ProphecyNewsWatch

[Kathleen]

[savedonce]

A passport from one of the Hamburg Cell members who plotted 9-11 was found in S. Waziristan.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2009/10/911_hihjackers_passport_found.php

[Sue]

Abdullah Will Quit Afghan Election, Officials Say

KABUL — Abdullah Abdullah, the chief rival to President Hamid Karzai, plans to announce on Sunday his decision to withdraw from the Nov. 7 Afghan runoff election, handing a new five-year term to Mr. Karzai but potentially damaging the government’s credibility, according to Western diplomats here and people close to Mr. Abdullah.

American and other Western diplomats said they were worried that a defiant statement by Mr. Abdullah could lead to violence and undermine Mr. Karzai’s legitimacy, and they were urging him to bow out gracefully. Obama administration officials have scrambled for weeks to end the deadlock, trying to ensure a smooth government transition as President Obama weighs whether to increase the American military presence in Afghanistan.

The concern among diplomats here on Saturday was that Mr. Abdullah would denounce Mr. Karzai even as he bowed out of the race, possibly causing greater anger, and even violence, among his followers. American and Western diplomats were leaning on Mr. Abdullah to pull out with little rancor and to urge his supporters to accept the fact that Mr. Karzai would be president.

This time around, Mr. Abdullah concluded that without major changes to the election system, a second round would be as fraudulent as the first. He demanded sweeping changes to the election system, including the firing of the chief of the Independent Electoral Commission, which collected and counted the ballots, and the closing of hundreds of suspected “ghost” polling centers — fictional voting sites that were instrumental in allowing Mr. Karzai’s supporters to manufacture fake ballots.

Mr. Karzai refused. And Mr. Abdullah, it appears, is refusing to relent.
http://www.nytimes.com/

[HansC]

KABUL – President Hamid Karzai's challenger plans to call for a boycott of next weekend's runoff election in an attempt to force the vote's postponement until spring, his campaign manager said — a move that would dim U.S. hopes for a . . .

Hopes Dimed

[savedonce]

Time to get out of there.

Unless Karzai gets his act together, and our military is allowed to fight the way that they were trained to.

[savedonce]

Pakistan claims two more towns, the Taliban claims that it was a staged withdrawel.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/11/pakistan_captures_tw.php

[HansC]

KABUL (AP) -- An Afghan policeman opened fire on British soldiers in the volatile southern province of Helmand, killing five before fleeing, authorities said Wednesday, raising concerns about discipline. . .

discipline

I guess concern about discipline is one way you could frame the story.

[other one]

it would not do for me to be president...... I'd call in the chiefs of staff and tell them to kick out all news reporters and "fix" the problem there. Then we'd go home.

[HansC]

SHAH JOY DISTRICT, Afghanistan — An Afghan army commander whom American troops had dubbed “Snoop” was angry, accusing a U.S. dog handler of allowing his Labrador retriever to sniff a copy of the Quran while searching a cluster of villages that U.S. forces suspect is a Taliban stronghold.

The commander — named for his resemblance to the rapper Snoop Dog — warned 2nd Lt. Blake Wyant of Company C, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment that he and his men were ready to quit the village and never work with American forces again.

Wyant, 24, of Sioux City, Iowa, listened patiently until Snoop threatened to kill the dog if the incident happened a second time. Muslims consider dogs to be unclean.

Speaking through an interpreter, Wyant looked evenly at the Afghan commander.

“You tell him that’s not going to happen,” he said. “You tell him that shooting that dog would be just like shooting an American soldier.”

The incident and several others during the three-day mission last week in a suspected Taliban stronghold underscored the fundamental challenges that U.S. troops face in Afghanistan. As the war drags into its ninth year, and as President Barack Obama contemplates sending thousands more troops, Americans are fighting alongside Afghan government forces more closely than ever. But it’s an uneasy alliance.

Wyant and Snoop struck a compromise. The handler and his dog would not search any more houses without an Afghan interpreter present. Later, after Snoop and his men had moved on, the interpreter told Wyant that they had actually threatened to kill not only the dog, but all of the U.S. soldiers in the village as well.

“Well, I know that isn’t going to happen,” Wyant said. “We’re much better shots than they are.”

U.S. and other international troops are now also fighting under strict new counterinsurgency guidelines laid down in September by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The rules emphasize protecting Afghan civilians over destroying the Taliban. The goal is to convince Afghans,. . .

Treacherous

[HansC]

. . .There they met the village elders, who escorted them to a large shade tree in the center of Qatar Kala.

The platoon commander, a 1.95 meter (6-foot-5) lieutenant named Thomas Goodman, sat among the villagers, took off his helmet and sunglasses and explained why they had come.

Anti-American fighters had been passing through Qatar Kala westward to attack U.S. outposts along the nearby Pech River, said Goodman.

"Unless this is stopped, you have to understand that you'll be getting regular visits from coalition forces," he said.

The elders were unswayed. "We ask you not to come here," one said. "It is better for us, and better for you."

The atmosphere was tense. An attack was expected. Back at the ruined clinic, the squad's Afghan translator had asked if this journalist had a mobile phone. "You should call your loved ones now to say that you care about them. I'm telling you, the walk home from here is not a joke," he said with a nervous smile.

As they left Qatar Kala, with U.S. helicopters buzzing overhead, Goodman split his men into two squads, one along the riverbed and one in an irrigation canal on higher ground.

About 500 yards outside the village gunfire whistled down from the eastern mountainside.

Soldiers dived stomach-down. The rushing canal water soaked boots and uniforms and jammed at least one weapon as soldiers got up to shoot back.

From the riverbed, the second squad fired volleys over the men in the canal. U.S. helicopters shot rockets and bursts of gunfire onto visible Taliban muzzle flashes. Nearby bases launched mortar shells and artillery barrages, and huge plumes of smoke erupted on the ridge line. Taliban fighters began moving down the hillsides. The pinned-down U.S. soldiers shot back.

Two at a time, soldiers bounded across open fields and behind the farm terraces for cover, heading for the river along which they had come. Several leaped down the steep river bank and slid behind the huge boulders to catch their breath. Gunfire popped from the opposite side of the river.

The Americans were being squeezed from both directions. The Taliban moved closer. Ammunition was running low.

A helicopter hovered by . . .

Ambush

[Kathleen]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/09/white-house-considers-sending-troops-afghanistan/



FOXNews.com
- November 09, 2009
White House Leans Toward Sending More Than 30,000 Troops to Afghanistan

Officials said President Obama will not announce his decision until after he returns from his upcoming trip to Asia and stressed that no final decision has been made, even in private. But the plan under consideration would represent a middle ground between different requests made from the top commander in Afghanistan.