Afghan soldier boast about shooting Aussie Digger

An Afghan soldier who opened fire on Australian troops at a remote base last year has claimed he and his fellow army recruits had often discussed killing the foreigners, a report said Saturday.

 

In a Taliban video, Mohammed Roozi talks about how he attacked Australian and Afghan soldiers at Patrol Base Nasir in November, saying he turned a machine gun and rocket launcher on them before going into hiding.

 

Roozi, who seriously injured three Australians and two Afghan soldiers in the attack, has been the subject of a manhunt ever since.

 

“I had one mission on my mind — to kill foreigners and teach them a lesson. We are Muslims. We cannot accept foreigners,” The Sydney Morning Herald cites Roozi as saying in the video.

 

The former soldier in the Afghan National Army, members of which are being trained by Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan, said on the day of the attack he prepared the grenade launcher and his gun in front of his mentors.

 

“A soldier ran to me and asked me what I was doing,” he said. “He suspected my motives. I told him that it was none of his business — I opened fire. When the bullets ran out it was time to use the rocket launcher.”

 

Roozi also said he was not the only Afghan soldier to harbour murderous thoughts about the western mentors they were working alongside.

 

“We used to sit there and they were telling these things (attacking foreigners) and whenever it was possible we will do this,” Roozi reportedly said.

 

The Australian military said it had “reason to believe” the man in the propaganda video was Roozi but it said his allegations, which include that he killed 12 Australians, were false.

 

“Mohammed Roozi is clearly relying on the insurgency for support following his cowardly attack,” an Australian Defence Force spokeswoman said.

 

“His statements are designed to support an ongoing insurgent propaganda campaign and are designed to justify his illegal act.”

 

Australian soldiers were shot at on three separate occasions by Afghan National Army troops in 2011, with the worst incident being when an Afghan opened fire on a military parade, killing three Australians and wounding seven.

 

Canberra, which first committed to the Afghan war in 2001 before pulling out only to re-enter in 2005, has so far lost 32 soldiers in the conflict. It has 1,550 troops stationed in the strife-torn country.

 

Protests in Indian occupied Kashmir over youths killing

 

Protests broke out in Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir, after a 22-year-old youth was killed allegedly in firing by Indian armed forces on Friday night.

 

Ashiq Hussain, a resident of Lesar village in Rafiabad area of Baramulla district, 75 km from Srinagar, died after being hit by a bullet around 9 pm, villagers said.

 

Local residents alleged that Hussain was killed in firing by Indian Army personnel who were present in the area.

 

Meanwhile, state police has registered FIR in the case. The state government is yet to come out with an official statement. 

Strike to mark Egypt anniversary

 

Activists in Egypt are set to mark the anniversary of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak with a strike and day of civil disobedience.

 

Activists plan a day of civil disobedience in Egypt on Saturday to mark the first anniversary since they toppled Hosni Mubarak but left an increasingly unpopular but defiant military in charge.

 

The call for strikes in universities and workplaces comes after a series of protests pressuring the military to transfer power immediately to civilians, rather than wait for planned presidential elections later this year.

 

The military, headed by Mubarak s long-time defence minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has said it will deploy additional troops across the country in response to the calls for a day of disobedience.

 

On Friday, thousands of protesters snaked through Cairo s streets to bypass military cordons and reach the defence ministry, chanting “Down with military rule”

 

In a statement read out on state television late on Friday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said it would not bow to threats or plots against the state.

 

“We will never yield to threats, and we will never give in to pressure,” the SCAF said.

 

“We tell you quite frankly that our dear Egypt faces plans aimed at striking at the heart of our revolution.

 

“We are facing plots against the nation aiming to undermine the institutions of the Egyptian state, and to topple the state itself so that chaos reigns.”

 

The military, which has brutally quashed several protests in the past year, has played off the abundant suspicion in Egypt of foreign conspiracies.

 

Students in several universities have called for strikes for Saturday, with secular youth groups which spearheaded the revolt against Mubarak also taking part.

 

Tareq al-Khouly, an organiser of the April 6 youth group, said the plan was for a one-day strike which could be extended.
In a joint statement on Friday, the groups urged Egyptians “to support these strikes in order to end the unjust rule and build a nation in which justice, freedom and dignity prevail.”

 

The call for strikes and protests has divided the country s political forces, with the Muslim Brotherhood — the big winner in recent parliamentary elections — coming out against it.

