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News archives for the week ending 30th October 2009

Karzai's brother is CIA agent and drug lord

The claim that Ahmed Wali Karzai has been on the payroll of the CIA for the past eight years, as reported in the New York Times on Tuesday, won't come as a surprise to most Afghans, who have long considered his brother, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, to be an American puppet.

The revamped allegations that Karzai frère is deeply involved in Afghanistan's annual $4 billion drug industry isn't much of a shocker either — on the streets of Kabul and Kandahar, the name Wali has long been synonymous with someone who can get away with a crime because he has friends in the right places.

But if the Times' charges are true, the revelations that Wali Karzai is a major drug trafficker who has been protected not just by his brother, but also by CIA operatives establish a chain of causality between the efforts of U.S. intelligence to obtain information and influence and drug monies that pay for an insurgency that has taken 53 American lives this month — the highest death toll ever for Americans in Afghanistan.

Time Magazine, 28/10/09

US warned on arbitrary executions

The US has been warned that its use of drones to target suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan may violate international law. UN human rights investigator Philip Alston said the US should explain the legal basis for attacking individuals with the remote-controlled aircraft. He said the CIA had to show accountability to international laws which ban arbitrary executions. Drones have killed about 600 people in north-west Pakistan since August 2008.

Mr Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, told the BBC: "My concern is that these drones, these Predators, are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law."

"The onus is really on the government of the United States to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary executions, extrajudicial executions, are not in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons."

BBC News, 28/10/09

US will continue Cuba boycott

It is an annual ritual: The United Nations today will vote to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba, much as the world organization has done for nearly two decades.

Last year, the 17th year the resolution was brought to the floor, the vote was 185 to 3 condemning the embargo, with two abstentions. The three: the United States, Israel and Palau.

But Obama has said he will maintain the 47-year-old embargo as a means of leverage to press for political change in Cuba, and in September he signed the order that kept the sanction in place for another year. Even some of his supporters say he is acting slowly in unfreezing the tortured relationship between Washington and Havana.

Los Angeles Times, 28/10/09

Corruption rattles Iraqi state

As Iraqi officials work to assign blame for the deadly attacks on the heart of the government on Sunday, concern is rising that a greater security threat may come from within the system in the form of corruption, from the top leadership of ministries down to soldiers who man checkpoints.

“These car bombs didn’t come from the sky!” said Judge Abdul Sattar al-Beiriqdar, spokesman for the Higher Judicial Council. “They must have been driven in streets until they reached their target. If there were no corruption, the attackers wouldn’t risk passing through these checkpoints.”

Money is skimmed off of salaries. Contracts are manipulated and fudged to wring personal profit. Ghost police officers are listed on payrolls so commanders can take the salaries, and other police officers are told they are fired even as commanders continue to take their pay. Criminals and insurgents are freed with a well-placed bribe, criminal records are expunged for payment, detainees are abused by guards in order to extort money from relatives.

New York Times, 28/10/09

Senior US diplomat resigns over war

A senior diplomat has become the first US official to resign in protest at the war in Afghanistan, in a move that has shaken the White House, according to reports.

Matthew Hoh, 36, a former captain in the Marine Corps who fought in Iraq before joining the US State Department, resigned from his post as the senior US civilian in Zabul province, a Taleban stronghold in Afghanistan. He said that he believed the war only fuelled the insurgency, the Washington Post reports.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," Mr Hoh wrote in his resignation letter, dated September 10.

"I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."

The Times, 27/10/09

Lessons of war

Tons of explosives, suicide bombers in coordinated attacks and triple-digit death tolls. The wreckage at the Iraqi Justice Ministry and Baghdad's provincial council headquarters this week, like the devastation at the Foreign and Finance ministries in August, is a reminder that foreign powers cannot impose peace on a divided nation.

This is instructive for those seeking to pacify Afghanistan with more soldiers. U.S. and Afghan troops can fight to clear areas of Taliban insurgents, but absent a legitimate government, the fighting will not stop. President Hamid Karzai's agreement to a runoff in an election tainted by fraud is a step forward, but there's more to be done to address corruption and win support for the government over insurgents.

As Sen. John Kerry said after returning from Kabul, "The legitimate government of Afghanistan cannot be less accountable than the Taliban." That's a prescription for war, not peace.

Los Angeles Times, 27/10/09

Israel cutting water supplies to Palestinians

Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says. In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. It says that in Gaza, Israel's blockade has brought the water and sewage system to "crisis point".

