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The Anglo-American Endgame for Afghanistan
 The U.S. and NATO now acknowledge that a complete withdrawal from the South and Central Asian region by 2014 is not in the cards. Regional powers face a challenge
-It is a sad state of affairs that a once-proud nation is being traded in the bazaar. The core issue for the U.S. is that the Taliban should mellow on its uncompromising opposition to the long-term western troop presence as quid pro quo for what passes for “reconciliation.”
-Not much ingenuity is required to anticipate that India's interests will be severely damaged if this region becomes the arena of a “new cold war” stemming out the long-term NATO military presence in South and Central Asia...The Indian move to seek membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) promises to provide a much-needed forum for New Delhi to partake in regional processes where India gets to work with Russia, China and Pakistan.
June 18th 2011
Afghanistan Secret Prisons Confirmed By U.S.
 KABUL, Afghanistan — The CIA's infamous secret network of "black site" interrogation centers is gone. But suspected terrorists in Afghanistan are being held and interrogated for weeks at temporary sites, including one run by the elite special operations forces at Bagram Air Base, according to U.S. officials who revealed details of the detention network to The Associated Press.
The Pentagon has previously denied operating secret jails in Afghanistan, although human rights groups and former detainees have described the facilities. U.S. military and other government officials confirmed that the detention centers exist but described them as temporary holding pens whose primary purpose is to gather intelligence.
April 9th 2011|
Afghanistan: Number of children born with deformities increasing
 KABUL (PAN): The number of children born in Afghanistan with misshapen limbs and other deformities is increasing, doctors say, with several blaming intermarriage, drug use and chemicals contained in coalition weapons.
There are no exact statistics of the number of children born with disabilities, but anecdotal evidence from hospitals in Kabul and the provinces suggests it is increasing.
Dr. Trina Yadgari, an obstetrician at Istiqlal Hospital in Kabul, said that in 2008, 16 out of 3,700 children born at the hospital had some sort of birth defect, while in 2009 there were 4,000 births and 34 birth defects.
She said most of the deformities happen in insecure provinces, blaming suicide attacks, mine blasts and bombardments.
Constant attacks can traumatise a woman which could cause her to give birth to a child with deformities, but also, chemical substances used in weapons can be poisonous and, if inhaled by pregnant women, can cause defects in the womb.
March 30th 2011
Afghanistan: Civilian deaths hit 'record levels'
 The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion a decade ago hit record levels last year, according to a new report.
Some 2,421 civilians were killed, most at the hands of insurgents, the Kabul-based Afghanistan Rights Monitor said.
Foreign troops were to blame for about a fifth of all deaths - a slight fall on the previous year, the report says.
Correspondents say most officials are expecting at least the same level of violence, if not higher, this year.
February 2th 2011
Afghan elite 'plundered $900m' from leading bank
 A coterie of well-connected Afghan businessmen and politicians may have plundered as much as $900m from the country's biggest commercial bank, three times the amount of earlier estimates, and the equivalent of about 7 per cent of Afghanistan's total gross domestic product.
Kabul Bank's funds were treated like personal accounts, it is claimed by several well-known members of Afghan society. Mahmoud Karzai, a brother of the Afghan President and prominent shareholder in Kabul Bank, told The New York Times that the bank's former chairman lent himself about $98m (£62m) to buy one of Afghanistan's airlines, and then used deposits to subsidize the carrier in an attempt to drive rivals out of business. Yet so difficult has the hunt for the missing millions become that the very same man, Sherkhan Farnood, had been brought in to help trace the missing cash.
February 2th 2011
America’s great game in Afghanistan
 War on terror has entered tenth year but the US is still clueless when and how it will terminate the war. One of the reasons for its lack of progress is that in its given set of priorities, Afghanistan was accorded lower priority since it was considered an almost accomplished affair. Another reason for prevalent confusion is that rather than keeping its allies friendly and regional countries friendly and within its loop, it has either annoyed them or kept them out of the loop. It has upset Pakistan by meddling into its domestic affairs, using drones despite protests, continuing to sing ‘do more’ mantra and distrusting it. While Pakistan has been assigned the frontline duties in war on terror and made non-NATO ally, the US has all along given preference to India over Pakistan.
