Published: November 24, 2008TOOLBAR

BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- British military forces handed over control of a $2.3 million joint military operations command center in Basra to their Iraqi counterparts.

A joint provincial operations center was established at the Shatt al-Arab hotel, which houses the main operations center in Basra.

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Sources: Contractor for military committed serious violations

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A contractor providing services to the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan has committed serious violations of its contract, mainly by conducting inadequate inspections of electrical wiring and grounding at American bases, according to Pentagon sources.

The Pentagon findings on Houston, Texas-based KBR stem from the widely publicized death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Maseth was electrocuted while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad.

His January 2 death was just one of many deaths now believed to be linked to shoddy electrical work done at U.S. bases, managed by U.S. contractors, according to Pentagon sources.

The Pentagon's Defense Contract Management Agency recently gave KBR a "Level III Corrective Action Request" -- issued only when a contractor is found in "serious noncompliance" and just one step below the possibility of suspending or terminating a contract, Pentagon officials said.

In KBR's case, it means that the contractor's inspections and efforts to ensure electrical safety for troops have been unacceptable, and must be significantly improved, Pentagon sources told CNN.

Just after Maseth's electrocution, Pentagon officials estimated that about a dozen troops had been electrocuted in Iraq. But Pentagon officials now say at least 18 troops have been electrocuted since 2003 -- many due to faulty wiring and improper grounding.

The number could be higher than that when Afghanistan is included, say congressional sources.

"I can't make sense around Ryan's death, that he died like that, that he was so trained. So highly trained to survive," said Maseth's mother, Cheryl Harris, in an interview earlier this year. "It just feels so surreal. It's so painful to think about how he died."

Largely because of Harris' efforts to demand answers about her son's death, the U.S. Senate and House have held oversight hearings in recent months in hopes of finding out how the electrocutions occurred.

"The fact that there's an assessment made at this level -- a level three -- which is very serious, indicates to me, and to a lot of people, how serious this problem is," said Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pennsylvania.

"It's really a question in the end about justice. The only way we can have justice in a case like this for the families and for the American people is to have serious accountability. That has not happened yet. There's still a lot of parties here that have not been held to account for what happened here," Casey said.

Danielle Brian, the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based watchdog group, said accountability is needed, but difficult to come by when KBR's contract is so integral to the Iraq war.

"The problem, of course, is it's such a big contract," Brian said. "The government's in a place -- the Pentagon's in a place where they say, 'How can we suspend KBR? They're sort of running the show over there.' "

"It's so big -- it's too big to cancel that contract or suspend them from future contracts," she added.

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I'm sure the US will just keep on slogging and accusing allies of being wussies and not serious ;)

By George Alagiah
BBC News, Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan

Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan

When the commander of British forces in Afghanistan tells you that "good enough" is the best that can be achieved here, you have to sit up and listen.

Brigadier Gordon Messenger is every inch a military man, which makes it all the more surprising to hear him settle for something that sounds suspiciously close to second best.

He would deny that characterisation of his words, but accepts there are limits to the Afghanistan project.

The Afghanistan British troops leave behind - and no-one is willing to commit to any timeline other than to repeat the mantra that it will take "many years" - is going to be an imperfect state.

Parts of it may well remain beyond the reach of central government in Kabul, and some of those responsible for the mayhem of the last 30 years could well retain much of their power and influence, perhaps even their militia.

New realism

It is a far cry from the beacon of democracy some had hoped for.

"I don't think it will be recognisable in Western Europe, but Afghanistan will be something which will provide good enough security for the people. I think good enough should be what we look for," the brigadier said.

more from BBC

KABUL (AFP) — President Hamid Karzai demanded at a meeting with a UN Security Council team Tuesday that the international community set a "timeline" for ending military intervention in Afghanistan, his office said.

Karzai told a delegation from the Council that his country needed to know how long the US-led "war on terror" was going to be fought in Afghanistan or it would have to seek a political solution to a Taliban-led insurgency.

