GCOM Summary (only) 2010 Sep 07

[Felix The Assassin]

GCOM Summary 2010 Sep 07
U.S. Joint Forces Command
Global Current Operations Media Summary
Operations Enduring Freedom/New Dawn/Noble Eagle
Current as of September 7, 2010



New Developments
•Lacking Money And Leadership, Push For Taliban Defectors Stalls. A $250 million program to lure low-level Taliban fighters away from the insurgency has stalled, with Afghans bickering over who should run it, and international donors slow to put up the money they had promised. Six months after Afghanistan’s foreign backers agreed to generous funding for a reintegration effort, only $200,000 has been spent so far by the United States and little or nothing by other donors. During the same period, the flow of Taliban fighters seeking to reintegrate has slowed to a trickle – by the most optimistic estimates, a few hundred in the last six months. It is not clear whether that is because of the lack of a program that would provide them with jobs, security guarantees and other incentives, or because most Taliban no longer see the insurgency as a losing proposition. (New York Times – see attached)

•U.S. Presses For Kabul Bank Probe. The U.S. is pressing Afghan authorities to investigate allegations of financial improprieties at Afghanistan's largest bank, fearing that anything short of a thorough inquiry will further undermine President Hamid Karzai's credibility. The Karzai administration has deep ties to Kabul Bank, which depositors have thronged since last week, after news leaked that its two top executives – who are also its two largest shareholders – had resigned and been replaced by a central-bank official. The president's brother is Kabul Bank's third-largest shareholder. (Wall Street Journal – see attached)

•19 Killed In Pakistan Suicide Attack. Pakistani police say a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-filled vehicle into a police station early Monday in the northwestern town of Lakki Marwat. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility the attack. The powerful blast destroyed the building housing as many as 50 policemen at the time of the attack. Officials say children are among the victims because the bomber struck a school van before hitting the police station. Last week, a triple suicide attack on a religious procession of minority Shi'ite Muslims in the eastern city of Lahore left at least 35 people dead. Two days later, a suicide bomber struck a pro-Palestinian rally in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing more than 60 people. (Voice of America)

•Violence In Iraq Leaves 6 Dead, 21 Wounded. A string of bombings and shootings in Iraq has left at least one Iraqi military officer and five civilians dead and at least 21 people wounded, authorities said Monday. The widespread violence came a day after a bold attack by insurgents in the heart of the capital. Gunmen killed an Iraqi brigadier general as he drove his car early Monday in al-Ameriya, in western Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said. In addition, five Iraqi construction workers were found dead Monday morning in the northern city of Samarra, according to local police. Authorities discovered their bullet-riddled bodies in an apartment where they were living in the center of the city. Two of the men were engineers and the other three laborers for a construction company refurbishing a police station and a youth center. (CNN)

Military Coverage
•More NATO Troops Sought For Afghanistan. A NATO official said Monday 2,000 more alliance troops may be headed to Afghanistan at the request of General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander of international forces in there. If approved, the additional troops would join the 140,000 strong international force already in Afghanistan. The official in Brussels did not clarify which of the alliance's 28 members would send the new troops, but noted that nearly half of the requested force would be trainers for the Afghan security forces. Getting Afghan security forces ready to take over security responsibilities is paramount to the withdrawal of foreign troops Afghanistan. (Voice of America)

•U.S. Afghanistan Commanders Condemn Koran-Burning Plan. General David Petraeus, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, and Lieutenant-General William Caldwell, commander of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, warned on Monday that a small Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks could endanger the lives of American troops. The warnings followed an angry protest on Monday by several hundred people in the Afghan capital, Kabul, who chanted "Death to America" as they denounced the planned burning event by the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center church. The center says it will go ahead with the torching of the Koran on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 2001 attacks against the United States. The commanders said the proposed burning of the Muslim holy book risked undermining President Obama's efforts to reach out to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims and could also trigger retaliation against U.S. forces serving in Afghanistan. (Reuters)

World Developments
•Bahrain Arrests Dozens Of Shiite Muslims Accused Of Plotting Coup. Dozens of Shiite Muslims, including already-jailed opposition leader Abdul Jalil Singace, were accused this weekend of taking part in a foreign-backed plot to overthrow the country's Sunni Muslim monarchy. Singace and seven other prominent Shiite opposition figures and human rights activists were arrested in mid-August. Others picked up in recent security sweeps included taxi drivers, academics and civil servants. At least 23 people were arrested over the weekend and accused of being part of a terrorist network. Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)

•Iran Increases Nuclear Stockpile. Iran has increased its total stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 15 per cent, in spite of the pressure on the country exerted by economic sanctions, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. In its latest report on the state of Iran’s nuclear program, the IAEA said the country had produced 2,803kg of uranium enriched to the purity needed to run a nuclear power station. But experts said a stockpile of this size meant that if Iran chose further to enrich this material to the level needed for nuclear weapons, it would be able to build nearly three atomic bombs. However, Iran’s ability to manufacture an atomic warhead is still unclear and Tehran says that its nuclear program has only peaceful purposes. (London Financial Times – see attached)

•Spain Not Convinced New Basque Truce Is Credible. How many cease-fires can you announce and break before everyone stops paying attention? Spaniards inured to cease-fire announcements by the violent Basque separatist group ETA were mulling whether the latest one holds anything different or will fail like the others to end Europe's last major armed militancy. The government on Monday swiftly ruled out holding negotiations on a Basque homeland and rejected Sunday's truce as a desperate gambit by an extremist group staggering after the arrests of its leaders. Spain claimed the cease-fire was just another gambit by ETA in order to buy time, regroup and rearm. And a major newspaper, El Mundo, ran a cartoon Monday of a hooded ETA gunman in a traditional Basque beret offering an olive branch – albeit one that stuck out of a gun barrel. (Washington Times/AP)