KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's president is downplaying accusations of widespread fraud in his country's recent elections, but he's emphasizing the importance of a runoff for the sake of ensuring peace and stability in his nascent and war-torn democracy.
President Karzai announced that there would be a runoff election at a recent press conference.
"We must have a second round," Hamid Karzai said in a taped and exclusive interview for the Fareed Zakaria GPS show that airs Sunday on CNN. "If we don't do that, we would be insulting democracy. And I pledge to respect the vote of the people."
In the first interview since a runoff was announced, Karzai said there were so many claims of widespread corruption in the election two months ago that he started to believe that the voting was fraud-laden. In fact, he said, he too began to doubt the results.
"But three days before I made the decision to call for a runoff, I got convinced that all that was said was mostly wrong," said Karzai, who ran for presidential re-election against several candidates.
"There were some mistakes. There were some instances of fraud, but the nation as a whole was clean, and the result was clear. I decided for peace, for stability and for the future of democracy in Afghanistan and for the future of institutional order in Afghanistan to call for a runoff, and I find that in the interest of the Afghan people."
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is moving toward a hybrid strategy in Afghanistan that would combine elements of both the troop-heavy approach sought by its top military commander and a narrower option backed by Vice President Joe Biden, a decision that could pave the way for thousands of new U.S. forces.
The emerging strategy would largely rebuff proposals to maintain current troop levels and rely on unmanned drone attacks and elite special-operations troops to hunt individual militants, an idea championed by Mr. Biden and opposed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Kabul, and other senior military officials.
People familiar with the internal debates say Mr. Obama rejected a strictly counter-terror approach during White House deliberations in early October. One official said Pentagon strategists were asked to draft brief written arguments making the best case for each strategy, but the strategists had difficulties writing out a credible case for the counter-terror approach -- prompting members of Mr. Biden's staff to step in and write the document themselves.
Signs the White House is moving towards Gen. McChrystal's view of the conflict mounted Friday as the 28 North Atlantic Treaty Organization defense ministers endorsed the commander's counterinsurgency strategy and signaled they might be open to modestly increasing their military and civilian contributions to the war effort.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
WMF > "FLOUR, NOT SWORDS OR GUNS": RETIRED AFGHAN WAR SOVIET GENERAL SAYS US MUST RECOGNIZE IT IS FIGHTING AGZ TOTAL POPULATION ["Total War"/Peoples War", NOT JUST TALIBAN OR OTHER MILITANT GROUPS. FIGHTING A STRATIFIED/
MICROMANAGED WAR [Vietnam War] WILL ONLY LEAD IN LT TO MIL CONFLICT WITH ENTIRE MUSLIM WORLD AND GEOPOL CATASTROPHE-DEFEAT FOR US.
Winning "Hearts-and-Minds", Jobs/Bread-and-Butter", "Liberte, Fraternite', Eqalite', "Jobs Bread, and Land", ........@ rvolutionary adages in MAHA-RUSHIAN/LIMBAUGHIAN Histoire'???
aka [New]MARSHALL PLANS, NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION, NATION-BUILDING, etc.
#3
The pentagon couldn't write up a credible counter-insurgency plan so Joe Biden's staff did it? Way to go Joe! Show us how to dream up a military strategy that even the best profesionals can't image working. Military strategy by the Maryland Dream Works think tank.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/24/2009 7:07 Comments ||
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#4
Wait a minute. Joe's from Deleware, right? Same general idea still applies.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/24/2009 7:09 Comments ||
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#5
I remember Biden's brilliant plan for Iraq involving partitioning the country. The brilliant part was ignoring it. This idiot would be far worse than Obama, who at least realises his generals may know more about fighting wars than he does.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Somalia's hardline Shabaab insurgents said they will attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda in revenge for rocket attacks by peacekeepers from those countries that killed at least 30 people in Mogadishu.
"We shall make their people cry. We'll attack Bujumbura and Kampala ... We will move our fighting to those two cities and we shall destroy them," Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, a senior Shabaab commander, told reporters late on Thursday in Mogadishu.
