Free Republic

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, is right when he says that more troops and more civilian reconstruction involvement are necessary if the Taliban are to be defeated. It's sort of what Prime Minister Stephen Harper says, though he's pulling Canadian combat troops out by 2011 (which will lead to another sort of crisis). It's what our former ambassador to Afghanistan and special envoy of the UN secretary general, Chris Alexander has been saying for years -- and he probably has a better "feel" for the country than all the other experts combined. Military force or civilian...

There was an international uproar when, on Sept. 4, in Afghanistan's Kunduz province, an American fighter jet under NATO command bombed a group of Taliban fighters who had hijacked two fuel tanker trucks. The trucks exploded, the fighters were killed, and so were a still-undetermined number of Afghan civilians. When McChrystal met with local leaders in Kunduz, a few days after the bombing, he got an earful -- but not what he expected. McChrystal began the meeting with a show of sympathy for those who had been killed or wounded. The general didn't get very far before he was interrupted...

Countries like Poland and the Czech Republic are disappointed at what it means to be part of Nato. This feeling has become even stronger now the promised missile shield will not be built. By Stéphane Alonso and Petra de Koning No one in the West is talking about it, but in the heart of Europe the 15,000 Russian and Byelorussian troops at the border with Lithuania and Poland are big news. They are holding an exercise this month, specially dubbed zapad, the West. For the countries of Eastern Europe, traumatised by a war and occupation, 'zapad' is much more than...

Several U.S. senators have blasted President Barack Obama's decision to change U.S. missile defense policy in Europe, accusing the president of "abandoning" U.S. allies there. Senior Pentagon officials and some other senators defended the new strategy at an Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday, saying the new plan is the best way to deal directly with the nuclear threat from Iran. President Obama surprised the world last Thursday when he announced plans to cancel a missile defense system in Europe proposed by the Bush administration. The Bush-era program would have placed ground-based interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the...

Troops React to McChrystal Report The soldiers I have talked to in Afghanistan say they would welcome more troops, as Gen. Stanley McChrystal has recommended - any help they can get to get out of here and get back home. The war here is under-resourced, under-funded and until recently largely ignored in favor of the war in Iraq. There is double the number of troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan right now - and many wonder why Iraq was allowed to distract us from the gains made here early on in the war. But even if more troops are sent...

<p>For 11 days in late August and early September in 1995, U.S. and NATO air power defended Bosnian Muslims, who were being attacked by Bosnian Serbs, who were supported by Serbian Serbs. This was merely the overture to something much more ambitious -- a grand concert of nation-building that began when the Dayton agreement reached in December of that year calmed the Balkan furies of revanchism and revenge, for a while.</p>

For 11 days in late August and early September 1995, U.S. and NATO air power defended Bosnian Muslims, who were being attacked by Bosnian Serbs, who were supported by Serbian Serbs. This was merely the overture to something much more ambitious — a grand concert of nation-building that began when the Dayton agreement reached in December of that year calmed the Balkan furies of revanchism and revenge, for a while... Political scientists Patrice C. McMahon and Jon Western note that Bosnia was “once the poster child for international reconstruction efforts” and was considered “proof that under the right conditions the...

Russia said on Saturday it had started talks with France for an unprecedented deal to buy a new helicopter-carrying assault warship from NATO-member France. The Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported last month that the ship, which can carry 16 heavy helicopters, 470 airborne troops and other gear, costs 700 million euros (995 million dollars).

The gist of the article is this: Obama's line of reasoning may be off but the outcome is still useful from an isolationist perspective. Isolationist do not want USA in Poland or anywhere else for that matter. Then we argue that, if you have to have an ally with someone, may as well make it Russia, because at least they fight. Has a cool picture (from Wikimedia) of a bunch of Russian soldiers at Stalingrad with Poposhovs.

NATO-led forces are investigating the death of four Marines in eastern Afghanistan after their commanders reportedly rejected requests for artillery fire in a battle with insurgents, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Tuesday's incident was "under investigation" and details remained unclear, press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference. A McClatchy newspapers' journalist who witnessed the battle reported that a team of Marine trainers made repeated appeals for air and artillery support after being pinned down by insurgents in the village of Ganjgal in eastern Kunar province. The U.S. troops had to wait more than an hour for attack helicopters to...