None can deny that brilliant performance of Pak Army has been the only silver lining amidst dark clouds of gloom and doom in Afghanistan for US led ISAF. Although the US admits that Pakistan is relatively in a better position to help in finding a political settlement in Afghanistan, yet it cannot help distrusting and maligning it. It also knows that in case of a running battle, Pakistan Army is the only entity capable of providing security cover to withdrawing coalition troops by road via Torkham and Chaman.
January 25th 2011
Over 10,000 died in Afghan violence in 2010
 KABUL — More than 10,000 people, about a fifth of them civilians, lost their lives in violence in Afghanistan last year, an AFP count based on official figures and an independent website tally showed Sunday.
Afghanistan's interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary revealed new figures for the number of civilians, police and militants killed in 2010 -- a total of 8,560 people.
In addition, the Afghan defence ministry said that 810 Afghan soldiers died in 2010, while independent website icasualties.org puts the total death toll for international troops last year at 711.
That brings the overall number of dead from the war last year to 10,081, according to an AFP calculation.
Afghanistan has been in the grip of a Taliban insurgency since the hardline Islamists were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States.
The Taliban were accused of sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders linked to the attack.
Last year was the deadliest yet in Afghanistan's nine-year war for international troops, according to the icasualties tally.
January 3th 2011
U.S. is lining the Taliban's pockets by spending millions of dollars on private security in Afghanistan
 Heavy US reliance on private security in Afghanistan has helped to line the pockets of the Taliban with millions of dollars.
It also threatens the safety of coalition troops because contractors often do not vet local recruits and wind up hiring warlords and thugs, US Senate investigators said.
The report by the Senate Armed Services Committee follows a separate congressional inquiry in June that concluded that trucking contractors pay tens of millions of dollars a year to local warlords for convoy protection.
Concern: Millions of dollars spent by the U.S. government on private security contracts in Afghanistan has actually helped to line the pockets of the Taliban
Democratic Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate panel, said he is worried the US is unknowingly fostering the growth of Taliban-linked militias and endanger coalition troops at a time when Kabul is struggling to recruit its own soldiers and police officers.
'Almost all are Afghans. Almost all are armed,' Mr Levin said of the army of young men working under US contracts.
October 9th 2010
Debate over Afghanistan 'almost tore White House apart'
During the long debate in 2009 about to what degree to escalate the war, two officials expressed doubt that the Afghan war strategy would work, while the meaning of a July 2011 deadline to begin withdrawing US troops was misunderstood by some generals.
"Obama's Wars" by Bob Woodward, the best-selling author who broke the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s, chronicles the often heated debates inside the White House.
September 23th 2010
As many as 2,000 more troops may be going to Afghanistan
Washington (CNN) -- As many as 2,000 additional troops -- including a number of U.S. forces -- may be headed to Afghanistan in the coming weeks under a plan backed by Gen. David Petraeus, CNN has learned.
Petraeus has not commented publicly on the need for more troops, but a U.S. defense official and a senior NATO official directly familiar with his thinking and the entire matter have confirmed details to CNN.
The proposal for more troops has been briefed to NATO officials behind closed doors.
According to the NATO source, it calls for an additional 2,000 troops including at least 750 personnel to serve as trainers for Afghan forces. The trainers specifically would work to teach Afghan units how to support their operations in the field. The balance of the forces would work largely to counter the still significant threat posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
September 6th 2010
“Afghan occupation has little to do with Afghanistan per se” – writer
The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan says he is not bound by the July 2011 date set for a troop pull-out.
General David Petraeus said he could well advise President Barack Obama not to go ahead with the pull-out if he believes it's the wrong time.
American public support for the war is at an all-time low, with July being the deadliest month for US and NATO troops since 2001.With frustration growing about the occupation of Afghanistan, politicians in Germany have even suggested talking to the Taliban and terrorist organisations to avoid a further escalation of violence
Generation without future, a future without generations: the endless suffering of Afghan children
 Nine and a half have passed since the US and allies invaded Afghanistan. American and European soldiers (among whom the most affected are theBritish) sacrificed their lives for political games, international interestsand local corruption, as well as strategic failure. While an unstoppable abacus precisely tracks each soldier’s death, little is really knownabout the civilian fatalities, which suggests a silent confession that, in this war, human blood weighs differently between the civilizer and the (un)civilizable Afghan.The war in Afghanistan started with two main public goals: the most important to the injured and humiliated US was the capture of Enemy Number One: Osama bin-Laden. The second aim was to free women from the barbaric oppression of the Taliban’s 'Middle Age’ and their burqu. Neither of them have been accomplished. In reality, the mineral rich Afghan soil was most likely the real reason to spill blood. This was set to be an easy war against a third world religious army that turned into a mess, and for those who know history – unsurprisingly so.