In the 112-page report, Amnesty says that on average Palestinian daily water consumption reaches 70 litres a day, compared with 300 litres for the Israelis. It says that some Palestinians barely get 20 litres a day - the minimum recommended even in humanitarian emergencies.

Amnesty says that Israel denies West Bank Palestinians to dig wells, and has even destroyed cisterns and impounded water tankers. At the same time, the report claims, Israeli settlers are enjoying swimming pools and green gardens.

It adds that Israel uses more than 80% of the water from the Mountain Aquifer - the main source of underground water in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

BBC News, 27/10/09

Pakistanis blame US for insecurity

The Obama administration is putting pressure on Pakistan to eliminate Taliban and Qaeda militants from the country’s tribal areas, but the push is straining the delicate relations between the allies, Pakistani and Western officials say.

The Pakistani military’s recent heavy offensive in South Waziristan has pleased the Americans, but it left large parts of Pakistan under siege, as militants once sequestered in the country’s tribal areas take their war to Pakistan’s cities. Many Pakistanis blame the United States for the country’s rising instability.

When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Pakistan this week, as she is scheduled to do, she will find a nuclear-armed state consumed by doubts about the value of the alliance with the United States and resentful of ever-rising American demands to do more, the officials said.

New York Times, 26/10/09

Navy cuts aircraft for one aircraft carrier, but still spends £7.6 billion

The Royal Navy has agreed to sacrifice one of its two new aircraft carriers to save about £8.2 billion from the defence budget. The admirals, who have battled for a decade to secure the two new 65,000-ton carriers, have been forced to back down because of the soaring cost of the American-produced Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft due to fly off them.

The decision to have only one new aircraft carrier will cut the number of JSFs to be flown by RAF squadrons from 138 to about 50, saving £7.6 billion. At current prices, the aircraft will cost close to £90m each, but this could rise to more than £100m.

A senior Royal Navy officer said: “We always knew that the real cost of the carrier project is the JSF fleet to go on them. It would cost us at least £12 billion if we bought all the aircraft we originally asked for. We are waking up to the fact that all those planes are unaffordable. More than half of the £5 billion contracts to build the two new carriers have been contracted, so it is too late to get out of building the ships."

The Times, 26/10/09

Afghan police fire on demonstration

Afghan police Monday opened fire and turned a water cannon on demonstrators angry about allegations that Western troops torched a Koran, wounding at least three people, officials and witnesses said. Clashes erupted as police tried to prevent around 300 students, most of them men, from marching on parliament, the city's criminal investigation police chief, Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, told AFP. The UN mission in Kabul responded with an appeal for calm with a run-off presidential election less than a fortnight away.

"Police fired at the crowd, one bullet hit me. I was closing my shop at the time," Sherullah, an 18-year-old man who suffered a bullet wound to his hip, said from his hospital bed.

"They (policemen) were just firing. They were firing at the people," he said.

Sayedzada denied that police fired towards the crowd, saying they only aimed their guns in the air. They also used water cannon, the police chief added. But a doctor at the emergency ward of Ibn Sina hospital said that at least three men suffering from "bullet wounds" had been admitted for treatment.

AFP, 26/10/09

British arms used in Guinea repression

Recent brutal attacks on demonstrators in the west African state of Guinea have involved British-supplied armoured cars, Amnesty International alleged today. The human rights organisation is calling for a freeze on all ammunition and riot gear exports to the military junta in Guinea, where a junior officer, Captain Dadis Camara, seized power last December. Soldiers subsequently fired on unarmed demonstrators at a football stadium in the capital, Conakry, killing an estimated 150 people.

Amnesty published links to footage which, it said, showed the use of Mamba armoured cars against protesters. Ten Mambas were sold to Guinea by a South Africa-based manufacturer which was a subsidiary of the British arms firm Alvis. The firm, Alvis OMC, was subsequently taken over by the British arms giant BAE Systems.

The latest government review of UK arms export controls rejected calls from Amnesty and other organisations for UK-owned subsidiary companies operating overseas to be regulated by UK arms export controls.

Guardian, 26/10/09

Karzai criticises US reliability as partner

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai questioned the reliability of the United States as a partner Sunday, as he fought off criticism of his government's legitimacy following fraud-marred elections.

Karzai's main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, warned in an interview with CNN that the US strategy will not succeed without a credible partner in Kabul, blaming Karzai for deteriorating conditions. But underscoring the political headache that Washington faces if Karzai wins a run-off against Abdullah next month, Karzai pointed the finger at the United States in a separate, pre-recorded CNN interview.

