Commons Almost Empty For Afghan War Debate

Despite many many MP's claiming there is ‘no issue of greater importance’ than the war, fewer than 100 bothered to attend the debate in the Commons yesterday. 

Meanwhile the body of 26-year-old father-of two Lance Corporal Joe Pool from here in Scotland was returned to British soil. The soldier, from Greenock, was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Helmand Province on Sunday, making him the 334th UK serviceman to die in the war. 

Emotional: Mourners watch the coffin of Lance Corporal Joseph Pool passing through Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire following his repatriation ceremony at RAF Lyneham.

Afghanistan Death Squads - Inside Account

Covert Assassins Charged With Hunting, Killing Afghans

By Pratap Chatterjee, Alternet

Capture/kill teams leave a trail of dead civilian bodies and recrimination in their wake, undermining any goodwill created by U.S. reconstruction projects. 

"Find, fix, finish, and follow-up" is the way the Pentagon describes the mission of secret military teams in Afghanistan which have been given a mandate to pursue alleged members of the Taliban or al-Qaeda wherever they may be found. Some call these “manhunting” operations and the units assigned to them “capture/kill” teams.
Whatever terminology you choose, the details of dozens of their specific operations -- and how they regularly went badly wrong -- have been revealed for the first time in the mass of secret U.S. military and intelligence documents published by the website Wikileaks in July to a storm of news coverage and official protest. Representing a form of U.S. covert warfare now on the rise, these teams regularly make more enemies than friends and undermine any goodwill created by U.S. reconstruction projects.

When Danny Hall and Gordon Phillips, the civilian and military directors of the U.S. provincial reconstruction team in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, arrived for a meeting with Gul Agha Sherzai, the local governor, in mid-June 2007, they knew that they had a lot of apologizing to do. Philips had to explain why a covert U.S. military “capture/kill” team named Task Force 373, hunting for Qari Ur-Rahman, an alleged Taliban commander given the code-name “Carbon,” had called in an AC-130 Spectre gunship and inadvertently killed seven Afghan police officers in the middle of the night.
The incident vividly demonstrated the inherent clash between two doctrines in the U.S. war in Afghanistan -- counterinsurgency (“protecting the people”) and counterterrorism (killing terrorists). Although the Obama administration has given lip service to the former, the latter has been, and continues to be, the driving force in its war in Afghanistan.
For Hall, a Foreign Service officer who was less than two months away from a plush assignment in London, working with the military had already proven more difficult than he expected. In an article forForeign Service Journal published a couple of months before the meeting, he wrote, “I felt like I never really knew what was going on, where I was supposed to be, what my role was, or if I even had one. In particular, I didn't speak either language that I needed: Pashtu or military.”
It had been no less awkward for Phillips. Just a month earlier, he had personally handed over “solatia” payments -- condolence payments for civilian deaths wrongfully caused by U.S. forces -- in Governor Sherzai's presence, while condemning the act of a Taliban suicide bomber who had killed 19 civilians, setting off the incident in question. “We come here as your guests,” he told the relatives of those killed, “invited to aid in the reconstruction and improved security and governance of Nangarhar, to bring you a better life and a brighter future for you and your children. Today, as I look upon the victims and their families, I join you in mourning for your loved ones.”

Afghan Strategy Unravelling? No, That Was Years Ago.

Among those whe believe the Afghan War policy is down the toilet and round the u-bend are more than 100 House Democrats who voted against war funding last month, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, a number of internationally based foreign policy commentators and the president of Pakistan. Internal disagreements and confusion between US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on how substantial will be the US troop withdrawals starting next summer, reflect a false choice. Given the situation and costs in lives and treasure, there seems little doubt that Obama will substantially scale back the U.S. commitment.

Another false debate grew out of the papers recently published on the WikiLeaks Website showing that elements of the Pakistani intelligence agency were cooperating with theTaliban; that was neither surprising nor unexpected.The numbers underscore why this 'strategy' is unsustainable. U.S. casualties this year are likely to double to between 600 and 700, more than during the entire administration of President Bush; July was the deadliest month in the history of the conflict.The Afghan war will cost America $105 billion this fiscal year, more than double what it was costing when Obama took over, and almost twice what the United States is spending on Iraq. Most allies aren’t interested in being part of any long-term plans. The Dutch have withdrawn their soldiers; Canada and Poland will soon do likewise. The largest non-U.S. contingent is the almost 10,000 British troops, and Prime Minister David Cameron has suggested he’d like to pull most of them out in the not-too-distant future. There is hardly any public support in Britain for the debacle.

