By Henry Adams and Fred Moreau United for Peace and Justice of
Pierce County Thursday, 05 November 2009

On Tuesday five British soldiers were killed by a policeman they
were training in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.  --  Coming on the
heels of the farcical Afghan presidential election, the incident
has seriously sapped British resolve to back the NATO mission in
that country.  --  The London Daily Mirror emphasized on Thursday
that the five had been "preparing for tea," and were killed "as
they sat down to eat" with local police they had been mentoring,
"sharing their food, billets, and the dangers of daily patrols."[1]
--  The London Telegraph reported that the assassin "had been a
member of the Afghan National Police for three years," casting doubt
on the idea that the assassin was merely an infiltrator.[2]  --
James Kirkup and Gordon Rayner said that "The prospect of public
and political support for the mission collapsing is understood to
be worrying senior commanders."  --  Last month a poll showed that
only 27% of the British public supports the long-term deployment
of troops in Afghanistan.  --  And the Financial Times of London
reported that Prime Minister Gordon Brown told MPs that "It appears
that they were targeted because they were engaged in what our enemies
fear most -- they were mentoring and training Afghan forces," using
a that-they're-attacking-proves-we're-winning line the U.S. government
has employed for many years.[3]  --  But Kim Howells, chair of the
British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee and a
former foreign office minister, said Britain should pull back its
troops and focus resources on defending the U.K. border from al-Qaeda.
--  "Frankly, support for [the Afghan] mission across the House has
never been weaker than it is today,"

Howells said.  --  COMMENT: A Google News search shows that the
incident is receiving an enormous amount of media coverage in the
U.K., and very little in the U.S.  --  What reporting there was in
the U.S. often downplayed or ignored British domestic reaction; for
example, a Los Angeles Times article said the event was "likely to
fuel debate about the country's continued involvement in the war,"
ignoring the debate already raging there.[4]  --  And the New York
Times, admitting sagging resolve, said that while "recent opinion
polls"

showed low public support, "both the Labor Party government of Prime
Minister Gordon Brown and the opposition Conservatives led by David
Cameron . . . have stood firmly by the British commitment . . .
That message was reaffirmed by the British defense minister."[5]
--  While this may be true, the New York Times should have mentioned
that a former Labor cabinet minister has now broken with that
policy....

1.

FIVE BRITISH SOLDIERS GUNNED DOWN BY AFGHAN POLICEMAN THEY WERE
TRAINING WHILE PREPARING FOR TEA By Chris Hughes

Daily Mirror (London) Novermber 5, 2009

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/05/five-british-sold...
ned-down-by-afghan-policeman-they-were-training-died-while-preparing-for-te a-
115875-21798492/

Five British soldiers gunned down by an Afghan policeman they were
training died while preparing for tea.

The rogue cop switched his AK-47 to automatic and poured bullets
into the men as they sat down to eat in a fortified compound in
lawless Helmand province after a patrol.

The dead are Sgt. Matthew Telford, Warrant Officer Darren Chant,
and Guardsman James Major of the Grenadiers, and Acting Cpl. Steve
Boote and Cpl. Nicholas Webster-Smith of the Royal Military Police.

They had been mentoring local police, sharing their food, billets,
and the dangers of daily patrols.

The assassin, named as Gulbuddin, fled.

Last night Gordon Brown called the massacre "a terrible loss" but
vowed to carry on the fight.

But, amid fears the Taliban have infiltrated large parts of
Afghanistan's police and army, many Labor MPs said it was time to
consider pulling out our 9,000 troops.

Kim Howells, head of the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee,
said:

"It would be better to bring home the great majority of our fighting
men and women."

The former Foreign Office minister added that the billions being
spent in Afghanistan could then be used "to secure our own borders."

Senior Labor backbencher David Winnick challenged Gordon Brown
directly:

"Isn't the country entitled to know how long British military
personnel will be in Afghanistan and can this war be won?"

Tuesday's attack, which wounded six more U.K. soldiers and two
Afghans, takes British dead in the conflict to 229 since 2001.  And
with 92 dead so far, it makes 2009 the bloodiest year for the armed
forces since the 1982 Falklands War.

A U.K. military spokesman said:  "It's our understanding that one
individual Afghan National Policeman, possibly in conjunction with
another, went rogue.

His motives and whereabouts are unknown at this time."

