Index Research, ccun.org, September 2, 2007

"Though the story shone with exotic details of midnight subterfuge, double cross and secret agendas, there was really very little romance or glory about it. More than anything, it was a crushing example of how eroded and overwhelmed by war the country had become, to the point which fealty and allegiance were bartered like bazaar bubbles for the sake of survival." Anthony Loyd , p. 230.

No one in either Iraq or Afghanistan – or elsewhere – seems satisfied with their present ‘role’ during the U.S. global takeover, except perhaps those objecting to occupation. This preface deals with schisms about civilian deaths, US largesse, the “Good War”, and NATO. Also highlighted is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), virtually neglected by western Mainstream Media.

CIVILIAN DEATHS

Karzai to Complain to Bush (Again)
(03.08.07, worldpoliticsreview)

US & Afghan elders differ on who killed 12 civilians.


LARGESSE RESENTMENT


‘GOOD WAR’ VS. REALITY

The Good War

The ‘Good War’ (20.08.07, Editorial, NY Times.The Good War Still to Be Won )

Reality

Meanwhile, Back in Afghanistan …
(10.08.07. E. Gomez, SFGate.). ‘Just what is anybody doing anymore - US troops, British and Canadian soldiers, other NATO forces - in George W. Bush, Jr.'s war (or whatever it is) in Afghanistan?’

How a ‘Good War’ in Afghanistan Went Bad (12.08.07. Rohde, Sanger (Gall), NYTimes)

How can this bloody failure be regarded as a good war? (23.08.07. Seumas Milne, The Guardian / uruknet) The western occupation of Afghanistan has brought neither peace nor development - and it fuels the terror threat.


OPIUM DISPUTES


The Drugs Don't Work

UN -Report -Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007 (08/07. UN Office on Drugs and Crime Document - Report UN / Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007)


NATO – ‘COALITION’


US / UK


Friendly fire deaths
(26.08.07. Mark Townsend, Observer) The death of the three soldiers raises questions in Whitehall and Washington. In particular, the issue over why the Ministry of Defence has not introduced an electronic combat identification system to protect British forces. It is a debate that has raged since the 1991 friendly-fire attack that killed nine British troops. There is new evidence that concern already existed between British commanders and their allies over 'friendly-fire' incidents in Helmand. … Meanwhile, investigators will want to know whether B Company had access to Rover Terminals - hi-tech equipment that allows the Fire Support Group to view what the US pilot is studying on his targeting device. Diplomatic issues will be to the fore, the deaths straining relations between British and US forces. … Further into the future, pressure will mount for the US authorities to provide the cockpit recorder of the F-15 at the inquests into military deaths. So far Washington has refused to heed Whitehall's demands for evidence to be submitted to British coroners.

‘Gung – Ho’ US behaviour

More ‘gung-ho”: here ;
and - with regard to Iraq – Bush: here …

and you could google "news, ‘Gung-Ho’ "

British military asks U.S. forces to leave Afghan province (08.08.07. C. Gall, IHT.)

Allies

Not surprisingly, Allies refuse to send more troops (19.08.07. B. Brady, Scotsman) The aroma of Iraq has reached the Afghan killing fields.

GERMANY rejects NATO request for choppers in Afghanistan (15.08.07. irna.ir)

CANADIANS UNHAPPY

AND

NATO VS JAPAN (08.08.07. VOA)

AND

weakening Italian and German military commitments; Netherlands, Denmark debates raging


FAILURE

While Bush blusters, Cheney plots, Conoco Condi runs around the world with bribes in her back pocket, Congress cringes, and the US public remains deaf and dumb, the Eastern world is more active. The western Mainstream Media have given scant attention to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.


For more stories on the SCO, click here


2. Oil and Gas: The Great Game
3. Strategic Imperatives (Afghanistan, Pakistan, US)
4. Media & Videos
5. Contracts
6. Contractors
7. Investment and Aid
8. Opium
9. US-NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Society
10. NATO Coalition (Australia, Canada, Germany, UK & S. Korea)
11. Human Rights (Guantanamo, Rendition, Torture, Padilla, War on Terror)
12. Some Deaths (Afghan civilian, Taliban, Tillman, others)
13. Future Deaths (DU, Nuclear, Biological, Chemical)
14. References




REPORT

"The Role of National Oil Companies in the International Oil Market," (21.08.07)

ARTICLE

Superb history of Afghanistan problems
The War No Politician (or Oil Exec) Objects To:The Ongoing Tragedy of Afghanistan
24.08.07. John Wright, uruknet. . … “With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, three years after the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan, the US began a reach for global hegemony which continues to this day and which lies at the root of the occupations of both Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, the entire world knows by now that what Iraq has that the US needs and covets is huge, easily accessible deposits of oil. With regard to Afghanistan, just like the British and the Russians back in the 19th century, its strategic location provides the answer. The demise of the Soviet Union meant that the huge deposits of crude oil located in the Caspian Basin were now up for grabs. What US energy corporations required was a pipeline to transport this crude to the nearest 'friendly' port from where it could be shipped out. Iran wasn't an option, which left Afghanistan as the only viable alternative; the proposed pipeline to pass through and on into Pakistan to the port of Karachi, lying on the coast of the Arabia. In 1996 a high level Taliban delegation flew over to meet with Unocal executives at their headquarters in Houston, Texas, to discuss the laying of this pipeline through Afghanistan. The Governor of Texas at the time was none other than George W Bush.

AFGHANISTAN

"Above the foundation of their shared cultural and religious tenets, the whole edifice of the war swayed to the rhythm of shifting alliance. .. Listless through war fatigue, poverty and hunger, differences in tribal and ethnic allegiance were often easily expedited by Afghans for the requirements of survival or cash." Anthony Loyd , p. 223.

Bush welcomes Afghan President Karzai
06.08.07. Xinhuanet. U.S. President Bush welcomed Afghan President Karzai who arrived at Camp David. ·The fate of 21 ROK hostages held by the Taliban is likely to be high on the agenda. ·U.S. government officials have described the meeting as a private "strategy session."

