WAR IN
AFGHANISTAN, 2001-??
It’s
official: the Afghanistan war won’t end under Obama
US
TROOPS TO STAY IN AFGHANISTAN IN POLICY SHIFT
President
Barack Obama has confirmed plans to extend the US military presence in
Afghanistan beyond 2016, in a shift in policy.
Speaking
at the White House, he said the US would keep 5,500 troops in the country when
he leaves office in 2017… Announcing the plan on Thursday, President Obama said
the troop extension could "make a real difference" for Afghanistan and Afghan
security forces, which he acknowledged were "not as strong" as they needed to
be… "It's the right thing to do," the president said about the policy change.
"As commander in chief I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as safe haven for
terrorists to attack our nation again." … He
described the mission in Afghanistan as "vital to US national security
interests". More
ANDREW
BACEVICH: Why Washington Can't "Stand Up" Foreign Militaries
First
came Fallujah, then Mosul, and later Ramadi in Iraq. Now, there is Kunduz, a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan. In all
four places, the same story has played out: in cities that newspaper reporters
like to call “strategically important,” security forces trained and equipped by
the U.S. military at great expense simply folded, abandoning their posts (and
much of their U.S.-supplied weaponry) without even mounting serious resistance.
Called upon to fight, they fled. In each case, the defending forces gave way
before substantially outnumbered attackers, making the outcomes all the more
ignominious… Based on their performance, the security forces on which the
Pentagon has lavished years of attention remain visibly not up to the job.
Meanwhile, ISIS warriors, without the benefit of expensive third-party
mentoring, appear plenty willing to fight and die for their cause. Ditto Taliban
fighters in Afghanistan. The beneficiaries of U.S. assistance? Not so much.
More
The US
Could End Saudi War Crimes in Yemen - It Just Doesn't Want To
The
Saudi-led coalition is guilty of systematic war crimes in Yemen, and the US
bears legal responsibility because of the use of arms purchased from the United
States, an Amnesty International report charged in early October. But although
the Obama administration is not happy with the Saudi war and has tremendous
leverage over the Saudis, it has demonstrated over the past several weeks that
it is unwilling to use its leverage to force an end to the war. And it now
appears that the administration is poised to resupply the munitions used by the
Saudis in committing war crimes in Yemen. The October 6 Amnesty report documented an openly declared Saudi
policy of deliberately targeting two Yemeni cities for air attacks in violation
of the laws of war. It also documented US liability for the war crimes committed
in the air war against Yemen… The Amnesty report points out that the United
States has a legal obligation under the Arms Trade Treaty not to provide weaponry it knows will be
used in the indiscriminate bombing of Yemen. More
Reps. Dingell, Ellison
& Lieu circulated a letter to Pres. Obama Expressing Concern
over Growing Civilian Death Toll in Yemen Airstrikes – signed by a total of only
13 House members, but including our own Rep. Jim McGovern:
We
write to express our dismay over recent reports that airstrikes conducted by the
Saudi Arabia-led coalition struck yet another wedding reception on Wednesday,
October 7 in Sanban village, killing at least 23 people. This attack comes just
over a week after the even deadlier attack on a wedding party in Wahijah
village, on Monday, September 28, which killed at least 131 Yemeni civilians,
including at least 80 women. Sadly, these are only the latest tragedies in the
campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. According to Amnesty International,
more than 2,100 civilians, including at least 400 children, have been killed in
the conflict, with the “vast majority” of civilian deaths and injuries
attributed to attacks by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition. More
Yemen:
'Bombs fall from the sky day and night': Civilians under fire in northern
Yemen
A
devastating air bombardment campaign launched in March 2015 by a coalition led
by Saudi Arabia has killed and injured hundreds of civilians in Yemen, many of
them children. The governorate of Sa’da has been particularly targeted, as it is
the stronghold of the Huthi armed group, and its capital Sa’da city has suffered
more destruction as a result of relentless coalition airstrikes than any other
city in Yemen. Much of the city and its surroundings are in ruins and most of
the civilian population was forced to flee. More
Photos of the
destruction rarely appear in US media, but see here
U.S.
Support for Saudi Strikes in Yemen Raises War Crime Concerns
“The
humanitarian crisis in Yemen has received too little attention, and it directly,
or indirectly, implicates us,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who noted that
the airstrikes may violate legislation he authored barring the United States from
providing security assistance to countries responsible for gross human rights
abuses. “The reports of civilian casualties from Saudi air attacks in densely
populated areas compel us to ask if these operations, supported by the United
States, violate” that law, Leahy told Foreign Policy in an emailed statement. In
any event, he added, “there is the real possibility that [the air campaign] is
making a bad situation worse.” More
Washington
and Kabul Stand in the Way of International Probe Into Kunduz
Attack
An
international panel said it is prepared to launch an investigation into the
botched American airstrike that hit a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in
Afghanistan this month, but the probe can’t begin unless both Washington and
Kabul sign off — a step the two governments may hesitate to take because of the
potential political and legal fallout… Washington has promised a full probe into
who asked for the strike, who approved it, and why the many safeguards designed
to prevent such a tragedy all failed to do so. So far, however, the White House has refused
to allow the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), a
Swiss-based body designed to investigate breaches of humanitarian law, to begin
its work. More
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