Afghanistan

UN evacuates non-essential staff after deadly attack on Kabul guesthouse

The United Nations started evacuating “non-essential” staff from Kabul yesterday after the Taleban killed five of its foreign employees at an international guesthouse in the deadliest attack yet on the UN in Afghanistan.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary-general, said the organisation might move UN staff now living in guesthouses in Kabul and elsewhere into more secure compounds, and hire private contractors to guard them.

Continues at: timesonline.co.uk - UN evacuates non-essential staff after deadly attack on Kabul guesthouse

Training Afghan National Police in Ghazni

GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan – That same trust and confidence hasn't always been felt for the police force in Afghanistan. Nineteen members of the Afghan National Police from the district of Andar were handpicked by the ANP commander to be given the opportunity to learn engagement skills. These skills will provide improved pro-active policing techniques.

Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team, Civil Affairs members conducted an instructional course designed to coach, mentor and train the Andar ANP. The instruction covered techniques on how to interact with the population, gather information, and develop relationships and trust between ANP and the people that they serve.

Continues at: nato.int - Training Afghan National Police in Ghazni

Helmand community votes for its future

27 October 2009

Elders from across Nawa district in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, came together this week to elect their first Community Council.

The council will be the first in Helmand to have representatives from across the district and is possible following increased security from military operations in the region.

The elections are a success for the Government’s Afghan Social Outreach Programme (ASOP) - to which DFID has contributed £1.5 million - in narrowing the gap between local communities and central government in Afghanistan.

Continues at: dfid.gov.uk - Helmand community votes for its future

US should follow Britain on Afghanistan: US senator

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States should follow Britain's lead on Afghanistan, tying a modest troop increase to a major expansion of local forces and an anti-corruption drive in Kabul, a US senator said Thursday.

Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, a top ally of President Barack Obama, said a large troop increase would only help the Islamist Taliban militia's "propaganda machine" pump out resentment against US soldiers.

Continues at: afghanistannewscentre.com - US should follow Britain on Afghanistan: US senator

Corporal Thomas Mason, 3 SCOTS, dies of wounds in Selly Oak

It is with deep regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of Corporal Thomas 'Tam' Mason from The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Selly Oak Hospital, on Sunday 25 October 2009.

Corporal Mason was injured when an improvised explosive device detonated during an operation in Kandahar province on 15 September 2009. Despite the best efforts of medical staff, both in theatre and back in the UK, over a period of nearly six weeks, he sadly died as a result of his wounds.

Click here to read more.

A soldier's photographs of Afghanistan

Alexander Allan's newly published collection of pictures from his tour of duty in Helmand offer an extraordinary new perspective on the conflict, reports Phil Daoust in The Guardian.

In 2007, Alexander Allan was planning on leaving the army. He'd had three years with the Grenadier Guards, and was ready for a change. Then the 27-year-old captain heard his regiment was being posted to Afghanistan. "I chose to go," he says. "I hadn't done a proper operational tour, and I was keen to do that before I left the army."

Wasn't he nervous? "'Apprehensive' is more the word," Allan says. "It was dangerous, but not as bad as it is now."

But Helmand was grim enough, judging by Allan's new book of photographs from the time...

Continues at: guardian.co.uk - A soldier's photographs of Afghanistan

Alexander Allan's book, 'Afghanistan: A Tour Duty', is published by Third Millennium (tmiltd.com) in aid of the British Limbless Ex Service Men's Association (blesma.org), and can be purchased online from the publisher at a special price of £10.99. Click here for further details.

VIDEO: Brigader James Cowan speaks from Babaji, Helmand

Speaking to the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) in his first interview since assuming command of British troops in southern Afghanistan, Brigadier James Cowan has struck a cautiously optimistic note. He believes that where British and Afghan troops are now able to hold territory support for the Taliban appears to be waning.

The Brigadier made his comments in an area that was only secured after fierce fighting over the summer.

VIDEO: Pakistan's Taliban offensive rages

Up to 30,000 Pakistani troops have been battling Taliban fighters in South Waziristan for the last nine days, reports Al Jazeera.

