A soldier inspects the remains of a vehicle used in a bomb attack in Baghdad’s Sadr city May 22, 2011. A string of bombings and explosions killed at least 13 people and wounded 74 in the Baghdad area yesterday, including a suicide bombing targeting Iraqi soldiers north of the capital, security officials said.
A string of bombings killed at least 15 people and wounded 74 more across Baghdad yesterday and two US troops were killed in central Iraq, officials said.
Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the height of sectarian conflict four years ago, but bombings, assassinations and attacks occur daily as the remaining US troops prepare to pull out of the country by the end of this year.
The bomber's Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, was a member of the Jordanian royal family
The CIA logo at their headquarters in Langley, Virginia
The problem is a lack of information from the field, the report charged
President Barack Obama's top military spy chief in Afghanistan has blasted US intelligence-gathering there as an ignorant, flawed operation "starved" of information which could help wage a successful war against insurgents.
In an extraordinarily blunt report, Major General Michael Flynn recommended radical changes to an "intelligence apparatus (which) still finds itself unable to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which we operate and the people we are trying to protect and persuade."
And the problems he stressed in the document -- entitled "Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan" -- are less environmental than "attitudinal, cultural and human."
"Ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced, incurious about the correlations between various development projects and the levels of cooperation among villagers, and disengaged from the people in the best position to find answers... US intelligence officers and analysts can do little but shrug in response to high-level decision-makers seeking the knowledge, analysis and information they need to wage a successful counterinsurgency," the report said.
"The problem is that these analysts -- the core of them bright, enthusiastic and hungry -- are starved for information from the field, so starved, in fact, that many say their jobs feel more like fortune telling than serious detective work."
The report, co-authored by Flynn advisor Marine Captain Matt Pottinger and Paul Batchelor of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was published on Monday on the website of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think-tank.
It was released a day ahead of a key meeting Tuesday between Obama and his top national security advisors to explore why US intelligence authorities failed to prevent an attempted Christmas Day bombing of a US-bound airliner by a suspected Al-Qaeda militant.
It also follows last week's suicide bombing at a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan that killed eight people and raised questions about how a reported Al-Qaeda triple agent duped Western intelligence services.
The severity of the report's tone -- Flynn described it as "unconventional" -- is sure to raise eyebrows in Washington and among its allies at a time when the US military is ramping up involvement in Afghanistan to wage war against a persistent Taliban-led insurgency.
It also comes as US intelligence in general comes under microscopic scrutiny in the wake of the botched attack on a US airliner.
Obama called for exhaustive reviews of intelligence and security operations after a Nigerian man allegedly boarded an Amsterdam-Detroit flight with explosives and tried to blow up the plane.
The man was grabbed by fellow passengers after the explosives failed to detonate.
CIA bomber 'was Jordanian double agent'.
The suicide bomber who killed eight people at a CIA base in Afghanistan was a Jordanian-born double agent invited to the outpost because he claimed to have vital information about Osama bin Laden's right-hand man.
The attack at the military base in Khost, east Afghanistan, last week killed seven CIA employees and the Jordanian intelligence officer who was the bomber's handler.
The bomber, a 36-year-old doctor named as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi had been recruited by Jordanian intelligence after being arrested a year earlier. He was thought to have been persuaded to support US and Jordanian efforts against al-Qaeda, and was brought to Afghanistan to infiltrate the organisation by posing as a foreign jihadi.
Al-Balawi was invited to Camp Chapman, on the Afghan-Pakistan border, because he said he had acquired information to track down Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, according to The New York Times.
He was not searched because his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, who is also a member of the Jordanian royal family, identified him as an agent, the newspaper reported. He detonated the explosive shortly after his debriefing began in the gym of the military base, wounding six employees in addition to the eight dead.
It is thought that he was sent on his suicide mission by al-Zawahiri.
Mr bin Zaid is a relative of Jordan's King Abdullah II who, with other members of the royal family, attended a wake for Mr bin Zaid at the Royal Palace at the weekend.