July 21th, 2010
“Most Americans don’t realize we still have troops in Iraq, Afghanistan”
“Since Barack Obama was elected we have seen a lot less attention to the wars. The anti-Bush atmosphere that was around focusing on the war has disappeared. Now most people don't realize that we still have 90,000 troops in Iraq, over 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. And that number is going to go up. They don't see that this is what's causing problems with the economy,” Garris told RT
A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations
June was a terrible month for the war in Afghanistan. The milestone of the 300th British death was compounded by the most deadly month for the Nato-led mission since the start of the conflict.
The precise compilation of western casualties contrasts with almost criminal neglect in tracking the numbers of Afghan civilians killed since 2001. If Afghanistan is the "good war" then why are we not demanding to be accurately told how many skeletons there are in the Afghan closet?
In 2005 Donald Rumsfeld famously quipped that "death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war". The US defence department maintains documentation on US military personnel only, while the British ministry of defence "does not maintain records that would enable a definitive number of civilian fatalities to be recorded" – although it did confirm last month that payments to relatives of Afghan civilians killed in error by British forces have trebled over the past year. The Afghan government, characterised by massive levels of ineptitude and corruption, has failed to keep centralised records of civilian casualties which would enable it to issue annual estimates.
 The U.S. mission in Afghanistan centers around swaying locals to its side. And there’s no better persuasion tool than an invisible pain ray that makes people feel like they’re on fire.
OK, OK. Maybe that isn’t precisely the logic being employed by those segments of the American military who would like to deploy the Active Denial System to Afghanistan. I’m sure they’re telling themselves that the generally non-lethal microwave weapon is a better, safer crowd control alternative than an M-16. But those ray-gun advocates better think long and hard about the Taliban’s propaganda bonanza when news leaks of the Americans zapping Afghans until they feel roasted alive.
Because, apparently, the Active Denial System is “in Afghanistan for testing.”
An Air Force military officer and a civilian employee at the Air Force Research Laboratory are just two of the people telling Danger Room co-founder and AOL News ace Sharon Weinberger that the vehicle-mounted “block 2″ version of the pain ray is in the warzone, but hasn’t been used in combat.
Another Drug Record for Afghanistan
In addition to being the world’s leading producer of opium, Afghanistan has now become the largest producer of hashish, according to the first ever cannabis survey released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) earlier this month. Again, the US invasion is behind the new record.
The 2009 Afghanistan Cannabis Survey revealed that there is large-scale cannabis cultivation in half (17 out of 34) of Afghanistan’s provinces, covering a total area of 10,000 to 24,000 hectares every year (lower than opium cultivation, which covers 125,000 hectares). Afghanistan’s crop yield is so high at 145 kg of resin per hectare that it overtakes other leading producers like Morocco, where cannabis covers a larger land area but whose yield is lower, at 40 kg/ha. It is estimated that Afghanistan produces 1,500-3,500 tons of hashish annually, an industry involving 40,000 households. The total export value of Afghan hashish is still unknown, but its farm-gate value—the income paid to farmers—is estimated at about US$ 40-95 million, roughly 15% that of opium ($438 million in 2009).
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Afghan president’s brother is a dope dealer and CIA informer?
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the governor of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and the brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai, has been paid by the CIA for the past eight years, The New York Times reported this week.
The newspaper claims he provides bases for the agency and acts as a Taliban contact. The newspaper also states Ahmed Karzai is deeply involved in the Afghan drug trade.
The Afghan President's brother has denied the allegations in The New York Times.
This leak is politically timed, argues American investigative journalist Gerald Posner, noting that intelligent agencies leaking information to a major newspaper right before the presidential run-off is suspect.
Afghanistan turns to Iran for help, despite American promises
Corrupt Afghans stealing millions from aid funds
A major investigation has been launched into contracts awarded by coalition forces in Afghanistan that are worth hundreds of millions of pounds. The probe into construction and logistics contracts of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) has been ordered by Major General Nick Carter, commander of Isaf forces in the south of the country.
It is prompted by mounting concerns that the very money supposed to win over the hearts and minds of Afghans is ending up in the hands of the Taliban, drug lords or profiteers
Barracks and Burger King: U.S. Builds a Supersized Base in Afghanistan
 Anyone who thinks the Afghanistan troop "surge" is a temporary, one-time deal should watch the construction here of a vast new $17 million barracks building. It's not temporary. It's three stories of concrete.
