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THE KITE RUNNER...

Part I

Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara who is the son of Ali, Amir's father's servant, spend their days in the then peaceful city of Kabul, kite fighting and roaming through the streets. Amir’s father, a wealthy merchant, who Amir affectionately refers to as Baba, loves both the boys, but seems critical of Amir for not being manly enough. Amir secretly believes his father blames him for his mother’s death during childbirth. However, he has a kinder father figure in the form of Rahim Khan, Baba’s friend, who understands Amir better, and is supportive of his interest in writing. Amir tells us that his first word was 'Baba' and Hassan's "Amir,' suggesting that Amir looked up most to Baba, while Hassan looked up to Amir.
Assef, a notorious sociopath and violent older boy with sadistic tendencies, mocks Amir for socializing with a Hazara, which is, according to Assef, an inferior race that should only live in Hazarajat. He prepares to attack Amir with brass knuckles, but Hassan bravely stands up to him, threatening to shoot out Assef's left eye with his slingshot. Assef and his posse back off, but Assef threatens revenge.

Hassan is a successful "kite runner" for Amir, knowing where the kite will land without even watching it. One triumphant day, Amir wins the local tournament, and finally Baba's praise. Hassan runs for the last cut kite, a great trophy, saying to Amir, "For you, a thousand times over." Unfortunately, Hassan runs into Assef and his two friends. Hassan refuses to give up Amir's kite. Amir searches for Hassan but hides when he hears Assef's voice. Assef decides to teach Hassan a lesson by raping him. Amir witnesses the act but is too scared to intervene, and returns home ashamed, guilty for not being able to help his best friend. He feels that his cowardice in Hassan's rape would destroy any hopes for Baba's affections, so he says nothing. Afterwards, Hassan and Amir keep a distance from each other. Amir reacts indifferently because he feels ashamed, and is frustrated by Hassan's saint-like behavior. Already jealous of Baba's love for Hassan, he worries that if Baba knew of Hassan's bravery and his own cowardice, that Baba's love for Hassan would grow even more.
Amir, filled with guilt on his birthday, cannot enjoy his gifts.[2] The only present that does not feel like "blood" money is the notebook to write his stories in given to him by Rahim Khan, his father's friend and the only one Amir felt really understood him.

Amir felt that life would be easier if Hassan was not around, so he planted a watch and some money from his birthday party under Hassan's mattress in hopes that Baba would force him to leave; Hassan falsely confesses when confronted by Baba about the watch and the money. Baba forgives him, despite the fact that, as he explained earlier, he believes that "there is no act more wretched than stealing." Hassan and his father Ali, to Baba's extreme sorrow, leave anyway. Hassan's departure frees Amir of the daily reminder of his cowardice and betrayal, but he still lives in their shadow and his guilt.

Part II and Part 111
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kite_Runner

www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi955580697

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• The Kite Runner. Movie Review (lindeay.wordpress.com)
• Mir Baba Group : Afghanistan (kiva.org)
• On a Kabul Hill, the Dogs and Kites of War (time.com)
• Mir Baadshah Mohammad Amir : Afghanistan (kiva.org)
• Amir Mozaffarian Selected 'Top Vendors For Your Nuptials' (prnewswire.com)
• You: Mammoth JI anti-US rally in Peshawar (nation.com.pk)
• Amir Hamza Khan Group : Afghanistan (kiva.org)
• Sai Baba Birthday:Puttaparthi Celebrates Sahtya Sai Baba Birthday (nowpublic.com)
• Hassan : Lebanon (kiva.org)
• 'Amir Khan owes me wages' claims former conditioning coach Alex Ariza (telegraph.co.uk)

New Zealand soldier killed in Afghanistan vehicle crash....

A New Zealand soldier has been killed and three others injured in a vehicle accident in Afghanistan.

The Defence Force has named soldier killed as Private Kirifi Mila, who had been due to return to New Zealand in April this year.

Private Kirifi Mila was due to return home in April.
It says the soldiers were patrolling in north-east Bamyan province when their Humvee rolled down a cliff.
Private Mila was a gunner positioned on the roof of the Humvee.

One of the injured soldiers has broken ribs and another has eye socket injuries and head injuries.
The Defence Force says the accident had no connection with insurgent activity and vehicle accidents are a common problem in Afghanistan.

Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Rhys Jones says Private Mila's family has been informed and are devastated by the news.
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp says the death is sad news, as every soldier's life is very precious.

Prime Minister John Key says he is shocked and saddened by the death. He says the Defence Force in Afghanistan is operating in a dangerous and difficult environment.

