Bomb Hits Canadian Convoy in Afghanistan

[Judi Lynn]

Bomb Hits Canadian Convoy in Afghanistan
Suicide Car Bomb Hits Canadian Military Convoy in Afghanistan, Killing One and Wounding Seven
The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan Jan 15, 2006 — A suicide car bomb hit a Canadian military convoy in a southern Afghan city Sunday, killing at least one person and wounding seven, officials said.

The blast occurred as the convoy was driving near the Canadian base in Kandahar city, a former Taliban stronghold, said Dad Mohammed Rasa, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

He said at least one civilian was killed and seven people were wounded. He said it was not clear if there were casualties among the Canadian troops.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said initial reports confirmed there had been an attack on a coalition convoy and said there were unspecified casualties among the troops. He declined to identify their nationality.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1507494

[xchrom]

1. afghana where?

[applegrove]

2. Afghana-should-have-been-all-wrapped-up-by-now-stan. Remember -

they enabled 9/11. They are pretty directly involved. And our boys get to step up to fill the void in Afghanistan - due to optional war elsewhere taking US troops. And I don't think we got enough troops to lock down a whole country.

Condolences to the families of the casualties. Sending ancestral strength to the wounded. This won was worth winning. And why - oh - why does Rummy so prefer a long drawn out war to a short and snappy one with the tactical numbers necessary?

I'm too tired to call him an ***hole!

[EuroObserver]

3. That place Brits and Canucks

(so far, it seems, all-but alone) are supposed from now on to sort out, in the name of NATO.

Note: must be diplomatic about the heroin trade, though: careful not to step on the wrong toes...

(ed. sorry, for remnants of NATO read "international community" :sarcasm: )

[0007]

4. At first I thought another U.S. bomb went a stray by a confused US flyer

Wonder if any US troops we're in this attack? Col. Jerry O'Hara Col. declined to identify their nationality.

[cantstandbush]

5. The war in Afghanistan is NOT over and we did NOT win it!!!

Just remember what Russia went through in Afghanistan. It took over ten years before reality hit them.

[george_maniakes]

6. This is not a russian invasion...

this is a canadian attempt to help the afghan people. Not to further canadian interests, american interests, or "western" interests, just to help people. So that afghanistan can join the world on its feet, not subject to anyone but its own people. I personnally think its sucks though that we are under american command for some months before i believe the brits take over command of the area we are in. In places like that, its important for the locals to know that your only interest is their well-being.

Edit: added an "is"

[cantstandbush]

7. Sorry but the locals don't speak English and they see only

airstrikes bombing the hell out of Muslims everywhere. I understand what this is to us but to them it is something different.

[george_maniakes]

8. Then we do our best to ensure they know why we are there.

Canada sure isnt bombing the hell out of anyone in afghanistan right now. We are there to help. We have never pulled out of a war, we will not now because we are there for the right reasons. We will stay until we are no longer needed.

[Billy Burnett]

9. Oh please.

We're (Canada is) there to help BigOil/Energy build pipelines.

[Pavulon]

10. yeah..

isn;t that debunked on snopes. There is no pipeline, no attempt.

But I guess the people who think bush blew up the trade centers so we could invade Afghanistan for the big pipe this logic works..

[mbperrin]

12. Your gov't thinks it's a go if security changes;

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/afghan.html

Afghanistan Fact Sheet
The information contained in this report is the best available as of June 2004 and can change.
Afghanistan as an Energy Transit Route<snip>

Due to its location between the oil and natural gas reserves of the Caspian Basin and the Indian Ocean, Afghanistan has long been mentioned as a potential pipeline route, though in the near term, several obstacles will likely prevent Afghanistan from becoming an energy transit corridor. During the mid-1990s, Unocal had pursued a possible natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan's Dauletabad-Donmez gas basin via Afghanistan to Pakistan, but pulled out after the U.S. missile strikes against Afghanistan in August 1998. The Afghan government under President Karzai has tried to revive the Trans-Afghan Pipeline (TAP) plan, with periodic talks held between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan on the issue, but little progress appears to have been made as of early June 2004 (despite the signature on December 9, 2003, of a protocol on the pipeline by the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan). President Karzai has stated his belief that the project could generate $100-$300 million per year in transit fees for Afghanistan, while creating thousands of jobs in the country.