 

Many Egyptians complain that the economy has been battered by the lack of security and deadly violence in the wake of the 18-day revolt that forced Mubarak to resign on February 11 last year.

 

Protests against the military, idolised immediately after the revolt for not siding with Mubarak, have heightened fears among many that the Arab world s most populous nation could veer towards chaos, as the military itself warns.

 

On Friday the SCAF said the nation was at “the most dangerous turning point on our road to liberty, democracy and social justice.”

 

Young activists who spearheaded the revolt against Mubarak believe the generals will try to exercise power through a pliant civilian government after presidential elections later this year.

 

The activists say the military should hand power to parliament, elected over three rounds in November and December, or to a civilian council ahead of presidential elections set to take place before the end of June.

 

The SCAF statement said it was determined to transfer power to an elected civilian body.

 

“We have kept the first promise and returned legislative power to the people s assembly,” it said, adding that the parliamentary election took place in an atmosphere of “liberty and integrity.”

 

“Presidential power will pass to the president of the republic after the election ending the period of transition, and your faithful army will revert to its original role,” the military statement said.

 

Afghan troops to take over by end-2004: US

 

They will take over even though only a small number of them now operate independently from NATO-led troops, a top US general said Wednesday.

 

Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti, deputy commander of US forces and the head of the NATO-led force s joint command, acknowledged that Afghan army and police still had a way to go before overseeing security without major assistance from foreign troops.

 

But he rejected a more pessimistic view voiced by some in and outside the US military, including US Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, who accused his superiors of glossing over the failings of Afghan forces in an article published this week.

 

Some US soldiers in the field have been critical of their Afghan partners, Scaparrotti told a news conference, but the Afghan forces have been built up over a short period and could not be compared to a US standard.

 

“At times, a (US) private will tell me they re not that good. But a private s looking at it from the perspective of how he s trained, or the Marine s trained, and the standards are very different,” the general said.

 

“I can tell you personally from experience and from feedback from others, these soldiers will fight, particularly at the company level. There s no question about that,” he said.

 

“And they re going to be good enough, as we build them, to secure their country and to counter the insurgency that they re dealing with now,” he said.

 

The state of Afghanistan s security forces has taken on growing importance as the United States and its allies pursue a troop drawdown and after Washington announced last week it would shift from a combat to a training role as early as mid-2013.

 

President Barack Obama was briefed on efforts to build “capable” Afghan security forces at a meeting on Wednesday that focused on Afghanistan, including efforts to broker a possible peace settlement with the insurgency, the White House said in a statement.–AFP

 

Egyptian PM dismisses US aid threats over NGO case

 

Egypt is refusing to back down in a dispute with the U.S. over Cairo s crackdown on nonprofit groups despite Washington s threats to cut aid, while the military deployed troops to the nation s streets after a surge in violence and protests against its rule.

 

Egypt s official MENA news agency said Wednesday the army was deploying more troops to reinforce the police, restore security and state “prestige.” The move comes in the wake of a deadly soccer riot last week that sparked days of clashes between the police and protesters. At least 89 people were killed in a week of violence.

 

The deployment appeared to be a show of force by the military in response to a surge in criticism of its handling of the country s transition to democracy and rising calls for the ruling generals to step down. There are calls for a general strike on Feb. 11 that have been gaining traction.

 

Egypt s military rulers are also facing a deepening dispute with the United States over Cairo s campaign against foreign-funded pro-democracy and rights groups, which began late last year with raid by security forces on the organizations  offices. Authorities allege there is a foreign conspiracy against Egypt to explain the widening protests against the military s performance.

 

On Sunday, Egyptian investigative judges referred 16 Americans and 27 others to trial on accusations they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in the country.

 

That immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Washington, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warning that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of some $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt. Some U.S. legislators even said every aspect of the relationship with Egypt must be examined following the crackdown.

 

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called on Egypt to release the Americans, saying the 16 “have not done anything wrong.” Egyptian authorities put the number of Americans referred to trial at 19, but Nuland on Tuesday said there are 16 Americans in the case.

 

Nuland said the U.S. received a 175-page document in Arabic outlining the charges, but “our view remains that this is not fundamentally a judicial issue,” but an issue between governments over the proper role of the groups.

 

With tensions rising, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, is to travel to Egypt this week for talks with military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Dempsey s spokesman, Col. Dave Lapan, said Wednesday the trip has long been planned, but that the nonprofit spat will come up if it hasn t been resolved. He said Dempsey would talk with Egypt s leaders about “choices and consequences,” but declined to elaborate.

