The Afghanistan page - 2006 - news archive

We blockade the gates of Northwood, the nerve centre of all British forces deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, in defense of the children of Afghanistan and Iraq. We are inspired by those members of the military refusing to deploy and military families who are saying no to the deaths of their chilkdren and the killing of the Afghani and Iraqi children. We are inspired by all those involved in nonviolent resistance to this war.

I thought I had escaped my past, but Afghanistan caught up with me in Canada. Looking at the flag-draped casket of my wife's first cousin, Andrew Eykelenboom, a Canadian medic killed in Afghanistan, I was overwhelmed with feelings of grief and a surreal displacement of time and space. I was born in Russia, drafted into the Soviet army at 18 and sent to Afghanistan in the 1980s. Attending Andrew's funeral, I stood with one foot in the present and one in the past. I remembered my Russian friends, living and dead. Friends like Andrei, who lost his legs in Kandahar near the road on which Andrew would die two decades later. I also remembered the suffering we visited on the people of that country.

While terrorism can take on different guises, it is not new and is not a threat to human society to rank with a world war or a nuclear holocaust - as the home secretary, John Reid, has absurdly claimed. Terrorist incidents are the outcome of someone's mental pathology and are of no political significance - unless cynical leaders in a targeted community choose otherwise.

Tony Blair faced accusations last night that he is wasting nearly £7 billion of taxpayers' money on a failing war on terror after announcing massive sums of British aid to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the last three days, the Prime Minister and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, have trumpeted special funding to the three countries totalling £844 million. This is in addition to the estimated £5 billion cost to British taxpayers of the Iraq war so far, and the £1 billion spent to date on the British deployment in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence has banned ITV News from its official facilities and refused to allow them to embed journalists with British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, I'm no fan of ITV News but that's not really the point. The point is what this says about the way the government "supports our troops".

Every invader of Iraq and Afghanistan has been given a bloody nose. A quotation by ex-foreign secretary John Reid that "British troops could leave Afghanistan in three years without firing a shot" will follow him to the grave.

Initial reaction from the MoD's head of news, former Daily Mail reporter James Clark, was furious. "As bad a hatchet job as I've seen in ages. Cheap shots all over the place, no context, no reasonable explanation ... like the Daily Star in moving pictures." But he then went on to say: "Why on earth would we spend time, resources and valuable places wanted by Sky, the BBC and others to facilitate journalism like this? Answer - we would be mad, and we're not." And if that sounds to you like a threat to withdraw official co-operation with ITV News - you'd be right. It was.

There has been a spate of bad news for Blair over his military campaigns this weekend with both Iraq and Afghanistan in the spotlight. Another General has gone off-message and criticised the way the Afghanistan mission is being conducted calling it "cuckoo". This time it's Blair's most trusted military officer, General the Lord Guthrie

It's a a sad, I think, devastating interview, an honest man's account of failure of a war, and his personal anxieties about what he calls the ''Islamist'' threat. Sir Richard's faith is clearly a key aspect of his character. "Our society has always been embedded in Christian values; once you have pulled the anchor up there is a danger that our society moves with the prevailing wind."

A blistering assessment of British policy in Iraq from the country's top soldier left Tony Blair reeling today. General Sir Richard Dannatt said troops should come home within two years - flatly contradicting the Prime Minister's policy that the military will stay "as long as it takes". In unprecedented comments he warned that the Army could 'break' if British soldiers are kept too long in Iraq.

Senior military officers have been pressing the government to withdraw British troops from Iraq and concentrate on what they now regard as a more worthwhile and winnable battleground in Afghanistan. They believe there is a limit to what British soldiers can achieve in southern Iraq and that it is time the Iraqis took responsibility for their own security, defence sources say. Pressure from military chiefs for an early and significant cut in the 7,500 British troops in Iraq is also motivated by extreme pressure being placed on soldiers and those responsible for training them.

Sajida doesn’t have any more immediate family, but the relatives she has, she is hiding from. She says she is about 25, but her once beautiful face seems worn and pallid. She doesn’t want anyone to know she is still alive, she describes her condition as leprosy, worried that she may infect anyone that has physical contact with her, “Allah is mighty and works in mysterious ways, I thought I had no other way to feed myself, but there must have been another way, or Allah would not be punishing me like this.”