Eight years after American forces scattered the Taliban and effectively conquered Afghanistan, the United States is embarked on a frenzied $220 million building campaign at this sprawling and still expanding military air base. Just to meet the base's demand for fresh concrete, it has two of its own cement factories working full time
Obama's Secret: Only 100 al Qaeda Now in Afghanistan
As he justified sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $30 billion a year, President Barack Obama's description Tuesday of the al Qaeda "cancer" in that country left out one key fact: U.S. intelligence officials have concluded there are only about 100 al Qaeda fighters in the entire country
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How the U.S. Is Destroying, Not Helping, Democracy in Afghanistan
A couple weeks back, Barack Obama found himself tangled in a sort of political half-Nelson: In order to maintain the illusion that Afghanistan’s government was operating effectively, he had to thank Hamid Karzai (the Afghan president responsible for rigging the country’s initial elections) for agreeing to a run-off. But by thanking Karzai, he drew attention to just how fractured the political scene in Afghanistan was
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Can the Afghan Government Get Clean?
 When Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a new term, he made a pledge to crack down on corruption.
Promises, promises. Was Karzai telling foreign leaders what they wanted to hear, or is the country doomed to remain at the bottom of the transparency index?
According to Amb. Karl Eikenberry, the top U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan, the Afghan government is in fact taking the first steps to crack down on official corruption. Eikenberry is appearing on Capitol Hill today with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and in his prepared testimony, he noted that the National Directorate of Security — Afghanistan’s domestic intel agency — has created a “major case” unit responsible for investigating major corruption
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Afghanistan is world's worst place to be born: U.N.
Eight years after a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, the war-ravaged state is the most dangerous place in the world for a child to be born, the United Nations said on Thursday.
It is especially dangerous for girls, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in launching its annual flagship report, The State of the World's Children.
Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world -- 257 deaths per 1,000 live births, and 70 percent of the population lacks access to clean water, the agency said.
As Taliban insurgents increase their presence across the country, growing insecurity is also making it hard to carry out vital vaccination campaigns against polio, a crippling disease still endemic in the country, and measles that can kill children
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New estimate for Afghan war: $1 million per soldier
 Senior administration officials reported to the New York Times today that budget projections for the war in Afghanistan will cost U.S. taxpayers at least $1 million per soldier, per year.
The plan to add 40,000 American troops and greatly expand Afghan security forces, supported by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, is estimated to cost between $40 billion to $54 billion annually. “Even if fewer troops are sent, or their mission is modified, the rough formula used by the White House...appears almost constant,” according to the NYT
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Gorbachev Says Obama Should Start Afghan Withdrawal
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, drawing on his experience of military failure in Afghanistan in the 1980s, said the U.S. can’t win the conflict there and should begin pulling out its soldiers.
Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are battling a Taliban-led insurgency, is too fragmented between clans to be controlled militarily, Gorbachev, 78, said in an interview today in Berlin. While he said President Barack Obama would be unlikely to take his advice, Gorbachev said he saw no chance of success even with more U.S. troops.
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Japan to withdraw ships from Afghanistan support role
 Japan will withdraw its naval ships from their support role in the war in Afghanistan, in the first concrete sign of the new government’s willingness to say no to the United States.
The country’s defence ministry confirmed this morning what had been expected since the election victory of the prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama – that Japan will withdraw its naval forces from the Indian Ocean in January after eight-years in support of anti-terrorism operations.
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Brown to boost UK Afghan deployment
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama have discussed Afghanistan, prior to an expected announcement next week that Britain is ready to send more troops.
The two leaders held an "ongoing review" of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan during a telephone conversation on Thursday afternoon, said Downing Street.
In a statement to Parliament, the PM is expected to indicate that UK forces, currently at about 9,000, will be boosted by around 500.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The two leaders discussed their ongoing review of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They agreed to remain in close consultation going forward and on the importance of continued discussion with Nato allies.
