Video - Graphic Video Shows Afghan Woman Stoned to Death for Eloping

Video - Graphic Video Shows Afghan Woman Stoned to Death for Eloping. (NDTv)

Kabul: A young Afghan woman who was married against her will has been stoned to death by extremists after she was caught eloping with another man, local officials told AFP on Tuesday.

A graphic video of the stoning shows the woman, named as Rokhsahana, aged between 19 and 21, in a hole in the ground as men almost casually hurl stones at her with sickening thuds.

Rokhsahana was heard repeating the shahada, or Muslim profession of faith, her voice growing increasingly high-pitched in the nearly 30-second clip run in Afghan media. Local authorities confirmed the footage.

The killing took place about a week ago in Ghalmeen, an area some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Ghor provincial capital of Firozkoh, governor Seema Joyenda said.

Rokhsahana had been "stoned to death by Taliban, local religious leaders and irresponsible armed warlords," Ms Joyenda told AFP.

Seema Joyenda, one of Afghanistan's only two female governors, said that according to authorities' information Rokhsahana's family had "married her to someone against her will and she was eloping with a man her age".

She condemned the stoning, calling on Kabul to take action to "clean the area".

"This is the first incident in this area but will not be the last. Women in general have problems all over the country, but especially in Ghor... The man with whom she was eloping has not been stoned."

Ghor police chief Mustafa Mohseni told AFP that the incident happened in a Taliban-controlled area, confirming that it was the first such incident "this year". Hmmmm.....Welcome to A.D. 660.

Afghanistan - Taliban have torched a Girls school in Loger province.

Afghanistan - Taliban have torched a Girls school in Loger province. (pajhwok).


PUL-I-ALAM (Pajhwok): Unidentified gunmen have torched a girls’ school in Pul-I-Alam, the capital of central Logar province on Wednesday morning, an official said.

Mohammad Shahpur Arab, the governor’s spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News the attackers set aflame the Haji Glon Secondary School before dawn.

He said around 500 girls were attending the school that lost all its rooms, including the administration block. The record room containing student documents was also destroyed.

“We would open another area for students to continue their education until this school is reconstructed,” Arab said, adding security forces had launched an investigation into the incident.

A resident of Haji Glon area, Syed Ahmad, told Pajhwok Afghan News that unknown men torched the school around 3am.

“We extinguished the fire when we came to the school in the morning and then reported the arson attack to the education department,” he said.

He added most parts of the building were completely destroyed. The Haji Glon Secondary School was established in 1993. A boys’ school was also torched by unknown gunmen in the Purak area of the provincial capital earlier in the year.

#Taliban have torched a Girls school in #Loger province. Local officials #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/CDnbLm57st

— Pajhwok Afghan News (@pajhwok) October 28, 2015

Afghanistan: Harrowing crimes Taliban gangs committed on civilian in Kunduz is Shocking !

Afghanistan: Harrowing crimes Taliban gangs committed on civilian in Kunduz on three-days-stay is SHOCKING! HT: Amnesty.

Mass murder, gang rapes and house-to-house searches by Taliban death squads are just some of the harrowing civilian testimonies emerging from Kunduz as Afghan forces today claimed to have regained control of key areas of the northern city, Amnesty International said.

The organization has spoken to numerous people, the majority of them women, who have fled Kunduz since Monday, when the Taliban launched a sudden assault on the city. Women human rights defenders from Kunduz spoke of a “hit list” being used by the Taliban to track down activists and others, and described how fighters had raped and killed numerous civilians.

“The harrowing accounts we’ve received paint a picture of a reign of terror during the Taliban’s brutal capture of Kunduz this week. The multiple credible reports of killings, rapes and other horrors meted out against the city’s residents must prompt the Afghan authorities to do more now to protect civilians, in particular in areas where more fighting appears imminent,” said Horia Mosadiq, Afghanistan Researcher at Amnesty International.

One woman who provides assistance to victims of domestic violence in Kunduz and escaped to safety in a nearby province told Amnesty International that Taliban fighters were using a “hit list” to track down their targets. It allegedly includes the names and photos of activists, journalists and civil servants based in Kunduz.

The woman said the Taliban’s roadblocks on exit routes from the city forced her and numerous other women and men to flee on foot. They trekked for more than seven hours over rough terrain, leaving them exhausted and with bloodied feet.

When the Taliban took control of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and other government and NGO offices in Kunduz on Monday, they gained access to reams of information about NGO staff, government employees and members of the security forces – including addresses, phone numbers and photos.

Since then, Taliban fighters have allegedly been using young boys to help them to conduct house-to-house searches to locate and abduct their targets, including women.

