Messages In This Digest (18 Messages)
- 1.
- NATO: 9 U.S., Afghan Soldiers Killed In Bomb Attacks From: Rick Rozoff
- 2.
- NATO Chief Tries To Recruit Afghan War Troops From Arab States From: Rick Rozoff
- 3.
- Enhanced NATO Role: France To Keep Troops In Afghanistan From: Rick Rozoff
- 4.
- NATO Commander Threatens Besieged Kosovo Serbs From: Rick Rozoff
- 5.
- U.S. To Step Up Missile Attacks Despite Pakistani Objections: McCain From: Rick Rozoff
- 6a.
- Turkish Army Shells Northern Iraq From: Rick Rozoff
- 7.
- Afghanistan: U.S. Consulate Hit By Rocket Attack From: Rick Rozoff
- 8.
- Six Danish Soldiers Killed, Injured By Afghan Roadside Bomb From: Rick Rozoff
- 9.
- NATO Dispatches More Macedonian Auxilliaries To Afghan War Front From: Rick Rozoff
- 10.
- Venezuela Renews Accusation That Netherlands Abets U.S. Aggression From: Rick Rozoff
- 11.
- Holbooke To Inspect Afghanistan-Bound Georgian Troops From: Rick Rozoff
- 12.
- Afghanistan: Spain Loses 90th Soldier From: Rick Rozoff
- 13.
- Venezuela Sends Fighter Jets To Intercept U.S. Military Plane From: Rick Rozoff
- 14.
- After 25-Year Hiatus, U.S. And New Zealand To Stage Joint Military D From: Rick Rozoff
- 15.
- Afghanistan: U.S. Marines Take Over Helmand Province From: Rick Rozoff
- 16.
- White House Out-Herods Pentagon On Afghan War Escalation From: Rick Rozoff
- 17.
- Report: Huge Blast On Georgia-South Ossetia Border From: Rick Rozoff
- 18.
- Jordan To Increase Operations In Afghan War From: Rick Rozoff
Messages
- 1.
-
NATO: 9 U.S., Afghan Soldiers Killed In Bomb Attacks
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:49 am (PST)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6805085.html
Associated Press
January 8, 2010
1 US, 8 Afghan troops killed by roadside bombs
KABUL: Roadside bombs have killed eight Afghan soldiers and a U.S. service member in separate incidents in Afghanistan, officials said Friday.
NATO confirmed the American died Thursday in eastern Afghanistan, but provided no other details.
Also Thursday, an Afghan army vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan. Army commander Abdul Hamid said eight soldiers who were inside the vehicle were killed as they were returning from the provincial capital of Tarin Kot.
.....
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 2.
-
NATO Chief Tries To Recruit Afghan War Troops From Arab States
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:49 am (PST)
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6071TY20100108
Reuters
January 8, 2010
NATO chief wants Muslims to serve in Afghanistan
COPENHAGEN: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday urged Muslim nations to contribute troops for service in Afghanistan to help avoid the appearance of a religious war.
"Active participation by Muslim nations would underscore that NATO's effort in Afghanistan is not about religion, but a struggle against extremism and terror," Rasmussen said in an interview with the Danish daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende.
"And so in talks with a number of Muslim nations I have encouraged them to consider positively a contribution to the mission in Afghanistan," said Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister who took over as NATO's top official in August 2009.
Rasmussen said he valued highly alliance member Turkey's contribution in Afghanistan. Predominantly Muslim Turkey has some 1,750 soldiers in and around Kabul as part of NATO's 85,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Rasmussen said other Muslim countries he had spoken with had not decided whether to participate but many had shown understanding of the matter.
Rasmussen's NATO appointment was opposed by some politicians in Turkey largely because of his role as prime minister during an international uproar in 2006 sparked by a Danish newspaper's publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
....
(Reporting by John Acher; Editing by Matthew Jones)
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 3.