The anti-war demonstration in Manchester on October 23rd was supported by a colourful and vocal ‘anarchist block’ with attendance from anarchist organisations and non-aligned anarchists from Manchester and across the county, at least 40 bodies in all. The block was called by the Anarchist Federation and Solidarity Federation, two of the class struggle anarchist organisations in Britain with international links. (Story continues after photos).

An 8am start is wearing on any day of the week, but on a Saturday it is particularly grinding. Nevertheless this Saturday saw a large contingent of protesters representing a variety of causes make the trip from Bristol to the Labour Party conference in Manchester to remind Tony Blair and friends that they are not wanted.

People were not only protesting against the current oil wars in the middle east, justified by the "war on terror". They were against the looming onslaught against Iran and the recent destruction of southern Lebanon. Against the even increasing military expenditure, symbolised by the plan to replace Trident and the corresponding cuts in social funding for the NHS and other welfare services. Placards identified Bush and Blair as the worlds number 1 and number 2 terrorists and that renewable energy doesn't require wars. There was a large number of trade union and peace movement banners from all across the UK.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

A small but determined group of peace campaigners made the long journey from Swindon to Manchester yesterday for the Time to Go march and rally around the GMEX centre where this year’s Labour party conference is being held. Here are some photos of the messages on display during the march.

Photos and video from the Time to Go demonstration.

TENS of thousands of anti war protesters gathered in Manchester this afternoon for a massive peace march through the city. They came from around the country to make their feelings about the Government clear ahead of the Labour Party conference, which starts a few hundred yards away tomorrow.

Thousands of anti-war protesters staged a mass "die-in" around the venue of Labour's annual conference to call on Tony Blair to bring back troops from Iraq - and then resign. Organisers of the demonstration in Manchester said up to 60,000 people from across the country joined the event, which passed off peacefully.

Some photos from the Manchester Labour Party Conference protest organised by the Stop the War coalition. I release these photos into the public domain. Use them as you wish.

There is usual dispute about numbers - I heard Sky and C4 talking about 10,000, which is obviously bollocks, as even the police estimate puts it at 20,000. Stop the war are reporting 60,000, so applying the Blairwatch rule of thumb [I wasn't out with our maths addict] the real number must be somewhere between what the police and organisers claim...

This was fantastic. I've never seen such a mix of joy and anticipation: the former deriving from the knowledge that Blair is finished, and the latter from a sense that a new field of possibilities is about to be opened up. The turnout for a non-London demo was far better than we had any right to expect. I really don't know if the dissent that was given ample fora today will even be heard of on the conference floor. God knows, the antiwar movement was completely absent from Labour's 2003 conference, and New Labour have moved effectively to block dissenting resolutions.

A huge demonstration has been organised in Manchester today as the Labour Conference was taking place. Thousands of people came from everywhere in the UK to express their disapproval of Tony Blair Foreign Policy and urge him to GO.

Reports from the Time to Go demonstration in Manchester, England, where more than 50,000 marched past the venue of the Labour Party conference demanding British troops go from Afghanistan and Iraq and Tony Blair goes from Downing Street.

Thousands of anti-war protesters have gathered in Manchester for what organisers said was "one of the biggest mobilisations outside London". Demonstrators were protesting against government policies in the Middle East and nuclear weapons, on the eve of the Labour Party conference in the city.

What is General Musharraf up to then? He's claimed that the US threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age after the 11th September attacks if they didn't co-operate fully in the "war" on terror.

Tens of thousands of anti-war supporters will take part in a huge demonstration on Saturday aimed at protesting over Government policies in the Middle East and against nuclear weapons. The march, supported by trade unions, students, politicians and activists from around the country, will be held in Manchester on the eve of the Labour Party conference in the city.

The defence secretary, Des Browne, will admit today that Britain and its Nato allies seriously underestimated the strength of the Taliban and the violent resistance faced by western forces in Afghanistan. "The Taliban's tenacity in the face of massive losses has been a surprise, absorbing more of our effort than predicted and consequently slowing progress on reconstruction," he will say in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute in London.

THE former aide-de-camp to the commander of the British taskforce in southern Afghanistan has described the campaign in Helmand province as “a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency”. “Having a big old fight is pointless and just making things worse,” said Captain Leo Docherty, of the Scots Guards, who became so disillusioned that he quit the army last month.

