The Afghanistan Thread

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the world's most profitable heroin franchise

[skyhook77sfg]

101st Tequila Brigade



The company who turned a compound near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul into a dangerous, booze-fueled party just agreed to reimburse the government $7.5 million for its misdeeds.

ArmorGroup North America used to hold a contract worth an estimated $189 million to protect the embassy. But that was before the Project on Government Oversight revealed in 2009 that the guard force operated a “Lord of the Flies environment” nearby — complete with pictures documenting it

That meant, in the words of one of the guards, “peeing on people, eating potato chips out of ass cracks, vodka shots out of ass cracks (there is video of that one), broken doors after drunken brawls, threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this activity.”

Whistleblowers from the company charged an even wider pattern of misconduct:

intentionally low-balling its expenses to the State Department in order to win the guard contract...

hiring cheap Gurka guards who couldn’t speak English....

even pimping.

ArmorGroup ultimately lost its contract ....


http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/


BTW

They left out the juicy parts about the hordes of buxom peroxide blonde Ukranian morale boosters they imported for 'special operations".

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Sniper kills two British soldiers with one shot

July 10, 2011 LONDON (INP)

Two British paratroopers were killed by a single shot from an Afghan Taliban sniper, an inquest heard Friday, The Daily Mail reported.Close friends Private Lewis Hendry, 20, and Private Conrad Lewis, 22, died side-by-side while on foot patrol in Nad-e Ali, one of the most dangerous parts of southern Afghanistan.
I
The mission had been to find enemy snipers’ nests and reassure the population in a small village, but the patrol quickly came under fire.As the pair crouched behind a wall a shot of pinpoint accuracy struck Private Hendry, of the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, in the head. The same bullet then went on to hit Private Lewis, a reservist who served with the 4th Battalion the Parachute Regiment, in the neck. Despite receiving immediate medical assistance, the soldiers were pronounced dead after being flown back to Camp Bastion, the British headquarters in Helmand province.

RIP PARAS


TO COMMANDING OFFICER PARA REGIMENT

NEXT TIME COUNTER SNIPER FIRE WITH YOUR OWN SNIPER

OR CALL IN SAS

YOUR foot patrol response is utter incompetence

you should be relieved and retired immediately

what a bloody awful waste of young lives

[cincinnatus]

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if you ever want to explore advanced "shenanigans"

read up on SAS cofounder lt col paddy mayne's off duty prediliction for alcohol fueled mayhem

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KING OF KANDAHAR'S LONG PREDICTED DEMISE


http://www.daylife.com/photo/03Mj28VgdBd9f" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Ahmed Wali Karzai served as the head of the provincial council in Kandahar, and was widely recognized as the government's most powerful man in the key southern province, home to the birthplace of the Taliban. He was a lightning rod for criticism due to his role in the drug trade, his domination of local security companies, and accusations that he provided explosives and other support to the Taliban. Ahmed Wali was also on the CIA's payroll.


Although never proven, Karzai, 50, was widely accused of being at the center of the southern region’s multi-billion dollar narcotics industry, a charge he vehemently denied. His brother, President Hamid Karzai, also staunchly defended his brother’s innocence. Of late AWK, as the American militarymen called him, had become almost too authoritarian and powerful for his own good. He heavily favored his own tribe, the Popalzai, to the detriment of other clans who bitterly resented his partiality. This favoritism coupled with the fact that he sat atop of a pyramid of corruption ranging from shady real estate deals, to kickbacks on construction contracts, and getting his fair share of the shakedowns of truckers and buses at police posts and bureaucratic bribes certainly helped Taliban recruiters. “He was using all his power to get money from others, and even caused us to stop a road construction project,” says one Afghan aid official who declines to be quoted because of the sensitivity of his comment. “He had guns and money and was the king of Kandahar.” In the end, he may have overplayed his hand. There clearly was growing resentment toward him in the city and province. “There’s an undercurrent of anti-AWK sentiment,” said one American officer in the region last month. “Within six months you may hear a loud ‘pop’ in the city.”