-
Enhanced NATO Role: France To Keep Troops In Afghanistan
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:50 am (PST)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582597,00.html
Associated Press
January 8, 2010
Sarkozy to Keep French Troops in Afghanistan
-France has lost 36 troops in Afghanistan, 11 of them last year. About 3,500 French troops are currently serving in the country....[Sarkozy] insisted on the importance of France's participation in NATO. France rejoined NATO's integrated military command in 2009, more than 40 years after quitting it and kicking American military bases off French soil.
VANNES, France: French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended his country's military force in Afghanistan, saying Friday that now is not the time to pull out.
Sarkozy did not say, though, whether France would send more troops, as U.S. allies have urged. The French leader has said he is waiting for an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Jan. 28 before discussing any further troop commitments.
"We should continue to help Afghans until they are in a position to assure their own security and development," Sarkozy said in a New Year's speech to the French military at a marine base in western France.
He discussed overall military plans for 2010 as he spoke to a unit — the 3rd marine infantry regiment, based in Vannes in Brittany — that lost five soldiers in Afghanistan last year.
"When circumstances so require, it is my duty as commander in chief to maintain our soldiers in their posts, as is the case in Afghanistan today, where the conditions for a withdrawal have not been met," Sarkozy said.
He met Friday with families of troops killed in Afghanistan and reviewed the troops before giving his speech.
France has lost 36 troops in Afghanistan, 11 of them last year. About 3,500 French troops are currently serving in the country.
....
Sarkozy said he hoped to pull French troops out of other deployments, including in Kosovo and Ivory Coast. France is reducing its troop strength in Kosovo on Friday from 1,300 to 800 as part of a reorganization of the international force.
Sarkozy defended his shifting defense strategies, meant to focus more on fighting terrorism and more mobile modern threats while cutting back on spending on conventional forces and shutting down little-used bases.
He insisted on the importance of France's participation in NATO. France rejoined NATO's integrated military command in 2009, more than 40 years after quitting it and kicking American military bases off French soil.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 4.
-
NATO Commander Threatens Besieged Kosovo Serbs
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:53 am (PST)
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=01&dd=08&nav_id=64334
Tanjug News Agency
January 8, 2009
NATO official worried about breach of 1244
PRISTINA: The local authorities in northern Kosovo represent a threat to Kosovo stability, Joint Force Command Naples Admiral Mark Fitzgerald said in Priština on Friday.
"All violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 pose a threat to security. Since the resolution does not approve of parallel institutions, they are cause for concern," the U.S. admiral told reporters after meeting with KFOR Commander Marcus Bentler.
Fitzgerald pointed out to KFOR's readiness to answer any threat in efforts to secure a peaceful surrounding.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 5.
-
U.S. To Step Up Missile Attacks Despite Pakistani Objections: McCain
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:57 am (PST)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/08/content_12777793.htm
Xinhua News Agency
January 8, 2010
U.S. to continue drone attacks despite Pakistan's disagreement: senator
by Zeeshan Niazi
-Political analyst Farrukh Salim told Xinhua that 17 drone attacks were carried out against areas in Pakistan in 2008, 43 carried out in 2009 and in 2010 more than 70 drone attacks are expected.
"Such attacks always trigger violence, suicide attacks and casualties in Pakistan. So more drone attacks means more violence in Pakistan."
ISLAMABAD: The United States will continue the "effective" drone attacks in northwest Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border even if it has no agreement with Pakistan, a U.S. senator said here Friday.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, visiting Senator John McCain said the U.S. congressional delegation came to show the solidity and sympathy to the victims of the terror attacks in Pakistan but the strikes with unmanned aircraft will not stop as the U.S. needs to root out extremism from the region.
"We are always with Pakistan and the people of Pakistan and our relationship does not have time limitation," McCain said.
He said the use of drone strikes against suspected Taliban militants in Pakistan is an effective part of the U.S. strategy.
....
In a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday, McCain said that there were some differences between Pakistan and the U.S. regarding drone attacks but both countries have the same views against terrorism and democratic values.