Visiting Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard also paid tribute to Private Mila, telling Parliament that Australia grieves for New Zealand soldiers as it grieves for its own.

In August last year, Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell was killed and two others seriously injured when their four-vehicle convoy was attacked by insurgents also in Bamyan province.

Acknowledgements:  © 2011, Radio New Zealand

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• WikiLeaks: Wellington pushed hard for Japan to help in Afghanistan (nzherald.co.nz)
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• WikiLeaks cable: Is NZ open or opposed to added Afghan deployments? (nzherald.co.nz)
• Soldier killed by US friendly fire was a New Zealander in British army (telegraph.co.uk)
• British hiker missing in New Zealand (telegraph.co.uk)

Image via WikipediaJust what the hell are western nations doing in Afghanistan anyway?




By peter petterson




Just what the hell are western nations doing in snuggling up to a monsterous Islamic regime who is no better than the Taleban they are all fighting against. I'm discussing of course the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai's government who is purging Afghanistan of Christians. Karzai's regime is an Islamic society which has adopted Sharia Law, no better than the Taleban itself.

I posted a news story here at 'The Kiwi Riverman Post' a couple of days ago about the despicable practice that appears to be ingrained in Afghanistan society  -  boy rape.

Now we read about the purge of Afghanis who have converted to Christianity. One in particular has made the headlines and was interviewed by The Sunday  Times.  The person in question is Said Musa an Afghani working for the Red Cross who is under sentence of death for his conversion to Christianity nine years ago.

Said Musa tried to seek asylum at the German Embassy following the order made by Karzai to purge Afghanistan of Christianity. He was arrested and tortured and sentenced to death. A Judge visited Musa in prison and ordered him to convert back to Islam or be hanged. His conversion to Christianity appears to have been after he watched graphic television reports of a bombing in Pakistan, something he could no longer condone or support. There is allegedly now more than a thousand Afghani converts to Christianity because of the actions against innocent men,women and children.

Musa was tortured, beaten with sticks, sexually assaulted and condemned as a dirty infidel. His lawyer dropped his defence because it was unwinnable, his wife and children were evicted from their home and called infidel lovers.

His friends and supporters have launched a campaign for his release, accusing human rights groups, including the Red Cross and the United Nations, of failing to lobby the government for his release. Nothing has been done for him so far. It should be pointed out that Afghanistan had signed the human rights convention but the West refuses to lobby on his behalf because its a an 'extremely sensitive case'. Yeah right!

The truth of the matter is the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission is concerned that an army of radical mullahs in Afghanistan could turn the problem into more than a battle against freedom of religion. They and other Western groups are concerned that any public campaign could further infuriate the government that  increasingly blames foreign interference for the country's woes.

And so Afghani nationals such as Said Musa , who is a 45 year old amputee who specialised in rehabilitating fellow landmine victims, continue to be detained in prison. At least Musa has been treated a little more lenient since the US embassy put some pressure on authorities, who moved him to another jail and have put him in a corridor outside the head guard's office to avoid him being further beaten.

But when will he be released? When he renounces Christianity! If he did he would be forgiven under Sharia Law and wouldn't be executed. Musa claims he will die before he renounces Christianity.

As I stated when I began this post, what the hell are Western nations troops doing in Afghanistan: Fighting to defeat the Taleban or just looking after their self interests - ensuring and insuring their oil supplies in Afghanistan?

Don't worry too much about the average Afghani - nothing has really changed in centuries. Whatever gains such as education and employment opportunities for women, will disappear like the grains of sand in this desert and mountainous hell-hole of a country once  the Kharzai  regime no longer needs the western military.

Related articles

• Afghanistan's security is our continued effort and struggle - Afghan president (rt.com)
• An Update on the Christian in Afghanistan Sentenced to Death, Musa Sayed (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
• Afghan Barbarism and American Christianity (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
• One-legged Afghan Red Cross worker to be hanged for converting to Christianity (dailymail.co.uk)
• Red Cross worker told he will be hanged unless he converts back to Islam (dailymail.co.uk)

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Despicable and depraved Afghan boy rape rampant...




At last the truth comes out. People have been reporting on this depravity for years, decades and centuries. Yet, nothing ever changes: Boy rape is so endemic to Afghanistan and other places that it has become institutionalized.

This appalling disgrace goes on day after day, from the lowest levels of society to the highest, with officials of all manner engaging in it.

