Afghanistan Conflict Monitor

One Year After the Kunduz Air Strike, No Sign of a Full Investigation

One Year After the Kunduz Air Strike, No Sign of a Full Investigation, Spiegel Online, 30 August 2010

EXCERPT: "After the deadly German-ordered air strike in Kunduz on Sept. 4, 2009, German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised a full investigation. One year on, questions about the bombing in Afghanistan are still unanswered and many of the details remain classified. The chancellor had made a personal commitment to resolving the case. On Sept. 8, 2009, after waffling for four days following the horrific bombing of two tanker trucks stuck on a sandbar in the Kunduz River, Angela Merkel finally made a clear statement. 'For me and the entire government, it is a matter of course that the incident will be fully resolved,' the chancellor promised the nation. The German military, she added, would 'do everything within its power to contribute to the investigation.' Merkel's personal pledge was completely warranted. On Sept. 4, 2009, German Colonel Georg Klein ordered the bombing of two tanker trucks in Afghanistan's Kunduz Province. The attack killed up to 142 people, including many civilians. It was an incident that brought home the reality of the war to Germany. But the government did everything it could to ensure that this reality would reach Germany in highly filtered form. The Kunduz air strike was covered up, kept quiet and downplayed as much as possible. Even today, little has changed."

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Related articles:
Kunduz bombing victim: "The Germans lied to all of us", Spiegel Online, 30 August 2010
German defence minister visits Afghan combat zone, M&C, 29 August 2010

Related posts:
Germany drops Kunduz raid probe, 20 August 2010
German offensive aims to repair security, reputation, 11 August 2010
German troops battle growing northern insurgency, 4 May 2010
Kunduz airstrike inquiry begins in Berlin, 22 January 2010
Merkel apologises for Afghan airstrike, 1 December 2009

Quarter of Senior Taliban Killed by SAS in "Kill or Capture" Targeting

Quarter of Senior Taliban Killed by SAS in "Kill or Capture" Targeting , The Daily Telegraph, 31 August 2010

EXCERPT: "More than 65 senior insurgent commanders or bomb-makers have been 'removed from the battlefield' by SAS troopers, leading to significant disruption of the insurgency. While senior British officers are cautious at overplaying the success. The latest casualty figures for August show that the casualty rate has dropped by more than 50 per cent. Ministry of Defence figures show that seven soldiers were killed this month compared, to 16 in July and 20 in June. Similarly, there were 40 wounded in action in the first fortnight of July compared to 19 in the first fortnight of August. The number of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) being laid by the Taliban in Helmand has reduced by a quarter in the last three months, which has been partly attributed to bomb-makers being killed by the special forces unit referred to as Task Force 42. Intelligence figures passed to The Daily Telegraph show that at least 65 out of 240 senior Taliban on the 'kill or capture' Joint Priority Effects List, with codenames such as Snowball, Commando Flood or Merlin, have been accounted for."

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Related articles:
Nick Clegg says Afghanistan mission "turning a corner", BBC News, 31 August 2010
Taliban-hired snipers believed to have killed British soldiers killed by air strikes, Daily Mail, 23 August 2010

Related posts:
Britain confirms Afghan combat mission to end 2015, 31 August 2010
British support for fight in Afghanistan falls, 4 August 2010
Targeted killing is new US focus in Afghanistan, 3 August 2010
Rate of British military deaths in Afghanistan "has nearly doubled", 20 July 2010

Afghan Election Campaign Workers "Killed in Air Strike"

Afghan Election Campaign Workers "Killed in Air Strike", BBC News, 2 September 2010

EXCERPT: "Ten election campaign workers have been killed in an air strike by Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, officials say. The governor of the northern province of Takhar, Abduljabar Taqwa, told the BBC that two people were also wounded in the attack in the Rostaq district. President Hamid Karzai condemned the incident, saying that 'pro-democracy people should be distinguished from those who fight against democracy'. A Nato spokesman said a 'precision air strike' had hit a militant's vehicle. The target was a senior member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who regularly co-ordinated and conducted attacks with known IMU and Taliban insurgents, Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said. The Isaf statement said 'initial reflections' indicated that eight to 12 insurgents were killed or wounded, including a Taliban commander."