While everyone ponders the big questions about AWK's death -- especially those related to his place as a regional security broker -- it's worth considering how the contradictions of his rule in Kandahar played out. He was elected to Kandahar's provincial council in 2005, in one of the few actually democratic and fair elections in the country. AWK zealously defended his people, and among direct recipients of his patronage and support he inspired fierce loyalty.

Whatever his influence as a political stabilizer, though, Ahmed Wali was also an economic and political nightmare. He would, in essence, hold court at his many offices and mansions around Kandahar city, circumventing the "legitimate" government and doling out to his supplicants handfuls of cash everyone whispered were gained through smuggling opium. From a business perspective, AWK was a mafia don, controlling his own business interests with an iron fist and, the rumors go, violently attacking anyone who posed too much competition.

When you combine his violent business activities with his close association with his brother Hamid, it is unsurprising that AWK had a list of enemies as large as the Hindu Kush Mountains. Even if his killer turns out to have very little real association with the Taliban, AWK's death is, in many ways, just the latest in a string of violent acts against Kandahar's prominent leaders.

From the perspective of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), this throws things into disarray. Much like the 32-year old Gen. Abdul Raziq, AWK was beloved of the Americans in particular because of his penchant for getting things done. The Western preference for working through strongmen and thugs probably won't abate even now, which is a real shame.


Ever since the 2007 death of anti-Taliban tribal leader Mullah Naqib, in the Arghandab Valley just north of Kandahar City, the province's leaders have been under the constant threat of death-often from the Taliban, but sometimes from their local rivals. Four years ago, ISAF had the opportunity to start developing the fundamentals of the institutions of government in the area, a system of rule based not on personality or thuggery, but laws, regulations, and structure. They chose, instead, to go through Ahmed Wali Karzai.

When your entire modus operandi is based on friendly local strongmen,you rise and fall on their backs. AWK reaped what he sowed in Kandahar: A vicious rule by thug, gently papered over with the veneer of respectability and Western-friendliness. Among the Americans, his loss is devastating; among the Afghans, he will barely be missed.

NOTE

the above is a compilation from a number of open sources from which I extracted relevant comments. Will add however my observation his agency for US most useful as a direct channel to the Taliban. His execution is a clear message from the men in black.

Do not assume the killer or killers are known. The other corpse may be the agreed upon red herring.

In conclusion the original sin is the Cheney Rumsfeld decision to take the quick and dirty route to control of Afghanistan .....using powers in place....the warlords.

The price of such faustian pacts with the devil is well known.

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BREAKING


Key ally to Afghan president murdered (AFP)


A senior adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been murdered at his home near the parliament in Kabul, a senior government official told AFP on Sunday.

Jan Mohammad Khan, former governor of southern Uruzgan province and a key ally of the embattled president, was killed in an attack that was still ongoing, according to Afghan news channel Tolo TV.

The killing comes less than a week after the president’s half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was assassinated by a close friend at his home in the southern province of Kandahar, birthplace of the Taleban.

‘He (Khan) was very close to Karzai. He was as important as AWK (Ahmed Wali Karzai),’ said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.


ANOTHER TALIBAN MESSAGE TO:

President Obama
DCI Gen Petreaus
SecDef Panetta
Mayor Karzai
afghan vichy

TALKS WITH RETREATING OCCUPIER?

actions speak louder and oh yes
thanks for removing mcchrystal


ps

regards from your old ISI friends
newtons 3d law still in effect
in kabul and mumbai

[skyhook77sfg]

if you want to know who Khan was, what he was like and why he was killed on Petraeus' last day in country

the only somewhat honest and slightly informed article on the net found by yours truly is from Aussieland....


http://www.smh.com.au/world/doing-the-b ... -ett6.html


Khan was worse than depicted here....

but not as evil as Gulbuddin Hekmatyr

who needs to be found fixed and forgotten

more than any other man alive

[skyhook77sfg]

sorry

left out Khan's turf is where the Karzai tribal bid for power began

with some help from the people that were never there

Khan reportedly saved Karzais life



so double message to former Unocal man

and Chicago restaurateur turned Kabul mayor

[Hans Bulvai]

The Taliban will be very strong after the US/NATO leave.
If anything, think the propaganda associated with 'defeating the US'.