"Is the United States a reliable partner with Afghanistan? Is the West a reliable partner with Afghanistan?" Karzai asked. "Have we received the commitments that we were given? Have we been treated like a partner?" Karzai said a partnership to him was "where the Afghan lives are respected, where Afghan property is respected, where the Afghan traditions are respected, where we know the direction we are moving to."

The comments appeared to allude to Karzai's longstanding criticism of civilian deaths in US air strikes, and to President Barack Obama's still unresolved review of US strategy and his commander's request for up to 40,000 more US troops.

AFP, 25/10/09

Pressure mounts on Iraq election law

Pressure mounted on Sunday as Iraqi leaders prepared to meet to try to end a deadlock over a stalled election law amid growing concerns that the country's January polls will have to be delayed. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned that postponing the elections would threaten the legitimacy of parliament and the government, while a top Iraqi general cautioned that a delay risked increasing instability.

As if to confirm Lieutenant General Ali Ghaidan Majeed's warning, twin suicide car bombs in central Baghdad on Sunday morning killed at least 64 people and wounded more than 600.

AFP, 25/10/09

UN inspectors visit Iranian site

A team from the UN's nuclear watchdog has inspected a previously secret uranium enrichment plant in Iran, Iranian officials and media have said. The inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are expected to visit the facility, near the holy city of Qom, again over the next two days.

The visit comes as world powers await Iran's response to a new proposed deal over its uranium enrichment programme. Iran would send some enriched uranium to Russia to be turned into fuel.

BBC News, 25/10/09

Britons believe 'Afghan war is failing'

An overwhelming 84 per cent believe British troops are currently losing the war in Afghanistan.

Almost half of the UK public believe that military victory in Afghanistan is impossible and significant majorities think British troops are not winning the war and should be withdrawn either immediately or within the next year.

The YouGov survey for Channel 4 News uncovered a much more pessimistic attitude towards the conflict than in a similar survey in 2007, when 36 per cent said that victory was not possible.

Just 6 per cent of those taking part in the poll said that British troops were winning the war, compared with 36 per cent who said they were not winning yet but eventual victory was possible, and 48 per cent who said that victory was not possible.

The figures suggested an overwhelming 84 per cent believe that British troops are not winning the war with Taliban militias at present.

Asked when British troops should be brought home from Afghanistan, 25 per cent said "immediately" and 37 per cent said most should be withdrawn soon, with the remainder pulling out within a year or so.

The poll suggests that the public mood is at odds with government policy that Britain and its Nato allies should see through their mission in Afghanistan and keep troops in the country until responsibility for its security can be handed over to home-grown forces in a process known as Afghanisation.

Only last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was ready to send a further 500 troops, so long as they could be properly equipped and form part of a Nato-wide reinforcement with each ally bearing its "fair share".

Channel 4 News 24/10/09

Taliban putting up fight in Waziristan

Pakistan's offensive in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan has met with significant resistance from insurgents, who have retaken one large town, targeted military vehicles with roadside bombs and held off the army's attack helicopters with antiaircraft fire, U.S. military analysts said Friday.

The heavy fighting has slowed the advance of an estimated 36,000 to 40,000 Pakistani troops into the heart of the contested tribal region bordering Afghanistan, according to a detailed briefing on the week-old ground operation by researchers at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a Washington think tank. Meanwhile, the report said, insurgents continue to coordinate suicide bombings and assassinations outside Waziristan.

Washington Post, 24/10/09

NATO support for escalating war...

America's NATO allies signaled broad support Friday for an ambitious counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, adding to the momentum building for a substantial U.S. troop increase.

NATO defense ministers meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, endorsed the strategy put forward by Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the U.S. and allied commander. The alliance rejected competing proposals to narrow the military mission to fighting the remnants of Al Qaeda.

They did not discuss specific troop levels, but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said a number of allies indicated they were thinking about increasing their own military or civilian contributions.

Los Angeles Times, 24/10/09

...but new German government has tensions with US

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on Saturday announced a center-right government with her new coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, saying it would “bravely solve the problems that are lying ahead of us.”

The new foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, who is the leader of the Free Democrats, wants to rid Germany of the remaining American nuclear weapons stationed here, signaling a big shift in relations with NATO and the United States because the issue until now has been largely taboo.