 

Despite the warnings from Washington, Egypt s military-backed Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri struck a defiant tone Wednesday, telling reporters he was “saddened” by the pressure Egypt was facing but insisting authorities “can t back down or won t change course because of some aid.”

 

“Egypt used its legal right to face some violations by civil groups,” he said. “The lofty judiciary moved and discussed and investigated the case. … The West then turned against us because Egypt exercised its rights.”

 

El-Ganzouri also charged that aid pledged by Arab states has also stalled since the dispute began. He said he met in early December with Arab ambassadors “who promised that Egypt will receive a lot of money,” but two months later “none of these promises have come through.”

 

He hinted that the U.S. and Arab allies are withholding aid money because Egypt has adopted more independent policies since the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.

 

Egypt s net international reserves were down 50 percent year-on-year by the end of December as the country s economy is reeling from the overall effect of the uprising and the turmoil that followed. The government is discussing with the International Monetary Fund a $3.2 billion loan.

 

Addressing the rising calls for the military to step down, el-Ganzouri said the generals will not leave office before the end of June as currently planned. He warned against calls for the speedy end of military rule, recalling the fall of the Iraqi army after the U.S. invasion in 2003. He said the Iraqi army s demise pushed the country down the path to civil war.

 

In an attempt to rally public support, el-Ganzouri appealed to nationalist sentiment and urged Egyptians to unite in the of face tough times ahead. He argued that the current conditions in Egypt are worse than after the country s crushing military defeat in 1967 when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

 

“What we are seeing now is worse than after the 1967 defeat, which was a military one,” he said. “What is happening is a call to defeat the whole people, not only a military defeat. If we unite, we will get through this.”

 

El-Ganzouri also warned that Egypt was the backbone of the Middle East, a region in flux at the moment, and that “if it (Egypt) falls, the whole region will follow.”

 

“Neither the West, nor the Arab brothers are aware of this,” he said.

 

Local civil groups say the campaign on foreign-funded nonprofit groups is in preparation for a harsh crackdown on local rights groups who have been documenting and lobbying against the military rulers since they took office last year.

 

Hafez Abou Saada, a veteran Egyptian human rights activist, said Cairo s clash with the U.S. over the groups “is incomprehensible and unjustified and goes to show that the case against the civil groups is not a legal but is a political one.”

 

He said el-Ganzouri s comments are “an attempt to rally a domestic front behind the government and create an enemy.”

 

The military rulers charge that the foreign groups fund and support anti-government protests. The military claims that “foreign hands” are behind the opposition to their rule. They frequently depict the protesters as receiving funds from abroad in a plot to destabilize the country.

 

On Wednesday, Egyptian judges said the evidence collected in the case against 16 Americans referred to court for their alleged involvement in banned political activity through nonprofit groups include maps, cash and videos taken of churches and military facilities. Among the Americans referred to court is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

 

Ashraf el-Ashmawi, one of the judges investigating the case, said authorities are investigating other groups.
In reference to the already named groups, he said: “Their activities have nothing to do with human rights.”

 

US aims progress during Afghan talks in Chicago

 

The United States is seeking to accelerate fragile talks with the Taliban so it can announce serious peace negotiations at a NATO summit in May, officials say, in what would be a welcome bright spot in Western efforts to end the war in Afghanistan.

 

The Obama administration is hoping it can declare a start to authentic political negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban at the May 20-21 summit in Chicago, after a year of initial, uncertain contacts with militant representatives.

 

It would be a needed victory for the White House and its NATO partners in Afghanistan as they struggle to contain a resilient insurgency and train a local army while at the same time moving to bring their troops home over the next three years.

 

But even meeting the goal of setting political talks in motion, let alone completing them, will not be easy.
U.S. diplomats must execute a series of good-faith measures, including moving Taliban detainees out of Guantanamo Bay military prison; convincing militants to drop their opposition to talks with an Afghan government they deem illegitimate; and navigating political opposition at home months before a November election that President Barack Obama hopes will give him a second term.

 

The administration had tried to pull those elements together before a global summit in Bonn, Germany in December.

 

A senior U.S. official, while not disputing that some in the Obama administration want the peace talks announced by the Chicago summit, cautioned that Afghan reconciliation is not formally on the agenda.

 

NATO leaders will focus on how and when to shift the military mission in Afghanistan to an advise-and-train effort, giving Afghan security forces the lead in combat missions.