The Americans can't quite believe it. Getting rid of Tony Blair? Are you Brits crazy? Like Thatcher before him, Blair finds that the acclaim abroad lingers even when there is derision at home. Maggie was a legend in the States when she was shoved aside by the Tories, and the same is true of Blair. When he does his farewell tour - part Sinatra, part royal goodbye - he'd be a fool not to make a stop in America. Here the ovations are guaranteed.

And yet here, he might also reflect, is where his troubles began. Next week marks the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which radically altered the course of American foreign policy. Blair's great error, the one that historians will identify as the cause of his decline and eventual downfall, was to sign up for that new programme in full - even when it led to disaster.

Fourteen British service personnel have died after their aircraft crashed in Afghanistan. Twelve RAF personnel, a Royal Marine and an Army soldier were on board the RAF Nimrod MR2 which came down in the southern province of Kandahar.

MINISTERS failed to fully inform the public about the dangers facing British troops before sending them to Afghanistan, a senior defence official said yesterday. In an echo of the controversy over the decision to invade Iraq, the official even suggested that John Reid, then the defence secretary, omitted a crucial caveat about the dangers when talking about the mission before it began.

British troops fighting in Iraq are under-equipped and overstretched, a group of MPs has warned. The all-party defence committee said the soldiers needed more helicopters and better-protected patrol vehicles to shield them from roadside bombs. Committee members visited Iraq in June and also say operations in Afghanistan are being done on a "shoe string".

Drug production in southern Afghanistan has risen over the past year, despite the efforts of UK troops, Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells has said.

THE war in Iraq is spreading and destabilising the whole region. It has already spread to Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza and Lebanon. Britain's relationships with Syria and Iran are also deteriorating and drifting towards war.

The presence of foreign forces are a daily reality for people throughout Afghanistan. While British forces launch offensives against Taleban strongholds in the south, Nato troops patrol the streets of Kabul to maintain order. Here Afghans from around the country give their verdict on the foreign troops in their midst.

In 2004 the Prime Minister said he believed the country was a far safer place with Saddam Hussein out of power. Only this week his new Home Secretary announced "Britain faces years and years of terrorist threat" sadly the stark fact is that Mr Blair has managed to make this country a less safe place for its citizens to live. He has failed in the most fundamental and basic role of Government which is to protect the citizen.

Whatever you think about the mission in Afghanistan (and please don't assume you know what I think because I'm leaving that for another day), it cannot be right to send our troops out there into the chaos of southern Afghanistan in such a circumstance. They are hopelessly exposed, concerned almost exclusively with force (ie their own) protection. What benefit can possibly be served by this?

And what of the results of the airstrikes? There's a video report of the aftermath of the bombings on the BBC report which is worth watching if you haven't seen it. The British military has said that there is no evidence of any civilian casualties as a result of the dropping of three 500lb bombs on a town centre. Clearly, unless they searched through all that rubble in the middle of a hot zone while no-one was looking, there's no way that they can know whether there's any evidence of civilian casualties or not. The military denial is a standard knee-jerk response, utterly meaningless.

Three times the British Army has entered Afghanistan, 1938, 1878 and 1919, all to no avail. The Russians in 1979, with more than 100,000 troops, could not subdue the country and withdrew in 1986. So what hope have the 4,000 British troops?

Some 10,000 US-led coalition forces have been engaged in a large-scale offensive against Taleban fighters in southern Afghanistan, where around 700 people have been killed in the last few weeks. But in the capital, Kabul, the upper echelons of society appear to have forgotten the horrors on their doorstep.

Given that the only experience the US had in Afghanistan was supplying weapons and training to the Mujahadeen, it isn't too surprising that they underestimated the effort required to control the country. But Britain, with its long history of botched involvement in the area, has no excuse for misjudging the commitment necessary. At some point the losses will become too high, the cost too great and then the politicians will find some grounds for proclaiming the whole exercise a great success, despite the obvious failure. The tragedy is that the ultimate price will not be paid by politicians incapable or unwilling to learn from history, but instead by the poor sods sent out there with inadequate equipment to perform an impossible mission.

Nearly 900 extra troops are to be sent to Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Des Browne has announced. He told MPs the reinforcements, which will boost troop levels to 4,500, will head for the Helmand province to help security and reconstruction efforts. The extra deployment will include more than 300 engineers. More helicopters will also be provided.