" We shall make their people cry. We'll attack Bujumbura and Kampala. We will move our fighting to those two cities and we shall destroy them "
Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, a senior Shabaab commander
Burundi and Uganda both have about 2,500 peacekeepers in the Somali capital for the African Union's (AU) AMISOM force. On Thursday, they fired at least 35 rockets and mortar shells into the city's Bakara market area, where Shabaab gunmen were firing artillery at President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's plane.
The United States accuses the rebel group, which is fighting to topple Ahmed's fragile U.N.-backed administration, of being Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state.
Fighting in Somalia has killed 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.
Western security agencies say the Horn of Africa nation has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
I hope that they Chinese take care of the recent pirate seizing of one of their ships, now anchored off Hobyo. Show people how it's done. Alas, I do not know if they have the assets on site to do it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/24/2009 13:04 Comments ||
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#5
According to the article, they are using MQ-9 Reapers, rather than MQ-1 Predators.
Reapers can carry 14 Hellfires.
Now, if we just had the nerve to use them ...
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/24/2009 13:22 Comments ||
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#6
Pilotless craft being deployed off Somalia are unarmed for now, military officials say
Waste of a good 3 or 4 Reapers that could, well, be reaping.
Posted by: ed ||
10/24/2009 14:05 Comments ||
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#7
Likely something they need to negotiate with Seychelles.
An 81-year-old South Korean prisoner of war who was arrested by Chinese police after fleeing North Korea in mid-August is in danger of being forced back to the North, it was reported Thursday. Choi Sung-yong, the president of activist group Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea said the man fled the North on Aug. 16, but was arrested by Chinese police on Aug. 24. He has been held at a hospital in Yanji since Aug. 26.
"Despite the government's efforts, he has been in detention for more than two months, and it seems highly likely that he will be sent back to the North," Choi said. "We hope the government will make more efforts since POWs are without doubt South Korean citizens."
It was not known how the man fled the North and how he was arrested.
Since August and with the approach of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic, the Chinese government has arrested and forced back scores of North Korean refugees in a nationwide dragnet of inspections and searches.
As of Thursday, a total of 463 North Korean refugees except POWs or South Korean citizens kidnapped by the North were holed up in South Korean overseas missions. According to data from the Defense Ministry, 79 POWs and 182 members of their families have arrived in South Korea since 1994. The government presumes that about 560 POWs are still alive in the North.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2009 00:00 ||
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There were secret contacts between the two Koreas in Singapore during Oct. 15-20, possibly to discuss an inter-Korean summit, South Korean officials have admitted. Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials said Kim Yang-gon, the director of North Korea's United Front Department, secretly visited China and contacted a South Korean official. The official has not been identified but is believed to be unconnected to the Unification Ministry.
Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) on Thursday said a South Korean official secretly met with Kim in Singapore and discussed the summit question. Quoting an intelligence official, KBS said Kim arrived in Beijing on Oct. 15 but went to Singapore with Won Tong-yon, a ranking member of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, and contacted a high ranking South Korean official there. The contact was initiated by the North Korean side, it added.
The South Korean official told Kim that a summit would require a fundamental change in the North Korean nuclear issue, and that no economic assistance could be promised for the summit, the broadcaster claimed. He also insisted that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will have to visit Seoul this time as two previous summits took place in North Korea. The negotiations ended inconclusively as the North Koreans objected to the idea of Kim Jong-il traveling to the South for security reasons, it added.
A source in Beijing confirmed that the meeting took place. One key figure in the ruling Grand National Party said, "North Korea has long requested a meeting with a person who can speak on behalf of President Lee Myung-bak, and it is true that such a meeting was recently on the verge of happening, but since news of the meeting was made public, meetings of senior officials from both Koreas will be difficult to hold for some time."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/24/2009 11:35 ||
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#1
"There are no enemies on the left, and no friends on the right." "Actions don't matter. Politics matters." "The purpose of government is to reward your friends and punish your enemies." "You can't make a pile of broken eggs without breaking eggs."