....
The U.S had stepped up attacks inside Pakistan's tribal areas last year and the new year started with early morning strike. Pakistan opposes the strikes....
Political analyst Farrukh Salim told Xinhua that 17 drone attacks were carried out against areas in Pakistan in 2008, 43 carried out in 2009 and in 2010 more than 70 drone attacks are expected.
"Such attacks always trigger violence, suicide attacks and casualties in Pakistan. So more drone attacks means more violence in Pakistan," Salim said.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 6a.
-
Turkish Army Shells Northern Iraq
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 11:00 am (PST)
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100108/157492947.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 8, 2010
Turkish army shells northern Iraq - reports
Ankara: The Turkish army has carried out an artillery attack on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq, Turkish media said on Friday.
A Kurdish website said the shelling of the Zap region took place on Thursday evening, the first such incident for many months.
The Turkish military has not so far commented on the reports. There is no information on casualties.
The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and several other countries, including the United States.
The Kurdish area of southeastern Turkey has seen 25 years of fighting between separatist guerillas and government troops in which an estimated 40,000 people have died.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 7.
-
Afghanistan: U.S. Consulate Hit By Rocket Attack
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 2:45 pm (PST)
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Rocket-Hits-US-Consulate-in-Afghanistan-81022827.html
Voice of America News
January 8, 2010
Rocket Hits US Consulate in Afghanistan
Afghan police say a rocket has hit a building housing the new U.S. consulate office in western Afghanistan.
They say three rockets were fired at the building in the city of Herat Friday, but that only one struck it.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties, and the Associated Press says no U.S. staff were in the building at the time of the attack.
The building is a former hotel that the U.S. government acquired last year to use as a new consulate.
Meanwhile, international forces in Afghanistan say a bomb exploded in the country's east, killing an American service member. No further details were provided.
....
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 8.
-
Six Danish Soldiers Killed, Injured By Afghan Roadside Bomb
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 2:48 pm (PST)
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1151203&lang=eng_news
Associated Press
January 8, 2010
Danish soldier killed in southern Afghanistan
The Danish army says one of its soldiers has been killed and five injured, two seriously, by an explosive device in southern Afghanistan.
The Army Operational Command says members of a Danish scouting unit were inside a vehicle that was hit by the blast.
The soldiers were flown to a field hospital for treatment following the Friday blast but one was declared dead upon arrival.
Two of the injured were still being treated, while the three others suffered minor injuries, the army said.
Denmark has lost 29 soldiers in Afghanistan since it joined the U.S.-led coalition in 2002.
The Nordic country has 700 troops serving in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan. Most are based in the volatile southern Helmand province.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 9.
-
NATO Dispatches More Macedonian Auxilliaries To Afghan War Front
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 2:51 pm (PST)
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n206020
Focus News Agency
January 8, 2010
Macedonian contingent sent to ISAF mission in Afghanistan
Tetovo: At an official ceremony on Friday a contingent of the Macedonian Armed Forces will be sent to the multinational mission ISAF in Afghanistan, the Macedonian Makfax news agency reports.
The ceremony will take place in the Kuzman Josifovski – Pitu barracks in Tetovo.
149 soldiers from the Second Infantry Platoon set out for Afghanistan in the eighth rotation of the mission, in which Macedonia participates with an infantry platoon.
Together with the current national representative and two staff officers, they will be deployed within the ISAF general headquarters in Kabul. In the next six months the Macedonian troops will join the contingent of the British Armed Forces. The ceremony in Tetovo will be attended by Macedonian President and commander-in-chief Gjorge Ivanov and other senior state officials.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 10.
-
Venezuela Renews Accusation That Netherlands Abets U.S. Aggression
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 3:50 pm (PST)
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/venezuela-renews-accusations-against-hague
Radio Netherlands
January 8, 2010
Venezuela renews Aruba accusations
Venezuela has reiterated its accusations that a United States air force plane based in Curacao has violated its airspace. Foreign relations committee chair, MP Roy Daza, has told Radio Netherlands Worldwide his country has incontrovertible evidence.
