24 April, 2009

Canadian woman soldier found dead in Afghanistan
Reuters Canada – Toronto,Ontario,Canada
OTTAWA (Reuters) – A Canadian soldier was found dead in her room at a military base in southern Afghanistan on Thursday and enemy action is not suspected, …
ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE53N4S920090424

Petraeus: “Nothing Easy” About Work In Afghanistan And Pakistan
RTT News – Williamsville,NY,USA
(RTTNews) – General David Petraeus, chief of the US Central Command, warned the House Appropriations Committee Friday that Afghanistan and Pakistan are home …
www.rttnews.com/Content/Policy.aspx?Id=923762

Petraeus says progress in Iraq is ‘fragile’
The Hill – Washington,DC,USA
Much of Congress and the White House’s attention has shifted to Afghanistan, where conditions have worsened, but Petraeus warned“numerous challenges still …
thehill.com/leading-the-news/petraeus-says-
progress-in-iraq-is-fragile-2009-04-24.html

Canadian soldier found dead in Afghanistan
AFP
Mendes’s death brings the number of Canadian military deaths in Afghanistan since the start of Canada’s mission in 2002 to 118, including three female…
www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/
ALeqM5jzhju5JDDs5dyWN_puL63M-wGlcg

INTERVIEW-Pakistan diplomat faults US strategy
Reuters – USA
By Adrian Croft LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Pakistan’s top diplomat in Britain has criticised the new US strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan and defended …
www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSLO233649

Afghanistan opens its first national park
RedOrbit – Dallas,TX,USA
The Afghanistan National Environmental Protection Agency says it has established that country’s first internationally recognized national park.…
www.redorbit.com/news/science/1675934/
afghanistan_opens_its_first_national_park/

ACLU: Pentagon to release images of prisoner abuse
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department will release a “substantial number” of photos depicting abuse of prisoners by US personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, …
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeq
M5jrkXnZhxhMaFxoVux716AYaXXlsQD97OJTR00

Clinton: Pakistan realizing threat from insurgents
The Associated Press
She said Thursday that the administration’s special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has had “painful, specific” conversations with a …
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeq
M5g-ReMvPwb3xiWqSo_fJIh3oojC_wD97O7OC80

Blasts kill 78 in Iraq’s bloodiest day in a year
The Associated Press
… confidence that Iraq’s security gains were on solid footing at a time when the US military is shifting its focus and resources to Afghanistan.…
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h
wK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD97OCMTO0

US lacks civilians for Afghan ‘civilian surge’
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is having trouble finding the hundreds of civilians it wants to bolster its troop buildup in Afghanistan,…
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/
ALeqM5iqyaFh_efr-brDq0rMLF1hkop0tgD97OB8201

Why textbooks we paid for never reached Afghanistan | csmonitor.com
Books: Book reviews, news from the literary world, and a daily blog by the books editor of The Christian Science Monitor.
features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/04/24/why
-textbooks-we-paid-for-never-reached-afghanistan/

Afghanistan Conflict Monitor: Indian Involvement In Afghanistan
By Human Security Report Project
Melanie Hanif, ‘Indian Involvement In Afghanistan: Stepping Stone or Stumbling Block to Regional Hegemony?’, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), 23 April 2009 EXCERPT: “Due to its geo-strategic location between the …
www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2009/
04/indian-involvement-in-afghanistan.html

PrairiePundit: Democrats go squishy on Afghanistan, Pakistan
By Merv
Congressional Democrats are voicing increased concern about the Obama administration’s plans to escalate military involvement in Afghanistan and to try to stabilize the rapid deterioration in Pakistan, complicating the push by the White …
prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2009/04/
democrats-go-squishy-on-afghanistan.html

Afghanistan | Herat
By Jean MacKenzie
A shrine to the jihad in Herat serves as a bridge between Afghanistan’s violent past and uncertain future.
www.globalpost.com/dispatch/afghanistan/090423/the-land-endless-war

This is what Afghanistan looks like | UN Dispatch
By John Boonstra
Tipped by Dipnote, Afghanistan has officially established its first
national park, at a beautiful locale called Band-e-Amir. Methinks they should have a few more of these. More pics, courtesy of flickr user wesolson, under a Creative …
www.undispatch.com/node/8127

