The number of US soldiers killed in the Afghan war in 2010 is the highest annual toll since the conflict began almost nine years ago, according to an AFP count Wednesday. A total of 323 US soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war this year, compared to 317 for all of 2009, according to AFP figures based on the independent icasualties.org website. Foreign forces suffered a grim spike in deaths last month as the Taliban insurgency intensified, with NATO confirming on Wednesday that a sixth US soldier was killed on one of the bloodiest days this year." Tags: af-pak US Soldiers

"There may not be quite as many bombs falling from the sky. But don’t let that fool you. The United States has dramatically escalated its air war over Afghanistan. Spy plane flights have nearly tripled in the past year; supply drops, too. There are even more planes buzzing over the heads of troops caught in firefights (.pdf), according to statistics provided to Danger Room by the Air Force (.pdf). The increased numbers show how the American military has retooled its most potent technological advantage — dominance of the skies — for the Afghanistan campaign. But so far, at least, the boost in air power doesn’t seem to have shifted the war’s momentum back to the American-led coalition. An influx of Reaper drones and executive-jets-turned-spy-planes allowed U.S. forces to fly 9,700 surveillance sorties over Afghanistan in the first seven months of 2010. Last year, American planes conducted 3,645 of the flights during a similar period." Tags: af-pak Drones

Obama has arguably met his self-imposed deadline. But will the powerful military-media complex allow him to remove “all US troops from Iraq” by the end of next year? Moreover, will they ever support his July 2011 deadline for US troops to begin leaving Afghanistan – a country the US invaded earlier and has occupied longer than Iraq? Given that Obama has delivered on his promise in Iraq, why should we doubt next year’s pending pullouts from both Iraq and Afghanistan? Simple: high military officials and their accomplices in the media ardently oppose both – and the president is either unwilling or simply unable to confront them. As ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern noted in a recent post entitled “Obama Boxed In by Generals on Afghanistan,” the president’s policy regarding both Iraq and Afghanistan has been consistently and quite publicly undermined in the media by military leaders." Tags: Obama Illusion Iraq af-pak Media Bias

Five US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday, NATO said, as the number of Americans to die in the war in the past four days climbed to 22. The deaths bring to 485 the total number of foreign troops killed in the Afghan war this year, compared to 521 for all of 2009, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by the independent icasualties.org website." Tags: af-pak US Soldiers

"The US commander of the Afghan war acknowledged Tuesday that the Taliban were expanding their footprint across the country even as international forces close in on their traditional southern strongholds. General David Petraeus said a sharp rise in attacks on foreign troops showed the Taliban were feeling threatened but said there needed to be political as well as military action to wipe out the "industrial-strength insurgency". In an interview with foreign media organisations, Petraeus also hailed the counter-insurgency efforts by neighbouring Pakistan, which has faced accusations it has not done enough to combat extremism." Tags: af-pak

Five protestors, four veterans and one spouse, attempted to blockade a public street used by the military for mass deployments. The convoy was stopped for approximately 10 seconds while police and military personnel shoved them out of the road. Activists later declared their protest a "success" and vowed to return during every successive deployment from Fort Hood, in hopes of forcing the military to deploy soldiers under maximum security conditions. Matthis Chiroux says he was beaten and carried out of the street by soldiers and police using rifles and dogs." Tags: Peace movement af-pak Iraq

"On Thursday, veteran correspondent and director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy Selig S. Harrison had some important geopolitical news in an op-ed piece for the New York Times. Harrison reports that Pakistan has effectively handed control of an entire strategic portion of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir to China, which has moved in thousands of troops." Tags: China af-pak

Moving all the things 100,000 troops need to fight and survive in a hostile foreign land is never an easy task. In a landlocked, mountainous country the size of Texas, with few paved roads, it is even harder. “I don’t think anyone has ever brought in this much equipment to a landlocked country that has only two major airports,” said Col. Gary Sheffer, acting commanding general of the U.S. Military’s Joint Sustainment Command in Afghanistan. “Without the road network, the railroad network, it’s a huge effort.” And the effort has only grown more intense this summer. Sheffer and the 5,000 troops under his command are responsible for supplying all American forces in Afghanistan with everything from food and water to bullets and beds." Tags: af-pak Military Bases military spending

Seven U.S. troops have died in weekend attacks in Afghanistan's embattled southern and eastern regions. And officials found the bodies Sunday of five kidnapped campaign workers for a candidate for parliament in the western province of Herat. Two servicemen died in bombings Sunday in southern Afghanistan, while on Saturday two others were killed in a bomb attack in the south and three died in fighting in the east, NATO said. Their identities and other details were being withheld until relatives could be notified. " Tags: US Soldiers af-pak

A leading prosecutor in Afghanistan says he has been fired for refusing to block corruption investigations into senior government officials. Fazel Ahmed Faqiryar, a former deputy attorney-general, told The New York Times newspaper that Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and his allies had blocked or stalled investigations into more than two dozen officials. He said the probes included cases into cabinet ministers, ambassadors and provincial governors. "He [Karzai] won't sign anything. We have great, honest and professional prosecutors here, but we need support," Faqiryar told the Times." Tags: af-pak war crimes

The Obama administration's reluctance to discipline senior generals for comments bordering on insubordination seems to have encouraged the generals to believe they can speak their mind with impunity about President Obama's management of the Afghan conflict. The exception to this rule was the extraordinary case of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan until he became the subject of a Rolling Stone article, "Runaway General," in which McChrystal and his military inner circle were quoted as mocking Obama and the civilian leadership. The title had an ironic twist since the derogatory comments enabled McChrystal to run away from the consequences of his stumbling war effort, by getting himself fired. After Marja and the abject failure of his campaign to win hearts and minds of most Afghans, McChrystal knew better than anyone that the war was hopeless." Tags: af-pak Obama Illusion

Analysts have been warning for several years that the impacts of climate change directly relate to the national security of the U.S. and other countries, but the link has never been so clear as it is today in northwest Pakistan. The security implications of climate change first got official U.S. government attention this February, in the Quadrennial Defence Review, a four-yearly report from the Pentagon on the direction of national security strategy. Noting rising sea levels, water shortages, melting Arctic ice, and extreme weather events, the review said that "while climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian institutions and militaries around the world." These implications had been discussed by other experts much earlier. Most notable was a 2007 report from the think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS), which found that, when compared to other national security challenge, climate change "may represent a great or a greater" test. Their conclusions, however, were based on scenarios and exercises. Tags: af-pak Extreme Weather Climate change

The CIA makes secret payments to numerous members of the Afghanistan government, according to current and former United States officials. The CIA appears to be following a centuries old playbook for outside powers in Afghanistan, with stipends to senior officials to maintain access and information flows. But some worry the under-the-table payments are undermining American-backed efforts to crack down on drug trafficking and corruption" Tags: CIA af-pak military spending

The aide to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the center of a politically sensitive corruption investigation is being paid by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Afghan and American officials. Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Salehi does in exchange for his money, whether providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace, or both. Tags: CIA af-pak

While the Obama administration continues to affirm its intention to withdraw US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the US' military presence in the Muslim world is actually expanding and this is exacerbating tensions and inflaming animosities. Barack Obama's promise to open a new page with the Muslim world on the basis of mutual respect and interests - supplemented and enforced by the use of soft rather than hard power - now rings hollow. This is most evident in the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq and the corresponding surge in Afghanistan - an exercise in redeploying military forces, not extracting them. As the gap between words and deeds; declarations and policies; public diplomacy and military strategy deepens, so the political and strategic crisis facing the Obama administration continues to deepen." Tags: af-pak Iraq

Five soldiers accused of killing civilians in Afghanistan are now facing additional charges of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder — a plot that allegedly began when one soldier discussed how easy it would be to "toss a grenade" at Afghan civilians, The Seattle Times reported Wednesday. The five soldiers were charged with murder in June for the deaths of three Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province this year. According to charging summaries newly released by the Army, additional allegations of conspiracy have since been filed against those soldiers, and seven others have been charged in connection with the conspiracy or with attempting to cover it up. Some platoon members told investigators that Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs began joking with other soldiers last December about how easy it would be to "toss a grenade" at Afghan civilians and kill them, the newspaper said. One soldier responded that it was a stupid idea, and another believed Gibbs was "feeling out the platoon."" Tags: af-pak war crimes

Some 800,000 people have been cut off by floods in Pakistan and can only be reached by air, according to the United Nations. The UN added that it needs at least 40 more helicopters to ferry lifesaving aid to increasingly desperate people. More than 1,500 people have been killed as floods swept from north to south across the country, while more than 17 million have been affected. The flood chaos has raised concerns that the humanitarian crisis is being exploited by Islamist militants. Tags: af-pak Extreme Weather UN

Charging that U.S. private security contractors are "mafia- like groups" being financed by U.S. taxpayers to carry out "terrorist activities" with the support of the U.S. government, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a four- month phaseout of all private security companies in his embattled country. Asserting his oft-challenged authority as the country's chief executive, Karzai's move, if implemented, would likely change the security landscape in Afghanistan. Critics are saying it would be likely to result in potential delays of many foreign projects and undermine the strategy being followed by top U.S. commanded in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus. Economic organisations such as the World Bank, and compounds of embassies, consulates, nongovernmental organisations, would be exempted from the rule. " Tags: af-pak private military

Speaking to reporters Gen. James Conway challenged President Obama's commitment to begin withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan in July, 2011, saying his deadline gives the Taliban "sustenance" and encourages them to simply outlast the Americans. "In some ways, we think right now it’s probably giving our enemy sustenance," he said, according to published reports. "In fact, we’ve intercepted communications that say, 'Hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long.'" Conway added that Taliban foot soldiers would likely suffer a blow to morale after July 2011 passes with no dramatic departure of American forces, "and come the fall we're still there hammering them like we have been."" Tags: af-pak

The Washington Post reported Monday that the US Congress is preparing to pass legislation providing “$1.3 billion in additional fiscal 2011 funds for multiyear construction of military facilities in Afghanistan”. These funds would cover, in part, $100 million expansions for each of three major US air bases in different parts of the country. These projects, the Post stated, are indicative of plans “to support increased US military operations well into the future.” A notice seeking contractor bids placed on a US government web site last week maps out plans for the expansion of one of these US bases in Shindand, an airfield in western Afghanistan that had been used by the Soviet Army during its occupation of Afghanistan more than two decades ago. The project is to include new runways, hangars, barracks, storage areas, a “weapons arming area” and other facilities. They are being built to accommodate the Special Operations troops used by Washington to carry out “targeted killings,” i.e., assassinations, which have become a key component of the US war. They will also house a unit operating pilotless drone aircraft for purposes of “Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance” as well as missile attacks." Tags: af-pak military spending Military Bases