Pakistan forces notified after Afghan soldiers called in deadly NATO attack on Pakistani forces as US smells a setup

Pakistan Was Consulted Before Fatal Hit, US Says: Pakistani officials at a border coordination center gave the go-ahead to American airstrikes that inadvertently killed 24 Pakistan troops, unaware that their own forces were in the area, according to U.S. officials briefed on the preliminary investigation.

Afghan soldiers called in deadly NATO : Afghan troops who came under fire while operating near the Pakistan border called in the NATO airstrikes that allegedly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two posts along the frontier, Afghan officials said Sunday. 

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it's unclear who attacked the Afghan troops before dawn Saturday, but that the soldiers were fired upon from the direction of the Pakistani border posts that were hit in the strikes. The border area where the soldiers were operating contains a mix of Pakistani forces and Islamist militants.

Tensions among Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States jumped a notch Monday, with Pakistan's prime minister warning there would be "no more business as usual" with Washington after NATO aircraft killed two dozen Pakistan troops. The Pakistani Taliban urged Pakistan to respond in kind to the airstrike, which NATO called a "tragic unintended" event.

Pakistan Halts Supplies to U.S.'s Afghanistan Troops After NATO Air Strike: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a phone call yesterday that the Nov. 25 attack by helicopter gunships triggered a “deep sense of rage” in the nuclear-armed nation, according to a foreign ministry statement. The incident reversed progress in repairing strained ties between the two countries, the statement said.

Pakistani TV channels showed trucks carrying shipping containers and fuel stranded near two Afghan border crossings, a traffic jam that in the past has left trucks and drivers vulnerable to attack by Islamic guerrillas. U.S. military officials have said their forces can sustain operations in Afghanistan for weeks in case of such a shutdown. Pakistan also ordered U.S. officials to leave an airbase in the southwest that has served as a launching point for Predator unmanned aircraft used against Taliban and allied guerrillas on both sides of the border.

US suspects NATO forces lured into deadly raid: The NATO air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers over the weekend in an apparent case of mistaken identity, The Associated Press has learned. J joint US-Afghan patrol was attacked by the Taleban early Saturday morning, and while pursuing the enemy in the poorly marked border area, seems to have mistaken one of the Pakistan troop outposts for a militant encampment and called in a NATO gunship and attack helicopters to open fire.

US officials say the account suggests the Taleban may have deliberately tried to provoke a cross-border firefight that would set back fragile partnerships between the US and NATO forces and Pakistani soldiers at the ill-defined border.

A day after NATO warplanes apparently struck a border checkpoint, accidentally killing at least 24 Pakistani soldiers, US-Pakistani relations stand on the brink of failure. Pakistan cut NATO supply trucks coming into Afghanistan and ordered America to close a secret airbase inside Pakistan.

But for many Afghans, their neighbor’s misfortune is their gain. In a call-in program on Radio Free Europe on Sunday morning, listeners were phoning in to chat about the upcoming Bonn Conference where world leaders will discuss the future of Afghanistan. Amid this conversation, which had nothing to do with the border incident, a caller phoned into to say that he’d like to get in touch with the NATO pilot who killed the Pakistani soldiers so he could give the pilot a car as a way of saying thanks. Sounds like NATO was set up!

Pakistan holds funerals for 24 troops after Afghan called NATO attack: Pakistan has retaliated by shutting down key NATO supply routes into Afghanistan. It says it has told the US to vacate a drone base on its soil. As NATO and US officials expressed regret, Pakistan denounced what it called “total indifference to international law and human life.”

It is time for us to go home and watch the country with our drones if we are concerned about negative future developments that could affect the US or western interests. Our troops have served magnificently. They have done what was asked of them. It is time to get them home where they are increasingly needed. They can deploy from their home base the US if needed.

The world is changing and on the fast track. We better respond to it and quickly or we are in serious trouble. That is another conversation but in this "small" instance we must get out and leave Afghanistan to its own demise. I suspect the corrupt Karzai will go down immediately but I do believe the Taliban has the strength and the connections in Pakistan and throughout Asia to take care of themselves and Afghanistan as long as we get the hell out.







James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Marines to wind down Afghan combat in 2012 , concentrate on Kabul, 40,000 to leave by end of 2012: They better hurry

Marines to wind down Afghan combat in 2012 : U.S. Marines will march out of Afghanistan by the thousands next year, winding down combat in the Taliban heartland and testing the U.S. view that Afghan forces are capable of leading the fight against a battered but not yet beaten insurgency in the country's southwestern reaches, senior U.S. military officers say. At the same time, U.S. reinforcements will be sent to eastern Afghanistan in a bid to reverse recent gains by insurgents targeting Kabul, the capital.

Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, said in an Associated Press interview that the number of Marines in Helmand province will drop "markedly" in 2012, and the role of those who stay will shift from countering the insurgency to training and advising the Afghan security forces. The change suggests an early exit from Afghanistan for the Marine Corps,

Taliban paid £100 a month to stop fighting: The amnesty extends to all Taliban fighters, including those who have taken part in atrocities, such as murdering children, beheadings and hanging women. The agreement is part of a policy signed by the British Government in which insurgents are being allowed to “walk off the battlefield” and enter a “reintegration” scheme.

13 Taliban insurgents killed in Afghanistan: At least 13 insurgents were killed and 17 suspects detained by Afghan police during security operations over the last 24 hours, the Afghan interior ministry said on Saturday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan army and Coalition Forces launched five joint operations in surrounding areas of the Kabul, Helmand, Uruzgan and Herat provinces," the ministry said in a statement.

Karzai: Afghan forces to take lead in more : Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that the nation's forces will soon take charge of security in areas of the country that are home to half of Afghanistan's population. The handover, expected to begin by early next year, is the second step in a transition that Karzai hopes will leave Afghan forces in control of the entire country by the end of 2014, when the U.S.-led coalition's combat mission is scheduled to end.

After that date, a much smaller foreign force will remain to continue training Afghan soldiers and police and battle militancy. In a statement issued Sunday, President Karzai said that six provinces, seven cities and dozens of districts, mostly in the country's north and west, will soon pass from foreign to local control.

40,000 troops to leave Afghanistan by end of 2012:Drawdown plans announced by the U.S. and more than a dozen other nations will shrink the foreign military footprint in Afghanistan by 40,000 troops at the close of next year, leaving Afghan forces increasingly on the frontlines of the decade-long war. The United States is pulling out the most — 33,000 by the end of 2012. That's one-third of 101,000 American troops who were in Afghanistan in June — the peak of U.S. military presence in the war, according to figures provided by the Pentagon. Others in the 49-nation coalition have announced withdrawal plans too, even as they insist they are not rushing to leave.


We better get out while the going is good, just make our departure as orderly as possible. It is time for us to go home and watch the country with our drones if we are concerned about negative future developments that could affect the US or western interests. Our troops have served magnificently. They have done what was asked of them. It is time to get them home where they are increasingly needed. They can deploy from their home base the US if needed.

The world is changing and on the fast track. We better respond to it and quickly or we are in serious trouble. That is another conversation but in this "small" instance we must get out and leave Afghanistan to its own demise. I suspect the corrupt Karzai will go down immediately but I do believe the Taliban has the strength and the connections in Pakistan and throughout Asia to take care of themselves and Afghanistan as long as we get the hell out. The longer we stay the more will go awry.







James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Pakistan and Afghanistan in talks with the Taliban: war weary this is mutual capitulation

Afghan Jirga Ends With Reported Agreement On US Presence, Peace Talks: A grand assembly convened by Afghanistan's president has concluded in Kabul with general agreement on a government plan for a continued -- but not permanent -- U.S. military presence in Afghanistan as well as a strategy for peace. The gathering, known as a "loya jirga," brought together around 2,000 tribal elders and other community leaders to promote national consensus around President Hamid Karzai's preferred approach to both issues.

Delegates also gave their support to "moving forward with the peace process," in Karzai's words, in a reference to negotiations with the Taliban. But they included suggestions that the government should also place a priority on talks with neighboring Pakistan.

Afghan government ready to resume negotiations with Taliban: "From one side, if you look at it technically, it might be seen as a rush. If you look to the last 33 years in Afghanistan, it is not a rush. It is a genuine willingness," he said."For the past 33 years, you can't remember a single day when someone isn't killed or injured. We lost two generations in this war." The Taliban must establish a Diplomatic office in Qatar, now that sounds promising.

Weakened Pakistani Taliban limp into peace talks: Taliban commanders now say they have started initial talks with Islamabad, mediated by former army officials, in a move that could end years of "holy war" that saw 500 attacks killing more than 4,700 people, according to an AFP tally. The Government welcomes reports of ceasefire while the army denies involvement, who cares as long as we can have capitulation I mean peace at least until we can get the hell out of there.

As Pakistan eyes peace talks with the Taliban, anxiety builds: The movement to negotiate with the Pakistani Taliban comes at a time when, across the border in Afghanistan, peace talks with the Afghan Taliban are seen as Washington's only recourse after battling those insurgents for 10 years.On both sides of the border, the prospect of peace negotiations is fraught with risk and uncertainty. They've already had the first talks so that is a start, now lets have an end so we can get out.

