on targets in the center of Kabul on Monday, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up at several locations and heavily armed militants fighting a pitched battle in a shopping center.
'Chemical Ali' to be hanged within days
One of Saddam Hussein's most loathed henchman, Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as Chemical Ali, will be hanged within days, a senior official said tonight, setting the scene for Iraq's highest profile execution since Saddam himself was put to death more than three years ago.
Shell signs Iraq oil field deal
Oil giant Shell and Malaysia's state-run Petronas oil company finalised a contract on Sunday to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field.
Qaeda says fighters alive, Yemen vows more strikes
The Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda said on Monday its fighters had survived an air strike last week that Yemeni officials said killed six leaders of the militant group.
Photo courtesy of http://blog.stevenpressfield.com
During the two month Presidential deliberation on whether or not to provide General McChrystal with the troops he requested, an after action report lit up the blogosphere. Steven Pressfield's "One Tribe at a Time" series has been cited numeroustimesonthisblog and others. The centerpiece of the series was an after-action report written by Major Jim Gant. Today, Major Gant and his assessment were featured in the Washington Post.
It was the spring of 2003, and Capt. Jim Gant and his Special Forces team had just fought their way out of an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan's Konar province when they heard there was trouble in the nearby village of Mangwel. There, Gant had a conversation with a tribal chief -- a chance encounter that would redefine his mission in Afghanistan and that, more than six years later, could help salvage the faltering U.S. war effort.
The article continues...
A decorated war veteran and Pashto speaker with multiple tours in Afghanistan, Gant had been assigned by the Army to deploy to Iraq in November. But with senior military and civilian leaders -- including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates; Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; and Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command -- expressing support for Gant's views, he was ordered instead to return to Afghanistan later this year to work on tribal issues.
"Maj. Jim Gant's paper is very impressive -- so impressive, in fact, that I shared it widely," Petraeus said, while McChrystal distributed it to all commanders in Afghanistan. One senior military official went so far as to call Gant "Lawrence of Afghanistan."
For me, this is proof-positive of how important the blogosphere is in current COIN operations. Through "official" channels, it is highly unlikely that any aspects of Major Gant's assessments or experience would have been taken seriously or even read at all. But by releasing his views through Pressfield, public political pressures have forced leaders, decision makers, and their staffs to take his perspective and experiences into consideration. Furthermore, this public release generated the debate and discussion critical to formulating a functional strategy capable of defining and achieving victory.
You can read Major Gant's "One Tribe at a Time" here. His paper is a perfect example how if you understand the culture the strategy writes itself.
Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, right, stands next to a television display showing Ali al-Azzawi, a senior leader of a militant group linked to al-Qaida, following his arrest in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010. Al-Moussawi identified al-Azzawi as a high-level commander in the Islamic State of Iraq who supervised numerous attacks, including the 2003 bombing of the United Nations' headquarters in Iraq. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraq arrests Qaeda chief tied to 2003 blast at UN HQ
The Iraqi army said on Saturday it had detained a suspected Al-Qaeda leader implicated in the 2003 bombing of the UN's Baghdad headquarters which killed 22 people. Ali Hussein Alwan al-Azawi, nicknamed Abu Imad, suspected of being a top commander in Al-Qaeda front organisation the Islamic State in Iraq, was captured in an operation in the capital, Baghdad military command spokesman Qassem Atta told a news conference.
Iraq's "Chemical Ali" gets 4th death sentence
An Iraqi court sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussein henchman widely known as "Chemical Ali," on Sunday to death by hanging for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000 Kurds, a court official said.
'Saddam' ban threatens Sunni stake in Iraq elections
The decision to ban Iraqi election candidates accused of links with the Baath party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein could exclude Sunnis from the political arena and usher in new sectarian tensions.
Inside Iraq - Iraq's general election
US drone strike 'kills 20 militants in NW Pakistan'
A US drone attack on Sunday killed 20 militants in an area of Pakistan's northwest tribal belt where local Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud reportedly escaped death days ago, officials said.
Poor schooling slows anti-terrorism effort in Pakistan
With a curriculum that glorifies violence in the name of Islam and ignores basic history, science and math, Pakistan's public education system has become a major barrier to U.S. efforts to defeat extremist groups here, U.S. and Pakistani officials say.
Tribal armies an ally for Pakistan in battle against Taliban
NATO troops shoot Afghan in area that saw unrest
NATO-led troops shot dead an Afghan civilian whose vehicle approached a convoy on Sunday in an area that has seen violent civil unrest over the past week in Afghanistan, the alliance said.
The U.S. Department of State and FBI have released this "age progressed" photograph of Osama Bin Laden (Usama bin Ladin) as a part of newly enhanced photos of terrorist suspects on their most wanted lists in Washington, January 15, 2010. The digitally enhanced pictures of Osama bin Laden shows how the al Qaeda leader might look now. REUTERS/U.S. State Department
Trilateral meeting on Afghanistan today
Foreign ministers of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan are meeting here on Saturday for consultations on the London Conference to be held later this month to reinforce political process in the war-torn country.
