David Goldstein | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — It wasn't a bullet or roadside bomb that felled Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez three years ago after nine days in Iraq.

It was an injection into his arm before his unit left the states.

The then 20-year-old Marine from Springfield, Mo., suffered a rare adverse reaction to the smallpox vaccine. While the vaccine isn't mandatory, the military strongly encourages troops to take it.

However, it left Lopez in a coma, unable for a time to breathe on his own and paralyzed for weeks. Now he can walk, but with a limp. He has to wear a urine bag constantly, has short-term memory loss and must swallow 15 pills daily to control leg spasms and other ailments.

And even though his medical problems wouldn't have occurred if he hadn't been deployed, Lopez doesn't qualify for a special government benefit of as much as $100,000 for troops who suffer traumatic injuries.

The hangup? His injuries were caused by the vaccine.

"I could have easily died, or not been able to walk because of that," Lopez said. "It destroyed my world. It was pretty traumatic to me."

Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which oversees the benefit program, said they're following what the agency has determined to be Congress' intent.

"It's for traumatic injury, not disease; not illness; not preventive medicine," said Stephen Wurtz, deputy assistant director for insurance at the VA. "It has nothing to do with not believing these people deserve some compensation for their losses."

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Anthony H. Cordesman | August 31

WaPo - The United States cannot win the war in Afghanistan in the next three months -- any form of even limited victory will take years of further effort. It can, however, easily lose the war. I did not see any simple paths to victory while serving on the assessment group that advised the new U.S. commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, on strategy, but I did see all too clearly why the war is being lost.

The most critical reason has been resources. Between 2002 and 2008 the United States never provided the forces, money or leadership necessary to win, effectively wasting more than half a decade. Our country left a power vacuum in most of Afghanistan that the Taliban and other jihadist insurgents could exploit and occupy, and Washington did not respond when the U.S. Embassy team in Kabul requested more resources.

The Bush administration gave priority to sending forces to Iraq, it blustered about the successes of civilian aid efforts in Afghanistan that were grossly undermanned and underresourced, and it did not react to the growing corruption of Hamid Karzai's government or the major problems created by national caveats and restrictions on the use of allied forces and aid. It treated Pakistan as an ally when it was clear to U.S. experts on the scene that the Pakistani military and intelligence service did (and do) tolerate al-Qaeda and Afghan sanctuaries and still try to manipulate Afghan Pashtuns to Pakistan's advantage.

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“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel...may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly." ~ Richard Haass

Damning reports are emerging from Germany's military forces in Afghanistan, claiming that cooperation with civilian agencies is abysmal, equipment is lacking and training is insufficient. With the US preparing to pressure Berlin to send more troops, there are now increasing calls for "urgent improvements."

Spiegel Online - - German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung is not a big fan of change. When he speaks about the Bundeswehr, Germany's military forces, and their missions abroad, he has a tendency to always use the same expressions. They seem to somehow keep him grounded.

For example, one of his favorite ways to describe the German soldiers operating in Afghanistan is to say that they are "well-trained and well-equipped." He also likes to say that the Bundeswehr's collaboration with elements of the Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) stationed in Afghanistan has been so successful that Germany's "networked approach" has even been "adopted in its entirety by NATO."

The problem with these standardized expressions is not that they have been learned by heart. The problem is that they have so little to do with reality.
_{I feel the American worker has been sacrificed to the capitalist idols in the ancient Mayan fashion. - Sue Lamb, NYT reader}

Anthony H. Cordesman & Nicholas B. Greenough | August 31

CSIS - The Afghan-Pakistan conflict is a complex conflict that covers two countries and has ideological, political, governance, economic, military, and security dimensions that are extremely difficult to measure and portray in summary form. NATO/ISAF, the United Nations, the U.S Department of Defense, and various polls and nongovernmental organizations have, however, gradually developed summary metrics and maps of the conflict. Whilke these data have serious gaps, and often attempt to “spin” the war in political directions, they stil provide a useful overview of developments in the conflict and are beginning to go beyond the military dimension to the political and economic dimensions and to show how Afghans and Pakistanis perceive the conflict.

