Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan

This bookmark has interesting links to Iran's nuclear war weapon and its attempt to become a regional power.

"Click on the YouTube video link below to see on your computer how we dropped food packages to Afghanistan refugees -- and see how proud our military guys were in doing it. It will make you sick to see what we are not doing while thousands of Haitian children and injured are dying in Haiti because they can not get the food delivered by trucks . How can the Pentagon chiefs forget this and say it is dangerous for starving people in Haiti?? The previous Pentagon chiefs even gave it a name. they called it the TRIADS SYSTEM. "

"This past month, much of the attention focused on Afghanistan centered on the release of thousands of classified documents from the war effort by WikiLeaks. While the consensus appears to be that nothing significantly new was revealed by the release, the picture painted by the documents remains rather bleak. NATO and the United States now have 143,000 troops in Afghanistan, set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks as they take a counter-insurgency offensive into the insurgents' southern strongholds."

"He said at least five Taliban fighters launched the attack. Two suicide bombers detonated explosives-packed vests near the hotel and the City Centre shopping mall. Three fighters were in the basement of the shopping centre, he said.\n\nThe Taliban frequently attack the capital, targeting foreigners and public areas. [ID:nSGE61P0FT] On Jan. 18, Taliban fighters hit multiple locations in the city including another shopping mall, killing five people and wounding 38."

"GOLDBERG: Also at the 30,000-foot level, there is a larger sort of messaging point that I think needs to be made, which is one I think Bush could have done better at, which is that we are the only great power in really in the history of the world with the possible exception of Great Britain that actually puts its own troops in serious harm's way in order to defend and protect civilian lives this way."

"Up to 20 are thought to have died planting Improvised Explosive Devices.\nThey were racing to plant the IEDs before the Allied offensive Operation Moshtarak. The triggers on the IEDs have become so sensitive the terrorists are accidentally detonating them as they hide them. "

"There is a third strategy, however: Washington can seek to redefine the Iranian question. As we have no idea what leaders on either side are thinking, exploring this represents an exercise in geopolitical theory. Let's begin with the two apparent stark choices."

"Make your own charts comparing humanitarian statistics by country. Use the data options below to generate copyright-free graphs. Hover over bars to see exact figures. Click on the coloured squares in the country key to turn bars off and on. Click on the "view data" icon at bottom-right (next to the Help question mark) to see a breakdown of your chosen fields."

"LAHORE, Pakistan, Feb 26 (Reuters) - A Pakistan court on Friday barred the government from sending captured Afghan Taliban leaders abroad a day after Afghanistan said Pakistan had agreed to hand over a top militant commander. U.S. ally Pakistan has captured at least four senior Taliban members in recent weeks, including the militants' top military strategist and number two leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar."

"MARJA, Afghanistan - As American Marines and Afghan soldiers have fought their way into this Taliban stronghold, the performance of the Afghan troops has tested a core premise of the American military effort here: in the not-too-distant future, the security of this country can be turned over to indigenous forces created at the cost of American money and blood."

Afghan troops are said to fight better then the Iraqi troops. The reason for the better fighting skills of the Afghans is that they had ten years or more experience gained by fighting the Russians. Although the Afghans are considered to be better soldieres than the Iraqis they still behave like children and are treated as such until they man-up to become aware of being an adult.

"I spent much of the last week participating in a national security forum organized by the Air War College and hosted by the Twelfth Air Force and the 355th Fighter Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB.\n\nDiscussing the challenges of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and the surge for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan with command personnel makes for lively debate, but the best part of these forums is incidental -- the opportunity to meet many enlisted airmen and those flying the planes they make ready."

"One US military spokesman said after last year's Care incident: "We have done more than any other force in the history of warfare to try to prevent civilian casualties." He is right. UN figures show that civilian deaths caused by Western forces dropped by 40 per cent last year. Seventy per cent of the 2,412 civilians to die last year did so at the hands of the Taleban."

"It's a remarkable combination of psychological warfare, political roundtable and trash-talking. Afghan soldiers and Taliban fighters taunt each other, debate each other and try to persuade each other almost daily over their radios, at times while even shooting at each other. ABC's Miguel Marquez was just a few feet away from the explosion. I came across the astonishing facet of the Afghan War while spending time with the 302nd kandak, or battalion, of the Afghan National Army. The foes chatter with each other over their Vietnam-era, two-way radio system. It's such an antiquated system that the Taliban and the Afghan forces share radio frequencies, and verbal barbs, as they try to kill or capture one another. "