Another woman human rights defender had her home and office burned and looted by Taliban on Tuesday night. Taliban fighters kept calling her to ask about the whereabouts of the women whom she had been helping.

She and several other women managed to receive assistance for themselves and their children to flee to safety. But she told Amnesty International she and her family escaped with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and were left terrified by the ordeal.

According to local activists, Taliban fighters also raped female relatives and killed family members, including children, of police commanders and soldiers, especially those working for Afghan Local Police (ALP). The Taliban also burnt down the families’ houses and looted their belongings.

The relative of a woman who worked as a midwife in Kunduz maternity hospital told Amnesty International how Taliban fighters gang-raped and then killed her and another midwife because they accused them of providing reproductive health services to women in the city.

The Taliban released all the male prisoners held in Kunduz and gave them arms to fight against government forces. Female prisoners were raped and beaten, then the Taliban abducted some and released others.

An eyewitness told Amnesty International that a civilian woman in his neighbourhood had been shot amid fighting between Taliban and the Afghan security forces. Taliban fighters responded to her screams of pain by entering her house and shooting her point blank in the head, forcing her husband to watch her die. Hmmmm........Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq! Read the full story here.

Our boys captured this Taliban trashbag from inside textile factory in western Kunduz city.Trapped there since morng pic.twitter.com/9U8Mqvppbw

— Asif Khan (@Afghan_Security) October 1, 2015

Taliban attack on Afghan parliament in Kabul has ended, seven militants killed: official

Taliban attack on Afghan parliament in Kabul has ended, seven militants killed: official. (ET).

KABUL: A Taliban attack on the Afghan parliament Monday ended after all seven militants were killed, the government said.

“The attack has ended now. Seven attackers were involved — one detonated a car near the parliament building and six were killed by security forces after they entered a nearby building,” deputy interior ministry spokesperson Najib Danish told AFP.

Taliban militants attacked the Afghan parliament on Monday, with gunfire and a huge explosion rocking the building, sending lawmakers running for cover in chaotic scenes relayed live on television.

The militants swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack which came as the Afghan president’s nominee for the crucial post of defence minister was to be introduced in parliament.

A major assault on such a high-profile target in downtown Kabul raises fresh questions about security as Afghan forces battle a resurgent Taliban without the aid of NATO forces, who ended their combat mission in December.

Police denied that Taliban fighters had breached the high-security parliament building and there were no immediate reports on casualties. A thick plume of smoke was seen rising from the building. “It is a group attack by the Taliban on the parliament,” Kabul police spokesperson Ebadullah Karimi told AFP.

“They are not inside the parliament building, but they are somewhere outside the building". Hmmmm..... Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like ... Iraq .”Read the full story here.

Photo: Scene inside the #Afghanistan Parliament as gunmen storm the building pic.twitter.com/cQ3HSMDH7T

— Conflict News (@rConflictNews) June 22, 2015

Interior Ministry says a woman & 10-year-old girl) killed in attack on Kabul Parliament. 25 injured, 7 attackers killed. #Afghanistan

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) June 22, 2015

Video - The Taliban has outlasted the world’s most potent military forces

The Taliban has outlasted the world’s most potent military forces and its two main factions now challenge the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan. As U.S. troops draw down, the next phase of conflict will have consequences that extend far beyond the region. Hmmm.....As i warned for over a year.....Obama: " If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!
......Now the 'success story will unfold'.  Read the full story here.

US Green Berets reveal Afghan National Army soldiers’ incompetence.

Some great shots by LIFE Magazine of US SPECIAL FORCES soldier/Green Beret -codename “Cowboy”- and his team; Source.

US Green Berets reveal Afghan National Army soldiers’ incompetence.(WashingtonTimes).

 Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!

America better get ready for 'impact of the 'success' in Afghanistan.

Reports say ANA troops hide from battle, can’t lead or fight at night.

The soldiers gave statements to investigators after going into battle June 8-9 in the Gaza Valley of Zabul province, northeast of Kandahar.

The Green Berets told of Afghan soldiers refusing to fight and hiding among trees and behind a rock. 

The Afghans had no ability to fight at night, a hallmark of American forces. 

Green Berets had to take the lead in clearing villages controlled by Taliban militants, even though the steady withdrawal of U.S. forces is at the stage where Afghans are supposed to be “on point” — that is, the first to engage the enemy.

The Green Beret’s A-Team leader, a captain, made several unflattering statements.

Investigators were probing the mission’s end point, when a B-1B bomber mistakenly dropped two bombs on a “friendly” position, killing five American soldiers and the Afghan sergeant commander. 

The captain said the operation got off to a rough start when the Afghan National Army provided fewer soldiers than requested.

