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US military agreement will be extended in Afghanistan

Members of a traditional national assembly in Afghanistan have given conditional support to a long-term strategic partnership with the United States.

Participants at the Loya Jirga in Kabul agreed a non-binding partnership would solidify Afghanistan's security needs.

American forces will now be invited to stay in the country after 2014. 

The four-day grand council was presided over by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who said the US would have to agree to full Afghan sovereignty and an end to night raids in exchange for the agreement.

130,000 US and foreign troops are in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led coalition.

All international combat troops had been due to leave the country by then end of 2014.

400 kg hashish seized in Afghanistan - Nov.6.11

Around 400 kg of hashish has been seized in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand by the interior ministry, police said.

Smugglers made an armed resistance during the operation. As a result of a gun-battle, one drug dealer was injured and taken to hospital while another was arrested.

Police said the drug dealers intended to transfer the hashish to Pakistan.

Police also arrested a few farmers in the province who owned fields of opium poppies.

Afghanistan is the global production centre for opium and opiates like heroin and hashish.

There has been a significant rise in drug production since the US-led coalition toppled the Taliban in 2001.

Hevay build up of U.S. soldiers on Pakistan border 10-16-11

•  U.S. troops massing on Pakistan's North Waziristan border with Afghanistan

•  U.S. fighter planes flying over area

•  American military implementing curfews on locals

American troops in Afghanistan are massing along the border with Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region where insurgents hold swamy, a tribal elder said Monday.

Malik Muhammad Mumtaz told Xinhua via phone from the region that travellers had seen movement of US troops in Afghanistan near the border areas.

Afghan nationals, who routinely travel to North Waziristan for trade, said they had seen US fighter aircraft flying over the border region, the elder said.

TV channels also reported that the US troops clamped curfew in some areas in Afghanistan to restrict movement of the people.

Geo television said that American forces in the border Khost province have sealed the border with Pakistan.

The US forces have moved heavy weapons, including artillery, to the Pakistani border region, the reports said.

The motive behind the troop movements were not clear but it comes amid tension between Islamabad and Washington over the Haqqani network, which the US says is launching attacks from North Waziristan across the border into Afghanistan.

US drones have stepped up strikes in Waziristan region. At least four US strikes in three days have killed nearly 10 people, including three Egyptians who were thought to be linked to Haqqani network.

US officials say that members of the Haqqani network operate from North Waziristan tribal region and plan cross-border attacks there into Afghanistan.

The US is asking Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network, blamed for last month's attack on the US embassy in Kabul that killed 10 Afghan security men.

Barrack Obama has decided to go all-out against the Haqqani network.

'The Obama administration has launched the opening salvos of a new, more aggressive approach towards an Afghan insurgent group it asserts is supported by Pakistan's government,' the Washington Post reported quoting senior US administration officials.

The report quotes officials as saying that Obama had gradually lost faith in Pakistan and its weak civilian leadership.

US military drone fleet infected with virus that allows spying - 10-23-11

•  Military unsure how widespread infection is

•  Unsure how to remove it

•  Do not know whether virus is milignant or benign

The United States’ fleet of remote-controlled Predator and Reaper drones has been infected with a computer virus that allows hackers to monitor every action by the pilots.

The ongoing security risk in one of the US military’s most important weapons systems has resisted removal efforts by specialists that manage the military’s computer network. 

“We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” a military official told CNN. “We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”

The virus was discovered two weeks ago by the US military’s Host-Based Security System, but thus far there have been no confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source, according to officials.

However, military sources have admitted there are many unknowns; they’re not sure whether the virus was introduced intentionally or by accident, they’re not sure how far the virus has spread and they don’t know how to eliminate it from the network.

The US’ fleet of drones has become the military’s primary weapons system in both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has been used in operations over Libya as well. 

A fleet of around 30 CIA-directed drones have hit targets in Pakistan more than 230 times and have killed more than 2,000 suspected militants and civilians, according to the Washington Post.

The US Air Force operates a fleet of 150 drones over Afghanistan and Iraq and drones were sent on missions over Libya to help enforce NATO’s no fly zone, striking targets 92 times between mid-April and the end of August.

The system is beset with security flaws though, in 2009 it was reported that video footage sent back to military personnel on the ground was not encrypted and that Iraqi insurgents had been able to capture hours of footage using a US $26 piece of software.

The vast majority of drones are flown from the Creech Air Force Base in the Nevada desert.

US military confident of Afghan war win amid doubts over counterinsurgency's success 10-10-11

A top U.S. military official has expressed confidence that his country will defeat the Taliban in the Afghan war in the wake of doubts mounting over the success of counterinsurgency policy pursued by the army. 

The U.S. Army Counterinsurgency Center's Director Colonel John Paganini admitted that gauging the success of counterinsurgency is a complex procedure as there is no specific end date of the policy, though officials are aware that war resources are limited. 

Paganini admitted that though the Taliban still targets the Afghan leaders, the conditions are getting "much better" for integrating the population, ABC News reports. 

"They are passionate about their area, their province, their district, and this sense of nationalism that's growing; there's a lot of them. The ones that don't step forward, it's not because they're selfish or complacent or don't care", he said.

