Afghan security firms 'hand in glove' with Taliban

By Jude Sheerin BBC News 

A Senate report has found evidence that many Afghan security personnel paid with US taxpayers' money to guard American bases are hand in glove with the Taliban insurgents hell-bent on killing coalition troops.

One disturbing case uncovered by the Armed Services Committee in the western Afghan province of Herat illustrates the deadly double game played by some of these hired guns.

Two Afghan warlords involved were nicknamed by their British employers as Mr White and Mr Pink, after gangsters in the gory Hollywood movie Reservoir Dogs.

The two contractors were appointed in June 2007 by the defence contractor ArmorGroup to provide security at Shindand airbase.

Mafia-style hit

The Senate report links the pair, and their successors, to "murder, kidnapping, bribery and anti-coalition activities" during their 18 months on the payroll.

Confession Video: US Soldier Describes Thrill Kill of Innocent Afghans

 Corporal, 22, Tells How His 'Crazy' Sergeant Allegedly Murdered For Kicks, Collected Body Parts by ABC News

Underwrite by Chris Revelle, Full Video

Finally got the full video uploaded. Enjoy.

CIA drones killed U.S. citizens in Pakistan, book says

From Washington Post

CIA drones killed “many Westerners, including some U.S. passport holders” in Pakistan’s tribal area during the George W. Bush administration, the new book by Bob Woodward says.

Woodward,a longtime Washington Post journalist, writes in "Obama's Wars" that then-CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden disclosed the killings to Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari during a meeting in New York on Nov. 12, 2008. Hayden was succeeded by Leon J. Panetta in 2009.

Hayden and his deputy, Stephen Kappes, had gone to meet with Zardari, elected only two months earlier, to gauge his reaction to the drone strikes, which were generating widespread protests in Pakistan.

According to Woodward’s unattributed account of the meeting, Zardari said, “Kill the seniors. Collateral damage worries you Americans. It does not worry me.”

Hayden had told Zardari that “many Westerners, including some U.S. passport holders, had been killed five days earlier on the Kam Sham training camp in the tribal area of North Warziristan,” Woodward writes. “But the CIA would not reveal the particulars due to the implications under American law.”

“A top secret CIA map detailing the attacks had been given to the Pakistanis,” Woodward continues. “Missing from it was the alarming fact about the American deaths … The CIA was not going to elaborate.”

The CIA declined to comment for the record or make Kappes, who resigned in April, available for comment. Hayden did not respond to requests for comment.

ISAF frees Al Jazeera cameramen

Nato-led security forces in Afghanistan release cameramen and a colleague they had detained earlier this week.

Two Al Jazeera cameramen who were arrested in southern Afghanistan earlier this week by the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) have been freed.

There had been increasing pressure on Isaf from journalists in Afghanistan and beyond, as well as from the Afghan government, to release Mohamed Nader Jumaa and Rahmatullah Nekzad, who were set free on Friday. 

Hojatullah Mujadadi, a radio station manager in Kapisa and colleague of the two cameramen, who was detained by the Afghan intelligence service, was also released.

"I'm free," Jumaa said as he left Kandahar airfield, the largest Nato base in southern Afghanistan. "They said I can go, 'you're free'."

Jumaa was arrested early on Wednesday in Kandahar by Isaf, which said it had "captured a suspected Taliban media and propaganda facilitator, who participated in filming election attacks".

He said he was questioned by US investigators during the three days of his arrest.

Al Jazeera condemnation

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Al Jazeera said the arrests were "an attempt by the Isaf leadership to suppress its comprehensive coverage of the Afghan war".

After being urged to intervene on behalf of the detained reporters, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, instructed the information and culture ministry on Thursday to follow up on the detentions and work for the quick release of the jailed journalists.

The same day, nearly two dozen journalists rallied at the provincial governor's compound in Kandahar to express outrage over the arrests.

Afghan elections' obstacle course

US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'

Soldiers face charges over secret 'kill team' which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies of war

Guardian UK

Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.

Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.......



Al Jazeera gains exclusive access to a Taliban group in northern Afghanistan, where more foreign recruits are seen.