Running out of time, patience in Afghanistan
08.08.07. K. Inderfurth, boston.com. WHEN PRESIDENT BUSH hosted Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at Camp David earlier this week, it was their ninth meeting since US-led military forces ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001. It may also prove to be their most fateful. Time is running out to get things right in Afghanistan. … A July report by the British House of Commons Defense Committee provides valuable guidance on both of these objectives. Entitled ”UK operations in Afghanistan", it contains 39 conclusions and recommendations based on the British experience in that country, including in the volatile southern province of Helmand where Taliban resistance is the fiercest. … A refrain throughout the report is that Afghan reconstruction and development (jobs, roads, water, and electricity), rather than military power alone, is the key to winning Afghan "hearts and minds" and achieving a successful outcome.

Korean groups to pull out of Afghanistan, ambassador says
08.08.07. AP - IHT / ICH.

Meanwhile, Back in Afghanistan …
10.08.07. E. Gomez, SFGate. Just what is anybody doing anymore - US troops, British and Canadian soldiers, other NATO forces - in George W. Bush, Jr.'s war (or whatever it is) in Afghanistan? Includes “rumblings from and about the war zone.”

"In the Land of the Blood Feuds"
10.08.07. Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post / Truthout. South of Baghdad, US troops navigate fault lines of sect and tribe. "Here we have so many different enemies," he (Lt. Thomas Murphy, 32) said.

How a ‘Good War’ in Afghanistan Went Bad
12.08.07. Rohde, Sanger (Gall), NYTimes. A Big Promise, Unfulfilled; A Shift of Resources to Iraq; A Piecemeal Operation; A Lingering Threat; To Afghans, a Fickle Effort; Divisions Over Strategy. The oil pipelines are not mentioned.

Taliban will release hostages Monday: Afghan governor
12.08.07. Yahoo news.

Ahmadinejad's first Afghan visit ruffles US feathers
14.08.07. R. Tait, Guardian. · Meeting with Karzai in open defiance of Washington · Iran denies US claims it is arming Taliban

Bush Warns Puppets Not to Praise Iran
14.08.07. G. Leupp, Counterpunch. Hamid Karzai, hand-picked by Washington to pose as president of the broken country of Afghanistan, says his government has "very, very good, very, very close relations [and] will continue to have good relations with Iran." He declares on CNN, "So far, Iran has been a helper" in fighting terrorism.

Abdullah Azzam and the Omissions of Neocon Historians
15.08.07. Kurt Nimmo, uruknet. In an "editorial" published in the Boston Herald, neocon propagandist—and jackleg historian—Jonah Goldberg gives us a running history lesson on "al-Qaeda," specifically its purported ideological founder, Sheikh Abdullah Azzam. According to Goldberg, the late Azzam was "one of the founders of the jihadist movement that became al-Qaeda." Indeed, this is true, although Mr. Goldberg, of course, does not bother to tell us the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey might have it. Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam ran Maktab Khadamat al-Mujahidin al-Arab, the recruiting arm of the CIA-ISI operation against the Soviets in Afghanistan, responsible for organizing 35,000 Muslim radicals from 43 Islamic countries in the Middle East, North and East Africa, Central Asia and the Far East, as veteran Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid has noted...

How far is Afghanistan from becoming Iraq?
16.08.07. achrweb. Some 6,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan, around 1,500 of them civilians, in the last 18 months, the worst period of violence in the country since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taleban regime in 2001. .. On 11 June 2007, Reuters claimed that since 2001, a total of 598 security forces have been killed in Afghanistan. These included 398 from United States, 60 from Britain, 56 from Canada, 21 from Spain, 21 from Germany and 42 from other nations.

AFGHANISTAN: PROBING FOR WAYS TO ENGAGE THE TALIBAN
16.08.07. Camelia Entekhabi-Fard /Richard Weitz, Eurasianet. Any momentum gained from the recent peace jirga, which brought together Pashtun leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan, already seems to be fading. The Asia Times showed a more positive approach … “Accordingly, the jirga proposed in a draft agreement that a 50-member team of tribal representatives should "immediately undertake the opening of negotiations with the resistance on how best and how soon to end the violence in the country". ‘Furthermore, it said, as soon as the peace and conciliation jirga begins its consultations with the opposition, a ceasefire should come into effect between the Taliban and the US-led coalition forces for a period to be mutually agreed on.” … The two governments (Pakistan / Afghanistan) will also draw up a comprehensive Border Infrastructure Development Project and involve the international community for the speedy development of the region of the Durand Line. Pakistan has also sought the creation of a permanent body, the Pakistan-Afghanistan Peace and Friendship Commission, for fostering good-neighborly relations.’


Jihad call by Omar
19.08.07. gulf-daily.news.com. The reclusive one-eyed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar yesterday made a rare public call for Afghans to unite with the militant insurgency to drive Western forces from Afghanistan.

Irony of the Day:
Afghanistan independence celebration overshadowed by violence
19.08.07. AP-IHT. Afghanistan celebrated its independence from British Rule Sunday with a military parade …

Afghanistan: In Hostage Talks, NGOs Walk Tightrope
19.08.07. rferl.org. Call it the deadly dilemma. Terrorists or militants take a civilian hostage. But the government won't negotiate, saying that giving in to their demands would only encourage further abductions. So the life of the hostage is left hanging in the balance.

US’ ‘faulty policies’ creating problems in Afghanistan: Ghani
20.08.07. daily times. Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani has said US and NATO forces in Afghanistan have become a problem rather than a solution and Washington’s faulty policies are responsible for the resurgence of extremism in the region.

Thousands displaced by crisis in Afghanistan
20.08.07. swissinfo.org. Fighting in Afghanistan has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and the number of displaced is growing by the day, says a Swiss human rights expert.

China, Afghanistan, seek closer cooperation
21.08.07. Xinhuanet.

Bridge Connecting Tajikstan And Afghanistan Set To Open
21.08.07. eurasianet.org. The United States, which supplied most of the funding and know-how for the project, hopes the bridge will promote regional stabilization.

Afghan Girl Raped by 2 Men
23.08.07. AP - Guardian.