A US-led invasion ousted the extremist Islamic Taliban regime in 2001 and launched its "war on terror", which has brought nearly 70,000 mainly Western troops to Afghanistan, most of them under a UN Security Council mandate.

US President-elect Barack Obama has said that Afghanistan and the "war on terror" would be a priority for his government and campaigned on a pledge to shift US forces from Iraq to Afghanistan.

"The international community should give us a timeline of how long or how far the 'war on terrorism' will go," Karzai's chief spokesman Homayun Hamidzada cited the president as telling the delegation.

"If we don't have a clear idea of how long it will be, the Afghan government has no choice but to seek political solutions," he told AFP, adding this included "starting to talk to Taliban and those opposing the government."

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From the Los Angeles Times
Injured veterans engaged in new combat

In a little-noticed regulation change, the Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed, costing some wounded veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits.

By David Zucchino

November 25, 2008

Marine Cpl. James Dixon was wounded twice in Iraq -- by a roadside bomb and a land mine. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip and hearing loss. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Army Sgt. Lori Meshell shattered a hip and crushed her back and knees while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. She has undergone a hip replacement and knee reconstruction and needs at least three more surgeries.

In each case, the Pentagon ruled that their disabilities were not combat-related.

In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military's definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits -- and triggering outrage from veterans' advocacy groups.

The Pentagon said the change was consistent with Congress' intent when it passed a "wounded warrior" law in January. Narrowing the combat-related definition was necessary to preserve the "special distinction for those who incur disabilities while participating in the risk of combat, in contrast with those injured otherwise," William J. Carr, deputy undersecretary of Defense, wrote in a letter to the 1.3-million-member Disabled American Veterans.

The group, which has called the policy revision a "shocking level of disrespect for those who stood in harm's way," is lobbying to have the change rescinded.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon's "more conservative definition" limited benefits for some veterans. "That was not our intent," Levin said in a statement.

He added: "When the disability is the same, the impact on the service member should be the same no matter whether the disability was incurred while training for combat at Ft. Hood or participating in actual combat in Iraq or Afghanistan."

Pentagon officials argue that benefits should be greater for veterans wounded in combat than for "members with disabilities incurred in other situations (e.g., simulation of war, instrumentality of war, or participation in hazardous duties, not related to combat)," Carr wrote.

But veterans like Dixon and Meshell said their disabilities were a direct result of wounds suffered in combat.

Dixon said he was denied at least $16,000 in benefits before he fought the Pentagon and won a reversal of his noncombat-related designation.

"I was blown up twice in Iraq, and my injuries weren't combat-related?" Dixon said. "It's the most imbecile thing I've ever seen."

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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 26, 2008

Filed at 9:13 a.m. ET

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai criticized the U.S. and other foreign countries for creating a ''parallel government'' in the countryside during a blunt overview of Afghanistan's problems before a U.N. Security Council delegation.

Karzai called Tuesday for the international community to set a timeline to end the war in Afghanistan and asked why -- given the number of countries involved and the amount of money spent -- the Taliban remains so powerful.

''This war has gone on for seven years, the Afghans don't understand anymore, how come a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist, can continue to flourish, can continue to launch attacks,'' he asked.

With an entire NATO force in Afghanistan and the entire international community behind them, ''still we are not able to defeat the Taliban,'' Karzai told the gathering at his presidential palace.

Karzai -- facing re-election next year and making increasing overtures to conservative Afghan tribes most likely to vote for him -- has been criticized for being ineffective and weak, while his government was accused of deep-seated corruption.

The president's Tuesday comments appear to be a response to that criticism and lay the blame for the deteriorating security situation and other woes on the international community.

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Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:04pm EST

By David Morgan - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates could approve plans for a major build-up of U.S. forces in Afghanistan before President-elect Barack Obama takes office on January 20, officials say.

