Friday, October 8, 2010

Afghanistan War News Updates -- October 8, 2010



U.S. Contractors Employed Taliban -- Wall Street Journal

Senate Investigation Says Military Depends on Private Security Forces Rife With Criminals, Drug Users and Insurgents.

WASHINGTON—A yearlong investigation by a Senate panel has found evidence that the mostly Afghan force of private security guards the U.S. military depends on to protect supply convoys and bases in Afghanistan is rife with criminals, drug users and insurgents.

The Senate Armed Services Committee inquiry, based on interviews with dozens of military commanders and contractors and a review of over 125 Pentagon security contracts, found evidence of "untrained guards, insufficient and unserviceable weapons, unmanned posts" and other failings that put U.S. troops at risk.

Read more ....

More News On Afghanistan

Inquiry Finds Guards at U.S. Bases Are Tied to Taliban -- New York Times
Contract security 'funding Taliban' -- Al Jazeera
Security contractors in Afghanistan 'fund Taliban' -- BBC
DOD security contracts aided Taliban, Senate committee says -- L.A. Times
Afghanistan: Pentagon contractors entwined with 'pro-Taliban' warlords -- Christian Science Monitor
Senate report blasts security contractors in Afghanistan -- Politico
Senate Finds Corrupt Security Firms Fund Enemy -- FOX News
Senate report says that US hires Afghan warlords and thugs as security contractors -- Baltimore Sun
Senate report blasts Pentagon for handling of security contractors -- CNN
Warlords With Tarantino Monikers Mar Afghan Security, U.S. Says -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Taliban Allies, Warlord Flunkies Guard U.S. Bases -- The Danger Room
Report: US Contractors Hired Iranian Spies, Taliban, Warlords To Guard US Troops In Afghanistan -- ABC News

Marines in Marjah face full-blown insurgency -- AP
German Soldier Killed In Afghanistan -- RTT News
5 dead in airstrike as claims of Afghan civilian deaths probed -- CNN
Governor among 15 killed in Afghan mosque blast -- Yahoo News/AP
Head of Afghanistan's Kunduz province 'killed in blast' -- BBC
Blast at mosque kills provincial governor in northern Afghanistan -- CNN
Afghan Governor Is Killed in Blast at Mosque -- New York Times

Pakistan blocks NATO convoys, but Taliban get free passage
-- McClatchy News
NATO supply truckers desperate to 'go home alive' -- AFP
Avoiding conflict with the Taliban? -- Al Jazeera

Karzai Reaches Out to Taliban in New Afghan Peace Council -- Voice of America
'Eyes of the world' on soliders, Petraeus says at medal ceremony in Afghanistan -- Washington Post
Lack of progress in Afghanistan looms large in Obama's presidency -- Xinhuanet
General tells Camp Pendleton group that Marines ‘are winning the war’ in Afghanistan -- L.A. Times

Afghan Talks May be Under Way, but Peace Isn't at Hand -- Time Magazine
The Afghan War is Becoming the Pakistan War -- Max Fischer, The Atlantic
The White House's report on Af-Pak: Hold the optimism -- David Ignatius, Washington Post
Think Again: The Afghan Surge: Ignore the hype: There's no panacea for the deteriorating U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan. -- Gilles Doronsoro, Foreign Policy
Is Afghanistan worth winning? -- Christopher Duquette, The Washington Times
Afghan Talks May be Under Way, but Peace Isn't at Hand
-- Time Magazine

US military deaths in Afghanistan at 1,219 -- Washington Post/AP

No comments: