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Entries Tagged as 'Afghanistan'

Obama invokes ‘state secrets’ claim to dismiss suit against targeting of U.S. citizen al-Aulaqi

September 26th, 2010 · Accountability, Defense, Homeland Security, National Security, War on Terrorism

By Spencer S. HsuWashington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 25, 2010; 1:49 AMThe Obama administration urged a federal judge early Saturday to dismiss a lawsuit over its targeting of a U.S. citizen for killing overseas, saying that the case would reveal state secrets.

The U.S.-born citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, is a cleric now believed to be in Yemen. Federal authorities allege that he is leading a branch of al-Qaeda there.

 Government lawyers called the state-secrets argument a last resort to toss out the case, and it seems likely to revive a debate over the reach of a president’s powers in the global war against al-Qaeda.

Civil liberties groups sued the U.S. government on behalf of Aulaqi’s father, arguing that the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command’s placement of Aulaqi on a capture-or-kill list of suspected terrorists – outside a war zone and absent an imminent threat – amounted to an extrajudicial execution order against a U.S. citizen. They asked a U.S. district court in Washington to block the targeting.

In response, Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the groups are asking “a court to take the unprecedented step of intervening in an ongoing military action to direct the President how to manage that action – all on behalf of a leader of a foreign terrorist organization.”

Miller added, “If al-Aulaqi wishes to access our legal system, he should surrender to American authorities and return to the United States, where he will be held accountable for his actions.”

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Obama envisions no major changes in Afghan strategy despite disapproval rate

September 20th, 2010 · Deception, Defense, Democrats, Economy, Ethics, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Government Control, Homeland Security, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within, Treason, War on Terrorism

By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 18, 2010; 3:48 AM

Despite discouraging news from Afghanistan and growing doubts in Congress and among the American public, the Obama administration has concluded that its war strategy is sound and that a December review, once seen as a pivotal moment, is unlikely to yield any major changes.

This resolve arises amid a flurry of reports from outside experts and former officials who are convinced that the administration’s path in Afghanistan is unsustainable and its objectives are unclear. Lawmakers from both parties are insisting that they be given a bigger say in assessing the war’s trajectory.

The White House calculus is that the strategy retains enough public and political support to weather any near-term objections. Officials do not expect real pressure for progress and a more precise definition of goals to build until next year, with the approach of a July deadline President Obama has set for decisions on troop withdrawals and the beginning of the 2012 electoral season.

“The fundamentals are in the place where they should be,” a senior administration official said. Any adjustments will be akin to “moving the rabbit ears around a little bit to get better reception,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll be changing the channel come December.”

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Karzai rift prompts U.S. to reevaluate anti-corruption strategy in Afghanistan

September 14th, 2010 · Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Treason

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 13, 2010; 3:18 AM

Senior Obama administration officials have concluded they need to step back from promoting American-style law enforcement as the main means of fighting corruption in Afghanistan because of the rift it has caused with President Hamid Karzai.

President Obama’s top national security advisers, who will meet with him this week to discuss the problem, do not yet agree on the contours of a new approach, according to U.S. civilian and military officials involved in Afghanistan policy. But the officials said there is a growing consensus that key corruption cases against people in Karzai’s government should be resolved with face-saving compromises behind closed doors instead of public prosecutions.

“The current approach is not tenable,” said an administration official who, like others interviewed, agreed to discuss internal deliberations only on the condition of anonymity. “What will we get out of it? We’ll arrest a few mid-level Afghans, but we’ll lose our ability to operate there and achieve our principal goals.”

Relations between Karzai and the United States have nosedived since the arrest of one of his palace aides on bribery charges six weeks ago. The arrest – made by an Afghan anti-graft task force that has received extensive financing, training, equipment and intelligence support from the FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies – proved embarrassing for the Afghan leader. Karzai responded by ordering the aide released and instructing his Justice Ministry to impose new rules limiting international involvement in corruption investigations.

“We need to convince him we’re not on a witch hunt but that we need his cooperation,” said the U.S. official. The Bush and Obama administrations have had to adjust their policies in Afghanistan on several occasions after resistance from Karzai.

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U.S. effort to help Afghanistan fight corruption has complicated ties

September 10th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Economy, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Government Control, Greed, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Treason

By Greg Miller Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 10, 2010; 1:04 AM

In the span of several months, U.S.-backed investigative teams have assembled alarming evidence of rampant corruption in Afghanistan and the extent to which it reaches the highest ranks of that nation’s government.