Faced with an intensifying Taliban insurgency, U.S. military planners are working to identify a prospective force of more than 20,000 combat and support troops requested by commanders in Afghanistan, mainly for duty in the poppy-growing South, where the need for more Western forces is greatest.

Some estimates have called for a U.S. force as large as 30,000 troops, officials say, similar in size to the 2007 surge of U.S. forces in Iraq that is credited with helping drive violence levels there down sharply.

Meanwhile, Obama's repeated call for more U.S. forces for the war has led the Pentagon to expect little resistance from the incoming administration, officials said.

"The president-elect has already indicated that he wants to put additional troops in Afghanistan," said a senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not yet been finalized.

By making the decision soon, Gates could begin preparing to deploy forces without actually having to move troops before January 20, the official said. That would let the new president move quickly to send additional troops once he takes office, or halt the deployments if he prefers, the official said.

Defense officials say a main obstacle to approval is the ability of planners to locate the desired forces at a time when the military structure remains under strain with 146,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq.

"Final approval comes when we tell the secretary: 'Yeah, we can provide them,'" said another official.

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By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: November 26, 2008

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Parliament has delayed by at least 24 hours a vote on a security agreement with the United States that would lead to the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq in three years.

Iraqi lawmakers gave no immediate explanation for delaying the vote on Wednesday; it had already been postponed from Monday. But intensive last-minute negotiations were under way on Tuesday and earlier Wednesday as the agreement’s proponents tried to corral enough votes for approval by a significant majority of Parliament. more

Juan Cole, PDF link to survey and more round up at Informed Comment

All the crowing about "victory" in Iraq on the American Right completely ignores the miserable condition of the Iraqi public. This pdf presentation gives the findings of a recent survey of a random sample of 11,000 families all across Iraq, done at Baghdad University.

About 40% of these households were headed by women, an unusual finding for a patriarchal Arab society. About two-thirds of these female heads of household are widows, bespeaking the horrific loss of life among Iraqi males during the past five and a half years. Some 15% of female heads of household are divorced. Given the shortage of men produced by the war, divorcees may not easily be able to find a new mate. And then there is this odd statistic of 7.5% of female heads of household being single. The authors of the study interpret them as spinsters. It is not clear if they are both orphans and spinsters, so that they are living alone, or if they are heading a household of unemployed parents or siblings. The authors think they are having trouble finding a husband because of all the males killed in the war.

In the US, households headed by women are disproportionately poverty-stricken and it is likely this is true of Iraq in spades.

Nearly half of these families have 6-10 members, while 43% have 1-5.

Two-thirds of these families live on less than $210 per month, but given the size of the families, the average per capita income in this group is $420 per year. The international poverty line is set at $500 a year, so two-thirds of Iraqis are living in poverty. The population of the poorest country in the New World, Haiti, has an annual per capita income of $550.

Over two-thirds of families receive no aid from the Iraqi government, even though their needs are clear, and 50% get no aid from NGOs.

27 Nov 2008 10:14:26 GMT
Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Eighteen female al Qaeda fighters in northern Iraq turned themselves in to U.S. forces rather than conduct suicide bomb attacks on behalf of the militant group, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

A U.S. military statement said local clerics and relatives of the women had persuaded them to give themselves up on Wednesday and sign a pledge to reconcile with their communities. It did not say where in northern Iraq, exactly.

This year has seen a sharp rise in the number of suicide bomb attacks by women, a favourite tactic of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda because they more easily evade detection by male police unwilling to search them for explosive vests.

At least two dozen female suicide bombers have struck this year, mostly in Iraq's volatile Diyala province, north of Baghdad, killing scores of people. more

BBC

A suspected suicide bomber has struck close to the entrance to the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, witnesses and police say.

At least one person, reportedly a civilian, was killed, although one police official said more had died.

Reports said the bomber detonated explosives about 200m from the heavily guarded entrance to the US compound.

