News of the Day for Saturday, July 6, 2013

An operation in Baghlan province results in deaths of 2 police and 4 insurgents, according to provincial police chief Ghulaam Sakhi Restaqi.

Human rights and good government activist Mohammad Saeed Niazi dies when his car plunges off the Kabul-Jalalabad highway into a ravine. The TOLO report contains no indication of foul play. (Still, one can't help but wonder. -- C) He was director of the Civil Society Development Center.

A TOLO special report find that the Taliban have orchestrated suicide bombings from 2001 to 2012."According to experts, the Taliban primarily relies on young boys to carry out such attacks. The boys are often illiterate and from rural areas of Afghanistan, being recruited into Madrasas and trained to become suicide bombers."

Wakht reports on two incidents in Paktika: Two would-be suicide bombers are shot by police; the story, as is often the case with Wakht, is written confusingly but it appears two police officers were injured in the same incident, apparently because one or more of the suicide vests exploded. Also, three mine planters die elsewhere in the province but the story does not say how.

An Afghan soldier is killed by a roadside bomb in Nangarhar.

At a sort of "town meeting" featuring senior government officials, Karzai administration figures point to disparate interests between Afghanistan and the ISAF partners, particularly the U.S.

"Suspending talks with America on the security agreement was right, because if the international community wants to be allies with us then we should have joint strategic goals; the Taliban, who are our enemies, are not their (international community) enemies, but rather Al Qaeda is their enemy. So if our goals are not shared and coordinated, then it means that our defense and security agreements with them (the U.S.) have no meaning," said Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, National Security Advisor to President Hamid Karzai.

Afghanistan has so-far recorded 1,367 HIV+ cases, mostly in Kabul and attributed to injection drug use. (Since Afghanistan lacks a viable health care or public health infrastructure, I suspect that few people are tested. The true extent of the epidemic is unknown but is likely much higher. I also note that despite the conservative sexual culture, prostitution is commonplace, while homosexuality is underground while there is a rural tradition of the sexual exploitation of boys. Injection drug users may be disproportionately likely to be tested, but there may well be additional, so far invisible, epidemics. -- C)

Pakistan claims 50 mortar shells were fired from Afghanistan into South Waziristan, causing extensive damage and injuries.

Khaama describes heavy fighting yesterday in Nuristan, with 8 Afghan police killed. It appears the Taliban are preparing for a major offensive in the province.

War News for Friday, July 05, 2013

The US/DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. 1st Sgt. Tracy L. Stapley died from a non-combat related incident at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar on Wednesday, July 3rd. Here’s some details on camp Sayliyah.


Drone Story: The Bitter Reality


Reported security incidents
#1: At least nine people, including six Afghan security officials, were killed and 19 others injured today when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a check post on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the troubled Balochistan province. There were six Afghan security officials among those killed and 19 others were injured in the suicide bombing in the Chaman region of Balochistan, according to security sources. Pakistani security officials, who did not want to be named, told dawn.com that the suicide bomber blew himself while targeting the vehicle of Afghan border forces close to a check post near the Friendship Gate at Pak-Afghan border.

In the\ southern province of Kandahar, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a border checkpoint entering Afghanistan from Pakistan, killing at least two people and wounding eight others. In addition to the suicide bomber, the blast killed one border police officer and wounded one, and killed one civilian and wounded seven others. Border police say the officer killed was the checkpoint commander, and they assume he was the target.

#2: A suicide bomber killed 12 policemen in southern Afghanistan on Friday when he blew himself up inside a police station as officers ate lunch in a dining hall, officials said. The bomber targeted a base used to patrol the main road from Uruzgan province to neighbouring Kandahar, through one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions where Taliban militants have a strong presence. "A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a battalion station in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan," Abdullah Hemat, the Uruzgan governor's spokesman, said.