Jordan's state news agency Petra identified Mr bin Zaid as an army officer on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan. It said he was killed "as a martyr while performing the sacred duty of the Jordanian forces in Afghanistan".
In an interview with a jihadi website in September 2009, al-Balawi said he went to Afghanistan to fight, and exhorted others to violence, according to SITE Monitoring Service, a terrorist watch group that reads and translates messages on extremist forums.
"No words are more eloquent than those proven by acts, so that if that Muslim survives, he will be one who proves his words with acts. If he dies in the Cause of Allah, he will grant his words glory that will be permanent marks on the path to guide to jihad, with permission from Allah;" he wrote.
The attack at Khost was the biggest loss of life for the CIA since the 1983 bombing of the agency's Beirut station, which killed 17 officers.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walks towards her seat during the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. Clinton is in Brussels for talks aimed at rallying more allied support for the Obama administration's plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, shakes hands with the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, as British Foreign Secretary David Miliband looks on, at the NATO foreign minister meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. Clinton is in Brussels for talks aimed at rallying more allied support for the Obama administration's plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives at NATO headquarters ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday the allies will prevail in their bid to stabilize Afghanistan but only if America's allies answer U.S. President Barack Obama's call for more allied troops on the ground.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives at NATO headquarters ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday the allies will prevail in their bid to stabilize Afghanistan but only if America's allies answer U.S. President Barack Obama's call for more allied troops on the ground.
Some two dozen countries will send an estimated 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan next year, the chief of NATO said Friday as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told her allied counterparts that an infusion of forces is crucial to turning the tide in the long war.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark told reporters at NATO headquarters that at least 25 nations would provide the additional forces in Afghanistan in 2010, "with more to come." And he said the 44 countries now involved are "absolutely united" in their commitment to seeing the eight-year war through to a successful outcome.
The troop estimate was 2,000 higher than the 5,000-strong pledges that Ramussen cited Tuesday, after President Barack Obama announced his decision to bolster the United States' war effort. Obama said he will send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan by next fall.
"The strongest message in the room today was solidarity," Rasmussen said. "Nations are backing up their words with deeds."
U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, the top NATO and U.S. commander in Europe, said in an Associated Press interview during a break in the talks that he believes several thousand more non-U.S. troops may be contributed next year, in addition to the 7,000 cited by Fogh Rasmussen.
"What we are all underlining to potential troop contributors is that we are truly asking for emphasis in the training area," Stavridis said. "And what I'm hearing is that we'll get very good responses."
Clinton told allied foreign ministers that it was essential that contributions to the war effort be provided as quickly as possible. She thanked Italy and Britain for their announcements of new troop contributions and said nonmilitary assistance is equally important.
"The need for additional forces is urgent, but their presence will not be indefinite," she told the North Atlantic Council, NATO's highest political council.
She cited President Barack Obama's pledge on Tuesday to begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011.
"At that time, we will begin to transfer authority and responsibility to Afghan security forces removing combat forces from Afghanistan over time with the assurance that Afghanistan's future, and ours, is secure," Clinton said, according to a copy of her prepared remarks to the closed-door meeting.
"The pace, size, and scope of the drawdown will be predicated on the situation on the ground. If things are going well, a larger number of forces could be removed from more areas. If not, the size and speed of the drawdown will be adjusted accordingly."
In his remarks to reporters, Fogh Rasmussen made a similar point.
"Transition (to Afghan control) does not mean exit," he said.
Clinton acknowledged the sacrifice, in blood and treasure, that many allied countries have paid in Afghanistan over the past eight years.
"Today, our people are weary of war," she said. "But we cannot ignore reality. The extremists continue to target innocent people and sow destruction across continents. From the remote mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, they plot future attacks. As Secretary General Rasmussen said earlier this week, `This is our fight, together.' And we must finish it together."
She thanked Italy for its announcement that it will send another 1,000 troops, and for Britain's pledge of another 500.