Security in Afghanistan has become a key concern as the country faces an increasingly strong Taleban insurgency.

Kabul's police chief, Mohammad Ayoub Salangi, said one person had been killed and six injured.

However, the city's head of criminal investigations told reporters that four had died in the bombing.

The Associated Press said the US embassy was hosting a Thanksgiving Day event, and Americans and others foreigners were entering the compound at the time of the explosion.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer
10:30 PM PST, November 27, 2008

TOKYO (AP) _ Japan announced Friday it would end its airlift operations in Iraq by the end of the year, citing security improvements and moves toward democracy in Iraq.

The largely formal order to end the nation's four-year participation in Iraq came at a government national security council meeting, and had been expected for months. Prime Minister Taro Aso said the mission had achieved its goal.

"Iraq has demonstrated a steady effort to install a democratic government and the country's security has improved while the Iraqi people are now making their own effort to rebuild their country" Aso said in a statement.

The non-combative mission has tested the limits of Japan's pacifist constitution and divided the public.

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in Afghanistan, as we learn from this story filed by Reuters:

Press And "Psy Ops" to Merge At NATO Afghan HQ: Sources

KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with "Psy Ops," which deals with propaganda, a move that goes against the alliance's policy, three officials said.

The move has worried Washington's European NATO allies -- Germany has already threatened to pull out of media operations in Afghanistan -- and the officials said it could undermine the credibility of information released to the public.
...
U.S. General David McKiernan, the commander of 50,000 troops from more than 40 nations in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), ordered the combination of the Public Affairs Office (PAO), Information Operations and Psy Ops (Psychological Operations) from December 1, said a NATO official with detailed knowledge of the move.

"This will totally undermine the credibility of the information released to the press and the public," said the official, who declined to be named.
...
While Public Affairs and Information Operations, PA and Info Ops in military jargon, "are separate, but related functions," according to the official NATO policy document on public affairs, "PA is not an Info Ops discipline."

The new combined ISAF department will come under the command of an American one-star general reporting directly to McKiernan, an arrangement that is also against NATO policy, the NATO official said.
...
(more...)

http://tinyurl.com/6epdkp

"This will totally undermine the credibility of the information released to the press and the public," said the official, who declined to be named.
Ya reckon? Fortunately, there are a fair amount of credible independent sources that offer news and views not dictated by ISAF PIOs, and this putative "merger" seems to be aimed at an American public and its tame and "imbedded" in-country "reporters". Wondering about all those deaths at a wedding party? Well, they were all "Taliban" militants, don't you know. People have been warning for several years that the Pentagon is going all-out to get a leg-up on controlling "perception" of events where the US military is engaged, particularly as it concerns "collateral damage" and "hearts and minds" issues. Whether Nato can resist this apparent encroachment upon their news policies is debatable. Nothing new here, folks, just move along.

Fathers and husbands who openly hire assassins on the streets of the city are going unpunished

* Afif Sarhan
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 30 2008 00.01 GMT
* The Observer, Sunday November 30 2008
* Article history

Authorities in the southern Iraqi city of Basra have admitted they are powerless to prevent 'honour killings' in the city following a 70 per cent increase in religious murders during the past year.

There has been no improvement in conviction rates for these killings. So far this year, 81 women in the city have been murdered for allegedly bringing shame on their families. Only five people have been convicted.

During 2007 the Basra security committee recorded 47 'honour killings' and three convictions. One lawyer in the city described how police were actively protecting perpetrators and said that a woman in Basra could now be murdered by hired hitmen for as little as $100 (£65).

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The New Yorker article on Afghanistan is a worthy read and looks at one more of many angles not looked at in Afghanistan.