Mr Daza has renewed calls for the US and the Netherlands to clarify the incident. The call comes after MPs in Caracas studied recordings made by the control tower of Maiquetía airport, which are said to confirm that a US plane was in Venezuelan airspace in May.
The recording contains a conversation between a US air force pilot and the control tower. When air controllers ask the US pilot why he is in Venezuelan airspace, he answers he is not aware of the fact. After the conversation, the plane, which Caracas says then has flown 200 kilometres in Venezuelan airspace, heads back to Curacao. Venezuela also accuses the plane of crossing the no-fly zone around its air base of La Orchila, located on an island east of the Dutch Antilles.
The Netherlands has repeatedly reassured the Venezuelan authorities that US forces operating from Aruba and Curacao are only engaged in fighting drug traffickers. Venezuela says Washington, helped by the Netherlands, is preparing an attack on its country, and claims that the violation of its airspace is a provocation.
==========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 11.
-
Holbooke To Inspect Afghanistan-Bound Georgian Troops
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 3:58 pm (PST)
http://rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=35145&pg=1&im=main&ct=0&wth=
Rustavi2
January 8, 2010
US appreciates Georgia`s contribution to Afghansitan
On January 7, the Brookings Institution hosted Richard C. Holbrooke, special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, for a conversation on the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In his one-hour speech, Holbrooke talked about the US policy in the region.
He also talked about Georgia`s contribution to the operation in Afghanistan and called it significant assistance. Holbrooke also said he intends to visit Tbilisi.
"First of all, I do want to acknowledge that the battalion that`s being trained in Tbilisi, when that battalion arrives in Afghanistan in March it will take 950 Georgian soldiers to the country, which on a per capita basis will make Georgia the largest single troop contributor in Afghanistan.
"I should acknowledge not only President Saakashvili`s personal role in it but all of the Georgian people. And I look for to going to Tbilisi to visit troops before they leave. We should all recognize this, because Georgia`s own history, and particularly in the last year, has been so extraordinary, and they made this commitment, without any request for anything in return`, Holbrooke said.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 12.
-
Afghanistan: Spain Loses 90th Soldier
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 6:17 pm (PST)
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=350104&CategoryId=12395
EFE
January 8, 2010
Spanish Soldier Fatally Run Over in Afghanistan
MADRID – An Ecuadorian man serving in the Spanish army died Friday after he was run over by a vehicle at a NATO outpost in Herat, Afghanistan.
Christian Javier Quishpe Aguirre, 24, was rushed to a hospital on the base after the accident, but doctors were unable to save him, the Spanish Defense Ministry said.
The accident took place in the vehicle maintenance area at the Forward Support Base in Herat, where the commander has already initiated an investigation, the ministry said.
Quishpe, who joined the Spanish army in September 2001, belonged to a logistics unit headquartered at Huesca in northeastern Spain. He leaves behind a wife and daughter.
Spain currently has about 800 troops serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and plans to deploy an additional 220 soldiers to that nation.
The death of Quishpe brings to 90 the number of Spanish military personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2002.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 13.
-
Venezuela Sends Fighter Jets To Intercept U.S. Military Plane
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 6:21 pm (PST)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/09/content_12780156.htm
Xinhua News Agency
January 9, 2010
Chavez: Venezuela sent F-16 jets to intercept U.S. military plane
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that he had ordered F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice violated Venezuelan airspace earlier in the day.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Chavez said that the U.S. plane, based on the Netherlands' Curacao island in the Caribbean, intruded into Venezuelan airspace twice, the first for 15 minutes and the second 19 minutes.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 14.
-
After 25-Year Hiatus, U.S. And New Zealand To Stage Joint Military D
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 6:24 pm (PST)
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/nz-us-set-resume-joint-military-drills-3326617
Newstalk ZB
January 9, 2010
NZ, US set to resume joint military drills
There is more evidence this morning of how much New Zealand's relationship with the United States is improving.