Paganini said the army's strategy has changed since the beginning of the war as it has shifted its focus from targeting the enemy to building sustainable, long-lasting programmes involving Afghans at the grassroot level during the past three years. 

"We are becoming adaptive to overcome the insurgency not just those who are out to kill us or apply military force against us, or the protectors of the society of the host nation, but it really also gets after, 'Why does the insurgency exist? What are the conditions that allow the population to either passively or actively support an external entity that wants to degrade the ability of the host nation government's security force?" he said 

He said though the army has significantly changed "the idea in the minds of the Afghan citizenry and the Afghan leaders that this is an external problem with external solutions", the process would take generations to get completed. 

He stressed the need to end the Taliban's tactic of intimidating Afghans, which prevents the citizens from co- operating with their country's government. (ANI)

10-08-2011

Computer virus hits US drone station 

A stubborn computer virus has reportedly hit the US Nevada control station that remotely pilot US military drone aircraft on missions in Afghanistan and other war zones, Xinhua reported.

The virus has infected the cockpits of American Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke.

According to Wired magazine, the virus, first detected about two weeks ago by the military's Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. However, the virus has proven very difficult to eradicate.

'We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,' Wired quoted a source as saying. 'We think it's benign. But we just don't know.'

The virus has infected both classified and unclassified machines at the base, but it was reported that no classified information has been lost or transmitted outside, the report said Friday.

The US uses the unmanned aircraft to conduct surveillance and carry out strikes on enemy targets. They are used particularly in remote and mountainous areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. The affected US drones used to kill Anwar al-Awlaki and other Al Qaeda chiefs.

In 2009, US forces discovered drone footage on the laptops of Iraqi insurgents, Wired said. The incident has again sounded an alarm on US military network security.

10-01-11

Afghans say they've 'strong evidence' showing Rabbani's killing was planned in Pak (VoA - News)

Afghanistan's intelligence service has said that it has given Pakistan 'strong evidence' showing that Afghan High Peace Council leader Burhanuddin Rabbani's assassination was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

Rabbani, who had been tasked with trying to negotiate a political end to the war in Afghanistan, was killed on September 20 by a suicide bomber who was supposedly a peace emissary sent by the Taliban leadership.

His assassination was a major setback to efforts made by the Afghanistan-Pakistan joint commission for peace and reconciliation.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last week, an Afghan intelligence official said that former Afghan president's killing was plotted for four months by the Afghan Taliban's governing council, the Quetta Shura, named after the city in southern Pakistan, The Washington Post reports.

The place where Rabbani's killing was planned is a town called Satellite near Pakistan's Quetta city, a foreign news agency quoted Lutifullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, as telling reporters. 

The key person involved in Rabbani's assassination has been arrested, and he has provided lots of strong evidence about where and how the killing was planned, Mashal said.

The Afghan intelligence service has provided Pakistan's Embassy in Kabul with documents, including the address, photographs and a layout of a house in Satellite, he added. 

The spokesman said that the names of individuals, who discussed Rabbani's assassination at the house in Satellite, have also been provided to Pakistan.

Mashal refused to disclose the identity of the person arrested for his alleged involvement in Rabbani's murder, saying only that he was a second-tier figure within the Taliban hierarchy. (ANI)

UN: Violence in Afghanistan Jumps About 40 Percent - 09-24-11

The United Nations says violent incidents in Afghanistan have increased sharply this year. 

A U.N. report says the average monthly number of violent incidents in the first eight months of this year stood at 2,108, a 39-percent increase over the same period a year earlier.

The report also said insurgents are conducting more complex suicide attacks involving multiple bombers and gunmen, and that on average, three such attacks have been carried out each month this year, a 50-percent rise from the same period in 2010.

In violence Wednesday, suspected Taliban militants killed eight Afghan policemen and wounded three others at a checkpoint near Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand Province. Authorities are investigating whether a police officer conspired in the attack.

NATO said five of its service members were killed Wednesday across the country. A New Zealand special forces soldier was killed in a gunbattle with insurgents near, Kabul, while three troops died in a bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan. The fifth service member died as a result of a non-battle related injury.

In other news, Afghan and coalition troops discovered three narcotics laboratories in Helmand, containing drugs with an estimated street value of more than $350 million. A coalition statement said the seizure is reportedly the largest ever made by combined forces in Afghanistan.

The laboratories, along with almost 7,000 liters of morphine solution, 100 kilograms of heroin, 80 kilograms of opium, 12 tons of chemical used to process narcotics and a quantity of drug processing equipment were destroyed.

Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.

This comes as international forces begin pulling out of Afghanistan and transferring security responsibility to their Afghan counterparts. All foreign combat troops are set to leave the country by the end of 2014.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

Pakistan Warns US it Risks Losing an Ally Over Afghan Accusations - 09-24-11

Pakistani officials have responded angrily to U.S. accusations that the country's intelligence agency supported attacks by the Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network on U.S. targets inside Afghanistan.

War against terrorism

Speaking in New York Friday, Pakistan's foreign minister warned that Washington risks losing Pakistan's partnership in the war against terrorism if U.S. leaders continue to make such accusations. Hina Rabbani Khar spoke to Pakistan's Geo TV.