Superbombs Spreading In Afghanistan
23.08.07. D. Hambling, wired.com. "We don't see Afghanistan and Iraq are associated on the improvised explosive devices (IEDs). We think Afghanistan and IEDs seen in Afghanistan really have their own unique signature."

How can this bloody failure be regarded as a good war?
23.08.07. Seumas Milne, The Guardian / uruknet. The western occupation of Afghanistan has brought neither peace nor development - and it fuels the terror threat. Enthusiasts for the catastrophe that is the Iraq war may be hard to come by these days, but Afghanistan is another matter. The invasion and occupation that opened George Bush's war on terror are still championed by powerful voices in the occupying states as - in the words of the New York Times this week - "the good war" that can still be won. While speculation intensifies about British withdrawal from Basra, there's no such talk about a retreat from Kabul or Kandahar. … Britain is now fighting its fourth war in Afghanistan in 170 years, and might have learned by now that you cannot impose a government from outside against a people's will.

Seoul denies reports of deal to free hostages in Afghanistan
25.08.07. earthtimes/antiwar.com

Taliban Agree to Free 19 Korean Hostages
25.08.07. koreatimes. AIP said the governments of Korea and Saudi Arabia will officially announce Sunday the agreement in Ghazni Province where the Taliban kidnapped the Koreans on July 19

Local Taliban agree to release 19 captives including Lt. Col. Shahid
27.08.07. paktribune.com. Remaining Seven South Koreans Freed in Afghanistan (Update1)
(30.08.07. Bloomberg.com.)

Afghan police fight to survive
29.08.07. asia times. Hekmat Karzai, head of Kabul's Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, said: "Strategically, it makes sense to attack Afghan security forces where morally it gives people a complex about whether it is worth joining."

Afghan minister blasts S.Korean decision to cave in to Taliban demands
29.08.07. irna. The Taliban have demanded that South Korea withdraw all its 200 troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year and end Christian missions to the country by the end of this month in exchange for the hostages.

PAKISTAN

REPORTS

Pakistan-U.S. Relations
(updated) 23.07.07. CRS REPORT

“Pakistan: Significant Recent Events, March 26 - June 21, 2007"
06.07.07. CRS Report


ARTICLES

Pakistan: Musharraf pulls out of jirga with Afghanistan
08.08.07. ADNKRONOS/ICH. On the eve of the US-backed Pakistan-Afghanistan peace jirga or tribal council to discuss terrorism, Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf has decided that he will not attend the event in Afghanistan on Thursday due to security reasons. Decision met with dismay in Washington. After ‘persuasion’ from US, Musharraf attends conference. Karzai, Musharraf try to reconcile at 'peace jirga' (13.08.07. CSM)

Pakistan: State of many emergencies
10.08.07. Guardian leader. Why did the general pull out of a peace conference in Kabul at the last minute? And what was the subject of the midnight conversation he had had with the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice? … If there are few options for the general, there are even fewer for the US, other than to pray that their best friend in the region will muddle through.

How the United States makes Pakistan more radical
10.08.07. Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, dailystar.

'Gifts' that haunt U.S.
12.08.07. sfgate. IT'S A GREAT time to be a friend of a lame-duck president. The Bush administration is handing out largesse at unprecedented levels -- to Saudi Arabia, Israel, India, Pakistan and others -- tens of billions of dollars to win support for its unpopular policies. All of this is also intended to isolate its adversaries, notably Syria and Iran. / The problem is, some recipients of this beneficence are guilty of the same transgressions as the nations the administration wants to ostracize. (discussion, eg., of India’s nuclear weapons). See also Nuclear Suppliers Drop Opposition to US-India Deal”

Violation of NATO planes create panic among people in Karam Agency
13.08.07. pak tribune.

Pakistan: "The Taliban's Godfather"?
14.08.07. edited B. Elias, GWU. Documents Detail Years of Pakistani Support for Taliban, Extremists; Covert Policy Linked Taliban, Kashmiri Militants, Pakistan's Pashtun Troops’ Aid Encouraged Pro-Taliban Sympathies in Troubled Border Region

Senate body asks Nato to ensure peace in Afghanistan
18.08.07. thenews.com. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee in its report on Nato’s role in Afghanistan, presented in the upper house on Friday, asked the organisation to review its policy of exclusive reliance on military and adopt political ways to ensure peace and security in the region./ Presenting the report, the Committee Chairman Mushahid Hussain Sayyed, who is also secretary general of the ruling PML, said, “Nato should review its policies towards Afghanistan particularly re-evaluate its exclusive reliance on the military option”. … The PML senator said the Committee raised the issue of indiscriminate bombing by Nato, which resulted in civilian casualities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It also urged compensation of civilian losses by Nato, he said, adding its secretary general had promised to consider it.

Reports of US deal-brokering draw Pakistan anger
18.08.07. daily times. The United States was accused Friday of meddling in Pakistani affairs amid reports Washington is trying to broker a power-sharing deal between President Pervez Musharraf and his arch-rival Benazir Bhutto.

Martial Law: The lengthening shadows; No US sanctions likely
20.08.07. thenews.com.

U.S. OK'd troop terror hunts in Pakistan
23.08.07. AP-Washington Post. Newly uncovered "rules of engagement" show the U.S. military gave elite units broad authority more than three years ago to pursue suspected terrorists into Pakistan, with no mention of telling the Pakistanis in advance.

Militants in Pakistan kidnap four including officer
25.08.07. Reuters.

Options Narrow for Pakistan's Musharraf
26.08.07. AP-Guardian. Another defeat for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan's Supreme Court has narrowed the options for the U.S.-allied military leader as he seeks to extend his rule.

Pakistan tests nuke-capable missile
26.08.07. usatoday.

Pakistan raid was not approved
28.08.07. BBC. The U.S. led coalition in Afghanistan admited it did not have permission from Pakistan to attack Taleban positions across the border.

Imran demands inquiry into NATO attack
29.08.07. dailytimes.com. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday denounced killing of around 17 Pakistani nationals in the Afghanistan-bordering restive tribal belt in a recent NATO offensive and demanded inquiry into the extra-judicial killing.