Assume for the moment that President Obama's sea-based interceptor plan adequately addresses the threat posed to Europe by Iran. Further assume that Secretary Gate's shift from selling his former president's proposal to selling his current president's proposal represents an honest evaluation of a changing threat based on intelligence information that is complete and accurate. Those are very big assumptions, but go with them for a moment. If true, one could assume the American administration simply found a happy confluence of events - a desire to "reset" U.S. relations with Russia; Russia not wanting the heavy American commitment to Poland and...

"We can't be everywhere... we've... got to focus on achievable objectives," he told the BBC's Security Correspondent Frank Gardner. "I think security where we know the population is living, freedom of movement on the key highways – that means the Afghan economy can start to kick-start itself, and that people can begin to take a stake in their community – is the way in which we will achieve success." His comments follow those of a series of senior military leaders in both the UK and the US. This week, the new head of the British Army, General Sir David Richards,...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO urged Russia on Friday to work with it on missile defense and proposed looking at ways eventually to link U.S., NATO and Russian anti-missile systems. One day after Washington scrapped a missile defense plan for Europe which Russia opposed, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia and the Western defense alliance should conduct a joint review of the security challenges they face. "I would like Russia and NATO to agree to carry out a joint review of the new 21st century security challenges, to serve as a firm basis for our future cooperation," Rasmussen said in...

No link yet just breaking news banner

Alliances: The U.S. has expressed a willingness to barter away missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. Now the Polish foreign minister says he hopes his country doesn't regret trusting the United States.The Brussels Forum is a privately organized high-level meeting of the most influential North American and European political, corporate and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges currently facing both sides of the Atlantic. One of the pressing issues discussed at this year's conference was whether the U.S. is serious about bartering away plans for missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic in exchange for...

With Friends Like Joe Biden… 31 August, 17:00 | Anthony T. Salvia, Special to Kyiv Post Bucking the wishes of a solid majority of Ukrainians, President Victor Yushchenko is plowing ahead with plans to incorporate Ukraine in NATO. In early August, he signed off on a national program to meet NATO membership criteria and gave his cabinet four weeks to present him with an implementation scheme. It’s a politically risky move that recently got a lot riskier thanks to the activities of a voluble overseas friend of the President’s. I refer to U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and his recent...

Justice: As if fighting a war in Afghanistan isn't hard enough, ambitious global prosecutors have rolled into Kabul looking to charge U.S. troops. Intentional or not, such legalism will sap U.S. morale as it did in Vietnam.At about the time NATO's new secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, warned NATO's European members against an early pullout, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, whose body is charged with looking for international war criminals, announced he was looking for new "clients" from anyone with a grievance in Afghanistan. At a briefing Wednesday in The Hague, Moreno-Ocampo said he had launched...

NORFOLK -- A French general is set to take command of NATO's only strategic command in North America, becoming the first non-American officer in the alliance's 60-year history to permanently fill a command post.

It was back on Sept 5th that I posted about the Taliban vow of revenge for the Kundiz province bombing. During that time, New York Times journalist, Steven Farrell and his 34 year old interpreter, Sultan Munadi, were captured by Taliban. In a daring and successful raid, British NATO commandos rescued the journalist. The price for Farrell's freedom was heavy... PM Gordon Brown heaped solemn praise on one, as of yet unnamed British soldier gave his life in the rescue, and Munadi died in bullets crossfire, just feet from cover and freedom. According to Farrell’s account in the Times, the...

NATO troops released a kidnapped New York Times reporter in Northern Afghanistan in a raid before dawn on Wednesday, after he had been held for four days, an Afghan district chief said. Reporter Stephen Farrell, who is British, was abducted on Saturday along with his Afghan interpreter while attempting to visit the scene of a NATO air strike.

MOSCOW, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow dismissed on Thursday comments by a U.S. administration official suggesting that Russia could become a member of NATO. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon said on Tuesday that Washington would consider Russian membership in the military alliance, which was founded in 1949. He said NATO should be open to European democracies, adding that "if Russia meets the criteria and can contribute to common security, and there is a consensus in the alliance, it shouldn't be excluded." Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said Gordon's comments "are not serious enough" and that the U.S....

