roadside bomb killed four U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, inflicting the year's deadliest single attack on international forces a week after Washington set plans to send reinforcements. An Afghan civilian working with the Americans also died.The Americans were patrolling with Afghan soldiers when their vehicle struck a bomb Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. military said in a statement. The military withheld identities of the dead and the attack's location pending notification of relatives.
The previous deadliest attack on U.S. troops this year was an explosion in Zabul province in January that killed three Americans.Twenty-nine U.S. military personnel have died in Afghanistan this year, far surpassing the eight Americans killed in the first two months of 2008. A total of 654 have died since the U.S.-led offensive that ousted Afghanistan's Taliban regime in late 2001.Taliban militants have increased attacks the last three years and now hold sway in large areas of countryside, leading the Obama administration to promise an intensified focus on defeating Islamic extremists in this region.

President Barack Obama announced Feb. 17 that he had decided to send 17,000 more soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan, adding to the record 38,000 already fighting a strengthening insurgency. Many of the U.S. troops now operate in Taliban strongholds in the dangerous south.

Obama's order should would put several thousand troops in place in time for the increase in fighting that usually occurs with warmer weather and ahead of Afghan national elections scheduled for August.U.S. officials said last week even more troops could be sent later, but that decision would not be made until a broad review of policy for dealing with militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The review should be completed around the end of March, which coincides with a NATO summit.The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, has been seeking as many as 30,000 additional U.S. troops to counter the resurgence of the Taliban militants and protect Afghan civilians.U.S. commanders say they want to bolster combat units and trainers in the south with enough new troops to stem insurgent violence without becoming an occupying force that would alienate Afghan civilians.In other violence, the U.S. military said coalition and Afghan troops killed 16 militants Monday after insurgents attacked their convoy in southern Helmand province. There were no other reports of casualties, the statement said.

Bomb exploded in Afghanistan and killed two civilians while 28 militants and two Afghan soldiers died in clashes, the authorities said.The blast and the fighting on Tuesday took place in the south of the country, a Taliban stronghold where about 17,000 US troops are expected to deploy in the coming weeks to reinforce multinational troops fighting extremists.In Kandahar city, explosives fixed to a motorbike were detonated remotely as an Afghan army convoy passed, said the regional army commander, General Shair Mohammad Zazai.Two civilians were killed and three wounded, while five Afghan soldiers were hurt, he told AFP.It was not clear who was behind the attack but Taliban militants have carried out hundreds of similar bombings in an insurgency that last year reached its deadliest since the hardliners were ousted from government in 2001.Heavy fighting erupted in the neighbouring province of Helmand late Tuesday when gunmen attacked Afghan soldiers protecting police who were destroying illegal opium crops, the provincial government said."Eighteen militants were killed and two Afghan army soldiers were martyred," provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP.Two Westerners training the counternarcotics team were also wounded in fighting, he said.Helmand produces the bulk of Afghanistan's opium, which is used to make heroin in a drugs trade worth four billion dollars a year and one that earns Taliban insurgents millions of dollars, Afghan and US officials say.The authorities announced separately that the US-led coalition and Afghan troops had killed 10 militants in the southern province of Uruzgan Tuesday after coming under attack while on patrol.The forces called in air support after an initial gun battle, which killed one militant, a joint press statement said."Nine militants were killed and one fortified fighting position was destroyed during the strike," it said.The information could not be independently confirmed.There have been several heavy clashes in Afghanistan over the past few days, with insurgency-linked violence this year expected to match that of last year.

Taliban militants fighting Afghan government raided Counter-Narcotic Police in the poppy growing Helmand province in south Afghanistan and police encountered, leaving 20 people including 18 insurgents killed, spokesman for provincial administration Daud Ahmadi said Wednesday. "Personnel of Counter-Narcotic Police with the support of soldiers from national army were busy in destroying poppy fields in Nadalid district Tuesday when a group of militants opened fire and the troops responded during which 18 rebels and two Afghan soldiers were killed," Ahmadi told Xinhua.
He also added that two foreign nationals who served as advisors were injured in the firefight, but their nationalities could not be identified. Afghan government launched anti-narcotic campaign in Helmand province early weekend and so far hundreds of hectares of poppy-fields, according to officials, have been destroyed

Afghan National Army (ANA) backed by U.S.- led coalition forces killed 10 armed militants in Shaheed Hasas district of Uruzgan province in south of Afghanistan Tuesday, a joint press release of U.S. military and Afghan army said on Wednesday.
"The combined elements were conducting a routine patrol when they came under small arms, mortar and fire from an unknown number of militants. The forces returned fire killing one militant," the press release said. It also added, after the combined forces assured there were no non-combatants in the area, a precision strike were called in which resulted in killing of nine more militants. No ANA, coalition forces or non-combatants were injured in the incidents, it said. Taliban militants fighting Afghan and international troops have not made any comments so far. Conflicts and Taliban-led insurgency which left over 5,000 people dead including more than 2,000 civilians in 2008 is expected to go up this year in Afghanistan.

Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, who faces several immigration-related charges such as lying to obtain citizenship and to obtain a U.S. passport, is a flight risk and a threat to the community, citing suspicions that the Afghanistan native holds views akin to terrorist organizations and has lied about possible connections to terrorist organizations in the past. Meanwhile, Niazi's lawyer and family argued that the Tustin man is being targeted by agents from the FBI after refusing to become an informant for the agency.U.S. Magistrate Arthur Nakazato said he held several concerns about granting bail during the hearing and set several conditions for bail, including a requirement that at least two relatives be financially responsible for Niazi's bail, electronic monitoring and house arrest.“If there's something I see or hear you are connected with terrorist activity or sympathize with terrorists, that will be it,” Nakazato said.Niazi doesn't face any terrorism-related charges in the case, but during the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Deirdre Eliot stressed Niazi's suspected ties with extremist organizations, including al-Qaida, Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin and the Taliban. Special Agent Thomas J. Ropel of the FBI testified during that Niazi had been recorded in several conversations where he allegedly expressed views sympathetic to terrorist organizations, including conversations where he referred to funding Afghan mujahedeen, blowing up vacant buildings and referred to Osama bin Laden as “an angel.”Niazi's attorney, deputy federal public defender Chase Scolnik, argued it was Niazi who first approached the FBI in June 2007, saying he had information about a Muslim convert from the Islamic Center in Irvine who had mentioned jihad, weapons and blowing up buildings.“It was Mr. Niazi who approached the government and spoke out against extremist members of his mosque,” Scolnik said.
Ropel said the man Niazi was concerned about was in fact an informant with the FBI who had made contact with several mosques in Orange County, and that he believed Niazi had come forward as a preventive measure to appear as a good citizen.
Under surveillance since 2006, Niazi was taken into custody Friday by federal agents at the 13000 block of Charloma Drive in Tustin, after a federal indictment was unsealed charging that lied in his application for citizenship, a U.S. passport, and lying about a 2005 trip to Pakistan where he met with Dr. Amin al-Haq, who has been identified as a global terrorist and is married to Niazi's sister.According to the indictment, al-Haq is believed to be bin Laden's security coordinator.According to search warrant affidavits, investigators seized several documents that showed that Niazi and his wife used an unlicensed money-transfer system to make several transfers totaling $16,400 to Peshawar, Pakistan, and Kabul, Afghanistan, between 1999 and 2006. Authorities also investigated transactions between Niazi's account and other accounts under the names of his wife and in-laws.In court, Niazi sat quietly as his Scolnik argued for the judge to set bail.“I ask that we step back and take a deep breath,” Scolnik said. “This is not a terrorism case.”Outside the courtroom, Niazi's wife, Jamilah Amin, said her husband is a good man. Leaders of Muslim organizations said the case illustrated a continued practice of abuse and strong-arm tactics by the FBI to recruit informants and punish those who refuse.
“He could not be any harm to any human being on this earth,” Amin said during a news conference outside of the federal court. “He's working hard for us here. There's nothing you will find he was a bad person and you can ask anyone.”
Speaking alongside Amin, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said the organization would call on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Niazi's arrest.“We continue to see ourselves in the Muslim community guilty until proven innocent,” Ayloush said.Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, said he was concerned about what appeared to be attempts by the FBI to lure informants and seek incriminating information in local mosques.During the hearing, Eliot entered as exhibits a picture of Niazi atop of a military vehicle from 1992 in Afghanistan, a letter from his brother-in-law with the letterhead of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, a suspected terrorist organization. Eliot said that in an e-mail sent in April 2008, Niazi referred to the United States as an “adulteress,” referred to the rise of the Taliban and wrote, “the end is near.”Scolnik argued that the evidence presented did not prove that Niazi is a terrorist or a danger. He said Niazi sent money to Afghanistan to care for his brother's children after he died in a car crash. The letter Niazi received from his brother on the letterhead of a suspected terrorist organization was not evidence of ties to a terrorist organization but “evidence that he keeps in touch with his family.”After Nakazato set bail at $500,000, Amin said she was still unsure if she and her family would be able to come up with the money.Niazi is scheduled to be arraigned March 2. He faces charges of perjury, naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport obtained by fraud and making statements to a federal agency.

