This video is called Bombed Afghans seek justice – 13 Sept 2008.
From BNO News:
NATO airstrike kills three Afghan police officers
Monday, January 10th, 2011 at 7:36 am
KABUL — Three Afghan police officers were killed on Sunday when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mistook them for suspected insurgents, the alliance said on Monday.
The incident happened on Sunday when the ISAF team was conducting a patrol near Baladas village in Daykundi province. ….
The alliance said three wounded police officers were immediately transported to a local hospital for treatment. Three other officers were killed. …
There have been several civilian casualty and friendly fire incidents in Afghanistan in recent months. On December 15, four Afghan soldiers were killed by an ISAF airstrike after the force believed they were under small arms fire from insurgents.
New York’s Spending on the Afghanistan War Is Larger Than Its Budget Hole: here.
The Netherlands: January 7th, 2011 • The S[ocialist] P[arty] is strongly against the proposed new [Dutch] military mission in Afghanistan on the grounds that the context in which it will take place is one of war. ‘There’s no other way to describe these conditions,’ points out SP Member of Parliament and Foreign Affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel.
Major Indian steel firms are planning to bid for Hajigak Mine in Afghanistan, which is estimated to contain 1.8 billion tonnes of iron ore deposits, according to Indian Mines Secretary Vijay Kumar: here.
KABUL: A major coalition military operation under way in Kandahar has caused about 100 million dollars worth of damage to property in Afghanistan’s volatile southern province, a government delegation said on Tuesday.
KABUL (Reuters) – A U.S. auditor for Afghanistan reconstruction, who said waste and fraud in efforts to rebuild the war-torn country may have cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars, resigned on Tuesday: here.
Public Pressure Delays Deployment of Wounded Soldier: As reported by Sarah Lazare and Ryan Harvey, Jeff Hanks, a soldier out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was deployed to Afghanistan early last year and returned in September 2010 in need of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Hanks was denied treatment by two separate military bases for his traumatic injuries and was forced to go Absent Without Official Leave in order to get medical attention from civilian professionals. After surrendering himself at Fort Campbell, he was set to redeploy to Afghanistan yesterday, despite concerns for his fitness for combat. However, a joint campaign called Operation Recovery, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Civilian-Soldier Alliance, mobilized volunteers in support of Hanks and, as of yesterday, Hanks was not deployed on his scheduled date. Hanks still faces deployment or a dishonorable discharge, but details of his current status are unknown: here.
Britain: Defence Secretary Liam Fox branded heartless for pension cuts that will hit war widows and retired veterans: here.
By Jason Ditz from the USA:
Pakistani officials report that a barrage of mortars was fired from across the Afghan border, likely from either NATO troops or Afghan military forces, and destroyed a home in the North Waziristan Agency, killing eight people.
The attack comes just a day after Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Pakistan, during which he warned that his patience was “wearing thin” with the government for not having invaded North Waziristan yet. NATO has yet to confirm that it was their attack, but promised an investigation.
British forces were advised by a military study that paedophilia is widespread and culturally accepted in southern Afghanistan: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Firm with checkered record hired for Afghan work
RICHARD LARDNER and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE / Associated Press
Published: January 10th, 2011 10:05 AM
Last Modified: January 10th, 2011 12:08 PM
WASHINGTON – The U.S. government is counting on an American contractor with a record of cost overruns and missed deadlines to handle a critical component of Gen. David Petraeus’ plan to stabilize volatile southern Afghanistan: quickly deliver more electricity to the power-starved region.
The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded Black & Veatch Corp. of Overland Park, Kan., a no-bid contract worth $266 million last month to pump more power into Kandahar and Helmand provinces. Expanding electrical access will allow businesses to open and improve the quality of life for Afghans, undercutting the influence of the Taliban-led insurgency, officials say.
The agency said Black & Veatch was uniquely positioned to handle the work, which it called urgent. But in choosing Black & Veatch, the agency set aside its own criticism of the company’s performance on an earlier project to build a diesel-fueled power plant in Afghanistan’s capital city. The Kabul plant was initially supposed to cost $100 million, but ballooned to more than $300 million while construction lagged a year behind schedule.
