INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN

AUGUST 2006 UPDATE

Index on Afghanistan first published 26.05.05... and the US_ATO

by Sarah Meyer Index Research

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Panjshir Valley,Afghanistan. Photo Ann Jones

The number of new articles added are marked by an asterix * in the index.

1. Map of Afghanistan
2. Project for the New American Century (PNAC) documents
3. Oil and Gas in Afghanistan
4. Strategic Imperatives
5. US Bases in Afghanistan : Articles
6. NATO
7. Bases, FOBs, PRTs in Afghanistan
8. Corporate Investment in Afghanistan
9. “Aid” in Afghanistan
10. Military Contracts
11. Opium
12. Human Rights in Afghanistan
13. Some of The Dead in Afghanistan
14. The Dying and Future Dead : Depleted Uranium
15. Questions Pending
16. References
17. Biographies

This source document dates up to 09.06. Index on Afghanistan will be updated monthly - you can find these articles in the sidebar of Index Research. The present September '06 update is at Index On Afghanistan : September 2006.html

Also please see Afghanistan: NATO is now US-ATO

1. AFGHANISTAN

National Geographic map of Afghanistan
See also NATO map


2. PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY (PNAC)

3 June 1997. The Project for the American Century ‘Statement of Principles’ was published. “We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership.” Defense spending, hostile regimes, extending an international order and promoting the ‘cause of political and economic freedom abroad’ are the aims.

This PNAC document was signed by 25 people: Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz, Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman , Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen, Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel and Paul Wolfowitz
Read the document

2000. Project for the New American Century's report, Rebuilding America's Defenses

PNAC: AFGHANISTAN

08.03.01. PNAC. R.M. Gerecht, Taking Sides in Afghanistan.

30.07.01. PNAC. A Cowering Superpower: extensive article about Bin Laden

17.09.01. PNAC. Gary Schmitt / Tom Donnelly, Weekly Standard. A war with purpose. “So the war is a struggle for power in the Persian Gulf. How can we win it? “ (Also covers Iraq).

24.10.01. PNAC. Bin Laden Beware: “To defeat bin Laden and his kind, we have to restore our awe, and the only way you acquire and retain such majesty in the Islamic Middle East is through the use of military power…. It also means that America must be prepared to inflict immense damage on any other terrorist organization or terrorist-supporting state, even if that means we have to scorch southern Lebanon or Revolutionary Guard dormitories and depot facilities in Tehran. We may have to commit the necessary resources and manpower to topple Saddam Hussein.” Rejection of European approach. Other letters referring to Afghanistan.
Read more

14.11.01. Robert Kagan. “there is a good chance to achieve a decisive victory before the end of the year. … Even if the Taliban does manage to reorganize itself, even partially, it would have a difficult time standing up to constant assault. … Finally, we must ensure that a campaign begun in response to an attack on America ends with American “boots on the ground.” Not only will that make it easier to root out the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies, but it will make it clear that we will do what is necessary to win in the larger war over the United States’ presence and role in the region.” On to Khandahar.


30.06.02. Robert Kagan, PNAC/Washington Post. Europeans Courting International Disaster. “American officials fear some independent-minded prosecutor, answerable to no one, might someday bring charges against an American for war crimes.” More.

25.03.04. PNAC, G. Schmitt. Addressing Terrorism before 9/11.


3. OIL AND GAS IN AFGHANISTAN: ARTICLES

13.01.01. Van Bergen, Truth Out. CENTGAS - THE AFGHAN OIL CONNECTION. “ Unocal was the "Development Manager" of the Centgas consortium. The purpose of Centgas was to build an 890-mile-long pipeline from Turkmenistan through Aghanistan to Pakistan. Centgas, or the Central Asia Gas and Pipeline Consortium, was a group formed in the mid-1990s which was made up of the government of Turkmenistan and six international companies: Delta Oil Company (Saudi Arabia), Indonesia Petroleum, ITOCHU Oil Exploration Co. (Japan), Hyandai Engineering & Construction Co. (South Korea), Crescent Group (Pakistan) and Gazprom (Russia). Unocal owned nearly half of the shares of Centgas.” Also *biography of Khalilzad.
Read more

23.10.01. Monbiot, America’s Pipe Dream, “The war against terrorism is also a struggle for oil and regional control.”
Read more

01.11.01. John Pilger, The Mirror, This War is a Fraud

03.01.02. P. Martin, CorpWatch. USA: Unocal Advisor Named Representative to Afghanistan Condoleeza Rice, Khalilzad and allegedly President Karzai were involved with UNICAL. UNICAL Advisor Named Representative to Afghanistan. More

Wikipedia discussion on Hamid Karzai and Unocol.





Oil and Gas Pipelines in Central Asia (click image to enlarge)









Jan. 02. WorldPress.org. Pipeline Politics: Oil, the Taliban and the Political Balance of Central Asia. Also suggested articles, maps, further reading suggestions.

18.03.02. Salim Muwakkil , Chicago Tribune. Pipeline Politics taint U.S. War (extract)
Read more

22.03.02. Stephen J. Sniegoski, ICH. September 11 and The Origins of The “War on Terrorism.” 94 reference footnotes.

(20.05.02.) Unocal reiterates Afghanistan position at AGM. This article has been removed from the Unocal website.

01.10.02. Sheer, LA Times, The Sun Can’t Set On This Empire Too Soon. “With the end of the Cold War, we were at a loss for a noble rationale to justify our heavy Mideast presence. “
Read More

18.01.03. Robert Fisk, Independent. This looming war isn't about chemical warheads or human rights: it's about oil. “Along with the concern for ‘vital interests’ in The Gulf, this war was concocted 5 years ago by oil men such as Dick Cheney.” More

01.10.03. Robert Fisk, ICH. Oil, War and Panic; Don’t Tell Me America Would Have invaded Iraq if its Chief Export Was Beetroot. More

13.03.04. Unocol Crimes Against Humanity. International Criminal Tribunal For Afghanistan at Tokyo. The People vs. George Walker Bush.

16.03.04. Al Jazeera. Oil Pipelines and the Occupation. (Is the Afghan Pipeline off the shelf on which it was put after 9/11?)
Read more

29.04.05. Alfred Mendes, Global Research, A Pipeline too Far! Oil and Oil Pipelines; Why the US Invaded Afghanistan. “Situated astride ancient invasion routes, Afghanistan has, over the centuries, paid a price for its vulnerability…” More

09.05.05. Michael T. Klare, Tomdispatch. The Intensifying Global Struggle for Energy. “From Washington to New Delhi, Caracas to Moscow and Beijing, national leaders and corporate executives are stepping up their efforts to gain control over major sources of oil and natural gas as the global struggle for energy intensifies.“ More

09.05.05. Dr. Elias Akleh, Part I, “Humanity is facing … the beginning of the biggest and the most severe global crisis in its history. This crisis will touch the lives of all nations and will change the course of their history.” The End of the Age of Oil, I.

18.05.05. Dr. Elias Akleh, Part 2, “The United States invaded Iraq – centrally located in the oil producing Middle Eastern region – to control the whole region. It invaded Afghanistan and scattered its military bases in the neighboring countries to guarantee control over oil and gas pipe lines from the Caspian Sea region to the shores of the Indian Ocean.” The End of the Age of Oil, II

21.05.05. Adam Porter. Michael Meacher, former UK environment minister: "It was about securing as much as possible of the remaining supplies of oil and also over the Caspian basin, which of course is Afghanistan." British lawmaker: Iraq War Was For Oil

30.06.05. Peter Dale Scott, Global Research. Al Qaeda, US Oil Companies and Central Asia, excerpt from forthcoming book The Road to 9/11. “What is slowly emerging from Al Qaeda activities in Central Asia in the 1990s is the extent to which they involved both American oil companies and the U.S. government.”

06.07.05. Steve Lohr, NY Times, US: The Big Tug of War Over Unocol

11.11.05. The International News. Trans-Afghan gas pipeline project likely in 2006.

16.11.05. Milbank / Blum, Washington Post. Document Says Oil Chiefs Met with Cheney Task Force.

02.01.06. redorbit.com. Iran Elbows Afghanistan From Pipeline Project With Turkmenistan. “The US will be dismayed as its oil and gas company UNOCAL's efforts to pass gas pipeline from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan had been delayed because India and Pakistan have opted to sign an accord with Iran.” More

19.01.06. Krassimir Petrov, ICH. The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse.

14.03.06. AP Scientists Find Big Afghan Oil Resources

15.03.06. A. Kliment, Financial Times. Afghanistan’s untapped oil and gas underestimated

17.04.06. Ibrahimi/ Nasrat, ens newswire. The pipeline is slated to go through Farah, Kandahar, and Helmand. Afghanistan's New Pipeline Deal May Be Just Another Pipe Dream

02.05.06. Financial Express Afghanistan set to open oil and gas sector to bids

19.05.06. Rediff. India joins Afghanistan gas pipeline project

25.07.06. Eurasia Daily Monitor. R. McDermott, Eurasia Daily Monitor, Vol. 3, NO 143. The three-party meeting of the Tajik, Iranian, and Afghan presidents will see several agreements on cooperation in the areas of energy, transport, security, the fight against terrorism, and the illicit drug trade. IRAN BUILDS PARTNERSHIP WITH TAJIKISTAN

Video: C.J. Campell, Peak Oil – A Turning Point for Mankind


4. STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES

02.01.02. J. Ridgway, Village Voice. The French Connection. Paris Reporters Say Bush Threatened War Last Summer

28.01.02. S. Hersh, The New Yorker. The Getaway.

17.02.02. D. Farah, Washington Post. Secret Shipments Traced Through a Lax System In United Arab Emirates Al Qaeda's Road Paved With Gold

25.11.03. G. Monbiot, The Moral Myth. “A superpower does not have moral imperatives. It has strategic imperatives. Its purpose is not to sustain the lives of other people, but to sustain itself.” More.

18.12.03. The Memory Hole. US Military Personnel Wounded in Iraq & Afghanistan : A Running Log.

28.02.05. T. Niazi, China Brief, Jamestown Foundation. GWADAR: CHINA'S NAVAL OUTPOST ON THE INDIAN OCEAN

March 2005. The National Defense Strategy of the United States of America.

05.04.05. Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch. Drugs, Bases and Jails Tomgram: The Bush Administration's Afghan Spring

05.04.05. S Hersh, New Yorker, The Other War.

07.04.05. Michel Chossudovsky. Global Research, From Rogue States to Unstable Nations. Discussion of the March-released Pentagon document, The National Defense Strategy of the United States of America. More.

20.04.05. TomDispatch: Andrew Bacevich on the New American Militarism.

2005, June. Arms Trade Resource Center Annual Report. US Military Aid and Arms Transfers since September 11. ‘Perhaps no single policy is more at odds with President (George W.) Bush's pledge to 'end tyranny in our world' than the United States' role as the world's leading arms exporting nation.’
Report: U.S. WEAPONS AT WAR 2005
Afghanistan only: Report: U.S. WEAPONS AT WAR 2005

25.05.05. Carl Robichaud, Overstaying Our Welcome in Afghanistan?. Century Foundation. “Afghan President Hamid Karzai's request to President Bush this week for greater control over American troops in his country cuts to several central questions: what foreign presence is appropriate in Afghanistan? Who should run these foreign troops, and to whom should they remain accountable? Are they there to preserve Afghan security and fight terrorism, or for other purposes as well?”
Overstaying our Welcome in Afghanistan?

30.06.05. Stirling Newberry, Truth Out. “It was a Soviet politician who reminded his fellow politburo members that with each person's death and closing of the eyes, a unique world comes to an end. It might also be added that when a nation closes its eyes to the lessons of the past, it too sets itself on a course toward its own death, a journey to that country "from which no traveler returns." The December Decision

26.08.05. CRS Report for Congress (pdf). U.S. Military Operations in the Global War on Terrorism: Afghanistan, Africa, the Philippines, and Colombia.

THE LANGUAGE OF WAR: US military bases directory

"Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms," Joint Publication 1-02, amended 31 August 2005 [746 pages, 2 MB PDF file]

16.09.05. Kolhatkar / Ingalls, Foreign Policy in Focus. Giving Democracy a Bad Name. Afghanistan’s Parliamentary Elections.

17.09.05. ICH. Pentagon: Muslim Society Does Not Seek to be Liberated by US.

19.09.05. Their, Tom Paine, Afghanistan at Half Time. “Afghanistan Held Its Landmark Legislative Elections This Sunday”

20.09.05. Cooney, AP, ICH. Karzai Wants to End US-Led Operations. Karzai on Tuesday challenged the need for major foreign military operations in Afghanistan, saying air strikes are no longer effective. More

21.09.05. Robert Finn, Afghanistan Watch. On What’s Next for Afghanistan

25.09.05. Brian Bogart, Zmag. America Programmed for War.

29.09.05. Robert Fisk, The Independent (ICH). Finding Osama. “Bin Laden's story was as instructive as it was epic. When the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Saudi royal family - encouraged by the CIA - sought to provide the Afghans with an Arab legion, preferably led by a Saudi prince, who would lead a guerrilla force against the Russians.“ More

04.10.05. C. Wadhams, Centre for American Progress. Assesses progress, makes recommendations in security, governance, narcotics, and economic development, highlights some key issues which deserve consideration in the Bonn successor agreement, which will structure the international communities engagement for years to come. Afghanistan: Four Years After the Invasion. (PDF file)

08.10.05. M. Chossudovsky, Global Research, War Without Borders, Dick Cheney’s “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT). “Vice President Cheney in a recent speech to US military personnel has acknowledged that the war could go on for several decades. This statement, which reveals the Bush Administration's commitment to global warfare, was barely mentioned by the mainstream media.” More

24.10.05. Mike Whitney. Voting in Afghanistan: Warlords, Jihadis and Iranian Agents. “The Western media rarely explores the failures of the Afghanistan war. That’s unfortunate, because the conflict tells us a great deal about the suicidal direction of American foreign policy.” More

02.11.05. Sedra/Middlebrook, Foreign Policy in Focus. Revisioning the International Compact for Afghanistan.

04.11.05. R. Norton-Taylor, The Guardian. Britain Isolated Over Role in Afghanistan.

15.11.05. J. Huggler, The Independent (Common Dreams). Afghanistan: The War With No End.

23.11.05. A. North, BBC. Doubts grow over US Afghan strategy. “It is 4 years since the fall of the Taleban regime. The United States has spent billions of dollars on its operations in Afghanistan – but what does it have to show for it?” More

30.11.05. International Crisis Group Report; Asia report No 107. Rebuilding the Afghan State: The European Union’s Role.

09.12.05. Al Jazeera. US Troop Cut Likely in Afghanistan.

17.12.05. Francis Boyle, Global Research. Neo-Cons, Fundies, Feddies, and Con-Artists

19.12.05 G. Witte, Washington Post. A Parliament Opens with Questions Over Who Is in the Seats. "There was not a proper vetting process for the candidates," said Nader Nadery, who leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. "So a number of people with very bad human rights records have gotten into parliament … One of the first issues the new parliament may have to confront is whether such human rights abusers will be brought to justice.” More

20.12.05. F. Chipaux, Le Monde (Truth Out). A Moved President Karzai Inaugurates the Afghan Parliament.

20.12.05. Xinhuanet. UN peacekeeping troops to stay in Afghanistan for next five years

21.12.05. Bloomberg.com. (see 6, US Bases; Troop Movement) U.S. Will Withdraw 2,500 Soldiers From Afghanistan Next Year

21.12.05. M. Chussudovsky, Global Research. The Anglo-American War of Terror: An Overview.

22.12.05. Paul Rogers, Open Democracy. A new struggle for Afghanistan. A Taliban revival, drawing on exchanges of military expertise with Iraqi insurgents, promises to make 2006 a difficult year for the United States and its Nato allies in Afghanistan. More

23.12.05. C. Robichaud, Century Foundation. Afghanistan: A year of Peaks and Valleys.

28.12.05. R. Drayton, Guardian. Shock, awe and Hobbes have backfired on America's neocons

30.12.05. International Crisis Group Report; Asia report No 107. Rebuilding the Afghan State: The European Union’s Role.

31.12.05. Robert Fisk, Independent /ICH. War Without End.

06.01.06. S. Blumenthal, Open Democracy. Bush’s shadow government exposed.

07.01.06. AP Secret high-level contacts between Israel, Afghanistan in London

11.01.06. IRIN Report. AFGHANISTAN: Year in Review 2005 - Fragile progress, insecurity remains

17.01.06. Center for Defense Information. Increased Security Amidst a Mounting Insurgency: A close look at the Afghan security paradox.