Given the obstacles to development of a natural gas pipeline across Afghanistan, it seems unlikely that such an idea will make any progress in the near future, and no major Western companies have expressed interest in reviving the project. The security situation in Afghanistan remains an obvious problem, while tensions between India and Pakistan make it unlikely that such a pipeline could be extended into India and its large (and growing) gas market. Financial problems in the utility sector in India, which would be the major consumer of the natural gas, also could pose a problem for construction of the TAP line. Finally, the pipeline's $2.5-$3.5 billion estimated cost poses a significant obstacle to its construction. <more>

A 2003 protocol was signed and the big obstacle appears to be the security situation. Solve the situation, and the only other thing is some money (hello, Exxon just made more profit than any company in the history of the world last quarter and their "competitors" are close behind.)

Doesn't seem outlandish to me....

[george_maniakes]

19. If Canada helps create a strong afghanistan...

and that makes afghanistan a viable place to build a pipeline, i dont see the problem. Canada did not go into there to help build a pipeline, or to provide security to a pipeline, or to create a stable government so that a pipeline could be created. We are only interested in a strong, independent and just afghanistan that is capable of looking after the welfare of its own people. Period.

[george_maniakes]

11. Screw oil and pipelines, we have enough in canada.

We are there to help. That is the intention of the canadian government.If it wasnt, canada wouldnt be there, because the canadian people wouldnt stand for it.

[Posteritatis]

15. I'm gonna agree on this one

We went into Afghanistan while condemning Iraq for a reason.

[daleo]

16. Most Canadians probably see it the way you do

Lots of Americans do too.

But, the current U.S. leadership sees it as in integral part of a worldwide system of military bases necessary to project power. They don't intend to leave, and don't care much about whether Afghanistan ever gets on its feet. In fact, I think they prefer to see a very weak state there.

I think most Russians thought they were just helping a backward people, too.

[george_maniakes]

20. I dont believe Canadians go into there thinking of...

Afghan people as "backward" people. The number one principle of the Canadian army is "Respect the dignity of all persons". That applys to the people of Afghanistan too. Canada is not there to help support americans project american power for american interests. We are there to help the people of Afghanistan.

[daleo]

22. We are told we are helping to re-build a "failed state"

The Russians were told they were leading Afghanistan to socialism, which they were told was a higher form of society. We are told we are bring democracy and human rights, which we beleive represents a higher state of society. In both cases, judgements are being made that their country needs foreigners to make it whole. That's all I mean by the "helping a backward people" remark. Not that it is necessarily true, but that it is the underlying assumption of our policy.

I don't doubt the Canadian military (most of the personnel on the ground at least) share that view that they are only there to help. I don't doubt they respect the people there too. But, like it or not, the U.S. military bases are there, and they won't leave unless the people of Afghanistan make them leave.

[rainbow4321]

13. Still no electricity, teachers beheaded, schools burned to the ground

But other than that, things are going really well. They expect things to get better in 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=127985

"A lot of people come in and they really, really want to buy these kinds of products," said Baki Karasu, 41, who opened the store this fall. "But they don`t have any power. If they have a big generator, they can buy. But if they don`t, they have to wait for the government to provide the electricity."

Four years after the ouster of the Taliban, as another frigid winter begins, most residents of the Afghan capital are without power, except for five hours every second or third night. Although hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid have been spent to fix the problem, conditions have worsened in the past year as improvements have lagged and the population surges. Government officials say things will not noticeably improve until at least 2008, when new power lines are to be completed.