Musharraf Said to Agree to Drop Role as Army Chief
29.08.07. C. Gall, NY Times. President Pervez Musharraf has apparently agreed to resign as army chief during negotiations with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on a deal that would allow him to serve another term as president and for her to return to Pakistan to contest elections, Pakistani officials said Wednesday.

Taliban kidnap over 100 soldiers in Pakistans Waziristan region
31.08.07.AP-Guardian. Taliban militants Thursday kidnapped more than 100 soldiers in Pakistans restive South Waziristan tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, forty-eight hours after tribal elders secured the release earlier of 15 kidnapped soldiers after extensive negotiations.
FOUND (31.08.07. BBC)


US

REPORTS

U.S. to Expand Domestic Use of Spy Satellites
15.08.07. R. Block, Wall St. Journal

AIR FORCE VIEWS IRREGULAR WARFARE
(“counterinsurgency is not the sum total of U.S. military objectives. To the contrary, sometimes the U.S. will side with insurgents " )
See: "Irregular Warfare," Air Force Doctrine Document 2-3
(01.08.07. pdf report)


ARTICLES

RICHARD CHENEY

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
Gelman, Becker: The Washington Post. Dick Cheney is the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office of vice president. This (3 part) series examines Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment.

See also:
The Darksider
(09.07.07. H. Hertzberg, New Yorker. Summary/discussion of above) .

Dick Cheney, A Controversial Vice-President
27.08.07. P. Gelie, Figaro – Truthout. After the resignation of the president's main adviser, Karl Rove, pressure is growing in Washington against the Executive branch's powerful Number Two. A year before the presidential election, the sulfurous record of 66-year-old Richard Cheney embarrasses the Republicans and stimulates the Democrats. Will the 46th Vice-President of the United States complete his term by George W. Bush's side?


US Envoy, Japanese Opposition Leader Spar Over Involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan
08.08.07. VOA. With opposition control of Japan's Upper House heralding possible change in the traditionally strong alliance between Japan and the United States, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer has met with the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa. The two men sparred over whether Japan's contribution to U.S.-led military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan would continue. Liz Noh reports from Tokyo.

How a ‘Good War’ in Afghanistan Went Bad
12.08.07. Rohde / Sanger, NY Times. The American sense of victory had been so robust that the top C.I.A. specialists and elite Special Forces units who had helped liberate Afghanistan had long since moved on to the next war, in Iraq. . Those sweeping miscalculations were part of a pattern of assessments and decisions that helped send what many in the American military call “the good war” off course. … Gen. James L. Jones, a retired American officer and a former NATO supreme commander, said Iraq caused the United States to “take its eye off the ball” in Afghanistan. He warned that the consequences of failure “are just as serious in Afghanistan as they are in Iraq.” / “Symbolically, it’s more the epicenter of terrorism than Iraq,” he said. “If we don’t succeed in Afghanistan, you’re sending a very clear message to the terrorist organizations that the U.S., the U.N. and the 37 countries with troops on the ground can be defeated.”
And … 3 letters in reply to this article :
1) Afghanistan was a warm-up exercise for the war it (the Bush administration) really wanted
2) The US refused to shore up security beyond Kabul
3) ‘how could the expenditure of billions over 4 years result in such poor results?’

U.S. general says 15-month Army rotations in Iraq, Afghanistan, to continue into next summer (14.08.07. AP-IHT)

Manufacturing Consent For War With Iran
Iran meddling in Afghanistan
16.08.07. Pak Tribune / ICH. US lawmaker : An influential US ‘lawmaker’ has accused Iran of meddling in the internal affairs of Afghanistan by allegedly supplying arms and equipment to Taliban and [al-Qaeda].

Terrorist Nation?
By DAVE LINDORFF, Counterpunch. Takes One to Know One . Whatever the truth about the activities of the Iranians, certainly when it comes to terror, the US is unrivalled in the world today. By the latest estimate, over one million people have died in Iraq because of the American invasion of that country, and despite a virtual media blackout over that entire country, and the self-censorship practiced by the US media regarding Iraq, more and more evidence keeps trickling out that the vast majority of those deaths have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the American forces. While we read in lurid detail about every bomb blast detonated by Shia and Sunni fighters that hit Iraqis or that kill or wound Americans, we hear barely a word about the killing of Iraqi civilians by US forces, and it's clear that adding up all of those publicized Iraqi-on-Iraqi attacks you don't come close to a million dead. Guess who's killing the rest? / Nor are we getting any figures on the numbers of dead innocents in Afghanistan, where the blackout on reporting is even more effective than in Iraq.

New York Times calls for escalation of the "good war" in Afghanistan
22.08.07. wsws

President Bush Attends Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention, Discusses War on Terror
22.08.07. White House.

The U.S. Military is “the greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known.” (sic)

The Good War, Still to Be Won
20.08.07. Editorial, NY Times.
See also How Can We Best Help Afghanistan? (5 Letters 23.08.07. NY Times).

IRAQ WAR CUTS INTO AMMO SUPPLIES
24.08.07. ITS ESTIMATED THAT ONE BILLION BULLETS A YEAR ARE USED BY U.S. TROOPS FOR TRAINING AND FIGHTING IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Faster, deadlier pilotless plane bound for Afghanistan
28.08.07. usatoday. The Air Force this fall will deploy a new generation of pilotless airplane with the bombing power of an F-16 to help stop the stubborn Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan

U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people
28.08.07. Reuters. U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the
Small Arms Survey 2007
by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

A Man Alone: The Twilight of the Bush Presidency
29.08.07. R. Cornwell, Independent – truthout. They were known as the "Texas Mafia", and they shaped the most controversial presidency in US history. But one by one, George Bush's most trusted aides have left his side. Rupert Cornwell reports on the White House exodus that turned the world's most powerful man into a lame duck.