The army said it is making progress, claiming a major victory on Saturday with the capture of Kotkai, the hometown of Hakimullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader.

Continues at: english.aljazeera.net - Pakistan's Taliban offensive rages

Taliban would take over 'in months' if troops left Afghanistan

A chilling US security report leaked to the Mirror says the country's capital would fall swiftly following a withdrawal. It comes a day after a poll revealed 48 per cent of the public believe victory in Afghanistan is impossible. The Channel 4 poll shows that only 36 per cent believe there will be a victory. Chris Hughes reports in the Daily Mirror.

Continues at: mirror.co.uk - Taliban would take over 'in months' if troops left Afghanistan

Miliband: Engaging with insurgents a "vital task" for Afghan President

Yesterday, Sunday 25 October, Andrew Marr interviewed Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Click here to read the full transcript of the interview at news.bbc.co.uk.

Abdullah Abdullah: 'Afghanistan Has Changed'

The man up against Hamid Karzai for the presidency of Afghanistan has told Sky News that his country has changed from a tribal to a democratic land.

Click here to watch the interview in full at news.sky.com.

Taliban vow to attack Afghan poll

The Taliban has threatened to launch a fresh wave of violence at next month's presidential run-off in Afghanistan, and urged voters to boycott the poll.

The August vote passed off without major violence, but there were sporadic attacks by Taliban militants.

Continues at: news.bbc.co.uk - Taliban vow to attack Afghan poll

Helmand drugs cache goes up in smoke

Fourteen tonnes of opium, heroin and precursor chemicals went up in flames in Helmand on Thursday as Governor Mangal, governor for the province, lit the spark to the seized substances.

The cache was recovered during pro-active counter narcotics police operations in the Lashkar Gah District of Helmand by Afghanistan specialist counter narcotics police and MOD police.

Click here to read more.

Taliban leader's stronghold falls to Pakistani army

In a breakthrough in the week-old Waziristan campaign, troops capture the home town of militant chief Hakimullah Mehsud. Declan Walsh reports from Islamabad for The Guardian.

Pakistan notched up the first major success of its Waziristan campaign [on 23 October 2009] with the capture of Kotkai, home to the Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, a week after it launched a sweeping assault on the militants' heavily protected mountain fortress.

Continues at: guardian.co.uk - Taliban leader's stronghold falls to Pakistani army

NATO backs McChrystal in snub to Biden plan

NATO defence ministers signalled their backing for the Afghan strategy put forward by the American commander General Stanley McChrystal yesterday in an implicit rejection of the alternative plan proposed by US Vice-President Joe Biden.

Continues at: independent.co.uk - NATO backs McChrystal in snub to Biden plan

Taliban fight 'will take 5 more years'

British forces will be in the frontline in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban for five more years, the new head of the Army said. Tim Shipman reports for the Daily Mail.

General Sir David Richards used his first major interview in the post to warn that it will be at least three years before British troops can hand over to Afghan forces in significant numbers.

Continues at: dailymail.co.uk - Taliban fight 'will take 5 more years'

VIDEO: Training Afghan Security Forces

NATO has launched a new organisation that brings together all the different groups involved in training the Afghan security forces.

Click here to watch video at natochannel.tv.

3 SCOTS thwart Taliban to recover US Chinook

Soldiers from Alpha (Grenadier) Company of The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), have fought off Taliban attackers in order to facilitate the recovery of a US Army Chinook helicopter.

When the helicopter of the US 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade suffered a hard landing on difficult ground in the Upper Sangin Valley, troops from 3 SCOTS were mobilised at short notice to secure the crash site.

Click here to read more.

3 SCOTS reflect on Afghan deployment (AUDIO)

The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), are coming to the end of their latest deployment to Afghanistan. Here, four of their soldiers reflect on the summer.

3 SCOTS are currently based in Kandahar where they took over as the Regional Battle Group (South) in April 2009.

Click here to read more.

Afghan troop reduction 'by 2014'

The head of the British Army, General Sir David Richards, says it will be "about 2014" before UK troops numbers in Afghanistan reduce.

He told the BBC's Caroline Wyatt the war in Afghanistan was "a war very much worth fighting for".

Click here to read more.