Target Centermass

Category: Central Asia

  • 18 U.S. Troops Killed in Helicopter Crash

    Bad news indeed.

    At least 18 American soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan yesterday, the biggest single loss of US life since Operation Enduring Freedom began in autumn 2001.

    The army Chinook came down in bad weather in featureless desert near the south-eastern city of Ghazni.

    Afghan officials said the bodies were all in US military uniform. The army said last night that 18 people, including crew members and passengers, were listed on the flight manifest and that two remained unaccounted for.

    Lieutenant Cindy Moore said that the Chinook was on a routine flight from the troubled south-east of the country to the main US airbase at Bagram, north of Kabul.

    A second Chinook on the mission arrived unscathed.

    Ghazni’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Sarjang, said that the weather at the time of the crash was cloudy with strong winds. Witnesses said one of the helicopter’s two sets of rotor blades appeared to be damaged before it hit the ground.

    There were no reports or indications of ground fire and no claim of responsibility from any militant organisation.

    Americas’s previous highest single loss of life was when eight soldiers died in an arms dump explosion in January last year.

    My gratitude to these soldiers for their sacrifices in a theater that, barring one election, only seems to receive attention in times of trouble. My sorrow and best wishes to the families for their losses.

    UPDATE, 7 APR 05: Per CNN, of the 18 aboard, 13 soldiers and 3 American contractors are confirmed killed. 2 soldiers are currently classified as missing.

  • Afghan Officials Urge Donors to Shift Focus

    Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai understandably wants to up the pace of progress for his people. In those hopes, he is asking for greater national control over the incoming assistance in hopes of spurring the economy and helping the people of his war-ravaged country.

    President Hamid Karzai and his top ministers made an urgent plea to international donors at an annual aid conference in Kabul on Monday to shift their focus to helping the country’s struggling private sector and to let the Afghan government take a controlling lead in development planning.

    Mr. Karzai said his government considered building the infrastructure – including energy, aviation and telecommunications – to be an urgent priority to provide the foundation for private sector development. Urban development, completely neglected in the past three years, would be a priority too, he said.

    The conference follows months of debate and recriminations over why the billions of dollars in aid that have poured into Afghanistan since the former Taliban rulers were ousted more than three years ago have accomplished so little.

    The government contends that private aid groups, which control much of the donated money, have squandered it. Many business leaders say corruption and the lack of staff trained in government are largely to blame.

    The government will insist on a national unified budget for 2006, said the finance minister, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady. More than 93 percent of Afghanistan’s annual budget comes from international donors, but only a third of this year’s $4.7 billion budget will go through government hands, he said. “Let this government take full responsibility for our country’s development,” he told the donors.

    Muhammad Iashaq Naderi, the government’s chief economic adviser, said at the conference that the government would insist on greater control over foreign assistance flowing into the country and greater coordination with donors and private aid groups. Aid organizations will be monitored for the cost-effectiveness and impact of their programs, he said.

    Mr. Karzai said he had promised the Afghan people that he would raise the annual per capita income to $500 from $200 and reduce poverty during his five-year term. “We must now work together to overcome chronic poverty, and build Afghanistan into a stable and thriving economy in the region,” he said. “We are keenly aware of our people’s expectations, and our responsibility towards them.”

    Karzai seems reasonable and well-intentioned, as has been the norm, in this matter.

    For those individuals looking for ways to directly support the people of Afghanistan, I would recommend the fine programs at Spirit of America.

  • Troops Killed by Afghan Landmine Identified

    I blogged yesterday about the poor reporting of the loss of four American troops whose vehicle struck a landmine while scouting for a potential shooting range. Those lost troopers have now been identified.

    Thank you, Guardsmen, for your service and sacrifice.

    The four Hoosier soldiers who died Saturday in Afghanistan came from across the state but included one man from Indianapolis, a spokesman from Task Force Phoenix in Kabul confirmed today.

    The National Guard soldiers died after a land mine exploded under their vehicle. They were Capt. Michael T. Fiscus, 37, of Warsaw; Master Sgt. Michael Hiester, 33, of Bluffton; Spc. Brett Hershey, 23, of Indianapolis; and Spc. Norman Snyder, 19, of Carlisle.

    Their deaths marked Indiana’s bloodiest day since the war on terrorism began, and the nation’s worst day in Afghanistan in almost 10 months.

    The soldiers were part of the 76th Infantry Brigade.

    “Four brave and irreplaceable citizens have lost their lives for all of us in the noblest of causes. I ask the prayers of every Hoosier for their families as we grieve and await their return home,” Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a statement.

    My condolences and best wishes to their families and loved ones.

  • 4 U.S. Troops Killed by Afghan Landmine

    Shooting ranges are dangerous places, and those in the military are necessarily drenched in a ton of safety rules and safety briefings and cease fires for any and every little thing. Apparently, setting up a shooting range is also dangerous, if that range is to be located in a country that has seen decades-long warfare.

    Four U.S. soldiers died when their vehicle struck a land mine in central Afghanistan on Saturday, the military said. It was unclear whether the mine was freshly laid or a leftover from the country’s long wars.

