Thoughts of a veteran, Marching on Memorial Day Options

[Livyjr]

"Afghan vows to keep corrupt officials out of govt"

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

8 NOVEMBER 2009

KABUL – The embattled Afghan president pledged Sunday that there would be no place for corrupt officials in his new administration — a demand made by Washington and its international partners as they ponder sending more troops to confront the Taliban and shore up his government.

Also Sunday, NATO reported three more coalition soldiers — one American and two Britons — died in combat in the Taliban-infested areas of the west and south.

The latest losses pushed Britain's combat death toll in the eight-year Afghan war to 201.

NATO forces said they were still searching for two American paratroopers who disappeared Wednesday while trying to recover airdropped supplies that had fallen into a river.

Afghan police said the two Americans were swept away by the current and may have drowned.

With casualties mounting, corruption has become a frontburner issue in Afghanistan, with President Barack Obama and other world leaders under pressure from their own constituents to explain why they are sending young soldiers to fight and die in defense of a government riddled with graft, cronyism and fraud.

Obama is considering a request from the top U.S. and NATO commander to send tens of thousands more U.S. troops to curb the growing Taliban insurgency.

Hamid Karzai was proclaimed the winner last week in a fraud-marred presidential election after his only remaining challenger dropped out ahead of a runoff, saying he did not expect a fair vote.

With his reputation sullied by the messy election, Karzai gave assurances Sunday that he would rid his government of corrupt officials.

"Individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government," Karzai said in an interview with the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service.

The presidential press office released comments from the interview.

Karzai also said donor countries share some of the responsibility for rampant corruption because of a poorly structured system to manage projects.

The U.N. and some donor countries have also cited the need for a more efficient system to guarantee the money serves the Afghan people.

"There is no accountability of their contracts, and there is a serious corruption in the implementation of those projects."

"And the responsibility for this corruption is (with) the international community," Karzai said.

"I am hopeful that by joint cooperation we will be able to overcome all these challenges."

Karzai said he was hoping to recruit people "that have the skills and talent, no matter what they are, man or woman."

His remarks were made one day after the Afghan Foreign Ministry accused foreign critics of using corruption allegations to influence the makeup of the new government.

"Such instructions have violated respect for Afghanistan's national sovereignty," the ministry said.

A NATO statement said the American service member was killed in an insurgent attack Saturday in western Afghanistan.

The statement said the death was not part of the ongoing search operation for the two missing paratroopers but gave no further details.

Fierce fighting erupted during the search operation Friday, and NATO and Afghan forces are investigating whether a botched NATO airstrike was responsible for the death of seven Afghan soldiers and police and an Afghan interpreter during the rescue operation.

Seventeen Afghan troops, including soldiers and police, five American soldiers and another Afghan interpreter were wounded, NATO has said.

One British soldier was killed Saturday and another Sunday in explosions in the southern province of Helmand, the Defense Ministry announced.

Britain is the largest contributor to NATO forces in Afghanistan after the United States with about 9,000 troops in the country and 500 more committed by the government last month.

The latest deaths brought the total number of British service members who have died in Afghanistan to 232 — including 201 due to hostile fire.

The head of Britain's armed forces, Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, acknowledged Sunday that the British public is not convinced that the NATO coalition can succeed in Afghanistan.

In the east of the country, militants twice attacked a fuel supply convoy as it traveled along a main supply route between Pakistan and the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Police said at least two private security guards and a policeman were wounded in the attacks.

The convoy first came under fire near the city of Jalalabad, during which two fuel tankers were set on fire and three other trucks were damaged, provincial police spokesman Ghafor Khan said.

Two security guards were wounded.

Afghan police later joined the convoy to escort the remaining vehicles to Kabul.

But the vehicles came under attack again in the neighboring province of Laghman, leaving one policeman wounded and damaging three other trucks, said deputy provincial police chief Naqibullah Hotak.
__

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez, Elena Becatoros and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

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This post has been edited by Livyjr: Nov 10 2009, 04:18 PM

[Livyjr]

"TV footage shows Afghan insurgents with US ammo"

By AMIR SHAH and DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writers

10 NOVEMBER 2009

KABUL – Television footage broadcast Tuesday showed insurgents handling what appears to be U.S. ammunition in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan that American forces left last month following a deadly firefight that killed eight troops.

The U.S. military said the forces that left the area said they removed and accounted for their equipment.

Al-Jazeera broadcast video showing insurgents handling weapons, including anti-personnel mines with U.S. markings on them.

The television station reported that insurgents said they seized the weapons from two U.S. remote outposts in Nuristan province.

It was unclear when the video was filmed.

Nuristan was the site of an Oct. 3 battle in which some 200 fighters bombarded a joint U.S.-Afghan army outpost with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells.

Eight U.S. troops died — as well as three Afghan soldiers — in one of the heaviest losses of U.S. life in a single battle since the war began.

Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for NATO forces, said the material in the footage "appears to be U.S. equipment."

He said it was unclear how the insurgents got the weapons.

"It's debatable whether they got them from that location," Vician said, referring to the mountainous Kamdesh district of Nuristan where the nearly six-hour battle took place.

But Gen. Mohammad Qassim Jangulbagh, provincial police chief in Nuristan, said, "The Americans left ammunition at the base."

Three American platoons were deployed at the two posts, mostly troops from Task Force Mountain Warrior of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colorado.

The U.S. destroyed most of the ammunition, but some of it fell into the hands of insurgents, Jangulbagh said.

After the attack, the Pentagon said the isolated post in Nuristan was on a list of far-flung bases that U.S. war commanders had decided were not worth keeping.

The Pentagon said that decision was on the books before the assault — part of plans by top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal to shut down such isolated strongholds and focus on more heavily populated areas as part of a new strategy to protect Afghan civilians.

Jangulbagh lamented the pullback of U.S. forces from the outposts.

"Unfortunately, only the police are in Nuristan."

"There are no foreign troops," he said.

Farooq Khan, a spokesman for the Afghan National Police in Nuristan province, also said U.S. forces left behind arms and ammunition when they left the area, which he said is now in insurgent hands.

However, Gen. Shir Mohammad Karimi, chief of operations for the Afghan Defense Ministry, was skeptical.

"As far as I know, nothing was left behind," Karimi said.
_____

Associated Press Writer Elena Becatoros contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

"White House: Obama eyeing host of Afghan choices"

By ANNE GEARAN and STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writers

10 NOVEMBER 2009

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is considering four options for realigning U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, his spokesman said Tuesday, while military officials said the choices involve several ways the president could employ additional U.S. forces next year.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will discuss the four scenarios with his national security team on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Fort Hood, Texas, Gibbs would not offer details about those options.