But the biggest foreign policy challenge for Mrs. Merkel is expected to be Afghanistan. The new defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who is a member of the Christian Social Union, the sister party of Mrs. Merkel’s party, will undoubtedly be under pressure from the United States to send more German troops to Afghanistan. Germany has more than 4,000 troops there.

New York Times, 24/10/09

Abdullah rules out coalition government in Afghanistan...

Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah ruled out Friday joining Hamid Karzai's government should the incumbent beat him in the November 7 run-off election.

"I think I left Mr. Karzai's government some three and a half years ago, and since then I've not been tempted to be part of that government... part of the same deteriorating situation," the former foreign minister told CNN.

"So, (I have) absolutely no interest in such a scenario, while at the same time, for the interest of my country, if Mr. Karzai is elected through a transparent and credible process, I will be the first person to congratulate him."

Abdullah also accused Karzai's government and Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) of having a hand in the fraud that tainted the first round poll and led to a run-off. "Unfortunately, the government was involved, IEC was involved. That's according to everybody," charged Abdullah, who officially won 30.59 percent of the first round vote.

AFP, 24/10/09

...as Taliban oppose election run-off

The Taliban called on Afghans on Saturday to boycott next month's presidential election run-off and vowed to disrupt voting in a repeat of their threat to derail the disputed first round.

Election officials are hastily trying to prepare for the Nov. 7 run-off, which removed one stumbling block for U.S. President Barack Obama as he weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight a resurgent Taliban.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan once again urges their respected countrymen not to participate," the Taliban said in a statement, emailed to Reuters, saying the election process was being orchestrated by Washington. "In order to make this process fail, all the mujahideens will carry out operations on the enemy's centres," it said of the thousands of polling stations to be set up for the vote between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah.

Reuters, 24/10/09

Efforts to get Taliban off the battlefield

New efforts aimed at persuading low-level Taliban fighters to lay down their arms have become the centerpiece of U.S. and Afghan government strategy as the White House debates whether to boost troop levels there.

Officials are looking at programs that will provide jobs and training so insurgents have a reason to leave the battlefield. Efforts to reconcile or reintegrate fighters is not new, but officials say there hasn't been a sustained effort to provide jobs and other opportunities in villages and towns. Only a trickle of insurgents has left the battlefield over past years.

"Some of the previous reintegration programs were aimed at short-term gains, like getting weapons off the battlefield," said Air Force Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, a military spokesman in Afghanistan.

"The plans developed now will be aimed at longer-term gains for people, such as providing jobs, training and other opportunities," he said.

USA Today, 22/10/09

Afghan opium is most lethal drug worldwide

Afghan opium kills more people every year than any other drug on the planet, claiming up to 100,000 lives annually, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.

U.S. officials have pointed to the last two years of lower opium production in Afghanistan, but the country still produces 90% of the world's opium, which the report says now threatens to sow havoc in much of central Asia.

In addition to drug-related deaths, Afghan opium and heroin pay for weapons that anti-U.S. insurgents use to kill American troops. From 2005 to 2008, Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan earned an average annual income of $125 million from the opium trade, not including money gained from drug-processing facilities or other related business in Pakistan, according to the report.

The UN report's findings sounded a strong warning about the central Asian opium-trafficking route, which has become a virtual conveyor belt for heroin between Afghanistan and Russia, referring to it as the "most sinister development yet."

Detroit Free Press, 22/10/09

China leads US on green energy

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 invests $112 billion in green technologies, and earmarks $2 billion for renewable energy research. President Obama proposes to add another $15 billion annually in renewable energy research, to be funded by the cap-and-trade system proposed in the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Meanwhile, China is spending $221 billion of its $586 billion 2009 stimulus package on renewable energy and other clean technologies, and is poised to overtake Germany and Japan to become the world’s largest alternative energy producer. Another spur to development is a 2007 policy requiring large utilities to produce 3 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2010 and 8 percent by 2020, excluding hydroelectric. China’s five-year plan that starts in 2011 will include even higher standards and subsidies to support clean energy development.

Though aspects of it may violate the WTO, China has a coherent industrial policy to capture global leadership, while US initiatives are fragmented.

Boston Globe, 22/10/09

British trainers return to Iraq

British naval personnel are to return to Iraq to train local forces, Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell has said. The announcement comes after politicians in Baghdad passed legislation allowing their return.

Mr Rammell said: "Training of the Iraqi Navy has been paused since June and it is important to resume this activity as soon as possible to ensure that they quickly develop the capacity to protect their own territorial waters and the offshore oil platforms which are so vital to Iraq's economic revival."

BBC News, 22/10/09