Yes, We Have No Obamas (Sorry for that one)

There are two overarching factors that make the U.S. policy unsustainable: Public opinion - most Americans now think the war isn’t winnable. And in contrast to the context surrounding the catastrophe in Iraq, the United States is in bad shape financially. Some of the most passionate supporters of the war, such as Senators McCain and the Israel-sponsored Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent are still calling for tax cuts. This is leading to a bad place for Obama and even the normally comatose US public is waking up to the smell of failure and defeat in Afghanistan.

Regey Massacre - Investigation Underway

An investigation has begun into another major massacre of civilians by Nato in Helmland Province. Details are still becoming clear since Nato claimed to have investigated and found nothing. Details here.

Afghans 4 Brits 0 - Lessons of History

'Often they would tell us they preferred the Russians [occupying the country] to the Americans. We were all Americans to them. They would say the Russians left them a better infrastructure and even took some of them on visits to Russia.

'It was often the case that, when we were strong, they would be our friends. When we showed a moment of weakness, they would turn against us. That's the Afghan trait.'

There's a lack of trust between the Nato soldiers and their Afghan counterparts, whether they be police or military. I'm incredibly proud of the British soldier, but there's an awful lot going on. I feel awfully sorry for the troops on the ground. I'm not so proud of the people who put them there.

Who are the enemy? Nine times out of 10, it's the village people who can pick up a gun, fire at you and then hide it back under the floorboards. People just want to be left alone.

The British army has been to Afghanistan four times [in history], and we have lost 4-0. I first went there in 2004, and everything I saw in may last trip last year suggested it has changed for the worse.

Everyone calls it an insurgency. It's not. It's a civil war. It's the Northern Alliance against the Pashtun south. We are taking part on one side in a 30-year civil war. Link'

Human Rights Report - Afghan Civilian Casualties

'The arrival of thousands of additional US/NATO forcesforces into the country, and the desire to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the insurgents and their al Qaeda associates by military might, bodes ill to civilian Afghans who have suffered the brunt of war casualties. The troop surge and the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus as the commander of all US/NATO forces has widely been interpreted as 'the last push before exit' which not only has emboldened the insurgents but has also encouraged Pakistan, Iran and other regional interventionist states to resurface and back proxies for a post-US/NATO Afghanistan.'

Link to Relief Web article and full report here

Gardez Raid Probe Excluded Key Witnesses

'But the father and mother of an 18-year-old girl who died from wounds inflicted by the raiders and the brother of a police officer and a prosecutor killed in the raid all said in interviews with IPS last week that they had never been contacted by US investigators about what they had seen that night. All three gave testimony to the Afghan investigators. In an interview with IPS, Mohammed Tahir, the father of Gulalai, the 18-year old girl who was killed in the raid, said, "I saw them taking out the bullets from bodies of my daughter and others." Tahir said that he and as many as seven other eyewitnesses had told interior ministry investigators about the attempted cover up they had seen. But he insisted, "We have never been interviewed by the US military." Link

Thanks to John for the link.

French General Disciplined For Truth Telling

Agence France Presse

PARIS: France will punish a general who criticised the US-led war effort in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Herve Morin said today, amid growing doubts about the NATO war strategy.
General Vincent Desportes, director of France’s Joint Forces Defence College, which trains staff officers, last week told the daily Le Monde that the situation in Afghanistan “has never been worse”.
Desportes said US President Barack Obama appears unsure of his strategy, that the counterinsurgency plan underway on the ground is not bearing fruit and that American soldiers are unhappy with their leadership.

His comments were an embarrassment for President Nicolas Sarkozy’s French government, which has 3,500 soldiers in Afghanistan fighting alongside Afghan forces in a US-led coalition against a fierce insurgency.
“He will be punished,” Morin told BFM television, adding that he had asked the French chiefs of staff to take administrative action against Desportes, whom he said had shown a “lack of judgement”.
“Until we hear otherwise, soldiers are under the authority of politicians, just like any other public employee,” he warned.
Desportes spoke out shortly after Obama triggered a new round of doubts over the Afghan war when he sacked the US commander of the NATO coalition, General Stanley McChrystal, over his own comments in the media. According to the investigative weekly Canard Enchaine, Desportes’ concerns about the coalition’s strategy are widely shared among senior French officers, one of who described the war as “an unmanageable shitstorm”.
French civilians are also opposed to the war. Opinion polls showed that 80 per cent of voters were against Sarkozy’s decision last year to reinforce the French contingent with additional troops.