He insisted that Obama has not made a decision about troop deployments.

Gibbs said that anybody who says Obama has made a decision "doesn't have in all honesty the slightest idea what they're talking about."

"The president's yet to make a decision" about troop levels or other aspects of the revised U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Obama was to speak later Tuesday at a memorial service for those killed in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

Wednesday's meeting will include representatives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who would be critical in procuring any new forces Obama may approve.

Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision is pending, said the military services are developing presentations to explain how various force levels could be used in Afghanistan and how various deployment schedules could work, given recent promises to give soldiers more rest time at home.

Military officials have said Obama is nearing a decision to add tens of thousands more forces to Afghanistan, though probably not quite the 40,000 sought by his top general there.

Gibbs said Tuesday that a decision still is weeks away.

He had earlier said no announcement is expected until late this month, when the president returns from an extended diplomatic trip to Asia.

Administration officials told The Associated Press on Monday the expected deployment would probably begin in January with a mission to stiffen the defense of 10 key cities and towns.

An Army brigade that had been training for deployment to Iraq that month may be at or near the vanguard.

The brigade, based at Fort Drum in upstate New York, has been told it will not go to Iraq as planned but has been given no new mission yet.

Military officials said Obama will have choices that include a phased addition of up to 40,000 forces over some six months or more next year, based on security conditions and the decisions of NATO allies.

Several officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been made also said Obama's announcement will be much broader than the mathematics of troop numbers, which have dominated the U.S. debate.

It soon will be three months since Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal reported to Obama that the U.S. mission was headed for failure without the addition of about 40,000 troops.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because final plans have not been disclosed, dubbed the likely troop increase as "McChrystal Light" because it would fall short of his request.

They also said additional small infusions of troops could be dispatched next spring and summer.

The more gradual buildup, the officials said, would allow time to construct needed housing and add equipment needed for transporting the expanded force.

Besides being sent to cities and towns, the new forces would be stationed to protect important roads and other key infrastructure.

As he makes his decision, Obama told ABC News that he wanted to make sure "that if we are sending additional troops that the prospects of a functioning Afghan government are enhanced, that the prospects of al-Qaida being able to attack the U.S. homeland are reduced."
___

AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven and Associated Press Writer Ben Feller contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

"Body of missing U.S. soldier found in Afghan river"

11 NOVEMBER 2009

KABUL (Reuters) – The body of one of two U.S. soldiers, missing since last week, has been found by a military diving team in a river in western Afghanistan, NATO-led forces and the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

The search for the missing U.S. soldiers inadvertently resulted in the deaths of eight Afghans in an air strike last week.

"Over the last 24 hours, one U.S. paratrooper was found, and we're still conducting an operation to identify and recover the second missing soldier," Canadian Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, a spokesman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul.

"We are quite hopeful that we will find our missing soldier."

The disappearance of the two paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division during a resupply mission near a river last week triggered a search by NATO and Afghan forces in Badghis province, near the border with Turkmenistan.

"The first signs are leading us to believe that he drowned," Tremblay said.

NATO called in an air strike last Friday after a battle erupted while Afghan and foreign troops were searching for the missing soldiers.

Seven Afghan soldiers and police were mistakenly killed in the strike, the Afghan Defense Ministry said.

The NATO-led force has confirmed the air strike deaths and said an eighth Afghan, a civilian working with the military, was also killed.

The force said it was investigating whether its air strikes were responsible for the deaths.

On Sunday, the Taliban denied they were holding the bodies of the two U.S. soldiers after earlier claiming they had recovered the two dead servicemen.

The Afghan government struck a ceasefire deal with Taliban insurgents in Badghis in July, but the province has still witnessed an increase in insurgent activity in recent months.

Reports of missing soldiers in Afghanistan are rare and immediately trigger a large-scale military response.

Another U.S. soldier has been missing in the southeast since June and insurgents have said they are holding him.

(Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Paul Tait)

[Livyjr]

"White House: Obama weighs 4 options in Afghanistan"

By ANNE GEARAN and STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writers

Tue Nov 10, 9:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is considering four options for realigning U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, his spokesman said Tuesday, while military officials said the choices involve several ways the president could employ additional U.S. forces next year.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will discuss the four scenarios with his national security team on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Fort Hood, Texas, Gibbs would not offer details about those options.

He insisted that Obama has not made a decision about troop deployments.

Gibbs said that anybody who says Obama has made a decision "doesn't have in all honesty the slightest idea what they're talking about."

"The president's yet to make a decision" about troop levels or other aspects of the revised U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama traveled to Killeen, Texas, Tuesday, where the president spoke at a memorial service for those killed in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision is pending, said the military services are developing presentations to explain how various force levels could be used in Afghanistan and how various deployment schedules could work, given recent promises to give soldiers more rest time at home.

Military officials have said Obama is nearing a decision to add tens of thousands more forces to Afghanistan, though probably not quite the 40,000 sought by his top general there.

Republican senators planned to send a letter to Obama Wednesday urging him to move quickly to fully answer Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for additional troops and resources.

Officials have told The Associated Press that McChrystal prefers an addition of about 40,000 troops next year.

In their letter, the Republican senators reminded Obama that they have supported his moves on Afghanistan so far but are concerned about the stress on the current U.S. force of 68,000.

"We urge you to move now to fully support Gen. McChrystal's call for resources and troops," the letter reads.

A copy of the letter was provided to the AP.

Gibbs said Tuesday that a decision still is weeks away.

He had earlier said no announcement is expected until late this month, when the president returns from an extended diplomatic trip to Asia.

An Army brigade that had been training for deployment to Iraq that month may be at or near the vanguard.

The brigade, based at Fort Drum in upstate New York, has been told it will not go to Iraq as planned but has been given no new mission yet.

Military officials said Obama will have choices that include a phased addition of up to 40,000 forces over some six months or more next year, based on security conditions and the decisions of NATO allies.

The Army would contribute the vast bulk of any new commitment, along with a large Marine Corps infusion.

Both services are counting on plans for a large withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq to take place as scheduled next spring.

Even so, it is not clear that large numbers of new forces could go to Afghanistan before March.

Administration officials have told the AP that some of the expected deployment would probably begin in January with a mission to stiffen the defense of 10 key cities and towns.