The United States and its allies must change strategy and boost cooperation to turn around the war in Afghanistan, the top U.S. and NATO commander there said on Monday, wrapping up a much-anticipated review. .... The White House sought on Monday to pin the blame for the grave state of the war in Afghanistan on the Bush administration, which made Iraq its top military priority. "This was underresourced, underfunded, undermanned and ignored for years," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — A NATO jet blasted two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, setting off a huge fireball Friday that killed up to 90 people, including dozens of civilians, Afghan officials said. The NATO command said a "large number of insurgents" were killed or injured in the pre-dawn attack near the village of Omar Khel in the once-calm province of Kunduz. In Brussels, the alliance's chief said it was possible civilians died. Kunduz Gov. Mohammad Omar said 90 people were killed. A senior Afghan police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2009 – NATO International Security Assistance Force servicemembers have helped Afghan forces in their efforts to aid flood victims in eastern Afghanistan. In Laghman province’s Alingar district, ISAF servicemembers delivered three truckloads of humanitarian aid items to Sundurwa villagers Sept. 3 after a road washed out, destroying a house and killing nine children. Two children were missing after the flood. In an effort to support the Afghan Border Police, who initially responded to the washout and provided humanitarian aid, ISAF servicemembers, including an engineer serving with the Nuristan provincial reconstruction team, assessed the road and...

After a Nato airstrike killed as many as 125 people last week, General Stanley McChrystal was keen to get the situation under control — fast. When he tried to contact his underlings to find out what had happened, however, he found, to his fury, that many of them were either drunk or too hungover to respond. Complaining in his daily Commander’s Update that too many people had been “partying it up”, General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), banned alcohol at his headquarters yesterday,

Civilian causalities from NATO bombings in Afghanistan represent: Deliberate war crimes Inadvertent but avoidable An inevitable byproduct of a just war Overblown Click on "English" - upper left - scroll down a bit - on the right.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2009 – NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has launched an investigation into a coalition air strike that reportedly killed civilians yesterday, military officials reported. NATO officials still are working to ascertain the facts in the incident, which occurred in Regional Command North’s area of operations in Kunduz province, according to an ISAF news release. What is known is that ISAF soldiers reported that insurgents had hijacked two fuel trucks in Kunduz yesterday. The troops located the trucks on the banks of the Kunduz River when the vehicles became stuck in the mud. The troops observed...

Nato has promised a full investigation into an air strike on two fuel tankers that killed up to 90 people in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province. The alliance said many Taliban insurgents who had hijacked the tankers were killed but it admitted it had reports of many civilian casualties. The Nato-led forces said they regretted "any unnecessary loss of human life". President Hamid Karzai said targeting civilians was "unacceptable" and announced his own investigation panel. A statement from his office said the president expressed "deep sorrow for the loss of our compatriots" and "emphasised that innocent civilians must not be killed...

NATO’s war in Afghanistan could become an Iraq-like quagmire, if Western powers continue on their present pathTHIS IS THE just war, the "war of necessity," as Barack Obama likes to put it, in contrast to the bad war, the war of misguided choices in Iraq. But as a deeply flawed election went ahead in Afghanistan earlier this month, there were echoes, in the mission by the United States and its allies, of the darkest days of the Iraq campaign: muddled aims, mounting casualties and the gnawing fear of strategic defeat. Gloomy commentators evoke the spectre of the humiliations inflicted by...

Pakistani officials are investigating an explosion at a border crossing with Afghanistan that set ablaze at least 16 supply trucks and fuel tankers bound for NATO troops. Police suspect a bomb planted under a fuel tanker exploded late Sunday at the Chaman crossing in Baluchistan province. The blaze then spread to the other trucks. Sources say at least one person was wounded in the incident. Witnesses report hearing gunfire before the explosion, and police say emergency crews were fighting the fire into Sunday night. Hundreds of trucks, many loaded with NATO supplies, have been stuck on Pakistan's side of the...

Washington may relocate the controversial missile defense system planned for Eastern Europe to the Balkans, Turkey or Israel, a Polish newspaper reports. The U.S. plan included 10 long-range interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. That plan will almost certainly be scrapped, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports. Washington is now looking for alternative locations including in the Balkans, Israel and Turkey, the daily says, citing U.S. administration officials and lobbyists based in Washington. "The signals that the generals in the Pentagon are sending are absolutely clear: as far as missile defense is concerned, the current...