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Related articles:
Karzai condemns air strike as Gates arrives, Reuters, 2 September 2010
Military now bragging about Afghan air strikes, Wired, 1 September 2010
Pratap Chaterjee: Killing the wrong people in Afghanistan, CBS News, 20 August 2010

Related posts:
NATO strike cited in Afghan civilian deaths, 14 August 2010
Afghan villagers protest over NATO "civilian killings", 12 August 2010
NATO to blame for rocket attack that killed dozens: Karzai, 26 July 2010
US drone crew blamed for Afghan civilian deaths, 31 May 2010
"Unjustifiable" NATO air strike kills 27 civilians, 22 February 2010

Gates on Surprise Afghan Visit

US Defence Chief Gates on Surprise Afghan Visit, AFP, 2 September 2010

EXCERPT: "US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul Thursday on a surprise visit following a trip to Iraq, where he attended ceremonies to mark the formal end of the American combat mission there. During his visit to America's other war, Gates is expected to meet President Hamid Karzai, as well as the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, US General David Petraeus, and other officials, his staff said. As Obama drew a veil over the seven-year conflict in Iraq, the annual death toll of American soldiers in Afghanistan reached its highest point since the war began almost nine years ago. With momentum increasingly seen to have turned in the Taliban's favour, Obama appeared to step back from an earlier pledge that US forces would begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011. 'Next August we will begin a transition to Afghan responsibility,' Obama said in an address to the nation Tuesday. 'The pace of our troop reductions will be determined by conditions on the ground, and our support for Afghanistan will endure,' he said. 'But make no mistake, this transition will begin because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people's.' His words echoed those of the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, US General David Petraeus, who told AFP in Kabul on Tuesday the withdrawal would be gradual, starting in small secure areas."

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Related articles:
Gen. Petraeus calls relationship with Karzai sound, The Associated Press, 2 September 2010
Can lessons learned in Iraq work in Afghanistan?, NPR, 2 September 2010
As US deaths in Afghanistan rise, military families grow critical, Los Angeles Times, 2 September 2010
With end to Iraq combat ops, US focus turns to Afghanistan, DAWN, 1 September 2010

Related posts:
This year's US death toll in Afghanistan the highest, 1 September 2010
US pullout plans give Taliban a boost: Karzai, 27 August 2010
Afghan forces will not meet takeover deadline: US general, 24 August 2010
Air base expansion plans reflect long-term investment in Afghanistan, 23 August 2010
Shaping ANSF: What it will take to implement Obama's new strategy, 10 December 2009

Near Kandahar, The Prize Is an Empty Town

Near Kandahar, The Prize Is an Empty Town, The New York Times, 1 September 2010

EXCERPT: "When the governor of Kandahar Province came to this town, freshly liberated on Sunday from the Taliban, his armed entourage appeared to outnumber what was left of the population. 'Don’t worry,' Gov. Tooryalai Wesa told the few elders who ventured out of their homes. 'The Taliban are gone. Our security forces will not leave you alone. You’re safe now.' For the moment, this farming community of some 60,000 people on the edge of Kandahar City looked more like a ghost town, doors closed and windows barred, and hardly anyone on the streets. Laced with booby-traps and hidden bombs, the wheat and corn fields nearby were empty of workers. The tempo of operations throughout the districts surrounding Kandahar has been steadily increasing in recent weeks, but nowhere more suddenly than in this town and surrounding Dand District."

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Related articles:
Kandahar official killed in bombing, Press TV, 1 September 2010
Birthplace of the Taliban: The next battleground, The Associated Press, 31 August 2010
Analysis: Will battle for Kandahar win the war?, The Washington Post, 29 August 2010

Related resource:
Assignment Kandahar: Peace declared in village, war continues outside, The National Post - Posted Blog, 1 September 2010

Related posts:
US steps up Kandahar operation in Afghanistan, 22 July 2010
Why Kandahar locals turn to Taliban, 7 July 2010
Taliban commander in Kandahar dead: NATO, 4 June 2010
Afghan governor strains to exert influence, 26 May 2010
Taliban "terror" campaign steps up in Kandahar, 12 May 2010

Afghan Refugees Forced to Start Over After Floods

Afghan Refugees Forced to Start Over After Floods, The Associated Press, 1 September 2010