 “They do not always show up with the forces promised,” he said. “This was not ideal.”

 After the insertion, “The detachment took point due to the ANA’s inability to move during periods of darkness,” the captain said. At about the midpoint in village clearing, he said, “The ANA became stagnant and were hiding in the green zones,” swaths of forested areas in an otherwise desert valley. Then the Afghan soldiers simply quit. Read the full story here.

Video - Leader in Afghan Islamic Party: We Are Considering Joining ISIS

Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!

Taliban fighters set hundreds of fuel trucks on fire in Kabul

Taliban fighters set hundreds of fuel trucks on fire in Kabul.(ET).

Update: At least 400 fuel tankers burn outside Kabul

KABUL: Taliban militants set fire to dozens of fuel trucks, which they claimed were supplying foreign troops in Afghanistan, in an attack on the outskirts of Kabul, officials said Saturday.

The fire triggered by a bomb set ablaze tankers waiting to enter the city in a parking lot west of the Afghan capital overnight.

“At around 10:30pm last night, dozens of fuel tankers belonging to private companies caught fire,” Hashmat Stanikzai, Kabul police spokesperson told AFP.

“No one can come close to them since the fire is still raging at the scene,” Stanikzai said.
No casualties were reported as fire fighters tried to control the fire in the morning, he added.

“I was sleeping in my truck, when I heard three big bangs. After that I saw the fuel trucks exploding one after the other. I fled the area immediately,” Janat Gul, a truck driver told AFP.

Gul Aghan Hashimi the Crime Investigation Director of Kabul police said “it was a magnetic bomb that caused the fuel tankers to catch on fire,” adding that the trucks belonged to private companies.

However, it was unclear whether the trucks were supplying fuel to Nato.

Taliban militants who have been regularly attacking western supply convoys in Afghanistan, claimed the responsibility.

“Our brave fighters in a special tactic have set ablaze hundreds of fuel tankers in the west of Kabul, which were supplying fuel and food for foreign forces,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said a statement.

Rumsfeld: “A Trained Ape” Could do Better on Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld: “ A Trained Ape” Could do Better on Afghanistan.HT: WhitehouseDossier.By KeithKoffler.

Bush Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Monday night that a “trained ape” could have gotten a status of forces agreement with the Afghanis that would allow some U.S. troops to stay in country.

What Rumsfeld is challenging here is the usual narrative that President Obama’s problems with Afghanistan stem from Karzai going off his meds. Rumsfeld suggests Karzai could have been handled, but was instead mishandled.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Is there sort of a way out of this? We are having this problem now where there is going to be an election soon. I guess that’s the best option for the United States, that the United States gets someone who is friendlier?

RUMSFELD: He was friendly. Our relationship with Karzai and with Afghanistan was absolutely first rate in the Bush administration. It has gone downhill like a toboggan ever since the Obama administration came in. Now, take, for example, the fact that we have status of forces agreements, probably with 100, 125 countries in the world. This administration, the White House and the State Department have failed to get a status of forces agreement. A trained ape could get a status of forces agreement. It does not take a genius. We have so mismanaged that relationship. I think that he has tried to separate his harshness against the White House and the administration from the American people and the people that he appreciates that served in that country. Hmmm.....Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!... That 'covers' it completely!

Karzai : Thanks for the US Money, but Soviet help to Afghanistan was efficient.

Karzai : Thanks for the US Money, but Soviet help to Afghanistan was efficient.(Taz).

Afghan President Hamid Karzai appreciates the economic help provided by the former Soviet Union to his country in the past, ITAR-TASS reported.

"The Soviet money went to the right place. They were efficient in spending their money and doing it through the Afghan government," Karzai said in an interview with The Washington Post this month.

The newspaper said that the Russian government had drawn up a list of 140 Soviet-era projects which it would like to renovate. One is the Kabul House-building Factory constructed in the early 1960s by Soviet specialists, which received a consignment of new equipment worth 25 million U.S. dollars from Russia last autumn.

The Washington Post quoted the head engineer of the house-building factory as saying that "what the Soviets did here was really fundamental. They were thinking about the long term."

It also noted that the number of students studying Russian at the Kabul University had doubled over the past two years, and Russia had doubled the number of grants to Afghan students.

Rouhani to Visit Afghanistan for Norouz Celebration.

Rouhani to Visit Afghanistan for Norouz Celebration. (UOI).

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Afghanistan on Thursday to participate in celebrations of Norouz, the Iranian New Year. Heads of state and senior officials of other countries that celebrate Norouz will also take part in the ceremonies in Kabul.

