Our Afghan partners go missing in action
Tom Hyland
January 15, 2012/Sunday AGE
Whether militia, army or police, the Afghan forces "did not appear to be actively responding to the situation in an organised manner".
A SECRET US Army report has undermined a glowing Australian account of the role Afghan forces played in repelling an unprecedented Taliban attack near Australia's main base in Afghanistan.
The 166-page report obtained by The Sunday Age, raises fresh doubts about the capacity of Afghan forces to take over when Australian and other foreign troops pull out.
The federal government insists the Afghans are on track to take charge of security by 2014, so Australians can leave.
The Australian Defence Force praised what it said was the prompt, professional and co-ordinated Afghan response to the Taliban attack in Tarin Kowt on July 28 last year.
But the US report paints a picture of confusion, with Afghan forces failing to respond to a key part of the Taliban assault - an attempt to kill a militia leader who is a close ally of Australian special forces.
Afghan forces were either absent or stood by and watched as US troops attacked Taliban fighters who had blasted their way into the government broadcasting station adjoining the compound of militia leader Matiullah Khan.
Adding to the confusion was the fact US troops could not distinguish between official Afghan forces and the militia. While Afghan forces repelled a related Taliban assault on the nearby governor's office, US troops were on their own at the broadcasting station.
Standard procedure was for Afghan forces to take the lead in clearing a building where the Taliban were holed up.
In their absence, US troops stormed the building, with disastrous consequences. Two Taliban fighters detonated suicide vests, burying seven soldiers, including the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel David Oeschger, who was seriously wounded.
In what the report says was the ''stress and urgency of the moment'', a US soldier then shot dead Afghan journalist Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, in the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber. Afghan forces only moved into the building once the Taliban and the journalist were killed, and wounded Americans were dug out of the rubble.
The US report also suggests the Australian response to the attacks was more extensive than the ADF revealed at the time.
Initially classified as secret, the report was heavily censored before being released to The Sunday Age under the US Freedom of Information Act. Even so, it contains detail rarely, if ever, released by Australian agencies ....<cont>
Taliban will rule Afghanistan again, says leaked US military report
Classified document is said to warn that Pakistan is plotting to help reinstall Taliban once Nato-led forces depart
Reuters/guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 February 2012 03.39 GMT
The Taliban have secured Pakistan's support for a return to power in Afghanistan as well as toning down their severe brand of Islamism, according to reports citing a leaked US military assessment. Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
The Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after Nato-led forces withdraw from the country, according to reports citing a classifed assessment by US forces.
The Times described the report as secret and "highly classified", saying it was put together last month by the US military at Bagram air base in Afghanistan for top Nato officers. The BBC also carried a report on the leaked document.
"Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban," the report was quoted as saying. "Once Isaf (Nato-led forces) is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable."
The document stated that Pakistan's security agency was helping the Taliban in directing attacks against foreign forces – a charge long denied by Islamabad.
The findings were based on interrogations of more than 4,000 Taliban and al-Qaida detainees, the Times said, adding the document was scarce on identifying individual insurgents.
A US state department spokesman and Britain's Foreign Office both declined comment on the report. Nato and Pakistani officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Despite the presence of more than 100,000 foreign troops, the UN has said violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were ousted by US-backed forces in 2001.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) says levels of violence are falling.
Citing the same report, the BBC reported on its website that Pakistan and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency knew the locations of senior Taliban leaders and supported the expulsion of "foreign invaders from Afghanistan".
"Senior Taliban leaders meet regularly with ISI personnel, who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the government of Pakistan."
The Times said the document suggested the Taliban were gaining in popularity, partly because the severe Islamist movement was becoming more tolerant.
The report was quoted as stating: "It remains to be seen whether a revitalised, more progressive Taliban will endure if they continue to gain power and popularity. Regardless, at least within the Taliban the refurbished image is already having a positive effect on morale."
British troops killed in Afghanistan - interactive
Hundreds of British soldiers, sailors, airmen and other military personnel have died since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001.
Here we provide a full list of the servicemen and women who have lost their lives, plus the six believed killed in an explosion on Tuesday, with links to Guardian and MoD reports
Datablog: full data on British troops dead or wounded in Afghanistan, month by month:
No 1:
Private Darren John George
Tuesday 9 April 2002
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Taliban launch raids on Kabul and other Afghan targets
15 April 2012 Last updated at 13:11 GMT
The BBC's Bilal Sawary says he can hear gunfire from his location in Kabul
Latest updates Live
Militants are carrying out what they say are co-ordinated attacks on Kabul and other targets in Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman said fighters were attacking embassies in the diplomatic enclave, Nato's HQ and the parliament building in the west of the capital.
Multiple blasts and gunfire have been heard across Kabul.
The Taliban spokesman said there were also attacks in Logar and Paktia provinces. There are also reports of suicide attacks in Jalalabad.
Nato said it had reports of attacks in seven locations in Kabul.
The British embassy was one of the targets, with two rockets hitting a guard tower. A rocket-propelled grenade was also fired into a house used by British diplomats, witnesses told Reuters.
A medical source in Kabul told the Associated Press news agency five people had been wounded in the attacks, and at least two militants are reported dead in the city.
According to another unverified report, from Afghan broadcaster channel Shamshad TV, eight people were also wounded, and two militants killed, in an attack in the eastern city of Gardez, in Paktia.
Smoke billowing
At least seven large explosions were heard in central Kabul and gunfire erupted from various directions in the heavily barricaded diplomatic zone.
Some explosions were also heard near the parliament building in western Kabul and police said it was under attack.
A number of MPs joined the fight against the insurgents, shooting at them as they tried to storm parliament, Kandahar lawmaker Naeem Hameedzai Lalai told reporters.
"I'm the representative of my people and I have to defend them," he said.
Rockets were reportedly fired at the Russian embassy and smoke was said to be billowing from the direction of the German embassy.
The US embassy confirmed there were attacks nearby. It said: "The embassy is currently in lockdown... all compound personnel are accounted for and safe."
Britain's Foreign Office said it was "in close contact with embassy staff".
AFP news agency reported that the newly built Kabul Star hotel was on fire.
Kabul resident Idris Ghairat, who lives near the hotel, told the BBC: "I can see the smoke rising. The fighting is around us and I have heard the blasts and gunfire. The security forces have taken position on top of all government buildings close to the hotel."
Another attack appeared to target a Nato base known as Camp Warehouse on the outskirts of the city, where Turkish and Greek Nato forces were trying to repel militants.
Provinces targeted
The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says there are also reports of a suicide attack that has closed the centre of the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Police said suicide bombers had attacked the airport there.
...<cont>
Analysis
image of Bilal Sarwary Bilal Sarwary Kabul
The Taliban have said they are behind the attacks. Last week they warned that a new offensive would start soon. The last major attack in Kabul was last September when insurgents attacked.
This is a large-scale attack, right in the heart of Kabul. Many questions remain unanswered. How did a large group of heavily armed insurgents, with a huge amount of weapons, manage to get inside Kabul and inside the central district of Wazir Akbar Khan?
In their defence, Afghan intelligence officials say they did have prior intelligence about attacks on several locations in Kabul, which helped prevent bloodshed.
But today's attacks have shattered the confidence of Afghans once more. The insurgents have once more shown that they can strike right in the heart of Kabul.