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Obama dispatching 13,000 more troops to Afghanistan
In an unannounced move, President Barack Obama is dispatching an additional 13,000 US troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 he announced publicly in March,The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The additional forces are primarily support forces -- such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police -- the Post said, bringing the total buildup Obama has approved for the war-torn nation to 34,000
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Depleted Uranium Ammunition in Afghan War
A military manual that was handed over to German campaigners has reignited allegations that the US used DU ammunition in Afghanistan. If true, it runs counter to repeated assurances given by the US military that no DU was used. The manual, a war-fighting guide for Bundeswehr contigents in Afghanistan is marked classified and for official NATO use only. It was written by the Bundeswehr's Centre for Communication and published in late 2005.
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U.S. troops call Afghan region 'Vietnam without napalm'
The men of Bravo Company have a bitter description for the irrigated swath of land along the Arghandab River where 10 members of their battalion have been killed and 30 have been wounded since the beginning of August.
"Like Vietnam without the napalm," said Spc. Nicholas Gojekian, 21, of Katy, Texas.
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US guards 'hosted naked parties at Afghan embassy'
Contractors at the US embassy in Afghanistan lived in "Lord of the Flies" conditions and hosted alchohol-fuelled parties where some stripped naked and performed lewd acts, it has been claimed.
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52 percent of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq, Afghanistan diagnosed with TBI
Some 52 percent of soldiers severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan who have come to the U.S. Army's largest hospital for treatment have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), an internal study has found.
The results of the study, carried out by Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, also showed a steep increase -- from 33 percent -- in TBI cases since the end of 2008.
Tony Blair to be called to Iraq War Inquiry
Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, will be called to give evidence to the Iraq war inquiry, its chairman Sir John Chilcot has confirmed.
New US narco-strategy may pay Afghan farmers to grow nothing
The United States has given up on trying to eradicate Afghanistan’s massive opium crop, which by some estimates makes up some 90 percent of the world’s supply.
Instead, a new strategy is being formulated which will place greater emphasis on stopping drug runners who have ties to the Taliban, along with a renewed focus on alternative agriculture, reported The New York Times on Thursday
The CIA's Bizarre Plan to Win Hearts and Hard-ons in Afghanistan
You've gotta love the CIA for always giving it the old college try. The "it" can be highly questionable, even criminal, but the agency's operatives keep trying all sorts of dandy, innovative tricks to do whatever the it is.
Take the plan years ago to assassinate Fidel Castro by getting him to light up an exploding cigar. Obviously, it fizzled, but the gambit did show a sense of humor. Or, was it stupidity? Whichever.
Every now and then, however, one of the CIA's tricks works. In Afghanistan, for example, agents have been trying to lure tribal patriarchs to stop protecting Taliban commanders and Islamist terrorists in their regions. They've tried offering cash, cars, jewelry, etc. - all with little success.
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MoD admits use of controversial 'enhanced blast' weapons in Afghanistan
British pilots in Afghanistan are firing an increasing number of "enhanced blast" thermobaric weapons, designed to kill everyone in buildings they strike, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.
Since the start of this year more than 20 of the US-designed missiles, which have what is officially described as a "blast fragmentation warhead", have been fired by pilots of British Apache attack helicopters. A total of 20 were also fired last year after they were bought by the MoD from the Americans last May.
The missiles are a variant of the AGM-114N Hellfire missile, described by the Pentagon as "designed to produce higher sustained blast pressure in multi-room structures.
It adds: "The enhanced blast from the … warhead is more effective against non-traditional targets; multi-room structures expected in military operations in urban terrain operations, caves, and fortified bunkers."
The missile's warhead is made with a mixture of chemicals rather than a simple blast mechanism.
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Cheney's Chief Assassin Is Now Obama's Commander in Afghanistan
The Deltas are psychos…You have to be a certified psychopath to join the Delta Force…”, a US Army colonel from Fort Bragg once told me back in the 1980s. Now President Obama has elevated the most notorious of the psychopaths, General Stanley McChrystal, to head the US and NATO military command in Afghanistan.
McChrystal’s rise to leadership is marked by his central role in directing special operations teams engaged in extrajudicial assassinations, systematic torture, bombing of civilian communities and search and destroy missions. He is the very embodiment of the brutality and gore that accompanies military-driven empire building. Between September 2003 and August 2008, McChrystal directed the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations (JSO) Command which operates special teams in overseas assassinations.
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German freed after murdering Afghans
Germany has discontinued investigating a soldier who killed an Afghan woman and two children last year, citing murder by fright as just cause.
The unnamed staff sergeant from the 350th Military Police Battalion killed the civilians in a hail of bullets on August 28, 2008, when he opened fire at them from behind in the town of Kunduz, reported Spiegel Online last week.