The Burke Chair has developed a series of presentations that survery maps and graphics from a range of sources that cover given aspects of the war and bring together a range of metrics in key areas. These presentations include a summary overview of the war--which is largely a current status report--and a series of subreports that begin to pull together a historical record of the various metrics in given subject areas. These latter reports include comparative graphics that show how given metrics have changed over time. The trends and differences they portray often provide important perspective on the trends in the conflict, but they also reflect important contradictions in various reports on the war and methods of describing it.

more - much, much, more

“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel...may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly." ~ Richard Haass

AFP
Published: Tuesday September 1, 2009

Violent deaths in Iraq hit a 13-month high in August, official figures showed on Tuesday, raising fresh concerns about the country's stability after the government admitted that security is worsening.

Statistics compiled by the defence, interior and health ministries showed that 456 people -- 393 civilians, 48 police and 15 Iraqi soldiers -- were killed, the highest toll since July last year when 465 died in unrest.

There were also 1,592 civilians, 129 police and 20 soldiers wounded.

August also saw 52 insurgents killed and 540 arrested.

The toll in August jumped markedly from the 275 Iraqis who lost their lives in July, in the wake of a major pullout of US combat troops from urban centres the previous month.

The weeks leading up to the June 30 withdrawal of American forces from Iraq's cities, towns and villages also saw a spike in violence, with 437 people dying that month.

The high number in August was partly due to two massive truck bombings at the foreign and finance ministries in Baghdad that killed at least 95 people and wounded hundreds.

Dubbed "Bloody Wednesday," the August 19 attacks Iraq prompted the government to admit major security breaches had occurred which led directly to civilian deaths. Eleven top security officials were arrested.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who lost 32 staffers in the bloodshed, warned of more deadly attacks because security is deteriorating due to collusion between the security forces and insurgents.

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US use of private contractors in war hits record high

They make up 57 percent of Pentagon's personnel in Afghanistan, report shows.

By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the September 1, 2009 edition

Washington - In Afghanistan, the US military is relying on private contractors to an extent unprecedented in American history.

Contractors have a long history with US units: In the Revolutionary War, George Washington leaned on them for everything from transportation to the provision of clothing and weapons. In recent conflicts, private workers typically have made up about half of the Department of Defense's total workforce

But in the Afghanistan conflict their use has climbed yet higher, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. As of March, contractors made up 57 percent of the Pentagon's Afghanistan personnel.

"This apparently [represents] the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by DoD in any conflict in the history of the United States," concludes the CRS study.

Congressional Research Service reports generally are not available for public dissemination. A copy of the contractor analysis was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, which posted it on its website.

As of March, there were 68,197 DoD contractors in Afghanistan and 52,300 uniformed US personnel, according to CRS.

This high contractor-to-uniform ratio is partly the result of the US providing some services to the more than 30,000 international troops in the country at the time and partly due to the US expansion of military facilities in Afghanistan prior to an anticipated "surge" in US troops.

Generally speaking, the vast majority of contractors are not rifle-wielding private guards, but construction workers, truck drivers, and other service personnel. For example, 16 percent of the Afghan contractors surveyed by CRS in March provided security services.

Most of the contractors were local Afghans. Of the approximately 68,000 total, about 9,300 were US citizens, 7,000 third-country nationals, and 52,000 local nationals, according to CRS figures.

Pentagon officials say their experience in both Iran and Afghanistan has led them improve their contractor management processes. CRS notes, however, that both the wasteful spending of contract management dollars and any abuses carried out by private security personnel could hurt US efforts to win over local hearts and minds.

"Abuses and crimes committed by armed private security contractors and interrogators against local nationals may have undermined US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan," concludes the CRS study.

Suicide bomber strikes Afghan officials: police

Wednesday, September 2, 2009; 4:49 AM

MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck near a mosque in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, and several sources said the deputy head of the country's intelligence agency was among those killed.

A spokesman for Taliban insurgents said the attack was carried out by one of the group's members.

Qari Rohullah, a provincial council member in Laghman province, said the bomber targeted Abdullah Laghmani, deputy head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), who was meeting mullahs at a mosque in the province's capital, Mehtar Lam.

Dozens of other people were either killed or wounded, he said. He could not give a toll.

A Reuters witness in the provincial capital, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Kabul, saw a pick-up truck carrying wounded people covered in blood. Eight ambulances left the scene, headed toward Jalalabad, the nearest big city.