A significant part of the fault of boy rape lies with Islam. Partially to blame are the culture and environment—the ruggedness and brutality of the Afghan landscape manifests itself in its people. Entirely at fault, of course, would be the Almighty God and Lord of the Cosmos, were theism to be considered a “reality.”

If so, God is responsible not only for allowing such evil to occur but also for creating such a creature in the first place who would attack a young child, hold him down, and violently and savagely penetrate his small body.

Canadian soldier traumatized:

With such heinous images in mind, I can fully understand the trauma suffered by a young soldier who is speaking out against what he saw in Afghanistan. Former Canadian corporal Travis Schouten has broken the disturbing silence about this outrage tolerated by the world, by relating his eyewitness accounts of boy rape and the “tip of the iceberg” under which “lies the systemic sexual abuse of boys at the hands of Afghanistan’s police and army.”

Schouten’s allegations—which are undoubtedly true, based on a long history of this behavior reported by many others over the centuries—have been dismissed. Yet, as The Province reports:

Army officers also met in 2007 to discuss the issue of Afghan security personnel “having anal sex with young boys” but their main concern was the media would somehow find out.

To justify complicity in not stopping these atrocious practices, we hear of a lame excuse:

Others in the military note they were told such practices were an age-old part of Afghan culture. One soldier who e-mailed Canwest News Service stated he served at the same base at another time and troops had orders to stop any rapes. But he also noted they were told the practise of “Man Love Thursdays,” as it was called, involved consenting Afghans and no one was raped by older men. The children involved were given small gifts or money in return for sex, soldiers said.

There are several astonishing aspects to this paragraph, including the admission not only that such boy rape exists and is widely practiced as a virtual cultural institution, but also that this derangement has been occurring for ages, somehow justified all the time by the morally numbed brain because the children involved were “rewarded” for serving this perverted need.

In nauseating detail, Schouten related other encounters with this horrendous abuse of children:
And not all Afghans are so accepting of what some claim is tradition. Afghan villagers this summer complained to British troops in Helmand province that Afghan police were abducting children to be used for sex.
Last year also saw an extremely rare event; three Afghan police officers who gang-raped a 12-year-old boy and his father were sent to prison.

Although reports in a Toronto newspaper noted that Schouten saw the aftermath of the attack on a young boy, he said that is not accurate. He actually entered the headquarters and witnessed two Afghan security personnel sodomizing the child. “I walked in and they were raping a kid,” he recalled. “The kid was bleeding. They guy with the camo fatigues had a knife in his hand.”…

Afterward, he was approached by an Afghan interpreter who worked with troops. The man had with him a couple of five-year-old boys who had also been allowed on the Canadian base. “He brought up the fact he likes to rape little boys,” Schouten said. “He’s telling me how he likes to use a knife on them.”

Boy rape in Afghanistan dates back many centuries, having been recorded by the Italian traveler Marco Polo, for one, but undoubtedly reaching back much farther in time. Islamic practice is largely to blame for this savagery, because the oppression of women to the point where men can only find sexual “outlets”—for, a mere “outlet” is what people shaped by ruggedness and brutality consider sex to be, as they can rarely engage in its higher intricacies, and true love is scarce—in boys and animals.

Islamic oppression responsible:

Whether or not the abuse predates the faith in Afghanistan, boy rape is exacerbated by Islam, because the latter discourages normal, healthy relationships with women. As much has been said repeatedly over the years by a number of male inhabitants of Afghanistan and elsewhere: To wit, they say that because there is no access to women, they have sex with each other. In Dubai, one Arab Muslim essentially stated that his homosexuality was due to Islamic laws prohibiting contact with women:

In Saudi, it’s hard to be straight when you’re young. The women are shut away so everyone has gay sex. But they only want to have sex with boys—15- to 21-year-olds. I’m 27, so I’m too old now.

This conclusion concerning much homosexuality as rooted in the segregation of genders would seem to make perfect sense to those possessed of a logical and rational mind.

The widespread practice of boy rape can be seen manifested in such traditions as “bacha bazi,” meaning “boy for play.” These “boys for play” are essentially sex slaves to powerful and rich Afghan men. Although they banned the overt practice of bacha bazi and committed cruel and brutal public punishments against suspected “homosexuals,” the Taliban are notorious for privately and hypocritically engaging in “play” with boys.

While the world coddles Islamist sensibilities and tolerates “cultural differences,” what about all these poor boys? Where does this chain of violence and abuse end? Raped boys become rapists—are we now so numbed to atrocity and so “politically correct” that we can forget the screams of the boys as they are held against their wills and brutalized by angry individuals who themselves were no doubt likewise violated? The children of the world—and all sensate, moral individuals—demand that this institutionalized baseness, cruelty and criminality be stopped.

www.faithfreedom.org/op-ed/afghan-boy-rape-rampant/

Why do coalition troops defend a regime that encourages depraved boy rape in Afghanistan? Ask their governments why? I will ask my government!

