NATO Troops Open Fire On Vehicle, Kill 4 Unarmed Afghans
NATO troops kill four unarmed Afghans. NATO troops shot at a vehicle, killing four unarmed Afghan civilians in Khost province, reports Reuters. The civilians were killed as they accelerated in the direction of a NATO convoy and ignored warnings to slow down. While NATO's official statement described the dead as two insurgents and two "associates," a NATO spokesman conceded that the four may have been civilians. This shooting follows another similar incident last week in Kandahar in which NATO forces opened fire on a bus. Four civilians died while 18 were injured as a result. The U.N.'s envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, called the latest incident part of a "disturbing trend."
Afghanistan's "doomed generation." A study by the State Department has found that Afghan children are exposed to high levels of opium and heroin, which has lead to rarely seen levels of drug addiction among children. Some of these children were said to be as young as 14 months.
"These children are classic opium or heroin addicts. They crave the drug," a researcher told ABC News. The study, which tested heroin and opium levels in children belonging to households where drug addicts live, looked at 42 homes homes and found that children in 31 of those homes had "significant drug exposure." In 2005, it was estimated that there were 900,000 drug addicts in Afghanistan. According to NPR, a U.N. study published in April found that 1 in 12 Afghans abuse drugs, a number that indicates an appallingly high number of Afghan children are exposed to, and are at risk for, drug addiction. The chronic drug exposure is creating a "doomed generation" of children in Afghanistan, said one researcher.
McChrystal's COIN headed for failure. In the spring issue of World Policy Journal, Michael Cohen argues that the "warm and fuzzy" counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine touted by NATO's Gen. Stanley McChrystal ignores history and is bound to fail. Cohen's is a dissenting voice in a growing chorus--joined by both progressive and conservative policy circles in the U.S.--that believes in the effectiveness of a more humane war effort in Afghanistan. But McChrystal's COIN strategy rests on the assumption that a reliable local partner exists, and since, in Cohen's view, Afghanistan lacks such leadership, he argues that the U.S. and NATO are likely headed for failure.
Correction -- In an earlier version of the entry above, "McChrystal's COIN headed for failure," it was reported that Mr. Cohen's article "points to Sri Lanka's war against the Tamil Tigers as a better model for the U.S. in Afghanistan." However, Mr. Cohen makes no such argument in his article. Instead he wrote: "So, would the United States be better served by adopting a Sri Lankan-style approach to waging the Afghanistan counter-insurgency? Not at all." We apologize for the error.
For suicide attack plotter, path to militancy began at madrassa. The Associated Press was able to interview a potential suicide bomber and his trainer in a Lahore prison, bringing to light what motivates militants and how closely the insurgency in Afghanistan is tied to militancy in Pakistan. Abdul Baseer, the trainer, and a 14-year-old would-be suicide bomber were arrested before they could blow up a luxury hotel in Lahore, where they had hoped to kill Americans. Baseer's story begins in a poor household in Swat and leads him to Pakistan's infamous madrassas (religious schools), where he "became aware that this is the time for jihad and fighting the infidels." He traveled to Afghanistan, received training, and claimed to have attacked U.S. troops while there. "I was happy to be in place where I could kill unbelievers," he told the AP.
Karzai viewed more favorably back home. While Karzai has been portrayed as corrupt and crazy (and has even been called a drug addict) in the Western media, the view of the Afghan president in his home country is more favorable, writes Asma Nemati in Foreign Policy. To some Afghans, Karzai's recent anti-Western outburst is a sign that the president is finally waking up.
They agree that the U.S. and the international community are interfering too much in Afghan politics. There are rumors, for instance, "that members of the IEC were threatened by [a] U.S. official to 'dig their own graves' if Karzai was to be reelected in the runoffs." And many Afghans concur with Karzai's claim that the international community is also largely to blame for the corruption that has flourished since the fall of the Taliban. But Afghans also believe that a public brawl between Karzai and the U.S. does no one good, and may not end well for Karzai--some "won't be surprised to see him assassinated."
Deputy mayor of Kandahar killed. The deputy mayor of Kandahar, Azizullah Yarmal, was killed late on Monday night while he prayed in a mosque, reports the New York Times. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, describing the city's "most effective and admired public official" as a "puppet." The assassination is the latest in a series of attacks by Taliban militants in Kandahar, a city that was once the capital of the Taliban and is now the base of the insurgency. A number of people the Times spoke to believed that Yarmal was targeted precisely because he was one of few honest and effective officials in the city. Earlier in the day, Taliban militants attacked the home of a key ally of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, killing three children. According to Reuters, the Taliban have stepped up attacks in the area ahead of a NATO and Afghan military offensive planned for this June.
Karzai-U.S. spat over? The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration's public conflict with Karzai is over. After anti-Western pronouncements by Karzai and suggestions by senior U.S. officials that Karzai was an unreliable partner, the tensions between Kabul and Washington have cooled. During the much-publicized spat, some had speculated that the White House might revoke its invitation to Karzai to visit the U.S. But in a sign that the crisis has been resolved, the Obama administration announced that Karzai's May visit would go ahead as planned. Richard Holbrooke--Obama's Afghanistan and Pakistan special representative--told a State Department briefing that relations were now "in good shape."
Suicide bomber kills members of Pakistani Islamist party. Protesters belonging to a prominent Islamist party and a senior police officer were killed in a suicide attack in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The bomber's apparent target was Gulfat Hussein, deputy superintendent of the city's police force. The New York Times speculates that Hussein was attacked because he was a Shiite and was known for providing security to Shiite religious festivals. There have been two other attacks on Shiites in the past four days. Groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban have been responsible for sectarian violence in the past.
However, the attack was unusual in that it occurred near an anti-government demonstration held by members of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a mainly Sunni Islamist party that opposes the U.S. and expresses sympathy for the Taliban. Two dozen members of the party died in the attack. According to Dawn, while authorities blamed the Taliban, the party alleged that the CIA and Indian intelligence agencies were responsible.
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First Posted: 06/20/10 06:12 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 05:15 PM ET