Which Side is the Pentagon On?
29.08.07. Winslow Wheeler, Counterpunch-antiwar.com. The Costs of the Afghanistan War. ‘Telling us how many dollars have been spent on the war in Afghanistan is fundamental to the Department of Defense's (DOD) effort to garner public and congressional support for prosecution of the war. It should also be a simple question. It is not.
The Department of Defense (DOD) testified to Congress on July 31, 2007 that the war in Afghanistan had cost $78.1 billion. The seeming precision of the decimal point notwithstanding, the number is laughably inaccurate.’ … For DOD's obligations for Afghanistan going as far back as 2001, there has been no effort by the department to document what was actually spent. Lists of DoD ‘do not include’ expenditures.

U.S. commander: Military alone won't beat Afghan insurgents
30.08.07. usatoday. He noted that ‘ most insurgencies end with a political solution’.

The Empire
How the neoliberals stitched up the wealth of nations for themselves
28.08.07. George Monbiot, Guardian. A cabal of intellectuals and elitists hijacked the economic debate, and now we are dealing with the catastrophic effects



"The best war reporter is just the skilled conduit of other people's pain, an effective intruder upon their most exreme moments of vulnerability." Anthony Loyd , p. 244-5

MoD issues gag order on armed forces
10.08.07. Guardian. New restrictions on blogs, emails, websites and text messages. 'Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defence. ... The rules have provoked consternation among the ranks, with human rights lawyers saying yesterday that they could be in contravention of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which allows for freedom of expression ... Service personnel are currently bound by Queen's Regulations, which mean they must seek permission before speaking to the press but are free to blog and take part in online debates. However, many have spoken out anonymously on issues such as poor kit, housing and the treatment of wounded service personnel evacuated from combat zones. Criticism of the RAF in Afghanistan and the state of the ageing vehicles being used there have all appeared in the press.

An unofficial soldiers' website, arrse.co.uk, was full of angry debate about the issue yesterday. One poster said: "Why does it not occur to MoD that if it did things properly, and treated its people well, they wouldn't feel the need to bring things into the public arena quite so often, and they wouldn't need to spend so much time covering-up?" / Another suggested that the rules were intended to silence the average "tommy" while senior personnel were free to speak to the media without fear of reprimand.'

Afghanistan bans media from hostage site
12.08.07. NBC. Restrictions come a day after Taliban leaders' news conference on 21 held

Internet is "the new Afghanistan": NY police commissioner
16.08.07. Yahoo – economictimes.indiatimes/legitgov. The Internet is the new battleground against Islamist extremism because it provides ideology that could radicalize Westerners who might then initiate home-grown attacks, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Army Reports Brass, Not Bloggers, Breach Security
17.08.07. wired.com. For years, the military has been warning that soldiers' blogs could pose a security threat by leaking sensitive wartime information. But a series of online audits, conducted by the Army, suggests that official Defense Department websites post material far more potentially harmful than anything found on a individual's blog.

CNN report ignored Bush administration’s alleged responsibility for bin Laden’s escape from Tora Bora
17.08.07. Media Matters.

Insurgents apply home front terror to soldiers’ families
24.08.07. cphpost.dk. A growing number of families of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are receiving calls in the dead of the night that include loud shouting and expletives yelled in English. According to the Danish Defence Intelligence Agency (FE), insurgent groups in Iraq have managed to tap into soldiers’ mobile phones to call Denmark and hack into email accounts, enabling the groups to trace soldiers’ family members and issue the threats.

The BBC’s hall of mirrors
26.08.07. William Bowles. For make no mistake, even though there is currently no challenge to the rule of capital, the goings on inside (and outside) the BBC reflect a deep seated crisis of confidence in the capitalist state of which the BBC is such an integral part and has been so since its inception.

9/11
Bravo! Mr. Fisk - Robert Fisk and 9/11
26.08.07. Gabriele Zamparini, Cat’s Dream – uruknet.

SEE ALSO: Update , with relevant quotation from Gore Vidal: "We are under... we are a homeland now, under military surveillance and military control."

Journalists must now wear dog dags in Afghanistan
27.08.07. ctv.ca.

REBELLION! MSNBC, CNBC Refuse to Run Ads Supporting War (29.08.07. iraq slogger)

There were many lies about Iraq
Video. War Made Easy Trailer

There were also lies about Afghanistan. Not many have investigated these lies yet.

At a cinema near you: the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan
19.08.07. channelnewsasia.com. Encouraged by widespread opposition to the conflict in Iraq, Hollywood film-makers are preparing to unleash an unprecedented wave of war movies on cinema-goers.

MEDIA-AFGHANISTAN: Reporters Put Life on Line
08.07. unitedstatesofmonsters.

Fight for Afghanistan
Channel 4 video reports.

Guardian Special reports, Afghanistan

President Weighing Corporate Tax Cuts
09.08.07. P. Baker, Washington Post.

DynCorp wins $1.8M for work in Afghanistan
16.08.07. Biz journals.



Labor Department: 1,001 contractors have died in Iraq
07.08.07. Chroncom. Another 6 civilian contractors have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations there, the Labor Department records show.

The $265 Million Misunderstanding
09.08.07.defensetech. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. says it discovered that it has overcharged the U.S. government by $265 million for work on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and will promptly refund the money with interest.



Russia agrees to massive debt write-off for Afghanistan
06.08.07. IHT. The finance ministers of Russia and Afghanistan on Monday signed an agreement under which the Kremlin writes off 90 percent of Afghanistan's US$11 billion (€8.5 billion) debt and raises the possibility of writing off the remainder.

Analysis: Iran winning more friends in region
14.07.08. D. Sands, wpherald/ ICH. At a time when the United States is widely regarded in the Middle East as a military aggressor and faces plummeting popularity around the world, Iran is taking advantage of the situation to boost its own image and forge closer ties with its neighbors.

Billions In U.S. Aid Wasted In Afghanistan
16.08.07. CBS. A success story that quickly turned to disappointment for the hospital when they discovered that this septic truck donated by the United States with brand new tires and a new coat of paint wasn't new at all - in fact it's at least 60-years-old

Australia increases aid to Afghanistan
23.08.07. hindu.com. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Thursday said Australia will increase aid to Afghanistan by providing an additional 115 million Australian dollars (106 million U.S. dollars) over two years.