The long established ban on joint military exercises looks set to be scrapped.
Ronald Reagan's administration imposed the ban in 1985, at the time New Zealand was putting its foot down about nuclear ships.
But recently there has been a distinct warming of the relationship, including New Zealand being let back in the loop on intelligence sharing.
Saturday's New Zealand Herald reports our troops will get the nod to take part in exercises with the Americans when Hillary Clinton arrives for a two-day visit this week.
President Obama has already informally invited Prime Minister John Key to Washington.
The Greens are urging the government to stand its ground on military issues with the US when Clinton visits.
She is expected to announce the end of a 25-year ban on joint military exercises between US and New Zealand troops.
Greens Foreign Affairs spokesman Keith Locke says it is a moral victory for New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance.
He says there's no need for us to make any concessions in return.
Locke hopes the Government will resist any request for a larger contribution to the war in Afghanistan.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 15.
-
Afghanistan: U.S. Marines Take Over Helmand Province
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 6:31 pm (PST)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6951503/Too-few-British-troops-to-defeat-the-Taliban-says-US-military.html
The Telegraph
January 8, 2010
Too few British troops to defeat the Taliban, says US military
Britain does not have enough troops in Helmand to defeat the Taliban in the districts for which it is responsible, the American commander in the region claims
By Damien McElroy in Lashkar Gah
Brig Gen Larry Nicholson questioned Britain's tactics, saying its forces had not matched the success of his troops in recent months.
He will soon have 20,000 US marines under his command in Helmand while British troops now number 9,500 regular soldiers plus hundreds of special forces.
The US force has claimed dramatic progress recently but the high levels of attacks against British forces, particularly with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), has dismayed US commanders.
Brig Gen Nicholson said his men's success was based on high troop numbers, which the British could not match.
"Part of it may be that the British have sent troops into areas that are more heavily populated, as well as the fact that troop density is higher in our area," he said.
The US marine-led Task Force Leatherneck covers more than half of Helmand and works alongside the British-led Nato Task Force Helmand, which is concentrated in the largest towns in the eastern half of the province.
American war doctrine in Afghanistan identifies troop density – the number of soldiers for every 1,000 civilians – as the key to success.
....
IEDs caused three quarters of the 108 British deaths in Helmand last year.
....
British commanders claim that order has been imposed on all the main towns in eastern Helmand, but significant pockets of Taliban resistance remain. Soldiers report that patrols encounter "heavy contact" fire every time they leave the front line bases.
....
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, has said Britain will be forced to hand over some responsibility to the Americans in Helmand.
He said: "There will have to be some realignment to reflect the fact that Britain, with one third of the troops, cannot be responsible for two thirds of the population."
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 16.
-
White House Out-Herods Pentagon On Afghan War Escalation
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 7:48 pm (PST)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/world/09military.html
New York Times
January 8, 2010
White House Aides Said to Chafe at Slow Pace of Afghan Surge
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON — Senior White House advisers are frustrated by what they say is the Pentagon's slow pace in deploying 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and its inability to live up to an initial promise to have all of the forces in the country by next summer, senior administration officials said Friday.
Tensions over the deployment schedule have been growing in recent weeks between senior White House officials — among them Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser, and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff — and top commanders, including Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the senior commander in Afghanistan.
A rapid deployment is central to President Obama's strategy....Administration officials said that part of the White House frustration stemmed from the view that the longer the American military presence in Afghanistan continued, the more of a political liability it would become for Mr. Obama. But beyond the politics, the speeded up deployment — which Mr. Obama paired with a promise to begin troop withdrawals by July 2011 — is part of Mr. Obama's so-called "bell curve" Afghanistan strategy, whereby American troops would increase their force in Afghanistan and step up attacks meant to quickly take out insurgents.