BBC: 'Mr Blair told MPs: "If we want to defeat the extremism, we have got to defeat its ideas and we have got to address the completely false sense of grievance against the West...'

You see, though, I do feel angry. I am particularly angry right now at the rape and murder of a 15 year old girl and the massacre of her family by US troops. It is an abhorrent crime and has caused widespread rage all over the world. I am angry about Haditha, Falujah, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and all the other horrible litany of names that now stand for something wicked and wrong. I am sad and angry about the fact that every day in Iraq is 7th July, that Afghanistan is becoming yet again a brutalised battleground.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Menzies Campbell said he would support plans to send more UK troops to Afghanistan. He said there was "no option" but to send more because current troop numbers were not enough to complete the job.

SELDOM HAVE there been finer examples than this July of the propensity of humans and our institutions to reinforce failure. We carry on marching towards what we suspect is the abyss for little better reason than that it would be embarrassing to break ranks. Betrothed to our own doom, we shrink from breaking off the engagement because the wedding ring has been purchased, the deposit on the marquee is non-returnable and the bride’s mother would be devastated.

Sir - This weekend, two English soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan, and 11 English players lost a football game.

The media and the population seem obsessed with the latter. Why is it that this country seems to have lost its sense of what is really important?

Karzai has attempted to gag any opposition in the Afghan media. An unsigned 24-point list was sent out to all media outlets last month, ordering them not to publish reports or interviews against the government’s foreign policy or against the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. The directive also stated that the media should not characterise Afghan forces as “weak” or describe émigrés holding posts in the Afghan government as “westernised”. Additionally, journalists were directed not to refer to former Mujahadeen leaders in the government and state bureaucracy as “warlords”.

The bubble of Kabul has been burst. No longer do internationals feel safe in Kabul. The UN employees especially are forced to follow strict security regulations. This involves daily radio checks and radio checks when leaving and arriving at destinations even if less than a kilometer. No walking on the street and houses with a guard box outside containing 6 armed guards. Neither the UN security, ISAF, coalition forces nor national police protected the international aid workers. ISAF and coalition forces did not want to inflame the crowd so stayed out of it and some of the national police even joined the riot. The blue guard boxes outside UN offices and guest houses just identified them as targets. The armed guards disappeared and some were told to hide their guns incase they were taken off them by the crowd.

The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) is urging its members and other concerned Canadians to contact their MPs to vote against the motion of the government slated for debate Wednesday may 17th. The Government has called for a vote with only one days' notice and a six hour debate on whether or not to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan for another two years.

SWINDON'S anti-war protesters marked the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by joining worldwide demonstrations. More than a dozen campaigners headed on a coach from Swindon to London on Saturday to join protests and make their voices heard in urging the Government to pull British troops out of the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.
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Andy Newman, of Swindon's Stop the War Coalition, who went on the march, said: "It was a lively day and it shows that we are still determined to get the message across. "We have come to a point where few believe we were right to go to war and almost nobody believes that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. There was also a lot of emphasis on the future of Iran, and the threat of action over its nuclear programme. I am sceptical myself, about any possible attack. I think it is megaphone diplomacy. What was really missing from the weekend's protest were concerns about the increased numbers of troops heading to Afghanistan. Having our troops in both of these countries is not achieving anything and is making the situation over there worse. It would be much better to bring them home out of harm's way."

Bush recently dropped into Kabul and talked of the fantastic progress there has been here.

Violence is increasing. It is the worst for a few years at least. Security experts predict another up serge in violence in the coming months. One told me that the problem is going to be drugs rather than Taliban. Afghanistan is perilously close to becoming a failed state. There is about a 10% increase in poppy this year. Some that eradicated poppy last year and received no compensation are growing again. The Afghan National Army (ANA) are eradicating it with the support of the British ISAF (NATO) troops. The British do not wish to be seen as destroying the poppy for fear of backlash but they will and there will be a back lash. Also supporting the ANA is Dyn Coup which is a private security company with a bad reputation. They are basically mercenaries doing state department work. From what I have heard they are doing more than just supporting. There is no viable alternative to poppy growing. It is one of the few things that can survive in the salty desert soil. Of course the farmers will fight rather than starve.

