Revolution Newspaper: “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.” — Vice President Dick Cheney, August 2002 No “weapons of mass destruction” were ever found in Iraq. An October 2004 CIA report concluded, “Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991” Full story ...
The Huffington Post: U.S. taxpayers have spent nearly 2 billion USD since 2009 on deploying civilians to Afghanistan, according to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and the State Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG). "This joint audit marks the first time any U.S. agencies have determined the costs of this important effort," said acting Special Inspector General Steven J. Trent. Full story ...
PAN: Hundreds of residents staged a protest against a district chief in northeastern badakhshan province on Thursday, demanding the official’s sacking for misusing his authority. The protestors accused the Khwahan district head, Zalmai Shah, of beating a civilian named Muhammad Karim without any reason, said Col. Fazil Ahmad Nazari, crime branch chief at the badakhshan police headquarters. Full story ...
Green Left Weekly: Malalai Joya is a writer, activist and former parliamentarian in the national assembly of Afghanistan. Prior to speaking at two Overland events at the 2011 Melbourne Writers’ Festival, she discussed occupation and resistance in Afghanistan today. Full story ...
ABC Online: Activist, writer and a former Afghan politician Malalai Joya is currently touring the country. She hasn’t yet had the ear of the Prime Minister or the Minister for Defence to discuss the plight of her people or the reality of the war in Afghanistan, but perhaps if Prime Minister Gillard broke bread with Joya she might gain some real insight into the consequences of Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan. Full story ...
NNI: Following a visit to Afghanistan, a delegation of International Peace Activists expressed their supports for the interference of International Criminal Court (ICC) in regards to the current incidents taking place in the country. The delegation includes experts from the US and Italy, who visited Afghanistan with a slogan “Enough to Violence, War and Terrorism”... Full story ...
The New York Times: NATO has temporarily stopped transferring detainees to a number of Afghan jails after accusations of torture and abuse were uncovered in a report to be published soon, NATO and United Nations officials said Tuesday. The findings in the report, by the United Nations Assistance Mission Afghanistan, involve at least six detention centers run by the National Directorate of Security... Full story ...
ABC News: Innocent people are being killed or forced to flee in fear as Australian special forces teams hunt Taliban commanders in southern Afghanistan, ABC TV’s Four Corners has been told. About 300 elite Australian soldiers are hunting down Taliban commanders in Uruzgan individually, targeting them one by one. Full story ...
The Wall Street Journal: KABUL—American officers deployed as mentors in Afghanistan’s main military hospital discovered a shocking secret last year: Injured soldiers were routinely dying of simple infections and even starving to death as some corrupt doctors and nurses demanded bribes for food and the most basic of care. Full story ...
Mother Jones: After three years, the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting completed its business this week. In its final report to Congress (PDF), it estimates that the federal government has lost between 31 and 60 billion USD to contractor fraud and waste since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq started. Full story ...
PAN: People in Pul-i-Khumri, a city in northern Baghlan province, say that the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has not rebuilt a school it destroyed in an operation against the Taliban. The school, located in the Ahmadzai village of the Dand-e-Ghori district of the city, was being used as a base for insurgents. It was destroyed almost eight months ago under heavy fire from ISAF. Full story ...
IWPR: A local policing venture in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kapisa province is faltering as men leave the force because their wages have been cut. The men are part of the Afghan Local Police, originally village militias that have been brought under a centralised command structure since last year. They remain distinct from the regular Afghan National Police, ANP. Full story ...
The Washington Post: They die in assaults on lonely mountain checkpoints and in group beheadings captured on hand-held video cameras. They are engulfed by flaming car bombs and are shot at point-blank range by men who often dress up in the same plain gray uniform as theirs. Full story ...
IWPR: Khadija sat by the grave of her only son Sayid, crying bitterly as her her husband attempted to comfort her. “A month ago, my son was coming out of school and crossing the road when a police Ranger vehicle hit and killed him, although the traffic light was red and vehicles were supposed to stop,” said the bereaved father, who lives in Herat in western Afghanistan. Full story ...
BBC News: The US government has wasted 30bn USD (18bn Pounds) in contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last decade, according to a bi-partisan spending commission. The commission on wartime contracting blamed an over-reliance on contractors, poor planning and fraud for the waste. It had evidence of lax accountability and inadequate competition, it said. Full story ...