Sgt. Telford, 37, from Grimsby, Lincs, joined up at 16.  He leaves
a wife, Kerry, and two sons aged four and nine.

His uncle William Ferrand said:  "It was his job and he loved it.
He was a wonderful lad.  His sons will be devastated.

"Whatever Kerry wants, the family will make sure we do as much as
we can to help her.

"We're a military family but Matthew was the first one to join at
the age of 16.

"Nobody wants their family to go out there but it was what he wanted
to do."

2.

KILLING OF FIVE BRITISH SOLDIERS CASTS DOUBT ON AFGHANISTAN STRATEGY
By James Kirkup and Gordon Rayner

** The murder of five British soldiers by a rogue member of the
Afghan police force has intensified the debate over the future of
the British mission in Afghanistan. **

Telegraph (London) November 4, 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6504375/Ki...
-five-British-soldiers-casts-doubt-on-Afghanistan-strategy.html

Three Grenadier Guards and two members of the Royal Military Police
were shot dead by a police officer who entered their secure compound
in Helmand province.  Six others were seriously wounded alongside
two Afghans.

Although the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the
gunman, who escaped and was being hunted by British Special Forces,
was recognized by guards and had been a member of the Afghan National
Police for three years.

The shooting led to questions in the Commons over the West's plan
to train Afghan forces to take over security from NATO troops, and
intensified calls for a clear exit strategy for British forces.

Ninety-two British service personnel have been killed this year in
Afghanistan, making 2009 the worst year for British forces since
the Falklands war.  The total British death toll in the Afghanistan
conflict is now 229.

The five soldiers killed at the compound in Nad-e-Ali were Sgt.
Matthew Telford, 37, Guardsman James Major, 18, and WO Darren Chant,
39, all of the Grenadier Guards, and Acting Cpl. Steven Boote and
Cpl Nicholas Webster-Smith, 24, of the Royal Military Police.  They
were relaxing after finishing a patrol when the gunman opened fire
with an assault rifle.

In the Commons, Gordon Brown faced questions from all sides about
the Afghan strategy.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said the attack had "worrying"

implications and underlined the need to "clean up" the Afghan police.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the British mission
was "in trouble"

because the Afghan government lacked legitimacy and the West lacked
a credible plan for the country.

David Winnick, a senior Labor backbencher, asked Mr. Brown to set
out a clear timetable for bringing British forces home.

The Prime Minister said training the Afghan security forces to the
point where they were able to secure the country themselves was the
only way for British forces to withdraw without exposing Britain
to the risk of terrorist attack.

British commanders have predicted that the training could take until
2014, and there are growing questions about whether the British
public is prepared to support another five years in Afghanistan.
The prospect of public and political support for the mission
collapsing is understood to be worrying senior commanders.

Gen. Sir David Richards, the Chief of the General Staff, has said
that politicians and generals both need to do more to retain popular
backing for the deployment.

Mr. Brown told MPs:  "We must not allow ourselves to give up what
the Afghan Taliban fear most -- and that is that we have a strong
Afghan security force that is Afghan-based to be able to face them."

A hasty withdrawal could raise the risk of terrorist attack and
instability in neighboring nuclear-armed Pakistan, he said.  "We
cannot desist from the practice which is absolutely essential for
the future of Afghanistan and the security of our country -- and
that is training and mentoring the Afghan forces," said the Prime
Minister.

Britain has 9,000 troops in Afghanistan and Mr Brown has authorised
the deployment of another 500.  The U.S. is also considering
strengthening its presence.

An opinion poll last month indicated that only 27 per cent of British
voters supported a long-term deployment.  On Wednesday, there were
signs that the public debate about Afghanistan was shifting, with
politicians more willing to air doubts about the conflict.

Kim Howells, a former Labor minister, became the most senior figure
to date to call for the quick withdrawal of most British troops.
He said the killings "struck at the heart" of Britain's Afghan
strategy.

The Tories still backed the mission, but also signalled that they
would seek a clear exit strategy if they were in power.  Liam Fox,
the shadow defense secretary, gave warning that the whole plan for
training and deploying Afghan police officers was in doubt.  "The
model itself may be fundamentally flawed,"

he said.

A former United Nations official in Afghanistan suggested that
efforts to increase the number of police being trained was actually
making the police less reliable. Peter Galbraith, the former deputy
head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said training courses had
been shortened and vetting procedures were inadequate.