Related articles

• Afghans Plan to Stop Recruiting Children as Police (nytimes.com)
• Victory! UN Creates National Action Plan to Fight Bacha Bazi in Afghanistan (humantrafficking.change.org)
• Are Afghan Security Forces Complicit in Child Sex Trafficking? (humantrafficking.change.org)
• Afghans to stop recruiting children as police, ban child sex slaves (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Afghanistan Moves to Curb Use of Underage Soldiers (online.wsj.com)
• Why Are U.S. Troops Dying to Defend Child Rape? [Mike the Mad Biologist] (scienceblogs.com)
• 'Dancing Boy' Scandal Taints Both Americans and Afghans (alternet.org)
• WikiLeaks Reveals American Contractors' Involvement In Afghan Pedophile Ring (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Wikileaks Reveals U.S. Tax Dollars Fund Child Sex Slavery in Afghanistan (redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com)

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Another Anzac soldier killed in Afghanistan - the 18th Australian killed there...





Just over a week after a Kiwi soldier, Lt Tim O'Donnell, was killed in Afghanistan, an Aussie special forces SAS trooper, Jason Thomas Brown, has also been killed there.



An Australian special forces soldier has been killed in a clash with insurgents, taking the Afghanistan death toll to 18 since 2001 and seven so far this year alone.



Trooper Jason Thomas Brown, 29, a member of the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), died from multiple gunshot wounds when insurgents opened fire on his patrol.



That occurred early on Saturday morning in northern Kandahar province, a hotspot for fighting and the focus of recent operations by the Australian Special Operations Task Group.



Acting defence force chief Lieutenant General David Hurley said Trooper Brown was participating in an ongoing Australian and Afghan mission to disrupt insurgent activities.



He died despite receiving immediate first aid and being evacuated by helicopter to the coalition hospital at Kandahar. No other Australian or Afghan soldiers were wounded.



Lieutenant General Hurley said Trooper Brown, unmarried with no children, was an outstanding soldier with just over 10 years service in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).



Born in Sydney, he joined the army in 2001, serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) and then with the commando battalion 4RAR. He joined the SASR in 2007.



This was his first deployment to Afghanistan but he had served three times in East Timor.



He leaves his parents and a sister.



Lieutenant General Hurley said Australian troops in Afghanistan faced significant threats every day and did so with professionalism and courage.



"When a member of the ADF family dies in the service of our country, it hits us all very hard," he told reporters.



Defence Minister John Faulkner said recent months had been a time of increasing danger in Afghanistan, but Australian soldiers continued to carry out their work with courage and professionalism in conditions of real hardship.



"I can assure Jason's family and friends that he, together with his mates, were striking at the heart of the Taliban insurgency as part of our mission in Afghanistan to make sure that extremists and international terrorist groups do not again find safe havens and training grounds in that country," he said.



Both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott briefly halted electioneering to express their condolences to Trooper Brown's family and friends.



In Wollongbar, northern NSW, Ms Gillard said she would contact Trooper Brown's family in due course.



She said Australia had lost a brave soldier and the nation would mourn his loss.



Ms Gillard said the government remained committed to the mission in Afghanistan, which was expected to take another two to four years.



"Our nation cannot see Afghanistan once again become a safe haven for terrorists ... who are trained, and trained to take the lives of Australians," she said.



In Perth, Mr Abbott said Afghanistan could never again become a safe haven for terrorism.



"It's important that Australia pull its weight in the world. The opposition continues to fully and strongly support the Australian commitment to Afghanistan," he said.



This is the first death of an Australian soldier during the campaign.



The death of Private Nathan Bewes came a little more than a week before the election was called.



The leaders of both major parties suspended their campaigns for a full day to attend Private Bewes' funeral in Murwillumbah on July 22.



Ms Gillard said they would do so again if Trooper Brown's funeral was held before election day.


Acknowledgements:  Channel Nine


http://anzacbloggersunite.co.uk/

Fallen hero is brought home by Kiwi self defence force...



The body of a fallen Kiwi hero has been brought home from Afghanistan. Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell, the commander of a small convoy that came under attack from the Taliban, was a decorated hero from East Timor some years ago. He lost his life and two of his men were seriously injured in last week's attack.