#3: Four persons including three women sustained injuries when the rockets fired by militants from Kurnar province of Afghanistan hit a house in Kaga village in the Mamond tehsil in the Bajaur Agency on Thursday, official and local sources said.“The women were present in the house when the rockets struck.

#4: In another incident on Friday in Uruzgan, Himmat, the government spokesman, said a boy and a girl were killed by a roadside bomb on their way home around midday.

#5: The paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) on Thursday foiled an attempt by suicide bomber to attack its camp in Boya area in the North Waziristan Agency. Security officials said a suicide bomber, driving an explosives-laden car, was approaching the FC camp when a security guard spotted the vehicle and opened fire on that. “The sentry’s timely action saved several precious lives as he hit the suicide bomber before he could approach the FC camp,” a military official said. Pleading anonymity, he said the white colour car exploded at 200 meters distance of camp at Boya area, 40 kilometers west of Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan. However, two FC men sustained minor injuries in the blast.


US/DoD: 1st Sgt. Tracy L. Stapley

War News for Thursday, July 04, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack  in an undisclosed location in western Afghanistan on Thursday, July 4th.


Study: Drones Killed 10 Times More Civilians Than Manned Aircrafts In Afghanistan

Pakistan denounces latest Drone attack



Reported security incidents
#1: GUNMEN have shot dead one of the most high-profile female police officers in Afghanistan, underlining the threat to women who take on public roles in the country. Lieutenant Islam Bibi was a well-known face of female advancement but admitted to receiving regular death threats from people who disapproved of her career - including from her own brother. "She was shot by unknown assailants when she was being driven to work by her son in the morning," Helmand provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

#2: Roadside bombs killed four young girls and two schoolboys in Afghanistan on Thursday. The girls, aged 10 to 12 years, had been sent by their families to a river to fetch some water for a wedding that was being held in a home on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, Helmand governor's spokesman Ummar Zawaq said. The bomb went off alongside a footpath through a field the girls had taken to make their way back home, Zawaq said. And in the eastern province of Paktika, two schoolboys were killed on their way walking home from classes in the afternoon when they triggered a roadside bomb, the governor's office said in a statement.

#3: In other violence Thursday, 11 Taliban militants were killed in two different operations in the province of Lowgar, just south of Kabul, and seven others were wounded, the Ministry of Defense said. One Afghan soldier was also killed.

 #4: At least four soldiers were killed and three others injured today in a suicide attack on a security check-post in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region. A suicide bomber struck his explosive-laden vehicle into a security check-post in Watta Khel, killing four and injuring three other officials, according to sources.

 #5: Militants attacked a Nato tanker and killed its driver and injured two others in Balochistan's restive Khuzdar district on Thursday. Police sources said four militants on two motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire at the tanker in Wadh tehsil of Khuzdar district. The militants set the tanker on fire before fleeing the scene.

#6: Security forces killed two militants in a clash that took place in Matni area of Peshawar, FP News desk reported Peshawar. According to sources, police and other law enforcement agencies kicked off a search operation in Matni and raided a house following a tip off regarding the presence of militants. During the operation, terrorists opened fire on the security personnel, killing one cop and injuring another.

#7: At least three employees of an international non-governmental organization was kidnapped by unknown gunmen in western Herat province of Afghanistan. According to local authorities the hostages belongs to Norwegian Refugee Council and were abducted by unknown gunmen from Guzara district in Snogerd area.

 DoD: Spc. Hilda I. Clayton
 
News: UK. Civ. Contractor: Mark Duffus

News: US. Civ. Contractor: Kurt Muncy

News of the Day for Thursday, July 4, 2013

Four teenage girls killed by an explosion while fetching water in a village near Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand. As TOLO explains, "Insurgents commonly use Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on roads to target Afghan and NATO vehicles, but often civilians fall victim to them due to their indiscriminate placement in frequently traveled areas."

Also in Lashkar Gah, a female police inspector is assassinated  in a drive-by shooting. This round-up story also reports two schoolboys killed by a roadside bomb in Paktika province.