Canada boosts Afghanistan aid
26.08.07. canada.com. Canada is boosting aid to Afghanistan by providing $45 million for five health and community development projects in Kandahar province. ... The $45 million announced Saturday is part of Canada's total contribution of more than $1 billion over 10 years aimed at governance, security and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

"Aid"? itisalat invests USD 300m in Afghanistan (30.08.07. reuters - presstiv. UAE’s Eitisalat is 5th mobile service in Afghanistan)





REPORTS

UN -Report -Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007
08/07. UN Office on Drugs and Crime Document - Report UN / Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007

Poppy for Medicine
THE SENLIS COUNCIL.

ARTICLES

Britain is protecting the biggest heroin crop of all time
21.07.07. Craig Murray, Daily Mail / ICH. Afghanistan now exports not opium, but heroin. Opium is converted into heroin on an industrial scale, not in kitchens but in factories. Millions of gallons of the chemicals needed for this process are shipped into Afghanistan by tanker. The tankers and bulk opium lorries on the way to the factories share the roads, improved by American aid, with Nato troops.

Afghanistan Poppy Cultivation Skyrockets
05.08.07. AP . Guardian. Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.

Afghan heroin endangers Canada, RCMP warns
06.08.07. Globe and Mail. The RCMP has have warned at least two federal agencies that Afghan heroin is “increasingly” making its way to Canada and poses a direct threat to the public despite millions of dollars from Ottawa to fund the war-torn country's counter-narcotics efforts, newly released documents reveal.

It's easy for soldiers to score heroin in Afghanistan
07.08.07. Salon. Simultaneously stressed and bored, U.S. soldiers are turning to the widely available drug for a quick escape.

Officials Debate Strategy As Afghan Poppy Crop Hits New Record
07.08.07. Drug Policy News.

Afghanistan at Odds With U.S. on Plan to Curb Opium
08.08.07. Zacharia, Bloomberg. While the Bush administration is seeking to expand efforts to destroy opium poppy plants, Afghanistan wants to emphasize long-term crop substitution.

Record crop of heroin poppies hits anti-drug effort in Afghanistan
10.08.07.timesonline. Britain’s multimillion-pound counter-narcotics operation in Afghanistan was exposed as a failure yesterday, as the country was poised to report a record poppy crop this year.

Let Afghan Poppies Bloom
20.08.07. timesonline. The deadly opium exports could instead satisfy global medical needs. Another irony: British farmers recruited to grow poppies (20.08.07. timesonline)


Inside an Afghan opium market
27.08.07. BBC.

Afghan Opium Production Sets Record Highs, Says UN Report
27.08.07. VOA.

Terrorism links to opium rejected
28.08.07. smh.com/au.

Offering hope to Afghan addicts
28.08.07. BBC.

Poppy Production
28.08.07. Norine MacDonald, QC. timesonline. Letter to Times from Senlis Council

Eradication or legalisation? How to solve Afghanistan's opium crisis
29.08.07. Walsh and Ian Black, Guardian. the Guardian asks experts in the field what can be done to bring production of the drug to an end: Chris Alexander (Deputy special representative of the UN secretary general to Afghanistan); Joanna Nathan (International Crisis Group analyst); Norine Macdonald (The Senlis Council); Daoud Sultanzoi (MP for Ghazni province); Barnett Rubin (Centre for International Cooperation, New York University); Senior NATO official.

Afghan opium increasing problems for Pakistan: ANF
30.08.07. daily times. The alarming opium production in Afghanistan has increased problems for Pakistan as international drug barons smuggle heroin to Europe and America through Pakistan, said Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Commander Brig Asif Ali while briefing reporters about ANF’s performance during the ongoing quarter on Wednesday.

Afghan opium drug lab destroyed
30.08.07. cnn.

Canadians back Afghan poppy cultivation for medicine: poll
30.08.07. Canada.com.

"Afghans have a lightness to their spirit when going towards fighting: they grin and hoot and jeer and move with a spring in their step. It is not that they necessarily want to die, more that death is familiar to them. In a country which most males do not expect to live much longer than their mid-forties, and which has been warring for so long, getting killed in combat is an incidental prospect. War is in their blood.". "Anthony Loyd , p. 213.


Afghanistan mission constitutes a fundamental violation of NATO's mandate
08.08.07. P. Chen, agoracosmopolitan. It is apparent that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is operating under some new global expansionist agenda. That is a logical conclusion drawn from NATO's operation in Afghanistan, that is a fundamental violation of the original mandate of NATO. The North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states, as well as the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. NATO was mandated to only operate in self-defence, and within the geographic limitations of the North Atlantic Treaty Area of continental North America and Europe. / It seems that NATO is being transformed into an extension of U.S. military expansionist policies which seek pre-emptive offensive strikes against adversaries that do not willingly give up their natural resources to the U.S. political-military-industrial complex.

Azerbaijan Army receives NATO arms
11.03.07. apa. The process of replacing soviet era arms and military hardware with that of NATO is underway in Azerbaijan, Defence Ministry press service chief, colonel lieutenant Eldar Safarov told APA.

Russian ship prepares to join NATOs Operation Active Endeavor
13.08.07. epicos,

Sour Grapes Dept.
Poland still feels left out of EU and NATO
18.08.07. neurope.eu. Poland’s Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga says it’s high time her country’s European partners to treat the EU newcomer and 1999 NATO member as an equal fully entitled to make independent strategic policy decisions and not as a second-class citizen.

Allies refuse to send more troops to Afghanistan as death toll rises
19.08.07. B. Brady, Scotsman.

Allies refuse to send more troops to Afghanistan as death toll rises
19.08.07. Scotsman. Britain's European allies have flatly ruled out providing extra military help for the increasingly deadly battle against 'insurgents' in Afghanistan, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. A series of fellow members of Nato and the European Union have repeatedly rejected UK pleas for reinforcements for the multinational force trying to reconstruct Afghanistan following six years of turmoil since the American-led operation to drive out the Taliban.

