Afghanistan Welcomes Russia’s Military Assistance

(Hat tip: KimR) - Kabul (BNA) The Russian government has recently handed over its first military assistance consisting of 10000 Ak-47 to ANP. While the Afghan government sincerely appreciates Russian assistance and requesting further contribution for ANSF equipping and capacity building. Read more at Bakhtar News Read More......

Army rejects appeal from soldier discharged after confronting accused Afghan rapist

Decorated soldier being kicked out of Army after shoving Afghan police commander accused of raping boy Army axing Green Beret who stood up for Afghan rape victim EXCLUSIVE: Even as the U.S. military denies reports that American troops were told to ignore Afghan child abusers, an 11-year Green Beret who was ordered discharged after he confronted an alleged rapist was informed Tuesday that the Army has denied his appeal.

Read more at Fox News
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The Next Wave: Afghans Flee To Europe in Droves

As the situation in Afghanistan becomes ever more chaotic, an increasing number of Afghans are heading towards Europe. But as one family's story shows, the trip often ends in tragedy. ___ Many Afghans dream of a better life in Europe. About 80,000 applied for asylum in Europe in the first half of 2015 alone, with most of them going to Germany. They are the second-largest group of refugees and migrants in Germany after Syrians.

Read more at Spiegel
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Taliban is capturing Afghanistan's $1 trillion mining wealth

Taliban fighters aren't just making gains on the battlefield: They're also bleeding away a revenue source that is crucial for Afghanistan to pay for its military without US help. --The Afghan government will earn about $30 million in 2015 from its mineral sector for the third straight year, far short of a previous projection of $1.5 billion, according to Mines and Petroleum Minister Daud Shah Saba. That's also a quarter of what smugglers -mostly linked to the Taliban and local warlords -earn annually selling rubies and emeralds, he said.

Read more at the India Times
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Islamic State is making these Afghans long for the Taliban

When the Islamic State fighters seized the Mahmand Valley, they poured pepper into the wounds of their enemies, said villagers. Then, they seared their hands in vats of boiling oil. A group of villagers was blindfolded, tortured and blown apart with explosives buried underneath them. --“They pulled out my brother’s teeth before they forced him to sit on the bombs,” recalled Malik Namos, a tribal elder who escaped the valley along with thousands of other villagers. “They are more vicious than the Taliban, than any group we have seen.”

Read more at the Washington Post
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Reminder: Marine at risk of discharge over e-mailing classified document — to warn against massacre

What happens to people who send classified data through unsecured e-mail channels? Unless his or her name rhymes with Millary Minton, it usually results in legal discipline or prosecution. As a reminder of what happens to rank-and-file Americans who act with gross negligence in retaining and transmitting classified data, The Daily Beast’s Michael Daly spotlights the legal battle of a Marine Corps officer and New York City firefighter who violated the law — in an attempt to warn people of a danger that went tragically ignored:

Read more at Hotair.com
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WSJ: Release of Taliban Detainees Alarms Afghan Villagers

SHEYKHAN, Afghanistan—Taliban forces led by Mohammed Fazl swept through this village on the Shomali plain north of Kabul in 1999 in a scorched-earth offensive that prompted some 300,000 people to flee for their lives.

Fifteen years later, local residents here are responding with fear and dismay to the U.S. release of the notorious commander, along with four other Taliban leaders in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American prisoner of war who was held by the Taliban. The group released a video on Wednesday showing the hurried handover a few days earlier of the American captive, looking gaunt and dazed.

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Afghanistan: Catch-and-release of Taliban fighters angers troops

WASHINGTON EXAMINER, 12/7/2010 by Sara A. Carter - More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians. Read more at the Washington Examiner... Read More......