'It's an American war', Desportes told Le Monde, complaining that NATO pays no heed to European concerns. 'When you're a one per cent shareholder you don't get to speak out. The allies have no strategic voice.'

NATO Attack Kills More Afghan Soldiers

Josef Blotz, a Nato spokesman, confirmed the attack. He said he regretted the incident and that Isaf would launch an investigation. "The reason for this is perhaps a co-ordination issue," Blotz said. "We were obviously not absolutely clear whether there were Afghan national security forces in the area." He extended the personal condolences of General David Petraeus, the newly arrived commander of Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, to the families of the victims. A Nato air strike killed four Afghan soldiers in Wardak province in January and the German army accidentally killed five Afghan soldiers in April in a "friendly fire" incident in Kunduz province.

Three thoughts:

I think Blotz could have left the word 'perhaps' out of his first sentence.

It makes a change for NATO to be 'not absolutely clear' whether there are Afghan soldiers in the area as opposed to be being 'not absolutely clear' whether there are Afghan civilans in the area.

It didn't take long for Petraeus to have to trot out the condolences in the context of another NATO bloodbath. It won't be long till the next time(see posts passim).

One For All You Droneheads Out There

Recent Pentagon accident reports reveal that the pilotless aircraft suffer from frequent system failures, computer glitches and human error.Design and system problems were never fully addressed in the haste to push the fragile plane into combat over Afghanistan shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks more than eight years ago. Air Force investigators continue to cite pilot mistakes, coordination snafus, software failures, outdated technology and inadequate flight manuals.Thirty-eight Predator and Reaper drones have crashed during combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and nine more during training on bases in the U.S. -- with each crash costing between $3.7 million and $5 million. Altogether, the US Air Force says there have been 79 drone accidents costing at least $1 million each. So much for the state of the art, high tech warfare we are always being spun. Obama, the Peace Laureate, as one poster on here recently reminded us, likes them.

The Last Days of The Americans

Thoughtful and informed analysis by William Dalrymple. Excerpt:

During lunch, as my hosts casually pointed out the various places in the village where the British had been massacred in 1842, I asked them if they saw any parallels between that war and the present situation. "It is exactly the same," said Anwar Khan Jegdalek. "Both times the foreigners have come for their own interests, not for ours. They say, 'We are your friends, we want democracy, we want to help.' But they are lying." ...“Afghanistan is like the crossroads for every nation that comes to power," [said] Jegdalek. "But we do not have the strength to control our own destiny - our fate is always determined by our neighbours. Next, it will be China. This is the last days of the Americans."...

Kandahar Offensive Creaking Into Motion

Some Afghan bloggers are reporting this morning that there has been a huge escalation in checkpoints and road-blocks by NATO. They suspect this is the long awaited start of the worst-kept military secret in modern neo-colonialist history. Petraeus is possibly looking for some good PR 'Getting Things Done' headlines. Watch out for the spike in civilian (sorry make that 'suspected militants') casualties. The collateral damage to ordinary Afghans(sorry make that 'compound people') by ISAF/NATO goes on. Links here and here. The second incident happened in Kandahar.

Petraeus - Primed To Fail In Afghanistan

Petraeus created the illusion of success in Iraq where the carnage and deadlock continue. Obama hopes he can pull the same trick in Afghanistan. He won't. Short clip on corruption and chaos at the heart of the continuing debacle.

History Repeating As Tragic Farce

In 1842, shortly after his return from Afghanistan, an army chaplain, Reverend G R Gleig, wrote a memoir about the First Anglo-Afghan War, of which he was one of the very few survivors. It was, he wrote, "a war begun for no wise purpose, carried on with a strange mixture of rashness and timidity, brought to a close after suffering and disaster, without much glory attached either to the government which directed, or the great body of troops which waged it. Not one benefit, political or military, has Britain acquired with this war. Our eventual evacuation of the country resembled the retreat of an army defeated."