Bombing, airstrikes and clashes between militants and military resulted in 30 deaths in Afghanistan, government and military officials said Wednesday.

The detonation of a bomb planted on a motorbike in Kandahar killed two citizens and injured five Afghan soldiers, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported. A provincial government spokesman said the explosion occurred as a convoy of Afghan troops was passing.

In the southern province of Helmand, militants attacked Afghan soldiers as they were destroying a poppy field, KUNA said, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers. Two foreign civilians were injured.In the same province, U.S.-led coalition troops said 16 militants died during an airstrike. In a statement issued Wednesday, military officials said coalition forces were reconnoitering an area when attacked by a group of militants.In Uruzgan province, coalition troops said 10 militants were killed when they attacked a patrol of multinational troops. KUNA reported military sources said one militant was killed by ground fire and nine died in an airstrike.

Staff Sgt. Timothy P. Davis, 28, of Aberdeen, Wash., died near Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron from Hurlburt Field, Fla.
An open viewing is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. and memorial service at 1 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Montesano High School gymnasium in Montesano, Wash., followed by burial services at the Wynoochee Cemetery. "Sergeant Davis, or 'DT' as we know him here at the squadron, will be sorely missed," said Maj. Travis Woodworth, acting commander of the 23rd STS. Sergeant Davis enlisted in 1999 and was initially trained as a survival, evasion, resistance and escape instructor after completing basic training. He entered the combat control career field in June 2003. After completing more than two years of training, he reported to the 23rd STS here and served on a combat control team. Sergeant Davis qualified as a joint terminal attack controller, enabling him to provide direct aircraft and support ground combat operations while embedded with U.S. and coalition special forces. This was his second deployment as a JTAC to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. "Tim was one of the first squadron members to volunteer for this recent deployment, despite just getting back from one less than a year ago," Major Woodworth said. "He was the epitome of the quiet professional that we in the Special Operations community strive to be."
The sergeant's military decorations include the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal. "Our hearts go out to his family and friends as we at the 23rd STS along with them mourn the loss of one of our own," Major Woodworth said.

Jurors at Fort Bragg, N.C., deliberated four hours before clearing Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell, 39, of Tecumseh, Mich., who was charged with premeditated murder and mutilating a dead body. He could have been imprisoned for life.
Military jury has acquitted a veteran U.S. special forces soldier of killing an unarmed Afghan man and then cutting off one of his ears.The man he shot had been detained after a vehicle stop outside Hyderabad, Afghanistan, last March 5. Checking the man's cell phone, Newell, with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, found a picture of a Russian machine gun commonly used by Taliban forces.Newell testified he shot the man twice after he lunged at him, but the prosecution said eye-witness accounts proved the man did not constitute a threat and that he did not lunge at Newell.

British soldiers are engaged in "a surreal mini civil war" with growing numbers of home-grown jihadists who have travelled to Afghanistan to support the Taliban, senior Army officers have told The Independent. Interceptions of Taliban communications have shown that British jihadists – some "speaking with West Midlands accents" – are active in Helmand and other parts of southern Afghanistan, according to briefing papers prepared by an official security agency.The document states that the numbers of young British Muslims, "seemingly committed jihadists", travelling abroad to commit extremist violence has been rising, with Pakistan and Somalia the most frequent destinations.Taliban terrorists with West Midland accents are leading the fight against British troops in Afghanistan, it was revealed today in security service briefing papers.The shock news comes just weeks before more than 100 Territorial Army members from the region begin a six-month tour of duty on the front line in the battled-scarred country’s most dangerous province.

Spy planes tapping into battlefield radio conversations between enemy forces in the trouble-torn Helmand district have recorded people speaking with West Midland accents, official security service briefing papers disclose.

The information raises the horrifying prospect of jihadists raised in this country being engaged in some of the bloodiest battles involving British troops since the Second World War.Even more worrying is that RAF Nimrod aircraft listening to “chatter” on the ground have heard increasing numbers of British voices among the enemy.

MI5 has estimated that up to 4,000 British Muslims had travelled to Pakistan and, before the fall of the Taliban, to Afghanistan for military training.

The main concern until now has been about the parts some of them had played in terrorist plots in the UK. Now there are signs that they are mounting missions against British and Western targets abroad. "We are now involved in a kind of surreal mini-British civil war a few thousand miles away," said one Army officer.Somalia is also becoming a destination for British Muslims of Somali extraction who have started fighting alongside al-Qa'ida-backed Islamist forces. A 21-year-old Briton of Somali extraction, who had been brought up in Ealing, west London, recently blew himself up in the town of Baidoa, killing 20 people. The head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, has raised the worrying issue of British citizens being indoctrinated in Somalia, and Michael Hayden, the outgoing head of the CIA, warned that the conflict in the Horn of Africa had "catalysed" expatriate Somalis in the West.But it is in Afghanistan that British forces are now directly facing fellow Britons on the other side. RAF Nimrod aircraft flying over Afghanistan at up to 40,000ft have been picking up Taliban electronic "chatter" in which voices can be heard in West Midlands and Yorkshire accents. Worryingly for the military, this has increased in the past few months, with communications picked up by both ground and air surveillance, showing the presence of more British voices in the Taliban front line.The men involved are said to try to hide their British connections but sometimes "fall back" into speaking English. One senior military source said: "We have been hearing a lot more Punjabi, Urdu and Kashmiri Urdu rather than just Pashtu, so there appears to be more men from other parts of Pakistan fighting with the Taliban than just the Pashtuns who have tribal allegiances with the Afghan Pashtuns. It is this second group, the Urdu, Punjabi speakers etc, who fall back into English in, for example, Brummie accents. You get the impression that they have been told not to talk in English but sometimes simply can't help it."

A British Royal Marine died in hospital in Britain Wednesday of wounds he sustained from insurgent fire while on patrol in Sangin, 490 km (305 miles) southwest of Kabul, the Ministry of Defence said.

Helmand Deputy Governor Hajji Abdul Sattar and NATO-led and Afghan security forces have launched a joint investigation into the death of civilians during an engagement between NATO-led forces and insurgents Monday, the alliance said.

HELMAND - An explosion killed three British soldiers during an operation in Girishk district, 530 km (330 miles) southwest of Kabul Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence said.

Elders from a village located approximately 15 km west of Kandahar City alleged today that two local children were killed and two were wounded when unexploded ordnance they were handling detonated. It is alleged that the unexploded ordnance was left behind by International Security Assistance Force soldiers who were conducting a practice range exercise in the area the day prior, however the nature of the munition involved has yet to be determined.“Any civilian death is regrettable and our thoughts go to the families in these trying moments,” said Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, ISAF spokesperson. “ISAF has very strict policies in place that prohibit leaving behind any unexploded ordnance and make every effort to ensure the safety of Afghan civilians. Qualified personnel conduct detailed examination and complete sweeps of range sites prior to departing to ensure that the range area is completely safe for both ISAF and ANSF soldiers as well as local village members and infrastructure. This incident is currently under investigation.”ISAF operates a vigorous educational campaign aimed at informing and encouraging Afghans not to handle any suspicious objects or clearly identified unexploded ordnance on the ground.

Incident occurred today in Sangin District, Helmand province in which an International Security Assistance Force patrol was ambushed by insurgent forces and resulted in a number of civilian casualties. All of the causalities received immediate medical treatment and were taken by helicopter to ISAF hospitals.
The incident is being investigated fully with the utmost rigour. ISAF is coordinating closely with the Afghan authorities and keeping the Office of the Governor of Helmand province fully informed.ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette said: “Gen. McKiernan takes all allegations of non combatant causalities very seriously. An investigation is being conducted with the help of local Afghan officials to determine what occurred. ISAF forces are here to provide security to the Afghan people and deeply regret any injuries that may have been caused.”

Confirmed that an insurgent leader was killed during an Afghan national security forces-led operation near Ghoresh, in Kandahar province earlier this week.The operation, supported by International Security Assistance Forces, was to apprehend the insurgent Mullah Mahmood. Mahmood facilitated and directed the placement of improvised explosive devices within Kandahar province, risking the lives of Afghan civilians, as well as Afghan national security forces and ISAF troops. He also had a known history of manipulating Afghans into becoming suicide bombers and was linked to numerous crimes in the area. During the operation, Mahmood was given the option to surrender peacefully, but instead attempted to attack security forces and was killed. Fortunately, no civilian casualties resulted from his last act of violence.
Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, ISAF spokesperson, said: “The success of this operation shows the people of Afghanistan, and more precisely within Kandahar province, that security and stability is of the utmost importance to the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”.“With Mahmood no longer operating in the area, the Insurgents’ ability to conduct operations will be significantly degraded in Kandahar province. The most important outcome from this operation is the benefit to the Afghan people. Their safety has improved as Mahmood’s blatant disregard for the lives of innocent civilians has been brought to an end.”

