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Email I send to BBC News – The World Today for their coverage of the Dutch decision with interviews and comments from BBC listeners ::
The Dutch forces as part of the EU and NATO coalition ISAF in Afghanistan, will have a tough job in the mountainous province Uruzgan, the most underprivileged and conservative part of the nation. The assurances to keep this mission separate from Operation Enduring Freedom, U.S. military interference and Afghan responsibility for future detainees, is a hard condition for a successfull accomplishment of this job. I have confidence in the Dutch approach and believe it’s a challenge and responsibility to the Afghan people not to be ignored, but will gain support of Parliament today.
I have closely watched past deployments and covered the Dutch in many articles @BooMan Tribune.
● NYT & Patrick Lang Beating the War Drums ¶ Exacerbates Fear of Iran
● Two U.S. Allies Leaving Iraq, More May Go Dutch Focus
● I’m A Fan of Jan Peter!
BBC World News Radio is always my listening post on the Internet and I often provide quick links to U.S. readers when your reports cover an important issue. Thanking you for excellent background reporting, balanced views and for being on the spot with breaking news stories.
Kind regards,
Adrian from the Netherlands
aka Oui @BooMan Tribune
The best cozy political blog community in the Universe.
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THE HAGUE (Washington Post) Feb. 2 — To Dutch lawmaker Bert Bakker (D’66), a plan to send 1,700 of his country’s soldiers into one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous provinces looks like an operation “with a high risk of exploding in our face.”
He fears Dutch soldiers being tarred like American troops for sending captives off to secret prisons, he said in an interview. He worries that the Afghan mission could agitate restive Muslim immigrants at home. And he is convinced his country’s soldiers are being dispatched on a mission impossible.
▼ ▼ ▼ RELATED READING - AFGHANISTAN REVIEW 2005
Pat kept a journal, writing in it regularly
Yet other Tillman family members are less reluctant to show Tillman’s unique character, which was more complex than the public image of a gung-ho patriotic warrior. He started keeping a journal at 16 and continued the practice on the battlefield, writing in it regularly.
His journal was lost immediately after his death
Mary Tillman said a friend of Pat’s even arranged a private meeting with Chomsky, the antiwar author, to take place after his return from Afghanistan — a meeting prevented by his death. She said that although he supported the Afghan war, believing it justified by the Sept. 11 attacks, “Pat was very critical of the whole Iraq war.”
In Kunar Province, a mountainous region of Afghanistan near Pakistan border.
BBC Radio reported a few minutes ago from correspondent in Afghanistan.
Just a few months ago a passenger flight coming into Bagram airport crashed within 15 miles of destination. The mountains and terrain are so rugged, it took more than 36 hours to locate the crash site.
Wreckage of Missing Afghan Plane Found Near Kabul – No Survivors
Kabul – Feb 6, 2005 — The wreckage of an Afghan passenger plane missing since Thursday was found today (Saturday) in mountains 20 kilometers east of the capital, and NATO and Afghan officials say all 104 people on board appear to have died. Airline officials say there were 23 foreign nationals aboard the aircraft, including nine Turks and six Americans. Four Russian crewmembers were also on board.
Asadabad is located in the northeastern province of Kunar. It is a mountainous region, and Asadabad is about five miles from the Pakistani border.
CIA Contractor Indicted for Abuse of Afghan Detainee
June 17, 2004 — A 38-year-old North Carolina man has been indicted for assaulting an Afghan detainee while working as a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency at a U.S. military base in Asadabad, Afghanistan.
CS Monitor – Background Info Kunar Province
Tora Bora base near Jalalabad was rebuilt on the site of a camp first constructed by the US Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1980s.
NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN
Afghan.com – Stone Age: German troops stoned in Badakhshan province
The incident occurred in Badakhshan province when German soldiers of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] photographed local women without asking for permission.
‘Afghan Girl’ Mystery Solved
National Geographic Photographer Steve McCurry Finds His Most Famous Subject
- “To protest unauthorized snap shots, a group of angry women and children who were returning from a wedding party hurled stones at the convoy of German soldiers in Faramughal village of Argo district last week, injuring two troopers,” Daily Cheragh reported.
The Independent Kabul ◊ Daily Cheragh
A fortnight later — an Afghan woman was stoned to death in Badakhshan.
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● Riverbend – Bagdad – on Marla Ruzicka
● Dutch special forces in Afghanistan ¶ War on Terror
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LONDON (The Guardian) Jan. 30 — Britain will deploy nearly 6,000 troops to Afghanistan – more than expected – over the next few months in the biggest and most hazardous military operation since the invasion of Iraq, the cabinet agreed yesterday.
Most of the troops will be based in Helmand province, hostile territory at the heart of the country’s opium poppy area, in a three-year deployment costing £1bn.
The British taskforce will consist of the Colchester-based 16 Air Assault Brigade, including 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. For the first time, US-designed, British-made Apache attack helicopters will be deployed.
The brigade is part of Afghanistan’s Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), to be commanded by a British general, Sir David Richards, with the support of some 1,000 British soldiers based in Kabul. Isaf’s job is peacekeeping and “nation building”, including training a new Afghan army and helping to restructure the country’s economy.
Dutch troops have been in Kabul aspart of the international force ISAF.
● BBC News – Dutch to Vote on Afghan Mission
● NATO’s Role in Afghanistan is Testing Will of Its Members
● Canada Rebuilding Afghanistan
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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Debate in Dutch Parliament for expansion of NATO-ISAF troops deployment, one of the VVD MPs van Baalen in BBC interview: “The U.S. Forces are efficient in winning the war, Europe and Canada are better equipped to win the peace. Yes, you could describe it as mopping up the damage left by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.”
The result of the debate is a large majority to support Dutch troop deployment for the mission to Uruzgan province in Afghanistan.
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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Nearly 20 combatants have been killed in a battle between Afghan troops and Taleban fighters in the southern province of Helmand, officials say.
UK Defence Secretary John Reid said 3,300British troops would be sent to Helmand
to help reconstruction efforts there.
Helmand’s deputy governor told the BBC that at one point, he and 100 soldiers were surrounded by 200 Taleban. 16 Taleban and three soldiers had been killed, with 13 more wounded.
The BBC’s Paul Wood in Kandahar said it is the most serious fighting between government forces and the Taleban for two years.
Taleban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf denied reports of Taleban deaths, saying only two fighters had been wounded.
● Afghanistan Government
● Dutch legislators OK sending troops to Afghanistan
The Dutch parliament voted Thursday to follow through on its commitment to send up to 1,400 soldiers to troubled southern Afghanistan.
The lengthy parliamentary debate took place in front of standing-room only crowds, as legislators argued the merits of the Afghan mission to Uruzgan.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY ▼
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands Feb 3, 2006 — If you can’t beat ’em … joint ’em? The City of Amsterdam has begun selling recently introduced “no toking” signs to prevent the official ones from being stolen as collector’s items, a spokesman said Friday.
Now everyone can have his own 'no toking' sign,in Dutch: "Blowing prohibited - fine €50!"
The signs were created as part of an experimental ban on smoking marijuana on the street in “De Baarsjes,” one of the city’s poorer neighborhoods. The measure, which went into effect Feb. 1, was intended to reduce loitering and petty crime.
The signs show two fingers holding a cone-shaped cigarette, with small white marijuana leaves on a black background all enclosed within a red circle.
The city is selling them for €90 each (around US$110), and plans to donate the proceeds to charity.
Stadsdeel De Baarsjes
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY ▼