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Report Details Misbehavior by Kabul Embassy Guards
Contractors Called 'Lewd and Deviant'

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Private security contractors who guard the U.S. Embassy in Kabul have engaged in lewd behavior and hazed subordinates, demoralizing the undermanned force and posing a "significant threat" to security at a time when the Taliban is intensifying attacks in the Afghan capital, according to an investigation released Tuesday by an independent watchdog group.

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) launched the probe after more than a dozen security guards contacted the group to report misconduct and morale problems within the force of 450 guards who live at Camp Sullivan, a few miles from the embassy compound.

The report highlighted occasions when guards brought women believed to be prostitutes into Camp Sullivan and videotaped themselves drinking and partially undressed. It also outlined communications problems among the guards, many of whom don't speak English and have trouble understanding orders from their U.S. supervisors.

"The lewd and deviant behavior of approximately 30 supervisors and guards has resulted in complete distrust of leadership and a breakdown of the chain of command, compromising security," POGO said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton outlining the security violations.

The report recommends that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates immediately assign U.S. military personnel to supervise the guards. It also calls on the State Department to hold accountable diplomatic officials who failed to provide adequate oversight of the contract.

"These are very serious allegations, and we are treating them that way," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "The secretary and the department have made it clear that we will have zero tolerance for the type of conduct that is alleged in these documents.

The guards work for ArmorGroup North America, which has a $180 million annual contract with the State Department to protect the embassy and the 1,000 diplomats, staffers and Afghan nationals who work there. The State Department renewed the contract in July despite finding numerous performance deficiencies by ArmorGroup in recent years that were the subject of a Senate subcommittee hearing in June.

At the time, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William Moser acknowledged "deficiencies" by the contractor but said "performance on the ground by ArmorGroup North America has been and is sound." Subcommittee Chairman Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) agreed to the renewal of ArmorGroup's contract, though she said she had reservations.

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Surging demand for weapons raises fears of violence as allegations of vote-rigging by Karzai grow

By Kim Sengupta in Kabul

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

The price of Kalashnikovs has doubled in Afghanistan. For a country awash with arms, the fact that the weapons are now fetching $600 apiece is a cause of some surprise, but a surge of demand is to blame for the increase, with a steady stream of weapons said to be heading for the north.

This is the Tajik constituency of Abdullah Abdullah, the presidential candidate who claims the election is being stolen by the incumbent Western-backed President, Hamid Karzai.

The arms shipments are a source of alarm in a country where political stand-offs have often been settled at the point of a gun. Few Western diplomats claim there is an immediate danger of civil war but tensions are mounting after polls which have been mired in bitterness and recrimination.
Related articles

* UN reports sharp fall in Afghan opium production
* Blast kills Afghan deputy chief of intelligence

In the next few days, Mr Karzai is expected to pass the 50 per cent of the votes he needs to avoid a second round of polling and to retain the presidency.

The demographic factors all point towards this. Mr Karzai has 46 per cent of the votes, counted predominantly from the north and west which should be the stronghold of Dr Abdullah, the former foreign minister who trails with 33 per cent.

The ballots yet to be tallied will be from the Pashtun south and east, in which the President is the overwhelming favourite to win.

Mr Karzai's opponents are putting their faith in more than 2,500 complaints of voting irregularities – 691 of them described as serious charges – that the complaints commission has received. Most of them emanate from the south – The Independent witnessed what appeared to be flagrant fraud at Nad-e-Ali in Helmand, with ballot stuffing on behalf of the President.

Investigators say many of the complaints will be difficult to prove and even if officials are found guilty of malpractice, the penalty would be fines and disbarment from taking part in future elections rather than the wholesale discounting of votes.

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The Defense secretary responded Thursday to mounting doubts about the war by saying that the US must stay in order to defeat Al Qaeda, which remains a threat.

The Christian Science Monitor, By Gordon Lubold, September 3

Washington - Defense Secretary Robert Gates responded to growing concerns about the US mission in Afghanistan by making one of his most forceful arguments for why Americans must stay.

It was terrorists enjoying safe haven in Afghanistan who struck at the US on 9/11 – the first significant attack on the continental US since the War of 1812, Mr. Gates pointed out to reporters at the Pentagon Thursday. The US is not in Afghanistan to do nation-building, he added, but to help build Afghan government's capacity to protect itself from Al Qaeda and other groups – which, in turn, is in the US' best interests.

