Kabul, Afghanistan – Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan Saturday and said that Afghan security forces must take more responsibilities for a successful transition from U.S.-led NATO forces starting in July.
“For the upcoming transition to be successful, the Afghan government and security forces must be willing to step up and take more security responsibility for governing and defending their own territory,” Gates said while talking with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The security transition is scheduled to begin in scattered locations across Afghanistan in July to pave the way toward a complete withdrawal of NATO troops by the end of 2014. Afghans will take over security in the cities of Kabul, Herat in the west, Lashkargah, the provincial capital of the restive province of Helmand, and Mehterlam, in the center of Laghman province. They will do the same for the provinces of Kabul, Panjshir and Bamiyan.
Violence has increased across Afghanistan, as the Taliban have stepped up attacks against Afghan and NATO troops. The Taliban militants launched their spring offensive last month and have succeeded in killing several key provincial security officials to sabotage the transition process.
There are fears that the early withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan will jeopardize the fragile security gains achieved in the last two years.
“The international coalition wants to be a strong partner in this effort, but ultimately it is up to the Afghan people and elected government to chart Afghanistan's destiny,” Gates said. This is his twelfth and last visit to Afghanistan.
He is leaving his post later this month. President Barack Obama has nominated CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace him; the Senate has yet to confirm Panetta.
“While U.S. and coalition partners may draw down our military forces over time, we are committed to a long-term strategic partnership with Afghanistan,” Gates said, adding that America will continue to train, equip and support the Afghan security forces.
Karzai once again emphasized that bombing of Afghan houses and night raids by NATO troops must end.
Also on Saturday, four U.S.-led NATO soldiers were killed in eastern Afghanistan, a statement issued from NATO headquarters said. It provided no details.
In a separate incident, a female suicide attacker targeted a coalition convoy in the restive eastern province of Kunar, killing one interpreter and injuring another.
“The suicide attack happened in Marawara district of Kunar province, around noon time, killing one interpreter and injuring another one,” Fazlullah Wahidi, the provincial governor, told McClatchy in a telephone interview.
Kunar is a remote province in east Afghanistan, which shares a long border with the lawless tribal area of neighboring Pakistan, which is believed to be a safe haven for the Taliban and al-Qaida.
According to Wahidi, the attacker was a woman, as she was wearing a burqa, and male security forces do not search females because of cultural norms.
“We do not have female police in this province; it is a big problem,” Wahidi said.
(Hashim Shukoor is a McClatchy special correspondent.)
© 2011 McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Truthout has licensed this content. It may not be reproduced by any other source and is not covered by our Creative Commons license.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy