German army chief resigns over Afghan civilian deaths

The German army’s chief of staff has stepped down after reports of Afghan civilian deaths in a September air strike involving German troops.
Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told parliament on Thursday Wolfgang Schneiderhan had submitted his resignation.
Schneiderhan “has released himself from his duties at his own request,” zu Guttenberg [...]

Let’s Eliminate Welfare for Terrorists

Of all the factors on the table in the current Afghan strategic review, the War on Drugs and its unintended consequences should be front and center. Our 95-year effort to create a Drug Free America by enforcing world-wide prohibition has twisted our foreign policy out of shape all over the globe and [...]

500 Million New Terrorists!

The world is becoming less safe by the day. Before the end of November, half a billion new terrorists will be added to the list kept by the US government.
On November 30, one day before the Treaty of Lisbon is scheduled to take effect, the ministers of justice of the European [...]

US lawmakers call for ending Cuba travel ban

Two key American lawmakers say that Washington should allow its citizens to travel to Cuba to help promote ‘democratic reforms’ in that country.
Veteran Republican Senator Richard Lugar and Democratic Congressman Howard Berman insist that the Cuba travel ban has been obsolete and should be discarded as a foreign [...]

America Owned by Its Army

Paris, November 3, 2009 – It is possible that the creation of an all-professional American army was the most dangerous decision ever taken by Congress. The nation now confronts a political crisis in which the issue has become an undeclared contest between Pentagon power and that of a newly elected [...]

Occupiers involved in drug trade: Afghan minister

The Afghan minister of counter narcotics says foreign troops are earning money from drug production in Afghanistan.
General Khodaidad Khodaidad said the majority of drugs are stockpiled in two provinces controlled by troops from the US, the UK, and Canada, Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Saturday.
He went on to [...]

UN says US drone strikes may violate international law

US unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions, the United Nations top investigator of such crimes said.
“The problem with the United States is that it is making an increased use of drones/Predators (which are) particularly prominently [...]

Karzai’s brother ‘on CIA payroll’

US involvement in Afghanistan has come into new question with the claim that President Hamid Karzai’s brother has for years been on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency – even though he is suspected of being a major figure in the illicit opium trade that Washington and its [...]

Military Children in Crisis

A seven-year-old second-grader attempted suicide while his father was serving yet another tour in Iraq. Seven years old. Seven. His mother was one of half a dozen military spouses I have spoken with about soldiers’ kids who have attempted suicide during their fathers’ deployments.
When I was seven, it was 1972, and [...]

Perpetual war is here — and Americans are getting used to it

A new poll shows a substantial majority of Americans have resigned themselves to the reality of our nation’s perpetual foreign wars. They don’t like it, but they see it happening and know there is nothing they can do about it. The poll, conducted by Clarus Research Group, showed that 68 [...]

EU slams US-led Afghanistan bombing

European foreign ministers have criticized the ‘catastrophic’ Friday bombing of north Afghanistan, which left 90 people, including many civilians, killed.
During an unofficial meeting in Sweden on Saturday, foreign ministers from different European Union nations censured NATO’s lethal attack on two fuel tankers, believed to have taken over by Taliban [...]

Canada rejects NATO call on Afghanistan

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon has dismissed NATO calls for extending his country’s deployment in Afghanistan after 2011.
“Our government is abiding by the motion passed in parliament in 2008 – that is that our combat forces will leave by 2011,” he told CBC on Thursday.
Cannon’s remarks came after NATO Secretary General [...]

Majority in US oppose both wars

July 24, 2009 — (AP)   -A majority of Americans oppose both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, though the war in Afghanistan is a little more popular. Here are details:
OVERALL RESULTS: 34 percent favor the war in Iraq and 63 percent are opposed; 44 percent favor the war [...]

Drones Hardly Ever Kill Bad Guys

The foreign policy community’s favorite counterinsurgency adviser, or at least their favorite Australian one, David Kilcullen, told lawmakers last week that the drone strikes targeting Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Pakistan are creating enemies at a far faster rate than its killing them. According to statistics he provided, the success [...]

US says Afghan poppy eradication ‘failure’

The United States admits that its efforts in eradicating opium poppy production in Afghanistan have proven to be of no avail.
Washington’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke said on Sunday that the current measures taken against poppy growers had been “a failure”.
“The Western policies against the opium crop, the [...]

Some Reports from the Congressional Research Service

“Mexico’s Drug-Related Violence,” May 27, 2009.
“The 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) ‘Swine Flu’ Outbreak: U.S. Responses to Global Human Cases,” May 26, 2009.
“The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11,” updated May 15, 2009.
“USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives After 15 Years: Issues for Congress,” [...]