19.01.06. Full Text of Bin Laden Tape

26.01.06. Paul Rogers, Open Democracy. The Next Afghan War

27.01.06. F. Chipaux, Le Monde / Truth Out. The Afghan Rebels and Their al-Qaeda Allies Slide from Insurrection to War of Terror

31.01.06. Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition from Turmoil to Normalcy. A framework for cooperation for next 5 years, following the Bonn Process (2005). The Afghanistan Compact

02.06 AP Administration set to seek $65 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan

03.02.06. Seattle Times. Outlook worsens in Afghanistan

08.02.06. Reuters. Education crisis in the south with 200 schools closed

17.02.06. D. Farah, Washington Post. Secret Shipments Traced Through a Lax System In United Arab Emirates. Al Qaeda's Road Paved With Gold

09.03.06. Christian Parenti, The Nation Afghanistan: The Other War

10.03.06. Pajhwak report. The article, Border with Afghanistan to be fenced, mined, no longer available. A later article on 2 May can be read here.

17.03.06. Security, and U.S. Policy, updated "Afghanistan: Post-War Governance

04.06. Council on Foreign Relations Report. “The United States should take the lead in ensuring full funding and implementation of the Afghanistan Compact.” Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition from Turmoil to Normalcy

07.04.06. Insurgency in the Provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Nangarhar. Senlis Council Report: Afghanistan Insurgency Assessment. (PDF file)

16.04.06. Boston Globe. “Overshadowed by Iraq, the war in Afghanistan has nearly faded from view. But violence there is on the rise, and things may be about to get bloodier.” The Other Insurgency

19.04.06. Progress Report. Violence, Drug Economy, Reconstruction, The Way Forward; with good links. Afghanistan: A Forgotten Nation on the Brink

20.04.06. newshounds. On Fox Rumsfeld Admits - Democracy Could Fail In Afghanistan, Too

03.05.06. G. Gedda, The Standard. Despite large-scale US support, a study shows that Iraq and Afghanistan rank among the world's most vulnerable states. Iraq, Afghanistan among `failing states'

10.05.06. Defense News. U.S. Forces in Afghanistan See More Iraq-like Attacks.

19.05.06. STRATFOR. The Other Theater of Operations

25.05.06. L. Zecchini, Le Monde. The "Iraqization" of Afghanistan Worries the French Army

25.05.06. Xihuanet. Militants set on fire US base-bound trucks in Afghanistan

25.05.06. Paul Rogers, Open Democracy. Afghanistan’s endemic war

26.05.06. Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times. The battle spreads in Afghanistan.

27.05.06. D. Walsh, B. Saidan, Guardian. This has been Afghanistan's bloodiest week for five years, and in the Pakistani city of Quetta, insurgents roam at will. Across the border from Britain's troops, Taliban rises again

30.05.06. PR Web. Osama Tape Appears Fake, Experts Conclude

30.05.06. A. Rashid, BBC. “Neither Nato, nor the American forces they are replacing, have offered an honest assessment of their successes and failures during the past five years. Here is a checklist of failures …” Afghanistan: Taleban's second coming

01.06.06. The State. No longer available. “A U.S. military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Karzai's brief address, which is likely to cause some friction between his U.S.-backed government and Washington amid growing disenchantment among Afghans over America's powerful presence in the country.” Karzai condemns gunfire by U.S. troops.

03.06.06. M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times. The day that changed Afghanistan.

06.06.06. Mike Whitney, uruknet. Afghanistan's Second Intifada.

06.06.06. Senlis Report. The Changing Nature of the Insurgency in Southern Afghanistan and Its Affects on the Future of the Country. Helmand at War. (PDF document)

13.06.06. AP/Yahoo. Big offensive planned in Afghanistan.

18.06.06. AFP/religion.boker. Big Offensive Planned in Afghanistan.

22.06.06. A. Rashid, NY Review of Books. Afghanistan on the Brink.

26.06.06. A. Rashid, Eurasianet. Afghanistan And Its Future.

27.06.06. VIDEO. K. Clark, More 4. SW Helmand district. 6 min. The Commander’s View.

29.06.06. Progress Report, Center for American Progress Action Fund. Return of the Taliban.

07.06. From recommended site, Secrecy News. “The global war on terror has cost the U.S. $437 billion since September 11, the Congressional Research Service estimated last month, including $319 billion for the war in Iraq. (The Pentagon claims the latter figure should be $210 billion.) The CRS cost estimate has been widely reported, but the underlying report has not been widely available to the public. Now it is: "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11" (pdf), updated June 14, 2006.

(Also now available, courtesy Secrecy News, 05.07.06)
01.08.04. Centre for Law and Military Operations. Vol. 1. Legal Lessons Learned From Afghanistan and Iraq, Major Combat Operations and

09.05. Centre for Law and Military Operations. Vol. 2. Legal Lessons Learned from Afghanistan and Iraq, Full Spectrum Operations.

05.07.06. S. Jenkins, Guardian. The dishonesty and stupidity behind this Afghan fiasco is beyond belief. See NATO, UK. A bad attack of Beau Geste syndrome at our expense.

06.07.06. E. Margolis, Lew Rockwell. “Until recently, millions of dollars in monthly cash bribes from CIA to Afghan warlords kept key areas under nominal authority of the U.S.-installed Karzai regime. The writ of this long-time CIA "asset" barely extends beyond the capitol, Kabul. Only Western bayonets keep him in office. Karzai’s popularity among Afghans is best judged by the fact that he is constantly surrounded by 100–200 U.S. bodyguards kept just out of range of western TV cameras.” The War in Afghanistan Is Only the Beginning.

06.07.06. William Bowles. Been there – done that.

08.07.06. B. MacIntyre. AustralianNews.com. The British never ceased to be baffled by Afghanistan, where their trained troops with expensive equipment struggled to contain shadowy insurgents behind rocks with cheap muskets. The Afghans have a grim, semi-secret weapon: a wounded history, in which Britain played a central part that Britain has all but forgotten, but they have not. History repeats in Afghanistan.

09.07.06. J. Chuckman, Countercurrents / uruknet. Afghanistan is No One’s War.

10.07.06. P. Preston, Guardian. Afghanistan has never been a 'successful' state, and we can't create a new civil society at gunpoint. An imploding dust bowl.

11.07.06. Rumsfeld / Karzai press conference.

11.07.06. Lenin’s Tomb. Afghanistan: another occupation going off the rails.

15.07.06. G. Dyer, Hamilton Spectator. Afghanistan: New players, old mistakes.

15.07.06. P. Vickers, BBC. (NB: BIZARRE!) Refuge from the real Afghanistan.

17.07.06. T. Coghlan, Independent / Buzz Flash. Fury As Karzai Plans Return of Taliban's Religious Police

25.07.06. W. Arkin, Washington Post. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) paid out $3.86 million to over 2,700 individuals in its "rewards program" last year (fiscal year 2005). Small Rewards in Afghanistan and Iraq

28.07.06. Zeenews. Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan set up trilateral panel.

30.07.06. MEDIA Mother Jones. Sherry Ricchiardi of the American Journalism Review notes that Afghanistan has now become "The Forgotten War" in the U.S. press, despite the fact that the Taliban is dangerously resurgent there and conditions are becoming worse and worse in the country. Media Dropping the Ball on Lebanon, Afghanistan.

01.08.06. R. Norton-Taylor, Guardian. British general takes command and promises ruthless strikes on Taliban.

04.08.06. conservativevoice. … the announcement did not mention if the troops were additional forces or will replace soldiers for recall. There are currently about 22,000 US troops stationed all-over Afghanistan. Gen. Pace: 11,000 Troops to be Sent to Afghanistan

05.08.06. hindu.com. UN concerned over attacks on schools in Afghanistan.

13.08.06. contra costa times. ANTI-AMERICAN sentiment, already on the rise here, has been further strengthened by the widespread perception that the United States has done little to halt the fighting and civilian deaths in Lebanon. Conflict in Lebanon reaches Afghanistan.

13.08.06. AP. Afghanistan Denies U.K. Terror Plot Link.

The US values the life of an Afghan at $5,606 each. They are offering $90,000 in compensation (16.08.06. AFP) to the victims of a May air attack which killed at least 16 civilians in southern Afghanistan.” By comparison, Hezbollah is handing out grants of $12,000 to families whose houses have been destroyed by Israel in the past month. Hezbollah has also arranged for the funerals of those killed by Israelis. The US tries to counter Hezbollah rebuilding efforts.

16.08.06. NDTV. In Qalat, Zabul, UN opens office in south Afghanistan.

16.08.06. T. Regan, CS Monitor. … reviews have found serious deficiencies 'across the board.' Pentagon studies examine 'mistakes' in Iraq, Afghanistan.

18.08.06. CBS. Air Terror Mastermind In Afghanistan?

19.08.06. Radio Free Europe. the Independence Day celebration comes with several thousand British soldiers stationed in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led foreign force helping the fledging Afghan Army and security forces regain control over the country. Afghanistan Celebrates 87 Years Of Independence. AFP reports that around 90 killed in a bloody Afghan weekend.

19.08.06. R. Fisk, Independent / ICH. The Iraq fiasco - and the growing débâcle in Afghanistan - has drained the will of NATO nations to commit troops to peacekeeping operations, certainly for missions which may involve confrontations and violence with Muslims. No wonder the UN can't find volunteers.

20.08.06. S. Rayment, Telegraph. … up to 40 soldiers may have been injured … since the arrival in May of the 3,600 strong British task force. MoD accused of covering up casualty rates.

22.08.06. C. Gall, NY Times. Doubts about Karzai growing in Afghanistan.

22.08.06. CBS. 2,500 Marines Face Involuntary Recall.

25.08.06. Editorial, The Herald. Transparency appears to emerge as an early casualty of the Afghan deployment. Casualties in Afghanistan.


5. US BASES, AFGHANISTAN: ARTICLES

This section refers to the US in Afghanistan prior to NATO involvement.

16.03.05. Ramtanu Maitra, Asia Times. US scatters bases to control Eurasia. “The United States is beefing up its military presence in Afghanistan, at the same time encircling Iran. Washington will set up nine new bases in Afghanistan in the provinces of Helmand, Herat, Nimrouz, Balkh, Khost and Paktia.” More

16.03.05. Voice of America. M. Kitchen reported General Myers as saying that he will soon make a recommendation to President Bush about building permanent US bases in Afghanistan. A transcript is available on the website. US Considering Permanent Bases in Afghanistan, General Says.

30.03.05. Maitra, Asia Times: “Reports also make it clear that the decision to set up new US military bases was made during Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Kabul last December.” Asia Times Online

15.05.05. Peter Symonds, World Socialist Website. Rumsfeld pushes for permanent US bases in Afghanistan. “While American officials have repeatedly denied any ulterior motives for the US intervention in Afghanistan and declared that the US military presence was temporary, the Pentagon’s ambitions for military bases immediately adjacent to the strategic resource-rich regions of Central Asia and the Middle East have been transparent.“
More

25.05.05. R. Cornwall, Independent. Bush Rules Out Afghan Command Over US Troops.

17.09.05. B. Graham, Washington Post, Informative article. Plans call for expanded ramps for fighter jets and helicopters, multiple ammunition storage bunkers and a six-story control tower, for a total bill exceeding $96 million. … All in all, the U.S. military has more than $1.2 billion in projects either underway or planned in the Central Command region -- an expansion plan that U.S. commanders say is necessary both to sustain operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and to provide for a long-term presence in the area. … U.S. combat operations may be required "for quite a while.”Afghan Commitments Fuel New Base Construction.

18.09.05. Schmidt, New York Times, The improvements at Bagram and Balad have drawn extra attention because they are the air hubs for the American military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The improvements at Bagram are also to accommodate NATO and its air missions as the alliance gradually takes over security duties in the country. Pentagon Construction Boom Beefs Up Mideast Air Bases.

28.12.05. C Uco, WSWS. Martin Jara Hichard, the Peruvian mercenary who died in Kabul, signed a contract with the US firm MVM Inc. Peruvians are recruited for Afghanistan by 3D Global Solutions, another American firm. Wackenhut del Peru represents 3D Global Solutions in Peru and is responsible for the security of the US Embassy in Lima. Latin American mercenaries guarding Baghdad’s Green Zone.


6. NATO IN AFGHANISTAN



Nato Map (click here for larger version)

GENERAL

21.2.05 Nato 3 stages of NATO deployment with map. Nato in Afghanistan Factsheet.

13.09.05. David Cloud, NYT. Europeans Oppose US Plan for NATO in Afghanistan.

06.10.05. Al Jazeera. More Nato troops for Afghanistan.

29.11.05. A Mustafa, Asharq Alawsat. “With NATO about to expand its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, its Secretary General revealed that troops will be independent from existing US forces and would respect human rights.” More

19.12.05. Ahmed Rashid, BBC. NATO’s Afghanistan Troop Dilemma. “Nato's very public announcement on 8 December that it will send an additional 6,000 troops to Taleban-infested southern Afghanistan next spring and Washington's more cryptic remarks that it wants to withdraw 4,000 troops from the same region at the same time are being read very differently by all those affected.” More

23.12.05. AP. Bucharest Daily News. SEDM to send peacekeeping brigade to Afghanistan. “Defense ministers from 11 southeastern European nations and the United States formally agreed to deploy a 400-member brigade in peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan for six months. During their daylong meeting on Tuesday, the ministers also welcomed Ukraine into the Southeastern European Defense Ministerial process and decided to upgrade the participation of Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina from guest to observer status as soon as possible.” More

30.12.05. AP. NATO will take fight into southern Afghanistan, says U.S. commander

05.01.06. S. Meyer, Index research. Afghanistan: the NATO Quagmire.

06.01.06. A. Rashid, Eurasianet. AFGHAN OFFICIALS CONCERNED ABOUT PENDING US TROOP PULLOUT.

26.01.06. Reuters. NATO says might need more time for Afghan expansion

08.02.06. Xihuanet. “The United States has been pushing the NATO allies to increase their defense spending and to modernize their forces so they can join the U.S. military in more security and counterterrorism missions beyond NATO borders.” Pentagon chief to meet NATO, Russian counterparts

09.02.06. A. Pessin, VOA. Rumsfeld Says NATO Expansion in Afghanistan Does Not Mean US Withdrawal

14.02.06. Pak Tribune. ISAF is building new facilities to the north of the main runway. ISAF prepares to leave base at Kabul airport

19.02.06.Two google “Afghanistan / NATO” headlines, one following the next: Suicide Attacks on NATO Escalating in Afghanistan ; `Afghan people want us here'

19.02.06. P. Watson, Baltimore Sun. Suicide bombings appear linked to NATO deployment. This article has been deleted from media webpage.

19.02.06. “As NATO troops replace U.S. forces on southern Afghanistan's battlefields, insurgents are waging a suicide bombing campaign that appears aimed at shaking the alliance's public support in Europe and Canada. Four years after the Taliban regime was toppled, the test of wills threatens to set back the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan, American and Afghan analysts say. Suicide bombings were rare in Afghanistan until last fall, when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began debating a move into southern Afghanistan.” From LA Times, Suicide Attacks on NATO Escalating in Afghanistan – now deleted. This article appeared on the same day as another article, “Afghan people want us here – now also deleted.