One administration official said that the White House believed that top Pentagon and military officials misled them by promising to deploy the 30,000 additional troops by the summer. General McChrystal and some of his top aides have privately expressed anger at that accusation, saying that they are being held responsible for a pace of deployments they never thought was realistic, the official said.
The officials declined to be identified because they were discussing internal administration disagreements.
Other White House officials said to be frustrated by the deployment pace include Thomas E. Donilon, the deputy national security adviser, and Denis R. McDonough, the national security chief of staff. "Gates and Mullen made a clear statement that this would be achieved by summer's end," a senior administration official said, referring to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
....
On Dec. 1, when President Obama announced the deployment of the 30,000 additional troops, a senior administration official told reporters that the forces were part of a short-term, high-intensity effort to regain the initiative from the Taliban and that they would all be in place by May. Within days, White House and Pentagon officials had amended that to say that the bulk of the forces would be in place by the summer, but that it would take a few months after that to get all the troops in place.
Last month in Kabul, Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, the deputy commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, did not back away from that schedule, but he told reporters of the difficulties he faced even in getting all the forces in by fall. He said that bad weather, limited capacity to send supplies by air and attacks on ground convoys carrying equipment for troops from Pakistan and other countries presented substantial hurdles.
"There's a lot of risks in here, but we're going to try to get them in as fast as we can," he said at the time. "There's a lot of things that have to line up perfectly."
On a visit to Afghanistan last month, Admiral Mullen pressed military logisticians on how they would be able to meet the schedule. But even Admiral Mullen, who said he was "reasonably confident" that the logistics would work out, acknowledged the tall order before the military, saying, "I want a plan B because life doesn't always work out."
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said Friday that the military was moving as rapidly as it could and that reports of tension with the White House amounted to a "fabricated and contrived controversy." Mr. Morrell said that "the preponderance of the forces will be there by the middle of the summer and we are moving heaven and earth to get all of them there by the end of the summer." He added that the Pentagon anticipated "that 92 percent of them will be there by the end of August and we hope to even improve upon that."
But military officials acknowledged that they were taken aback by the president's initial insistence that the troops be in place within six months. Last fall, military officials repeatedly said that it would take as long as a year to 18 months for all the troops to be in place.
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 17.
-
Report: Huge Blast On Georgia-South Ossetia Border
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 7:52 pm (PST)
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-01-08/georgia-south-ossetia-blast.html
Russia Today
January 8, 2009
Blast hits Georgian–South Ossetian border
There has been a powerful blast on the Georgian side of the border with South Ossetia, according to reports coming in from Russia's Interfax news agency.
"Today at 5:55 p.m., there was a strong explosion near the Georgian village of Mereti," South Ossetian Deputy Defense Minister Ibraghim Gasseev was quoted by the agency as saying.
As yet there is no information on any casualties. South Ossetian officials claim the explosion might be a provocation by the Georgian military.
So far there has been no comment from Georgia about the blast.
The area is being monitored by a European Union peacekeeping mission, following Georgia's attack on South Ossetia in 2008.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
Blog site:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
or
stopnato-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Daily digest option available.
==============================
- 18.
-
Jordan To Increase Operations In Afghan War
Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff
Fri Jan 8, 2010 7:56 pm (PST)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jxdecpdFKx2ybesFIO9GEDC5QD6A
Agence France-Presse
January 8, 2010
Jordan acknowledges counter-terror role in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON: Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Friday openly acknowledged that Jordan had a counter-terrorism role in Afghanistan and planned to enhance operations there.
Jordan's presence in Afghanistan was thrown wide open when a suicide bomber blew himself up last week at a US base in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family.
"Our presence in Afghanistan today is twofold," Judeh told reporters during a press briefing with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
....
"And I would like to say that our presence in Afghanistan will be enhanced and increased in the coming phase. This is something that is ongoing. Jordan was one of the first countries there," he said.
....
After the
[Message clipped]
0 comments:
Post a Comment