He claimed that he was frightened of being attacked and therefore decided to act preemptively against the Afghans, although the car the family were traveling in had turned round and was moving away from the German checkpoint.
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Rumsfeld's renegade unit blamed for Afghan deaths
Troops from the US Marines Corps' Special Operations Command, or MarSOC, were responsible for calling in air strikes in Bala Boluk, in Farah, last week – believed to have killed more than 140 men, women and children – as well as two other incidents in 2007 and 2008. News of MarSOC's involvement in the three incidents comes just days after a Special Forces expert, Lieutenant-General Stanley McChrystal, was named to take over as the top commander of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. His surprise appointment has prompted speculation that commando counterinsurgency missions will increase in the battle to beat the Taliban.
Huge U.S. camp arises in Afghan Desert of Death
Afghanistan (Reuters) - A huge U.S. military camp is taking shape in the baking heat of southern Afghanistan for thousands of extra U.S. troops charged with defeating a resurgent Taliban.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Camp Leatherneck, with concrete blast walls and semi-cylinder sand-colored tents, on Thursday as he surveyed preparations for what will be the biggest wave yet in a year that is seeing U.S. troop numbers doubled
Secret report urges new Afghan plan
The Pentagon’s top military officers are recommending to President Barack Obama that he shift U.S. strategy in Afghanistan — to focus on ensuring regional stability and eliminating Taliban and Al Qaida safe havens in Pakistan, rather than on achieving lasting democracy and a thriving Afghan economy, officials said.
The recommendations to narrow U.S. goals are contained in a classified report by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that is likely to be shown soon to Obama as part of a review of Afghanistan strategy announced by the new administration.
Obama is expected to announce soon his decision on a request for additional forces from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan. Several officials said they believe the president will approve sending three additional combat brigades to Afghanistan, totaling roughly 10,000 to 12,000 troops.
But a decision by Obama about whether to approve a more far-reaching shift in U.S. objectives in Afghanistan will be made later as part of the strategy review, the officials said. In addition to the Joint Chiefs, Obama will hear recommendations from Gen. David Petraeus, in charge of U.S. Central Command, and from Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s civilian envoy to Afghanistan. The review is not expected to be completed for several months.
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.Red Cross confirms dozens dead in Afghan air strikes
 Afghan villagers mourned relatives buried in mass graves after U.S.-led air strikes that the Red Cross said killed dozens and local officials said may have killed more than 100 civilians.
U.S. and Afghan officials rushed on Wednesday to investigate the incident, which may overshadow President Hamid Karzai's first meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama since Obama's election.
Villagers who survived the bombing of houses packed with terrified civilians told Reuters by telephone dozens of members of one extended family alone had died. They wept as they spoke of orphaned children and burying loved ones' fragmented remains.
"My son and my daughter in-law have been killed and left me with a 13-month-old baby," said Gul Bibi from Geraani village.
"Their remains were buried in a mass grave with others, and I didn't even have a chance to see his face for the last time because his body was blown apart," she sobbed.
The bombings, that lasted around an hour, killed 50 members of neighbor Sayed Azam's extended family, Azam told Reuters.
"There were Taliban in the area, and fierce fighting during the day but it ended when it was dark. People thought the fighting was over when suddenly bombings began," he said.
Kabul's new elite live high on West's largesse
Vast sums of money are being lavished by Western aid agencies on their own officials in Afghanistan at a time when extreme poverty is driving young Afghans to fight for the Taliban. The going rate paid by the Taliban for an attack on a police checkpoint in the west of the country is $4, but foreign consultants in Kabul, who are paid out of overseas aids budgets, can command salaries of $250,000 to $500,000 a year.
Afghan president demands an end to air raids on Taliban amid claims of 130 civilian deaths
Afghan president Hamid Karzai has called for an end to air raids in his country after scores of civilians were killed in the latest attack on the Taliban.
Karzai, who went on U.S. television to make the call has put the death toll at up to 130 people. If his figure is confirmed, it would be the biggest such case of Western forces killing civilians since they invaded in 2001.
His spokesman said the Afghan leader was 'very serious' about his demand.
Afghans are furious about the bombing of two villages in Western Farah province during a drawn-out battle last week, when homes full of civilians were hit.
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Mullen Says Close to 30,000 New Soldiers Likely for Afghanistan
Admiral Michael Mullen, the most senior American military officer, said the U.S. will probably deploy close to 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to shore up deteriorating security there.