"I look forward to discussing further commitments with many of you today and in the coming days," she said. "Additional troops, enhanced support for the vital training mission, and added civilian assistance will help deny al-Qaida a safe haven, reverse the Taliban's momentum, and strengthen the capacity of the Afghans to take responsibility for their own security."
Fogh Rasmussen provided no breakdown of the 7,000 troops expected. But other NATO officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the figures were not being publicly released, said firm commitments totaled about 5,500, with roughly another 1,500 expected on the basis of unspecified "indications" from certain countries.
There are now about 38,000 non-U.S. foreign troops in Afghanistan, along with some 70,000 U.S. troops. The additional U.S. troops to be sent by Obama and the foreign commitments cited by Fogh Rasmussen would take the overall total to about 145,000 by the end of next year.
The Afghan national army now has about 97,000 soldiers and is scheduled to grow to 134,000 by next October.
Clinton sought to strike a delicate balance between stiffening allied resolve for hard combat in Afghanistan while also promising that it will not last for decades.
"Even as we signal resolve through the deployment of additional forces and a long-term civilian commitment, we want to send a signal that our combat presence is not permanent, and to provide a sense of urgency to the Afghans to do for themselves what we know they're capable of doing," she said.
"But I want to stress that this timeframe does not mean that we can or will end our commitment to Afghanistan, Pakistan, or the region. Our political, economic, and diplomatic presence in the region will endure. I know that this has not always been the case in the past, but we intend the future to be different than the past."
The central theme of her remarks was a need for unity of purpose.
"We are in this together. And only together can we succeed," she said.
The son of one of six Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan last week during a funeral service in Rome
General Stanley McChrystal Pentagon and Obama to consider troops when strategy defined
* McChrystal warns without more troops mission could fail
* Karzai, U.N. welcome McChrystal's assessment
The Pentagon has told its top commander in Afghanistan not to ask for extra troops until the Obama administration completes a strategy review, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of U.S and NATO forces in Afghanistan, warned in a confidential assessment leaked to the media on Monday that without additional troops the mission "will likely result in failure". Want General McChrystal wants?
McChrystal's troop request, which some officials anticipate would include roughly 30,000 new combat troops and trainers, is expected to be submitted to Washington in the coming weeks.
McChrystal claims that without more troops, the U.S. and allies could lose the war. By the end of the year, the U.S. troops will have a record 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, working alongside 38,000 NATO-led forces.
There are already more than 100,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan battling an insurgency that has taken control of parts of the south and east of the country in what has so far been the deadliest year for foreign troops since 2001.
McChrystal's assessment comes at a critical time for Afghanistan, when the war is at its deadliest since it started in 2001 and as Afghans await delayed presidential election results while thousands of complaints and accusations of fraud against incumbent Hamid Karzai are audited by a U.N.-backed watchdog.
Obama White house responds. ?
Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, says publicly that he is persuaded by General McChrystal’s arguments for more troops. Privately, he remains sceptical. So do senior White House officials who advise the President on security. One told The Times recently: “No one can put in enough troops for a comprehensive military win, but we’re not trying to build a 51st state of the union. Our goal is to deny al-Qaeda a base.” He added: “There are enough troops, if co-ordinated with reconstruction and government, that we can be irreversible in terms of whether the population is going to swing to the Taleban or not.”
President obama only going to decide , when the real strategy and targets are established by General McCyrstall. Obama will ask some hard questions to the general. Then only he will decided.
Members of the Army 10th Mountain Division who served with Army Sgt. 1st. Class Jared C. Monti from Raynham, Mass, stand and are acknowledged by President Barack Obama, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, as he posthumously awarded Monti the Medal of Honor for his service in Afghanistan.
FILE - Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti of Raynham, Mass.is shown in this undated file photo. Monti was killed during a firefight with the Taliban in Gowardesh, Afghanistan, in June 2006. President Barack Obama presented his first Medal of Honor to Monti, posthumously, Thursday Sept. 17, 2009. Monti braved enemy fire while attempting to save a comrade.
