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News archives for the week ending 8th January 2010

Afghanistan seeks new policy on Taliban

Afghanistan asked the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to lift sanctions on elements of the Taliban that renounce violence and agree to support the government, signaling a new strategy against the militants.

At a Security Council debate, Afghan Ambassador Zahir Tanin proposed allowing his government to recommend names of Taliban members ''willing to renounce violence and join the peace process,'' so that they would no longer be subject to asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes if the council's sanctions panel approves.

Tanin said Afghans are ready to take over their own security and defense, but military efforts cannot bring peace and stability without ''reconciliation'' among all citizens and ''integration'' of former combatants.

Council members said they support the aims of the Afghan government, but expressed concerns about the plan.

New York Times, 6/1/10

Zardari may have weathered storm

Pakistan's U.S.-backed president, Asif Ali Zardari, appears to have survived a campaign to oust him, a storm that had threatened to sidetrack the country from its battle with Islamic extremists. Although there were predictions in the last few months of 2009 that he was finished, Zardari has defended himself aggressively in recent days and won some political allies.

The news media and the judiciary had appeared to be closing in on him, but in a world of political shadow boxing, many analysts and politicians think that Pakistan's powerful military has been behind the drive to force the president out of office.

The confrontation had sparked fears that the army, which has ruled Pakistan for most of its existence, would intervene again, perhaps to force fresh elections when the country is under pressure from the Obama administration to launch an offensive in North Waziristan, a vital Pakistani refuge for al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Miami Herald, 6/1/10

Yemen's coming disaster

Over the last few years, Yemen has been hurtling toward a disaster that could dramatically harm the interests of both the United States and its regional partners. An active insurgency in the north, a separatist movement in the south and a resurgent Al Qaeda franchise inside its borders present the Yemeni government with difficult short-term challenges.

And managing the country's longer-term problems is likely to prove even tougher. Yemen's economy depends heavily on oil production, and its government receives the vast majority of its revenue from oil taxes. Yet analysts predict that the country's petroleum output, which has declined over the last seven years, will fall to zero by 2017. The government has done little to plan for its post-oil future.

Yemen's population, already the poorest on the Arabian peninsula and with an unemployment rate of 35%, is expected to double by 2035. An incredible 45% of Yemen's population is under the age of 15. These trends will exacerbate large and growing environmental problems, including the exhaustion of Yemen's groundwater resources. Given that a full 90% of the country's water is used for agriculture, this trend portends disaster.

This confluence of political, ideological, economic and environmental forces will render Yemen a fertile ground for the training and recruitment of Islamist militant groups for the foreseeable future.

Los Angeles Times, 5/1/10

Official: US intellingence in Afghanistan 'clueless'

In a report issued by the Center for New American Security think tank, Major General Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the U.S. military and its NATO allies, offered a bleak assessment of the intelligence community's role in the 8-year-old war.

He described U.S. intelligence officials there as "ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced ... and disengaged from people in the best position to find answers."

An operations officer was quoted in the report as calling the United States "clueless" because of a lack of needed intelligence about the country.

The report, which highlighted tensions between military and intelligence agencies, urged changes such as a focus on gathering more information on a wider range of issues at a grassroots level.

Reuters, 5/1/10

CIA base bombing 'a devastating blow' to US intellingence

The suicide bomber who killed seven C.I.A. officers and a Jordanian spy last week was a double agent who was taken onto the base in Afghanistan because the Americans hoped he might be able to deliver top members of Al Qaeda’s network, according to Western government officials.

The bomber had been recruited by the Jordanian intelligence service and taken to Afghanistan to infiltrate Al Qaeda by posing as a foreign jihadi, the officials said. But in a deadly turnabout, the supposed informant strapped explosives to his body and blew himself up at a meeting Wednesday at the C.I.A.’s Forward Operating Base Chapman in the southeastern province of Khost.

The attack at the C.I.A. base dealt a devastating blow to the spy agency’s operations against militants in the remote mountains of Afghanistan, eliminating an elite team using an informant with strong jihadi credentials. The attack further delayed hope of penetrating Al Qaeda’s upper ranks, and also seemed potent evidence of militants ’ ability to strike back against their American pursuers.

New York Times, 4/1/10

Jordan is key US ally

Although its participation is rarely acknowledged publicly, Jordan is playing an increasingly vital role in the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, sometimes in countries far beyond the Middle East, according to current and former government officials from both countries.

Traditionally close ties between the CIA and the Jordanian spy agency -- known as the General Intelligence Department -- strengthened after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, occasionally prompting allegations by human rights groups that Jordan was serving as a surrogate jailer and interrogator for the U.S. intelligence agency.

In the past two years, in the face of new threats in Afghanistan and Yemen, the United States has again called on its ally for help, current and former officials from both countries said. Jordanians were particularly prized for their skill in both in interrogating captives and cultivating informants, owing to an unrivaled "expertise with radicalized militant groups and Shia/Sunni culture," said Jamie Smith, a former CIA officer who now heads a private security company known as SCG International.

Yet, despite Jordan's critical role, officials from both countries have insisted that its participation remain virtually invisible, in part to avoid damaging Amman's standing among other Muslim nations in the region, former intelligence officials said.

Washington Post, 4/1/10

Civilians killed as US increases military support in Yemen

Of all the places most often linked with Al Qaeda, Yemen is, in many respects, the place where Obama’s efforts might bear the most fruit.