But the American effort to increase Afghanistan’s capacity to combat corruption has also had unintended consequences, aggravating the U.S. relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and producing embarrassing revelations that have undermined attempts to build popular trust in the government in Kabul – a key component of the Obama administration’s counterinsurgency campaign.

After pouring more resources into the anti-corruption effort over the past 18 months – including teams of advisers and sophisticated wiretapping technology – administration officials said there is growing concern that rooting out graft is paradoxically reinforcing perceptions that the problem is endemic.

“Our big push to help build Afghan institutions for transparency and anti-corruption has had the dismaying effect of bringing a lot of stuff to light that has sparked political crises,” said a senior administration official. “Afghan institutions are growing more capable” of fighting corruption, the official said. But their work has the potential to “set us back.”

The quandary in many ways reflects the extent to which the U.S. government has operated at cross-purposes in Afghanistan, doling out vast sums of money to win over warlords and buy security for military convoys, then cracking down on abuse in a system awash in American cash.

After nearly nine years of nation-building in Afghanistan, experts said, the U.S. government faces mounting evidence that it has helped to assemble one of the most corrupt governments in the world.

“I don’t know how you can disaggregate the way in which [the U.S. government] has funneled money into Afghanistan from the crisis of corruption that presents itself today,” said C. Christine Fair, an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service who has monitored the U.S. role in Afghanistan. “We are a government at odds with ourselves.”

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Karzai seeks to limit role of U.S. corruption investigators like Obama and Ft. Hood

September 9th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Foreign Policy, Government Control, Homeland Security, National Security, Selling Out the US, Treason, War on Terrorism

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 9, 2010; 12:05 AM

Afghan President Hamid Karzai intends to impose rules restricting international involvement in anti-corruption investigations, a move that U.S. officials fear will hobble efforts to address the endemic graft that threatens support for his administration in Afghanistan and the United States.

Karzai wants to circumscribe the role of American and other foreign law enforcement specialists in two key anti-corruption organizations in the Interior Ministry by not allowing them to have direct involvement in investigations.

“The management will be Afghan, and the decision-makers will be Afghan, and the investigators will be Afghan,” Mohammad Umer Daudzai, Karzai’s chief of staff, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. Foreign advisers, most of whom work for the U.S. Justice Department, will be limited to “training and coaching, but not decision-making,” he said.

Concern about Karzai’s willingness to root out corruption has emerged as a flashpoint in the U.S.-Afghan relationship, with American officials arguing that he has not done enough to demand accountability and Karzai maintaining that the problem has been fueled by the influx of billions of dollars in foreign assistance.

The planned changes have alarmed U.S. officials in Kabul and Washington and prompted efforts to try to persuade Karzai and his advisers to soften the restrictions.

“What he’s proposing would effectively neuter these two bodies,” said a U.S. official involved in Afghanistan policy.

Daudzai said Karzai also plans to prevent the U.S. government from influencing the selection and augmenting the salaries of the Afghan investigators and prosecutors who serve in the two groups.

In June, U.S. officials involved in anti-corruption investigations told The Washington Post that senior officials in Karzai’s government had derailed investigations of politically connected Afghans. “Above a certain level, people are being very well-protected,” one senior U.S. official told The Post.

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Kabul Bank called on Thursday for intervention by the United States to head off a financial meltdown.

September 2nd, 2010 · Democrats, Economy, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Non-Transparency, Tax Dollars, Taxes, War on Terrorism

Nervous Afghans pull money from Kabul Bank, raising fears

By David Nakamura and Andrew Higgins Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 2, 2010

KABUL – With Afghans clamoring to pull their cash from their nation’s biggest bank, the United States risks a politically perilous decision: whether to step in to help shore up a wobbly bank critical not only to Afghanistan’s economy but also to the battle against the Taliban.

A swarm of customers at the headquarters of Kabul Bank in the Afghan capital on Wednesday raised the prospect of a full-scale bank run that would further alienate dispirited Afghans from their government and imperil American efforts to contain the insurgency.

The tumult in Kabul and reports of crowds at other branches suggested that a decision this week by the Central Bank to purge the management of Kabul Bank and rein in its freewheeling ways – which included disastrous property speculation in Dubai – could backfire and set off the very crisis officials hoped to avoid. President Hamid Karzai’s brother Mahmoud, who used to run an Afghan restaurant in Maryland, owns 7 percent of Kabul Bank.

Afghan officials, struggling to prevent panic, insisted Wednesday that Kabul Bank and its rivals, some of which are perhaps even more fragile, are not in danger of collapse.

