Watching the Warmakers is based in Brighton, England.
Our aim is to support activists in educating themselves in the issues
which confront those struggling for peace and justice.

News archives for the week ending 9th October 2009

US aim is to weaken, not vanquish, the Taliban

As it reviews its Afghanistan policy for the second time this year, the Obama administration has concluded that the Taliban cannot be eliminated as a political or military movement, regardless of how many combat forces are sent into battle.

The goal, senior administration officials said Thursday, is to weaken the Taliban to the degree that it cannot challenge the Afghan government or reestablish the haven it provided for al-Qaeda before the 2001 U.S. invasion. Those objectives appear largely consistent with McChrystal's strategy, which he says "cannot be focused on seizing terrain or destroying insurgent forces" but should center on persuading the population to support the government.

"The Taliban is a deeply rooted political movement in Afghanistan, so that requires a different approach than al-Qaeda," said a senior administration official who has participated in the meetings but has not advocated a particular strategy.

WAshington Post, 9/10/09

Majority are against war in Afghanistan

More than half of the public oppose Britain's military campaign in Afghanistan, according to a new poll published on the eighth anniversary of the start of the war. An ICM poll has shown that 56 per cent of those surveyed opposed the war, while only 37 percent supported it.

The results come at a crucial time in Britain's long campaign in Afghanistan as this year the number of military personnel rose from 8,000 to just over 9,000, the second largest deployment after America. Forces have also endured the bloodiest fighting in a generation, with 83 soldiers killed since January during operations to provide security for democratic elections that were riddled with corruption and beset by a dismal turn-out.

The Scotsman, 8/10/09

Israel bought off UN war crimes probe

Israel celebrated at the weekend its success at the United Nations in forcing the Palestinians to defer demands that the International Criminal Court investigate allegations of war crimes committed by Israel during its winter assault on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli diplomats suggested on Sunday that Washington had promised the Palestinian Authority, in return for delaying an inquiry, that the US would apply "significant pressure" on Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to move ahead on a diplomatic process when the US envoy, George Mitchell, arrives in the region tomorrow.

But, according to Israeli and Palestinian analysts, diplomatic arm-twisting was not the only factor in the PA's change of heart. Haaretz newspaper reported last week that, behind the scenes, Palestinian officials had faced threats that Israel would retaliate by inflicting enormous damage on the beleaguered Palestinian economy.

In particular, Israel warned it would renege on a commitment to allot radio frequencies to allow Wataniya, a mobile phone provider, to begin operations this month in the West Bank. The telecommunications industry is the bedrock of the Palestinian economy, with the current monopoly company, PalTel, accounting for half the worth of the Palestinian stock exchange.

The collapse of the Wataniya deal would have cost the Palestinian Authority hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties, blocked massive investment in the local economy and jeopardized about 2,500 jobs.

Electronic Intifada, 6/10/09

Iraq and Afghanistan war costs top $1 trillion

The tab for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is now at more than $1 trillion after the Senate passed a $626 billion Pentagon funding bill. The measure passed 93-7.

The bill combines $128 billion for overseas military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with $498 billion for the rest of the Defense Department's budget. Congressional researchers analyze the total approved by Congress for Afghanistan at about $300 billion and in Iraq at more than $700 billion since Sept. 11, 2001.

WKOW, Michigan, 7/10/09

US aid creates tensions in Pakistan

US plans to grant Pakistan $1.5 billion annually for five years has pitted the pro-US civilian dispensation in the country against its powerful military and its proxies.

Aside from several clauses in the bill that bluntly implicate Pakistan in the use of terrorism, the legislation clearly seeks to establish civilian control over the military, which the pro-military constituency sees as "provocative" and an interference in Pakistan's internal affairs.

The clause that has caused the most tumult in Islamabad and Rawalpindi (the military HQ) is one which calls on the US secretary of state to give a regular assessment of the "extent to which the government of Pakistan exercises effective civilian control of the military, including a description of the extent to which civilian executive leaders and parliament exercise oversight and approval of military budgets, the chain of command, the process of promotion for senior military leaders, civilian involvement in strategic guidance and planning, and military involvement in civil administration."