During operations throughout northern Iraq, Iraqi security forces, with coalition forces advisors, arrested nine suspected terrorists under the authority of various government of Iraq-issued warrants Feb. 11 and 12.“The success of these missions demonstrates the determination of Iraqi security forces to thwart terrorist and criminal activities in order to offer safety and stability to the people of Iraq,” said Maj. April Olsen, a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Arabian Peninsula spokesperson.In the Mosul area of the Ninewa province, Mosul Special Weapons and Tactics arrested a man under the authority of an Iraqi police-issued warrant Feb. 12. His arrest was warranted based on his alleged involvement with terrorist lethal-aid networks and operational capabilities. Also in Mosul, Iraqi Special Operations Forces, armed with a Central Criminal Court of Iraq warrant, arrested three suspected terrorists Feb. 12, one of which is suspected to be the cell leader. The terrorist cell these men are allegedly members of is responsible for numerous attacks against ISF, particularly Iraqi police throughout Mosul, murders and kidnappings. In an effort to reduce terrorist influence in Muqdadiyah, ISOF arrested a man allegedly responsible for building and emplacing vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices against coalition forces. This arrest may disrupt terrorist operations in Diyala. In a separate operation in Al Ikha Feb. 12, Tal Afar SWAT attempted to disrupt terrorist activity in the area through the arrest of a man alleged affiliated with a local terrorist cell. This arrest was directed through a warrant issued by the Tel Afar Court.A man was arrested Feb. 12 by Baqubah SWAT as authorized through a warrant issued by a Baqubah Task unit commander. This man, arrested in Baqubah, was allegedly planning a vehicle-borne improvised explosive devise attack against coalition forces in the near future. “The operation resulted in the arrest of a man who clearly showed signs of having begun personal preparations to conduct a suicide attack and tested positive for explosive residue,” said the operation commander. “This operation demonstrates ISF’s continued commitment as they remain steadfast in combating these threats.” In a separate operation, Iraqi army soldiers arrested two men in Rabiah under the authority of a CCCI warrant. These men are suspected members of a terrorist cell who specialize in forging documents and weapons distribution. Evidence also suggests that these men are alleged associates with a man who attempted to poison troops at a combat outpost and a VBIED attack on IA in Tal Uwaynat. These arrests, collectively, may help disrupt terrorist operations in Mosul [Ninewa province], al Ikha, Baqubah and Rabiah. Taking these alleged terrorists out of these communities eliminates their participation in operations that cover a wide range of criminal activities. Activities included IED attacks, kidnappings and murder.“The success of these operations is due to the continued perseverance of ISF,” said an operation commander. “Their commitment to disrupting the influence and support for terrorist organizations while providing a more secure environment for the people of Iraq is commendable.”
In the Mosul area of the Ninewa Province, Mosul Special Weapons and Tactics arrested a man under the authority of an Iraqi Police-issued warrant Feb. 12. His arrest was warranted based on his alleged involvement with terrorist lethal-aid networks and operational capabilities. Also in Mosul, Iraqi Special Operations Forces, armed with a Central Criminal Court of Iraq warrant, arrested three suspected terrorists Feb. 12, one of which is suspected to be the cell leader. The terrorist cell these men are allegedly members of is responsible for numerous attacks against ISF, particularly Iraqi Police throughout Mosul; murders; and kidnappings. In Muqdadiyah, ISOF arrested a man allegedly responsible for building and emplacing vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices against CF. In a separate operation in Al Ikha Feb. 12, Tal Afar SWAT arrested of a man allegedly affiliated with a local terrorist cell. This arrest was directed through a warrant issued by the Tel Afar Court.A man was arrested Feb. 12 by Baqubah SWAT as authorized through a warrant issued by a Baqubah Task unit commander. This man, arrested in Baqubah, was allegedly planning a vehicle-borne improvised explosive devise attack against CF in the near future. “The operation resulted in the arrest of a man who clearly showed signs of having begun personal preparations to conduct a suicide attack and tested positive for explosive residue,” said the operation commander. “This operation demonstrates ISF’s continued commitment as they remain steadfast in combating these threats.”
In a separate operation, Iraqi Army Soldiers arrested two men in Rabiah under the authority of a CCCI warrant. These men are suspected members of a terrorist cell who specialize in forging documents and weapons distribution. Evidence also suggests that these men are alleged associates with a man who attempted to poison troops at a combat outpost and a VBIED attack on IA in Tal Uwaynat. “Collectively, these arrests disrupt terrorist operations in Mosul, al Ikha, Baqubah and Rabiah, said Col. Bill Buckner, spokesman for the Multi-National Corps- Iraq. “Taking these alleged terrorists out of these communities eliminates their participation in operations that cover a wide range of criminal activities, such as IED attacks, kidnappings and murder.”

Indian police will formally charge in less than a month's time Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone attacker caught alive in the Mumbai terror attacks last November, a senior police officer said Monday. The officer said, on condition of anonymity, that the charge sheet contains eyewitness accounts of over 200 people and names six other Pakistani nationals as men involved in the attacks. These men are Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Javed Iqbal , Abu Hamza, Kaafa , Yusuf Muzammil and Abu Al Qama, he said. All the terrorist suspects would be charged in cases including waging war against India and cyber crime, he said. The terror strikes on Mumbai saw ten coordinated attacks which began on 26 November and lasted until 29 November. At least 173 people were killed and over 308 wounded in the attacks which drew widespread condemnation across the world. Kasab has confessed to the police that Pakistan-based militant organization Lashker-e-Toiba masterminded the attacks, according to Indian authorities. Pakistan admitted this month part of the conspiracy was planned in Pakistan and the attackers went to Mumbai from southern Pakistan with three boats.

Several dozen armed police have arrested a man in a hotel close to Warsaw, suspected of murdering a Chechen exile.The man was arrested after an international arrest warrant was put out for him by Austrian authorities after he disappeared from the country.Two other Russians of Chechen origin were also detained.The man, arrested in the police swoop last Thursday, is charged with murdering 27-year-old Umar Israilov, shot dead in Vienna last month. Israilov was a former bodyguard of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

Nine security agents working for Sonelgaz, the biggest energy production company in Algeria, were killed while two others were seriously injured, Sunday evening, in an attack that targeted their base stituated in the Jigel region, about 300 km from the capital, Algiers. Three simultaneous bombs also went off Thursday in the Boumerdes wilaya (close to Algiers), wounding two people. The Algerian air force, in return, bombarded the Ousteli mountains, in the Batna wilaya (435 km east of Algiers) where armed groups are claimed to have taken refuge. (Monday 23 February - 15:27)

A homemade bomb exploded in a 650-year-old bazaar packed with tourists Sunday, killing a French woman and wounding at least 21 people, most of them foreigners.Within an hour, police found a second bomb and detonated it safely. Security officials said three people were in custody.“We were serving our customers as usual, and all of a sudden there was a large sound,” said Magdy Ragab, 42, a waiter at a nearby cafe. “We saw heavy gray smoke and there were people running everywhere … Some people were injured by the stampede, not the shrapnel.”
An expert on Islamic extremism said the attack might have been a response to Israel’s deadly offensive in Gaza last month.NATO on Monday condemned the terrorist attack in Cairo, which killed one French tourist and injured 20 other people. "On behalf of NATO, I condemn in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack in Cairo yesterday. I express NATO's solidarity to (Egyptian) President (Hosni) Mubarak and to the Egyptian people for this heinous act," said NATO Secretary GeneralJaap de Hoop Scheffer in a statement. "There can be no justification for this cowardly and pointless attack," he said. De Hoop Scheffer extended NATO's condolences to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the death of the French citizen and hoped for a speedy recovery of the injured. He said NATO will continue to work with Egypt and other partners in the Mediterranean region in the fight against the scourge of terrorism.

Clash between Afghan forces and Taliban militants claimed the lives of six insurgents in Taliban former stronghold Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, a senior police officer in the province Abdullah Khan said Sunday. The gun battle erupted in Panjwai district on Saturday when the rebels raided a police unit and police encountered, during which six fighters were killed, Khan told Xinhua. He also added that two police constables were injured in the fire exchange. Following the clash, he added that Afghan forces launched a cleanup operation in the area to root out militants.

Battle just outside southern Afghanistan's largest city has killed at least six Taliban fighters, while an airstrike against militants elsewhere in the south killed eight, officials said Sunday.A battle in the Panjwayi district - 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Kandahar city - began late Saturday after Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol, wounding two officers, said Abdullah Khan, the province's deputy police chief.NATO and Afghan forces responded, unleashing bombs that could be heard by residents in Kandahar city. Khan said at least six militants have been killed in the fighting, which continued into Sunday. In neighboring Helmand province, an airstrike on a minivan killed eight militants late Saturday, said Daud Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman. Ahmadi said an informant told the government that insurgents were riding in the vehicle and authorities told coalition military officials, which hit it with an airstrike.Southern Afghanistan is the Taliban's spiritual homeland and the most violent region in Afghanistan.The militants, which were driven from power in a 2001 U.S.-led invasion, have increased their attacks the last three years and now control wide swaths of the countryside.President Barack Obama announced last week that the U.S. would send 17,000 additional forces to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 Americans already in the country.Many of those forces are expected to deploy to the south to back up British troops fighting in Helmand and Canadian forces fighting in Kandahar.

