afghannews

[+]Karzai terms Nato air strike major error
      Tuesrday, September 08, 2009

KABUL: A Nato air strike believed to have killed scores of Afghan civilians was a major “error of judgement” by German forces, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview published on Monday. “General (Stanley) McChrystal telephoned me to apologise and to say that he himself hadn’t given the order to attack,” Karzai told French newspaper Le Figaro, referring to the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan. “Why didn’t they send in ground troops to recover the fuel tank?” Karzai said in the interview with Le Figaro.

(Courtesy Daily The News, Pakistan)

[+]Fraud allegations in Afghan vote mounts
      Tuesrday, September 08, 2009

The taint of fraud deepened in Afghanistan’s election on Monday after many thousands of votes were tossed out, as a planned international conference underlined mounting Western anxiety about the nation.

(Courtesy Daily The News, Pakistan)

[+]Impatience growing with Afghan war: Gates
      Saturday, September 05, 2009

WASHINGTON: Defence Secretary Robert Gates is taking issue with any notion that the war in Afghanistan “is slipping through the administration’s fingers”. Gates acknowledged during a meeting with reporters at the Pentagon that impatience was growing with the war. But, he said, that must be expected, given that the US has had a presence there for eight years. He said he believed “it is important for us to be able to show over the months to come” that Obama’s strategyfor both Afghanistan and Pakistan is succeeding.

(Courtesy Daily The News, Pakistan)

[+]Civilian casualties ‘a real problem’: Gates
      Tuesday, September 08, 2009

WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged in an interview with Al Jazeera that civilian casualties have become “a real problem” for the Nato-led mission in Afghanistan. Gates’ remarks, in an interview aired on Monday by the Qatar-based Arabic satellite news channel, came amid a raging controversy over an air strike that killed scores of people on Friday in northern Afghanistan. “I think it is a real problem, and General McChrystal thinks it is a real problem, too,” Gates said, referring to Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. According to a transcript of the interview posted on Al Jazeera’s website, Gates said the Taliban actively targeted civilians or put them at risk in other ways. “But we are trying to figure out new tactics that minimise this. But it is a challenge,” he added. “Central to the success of the 42 nations that are trying to help the Afghan people and government at this point is that the Afghan people continue to believe that we are their friends, their partners and are here to help them. “So civilian casualties are a problem for us and we are doing everything conceivable to try and avoid that,” he said. Gates said he had concerns about sending more troops to Afghanistan for fear that Afghans at some point would regard them as occupiers. “General McChrystal’s point, which I think has great validity, is: it is really how those forces are used and how they interact with the Afghan people that determines how they are seen by the Afghans. “And I think that the approach that he has taken, in terms of partnering with the Afghans, and interacting with the Afghan people, and supporting them, mitigates the concerns that I had,” he said.

(Courtesy Daily The News, Pakistan)

[+]Karzai leads in partial Afghan vote returns
      Monday, September 07, 2009

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai leads his main challenger in partial election returns by 48.6 per cent to 31.7 per cent, with nearly three quarters of polling stations tallied, according to figures released on Sunday. Election Commission member Daoud Najafi said the commission had annulled results from 447 of about 28,000 polling stations after investigating fraud. The commission released a statement saying it had annulled the results of 477 stations. The country has been in a state of political limbo since the Aug 20 election, with results held up by a flood of complaints of widespread fraud. The results show Karzai falling just short of the outright majority needed to avoid a second round. However, many of the still uncounted ballots are from the south, where returns so far have shown Karzai with a strong lead.

(Courtesy Daily The News, Pakistan)

[+] US troops raid Afghan hospital
      Monday, September 07, 2009

KABUL: US troops burst into a Swedish charity-run hospital in Afghanistan and tied up patients’ relatives and staff, the charity said on Sunday, in what it called a breach of deals between the military and aid groups. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) said soldiers had entered its hospital in Wardak, south of Kabul, on Wednesday evening without explanation and conducted a search, including of female wards and toilets. “Upon entering the hospital they tied up four employees and two family members of patients at the hospital. The SCA staff as well as patients (even those in beds) were forced out of rooms/wards throughout the search,” SCA said in a statement. “This is simply not acceptable,” said SCA Country Director Anders Fange told Reuters. A press officer for the Nato-led force, Lieutenant-Commander Christine Sidenstricker, said she was aware of an incident but did not have enough information to comment.

(Courtesy Daily The News, Pakistan)

[+] EU to revamp Afghanistan aid strategy
      Monday, September 07, 2009

STOCKHOLM: The European Union’s civilian aid strategy in Afghanistan is insufficient and needs to be revamped before the next government takes office in the country, EU foreign ministers said. The bloc’s 27 ministers agreed there is “a need to reinforce our political, civilian and economic efforts in Afghanistan,” as they wrapped up two-day talks in Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said. “We have not been good enough,” said Bildt. He said a new aid strategy must tackle corruption and ineffective aid projects and should coincide with a new Afghan president and government that the West hoped would take office shortly.As part of a new EU aid plan, which could see an increase in funding, Afghan officials will be required to spend the aid money they get more wisely, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. “When we talk about a government ... it means a government that is not corrupt,” Solana said. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said more funding could be needed to expand Afghan government programmes “mainly to work with the Afghan people and not to bomb them.”

(Courtesy Daily The News, Pakistan)

[+]US for probe into Afghan air strike
       Monday, September 07, 2009

KABUL: The US commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan on Saturday promised a full investigation into a Nato air strike, but stopped short of admitting that any civilians had been killed in the bombing. General Stanley McChrystal, in a statement broadcast on Afghan TV, said he had ordered a “complete investigation” into the Nato air strike on Friday in which Afghan officials said 90 people were killed.