Israel Authorises New Settlements

LINK TO ISRAELI SETTLEMENT STORY HERE

US to have "enduring presence" in Afghanistan post-2014: Panetta

US to have "enduring presence" in Afghanistan post-2014: Panetta | Pajhwok Afghan News:

NATO Preparing Psy-Op in Syria

Land Destroyer: URGENT: NATO Preparing Psy-Op in Syria:

Al Shabaab 'On The Run'?

Linda Norgrove Photographs

Linda Norgrove was an aid worker in Afghanistan who was kidnapped by the Taliban and then killed by US soldiers in a bungled rescue attempt. These are some of the stunning pictures which she took during her time in Afghanistan.

Not In My Name Anymore - Tim McHugh

NATO drone crash in western Herat province

NATO drone crash in western Herat province - Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan Online Newspaper:

Insider Attacks - Nato's Rasmussen 'Happy' As Ever

Measures considered to protect troops | British Forces News:

How to Read Polls In Afghanistan

The Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) / The Asia Foundation's 2012 survey and how to read opinion polls in Afghanistan:

Kalasha Girl In Nooristan

Photo courtesy of Waslat Hazrat-Nazimi 27.11.2012

Kabul Bank Audit Details Extent of Fraud

Kabul Bank Audit Details Extent of Fraud - NYTimes.com:

Germany criticizes lack of progress in Afghanistan

Germany criticizes lack of progress in Afghanistan - Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan Online Newspaper:

Another province goes to the Taliban

Afghanistan: Another province goes to the Taliban | GlobalPost:

Morsi Tente de Désamorcer la Crise avec les Magistrats

Twitter alert: Tears and anger on Salala attack anniversary

Twitter alert: Tears and anger on Salala attack anniversary – The Express Tribune:

Afghans protest over death penalty for Afghan soldier

Afghans protest over death penalty for Afghan soldier - Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan Online Newspaper:

Lord Gilbert : Nuke Pak-Afghan Border

British Lord: Nuke Pak-Afghan Border:

In-Base US Helicopter Crash

Afghanistan must live in the here and now

Afghanistan must live in the here and now instead of repeating bloody history | Nushin Arbabzadah | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

Attacks On Pakistan's Shiites

Petraeus And Fifty Shades Of Khaki

The Fall of the American Empire (Writ Small) | FPIF:

The geopolitics of drug trafficking in Afghanistan

The geopolitics of drug trafficking in Afghanistan | openDemocracy:

Scots soldiers in Afghanistan tell of working under the cloud of 'green-on-blue' killings

Scots soldiers in Afghanistan tell of working under the cloud of 'green-on-blue' killings - Daily Record:

Suicide Bomber Kills 3 in Afghanistan

Suicide Bomber Kills 3 in Afghanistan - NYTimes.com:

14 hanged in two days – The death penalty in Afghanistan

14 hanged in two days – The death penalty in Afghanistan | Asia | DW.DE | 23.11.2012:

Emails Reveal Secrets Of Bin Laden Burial

Jon Pilger on The Assault on Gaza And The BBC

As Gaza is savaged again, understanding the BBC’s role requires more than sentiment:

NATO inspects Turkish sites for Patriot deployment

NATO inspects Turkish sites for Patriot deployment: Voice of Russia:

Suicide blast hits near US base in Kabul

The Hindu : News / International : Suicide blast hits near US base in Kabul:

8 executed by hanging in Afghanistan ending 4-year moratorium

8 executed by hanging in Afghanistan ending 4-year moratorium - latimes.com:

We are all Israelis now? Its brutality, unlike Syria's, is fought in the name of the West

We are all Israeli's now: its brutality, unlike Syria's, is fought in the name of the West's war on terror - Comment - Voices - The Independent: "It’s odd, the way they all get away with it. Lord Blair, whose 92 Business Class trips to the Holy Land have produced a peace beyond all peace, is now talking about how it’s in everybody’s interest to have a truce – is his face getting a bit skeletal, or is that my imagination? – and a truce, I suppose, we shall have, well over 100 Palestinian and three Israeli dead too late. But is it all worth it? Was the murder by Israel of Hamas’s military leader Ahmed al-Jabari in fact not staged to provide an excuse to bomb all those new missiles that Hamas has acquired?"