"I absolutely do not think it is time to get out of Afghanistan," Gates said.

Polls show that the American public has its doubts. Some 57 percent of respondents to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll say they oppose the war.

Political critics on the left and right, too, have become more vocal. Sen. Russ Feingold (D) of Wisconsin has called for an "flexible timetable for withdrawing US forces, and conservative commentator George Will said in a column this week that it is time to pull troops out.

By Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert
CNN

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkish, Iraqi and Syrian ministers met in Ankara on Thursday to discuss water shortages in the major Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which run through all three countries.

The meeting comes amid a diplomatic spat over Iraqi accusations that Syria is harboring terrorists.

The Tigris River has plunged to record low levels, Iraqi farmers told CNN. Iraq is suffering a drought that its officials are calling a "catastrophe."

Baghdad and Damascus want Turkey, where the source of the Tigris and Euphrates is located, to increase the flow of water passing through its network of dams.

"Syria and Iraq are badly in need of water but our Iraqi brothers feel the need much more ... it is why this meeting is so important," Turkey's official Anatolian Agency quoted Syrian Irrigation Minister Nader al-Bounni as saying at the start of Thursday's tri-partite meeting to address water resources. "Our dams are empty and we have human needs."

Also attending the meeting was Iraq's Water and Natural Resources and Turkey's Environment and Forestry minister, as well as its Energy minister .

But at the start of the meeting at a hotel in the Turkish capital, Turkey's energy minister seemed to rule out delivering significant quantities of additional water to Iraq and Syria.

"We are aware of the water needs of Syria and Iraq," Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told journalists at the entrance to the conference. "Water is not plenty in Turkey, and therefore we cannot exceed the determined amount too much."

Turkey provided Syria and Iraq 500 cubic meters of water a second, Yildiz said. But, he added, central and eastern Turkey had only received 350 cubic meters/second of water this year.

The Turkish government said rainfall over its part of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers plummeted by about 46 percent in the past three years.

Over the past decade, some environmental and political analysts have written about the scenario of a "water war" possibly breaking out in the Middle East as countries affected by climate change compete over dwindling access to fresh water.

However, there are more immediate political tensions complicating relations between the neighboring countries.

Syria and Iraq have withdrawn their ambassadors from each others' capitals after a series of deadly suicide truck bombings in Baghdad killed more than 100 people last month.

Iraq demanded Syria hand over several suspects it accuses of organizing the attacks. Damascus has denied charges that it is harboring insurgents.

This week, Turkey's

except the women ;)

US troops in Afghanistan are shocked by the standard of equipment their British counterparts have to use.

Terri Judd reports from Helmand
The guardian
Saturday, 5 September 2009

US Marines patrol the territory around their new base in Helmand province. They took over from British troops two months ago

* Photos enlarge

Two months ago, 4,000 US Marines descended upon the Afghan village of Garmsir in southern Afghanistan and managed to take the territory over which the British had battled over for three years. Go big, go strong, go fast, their Brigadier General, Lawrence Nicholson, had ordered – and they did.

Yet yesterday there was a notable absence of arrogance among the new inhabitants of the British military's most southerly and often most lethal front. The Marines speak with nothing but respect for those who held this ground in far fewer numbers – the British servicemen who passed, as some might say, this poisoned chalice on to them. If anything, there is muted admiration for how they coped with less equipment, particularly with their vehicles.

With roadside bombs now the Taliban's weapon of choice and the greatest threat to troops on the ground, many in Britain have been calling for greater protection for British troops.

Yesterday, the US commanders of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines (2/8) who now occupy Forward Operating Base Delhi spoke with admiration of the professionalism of the soldiers that they had replaced – but equally of the lack of armour on their vehicles and the fact that they had women serving on the front line.

The British Jackal vehicle could reach more sections of this inhospitable territory than the Americans' larger, heavier MRAP (Mine Resistance Ambush Protected) – which serves to point out the long-held argument that manoeuvrability is as important as protection. But the young Marines were in no hurry to swap places with the British.

"The biggest thing I noticed was the vehicles they drive. Your guys are friggin' gutsy. I wouldn't get shot at in one of those," said Corporal Aaron Helvig, 21, from Arizona.