FF to the present day and Obama has announced that he will begin withdrawing troops in July 2011. The start of the US withdrawal is likely to begin a rush to evacuate the other Nato forces located in pockets around the country: the Dutch have announced that they will be pulling out of Uruzgan this summer, and the Canadian and Danes won't be far behind them. Nor will the Brits, despite assurances from Hague and Fox. A recent poll showed that 72 per cent of Britons want the troops out of Afghanistan immediately, and there is only so long any government can hold out against such strong public opinion. Certainly, it is time to shed the idea that a pro-western puppet regime that excludes the Pashtuns can remain in place in Afghanistan indefinitely. The Karzai government is crumbling before our eyes, and if we delude ourselves that this is not the case, we could yet face a replay of 1842.

Get Those Old 'Grim Milestone' Articles Dusted Off

As the 300th British Military victim awaits his pointless fate in Afghanistan in the next few days, the tabloids are polishing up the old 'grim milestone' and 'noble sacrifice' phraseologies to mark the occsasion. The Sun will already have an 'Our Boys' editorial on the desk ready to publish. As Craig Murray has pointed out on numerous occasions, this kind of flatulent patriotism a la Wooton Bassett is nothing less than the music hall jingoism songs (We're Taking The Flag Back To Majuba was one) of the Victorian era. The same hapless British Tommies were being slaughtered then by the Boers, the Zulus and, yes, the Afghans.

Tony Blair And 'The Politics of Condemnation'

In the days of the long war in Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness for years used the same response when asked to condemn IRA bombings and killings. They would say 'we are not going to indulge in the politics of condemnation'. Since the Good Friday Agreement the phraseology had become redundant. But Tony Blair, US Middle East Puppet 'Peace Envoy' (God help us) courtesy of George Bush, dusted it off and trotted it out as his weasel worded whitewash for the phosphorous bombing of civilians in Gaza in 2009 by his Israeli friends. Within hours his New Labour acolytes were trotting it out on the BBC and Channel 4 news. The same, exact phrase. Where is the 'Peace Envoy' now that his chums have innocent blood on their hands once again? A deafening and eloquent silence. Surely it merits at least a quote for the Murdoch media along the lines that we shouldn't indulge in the 'politics of...........' Well, you know the rest.  

Bomb Disposal Deaths (2 in a year) 'Unacceptable' Says Coroner

Oh yes? Try 2 deaths among Afghan civilians every half an hour on average as a death rate which is unacceptable, Mr. Coroner? Thought about that?

Obama At West Point

Speaking to graduating cadets at West Point last Saturday, President Obama noted the "ultimate sacrifice" of 78 of their predecessors who gave up their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. But he did not mention that just days before, five U.S. soldiers were killed in Kabul, bringing the toll of American dead in Afghanistan to over 1,000. The picture here could be captioned ' Yippee - let's go zap Charlie Towelhead'. How does Obama think this stuff (including the images) plays across the world and in the Middle East?

Latest NATO Killings - Whitewash Unravels

"A lot of times these raids are premised on faulty evidence so someone will give a time to the international forces that "hey, there's an insurgent in this house," a raid will happen, it'll have tragic consequences and then there is just a dead silence."

Criminal Investigation of US Soldiers

At least 10 U.S. Army soldiers from a troubled unit of the 2nd Infantry Division in southern Afghanistan are now the focus of a criminal investigation into allegations they deliberately killed Afghan civilians, used illegal drugs and conducted other illicit activities,according to several sources in Afghanistan. The soldiers are part of the 5th Stryker Brigade of the 2ID, based out of Fort Lewis, Washington. The military issued a brief statement last week saying a criminal probe was under way into the allegations of killing, illegal drug use, assault and conspiracy. One military official familiar with the details of the case told reporters the matter was brought to the attention of commanders by at least one other soldier. The killings of the civilians did not take place in one single incident, the official said. Those under investigation are members of the same company, the official said. All 10 remain in Afghanistan. One soldier is being held in detention known as "pre-trial confinement." The others have been "put in a position where they can do no harm," the official said. He would offer no other details. Charges are expected to be filed in the coming days. The U.S. military is bracing for a further public outcry in Afghanistan when details emerge, several officials said. Gen. Stanley McChrystal has claimed to make the 'protection of Afghan civilians a top priority'. The officials stressed this case appears to be one of deliberate murder, not civilian casualties as a result of combat.