BOLD AVENGER 2007 (BAR07) Initial Exercise
22.08.07. Press Release, airramstein.nato. ve air exercise taking place at Ørland Main Air Station (MAS), Norway, during the period 3-14 September 2007, with live flying between 3-8 and 10-13 September 2007. BAR 07 will involve air forces from 13 NATO member nations: Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

NATO to give Georgia access to radar data – representative
23.08.07. globalsecurity.org

Europeans, Canadians see Afghan Mission as Failure
27.08.07. Angus Reid Poll. A success?: Canada 22%; Italy 18%; UK: 16%; Germany: 15%; France: 12%. Failure?: more than 60% of German, Italian, British, French; Canada: 49%.

Casualties begin to unravel Afghan force
27.08.07. theaustralian.news.com. The US is worried about weakening Italian and German military commitments in Afghanistan as casualties mount in the International Security and Assistance Force, including the "friendly fire" incident on Friday that killed three British soldiers. ..Debate is raging in Italy and Germany, and to a lesser extent in The Netherlands and Denmark, on whether they should remain in the ISAF, which is already grappling with a shortage of troops in the face of one of the most intense military engagements in decades.

NATO commander warns on rapid response force
28.08.07. ft.com. NATO suffering from lack of troops and is not at “full operational capability”.

The Shanghai Cooporation Society (SOC)

This organisation has picked up handy propaganda hints from N. America. This is their logo :



Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit starts in Bishkek
16.08.07. Xinhuanet.com. Leaders of SCO's six member states -- Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Uzbek President Islam Karimov -- addressed the summit and inked a long-term treaty of good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation. Leaders and representatives from SCO's observer countries -- Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India -- also delivered speeches at the summit.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization Seeks to Expand Energy and Security Influence
16.08.07. Peter Fedynsky. VOA news. The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization has concluded its one-day summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, amid calls from two of its energy-rich members for the creation of an Asian energy club. VOA correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports, from the Kyrgyz capital, the summit's call for a multilateral approach to global problems is an indirect reaction to American influence, around the world.

red rag to bull?
Ahmadinejad Denounces US Missile Defense Shield at SCO Summit
16.08.07. Fars News. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said a proposed US missile defense shield in central Europe would threaten "all Asia".



NATO and SCO apparently see "Peace Missions" as bombing the hell out of everything, killing civilians and destabilising world order .

SCO leaders observe joint anti-terror drill
17.08.07. Xinhuanet.com. Heads of state and defense ministers from the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) gathered in Russia's Chelyabinsk on Friday to observe a joint anti-terrorism drill. … The drill was the final stage of a first ever joint military exercise involving all the six member states of the SCO, namely China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. AP / Washington Post carried this story (17.08.07).

SCO summit meeting issues joint communiqué
17.08.07. xinhuanet.com. the leaders agreed on further developing all-round cooperation within the SCO framework and exchanged in an in-depth way views on the current regional and international issues, the communique said. See Photo Gallery

Shanghai Cooperation Organization Should Implement Human Rights Principles
17.08.07. Human Rights Watch.

China, Kazakhstan sign joint communique on promoting relations, trade
18.08.07. xinhuanet.com. Special Report: President Hu visits two nations, attends SCO summit

SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION SUMMITEERS TAKE SHOTS 

AT US PRESENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA

20.08.07.J. Kucera, eurasianet.org. Most international headlines focused on the thinly veiled swipes at Washington taken by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Russian President Vladimir Putin. … US State Department spokesman Sean McCormick could barely disguise his disdain when discussing the SCO summit, in particular the group’s decision to entertain Iran as an observer. "If they [SCO leaders] want to associate with them [Iranian officials], that’s up to them," McCormick said just before the summit’s opening. … The question of how to approach the SCO seems to be vexing Washington. Some hawks see the group as a nascent "anti-NATO," but that would be an overreaction, suggested Sean Roberts, a Central Asian affairs fellow at Georgetown University in Washington, DC…. "While they could do much to destabilize Afghanistan, there is a limited amount of things they can do to help the country," said Marvin Weinbaum, a former top US intelligence official on Afghanistan now at the Middle East Institute in Washington . … "In the long run, countering the US [military presence] is the more important goal [than countering Islamist extremist forces] so getting American forces out would be a gain," said Russell Ong, a China security expert at the School for Oriental and African Studies.

China, Russia to launch joint drill in Moscow
21.08.07. xinhuanet.com. In Moscow, in September. "Cooperation 2007" will be the first international anti-terrorism exercise for China's armed police outside China. The drill was in accordance with the principles of Shanghai Cooperation Organization and related agreements signed by the two countries, said sources from China's armed police.

Misconceptions About the SCO
21.08.07. Moscow Times. This is, unfortunately, just an excerpt from this paper.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization guards China's back
21.08.07. Chinapost.com. The SCO member states boast a total area of 30 million sq. km, occupying about three-fifths of the Euro-Asia Continent, and with 1.489 billion people, account for a quarter of the world's population. It is far bigger than NATO or the EU. Not yet a mutual defense pact, it is heading that way, as Sino-Russian military ties with the central Asian states deepen.” History of the regions … “With U.S. influence waning in Central Asia, the SCO is gaining clout as a leading security organization in the energy-rich region.”

NATO steps up monitoring of Russia
23.08.07. T. Harding, Telegraph. With map, but no mention of SCO.

This statement, from Playing the Cold War Card (Moscow Times, 23.08.07) is also applicable to the NATO mission:
“What is most important, however, is that the Peace Mission 2007 training exercises -- despite all of its claims -- have no application whatsoever in the fight against terrorism. It is obvious that the army is the wrong tool for battling terrorists . The bombing of the Moscow-St. Petersburg train shows that a conventional army cannot prevent a terrorist act. Law enforcement agencies must be the ones to combat terrorists, using their agents to infiltrate the ranks of terrorist organizations. Fighter jets and bombers, like the ones paraded with so much fanfare in Peace Mission 2007, are of very little use in this struggle.”

Dan Simpson, a retired American diplomat, gave a description of SOC and its exercises in the Toledo Blade (22.08.07), and said It is unlikely that the SCO will go away, so the United States should seek more actively to work with it, to keep it from working against us.