For some reason, president John McCain is in Afghanistan today.

Rob Crilly, writing for The Telegraph, is pessimistic about women's rights in Afghanistan, the occasion of the assassination of the police inspector in Lashkar Gah today inspiring his thoughts. Excerpt:

There are more girls in school than under the Taliban, more women in the security forces and more laws to protect their safety. Good. Just one problem. In recent weeks and months these gains are not so much looking “fragile and reversible” as disappearing backwards – and fast.

Today’s tragic events in Helmand are just one example. Lieutenant Islam Bibi had survived the anger of her family, who expected the mother-of-three to stay at home, as well as her brother’s death threats to become a police officer. Her rise through the police ranks was frequently cited as an example of how things have changed for women.
Today she died in a hail of bullets, cut down as she left her home.

Three aid workers from the Norwegian Refugee Council are Kidnapped in Herat. The abductees are Afghan nationals; no-one has yet claimed responsibility.

News of the Day for Wednesday, July 3, 2013

(Whisker is traveling in remote realms today so I'm filling in. -- C)

U.S. air strike kills at least 16 in Pakistan. The dead are "suspected" of being members of the Haqqani Network. The Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry condemns the strike as counterproductive.

Afghan army chief of staff Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi says Pakistan controls the Afghan Taliban and could end the war in weeks if it wanted to. (Ouch!)

Court reverses the conviction of three men who had tortured a female relative because she refused to become a prostitute:

As word spread in Kabul on Wednesday, Western officials said they were still gathering details but would probably have a response in the coming days. Afghan women’s rights activists reacted with alarm, and said they would press to have the three defendants retried.

“There’s smoke coming out of my hair. I am so angry,” said Manizha Naderi, the executive director of Women for Afghan Women. “This poor girl was in the basement for months. If she wasn’t rescued, she would be dead. She was starved and burned and had her fingernails pulled out. How is this not attempted murder?”

Human rights advocates in Afghanistan and abroad condemn Karzai's latest appointments  to the Human Rights Commission, as International donors meet with Afghan officials to assess progress on the so-called Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework regarding human rights, corruption and good governance. Donors reaffirm commitment of $16 billion but express "concerns."

Taliban kill 3 Indian guest workers in Kabul.

War News for Tuesday, July 02, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 2nd.


US military blocks access to Guardian website for troops in Afghanistan

Pakistan expects Iranian pipeline by 2014

23 die in suicide bombings in Iraq

981 killed in 163 bomb blasts across Pakistan in first half


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan militants armed with explosives and firearms attacked a NATO compound just outside of Kabul early Tuesday, killing seven people and wounding several others, according to a high-ranking police official. The seven killed include four private security guards from Nepal, one Afghan guard and two Afghan truck drivers waiting to get inside the compound when the attack began. Kabul provincial Police Chief Mohammad Ayuob Salangi said the attack was carried out by four men, one of whom rammed an explosive-laden truck into the compound's gate. The others were wearing suicide vests, Deputy Chief of Police Dawoud Amin told USA TODAY. All four were killed in the explosion and subsequent gun battle.

#2: unidentified people kidnapped a government official in Quetta on Monday.  In another incident, armed men kidnapped a section officer of the Home Department from Sariab Road of Quetta.

#3: Two cops were killed when unknown gunmen open fire on a police check post in Pishtakhara area of Peshawar on Monday. As per details, armed attackers were riding on motorcycles when they opened fire on a police check post in Pishtakhara area. The two policemen were killed on the spot. A passerby was also injured in the firing.

#4: One policeman and three militants were killed Tuesday morning as Taliban launched an attack on Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoints in northern province of Kunduz, an official said. "Taliban militants numbered eight or 10 raided ALP checkposts in Pul-e-Ahmad Khan area of Dashti Archi district Tuesday morning. The gunbattle claimed the lives of one cop and three militants," district administrative chief Sheikh Saddrodin told Xinhua. The remaining militants fled as the ALP forces repelled the attack in the province 250 km north of national capital Kabul, he noted.