U.S. holds journalist without charges in Iraq

Reuters cameraman Ibrahim Jassam has been held since September. The U.S. military rejected a court order to release him, saying he is a ‘high security threat.’ No evidence has been presented.
Reporting from Baghdad — The soldiers came at 1:30 a.m, rousing family members who were sleeping on the roof to escape [...]

US suicidal veterans surpassing KIAs

At least 13 American soldiers have committed suicide in March as post traumatic syndrome is increasing suicide tendency among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
The latest figure has brought to 56 the number of US soldiers’ suicide cases in 2009, according to figures released by the US Army, a press TV correspond [...]

US vying to ‘hand-pick’ Afghan president

Washington is using its political clout to influence the outcome of the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan, a report says.
The US embassy in Kabul has urged Afghanistan’s leading presidential hopefuls to withdraw from the race in favor of Ali Ahmad Jalali — a candidate that is more preferred by [...]

US military admits killing mother, children

A US soldier, stands guard in the Inzeri
village of Tagab Valley, Afghanistan.

The US military in Afghanistan has admitted that four of its troops killed non-combatants in a raid that included a mother and her children.
Afghan officials and witnesses had earlier accused US forces of killing civilians in an overnight raid [...]

Major RAND study with 300 interviews: Intelligence Operations and Metrics in Iraq and Afghanistan, Nov 2008

This major November, 2008 RAND Corporation study on intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducted 300 interviews at all levels with US, UK and Dutch intelligence officers and diplomats.
The 318 page document could be described as part of the “Pentagon Papers” for Iraq and Afghanistan. It was confidentially prepared for the [...]

Marine suicide rate up, prompting more prevention training

Reporting from San Diego — Alarmed by a rising suicide rate among their troops, Marine officials announced Friday that all Marines, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, will receive a two-hour suicide-prevention presentation next month.
Commanders have been ordered to record three- to five-minute videos as part of the presentations.

The [...]

Wikileaks cracks NATO’s Master Narrative for Afghanistan

Wikileaks has cracked the encryption to a key document relating to the war in Afghanistan. The document, titled “NATO in Afghanistan: Master Narrative”, details the “story” NATO representatives are to give to, and to avoid giving to, journalists.
The encrypted document, which is dated October 6, and believed to be current, can [...]

US military gets the squeeze in Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan has slapped the US military with a dishonorable discharge from the Manas Air Base, throwing a monkey wrench into US President Barack Obama’s plans to bolster troop strength in Afghanistan just as the Taliban is showing a startling resurgence. Now, Washington will be forced to go shopping for [...]

The US military and its cult of cruelty

In the week that George Bush took to fantasizing that his blood-soaked “war on terror” would lead the 21st century into a “shining age of human liberty” I went through my mail bag to find a frightening letter addressed to me by an American veteran whose son is serving as a [...]

FBI Managers Encouraged Workers in Iraq to Bill for Time Off

For nearly five years, FBI leaders encouraged employees on temporary assignment in Iraq to bill an average of $45,000 in overtime and extra pay by routinely claiming to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, even when some of that time was spent eating, exercising, watching movies or [...]

Nature: Shut Down Army’s Human Terrain Program

Over the summer, one of the world’s leading scientific journals gave a cautious thumbs-up to the Human Terrain System, the U.S. Army’s combat zone cultural studies project. Today, in an editorial that can only be described as scathing, Nature says the $130 million program is “failing on every level” and [...]

Press and “Psy Ops” to merge at NATO Afghan HQ: sources

The U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with “PsyOps,” which deals with propaganda, a move that goes against the alliance’s policy, three officials said.

Forgotten Victims: Inside Kandahar’s Main Hospital

Civilians in Afghanistan have paid the heaviest price for the conflict in their country, caught up almost daily in both Taliban attacks and air raids by US force.
Al Jazeea’s David Chater has been to the main hospital in the Afghan city of Kandaha , where he heard some of their stories.  Source
[...]

Menace of US drones

USA has no remorse over its brazen acts of aggression and rationalizes its invasion and destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq as compulsory acts to ensure security of its homeland. It justifies its offensive actions under Article 51 of UN charter. It is now trying to justify its intended offensive against Pakistan under the same Act [...]

Security firms told they lose immunity in Iraq: official

US officials on Thursday told scores of firms offering security in Iraq that their personnel will lose immunity from prosecution under a new US-Iraq security pact due to take effect in January.

War in Afghanistan cannot be won, British commander Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith warns

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the British public should not expect “a decisive military victory” and that he believed groups of insurgents would still be at large after troops pulled out.