Lieutenant O'Donnell was the first member of the NZ self defence force to lose their life in Afghanistan, although three other Kiwi born soldiers have died in Afghanistan - two with the Australian Army and one in the US forces - the latter was actually a nephew of the NZ opposition leader, Phil Goff.



Some say it was inevitable that a NZ soldier would be killed there. The majority of Kiwi soldiers in Afghanistan are with the elite special forces SAS, but Lt O'Donnell was serving with the Reconstruction Force - building roads, schools, hospitals etc. His two injured men have been sent back to New Zealand with his body, and were received at the Linton Army Camp, just outside Palmerston North in the lower North Island today.



Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell will be buried with full military honours this week. His two injured men should be fit enough to attend his funeral.



R.I.P Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell and the many other troops of the ISAF to lose their lives in Afghanistan. Will the price be too costly to continue to fight America's unwinnable war in Afghanistan?

First  NZ soldier killed, and two injured  in Afghanistan...



Lieutenant Timothy O'Donnell had been in the Army for five years and was decorated for his actions in Timor Leste, formerly East Timor.

The New Zealand soldier killed in Afghanistan overnight was a decorated officer who had been in the army for five years.



Lieutenant Timothy Andrew O'Donnell, 28, died and two of his fellow soldiers were injured when their patrol was ambushed in the province of Bamyan. A local interpreter with the patrol was also injured during the attack.



Who was Lieutenant Timothy Andrew O'Donnell?



Lt O'Donnell was part of the guard of honor at Sir Edmund Hillary's funeral.



He had also served as part of the peace keeping force in Timor Leste where he was awarded The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration for rescuing some 600 people from an ambush druing a political rally. Read the citation here.



Lt O'Donnell - New Zealand's first combat casualty in Afghanistan - was part of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team and was based in Bamyan town in Bamyan Province.




Lt O'Donnell told TVNZ last month that the Afghanistan National Police needed more training.



"They still require a lot of work," he said.



"For police - they're not like the police back home. They don't go around really arresting people, they're basically security guards. But it's our job to build up their capacity and develop them so one day when we pull out, they'll be capable of taking over."



Lieutenant O'Donnell a 'free spirit', says Defence chief



Chief of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) Lieutenant-General Jerry Mateparae described Lt O'Donnell as a "free spirit". He said he had spoken to the officer's family this morning and passed on his condolences.



Lt-Gen Mateparae told media Lt O'Donnell had been part of a routine patrol when a bomb went off under one of the vehicles at about 4am local time (12.30am NZT).



After the initial explosion the personnel were able to extricate themselves from the vehicles and take cover in a nearby building and consolidate their position. The attack lasted about 20-30 minutes Lt-Gen Mateparae said.



"Three New Zealand vehicles which made up the patrol came under a complex attack by as yet unknown assailants," he said.



"We believe that an improvised explosive device or IED was detonated and then the patrol came under fire from two positions with rocket-propelled grenades and other small arms fire."



He said it was not clear if the Lt O'Donnell had been killed by the IED or gunshots.



It took 11 hours to get the wounded back to base and Lt-Gen Mateparae praised the operation to get support to the soldiers after the attack.



"The tactics, techniques and processes have been very professional," he said.



Lt-Gen Mateparae said the patrol was backed up by Afghanistan National Police but helicopters could not get to the site because of bad weather.



Injured soldiers injuries not life-threatening



He said the two soldiers were seriously hurt but that their injuries were not considered life-threatening.



One of the injured NZ soldiers had burns to 10 per cent of his body, as well as cuts and abrasions. The second had cuts and abrasions and a suspected broken foot, he said.



The injured men have not been named and it is expected that they will be evacuated to Germany to a military hospital for treatment.



Lt-Gen Mateparae said Defence Force was trying to get the body of Lt O'Donnell and the wounded soldiers back to New Zealand "as expeditiously as possible".



"On behalf of the New Zealand Defence Force we extend our sincere condolences to the family of this brave New Zealander."



Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said the attack showed "the dangers faced by our defence people everyday in Afghanistan".



"The Provincial Reconstruction Team has been been working to assist the people of Bamyan province but it remains a dangerous place especially in the place where this attack occurred on a New Zealand patrol in the north-east."



Mr Mapp said he sent his aroha to Lt O'Donnell's family and the two wounded.



He said it was unusual for a soldier of Lt O'Donnell's rank to receive the New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration.



"The Government has the responsibility to deploy our young people overseas and serve our country. We all know, that in making these decisions, it is they who pay the price and in this instance it is Lt O'Donnell who has paid the ultimate price," Mr Mapp said.