The Department of Defense requests $7.5 billion to support Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) for FY 2010. This represents an increase of 34 percent above the FY 2009 level of $5.6 billion. The Department also requests Congress continue to provide needed flexibility by appropriating these funds for two-year execution through September 30, 2011. The FY 2010 budget provides essential resources to maintain the accelerated growth of the Afghan National Army (ANA) force structure to a goal of 134,000 (122,000 trained and 12,000 soldiers in training) by December 2011 and to continue training and supporting the 86,800 Afghan National Police (ANP)...

War Strategy: The war in Afghanistan is "deteriorating" and a much bigger commitment is needed if we are to win it, says the top U.S. military officer. President Obama has made this his war. Is he ready to fight it?For years now, we have heard repeatedly from the left that Afghanistan, not Iraq, is where the U.S. should be. Well, we're there now, 68,000 strong, up from 32,000 in 2008. But even that might not be enough. "I think it is serious, and it is deteriorating, and I've said that over the past couple of years — that the Taliban...

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that German troops would stay in Afghanistan until their goals were achieved, dismissing the possibility of setting a timeline for withdrawal. In an interview with ZDF television being aired Sunday night, provided in advance to the AP, Merkel said she could not commit to bringing the troops home in a specific timeframe. She said she wanted them home “as soon as possible” but not until the mission was complete. “We have a goal, and that is self-sustaining security for Afghanistan,” she said. She would not speculate on when that goal might be reached....

On the frontline with British troops in Afghanistan As Afghanistan prepares for an election, award-winning photographer Sean Smith, stationed with British troops during Operation Panther's Claw, finds many soldiers becoming frustrated at the inexperience and lack of discipline of the Afghan National Army. guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 August 2009 video at link etc

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2009 – The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan is supporting Afghan security forces’ efforts to secure polling centers, reduce the effects of insurgents and counter voter apathy in some regions in advance of tomorrow’s presidential and provincial council elections. “We are doing everything we can in conjunction with our Afghan partners to provide the very best security arrangements, and we’ve worked hard to reassure the local Afghan communities that they should take part in the election process,” Australian Brig. Gen. Damian Cantwell, chief of ISAF’s election task force, said yesterday during a “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable....

A large suicide car bomb which exploded in the Afghan capital of Kabul this morning has killed at least seven civilians and wounded 91.The attack, which took place outside the main gate of the Nato headquarters in the heavily fortified Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city, comes ahead of the country's upcoming presidential election on Thursday. The Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said: 'It was a suicide bombing carried out in a car right in front of ISAF (the Nato-led peacekeeping force).' A blaze can be seen in the immediate aftermath of the suicide car bomb which...

A large blast ripped through the centre of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, and smoke could be seen rising above the city's diplomatic quarter. . .

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2009 – NATO has approved the idea of an intermediate military headquarters in Afghanistan, Pentagon officials said today. The headquarters is a corps-level organization that will oversee the tactical, day-to-day operations in the country. U.S. officials would like to see Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, deputy commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, in the post. The new headquarters would allow the four-star commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, to concentrate on the big-picture parts of the conflict, including building relationships and coordinating with the Afghan and Pakistani governments, as well as as...

KABUL, Aug. 13, 2009 – Afghan soldiers, aided by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, captured suspected Taliban fighters Aug. 11 in the Sayed Abad district of eastern Afghanistan’s Wardak province. Based on a local resident’s tip, Task Force Spartan, under the lead of Afghan soldiers, searched a location in the Tangi Valley. The force captured two suspected insurgents known for bomb-making production, and two alleged accomplices. The two insurgents are suspected of being involved in several homemade bomb attacks on Afghan and ISAF troops, including multiple attacks in Wardak province’s Sayed Abad district in June. The joint force also found...

Afghan Taliban kill a Polish soldier WARSAW, Poland, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A 32-year-old NATO soldier from Poland was killed and four others were injured in a Taliban attack in eastern Afghanistan, military officials said Tuesday. Polish Capt. Daniel Ambrozinski was in command of a patrol of Polish and Afghan troops operating as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in the eastern Ajuristan district Monday when they came under small arms fire, Polish Radio said. In the Taliban attack four Poles were injured and Ambrozinski was declared missing. He was found dead Tuesday, Polish Lt. Col. Dariusz Kacperczyk...