The Gulf Today: Six Afghan civilians from the same family were killed by a coalition air strike in the insurgent-hit east of the country, local officials said on Friday. A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said he could not confirm civilians were killed but that several insurgents were among the dead in the operation... Full story ...
Xinhua: Likewise other war-torn countries, the poverty and child labor are common in the war-battered Afghanistan; however, using children as the lethal suicide bombers is a new unimaginable phenomenon that tramples the right of teens in this part of the world. Virtually, in the modern world it is hard to believe that youngsters can be recruited and used as human bombs against humanity... Full story ...
The Age: The United States government believes Australia’s strongest local partner in Afghanistan, who has received direct payments from Canberra, is involved in the narcotics trade that fuels the insurgency. Until last year, the Australian government paid Matiullah Khan for his armed men to work with Australian special forces. Full story ...
The Telegraph: Ahmed Omed Khpulwak was among at least 22 killed, mostly civilians, during a two-pronged militant attack on government buildings in Uruzgan province last month. An independent investigation has now found he appeared to have been shot dead by American weapons after the attackers were already dead. Full story ...
Daily Pioneer: The Pakistani spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), with the help of Taliban, has revived the Al-Huda outfit of Gulbuddin Hikmatyar to target Indians in Afghanistan. As many as 350 persons have been trained so far particularly to target Indian business interests and development works being executed in the war-torn country. Full story ...
Reuters: An Afghan policeman shot dead taxi driver Mohammad Jawid Amiri six month ago, for no apparent reason. According to a Kabul police official, the shooting was an accident, and the offending policeman is now behind bars. That’s news to the family of 27-year-old Amiri. They say the only contact with the policeman they had since the shooting was when his family offered a sheep and three bags each of rice and flour as compensation... Full story ...
Green Left Weekly: On August 19, a Taliban suicide squad attacked the Kabul offices of the British Council, a government-funded institution that “promotes educational and cultural relations” between Britain and other countries. The August 20 Guardian said at least 12 people were killed, including a New Zealand SAS soldier and three “security contractors” working for multinational security outfit G4S. Full story ...
PAN: Residents of southern Ghazni province protested on Saturday against the killing of four civilians during a nighttime operation by international troops. NATO-led troops killed the civilians during the offensive in the Ghonday area of Gilan district late on Thursday night, resident Zainullah told Pajhwok Afghan News. Full story ...
CNN: Under the cover of darkness, a 9-year-old girl and her mother ran from their stone and mud home on the outskirts of Kabul. They feared the wrath of her stepfather. “My father was beating me and my mother,” said the girl, who to protect her identity will be referred to as simply Zarina. “He would insult my mother and sometimes wouldn't bring us food.” Full story ...
TOLOnews.com: Abdul Zaher Qadir, a lawmaker representing nangarhar in the House of Representatives, has been accused of drug trafficking, a spokesman for counternarcotics department said on Saturday. The counternarcotics department has called on Abdul Zaher Qadir, who also leads the coalition to support law, to answer some questions. Full story ...
The New York Times: A series of attacks by insurgents in recent days killed numerous civilians, but for the most part failed against military targets. As many as 24 civilians were killed and eight wounded on Thursday morning when two mines planted on a road in western Herat Province exploded, Afghan officials said. Full story ...
AllGov.com: Common sense would dictate that a country that’s spent 10 years fighting two different wars would at least keep track of the fiscal sacrifice that’s been made. But the truth is that Uncle Sam really can’t say for sure how deep it’s had to dig to finance the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. Full story ...
BBC News: At least 22 people have been killed and many wounded when a roadside bomb hit a crowded minibus in the Afghan province of Herat, officials say. Officials said the bus was full and women and children were among the casualties. It was travelling from Obe district to the provincial capital, which recently passed to the control of Afghan forces. Full story ...
The Associated Press: After examining hundreds of combat support and reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan, the U.S military estimates 360 million USD in U.S. tax dollars has ended up in the hands of people the American-led coalition has spent nearly a decade battling: the Taliban, criminals and power brokers with ties to both. Full story ...
The Frontier Post: A clash between Taliban and foreign forces and a rocket attack left 16 civilians wounded last night in eastern Kunar province, officials said Tuesday. Taliban attacked a base of combined force in Ghondi village of Narang district, sparking a clash, Said Fazlullah Wahidi, governor of Kunar province, told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). He said 12 civilians were wounded in exchange of fire. Full story ...
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