New Zealand prime inister John Key was  woken to be told of the shocking news.



In Vanuatu, Prime Minister John Key told media the attack involved 10 to 12 soldiers and three cars on patrol. He said it took place about half an hour after the soldiers had visited a neighbouring village.



The attack was in the north-eastern corner of Bamyan in an area where skirmishes were not uncommon and there had been heightened attacks and a "degree of anxiety".



"It wasn't possible to get air support services to give them cover because the weather was too bad at the time. We don't know exactly what's caused the death and injury and I wouldn't want to speculate until we had some better information."



Mr Key said he had been woken and informed of the attack about 1.30am.



Mr Key said he had spoken with Lt O'Donnell's mother and passed on his condolences to her.



He said he would not go into details of the conversation but the soldier's mother had asked to pass on her regards to the families of the injured soldiers.



"I think that shows extraordinary bravery and courage on her part and shows the strength of the wider military family."



Mr Key said the injured soldiers had primarily suffered burns and cuts and that one had a leg injury. They are receiving medical treatment in Afghanistan.



Lt O'Donnell's death not a reason to withdraw - Key



Mr Key said the military was reviewing its procedures, tactics and equipment for Bamyan but that he did not see the incident as a reason to withdraw from the province, or from Afghanistan.



In an earlier statement, Mr Key said Lt O'Donnell's death reinforced the danger New Zealand troops faced.



"This is New Zealand's first combat loss in Afghanistan and reinforces the danger faced daily by our forces as they work tirelessly to restore stability to the province," Mr Key said.



"It is with enormous sadness that I acknowledge that this soldier has paid a high price and my thoughts are with his family and the families of the injured."



Political reaction



Labour leader Phil Goff said Lt O'Donnell's death was a sad reminder that defence personnel put their lives at risk.



"Our thoughts and sympathy are with the family of the soldier who was killed and on behalf of the Labour Party I offer them our sincere condolences," Mr Goff said.



Green Party Defence Spokesman Keith Locke said he was saddened by the death and also sent his condolences to the families of the men and the NZDF.



"We are proud of the good peacekeeping and reconstruction work that our Provincial Reconstruction Team has done in Bamyan Province, and we mourn the loss of one of its members."



The New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team The New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team's (NZPRT) headquarters in the province is Kiwi Base. To the south is the airfield while the main township and bazaar are located to the north of the base.



The sixteenth rotation of the (NZPRT), commanded by Colonel John Boswell arrived in Afghanistan in April and were expected to remain in the country for about six months.



John Key visited Bamyan earlier this year, and the Government has announced that the NZPRT will extend their secondment until September 2011.



The force works on maintaining security in Bamyan Province, and carries out frequent patrols throughout the area.



It also supports the provincial and local government by providing advice and assistance to the Provincial Governor, the Afghan National Police and district sub-governors.



The NZPRT also identifies, prepares and provides project management for NZAID projects within the region.



It consists of four liaison (LNO) teams supported by infantry, engineers, staff officers, communications and logistic staff.



The first NZPRT deployment to Afghanistan departed in August 2003 on a four month rotation.



New Zealand also has a small number of Special Air Service personnel serving in Afghanistan. In total New Zealand has approximately 140 personnel in Bamyan and about 80 SAS soldiers in Kabul.


As a New Zealand Defence Force spokesman said, we ran out of luck because there  have been ambushes previously.


Acknowledgements:  - NZPA, Derek Cheng, NZ HERALD STAFF

Image by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff via Flickr

President Obama sacks General McChrystal as top US commander in Afghanistan...




WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top US commander in Afghanistan on Wednesday, saying that his scathing published remarks about administration officials undermine civilian control of the military and erode the needed trust on the president's war team.



Obama named McChrystal's direct boss - Gen. David Petraeus - to take over the troubled 9-year-old war in Afghanistan. He asked the Senate to confirm Petraeus for the new post "as swiftly as possible."



The president said he did not make the decision to accept McChrystal's resignation over any disagreement in policy or "out of any sense of personal insult." Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the Rose Garden, he said: "I believe it is the right decision for our national security."



Obama hit several gracious notes about McChrystal and his service, saying that he made the decision to sack him "with considerable regret." And yet, said he said that the job in Afghanistan cannot be done now under McChrystal's leadership, asserting that the critical remarks from the general and his inner circle in the Rolling Stone magazine article displayed conduct that doesn't live up to the necessary standards for a command-level officer.


Obama seemed to suggest that McChrystal's military career is over, including in his praise of the general that the nation should be grateful "for his remarkable career in uniform."