Rouhani will arrive in Kabul a week before Afghans go to the polls to elect a new president and new parliament. Since the fall of the Taliban, Hamid Karzai has ruled the country continuously and at times erratically, and now has to relinquish power. The Iranians are believed to be supporting Abdullah Abdullah’s candidacy, although they maintain relations at varying degrees with other top contenders.

Four candidates have emerged as leading the field, with the April 5 election expected to go to the second round between the top two vote getters. Zalmay Rassoul, the former foreign minister, is said to have the active support of Karzai and his circle of close advisors. The old Mujahedeen ticket of Sayyaf and Ismail Khan, offer the best chance for fighting the Taliban after the drawdown of U.S. forces at the end of the year.

Abdullah lost a powerful supporter when Vice President Fahim passed away last week, but still is running a strong campaign, and is expected to reach the second round because of split of Pashtun votes among other candidates. And Ashraf Ghani, the eternal political advisor to Western officials visiting Kabul, is also expected to finish strong, but not strong enough to reach the second round.Hmmmm.......Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq! ..........Yeah Riiiiiight.

US Intel Officials Differ With Obama in View of al-Qaida .

US Intel Officials Differ With Obama in View of al-Qaida. HT: IMRA. By JOHN T. BENNETT

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140211/DEFREG02/302110017/US-Intel-Officials-Differ-Obama-View-al-Qaida

WASHINGTON — Senior US intelligence officials on Tuesday offered a more alarming assessment of al-Qaida than President Barack Obama’s declaration that the organization is on the run and headed toward defeat.

For several years, Obama and his top national security aides have talked publicly of an al-Qaida greatly diminished by US armed drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the emergence of affiliate groups mostly focused on attacks in Southwest Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

In a landmark speech on his targeted-killing program last May, Obama described al-Qaida’s core cell and leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan as “on the path to defeat.” The commander in chief said al-Qaida’s “remaining operatives spend more time thinking about their own safety than plotting against us.”

“They did not direct the attacks in Benghazi or Boston,” Obama said. “They’ve not carried out a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11.”

Obama also made clear that he and his top advisers see an al-Qaida focused less on attacks in the United States.

“While we are vigilant for signs that these groups may pose a transnational threat, most are focused on operating in the countries and regions where they are based,” Obama said at the time. “And that means we’ll face more localized threats like what we saw in Benghazi, or the BP oil facility in Algeria, in which local operatives — perhaps in loose affiliation with regional networks — launch periodic attacks against Western diplomats, companies and other soft targets, or resort to kidnapping and other criminal enterprises to fund their operations.”

In his State of the Union address a few weeks ago, Obama again described a weakened al-Qaida, although he did acknowledge “the threat has evolved, as al-Qaida affiliates and other extremists take root in different parts of the world” like “Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Mali.”

When describing the role of any American and NATO forces that will remain in Afghanistan after this year, Obama said one of the primary missions would be “counterterrorism operations to pursue any remnants of al-Qaida.”

In that address, Obama again said “we have put al-Qaida’s core leadership on a path to defeat.”

Obama also vowed to take America “off a permanent war footing.”

But during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn offered a different assessment.

Under questioning on that topic from panel Ranking Member Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., Clapper described al-Qaida as “morphing,” with new groups popping up in North Africa.

Flynn replied, “they are not,” when asked by Inhofe if al-Qaida is, as Obama has said, on a path to defeat and on the run.

Clapper seemed to downplay his own warnings about the threat to the United States posed by so-called al-Qaida affiliates when he said such organizations are not currently plotting attacks on “the homeland.” But he keeps them on his lengthy threat list simply because one day, “they could.”

Obama sees al-Qaida groups outside Afghanistan and Pakistan as focused on the countries in which they operate and not on attacking America. When asked by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whether the emergence of new Islamic extremist groups in Syria increases the threat of attacks on the US homeland, Clapper said yes.

No panel members pressed Clapper on this seeming disconnect with his boss.

In his written testimony, Clapper stated that regarding “core al-Qa’ida” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a number of factors have put it “on a downward trajectory since 2008.” The group now possesses “a degraded … ability to carry out a catastrophic attack against the US homeland and eroded its position as leader of the global violent extremist movement.”

Where Obama describes a mostly defeated core al-Qaida, Clapper warns it is poised for a comeback.

“It probably hopes for a resurgence following the drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan in 2014,” the DNI told the Senate panel.

Meantime, panel Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., pressed the duo on whether the situation in Afghanistan would be improved if Washington and its allies simply announced it would wait for a new Afghan president before again pushing for finalization of a long-term security pact between the two countries that would keep US forces there into 2015 and beyond.