06.03.06. Relief Web NATO will complete Afghan expansion by November, absorbing US troops: general

07.03.06. G. Kolko, antiwar.com American Foreign Policy and the Future of NATO

13.03.06. Forbes. "It has always been a contentious issue. Americans don't like to be under command of other nations." U.S. to Hand Over Afghan Mission to NATO

03.04.06. AFP/Defense News. No set date for NATO's command of coalition in Afghanistan: US

25.04.06. shaan.typepad. NATO warns member countries to prepare for more casualties in Afghanistan

10.05.06. All Headline News. U.S. Says "NATO Will Assume Responsibility For All Of Afghanistan"

24.05.06. P. Koring, Globe and Mail. Bulk of combat left to American troops. New NATO role leaves U.S. force largely in charge. Story now deleted.

29.05.06. M. Sieff, UPI. … “the growth of NATO, far from energizing the alliance, has actually dramatically weakened it in practical military, operational terms.” Analysis: NATO lacks muscle to help US can now only be found here.

29.05.06. Weekly Afghanistan Report, Radio Free Afghanistan. “A lack of understanding of Afghanistan as a country and the dangers looming within and across its borders complicates NATO's assessment of its enemy. To date, NATO has been either unable or unwilling to define the enemy or characterize the alliance's mission.” NATO SIZES UP TASK IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN.

30.05.06. A. Rashid, Telegraph. “The last thing Tony Blair and President George W. Bush need, at a moment of multiple crises for both of them, is a revamped Taliban taking control of southern Afghanistan - but that is now not impossible to imagine.” Afghanistan poses the real threat

04.06.06. D. Cooney, AP/Washington Post. NATO to Double Troops in Afghanistan.

06.06.06. P. Ames, AP/ The State/Pak Tribune. U.S. Offers to Command NATO in Afghanistan.

08.06.06. D. A. Denny, Usinfo.state.gov. But NATO's de Hoop Scheffer says more rebuilding, development resources needed. Rumsfeld Confident NATO Will Be Succesful in Afghanistan.

09.06.06.AP, New Anatolian. (NATO) approved new guidelines for military planners designed to prepare the alliance to deploy up to eight missions at once worldwide. “This will bring force planning into line with the realities of the 21st century, NATO spokesperson James Appathurai told reporters.” Nato agrees on revamp of military planning.

10.06.06.Carlotta Gall, NY Times. News from Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul and Helmand provinces, including. nos. of civilians killed. Taliban surging in Afghan shift from U.S. to NATO.

23.06.06. zaman. ‘NATO will be in Afghanistan for the Next 15 Years.’

14.07.06. BBC. Guantanamo general to head NATO.

14.07.06. M. Sieff, nucnews. The United States handed over primary responsibility for peacekeeping in Afghanistan to NATO. It seemed like a good idea at the time. However, now the policy has fallen apart and presented the alliance with its greatest crisis in a quarter-century. Analysis: NATO’s crisis in Afghanistan.

17.07.06. R. Schubert, ISN. It would be better to label the US “handover” of operations in Afghanistan to NATO as an “expansion,” as the notion of a handover places Afghanistan at the edge of a familiar, bloody abyss. The stark reality of NATO in Afghanistan.

21.07.06. R. Norton-Taylor, Guardian. Lt. Gen. Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, describes “the ‘poorly regulated private security companies" as unethical and "all too ready to discharge firearms’. Nato forces in Afghanistan were short of equipment, notably aircraft, but also of medical evacuation systems and life-saving equipment.” Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns General.

24.07.06. Reuters. No longer available. FACTBOX – Timeline for NATO operations in Afghanistan.

26.07.06. V. Crawley, USInfo.stategov. Plan would let allies buy fractional shares of Boeing transport planes. “We have an initiative on the table to collectively buy four C-17s,” Victoria Nuland, U.S. ambassador to NATO, said in a recent interview with the Washington File in Brussels, Belgium. (Nuland is wife of PNACer Robert Kagan). U.S. Suggests NATO Allies Could Pool Money To Buy C-17 Aircraft.

27.07.06. E. Pan, Council on Foreign Relations. The U.S. military operation, known as Operation Mountain Thrust, is laying the groundwork for the handover to NATO. But the latest battles shed doubts on the defense alliance's ability to control the region after the Americans leave. NATO takes on Afghan Security.

27.07.06. A. Gizabi, Jamestown.org. The changing of the guard could not take place at a more inopportune time. The war in southern Afghanistan is intensifying, residents are growing more demoralized, and the central government is rapidly losing popular respect … Operational mistakes also are to blame for some of the resentment felt against the coalition forces… The Afghans also raise the issue of misplaced trust … NATO Secretary General Jan de Hoop Scheffer talks in unsure terms about the situation in Afghanistan, saying: “I hope, and you hear some doubts in my voice indeed, that the commitment will be as strong and as long-lasting as the Afghan compact that we all agreed in London at the beginning of this year” UNCERTAINTY ON EVE OF NATO HANDOVER IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN.

28.07.06. M. Pennington, Army Times. The credibility of the 26-nation Western military alliance, established in 1949 to deter the Soviet bloc, is also at stake. NATO faces daunting task in Afghanistan.

28.07.06. J. Dempsey, Boston Globe. General James Jones, the NATO military commander, said yesterday that if the alliance is asked to play a peacekeeping role in Lebanon, it would be up to the job, despite its commitment to relieve US-led forces in Afghanistan. NATO head says forces up to task.

28.07.06. Radio Free Europe. “NATO spokesman James Appathurai says the U.S.-led coalition forces will continue combat missions in southern Afghanistan even after NATO takes over command in that area around the end of this month.” Afghanistan: NATO Prepares To Go Beyond Peacekeeping.

31.07.06. Ahmed Rashid, Telegraph. Lt Gen David Richards … assumes control of a merged Nato and US force that will grow from 9,000 to 18,000.British general takes command of US troops.

22.08.06. CRS Report for Congress. "NATO in Afghanistan: A Test of the Transatlantic Alliance" (PDF file)

24.08.06. Pajhwak. The NATO forces will take over training programme of Afghan army and police from the US-led coalition forces in the next five months. NATO to train police, army.

30.08.06. Financial Times. Britain’s Nato allies (Germany and Netherlands) are balking at providing reinforcements for UK troops deployed as peacekeepers in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province because of the intensity of the fighting in the lawless region. Allies balk at more troops for Afghanistan.

The following (undated, ergo unreliable) information is from http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1114069022322
UK in NATO. “NATO is now responsible for a total of thirteen Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan. Four of these are in the north: in Mazar-e Sharif (established by the UK, now led by Sweden), Meymana (established by the UK, now led by Norway), Kunduz, Feyzabad (both led by Germany) and Pol-e-Khomri (led by the Netherlands); four in the west: Qal’eh-ye now (led by Spain), Herat (led by Italy), Chaghcharan (led by Lithuania) and Farah (led by the US), and in the south of Afghanistan in Kandahar (led by Canada), Lashkar Gah, Helmand province (led by the UK), Tarin Kwot, Uruzgan province (led by the Netherlands) and Qalat, Zabul province (led by the US). Australia, Denmark, Estonia and Romania are also deploying soldiers in the south.”


TROOP MOVEMENT

Albania
21.02.06. Xihuanet. No longer available. Albania sends 22 troops to Afghanistan.

Australia.
03.01.06. Kerin / Smith, Newscom. No longer available. Afghanistan deployment in doubt.

10.01.06. Labor backs increasing Afghanistan troop numbers. “Speaking after a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said no final decision has been made on whether to send an Australian military reconstruction team to Afghanistan. One of the plans that we're looking at is Australia participating with The Netherlands in a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan," he said. “One of the plans that we're looking at is Australia participating with The Netherlands in a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan," he said.

20.02.06. Reuters/Wikipedia. Australia to send 200 more troops to Afghanistan

23.07.06. Bloomberg. Australia May Send Extra Troops to Afghanistan, Nelson Says.

25.07.06. J. Taylor, The World Today. But one security adviser working in the region has told The World Today that he believes the troops will be too busy ensuring their own safety to help with reconstruction. Australian troops headed to dangerous Uruzgan province in Afghanistan.

28.07.06. J. Taylor, ABC Newsonline. At the end of July NATO takes command of foreign troops, including the Australian troops, in the southern provinces. "It's a known fact the NATO troops do not have the same capability the American and coalition troops have at the moment." Troops face increasing danger in Afghanistan.

09.08.06. AFP / Yahoo/English People. 150 more for Uruzgan. Australia to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Video report. Tonight (25.05.06), fresh from the Afghan capital, Kabul, insurgent video footage that shows both the Taliban and al-Qa'ida have been recruiting for another battle, one that could well be against Australian troops. Endless Jihad

Bulgaria
16.07.06. OnLineNews. Bulgaria’s Kabul airport unit ready.

28.08.06. Sofia News Agency. 200 more troops for Afghanistan in 2008. Bulgaria boosts troops in Afghanistan.

Canada
29.11.05. CBS. Camp Julian closes in Afghanistan. The base near Kabul was ceremonially transferred to the local government as the last remaining Canadians prepared to join the bulk of the force at a new base near Kandahar. Includes Indepth Canada’s Military.

21.12.05. B. Campion-Smith, Toronto Star. Allies balk at Afghan mission. “As British and Dutch stall, fears grow that Canadians will be left holding the fort.” No longer available.

30.12.05. AP, CTV. Canadians to take leading role in Afghanistan

16.01.06. S.Thorne, Yahoo. Canadians role in Afghanistan about to change as threats rise. No longer available.

18.01.06. S. Thorne, Cnews. Shortage of military doctors in Afghanistan critical and getting worse Canada's military has a 35 per cent shortfall in deployable doctors and the problem is growing. No longer available.

21.01.06. Xihuanet. Canada deploys more soldiers in Afghanistan.

26.01.06. den Tandt, Globe and Mail. Outside the Canadian camp, danger at every turn.

09.04.06. H. Siddiqui. A misguided mission that is destined to fail.

24.04.06. Bracewell. Canadians Afghan troops using contractor's dogs for searching Mosques and for intimate body searching of people

25.04.06. The Star Coverage of fallen soldiers banned

26.04.06. M. Nenonen, The Republic. Canada’s real role in Afghanistan

18.05.06. D. Struck, Washington Post. Female Captain Is Country's 17th Death There. Canada Votes to Extend Mission in Afghanistan

19.05.06. Canada.com Canada has spent more than $4.1 billion on Afghan missions since 2001, group says

04.06.06. Angus Reid Most Canadians Now Oppose Afghan Mission.

07.06.06. Golden BC Canada. Canada to spend $3.5-billion on Afghan effort.

16.06.06.Pak Tribune. Canada to take command of NATO force in Afghanistan.

21.07.06. E. Baron, CanWest. In recent weeks, Canadian troops have moved beyond their operating area in Kandahar province to assist British and U.S. forces here in Helmand province. Taliban ambush Canadian troops on patrol in southern Afghanistan.

28.07.06. Toronto Star. Editorial: Canada’s complex Afghan mission.

06.08.06. angus-reid. Support for Afghanistan Role Drops in Canada.

24.08.06. Canada.com Rising casualty rates, a seemingly resurgent Taliban and the tragic shooting death of a 10-year-old are pushing Afghanistan into the midst of Canadian politics. Afghanistan will be key in Canadian politics when Parliament resumes.

25.08.06. C. Clark, Globe and Mail. Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy is calling for Canada to insist NATO drastically change its strategy in Afghanistan to a major economic reconstruction program or pull out its troops. Kennedy wants NATO role reprised.

30.08.06. Clinton News Record. … “Prime Minister Stephen Harper's ongoing refusal to open up the issue of Canada's role in Afghanistan to proper debate in the House of Commons. … Recent media reports reveal the Prime Minister's Office has received thousands of letters from ordinary Canadians, pleading for an end to Canada's involvement in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan mission must be questioned.

Czech Republic
12.01.06. Afghan News. Czech Cabinet approves sending special force unit to Afghanistan.

01.06.06. Pak Tribune. Czech anti-terrorism unit starts operating in Afghanistan.

Denmark
29.11.05. China View, Xinhuanet. Denmark to increase troops in Afghanistan

17.01.06. Denmark to send more troops to Afghanistan

23.06.06. Reuters. Denmark has 41 soldiers in Feyzabad functioning as military observers in the German-led provincial reconstruction team. Afghan bomb hits Danish army commander's convoy.

France
07.11.05. Radio Free Afghanistan. France Withdraws Jets From Afghanistan.

18.12.05. Reuters. France to boost troops in Afghanistan in 2006. France will send several hundred more troops to Afghanistan to reinforce security when NATO expands operations in the country next year ... International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)… plans to boost its strength from around 9,000 troops now to about 15,000 next year, and extend its presence into the troubled south … France would alternate command in Kabul with Turkey and probably Italy...Britain is due to take command of ISAF next year and to deploy troops in the south alongside Canadian and Dutch forces. More

Germany
30.09.05. Strategy Page. More German Troops for Afghanistan.

23.12.05. Kashar World News. Germany to deploy troops in Northern Afghanistan.

27.05.06. Indiaenews. Camp Marmal being built for German NATO troops in Mazar-I-Sharif. Germany takes over ISAF command in Afghanistan June 1

01.06.06. DW-World. “Currently 2,850 German soldiers are part of the NATO-led ISAF mission. By the end of the year, 1,700 of them will be stationed in Mazar-i-Sharif.” German Peacekeepers Assume Command in Afghanistan

15.06.06. Reuters. Germany will not join Afghan offensive.

20.07.06. Reuters.German troops to stay in Afghanistan until peace restored.

Ireland
27.07.06. Irish Examiner. Sixty Royal Irish Regiment soldiers are being sent to (Helmand) Afghanistan as part of military reinforcements. More RIR soldiers bound for Afghanistan.

Italy
"It looks like" Bondi observes - "the position of the government in relation to our presence in Afghanistan, in order to satisfy extreme left as well, will be elastic and deceitful. Unfortunately, our Talleyrand still hasn't understood that in foreign politics coherence, seriousness and reliability are indispensable qualities".

02.06.06. Pak Tribune. “Italian forces had commanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 10,000- strong security forces in Afghanistan until early this month, when the U.K. took charge in a routine leadership handover…Italy has 1,356 soldiers in Kabul and Herat.” Italy To Keep Troops In Afghanistan, Expand Role – Report

11.06.06. Daily Times. NATO asks Italy for more troops for Afghanistan.

16.06.06. Italy on Line. PARISI: NO ITALIAN TROOPS IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN

27.06.06. AP. Italy to withdraw 400 Afghan troops.

30.06.06. P. Stewart, VOA. Italy agrees to keep troops in Afghanistan.

08.07.06. AGI online. "We asked the minister to put an end to our presence in Afghanistan also because it is no longer a multilateral intervention, but a mission which is being managed under the direct supervision of the Pentagon." LEFT-WING OF UNION CONSIDERS WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN.

13.07.06. Tariq Ali, Socialist Worker. “There is simply no excuse for the Nato presence in Afghanistan except that of pleasing Washington.” Open letter from Tariq Ali to Fausto Bertinotti on Italian troops in Afghanistan/a>.

15.07.06. Socialist worker. Italian left vote on Afghanistan troops.

28.07.06. Bloomberg. Prodi Government Survives Confidence Votes On Afghanistan Role.

Latvia
10.01.06. Daily Times. Latvian soldiers to join Afghan mission

Macedonia
13.06.06. Focus-fen. The company which consists of 90 militaries will be part of the British contingent in Afghanistan. Macedonia Sends Military Contingent to Afghanistan.

Netherlands
08.11.05. Pak Tribune. Afghanistan is Netherlands’ most disastrous oversees mission.

20.11.05. M. Smith, Sunday Times. Afghan posting ‘too dangerous’ for Dutch army. “Britain could be forced to increase the number of troops it sends to Afghanistan next spring because Dutch MPs think it is “too dangerous” to deploy their own soldiers there.” More

19.12.05. Agence France. Netherlands Puts Off Decision on Afghanistan Deployment.

09.01.06. e-ariana. Bremer warns Dutch to back Afghan mission.