McChrystal left the White House after his Oval Office call to accounts, and returned to his military quarters at Washington's Fort McNair. A senior military official said there is no immediate decision about whether he would retire from the Army, which has been his entire career. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.



With the controversy have the effect of refueling debate over his Afghanistan policy, Obama took pains to emphasize that the strategy was not shifting with McChrystal's outster.



"This is a change in personnel but it is not a change in policy," he said.



Indeed, as Obama was speaking, McChrystal released a statement saying that he resigned out of "a desire to see the mission succeed."



"I strongly support the president's strategy in Afghanistan," McChrystal said.



With Washington abuzz, there had been a complete lockdown on information about the morning's developments until just before Obama spoke.



But by pairing the decision on McChrystal's departure with the name of his replacement, Obama is seeking to move on as quickly as possible from the firestorm.



Petraeus, who attended a formal Afghanistan war meeting at the White House Wednesday, has been overseeing the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq as head of US Central Command.



Petraeus is the nation's best-known military man, having risen to prominence as the commander who turned around the Iraq war in 2007. The Afghanistan job is actually a step down from his current post.



Acknowledgements: -Associated Press

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SOS Afghanistan – Are the SAS on a doomed mission?


An interview with US Afghanistan expert Thomas Johnson
by Gordon Campbell

On August 20th Afghanistan will hold a general election that is deemed virtually certain to return Hamid Karzai and his cronies to power. At best, the opposition is hoping to win enough votes to force a run-off vote, but that seems unlikely. It will be a hollow victory. Over the past five years, the Karzai government has squandered the goodwill it originally had – and is now widely seen among Afghans as being corrupt, inefficient, beholden to foreigners, warlords and the drug trade, and to be losing its war with the Taliban.

It is against this backdrop that the Key government has signaled its intention to put our combat troops back into the fray. In a couple of weeks, Cabinet is expected to respond positively to the US request for our special forces that was conveyed a few months ago by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Foreign Minister Murray McCully. This decision will entail re-deploying SAS units – presumably to the hot spots in the south of the country, and along the border with Pakistan. It will also entail winding down our successful aid and reconstruction work in the province of Bamiyan.

The wisdom of choosing to put our troops into this combat zone – in a war that many claim has already been lost – is obviously open to question. A few months ago, Prime Minister John Key was indicating that he would need to see a workable policy with a clear exit strategy, before re-deploying our combat forces. Obviously, that is no longer the case. Key is now offering the vague goal of ‘combating global terrorism” as his rationale.

At the very least, New Zealand needs to know far more about the country whose destiny we will now be fighting – and in some cases, dying – to determine. To that end, Werewolf contacted US Afghan expert and leading military adviser on Afghanistan, Thomas Johnson.

Thomas Johnson is not some left wing academic opposed to the Afghan war on principle. Far from it. He is a senior faculty member of the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California. This link makes it clear that in his capacity as the director of the Program for Culture & Conflict Studies, Johnson works in co-ordination with the Department of National Security Affairs to conduct research in support of United States initiatives in Afghanistan :

Our research provides comprehensive assessments of provincial and district tribal and clan networks in Afghanistan, anthropological assessments of Afghan villages, and assessments of the operational culture of Afghan districts and villages.

Johnson’s analyses – based on extensive field research embedded with US and ISAF forces in Afghanistan – are fed back into briefings to the likes of the Council of Foreign Relations, to military commanders and deploying troops, to academics and the general public. Last October, Johnson published in Atlantic magazine an assessment of the current policy failures of the US Afghan strategy. In a nutshell, US forces are winning the battles and losing the war :

The U.S. engagement in Afghanistan is foundering because of the endemic failure to engage and protect rural villages, and to immunize them against insurgency. Many analysts have called for more troops inside the country, and for more effort to eliminate Taliban sanctuaries outside it, in neighboring Pakistan. Both developments would be welcome. Yet neither would solve the central problem of our involvement: the paradigm that has formed the backbone of the international effort since 2003—extending the reach of the central government—is in fact precisely the wrong strategy…..

To reverse its fortunes in Afghanistan, the U.S. needs to fundamentally reconfigure its operations, creating small development and security teams posted at new compounds in every district in the south and east of the country….

Deploying relatively small units in numerous forward positions would undoubtedly put more troops in harm’s way. But the Taliban have not demonstrated the ability to overrun international elements of this size, and the teams could be mutually reinforcing. (Air support would be critical.) Ultimately, we have to accept a certain amount of risk; you can’t beat a rural insurgency without a rural security presence.

