U.S. Troops May Be Sent To Iraq's Arab-Kurdish 'Trigger Line'

2009-08-17

American forces' assignment would be to build trust and bridge the gap between feuding Arabs and Kurds in northern Iraq. Al-Qaeda is exploiting the split between the two sides, says a U.S. official.

In an effort to defuse mounting Arab-Kurdish tensions, the U.S. military is proposing to deploy troops for the first time in a strip of disputed territory in northern Iraq, the top American general in Iraq said today.

Gen. Ray Odierno said the proposal would see U.S. troops deployed alongside Iraqi security forces and Kurdish peshmerga militiamen on the Arab-Kurdish fault line in northern Nineveh province, which has been the scene of several recent high-profile bombings.

Their goal, he said, would be to build trust between Iraqi security forces representing the Baghdad government and Kurdish militia answerable to the Kurdish regional government at a time when a spike in bombings attributed to Al Qaeda in Iraq has sent tensions between the two administrations soaring.

"What we have is al-Qaeda exploiting this fissure between Arabs and Kurds in Nineveh ... and what we're trying to do is close that fissure," he told journalists at his headquarters at Camp Victory on the edge of Baghdad.

Though the plan is still not finalized, Odierno said he had discussed it recently with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and with Masoud Barzani, the president of the regional government, and that both had been receptive to the idea.

The push into the area by American forces would not be large, and Odierno said he did not envisage it delaying the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by next August. Because the area is mostly rural, the deployment would probably not fall outside the terms of the joint security agreement that require U.S. forces to pull out from urban areas by June 30, he said.

"It won't be full-on if we do it. It will just be to build confidence, then we will slowly pull ourselves out," he said. "As we deliberately withdraw our forces, you will see that there will be less forces withdrawn from the north than any other place. It's a recognition of where we think the bigger problem areas are."

The deployment would not come at least until September, when a committee is due to meet to discuss the proposal.

The plan has potential risks, among them that U.S. troops could find themselves bogged down in the region if Kurds and Arabs have not resolved their differences, said Sam Parker of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

"Depending on the size and nature of the force involved, this could pose difficulties for U.S. plans to withdraw combat forces by August 2010 and all U.S. forces by the end of 2011," he said.

The status of an arc of territory stretching across Nineveh province, through the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and into the province of Diyala lies at the heart of what has proved the most intractable problem still threatening the stability of northern Iraq.

Kurds claim the territories belong to their autonomous region of Kurdistan. After the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime and the disintegration of the Iraqi army in 2003, Kurdish peshmerga moved into the areas, giving them de facto control. But Arabs claim the territories are theirs, and as the Iraqi government has grown in strength, Arabs increasingly have asserted their claim.

A string of recent bombings targeting the minority Turkoman, Shabak and Yazidi communities has seen both sides accuse the other of responsibility. There also have been several tense standoffs in recent months between Iraqi security forces and peshmerga along what has been dubbed the "trigger line" marking the divide between Arabs and Kurds.

U.S. commanders fear such incidents could escalate into full-blown conflict if the tensions are allowed to fester. Odierno said the purpose of injecting U.S. forces would be to enable the two sides to learn to work together.

"I think they'd all feel more comfortable with us there," he said.

But there's also a danger that the presence of U.S. troops will provide a disincentive to the parties to find a political solution to their differences, said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group.

"As a short-term measure, it's very good, because it shows American commitment to addressing this issue," he said. "In the longer term, it could make the parties more dependent on the U.S. at a time when the U.S. is planning to withdraw. It shouldn't be a substitute for U.S. diplomatic pressure to find a political solution to the problem of the trigger line."

In the meantime, Iraq's government is pressing ahead with a referendum on the security agreement that could force U.S. troops to leave Iraq sooner than expected. The Iraqi Cabinet finalized a draft law establishing the mechanisms for the referendum to be held on Jan. 16, the same day as national elections, according to a statement by government spokesman Ali Dabbagh.

The referendum, promised as part of a deal sealing the Legislature's approval of the agreement in December, was delayed until the same day as the January election to save effort and money.

If voters reject the security agreement, U.S. forces will have one year to pull out from Iraq, which means they would have to be gone by January 2011, 11 months earlier than anticipated.