"I think this is mischief to create a huge civil-military conflict but this will not happen. The prime minister fully understands the game," an unnamed Pakistani minister told the News daily.

Times of India, 7/10/09

More British troops to Afghanistan

The former head of the Army found himself embroiled in a row with Downing Street today over troop numbers in Afghanistan. General Sir Richard Dannatt who retired from the Army in August confirmed that he had asked for 2,000 more troops in March and that Gordon Brown had rejected his advice.

The general’s public confirmation of the Downing Street spat emerged as ministers begin to consider a new option from the military which is expected to lead to another 500 troops being sent to Afghanistan, taking the total to more than 9,500.

The Times, 6/10/09

US increasing mercenary forces in Pakistan

The United States Embassy has publicized plans for a vast new building in Islamabad for about 1,000 people, with security for some diplomats provided through a Washington-based private contracting company, DynCorp.

Fierce opposition to the plan is revealing deep strains in the alliance. Even at its current levels, the American presence was fueling a sense of occupation among Pakistani politicians and security officials, said several Pakistani officials, who did not want to be named for fear of antagonizing the United States. The United States was now seen as behaving in Pakistan much as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, they said.

In particular, the Pakistani military and the intelligence agencies are concerned that DynCorp is being used by Washington to develop a parallel network of security and intelligence personnel within Pakistan, officials and politicians close to the army said.

The concerns are serious enough that last month a local company hired by DynCorp to provide Pakistani men to be trained as security guards for American diplomats was raided by the Islamabad police. The owner of the company, the Inter-Risk Security Company, Capt. Syed Ali Ja Zaidi, was later arrested. The action against Inter-Risk, apparently intended to cripple the DynCorp program, was taken on orders from the senior levels of the Pakistani government, said an official familiar with the raid, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

New York Times, 5/10/09

Israeli minister feared UK arrest

Israeli minister and former military chief Moshe Yaalon cancelled a UK visit because of fears of arrest for alleged war crimes, his office says. Pro-Palestinian groups in Britain want Mr Yaalon to face trial over the 2002 killing of a Gaza militant, in which 14 others also died.

Mr Yaalon, who is vice prime minister and strategic affairs minister, had been invited to attend a charity dinner held by the Jewish National Fund's UK branch. But his spokesman, Alon Ofek-Arnon, confirmed that the foreign ministry's legal team had advised against it. Israeli media reported that the advisers believed Mr Yaalon would not be accorded diplomatic immunity - in contrast to Defence Minister Ehud Barak who visited the Labour Party Conference in Brighton without interference.

BBC News, 5/10/09

One in three votes for Karzai were fraudulent

A former senior United Nations diplomat in Kabul has launched a scathing attack on the UN's handling of Afghanistan's disputed elections, claiming that almost one in three of the votes cast for president Hamid Karzai were fraudulent.

Writing in today's Washington Post, Peter Galbraith, the former deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, singled out his former boss Kai Eide for criticism, saying that he had deliberately downplayed the level of cheating in an election where in one region "10 times as many votes were recorded as voters actually cast".

Galbraith also warned of the huge political dangers if the outcome of the vote is not accepted by the Tajiks, Afghanistan's second-largest ethnic group, who are predominant in the north and seen as Abdullah's main constituency.

"If the Tajiks believe that fraud denied their candidate the chance to compete in a second round, they may respond by simply not recognising the authority of the central government," he said.

He also said the high level of fraud "virtually guarantees that a government emerging from the tainted vote will not be credible with many Afghans", destroying President Barack Obama's hopes of having a legitimate partner in the country to help implement his strategy.

Guardian, 5/10/09

Official: situation in Afghanistan is worse

When asked in London Thursday why the situation in Afghanistan - after eight years of fighting with more than 850 Americans killed - isn't better, General Stanley McChrystal said not only is it not better, many things are worse.