    The soldiers were among a group of American and Afghan officials examining a potential site for a shooting range in Logar Province, 25 miles south of Kabul, when one of their three vehicles hit the mine, spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore said.

    The bodies of the four dead, none of whom was identified, were airlifted to the main U.S. base at Bagram, Moore said. No one else was reported hurt.

    A truly tragic occurence, especially in a theater of operations that receives little media attention.

    Speaking of media attention, the Taliban has decided to ridiculously take credit for this mine and, in the interest of fairness, the Associated Press has given them equal time.

    A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the blast, but Moore said investigators suspected the mine was an old charge dislodged by recent rain and snow or that the vehicle had wandered into an unmapped minefield.

    Moore said U.S. troops first toured an area near the scene of Saturday’s incident about a week earlier searching for a site for a training range for the American-trained Afghan army.

    “We believe it was an old mine which could have shifted,” she said.

    Gov. Mohammed Aman Hamini said the incident occurred in a desert area crisscrossed by rough tracks.

    “It’s an old mine. There’s no traffic on the route they took, but the Russians used to use it because they were afraid of the main road,” Hamini told The Associated Press, referring to the Soviet troops which occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s.

    However, Mullah Hakim Latifi, a man who claims to speak for the Taliban, said its fighters detonated the mine by remote control.

    “We’ve said again and again that we would resume our holy war in the spring,” Latifi told AP by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location.

    Ummm … yeah, sure. Listen, Queen Latifi, setting off a mine by remote control, with no other action or ambush activity, against soft targets in the open is either stupidity or a lie. Either way, it’s a silly way to claim the resumption of your holy war, which so far has consisted mainly of “Holy shit! Run away!”

    Back to the Associated Press, let’s see how they wrap up the story.

    According to Defense Department statistics, 122 American soldiers have now died since U.S.-led forces invaded to oust the former Taliban government for harboring al-Qaida militants after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

    Many have been killed in accidents, including by mines left behind by Soviet troops or the Afghan factions who then fought each other.

    A U.S. military policeman died March 15 when his vehicle hit what appeared to be an old mine in western Afghanistan.

    The worst incident occurred in January 2004, when an explosion at an arms dump in southeastern Ghazni province killed eight American soldiers.

    The 17,000 American troops still in Afghanistan also face a stubborn Taliban-led insurgency. The U.S. military says its air and ground operations along the Pakistani border killed 12 people in the past week. Eight were suspected militants while four were civilians, including three children.

    Quagmire! Baby-killers!

  • Kyrgyz Opposition Sieze Power

    The dominoes keep falling, and this time things may be coming up tulips.

    Demonstrators in the central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan have siezed that country’s seat of government and forced the country’s long-time president to flee his office, political observers and reporters in the nation’s capital of Bishkek tell CNN.

    It was what amounted to a swift and popular shift of power.

    Opposition leaders are attempting to establish a smooth, stable transition after a day of passionate demonstrations that led to the toppling of the Ashkar Akayev government.

    “The Akayev government, for intents and purposes, is no longer in charge,” a Western source told CNN.

    “I’d say the new government is in the process of being formed. The leaders of the opposition realize they need to put together a regular, working government for the Kyrgyz people.”

    There are reports that Akayev, his family and his advisers have left the country.

    As usual of late for the region, Publius Pundit is all over the story, as Daniel Berczik has put together a nice collection of related links and analysis.

    Don’t go popping the champagne corks just yet, though, as some see the upheaval in Kyrgyzstan as an opportunity for radical Islamists.

    Although the Bush administration supports pro-democracy movements, the turmoil in the region also has created a potentially dangerous opening for extremist Islamic parties.

    Hizb ut-Tahrir, or the Party of Liberation, has a following among the young in Central Asia. It has called for Islamic rule to replace secular governments and unite the Muslim world. And its pamphlets criticize U.S. bases established in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to support the war on terror.

    A senior Western diplomat in Tajikistan confirmed that Hizb ut-Tahrir’s influence is growing across the region, particularly among the young who are looking for alternatives to what they perceive as corrupt, totalitarian regimes with links to the Soviet past.

    The United States has not declared Hizb ut-Tahrir a terrorist organization because it does not advocate violence, but the diplomat said some of its literature is virulently anti-American and anti-Semitic and could inspire violence.

    We are truly living in interesting times.

  • Israel Eyes Iran Nuke Threat

    Israel, obviously facing the greatest threat from a nuclear-armed Iran, is on the verge of drawing a line in the sand.

    Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has told French lawmakers that Iran is at “the point of no-return” on building nuclear weapons, according to a transcript of his remarks to the National Assembly.

    Mofaz, who warned openly in London this week that Iran would not be permitted to build a nuclear bomb, has in the past said that Israel has operational plans in place for a strike against Iranian targets.

    Mofaz told the French National Assembly’s defense commission that “he ardently hoped that a recourse to military action would not be necessary” in Iran, according the transcript of the Tuesday meeting.

    But he said that to avoid this, there would have to be careful inspections aimed at removing any ambiguity about the existence of a military nuclear project.

    Even if Iran recognized Israel’s existence, Mofaz said “the possession of a nuclear weapon by an extremist regime is not acceptable.”