Letter from Pashmul
Policing Afghanistan
An ethnic-minority force enters a Taliban stronghold.
by Graeme Wood December 8, 2008

In late 2007, in Pashmul, a tiny cluster of villages in southern Afghanistan, Muhammad Khan began his tenure as the police commander by torching all the hemp in a farmer’s field. Farmers in the area had grown plants up to seven feet tall, and, being teetotallers, like many Afghans, they smoked hashish constantly. Afghan soldiers and policemen in the area also smoked, to the exasperation of the NATO troops who were training them. But Khan wasn’t from Pashmul and he didn’t smoke. He ordered his men to set the harvest ablaze, moved upwind, then turned his back and left, with an expression of indifference.

Khan and his police officers are members of Afghanistan’s Hazara minority, identifiable among Afghans because of their Asiatic features; the population they patrol is Pashtun. Hazaras are mostly Shia, with a history of ties to Iran, whereas most Pashtuns are Sunni and have turned to Pakistan for support. Over the past century, the two peoples have fought periodically, and the Hazaras, who are thought to make up between nine and nineteen per cent of Afghanistan’s population—the Pashtuns make up nearly half—have usually lost. On the border between the Hazara heartland, in the country’s mountainous and impoverished center, and the Pashtun plains in the south and east, conflicts over grazing land are common. But, working alongside NATO soldiers, Hazara police units are now operating far to the south of these traditional battlegrounds and deep into Pashtun territory.

much more

By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: December 2, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two American soldiers have been formally charged with abusing detainees in Afghanistan, the military said in a statement, after a military investigative hearing into the abuses continued for a second day on Tuesday.

The case against the soldiers, Capt. Roger T. Hill and 1st Sgt. Tommy L. Scott, both of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, was prompted by “a report” within their unit about the possibility that detainees had been abused in an incident in eastern Afghanistan earlier this year, according to a statement issued by the American military command.

The solders were formally charged with “detainee mistreatment and dereliction of the duty to report detainee mistreatment,” the military said.

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economist, Nouriel Roubini's RGE newsletter--the content of which greatly explains why it is vital for NATO/US troops to stay there thwarting it, and possibly increasing its numbers. Terrorism originates mostly in Pakistan. With forces in Afghanistan, that's as close as resistant can be to the country from which it springs. Recent attacks in India were traced to Pakistan.

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a compound of the main intelligence agency in the southeastern Afghan town of Khost Thursday, an official source said.

Gunfire also erupted inside the building, the source said.

There were no other details or immediate word on possible casualties, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Afghan and foreign troops had cordoned off the site and at least one helicopter belonging to the foreign troops was hovering overhead, residents said.

Al Jazeera
Afghan intelligence office attacked

A suicide bomber has detonated explosives in front of Afghanistan's intelligence headquarters in southeast Khost province.

Eight men disguised as army soldiers reportedly attacked the base after the bomber blew himself up on Thursday morning.

US forces moved quickly to seal the area as helicopters circled over head.

Taher Khan Sabarai, the deputy governor of Khost, told Al Jazeera that some people had been killed but said he did not have details.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the assault in a phone call to Al Jazeera.

The spokesman said the Taliban was targeting Afghan intelligence because "they are slaves working for the puppet government".

Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Afghanistan, said it was the second intelligence office to come under attack in recent weeks.

"It happened in the southern city of Kandahar just three weeks ago. An apparent target was the brother of Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan.

The president's brother was in a nearby building at the time but escaped unhurt.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/20/sbm.documents/index.html

from: The world's most heinous crime (h/t Ian)

1980s: Iraq

CNN found that intervention is often weighed against political and economic costs.

Declassified U.S. government documents show that while Saddam Hussein was gassing Iraqi Kurds, the U.S. opposed punishing Iraq with a trade embargo because it was cultivating Iraq as an ally against Iran and as a market for U.S. farm exports.

