[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and Pak Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Gilani agreed on formation of a joint military commission to discuss missile attacks in border regions of Afghanistan.
A senior military official in defence ministry said under the order of President Karzai a delegation formed comprised of officials from defence institutions and Isaf and left Kabul for Islamabad.
Yesterday evening Pakistain's premier discussed the recent border shelling into Afghanistan by telephone and emphasised that such sort of attacks would be prevented in the future, a statement by Karzai's Office said.
The statement said Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak is a also included in the commission to discuss an immediate end to Pak missile attacks into Afghanistan.
Missile attacks that have continued for over a month have killed more than dozens and many others have been left homeless.
Afghans infuriated by the attacks yesterday held rallies in Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral... and urged the government to bring an immediate end to the attacks.
Defence Ministry Spokesman General Zaher Azimi said: "Based on previous agreements between Islamic Theocratic Republic of Afghanistan and Pakistain and on the order of Mr President a delegation consisted of representatives from security organizations and an Isaf envoy today left for Pakistain to discuss issues regarding incidents in eastern regions of the country."
Pakistain has fired 760 missiles into Afghanistan targeting residential areas in eastern border regions and more than 40 people have been killed and 50 others have been maimed, based on statistics provided by security institutions.
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07/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Six Afghan coppers and a civilian were killed when their car drove over a landmine in the restive southern province of Uruzgan late Wednesday, an official said.
"The coppers were en route to their checkpoint from a village in Chora district when their vehicle rolled on a landmine," said district police chief Mohammad Gul.
"It killed all six as well as a civilian crossing the area," he added.
The Taliban were not immediately available to comment but roadside kabooms are one of the most popular weapons in their decade-long insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government.
The dead coppers belonged to a local village force, trained for three weeks and then paid to keep Talibs out of their areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Canada ended its combat mission in Afghanistan on Thursday, closing the curtain after nine years and the death of 157 men, saying it was "extremely proud" of gains made against the Taliban.
The departure of nearly 3,000 troops, who took on some of the heaviest fighting in the southern province of Kandahar, comes as Western forces begin to announce gradual drawdowns of troops ahead of a full withdrawal in 2014.
After spending more than $11 billion dollars on the war and with popular support sapped at home, most of the nearly 3,000 Canadian soldiers, based mainly in the dangerous battleground of Kandahar, have packed up and gone home.
A change of command ceremony was held at Kandahar airfield to mark the formal end of combat operations, although hundreds of other troops are being sent to work in a training role in the Afghan capital.
Afghan, Canadian and American national anthems were played to a small group of soldiers from each country, before commanders addressed the crowd and formally handed control of the mission to the United States.
"Over the years Canadians, both military and civilian, have made the ultimate sacrifice," Brigadier General Dean Milner, head of the Canadian combat mission, said in his speech to the assembled troops.
"All of these comrades would be proud to know of your accomplishments."
"Although there is still work to do, (we) are extremely proud of what has been accomplished."
Canadian soldiers first deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002, several months after a U.S.-led invasion of the country to oust the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
In recent weeks they have been completing their final patrols, packing up dusty outposts and gathering at the giant Kandahar airfield military base to debrief before starting to catch their flights home.
Britannia is among other countries to have also announced partial troop withdrawals after nearly a decade of war, but the Canadians were the first major troop contributor to start sending forces home this year.
On Tuesday, Canada handed control of their last district to U.S. forces in a flag-lowering ceremony, a key symbolic step in the drawdown process, although the Americans had been in place for weeks.
Last month, U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama announced that he would withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, while La Belle France and Belgium have joined Britannia in stating that they will soon bring some soldiers home.
All foreign combat forces are due to leave by the end of 2014 and hand security to Afghan forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I know it's just before the rollover, but I want to say, thank you, neighbors, for continuing to punch well above your weight.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[An Nahar] Canada ended its combat mission in Afghanistan on Thursday, closing the curtain after nine years and the death of 157 men, saying it was "extremely proud" of gains made against the Taliban.