The decision illustrates the U.S. reliance on the private sector to stifle insurgency through reconstruction. An internal USAID document said the southern power project is “the most prominent component” of the agency’s infrastructure plans in Afghanistan “because stabilization of the area in the next 12 months is critical to the success of the U.S. Afghan strategy.”
In statement issued Monday, USAID called Black & Veatch a proven partner. The agency said it also has improved its contracting operations and won’t hesitate to penalize or terminate arrangements with vendors that fail to deliver. In justifying the sole-source award to Black & Veatch, USAID said holding a competition for the work would have delayed the time-sensitive project by as long as seven months.
Under the new contract, Black & Veatch will upgrade electrical distribution in Kandahar city, install diesel generators, rebuild power substations, string power lines and add a third hydro-electric turbine generator at the Kajaki Dam in Helmand province. The U.S. has long struggled to install a third turbine engine at Kajaki. The effort already has cost about $90 million and been repeatedly delayed by fighting and the inability to get supplies to the remote area.
The Army Corps of Engineers also is working to expand electrical power in southern Afghanistan. The Corps plans to spend as much as $227 million on diesel generator power plants and electrical system improvements. The first of two planned 10-megawatt diesel power plants opened last week at an industrial park on the east side of Kandahar city, according to the Corps. A second plant is scheduled to open in March.
Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, currently receives about 26 megawatts of power. But service is sporadic and most residents with access receive electricity for just a few hours a day, officials say. Black & Veatch and the Corps of Engineers will increase the output to 70 megawatts within the next two years, according to the USAID document.
“Power generation, transmission and distribution play a central focus in the current phase of the stabilization of Afghanistan,” the document reads. The counterinsurgency strategy for Kandahar and Helmand provinces crafted by Petraeus, NATO’s top commander in Afghanistan, “includes power as a critical, essential service government must supply in order to generate the economic conditions needed to undermine the influence of the insurgency,” the document adds.
The electricity produced by the diesel generators is seen by the U.S. as a bridge to the optimum solution: linking the southern provinces to an electrical network in northern Afghanistan that is supplied with inexpensive electricity from neighboring countries. That would cost hundreds of millions of dollars more. But failure would saddle the Afghans with a system of diesel generators and undermine the goal of reducing the country’s reliance on expensive diesel fuel as a primary power source.
USAID awarded Black & Veatch and the Louis Berger Group, another U.S. contractor, a $1.4 billion contract in 2006 to construct roads, bridges, energy plants and government buildings throughout Afghanistan. Under this umbrella contract, Black & Veatch oversaw the 105 megawatt Kabul power plant, the most prominent of the energy plans.
The U.S. rushed to build and open the plant in time to help Afghan President Hamid Karzai win re-election in 2009, an unrealistic timetable that contributed to the cost increases. But even as the plant’s costs and schedule veered off course, payments to Black & Veatch ballooned. Contract records showed expenses and fees paid to the company tripled from $15.3 million in July 2007, when the project was estimated at $125.8 million overall, to $46.2 million in October 2009, when the price tag reached $301 million.
In January 2009, Michael Yates, then USAID’s top official in Afghanistan, informed Black & Veatch of the agency’s “extreme dissatisfaction” with the company’s progress on the Kabul plant. In a letter to Len Rodman, the company’s chief executive officer, Yates also scolded the company for failing to keep USAID informed of construction delays.
A few months later, in an internal assessment of the umbrella contract, the agency said “many important deadlines were missed and USAID lost confidence” in the ability of Black & Veatch and Louis Berger to complete infrastructure work in Afghanistan. Among a long list of criticisms, the March 2009 document says the companies blamed problems on each other or on subcontractors.
In the statement released Monday, the agency attributed delays and cost overruns to the violence in Afghanistan. USAID also said it is expanding the pool of companies it hires for reconstruction work.
http://www.adn.com/2011/01/10/1641310/firm-with-checkered-record-hired.html#ixzz1AfaE8tZO
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Joe Klein thinks you’re stupid for wanting to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.
Our latest video features Klein’s recent CNN appearance, where he said:
“I was on Ed Schultz’ show to discuss Afghanistan…And the guy writes on a piece of paper, ‘Get out now,’ and holds it up on the screen. That’s so stupid…”
Klein may not have realized it, but in calling Schultz “stupid” for wanting to get out of Afghanistan, he insulted most Americans.