Lance Corporal Sean Simmonds, 22, from Connecticut, was one of the first to arrive for a hand-over with the Light Dragoons battle group. "They know how to drive, that's for sure," he said of the British troops.

"They just go as fast as they can, they are not worried about being blown up. It is hard to find drivers like that. And their medics were awesome. I wouldn't mind working with them again at all."

For years in Iraq, the commonly held view was that the Americans had taken on the tougher fight in Baghdad while the southern area around Basra was the softer option. Today, no one is any doubt that the British have been fighting and dying in one of the most lethal parts of Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Christian Cabaniss, the commanding officer of 2/8, praised the British efforts.

"From my perspective, they were doing all the right things," he said. "They knew what they should do, they just didn't have the resources to do it. The plan we executed on 2 July had been done before but in pieces. We just had the resources to execute it all at the same time and stay. That is the difference.

"They did everything in their power to make our transition smooth. A lot of British blood had been spilled in the south and I see our part as a continuation of their efforts."

For some of the younger Marines involved, the hand-over was the first time they had ever met a Brit and, one conceded, he had rather feared they would be somewhat stuck up.

Instead the clean shaven, fastidiously polite Marines landed in Delhi to be greeted by the sight of a bunch of "bad ass" troops in shorts and flip flops, long adapted to this searingly hot, harsh environment.

"They were easy to talk to. I didn't expect that," said Sergeant Andre Livsey, 22, from Massachusetts. "We always think the British have higher standards, would think of us as a little immature. But we found out they are just like us."

Lance Corporal Antwuan Browne, 24, from Maryland, noted that "they swore a lot", explaining: "We don't swear when there are women and officers around."

Once they got over the "incomprehensible" accents, the Marines said, they began trading in time-honoured tradition; Marines gleefully swapping Light Dragoon or Mercian Regiment T-shirts and badges for their own, or their ration packs for a British one.

"You guys have got cool ass MREs [ration packs]. That tropical drink mix, tell them they need to ship that to America," said L/Cpl Browne who confessed to a new-found love for Scotch eggs.

Most of all, they stood in wide-eyed jealousy of the fact that the British, unlike the US Marines, allow women attachments to frontline units.

"I thought it was weird how the women interacted but pretty cool and they knew just as much as the guys," said L/Cpl Simmonds.

A stunned sounding Cpl Helvig recalled:"The first day a British female soldier just walked up to the shower in a towel in front of us, took a shower and walks away." more

By Maria Golovnina

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Sept 5 (Reuters) - U.S. and German military officers met families and victims of a NATO air strike in Northern Afghanistan on Saturday in a bid to cool anger over an incident that undermines NATO efforts to win hearts and minds.

Afghan officials say scores of people were killed, many of them civilians, when a U.S. F-15 fighter jet called in by German troops struck two hijacked fuel trucks before dawn on Friday.

At the central hospital in the city of Kunduz, Shaifullah, a boy of 6 or 7 with an arm and a leg bandaged from severe burns, lay in a tiny, foul-smelling hospital room, crammed with beds and swarming with flies.

"I went to get the fuel with everybody else, and then the bombs fell on us," the boy told a delegation led by U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Greg Smith, head of public affairs for the 103,000 U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

American and German officers nodded, some taking notes.

NATO commanders hope to avert a backlash over the incident, which comes two months after the new U.S. and NATO commander, General Stanley McChrystal, ordered new procedures that require extra precautions to protect civilians before troops can fire.

The attack took place in Kunduz, a northern province that had been largely quiet since the Taliban were toppled in 2001, but has recently seen a sudden upsurge in attacks, with fighters seizing control of remote areas.

The area is patrolled by NATO's 4,000-strong German contingent, who are banned by Berlin from operating in combat zones in other parts of the country.

GERMAN ELECTION DEBATE

The German military has confirmed that a German commander approved the air strike, and the incident could add fuel to a debate about the war, which is unpopular back home, three weeks before a German general election.

NATO says its targets in the raid were Taliban fighters who had hijacked the fuel trucks, but has acknowledged that some of the victims being treated in hospital are civilians.

Smith, sent to the area on a fact-finding mission by McChrystal, shook hands with wounded victims and relatives.

"We regret the loss of life. We express condolences to all members of your village," he said to one relative outside the hospital.