10.01.06. adnkronosint. Afghanistan: NATO Appeal For Dutch To Dispatch Troops.

16.01.06. V. Serchuk, Weekly Standard. Dutch Retreat?
The current mess is a predictable consequence of the Pentagon's determination to have NATO assume more responsibility in Afghanistan and as fast as possible. And it's a portent of even bigger problems to come. More

17.01.06. S. Castle, Independent. Why an expansion of NATO’s role has divided the Dutch.

18.01.06. Expatica. Dutch commander criticises US military in Afghanistan.

18.01.06. Radio Free Europe. Afghanistan: NATO's Dutch Dilemma -- A News Analysis

18.01.06. Afghanistan Watch. Dutch Parliament Wavers over deployment of 1,200 troops to Uruzgan.

30.01.06. Yahoo. UN, US pressure Netherlands to send troops to Afghanistan

03.02.06. M. Evans, Times. 1,400 Dutch to join British troops.

09.02.06. V. Serchuk, The Weekly Standard. Dutch Retreat. “The current mess is a predictable consequence of the Pentagon's determination to have NATO assume more responsibility in Afghanistan and as fast as possible. And it's a portent of even bigger problems to come.” The Perils of Turning Afghanistan over to NATO

19.04.06. expatica. Dutch rushing more troops to Afghanistan

30.06.06. nisnews. The Dutch diplomat Daan Everts, 65, is to lead the NATO political and diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. Dutchman Highest NATO Diplomat in Afghanistan

08.06. Ambassador Daan Everts of the Netherlands will be the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan.

New Zealand
22.11.05. NewstalkZB. NZ pulls out of Afghanistan.

30.11.05 Newstalk ZB. New Zealand service personnel to Afghanistan

10.04.06. Xihuanet. NZ extends military presence in Afghanistan

05.08.06. D. Fisher, nzherald. Most of the New Zealanders are based high in the Hindu Kush mountains, the awesome range which cuts Afghanistan in half. But 11 spend their six-month tour outside Kabul, at the Soviet-built, American-occupied Bagram Airfield. Clear and Present Danger for NZ troops in Afghanistan.

Poland
23.05.06. Xinhuanet. Poland to send 50 troops to Afghanistan

Romania
10.08.06. pajhwak. Presently 650 troops in Kabul, Kandahar, Zabul. Romania to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Serbia/Montenegro
18.01.06. Xinhuanet. Serbia-Montenegro to send peacekeepers to Sudan, Afghanistan

Spain
26.04.06. ISN. Spain to reinforce troops in Afghanistan

Sweden
29.11.05. Agence France. Sweden to Boost Peacekeeping Force in Afghanistan.

18.01.06 Reuters. Al Qaeda threatened Sweden over Afghanistan.
The threat came after parliament backed plans to boost the country’s contingent with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan. More

24.01.06. Aljazeera. Two Swedish troops were recently killed, and one wounded, by a roadside bomb attack in northern Afghanistan. It is unclear what the Swedes’ mission was. The Swedish High Command refused to disclose the soldiers’ names citing the sensitive nature of their mission. The news came as the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdagen, raised the level of the Swedish force in Afghanistan to replace the U.S. soldiers after they leave the country. The Swedish troops will be under the command of the U.S.-dominated NATO, despite the fact that Sweden is not a member of the Western military alliance…It is well-known that Washington launched the "War on Terror" and set the guidelines on how to fight it. But does the expanded Swedish military presence in Afghanistan mean that Sweden is now participating in this war? Washington doesn’t want other countries to take control in Iraq or Afghanistan

Turkey
20.02.06. Hurriyet. In Kabul, Turkey is to command two new military missions in Afghanistan.

UK
27.07.05. Simon Tisdale, Guardian. Britain may be left to hold the fort in Afghanistan.

30.09.05. Britain to Send More Troops to Afghanistan.

16.11.05. A. Rashid, The Telegraph. Questions the army must ask before going into Afghanistan.

16.11.05. S. Tisdall, Guardian. Troops await Afghanistan order.
Camp Bastion is not a familiar address, but that may change. Reportedly still under construction, it is in Helmand province, heart of south Afghanistan's bandit country. And it is to be "home" for up to 2,000 British troops deploying to the region next spring. More

02.12.05. S. Tisdale, Guardian. No Quick Afghan exit

29.12.05. M. Evans, Timesonline, British forces await go-ahead as Dutch politicians dither. “Britain’s plans to expand significantly its military presence in Afghanistan early next year are being disrupted by political indecision within Nato.” More

30.12.05. A North, BBC. UK troops face new Afghan challenge. “The American base on the edge of Lashkar Gar, the capital of Helmand province, is known as a 'provincial reconstruction team'. It will become the British headquarters.” More

04.01.06. S. Jenkins, Guardian. The extraordinary folly of Blair’s new opium war. “The decision to send thousands of troops to Afghanistan is the half-baked product of Tony Blair’s global machismo.” More

13.01.06. T. Ripley. Scotsman. Foreign fighters flood into Afghanistan ahead of deployment of 4,000 British troops in spring. More

17.01.06. Telegraph. British troops must stay in Iraq as NATO dithers.

18.01.06. R. Norton-Taylor, Guardian. British troops may face suicide bombers in Afghan deployment. “MPs were also angry that the MoD failed to give an assurance that detainees captured by British forces in Afghanistan would not end up in Guantánamo Bay or taken to secret interrogation centres… Mr Howard (MoD's director general responsible for operational policy), told the MPs he could not say whether suspects handed over by British forces to Afghan authorities would be passed to the US and end up in Guantánamo Bay or elsewhere in secret camps. "I find it a bit odd that you can't answer that question," said James Arbuthnot, chairman of the defence committee.”

18.01.06. BBC. UK troops must be ready to fight resurgent Taliban militants. US warns on UK Afghan troop role.

19.01.06. US warns: British troops could face ‘tough time’ in Afganistan.

20.01.06. Scotsman. Front line fighters or peacekeepers?

21.01.06 M. Parris, The Times. An uplifting country, a worthy cause – but the mission will never work.

22.01.06. C. Freeman, Telegraph. Aid workers becoming ‘targets’ in Afghanistan, Blair Warned

23.01.06. ISN. Tony Blair committed to Afghanistan

27.01.06. R Norton-Taylor, Guardian. Britain to commit nearly 6000 troops to Afghanistan

12.02.06. S. Rayment, Telegraph. The Government's "disastrous" decision to go to "war" on two fronts has opened a rift between Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence Army rift with No 10 over Afghanistan troops 'fiasco'

28.03.06. Parliament Publications. The UK deployment to Helmand

07.04.06. Paktribune. MPs concerned about new UK deployment in Afghanistan

15.04.06. T. Ripley, The Scotsman. Senior British officers have told The Scotsman that plans for NATO expansion into eastern Afghanistan have been accelerated and the hand-over could now start as early as August. Army to take over Afghan front line

17.04.06. I Bruce, The Herald. Britain to double forces in Afghanistan

23.04.06. TMC. British troops to remain in Afghanistan for 3 + more years

25.04.06. K. Sengupta, The Independent. Colonel admits British may have aggressive role in Afghanistan

25.04.06. Guardian. Harrier jets to stay in Afghanistan

03.05.06. R. Norton Taylor, Guardian. Open Ended Operation?

11.05.06. Telegraph. British troops face suicide bomb campaign

19.05.06. T. Albone, The Times. Hunters may become the hunted in Taleban's venomous heartland

24.05.06. T. Luddin / T. Ablone, The Times. ‘Do not send your children here. We will kill them'

28.05.06. S. Rayment, Telegraph. “The impact of Army "overstretch" has emerged after the Government admitted that it is struggling to fight wars on two fronts … The revelation undermines the claim that Operation Herrick - the deployment of 3,300 troops in Afghanistan - would not affect troops in Iraq.” No planes to bring troops home from Iraq on time

06.06.06. Security and Development Policy Group. “Support from local population for Central government and international military presence has been lost… British troops being deployed to Southern Afghanistan this summer will need a dramatic change of strategy if a summer of civil war in Southern Afghanistan is to be avoided.” The tide has turned: Taliban have retaken control of southern Afghanistan.

28.06.06. R. Norton-Taylor, Guardian. “How many British troops are there in Afghanistan? Under whose command are they? What is their aim? How are they meant to achieve it? How long will they be there for?” FAQ. The mission.

02.07.06. J. Burke, Guardian. (no mention made of Afghan deaths, only UK deaths). Fear of UK backlash on Afghan war.

03.07.06. Yahoo. Britain sends reinforcements to Afghanistan.

05.07.06. Simon Jenkins, Guardian, asks 16 important questions,
including 1) How did the Americans induce NATO in 2004 to become H. Karzai’s mercenary army? 2) What intelligence did the cabinet receive from Washington? 3) Who created the peace-keeping convention of 36 national armies now in Kabul …? … Who prepared the Helmand mission and its rules of engagement? Read more.

06.07.06. D. Fickling, Guardian. Minister calls for urgent reinforcement in Afghanistan.

10.07.06.Reuters. Britain announced on Monday it will send 900 more troops and additional helicopters to southern Afghanistan. (= 4,500 troops) Britain sends reinforcements to Afghanistan.

12.07.06.Robert Fox, First Post. “what was supposed to be a limited commitment looks very much like yet another of Tony Blair's open-ended wars.” Britain stumbles into Afghan trap.

13.07.06. BBC. Extra UK troops arrive in Kabul.

17.07.06. I. Bruce, The Herald. Afghanistan helicopter use ‘rationed.’

Under spin headline, “British Troops in Afghanistan 'Winning' Against Taliban: Commander.”
The Telegraph (23.07.06.) tells a different story. British Troops to Withdraw From Afghan Outpost Following Taliban Attacks.

24.07.06.AFP/Yahoo.British troops in Afghanistan, Iraq get new armoured vehicles.

29.07.06. AFP. … a 600-strong battalion had been put on five days' notice to fly out if the situation in Helmand province deteriorates. It would be the second bolstering of British troop numbers in a month if the soldiers are sent to Afghanistan. Britain sending more troops to fight Taliban: Sunday Times.

05.08.06. 680news. British troops in Afghanistan exhausted, need replacement. Sunday Telegraph.

11.08.06. R Norton-Taylor, Guardian. Nato commander tells of
bloody Helmand battles. UK soldiers withdrawn from dangerous areas. The shadow defence secretary, Liam Fox, said Gen Richards's comments were further evidence that "our forces in Afghanistan are stretched and facing capability gaps. British troops in Afghanistan in most intense conflict in 50 years.

22.08.06. CRS Report for Congress. "NATO in Afghanistan: A Test of the Transatlantic Alliance"

28.08.06. N. Tweedie, Telegraph. A senior Army source claiming that stocks of weapons and components meant to last until April next year could be used up "well before Christmas." Troops use up ammo as war with Taliban claims 14th life.

29.08.06. M. Moriarty, Guardian. Moriarty, a former British army officer who has been working as a private security guard in Afghanistan, writes a hard-hitting warning. “Escalating commitments, budget squeezes and big equipment programmes have left Britain's forces fatally overstretched.” Soldiers are paying with their lives for this incompetence.

31.08.06. B. Whittaker, Guardian. "The difficulty was perhaps not communicated properly," a senior defence official told journalists. At the time, the government gave the impression that the 3,000 troops would mainly help Afghan authorities to extend their control and support development work. John Reid, then defence secretary, went so far as to say he hoped the British forces would leave "without firing a single shot". … More than 1,600 people - mostly militants and mainly in the south - have died in the past four months … A total of 21 British troops have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations in November 2001.” Peril British troops face in Afghanistan 'was underplayed.'

Ukraine
30.04.06. Pak Tribune Ukraine will join NATO Afghanistan operation

U.S.A.
14.01.06. NBC3. 6000 troops from Fort Drum, NY, to Afghanistan has begun.

Uzbekistan
02.12.05. Afghanistan Watch. Uzbekistan to NATO: No More Help on Afghanistan


7. BASES, FOBs, PRTs IN AFGHANISTAN

25.04.05. Michael T. Klare, The Nation. For enlightenment on Rumsfeld’s tongue twisting definition of US military language

Camps, FOBs, Airfields, “Provincial Reconstruction Teams” (PRTs). 2005 map (now outdated because of NATO developments). Afghanistan Facilities

KABUL, ISAF

A Visitors Perspective 2004

There is a Czech contingency in Kabul. Italian troops are also in Kabul.

Camp Eggars
A compound close to Karzai’s palace and US Embassy and across road from Qalaa House. PX, PO, medical unit.

Pul-e-Charkhi
Main detention centre (see 9. Human Rights). More. New US prison to be built near Kabul. (See 9. Human Rights Articles)

BAGRAM

CNN Map Bagram.
CNN 2002 Map Bagram and description

Baghram Air Base
Main airbase, 27 miles N of Kabul.
Airfield Fire Department operated by Kellogg Brown and Root. Details of repairs to Bagram Air Base (15.03.05).

13.04.06. MSNBC. “Among the photos of Americans are pictures of individuals who appear to have been tortured and killed, most too graphic to show. NBC News does not know who caused their injuries. The Pentagon would not comment on the photos.” Stolen military data for sale in Afghanistan

09.07.06. New hospital.

Camp Cunningham

Camp Albert

Camp Civilian
“Between the (Kellogg), Brown and Root contractors, media and other civilian employees, there were over 300 non-military personnel on Bagram by mid-2003…. their standard of living is a little higher than the standard that the military provides for service members, so other accommodations had to be made… In May 2003 the construction of Camp Civilian began.”

Camp Vance

05.08.06. D. Fisher, nzherald. … The main road, Disney Way, seems a bizarre importation of American culture but it is named for US Army Specialist Jason Disney, killed when heavy equipment fell on him at Bagram. Further on we pass Camp Vance … Everywhere on base, soldiers are armed. One in the dinner area carried a large M60 machinegun to his table. There are racks next to diners for M16 automatic rifles. The bizarre becomes surreal at the PX, a shopping area about 10 minutes' walk from the Kiwis. It's referred to as "the mall", and holds home comforts for the Americans, most of whom don't leave Bagram. It has a beauty and spa salon, offering massages and haircuts. A facial costs US$7 ($11), while a full leg, arm, chest and back treatment will set a soldier back US$38.75. There's Burger King, just across from the Green Beans Cafe, which carries commendations from US military units for its contribution for "the success of our combat mission". In a jewellery shop, three young American men ponder the silver, rifles slung over their shoulders.

Inside the supermarket, a Hawaiian-style shirt sports Apache gunships instead of palm trees. A magazine rack offers Handguns, Guns & Ammo, Guns of the Old West and Military History. A soldier jokes that they should have been prepared for culture shock in dealing with Americans, rather than Afghans. Private Thomsen says, "Most of the Americans in Bagram spend a year here without going outside the wire." Clear and present danger for NZ troops in Afghanistan.

Kandaksay.
09.08.06. New Base.

Camp Souter.

On 9 August, Leigh Reeves killed in traffic accident.Camp Vance


LAGHMAN, ISAF

Capital Mehter Lam.

FOB Lagman nr. Qalat. 200 km N. of Khandahar on Highway 1. Canadian forces worked here with US troops until they moved to Khandahar Air Field.

Fire Base Lagman

30.07.06. L. Shane III, Stars and Stripes. Southern Afghanistan will be crowded for a while.

PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION TEAM (PRT) QALAT

KONAR, ISAF

On Pakistan border. The capital of Konar province is Asadabad, which has been the scene of a ‘number of incidents’ since the US invasion of Afghanistan began.

Firebase set up in 2004.

Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Asadabad.

Forward Operating Base Asadabad.
“A 38-year-old North Carolina man was indicted for assaulting an Afghan detainee while working as a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency at a US military base in Asadabad, Afghanistan… Passaro was part of a clandestine paramilitary team of Special Forces and CIA personnel who capture and interrogated Taliban and al Qaeda members. Passaro was working at the Asadabad Base in June 2003, in support of US military personnel, when a local man, suspected of participating in rocket attacks against the base, surrendered himself at the front gate. The Afghan national, Abdul Wali, was placed under detention. Over the following two days, Passaro allegedly assaulted Wali with his hands and feet and with a large flashlight. Wali died in his detention cell the third day.”