 

As for the peace talks, “We want reconciliation done as soon as possible,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

Even if the Obama administration is successful in getting the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban, whose government was toppled in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, at the same table to discuss the country s political future, there are no guarantees that talks would yield a deal.

 

There is even less certainty about whether an agreement would stick.

 

The motivations of the militant group, whose leadership is based in Pakistan, remain mysterious even as the White House prepares to send negotiators to a new meeting with Taliban representatives that could solidify the transfer of the five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison to Qatar.

 

It is not known if the Taliban is truly interested in peace, or simply wants to recover its prisoners and wait out a Western coalition that appears determined to narrow its involvement in a long, costly war.

 

Critics of the U.S.-led reconciliation plan note that the Taliban s incentive for making concessions may be lessened considerably due to an accelerated timeline for wrapping up the NATO military role in Afghanistan.

 

France has announced it will pull its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2013. In a move that could signal a swifter U.S. exit as well, the Pentagon said last week that U.S. forces will cede the lead combat role to Afghan forces next year.

 

While Obama s decision to send an extra 33,000  surge  troops to Afghanistan in 2009-10 certainly weakened the Taliban, the militant group remains potent, able to re-equip and regroup across a poorly controlled border with Pakistan.

 

END OF COUNTERINSURGENCY?

In that gloomy context, the State Department-led peace initiative, a controversial idea among U.S. officials from the start, has taken on increasing importance.

 

Merely setting the talks in motion would be a victory for the White House, helping the United States to transition the bulk of its forces out of Afghanistan with the promise of a possible political settlement.

 

While the obstacles are numerous, most worrying to many of Obama s closest advisers may be the simmering opposition to the transfer of five former senior Taliban out of Guantanamo.

 

Even Obama s Democratic allies appear reluctant to defend the prisoner transfer or, more generally, to go to bat for a plan that could return some degree of power to a group known for its brutality and its links to al Qaeda.

 

The Obama administration has stressed that its eyes are open about the risks inherent to its peace gambit.

 

In one reflection of its attempts to contain those risks, the administration has been considering a plan under which, if the detainee transfer is approved by both sides at the upcoming meeting, Taliban prisoners would be transferred to Afghan custody in Qatar in two tranches.

 

Two or three detainees would be sent initially. If all went well after a waiting period, and the detainees did not slip away to rejoin the fight, the remainder could follow.

 

The Chicago summit is also expected to bring into focus Washington s strategy for withdrawing the bulk of its approximately 90,000 soldiers remaining in Afghanistan.

 

Under a plan announced by Obama last year, the United States will shrink its force to around 68,000 by fall 2012, officially ending Obama s  surge.  Still unclear is how quickly he will remove the remaining forces.

 

Several news organizations reported over the weekend that the Pentagon was moving to shift its Afghan focus to special operations. While most Western combat troops are due to leave by the end of 2014, the United States hopes to keep a small force focused on counterterrorism and training there beyond then.

 

One U.S. official said that while no decisions have been made, one plan under consideration would shift conventional forces to a new special operations command that would be headed by a two-star general. That general would report to the overall commander of U.S. and NATO troops.

 

“If the nature of the mission changes from counter-insurgency and conventional combat to counterterrorism-focused efforts, in support of Afghan security forces, it stands to reason,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
 

Pakistani, Afghan, NATO commanders hold border talks

 

Pakistani army says it is holding a meeting with NATO and Afghan forces to improve coordination along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

 

According to statement, the director-general of the Pakistani army s military operations, Major-General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed is representing Pakistan in the talks at a coordination centre at the border.

 

The meeting seems to be a sign of thawing relations following American airstrikes that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two Afghan border posts on Nov. 26.

 

Pakistan retaliated by closing its border to supplies meant for NATO troops in Afghanistan and by kicking the U.S. out of a base used by American drones.

 

The Pakistani army rejected a U.S. investigation into the airstrikes. The probe concluded that mistakes were made on both sides and blamed Pakistani troops for triggering the incident by firing at coalition forces.

 

Both sides have said better coordination along the border is needed. 

Gets support, not orders from Iran: Hezbollah

 

Nasrallah acknowledged Tuesday for the first time that his militant movement received financial and material support from Iran, but denied it took instructions from the Islamic Republic.

 

Nasrallah said Hezbollah previously only confirmed Iranian political and moral backing because it did not want “to embarrass our brothers in Iran,” but had changed policy because Iran s leadership had announced its support in public.