Several officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been made also said Obama's announcement will be much broader than the mathematics of troop numbers, which have dominated the U.S. debate.

It soon will be three months since Afghan commander McChrystal reported to Obama that the U.S. mission was headed for failure without the addition of about 40,000 troops.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because final plans have not been disclosed, dubbed the likely troop increase as "McChrystal Light" because it would fall short of his request.

They also said additional small infusions of troops could be dispatched next spring and summer.

The more gradual buildup, the officials said, would allow time to construct needed housing and add equipment needed for transporting the expanded force.

Besides being sent to cities and towns, the new forces would be stationed to protect important roads and other key infrastructure.

As he makes his decision, Obama told ABC News that he wanted to make sure "that if we are sending additional troops that the prospects of a functioning Afghan government are enhanced, that the prospects of al-Qaida being able to attack the U.S. homeland are reduced."

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven and Ben Feller contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

"Official: Obama wants revised Afghan war options"

BEN FELLER and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers

12 NOVEMBER 2009

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama won't accept any of the Afghanistan war options before him without changes, a senior administration official said, as concerns soar over the ability of the Afghan government to secure its own country one day.

Obama's stance comes as his own ambassador in Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, is voicing strong dissent about a U.S. troop increase, according to a second administration official.

Eikenberry's misgivings center on a concern that bolstering the American presence in Afghanistan could make the country more reliant on the U.S., not less.

He expressed them in forcefully worded cables to Washington just ahead of Obama's latest war meeting Wednesday.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss administration deliberations.

The developments underscore U.S. skepticism about the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose government has been dogged by corruption.

The emerging administration message is that Obama will not do anything to lock in an open-ended U.S. commitment.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that she is concerned about Afghanistan's "corruption, lack of transparency, poor governance (and) absence of the rule of law."

"We're looking to President Karzai as he forms a new government to take action that will demonstrate — not just to the international community but first and foremost to his own people — that his second term will respond the needs that are so manifest," Clinton said during a news conference in Manila with Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.

Obama is still expected to send in more troops to bolster a deteriorating war effort.

He remains close to announcing his revamped war strategy — troops are just one component — and probably will do so shortly after he returns from a trip to Asia that ends Nov. 19.

Yet in Wednesday's pivotal war council meeting, Obama wasn't satisfied with any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, one official said.

The president instead pushed for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government.

In turn, that could change the dynamic of both how many additional troops are sent to Afghanistan and what the timeline would be for their presence in the war zone, according to the official.

Military officials said Obama has asked for a rewrite before and resisted what one official called a one-way highway toward war commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recommendations for more troops.

The sense that he was being rushed and railroaded has stiffened Obama's resolve to seek information and options beyond military planning, officials said, though a substantial troop increase is still likely.

The president is considering options that include adding 30,000 or more U.S. forces to take on the Taliban in key areas of Afghanistan and to buy time for the Afghan government's small and ill-equipped fighting forces to take over.

The other three options on the table are ranges of troop increases, from a relatively small addition of forces to the roughly 40,000 that McChrystal prefers, according to military and other officials.

The war is now in its ninth year and is claiming U.S. lives at a record pace as military leaders say the Taliban has the upper hand in many parts of the country.

Eikenberry, the top U.S. envoy to Kabul and a former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, is a prominent voice among those advising Obama, and his sharp dissent is sure to affect the equation.

The options given to Obama will now be altered, although not overhauled.

Military officials say one approach is a compromise battle plan that would add 30,000 or more U.S. forces atop a record 68,000 in the country now.

They described it as "half and half," meaning half fighting and half training and holding ground so the Afghans can regroup.

"The government of Afghanistan has to accept greater responsibility for its own defense," Clinton said Thursday.

She had no comment on the Eikenberry memos.

The White House says Obama has not made a final choice, though military and other officials have said he appears near to approving a slightly smaller increase than McChrystal wants at the outset.

Among the options for Obama would be ways to phase in additional troops, perhaps eventually equaling McChrystal's full request, based on security or other conditions in Afghanistan and troop levels by U.S. allies there.

The White House has chafed under criticism from Republicans and some outside critics that Obama is dragging his feet to make a decision.

Obama's top military advisers have said they are comfortable with the pace of the process, and senior military officials have pointed out that the president still has time since no additional forces could begin flowing into Afghanistan until early next year.

Under the scenario featuring about 30,000 more troops, that number most likely would be assembled from three Army brigades and a Marine Corps contingent, plus a new headquarters operation that would be staffed by 7,000 or more troops, a senior military official said.

There would be a heavy emphasis on the training of Afghan forces, and the reinforcements Obama sends could include thousands of U.S. military trainers.
___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Manila, Philippines, and Pamela Hess in Washington contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

"Gates: Obama picking best ideas among many options"

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

12 NOVEMBER 2009

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates says President Barack Obama wants to take the best elements from several options presented to him for the next steps in Afghanistan.

Gates says the decision is near on whether to add more U.S. forces to the 8-year-old war.

He confirmed to reporters aboard his plane Thursday that Obama did not choose any of the specific options laid out for him at a White House meeting on Wednesday.

Instead, Gates said that Obama wants to select the best ideas from among many presented.

At issue is how fully to answer Obama's war commander, who wants about 40,000 additional U.S. forces and a reworked strategy.

Gates would not spell out details of the four options presented Wednesday, nor what he thinks represent the approach.

[Livyjr]

"Attacks kill 16 in Pakistan, spy agency targeted"

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer

13 NOVEMBER 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide bomber in a pickup truck attacked the northwestern regional headquarters of the Pakistani spy agency overseeing a campaign against militancy, killing 10 people Friday.

Another suicide assault in the area killed six more.

The bombings were the latest in a string of attacks on security forces, civilians and Western targets since the government launched an offensive in mid-October against militants in the border region of South Waziristan, where al-Qaida and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding out.

The attack on the Inter-Services Intelligence agency building occurred in the city of Peshawar, which has borne the brunt of the militants' retaliation against the army offensive.

A wave of bombings in the last week alone in and around the city has killed more than 50 people.

"This is a guerrilla war," said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for North West Frontier Province, where Peshawar is the capital.

"We will continue our action against these militant terrorists."

"That is the only way we can survive."

Security forces guarding the intelligence complex opened fire on a pickup laden with explosives, but the bomber was able to detonate his payload, said an intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The early morning blast, heard across the city, destroyed much of the three-story building and killed 10 people, including seven who worked for the spy agency, the army said in a statement.

Another 55 people were wounded, officials said.