Naray.

09.08.06. P. Garwood, AP. Sutton, 35, from Spokane, Wash., spoke to The Associated Press at the main U.S. base in the area, at Naray. Roadside Bomb kills 2 Afgan civilians.


Kamdesh

US base, about 20m north of Naray. Can only be reached by helicopter.

NANGARHAR, ISAF

One of main poppy growing provinces. Capital Jalalabad. Area was the Taliban stronghold.

Jalalabad Airfield

Jalalabad Provincial Reconstruction Team

LOWGAR, ISAF

S. of Kabul.

PAKTIA, ISAF

Maps.
Nat. Geographic

GARDEZ.
The $800 million ANA Program is currently constructing eight regional bases. The Afghan Army is graduating units from mobilization training at a rate of six battalions (about 4,000 Soldiers) per month. One such regional base is near the southeastern Afghanistan town of Gardez.

US Torture reported. (See Human Rights Abuse)

Gardez Provincial Reconstruction Team [PRT].

KHOST / KHOWST

Pakistan Border. 150 km S. of Kabul; 100 km from Gardez. 1,000m altitude.
2001 CNN MAP.
Nat. Geographic map

Torture reported here (see 9. Human Rights).

Khost Airfield,
Map.

Camp Salerno.
N. of Khost. “Some 500 Italian troops were based at the Salerno camp. It was frequently attacked when it was controlled by US troops.” New dining facility was finished in early 2004. Wooden chapel completed end 2004. Field hospital; Brick and Mortar Medical Clinic.

A few hundred metres from Firebase Cobra Strike.

Chapman Airfield,
near Camp FOB Salerno. Improved, lengthened. Ultrahigh-frequency tactical satellite and high frequency radio.

PAKTIKA, ISAF

Shares rocky border with Pakistan, 7000 ft above sea level.

Capital: Sharan.

Camp Harriman / FOB Orgun E.
By 2003, one of the largest – with 400 US soldiers - of about a dozen similar bases along the eastern border with Pakistan. Paratroops took over responsibility on 12.03.05. Mud constructed buildings. Hot showers, small PX, Internet, TV.

Torture reported here. (See Human Rights Abuse)

GHAZNI, ISAF

Forward Operating Base Ghazni

Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team [PRT]
Started March 2004.

VARDAK, ISAF

BAMIAN, ISAF
It was here that the Taliban destroyed two pre-Islamic Buddha statues carved into cliffs in 2001. History of Taliban repression of Hazara ethnic groups.

Bamian Provincial Reconstruction Team [PRT]
At the end of September 2003, the US Provincial Reconstruction Team in the Bamian province of Afghanistan handed over the reins to a New Zealand team.

URUZGAN, ISAF

Map : Multimap

08. 05.06. VOA. Two hundred forty Australian combat soldiers, army tradesmen and engineers will head to the troubled country in July, to join the approximately 300 Australians already there.
The new contingent will work alongside a Dutch-led reconstruction team in Afghanistan's Oruzgan Province, helping to build roads and irrigation systems. More Australian Troops Heading to Afghanistan

01.06.06. AFP. Scores of Taliban militants stormed Chora district of southern Uruzgan province late Tuesday, overrunning the police and district headquarters. Taliban still in control of Afghan district: military

TIRIN KOT (Tarin Kowt),
Capital of Uruzgan. 250 miles S of Kabul. Home of Mullah Omar.

22.08.06. Australian News. The new contingent of Australians will be located with the 1600-member Dutch task group at a base outside the (O/U)ruzgan capital, Tarin Kowt, and are expected to rely on them for primary protection. Aussie engineers head to Afghanistan.

FOB RIPLEY

08.06.04. Marine Corps News Marine and Army Engineers team up to build Forward Operating Base

Camp Holland

21.07.06. Forbes. There are some 455 Dutch soldiers setting up camp near Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan Province, where a 1,400-strong Dutch reconstruction team is due to start work next month. Dutch Commandos Kill 18 in Afghanistan.


ZABOL, ISAF

Provincial capital: Qalat.

Qalat Sikar Airbase:
Map, short description.

Qalat Salih Airbase:
map, short description.

FOB Qalat

Provisional Reconstruction Team, Qalat

Afghanistan: PRTs Go Beyond Humanitarian Issues Into Security Realm

KANDAHAR, ISAF

CNN 2002 MAP and description

Kandahar Image Gallery

23.06.06. VOA. British, Dutch, and Canadian troops are arriving by the thousands in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan as NATO prepares to take responsibility for security in the southern region in July. NATO Afghan Expansion on Track

21.08.06. N. Pazira, Belfast Telegraph / Truth Out. No Nato patrol can pass through here. "They are too scared to come to this area," Return to Kandahar.

Kandahar / Qandahar Airfield
15 miles from city of Kandahar. Also Firebase Gecko. “… one of the most remote, landlocked and desolate places the Army has ever tried to build a combat base.” Halliburton Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) contractors operating here. “The Coalition expects there will be some type of Coalition or ISAF force for some time to come. It is a very strategic base for operations in the south. It’s an important base also for the United Nations, the Red Cross Red Crescent, and many non-governmental organizations that support humanitarian assistance in the southern part of the country.” ? Afghan commercial usage?

28.05.06. Khandahar Air Base has been hit six times this year by rockets. To date no one has been injured although in one attack a British Harrier jet fighter was damaged and another attack hit an unoccupied welding shop which subsequently burned to the ground.

07.06.06. CTV. Most of the 2,300 Canadian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan are stationed at the main coalition base at Kandahar Airfield. Canadian base in Kandahar comes under rocket fire

15.06.06. Reuters. a group of 130 troops sent to help secure the air base in Kandahar, a key target. UK sends 130 more troops to Afghanistan

22.06.06. Six Canadian soldiers hurt in attacks. Taliban under pressure, step up assaults. A bloody day in Kandahar.

Fraise Chapel.

01.07.06. Yahoo news. Rockets hit foreign base in Afghanistan.

15.07.06. Canada com. 5th attack since 30 June. Rocket attack hits Canadian base in Kandahar.

Camp Rhino. Near Khandahar. Logistic centre.

29.10.03. American Forces Press Service. Base Improvements: A New Look for Kandahar

Torture was reported at this base (see 9. Human Rights).

Pul-i-Kandahar:
small US helicopter base near Khandahar used in 2002. (?Ongoing?)

FOB Martello
10.06.06.Globe and Mail. “Forward Operating Base Martello is a bleak, dusty fortress gouged deep into the top of rocky ridges that command the El Bak valley about 200 kilometres north of Kandahar.” Canadian Troops open base in Taliban territory.

FOB in Musa Qala (name?)
16.06.06. Yahoo News. U.S. military erects Afghan desert base


HELMAND, ISAF

Twelve British soldiers have died in Helmand in the last two months.

GERESHK area. SE province, one of main poppy growing areas.
Map Gereshk: Multimap
Nat. Geographic

Camp Bastion.
In May 05, 5 employees of US Chemonics were killed nearby. Torture was reported at this base. (see 9. Human Rights Abuse).

Camp Bastion will have a runway for C130 Hercules transport planes, a heliport for Apache attack helicopters. BFBS tv in tents.

24.02.06. A. Thomson, Channel 4. Building Camp Bastion

14.06.06. Pak Tribune. West country man builds military base in Afghanistan

08.07.06. D. Walsh, Guardian. Desert of death takes its toll on beleaguered troops.

27.07.06.Regiment to leave this week for Helmand. Their mission will be to ensure security AFP / Yahoo. Sixty soldiers from Britain's Royal Irish at the headquarters of Camp Bastion, the main British military base in the region. (This) brings Britain's total deployment in the area to 4,400. Britain sends troop reinforcements to Afghanistan.

04.08.06. A Canadian soldier and 21 civilians were killed Thursday in separate attacks in Afghanistan. … Camp Bastion … "We have tied up thousands of troops protecting a white elephant in the middle of the desert. The Taliban won't be able to attack us, but we are not doing anything to protect the Afghan populace with this base," says a British officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Taliban hinder NATO ‘ink-spot strategy.

05.08.06. S. Leithead, BBC. I spoke to another soldier in Camp Bastion and asked her why she thought the British forces are here. "I don't know" she said. "Something about drugs I think... but it seems more like we're here to be shot at by the Taleban." Deployed to Afghanistan’s ‘Hell.’

Camp Price

02.07.06. Sunday Times. Christina Lamb reports from Zumbelay. Have you ever used a pistol?

09.07.06. Sunday Times. Review. Death Trap.

Musa Kala Base

16.07.06. K. Barker, Chicago Tribune. In an isolated spot in the middle of a desert, .. Soldiers call the base “Camp Hell'' or worse ... Everyone lives in long tents that sleep about 50 people … Air conditioners sit unused, with no generators to power them. Troops at desert base find Afghans little help.

01.08.06.B. Hammersley, Guardian. Total UK deaths now 6. Badly injured soldier at Camp Bastion. Three dead in Afghanistan.

02.08.06. N. Khan, AP. Danish camp in Afghanistan attacked.

22.08.06. Reuters. Over the past few months British troops moved into remote mountain towns such as Sangin, Musa Qala, Nawzad and Kajaki. UK's NATO troops to withdraw from Afghan highlands.

28.08.06. N. Tweedie, Telegraph. US Air Force data show that Musa Qalah has been bombed by USAF B-1s, A-10 ground-attack aircraft and RAF Harriers on almost every day this month. US aircraft have attacked the town on more than 20 occasions and there was only one day this month that US aircraft did not bomb targets in Helmand province. Troops use up ammo as war with Taliban claims 14th life.

On 28 August, Danish troops were withdrawn from Musa Qala. New unspecified number of Danish special forces go to Afghanistan.

Camp Incoming

07.07.06. T. Albone, Times. Above Tangye, northern Helmand. “We call it ‘Camp Incoming’ because we get so many mortars and rounds coming in,” said Sergeant-Major Brennan with a chuckle. Eight British soldiers battle with 1,200 Taleban at 'Camp Incoming.'

Lashkar Gah
To be under NATO ISAF UK command in spring 2006. Centre for fighting opium trade growth and helping with reconstruction. Canadian troop support.

Opened 19.03.05 by Khalilzad.

30.11.05. A. North, BBC. “Preparations are in full swing for an ambitious UK military deployment next spring to what is the country's number one drugs producing region.” UK troops face new Afghan challenge

25.06.06. Jason Burke, Observer. Fear battles hope on the road to Kandahar.

Camp Ashton (? location).
30.11.05 BBC. UK training a brigade of 3,000 soldiers for the emerging Afghan National Army.

Camp Tombstone
23.06.06. Reuters. Camp Tombstone: brand-new $68 million camp. British raise army in Afghanistan's Desert of Death.

NIMROUZ, ISAF

2002. National Geographic Map.

16.02.06. Radio Free Europe. Taliban Raid Security Post In Southwest Afghanistan

FARAH, ISAF
W. Afghanistan, bordering Iran, who supply their electricity. 4th largest Afghan province. Capital: Farah City. Citadel built by Alexander the Great.

Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team [PRT]
S. of Farah City. Opened 15.09.05. The PRT covers an 18,000-square mile area. Dormitories and tents. US. forces operating under ISAF command are leading the PRT in Farah. Good detail.

HERAT

HERAT. Northwestern Afghanistan, capital of Province, on the Harirud and on Iranian border. It is thought to have been founded in the 4th century BC by Alexander the Great

Maps: Multimap
National Geographic

Shindhand Air Base. 100 km. from Iranian border.
In 1992, US moved into presidential palace. Largest base in Afghanistan. Logistical underground airbase reported almost complete; some advance control and command centre replacements from Saudi airbase. 10,000 troops; future NATO Afghan headquarters. More

23.07.02. Asia Times Online. New US Air Base Nears Completion at Shiite Herat, E. Afghanistan. A new American underground air base is nearing completion… To be the largest facility of its kind in that part of the world.. “It should be understood that when Iranian leaders see the map of American bases tightening around us like a noose, they are absolutely sure that Washington’s primary goal is first to strangle us, then kills us off.”

09.02.05. S.S. Shazad, Asia Times. US digs in deeper in
Afghanistan. Facilities were abandoned at Jacobabad and Karachi … a clear message that the US has some new and long-term designs in Afghanistan…The new base in Herat will feature a military airbase, and will act as NATO's headquarters in the country.

GHOWR

BADGHIS

FARYAB

BALKH

2001. CNN MAP

MAZAR-I-SHARIF
Capital: Mazar-I-Sharif

Camp Marmal
US Air Force Base.

20.04.06. Der Spiegel. “Camp Marmal, a self-contained city, is being built with 75,000 tons of steel and 300,000 tons of concrete -- at a cost of €53 million. The German military's new Afghan headquarters, which will house some 1,500 German soldiers, is being built at the airport of the lively provincial capital Mazari Sharif, at the base of a picturesque mountain chain. Two kilometers (1.25 miles) long and two kilometers wide, the settlement is intended to serve as the cornerstone for a political and economic recovery in the country's north -- a construction project built for eternity.” No Peace in the Province.

02.06.06. Pak Tribune. This new base replaces Camp Warehouse in Kabul. Integrates Mazar-I-Sharif airport. Poppy growing area. Supporters of Mohammed Atta, the current governor of Balkh, and Rashid Dostum, now head of the Afghan army, fought bloody battles in the region immediately after the collapse of the Taliban. German army takes over in unsettled northern Afghanistan.

BAGHLAN

Konduz

Pol-e-Khomri

Factsheet on the Dutch PRT at Pol-e Khomri, Baghlan


BADAKHSHAN

Feyzabad
There is a Czech contingency in Feyzabad.

23.06.06. Reuters. Denmark has 41 soldiers in Feyzabad functioning as military observers in the German-led provincial reconstruction team. Afghan bomb hits Danish army commander's convoy.

See NATO, Germany.


8. CORPORATE INVESTMENT IN AFGHANISTAN

Contractors, Afghanistan

31.01.06. U.S., Afghanistan Launch "Businesses Building Bridges" Initiative

13.04.06. Noticias info NATO: Technology supporting Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan

27.04.06. S. Shniad, straight.com. “Like their American counterparts, important segments of this country’s corporate sector have jumped on the security bandwagon, promoting a sharp increase in the military’s influence over our politics and a beefed-up role for the arms industry in our economy.’ Rash Afghanistan mission produces corporate profits

02.05.06. Corpwatch. Contractors in Afghanistan are making big money for bad work Afghanistan, Inc.: A CorpWatch Investigative Report

03.05.06. William Fisher, Corpwatch AFGHANISTAN: The Enron-isation of Afghanistan?

08.05.06. Defense Industry Daily. $24.4M to Build a G-2 Intelligence HQ in Kabul, Afghanistan

24.05.06. H. Haider, Khaleej times. Etisalat which won a $40 million GSM licence in Afghanistan, will invest $300 million in the telecom infrastructure over the next three years. Etisalat plans to invest $300m in Afghanistan

28.05.06. Pajhwok Afghan News. “the Afghan leader said 470 foreign companies invested $250 millions in different sectors.” Karzai asks Iranian businessmen to invest in Afghanistan

10.07.06. Chron.com. “Globecomm Systems Inc., a designer of earth stations that link to satellite networks, said Monday that together with wireless and space communications equipment maker EMS Technologies Inc. it won a $7.8 million contract from NATO for a global positioning satellite-based friendly force tracking system.
Using the system, NATO will be able to identify where personnel are at all times, the company said.” Globecomm, EMS Get $7.8M NATO Contract.

and (Pak Tribune, 16.07.06) DasNet Corporation:

13.07.06. J. Wallen, citywire. Armorgroup Security Firm now also in Afghanistan. “ArmorGroup has also seen strong demand for its services to support the UK Government's 'programme' in Afghanistan.” ArmorGroup firm as Afghanistan helps decrease dependence on Iraq.