A series of setbacks and controversies in Afghanistan has come amid
falling public support for the mission.  Earlier this week, Hamid
Karzai was returned as Afghan president in an election that was
marked by widespread ballot-rigging.

3.

U.K.

BROWN UNDER PRESSURE AFTER AFGHAN KILLINGS By James Blitz (London)
and Matthew Green (Kabul)

Financial Times (London) November 4, 2009

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef662270-c922-11de-b551-00144feabdc0.html

Senior figures in Britain's ruling Labor party have warned Gordon
Brown, the prime minister, of mounting pressure over the war in
Afghanistan after five U.K. soldiers were shot dead by an Afghan
policeman at a training camp in Helmand province.

After one of the gravest attacks on British troops since they were
first deployed to Helmand province three years ago, Mr. Brown said
on Wednesday that training of Afghan police remained an "essential
element" of the NATO strategy in Afghanistan.

However, Labor politicians warned him that the deaths, which happened
as one senior party figure broke ranks with government over the
war, could mark a significant new challenge for the U.K.'s Afghan
strategy.

Speaking to the *Guardian*, Kim Howells, a former foreign office
minister, urged Britain to pull back its troops and focus resources
on defending the U.K. border from al-Qaeda.

A former Labor cabinet minister said Mr. Howells's break with policy
was significant, not least because he chairs the parliamentary
Intelligence and Security Committee.

"What we will start seeing now is a queue of significant political
figures on both sides of the Commons preparing to wipe their hands
of the whole mission,"

said the former cabinet minister.  "Frankly, support for that mission
across the House has never been weaker than it is today."

In a week that has also seen Hamid Karzai reappointed Afghan
president, there were expressions of concern across parliament.
Lord Ashdown, the former United Nations high representative for
Bosnia who came near to a similar role in Afghanistan last year,
said the West was "quite close to" failure in Afghanistan, an event
that would have "baleful consequences."

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the NATO mission was
"in trouble because we do not have a legitimate government in Kabul,
and we do not have a coherent international plan for Afghanistan."

Mr. Brown told MPs the Taliban rebels may have infiltrated the
Afghan police to carry out the attack in Nad-e'Ali district, where
the soldiers were training and mentoring police officers.  "It
appears that they were targeted because they were engaged in what
our enemies fear most -- they were mentoring and training Afghan
forces," he said.

The killings will stir debate in the U.S. and Europe on how quickly
NATO can develop Afghan army capacity to take over responsibility
for security from 100,000 foreign troops.

Peter Galbraith, who left as deputy head of the U.N. mission in
Afghanistan amid conflicts over the presidential poll, was not
surprised by the killings.

"The process of police training and recruiting has been very rushed.
There isn't a lot of vetting of police before they are hired," he
added.

4.

'ROGUE' AFGHAN POLICEMAN BLAMED IN DEATHS OF 5 BRITISH SOLDIERS By
Alexandra Zavis

** Britain says the Taliban claimed responsibility for the shootings,
in which an assailant in a police uniform shot the soldiers, who
were mentoring the Afghan police force. **

Los Angeles Times November 5, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-briti...
nov05,0,127768.story

KABUL -- British officials on Wednesday blamed a "rogue" Afghan
policeman for the shooting deaths of five British soldiers at a
checkpoint in the volatile south, raising concerns about the possible
infiltration of local security forces by militants.

Zemeri Bashary, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, confirmed
that the assailant was wearing a police uniform but said it was too
soon to say whether he was a member of the force.

Tuesday's attack took place the day after Afghan electoral officials
proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the winner of a disputed election
after the withdrawal of his rival from a runoff.  Former Foreign
Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who quit the race citing fears of fraud,
said Wednesday that he had no interest in joining Karzai's
administration and would press for reforms from outside the government.

The latest deaths raised the number of British troops killed since
the 2001 invasion to 229 and were likely to fuel debate about the
country's continued involvement in the war.  Britain is the
second-largest contributor of forces to Afghanistan after the United
States, with 9,000 troops here.

Concerns have been raised before about the quality of the Afghan
national police, or ANP, some of whose members have been accused
of corruption, drug trafficking and other abuses.  The shooting
happened a month after a policeman turned his gun on American troops
during a joint patrol in Wardak province, killing two.

