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News archives for the week ending 27th March 09

Increase in US attacks on Pakistan

Missiles fired by a US drone have killed seven militants in north-west Pakistan, close to the Afghan border. Correspondents say that more than 35 similar strikes have killed more than 340 people since August 2008, shortly before the election of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Wednesday's attack was the seventh missile strike believed to have been carried out by US drones since President Barack Obama came to power.

Thousands of people have fled the violence in Pakistan's north-west in recent months, many of them heading to the city of Peshawar. On Wednesday, at least one person was killed and several injured during a demonstration at the Jalozai camp near the city by people displaced by the fighting, officials said.

The protesters - from Bajaur, one of the districts worst-affected by clashes between Pakistani troops and militants - had been demanding compensation for their losses. It is thought more than 5,000 houses have been destroyed in the fighting.

BBC News, 25/3/09

China calls for new reserve currency

China's calls for a new international reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar are more than mere bluster and could likely lead the debate over the future of the global foreign exchange system, analysts say.

"By proposing such a sweeping reform, China is demonstrating its growing influence in reshaping the global monetary system, and is now on offensive in the debate of who is responsible for the global imbalances," Deutsche Bank's chief economist for Greater China Jun Ma said in a note to clients Wednesday.

Analysts said the comments also signal China's growing concern over preserving the value of its trillion-dollar plus hoard of Treasurys and other U.S. debt in light of potential swings in the value of the dollar or a probable rise in U.S. sovereign credit risk.

"It has the potential to lead one of the most profound reforms of the global monetary system in the coming decades," said Deutsche Bank's Ma about People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan's proposal.

MarketWatch, 25/3/09

Costs of leaving Iraq

The removal of about 140,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 will be a "massive and expensive effort" that is likely to increase rather than lower Iraq-related expenditures during the withdrawal and for several years after its completion, government investigators said in a report released yesterday.

"Although reducing troops would appear to lower costs," the Government Accountability Office said, withdrawals from previous conflicts have shown that costs more often rise in the near term. The price of equipment repairs and replacements, along with closing or turning over 283 U.S. military installations in Iraq, "will likely be significant," the GAO reported.

Washington Post, 25/3/09

Hundreds still dying in Iraq each month

Bombs tore through two of Iraq's most dangerous regions Monday, killing 34 people, in the third day of devastating attacks this month.

U.S. officials have said attacks like Monday's reflect desperation by insurgents, and cite numbers that show violence has dropped to levels not seen since 2003. But hundreds of Iraqis still die in attacks every month, and there is anxiety that violence may escalate as the U.S. military withdraws.

Washington Post, 24/3/09

More mercenaries for Afghanistan

The military buildup in Afghanistan is stoking a surge of private security contractors despite a string of deadly shootings in Iraq in recent years that has called into question the government's ability to manage the guns for hire.

In recent online postings, the military has asked private security companies to protect traveling convoys and guard U.S. bases in troubled southern provinces such as Helmand and Kandahar. And if truckers hired to transport fuel for the military want protection, they can hire their own armed guards, the military says.

Currently, there are 71,700 contractors in Afghanistan, which is more than twice the number of U.S. troops. With more than 3,000 of those contractors carrying weapons, the Defense Department established an office to oversee them.

That office, known as the "armed contractor oversight directorate," just agreed to pay $993,000 to Aegis Defense Services, a London-based security and risk management company, to help do that job. Defense Secretary Robert Gates assured senators that the military's contract with Aegis would not result in contractors overseeing contractors.

Associated Press, 21/3/09

US may change Afghan's constitution...

America has signalled a radical new initiative to bring the Taliban into the Afghan political process as part of growing efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the war in Afghanistan.

The US ambassador to Kabul told the Observer that America would be prepared to discuss the establishment of a political party, or even election candidates representing the Taliban, as part of a political strategy that would sit alongside reinforced military efforts to end the increasingly intractable conflict.