The new 'NATO of the East' takes shape
M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times. ‘It is certainly a measure of the SCO's success that the United States and Japan are knocking at its door, anxious to gain "observer" status. … the massive shift in the templates of great-power politics in recent years also has provided impetus for the SCO's growing clout. … Where does the SCO fit in the "new cold war?" The question can take different forms. A variant would be, "Is the SCO turning into a NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization]-like military alliance? … What stands to reason from the above is that the two (China, Russia) leaderships may have for the first time discussed the common challenge facing the two countries, emanating out of the US plans to deploy the missile-defense systems in Central Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. … avrov added, "We and China are analyzing the US global missile-defense plans targeting Europe and the East."

Iran Again Fails to Secure Shanghai Cooperation Organization Membership
28.08.97. Worldpoliticsreview.com. For several years, Iranian officials have sought to strengthen their ties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Iran became a formal observer nation at the July 2005 SCO summit, but the country's leaders have continued to pursue full membership. In April 2007, the Iranian Foreign Ministry submitted an official application to this effect. Even before the seventh annual SCO summit convened in Bishkek on Aug. 16, however, the existing SCO full members announced that they would indefinitely postpone accepting new members.

NATO or Shanghai?
30.08.07. ahram.org. Now that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has become a political and military reality, and now that NATO has stretched to our regional borders and has exerted its influence in powerful ways within these borders, should not Arab governments begin to consider formulating a new foreign policy?

AUSTRALIA

Afghanistan more dangerous than Iraq
10.08.07. Theage. A resurgent Taliban has made Afghanistan more dangerous for Australian troops than Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard has warned.

Troops in Afghanistan 'heading for failure'
13.08.07. theage. THE 1000 Australian troops risking their lives in Afghanistan will fail to make the country any more secure or reduce global terrorism, according to an eminent Australian defence expert.

Australian terror fears at an all time high
23.08.07. Herald Sun.

We'll follow Dutch out of Afghanistan, says Nelson
31.08.07. news.com. AUSTRALIA would most likely follow should Dutch troops withdraw from southern Afghanistan, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says.

CANADA

War with the Taliban to last some time, says Canadian colonel in Afghanistan
09.08.07. mytelus / ICH. Col. Christian Juneau distanced himself from predictions made a few days ago by Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid that NATO forces would defeat the Taliban in the not too distant future.

Five Canadian soldiers injured in Afghanistan
11.08.07. canadacom.

Talk to Me Like My Father: Frontline Medicine in Afghanistan
July-August ‘07, Kevin Patterson, Mother Jones. In Afghanistan as well as Iraq, the military is running out of doctors to patch up wounded troops—and civilians caught in the crossfire. One doctor's frontline diary from Kandahar. “it's late January, and on my way to Kandahar I stop at a facility called Camp Mirage that sits on a clear desert highway and shimmers in the early afternoon heat. It serves as the support base for Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian forces in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. The camp exists, and yet officially does not: The Host Nation does not acknowledge it, forbids its mention publicly.” … *** story.

Department of Defence muzzles civilian MDs
16.08.07. A. Freeman, globeandmail.com. Publication of article describing soldier's death (see story above) in Afghanistan prompts DND to warn physicians not to release sensitive information

Canadian Soldier Killed in Southern Afghanistan
19.08.07. globeandmail. At least 12 Canadians -- from the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry of Edmonton and the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment of Petawawa Ont. — have died in combat on the lush plain of the valley, while as many, most from the RCR's 2nd Battalion in Gagetown, N.B., have been killed by suicide bombers or IEDs while traveling the cratered roads from Kandahar City to get to the area. / It was also at Ma'sum Ghar where last Sept. 4, Charles Company of the 1st Battalion, RCR, was strafed in a friendly fire accident that killed former Olympian Private Mark Graham, injured 38 other soldiers and devastated the company.

Bush praises Canada despite likely Afghan pullout
21.08.07. Reuters - ca.today. Canada won the praise of U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday for its military mission in Afghanistan, despite the fact that Ottawa will likely end combat operations there in February 2009.

Two Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan
22.08.07. globeandmail.com. and an Afghan interpreter were killed and another soldier and two Radio-Canada television journalists were injured. … According to the CROP Inc. polling firm, the percentage of respondents who opposed sending troops from Quebec units rose from 57 to 68 per cent. Also, 69 per cent wanted troops withdrawn before the 2009 deadline, compared to 57 per cent before Pte. Longtin's death. … Sixty-eight Canadian soldiers and a diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002, including some from Quebec.

Radio-Canada reporter says attack scene hard to imagine
23.08.07. globeandmail.com. “It's a huge, huge blast. It's a scene that's difficult to imagine," said the Ottawa-based reporter, adding that a medic sitting next to him was one of the two soldiers who died.”

NATO High Level Meeting in Victoria: Opportunity to Call for the Disbanding of NATO
24.08.07. pej.org.

Let's define 'success' in Afghanistan
26.08.07. R. Griffiths, thestar.com. With another rash of combat deaths, this time exclusively among French-Canadian troops, and the Bloc Québécois gleefully exploiting each of these tragedies for its own crass electoral advantage, it is high time we depoliticize the debate over the future of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan.

Canadian soldier found dead in Kabul
29.08.07. globeandmail. A member of the Canadian Forces has been found dead of a gunshot wound inside a secure compound in the Afghan capital.

GERMANY

Kabul Bomb Attack Kills 3 German Occupation Force Troops
15.08.07. Guardian / ICH. A bomb attack against a convoy of German troops on the outskirts of the Afghan capital killed three soldiers Wednesday, preliminary police reports said.

Germany rejects NATO request for choppers in Afghanistan
15.08.07. irna.ir

Germany open to sending more troops to Afghanistan
17.08.07. irna.ir.

German FM confirms woman kidnapped in Afghanistan
19.08.07. Xinhuanet.com.
But Pregnant hostage freed after raid (20.08.07. timesonline)

Germany weighs bigger Afghan deployment but counts cost
19.08.07. AFP / Middle East Times/anti-war.com

SOUTH KOREA

S. Korea to accelerate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan
29.08.07. english.hani.co. South Korea plans to speed up its preparation for the pullout of more than 200 soldiers in Afghanistan after a deal with the Taliban on the