Would be interesting to know what Mr. Zardari and Mr. Ahmadinejad talked about a few days ago???
Maybe "help save my ass"?

does not help of course...

Or these...

http://ipsnorthamerica.net/_authors/gporter.php

[skyhook77sfg]

Hansi...


zardari has been to Iran twice in the last month....twice

the US strategy shift has some previously very comfy

politicos on both sides of the imaginay rDurrand Line

anxiously scanning the horizon for sign of friendlies.

[Hans Bulvai]

An Iranian-Pakistani alliance you say??

They sure make strange bedfellows....

Maybe Zardari is feeling the heat. Less $'s, an empowered enemy within with far reaching tanticals, on the US's shit list, etc, etc...

Maybe he is afraid he will meet his wife very soon?

[skyhook77sfg]

recent post from free range international

that drives home a point that needs

to be driven into some depleted craniums

in Washington District of Criminals


"I know there are no angels in the Afghan Government, however, just about everyone here in Afghanistan, locals and internationals alike, would probably agree that AWK was a particularly nasty piece of work. But, despite his ties to the drug trade, heavy-handed tactics for dealing with rivals, and other questionable behavior, the US and ISAF continued to defend and support him.

Their rationale for this is probably something along the lines of, “AWK is a thug, but he’s our thug,” but I don’t think our leadership truly understands how damaging it is to both our legitimacy and the legitimacy of the Afghan government when we support guys like AWK. I’m just not sure that the trade-off between “security” in Kandahar was worth losing the respect of thousands, perhaps millions of Afghans country-wide who correctly recognize that rotten guys like AWK only exist and thrive because of our support."

AMEN AND RIGHT ON

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FROM AFPAK FIELD TEST TODAY

TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD TOMORROW


The Pentagon’s top researchers have rushed a classified and controversial intelligence program into Afghanistan. Known as “Nexus 7,” and previously undisclosed as a war-zone surveillance effort, it ties together everything from spy radars to fruit prices in order to glean clues about Afghan instability.

The program has been pushed hard by the leadership of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. They see Nexus 7 as both a breakthrough data-analysis tool and an opportunity to move beyond its traditional, long-range research role and into a more active wartime mission.

A small Nexus 7 team is currently working in Afghanistan with military-intelligence officers, while a much larger group in Virginia with a “large-scale processing capacity” handles the bulk of the data crunching, Darpa spokesman Eric Mazzacone confirmed in e-mails with Danger Room. “Data in the hands of some of the best computer scientists working side by side with operators provides useful insights in ways that might not have otherwise been realized.”

That sometimes means turning traditional intelligence work on its head. Instead of using all those eyes in the sky and reports from the ground to hunt for the proverbial needle in the haystack –- the lone insurgent in a large group of people –- Nexus 7 sometimes examines the makeup of the entire haystack. Of everyone.

“Let’s take that God’s-eye view,” says one person familiar with the program. “Instead of tracking a car, why not track all cars?”


http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/

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The body of Sardar Mohammad, the killer of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's younger half-brother,

Ahmad Wali Karzai, hangs on Charso square in Kandahar city July 12, 2011.


photo at http://blogs.reuters.com/afghanistan/

[Colonel Sun]

[AzariLoveIran]

[AzariLoveIran]

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would make a good president



.

[skyhook77sfg]

please please say you are employing sardonic humor

gulbuddin is the lowest form of life known to man

and not just in the stan



please help me understand

what you are saying

oops

just reread your post

and saw your flashing grin

that was a close one

didnt have you pegged as a sadist

but a rumi style mensch

all is well

sorry for my knee jerk reaction

to the only man alive more evil

than dead eye dickhead cheney

[AzariLoveIran]

[AzariLoveIran]

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interesting video



.

[AzariLoveIran]

[AzariLoveIran]

[Demon of Undoing]

[AzariLoveIran]