Source: Free Internet Press.
Link: http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=22560.

Russia's Medvedev Fires Ingushetia's Police Chief Following Suicide Blast

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sacked the head of Ingushetia's police after a suicide bomber killed at least 19 people Monday.

"Today's terror attack in Nazran could have been prevented," Medvedev said on Russian State TV, and "this indicates, among other things, that the Ingush law enforcement agencies had not been working well enough."

"The police failed even to protect itself," he said.

The suicide bombing outside a police headquarters in Nazran in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, killed at least 19 and injured about 60 people, including 10 children, the Investigation Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's Office told CNN.

There were conflicting reports about the death toll, however. The duty officer at the Ingushetia branch of the Russian ministry for Emergency Situations had higher numbers.

"According to our information, 20 were killed and 118 were hurt, 65 of whom were hospitalized, others managed without doctor's assistance," he said.

Both sources however admitted those numbers might not be final because fire brigades and rescue workers are still cleaning up the debris and extinguishing pockets of fire at the exploded building.

"The fire virtually destroyed the building. There may still be people in the debris," an emergencies ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti.

"At about 9 a.m. local (1 a.m. ET) a suicide bomber driving a truck stuffed with explosives rammed into the gate of the police station," Kaloi Akhilgov, a spokesman for Ingushetia's president, told CNN. "It was a powerful explosion. Windows and balconies were broken in several residential buildings around the police station, injuring many people."

Russian State TV reported the explosives were equivalent to about 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of TNT, citing the Investigation Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's Office.

Ingushetia's president called the attack an attempt by Islamist rebels to undermine stability in the republic.

"There is no doubt that militants did that to boost their significance. It was an attempt to undermine stability and to sow panic," said President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who ordered tightened security around local government buildings and declared a three-day mourning period for blast victims.

In Moscow, Medvedev ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to take steps to protect police in Ingushetia, the Kremlin press office reported. He also offered condolences to the families of the bombing victims.

Yevkurov is being treated at a rehabilitation center near Moscow following an assassination attempt in June. He suffered a severe brain concussion, fractured ribs and a ruptured liver.

An Islamist suicide bomber rammed into his motorcade in Ingushetia. His driver and bodyguard were killed.

Ingushetia is a small Russian republic bordering Chechnya in the North Caucasus, just north of Georgia.

An impoverished province of mostly Muslims, Ingushetia has suffered for almost a decade from overflowing unrest in neighboring Chechnya.

It is battling a low-level insurgency with Islamist rebels who launch frequent attacks on Russian servicemen and law enforcement officials.

In response, Russia has launched a counterinsurgency campaign that has been criticized by human rights group for abuses such as arbitrary detentions and extra-judicial executions.

Karzai, the Pashtuns and the Taliban

Afghanistan's Pashtun majority is extremely unhappy with the Karzai administration because -- despite the fact that Karzai is a Pashtun -- it is dominated by non-Pashtun ethnic minorities, especially Tajiks, notes Robert Dreyfuss.

The prospects for Afghanistan's election on Thursday are murky, at best.

The Taliban are threatening to disrupt the vote in areas south and east of Kabul, where they are strong, and say that they will take reprisals against anyone who votes. "Afghans must boycott the deceitful American project and head for the trenches of holy war," said a communique from the Taliban. The Taliban, which is overwhelmingly Pashtun, is apparently counting on its ability to persuade or intimidate Pashtuns to stay away from the polls, which could doom or weaken Karzai.

An excellent analysis in the New York Times by Dexter Filkins notes that the Pashtun vote is critical to Karzai's chances on Thursday: "Five years ago, Mr. Karzai rode to an election victory on a wave of support from his fellow Pashtuns, who make up about 40 percent of Afghanistan's population."

Karzai, who is himself a Pashtun from Kandahar, the Taliban's stronghold, is working hard to get Pashtuns to the polls. Ahmad Wali Karzai, the president's brother and the wily head of the Kandahar provincial council, told Al Jazeera in an interview: "Pashtun votes are extremely important, because Pashtuns are the majority in Afghanistan. I don't think, without the Pashtun votes, no one can win."