 

“Yes, we received moral, and political and material support in all possible forms from the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1982,” Nasrallah told supporters by videolink in a speech marking the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammad.

 

“In the past we used to tell half the story and stay silent on the other half … When they asked us about the material and financial and military support we were silent.”

 

Nasrallah said Iran had not issued orders to Hezbollah since the movement was founded 30 years ago, adding that if Israel attacked Iran s nuclear sites, the leadership in Iran “would not ask anything of Hezbollah.” He said if that were to happen, Hezbollah s own leadership would “sit down, think and decide what to do.”

 

Speculation has grown that Israel might be planning to attack Iranian nuclear facilities after strong public comments by Israeli leaders about Iran s atomic ambitions.

 

Many analysts believe that in the event of an Israeli attack on Iran, Hezbollah – which fought a punishing 34-day war with Israel in 2006 – would attack the Jewish state.

 

Nasrallah s statement will not surprise world powers, including The United States, which lists the group as a terrorist organization, and says it has military support from Iran and Syria.

 

Hezbollah was set up 30 years ago by Iran s Revolutionary Guards to fight Israeli forces which had invaded Lebanon.
Nasrallah denied U.S. charges that his movement was involved in money laundering or drugs smuggling, saying Iran s support meant the movement was not in need of cash.

 

Federal prosecutors in the United States said in December three Lebanese financial institutions linked to Hezbollah laundered more than $240 million through the U.S. used car market. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have also said Hezbollah has become involved in the drug trade, facilitating distribution and sale of cocaine in West Africa.

 

Nasrallah said Hezbollah was not involved in money laundering, nor in drug smuggling which was religiously forbidden. “No drugs, no money laundering and not trade at all,” he said of Hezbollah activities.

 

The Hezbollah leader also defended his support for close ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an 11-month uprising against his rule. The United Nations says Assad s crackdown on protests has killed 5,000 people.

 

Nasrallah, who has praised the uprisings in other Arab countries which toppled three entrenched leaders last year, said Assad still enjoyed support from the army and a large section of the population, and criticized Syria s opposition for rejecting Assad s promised reforms and offers of dialogue.

 

“They say we don t want dialogue and we don t want reform (because) it s too late … It s too late when there is fighting in Syria and there are people pushing it to civil war?” “They are betting on the West, on America, on money and weapons to overthrow the regime. But this is a losing bet,” he added.
 

Washington considers to apologise on Nato attack: US paper

 

A senior American military commander is expected to travel to Pakistan this month in what Obama administration officials say is the first step toward thawing a strategic relationship that has been in effect frozen for more than two months.

 

Gen. James N. Mattis, the head of the military’s Central Command, will meet Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani Army chief of staff, to discuss the investigations of an exchange of fire at the Afghan border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, as well as new border coordination procedures to prevent a recurrence of the episode.

 

General Mattis’s visit, the first by a high-ranking American official since the cross-border confrontation in November, was to have begun Thursday, but has been postponed by at least a week pending what is expected to be a spirited debate in the Pakistani Parliament over a new security policy toward the United States.

 

Pakistani and American officials are quietly optimistic that both events will trigger a chain of public engagement and private negotiations that will reboot the two nations’ frayed strategic relationship, although along more narrowly defined lines than before.

 

Pakistani officials say they will probably reopen NATO supply lines running through their territory, which have been closed for more than two months. The State Department is supporting a proposal circulating in the administration for the United States to issue a formal apology for the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers in the Nov. 26 airstrike by American gunships.

 

“We’ve felt an apology would be helpful in creating some space,” said an American official who has been briefed on the State Department’s view and who spoke on the condition of anonymity as internal discussions continued.

 

Soon after the lethal airstrike, the White House decided that President Obama would not offer formal condolences to Pakistan, overruling State Department officials who argued for such a show of remorse to help salvage relations.

 

Top military leaders in meeting

TrendPK.com
RAWALPINDI: The Corps Commanders Conference is in progress at military’s headquarters to discuss the overall security situation and professional affairs, TrendPK reports Monday.

Being held under Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at General Headquarters here, the top military leadership will bring especially Pak-Afghan border situation into discussion.

The military leadership will also give thought to strategy for the ongoing anti-terrorism campaign.

Various national and regional issues will also be brought into focus in the meeting. Different aspects of cooperation with NATO, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) put forward by Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) are also on table of discussion.

The security situation at eastern borders is also being mulled over. TrendPK

Next Page »