Unlike Afghanistan, Yemen has a robust Al Qaeda presence within its borders. Unlike Pakistan, Yemen appears to be an eager partner for the US. And unlike Somalia, Yemen still has at least the trappings of a functional government. It’s one reason the Obama administration is now pumping $70 million in military aid into Yemen – a number that will double next year, according to Gen. David Petraeus, the US commander of forces in the region, who was visiting Yemen Saturday.

With US help, Yemen launched two airstrikes against Al Qaeda in the eight days before the failed airline bombing attempt on Flight 253 on Christmas Day. But the attacks also give the US grounds for caution. Local media reports suggest that many women and children were killed in one of the strikes.

“Now you have something where there are all these pictures of dead infants and mangled children that are underlined with the caption 'Made in the USA' on all the jihadi forums,” Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen of Princeton University told AP. “Something like this does much more to extend Al Qaeda."

Christian Science Monitor, 3/1/10

'Sons of Iraq' face backlash

A rash of killings of U.S.-allied Sunni militiamen is pointing to signs of weakness for the "Sons of Iraq," military experts say.

The militias, which are credited with helping turn the tide in favor of the United States in its struggle to defeat insurgents, have seen about dozen of their members killed in rural areas south of Baghdad in recent weeks, the military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported Sunday.

"We're seeing the combination of us thinning out, the government of Iraq offering them no jobs or bad jobs, and the release of some former (al-Qaida) elements from detention," an unnamed U.S. staff officer told Stars and Stripes. "It's leading to a perception that the SOI are increasingly vulnerable and lack support, and that's leading to a lot of retribution."

Other military experts said the killings also reflect an effort by Sunni insurgents to reassert themselves ahead of elections planned for March.

UPI, 3/1/10

UK puts pressure on first black Bermuda government

Still angry with Bermuda for taking four Chinese Guantanamo Bay detainees without its permission, Britain has tightened the screws on its mid Atlantic Bermuda colony saying it wants to be informed at every stage of any deal regarding key foreign policy decisions in the future.

London said a constant two-way flow of information means that it will be able to inform Bermuda if its actions or proposals “conflict with, or are likely to lead to conflict with the international commitments or obligations, the responsibilities or any policies of the government of the United Kingdom. It will be necessary for the government of Bermuda to abide by the decision of the government of the United Kingdom.”

Bermuda's administration, led by Premier Ewart Brown, is seen as widely radical and overly aggressive by whites and conservatives but there is every indication that many of the whites are sore losers even though they had run the island for 400 years since habitation in the early colonial era.

Racial tension between blacks and whites is a fact of daily life in the island of 65,000 people. About half the citizenry is expatriate.

Carribean Life, 2/1/10

Afghanistan fails to agree cabinet

The Afghan parliament's unexpected rejection of over two thirds of President Hamid Karzai's cabinet nominees is a political setback for the country, the head of the U.N. Afghan mission said on Sunday. Kai Eide, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, said the conflict-torn country now faced weeks or even months more uncertaintly about its government at a critical time, even though it was positive to see parliament exercising its rights.

Karzai was due in Britain at the end of January for the London Conference, seeking more funds to rebuild military and civilian institutions, and will now have to do so without being able to say who will manage much of the cash.

Reuters, 3/1/10

Brown: counter-terror 'a feature of this decade'

Extremists squeezed out of Pakistan and Afghanistan will emerge in struggling states like Yemen and Somalia, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday.

After the US and Britain agreed to finance a special counter-terror unit in Yemen, Brown said battling the “murderous ideology” of extremist Muslims would likely become “a feature of this decade”. Brown also wants a bigger peacekeeping force in Somalia to tackle violent radicalism in the region.

“We’ve got to be vigilant in every part of the world where there is a failed state or a failing state which creates space for a terrorist group to operate.”

Daily Times, Pakistan, 4/1/10

Iraqi anger as Blackwater mercenaries freed on technicality

The Iraqi government is under increasing pressure to aggressively pursue the prosecution of American military personnel accused of killing Iraqis.

The recent decision by Ricardo Urbina, a district judge, to dismiss charges against five security contractors accused of gunning down 17 Iraqis, including women and children, in September 2007 has re-ignited deep discord among Iraqis, and fuelled suspicions that US personnel operate in a lawless void while in Iraq.

In November 2007, FBI investigators found that 14 of the 17 killings had been "unjustified" and violated "deadly force rules" for security contractors operating in Iraq. However, Urbina threw out the case last week saying that US justice department prosecutors had improperly used sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity.

While the Iraqi government said it regretted the judge's decision and vowed to appeal the ruling, ordinary Iraqis are left wondering at the apparent double standards of a legal system which could pioneer rendition, imprisonment and torture based on far less evidence, but fumble a case like this.

Al Jazeera, 2/1/10

Majority in US believe America is in state of decline

In a poll released earlier this month by the Pew organization and the Council on Foreign Relations, 44 percent of Americans regard China as the world’s leading economic power, while just 27 percent name the United States.

In a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, people were asked what country would lead the world 20 years from now. Thirty-nine percent said China; 37 percent said the United States.

Asked whether they felt confident that their children would live a better life than they do, only 27 percent of respondents said yes.

Asked if America is in a state of decline, 61 percent said yes.

Carolina Times and Democrat, 2/1/10

Brown: Yemen a global threat

Britain and the US have agreed to intensify efforts to tackle the "evolving threat" from Islamist groups in Yemen, Downing Street has announced. Officials said the UK and the US were funding a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen.

Mr Brown has called Yemen "both an incubator and potential safe haven for terrorism" and said it presented "a regional and global threat".

BBC News, 3/1/10