"I was going to work when the blast took place and shattered the windows of our vehicle," said witness Abdul Rahim Khan.

"Thank God we are safe."

"There were a lot of dead bodies lying around."

About an hour later, a second suicide car bomber attacked a police station farther south near the Afghan border, killing six people, said police official Tahir Shah.

Five of the dead were policemen working at the station in Bakkakhel village in Bannu district; the other was a civilian.

Another 27 people were wounded, he said.

The station is close to the border with North Waziristan, an area in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region where officials believe many militants have fled to escape the recent army offensive.

The bombings took place as U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones visited the country for talks with top political and security officials, including military chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

The government has vowed the surging militant attacks will not dent the country's resolve to pursue the operation in South Waziristan, where officials say the most deadly insurgent network in Pakistan is based.

The army claims to be making good progress.

The U.S. has urged Pakistan to persevere with its South Waziristan offensive because militants have used the area as a base to attack Western troops across the border in Afghanistan.

Friday's attack in Peshawar was the second to target a spy agency complex this year.

A suicide squad using guns, grenades and a van packed with explosives attacked a police and an ISI building in Lahore in May, killing 30 people.

The ISI has been involved in scores of covert operations in the northwest against al-Qaida targets since 2001, when many militant leaders crossed into the area following the U.S. led invasion of Afghanistan.

The region is seen as a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

Its offices in Peshawar are on the main road leading from the city to Afghanistan.

The agency was instrumental in using CIA money to train jihadi groups to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Despite assisting in the fight against al-Qaida since then, some Western officials consider the agency an unreliable ally and allege it still maintains links with militants.

Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are waging a war against the Pakistani government because they deem it un-Islamic and are angry about its alliance with the United States.

The insurgency began in earnest in 2007, and attacks have spiked since the run-up to the offensive in South Waziristan.

A car bomb exploded in a market in Peshawar at the end of October, killing at least 112 people in the deadliest attack in Pakistan in over two years.

On Oct. 10, a team of militants staged a raid on the army headquarters close to the capital, Islamabad, taking soldiers hostages in a 22-hour standoff that left nine militants and 14 others dead.

Militants have also targeted convoys in Pakistan delivering supplies to soldiers in Afghanistan.

Attackers fired rockets at a group of tankers near the southwestern city of Quetta on Friday that were delivering fuel to U.S. and NATO troops.

One driver was killed and five tankers were torched, said local police chief Bedar Ali Magsi.

About 80 percent of all nonessential supplies to Western forces in Afghanistan are trucked through Pakistan after landing at the Arabian Sea port of Karachi.

NATO and U.S. officials say the attacks do not affect their operations.
___

Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar contributed to this report from Quetta.

[Livyjr]

"Army says morale down among troops in Afghanistan"

By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer

13 NOVEMBER 2009

WASHINGTON – Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday.

It was the first time since 2004 that soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase.

Self-inflicted deaths in Afghanistan were on track to go up this year.

Though findings of two new battlefield surveys are similar in several ways to the last ones taken in 2007, they come at a time of intense scrutiny on Afghanistan as President Barack Obama struggles to craft a new war strategy and planned troop buildup.

There is also new focus on the mental health of the force since a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last week in which an Army psychiatrist is charged.

Both surveys showed that soldiers on their third or fourth tours of duty had lower morale and more mental health problems than those with fewer deployments.

And an increasing number of troops are having problems with their marriages.

The new survey on Afghanistan found instances of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress at about the same as they were in 2007 but double 2005's cases.

That was 21.4 percent in 2009, 23.4 percent in 2007 and 10.4 percent in 2005.

That compares to a lower 13.3 percent in Iraq, down from 18.8 percent in 2007 and 22 percent in 2006.

(Surveys have been done every year in Iraq, but were only done during three years in Afghanistan.)

The Afghan report also found a shortage of mental health workers to help soldiers who needed it, partly because of the buildup Obama started this year with the dispatch of more than 20,000 extra troops.

Efforts to get more health workers to Afghanistan were made a little harder by last week's shooting.

The psychiatrist charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder was slated to go to Afghanistan.

Some of the dead and wounded also were to deploy there to bolster psychological services for soldiers.

Still, officials told a Pentagon press conference that they expect to meet their goal next month of having one mental health worker for every 700 troops — workers that include psychiatrists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and so on.

There were 43 in Afghanistan at the time of the survey, while 103 were deemed needed; and since the survey, there has been what Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker on Friday called an aggressive push to send the rest.

The new Afghanistan survey found that individual soldier morale was about the same as previous studies, but that unit morale rates were significantly lower.

For instance, when asked about their own morale, 17.6 percent rated it high or very high, down from 15.4 percent in 2007 and 23 percent in 2005.

When asked about their unit, only 5.7 percent gave the two highest ratings, a decrease from 10.2 percent in 2007 and 10.5 percent in 2005.

The findings come from surveys and interviews with troops and mental health workers at the wars.

In Iraq, some 2,400 soldiers in randomly selected platoons filled out surveys from December 2008 through March 2009 and a mental health assessment team went to the warfront for a month starting in late February to analyze the results and hold interviews and focus groups.

In Afghanistan, more than 1,500 troops in more than 50 platoons filled out the surveys from April to June, and the assessment team when through the same process from May through June.

It's the sixth such survey, a program that was groundbreaking when started in 2003 in that it was the biggest effort ever made to measure the health of troops — and the services they receive — right at the warfront in the middle of a military campaign.

The survey was different from previous ones in that it sampled two types of platoons.

Some were maneuver units that warfighting groups engaged in combat-related tasks and others were support units such as aviation, engineering and medical elements less likely to have as much direct exposure to violence.

Other findings of the Afghanistan survey included:

_Junior enlisted soldiers reported significantly more marital problems than noncommissioned officers, stating they intended to get a divorce or that they suspected their spouses back home of infidelity.

_Exposure to combat, long recognized as a strong factor in mental health problems, was significantly higher this year than rates in 2005 and similar to rates in 2007 for the combat units.

_Combat units reported significantly lower unit morale in the last six months of their tours of duty, more evidence of the wearing affect of long deployments.

_Troops in their third or fourth deployment reported significantly more acute stress and other psychological problems, and among those married, reported significantly more marital problems compared to soldiers on their first or second deployment.

_Troops who spent two to four hours daily playing video games or surfing the Internet as a way to cope helped lower their psychological problems, but spending time beyond that — three to four hours — had the opposite effect.