The Department of Defense says 26-year-old Staff Sgt. Jeremy Bessa of Woodridge died on the scene of Friday’s attack in Khordi, Afghanistan.suburban Chicago soldier has died in Afghanistan after his military vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device and came under small firearms attack.The department says 36-year-old Master Sgt. David Hurt of Tucson, Ariz. died Friday in Kandahar from wounds received in the same attack.Both were assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Fort Bragg, N.C. Both were members of the Army’s Special Forces. Hurt is a native of Oak Park. He’s survived by a wife and two children. Bessa, a native of Honolulu, is survived by his wife and son.

Binyam Mohamed spent just under seven years in custody - four of those were at the US's Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba. US authorities considered him a would-be bomber who fought alongside the Taleban in Afghanistan, following his arrest in Pakistan in 2002. But Mr Mohamed has insisted the only evidence against him was obtained using torture. Last year the US dropped all charges against him. Mr Mohamed was said to be very ill as a result of a hunger strike in the weeks before his release, while US authorities were reviewing his case.

Binyam Mohamed al Habashi was born in Ethiopia on 24 July 1978. In 1994 he arrived in the UK and sought asylum on the basis of his family's opposition to the Ethiopian government. His application was rejected, but in 2000 he was given exceptional leave to remain in the UK for four years. Living in North Kensington, west London, Mr Mohamed worked as a cleaner and studied electrical and electronics engineering.In 2001 - the year he converted to Islam - Mr Mohamed travelled to Pakistan, and then Afghanistan. What he was doing there was the crux of his legal battle.

US President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of Guantanamo According to Mr Mohamed, he wanted to kick a drug habit and get away from familiar haunts in London. He says that he also wanted to see whether Taleban-run Afghanistan was a good Islamic country - a path followed by other young Muslim men who were fascinated by events in that war-torn region. US authorities, however, said that while in Afghanistan Mr Mohamed fought on the front line against anti-Taleban Northern Alliance forces. They claim he was cherry-picked by al-Qaeda because of his UK residency, and received firearms and explosives training alongside British shoe bomber Richard Reid. Prosecutors claimed he planned to travel to the US, rent several flats in an apartment block and then blow it up with a timing device. Mr Mohamed was arrested by Pakistani immigration officials at Karachi airport in April 2002 when intending to return to the UK. He alleges that he was tortured in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004, including being beaten and scalded and having his penis slashed with a scalpeHe claims a British agent who introduced himself as "John" visited him in Pakistan and that the torture stopped soon afterwards. But he was later taken to Morocco, where he says he was tortured for a period of 18 months. In a statement following his release and return to the UK, he said that during all his time in detention "the very worst moment came when I realised in Morocco that the people who were torturing me were receiving questions and materials from British intelligence". He claims he was then transferred to an alleged CIA-run site in Kabul, Afghanistan, before being sent to Guantanamo in September 2004. In Afghanistan he alleges he was held in a black hole at the "Prison of Darkness" where he was deprived of sleep, blasted with sound, starved and then beaten and hung up. In August 2007, Britain asked the US to return Mr Mohamed and others to the UK. Other detainees were returned, Mr Mohamed was not. Then, when it became clear the US was going to re-charge Mr Mohamed, his lawyers sought the release of evidence relating to the case. When the UK government declined, his lawyers started High Court proceedings on 6 May 2008 culminating in a February 2009 ruling that referred to the claims of torture. Judges refused to order the disclosure of a summary of US reports on his detention, citing a threat to US intelligence-sharing with Britain - although the foreign secretary said there had been no such threat and the UK "never condoned torture". The US charged Mr Mohamed, in May last year, with conspiring with members of al-Qaeda to murder and commit terrorism. Mr Mohamed was among the Guantanamo detainees who went on hunger strike to protest against the conditions and their lack of access to a judicial review. In a May 2008 letter to Downing Street, he told how he felt "betrayed" by Britain and said he was contemplating suicide. He wrote: "I have been held without trial by the US for six years, one month and 12 days. "That is 2,234 days (very long days and often longer nights). Of this, about 550 days were in a torture chamber in Morocco and about 150 in the 'Dark Prison' in Kabul. "Still there is no end in sight, no prospect of a fair trial." In October 2008, the US announced that charges against Mr Mohammed and four other men were being dropped. In December, Mr Mohamed was told unofficially that he would freed when the new US administration came into office. But he reportedly went on another hunger strike between 5 January and 11 February, only stopping when a member of his legal team persuaded him that his release was imminent. British officials, including a doctor, visited Mr Mohamed in Cuba on 15 February to assess whether he was fit to be brought back to the UK. Confirmation of Mr Mohamed's release was made in a Foreign Office statement on 20 February.

Deployment of 17000 additonal troops to Afghanistan coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Soviet pull-out from that country. “They have repeated all our mistakes”, said Russia’s Ambassador to NATO Dmitri Rogozin.Soviet troops in Afghanistan called the mujahedeen fighters “dukhi”, or ghosts, for their ablity to spring up out of nowhere and then blend back into the terrain. Indeed, the USSR’s last war continues to haunt Russian relations with an old adversary that seems intent on ignoring history.Today’s New York Times writes of the tensions between the US and Russia engendered by the closure of an important American base in Kyrgyzstan. The base was very important for re-supplying Afghanistan and the US believes that Russia had pressured its southern neighbour to close the base to put a spoke in the wheel of the US led operation.The Russian response?“A lot of these things,” he said, “are the consequences of the attitude that NATO takes and has taken in recent years toward mutually important issues that touch upon the interests of Russia — beginning with the Balkans and Yugoslavia, Kosovo, NATO moving eastward, to Ukraine and Georgia, the Baltic states. And if more attention had been paid toward Russia’s opinion, then the situation would now be much better.”Nevertheless, the US and Russia share an overwhelming number of strategic goals in Afghanistan, so any Russian posturing is more about linkage rather than genuine attempts to hobble American success.The Kremlin also seems reluctant to offer significant help until it knows the Obama administration’s stance toward Russia. Relations soured under George W. Bush after he called for Ukraine and Georgia to enter NATO, and proposed an anti-missile system for Eastern Europe. Mr. Obama has not yet said whether he will pursue those policies.

U.S. military advisers, mostly Army Special Forces soldiers, are training Pakistani troops in their fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban, The New York Times reported Sunday.The secret U.S. task force provides the Pakistanis with intelligence and advises them on combat tactics, but does not participate in combat itself, the Times reported, citing anonymous U.S. military officials.Pakistani army officers said last year that the Pentagon had sent 32 Americans to train senior personnel of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the northwestern part of the country, adjacent to Afghanistan.On its Web site Sunday, the Times reported that the effort was larger and more ambitious than previously acknowledged, involving more than 70 U.S. advisers, including combat medics, communications experts and other specialists.
A commando unit within the Frontier Corps has used information from the Central Intelligence Agency and other sources to kill or capture as many as 60 militants in recent months, the newspaper said.Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of Pakistan's army, is visiting Washington this week as the White House and the Pentagon review U.S. strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

NATO air strike in Afghanistan killed up to 16 militants overnight while a twin suicide attack killed a policeman outside a government anti-drugs office, officials said Monday.Afghan security forces called in NATO warplanes to fend off scores of militants who attacked a police post in the northwestern province of Badghis."We requested air support from the international forces. As a result of the aerial bombardment, 16 Taliban have been killed," Ikramuddin Yawar, police chief for western Afghanistan told AFP.Ten rebels were wounded, he added.Yawar had earlier put the death toll at "higher than eight". Deputy provincial governor for Badghis, Abdul Ghani Saberi said initially that eight rebels died and 15 were wounded.The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed carrying out an air strike in the remote province. It said there were casualties but an alliance spokesman was unable to specify how many.The Taliban-led insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and foreign troops has recently spread out of its heartland in southern and eastern Afghanistan to the northwest and southwest of the country.In the neighbouring province of Nimroz on Monday, two suicide bombers killed a policeman as they blew themselves up outside the counter-narcotics office of the provincial capital of Zaranj, the government said.Both bombers detonated devices strapped to their bodies under police uniforms after police opened fire when they attempted to enter the building, the interior ministry said in a statement."One police was martyred and three others were injured," it said."Police guarding the gate tried to stop them as they tried to enter the building. They exploded themselves and killed the police officer," provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad told AFP.He said the bombers were riding a motorbike.
Taliban insurgents, who benefit from drugs money, have frequently targeted counter-narcotic operations in Afghanistan, which is the world's biggest supplier of drugs.
Since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted them from government, the Taliban have regrouped and waged an increasingly deadly insurgency, hoping to topple the US-backed regime in Kabul and regain power.