August 10, 2009 Another 45,000 US troops needed in Afghanistan, military adviser says Nato needs to change its strategy in Afghanistan, says Anthony Cordesman, a military adviser Michael Evans, Defence Editor The United States should send up to 45,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, a senior adviser to the American commander in Kabul has told The Times. Anthony Cordesman, an influential American academic who is a member of a team that has been advising General Stanley McChrystal, now in charge of Nato forces in Afghanistan, also said that to deal with the threat from the Taleban the size of the Afghan...

U.S. officials believe Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA drone attack last week, President Obama’s national security adviser said Sunday. “We think so,” Gen. James Jones told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” adding, “We put it in the 90 percent category.” Government officials in Pakistan said Friday they were still waiting for results of DNA analysis to ensure that the man killed Wednesday in an unmanned aerial vehicle strike is indeed Mehsud. Taliban officials have denied the death of the man targeted at the home of Mehsud’s father-in-law. If Mehsud was killed, Jones said it’s an important...

More than a year ago, the U.N. dropped the Russian air transport company Vertikal-T from its approved list of vendors after a fatal helicopter crash in Nepal. Yet NATO continued to use helicopters owned by Vertikal-T in Afghanistan. And on July 19, one of those choppers crashed at southern Afghanistan's largest NATO base, killing 16 civilians on board. The crash reflects a little-known reality behind NATO's military push in Afghanistan: It is relying on Russian aviators flying Soviet-design aircraft, who are clocking up lucrative contracts in a country Russian troops left two decades ago. Aviation industry analysts say many of...

From The Times August 8, 2009 General Sir David Richards: Afghanistan will take 40 years Michael Evans, Defence Editor General Sir David Richards insists there is 'absolutely no chance' of Nato pulling out of Afghanistan Britain’s mission in Afghanistan could last for up to 40 years, the next head of the Army warns today in an exclusive interview with The Times. General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff on August 28, said: “The Army’s role will evolve, but the whole process might take as long as 30 to 40 years.” He emphasised that British troop involvement,...

KABUL – Three NATO troops were killed in a Taliban attack on their patrol in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said Friday, raising the number of international forces slain in the first week of August to 18. NATO said the troops' vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb before insurgents opened fire. The NATO forces fired back, but the three were killed. Attacks killed at least 75 troops from the U.S. and other international military forces in July, the highest death toll for a single month since 2001, according to military reports. Afghan officials said ...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2009 – It is crucial that U.S., NATO and Afghan forces make progress in Afghanistan in the next 12 to 18 months, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told National Public Radio’s Steve Inskeep that security forces must reverse the trends in Afghanistan. “The Afghan people are tired of this, and my sense is that it has been eight years, and it has got to start moving in the other direction,” the admiral said on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”.” Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met Aug. 2 with...

Media AdvisoryOur Fallen Comrades Return HomeLFCA MA 09-20 - August 3, 2009OTTAWA – Our fallen comrades, Sapper Matthieu Allard and Corporal Christian Bobbitt, will return to Canada on Tuesday, August 4, 2009. Both men were from the 5e Régiment du génie, a combat engineer Regiment based in Valcartier, Quebec, and were serving with the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment Battle Group in Afghanistan. Where: 8 Wing, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario. When: Tuesday, Aug 4, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. What: At the wishes of the families, media will be permitted on the tarmac. Present to pay their respects will be...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received an update on the situation in Afghanistan during a meeting in Belgium. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, briefed the secretary and chairman at Chievres Air Base. The trip was unannounced, and the secretary and chairman flew home yesterday. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe; Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander...

Several hundred Bundeswehr soldiers, backed by heavy “Marder” tanks and fighter jets, are currently helping about 1,200 Afghan National Army forces conduct major anti-terrorist operations near the Taliban stronghold of Chahar Dara, southwest of the city of Kunduz, where the bulk of Germany’s roughly 4,000 troops are stationed. The fighting--which started on Sunday and involves looking for Taliban / Al Qaeda fighters “village by village and house by house”--is expected to go on until at least next week. The Bundeswehr soldiers are part of the German-led NATO Quick Reaction Force (QRF), which provides force protection and serves as emergency back-up...