    “The danger is great,” he said. “The possession of non-conventional weapons could allow Iran to carry out terrorist actions with complete impunity and destabilize the free world.”

    Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned earlier this week that any attack against the country would be met with an “astonishing” retaliation.

    The last portion about retaliation against a possible Israeli strike is not just idle bluster. That Iran has missiles that can reach Israel and could wage a vicious terrorism campaign against the Jewish state are a certainty; Israel would have to weigh these against the level of danger based on Iran’s feared nuclear capabilities. Desperation would indeed have to be the decisive factor. This is multiplied by the complexity and difficulty behind any Israeli move — this would be no raid on Osiraq. The Iranian nuclear facilities are said to be dispersed and would be assuredly better protected.

  • Iran Group Signs Up Suicide Volunteers

    Just in case you were wondering about Iran and their role in the war against radical Islamist terrorism, there’s this little bit of planning for international atrocities.

    The 300 men filling out forms in the offices of an Iranian aid group were offered three choices: Train for suicide attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, for suicide attacks against Israelis or to assassinate British author Salman Rushdie.

    It looked at first glance like a gathering on the fringes of a society divided between moderates who want better relations with the world and hard-line Muslim militants hostile toward the United States and Israel.

    But the presence of two key figures — a prominent Iranian lawmaker and a member of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards — lent the meeting more legitimacy and was a clear indication of at least tacit support from some within Iran’s government.

    Since that inaugural June meeting in a room decorated with photos of Israeli soldiers’ funerals, the registration forms for volunteer suicide commandos have appeared on Tehran’s streets and university campuses, with no sign Iran’s government is trying to stop the shadowy movement.

    On Nov. 12, the day Iranians traditionally hold pro-Palestinian protests, a spokesman for the Headquarters for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement said the movement signed up at least 4,000 new volunteers.

    Mohammad Ali Samadi, the spokesman, told The Associated Press the group had no ties to the government.

    And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters recently that the group’s campaign to sign up volunteers for suicide attacks had “nothing to do with the ruling Islamic establishment.”

    “That some people do such a thing is the result of their sentiments. It has nothing to do with the government and the system,” Asefi said.

    No government involvement or support? I call bullshit.

    Yet despite the government’s disavowal of the group and some of its programs, there are indications the suicide attack campaign has at least some legitimacy within the government.

    The first meeting was held in the offices of the Martyrs Foundation, a semiofficial organization that helps the families of those killed in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war or those killed fighting for the government on other fronts. It drew hard-line lawmaker Mahdi Kouchakzadeh and Gen. Hossein Salami of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

    “This group spreads valuable ideas,” Kouchakzadeh told AP.

    ….

    Iranian security officials did not return calls seeking comment about whether they had tried to crack down on the group’s training programs or whether they believed any of Samadi’s volunteers had crossed into Iraq or into Israel.

    Suicide attacks against civilians, including an author, as valuable ideas? I call bullshit.

    In general, Iran portrays Israel as its main nemesis and backs anti-Israeli groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah. It says it has no interest in fomenting instability in Iraq and that it tries to block any infiltration into Iraq by insurgents — while pleading that its porous borders are hard to police.

    The focus on Israel is obvious, as it has long since become the modus operandi of all oppressive Moslem governments — focus the anger of a suffering, economically-beleaguered people outward towards anyone external who can possibly be blamed. This is not new to the current ruling zealots in Iran, but the hoped-for hatred is nowhere near as cultivated among the Iranian populace as it is among other Moslem peoples, such as the Egyptians, the Saudis and the Palestinians.

    Regarding the Iranian government’s interest in augmenting the instability in neighboring Iraq, it is an absolute necessity. The Iranian people will be a rather restive bunch were a successful democracy to take hold right next door, as there is already a pro-Western sentiment among many of the citizenry.

    In 1998, the Iranian government declared it would not support a 1989 fatwa against Rushdie issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But the government also said only the person who issued the edict could rescind it. Khomeini, angered at Rushdie’s portrayal of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in “The Satanic Verses,” died in June 1989.

    I’m guessing fatwas don’t have a statute of limitations.

    Samadi claimed 30,000 volunteers have signed up, and 20,000 of them have been chosen for training. Volunteers had already carried out suicide operations against military targets inside Israel, he said.

    But he said discussing attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq “will cause problems for the country’s foreign policy. It will have grave consequences for our country and our group. It’s confidential.”

    As devoted Muslims, members of his group were simply fulfilling their religious obligations as laid out by Khomeini, he said.

    In his widely published book of religious directives, Khomeini says: “If an enemy invades Muslim countries and borders, it’s an obligation for all Muslims to defend through any possible means: sacrificing life and properties.”

    Samadi said: “With this religious verdict, we don’t need anybody’s permission to fight an enemy that has occupied Muslim lands.”

    Islam is not an evil religion per se, but it does seem to provide quite fertile ground for evil to grow. The radicals governing Iran, just like the Wahabbi radicals in other parts of the Islamic world, have happily kissed their ties to modern civilization goodbye. These animals have chosen to surrender their humanity, though this fact should not be projected on the Iranian population as a whole.