25.07.06. AFP / Middle East Times. Afghanistan's third mobile phone operator entered the market Afghanistan mobile operator enters market on auspicious note.

30.07.06. IRNA. VP calls for investment of Iranian firms in Afghanistan.


9. “AID” IN AFGHANISTAN

REPORTS

18.09.03. Oxfam Report on Neglected Conflicts.

2004. United Nations Human Development Report: Afghanistan’s future holds promise and peril.

14.12.04 Indicators of NGO Security in Afghanistan

24.05.05. Human Rights Watch. Afghanistan: Violence Surges. Karzai Needs More Support from U.S.

30.01.06. Human Rights Watch. Afghanistan: Civilian Life Must Be Donor Priority

April 2006. CCIC Report (pdf). Confusion between military and development activities puts both the recipients of aid and aid workers at risk … Aid is being used for military purposes, to gain the support of the population for one side in an armed conflict. In more extreme cases, the provision of assistance is tied to the provision of information or intelligence to the military. This can be done subtly or directly; in either case it puts the population at risk.” (briefing note) Canada in Afghanistan

02.05.06. Corpwatch. Contractors in Afghanistan are making big money for bad work. Afghanistan, Inc.: A CorpWatch Investigative Report

Rand Report (pdf): Securing Health: Lessons from Nation-Building Missions.

POOR, POORER, POOREST: Urban Livelihoods and Vulnerability in Mazar I Sharif [PDF]


“AID” IN AFGHANISTAN
ARTICLES

Since 2001, Brown and Root (Cheney/Halliburton) has had a 10 year Pentagon "cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity service" contract. More

20.09.03. John Pilger, The Guardian, The Betrayal of Afghanistan

02.03.05. J. Laurier, World Socialist WebSite. Over 600 Afghan children died of cold and hunger during the 2004 – 5 winter. Infant and maternal mortality are the highest in the world. Life expectancy is average 44 years. There are hospital power cuts and negligible medicine ... The infrastructure remains in shambles. More

20.03.05. P. Chatterjee, Corpwatch. Since 2001, Brown and Root (Cheney/Halliburton) has had a 10 year Pentagon "cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity service" contract. More

19.05.05. Indianapolis Star. There are 10 physicians per 100,000 people in Afghanistan. Average income is $1182 pa. Millions of Afghans left homeless

20.06.05. A. Whiting, alertnet. Crisis Profile: Afghanistan still the ‘sick man’ of Asia.

03.09.05. VOA 300 US Airmen from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sent Home for Hurricane Emergencies.

05.09.05. World News Afghans Give Over $100,000 for Katrina Relief.

05.09.05. USAID, Relief Web. Afghanistan Fact Sheet Sept. 2005.

25.09.05. Bay Fang, US News. A Work in Progress

10.10.05. Xinhuanet. Afghanistan to provide aid to quake-hit Pakistan.

20.11.05. Stephens / Ottaway, The Washington Post/Corpwatch. Afghanistan: A rebuilding plan full of cracks.

13.12.05. United Nations World Food Programme. World Hunger, Afghanistan: Food Security Overview. “millions of Afghans still live with poverty, a crumbling infrastructure and a landscape that's riddled with mines.”

03.01.06. Reuters. Afghan MP’s want to question aid groups about spending amid growing complaints from Afghans about about a lack of change despite the expenditure of billions of dollars. More

03.01.06. OnLineNews. 13 reconstruction projects completed in Afghanistan's Kunar province

03.01.06. G. Witte, Washington Post. U.S. Cedes Duties in Rebuilding Afghanistan

09.01.06. Onlinenews. Afghanistan, Turkey Sign Cooperation Accord

14.01.06. Pak Tribune. Russia Vows to Help Rebuild Afghanistan.

19.01.06. Macaskill, Guardian. Britain states UN summit in attempt to speed up reconstruction of Afghanistan.

21.01.06. San Francisco Chronicle. Gap between rich and poor widens in Afghanistan

23.01.06. Reuters. Fragmented foreign aid hinders Afghanistan: World Bank report

28.01.06. Reuters. Afghan's Karzai to ask for $4bln aid – FT

31.01.06. Rediff.com. India announces $50 million additional aid for Afghanistan.

31.01.06. Bloomberg. US pledges $1bn. Assistance for Afghanistan

31.01.06. Relief Web Fact Sheet, Afghanistan. Provincial Reconstruction Teams

31.01.06. Xihuanet. Almost $10m, or 8m RMB pledged

01.02.06. TCM. London Afghanistan confab: $10.5 bn. Pledged

02.02.06. Sengupta/Penketh, Independent. Karzai returns from conference with fraction of funds he needed

08.02.06. Reuters. Criticism of NGO de-registration

27.02.06. Reuters. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Monday that its Afghanistan operation was facing critical shortages in supplying food to 3.5 million vulnerable people. AFGHANISTAN: WFP urgently needs US $11 million.

01.03.06. Reuters World Bank offers US $30 million boost to health

19.04.06. Reuters. Study faults US health effort in Iraq, Afghanistan

01.05.06. Reuters. Economic and Social Rights in Afghanistan. AFGHANISTAN: Poverty still a huge problem, says rights group

05.05.06. Relief Web. UK troops in Afghanistan must not do aid work, CARE International warns

20.05.06. Socialist Worker. “The clinic was meant to function as a sterling example of US engineering, and to serve as a model for 81 clinics Berger was hired to build – in addition to roads, dams, schools and other infrastructure – in exchange for the £360 million in US aid money the company has so far received in federal contracts. The problem is, this “model” clinic was falling apart.” Afghanistan the myth of reconstruction

26.05.06. UN News Centre. Millions of Afghans could go hungry as lack of funds forces UN food agency to cut aid

28.05.06. Guardian Troops' Afghanistan aid 'not helpful'

01.06.06. New America Media. Much aid money has gone to waste, while Afghans still wait for basic services. Broken Promises: Foreign Aid Squandered in Afghanistan.

09.06.06. D. Robinson, VOA. US Foreign aid breakdown including:

Israel: $2.3 billion
Afghanistan: $962 million
Iraq: $522 million
Sudan: $450 million (inc. $138m for Dafur)
House Approves Foreign Aid Legislation.

15.06.06. Reuters. UNICF statistics. Afghan reconstruction.

15.06.06. SMH. West has been helping itself, not Afghanistan

23.06.06. Yahoo. Outside Kabul, there is little visible evidence of improvements in infrastructure or services since the Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001. Karzai: War not getting at terrorism cause.

26.06.06. Reuters. IMF approves $119 million loan for Afghanistan.

27.06.06. E. Koch, Las Vegas Sun. Investing in Afghanistan falls short

03.07.06. Usatoday. U.S. to give $2bn in military weapons, vehicles to Afghan army.

08.07.06. Pak Tribune. World Bank pledges $90m to Afghanistan.

16.07.06. Englishpeople. To support and equip Afghan national army and police, U.S., EU pledges over $3bn to Afghanistan.

23.07.06. B. Brady, Scotland on Sunday. Aid staff poised for evacuation of Afghanistan.

23.07.06. P. Garwood, Seattle PI. Anger over the slow pace of reconstruction is palpable nearly five years since a U.S.-led invasion force toppled the Taliban. Afghans despair over slow rebuilding pace.

25.07.06. B. Sand. … “more than two and a half million people could be affected by the drought and crop failures.” Sand Report. Afghanistan, UN Launch New Appeal to Help Looming Food Crisis.

25.07.06. Expatica. Germany to continue helping Afghanistan.

28.07.06. AFP. In the heat of summer there are only a few hours of city power each day with most offices and homes relying on fuel-guzzling generators for their electricity needs. Kabul faces power shortage as US aid scaled back.

04.08.06. IRIN. Afghanistan: USAID provides $16m for drought-stricken people.

15.08.06. Irin. Afghanistan: UN pledges US$11million for drought relief.

16.08.06. English People. USAID contributes 3.5 bln USD to Afghanistan over past 4 years.

21.08.06. IRIN. AFGHANISTAN: USAID pledges US $105 million to road project.

27.08.06. TomGram. In August 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was already proclaiming the new Afghanistan "a breathtaking accomplishment" and "a successful model of what could happen to Iraq." As everybody now knows, the model isn't working in Iraq. So we shouldn't be surprised to learn that it's not working in Afghanistan either. … stunned NATO commanders, who hadn't bargained for significant combat, are already asking what went wrong. “Where did the money go?” Ann Jones explains. Ann Jones on the Road to Afghanistan.

VIDEO Washington Post. Following the Money in Afghanistan.


Rebellion, like tuberculosis, thrives on poverty.


10. Military Contracts

11 January: First Choice Armor and Equipment, Brockton, Mass.

15 February: Overseas Leasing Group (OLG), Inc., Wilmington, Del."

20 March: Technologists Inc., Roslyn, Va.

5 May: Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Inc., Baton Rouge, La.

20 July: Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Inc., Alexandria, Va.

01.08.06. M. Brewster, CNN. The Skylark will be used to silently scout from the air, peering over distant ridges and snooping behind mud-walled compounds in search of Taliban insurgents… Canada recently purchased five Skylarks and the army has an option to buy five more … The military refused to say how much each unit costs because details of the contract with the Canadian supplier for Elbit Systems Ltd. of Israel has yet to be finalized. Seven other NATO countries are already using the Skylark… (Canada) has yet to acquire any of the bigger American UAVs, such the Global Hawk or Predator, which can be armed with missiles. Unmanned Cdn craft going to Afghanistan.

02.08.06. Defense Industry Daily. Netherlands Buys EUR 25M in Bushmaster IMVs for Afghanistan.

First Choice Armor and Equipment*, Brockton, Mass., was awarded on August 11, 2006, a $38,272,500 firm-fixed-price contract for individual body armor. Work will be performed in Brockton, Mass., and is expected to be completed by November 31, 2006. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 25, 2006. The Joint Contracting Command Iraq/Afghanistan, Baghdad, Iraq, is the contracting activity (W91GY0-06-F-0058). DoD contract, 15.08.06.

19.08.06. B. Bender, Boston Globe / Truth Out. The estimated costs for the development of major weapons systems for the US military have doubled since September 11, 2001, with a trillion-dollar price tag for new planes, ships, and missiles that would have little direct role in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq. Major Arms Soar to Twice Pre-9/11 Cost.

28.08.06. T. Harding, Telegraph. "We will need it in Afghanistan because that is going to be a commitment for eight to 10 years.” The aircraft is also able to destroy the enemy with its four Hellfire missiles. (NB: Hellfire missiles are made by Lockheed Martin; Lockheed Martin gets $105 from each U.S. Taxpayer and $228 from each U.S. household to support their weapons building endeavors.) MoD buys £30m US drones to fight Taliban.

31 August: American Science & Engineering, Billerica, Mass.


11. OPIUM

11.05. Afghanistan Watch. United Nations releases 2005 Opium Survey

26.09.05. News Central Asia. Brief History of Modern Drug Trade. “The argument begins and ends with Afghanistan.” More

28.09.05. J. Huggler, The Independent: Afghan Minister Quits Over Opium Trade. “the Interior Minister announced his resignation yesterday, amid reports he had quit because of the involvement of senior government officials in the illegal drug trade.” More

04.12.05. A North, BBC. Losing the War on Afghan Drugs

01.06. Adam Pain, Opium Trading Systems in Helmand and Ghor (Pdf file)

04.01.06. S. Jenkins, Guardian. The extraordinary folly of Britain’s new opium war. “This is probably the UK’s most successful agricultural policy ever. The Afghans now supply 90% of our heroin.” More

31.01.06. Sengupta / Penketh. Britain and US split over defeating Afghan opium trade

1.02.06. S. Jenkins, Guardian. The occupation of Afghanistan served only to turn the Taliban from opponents to supporters of the opium trade. Blair’s latest expedition is a Lawrence of Arabia fantasy.

05.02.06. Telegraph. Afghanistan’s cabinet and drug trade allegations.

21.04.06. Afghanistan Watch says “U.S. drug chief cites progress; numbers suggest otherwise.”

14.06.06. D. Walsh, Guardian. Afghan province to provide one-third of world's heroin.

28.06.06. J. Cotter, Canada.com. “Canadian troops and Afghan civilians are paying with their lives because of failing U.S. policies that focus on elimination of the opium poppy crop, says a report by a policy think-tank.” U.S. policy on Afghan mission costing Canadian lives, think tank says.

29.06.06. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. World Drug Report.

29.06.06. Sengupta / Montes, Independent. UK’s Afghan mission is failing, says drugs body.

04.07.06. F. Morarjee, Financial Times. Afghanistan set to have record opium crop.

26.07.06. R. Scarborough, Washington Times. Colombia to aid in Afghan drug war.

27.07.06. IRIN. The UN and the government estimate the total export value of Afghanistan's opium in 2005 was US $2.7 billion - equivalent to 52 percent of the country's official gross domestic product. Afghanistan: Drug abuse on rise in Helmand.

07.08.06. AFP. … "Nobody can say that we have been successful if the poppy production has increased," War on drugs in Afghanistan needs a change of strategy: UN.

16.08.06. AP / NY Times. Afghan Opium Hits a Record


12. HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE, AFGHANISTAN

US GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

US Army Torture Documents (declassified)

07.02.02. White House Memorandum, Humane Treatment of Al
Qaeda and Taliban Detainees (pdf).

ACLU: Government Documents on Torture through 11.05.

HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTS

"This so-called ill treatment and torture in detention centers, stories of which were spread everywhere among the people, and later by the prisoners who were freed … were not, as some assumed, inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual prison guards, their deputies, and men who laid violent hands on the detainees." Rudolf Hoess, the SS commandant at Auschwitz.

The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict, 8 June 1977

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. UN Treaty.

2000. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. Statement. The United States and the International Criminal Court and related documents. More

10.01. Human Rights Watch. Cluster Bombs in Afghanistan.

28.01.02. Physicians for Human Rights. Photos & Report on Conditions at Shebrghan

11.09.02. Human Rights Watch. Violence and Repression In Western Afghanistan.

13.03.04. International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan.

10.04. Human Rights Briefing Paper: Between Hope and Fear: Intimidation and Attacks Against Women in Public Life in Afghanistan. (PDF). A pervasive atmosphere of fear persists for women involved in politics and women's rights in Afghanistan.

01.03.05. The (ACLU) Lawsuit Against Donald Rumsfeld Over US Torture Policies.

Amnesty International Library Link for Afghanistan

20.05.05. Human Rights Watch. Afghanistan: Killing and Torture by US Predate Abu Ghraib. More

21.05.05. Zia-Arifi & J. Sifton, Human Rights Watch. A genuine inquiry into Abuses.

05.05. Amnesty International USA Report Afghanistan.

07.07.05 . Human Rights Watch. Afghanistan: Bring War Criminals to Justice, Special Court Needed For Past Atrocities. 133 page report.

The Torture Papers; the Road to Abu Ghraib by Karen Greenberg and Josua Tratel. 188 pages of references specifically to Afghanistan; examples given on Amazon.com site.

29.09.05. Human Rights Watch. UN ‘Disappearances’ Treaty a Major Advance. “The four human rights organizations called on all U.N. member states to ensure that the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance is quickly adopted by consensus in the U.N. General Assembly. All countries should ratify the treaty as soon as possible.