"It's a challenge for us to discover what happened two nights ago. There were two bombs dropped on that area. We need to discover what really happened ... and how local villagers might have been affected by this," he told Reuters.

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The Smirking Chimp

by Norman Solomon | September 4, 2009 - 9:19am

On the last day of August, I met a little girl named Guljumma. She's seven years old, and she lives in Kabul at a place called Helmand Refugee Camp District 5.

Guljumma talked about what happened one morning last year when she was sleeping at home in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Valley. At about 5 a.m., bombs exploded. Some people in her family died. She lost an arm.

With a soft matter-of-fact voice, Guljumma described those events. Her father, Wakil Tawos Khan, sat next to her. He took out copies of official forms that he has sent to the Afghan government.

Like the other parents who were gathered inside a crude tent in this squalid camp, Khan hasn't gotten anywhere through official channels. He's struggling to take care of his daughter. And he has additional duties because he's a representative for 100 of the families in the camp, which is little more than ditches, mud structures and ragged canvas.

Khan pointed to a plastic bag containing a few pounds of rice. It was his responsibility to divide the rice for the 100 families.

Basics like food arrive at the camp only sporadically, Khan said. Donations come from Afghan businessmen. The government of Afghanistan does very little. The United Nations doesn't help. Neither does the U.S. government.

Khan emphasized his eagerness to work. We have the skills, he said -- give us some land and just dig a well, and we'll do the rest. From the sound of his voice, hope is fraying.

You could say that the last time Guljumma and her father had meaningful contact with the U.S. government was when it bombed them.

If rhetoric were reality, this would be a war that's about upholding humane values. But rhetoric is not reality.

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Published: Sept. 5, 2009 at 2:15 AM

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Two U.S. researchers say dogs appear to be helpful to soldiers and former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Craig Love, a research psychologist, and Joan Esnayra, founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, discussed their work Thursday during a conference on military health research in Kansas City, The Kansas City Star reported. They are about to begin a $300,000 study, funded by the Defense Department, at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington.

Love and Esnayra surveyed 39 people with PTSD who were given service dogs and found 82 percent reported a reduction in symptoms.

There are now about 10,000 psychiatric service dogs in the United States. What they do depends partly on the symptoms experienced by the people with whom they are paired.

In the case of people with PTSD, the dogs can be trained to nudge them when they show signs of panic attacks. They can also help calm PTSD patients down by reacting calmly or not reacting at all to something the person perceives as a threat

Aid group says U.S. troops raid Afghan hospital
06 Sep 2009 12:21:32 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Jonathon Burch

KABUL, Sept 6 (Reuters) - U.S. troops burst into a Swedish charity-run hospital in Afghanistan and tied up patients' relatives and staff, the charity said on Sunday, in what it called a breach of deals between the military and aid groups.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) said soldiers had entered its hospital in Wardak, south of Kabul, on Wednesday evening without explanation and conducted a search, including of female wards and toilets.

"Upon entering the hospital they tied up four employees and two family members of patients at the hospital. SCA staff as well as patients (even those in beds) were forced out of rooms/wards throughout the search," SCA said in a statement.

"This is simply not acceptable," said SCA Country Director Anders Fange told Reuters.

"It is not only a clear violation of globally recognised humanitarian principles about the sanctity of health facilities and staff in areas of conflict but also a clear breach of the civil-military agreement" between aid groups and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, he said.

A press officer for the NATO-led force, Lieutenant-Commander Christine Sidenstricker, said she was aware of an incident but did not have enough information to comment.

U.N. spokesman Aleem Siddique said he was not aware of the details of the particular incident, but that international law requires the military to avoid operations in medical facilities.

"The rules are that medical facilities are not combat areas. It's unacceptible for a medical facility to become an area of active combat operations," he said. "The only exception to that under the Geneva Conventions is if a risk is being posed to people."

SCA provides runs health, education and agricultural development programmes in about half of the country's provinces. It has been based in Afghanistan since the early 1980s.

When the soldiers left, hospital staff were told to report any potential insurgents they treated to the NATO forces, the Swedish group said. Fange said the SCA did not have to do so.

"There is the Hippocratic oath. If anyone is wounded, sick or in need of treatment ... if they are a human being, then they are received and treated as they should be by international law." (For more on Afghanistan, click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Editing by Jon Hemming) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)

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