President Barack Obama pauses in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, during a ceremony where he awarded Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti from Raynham, Mass. the Medal of Honor for his service in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama stands with Paul and Janet Monti during a White House ceremony at which he posthumously awarded their son, Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, the Medal of Honor for his service in Afghanistan.
Presenting his first Medal of Honor, President Barack Obama on Thursday praised the sacrifice of a soldier who braved enemy fire while attempting to save a comrade during the war in Afghanistan.
Obama honored Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti of Raynham, Mass., during an East Room ceremony and praised the extraordinary valor while facing insurgent fire. Standing before Monti's parents, Janet and Paul, Obama said Monti personified the values of duty, honor, sacrifice and heroism.
Americans often toss around such words too freely, the president said.
"But do we really grasp the meaning of these values? Do we truly understand the nature of these virtues, to serve and to sacrifice?" Obama asked. "Jared Monti knew.The Monti family knows. And they know that the actions we honor today were not a passing moment of courage. They were the culmination of a life of character and commitment."
Obama said the sacrifice of Monti and other brave members of the military should inspire all Americans to aspire to be better citizens.
"What can we do to be worthy of such service and such sacrifice?" Obama said.
Monti previously was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, five Army Commendation Medals, four Army Achievement Medals and three National Defense Service Medals.
The Medals of Honor are the highest award for military valor, typically reserved for members of the military who risk their lives with gallantry beyond the call of duty.
"Bullets and heavy machine gunfire ricocheting across the rocks. Rocket-propelled grenades raining down. Fire so intense that weapons were shot right out of their hands," Obama said, explaining the battle to a packed White House event. "Within minutes, one soldier was killed; another was wounded. Everyone dove for cover, behind a tree, a rock, a stone wall."
Monti's 16-man patrol had been scouting ahead of a larger offensive against the Taliban along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. A helicopter deployed to resupply the patrol blew their cover; Taliban fighters converged, and Monti called for backup.
One of his men, Pvt. Brian Bradbury, of St. Joseph, Mo., was shot during the encounter. Monti, who enlisted at age 17, twice left cover and ran into the open under intense enemy fire to retrieve the wounded soldier.
"Jared Monti did something no amount of training can instill. His patrol leader said he'd go, but Jared said, 'No, he is my soldier, I'm going to get him,'" Obama recounted.
Paul Monti says it's frustrating that U.S. troops have never had the proper resources in Afghanistan. But he insists his son did not die in vain. "He died doing what he felt he had to do," he says. "It didn't matter the end result because that was him. He just did what the soldier's creed says: 'You never leave a soldier behind.' "
When Jared Monti was just a young boy, the family traveled to Washington and stood outside the White House gates to pose for a photo. As they return Thursday to honor their fallen son, Paul Monti is going through a mix of emotions.
"It's wonderful meeting the president and it's wonderful having my son receiving the Medal of Honor, but I would give all of it up to have my son back -- everything," he says, next to a shrine in the living room with some of his son's personal effects, including his uniform. "There's nothing I wouldn't give. Even my own life to get my son back."
Gen. Stanley McChrystal new doctrine , discourage use of air power , reduce collateral damage and civilian casualties. However , this put more troops on the ground and expose to troop casualities.
Graphic shows monthly U.S. troop deaths in the Afghanistan war
An Afghan soldier rolls a fuel barrel Saturday at the site where two hijacked fuel tankers were hit by a NATO airstrike Friday in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
Airstrikes by coalition forces in Afghanistan have dropped dramatically in the three months Gen. Stanley McChrystal has led the war effort there, reflecting his new emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties and protecting the population.
NATO fixed-wing aircraft dropped 1,211 bombs and other munitions during the past three months — the peak of the fighting season — compared with 2,366 during the same period last year, according to military statistics. The nearly 50% decline in airstrikes comes with an influx of more than 20,000 U.S. troops this year and an increase in insurgent attacks.