24.10.05. Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan. Talking points: Afghan journalist jail sentence; Arbour report to UN next week on human rights; child marriage; children and HIV. More

24.10.05. Human Rights Watch, New Accounts of Torture by US Soldiers.

31.10.05. Amnesty International. USA/Afghanistan: More deaths and impunity.

11.05. Amnesty International. The Global Struggle Against Torture: Guantanamo Bay, Bagram and Beyond.

21.11.05. Human Rights Watch. CIA whitewashing torture. “Statements by Goss contradict US law and practice. Other source material given. More

28.11.05. Relief Web, UNDP. Afghanistan: Human rights treaty reporting project officially launched.

12.05. EU-US. All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition. "Torture By Proxy, International and Domestic Law Applicable to Extraordinary Renditions" (report by Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University, pdf): More

01.12.05. Human Rights Watch. US Holding at Least Twenty-Six “Ghost Detainees.”

09.12.05. Human Rights Watch. U.S.Detainees Disappeared into Secret Prisons: Illegal under Domestic and International Law

12.05. House of Lords: the Lords of Appeal unanimously reject the use of evidence obtained through the use of torture. Full text of judgment. More

19.12.05. Human Rights Watch. US Operated Secret ‘Dark Prison’ in Kabul

11.01.06. Amnesty International. Guantanamo: 4 years too many: new torture testimonies.

12.01.06. ACLU. Army Documents Confirming that Black Ops "Special Access Program" Unit Covered Up Detainee Abuse Almost 90,000 pages of government documents have been released in response to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Summary of report here

2006. Human Rights Watch Report 2006.
Afghanistan: Essential Background: Overview of human rights

19.01.06. New Statesman. Leaked UK memo reveals strategy to deny knowledge of detention centres (pdf)

22.02.06. Human Rights First. Full report (pdf) available. Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.

26.04.06. Human Rights Watch Report. “Findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project. By The Numbers

03.05.06. Amnesty International Press Release. US: Government creating "climate of torture."

03.05.06. Amnesty International. USA: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S SUPPLEMENTARY BRIEFING TO THE UN COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE

03.05.06. Human Rights First U.N. Committee Against Torture Observations; Day 2. Gabor Rona reports; Jurist Report: US denies outsourcing torture

04.05.06. Human Rights First. Recent Reports, Focus pages. U.S. Torture and Abuse of Detainees

24.05.06. AIHRC expresses serious concern on re-occurrence of civilian casualties, especially of children and women during Coalition military operation against terrorist positions in Kandahar Province AIHRC on Civilian Casualties.

22.06.06. Human Rights Watch. Afghanistan: Remove New Restrictions on Media.

07.07.06. DOD MEMO ON GENEVA CONVENTIONS.

10.07.06. Centre for Constitutional Rights. Report on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment of Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

11.07.06. Human Rights Watch. Lessons in Terror Attacks on Education in Afghanistan.

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE: ARTICLES

Editors Note: Some articles which refer to prisoners who have been transferred through, and tortured in, Afghanistan, are included.

Bush claims that his war crimes are justified because they are committed in the name of "freedom and democracy." The entire world rejects this excuse.
Paul Craig Roberts, America’s Moral Crisis, a History of Hitler’s Secret Prisons and a Brief on the Illegality of Bush’s War; Three Books to Wake You Up. More

13.11.01. BBC. Al-Jazeera Kabul offices hit in US raid.

01.02.02. Marc Herold, cursor, updated. Above the Law and Below Morality: Data on 11 Weeks of U.S. Cluster-Bombing of Afghanistan.

06.08.02. Robert Fisk, Independent. The Return to Afghanistan, Collateral Damage.

14.08.02. Robert Fisk, The Independent, Afghanistan is on the Brink of Another Disaster

26.12.02. Priest, Gellman, Washington Post, U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogation. (discussion also of “Rendition)
More

03.05.04. Robert Koehler, ICH, Silent Genocide

13.06.04. An Overview: Tom Engelhardt, George Orwell Meet Franz Kafka
More

23.06.04. Campbell/Goldenberg, Guardian. Afghan Detainees Routinely Tortured and Humiliated by US Troops

13.12.04. Gall, NY Times. Watchdog Says U.S. Fails to Investigate Abuses in Afghanistan

18.02.05. Goldenberg / Meek, Guardian. Papers reveal Bagram abuse.

11.04.05. Media Matters. Yoo was largely responsible for the legal reasoning underlying President Bush's February 7, 2002, decision to exempt suspected Al Qaeda detainees from the Geneva Conventions. More

29.04.05. Deborah Horan, ICH, Ex-UN Envoy feared discovery of prison abuse.

23.05.05. President Bush says “Afghanistan is no longer a haven for terrorists. Democracy is flourishing. We have a strategic partnership.” CNN.

27.05.05. Mike Whitney, Dissident Voices, Protecting the Plutocrats.
“The United States military is a fully owned subsidiary of the corporate and financial establishment.” Whitney: Protecting the Plutocrats

24.08.05. BBC. US Soldier jailed in Afghan Abuse. “A soldier from a US military
intelligence unit has been sentenced to two months in prison for abusing an Afghan detainee who later died. It is the first custodial sentence given to any US soldier convicted of abuse in Afghanistan since 2001.”

26.08.05. Tom Engelhardt, Greenberg on Why US Military Lawyers Opposed Torture.
“Extraordinary renditions, torture, abuse, humiliation, detention without charge or end, an obsession with protecting American officials (and military men) from future foreign or domestic criminal charges for their acts -- these are the cornerstones of foreign policy under George Bush…”

15.09.05. Copenhagen Post. Parliament Demands Afghanistan Torture Truth.
Colonel Frank Lissner, the former head of the Danish special forces in Afghanistan, had as early as 2002 learned of a Danish interpreter’s claim that he had witnessed US forces mistreating detainees under interrogation at Camp Kandahar.

21.09.05. T. Deen, Common Dreams. UN Human Rights Body to Scrutinize U.S. Abuses. “The primary focus will be on the implications of the USA Patriot Act on nationals and non-nationals, as well as problems relating to the legal status and treatment of persons detained in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq and other places of detention outside the USA."

24.09.05. Hettana, AP, Navy Secretly Contracted Jets Used by CIA.

15.10.05. Afghanistan Watch. Afghanistan Not Aware of Reported CIA Jails.

24.10.05. Truth Out. SBS Shows Burning Taliban Bodies

26.10.05. Capdevilla, Common Dreams. Dozens of Abu Ghraibs

28.10.05. A. Caldwell, Guardian. Army Interrogator Sentenced to 5 Months

02.11.05. D. Priest, Washington Post. CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons. “The largest CIA prison in Afghanistan was code-named the Salt Pit. It was also the CIA's substation and was first housed in an old brick factory outside Kabul.

01.12.05. Grey/Harding, Guardian. Twist to terror suspects row as logs show 80 CIA planes visited UK. (One on flight to Afghanistan) More

03.12.05. BBC. US civil rights group to sue CIA.
“The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says the intelligence agency has broken both US and international law. It is acting for a man allegedly flown to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan.” More

06.12.05. Radio Free Afghanistan. Merkel: U.S. Admits Abducting German And Sending Him To Afghanistan

14.12.05. S Grey, Le Monde / ICH. United States: Trade in Torture.

15.12.05. Marine Corps Times. Afghan Detainees gain release.

18.12.05. E. Talmadge, AP. US Ran Afghan Torture Prison. “The prison was run near Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.” More

18.12.05. Khaled El Masri, Los Angeles Times. America Kidnapped Me.

19.12.05 Reuters. Rights groups says US had secret Afghanistan Prison.

21.12.05. AFP. Afghan’s rights groups says US must come clean about ‘secret’ prisons.

26.12.05. Alertnet. Afghanistan. Journalists still under threat.

2005. Physicians for Human Rights. Break Them Down; Systematic Pscychological Torture by US Forces.

01.01.06. Aljazeera. Following their arrest by US forces, Aljazeera crew free after Kabul arrest.

05.01.06. Pak Tribune. US may move some Guantanamo inmates to Afghanistan. The prison, near Kabul, was "notorious for the torture and execution of Islamists by former Communist-backed regimes in the 1980s." More

08.01.06. T. Golden, NY Times/ICH. Army won't try officer in Afghan abuse case

10.01.06. Aljazeera.com. First “real evidence” on CIA secret jails - Report

13.01.06. Reuters. Afghanistan: Rights body condemns violence against journalists

19.01.06. R Norton-Taylor, Guardian. Torture flights: what No 10 knew and tried to cover up. Leaked memo reveals strategy to deny knowledge of detention centres.

22.01.06. Xihuanet. CIA runs detention center in Afghanistan.

19.02.06. J. Lewis, Mail on Sunday / ICH. A UK resident, tortured in Bagram prison, says: I confessed to escape Guantanamo torture

25.02.06. S. Hattenstone, Guardian. Moazzam Begg wanted to help his fellow Muslims - in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan. In the eyes of the CIA and MI5, that made him an enemy combatant. He tells Simon Hattenstone what drove him on. Looking for troubles

26.02.06. Golden / Schmitt, NY Times. (Ref: Bagram) A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantánamo

26.02.06. BBC. Inmates at Afghanistan's main high security Pul-e-Charkhi jail in Kabul have rioted, prison officials say. Unrest at notorious Afghan jail

26.02.06. David Rose, Observer. Two years ago, David Rose was the first journalist to interview the Tipton Three after their release from Guantanamo Bay. Now he applauds Michael Winterbottom's award-winning film of their ordeal - and finds out what has happened to the men since. Using terror to fight terror

27.02.06. A. Russell, Telegraph. US-run jail in Afghanistan 'worse than Guantanamo'

28.02.06. Reuters. US Afghan inmate says Taliban threaten to behead him

01.03.06. William Fisher, antiwar.com Bagram: Son of Guantánamo

01.03.06. Marjorie Cohn, TruthOut.org. The U.S. has been blocking the UN Human Rights Commission at every turn. Now, John Bolton wants to change its name and gut its limited power. Human Rights Hypocrisy

02.03.06. W. Fisher, Truth Out. Son of Gitmo

02.03.06. Ted Rall, uruknet. The Other Bad War: More Torture in Occupied Afghanistan

04.03.06. Yahoo. Pentagon Releases Names of Gitmo Inmates

07.03.06. Joanne Laurier, WSWS, uruknet. Former aide to Powell: authorization for torture came from “the very top.” The story of Dillawar and Habibullah and their torture by US soldiers at Bagram prison. CBS’ “60 Minutes” expose on killings in Afghanistan

09.03.06. N. Dost, Pajhwak Afghan News Teenager speaks of torture in US prisons

17.03.06. Independent. Claims by two men who lived in Britain that they were handed over to the CIA by the security service MI5 for torture in the notorious "dark prison" in Kabul, Afghanistan, before being taken to Guantanamo. PM finally calls for Guantanamo to close

30.03.06. Msm. Corsetti accused of hitting and sitting on detainees and threatening to sexually assault prisoners at a U.S. Air Base in Afghanistan. (Bagram) U.S. soldier pleads not guilty in Afghanistan abuse case

07.04.06. NYTimes. U.S. Won't Seek a Seat on the U.N. Rights Council

12.04.06. Reuters. AFGHANISTAN: People in Faryab complain of torture and illegal taxes by warlords

18.04.06. newsmonstersandcritics. Newborn baby among six injured by US fire in Afghanistan

18.04.06. BBC. Civilians injured 'by US forces'

26.04.06. J. Sliva, AP. EU Cites CIA Kidnapping, Secret Flights

01.05.06. Reuters AFGHANISTAN: Misery for female prisoners

02.05.06. Raw Story. New Army documents reveal US knew of and approved torture before Abu Ghraib scandal

12.05.06. D. HOLLY, AP. The government urged a federal judge on Friday to block a lawsuit filed by a German national who says he was illegally held in a CIA-run prison in Afghanistan for four months and tortured. U.S. argues to block suit against CIA

25.05.06. Democracy Now. Interview with Habib Rahiab, Afghan-born human rights activist who was forced to flee Afghanistan two years ago because of his work documenting human rights abuses. Afghanistan in Turmoil: 330+ Killed in One Week, U.S. Bombing Raids Continue, Taliban Seizing Control in Southern Region

25.05.06. Reuters AFGHANISTAN: Fighting forces 3,000 to flee

29.05.06. AP. A look at the cases against 15 soldiers accused of abusing Afghan detainees, including two who later died. A look at Afghanistan abuse cases

31.05.06. P. Koring, globeandmail. Canadian Troops told Geneva rules don’t apply to Taliban.

05.06. Mark Herold. "A Case Study of the U.S. Assault upon Hajiyan." U.S. Military’s Virtual Reality about Afghan Civilian Casualties. (PDF file)

01.06.06. P. Koring, Globe and Mail. “Canada should imprison Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees in its own camp rather than handing them to Afghan military authorities, at least until NATO signs a new and more stringent transfer agreement, NDP defence critic Dawn Black said yesterday.” Transfer deal for detainees called lacking in safeguards.

02.06.06. SignonSandiego/ICH. “Prosecutors said Corsetti was dubbed the “King of Torture” and “The Monster” while working at an American detention facility at Bagram Air Field in 2002 and 2003.” Final soldier charged in Afghan abuse case acquitted.

05.06.06. LA Times. Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule

05.06.06. msmbc. “U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann said a May 28, 2003, agreement between both nations means the soldier cannot face legal action in Afghanistan. 'There is a status of forces agreement and U.S. retains criminal jurisdiction for acts committed by military personnel in Afghanistan,' he said.” U.S. envoy: Afghans cannot prosecute soldier who crashed truck, sparking riots.

07.06.06. Sturke / agencies, Guardian Rendition 'massively damaging' to counter-terrorism effort

12.06.06. D. Walsh, Guardian. “A controversial UN report that has been shelved for 18 months names and shames leading Afghan politicians and officials accused of orchestrating massacres, torture, mass rape and other war crimes.” UN report accuses Afghan MPs of torture and massacres.

14.06.06. Herald Sun. Guantanamo Afghans 'home soon.'

17.06.06. Schmitt, New York Times. (relevant also to Afghanistan) Pentagon Study Describes Abuse by Units in Iraq.

20.06.06 D. Walsh, Guardian/ICH. Villagers caught in crossfire between the Taliban and government forces Beaten, robbed and exiled: life on the frontline of someone else's war.

22.06.06. United Nations UNHCHR. High Commissioner for Human Rights Welcomes New Anti-Torture Treaty; Calls on All States to become Party

26.06.06. W. Fisher, IPS / ICH. Pentagon Resists Ban on "Degrading Treatment"

27.06.06. S. Miles, Slate. Where were the doctors and nurses at Abu Ghraib and Bagram? All Too Quiet.

29.06.06. LA Times. "Stating that American law outweighs an international treaty, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that foreign criminals held in state prisons did not have a right to reopen their cases if their rights under the Vienna Convention had been violated" US Law Trumps World Treaty, High Court Says.

29.06.06. O'Neil / Shane NY Times. Supreme Court Blocks Guantanamo Tribunals

30.06.06. R. Brooks, LA Times. the real blockbuster in the Hamdan decision is the court's holding that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention applies to the conflict with Al Qaeda — a holding that makes high-ranking Bush administration officials potentially subject to prosecution under the federal War Crimes Act. Rosa Brooks | Did Bush Commit War Crimes?

30.06.06.D. Walsh, Guardian. The US government said it could not find the men that Guantánamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days. Guardian finds witnesses US couldn’t.

05.07.06. The News. 30 released 03.07.06 from Bagram; 30 more due to be released. 59 Afghans to be released from Guantanamo.

08.07.06. Independent. CIA sent me to be tortured in Afghan prison, says Algerian.

08.07.06. T. Coghlan, Independent. Brutal US attack on unarmed Afghans captured by photos.

18.07.06. Human Rights News. Women and Girls Again at Risk. Afghanistan: Vice and Virtue Department Could Return.

23.07.06. Reuters. The prisoners, some as young as 16, were brought in handcuffs and with a heavy security escort to the Afghan border checkpost at Spin Boldak. Pakistan hands over prisoners to Afghanistan.

25.07.06. T. Abalone, Times. There are more than 2,000 refugees in Lashkar Gah alone, less than two miles (3.2km) from the British base. The International Organisation for Migration estimates that at least 4,000 have fled the troubled areas. They are the civilians caught in the middle of an increasingly bloody and indiscriminate insurgency. Left without homes by the bombings, they blame the British for their predicament. Accidental victims flee homes for filthy camps.