Kabul suicide blast kills 3 near U.S. embassy

Kabul suicide blast kills 3 near U. embassy | News - Home:

Starry Desert Night At Marjah, Helmland

L'armée française quitte la région afghane de la Kapisa

Les 400 derniers soldats français de la base de Kapisa ont quitté, mardi, cette région instable de l'Afghanistan, où l'armée tricolore a perdu le plus d'hommes. En 2013, il ne restera plus que 1 500 militaires français dans le pays. LINK

US battles Iraq and Afghanistan over detention without charges

US battles Iraq and Afghanistan over detention without charges | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "In Afghanistan and Iraq, the US government is engaged in a fierce and protracted battle over the fundamental right to be free of indefinite detention. Specifically, the US is demanding that the governments of those two nations cease according this right to their citizens. As a Washington Post article this morning details, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is insisting that the US fulfill its commitment to turn over all prisons, including the notorious facility at Bagram, to Afghan control, but here is one major impediment [emphasis added]:"

Karzai Orders Takeover of Afghan Prison

Karzai Orders Takeover of Afghan Prison - NYTimes.com: "American forces were continuing to house newly captured prisoners at the Parwan detention center, the American-built prison at Bagram Air Base, the main facility for Afghanistan, another violation of earlier agreements, the statement added.American officials have said that the agreement between the two countries, known as a memorandum of understanding, left open to further negotiation how to handle new prisoners captured by American forces on the battlefield. Those negotiations have stalled, however, over disputes about the release of some prisoners that the Americans have refused to release."

Israeli Assault on Gaza Is Mainly By Drones

The Israeli Air Force operates a squadron of Hermes 450s out of Palmachim Airbase south of Tel Aviv. It has adapted the Hermes 450 for use as an assault UAV, reportedly equipping it with two Hellfire missiles or, according to various sources, two Rafael-made missiles. According to Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese and independent reports, the Israeli assault UAV has seen extensive service in the Gaza Strip and was used intensively in the Second Lebanon War. Israel has not denied this capability, but to date, its policy has been not to officially confirm it either. The technology and much of the hardware is principally sourced from America.

Denis Kucinich on Targeted Assassinations

The targeted killing of suspects by the United States is slowly and quietly becoming institutionalized as a permanent feature of the US counterterrorism strategy. Unless members of Congress begin to push back, such killings will continue – without any oversight, transparency or accountability. Victims of drone strikes – including US citizens – are secretly stripped of their right to due process and are arbitrarily deprived of their life, in violation of international human rights law. MORE

Protest Against Drones and Afghan War at White House

Protest Against Drones and Afghan War at White House:

Israel Continues The Terror

Pictures of ordinary Gaza residents HERE. The US and UN and their satraps continue to pretend there is proportionality between brutal Israeli firepower and shed-manufactured rockets landing in the middle of nowhere.

Susan Rice Next Uber Liar in Succession To Clinton?

At Obama’s first press conference since (gasp) June, the president displayed uncharacteristic moxie in his defense of Rice, who was a key foreign-policy supporter during his 2008 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. 

Obama called the attacks on Rice “outrageous” Wednesday and said that if the Republicans “think she’s an easy target, then they’ve got a problem with me.'' MORE

‘Not worth wasting one more British life in Afghanistan’ says Paddy Ashdown

‘Not worth wasting one more British life in Afghanistan’ says Paddy Ashdown

Lord Ashdown: Afghanistan Is Lost And Britain Should Leave Now

Paddy Ashdown: Afghanistan Is Lost And Britain Should Leave Now: "Writing in The Times on Friday, the former Lib Dem leader said it was "crystal clear" that the West had lost the war and that "the only rational policy now is to leave quickly".
"It is not worth wasting one more life in Afghanistan. All that we can achieve has now been achieved," he said.
"The only outcome of staying longer is more deaths for no purpose; most of them now caused not by the enemy in front of our troops, but by the enemy among them.""

Rush For The Exits - Germany Now

Some very diplomatic language in this piece. What is German for 'Tail Between Legs'?
Germany Prepares Withdrawal From Afghanistan:

Reading The Omen Of Israel's Air Strike On Ahmed Jabari

The Trench: Reading The Omen Of Israel's Air Strike On Ahmed Jabari: "However Hamas and Gaza's militant offshoots have no choice except to deliver on their promised retaliation, a cycle that Israel is equally willing to perpetuate. 