More than 60 percent of Americans oppose the Afghanistan War. In a recent poll, bringing troops home from Afghanistan was the issue second most important to Americans, just behind fixing the economy.
But Joe Klein thinks you’re stupid for wanting to get our troops home.
While 68 percent of Americans worry that the war’s costs affect our ability to fix problems here at home, and while millions of Americans are out of work, we’re wasting $2 billion a week on a war that’s not making us safer. Meanwhile, more troops have not translated into more safety for Afghan civilians or more safety for Americans.
That sounds pretty stupid to me.
As our latest video shows, the Afghanistan War isn’t making us safer and it’s not worth the cost. Waiting even one more day to start bringing troops home is…well, you know.
Please watch our latest video and leave a comment about what you think of Joe Klein’s “stupid” remarks (You need to be a Facebook fan to leave a comment.).
Sincerely,
Derrick Crowe, Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Foundation team
P.S. If you haven’t done so already, please join Rethink Afghanistan on Facebook and Twitter.
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Afghan attorney general investigating Kabul Bank
The Associated Press
Posted: 01/12/2011 02:23:39 AM MST
Updated: 01/12/2011 02:23:39 AM MST
KABUL, Afghanistan—The Afghan attorney general’s office says it has launched an investigation into misconduct at Afghanistan’s largest bank, which nearly collapsed last year after a management shake up and corruption scandal.
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office says the Afghan Central Bank sent a five-page letter to Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Alako saying that certain groups should be investigated for their role in allowing Kabul Bank to fall into crisis.
Spokesman Amanullah Eman said Wednesday the attorney general has launched an investigation based on this information. He would not give further details, saying that the investigation is in its preliminary stages.
Representatives for the Central Bank could not be reached for comment.
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_17074173#ixzz1AoeH2ZhR
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Afghan deployment ‘to avoid cuts’
5:26pm Thursday 13th January 2011
* © Press Association 2010 »
British commanders committed troops to operations in Afghanistan because they feared that the Army would be cut if they did not use them, the Government’s former envoy to Kabul has claimed.
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles said he had been told by the former head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, that if he did not re-deploy battlegroups coming free from Iraq he would lose them in a future defence review.
In a written memorandum to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, he said the Afghan campaign had seen “unprecedented” resources diverted to the Army and that most soldiers appeared to be “enjoying” it.
Sir Sherard said British commanders also saw the mission in Afghanistan as an opportunity to redeem their reputation in the eyes of the Americans after the criticisms of their performance in Basra. “The war in Afghanistan has given the British Army a raison d’etre it has lacked for many years, and new resources on an unprecedented scale,” he said.
“In the eyes of the Army, Afghanistan has also given our forces the chance to redeem themselves, in the eyes of the Americans, in the wake of negative perceptions, whether or not they were justified, of the British Army’s performance in Basra. …
“Against that background, the then Chief of the General Staff, Sir Richard Dannatt, told me in the summer of 2007 that, if he didn’t use in Afghanistan the battle groups then starting to come free from Iraq, he would lose them in a future defence review. ‘It’s use them, or lose them’, he said.”
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Afghan Christian under gov’t pressure
Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow – 1/11/2011 3:30:00
A Christian in Afghanistan is currently facing punishment as severe as the death penalty if he doesn’t choose to convert back to Islam.
Shoaib Assadullah was imprisoned October 21 for giving a Bible to a man who later reported him. He has received no legal representation, and International Christian Concern’s (ICC) Aiden Clay, who is currently in Nairobi, Kenya, tells OneNewsNow a judge handed down the latest sentence in late December.
“[Assadullah] was told that he would either be given the death sentence or 20 years imprisonment for apostasy,” or converting from Islam to another faith, Clay reports.
The Christian man was scheduled to appear in court January 4, but the ICC spokesman says that hearing never took place, largely due to international pressure. A new court date has yet to be set.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=1270720
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Canadian trainers will be pulled back into battle, Layton warns
Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News · Friday, Jan. 14, 2011
OTTAWA — The Harper government’s decision to leave nearly 1,000 troops in Afghanistan for three extra years as military trainers will needlessly put their lives in jeopardy and lead to a “mission creep” in which they are drawn back into battle, says NDP leader Jack Layton.