Officials in Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), who last week signed a controversial peace deal with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley, announced plans to distribute rifles and create a new elite police force as part of a new strategy to confront terrorism.However, security experts warned that the local government's plan could spark a civil war.The announcement was seen as an attempt to allay US and British fears that the peace deal could create a new safe haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, just as the American and Pakistani governments prepare a new offensive in the frontier and tribal areas.The peace deal in Swat has caused some alarm among Nato allies because it is only 100 miles from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.The decision to arm villagers is thought to have been inspired by US initiatives in Iraq, which played a key role in reducing violence.The NWFP, including its capital Peshawar, has seen a dramatic surge in Taliban attacks in the last year, including beheadings, shootings and bomb attacks on pro-government politicians and schools attended by girls. Pakistani Taliban groups are believed to control key areas just outside of Peshawar, in Khyber Agency, where raids have interrupted supply routes for Nato forces in Afghanistan.Haider Khan Hoti, the NWFP's chief minister, said that the new elite force and the decision to arm villagers with weapons seized from terrorists and other "anti-state" elements were part of a strategy to challenge Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in the province. His government would fund the new force with $40 million (£27 million). "The purpose of setting up this force is to combat terrorism and extremism effectively," he said.
The US is expected to back the formation of a national elite police force to hold on to territory cleared of Taliban forces in Pakistan army offensives.But security experts warned that arming villagers could backfire. Mahmood Shah, a former security chief in Pakistan's tribal areas, said the initiative could lead to civil war in the region."This is Pakistan, not Iraq or Afghanistan. There is complete anarchy in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that is not the case here. It is not going to help," he said.

The Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) has denied killing abducted United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) provincial head John Solecki.The News quoted the BLUF spokesman, as saying that the rumors were false alarm as Solecki was ‘still alive and absolutely fine’.He also quashed the reports of making phone call to press club, and informing them about the killing of the abducted UNHCR official.Earlier, unknown persons had called up the Quetta Press Club claiming that Solecki had been killed and his body would be found within a couple of hours.
However, the government sources could not confirm the reports of Solecki’s killing.Solecki was abducted from Quetta on February 2 after an ambush in which his driver was killed. An unknown organization BLUF had claimed the responsibility of his kidnapping.

Around 17,000 extra US troops earmarked for Afghanistan will deploy as fast as possible and thousands more are requested for August elections, the deputy NATO force commander here said Monday.The reinforcements, approved by US President Barack Obama last week, will head mainly to the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul although details were being finalised, Lieutenant General Jim Dutton told reporters.They will secure the border with Pakistan and "thicken up the force ratios in those areas where the insurgency is still at its most virulent," the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) deputy commander said."There are lots of pretty stable pockets in both those areas. What we have not managed to do is to join them up to widen and deepen the security to allow complete freedom of movement," the British soldier said.An extra 120 helicopters, which have also been approved, will provide extra mobility to the troops and prove "game-changing", he said.There are already about 70,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, in ISAF and a separate US-led coalition, helping to fight against a Taliban-led insurgency that saw record attacks last year and to build up Afghan security forces.ISAF commander US General David McKiernan had asked for reinforcements of 17,000, Dutton said, despite reports that up to 30,000 were needed.They will arrive "basically as fast as they can reasonably be deployed here", he said.ISAF has also asked contributing nations for more soldiers and helicopters to secure presidential elections due in August."We are probably talking about thousands (of soldiers) but not many thousands," he said. "This is to provide some extra mobile forces available on one day, maybe two days, to provide security should it be required.""We are confident here that we will get what we have asked for," Dutton said. Finland and Germany are among nations that have already pledged troops for the vote, Afghanistan's second presidential election.The commander said there had been a "considerable downturn" in insurgent activity in the east in the past three months that may be linked to increased Pakistan pressure on rebel bases.
The east and south have been the main battlefields in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001 ousted the Taliban regime for sheltering Al-Qaeda.

Villagers in southern Afghanistan stacked the bodies of two dead children in front of a provincial council Monday to protest their deaths in a rocket attack.The villagers blamed Canadian rockets for killing the children and injuring five men, but their claims could not immediately be verified.Canadian authorities are investigating, said Maj. Wance White, spokesman for the Canadian Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, which assists the Afghan government and its citizens.Haji Baaz Mohd, a resident of the Salihan Panjwahi village, led the protest against international troops and the Afghan government.Mohd went in front of the Kandahar Provincial Council and the governor's office, shouting in protest against NATO and the Afghan government."We want Mullah Omar, we want a Taliban government," he shouted

Taliban commander announced a unilateral cease-fire Monday in a northwestern Pakistan region where the military says it has killed around 1,500 militants in an ongoing offensive.The military was not available for comment on the Taliban's move in Bajur region, which is a major transit route for militants traveling to fight U.S. and NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.It follows the introduction of an already week-old cease-fire between the government and militants in the Swat Valley, another northwestern region, in support of a peace process there.The United States and other Western governments have criticized the Swat truce and negotiations, saying they could create a safe haven for al-Qaida and Taliban in the region.
Unlike in Swat, the Taliban in Bajur had been losing ground in recent months, most analysts say, and the military has several times claimed to be close to victory.
Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, announced the cease-fire, in an FM radio broadcast.

"We have decided to observe a cease-fire," he said. "I direct all of my fighters to stop armed actions against the government," he said. "We will take strict action against anyone who violates the order."

Pakistan is under intense international pressure to crack down on al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the northwest blamed for increasing attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. officials also fear the region is being used to plan terrorist attacks on the West.
Earlier Monday, the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Bajur announced it had captured the Bhaichina Heights from militant control, which it said had great tactical importance to the extremists. It was unclear if Mohammad's announcement was related to that operation.A government administrator in tribally ruled Bajur said authorities were aware of Mohammad's announcement."We do welcome it. If they will not fire bullets, we will also consider taking a lenient view toward them," Faramosh Khan told The Associated Press.The military began its offensive against militants in Bajur in September last year and claims to have killed around 1,500 Taliban fighters. The United States has praised the offensive and said it has stemmed the flow of fighters in Afghanistan.The truce in Swat, in the North West Frontier Province, has prompted concern in the West because a peace deal last year in the former tourist haven allowed militants to regroup and rearm before breaking down, officials have said.Pakistan has offered to introduce a mild form of Shariah Islamic law in the valley if the Taliban stop fighting.Prior to the initiative, the Taliban were in control of much of the area in defiance of a military offensive, something that analysts say means the movement will be able to dictate terms to the government.In an interview over the weekend, military spokesman army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said there were no plans to replicate the Swat approach in Bajur or a neighboring region where the military is also undertaking an offensive. He claimed both operations were succeeding in rooting out al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.On Sunday, authorities in the North West Frontier Province said they planned to arm villagers with 30,000 rifles to help fight militants, but it was unclear if the announcement had the backing of national leaders or the country's powerful army.Village militias backed by the United States have been credited with reducing violence in Iraq. Washington is paying for a similar initiative in Afghanistan.

Russia could offer its military aircraft to help supply NATO-led soldiers fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
The Kremlin views Afghanistan as an area where Russian interests coincide with those of the United States, despite fierce disagreements on other issues.When asked about ways to improve ties with the United States under new President Barack Obama, Lavrov said Russia was ready for close and wide cooperation on Afghanistan.

Taliban insurgents killed 20 people in Kabul. In Logar province 11 people were killed, including five civilians, four Afghan soldiers and one foreign soldier, in three separate incidents.At about 5:30 a.m. British time an armed suicide bomber tried to enter the Ministry of Education, near the Presidential Palace. He was shot dead by police before he could detonate his device, the interior ministry said. - At about 5:34 a.m. British time five armed suicide bombers entered the Ministry of Justice, also close to the Presidential Palace, and gunned down two security guards, the interior ministry said.A policeman shot dead one of the bombers who had entered the building, while the remaining four would-be bombers gunned-down 10 civilians inside the building, before they were also shot down by police, the interior ministry said.At about 5:35 a.m. British time, two suicide bombers tried to enter the Prison Department building in the north Kabul suburb of Khair Khana. One was killed by a policemen, the other shot dead another policeman, before detonating his device, killing seven policemen, the interior ministry said.In Logar province, about 70 km (45 miles) from Kabul, four Afghan soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle during an operation, a provincial spokesman said.In a separate roadside bomb attack in Logar, one foreign soldier and his Afghan translator were killed, NATO-led forces said in a statement.

Two coalition soldiers died and another was injured Tuesday when a suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in south eastern Afghanistan, a police spokesman said. Police in the Khost province said the bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the NATO forces’ convoy, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported

Taliban militants killed 20 people in three simultaneous attacks on government buildings inside the Afghan capital on Wednesday, underlining the intensity of the insurgency faced by the Kabul government and its Western allies.The militants' aim appeared to be to shoot dead as many people as possible before blowing themselves up, a style of attack with similarities to that seen in the Indian city of Mumbai in November.U.S. President Barack Obama is awaiting a major review of strategy in Afghanistan

Of those, the military reports 421 were killed by hostile action.Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 67 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, three were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen.There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.The latest identifications reported by the military:
Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin T. Preach, 21, Bridgewater, Mass.; died Saturday from wounds suffered Jan. 24 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.Two Army soldiers died Sunday in Kabul of wounds from an improvised explosive device. Both were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment of Marion, Ill.Killed were Staff Sgt. Jason E. Burkholder, 27, Elida, Ohio, and 1st Lt. Jared W. Southworth, 26, Oakland, Ill.

unless the insurgents' advance is halted, Afghanistan will become the new president's Vietnam. Adm Mullen has said he expected to announce the deployment of a further 30,000 US troops soon, even though the Obama administration is waiting to evaluate the reviews. The anticipation in military circles is that the president will agree not only to the extra troops but to the adoption of the approach that worked well in Iraq, whereby US forces concentrate less seeking out and killing insurgents. Instead they followed a 'clear, hold, build' strategy designed to consolidate gains and prevent captured towns falling back into enemy hands. Col Nagl, an Iraq veteran who helped devise the successful strategy there under the aegis of Gen David Petraeus, The gains made by the Taliban over the past two years need to be reversed by the end of the traditional fighting season in Afghanistan, around late September or early October, or else the Taliban will establish a durable base that would make a sustained Western military presence futile."