In the 10th Year of War, a Harder Army, a More Distant America

POLITICS DAILY, 9/2010 by David Wood, Chief Military Correspondent (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler) - The U.S. Army now begins its 10th continuous year in combat, the first time in its history the United States has excused the vast majority of its citizens from service and engaged in a major, decade-long conflict instead with an Army manned entirely by professional warriors. ∴ This is an Army that, under the pressure of combat, has turned inward, leaving civilian America behind, reduced to the role of a well-wishing but impatient spectator. A decade of fighting has hardened soldiers in ways that civilians can't share. America respects its warriors, but from a distance. Read more at Politics Daily... Read More......

Morning Bell: What is Obama President of Again?

HERITAGE FOUNDATION/FOUNDRY, 9/22/2010 - On December 1, 2009, when President Barack Obama announced his new Afghanistan policy after months of delay, Denise Young of Kokomo, Ind., who has a 22-year-old son serving in the war, told The Wall Street Journal what she wanted to hear from the commander in chief: "That he is going to let the generals make the decisions. They have asked for more troops. They should get them. There is safety in numbers." Today, we learned from a sneak preview of Bob Woodward's new book, Obama's War, that President Barack Obama completely failed Mrs. Young. Read more at Heritage...

Related: LA TIMES: Woodward Book Says Afghanistan Divided White House Read More......

Morning Bell: What is Obama President of Again?

HERITAGE FOUNDATION/FOUNDRY, 9/22/2010 - On December 1, 2009, when President Barack Obama announced his new Afghanistan policy after months of delay, Denise Young of Kokomo, Ind., who has a 22-year-old son serving in the war, told The Wall Street Journal what she wanted to hear from the commander in chief: "That he is going to let the generals make the decisions. They have asked for more troops. They should get them. There is safety in numbers." Today, we learned from a sneak preview of Bob Woodward's new book, Obama's War, that President Barack Obama completely failed Mrs. Young. Read more at Heritage... Read More......

WSJ: McChrystal Forces Us to Focus

WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/25/2010 by Peggy Noonan - Gen. Stanley McChrystal's greatest contribution to the war in Afghanistan may turn out to be forcing everyone to focus on it. The real news there this week was not Gen. McChrystal's epic faux pas and dismissal but that 12 soldiers were killed on June 7-8, including five Americans by a roadside bomb, making that "the deadliest 24 hour period this year," as The Economist noted. Insurgency-related violence was up by 87% in the six months prior to March. Agence France-Presse reported Thursday that NATO forces are experiencing their deadliest month ever. Read more at WSJ... Read More......

A French Infantryman's View of American Soldiers

Hat tip: John H. Detweiler (via email) - At the website Serendipitous altruism you'll find the translation of an article originally written by a French soldier about American soldiers in Afghanistan. Though this "rare and moving testimony" was written in 2008, it is still getting attention. It's nice to know that American troops are appreciated. Thank you John for sending this. Read More......

Rove: Obama Can Win in Afghanistan

WSJ/OPINION JOURNAL, 12/2/2009 by Karl Rove - If the president keeps his nerve, he'll get the country's support. President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night deserves to be cheered. Over the objections of his vice president and despite opposition from his political base, the president is sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to fight terrorists.

But praise for Mr. Obama's decision needs to be qualified. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, had said he could use as many as 40,000 troops, a figure he arrived at after carefully evaluating what would be needed to accomplish the mission Mr. Obama assigned him in June. Read more at Opinion Journal... Read More......

News on Afghanistan and Pakistan

Pakistan Launches Offensive on Terror Stronghold - Pakistan launched a much-awaited ground offensive in the Al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan early Saturday, the toughest test yet in the U.S. ally's struggle against militants aiming to topple the state. Read more at FOX News...

Poll: Growing Disapproval Of Obama On Afghanistan - A growing plurality of Americans now disapproves of the job Obama is doing on Afghanistan -- and far more trust Gen. Stanley McChrystal to make the next steps than trust the president. Read more at FOX News...

3 U.S. Troops Killed in Afghan Bomb Attacks - KHOST, Afghanistan — Bomb attacks in Afghanistan claimed the lives of three US soldiers, officials said on Saturday, as NATO and Afghan forces killed 25 Taliban fighters in separate assaults. Read more at FOX News...