The shift is the result of McChrystal's new directives, said Air Force Col. Mark Waite, an official at the air operations center in southwest Asia. Ground troops are less inclined to call for bombing or strafing runs, though they often have an aircraft conduct a "show of force," a flyby to scare off insurgents, or use planes for surveillance, Waite said.
The decrease in air attacks may also be the result of having more ground troops, Waite said. Air attacks are often used when ground forces aren't available to secure an area or seize an objective.
Protecting civilians is generally more effective than large combat operations, McChrystal said in counterinsurgency directives issued to NATO forces in Afghanistan. "Destroying a home or property jeopardizes the livelihood of an entire family — and creates more insurgents," McChrystal wrote. "We sow the seeds of our own demise."
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said civilian casualties have been "dramatically reduced."
Airstrikes that accidently killed civilians have angered the population, undermining efforts to win over civilians.
Despite the reduction in airstrikes, a U.S. aircraft attacked two fuel tankers that had been hijacked by the Taliban last week in northern Afghanistan, killing civilians.
McChrystal has appointed a high-level commission to investigate the attack. An initial assessment concluded that civilians had been killed or injured in the blast, according to a statement issued Tuesday by NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The strike was authorized by German forces operating in the area. Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against rushing to judgment regarding the airstrike.
U.S. forces have been told to exercise extreme caution before ordering airstrikes.
By exercising so much restraint, the U.S. military may sacrifice a key firepower advantage on the battlefield and expose ground troops to more risk, some officers and analysts say.
"There is a tradeoff," said Col. Gian Gentile, a former battalion commander in Iraq who has publicly criticized counterinsurgency doctrine. "You reduce civilian casualties, but you potentially increase your own casualties."
Doug Macgregor, a retired Army colonel and military historian, says the emphasis on having conventional forces trying to win over the population is futile.
"You surrender whatever military advantage you have by compelling the U.S. conventional soldier or Marine to fight on terms that favor the enemy, not the American soldier or Marine," Macgregor said.
This video frame grab taken from a Taliban propaganda video released Saturday, July 18, 2009 shows an American soldier who went missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan June 30 and was later confirmed captured. The soldier, whose identity has not yet been confirmed by the Pentagon pending notification of members of Congress and the soldier's family, says his name, age and hometown on the video, which was released Saturday on a Web site pointed out by the Taliban. Two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in the video is the captured soldier.
The American soldier who went missing June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed to have been captured, said in a video posted by the Taliban that he's "scared I won't be able to go home.
Two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in the video posted Saturday on the Internet is the captured soldier, but the Defense Department has not released his name. The video provided the first glimpse the public has had of the missing soldier.
The soldier is shown in the 28-minute video with his head shaved and the start of a beard. He is sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit. Early in the video one of his captors holds the soldier's dog tag up to the camera. His name and ID number are clearly visible. He is shown eating at one point and sitting cross-legged.
Asked how he was doing, the soldier said on the video:
"Well I'm scared, scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner."
He later chokes up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend.
"I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America. And I miss them every day when I'm gone," he said.
He is also prompted by his interrogators to give a message to the American people.
"To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it's like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home," he said. "Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country. Please bring us home. It is America and American people who have that power."
"I'm glad to see he appears unharmed, but again, this is a Taliban propaganda video," she said. "They are exploiting the soldier in violation of international law."
Afghan Police Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said the soldier went missing in eastern Paktika province near the border with Pakistan from an American base. The region is known to be Taliban-infested.
Afghans in contact with the Taliban told The Associated Press that the soldier was held by a Taliban group led by a commander called Maulvi Sangin, who operates in the area where the American went missing. They said the fighters initially planned to smuggle the soldier across the border into Pakistan but ruled that out because of U.S. missile strikes and Pakistani bombing attacks against militant targets in the area. Instead, they decided to move him north into Taliban-controlled areas of Ghazni province.
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