US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen said more American troops were needed in Afghanistan as soon as possible to hold territory where insurgents have been routed.
Mullen told a news conference it was up to President Barack Obama to decide when to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan, but he said time was of the essence at what he called a critical period for the country.During a visit to the Canadian capital to discuss the Afghan war among other issues, Mullen was asked about the possible reinforcement of the US mission as requested by the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan."The general had this request out for many months and those working through the request recognise that the sooner the better with respect to this," Mullen said.He said 2009 was a crucial moment with elections scheduled later in the year and an increasingly violent insurgency in the south and east of the country."I'm hopeful that we can get them there as soon as absolutely possible, but, again, that's a decision for the president of the United States, not for me."He said more US troops were needed to allow for development and aid projects to go ahead as insurgents were often moving back into areas where NATO forces had previously pushed them out."It's got to be enough forces to be able not just to clear, but we've got to have enough forces in there to hold, which we haven't had in the past," the US admiral said.His Canadian counterpart, General Walter Natynczyk, agreed.He said his country was looking "forward to the reinforcement of US forces in theatre to enable us to continue not only to secure an area and do the build, but then to hold, something that we've had a challenge with the lack of forces on the ground."Mullen's comments came as the Obama administration reviews US strategy in Afghanistan in the face of an emboldened Taliban insurgency and plans to possibly double the 36,000-strongly US force there.The Afghan mission is a sensitive issue in Canada, where the government has committed to stay in the country only to the end of 2011 after a political deal.More than 100 Canadians have died in Afghanistan since the start of its mission in 2002, with the toll rising after Canadian troops deployed to the country's volatile south in 2006.US officials have suggested that Washington would like to see Ottawa extend its mission but Canadian ministers and military officers have insisted the deadline is firm.Mullen told reporters he had made no request for Canada to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2011, saying Washington would not interfere with Canada's decision.He added the United States would make adjustments as necessary if the Canadian forces depart as planned.More than 400 Canadians have been wounded in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2008, and Admiral Mullen on Monday met some of those injured in combat in the Taliban-dominated south.

Among them was Corporal Michael Trauner, 29, who lost both legs and suffered serious injuries to his left hand in December when an improvised explosive detonated while he was on patrol west of Kandahar.

The explosion threw him 20 feet into the air, he told reporters after meeting the US admiral.An American Blackhawk helicopter evacuated him minutes later and he was treated by a US and Canadian medical team in Afghanistan and later in Germany. His heart stopped twice but he was revived both times, doctors told him later."So far I have had eight surgeries in total, three of them on my hand," said Trauner, of the Royal Canadian Regiment.Doctors are still taking shrapnel out of his shattered left hand, which suffered 25 separate fractures.Trauner said he believed strongly in the mission in Afghanistan and planned to stay in the Canadian armed forces even if he could no longer serve in combat."If we don't do the job, who would?" he said.Canada has about 2,750 soldiers serving among the nearly 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan under NATO and US command.

A 27-year-old soldier from Ohio was killed Sunday in Kabul, Afghanistan while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.Staff Sgt. Jason E. Burkholder of Elida, Ohio, was one of two soldiers who died from wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment of Marion, Ill. The second soldier was First Lt. Jared W. Southworth, 26, of Oakland, Ill. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, according to the Department of Defense.

North Carolina-based Marine died Saturday from injuries suffered two weeks earlier in Afghanistan, the Defense Department reported Tuesday.Lance Cpl. Kevin T. Preach, 21, of Bridgewater, Mass., was gravely wounded Jan. 24 when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb in Farah province, according to media reports. A machine gunner, he was assigned to Camp Lejeune’s 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines.Preach, who reportedly lost both legs and a hand in the attack, suffered severe burns and was being kept on life support at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, according to a report in the Boston Herald. His brother, Dan Preach — who is scheduled to graduate from boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., on Friday — flew to Texas to say goodbye just hours after completing the Crucible, the recruits’ 54-hour final exam, friends told The Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass.Wounded during his first combat deployment, Kevin Preach died shortly after his family left the hospital, the newspaper reported.

Downstate police officer and a soldier on his third wartime deployment were identified Tuesday as the two members of the Illinois National Guard killed over the weekend in Afghanistan.First Lt. Jared Southworth, 26, a police officer in the central Illinois town of Oakland, was known for his poise even when he was an ROTC cadet at Eastern Illinois University.Staff Sgt. Jason Burkholder, 27, who recently transferred from Ohio, was a former active-duty Marine who had taken part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and served a second deployment there as a Guardsman before moving on to Afghanistan.The two were killed Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded while they helped stanch the poppy trade in Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan.
Southworth and Burkholder were assigned to the Headquarters Company of the 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry, based in Marion, Ill. They were the fourth and fifth Illinois soldiers killed since the state sent 2,700 guard troops to Afghanistan in recent months. Staff Sgt. Jason Vazquez and Spec. Joshua Harris were killed in a blast in September, and Staff Sgt. Kevin Grieco died in October.Five other Illinois troops were wounded on Jan. 17 when a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy in Kabul, the Afghan capital. Among the wounded troops was Simone Robinson, 21, a single mother from Robbins. An Army spokeswoman said the soldier was still in critical condition Tuesday in the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where family members have said she was being treated for severe burns, an amputated leg and a skull fracture.Southworth was one of three police officers in Oakland, a town of 1,000 just north of Charleston, Ill.

Pakistani police are building a case against Ajmal Amir Qasab, the lone surviving gunman in last year's terror attacks on Mumbai. The charges were filed against Qasab and 13 other suspects at a Police Station in the southern port city of Karachi, a press TV correspondent reported Wednesday. Among the others named in the case were three people who were arrested in Karachi. Nine others had been identified but were yet to be taken into custody. They all have been charged under the Terrorism Act after the country's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) conducted a probe into the attacks on Indian financial hub. The development came after the Defense Committee of the Cabinet urged action about the issue during its meeting on Monday. However, the spokesman for the Pakistani interior ministry could not be reached for comments.
Qasab is the only terrorist captured alive during the Mumbai carnage, he is currently in the custody of the Indian police. Relations between New Delhi and Islamabad have been strained since militants killed 179 people in the November attacks on India's financial hub. India blamed the banned Pakistan-based militants for the raids alleging that the perpetrators were "clients and creations" of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Islamabad, however, has denied any involvement by Pakistani state agencies and has launched investigations into the incident.

Officials in the breakaway republic of Somaliland say reports it is holding more than a dozen U.S. residents as possible terrorist suspects are not true. The reports have fueled speculation that 20 Somali men who were living in the United States have been recruited by the radical al-Shabab group to destabilize Somaliland and other parts of Somalia.

In an interview with VOA, Somaliland's Interior Minister Abdullahi Ismail Irro says airport security officials detained several Somali men late last month, after they had arrived on a flight from the southern Somali capital Mogadishu to the Somaliland capital Hargeisa.

The minister says two of them were arrested, suspected of trying to smuggle 10 small anti-aircraft missiles into Somaliland from central Somalia. But he says neither of the men was from the United States and they were released without charge.
"After investigation, after two or three days, the police released them," he said. "They came from Mogadishu, not from America."Initial media reports from Somaliland said that 11 young men were detained at the airport and all of them were U.S. residents.Several days later, local newspapers reported Somaliland security forces raided a house in Hargeisa and arrested four Somali men and a woman suspected of plotting a terrorist attack. The reports said the four men recently arrived from the United States.Interior Minister Irro said he had no information about the raid and could not comment. The Washington-based president of the Somaliland American Council, Rashid Nur, says he believes the Somaliland government is not revealing all it knows."As you have said, it is really difficult to get the true picture of who these people are and their identities. But from versions coming out of the government and from other people, some of these people are U.S. residents," said Nur. "There are also some Somalilanders who went to some of the regions in the south, received training, and came back."The al-Shabab group, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States for having links to al-Qaida, led a two-year insurgency against Somalia's Ethiopia-backed interim government. It now controls much of southern and central Somalia. The group is committed to implementing its strict version of Islamic law in Somalia and is vehemently opposed to Somaliland's growing closeness with Ethiopia and the West. Western counterterrorism officials say they fear al-Shabab is running terrorist training camps in Somalia for recruits from the United States, Canada, Europe and Saudi Arabia. As many as 20 young Somali men who were living in the U.S. state of Minnesota are believed to have left for Somalia in the past 18 months. One of those Somali-Americans blew himself up last October in one of five near-simultaneous suicide car bombings that killed more than 20 people in Somaliland and neighboring Puntland.The al-Shabab operative suspected of planning the Somaliland bombings, Abdulfatah Abdullahi Gutaale, may also have been a U.S. resident. Interior Minister Irro says he fled Somaliland before the bombings and remains at large.