But are the Taliban truly opposed to the election? It isn't clear. According to Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan's intelligence chief, deals have been made with Taliban commanders in "lots of provinces," the New York Times says, to allow the vote to proceed -- and, presumably, with Taliban-leaning and Taliban-influenced Pashtuns voting for Karzai. Saleh says that this "diplomatic effort" and "softer approach" allows the Karzai regime to appeal to the Taliban's low-level commanders and sympathizers without using violence, and he said that the accords that have been struck "show that cohesion in the command of the Taliban is broken."

Hard to tell if that's true or, on the contrary, if the Taliban can muster the cohesion to oppose the elections in the 45 percent of the country they're said to control. Personally, I have no idea. In a brilliant New York Times op-ed today, "Afghanistan's Tyranny of the Minority," Selig Harrison points out that Afghanistan's Pashtun majority is extremely unhappy with the Karzai administration because -- despite the fact that Karzai is a Pashtun -- it is dominated by non-Pashtun ethnic minorities, especially Tajiks, who control the armed forces, the intelligence service, counter-narcotics forces, and more. It's the remnants of the old Northern Alliance that control Afghanistan, Harrison reminds us, including Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, and other minorities who hated the Taliban's rule during the 1990s through 2001. (The NA, you'll recall, was supported by Russia, India, and Iran, while Pakistan's ISI supported the Taliban.)

Karzai may be trying to appeal to the Pashtuns, but he's not helping his case by showering favor on thuggish, anti-Taliban warlords. His Tajik running mate, a former defense minister named Mohammad Fahim, is intensely disliked by Pashtuns. And just this week, he allowed the violence-prone Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek warlord, to return from exile in Turkey; in 2001, Dostum was responsible for the murders of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in northern Afghanistan. By positioning himself so closely to Fahim and Dostum, Karzai is blatantly appealing for the non-Pashtun minority votes from Kabul and the northern half of the country. This is ugly ethnic politics at its worst.

Yesterday, in the only campaign debate in which Karzai took part, he took the occasion to reiterate his calls for negotiation with the Taliban, a position that seems to reflect Amrullah Saleh's comments. And Karzai, despite his Tajik and Uzbek allies, has consistently called for talks with the top Taliban leadership, not just its mid-ranking commanders and tribal leaders. Despite such calls, however, it's hard to pull off while Karzai (a) remains in thrall to the Northern Alliance and (b) seems prisoner of the US counterinsurgency effort. In the debate, Karzai said: "Afghanistan...was totally lost. I saved it."

That is at least an exaggeration.

Afghans living in Pakistani towns to return to cast votes in presidential election

Afghans living in bordering Pakistani are likely to return to their country to cast the votes in the coming presidential election, local people told Xinhua Tuesday.

Chaman is a city located in Pakistan's southwest Balouchistan province and borders Afghanistan's Kandahar province where large number of Afghan refugees have been living for a long time.

Presidential candidates are paying special attention to the Afghan refugees in Chaman. Days ago, a brother of President Karzai addressed a mass rally of about 8,000 Afghans in Chaman, urging them to come for polls and vote for Karzai.

Some supporters were holding portraits of Karzai, others were chanting slogan in his favor.

Though campaigners of other Afghan presidential candidates have not visited Chaman, there are many posters on the streets of the city.

The city is a 30-minute drive to the Afghan district of Spin Boldak next to Afghan-Pak Friendship Gate on the border. Kandahar, the second largest city of Afghanistan is about 70 miles to Chaman.

Abdul Basit, 28, said to Xinhua, "We can have the opportunity to cast our votes for the future of our country."

"Presidential candidates are promising their supporters that campaign vehicles will pick them from border and take to the polling station to the next town inside Afghanistan and be taken back after casting their votes," he said.

It is also possible that many Afghan refugees living in Pakistan's tribal areas close to their homeland would come to their country on the election day.

Unlike the previous Presidential election in 2004, Afghan refugees and expatriates living out of the country will not be facilitated to cast their votes for presidential race 2009 in the countries they live.

The prominent presidential candidates, in their TV ads and online messages, try to attract the expatriates and persuade them to return to their hometowns in the country to participate in the presidential and provincial council elections held on August 20.

It is very unlikely that even a small number of 2.5 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, or 2 million in Iran would return for vote.