Those who exercised or did other physical training decreased their mental problems, regardless of the time spent.

_Troops reported more and better training in suicide prevention and other mental health programs that the Army has been increasing over recent years in an unprecedented effort to focus on the force's mental health.

"Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to face stress from multiple deployments into combat but report being more prepared for the stresses of deployments," Schoomaker said.
___

Associated Press writer Kimberly Hefling contributed to this report.
___

On the Net:

Army Medical Department: http://www.armymedicine.army.mil

[Livyjr]

"Suicide bomber kills 10 in Pakistan's Peshawar"

By Shams Mohmand

Sat Nov 14, 9:20 am ET

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suicide attacker set off a car bomb at a police checkpoint in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Saturday, killing 10 people, officials said.

The city, near the Afghan border, has been bombed several times since the army began an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan last month.

Militants have hit back by stepping up attacks on towns and cities, killing several hundred people.

"The car bomber approached a barrier near the police check post and then it exploded," city official Sahibzada Anis told Reuters.

Ten people were killed and more than 20 wounded, he said.

Police said two of their men were among the dead.

Pieces of the bomber's car littered the road.

Several other vehicles were badly damaged, with one flipped onto its roof.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

The army offensive in South Waziristan is aimed at rooting out Pakistani Taliban militants who stepped up their war on the security forces in 2007.

The United States, weighing options as it struggles to stabilize Afghanistan, says Pakistani action against militants in border enclaves is vital for its Afghan effort.

TALIBAN CLAIM

On Friday, a suicide car bomb exploded at an office of Pakistan's main intelligence agency in Peshawar, killing 17 people.

The Taliban said it carried out that attack, as well as a suicide bombing at a police station in the northwestern town of Bannu on Friday, in which seven people were killed.

"We will carry out similar attacks in other parts of the country," Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior Pakistani Taliban member and a cousin of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, told Reuters by telephone.

Hussain is known as "the mentor of suicide bombers".

The military says it has killed more than 520 militants in the offensive in South Waziristan, including seven on Saturday.

Soldiers have advanced into the militant heartland from three directions and captured several Taliban base areas in the region of barren mountains, ravines and patchy forest.

There has been no independent verification of casualties.

Reporters and other independent observers are not allowed into the conflict zone except on occasional trips with the military.

The violence in recent weeks has rattled investors and the main stock index has lost about 5 percent since the offensive began.

However, it ended 1.60 percent higher at 9,067.17 on Friday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the previous day the economy showed signs of recovery but risks remained.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin told Reuters the IMF had expressed concern about how insecurity could affect the economy.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony, Alamgir Bitani; Writing by Robert Birsel; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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"Pakistan: Militants attack 2 anti-Taliban figures"

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer

15 NOVEMBER 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Militants staged a pair of attacks against anti-Taliban figures in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing one of the men as part of an escalating campaign to weaken the country's resolve to fight Islamic extremism.

Militants have killed more than 300 civilians and security force personnel in the last month in retaliation for an army offensive launched in the tribal area of South Waziristan, where al-Qaida and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding.

The government has supplemented its military campaigns by helping tribal leaders and local government officials set up militias to battle the Taliban.

The militias, known as lashkars, have been compared to Iraq's Awakening Councils, which helped U.S. forces turn the tide against al-Qaida there.

As in Iraq, militants in Pakistan have targeted the leaders of such groups.

A group of militants opened fire on the house of an elder in the Bajur tribal region around midnight on Sunday, killing him several months after he signed an agreement with the government to battle the Taliban, said senior local official Abdul Malik.

The militants blew up part of Malik Sher Zaman's house in the Mamund area after the attack, he said.

Several hours later, more than a dozen militants opened fire on the house of an anti-Taliban mayor outside the main northwestern city of Peshawar, but security guards repelled the attack, killing three of the assailants, said police official Nabi Shah.

The militants who initiated the attack against Mayor Mohammad Fahim Khan's house in Bazid Khel town, some 10 miles (15 kilometers) south of Peshawar, had disguised themselves by donning burqas, the all-encompassing garments traditionally worn by Muslim women, said Shah.

"Seeing three burqa-clad women early in the morning, Fahim Khan's security guards challenged them, and the men threw away their disguise and opened fire," Shah said.

"But the guards were alert and they retaliated quickly."

The guards killed the three militants, but several others joined the fight, Shah said.

The two groups waged a gunbattle before the remaining militants fled, he said.

Khan is the second mayor to be attacked in the last week who has organized a lashkar to fight against the Taliban.

A suicide bomber hit a crowded market outside Peshawar last Sunday, killing 12 people, including a mayor who once supported but turned against the Taliban.

Khan said he would continue his campaign against the Taliban despite repeated attempts on his life.

"Militants have exploded three bombs near my house, killing innocent people, and they have opened fire on me several times but have failed so far," Khan said.

"These attacks will not weaken my resolve against militants."

The government has similarly vowed that the recent escalation of militant attacks will not deter it from continuing its South Waziristan offensive, which it launched in mid-October.

The U.S. supports the operation because Pakistan's tribal belt is home to many militants involved in attacks on Western troops across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's army has pitted some 30,000 troops against up to 8,000 militants, including many Uzbeks and other foreign insurgents who have long taken refuge in the lawless tribal areas.

The soldiers have been battling militants in three key Taliban bases in South Waziristan in recent days.

Fighting over the past 24 hours has killed five militants, an army statement said Sunday.

The information is impossible to verify independently — Pakistan has blocked access to the battle zone.

The South Waziristan offensive follows a similar military push into the Swat Valley during the summer to wrest control from the Taliban.

The government has called the operation a success, but sporadic violence there continues, underscoring the difficulties the army faces.

Pakistani troops killed 12 militants in several different areas of Swat in the last 24 hours, the army said Sunday.
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Associated Press writer Anwarullah Khan contributed to this report from Khar.

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"Clinton wants tangible Afghan progress from Karzai"

By Sue Pleming

15 NOVEMBER 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to "do better" if he wanted U.S. support, and that included creating a major crimes tribunal and anti-corruption commission.

"We're going to be doing what we can to create an atmosphere in which the blood and treasure that the United States has committed to Afghanistan can be justified and can produce the kind of results that we're looking for," Clinton said in an interview with ABC News from Singapore.

President Barack Obama is expected in the coming weeks to announce a new strategy for Afghanistan, including sending in up to 40,000 more troops to fight the eight-year-old war.

"Now, we believe that President Karzai and his government can do better."

"We've delivered that message," Clinton told ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" show.