“The United States and the Coalition of which we are a part would be better off waiting for [Hamid] Karzai’s successor to sign the agreement the Afghan people favor, as reflected by the consensus of the 3,000-member Loya Jirga,” Levin said.

Clapper revealed he believes Karzai will not sign the security pact before he leaves office later this year.

The DNI said that waiting this long to finalize the agreement already has yielded “negative trends,” such as an exodus of foreign investment in Afghanistan.Read the full story here.

Obama 'Ally' Karzai sees ‘no good’ with US presence in Afghanistan.

Obama 'Ally' Karzai sees ‘no good’ with US presence in Afghanistan.(PressTv).

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he has seen “no good” with the presence of American forces in his country, prompting further speculations of a breakdown of trust between Kabul and Washington.

“This whole 12 years was one of constant pleading with America to treat the lives of our civilians as lives of people,” Karzai said in an interview with The Sunday Times.

Karzai also said that he has not spoken to US President Barack Obama since June last year, which may show the increasing gulf between Afghanistan and the US.

“We met in South Africa but didn’t speak. Letters have been exchanged,” he said, referring to the funeral ceremony for South African anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.

The differences between the two sides have grown increasingly since Karzai refused to sign a security pact with Washington that would allow thousands of foreign troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014.

“The money they should have paid to the police they paid to private security firms and creating militias who caused lawlessness, corruption and highway robbery,” Karzai said.

The Afghan president also went on to say that the US-led forces “then began systematically waging psychological warfare on our people, encouraging our money to go out of our country.”
“What they did was create pockets of wealth and a vast countryside of deprivation and anger,” he said.

“In general, the US-led NATO mission in terms of bringing security has not been successful, particularly in Helmand,” Karzai said.

He also dismissed concerns about the cutting of Western financial aid to Afghanistan over his refusal to sign the security deal.
“Money is not everything,” he said, adding, “If you ask me as an individual, I would rather live in poverty than uncertainty.”

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed deep frustration with Karzai over the prolongation of the review process for the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the US.

The Pentagon chief, however, stated that Karzai is the elected president of a sovereign country, and Washington’s ability to influence his decisions is limited.

Karzai says he will not sign the BSA until certain conditions are met, including a guarantee from Washington that there will be no more raids on Afghan houses. He says the demands come from the country’s highest decision-making body, the Loya Jirga.

In his speech at the Loya Jirga on November 24, 2013, Karzai said, “If US military forces conduct military operations on Afghan homes even one more time, then there will be no BSA and we won’t sign it.”


The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but after more than 12 years, the foreign troops have still not been able to establish security in the country.Hmmm....Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!

NATO chief doesn't see Karzai signing security pact.

NATO chief doesn't see Karzai signing security pact.(Taz).

President Hamid Karzai is unlikely to sign a pact for U.S. and NATO forces to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 and will probably leave the choice for his successor, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

Kabul and Washington spent months negotiating a legal framework for some U.S. troops to stay on after the end of 2014, when NATO-led forces are due to end combat operations, leaving behind a much smaller training and advisory mission.

But Karzai has said he will not sign the agreement unless certain conditions are met.

The delay has frustrated the United States and its allies, who want to plan the post-2014 training and advisory mission.
Both the United States and NATO have said they may be forced to pull their forces out of Afghanistan entirely at the end of this year unless the agreement is signed soon.
Rasmussen acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that he did not expect Karzai to sign the U.S. pact and a similar pact that must be negotiated with other NATO forces.
Instead, he believed Karzai would leave the issue for the president elected in April 5 election.
Karzai has served two terms and cannot run again.
"I think, realistically speaking, a new president will be the one to sign," Rasmussen told reporters during the annual Munich Security Conference.
He said however he was confident that Afghanistan would sign the agreement "at the end of the day" and NATO would still have time to plan its post-2014 mission, even if it was not signed until Karzai's successor was in office.
"Most probably, it will be for a new president to sign a security agreement and in that case we are prepared to stay after 2014," Rasmussen said.

"If we don't get a signature even from a new president, then we will also be prepared to withdraw everything by the end of 2014, because in that case we don't have a legal basis for a continued presence," he said.

The NATO-led force currently has around 57,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them from the United States. Troop numbers are expected to fall to 8,000-12,000 after 2014.
Rasmussen has said a complete foreign military withdrawal from Afghanistan could also jeopardize foreign military aid needed to finance the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces as well as development aid.
The foreign aid totals about $8 billion a year.Hmmm.....Obama: "If we work hard....Afghanistan can be another success like Iraq, Yup.....Another 'Obamamination'

Video - Jake Tapper's Interview with Lone Survivor Vet Marcus Luttrell: 'They Died for Nothing?'