There are about 800,000 well-off Afghans living in Europe and the US and some presidential candidates are particularly focusing on Afghan expatriates in West to return to Afghanistan for the polling day.

Some prominent candidates are even offering their relatives and supporters in West the return tickets and accommodation costs.

However, this time, according to Noor Mohammad Noor, the spokesman for Independent Election Commission (IEC), enabling Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran to cast their votes in host countries requires 50 million U.S. dollars and it is difficult to obtain such a budget.

Afghan warfare gets wired in quest to spare lives

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan – Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Henson goes out on patrol with a computer on his back and a joystick in his holster. He also carries a rifle, but the military is hoping he'll soon have less need for it.

A wired generation of U.S. soldiers is about to battle-test a high-tech weapon calculated to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

A key component is the "Dragon Egg," a softball-sized robotic camera that can be thrown over a hill or into a building without endangering troops. It rights itself like a Weeble Wobble toy and delivers a 360-degree view through its four tiny cameras. If any innocents are in the area, the soldier can mark the spot using his backpack computer to ward off an air strike.

"You don't have to enter a room. You don't have to worry about the first man in the room," said Sgt. Mike Fraser, who has been trained on the use of the cameras made by La Verne, Calif.-based Octatron Inc.

The idea is to bring down the Afghan civilian death rate, which is stoking public anger and draws denunciations from President Hamid Karzai after each incident.

In one of his first actions since taking over as head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal issued a tough new rule on airstrikes: If there's any chance of endangering civilians, back off, even if it means the Taliban get away.

With the new technology, "we can put a no-fire area over a mosque or a school," said Col. Harry Tunnell, commander of the 5th Stryker brigade that deployed to southern Afghanistan this summer as part of the 21,000 additional U.S. troops ordered in by President Barack Obama.

The Ft. Lewis, Wash.-based brigade is putting the computer system, called "Land Warrior" by manufacturer General Dynamics, into its first large-scale use in Afghanistan, distributing it to vehicle commanders or other team leaders, meaning it will be carried by about one in every five or seven soldiers in the brigade of more than 5,000 people. Each combat platoon of a few dozen soldiers will all receive a Dragon Egg kit.

Land Warrior comes with a viewfinder that drops over a soldier's eye and displays an aerial map marked with roads and towns, along with icons designating hostile forces and civilians. Soldiers pinpoint locations with satellite data and type notes into the system using a thumb keyboard that looks like the sliced-off bottom half of a Blackberry.

Satellite and radio links then spread the data between Stryker assault vehicles, aircraft and foot soldiers wearing the computers. If a soldier marks a vehicle or a house, it is seen instantly by anyone else in the brigade who has the system.

The 5th brigade soldiers started training with the system in June, about a month before they deployed.

It isn't perfect. Too much information can swamp the computer screens, for instance when blue dots that pinpoint a U.S. force's whereabouts become so numerous that they merge into one large dot — a "blue booger" in soldiers' parlance.

Also, the computer adds eight pounds (3.6 kilograms) to a soldier's standard 45 to 55 pounds (20 to 25 kilograms) of equipment. But Lt. Sam Bonnette says he likes "that I know where my guys are at on the ground."

Some soldiers are retrofitting the gear, sticking computers designed to sit inside body armor into backpacks so they can swing on and off easily. None of them has yet used the equipment in battle, so it's still a collection of fun or cumbersome gadgetry, depending on which soldier you talk to.

The soldier-mounted system was used by one battalion in Iraq, but never in Afghanistan, says Maj. James Dooghan, the brigade's executive officer.

The system used in Iraq weighed at least 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) and involved a lot more parts. It also lacked full GPS capabilities and didn't have the thumb-keyboard to send text messages, said Roger Spears, who manages the Land Warrior program for General Dynamics.

Coupled with the growing use of pilotless planes, Land Warrior highlights the changing nature of 21st century warfare. It comes at a time when Marine commanders are saying killing the Taliban is a lesser priority than winning friends among the civilian population — a major paradigm shift for a force that prides itself on its ability to fight.

Lt. Col. William Clark, commander of the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry regiment which is heading to this southeast town on the Pakistan border, put it this way: "My goal is not to go to Spin Boldak and shoot everything I see. I lose by doing that."