"Now that the election is finally over, we're looking to see tangible evidence that the government, led by the president but going all the way down to the local level, will be more responsive to the needs of the people, will deliver the services that the people of Afghanistan want," Clinton said.

A central question as Obama debates sending in more troops is whether Karzai can be a credible partner in the war and tackle his government's corruption and mismanagement, which is seen as fueling the Taliban.

Karzai, due to be inaugurated this week after August's fraud-plagued election, has come under pressure from the Obama administration to do a better job if he wants to sustain U.S. support in a war that is increasingly unpopular with the American public.

The United States expected there to be a major crimes tribunal and an anti-corruption commission established by Afghanistan's government, Clinton said.

"There does have to be actions by the government of Afghanistan against those who have taken advantage of the money that has poured into Afghanistan in the last eight years so that we can better track it and we can have actions taken that demonstrate there's no impunity for those who are corrupt," she said.

DISSENT OVER TROOPS

Last week, it emerged that Obama's own ambassador to Kabul, former military commander Karl Eikenberry, had expressed deep concerns in memos to the president about sending in more troops until Karzai's government improved its performance.

Clinton, who declined comment on Eikenberry's classified memos, said she had made it very clear, for example, that the United States would not provide civilian aid to Afghanistan's government unless there was "certification" that it went through ministries that could be held accountable.

So far, the United States has dedicated about $40 billion -- about half of that on security projects -- to rebuilding Afghanistan.

The U.S. chief inspector for Afghanistan told Reuters last week that oversight and controls for that massive infusion of money had been "sloppy" so far and there needed to be more accountability for those U.S. taxpayer funds.

Clinton, who is traveling with Obama on his weeklong trip to Asia, said the U.S. president had gone the "extra mile" to make sure that he took the right decision over Afghanistan and to ensure that al Qaeda and its militant allies were defeated.

"We do not want to see Afghanistan return to being a safe haven and a staging platform for terrorism as it was before."

"That is what is driving the president to make the best decision he can make," she said.

White House senior advisor David Axelrod on Sunday defended Obama's prolonged review of Afghanistan policy, including troop strength, saying the president "is determined to get Afghanistan right."

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" program, Axelrod said an "exit strategy" for U.S. troops from Afghanistan was an obvious concern.

"We cannot make an open-ended commitment."

"We want to do this in a way that maximizes our efforts against al Qaeda, but within the framework of bringing our troops home at some point," Axelrod said.

(Reporting by Sue Pleming and Todd Eastham; Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Walsh)

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"French, Afghan troops push into hostile valley"

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

15 NOVEMBER 2009

TAGAB VALLEY, Afghanistan – Hundreds of French and Afghan troops on Sunday pushed into a hostile valley in eastern Afghanistan where militants launch quick attacks, then disappear into hillside villages.

The mission: secure the area for a planned bypass road around the Afghan capital to move supplies from neighboring Pakistan.

About 700 French troops, joined by 100 Afghan soldiers, moved into the Tagab valley before dawn with more than 100 armored vehicles.

U.S. and French attack helicopters roared overhead as insurgent snipers fired from the roofs of houses onto the advancing column of vehicles, according to a reporter for The Associated Press traveling with the French troops.

NATO forces have bases in the wide-bottomed valley, but they have had difficulty securing the mountainous area connected by small footpaths.

Just 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Kabul, the valley is seen as a launching pad for attacks in the capital.

In a neighboring valley last year, militants killed 10 French troops.

"The objective is to clear the valley to be able to build the road, and checkpoints financed by the European Union," said Col. Francis Chanson, head of France's 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment.

Construction has already begun in one of the safer parts of eastern Kapisa province.

The offensive, called "Operation Avalon," was led by the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment, with elements of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Foreign Legion.

Intelligence officers estimated there were 60 to 80 armed insurgents directly on the column's path, said Capt. Vincent, who went only by his first name because of French Foreign Legion anonymity rules.

Insurgents could be seen firing on the column of vehicles and then sliding back into houses before attack helicopters could fire back.

The reporter witnessed a man dressed like a farmer fire a rocket-propelled grenade at French troops, then drop his weapon and run into a field where he disappeared into a group of villagers.

The forces retaliated with sporadic artillery shelling and helicopter-borne missiles as the fighting intensified later in the afternoon.

There were no casualties immediately reported.

In Kabul, two rockets were fired at the military part of the city's international airport Sunday night, but did not cause any injuries, NATO said.

At least one of the rockets struck inside the airport perimeter, NATO said.

Officials were investigating whether the other had struck within or outside the perimeter.

In August, militants fired nine rockets at the Kabul airport ahead of the Afghan presidential elections.

Separately in the eastern province of Paktika, which borders Pakistan, a joint NATO and Afghan force killed a group of militants while pursuing a commander tied to the militant network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, NATO said.

It did not specify how many were killed.

The force came under fire during an assault on a building in the hills of Sarobi district, and returned fire, NATO said, adding that the militants were killed both inside and outside the building.

Two suspected militants were arrested during the operation, while the joint forces seized bomb-making materials, rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and communications equipment.

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"Gunmen in army uniforms kill 12 Iraqi villagers"

16 NOVEMBER 2009

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen wearing military uniforms shot dead at least 12 men in a pre-dawn attack in a village near Baghdad on Monday, villagers and police said.

The attack took place in the mainly Sunni village of Zauba, west of Baghdad, which at the height of the fighting in Iraq was viewed as a hotbed of support for Sunni Islamist insurgents.

One of those killed was affiliated with the main Sunni Arab political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, police said.

Villagers said some were members of formerly U.S.-backed neighborhood militias that turned on al Qaeda.

The office of the spokesman for security in Baghdad, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, said 13 people had been killed.

"Our initial information suggests this occurred because of a tribal conflict," the office said in a statement.

The violence triggered by the 2003 U.S. invasion has fallen off over the past 18 months but shootings, bombings and other attacks are still common.

(Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Kevin)

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"Obama won no concessions from China on points at issue"

By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers

17 NOVEMBER 2009

BEIJING — President Barack Obama on Wednesday wraps up a three-day visit to China that's left him keenly aware of the limits of his administration's leverage over this economic powerhouse on issues from currency exchange rates to human rights.

Obama has little leverage over China , in part because the U.S. depends on the Chinese to finance the U.S. government's growing debt, and because of the perception in China , which for years was an economic nonentity, that the U.S. is troubled and China is ascendant.