Video - Jake Tapper's Interview with Lone Survivor Vet Marcus Luttrell: 'They Died for Nothing?'HT: Heritage.

Movie critics have called “Lone Survivor” the best war-time movie since “Saving Private Ryan.” The film — based on the true story of Navy SEALs on a mission in Afghanistan — caused CNN’s Jake Tapper to question the operation that took the lives of 19 men. 

The Navy SEALs were tasked to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shah when an unexpected event forced them into a deadly situation.

During a tense interview with former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell and Mark Wahlberg, who plays Luttrell in the movie, Tapper questioned if the lives of the 19 men were lost “senselessly.” Luttrell responded with an answer you’ll want to watch beginning at 1:15 in the clip.

Tapper said that he was struck by the loss of life and the sense of "hopelessness" he felt while watching the film adaptation of that mission. "And I was torn about the message of the film" he said, "in the same way that I think I am about the war in Afghanistan itself."

"I don't want any more senseless American death," Tapper added.

"I don't know what part of the film you were watching but hopelessness really ever came into it," Luttrell replied. "Where did you see that? We never felt like we were hopelessly lost or anything like that."

"Just the sense of all these wonderful people who died," Tapper added. "It seemed senseless. I don't mean to disrespect in any way, but it seemed senseless — all of these wonderful people who were killed for an op that went wrong."

"We spend our whole lives training to defending this country and then we were sent over there by this country, so you're telling me because we were over there doing what we were told by our country that it was senseless?" Luttrell asked. "And my guys, what? They died for nothing?

"No," Tapper replied.

"That's what you said," Luttrell shot back.

Tapper concluded by critiquing the "decision making at the command level that led to the operation" and noted that many question whether the target of this operation was "worth the effort" and the lives lost. He added that no one has been held accountable for that poor planning.

"May they rest in peace and may their families, and Marcus Luttrell, find peace here on earth," Tapper concluded.

74% of U.S. Afghan Casualties Came After Obama Ordered Troops Increased and tightened rules of engagement.

74% of U.S. Afghan Casualties Came After Obama Ordered Troops Increased and tightened rules of engagement.(CNS News).

Seventy-four percent of the U.S. military personnel who have given their lives serving in the Afghan War died after Feb. 17, 2009, when President Barack Obama announced his first increase in the number of U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan, according to CNSNews.com’s database of U.S. casualties in the war.

In the more than twelve years that have passed since U.S. troops first entered Afghanistan with the aim of removing al Qaeda from its sanctuary there, 2,162 U.S. service personnel have given their lives in and around Afghanistan in support of U.S. military activities in that country.

1,593 of those 2,162 U.S. casualties—or 73.7 percent—have occurred since Feb. 17, 2009, when Obama announced the first of his multiple increases in U.S. military personnel deployed to Afghanistan.

“To meet urgent security needs, I approved a request from Secretary Gates to deploy a Marine Expeditionary Brigade later this spring and an Army Stryker Brigade and the enabling forces necessary to support them later this summer,” Obama said on Feb. 17, 2009.

“This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires,” said Obama.Hmmm......Messieurs les Angla; tirez les premiers .Read the full story here.

Related:

Tighter rules of engagement contributed to US casualty rate in Afghanistan – report

Soldiers: Obama's Rules Of Engagement Costing U.S. Lives in Afghanistan

Attacks against Afghan women intensified in 2013 with a 25 per cent surge in cases ‘Cutting the nose, lips and ears’

Attacks against Afghan women intensified in 2013 with a 25 per cent surge in cases ‘Cutting the nose, lips and ears’.(RT).

Chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), Sima Samar, told Reuters that the pace and the hideousness of attacks on women intensified in 2013 with a 25 per cent surge in cases from March through September.

"The brutality of the cases is really bad. Cutting the nose, lips and ears. Committing public rape," Samar said. "Mass rape... It's against dignity, against humanity."
The spokeswoman noted that as the withdrawal deadline draws near for international troops, women in tribal areas are less protected, leaving them vulnerable to violent assaults.
"The presence of the international community and provincial reconstruction teams in most of the provinces was giving people confidence," Samar said. "There were people there trying to protect women. And that is not there anymore, unfortunately."
She also noted that poor economic conditions and the lack of security are also contributing factor to the rise of incidents.
Other human rights workers are blaming the attacks and even killing of women on the absence of law in a country based on patriarchal tribal societies.
"Killing women in Afghanistan is an easy thing. There's no punishment," Suraya Pakzad, who runs women's shelters in several provinces, told Reuters.
Citing the cases of public stoning, Pakzad said, that the future looks bleak for women’s rights in the country.
"Laws are improved, but implementation of those laws is in the hands of warlords... I think we are going backwards."
In November, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Afghans to reject a proposal by the Justice Ministry that is assisting in drafting a new penal code that includes restoring stoning as punishment for adultery.
“It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“President Karzai needs to demonstrate at least a basic commitment to human rights and reject this proposal out of hand,” Adams added.