NATO to keep guns quiet on Afghan election day

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said Tuesday it will halt offensive operations during this week's presidential election, and the country's fragile security was underscored when two mortar rounds struck near the presidential palace in Kabul.

The military alliance's decision follows a similar order to Afghan forces by President Hamid Karzai, who has called for an election day truce.

Millions of Afghans are expected to vote Thursday for president and provincial councils amid threats from the Taliban that they will disrupt the poll. U.S., NATO and Afghan forces will be stationed around the country to help protect the vote, but will not be carrying out offensive operations.

"In support of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) who lead the security efforts during the electoral process, only those operations that are deemed necessary to protect the population will be conducted on that day," the NATO-led force said in a statement.

Two mortar rounds, meanwhile, hit early Tuesday near the presidential palace in Kabul, the U.S. military said.

U.S. spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias had no details of damage or casualties from the attack.

Neither Karzai or anyone else was wounded in the attack, said deputy presidential spokesman Hamid Elmi. He said the ordinance probably hit "somewhere around the compound."

"I can't see any damage in the palace right now," Elmi said.

The incident follows Monday's insurgent attacks that killed a U.S. service member and an American civilian working for the military. The military death brought to 22 the number of U.S. troops killed in August.

Thousands of U.S. Marines are pushing ahead with their largest-ever operation in Afghanistan as they try to secure parts of southern Helmand province, a major Taliban stronghold. A number of insurgent groups also operate in eastern Afghanistan, a mountainous area that borders Pakistan.

Attacks in Afghanistan have risen steadily the last three years. In a speech Monday in Phoenix, President Barack Obama spoke of fierce fighting against Taliban and other insurgents leading up to the elections.

He told a veterans group that U.S. troops are working to secure polling places so that the elections can go forward and Afghans can choose their own future.

Obama said peace in Afghanistan "will not be quick" and "will not be easy."

He said the United States still has a deep interest in the long-term outcome.

"This is not only a war worth fighting. This is fundamental to the defense of our people," Obama said.

But a powerful Afghan insurgent leader said Afghans can decide their fate "without any trusteeship."

"America has to realize that it will not achieve victory in its war in Afghanistan through increasing the number of its soldiers in this country or through the sham elections," Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told the al-Jazeera news network in a Sunday evening interview.

Hekmatyar was a favored "freedom fighter" in the 1980s when the U.S. backed rebel groups trying to push the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. Now his militants are committed to fighting international and U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Shooting of Sunni militant leader sparks riots in Pakistan

MULTAN, Pakistan (AFP) – The leader of a banned Sunni Islam militant outfit was shot dead in southern Pakistan on Monday, sparking sectarian rioting in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi, police said.

Allamma Ali Sher Haideri was killed along with one of his associates in the shooting at Pir Jo Goth village, Khairpur district, in southern Sindh province, senior police official Pir Muhammed Shah told AFP.

He said the attacker was killed after Haideri's guards returned fire, and that several of Haideri's men were wounded in the incident.

Haideri led the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a Sunni extremist outfit blamed for a string of sectarian attacks across Pakistan against Shiites.

The killing sparked rioting in the volatile southern port city Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, where angry mobs burnt a bus and a car and fired gunshots into the air, witnesses and police said.

"One of our police officials and two others were injured in the firing by the armed men during rioting," city police chief Waseem Ahmad told AFP.

He said police arrested seven men belonging to SSP from a city mosque, and recovered weapons and ammunition from their possession.

Shah said earlier that all shops and business had also shut their doors in Khairpur district, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Karachi.

"We have deployed a maximum police force in the district while paramilitary Rangers are also there to help us," he said.

Life came to standstill as strikes were observed in towns across Sindh province and in parts of neighbouring Punjab province, residents said.

"Police... were deployed in sensitive areas and we are protecting the life and property of the people," said Salman Chaudhry, the police chief in Jhang town, where SSP was formed in the early 1980s.

Shiites account for about 20 percent of Pakistan's mostly Sunni Muslim population of 160 million. More than 4,000 people have died in outbreaks of sectarian violence in Pakistan since the late 1980s.