David Cohen, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing, praised the Central Bank’s leaders for acting “aggressively, decisively and as a bank regulator should act under the circumstances.” He said the Treasury Department is “confident” that the Central Bank “has the expertise to handle the situation with Kabul Bank.”

Treasury has assigned a small team of experts to work with the Central Bank on the matter.

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Gen. Petraeus runs into resistance from Karzai over village defense forces

July 11th, 2010 · Deception, Defense, Democrats, Ethics, Foreign Policy, Government, Government Control, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within, Treason, War on Terrorism

By Joshua Partlow and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 10, 2010

KABUL — As he takes charge of the war effort in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus has met sharp resistance from President Hamid Karzai to an American plan to assist Afghan villagers in fighting the Taliban on their own.

A first meeting last week between the new commander and the Afghan president turned tense after Karzai renewed his objections to the plan, according to U.S. officials. The idea of recruiting villagers into local defense programs is a key part of the U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan, and Karzai’s stance poses an early challenge to Petraeus as he tries to fashion a collaborative relationship with the Afghan leader.

Senior U.S. officials say that the United States would like to expand the program to about two dozen sites across Afghanistan, double the current number, and are hoping to overcome Karzai’s concerns. But the issue is delicate to many who fear that such experiments could lead Afghanistan further into warlordism and out-of-control militias.

The U.S. initiative was developed under Petraeus’s predecessor, ousted Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, although Petraeus has been a strong supporter of such programs. When Petraeus commanded the Iraq war, U.S. forces partnered with tens of thousands of civilian guards, including former insurgents, who fought against the group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Despite his tensions with other U.S. officials, McChrystal formed a close working relationship with Karzai. The question of whether Petraeus can replicate that bond remains a significant uncertainty hanging over the war effort.

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U.S. outpost in Afghanistan was left vulnerable to attack, inquiry finds

February 6th, 2010 · Deception, Defense, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Government Control, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, War on Terrorism

By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 6, 2010

KABUL — Delays in closing a remote U.S. military outpost in eastern Afghanistan before eight American soldiers were killed last fall in an attack by 300 insurgents increased the base’s vulnerability, according to a summary of a military investigation released Friday.

The prolonged siege of Combat Outpost Keating, in the Kamdesh district of Nurestan province, was one of the deadliest insurgent attacks against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. It came to symbolize the danger entailed in posting small groups of soldiers in sparsely populated areas, a strategy commanders have moved away from under a new plan to protect more-populous areas.

The investigation into the attack, led by Army Maj. Gen. Guy C. Swan III, drew on interviews from about 140 people who were either at the outpost or had information about the attack. The inquiry found that the roughly 60 soldiers stationed there defended the base courageously, killing about 150 insurgents.

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U.S. commanders in Afghanistan face tougher discipline for battlefield failures

February 6th, 2010 · Defense, Government Control, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, War on Terrorism

By Greg Jaffe Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 5, 2010

The U.S. military has reprimanded an unusually large number of commanders for battlefield failures in Afghanistan in recent weeks, reflecting a new push by the top brass to hold commanders responsible for major incidents in which troops are killed or wounded, said senior military officials.

The military does not release figures on disciplinary actions taken against field commanders. But officials familiar with recent investigations said letters of reprimand or other disciplinary action have been recommended for officers involved in three ambushes in which U.S. troops battled Taliban forces in remote villages in 2008 and 2009. Such administrative actions can scuttle chances for promotion and end a career if they are made part of an officer’s permanent personnel file.

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Killing of cleric prompts outrage in Kabul and apology from coalition forces

January 29th, 2010 · Defense, National Security, Obama's Scheme, War on Terrorism

By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 29, 2010

KABUL — A gunner in a U.S. military convoy shot and killed a local imam as he was driving his car here Thursday morning, prompting outrage among residents and an apology from coalition forces.

The killing of civilians is a sensitive political issue in Afghanistan and has become a public cause for President Hamid Karzai. U.S. commanders have taken pains to minimize such killings in recent months, but each new civilian death is capable of inflaming public sentiment against the presence of American troops.

The shooting Thursday occurred along a stretch of four-lane highway in the eastern Kabul neighborhood of Paktia Kot, outside Camp Phoenix, a U.S. military base. The site is not far from where a suicide bomber targeted a passing convoy Tuesday, wounding eight American soldiers.

In a statement describing the shooting, the U.S. military said the convoy “fired on what appeared to be a threatening vehicle,” without elaborating.

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