U.S.-funded Pashto radio a new weapon in war against Taliban
When Taliban fighters vowed to cut his throat to muffle his songs of peace, love and the futility of war, Haroon Bacha, a famous Pashtun singer, fled his home in Peshawar, leaving his wife and two children behind. But yesterday Mr. Bacha fought back: He sang to the Taliban, he sang to his family and to anyone else from his homeland who happened to tune in to a slick new radio program aimed at countering militant broadcasting in the insurgent heartland bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Nato short of military instructors in Afghanistan
Pakistani Taliban: Voice on tape is injured leader
The Taliban in Pakistan says a new audiotape contains the voice of their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, who was wounded in a suspected drone strike this week.
Sunni candidates ban threatens Iraq election
Leading Sunni politicians tonight warned that Iraq was sliding towards a "dark unknown" in the wake of a decision to ban more than 400 Sunni candidates from contesting the upcoming general election. The move is increasingly being seen as a test of the poll's legitimacy and a direct threat to the Shia-led government's attempts at reconciling the country's warring militant and political factions.
Former Iraq PM unveils alliance to fight election
Iraq's former pro-Western prime minister Iyad Allawi on Saturday unveiled a broad secular alliance of candidates to contest the country's general election on March 7. Allawi, a Shiite politician who in exile mounted an opposition movement against Saddam Hussein, was provisionally appointed by Washington as Iraq's first premier after the dictator's ouster in the US-led invasion of 2003.
Yemen confirms killing of six Qaeda leaders
emen's interior ministry confirmed on Saturday the death of Al-Qaeda's military chief in the country, Qassem al-Rimi, and that of five of his lieutenants in an air strike a day earlier.
Al-Qaeda threat: Britain worst in western world
Al-Qaeda has successfully restructured its global network and now has the capability to carry out a wide range of terror attacks against Western targets, according to a detailed U.S. intelligence assessment that has been conducted in the wake of the failed Christmas Day Detroit bomb plot.
An Iraqi policeman reads an electoral committee information billboard urging people to update their voting record in Baghdad, in 2009. Iraq's election organisers on Thursday barred nearly 500 politicians and parties from contesting the country's upcoming national poll, including many linked to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party. (AFP/File/Sabah Arar)
Iraqi Commission Bars Nearly 500 Candidates
Iraq’s independent electoral commission on Thursday barred about 500 candidates from running in parliamentary elections in March, among them an influential Sunni Muslim politician, in a decision that could stoke sectarian tensions here and deprive the vote of crucial legitimacy in the eyes of part of the electorate.
3 explosions rock holy Shiite city in Iraq
Three explosions ripped through the city of Najaf on Thursday, just hundreds of yards from one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam.
Iraq Buys Gasoline at $13 Premium for Delivery Through June
raq, holder of the world’s third- largest crude reserves, signed four contracts to buy a total of about 1 million barrels of gasoline a month until June, an oil ministry official said.
Ex-CIA official talks about US wars abroad
Q+A-Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan tops $1 trillion
The cost to U.S. taxpayers of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 has topped $1 trillion, and President Barack Obama is expected to request another $33 billion to fund more troops this year.
Pakistan Taliban says leader injured in attack
Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, has been injured in a suspected U.S. drone strike, intelligence and Taliban sources told CNN Friday.
An Afghan boy stands near a public water pump in Kabul January 13, 2010. Nearly half way through the Afghan winter, unusually warm and dry weather is raising fears of a drought that could cause food shortages, undermine efforts to slash poppy growing and worsen security problems. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
Afghan civilian deaths in 2009 were most since invasion, U.N. says
There were more than 2,400 noncombatant deaths in 2009, the highest toll in eight years. But the proportion attributed to Western and Afghan security forces fell sharply under new engagement rules.
Suicide bomber hits Afghanistan market
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy market district in central Afghanistan today, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than a dozen, provincial officials said.
Pakistani Taliban leader 'escapes US strike'
Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud was in the area of northwest Pakistan where a US drone strike killed 10 people Thursday but left before the missiles hit, a militant spokesman said.
Iraq sentences 11 men to death over Baghdad bombings
An Iraqi court Thursday sentenced to death 11 men, including Al-Qaeda militants, over devastating truck bombs in Baghdad that killed more than 100 people in August and dealt a harsh blow to the government. Those convicted included Salim Abed Jassim who confessed that he received funding for the attacks from Brigadier General Nabil Abdul Rahman, a senior army officer during the rule of Saddam Hussein now living in Syria.
Iraqis on Iraq - Falluja and Tikrit
As international attention increasingly shifts from Iraq to Afghanistan — we asked Iraqi journalists working for The New York Times to give a personal view of daily life in the areas where they live. Here, we offer views from Falluja and Tikrit as our colleagues Mohammed Hussein and Timothy Williams report on the escalation of violence in recent weeks and a suicide bombing in Anbar Province Wednesday morning. The names of the Iraqi journalists are withheld because of the continuing threat to their lives.
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