Another fine mess in Afghanistan

We thought that we had seen the last of this but it appears that US troops can still not be trusted to police the world in the name of freedom.

A video depicting what appears to be four Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters has appeared.

Now we have to be careful to jump to conclusions,just ask Piers Morgan and the Marine Corps said it has not verified the origin or authenticity of the YouTube video.

However on the tenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo bay and amid continuing calls for its final closure,this is probably the last thing that the American military needed

Kabul under attack

This morning's news from the Afghanistan capital Kabul once again illustrates that far from controlling the rest of the country,coalition forces are unable to keep tabs on the Taliban in the fortified capital

It appears that in a targeted attack,a suicide bomber detonated explosives near Kabul's main shopping centre.Reports say that up to 17 people are dead with the Park Residence Hotel, popular with foreigners, was also close to the main blast.

As the attacks take place,an interesting piece in the Economist that suggests that the West is being played for fools by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Western diplomats have been talking tough about the need for thorough reform of the country’s rotten electoral system. Never again, the envoys said, would foreign governments pour cash into a machine that was controlled by the president,

yet once again the President has usurped them with the publication of a presidential decree.

The question once again is how much longer can these events go on?

The arrest of Mullah Baradar

A good post from Wardman Wire from Sunny Peter on the arrest of the Taliban's military No 2 in Pakistan yesterday

Without doubt Mullah Baradar is an important catch. He has been credited with rebuilding the Taliban fighting force into an effective military organ since it was disseminated as a result of the US-led invasion in Afghanistan in the early part of this decade. Commentators are closely evaluating the implications that the arrest will have on US-led war on terror agenda in Afghanistan.

But as he notes

Mullah Baradar’s presence in Karachi was always known, and the arrest itself was without any resistance. This raises a few pertinent questions about the timing and the authenticity of the operation. Pakistan has deliberately sought to keep the US out of operations against the terrorists in its territory, even as it provided a safe haven to Taliban & al Qaeda commanders. It is easy to assume that Mullah Baradar’s arrest is a result of a larger geo-strategic design of the Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency.

Not a bad idea

One of the worst kept secrets of Afghanistan policy is now out in the open.

With President Karzi in London for the summit,talking to the Taliban is on the agenda.

This morning the Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth has backed calls to seek a way to bring the Taliban into the political system.

The plan seemingly backed by the United States will see a multimillion-pound "peace and reintegration" fund that would attempt to lure low ranking Taliban fighters away from the organisation and giving them an effective amnesty.

President Karzai has said that he would be prepared to give Mullah Omar "safe passage" if he agreed to lay down his arms.Although officials insist that the plan does not involve bribing the Taliban with cash handouts or Britain talking directly to them.

The role of the British ambassador to Afghanistan,Mark Sedwill,has been enhanced.He has been appointed to head the civilian wing of the Nato mission and will be at the heart of this new reconcilation initiative.

Living In Swat

With US secretary of State Hilary Clinton giving another warning to the Pakistani authorities over their policy to the Taliban.

This blog is a timely reminder of the problems that the authorities face in provinces such a Swat

As soon as Taliban entered swat and began their activities, their first step was installation of fear through show of weapon. Then, they created an atmosphere where they asked local men to have beard and women shall remain in veils, as it is Islam. With this, there remained no difference between who is local and who is Taliban. I mean who can actually differentiate among true Taliban and locals if they have the same dress code?

Time to negotiate with the Taliban

Imran Khan was being interviewed by Andrew Marr earlier and made the suggestion that it would be better for the Western powers to leave Afghanistan immediately.

His rational was two fold.Firstly that the conflict was destroyed his own country Pakistan,and secondly that history has taught us that any conflict in Afghanistan is unwindable.Just ask the Soviet army of the 1980's and the British army of the 19th century.

More controversially he also suggested that Barack Obama should immediately ope negotiations with the Taliban.They,he argued were never the West's enemy.

Today's New York Times on that very subject carries an interview with the American President in which he

declared the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to moderate elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq.

It will be seen in some quarters as a controversial policy but with the war seemingly deadlocked and western patience with the Karzai regime seemingly running out it may be a way forward.