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AFGHANISTAN UPDATE7 September 2007 No. 17: 31 August - 6 September 2007 If you would like to receive this update, please email basic-wash at basicint.org with the phrase "subscribe to Afghanistan Update" in the subject line. Feedback on format and content is also gladly received. In particular we are keen to hear feedback of how useful you find this update. Please contact Chris Lindborg by email at clindborg at basicint.org with comments or suggestions. Previous editions of BASIC's Afghanistan Update are available here. Summary:
NATO's top generals are meeting in Canada from 6-9 September and Afghanistan is expected to dominate the agenda. A major topic of discussion will likely include the recent return of the Taliban to strategic areas that were once secured by coalition forces. NATO's chief military adviser, Canadian General Ray Henault, said the alliance is aware of the host country's domestic debate over participation in the Afghanistan mission. Opposition leaders have demanded that the Canadian Prime Minister commit to ending Canada's combat mission by February 2009. In other news, the Australian Defense Minister, Brendan Nelson, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia may review deployments if the Dutch Parliament decides to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. He said that Australian forces rely on help from Dutch troops, especially in Oruzgan Province. As of 1 September 2007, a total of 372 members of the U.S. military had died with 247 of those killed in action in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the Defense Department. Afghan Interior Ministry Spokesman Zemarai Bashary said on 5 September that roadside and suicide bombings have killed 227 civilians and injured 647 since the beginning of January 2007. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Defense Department on 4 September to release documents regarding civilians killed by coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the U.S. Army complied with the ACLU's request for information through the Freedom of Information Act, the Navy, Air Force, and Marines have not agreed to the release of similar information. The ACLU has published information on civilian deaths, which the organization obtained from the U.S. Army. The executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, visited Brussels on 5 September and called on NATO to take a more active role in dealing with poppy growth and opium trafficking and urged the Afghan government to consider aerial spraying of poppy crops, which he believes to be more effective than current methods of ground-based eradication. His remarks come a little over a week after the United Nations released the results of its survey on the opium crop in Afghanistan. Chinese officials have said they will investigate recent U.K. government claims that Chinese weapons have been used by the Taliban against British forces. Chinese weapons have circulated in Afghanistan for many years, but a senior Afghan official told the BBC that many of these weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, landmines, and components for armor-piercing roadside bombs, were manufactured recently in China's military factories. However, another Afghan official said that serial numbers had been removed from many of the weapons, so it will be difficult for investigators to track their origins and find out how the Taliban apparently obtained them. Chris Lindborg and Candice Boyer, BASIC
Stories and Links: Operation Medusa: The Battle for Panjwai (Part I: The Charge
of Charles Company), Adam Day, Legion Magazine, September/October Official: NATO Shift in Caveat Policy Unlikely Due to Politics,
Inside the Pentagon, 06/09 Afghan bridge exposes huge divide, M. K. Bhadrakumar, Asia
Times Online, 05/09 Taliban 'using weapons made in China', Ian Bruce, The
Herald (Scotland), 05/09 Taleban 'getting Chinese arms', Paul Danahar, BBC News,
03/09 Afghan Police Suffer Setbacks as Taliban Adapt, David Rohde,
The New York Times, 02/09 Taliban back in strategic areas around Kandahar, Richard Foot, CanWest News Service, 02/09 http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=6178a55a-7fae-426f-ace3-7aa56ef21b5d
Editorials, Transcripts and Reports: Afghanistan's Fearful Culture, Mark Sedra and Robert Muggah,
Ottawa Citizen, 06/09 Downloading the War, Susan Riley, Ottawa Citizen,
06/09 DoD News Briefing with Commander Adams and Governor Jamal from
the Pentagon, News transcript from the U.S. Defense Department,
05/09 Dutch Decision on Afghanistan Mission Affects Canada's Actions,
Chantal Hebert, Embassy, 05/09 The War on Poppies; U.S. efforts to eradicate Afghanistan's
crop are sowing seeds of resentment, Peter Bergen and Sameer
Lalwani, The Los Angeles Times, 02/09
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