Most wanted list for 85 terrorist suspects, who are sought by Saudi Arabia for allegedly plotting attacks against the country and for suspected links to al Qaeda.
“Never before has INTERPOL been asked to alert the world about so many dangerous fugitives at one time,” said Secretary General Ronald K. Noble in a statement. “We know that we are approaching the 16th anniversary of the first World Trade Center bombing on Feb. 26, 2009 and therefore must be especially vigilant of fugitive al Qaeda terrorists.”Many terrorism experts are concerned that al Qaeda will strike again shortly, said former FBI Agent Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant. He speculated that the record alert – which was requested by Saudi Arabia – is a possible effort by the country to look like a team player on the terrorist-fighting front, after long being criticized for its lax security and funding of extremist groups.

Today’s security alert is known as an “Orange Notice” – which was originally intended to warn authorities of potential threats, but can be released publicly “for any act or event which poses a risk to the safety and security of citizens around the world,” according to the agency.

The alert today was sent by the INTERPOL Secretary General at the request of the agency’s National Central Bureau in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The suspected terrorists are 83 Saudis and two Yemenis, according to INTERPOL.

Khalid Al-Jawary, the Black September terrorist served 16 years for planting car bombs in New York City.CIA investigative notes obtained by the AP reveal Abu Walid al-Iraqi was the nom de guerre of Al-Jawary, who is slated to be released by federal authorities this month. His impending release and new details about his violent past uncovered in an AP investigation have outraged people who believe he should not be set free.Al-Jawary, 63, was convicted in 1993 of placing two bomb-rigged cars on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and a third at JFK's El-Al cargo terminal. The bombs were set to explode at noon on March 4, 1973 — the day Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was scheduled to arrive in New York.The National Security Agency intercepted a message that helped reveal the location of the bombs, which had failed to detonate.
But another attack did result in an explosion — and this time, Al-Jawary was a target, not a bomber.Lebanese newspapers, along with the clandestine PLO-owned radio station known as the Voice of Palestine, reported that an attempt to kill "Abu Walid al-Iraqi" in Beirut had failed on Oct. 25, 1980.The radio report blamed the hit on "suspect forces known for their connections with the Zionist enemy," as it called Israel. "As a result of the treacherous attack, two aides were wounded, one of them seriously; Brother Abu al-Walid escaped unhurt."It's not clear if Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, was indeed behind the hit in which someone fired a rocket at Al-Jawary's white Fiat. A spokesman with the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment.Yehudit Barsky, the director of the American Jewish Committee's division on Middle East and International Terrorism, cautioned that the assertion of Mossad involvement in the hit could have been bogus, meant to bolster Al-Jawary's credentials in the PLO.Surviving a purported Israeli assassination, she said, would have made him a hero in Palestinian circles."That's the part of this that could be propaganda," Barsky said.The PLO radio report also noted "al-Iraqi" was in charge of the technical section of the "Unified Security Organization."Former intelligence officials say Salah Khalaf, better known as Abu Iyad, headed the Unified Security Organization. Iyad was a top commander in Fatah, the PLO's military wing. Al-Jawary, who lived in Beirut at the time of the attempted assassination, was Iyad's aide for many years.Iyad was killed in Tunisia by a rival Palestinian faction in 1991. Al-Jawary was apprehended passing through Rome in January 1991 to attend Iyad's funeral.
Iyad was part of a cadre of Black September terrorists that Israel believed carried out the murders of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.Former U.S. intelligence officials who operated in Beirut in the 1980s said Mossad agents could have directly tried to kill Al-Jawary like they did with Black September terrorist Ali Hassan Salameh or hired another group to do the job.There's also the possibility that a rival Palestinian group tried to kill Al-Jawary.

"That's a murky world he lived in," said Mike Finnegan, the former FBI counterterrorism agent who tracked down Al-Jawary. Al-Jawary once told Finnegan that Mossad had tried to kill him.

Al-Jawary is scheduled to be released Feb. 19 after serving about half of a 30-year sentence in maximum security prisons. He claims he had nothing to do with the attempted attack in 1973.

Taliban say Pakistani and Polish governments had shown no interest in talks for the release of the engineer Taliban militants claim responsibility for the killing of the kidnapped Polish geologist Peter Stanczak, taken hostage four months ago.
A spokesman of the Tehreek-i-Taliban has claimed responsibility for the killing of the Polish engineer. This is while official sources could not confirm the reports.
Tehreek-i-Taliban militants have reportedly killed the Polish geologist on Friday, earlier media reports said. Taliban spokesman said that Pakistani and Polish governments had shown no interest in talks for the release of the engineer in the past four months. The reports come as Poland's foreign ministry said on Thursday that Taliban kidnappers had extended the deadline for their demands to be met. "The minister has confirmed media information on the extension of the ultimatum," which expired on Wednesday, Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Jacek Najder told reporters.
Tehrik-e-Taliban militants had threatened on January 30 to kill the hostage if their demands are not met within a week. "We cannot wait more as the government has taken acceptance of our demands (in return) for the release of Polish geologist Peter (Stanczak) very light," a spokesman for Darra Adamkhel chapter, affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban, has said in a statement. It added that the militant group's demands include the complete withdrawal of Pakistani forces from volatile tribal regions, and the release of captured insurgents. The statement did not ask for ransom. Polish geologist Peter Stanczak was under a contract with Pakistan's national Oil and Gas development Company Limited (OGDCL), when he was abducted near Jand town in Attock district of Punjab four months ago.

Five Sudanese men were formally charged on Thursday with murdering a U.S. aid worker and his driver in Khartoum, a crime that carries the death penalty.The five, including a former army officer and the son of a well known Islamic preacher, are accused of killing John Granville, a 33-year-old officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development, and his driver, Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, 39.Granville and Rahama were shot dead while returning home from New Year's Eve celebrations in Khartoum early on January 1 2008.The men, in their 20s and 30s and wearing traditional Islamic dress, all pleaded not guilty to murder, criminal conspiracy and possessing weapons without a license in Khartoum north court on Thursday.They showed no reaction when the judge read out the murder charge that is punishable by hanging.Prosecutors have laid out their case against the five in a series of court sessions stretching back to August, saying the men were religious extremists who had decided to attack foreigners in Sudan. Thursday was the first time the court has heard formal charges and pleas from the defendants.In an earlier session, one of the defendants admitted in a video-taped statement supplying the four others with weapons, but denied knowing anything about their plans. He faced the same murder charge on Thursday.The hearing was adjourned until February 16 when the men's defense teams are expected to present their case.

Russia and four former Soviet republics offered to help the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan even as one, Kyrgyzstan, moved forward on a decision to cut off American access to an air base used for war supplies. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the five countries, including the Central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, are ready for “full-fledged and comprehensive cooperation” with NATO forces in the region. He spoke on state broadcaster Vesti-24 today. At the same time, Kyrgyz Security Council Secretary Adukhan Madumarov said on the same channel that the U.S. air base at the Manas airport near Bishkek must cease operations within 180 days. The base would be crucial to President Barack Obama’s plans for a buildup of troops to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Kyrgyz Parliament will likely vote Feb. 6 on legislation formally renouncing the agreement allowing U.S. operations at the base, the Interfax news agency reported from Bishkek. Andranik Migranyan, a Russian institute director with ties to senior officials in Moscow, said Russian cooperation on Afghanistan may be linked to progress on resolving differences over issues such as missile defense and NATO expansion. “I am absolutely sure the Russian side is going to cooperate,” said Migranyan, director of the New York-based Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, in an interview. “But Russia needs some security guarantees. Not guarantees about dominance, but about its own security.” Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev disclosed the move to close the base in Moscow yesterday after receiving a Russian pledge for more than $2 billion in economic assistance.

