World-News

The probe found that the strikes against a "suspected Taliban compound" in the western province of Herat killed about 30 civilians - not the five to seven the U.S. originally acknowledged, according to a Pentagon official.

http://tinyurl.com/447om8



A strategy destined to fail?

A major new intelligence estimate by US defence establishment casts doubt on military strategy in Afghanistan.

http://tinyurl.com/4hnnjf



Afghanistan military situation will worsen next year, Mullen says

Last week, Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, also said the situation would likely worsen. McKiernan has asked for three more combat brigades.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/719487.html



French army chief agrees Afghanistan 'cannot be won'

France's military chief, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, has echoed suggestions by a senior British military officer that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won.

http://tinyurl.com/4ts7t4



US should talk with its enemies: Petraeus

General David Petraeus said Wednesday that attempts are being made to open talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan and that the United States should be prepared to engage with its enemies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081008/pl_afp/usafghanistanmilitarypetraeus



Fighting talk is self-defeating

As the generals say there is no military solution, Obama and McCain should cut the rhetoric and get real about Afghanistan.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/09/afghanistan.johnmccain



Afghanistan: The mystery of the missing opium

It's a mystery that has got British law enforcement officials and others across the planet scratching their heads. Put bluntly, enough heroin to supply the world's demand for years has simply disappeared.

http://tinyurl.com/4w24gb


From Information Clearing House



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=McCain
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+deaths
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=opium

By Anand Gopal

As he rounded the corner, he saw a crowd of people, villagers and factory workers, gathered around his destroyed house. An American bomb had flattened it into a pancake of cement blocks and pulverized bricks. He ran toward the scene. It was only when he shoved his way through the crowd and up to the wreckage that he actually saw it -- his mother's severed head lying amid mangled furniture.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20983.htm

In einem gemeinsamen Bericht über die Lage in Afghanistan, der nach den Präsidentschaftswahlen vorlegt wird, wird befürchtet, dass sich die Karsai-Regierung nicht mehr lange halten könnte.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28883/1.html



"In Afghanistan sind politische Lösungen nötig"

Kommende Woche entscheidet der Bundestag über Verlängerung und Ausweitung das deutschen ISAF-Mandats. Ein Gespräch mit Winfried Nachtwei, dem verteidigungspolitischen Sprecher der Grünen, der gerade Afghanistan besucht hat.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28890/1.html



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=ISAF
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Bundeswehr

Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, The New York Times: "A draft report by American intelligence agencies concludes that Afghanistan is in a 'downward spiral' and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban's influence there, according to American officials familiar with the document."

http://www.truthout.org/100908C



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mark+Mazzetti
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Eric+Schmitt

Der Antrag der Bundesregierung im Wortlaut (pdf-Datei) http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden/regionen/Afghanistan/bt-mandat2008.pdf


Bundesregierung will Afghanistaneinsatz ausweiten - Friedensbewegung hält dagegen

Erklärungen vom Bundesausschuss Friedensratschlag und von pax christi vom 8. Oktober 2008 http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden/regionen/Afghanistan/bt-mandat2008-baf.html


Aus: LabourNet, 9. Oktober 2008

When Jalaluddin Haqqani fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the U.S. showered him with praise, guns and money. The congressman celebrated in "Charlie Wilson's War,'' the movie and book about that conflict, called him "goodness personified.'' Now the U.S. is trying to kill Haqqani

http://tinyurl.com/4dneye


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Haqqani

Während der Afghanistan-Einsatz der Bundeswehr nach dem Willen der Bundesregierung ausgeweitet werden soll, streiten selbst Kriegsgegner über die richtige Position.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28875/1.html



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Bundeswehr

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/07

On Anniversary of Bombing Afghanistan, We Need a Surge in Diplomacy
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/07-10



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+deaths

"The current situation is bad, the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption, and the government has lost all trust. ... The presence of the coalition, in particular its military presence, is part of the problem, not part of its solution. Foreign forces are the lifeline of a regime that would rapidly collapse without them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20081006/cm_thenation/1096368911



Top UN envoy in Afghanistan says war can't be won "militarily"

'We all know that we cannot win it militarily. It has to be won through political means. That means political engagement,' Kai Eide, UN special envoy to Afghanistan, told a press conference in Kabul.

http://tinyurl.com/3qtrw4


From Information Clearing House

--------

Talks with Taliban the Only Way Forward in Afghanistan, Says UK Commander

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/06-3

The Foreign Office can deny its Afghan ambassador's reported remarks; in reality, it must know the truth of his bleak assessment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/afghanistan.foreignpolicy


From Information Clearing House

Charles Bremner and Richard Beeston, The Times UK: "The official version of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan received a blow today with a leaked report that the British Ambassador in Kabul believes that US strategy is wrong and the war is as good as lost. The potentially explosive views were published by Le Canard Enchaîné, a respected French weekly, which said that they were direct quotations from a diplomatic cable written by François Fitou, the French Deputy Ambassador in Kabul."

http://www.truthout.org/100108R

US losing war in Afghanistan, Pak tribal region: former army chief

Former Pakistani Army chief General `Retd` Mirza Aslam Beg on Tuesday said that US has almost lost its war in Afghanistan and Pakistani tribal region and soon will leave with empty hands.

http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x=607675



British envoy says mission in Afghanistan says the war is lost

The US-led campaign in Afghanistan received a blow today with a leaked report that the British Ambassador in Kabul believes that US strategy is wrong and the war is as good as lost.

http://tinyurl.com/4aef77


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=tribal+region

US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5867448&page=1


From Information Clearing House

U.S. commanders in Afghanistan say they expect the Taliban to launch a winter offensive, a move that could bring bloodshed during a time of year that historically has been relatively peaceful.

http://tinyurl.com/52y9yn



US has no more troops for Afghan war until spring

The United States will not have enough forces available to meet a request for more troops from NATO's top commander in Afghanistan until next spring at the earliest, the U.S. defense chief said on Tuesday.

http://africa.reuters.com/energyandoil/news/usnN23376448.html


From Information Clearing House

http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=12914



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Bundeswehr