27.07.06. Wayne Madsen Report. “The United States is increasingly shifting its attention from Afghanistan to Iraq, Lebanon, and impending military action against Syria and Iran. Any U.S. and/or Israeli action against Iran will result in U.S. and NATO forces being put in extreme jeopardy in Afghanistan as Karzai and his warlord allies shift their allegiance to Iran and the SCO alliance.” http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

28.07.06. R. J. Smith, Washington Post. Shield Sought From '96 War Crimes Act. Since the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, hundreds of service members deployed to Iraq have been accused by the Army of mistreating detainees, and at least 35 detainees have died in military or CIA custody, according to a tally kept by Human Rights First. The military has asserted these were all aberrant acts by troops ignoring their orders. Detainee Abuse Charges Feared.

05.08.06. E. Thompson, Newsonline Ex-CIA contrator David Passaro to stand trial in Afghan beating.

13.08.06. The Jurist. A federal jury sitting in Raleigh, North Carolina on Thursday found David Passaro [Raleigh News and Observer materials] guilty of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan [JURIST report]. CIA contractor found guilty of detainee abuse.

17.08.06. msnbc. Prisoner died following beating with flashlight during interrogation. CIA contractor guilty in Afghanistan.

26.08.06. US info. Action leaves about 445 still at U.S. site in Cuba. Five Guantanamo Detainees Transferred to Afghanistan.

29.08.06. WPMI. An Afghan man in his 70s who used a walker to get around the Guantanamo Bay lockup has been sent home. … trying to learn whether his client will held in custody in Afghanistan or allowed to go home. The U-S government won't comment. Guantanamo's oldest detainee returned to Afghanistan.

16.11.05. VIDEO: ONE NIGHT OF ABUSE "A Few Bad Apples", unravels the events of one night—October 25, 2003 — events captured in one of those famous photographs. Includes video of Lieutenant Carolyn Wood at US base in Bagram, Afghanistan

Film. Convoy of Death
The film provides eyewitness testimony that U.S. troops were complicit in the massacre of thousands of Taliban prisoners during the Afghan War.


13. SOME OF THE DEAD IN AFGHANISTAN

“The sheer number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan makes it impossible to vindicate US/British strategy, by the most basic moral standards."
Curtis, Mark, The Web of Deceit, Vintage, 2003, p. 50

12.01. Marc Herold, Media Lens. A Dossier On Civilian Victims of United States Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Accounting.

03.01.02. Media Lens Media Ignores the Mass Death of Civilians in Afghanistan.

18.02.04. Carl Conetta, Disappearing the Dead, Project on Defence Alternatives Research Monograph No. 9. “A grave responsibility to one's own nation and to the global community attends any decision to go to war. And part of this responsibility is to estimate and gauge the effects of war, including the collateral damage and civilian casualties that it incurs.”

06.01.05. D. Walsh, Guardian. In Tirin Kot, U.S. ambassador escapes Taliban suicide bomb. "More than 30 people have died in 12 suicide bombings in part three months."

03.07.05. Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, US Endures Deadliest Year in Afghanistan. Military figures say 54 killed in half a year.

06.07.05. AP. Khaleej Times. Afghan Government Criticizes Killing of Civilians in US Air Strike.

06.08.05. Medical News Today. Afghanistan's Maternal and Child Mortality Rates Soar.

22.08.05. Carlotta Gall, New York Times, GI Death Toll in Afghanistan Worst since ’01.

12.05. i.casualties. Coalition Military Fatalities by Year and Country

January 3 – 16, Attacks in Afghanistan so far, 2006.

15.01.06. Bokhari / Johnson, Financial Times. Protests mount after US missiles kill villagers.

17.01.06. K. Sengupta, Independent. Remember Afghanistan? Insurgents bring suicide terror to country.

18.01.06. Amnesty International. Afghanistan: Amnesty International condemns the recent killing of civilians in southern Afghanistan

20.01.06. Forbes. List of Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan.

01.02.06. Mike Whitney, uruknet. Afghanistan Five Years Later

22.02.06. Sydney Morning Herald Report says 98 dead in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan

28.02.06. smh. At least seven dead after inmates seize Kabul jail

30.03.06. AP. US Military Deaths in Afghanistan.

10.04.06. Reuters/Christian Aid. Five medical staff killed in Afghanistan

11.04.06. Ayaz Gul, VOA. The violence against occupation in Iraq has migrated to Afghanistan. Insurgent Rocket Attacks Kill at Least 7 Afghan Children.

18.04.06. C. Gall, Int. Herald Tribune. Seven civilians were reported killed in one battle. In the other battle, civilians were reported killed or wounded, and four Afghan police officers were said by villagers to have been killed by U.S. fire. US looking into killing of Afghans

06.06.06. AP. Update 1: U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

09.05.06. Radio Free Europe. Afghanistan, Iraq Near Top Of Infant Mortality Table

18.05.06. BBC. Afghanistan Sees Violence Upsurge

23.05.06. E. Stephens, uruknet. Massacre in Khandahar

23.05.06. AFP. Kandahar’s provincial governor has said at least 16 civilians were killed in the operation that started late Sunday in Panjwayi district but villagers say the number of civilian dead is far higher. Afghan president to summon top US commander over civilian deaths

29.05.06. Yahoo / legitgov.org. “Thousands marched angrily through Kabul on Monday after at least seven people were killed and 40 were wounded following a riot sparked by a fatal traffic accident involving a U.S. military truck... Soon after, thousands of protesters gathered in central Kabul, some marching on parliament and some on the presidential palace. Several hundred congregated at an intersection leading to the heavily fortified U.S. embassy chanting slogans of "Death to America" and burning American flags.” Unrest grips Kabul after US truck crash.

29.05.06. Reuters. "We have registered 8 dead and 109 wounded people in various hospitals in the city… Some eyewitnesses told IRIN that the casualties occurred when US and Afghan security forces opened fire on the demonstrators." AFGHANISTAN: Deadly riots follow traffic accident

29.05.06. AP. “Five Canadian soldiers were hurt and up to six militants killed in a gunbattle Monday, while U.S.-led coalition aircraft bombed Taliban militants meeting in remote southern Afghanistan, reportedly killing dozens, officials said.” Update 5: Coalition Aircraft Bomb Taliban Site

11.06.06. Pak Tribune. Weekly look at U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan.

10.06.06. D. Cooney, AP. Afghan Violence Kills More Than 500.

22.06.06. AP/ICH. Karzai says 600 Afghan deaths 'not acceptable.'

27.06.06. Hindustan Times. At least 24 dead in fresh Afghanistan violence.

27.06.06. Yahoo news. Two soldiers among 38 killed in Afghanistan attacks.

28.06.06. BBC. The total number of UK troops killed while on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 has risen to 10 after two soldiers died in a roadside attack on 27 June, 2006. British military fatalities in Afghanistan.

29.06.06. Yahoo. Coalition soldier, 12 ‘Taliban’ killed in Afghanistan.

06.06. DoD. The U.S. military prescribes doctrine for the recovery, identification, handling and burial of deceased soldiers, enemy combatants and civilian detainees. "Mortuary Affairs in Joint Operations," Joint Publication 4-06, June 2006

30.06.06. Yahoo. at least 251 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. US Military Deaths in Afghanistan.

01.07.06. AP. “38 suicide attacks were recorded in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2006, compared to just 11 in the previous six, a more than threefold increase.” Suicide attacks rising in Afghanistan.

01.07.06. MSNBC. Five American and two Canadian soldiers among 10 wounded in attack. Rockets slam into coalition base in Afghanistan.

02.07.06. Yahoo. Two British soldiers among 23 killed in Afghanistan.

02.07.06. DoD. Coalition in Afghanistan Rejects Reports on Civilian Casualties.

03.07.06. BBC. 'More set to die' in Afghanistan.

03.07.06. Reuters. More than 1,100 people, most of them ‘militants,’ have been killed in Afghanistan since January. Nearly 60 foreign troops have been killed. Clash, blasts, kill 24 in Afghanistan.

03.07.06. Gall / Khapalwak, NY Times. At least 10 interpreters killed. Taliban kill afghan interpreters working for US and its allies.

04.07.06. Reuters. Five Afghans working in Konar killed. Afghans working at US base shot.

05.07.06. Washington Post. Also, three bombs targeting government workers and security forces exploded in the Afghan capital, killing one bystander and wounding at least 47 other people, police and witnesses said. British Soldier Killed in Afghanistan.

07.07.06. The news. US-led coalition forces killed Afghan civilians (including women and children) in an air strike on a village in the Kajaki district of the Helmand province on Wednesday. 15 Afghan civilians killed in US strike.

07.07.06. C. Gall, NY Times. In Uruzgan, American / Australian troops blamed. Afghan Legislator Says Coalition Attacked His Family, Killing One.

11.07.06. Times of India. 60 civilians killed in US airstrikes.

13.07.06. R. Synovitz, Radio Free Europe. Oruzgan: Lawmaker Haji Abdul Khaliq Mujahid says the killing of innocent civilians by coalition air strikes in southern Afghanistan is going unreported…The lawmaker contends that official battle casualties in Afghanistan are the propaganda of the U.S. military, with innocent civilians who are killed often counted as "suspected Taliban." Afghanistan: Legislator Assails Coalition On Civilian Casualties.

13.07.06. Yahoo. Investigation into Tarin Kot, Uruzgan helicopter gunship civilian deaths, about which the US says they have ‘no details.’ Karzai orders probe into Afghan killings.

14.07.06. Irin. (Oruzgan, cont.) "More than 60 innocent civilians including women and children were killed and another 35 to 40 were injured in Kakrak, Dejoez, and Perosha villages during the US-led coalition air strikes," Abdul Khaliq Mujahid, said. Afghanistan: Civilian casualties from anti-insurgency conflict mount.

15.07.06. BBC. (Nawzad, Helmand) British forces in Afghanistan have defended their decision to call in US planes to drop 500lb bombs on Taleban fighters in a town in Helmand province. Witnesses say there were many civilian deaths and injuries. UK forces said there was no evidence of any. UK defends strike on Afghan town.

23.07.06. CanWest News Services. Nineteen Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed since the Canadian military deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002. Death Toll in Afghanistan.

25.07.06. M. Penning, AP. … Two Afghans working for an international aid group were gunned down after delivering medicine to a town in Ghor province. Other deaths. Taliban militants take violence into west Afghanistan.

25.07.06. T. Abalone, Times. (repeat from above). They came in their hundreds to the tented camp on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah in southern Afghanistan, fleeing the aerial bombardments in their villages to the north. The bombs, which were dropped on the command of British soldiers under siege from Taleban rebels, killed hundreds of Taleban, but scores of civilians died as well. Accidental victims flee homes for filthy camp.

27.07.06. Khaleej times. Sixteen people, including two US civilians and two NATO soldiers from the Netherlands, were killed in a helicopter crash in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, NATO soldiers among 16 dead in Afghan chopper crash.

01.08.06. Englishpeople. Similar riot in Kabul central Pul-e-Charkhi prison left four persons dead and injured 17 others early this year. Jail riot claims 1 life in S. Afghanistan.

17.08.06. Local News Leader. Afghan president condemns US airstrike.

More than 80 foreign troops, most of whom are Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan in the past eight months (21.08.06).

23.08.06. GlobeandMail. 10-year-old boy shot and killed by a Canadian soldier in southern Afghanistan. Afghan boy’s body returned to parents.

23.08.06. aljazeera.net. Nato's claims to have killed 11 Taliban who were preparing an ambush in Afghanistan have been disputed by local people who have said that the dead were civilian grape-pickers. Witness: Taliban dead may be civilians.


According to Protocol I, Article 85, Section 3 of the Geneva Conventions, "An indiscriminate attack affecting the civilian population or civilian objects and resulting in excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions."


14. THE DYING AND FUTURE DEAD : DEPLETED URANIUM

Reports and Findings of Depleted Uranium

21.05.05. Douglas Westerman, Rense.com. From ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ to Depleted Uranium Cancer; An Open Letter to Every American Serviceman. “The Uranium Medical Research Centre says we have "poisoned a significant portion of the civilian population" in many areas of Afghanistan”

09.08.05. Leuren Moret, Battle Creek Enquirer, Depleted Uranium is WMD.

24.09.05. L. Moret, uruknet.info. Letter to President Chavez. “Both President Chavez and President Ahmadinejad spoke out about the most important problem for all living things today - the use of depleted uranium which has been used by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia.” More

12.10.05. T. Albone, Times on Line. Insurgents ‘importing ideas from Iraq.’

2005. albasrah.net. The United States is Actively Engaged in War Crimes and Polluting with Deadly Nuclear Weapons.

27.11.05. The United States of Monsters: Depleted Uranium. The UNITED NATIONS subcommission (August 2002) reports that the United Stated use of DEPLETED URANIUM violates the following INTERNATIONAL LAWS … “ More

21.12.05. SF BayView. Heads roll at Veterans Administration. “Growing scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.” Important DU information. More

23.12.05. This uruknet.info article by jouna at iraq-war.ru refers to Iraq but is included for its information and source material. See Iraq: Depleted Uranium aka Baghdad Boils?

01.06. L. Moret, uruknet. Depleted Uranium: Dirty Bombs, Dirty Missiles, Dirty Bullets A Death Sentence Here and Abroad

01.05.06. ICH. Depleted Uranium Dust - Public Health Disaster For The People Of Iraq and Afghanistan. Depleted Uranium - Far Worse Than 9/11

07.07.06. M. Clarke, Vive le Canada. After the Taleban resistance fighters’ ambush in May killed Capt. Nichola Goddard, Canadian troops called in a U.S. B-1 Lancer stealth bomber which dropped a 500-pound bomb on a nearby residential compound, killing an estimated 15 to 20 people. According to the U.S. Air Force, that was just one of nearly 2,000 air strikes that were conducted in Afghanistan between March and May 2006. Tragically, every air strike uses bombs and missiles that are encased and ballasted with depleted uranium (DU) which aerosolizes upon impact, instantaneously being released into the atmosphere as insoluble ceramic uranium oxide nanoparticles. Its gaseous characteristics allow DU to remain suspended in the air and be distributed around the earth as a radioactive component of atmospheric dust, contaminating the environment and indiscriminately killing, maiming and causing disease in all living things wherever rain, snow and moisture remove it from the atmosphere. Doing the Wrong Thing in Afghanistan: Deplete Uranium: The Definitive Moral Paradox.


15. QUESTIONS PENDING

09.08.05. Benjamin / Olmsted, UPI, Information Clearing House. Navy Cover-up on Drug Side Effects, A Naval Reserve commander who volunteered for the Iraq war says the military doctored his medical file.

24.08.05. Mike/Rockwell, Lew Rockwell, Murdered in Afghanistan, LewRockwell.com. “This is the story of just one more death in George W. Bush’s book of dying for a noble cause.”


16. REFERENCES

War Report, Select articles, documents, and analyses compiled and frequently updated by the Project on Defense Alternatives.

The Century Foundation: Program Officer Carl Robichaud. Afghanistan Watch. Weekly articles.

British Agencies Afghanistan Group. A coalition of British aid charities working in the country; excellent monthly reports here

Ariana Afghan Media

Professor Marc Herold. http://www.cursor.org/stories/archivistan.htm and http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/
Professor Herold writes to me: “The latter is a very important resource with a huge amount of data, photos, etc. I especially like The Afghan Victim Memorial Project."

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Kabul

Ann Jones, Kabul in Winter, Metropolitan, 2006.

17. BIOGRAPHIES

Cheney, Richard
Cohen, Eliot
Karzai, Hamid
Khalilzad, Zalmay
Richard Perle
Rice, Condoleeza
Rumsfeld, Donald
Wolfowitz, Paul


* * *
The URL to "Index on Afghanistan" is http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html

Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK.
Her email is: sarahmeyer@fastnet.co.uk

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Tags : Afghanistan, US Bases, Helmand, Kandahar, Oil, Gas, Opium, NATO, Index Research