The move will cause concern among allies struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving US policy. Other ideas being discussed include changing the Afghan constitution as part of potential negotiations, taking senior Taliban figures off UN blacklists to establish dialogue and possible prisoner releases.

The Observer, 22/3/09

...and restructure its government

The US and its European allies are preparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the Guardian has learned. The creation of a new chief executive or prime ministerial role is aimed at bypassing Karzai.

In a further dilution of his power, it is proposed that money be diverted from the Kabul government to the provinces. Many US and European officials have become disillusioned with the extent of the corruption and incompetence in the Karzai government, but most now believe there are no credible alternatives, and predict the Afghan president will win re-election in August.

Other recommendations include: increasing the number of Afghan troops from 65,000 to 230,000 as well as expanding the 80,000-strong police force; sending more US and European civilians to build up Afghanistan's infrastructure; and increased aid to Pakistan as part of a policy of trying to persuade it to tackle al-Qaida and Taliban elements.

Guardian, 23/3/09

NATO 'out of troops' in Afghan south

The military commander responsible for southern Afghanistan said yesterday that he is "out of troops" to provide security across the troubled region and that he expects a significant increase in violence this year as U.S. reinforcements arrive to push into insurgent-held territory.

Dutch Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif, who commands 23,000 NATO troops, said his forces control about 60 percent of the populated areas in southern Afghanistan. "There are absolutely pockets where we don't have control . . . and that is one of the reasons we need these additional boots on the ground," he said.

"We are not stopped by the insurgency, but we just run out of troops," he said in a video conference with Pentagon reporters.

Washington Post, 21/3/09

US to increase Pakistan aid...

The Obama administration may triple development aid to Pakistan while also boosting military assistance to secure more help in fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said on Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition that he not be named because President Barack Obama has yet to unveil his fresh strategy on Afghanistan, said non-military assistance could rise to three times the current roughly $450 million a year. Military aid, now running at $300 million a year, could also rise, although by a lesser amount, the official added, saying that conditions could be attached to the defense funds but not to the development money.

The steps aim to win greater Pakistani cooperation to address what is seen as a major weakness of the current U.S. approach in Afghanistan: the existence of safe havens in Pakistan from which insurgents launch attacks in Afghanistan.

Reuters, 20/3/09

...and build Afghan police

The United States wants to focus efforts in Afghanistan on boosting the police force, with more recruitment and training to help officers stabilize the country and rid it of extremist insurgents, the Obama administration's envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan said Saturday.

Richard Holbrooke was discussing the new U.S. administration's policy in Afghanistan during a Brussels Forum conference debate on the Afghan war, though the full strategy is expected to be revealed next week. President Barack Obama has committed an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to break a stalemate against the Taliban and other insurgents. But military advisers to Obama say the U.S. is not winning the fight, and recommend a boost in the number of civilian experts as well as military deployments to combat the insurgency.

Holbrooke said current plans to increase the Afghan police force from 78,000 to 82,000 over four years were "not sufficient." He also said the force was "riddled with corruption."

International Herald Tribune, 21/3/09

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismisses Barack Obama's overtures to Iran

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, today dismissed overtures to his country from the US president, Barack Obama, saying Tehran did not see any change in policy under the new US administration.

Khamenei's comments were the first high-level Iranian reaction to a video message released by Obama yesterday. The message saw the US president reach out to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian new year.

Khamenei said there would be no change in relations between the two countries unless the president brought an end to US hostility towards Iran and brought "real changes" in foreign policy.

In his video message, Obama said the US wanted to engage Iran and improve decades of strained relations. However, he also warned that a right place for Iran in the international community "cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilisation".

Khamenei detailed a long list of Iranian grievances against the US over the past 30 years, saying it was continuing to interfere in Iranian internal affairs. He mentioned US sanctions against Iran, its support for the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war against Iran and the shooting down of an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf in 1988. He also accused the US of provoking ethnic tension in Iran and said Washington's accusations that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons were evidence of hostility.