The draft legislature is seeking to introduce stoning for sexual intercourse outside a legal marriage, and stipulates that both man and woman shall be sentenced to “[s]toning to death if the adulterer or adulteress is married.”It also states the “implementation of stoning shall take place in public in a predetermined location.” If the “adulterer or adulteress is unmarried,” the sentence shall be “whipping 100 lashes.”

Death through stoning was used during the Taliban government, in power from the mid-1990s to 2001. After the US lead invasion and the establishment of a new government, Afghanistan signed on to international human rights conventions pledging to protect rights, especially for women.
International law says that death by stoning violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Afghanistan has ratified.

In its 2013 report on Afghanistan, HRW blames the government for a “failure to respond effectively to violence against women” which “undermines the already-perilous state of women’s rights.”Furthermore, HRW argues that the rhetoric stemming from the leadership in the country further ignites violence against women.

“President Hamid Karzai’s endorsement in March of a statement by a national religious council calling women ‘secondary,’ prohibiting violence against women only for ‘un-Islamic’ reasons, and calling for segregating women and girls in education, employment, and in public, raises questions about the government’s commitment to protecting women. The minister of justice’s description of battered women shelters as sites of ‘immorality and prostitution’ deepens that skepticism,” the report stressed.

In October, UN Women’s right chief said that that “women's rights continue to be violated, female officials are being targeted and killed, and legal protection is under threat.”
“It is imperative that women's rights and empowerment are prioritized in the coming period of transition,” Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, told DW.


Most foreign forces are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of the year and it is unclear whether any will remain beyond 2014 as the Karzai government is still reluctant to sign a bilateral security agreement with the United States and has made demands that Washington calls “unrealistic”.Hmmmm.....Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!

As Keith Koffler said today: "I have finally figured out the Obama Doctrine: Screw up the hard fought gains handed him by George W. Bush."

Pentagon Under Fire Over purchase of Russian Helicopters for Afghanistan.

Pentagon Under Fire Over purchase of Russian Helicopters for Afghanistan.(RN).

The US Defense Department is facing allegations that it misled Congress over the purchase of Russian helicopters for Afghan security forces amid revelations that a Pentagon study recommended an American-built aircraft for the job, the Associated Press reported.

The United States has bought dozens of Russian military transport helicopters for use in Afghanistan in the past two years, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, arguing that Afghan forces are more familiar with the aircraft.
But unclassified excerpts from a top-secret Pentagon study describes the US Army’s Chinook helicopter as “the most cost-effective single platform type fleet for the Afghan Air Force over a 20-year” period, the AP reported.

“Why are we buying Russian helicopters when there are American manufacturers that can meet that very same requirement?” US Senator John Cornyn of Texas was quoted by the AP as saying.

Cornyn has been leading a push in Congress to oppose the Russian helicopter deals because of Moscow’s weapons shipments to the government in Syria of President Bashar Assad, whose forces are fighting a brutal civil war against armed rebel groups.
Russia has insisted that it is fulfilling existing contracts with Syria and that the deliveries are legal under international law. Moscow has also raised questions about the composition and goals of the various armed groups fighting the Assad regime.
Congress recently received a copy of the report with the description of the Chinook helicopters, produced in Pennsylvania by US aerospace giant Boeing, the AP reported. A senior Pentagon official was quoted by the AP as saying that the report was focused on long-term requirements and not the immediate needs of Afghan security forces.
The US has purchased 63 Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters from state-run Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport for use by the Afghan National Army.
The Pentagon said last month that it had scrapped plans to purchase additional helicopters from Rosoboronexport, a move it said was made after a re-evaluation of requirements for Afghan forces “in consultation with Congress.”

Cornyn has described purchases of hardware from the Russian arms maker as a “morally bankrupt policy” tantamount to “subsidizing Assad’s war crimes in Syria.”

The US and several other countries accuse the Assad regime of being behind an August 21 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus that Washington claims left more than 1,400 dead.
The Syrian government has blamed the attack on rebel groups it has been battling since March 201. It has since agreed to a Russia-brokered deal to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal.Hmmm.....Cmon guys...let's be 'Flexible'

Afghanistan agrees on regional security pact with Iran.

Afghanistan agrees on regional security pact with Iran.(RT).