#2
our President has done a great job of snubbing a lot of our friends needlessly, such as Sarkozy. Queen Elizabeth and the Brit PM(senior moment). He has foolishly, some say, taken on Fox News and some radio personalities. But he makes up for it by cosying up to brutal hard-left dictators and surrounding himself with various home-grown far-left crazies. He has made a total shambles of our economy. Whatta Guy! In less than a year he has tranformed America, We will never be the same again. We have not been this united since 9-11.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/24/2009 14:40 Comments ||
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#3
In less than a year he has tranformed America
Exactly what He said He would do. A pity that just over half the electorate failed to understand what He meant.
#6
This guy our President misuses his resources at every chance. I wager he is not ignorant of what refusing dinner means,having kissed as many butts as he has done to get here in our oval office. He just hates European white patriarchy (or matriarchy in Britain's case)that much, IMHO. I suspect Obama is deeply racist.
Any Caucasians in his admin are there for what they add to his agenda, which I'd say is maintain appearances while he is subverting democracy and American prestige and
#7
All I can say is that I hope all those snotty Euros lefty-intellectual-poseurs who were so keen on Obama during the election are quite pleased with this. What was the old curse - Becareful what you ask for, because you may get it!
They've certainly gotten it now, all right. Hope they're enjoying not having to deal with that cowboy, Bush! (Anyone know where to find and link that little poster of GWB with the tagline "Miss me, yet?" That would be SO appropriate!)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/24/2009 17:16 Comments ||
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#9
Thanks Barbara. And I might be brash in pointing out that just b/c his mother hails caucasoid doesn't refute his anti-white leanings. I'm almost certain this just amplifys the leanings. I'm just as some other dictators were part whatever background they hated with murderous rage.
Why would he need advice on protocol? He spent the first part of his life living in Indonesia, then visited Pakistan with a friend while in college. It's that international experience that makes him at home and welcome anywhere in the world.
/I'm sure he really believes it, too. Unfortunately his expat brat stage was not long enough, nor varied enough, for that to be true. Had he gone to the right Swiss boarding school for his secondary education instead of that expensive Hawaiian thing, it might actually have been.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The White House Friday highlighted a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world.
Jizya?
The White House said the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had issued a call for proposals for the fund, which will provide financing of between 25 and 150 million dollars for selected projects and funds.
The Global Technology and Innovation Fund will "catalyze and facilitate private sector investments" throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the White House said in a statement.
Eligible projects would advance economic opportunity and create jobs in areas like technology, education, telecoms, media, business services and clean technology, the White House said.
OPIC said sample projects could help foster the development of new computer technology or telecommunications businesses, or widen access to broadband Internet services.
Proposals must be submitted by the end of November, and managers of funds that make a final short list will make presentations in Washington in January.
Final selections will be announced next June.
In his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last June, Obama argued that "education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century" and that under-investment was rife in many Muslim nations.
As well as the fund, Obama also said he will host a summit on entrepreneurship this year to deepen ties between business leaders in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.
In his speech on June 4, Obama vowed to forge a "new beginning" for Islam and America, promising to purge years of "suspicion and discord."
In what may be one of the defining moments of his presidency, Obama laid out a new blueprint for U.S. Middle East policy, pledged to end mistrust, forge a state for Palestinians and defuse a nuclear showdown with Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
He shall have camels with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.
Posted by: Boss White ||
10/24/2009 6:48 Comments ||
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#5
If I were a rice farmer in some third world S%^t hole and I wanted a solar dryer for my rice, USAID and others will fall all over themselves to build it for me. If I farmed rice in the US and needed he same solar dryer to keep my business and family alive... well, I would be out of luck.
These fu(ks in DC need to understand AMERICA is hurting, the people are hurting, we need help NOW! The bailout did nothing but pay fat checks to investment bankers, not a DAMN nickle made it to Main street! The last thing we need right now is USAID and OPIC spending millions to help other countries, muslim or otherwise, when we have 20% of the United States of America unemployed.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
10/24/2009 8:25 Comments ||
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#6
"...muslim technology..."