23 April, 2009

Gates to visit US Marines headed to Afghanistan
AFP
The 8000-strong brigade will soon head to Afghanistan as part of more than 21000 reinforcements approved by President Barack Obama to bolster the US mission …
www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/
ALeqM5gYIF4ZxJt9ZvQWQ2EV48F_buESmA

GI’s to Fill Civilian Gap to Rebuild Afghanistan
New York Times – United States
By THOM SHANKER WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is finding that it must turn to military personnel to fill hundreds of posts in Afghanistan that had …
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/world/asia/23military.html?em

Senate implicates Bush aides in prisoner abuse
guardian.co.uk – UK
The report shows a paper trail going from the then defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to Guantánamo to Afghanistan and to Iraq. The report says: “The abuse …
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/22/
torture-bush-administration-senate-report

New Torture Report: Trail Leads to Rumsfeld, Other Senior Officials
ChattahBox – Boston,MA,USA
The report focuses on interrogation abuses conducted by the military used in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, directly authorized …
chattahbox.com/us/2009/04/22/new-torture-report-
trail-leads-to-rumsfeld-other-senior-officials/

Turnbull wants to visit injured asylum seekers
ABC Online – Australia
Nine men are still in the hospital after last week’s fatal explosion on a boat carrying asylum seekers from Afghanistan. The blast, near Ashmore Reef, …
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/23/2550589.htm

Reservists Might Be Used in Afghanistan To Fill Civilian Jobs
Washington Post – United States
By Karen DeYoung Military reservists may be asked to volunteer to fill many of the hundreds of additional US civilian positions in Afghanistan called for in …
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2009/04/22/AR2009042203821.html?hpid=topnews

Soldier who grew up in Grants Pass dies in Afghanistan
The Oregonian – OregonLive.com – Portland,OR,USA
by Michael Russell, The Oregonian A ceremony for US Army Pfc. Richard“Rick” Dewater, slain April 15 in Afghanistan, is scheduled for 9 am Saturday at the …
www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/
2009/04/soldier_who_grew_up_in_grants.html

US Troop Focus on Southern Afghanistan, General Says
Systems – Atlanta,GA,USA
WASHINGTON – Southern Afghanistan –- the home of the Taliban as well as host to the country’s opium-growing industry –- is now the focus of the…
www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=32737

US urged to focus on governance in Afghanistan
Washington Post – United States
By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration needs to link its counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan with efforts …
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203510.html

Afghanistan Reports Progress in Talks with Taliban Militants
Voice of America – USA
He also said some of Afghanistan’s international allies have agreed to remove militants’ names from wanted lists if they accepted the Afghan constitution. …
www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-21-voa43.cfm

Petraeus, Reservists in Afghanistan, More (SWJ Blog)
By SWJ Editors
Credited with turning around a war in Iraq that many considered hopeless, the four-star general has since become CENTCOM commander – putting Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran under his aegis as well. In a speech Tuesday at Harvard …
smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2009/04/reservists-might-be-used-in-af/

Mullen: Surge Won’t Lead to Quick Afghanistan Victory — News from …
By Jason Ditz
In yet another case of lowering expectations in the already disastrous US war in Afghanistan, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen told NBC today that the war “will be a significant engagement for a period of time,” adding …
news.antiwar.com/2009/04/22/mullen-surge
-wont-lead-to-quick-afghanistan-victory/

Kansas Guardsmen heading to Afghanistan
News Updates | Wichita Eagle Sixteen Kansas National Guard soldiers are heading to Afghanistan to serve as military police advisers.
www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/782771.html

Do we have enough pashto speakers to succeed in Afghanistan …
By Stephen M. Walt
The Obama administration has said that a purely military victory is not possible in Afghanistan, and promised to devote greater attention to civilian “nation-building.” Journalist/historian Gareth Porter questions the feasibility of …
walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/22/lost_in_translation

GAO calls for more oversight in Afghanistan | Stars and Stripes
Congress’ research arm has laid out a series of measures to track the progress of the war in Afghanistan, saying “significant oversight” is needed of the costs and progress of the fight.
www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62218