In an interview, Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, also said he is hopeful that other NATO nations will contribute additional military and civilian resources this year to the fight against a resurgent Taliban. The Islamist militia, which once ruled Afghanistan and sheltered al-Qaeda, is threatening large areas of the country with mounting attacks.
Mullen said the new resources are needed to buy time for a broad, long-term buildup of Afghan security forces that will allow the U.S. to �put an Afghan face� on the effort and dispel perceptions of a foreign occupation.
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US Commander: Afghan war might end in failure
Top US commander Gen. David McKiernan says the mission in Afghanistan is likely to fail if militants continue to gain power in Pakistan.
During his 40-minute briefing, the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan said, "Can you get to the right end-state in Afghanistan if you have a deteriorating or failed state in Pakistan? The answer is probably no."
The remarks came as US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, visited troops in Kabul to see "what they need to prevent militants from crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan."
President Obama expands Middle East wars with 21,000 more troops
 Concerned about the faltering war in Afghanistan, President Obama plans to dispatch thousands more military and civilian trainers on top of the 17,000 fresh combat troops he’s already ordered, people familiar with the forthcoming plan said Thursday.
Obama, who plans to lay out his revamped strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday, also will call for increasing aid to neighboring Pakistan as long as its leaders confront militants in the border region.
Several sources told The Associated Press the strategy includes 20 recommendations for countering a persistent insurgency that spans the two countries’ border, including sending 4,000 U.S. trainers to try to increase the size of the Afghan army.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs would not discuss specifics of the plan, but said Obama is beginning to discuss its findings with members of Congress and others. Obama’s top military advisers briefed key lawmakers Thursday.
In broad terms, Obama will define U.S. objectives as eliminating the threat from al-Qaeda to undermine or topple U.S.-backed elected governments or to launch attacks on the United States, its interests and allies, the sources said.
Afghan operation is 'worthless'
The UK's operation in Afghanistan is "worthless" and akin to the start of the Vietnam war, former SAS commander Maj Sebastian Morley has said. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said the government had "blood on its hands" over the "unnecessary" deaths of four soldiers. BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said many on the ground felt the campaign has been "under-resourced". But the MoD insisted the security challenge was "manageable".
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Thousands of guns U.S. sent to Afghanistan are missing
The U.S. military failed to "maintain complete inventory records for an estimated 87,000 weapons -- or about 36 percent -- of the 242,000 weapons that the United States procured and shipped to Afghanistan from December 2004 through June 2008," a U.S. Government Accountability Office report states.
"Accountability lapses occurred throughout the supply chain," it says.
The Defense Department spent roughly $120 million during that period to acquire a range of small arms and light weapons for the Afghan National Security Forces, including rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The military also failed to properly account for an additional 135,000 weapons it obtained for the Afghan forces from 21 other countries.
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The CIA's Bizarre Plan to Win Hearts and Hard-ons in Afghanistan
You've gotta love the CIA for always giving it the old college try. The "it" can be highly questionable, even criminal, but the agency's operatives keep trying all sorts of dandy, innovative tricks to do whatever the it is.
Take the plan years ago to assassinate Fidel Castro by getting him to light up an exploding cigar. Obviously, it fizzled, but the gambit did show a sense of humor. Or, was it stupidity? Whichever.
Every now and then, however, one of the CIA's tricks works. In Afghanistan, for example, agents have been trying to lure tribal patriarchs to stop protecting Taliban commanders and Islamist terrorists in their regions. They've tried offering cash, cars, jewelry, etc. - all with little success.
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Obama’s new foreign policy team prepares escalated bloodletting in Afghanistan and Pakistan
In a series of meetings and public appearances Wednesday and Thursday, and with the first military strikes of his administration, President Barack Obama has given a clear signal that he plans intensified bloodshed in Afghanistan and Pakistan as the US escalates its military intervention in Central and South Asia.
Missiles fired from unmanned Predator drones struck two targets inside Pakistan Friday morning, killing at least 18 people. As is always the case with such exercises in remote-controlled murder, US officials claimed they were targeting Al Qaeda, although even US media accounts admitted that the majority of those killed were local residents.
Three missiles struck the village of Zharki in North Waziristan, killing ten people, of whom five were described by US "security sources" as Al Qaeda militants. A few hours later, another missile hit a house in South Waziristan, killing eight people whose identities were not known.
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