“Afghanistan agreed on a long-term friendship and cooperation pact with Iran,” President’s Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said, as quoted by Reuters. “The pact will be for long-term political, security, economic and cultural cooperation, regional peace.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai reached the deal with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Sunday. The joint communique issued after the talks stipulates that foreign ministers of both counties were assigned to draw up the topics of such a pact, IRNA reports

At the meeting Rouhani voiced Iran’s strong opposition to foreign presence and its destabilizing effect for the region.

“We are concerned about tension arising out of the presence of foreign forces in the region, believing that all foreign forces should get out of the region and the task of guaranteeing Afghan security should be entrusted to the country’s people,” Rouhani was cited by IRNA as saying.

The Iranian President reiterated the message on his twitter page after the meeting.

All foreign troops should be withdrawn from the region. Security of #Afghanistan should be entrusted to the Afghan people. [w/ Pres #Karzai]
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) December 8, 2013

For his part Karzai said that the Afghan government is keen on signing the pact with the Islamic Republic. The Afghan president also congratulated his counterpart on securing a nuclear agreement in Geneva that defused decades-long tensions.
Meanwhile US defense secretary Chuck Hagel said that he supports a NATO force in Afghanistan after 2014, as Washington and Kabul continue negotiations on securing a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that will allow foreign forces to stay in the country past the deadline.

“I believe there is a role for our coalition partners and the United States, but that depends on the Afghan people,” Hagel told US troops in Afghanistan on Sunday. “If the people of Afghanistan want to continue that relationship, then we will.”
Hagel did not meet Karzai during his trip to US bases in Afghanistan this weekend, but he is optimistic that the new pact between US and Afghanistan will be signed. “I have hope that the BSA will get signed,” he said on a stop in Kandahar as he acknowledged “uncertainty about what happens next.”

The defense secretary did discuss the security agreement with the Afghan defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, who reassured Hagel that the pact will be signed in “a timely manner.”

“I don’t think pressure coming from the United States, or more pressure, is going to be helpful in persuading President Karzai to sign a bilateral security agreement,” the defense secretary said Saturday.

Last week, Karzai said that he may not sign the US-Afghan security pact until April, despite approval from the Loya Jirga, an assembly of Afghan elders. On Saturday Hagel warned against the delay, saying there was “a cut-off point” at which time the pact would be scrapped, but adding he was “not prepared to give a date on that.”

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen also urged Karzai to sign a security agreement with Washington by the year’s end.

“Let me be very clear: It is a prerequisite for our presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014 that an appropriate legal framework is in place,” Rasmussen told reporters at a briefing at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. Without the deal “it will not be possible to deploy, train, advise, assist the mission to Afghanistan after 2014,” Rasmussen said.

There are currently around 80,000 NATO multinational International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Afghanistan, the majority of which are US soldiers who now stand to be pulled out by the end of 2014. NATO is planning to leave a training mission of up to 12,000 soldiers in Afghanistan after 2014 to help Afghan Army fight insurgents.

The US previously warned that forces would have to leave by the end of next year, the so-called “zero option,” if Afghanistan fails to sign the pact. And if the Americans leave altogether, the other ISAF member states are unlikely to leave their troops in Afghanistan.

However, Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said Saturday the warnings of a complete pullout “is more a tactical maneuver to put pressure on President Karzai to sign [the pact] as soon as possible.” “We believe there's no deadline,” Faizi said. Hmmmm.....It becomes pretty obvious there won't be any pact signing from Karzai, fools just want to be misled.

Afghan President to Visit Iran on Sunday

In Choir now 3, 2, 1  ...'Death To America'

Afghan President to Visit Iran on Sunday. HT: UskowiOnIran.


Afghan President Hamid Karzai is to visit Iran on Sunday. The Afghan-U.S. Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which lays out the rules for U.S. troops to operate in the country after 2014, is expected to top the agenda during meetings between Karzai and senior Iranian officials.

Karzai is refusing to sign the BSA, even though a Loya Jirga appointed by him approved the pact last month. On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel arrived in Kabul amid disagreement over whether he would even meet the Afghan president in the face of the security pact row. A meeting is reportedly set for late Saturday.

Without the BSA, The United States and its NATO allies will have to exercise the so-called “Zero Option,” meaning no troops left behind at the end of 2014, pretty much like what happened in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Iranian government has been strongly pushing for the Zero Option.

“Iran does not see the signing and ratifying of this security pact to be beneficial for the long-term interests of the people and government of Afghanistan,” said Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham. (AFP, 7 December)

UPDATE: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters in Kabul that he has received assurances from Afghan Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi that “the BSA would be signed in a timely manner.” (Reuters, 7 December). Hmmm.......BSA? BullShit Agreement?Death to America still valid during 'Deal'.