As long as the compounds are discreetly sited, house Afghan soldiers to provide the most visible security presence, and fly the Afghan flag, they need not exacerbate fears of foreign occupation. Instead, they would reinforce the country’s most important, most neglected political units; strengthen the tribal elders; win local support; and reverse the slow slide into strategic failure.

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NZ SAS special forces troops will be sent back to Afghanistan on a further three year rotation...



The New Zealand National Government decided yesterday to continue
New Zealand's military involvement in Afghanistan, and will send the SAS back to Afghanistan for another three year rotation. This is in spite of previous criticisms of their alleged involvement with torture claims of prisoners they had left with US forces. It has to be remembered that NATO is now in control of combined military forces in Afghanistan, not the US Government. This announcement came as the top US general there warned that the Taleban are gaining the upper hand. Please read further:

General Stanley McChrystal told the Wall Street Journal the insurgents were moving beyond their strongholds in the south to threaten formerly stable areas in the north and west.

Prime Minister John Key said the SAS would go back for 18 months - the first such deployment since 2005.

He said it had been a difficult decision but New Zealand had to play its part in combating the breeding grounds for terrorism.

The recent bombings in Jakarta showed this country was not immune.

However, Mr Key said, New Zealand's armed forces would be pulled out within five years under a new "orderly exit" strategy.

He said the government wanted to gradually withdraw its 140 military personnel working in the Bamiyan Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) over the next three to five years.

In their place, it would gradually introduce more civilian experts and aid workers to focus on health, education, agriculture and strengthening the Afghan police.

While Mr Key said he had hoped to withdraw the troops sooner, he was cautious, saying that leaving before Afghan administrations and police were ready to take over would waste the efforts of the PRT.

General McChrystal is preparing an interim assessment that is expected to be a sober accounting of the difficulties of fighting an entrenched and technically capable insurgency eight years into the war.

He is expected to identify shortfalls that should be filled by more forces - perhaps a mix of Afghan, Nato and US.

US National Security Adviser James Jones said yesterday that the United States would know "by the end of next year" whether the revamped war plan President Barack Obama announced in March was taking hold.

He did not rule out adding more US forces to help to turn around the war.

In a break from the traditionally bipartisan positions on defence and foreign affairs, Labour leader Phil Goff said he did not support sending the SAS back and believed Mr Key had caved in to "overt" US pressure.

The decision risked jeopardising the goodwill the PRT had built up.

New Zealand was small and "the number of people we put in in terms of the SAS is not going to make the difference one way or the other".

Mr Goff said there was a high risk of civilian casualties in fighting the insurgents and New Zealand's efforts were better used in reconstruction. That is not a general view held by the NZ public, who would be supportive of a limited time frame for military involvement in Afghanistan, subject to a future review before the rotation period was over..

The decision to send the SAS back follows a government review of New Zealand's role and requests for Wellington to send the troops to work again alongside American special forces against the Taleban and Al Qaeda.

Acknowledgements: NZ Herald, TV ONE NEWS

GUILT BY ASSOCIATION, BAD NEWS FOR NEW ZEALAND...

Guilt by its association with the Bush regime could spell bad news for New Zealand. While NZ kept their combat forces out of Iraq, they have been involved in Afghanistan for a number of years and have cost the New Zealand taxpayer millions of dollars..

Their highly proficient special forces, the SAS, apparently handed over 50-70 Afghan prisoners to the Americans from 2002, and now may be guilty by association with those responsible for torturing these prisoners. New Zealand could be guilty of "war crimes" because of that association with President George W Bush's campaign against terror.

After a two year investigation, awkward questions may now be asked of New Zealand's involvement with alleged torture of prisoners at the Kandahar detention centre in southern Afghanistan - known as 'Camp Slappy'. This could account for the apparent delay by the new conservative National Government in NZ to make a decision concerning the future of the New Zealand SAS's involvement in Afghanistan.

New Zealand has had a proud record with its highly trained and well disciplined combat troops. It doesn't have a large number of special forces troops, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up in quality. The NZ Government will not be happy campers with these allegations of torture, and may well decide against sending the troops to Afghanistan in future. However, that will not be the only criteria for consideration of the SAS's future involvement - potential terrorism within NZ will also have to be considered as well.

"Its a war crime to keep a ghost detainee; its a war crime to let them be abused. I've come to expect bad of the United States since post 9/11. But I would have hoped New Zealand which is a signatory to the (Geneva) Convention, would have obeyed the Convention".

Human Rights lawyer, Michael Ratner.

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