#5: In a separate development, three civilians were killed as a vehicle touched off an IED in western Farah province, 695 km west of Kabul, Monday evening, a provincial police spokesman Fawad Haskari said Tuesday.

#6: At least five Afghan civilians were killed in two separate incidents in western Farah province of Afghanistan late Monday evening. A spokesman for provincial security commandment, Ahmad Fawad Askari confirming the report said at least three Afghan civilians were killed on Monday night after their vehicle struck with a roadside bomb in Pusht-e-Koh district. In the meantime two other civilians were killed in unknown gunmen attack in Pusht-e-Koh district on Monday evening, provincial security commandment spokesman Ahmad Fawak Askari said.

War News for Monday, July 01, 2013

Nearly 300 Afghan police killed in month

Blasts Kill Dozens in Pakistan During British Leader’s Visit


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan security forces shot dead a would-be suicide bomber in central Kabul on Monday outside an intelligence agency office and close to the EU mission, officials said. The attacker, who was wearing military uniform, was killed as he approached the National Directorate of Security (NDS) office early in the morning.

#2: A car bomb exploded as a convoy of paramilitary troops passed through the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar on Sunday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, police said. Most of the dead and wounded were civilians. The blast struck one vehicle in the convoy of paramilitary Frontier Corps troops, but the other passed by safely, said police official Shafiullah Khan.

#3: a regional police commander and three of his men were killed when their vehicle was hit with a roadside bomb in the country's north. Baghlan provincial police spokesman Jaweed Basharat said district commander Habinul Rahman was killed when the bomb exploded next to his vehicle while on patrol at about 11 a.m.
#4: In the western province of Badghis, 12 Taliban militants were killed in two days of fighting at three border security posts, provincial governor's spokesman Mirwas Mirzakwal said. Three policemen were wounded, but none were killed, he said.

#5: Unknown gunmen attacked a police check post situated on Ring Road and killed two policemen. DSP Banaras Circle told Geo News that the gunmen attacked the police check post near Abbas Terminal on Ring Road where the policemen were performing their duty. Three gunmen riding two motorcycles attacked the police check post and escaped after the attack.

#6: One person was killed and three sustained injuries as a vehicle hit the planted landmine by some unknown persons on Monday here, FP News Desk reported. Official sources said that a vehicle hit landmine planted beside the road in the bordering area Malikhel, which resulted in the death of one person and three injured. The injured were shifted to the nearby hospital.

#7: Twenty-two militants have been killed during military operations in different Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, said the country's Interior Ministry on Monday morning. "Afghan National Police (ANP) with the cooperation of army, intelligence service and coalition forces conducted several cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Sari Pul, Jowzjan, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Logar, Paktiya, Farah, Helmand and Nimroz provinces over the last 24 hours. As a result 22 armed Taliban were killed and nine other Taliban were detained," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

#8: In northern Kunduz province, a suicide attacker was killed when his explosive jacket went off prematurely earlier Monday morning. The killed militants were riding a motorcycle along a road in Dasht-e-Archi district in the province 250 km north of Kabul and no civilian was harmed in the bombing, the district administrative chief Sheikh Sadruddin told Xinhua. The target of the attacker remained unknown.

#9: A heavy explosion rocked northern Parwan province of Afghanistan on Monday. According to reports the explosion has taken place near the provincial governor’s compound after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Charikar city. In the meantime Provincial governor spokesman Abdul Manan Kohistani said an explosion took place around 10:30am local time after an explosives packed in an oil tanker went off. Mr. Kohistani further added that at least three civilians were critically injured following the incident. He said the explosion took place near the provincial higher studies directorate.
 US/DoD: Sgt. Justin R. Rogers