"It's true that after eight years, after a lot of tremendous effort, a lot of expenditures, loss of good people, many indicators, many things are worse," said McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan.

According to McChrystal, violence is up - whether you measure it by the number of Taliban attacks, the number of American casualties, or the number of afghan citizens living in fear.

"It took us longer than I wish it had to recognize this as a serious insurgency," McChrystal said. "As the Taliban started to come back into effectiveness I think we lagged accepting that as a clear reality."

McChrystal's dire assessment that the war could be lost in the next 12 months if he doesn't get more troops sent the president and his top national security advisors back to the situation room - and to what American strategy should be.

CBS News, 4/10/09

Iran co-operation draws praise

The US and the UN have given an upbeat assessment of the possibility of settling the nuclear dispute with Iran. US National Security Adviser Jim Jones said Tehran was now "willing to come to the table", following talks this week between Iran and major powers.

Earlier the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in Tehran that inspectors would ensure that the Qom facility was for "peaceful purposes". The head of the UN's nuclear agency said there had been a "gear shift" towards co-operation.

BBC News, 4/10/09

Oil law postponed until after Iraq elections...

Iraq's parliament has suspended discussions on a long-delayed oil investment law until after legislative elections in January because of the long running dispute over control of the north's energy resources, a lawmaker said Sunday.

Ali Hussein Balo, the head of the parliament's energy committee, said the decision was prompted by disputes between the central government and the autonomous Kurdish administration over the rights to negotiate contracts with foreign firms in the Kurds' self-rule region in the north.

Associated Press, 4/10/09

...and referendum on US occupation abandoned

Iraqi politicians say they have put aside for the time being any plans to push for a referendum on the U.S.-Iraqi security pact governing the American troop pullout here. The threat of a referendum had clouded U.S. withdrawal plans. If Iraqi voters were given a chance to vote on the deal some U.S. officials feared they would reject it, forcing an accelerated U.S. withdrawal.

The security pact calls for all American troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. When the security treaty was approved, Sunni lawmakers insisted on a referendum as a condition of their support. Originally scheduled for last July, it was delayed. Many observers suspected it might never happen. But in August, Iraq's cabinet set a new date of Jan. 16, coinciding with nationwide parliamentary polls.

A "no" vote on the deal would trigger a termination clause, speeding up a full American troop withdrawal by almost a year. Lawmakers said Sunday there weren't any moves afoot to push through legislation authorizing the referendum. That, they say, means it will either be delayed once again, or dropped altogether.

"A fast withdrawal of American troops may create a security vacuum," said Sunni lawmaker Saleh Mutlaq, who had pushed for a referendum.

Wall Street Journal, 5/10/09

Corruption endemic in Afghan security forces

As the White House weighs a request from the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan for additional troops for combat and training there, a new report from the Defense Department's inspector general attributes shortcomings in the Afghan army and police force to a shortage of U.S. mentors and trainers, corruption and illiteracy among Afghan soldiers and a lack of strategic planning.

The inspector general reports, for example, that Afghan army leaders are manipulating a new electronic pay system "to extort soldiers' pay." Afghan officers or noncommissioned officers, the report says, take soldiers' identification cards when they leave posts to give their money to relatives or banks and then require them to pay to get the cards back.

An American officer reported that in his area, there was no system for holding Afghan soldiers accountable for their weapons, uniforms, assigned vehicles or other equipment. Another U.S. mentor said that in his area only about 80 or 90 units of a 100-unit supply order would make it to the Afghan company that ordered it. The officer added that "300 percent of the necessary cold weather gear had to be fielded to the 1st brigade, with no explanation for the duplication and no consequences to anyone for the loss and/or theft of the gear."

Officers in Kabul reported that fuel was a "systematic problem" in the national police force, with corruption and hoarding leading to patrols being curtailed in some districts.

Washington Post, 3/10/09

'Like Vietnam without the napalm'

Bravo Company arrived in Afghanistan with 24 Strykers, the first of the eight-wheeled combat vehicles outfitted with high-tech communications and surveillance gear to arrive in Afghanistan. A third of the vehicles are now out of service due to bomb attacks or maintenance.

The bomb threats are so pervasive that Stryker drivers have abandoned some stretches of road in favor of driving through the deserts on different routes. The road to one smaller outpost has had so many homemade bombs that the soldiers usually arrive on foot, a treacherous hike because of buried land mines.

The men of Bravo Company have a bitter description for the irrigated swath of land along the Arghandab River where 10 members of their battalion have been killed and 30 have been wounded since the beginning of August.

"Like Vietnam without the napalm," said Spc. Nicholas Gojekian, 21, of Katy, Texas.

Dallas News, 4/10/09

Deadliest attack on US troops in more than a year

Eight U.S. troops were killed in battle after tribal militia attacked two combat outposts in a remote area in eastern Afghanistan, the military said on Sunday, the deadliest battle for U.S. troops in more than a year. Two Afghan soldiers were also killed in the battle, which took place in a remote area from which U.S. forces had already announced plans to withdraw as part of commander General Stanley McChrystal's strategy to focus his forces on population centers.

Saturday's attacks were launched by militia in Nuristan province from a local mosque and a nearby village on two joint NATO and Afghan outposts, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. The NATO troops in the area are American.

New York Times, 4/10/09

Civilians flee as Pakistan plans big operation

Pakistan's military is preparing for what may be one of its most significant offensives in years against a major Taliban stronghold near Afghanistan, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials and local residents. The operation in and around the tribal area known as South Waziristan will target Taliban fighters from the powerful Mehsud tribe, according to one Pakistani official.

"The military has made all arrangements, and a full-scale operation against the Taliban could begin anytime," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Widespread rumors of an operation have prompted residents to begin fleeing the area. Some residents said they have been told by soldiers to evacuate. These refugees have joined thousands who fled earlier in the year as Pakistani and U.S. aircraft struck Taliban targets in South Waziristan.

Washington Post, 3/10/09

UN sacks US diplomat for exposing election fraud

In a strongly worded letter to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, veteran U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith accused his Norwegian U.N. boss of blocking anti-fraud efforts, which Galbraith said would have forced a second round of voting if carried out properly.

The United Nations responded by sacking Galbraith. The U.N. mission chief, Kai Eide, has rejected the criticism and says he supports a fraud investigation which is still under way.

In his letter, excerpts of which were published in the New York Times, Galbraith wrote that he had tried to prevent Afghanistan's election commission from including "votes that it knew to be fraudulent" from its preliminary tallies. Galbraith said Eide blocked him from intervening after Afghan President Hamid Karzai complained.

The U.N. mission chief "sided with Karzai in this matter, seemingly indifferent to the fact that these fraudulent ballots were the ones that put Karzai over 50 percent".

In the end, the provisional results gave Karzai 54.6 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off. Those results included whole villages where every single vote cast was for Karzai, often with the president receiving exactly 500 or 600 votes at multiple polling stations.

Reuters, 1/10/09

Brown 'open-minded' about escalating war

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is open-minded about the idea of more British troops being sent to Afghanistan, a spokesman for the premier said today on condition of anonymity.

Any increase would depend upon the necessary equipment being available and the right strategy being in place, the spokesman said.

Bloomberg News, 1/10/09

Maliki launches new political bloc

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has formed a new political bloc to contest January's general election. The alliance will be called State of Law and will comprise of 40 political parties representing a variety of Iraqi religious sects and ethnic groups. Analysts say the new bloc is unlikely to gain a majority in its own right and might need to join a wider coalition.

"The birth of State of Law represents a historic milestone and development in establishing a modern Iraq built on peaceful, nationalist principles... far from the politics of marginalisation, discrimination and tyranny," Mr Maliki said in a speech in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

BBC News, 1/10/09