According to Peter Galbraith, then an idealistic Senate staffer determined to stop Hussein from committing genocide, the Reagan administration "got carried away with their own propaganda. They began to believe that Saddam Hussein could be a reliable partner." Read once-secret U.S. documents

December 5, 2008 No. 2141

Taliban Leader Warns U.S, NATO Not to Send New Troops to Afghanistan; Claims Current Financial Crisis Result of 'Belligerent U.S. Policy'; Warns Mujahideen Against Internal Strife

The latest issue of the Taliban monthly e-journal Al-Sumoud, posted December 2, 2008 on the Islamist forum Al-Faluja, contains a message by Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In it, Mullah Omar warns the U.S. and NATO not to send new troops to Afghanistan, as this will only lead to more NATO casualties. He states further that the global financial crisis is the result of the U.S.'s "failing belligerent policy," and calls on Muslims to support the mujahideen in Iraq and Palestine. He warns the mujahideen against internal strife, and stresses that resisting American influence in the region is a common interest of Afghanistan and its neighbors.

The following are excerpts from the message:

more MEMRI

South Asia News
DPA
Dec 5, 2008, 18:31 GMT

Washington - The US military is preparing for a buildup of as many as 20,000 troops next year in Afghanistan to step up the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgency, a top US commander said Friday.

The military has started building housing, latrines and other infrastructure needed to support the increase, Major General Michael Tucker, the deputy commander of US forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference.

The first troops will begin arriving in January, Tucker said. Although the winter usually results in a slow down in fighting because it is more difficult for the insurgents to operate, US forces were anticipating 'a very active winter,' Tucker said.

'If he wants to continue to fight through the winter, we'll be here to fight him,' he said

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By Corinne Reilly | McClatchy Newspapers

For all the stories of reduced violence and political and social successes there, Iraq remains, for the most part, a devastated country. It's OK to revel in what's been achieved, but only for a moment. Because the real story of Iraq, the one that deserves thoughtful attention, is about everything that's still left to accomplish there.

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Press Association UK - Canada's death toll in Afghanistan surpassed the milestone of 100 after a roadside bomb killed three soldiers.

Brigadier General Denis Thompson, Canada's top military commander in Afghanistan, said the soldiers were riding in an armoured vehicle on patrol west of Kandahar city when they struck an improvised explosive device.

Canada has now lost 100 soldiers and one diplomat in Afghanistan since it first sent troops there after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Brig Gen Thompson acknowledged the milestone but defended the mission, saying the Canadian military is trying to prevent militants from terrorising the Afghan people.

"Canada lost three fine soldiers today," Brig Gen Thompson said in a televised news conference from Afghanistan.

"Already there is talk of numbers and milestones, but it is my hope that the focus remains on the lives and sacrifices of these brave soldiers as they serve Canada in their effort to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan."

He said two other soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in a separate incident while on foot patrol.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered condolences but made no mention of the milestone when he visited a military base in Petawawa, Ontario.

"I never feel able to put the depths of my feelings at time like this into adequate words," Mr Harper told the crowd.

"These are very special people who have put their lives on the line in the service of their fellow human beings and in their devotion to our country."

New US troops will focus on Afghan capital -report
07 Dec 2008 00:46:05 GMT

NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Most of the additional U.S. troops heading to Afghanistan early next year will be deployed near Kabul, reflecting worries about the capital's vulnerability, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.

Citing U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan, the Times said the plans for incoming brigades would result in fewer or no reinforcements being available, at least for the time being, for areas of Afghanistan where the insurgency is most acute.

The focus on the capital also meant most of the new troops would not be deployed with the main goal of containing the cross-border insurgent flow from their rear bases in Pakistan -- something U.S. commanders would like and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also recommended, the Times said.

Violence in Afghanistan has surged to levels not seen since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion toppled the country's former Taliban rulers, prompting commanders to call for more troops.

U.S. and NATO commanders said the need to protect the capital, hit new Taliban strongholds in Wardak and Logar provinces adjacent to Kabul, and provide security for development programs there were immediate concerns, the newspaper reported.

The move would mark the first time that U.S. or coalition forces have been deployed in large numbers on Kabul's southern flank, the Times said

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