Guardian 21/3/09

Pakistan fires at Indian army positions

An Indian soldier was injured Saturday when Pakistani troops fired at Indian army positions across the de facto border dividing Kashmir between the rivals, the Indian army said.

The incident broke five months of relative calm along the heavily militarised border. India in the past has accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over mainly Muslim Kashmir, held in part by each country but claimed in full by both. They agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in 2003 and launched a peace process in 2004. Since then there have been sporadic clashes and both countries have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

An insurgency against New Delhi's rule in Indian Kashmir has been underway since 1989 and left more than 47,000 people dead by official count.

The firing comes at a time of heightened bilateral tensions, sparked by last November's Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai that India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Both LeT and Pakistan have denied any role in the attacks which killed 165 people while Islamabad has blamed the assault on "non-state actors".

AFP 21/3/09

Iraq budget woes slow security hiring

The drop in oil prices has forced Iraq's military and police to put recruiting on hold even as the U.S. hands over more responsibility for protecting the country.

The freeze is stalling efforts to hire Sunni ex-insurgents and has prompted the Iraqi military to transfer hundreds of soldiers to the navy to protect vital oil installations in the Persian Gulf. Iraq will also have to scale back purchases of equipment and weapons, raising new questions about its ability to defend the country's borders and prevent a resurgence of violence.

One of the biggest concerns is the government effort to bring tens of thousands of Sunni fighters who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq into the security forces to keep them employed and away from violence. The government has promised to hire 20 percent of the so-called Sons of Iraq into the army or police, but the transition has gone slowly.

The transfer of more than 91,000 Sunnis who left the insurgency and joined security groups initially funded by the U.S. to Iraqi government control is due to be completed next month. Just over 3,000 have joined the army and police, although Iraq's government is paying the others a small salary.

Associated Press, 20/3/09

Ties between US and India deepen

New CIA chief Leon Panetta was in India Thursday for high-level talks on the worsening violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, sending a signal of the deepening ties between Washington and New Delhi.

Panetta, held "exhaustive discussions" with Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, an Indian official said on condition he not be named. "This is part of the series of high level contacts we have had with the US administration since the Mumbai attacks" last year in which at least 165 people were killed, including six Americans, said the official. "Ways of increasing intelligence and security cooperation were discussed."

Panetta was meeting India's National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, the head of the domestic Intelligence Bureau Rajiv Mathur and chief of the external intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), K.C. Verma, another source said. "Those meetings are expected to cover India's security concerns vis a vis Pakistan and Afghanistan," officials said.

The US embassy in New Delhi confirmed Panetta's arrival but declined to give any details on his talks, citing security reasons.

AFP 20/3/09

China ends naval stand-off

China effectively ended a stand-off with the US that began when its naval vessels harassed an American surveillance ship and attributed the reduction in tension directly to President Barack Obama.

Just a day earlier, Beijing said that it would boost patrols in the South China Sea, converting decommissioned naval ships and possibly drafting in fishing boats to protect its interests in the disputed area. However, a front-page article today in the China Daily headlined “Sino-US sea stand-off appears to have ended” signalled a change of tone.

Li Jie, a senior researcher at he Chinese Navy’s Military Academy, offered remarks that demonstrated Beijing’s apparent eagerness to move forward without an embarrassing climbdown by indicating that it believed that the US military may have acted without Washington’s approval. He told the China Daily: “It is time to call an end to it. It might be that the US military wanted to flex its muscles but the Barack Obama Administration managed to bring the situation under control for the good of both countries.”

China’s more conciliatory approach may indicate that it has achieved the aim of showing the United States that the modernisation of its navy has made it a force to be reckoned with in its regional waters.

Both the United States and China may have been reluctant to allow the surveillance boat incident to result in heightened tensions at the start of the Obama Administration and just as both countries struggle to cope with the world financial crisis.

Times, 20/3/09