Multiple "truces" have immediately broken down and both sides attribute responsibility to the other. This fire is likely to heat up before cooling down. 

On Monday the Islamic Jihad's Khaled al-Batsh explained his group's status: "The ball is in Israel's court. 

The resistance factions will observe Israel's behavior on the ground and will act accordingly."

Petraeus Affair - Another Stone Topples From Crumbling Afghanistan Edifice

The reality in this particular conflict is that peace remains elusive. 

Very few Afghans believe they will witness it during Obama’s second term. 

The unfolding sex scandals — engulfing former CIA Director David Petraeus and the commander of American and NATO forces here, Gen. John Allen — simply add to the sense of a strategy unraveling. LINK

Failure of US IED Strategy

The Real Petraeus

The Real Petraeus Moral Failure…Lying to the American People about Afghanistan - BlackListedNews.com: 

"In March 2010 Petraeus testified to the Senate that the Taliban’s momentum had been stopped in much of Afghanistan, a statement that bore no relation to reality. 

He also told The Wall Street Journal that Taliban attacks involving roadside bombs had “flattened,” when Pentagon statistics showed that they had actually doubled in the previous year."

2 ISAF interpreters shot dead by insurgents

2 ISAF interpreters shot dead by insurgents | Pajhwok Afghan News: "Col. Rais Khan Sadiq told Pajhwok Afghan News the victims from Mohammad Agha district were acting as translators on ISAF’s Shinak Camp in Padkhwab area"

Abu Qatada Appeal - Clip

US Failure in Afghanistan Not Lost on Warlords

Afghan Warlord Ismail Khan’s Call to Arms Rattles Kabul - NYTimes.com: "In Kabul, Mr. Khan’s provocative actions have played out in the news media and brought a fierce reaction from some members of Parliament, who said the warlords were preparing to take advantage of the American troop withdrawal set for 2014.“People like Ismail Khan smell blood,” Belqis Roshan, a senator from Farah Province, said in an interview. “They think that as soon as foreign forces leave Afghanistan, once again they will get the chance to start a civil war, and achieve their ominous goals of getting rich and terminating their local rivals.”"

Dronestagram: the locations behind America's secret drone war

Dronestagram: the locations behind America's secret drone war:

Israel And Syria Exchange Fire For Second Day

Petraeus sex scandal - General John Allen investigated for 'inappropriate communications'

New twist in Petraeus sex scandal as General John Allen investigated for 'inappropriate communications' to Jill Kelley - Americas - World - The Independent:

Real Petraeus Failure Was in Iraq And Afghanistan

L'armée Israélienne a tiré en Direction de la Syrie

3 Boys Killed By ISAF Drone In Logar

PUL-I-ALAM (PAN): Three civilians were killed during an ISAF drone strike in the Baraki Barak district of central Logar province on Monday, residents and the provincial council head said. The airstrike was conducted at around 1.00pm in the Shati Qala area of the district, killing three boys, provincial council chief, Ghulam Yahiya Ahmadzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News. He said the boys, all aged below 16 years, were working on their farm, and village elders later took their bodies to the governor’s office as a mark of protest. Resident Haji Habibur Rahman said the boys, working on their carrot farm, had no links to the insurgents. Baraki Barak district chief, Mohammad Rahim Amin, said the base of American troops came under rocket attack from the area where the airstrike was conducted. He said an investigation was underway to determine whether or not the youngsters had a role in the attack. Meanwhile, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) media office in Kabul said it was unaware of the incident. It would look into the issue, a brief statement from the NATO-led said. 

from Pajhwok

Who killed Channing Day?

Who killed Channing Day - the third woman in the British army to die in Afghanistan?:

Paula Broadwell Published Hagiograph of Petraeus Masquerading As History

With Paula Broadwell, Gen. David Petraeus let his guard down - The Washington Post:

Can you write an objective biography of a public figure while having sex with them. Probably not

How I Was Drawn Into the Cult of David Petraeus

How I Was Drawn Into the Cult of David Petraeus | Danger Room | Wired.com:

Girl tells of Afghan Gun Massacre

Girl tells of Afghan gun massacre - timesofmalta.com:

CIA director David Petraeus resigns over affair

BBC News - CIA director David Petraeus resigns over affair: