World-News

McCain urged President Barack Obama Wednesday to approve, without delay, a call by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for 40,000 more combat troops.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/09/30/mccain-obama-afghanistan030.html



Afghan report stirs Pakistan debate

In a report submitted to the Obama administration recently, he says "Afghanistan's insurgency is clearly supported from Pakistan".

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/09/2009926101231313412.html



U.S. Attack Kills Nine in NW Pakistan

Nine people were killed and several others injured in United States drone strike Wednesday in northwest Pakistan's tribal agency, local TV channels reported.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/30/content_12136709.htm



U.S. Bombs Kill 5 In Pakistan

At least five people were killed and several others injured in an attack by US surveillance plane in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) area of Danda Darpakhel, a report said on Tuesday.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=4671


From Information Clearing House

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The McChrystal method

The American Conservative
by Jeff Huber

09/30/09

Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s ‘60 Minutes’ infomercial erases any doubt that the Pentagon and its supporters are waging unrestricted information warfare against our commander in chief. The war lobby would have us believe that unless President Obama accedes immediately to McChrystal’s request for additional ‘resources’ in Afghanistan, all will be lost and the Islamofascist hordes will breach our shores and devour us. What’s missing from the discussion is that the arguments in favor of supporting McChrystal’s proposed strategy, and McChrystal’s strategy itself, are insane...

http://www.amconmag.com/blog/the-mcchrystal-method/



McChrystal’s Afghan desolation

CounterPunch
by Vijay Prashad

09/30/09

On October 7, the Afghan sector of the Global War on Terror (since renamed) will open its ninth year. This conflict, or war, is now longer in duration than the U. S. presence in both world wars (only five years), and is coming onto the length of the formal Vietnam War (fifteen years if you discount the various operations in the Diem years). The loss of American life is not as great as it was in Vietnam or in the world wars, but the expense is greater (amounting to $4 billion per month, with a National Priorities Project study showing that the total cost by the end of 2009 will be almost $200 billion)...

http://counterpunch.org/prashad09302009.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McChrystal
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Vietnam
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Global+War+on+Terror
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=combat+troops
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=drone
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jeff+Huber
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Vijay+Prashad

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/30

 

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Feffer

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/09/28-3

 

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Military+Families+Speak+Out

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/09/28-8

Gates Contradicts Obama: Afghan 'Exit Strategy' a 'Strategic Mistake'
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/09/28

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Insanity Trumps Common Sense in Afghan Policy Fight

Alexander Cockburn, Truthout: "The ripest moment of absurdity last week was the spectacle of Pentagon officials berating The Washington Post for publishing the supposedly confidential assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, prepared by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, America's Man in Charge of that doomed adventure. The Pentagon asked the Post to cut certain passages on the ground that they would compromise national security. Since the document is commonly supposed to have been leaked to Bob Woodward by either McChrystal himself or one of his retinue, it seems silly to start whining about the irresponsibility of the press."

http://www.truthout.org/092809W?n

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Afghan strategy: Mission improbable

Orange County Register
by Alan Bock

09/27/09

I have finished reading the assessment of the Afghan war by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the general tabbed by President Barack Obama to handle that conflict. I confess I was somewhat blown away by how thoroughly nation-building it is. I probably shouldn’t be surprised. Gen. McChrystal was chosen because he’s supposed to be an expert on counterinsurgency, and this assessment basically consists of plugging what can be garnered from the facts on the ground into classic counterinsurgency doctrine. The trouble is that while the doctrine is well-established among military intellectuals (if that isn’t an oxymoron) it has seldom worked in the real world...

http://tinyurl.com/y9b2oa7



Afghanistan: It is decision time

QandO
by Bruce McQuain

09/28/09

We can flood Afghanistan with troops, have them at a one-to-one ratio with the population and provide the security COIN requires. But if that population has no confidence in the viability of its own government, doesn’t support it and doesn’t consider those trying to topple it ‘the enemy,’ the entire effort is doomed. So essentially the choice facing the administration now is to nation build or withdraw. Withdrawal doesn’t necessarily mean we quit the fight against al Qaeda. But for the most part, it would mean quitting the fight against the Taliban. And I think we all know how that would end...

http://www.qando.net/?p=4896


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Gates
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McChrystal
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Qaeda
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Taliban
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=national+security
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=counterinsurgency
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gareth+Porter
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Alexander+Cockburn
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Alan+Bock
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bruce+McQuain

The UN said in a new report that NATO air strikes were to blame for about a quarter of civilian deaths across the war-ravaged country over the past months.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107213&sectionid=351020403

 

McChrystal: Things getting worse in Afghanistan

Amid concerns that he might resign over a rift between the military leadership in Afghanistan and the civilian leadership in the Obama White House, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, America's top commander in Afghanistan, sat down for an interview with David Martin of 60 Minutes, airing Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts925


From Information Clearing House

 

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McChrystal
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=air+strike
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+death

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/09/25-10

 

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Mullen

By Haroun Mir

Almost eight years after military defeat of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan is back to square one. - The same powerbrokers, who should have been sidelined from political process after president Karzai's election in 2004, still manipulate Afghan politics. Meanwhile, a majority of senior officials from Afghan Diaspora, who were once considered a hope for the country, have lost their credibility by enriching themselves at the detriment of the very poor people.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23572.htm

 

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Karzai
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Taliban
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Haroun+Mir

Classified McChrystal Report: 500,000 Troops Will Be Required Over Five Years in Afghanistan

By Tom Andrews

Congress should immediately convene hearings to discuss alternatives to General McChrystal's proposal for such a massive escalation of the war in Afghanistan. It is time for the administration and Congress to demilitarize U.S. policy in Afghanistan and strike out in a new, sustainable, direction.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23566.htm


http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=McChrystal
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tom+Andrews

The American Prospect
by Tim Fernholz

09/23/09

The Nixon administration, elected on a promise to end the Vietnam War via ‘peace with honor,’ described its strategy as ‘Vietnamization’: building the capacity of the Vietnamese armed forces so that American troops could leave. Today, we have different catchphrases but similar ideas. After requests for more troops and resources from on-the-ground commanders, Sen. Carl Levin, the influential chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced his opposition to sending more American soldiers to Afghanistan but has proposed a ’surge of Afghanistan security forces.’ Which is to say, Afghanistan-ization. � The Republican Party in general has denied the lessons of Vietnam, long associated with two Democratic presidents and ended by a Republican, however disgraced...

http://tinyurl.com/mktxxo

 

Afghanistan

Freedom's Phoenix
by Brock Lorber

09/23/09

Maybe it’s the historic town squares where good friends, neighbors, and occupying armies gather for a great time dancing to the rhythm of bombs echoing off the canyon walls, the sense of satisfaction that comes with getting potable water to a restaurant you bombed this morning and the enemy will bomb tomorrow morning, or enjoying the latest in military hardware. Maybe it’s the endless opportunities to fine tune a lifelong passion for nation building, try something you’ve always wanted to try in your own nation, or just funnel the last of the Treasury through your political friends. Or, maybe it is as simple as the song; ‘It’s a little slice of paradise with sunshine and mines galore �’ Whatever your retirement dream, you’re sure to find it here...

http://tinyurl.com/kruywh


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

 

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Vietnam
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tim+Fernholz
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Brock+Lorber

Airstrike kills 21 Taliban "militants" in SW Afghanistan

Air raid carried out by international troops against Taliban militants on Wednesday claimed the lives of 21 "militants" in Nimroz province of southwestern Afghanistan, said the provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/23/content_12103192.htm

 

At Pentagon's Request, Post Delayed Story on General's Afghanistan Report

Woodward and Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran, administration officials "did a wholesale declassification of 98 percent" of the document, Woodward said, while The Post agreed to withhold certain operational details.

http://snipurl.com/s2p2z


From Information Clearing House

 

http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Taliban
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=airstrike
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chandrasekaran