In a speech delivered Friday afternoon, Mr. Layton urged the government to: bring home all the Canadian troops this year, as planned; boost development aid for Afghanistan; and focus on diplomatic initiatives, which includes sparking reconciliation talks with “moderate” members of the Taliban.
“It’s not too late to change course,” Mr. Layton told an audience at the University of Ottawa, adding that the central question is what Canada can do to help Afghanistan.
“Is it by teaching more young men to fire a gun, instead of rebuilding their country?” said Mr. Layton.
He said Canada can play a “leadership role” to spark talks aimed at building an accountable government, a justice system and legitimate elections in Afghanistan.
Mr. Layton said Canadians can “help open new lines of dialogue” by, for instance, finding solutions to local disputes before a wider peace process begins and by “isolating extremists by engaging moderates who fight for the Taliban, not for ideology but to feed their families.”
He paid tribute to the Canadian soldiers who have served in Afghanistan with distinction, many of whom are “coming back to us wounded and traumatized.”
“They have done more than their fair share in Afghanistan. And it’s time to bring our troops home.”
In a bid to increase public opposition to the continuing military involvement in Afghanistan, Mr. Layton urged people to stand up for their beliefs.
“If you’ve questioned this war, you’ve taken the insults: a menace to our troops. Even a traitor. Nobody should have to hear that.”
Mr. Layton delivered a blistering critique of both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who both agreed last fall on the need to extend Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan.
In November, Mr. Harper said that while the combat mission would end in 2011, he was reluctantly deploying nearly 1,000 military trainers to work with the Afghan forces for three years because he didn’t want the past “sacrifices” of Canadian soldiers to be in vain.
At the time, he said the smaller mission would present “minimal risks for Canada.”
But Mr. Layton said Friday the prime minister’s choice of words — a training mission —is pure semantics.
“Every Canadian knows what a thousand pairs of boots on the ground means. This is a major military mission.”
“And even if we trusted Mr. Harper, even if we believed his wide-eyed claims that our soldiers will be safely sequestered in classrooms in Kabul, this would still be the wrong mission for Canada.”
Mr. Layton said that before Christmas, an Afghan security officer-in-training “sat down to tea” with some American troops.
“Later that day, he broke out of a drill and gunned down six of those young Americans. The Taliban took credit for sending six more soldiers back to their families in flag-draped coffins.”
The problem, said Mr. Layton, is that many Taliban fighters are being trained by NATO, only to later depart the Afghan army as insurgents.
Those who do remain as part of a planned 300,000-strong security force will serve a corrupt regime led by Hamid Karzai that doesn’t stand a chance of ending the internal strife in the country, Mr. Layton said.
“Mr. Harper has promoted every mission extension so far as a kind of training mission — saying his priority is to train Afghans to take over. But the result has been the same: more combat, more casualties, not enough progress for ordinary Afghans.
“And if Mr. Harper and Mr. Ignatieff get their way now, we will suffer more casualties — if not behind the wire, then when mission creep inevitably takes Canadian soldiers back outside the wire.”
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/afghanistan/Canadian+trainers+will+pulled+back+into+battle+Layton+warns/4110870/story.html#ixzz1B66RYI8W
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Afghan Girls Raped, Killed by US Soldiers
by PRESS TV
(Jan 13, 2011) The daughter of an Afghan politician has reportedly died of her injuries after being raped by American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan’s southwestern province of Farah.
US forces aboard five Toyota Hiace vans transferred the teenage girl along with several other Afghan women and girls to a military base in the province. They then sexually assaulted them, Afghan sources, who requested anonymity, told Iran Newspaper on Network on Wednesday.
Medical reports indicate that a young girl died as a result of severe bleeding that was caused by tears in her genitals from violent sexual penetration.
Two other victims were admitted to a nearby hospital and are currently receiving treatment for serious injuries they suffered following multiple rapes.
However, ISAF has told Press TV correspondent that they cannot confirm this report.
The incident comes as violence in Afghanistan has spiked to record highs since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
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