"The problem could get more challenging as we try to accelerate
recruiting, so we will have to think hard about finding ways to
prevent future recurrences,"

Michael O'Hanlon, a security expert with the Brookings Institution
in Washington, said by e-mail.  "It argues for steps like creating
biometric databases and even more carefully screening applicants."

A key part of the strategy in Afghanistan is to build competent
army and police forces that can eventually take over security
responsibilities.

A British Defense Ministry spokesman said the dead soldiers, three
with the Grenadier Guards and two with the Royal Military Police,
were part of a team mentoring the police in Helmand province, a
center of the Taliban insurgency in the south and the focus of a
major U.S. offensive over the summer.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Parliament that the Taliban
had claimed responsibility for the attack.

"We will step up security," he said.  "But we must not allow ourselves
to give up what the Afghan Taliban fear most:  that we will have a
strong Afghan security force that is Afghan-based and is able to
face them."

The attack took place in the afternoon, at a busy checkpoint in the
Nad Ali district.  British and Afghan forces live and work together
at the checkpoint and "are so friendly they didn't have any armored
vests on," said Dawoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Helmand provincial
government.

"We believe some form of rogue ANP officer has opened fire on our
personnel while they were visiting" the checkpoint, the British
Defense Ministry spokesman, speaking on customary condition of
anonymity, said by telephone from London.  "It is believed that the
guy infiltrated the police unit."

Six more British soldiers and two Afghan police officers were wounded
in the ensuing firefight, according to a statement issued by the
Afghan Interior Ministry and North Atlantic Treaty Organization
forces.  The assailant fled and his whereabouts was not known,
officials said.

Ahmadi linked the incident to poor vetting of police recruits.
"Everyone is coming to join the police and we accept them," he said.

This has already been the deadliest year of the war for the U.S.
and its allies.  According to the independent website icasualties.org,
at least 459 foreign troops have been killed, including 92 Britons.

At a news conference in Kabul, the capital, Abdullah said the attack
was an example of the failure of Karzai's government to bring
security to the country despite the help of international forces.

Under pressure from Western officials, Karzai on Tuesday promised
to form an inclusive government.  But Abdullah said Wednesday that
he would not join it.

He said the country's Independent Election Commission, which he has
repeatedly accused of bias in favor of Karzai, had no legal mandate
to declare a winner.

"A government which is derived from such an illegal decision will
not be able to deliver" on its promises to fight corruption and
improve governance, Abdullah said.  "In this sort of environment I
would rather act like a pressure group in order to bring changes
and reform the system."

But he said he would not challenge the commission's decision in
court.  "The process has completed itself with that final, illegal
decision," he said.

alexandra.za...@latimes.com<mailto:alexandra.za...@latimes.com>
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need
JavaScript enabled to view it

Special correspondent Karim Sharifi contributed to this report.

5.

TROOP DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN STIR BRITISH OUTCRY By Alissa J. Rubin,
John F.

Burns, and Taimoor Shah

New York Times November 5, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/world/asia/05afghan.html

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The deaths of five British soldiers at the
hands of an Afghan policeman with whom they were working have
unleashed an outcry in Britain and highlighted the vulnerability
of Western troops as they carry out a key part of the counterinsurgency
strategy to train more members of the Afghan Army and the police.

The attack occurred at midday on Tuesday in Helmand Province as the
soldiers relaxed in the still-warm autumn sun on the roof of the
joint checkpoint overlooking a shared British-Afghan compound.  They
were so much at ease that they had shed their body armor and helmets,
never thinking that they would be attacked by one of the men they
lived and worked with, said a local provincial official.  Afterward,
the attacker fled, setting off a manhunt.

The attack came as public support for the war in many NATO countries,
including critical allies like Britain and Germany, has grown
increasingly shaky.  For Britain, it was one of the most deadly
single attacks since the Afghanistan invasion eight years ago,
bringing to 92 the number of British troops killed so far this year.

It also came one month after an Afghan policeman fired on American
soldiers during a joint patrol in Wardak Province, killing two, and
immediately intensified concerns about Taliban infiltration of the
Afghan security forces, in particular the police, who are supposed
to be preparing to take a broader role in combating the Taliban
insurgency.

An Afghan official in Helmand said local people believed that the
gunman was sympathetic to the Taliban insurgents who have been
fighting an increasingly bold campaign against Afghan and NATO
forces.  Six British soldiers were also wounded.