Now there are two words that really don't go together!
#7
So how many new IEDs are going to be developed that are used against us? How about if some of these islamic countries finance their own people--there's a lot of oil money around.
Eligible projects would advance economic opportunity and create jobs in areas like technology
How about funding such jobs in this country. There is a bigger payoff?
#9
There is no new outlay of cash needed; the cancelled missle defense system for Poland and others is where the bux come from ( probably, no real source, but knowing how this buffoon operates, there is probably some sort of truth in taking from legit programs for this crapola)is it 2012 yet?
#10
Muslim Technology is an Oxymoron, I've read many different places that Muslims have invented Nothing, they stole what they claim they "Invented".
Total accomlishments, "You'll need toilet paper to wipe that SHIT Up".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/24/2009 12:43 Comments ||
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#11
"...muslim stolen technology..."
There, fixed it for you, Fred.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/24/2009 14:38 Comments ||
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#12
These fu(ks in DC need to understand AMERICA is hurting, the people are hurting, we need help NOW! The bailout did nothing but pay fat checks to investment bankers, not a DAMN nickle made it to Main street! The last thing we need right now is USAID and OPIC spending millions to help other countries, muslim or otherwise, when we have 20% of the United States of America unemployed.
Posted by: 49 pan 2009-10-24 08:25
What makes you think they don't understand? They understand all to well. Like a plague of locusts, they're going to strip this country and her people. And they are doing a damn good job.
My question is, when will the pain get bad enough for the mindless masses to wake up and say enough is enough. Obviously, those of us that care are there already, but we're not enough. Bread and Circuses.
Posted by: Grutle the Rasher of Bacon1240 ||
10/24/2009 14:43 Comments ||
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#13
Miniaturizing C-4-like bombs to suppository size?
#14
Transferring technology to Muslims could have disasterous repercussions. It's safer leaving them in the sixteenth century, or wherevever - when they had the technological advantage the last time they almost conquered all of Europe.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Ineffectual Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced on Friday that presidential and legislative elections will be held on January 24 in the Palestinian territories including the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, his office said in a statement.
Abbas "invited the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to take part in free and direct presidential and legislative elections on Sunday January 24, 2010" the statement said.
Abbas, whose presidential term expired in early 2009, had said on Tuesday he would issue a decree calling the elections, in a move apparently meant to press Hamas into signing a much-delayed unity deal with his Fatah faction.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2009 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI -- International pressure is mounting on Sri Lanka's government to investigate atrocities that may have been committed during the final stages of its war with the Tamil Tiger insurgency as two new reports from the European Union and the State Department detailing alleged human rights abuses were released this week.
The reports come as Sri Lanka also faces intensifying criticism for its decision to keep more than 250,000 Tamils who were displaced by the fighting in closed camps that critics have likened to internment camps. The government says it plans to allow 80 percent of these people to return to their homes by the end of January, but insists that it must first weed out any remaining Tamil Tiger rebels hiding among them.
The European Union report could lead to the withdrawal of trade concessions worth tens of millions of dollars to Sri Lankan garment and fisheries industries. It represents the first threat of a serious sanction against the Sri Lankan government as a result of its conduct of the war.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It's OK, Sri Lanka is disengaging from the EU sphere and moving into China's orbit. This sort of crap just speeds the process.
#2
They don't have to listen to the Norwegians anymore, do they ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2009 10:43 Comments ||
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#3
This is primarily a consequence of the international refugee system, which the Tamils played well over the last 20 years or so. Now there are large numbers of Tamils refugees they become a significant force in the whole leftist NGO system where the Sinhalese aren't represented. Hence this kind of crap.
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.
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's president is downplaying accusations of widespread fraud in his country's recent elections, but he's emphasizing the importance of a runoff for the sake of ensuring peace and stability in his nascent and war-torn democracy.
U.S. military surveillance drones based in the Seychelles islands are patrolling off Somalia's coast in hopes of stemming a rising piracy trade.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The White House Friday highlighted a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world.