Day after blowing up a crucial land bridge, Taliban militants torched 10 supply trucks returning from Afghanistan to Pakistan on Wednesday, underscoring the insurgents' dominance of the main route used to transport supplies to Afghan-based U.S. and NATO troops.Months of disruptions on the route from the Pakistani port of Karachi through the historic Khyber Pass have forced NATO and American military authorities to look for other transit options. About three-quarters of the supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan -- mainly food and fuel -- are ferried through Pakistan by contractors, usually poorly paid, semiliterate truckers. Many now refuse to drive the route because of the danger.Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, said last month during a visit to the region that routes outside Pakistan had been found, but he provided no details and gave no timetable for their use. The supply question has taken on added urgency with the planned deployment of up to 30,000 more U.S. troops in the Afghan theater in the next 18 months.The complications of moving supplies through Central Asia were also highlighted Tuesday when the government of Kyrgyzstan said it would close a U.S. air base important to the Afghan war effort. U.S. officials said talks were underway to keep the base open.Kyrgyzstan's announcement could bode ill for American efforts to negotiate passage through countries bordering Afghanistan, such as Uzbekistan, particularly if it was clear that the U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization were over a barrel.In response to dozens of Taliban attacks, the Pakistani military launched an offensive late last year in the Khyber tribal agency, which borders Afghanistan, and subsequently declared the Khyber Pass secure. But, as has happened before when the Pakistani army carried out short-term operations in the tribal areas, militant attacks resumed almost immediately after the troops left.
Initially, the Taliban hijacked vulnerable, slow-moving lines of heavy trucks. After Pakistani authorities beefed up their military presence on the roads, the insurgents took to attacking the truck stops in Peshawar, where hundreds of vehicles are backed up at any given time, waiting to cross the Khyber Pass. More than 100 trucks were burned in an attack last year.Tuesday's bombing of a 100-foot-long bridge over a dry riverbed about 15 miles west of Peshawar stranded hundreds of truckers.
Pakistani and U.S. officials said the bridge was expected to be repaired soon and that some trucks had been able to cross via a makeshift road.NATO and U.S. officials in Afghanistan have said the disruption to the supply lines is militarily insignificant so far. Weaponry is transported to Afghanistan by air, although dozens of Humvees have been lost in militant attacks on the supply routes in Pakistan. NATO says it keeps a 60-to-90-day supply of fuel and other goods, but shortages of everyday items, varying from raisins to razor blades, are being felt on bases throughout Afghanistan.After the bridge attack, militants appeared to be trying to keep Pakistani forces off balance. A Pakistani soldier was wounded Tuesday night when suspected insurgents fired rockets at a base near Landi Kotal, along the Pakistani-Afghan border.
Elsewhere in Pakistan's volatile northwest, Taliban insurgents freed about 30 police officers and paramilitary troops who were captured after their base in the Swat Valley was overrun late Tuesday. The defenders surrendered when they ran out of ammunition.The freed men said they had agreed to quit their jobs and expressed gratitude to the Taliban for setting them free rather than beheading them, often the fate of captured members of the security forces. A Taliban spokesman said the release was a "humanitarian gesture."The freed captives also complained that the Pakistani army had failed to come to their rescue during a 24-hour siege of their remote outpost in the Shamozai district, despite pleas for help. Four officers died in the Taliban attack.

An Army contractor is facing up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to manslaughter in the shooting death of a handcuffed Taliban fighter. Don M. Ayala, 46, of New Orleans, was on patrol in Afghanistan in November when an Afghan man tossed burning fuel on Ayala’s colleague, Paula Loyd, 36. Ayala helped arrest the attacker, but when he learned how badly Loyd had been hurt, he shot her attacker in the head. Loyd died two months later.Unknown attackers on Wednesday torched 10 trucks stranded in Pakistan by the bombing of a key supply line bridge into Afghanistan.Militants released 30 police and paramilitary officers they kidnapped late Tuesday after surrounding a police station in the Swat Valley, also in the volatile northwest.US army contractor pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to murder charges after he shot dead an Afghan who had set fire to a US civilian colleague, court documents showed.The guilty plea could bring a prison term of up to 15 years for the defendant, civilian Don Michael Ayala, who was employed by Strategic Analysis Inc., a subcontractor working for the US Department of Defense in Afghanistan.Ayala was on patrol with two of his colleagues and a team of soldiers "distributing candy and speaking with villagers" in a town in southern Kandahar province November 4 when an Afghan national tossed flammable liquid on a female colleague and set her on fire, court documents said.The blaze caused "second and third degree burns over approximately sixty percent or more of her body."After a brief chase, Ayala and others apprehended the suspect, Abdul Salam, handcuffed him and briefly interrogated him.When Ayala learned that his colleague had been badly burned, he "pushed his pistol against Salam's head and shot him, killing him instantly," according to the documents.In his plea, lawyers said Ayala "unlawfully and intentionally killed" the Afghan national in the "heat of passion and without malice."The female colleague died January 7 of her injuries, the court said.

U.S. soldier who went AWOL after serving in Iraq made his case to the German government Wednesday that he should be given asylum. U.S. Army Spc. Andre Shepherd, of Cleveland, Ohio, said he deserted in April 2007 after returning to Germany because he didn’t want to be sent back to an illegal conflict. A decision in the case could take months.

Military officials, concerned that U.S. troops already are saddled with too much heavy gear, will not require them to wear improved body armor until manufacturers cut the weight of the new six-pound XSAPI protective plates, officials said Wednesday. Questions have arisen about the troops’ current lighter weight body armor, called ESAPI, after an audit found ESAPI plates from one manufacturer were tested improperly and may not provide troops adequate protection. But Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, head of the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., said commanders, especially in Afghanistan, are asking that troops’ loads be lightened. “We must balance levels of protection in order to maintain the agility, mobility and lethality of our Marines,” Brogan said. Army plans to buy 120,000 sets of the advanced bullet-blocking plates this year. This initial purchase of the plates, known as "XSAPI," will be stocked in Kuwait and be available if commanders need them, service officials said at a congressional hearing Wednesday.
The quality of small numbers of the current plates, called "ESAPI," was questioned last week in an audit by the Defense Department inspector general's office. The audit said the ESAPI plates from one body armor manufacturer — Armor Works of Chandler, Ariz. — were tested improperly and may not provide troops adequate protection.The Army disputed the conclusion. ESAPI is the best body armor available and a lifesaver in Iraq and Afghanistan, service officials insisted. Nonetheless, as a precautionary step the Army decided to withdraw nearly 33,000 Armor Works plates in question from an ESAPI inventory of about 2 million produced by nearly a dozen different companies.The body armor used by most American forces consists of a vest with a series of inserts that protect most of the upper body from armor-piercing rounds. The specially hardened ceramic plates are the largest of the inserts; one is placed in the front of the vest and another in the back.But making the roughly 6-pound XSAPI any lighter is harder than it sounds. The plate has to be thick enough to defeat new and more potent bullets finding their way onto the battlefield, says Joel Moskowitz of Ceradyne in Costa Mesa, Calif., one of the companies making XSAPI."A certain amount of thickness is required," Moskowitz said Wednesday in an interview. "You just need that to stop that first hit."The Army's testing methods were backed by the Pentagon's director of operational testing, an independent office that assesses how gear performs.But in an action separate from the ESAPI armor recall, the Army in December voluntarily withdrew just over 8,000 plates because of testing gaps. Those plates were made by Armor Works and other manufacturers, including Ceradyne.Contracts potentially worth $6 billion for XSAPI and ESAPI plates were awarded in October 2008 to Ceradyne, BAE Systems of Phoenix, and The Protective Group of Miami Lakes, Fla. The work was put on hold after BAE filed a protest over the manufacturing schedule.Overall, the military could acquire up to 1 million sets of XSAPI plates.ESAPI plates range in size from extra small to extra large and weigh on average 5 1/2 pounds each. XSAPI plates come in the same sizes and weigh about half a pound more.An extra pound may not seem overly burdensome. But when added to the combat loads the troops already carry — backpack, combat rifle, ammunition, helmet — it creates more strain, particularly in harsh environments like Afghanistan, the Army says. The elevation and rugged terrain there means troops must often track insurgents on foot and every pound counts.

"With the reduction of violence in Iraq, foreign militants were now flooding into Afghanistan to join Taliban insurgents battling Afghan and international troops, the Afghan defence minister said on Wednesday. There was a 33 percent rise in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan in 2008, according to NATO-led forces. Violence is expected to rise further in 2009 as Washington prepares to send up to 25,000 more troops into new areas of the southern Pashtun heartlands. Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said there were about 15,000 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but their numbers were being swelled by foreign insurgents moving in from Iraq, where violence has fallen after a U.S. troop 'surge' and other measures. 'Since last year, as the result of the success of the surge in Iraq, there has been a flow of foreign terrorists into Afghanistan,' Wardak told a news conference. 'There have been engagements ... in 2008, and in some of these engagements, actually 60 percent of the total force which we have encountered were foreign fighters,' he said."

Russian news sources quoted Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev as saying that he had decided to cancel U.S. access to the Manas Air Base, one of two regional air hubs for resupplying U.S. troops in Afghanistan used since the war began in 2001.
The United States had lost the other, a base in Uzbekistan called Karshi Khanabad, in 2005 after the Bush administration criticized the Uzbek regime for human rights abuses. As a result, the U.S.’s reliance on Manas has increased to the point where it has become the “primary logistics hub” for the Afghanistan war, providing a staging ground for both troops and materiel, as Air Force Col. Randy Kee, the commander of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing, told journalist Nathan Hodge in 2005.
After a swell in anti-American feeling in the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, their government submitted Wednesday a decree to parliament for the closure of a key US air base, the BBC reported."The move was prompted by popular disapproval of the base," government spokesman Aibek Sultangaziyev said."A draft decree on terminating the agreement on the US airbase has been sent to parliament," Sultangaziyev continued.The move follows a statement by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev confirming that the Manas air base would close.President Bakiyev made his announcement on Tuesday in Moscow, where he was promised more than $2bn (£1.4bn) in Russian aid.
He said the Manas base - set up in 2001 to assist the US military operation against al-Qaeda and the Taleban in Afghanistan - was only meant to be open for two years at the most.The air base supports a large percentage of US and Nato operations in Afghanistan and is the only US base in Central Asia. Its closure would be a major blow for those operations in the war torn country.The announcement comes at a critical moment, just as the new administration of US President Barack Obama plans a sharp increase in the number of American troops in Afghanistan.