Administration officials said that the China stop, part of a four-nation Asia tour that will conclude Thursday in South Korea , was a success because it laid the groundwork for a more focused U.S.- China alliance to tackle everything from global warming to nuclear weapons containment.

China gave no evident ground on the points at issue, however.

"The meetings and the focus from a substance standpoint really have been aimed at coordinating like never before on the key global issues that together are headline issues for the United States ," said Jon Huntsman , the U.S. ambassador to China .

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said:

"I did not expect, and I can speak authoritatively for the president on this, that we thought the waters would part and everything would change."

Obama summed it up this way in a joint appearance Tuesday with President Hu Jintao:

"The relationship between our two nations goes far beyond any single issue."

Hu and Obama announced potentially significant new agreements on advancing clean energy and scientific research.

Both committed to work toward global warming initiatives and reiterated a mutual desire to contain the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.

In two areas in which the United States wants to shift China's positions — valuation of the Chinese currency and the Chinese government's censorship practices and human rights abuses — no advances were announced, however.

The U.S. is the world's largest economy; China's the world's most populous nation, with the third largest gross domestic product.

China has helped keep the American economy afloat through the recession.

Its huge trade surplus with the United States — and the $800 billion worth of American government debt that it holds — is economically unsustainable and leaves the U.S. dependent on Beijing's financial favor, however.

Obama has called for China to stop undervaluing its currency and adopt a more market-based standard as one way to begin reducing the trade imbalance.

"I emphasized in our discussions, and have others in the region, that doing so based on economic fundamentals would make an essential contribution to the global rebalancing effort," Obama said.

Hu didn't mention currency policy in his public statement.

Instead, he jabbed the U.S. for trade policies that he said held China back.

"I stressed to President Obama that under the current circumstances, our two countries need to oppose and reject protectionism in all its manifestations in an even stronger stand."

Obama also said he'd reiterated in private to Hu that there are certain "universal" human rights that should be available to all people, including a nation's ethnic and religious minorities.

Standing side by side with Hu, Obama mentioned Tibet , saying that while the U.S. recognizes it as part of China , the Chinese government should resume talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the government in exile.

Hu remained expressionless throughout Obama's remarks.

Other aspects of Obama's visit also were sobering.

Even as he arrived Sunday night, human rights organizations reported that the Chinese government was rounding up and arresting dissidents to ensure that they couldn't reach out to the U.S.

The following day, Hu allowed Obama's town-hall meeting, the first such event for a Western leader in China , to air on local television in Shanghai — but not nationally.

Hu didn't agree to any news conferences at which reporters could ask questions.

Chinese authorities even detained a Beijing -based reporter for CNN for displaying an "Oba-Mao" T-shirt that depicted Obama dressed as the late communist founder of the People's Republic of China .

While Obama is popular with many Chinese, the public's reception of him hasn't been nearly so effusive as the rock-star treatment he's gotten in other parts of the world.

There were no chants of "O-ba-ma!" at the town hall meeting.

Instead, 400 students selected by authorities at their universities awaited his arrival in silence, sitting rigidly and displaying little emotion.

Shen Yi , an assistant professor of international politics at Fudan University in Shanghai , said that Chinese interest in Obama during last year's election wasn't about his stance on currency or human rights in China, but about a broader expectation that over time he'd somehow reshape America's role in the world.

That, the professor said, will take time to come into focus.

"The popularity of candidate Obama is mainly rooted in a simple idea: He will make a real change in the U.S., especially in foreign policy."

Despite the risks and shortcomings of the visit, Obama enjoyed colorful interactions and historic sights on his first visit to the nation of 1.3 billion people.

He toured Beijing's Forbidden City, long the seat of China's emperors, on Tuesday, wearing a leather jacket with fur trim, and described the grounds as "spectacular."

The president and his entourage ascended 30 steps and went down another 30 into the courtyard.

Then they walked up a steep stone stairway and entered the Tai He Dian, or "Hall of Supreme Harmony," built in 1420 and reconstructed in 1695.

Later, Obama attended a state dinner at which the music program included a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You," a recognition by the Chinese of one of Obama's favorite performers.

On Wednesday, Obama was to meet with Premier Wen Jiabao and visit the Great Wall.

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"Army suicides to top 2008, but progress reported"

By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer

17 NOVEMBER 2009

WASHINGTON – Soldier suicides this year are almost sure to top last year's, but a recent decline in the pace of such deaths could mean the Army is making progress in stemming them, officials said Tuesday.

Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli said that as of Monday, 140 active duty soldiers are believed to have died of self-inflicted wounds.

That's the same as were confirmed for all of 2008.

"We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year — this is horrible, and I do not want to downplay the significance of these numbers in any way," he said.

But Chiarelli said there has been a tapering off in recent months from huge numbers of January and February.

"I do believe we are finally beginning to see progress being made," Chiarelli told a Pentagon press conference.

He attributed that to some unprecedented efforts the Army has been trying to work with soldiers through new programs.

Using some U.S. bases as examples of the trend downward, Chiarelli said there were 18 suicides reported this year at Fort Campbell in Kentucky — and that 11 of those were in the first four months of the year.

At Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, there were seven all year so far — five in the first five months of the year and only two since.

The Army widened suicide prevention in March in an attempt to make rapid improvements in its programs and policies.

Army efforts to curb suicides also were increased Oct. 1 with the beginning of the so-called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, which aims to put the same emphasis on mental and emotion strength as the military traditionally has on physical strength.

Basic training now includes anti-stress programs as part of a broader effort to help soldiers deal with the aftereffects of combat and prevent suicides.

Still, another jump in suicide figures for 2009 would make it the fifth straight year that such deaths have set a record as troops continue to come under the stress of two overseas wars.

It compares with 140 in 2008, 115 in 2007 and 102 in 2006.

The numbers kept by the service branches don't show the whole picture of war-related suicides because they don't include deaths after people have left the military.

The Department of Veterans Affairs tracks those numbers and says there were 144 suicides among the nearly 500,000 service members who left the military from 2002-2005 after fighting in at least one of the wars.

The true incidence of suicide among military veterans is not known, according to a report last year by the Congressional Research Service.

Based on numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the VA estimates that 18 veterans a day — or 6,500 a year — take their lives, but that number includes vets from all previous wars.

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"Afghan capital in lockdown for Karzai inauguration"

by Lynne O'Donnell

17 NOVEMBER 2009

KABUL (AFP) – Afghan and international authorities have ordered a security lockdown on Kabul to stop Taliban attacks marring Thursday's inauguration of President Hamid Karzai for another five years in power.