Afghanistan could face economic collapse if international assistance is abruptly cut as foreign combat forces are withdrawn, the World Bank warned, stressing that the war-ravaged nation will need billions of dollars in aid for a decade or more.

The forecast by the World Bank, released late Tuesday, reflects broader concerns that Afghanistan will enter into a deep recession as the international community gradually reduces both the aid it provides the government and starts drawing down the 130,000 troops currently in the country. That troop withdrawal, which is slated to be completed by the end of 2014, has already begun with the transition of security responsibility from NATO to Afghan forces in seven areas earlier this year.

You know I have said from day one that if we are to not defeat but bring the Taliban to their knees to convince them to come to the table to talk peace we must eliminate the Haqqani's. We are closing in on them with recent captures and deaths of high ranking Haqqani clan members. If we have forces in place to eliminate all top Taliban interests as we have said now is the time to let that be known so we can discuss the Taliban coming back to power and our leaving.

As we have said numerous times the Taliban and the Haqqani's are indigenous to the area and we are not going to get rid of them. I do not understand why we are trying to unless staying there for decades is our real goal as has been reported. Secret US and Afghanistan Talks Could See Troops Stay for Decades

Russia, China and India of course are very concerned about a 'strategic partnership' in which Americans would remain after 2014. That is putting it mildly for me. It would be catastrophic.

If removing Al Qaeda was really our goal we have done that. It is time for us to go home and watch the country with our drones if we are concerned about negative future developments that could affect the US or western interests. Our troops have served magnificently. They have done what was asked of them. It is time to get them home where they are increasingly needed. They can deploy from their home base the US if needed.

The world is changing and on the fast track. We better respond to it and quickly or we are in serious trouble. That is another conversation but in this "small" instance we must get out and leave Afghanistan to its own demise. I suspect the corrupt Karzai will go down immediately but I do believe the Taliban has the strength and the connections in Pakistan and throughout Asia to take care of themselves and Afghanistan as long as we get the hell out.


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

The father of the Taliban speaks but he is totally wrong as Survey of Afghans sides with the US and Afghan Assembly backs US pact

Father of Taliban' urges US concessions: Sami ul-Haq’s seminary may have a reputation as Pakistan’s premier “University of Jihad”, but these days the sharp-tongued cleric is more eager to talk peace than holy war.Known in Pakistan as the “Father of the Taliban” for schooling a generation of Afghan fighters at his Haqqania madrassa, Mr ul-Haq, a stern-looking preacher in his early 70s, has a unique perspective on the way the movement thinks.

Afghanistan assembly to back pact with U.S. : The pact will govern the presence of U.S. troops after 2014, when most international forces are to have left or moved into support roles.

A major salvo of US missiles on Wednesday destroyed a Pakistani Taliban base on the Afghan border, killing up to 18 militants including possible Al-Qaeda fighters, local officials said. Five US drones fired up to 10 missiles into a sprawling compound in the Baber Ghar area of South Waziristan, killing 15 to 18 fighters in the deadliest such American strike in three months, the Pakistani officials said.

Survey of Afghans Indicates Security Concerns, Decline in Taliban Support: A nationwide survey of more than 6,300 Afghans found security remains a concern, but confidence in the Afghan government, army and police are high while support for the Taliban is waning. The U.S.-based Asia Foundation survey indicates that, despite a year of intense political gridlock, the Afghan government remains popular.

Seventy three percent of Afghans questioned are happy with central government performance - about the same as last year. Survey author Najla Ayubi says she was encouraged by the government’s perceived strengths.“Performance of government on education, health and security, improvement of the security, for me as an Afghan to look at the future of Afghanistan, it’s more optimistic rather than pessimistic,” she said.


Hamid Karzai tells loya jirga: no US military pact until night raids cease: Hamid Karzai has told a national gathering of Afghan elders that he will not sign a much-delayed military pact with the US until night raids by foreign forces come to an end, a demand that threatens to complicate the deal.In a fiery speech on Wednesday, at the opening session of a loya jirga, a grand assembly of more than 2,000 delegates held amid tight security, the Afghan president said continued US military and economic help beyond the end of the Nato combat mission in 2014 was vital to avoid civil war.

If the Taliban and Karzai want the night raids to stop the issue is in their hands. All they have to do is stop their attacks at least until we can get out. I think we are moving in the right direction, that is the only concession I can see necessary under the current conditions!


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com