Lt. Col. David Wakefield, a British spokesman in Helmand, described
the Afghan policeman as an "individual rogue," as officials made
public details of the attack on Wednesday.

Helmand officials warned that whether the policeman was a rogue
actor or not, the episode could be repeated.

"This is not the first incident and will not be the last one; it
will continue in the future as well," said Haji Muhammed Anwar Khan,
a local elder and a representative of Helmand in Parliament.

"As much as [i.e. 'As long as'] we are losing the territories, we
will face this kind of trouble, and also as much as there is distance
between the government and I.S.A.F. and the local people, we will
have to face this kind of event," he added, referring to the
International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led force of about
71,000 troops from 43 nations.

An important part of the counterinsurgency strategy embraced by the
United States is to train more Afghan troops and police officers
to protect people, in hopes of reducing the tensions created by
foreign forces and allowing them eventually to leave.

Col. Wayne Shanks, a public affairs officer for the NATO force,
acknowledged that the plan entailed risks, but he called the attack
on Tuesday a "very isolated incident" and said the training was
already making a positive difference.

"Partnering and mentoring is more and more the way we are training
the Afghan units," he said.  "You have to be there: work with them,
live with them, and it makes you safer in the long run.  It's a
fundamental tenet of counterinsurgency strategy."

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the American military commander in
Afghanistan, issued a statement saying, "We will not let this event
deter our resolve to building a partnership with the Afghan National
Security Forces to provide for Afghanistan's future."

But there are clear indications of lingering political differences
over Afghan strategy among NATO allies and of waning public resolve.
Speaking to a small group of journalists in Paris, the French foreign
minister, Bernard Kouchner, said Wednesday that European allies
needed to get together and not wait for Washington to make all the
decisions.

"In Europe we are acting and fighting and going to war, but we are
not talking to one another, and it's shameful," he said.  Asked if
the NATO alliance was not working very well in Afghanistan, he said,
"It's not working at all."

"What is the goal?  What is the road?  And in the name of what?"
Mr. Kouchner asked.  He said he appreciated President Obama's
deliberations on a new Afghan strategy, but asked:  "Where are the
Americans?  It begins to be a problem."

The seeming disarray and rising number of casualties among allied
soldiers have taken a toll on public support.  In Britain, which
has about 9,000 troops here -- second only to the United States --
recent opinion polls showed that less than half those surveyed
supported the British role, and about half of those urged the early
withdrawal.

But both the Labor Party government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown
and the opposition Conservatives led by David Cameron, who are
strong favorites to win a general election next spring, have stood
firmly by the British commitment.

They say it is essential to safeguarding against the kind of attacks
that the United States endured on Sept. 11, 2001, and Britain on
July 7, 2005, when 56 people, including four suicide bombers, were
killed in attacks on London's transit system.

That message was reaffirmed by the British defense minister, Bob
Ainsworth.

Speaking in a BBC interview during a visit to Saudi Arabia, he
rejected arguments that Britain should abandon Afghanistan and
concentrate on guarding against attacks by Islamic militants at
home.

British intelligence chiefs have said that three-quarters of all
terrorist plots uncovered in Britain in recent years have had links
to Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is the ancestral homeland of a
majority of Britain's 1.5 million Muslims.  "If Afghanistan is not
secure, then Pakistan is not secure, and if Pakistan is not secure
then Britain is not secure," Mr. Ainsworth said.

When the attack occurred Tuesday, the British soldiers were visiting
a jointly run Afghan and British checkpoint near a health clinic
in Helmand, resting on the roof with some of the Afghan police
officers.

The atmosphere was relaxed and the British were not wearing body
armor, according to the spokesman for the provincial government,
Dawoud Ahmadi.

Without warning, at least one of the Afghans began firing an automatic
weapon in quick bursts, according to Hajji Barakzai, a local official.

The British retaliated, and two Afghan police officers were wounded,
according to a press statement from NATO.  It was unclear if there
was more than one gunman, the British said, but at least one,
identified by locals as Gulbaddin, got away.

Mr. Barakzai said the local police commander said that the gunman
was known to be sympathetic to the Taliban.  But Taliban commanders
in southern Afghanistan said they were unaware of the attack and
that they were making calls to their local commanders in the area
to see if they had any knowledge of it.

--Alissa J. Rubin and Taimoor Shah reported from Kabul, and John
F. Burns from London.  Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from
Paris. Next >

**********

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