The gulf between the wealthy few and the literally powerless majority is especially striking now, as pockets of opulence sprout across the impoverished capital of 4 million after a quarter-century of war that left much of the city in ruins. Downtown, there is a glittering new shopping mall as well as a five-star hotel where regular rooms go for $250 a night and the Presidential Suite fetches $1,200

Across the city, in a dilapidated district called Daimazang, live those on the dark side of Afghanistan`s economic fortunes. Although the country`s gross domestic product has doubled since 2001, roughly 30 percent of the population is unemployed, and 37 percent need donated food to survive, according to statistics compiled by the Brookings Institution in Washington. In Daimazang, 65 families have taken up makeshift residence in the carcasses of former government office buildings that were destroyed by rocket attacks in the civil war of the 1990s. Most were refugees in Pakistan and Iran who returned home after 2001, lured by promises of jobs and land that never materialized.

-----------

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=130825

Since the Taliban`s fall, millions of women and girls have returned to work and school. U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai has pushed through a new constitution that guarantees women equal rights and a quarter of seats in a national legislature that convened last month. And some women have abandoned the head-to-toe public veiling that was mandatory under the tough Islamic regime.

"There have been some successes, but still not enough is being done for women," Greening said. "Women are still very much second- and third-class citizens in some remote areas," he said. "There is a great disrespect for their position in society."

Hundreds of thousands of girls across the country are being educated again. But about 1.2 million primary school-age girls still are not studying, according to the United Nations.

Many women have found work in the past few years. But about 2.5 million - many of them widowed during the past quarter century of war - are in "desperate need of skills to help them find employment," said Noria Banwal, director of Women`s Economic Empowerment at the women`s ministry.

[Posteritatis]

14. Update 2:20pm Eastern

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/01/15/afghan-deaths060115.html

A senior Canadian diplomat was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday and three other Canadians were injured after a suicide car bomber struck their military convoy.

Two of those injured are in hospital in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais told reporters at a briefing in Ottawa.

The diplomat has been identified as Glyn Berry, 59. He was the political director of the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan.

The injured are Pte. William Salikan, Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey, and Master Cpl. Paul Franklin.

Well, that sucks. %P I've got a few friends over there right now and keep checking the reports whenever something like this happens. Fortunately that's been pretty rarely these days, but still...

[daleo]

17. Give Harper two days

He will start blaming the Liberals for not equipping troops with enough armor. That seems pretty cynical, I know.

[Posteritatis]

18. Oh, probably. :P (n/t)

[EuroObserver]

21. More from BBC here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4615430.stm

...Two bystanders were also killed in the attack near a busy bus station, while 13 people, including three Canadian soldiers, were injured.

Two of the troops - part of Nato's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan - are said to be in critical condition.

A man claiming to speak for the ousted Taleban regime said they had carried out the bombing.

/more...

[rainbow4321]

23. Afghanistan: Fatal Taliban bombing targets Canada convoy (3 dead)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/011506dnintattack.618111e.html

A suicide car bomb hit a Canadian military convoy Sunday in southern Afghanistan, killing two civilians and a senior Canadian diplomat, officials said.

Through a purported spokesman, Qari Mohammed Yousaf, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded three Canadian soldiers and 10 other people.

"These attacks will continue for a long time," he warned in a telephone call to The Associated Press. "We have many more suicide attackers ready to go. We will continue this strategy until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan."

<snip>

Violence in Afghanistan spiked last year, leaving about 1,600 people dead, the most since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden.

[applegrove]

24. Yep - Dragging out the war really works out well doesn't it Rummy?

[rodeodance]

25. last year, leaving about 1,600 people dead-I had no idea this

many died last year in afgan.

[cliss]

26. Here's what's coming -

(throws away crystal ball) no future-telling skills needed.

Afghanistant is going to start purging itself of ALL light-skinned, foreign-speaking outsiders. They will start killing them, randomly and systematically.

Look at what we've done in Pakistan. This is going to inflame the entire Middle East.

Stupid, moronic idiot RumsFailed. This was his doing, I'm sure.