NORTH Wiltshire's Conservative MP James Gray, has asked the government how many troops are currently in Afghanistan and how long they will be there. Defence Secretary John Reid replied that the current force of 1,600 is likely to peak at 5,700 this year.
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The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire regiment, which includes many recruits from Swindon, is stationed in Afghanistan.

In the Afghanistan turkey shoot the CoW forces used vast numbers of hard target weapons and other munitions containing depleted uranium (DU). This substance is almost twice as dense as lead. When it punches through concrete bunkers, armour, or mud huts, DU disintegrates into a chemically toxic and radioactive dust. In contrast to the earlier DU weapons used in Gulf War I, the newer ordinance produced deaths and deformities within weeks of the start of military action by the CoW. Between 1990-91 and 2001 the US arms manufacturers are thought to have "improved" the DU technology by introducing milled uranium ore to their warheads. This non-depleted uranium (NDU) is - wait for it - cheaper to produce and far more potent than DU. It poses massive health risks to civilian populations exposed to it, and constitutes, in every sense of the word, a weapon of mass destruction, or WMD.

Lack of time has meant that I have not been able to send any personal reports on Afghanistan and what is happening here. The Danish cartoons and subsequent demonstrations mean that at about 1pm local time ‘white city’ was called by the UN. This means that no movement is allowed. I am sitting in my living room on cushion on the floor writing this with my ducks sunbathing in unusually hot February weather. I have a grab bag ready with passport and a few essentials and am monitoring the UN call channel on the radio for updates. The UN car has been put in my drive hidden by a high wall and metal gate. Heard there are a few demonstrations in Kabul and some UN cars have been damaged.

DEFENCE Secretary John Reid visited troops training on Salisbury Plain last Friday, just 24 hours after announcing their deployment to Afghanistan. More than 3,000 troops, including about 60 specialist gunners based in Larkhill, will be sent to join Nato's operations this summer, mainly on peace-keeping duties in the south of the country. British, Danish and Estonian servicemen have been on the plain over the past two weeks, as part of countrywide exercises in preparation for active duty.

As international donors meet in London to discuss efforts to rebuild Afghanistan, the director of the UN World Food Programme in Afghanistan, Charles Vincent, explains why the talks are vital for ordinary Afghans.

Broadcast last Tuesday on Al-Jazeera, Osama Bin Laden’s latest release “On your knees infidel, before the wrath of the mujahadeen” has been slammed by industry critics as disappointingly ‘samey’ and having a ‘derivative’ feel. Although eagerly awaited for over a year it has already been compared unfavourably to earlier undeniable classics such as “Hostility toward America is a religious duty” and seminal sleeper hit “America, the power of Allah will turn your Empire to dust”.

With a surprise new audio cassette released this week, Bin Laden is back in the media spotlight. It seems to be a hit already even though few people have actually heard it, so we decided to check it out and bring you the score...

There was a good turn out in front of Sheffield Town Hall from 4pm on 11th January 2005 to oppose the threatened deportation of Mohammad Arrian.

There was a protest outside Sheffield Town Hall on Saturday 7th January 2006 against the threatened deportation of Mohammed Arrian from Sheffield to Afghanistan

Family man Dave spent Christmas at home in Shrivenham with his wife, Jayne, and their four children. But now it is back to business in Afghanistan for the 36-year-old member of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment. Officially, the conflict part of the "War on Terror" ended in 2001 with the defeat of the ruling Taliban. But there is still unrest in the country and before Christmas a member of the RGBW was killed while on patrol in the north of the country. Dave says the 30 or so troops from Swindon need no reminding of the dangers.

The Arrian Family and supporters met MP Richard Caborn on Tuesday 3 January. It was not the case that the Immigration Department had refused a meeting with Mr Caborn, to be more accurate they did not see any grounds for the meeting. Mr Caborn believes, on the contrary, that there are grounds for him to discuss the case with Tony McNulty and until that time Mohammed will not be deported. The campaign to stop the deportation of Mohammad will continue both to support Mohammad, his family and Mr Caborn. Thank you for everyone who is helping in however large or small a way.

Mohammed Arrian is to be deported to Afghanistan in two weeks time. This is despite the fact that all the rest of his family are happily settled in Sheffield and all have indefinate leave to remain in this country. The Home Office are even refusing to talk to Richard Caborn, his MP about the situation. Mohammed fears for his life if he is sent back to Afghanistan.