EXCERPT: "After fleeing the Soviet invasion of his country with nothing, Afghan refugee Ziarat Gul spent three decades building a new life in neighboring Pakistan. After the devastating floods that rolled across Pakistan last month, he is back to nothing. Gul and tens of thousands of other Afghan refugees here are struggling to recover from a double tragedy, seeing their homes across the border engulfed by war and then their refugee camps here demolished by floods. The floods, which swamped wide swathes of the country and left 8 million people in need of aid, will hammer Pakistan's economy and lead to 'massive' job losses, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Wednesday, predicting a grim couple of years for the already fragile country. One-fifth of the country's irrigation infrastructure, livestock and crops were destroyed, and the reduction in agriculture will snowball into other parts of the economy, he told his Cabinet. Economic growth would drop to 2.5 percent in 2011 down from a predicted 4.5 percent this year, and inflation predicted to hit 9.5 percent next year would likely be in the range of 15 percent to 20 percent instead, he said. The situation is particularly grim for Gul and the 23,000 other residents of the Azakhel refugee camp, 95 miles (150 kilometers) from the capital, Islamabad."

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Related articles:
More than 100,000 Afghans returned home this year, reports UN agency, UN News Centre, 27 August 2010
Speculators want land from Afghan refugees in Pakistan, VOA News, 22 August 2010
Afghan refugees homeless again in Pakistan floods, AFP, 19 August 2010

Related posts:
Armed conflict forces increasing number of Afghans to flee, 15 April 2010
Afghanistan: What now for refugees?, 1 September 2009
Pakistan to get $140 million for sheltering refugees, 13 March 2009
The refugee problem: Looking toward Afghanistan's long-term stability, 12 December 2008
Afghan refugees in Pakistan: Not all refugees, not always in Pakistan, not necessarily Afghan?, 25 February 2008

Afghan School Poisonings Linked to Toxic Chemicals

Afghan School Poisonings Linked to Toxic Chemicals, The Associated Press, 1 September 2010

EXCERPT: "Blood samples taken from Afghan schoolgirls who collapsed in apparent mass poisonings showed traces of toxic chemicals found in herbicides, pesticides and nerve gas, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. Suspicion has fallen on sympathizers of the Taliban, the hard-line Islamist militia that opposes education for women and prohibited girls from going to school when it was in power until it being ousted by a 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Poisonous levels of organophosphates were found in samples taken from girls sickened in incidents over the past two years, said ministry spokesman Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Kargar. Samples from more recent cases have been sent to Turkey for analysis and no results have been issued yet, Kargar said. Last month, 48 pupils and teachers at Kabul's Zabihullah Esmati High School and 60 students and teachers at the Totia Girls School were hospitalized after fainting or complaining of breathing problems, dizziness and nausea. Students say they began feeling unwell after being exposed to an unknown gas spreading through classrooms."

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Related articles:
US concerned over attacks on Afghan schoolchildren, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 31 August 2010
The Taliban mystery gas, Strategy Page, 31 August 2010

Related resources:
Osman Mirghani: The Scourge that has Afflicted Muslims, Asharq Alawsat, 1 September 2010
Nushin Arbabzadah: School "gassing" shows Afghanistan's theological chaos, The Guardian - Comment is Free, 27 August 2010

Related posts:
Afghan girls in suspected gas attack, 25 August 2010
Attacks on schools on the rise: Report, 23 November 2009
Insecurity harming child health, education: UNICEF, 20 May 2009
The high price of education in Afghanistan, 25 February 2009

This Year's US Death Toll in Afghanistan the Highest

This Year's US Death Toll in Afghanistan the Highest, CNN, 1 September 2010

EXCERPT: "In only eight months, 2010 has become the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to a CNN count of Pentagon and NATO figures. At least 321 troops have died so far in 2010, the highest yearly toll since the conflict began nearly nine years ago. The previous high was last year's 313 American deaths. The deaths occurred during an increase of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and fierce fighting across the nation, particularly in the southern and eastern regions. Roadside bombs were responsible for many of the combat deaths. The conflict started after al Qaeda terrorists harbored by the Taliban government in Afghanistan attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. A U.S.-led invasion that started a month later toppled the government. The fighting persisted, however, as tenacious militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, near the Afghan border, staged attacks against coalition and Afghan targets."

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Related articles:
Afghanistan ambassador to US ends service, CNN, 1 September 2010
US deaths in Afghanistan hit record in 2010, AFP, 31 August 2010
Attacks on US soldiers in Afghanistan intensify, The New York Times, 31 August 2010
The Taliban vs. the mosque, Newsweek, 30 August 2010

Related posts:
22 US troops killed in Afghanistan in four days, 31 August 2010
In Afghanistan, bomb attacks hit high in July, 20 August 2010
July is deadliest month for US troops, 30 July 2010
June deadliest month for troops since Afghan war began, 24 June 2010