Regional

US top commander suggests “greater flexibility” to potentially keep more U.S. troops in Afghanistan

Published

9 years ago

February 13, 2015

(Last Updated On: October 25, 2022)

The top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell said that he had suggested the several options scheme to US top commanders about the withdrawal process of international troops from Afghanistan.

Gen. Campbell said that he wants “greater flexibility” to potentially keep more U.S. troops in Afghanistan than are called for under the drawdown plan President Obama outlined last year.

Campbell noted his views are influenced in part by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s request for more U.S. support for Afghan forces in areas including logistics, intelligence and air support.

Army Gen. John Campbell said, “I have provided options to my chain of command” and noted that Afghan President Ashral Ghani has also asked for “some flexibility” in the schedule that would bring the American force down to about 1,000 by the end of 2016. That force would be concentrated at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and an assistance mission at nearby Bagram.

When asked about his definition of success in Afghanistan, Campbell said one measure is “the cooperation I see between police and the Army is quite good.” Right now, he said the Afghans control all district centers. He added that if one center was captured that it would retaken in “six or seven hours.”

They also are opening opportunities for younger officials to advance. As an example, Campbell said Ghani had retired 48 generals the day before the hearing and had retired 15 others when he took office. “Leadership makes a difference;” and for lieutenant colonels and colonels, “there is hope to move up.” He also noted that the Afghan army is now recruiting year-round and not just in the winter, when its soldiers are not engaged in combat.

Around 10,800 American soldiers and 2000 coalition forces are currently staying in Afghanistan to train and consult Afghan security forces.

In the meantime, Committee Chair Sen. John McCain said “the calendar-based approach” to withdrawal that would see about 5,500 coalition forces remaining in Afghanistan during the height of the summer “fighting season.” Combat traditionally ends in late September as the snows begin falling in the mountains. There are now about 12,900 coalition forces in training and assistance missions across the country in places such as Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat and Kabul.

This comes as one of the top US commanders on Wednesday said that President Obama will reexamine President Ghani’s suggest on slow process of withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan.

Reported by Fahim Noori

Regional

UN says Gaza death toll still over 35,000 but not all bodies identified

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: May 14, 2024)

The death toll in the Gaza Strip from the Israel-Hamas war is still more than 35,000, but the enclave’s Ministry of Health has updated its breakdown of the fatalities, the United Nations said on Monday after Israel questioned a sudden change in numbers, Reuters reported.

U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said the ministry’s figures – cited regularly by the U.N. its reporting on the seven-month-long conflict – now reflected a breakdown of the 24,686 deaths of “people who have been fully identified.”

“There’s about another 10,000 plus bodies who still have to be fully identified, and so then the details of those – which of those are children, which of those are women – that will be re-established once the full identification process is complete,” Haq told reporters in New York.

Israel last week questioned why the figures for the deaths of women and children has suddenly halved, read the report.

Haq said those figures were for identified bodies – 7,797 children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men – adding: “The Ministry of Health says that the documentation process of fully identifying details of the casualties is ongoing.”

Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday accused Palestinian militants Hamas of manipulating the numbers, saying: “They are not accurate and they do not reflect the reality on the ground.”

“The parroting of Hamas’ propaganda messages without the use of any verification process has proven time and again to be methodologically flawed and unprofessional,” he said in a social media post.

Haq said U.N. teams in Gaza were not able to independently verify the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) figures given the ongoing war and sheer number of fatalities.

“Unfortunately we have the sad experience of coordinating with the Ministry of Health on casualty figures every few years for large mass casualty incidents in Gaza, and in past times their figures have proven to be generally accurate,” Haq said.

The World Health Organization “has a long-standing cooperation with the MoH in Gaza and we can attest that MoH has good capacity in data collection/analysis and its previous reporting has been considered credible,” said WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris.

“Real numbers could be even higher,” she said.

Regional

Israeli forces step up attacks on Jabalia camp and Rafah in Gaza

Published

21 hours ago

May 13, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: May 13, 2024)

Israeli tanks, under cover of heavy fire from air and ground, pushed further into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, residents and Hamas media said, while tanks and troops crossed a key highway on the outskirts of Rafah in the south.

In Jabalia, tanks were trying to advance towards the heart of the camp, the biggest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, Reuters reported Monday.

Residents said tank shells were landing at the center of the camp and that air strikes had destroyed clusters of houses.

Residents and medics said several people were killed and wounded in a series of air strikes on the camp overnight. Medics said they have been unable to send teams to some of the bombed areas because of the intensity of the Israeli bombardment but they have reports of fatalities.

In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israel stepped up aerial and ground bombardments on the eastern areas of the city, killing people in an airstrike on a house in the Brazil neighborhood.

Residents said Israeli tanks have cut off the Salahuddin Road that bisects the eastern part of the city, while the eastern part of Rafah remained a “ghost town”.

Intense fighting was reported and Israeli forces and tanks were seen in the southeast area of Rafah, residents said.

Hamas’ armed wing said its fighters were engaged in gun battles with Israeli forces in one of the streets east of Rafah, and in the east of Jabalia.

In Israel, the military sounded sirens several times in areas near Gaza, warning of potential Palestinian cross-border rocket and or mortar launches.

Regional

Turkey says it killed 17 Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, Syria

Published

4 days ago

May 10, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: May 10, 2024)

Turkish forces have killed 17 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) across various regions of northern Iraq and northern Syria, the defence ministry said on Friday.

In a post on social media platform X, the ministry said its forces had “neutralised” 10 PKK insurgents found in the Gara and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq, and in an area where the Turkish military frequently mounts cross-border raids under its “Claw-Lock Operation”.

It said another seven militants were “neutralised” in two regions of northern Syria, where Turkey has previously carried out cross-border incursions.

The ministry’s use of the term “neutralised” commonly means killed. The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Turkey’s cross-border attacks into northern Iraq have been a source of tension with its southeastern neighbour for years. Ankara has asked Iraq for more cooperation in combating the PKK, and Baghdad labelled the group a “banned organisation” in March.

Last month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held talks with officials in Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, about the continued presence of the PKK in northern Iraq, where it is based, and other issues. Erdogan later said he believed Iraq saw the need to eliminate the PKK as well.

Turkey has also staged military incursions in Syria’s north against the YPG militia, which it regards as a wing of the PKK.

Erdogan and his ministers have repeatedly said that while Ankara is working on repairing ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government after years of animosity, it will mount a new offensive into northern Syria to push the YPG away from its border.

(Reuters)