Rest in peace young warriors. Read More......

Taliban Fighters Attack Outposts, U.S. Troops Killed in Battle

KABUL, Oct. 4 (Hat tip: Patricia Anderson) -- Firing rockets and rifles, Taliban militiamen attacked American and Afghan military outposts in a daylong siege on Saturday that killed eight U.S. soldiers and two Afghan security forces in one of the deadliest battles in months, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. Read more at the Washington Post... Read More......

Silence

POLITICO, 8/13/2009 by Zachary Abrahamson and Eamon Javers - Obama Speechless On National Security As Violence Surges In Afghanistan And Iraq: “He may be presiding over two wars and facing a terror threat at home and abroad, but you'd hardly know it from listening to President Barack Obama speak.”Read "Obama's Words Downplay Wars" at Politico... Read More......

Major military operation under way in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Marines and Afghan security forces moved into Taliban-infested villages Wednesday evening in one of the Obama administration's first major military operations in the previously forgotten war in Afghanistan. ∴ The offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. local time in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. More than 4,000 Marines and an estimated 650 Afghan soldiers and police sought to clear insurgents from towns and villages along the Helmand River Valley before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential election.

"Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces," Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson said in a statement.

Read more at Breitbart... Read More......

Jet Noise is the Sound of Freedom

Signal 94, June 18, 2007 - SIG₉₄ posted Way too Cool, in which he notes, "This was just too cool not to steal." So from Phred's World to Signal 94 to us, I say, enjoy this story from a U.S. Soldier somewhere in Afghanistan... (Photo: B-1 bomber breaking the sound barrier)

"So we are up in the mountains at about 0100 hrs looking for a bad guy that we thought was in the area. There are ten of us, pitch black, crystal clear night, about 25 degrees. We know there are bad guys in the area; a few shots have been fired but no big deal. We decide that we need air cover and the only thing in the area is a solo B-1 bomber. He flies around at about 20,000 feet and tells us there is nothing in the area. He then asks if we would like a low level show of force. Stupid question. Of course we tell him yes.

The controller who is attached to the team then is heard talking to the pilot. Pilot asks if we want it subsonic or supersonic. Very stupid question.

Pilot advises he is twenty miles out and stand by. The controller gets us all sitting down in a line and points out the proper location. You have to picture this. Pitch black, ten killers sitting down, dead quiet and overlooking this about 30 mile long valley. All of a sudden, way out (below our level) you see a set of four 200' white flames coming at us. The controller says, "Ah-- guys-- you might want to plug your ears".

Faster than you can think a B-1, supersonic, 1000' over our heads, blasts the sound barrier and it feels like God just hit you in the head with a hammer. He then stands it straight up with 4 white trails of flame coming out and disappears.

Cost of gas for that: Probably $50,000

Hearing damage: For certain.

Bunch of Taliban thinking twice about shooting at us: Priceless.

Have a nice day from the good 'ol USA!

SIG94 adds, I get chills just thinking about this. I love the sound of jets. It is indeed the sound of freedom.YEEEEEEEEEHHHAAAAAAAAAH!

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Is China Supplying Terrorists?

Power Line, June 15, 2007, Posted by John - Intelligence: China Supplying Terrorists In Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan

Bill Gertz, writing in the Washington Times, said today that China is supplying large quantities of weapons to both Iraq and Afghanistan, through Iran:

New intelligence reveals China is covertly supplying large quantities of small arms and weapons to insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban militia in Afghanistan, through Iran.

Some arms were sent by aircraft directly from Chinese factories to Afghanistan and included large-caliber sniper rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and components for roadside bombs, as well as other small arms.

According to the officials, the Iranians, in buying the arms, asked Chinese state-run suppliers to expedite the transfers and to remove serial numbers to prevent tracing their origin. China, for its part, offered to transport the weapons in order to prevent the weapons from being interdicted.

U.S. Army specialists suspect the weapons were transferred within the past three months. Continued at Power Line...

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