"You will lose an ally, you cannot afford to alienate Pakistan, you cannot afford to alienate the Pakistani people," said Rabbani. "If you are choosing to do so it will be at your own cost."

Washington has long accused Pakistan of not doing enough to crack down on militant groups in its territory.

APA dmiral Mike Mullen 

But on Thursday, the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, told a U.S. Senate hearing that the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network, acting with support from Pakistan's military spy agency, planned and conducted last week's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the September 10 bombing of a coalition base.

It was the first time that top U.S. officials publicly linked Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency to an assault against American targets.

"The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's internal services intelligence agency," said Mullen.

U.S. and Afghan officials have long accused Pakistan of continuing to support insurgent groups, like the Haqqanis, to retain influence in Afghanistan. But the comments from Admiral Mullen were the strongest accusations yet.

"By exporting violence, they"ve eroded their internal security and their position in the region," he said. "They"ve undermined their regional credibility and threatened their economic well being. Only a decision to break with this policy can pave the road to a positive future for Pakistan."

Pakistan's support for militants has also come under increasing criticism inside Pakistan as militant groups have increasingly attacked targets inside the country, and even confronted Pakistan's military directly.

Haqqani network

Retired Pakistani General and Defense Analyst Talat Masood says such a strategy is ultimately counterproductive no matter what happens in Afghanistan.

"If they continue to support these groups, for whatever tactical reasons it may be, in the grand strategy for Pakistan this is suicidal, because if you are supporting militant groups you know for whatever reason, whether it is in the context of the eastern or western border. I think ultimately, experience has shown, that it boomerangs," said Masood. "So I think that if by lending support you are thinking that these groups will stay on in Afghanistan when the Americans leave it will be some sort of asset to Pakistan, but do you really want these kind of assets? What kind of assets are these? Which are going to have an ideological blowback in Pakistan?"

ReutersPakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (File Photo)

Pakistani officials have said they have been reluctant to pursue the Haqqani militant network because the area where it operates in the rugged North Waziristan region, is too remote. They say Pakistan's military is stretched thin in other tribal areas. There is also widespread concern over the revenge attacks that a military operation against the Haqqanis might provoke.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, on Friday added his own denunciation of the U.S. for publicly accusing Pakistan of supporting the Haqqani network.

"They can't live with us or without us," he said of the United States in comments to media in Pakistan's Karachi. The Pakistani prime minister added: "If they can't live without us, then they should make efforts to clear up any misunderstandings."

09/23/2001 - US Accuses Pakistan of Exporting Violence to Afghanistan 

The U.S. military's top officer has accused Pakistan of supporting attacks by the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network on U.S. targets in Afghanistan, including last week's assault on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. 

The future of the U.S. relationship with Pakistan has come into greater question as the United States prepares to draw down its troop presence in Afghanistan. That relationship, which became significantly more tense following the killing of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil earlier this year, has seen another sharp downturn with accusations by top U.S. officials that Pakistan was complicit in recent attacks in Aghanistan.

VOA's Steve Norman speaks with Colonel Cedric Leighton, U.S. Air Force (Retired) and former Deputy Director of the U.S. National Security Agency, about the U.S. trust level of the Pakistani leadership:

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen told a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday that he is concerned about the impunity with which the Haqqani network and other extremist groups are allowed to operate from Pakistan. He said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, supported the truck bomb attack by Haqqani operatives on a NATO base on September 10 that wounded 77 U.S. soldiers, and the attack two days later on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. 

Mullen said the Haqqani network's ties to Pakistan's government are deep. 

"The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's internal services intelligence agency.

Admiral Mullen also said he believes the United States should remain engaged with Islamabad. He has met with his Pakistani counterpart several times. But he warned that the relationship - and the future of Pakistan - could be in danger if the country continues to support extremists. 

"By exporting violence, they"ve eroded their internal security and their position in the region. They"ve undermined their regional credibility and threatened their economic well being. Only a decision to break with this policy can pave the road to a positive future for Pakistan," he said.

Mullen spoke alongside U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who told senators the presence of safe havens in Pakistan is giving the insurgents advantages they have otherwise lost. 

"We cannot allow terrorists to have safe havens from which they launch attacks and kill our forces. We cannot allow that to happen and we have to bring pressure on the Pakistanis to do their part to confront that issue," said Panetta.

Analyst Michael O"Hanlon at the Brookings Institution called the accusations against Paksitan a stunning development and a sign that U.S. frustration with Pakistan has reached a peak. 

"I think Pakistan is just going to have to wake up and smell the roses that this is not consistent with an ongoing relationship in which the United States provides $3.5 a year in aid," said O"Hanlon. "Pakistan may feel they're protected against an American reaction because we need their territory to bring in supplies and at some level that's probably true. That's why the aid level won't go down to zero, but that and other things, I believe, are now at risk as a result of this very blunt assessment."

Pakistan's government rejects U.S. accusations that it is helping extremists and says it is cooperating with the United States in the battle on militants in the region. The country's interior minister says the Haqqani network is not operating in Pakistan.