The government declared Thursday a public holiday and vowed maximum security while the city's international airport, controlled by NATO's International Security Assistance Force will close, an ISAF officer told AFP.

"There will be no air movements in or out, except for night Hajj flights" taking Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

International troops, which in total number 100,000 US and NATO-led forces across the country, will be on standby to assist Afghan security forces in the event of an attack, he said.

Security companies are recommending international clients remain indoors, at home, amid wide expectations of suicide bomb and rocket attacks.

The Afghan government declared Thursday a public holiday in Kabul and advised the capital's residents to "avoid unnecessary movements".

The United Nations is also expected to order international staff to remain indoors, as major roads around Kabul will be closed to traffic.

Foreign staff at some UN agencies have said they are in "lockdown" -- not permitted off their premises -- for three days around the ceremony.

"I'm betting on at least three or four rockets into the palace at 6:30 on Thursday morning," said one senior Western official, who also declined to be identified.

He said requests to the president's office for added security for non-governmental organisations in Kabul have been ignored and as a result "NGOs are feeling a lot more vulnerable".

"Karzai has done nothing to reassure international workers that he is stepping up security," he said.

"We're on our own in this town now."

Karzai is due to be sworn in as president for another five years at a ceremony -- described by his office as "glorious" -- at the heavily fortified presidential palace in the centre of the capital.

Western and regional foreign ministers are expected to attend, along with hundreds of Afghan dignitaries and local and foreign correspondents.

Afghanistan's National Directorate for Security announced that "all necessary security measures have been taken" for the inauguration ceremony.

"The sworn enemies of the nation will try to (disrupt) the ceremony," it said, referring to the Taliban-led insurgency and offering rewards for information leading to the "exposure of plots".

The defence ministry warned of road closures across the capital on Thursday.

Karzai's inauguration is controversial as it follows an August 20 election marred by massive ballot-stuffing -- mostly in Karzai's favour -- and the withdrawal of his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah from a run-off.

To many Afghans, Karzai's presidency lacks legitimacy, his government lacks authority, and the way in which he took the presidency lacks credibility.

The Taliban considers him a puppet of the US and NATO, whose troops are battling to defeat the insurgency.

Western diplomats and officials in Kabul, as well as security and military experts, said they expect Taliban attacks around the inauguration.

Rockets are occasionally fired over Kabul from outlying villages, in what diplomats say is a Taliban intimidation tactic, but rarely cause casualties.

In recent months, the militant organisation has launched devastating suicide car bomb attacks that have killed up to 100 people in the capital alone.

The Taliban waged a vicious campaign around the August 20 election and attacked a UN guesthouse in Kabul, killing five UN workers on October 28.

The attack traumatised the foreign population of Kabul, and saw the UN withdraw up to 600 staff, of a total of 1,300 in the country.

A UN official told AFP that only "a couple of hundred" foreign employees remain in Afghanistan, and "they will be in lockdown on Thursday".

Security experts and diplomats said they expect that attacks that had been planned to derail the November 7 run-off could be deferred to the inauguration.

"They've got everything in place, why waste it?" said one security company executive.

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"Analysis: US works with and around Afghan leader"

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

19 NOVEMBER 2009

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has a simple-sounding strategy for the problem that is Hamid Karzai:

Work with him and around him at the same time.

As President Barack Obama nears an announcement about whether the United States will add military forces to an unpopular war, he cannot avoid dealing with the corruption-stained Afghan leader and the culture of graft and inefficiency that years of U.S. and international largesse has helped to build.

But Washington is also looking for ways to direct aid, expertise and influence to local and provincial governments far from Karzai's compound in Kabul.

The U.S. troop infusion widely expected for next year will also largely bypass Karzai, who wants more troops but won't get much say in where they go or how they are used.

"He has some strengths, but he has some weaknesses," Obama said Wednesday.

Never a favorite among Obama insiders, Karzai took office for a second five-year term on Thursday as Washington's inevitable man, instead of the indispensable man he was to former President George W. Bush.

Obama praised Karzai for holding his government together but declined to say he trusts him.

"I'm less concerned about any individual than I am with a government as a whole that is having difficulty providing basic services to its people," Obama said in his latest blunt assessment of the Karzai government.

Obama made his comments during his trip to Asia in interviews with NBC, CNN and CBS.

The Karzai government's competence and ability to shed at least some of its taint of corruption are critical to whether there will be any credible Afghan civilian support for the growing U.S. war effort, now in its ninth year.

Senior administration officials say they are applying the tough love that Bush did not.

For starters, Washington is asking Karzai not to embarrass his patrons by keeping obvious thugs on the payroll.

U.S. officials say they are already diverting some development money and decision-making power away from Kabul ministries, taking advantage of Afghanistan's historically decentralized power system to give local leaders more direct control over projects in their backyards.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama's announcement about a revamped Afghanistan strategy is still under wraps.

The United States would prefer to see honest politicians at the helm of key government ministries such as Interior, Intelligence and Defense and the sketchier Karzai loyalists shunted off to places where they could do the least harm.

Washington has sent word that a few Karzai cronies must go and that he should not toss out ministers who have demonstrated their independence.

One failed critical test, so far, is that Karzai has refused to push aside a half brother long alleged to have links to the drug trade.

"The U.S. strategy cannot be dependent on Karzai," said Alex Thier, an Afghanistan specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

"It could not be dependent on him when he was the good guy and it cannot be dependent on him now that he is perceived as the bad guy."

Thier, just back from meeting with U.S and Afghan officials in Afghanistan, said the administration has begun to make good on pledges to cultivate responsible leaders apart from Karzai.

The Karzai government unveiled an anti-corruption and major crimes unit this week just as Afghanistan slipped three places to become the world's second most-corrupt country, according to an annual survey by Transparency International, an anti-corruption watchdog.

"They've done some work on that, but in our view, not nearly enough to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose to tackle corruption," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters Wednesday during her flight to Kabul for Karzai's inauguration.

"We are concerned about corruption and we obviously think it has an impact on the quality and capacity of governing."

"So we're going to be persistent, asking for the kinds of outcomes that we think reflect that they are serious about this."

"But I can't predict what will or won't happen at this point."

Clinton's presence lends a carefully calibrated blessing to Karzai's second term, which came after one deeply flawed election and one Karzai claimed by default.

Some other nations sent heads of state, but there was never much chance that Obama himself would make the trip.
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Anne Gearan has covered national security affairs in Washington since 2004.