In the past one would have reacted with horror if UN officials are attacked, let alone killed, as it has happened recently in Islamabad and in Kabul. In its dependence on American financial donations, the UN gradually became irrelevant, infested with incompetent ‘experts’ while its Secretary General operates as a small official of the American Department of State. For this reason the UN has been promoting American designs; declaring wars and imposing economic sanctions on countries to suit the interests of America and its friends. The sanctions on Iraq, Sudan, Iran, Syria and the current war on Afghanistan are meant mainly to promote USraeli interests. Furthermore, there are no efforts to impose sanctions on Israel or on the America if they don’t respect the UN charter or when attacking member states or violating human right conventions. Until today there is no UN denounciation of the illegal American invasion of Iraq or the random detention and torture of people at Guantanamo and at secret CIA prisons.
Furthermore, the rogue Jewish state of Israel remains in breach of 39 UN Security Council Resolutions. Yesterday 28.10.09, the UN General Assembly denounced the American sanctions on Cuba by a huge majority but the Americans disregard world opinion and continue their economic sanctions on Cuba imposed some 50 years ago. There have been calls to reform the UN organisation but as long as the Americans insist on appointing a pro-American Secretary General and influence who should be on the Security Council, outside the permanent members, the role of UN in dealing with world problems and in defending member states and human rights remains irrelevant. Nothing expressed the UN incompetence more than the mess it caused in handling the 2009 presidential election in Afghanistan.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Heavy firing, smoke after US announced to pay off Taleban insurgents.
Taleban captured UN Guest House.
AFGHAN FORCES BATTLING SEVERAL MILITANTS HOLED UP IN A U.N. GUES
28 Oct 2009 02:40:07 GMT
Source: Reuters
AFGHAN FORCES BATTLING SEVERAL MILITANTS HOLED UP IN A U.N. GUEST HOUSE IN KABUL-POLICE
EXPLOSION, GUNFIRE HEARD IN CENTRAL KABUL, PLUMES OF SMOKE SEEN RISING ABOVE BUILDINGS
Karzai's brother said to be on CIA payroll - report
28 Oct 2009 02:25:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage of Afghanistan, click on [nAFPAK]) (Adds more details from report)
WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing current and former U.S. officials.
Ahmed Wali Karzai is a suspected player in Afghanistan's opium trade and has been paid by the CIA over the past eight years for services that included helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, the newspaper reported.
Ahmed Wali Karzai said in an interview that he cooperates with U.S. civilian and military officials but does not engage in the drug trade and does not receive payments from the CIA, the Times said.
The CIA neither confirmed nor denied the reported payments.
"No intelligence organization worth the name would ever entertain these kinds of allegations,"a CIA spokesman told Reuters.
The Times cited several U.S. officials as saying Ahmed Wali Karzai and the CIA had a wide-ranging relationship.
He helps the U.S. spy agency operate the
Kandahar Strike Force, a paramilitary group used for raids against suspected insurgents and militants,the officials told the paper.
He is paid for allowing the CIA and U.S. Special Operations troops to rent a compound that once belonged to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, it said, adding that the compound is also the base of the Kandahar Strike Force.
The report said the president's brother also helps the CIA communicate and sometimes meet with Afghans loyal to the Taliban.
"THIS IS MY DUTY"
According to the paper,
Ahmed Wali Karzai said in an interview he received regular payments from his brother, the president, for "expenses" but that he did not know where the money came from.
"I don't know anyone under the name of the CIA," he was quoted as saying. "I have never received any money from any organization. I help, definitely. I help other Americans wherever I can. This is my duty as an Afghan."
According to the Times, the agency's financial ties to Ahmed Wali Karzai and its working relations with him have created deep divisions within the Obama administration.
Critics see the relationship as complicating Washington's increasingly tense relationship with President Karzai, it said.
The CIA's practices also suggest the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban, the Times said.
In addition, some U.S. officials argue that the reliance on Ahmed Wali Karzai undermines the push to develop an effective central government that would eventually allow the United States to withdraw, the paper reported. (Reporting by JoAnne Allen and Adam Entous; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
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By Golnar Motevalli and Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants killed six U.N. foreign staff in an attack on an international guest-house in Kabul on Wednesday, deepening concerns about security for a presidential election run-off due in 10 days.
The resurgent Taliban have vowed to disrupt the November 7 run-off as U.S. President Barack Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years.
In another sign of the growing reach of militants, rockets were also fired at a foreign-owned luxury hotel near the presidential palace in the heart of the Afghan capital, forcing more than 100 guests into a bunker, a hotel guest said.
The Taliban said they had targeted the guest-house because of the United Nations' role in helping organize the run-off vote.
"We have said that we would attack anyone engaged in the process and today's attack is just a start," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone.
One foreign woman screamed and sobbed as she limped from the guest-house. Onlookers and police carried another victim away using a blanket as a stretcher.
"It doesn't look good in there," a U.N. medic, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters at the scene.
The U.S. embassy said one American was among those killed.
The United Nations, which has operated in Afghanistan for more than half a century, said the attack would not deter it from its work, adding however that it may review security measures.
"We will in light of this morning's tragedy look at whether other appropriate measures needed to be taken to protect all our staff," said U.N. mission chief Kai Eide.
Hours after the Kabul attacks, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in neighboring Pakistan vowing a new page in U.S. Pakistan relations. Defeating the Taliban and stabilizing Afghanistan is a key plank of Washington's regional strategy against militancy.
Pakistani security forces are also engaged in a bloody campaign against the Taliban near the Afghan border. A bomb killed more than 80 people in a crowded market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Wednesday.
NATIONALITIES UNKNOWN
The nationalities of the U.N. staff killed in the Kabul guest-house attack were unclear. The sound of gunfire and sirens echoed across the capital for hours.
Adrian Edwards, a U.N. spokesman in Kabul, said six U.N. staff had been killed and nine wounded.
President Hamid Karzai's palace and police said at least one Afghan civilian and three police were also killed.
Karzai, who is running against ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah in the run-off, condemned the attack as inhumane.
"Certainly one of the aims of the Taliban attack today was to show that they are a force that can disrupt the poll," Afghan analyst Qaseem Akhgar said of the run-off.
The attackers wore police uniforms to secure entry into the guest-house, police said. A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of three of the suspected suicide bombers, apparently ripped apart when they detonated their explosives, lying inside the compound.
Abdul Ghaim, a policeman at the guest-house, said police believed the attackers were Pakistanis. Many of the insurgents in Afghanistan either shelter in, or are from, Pakistan.
A Reuters witness saw a badly burned body being carried out of the building after the shooting stopped. Officials said one female guest was missing inside the building, which was covered with bullet holes, its walls charred and windows shattered.
Rockets were also fired at the foreign-owned Serena luxury hotel, witnesses and security sources said. No one was injured and there was no major damage. Frequented by foreign visitors and diplomats, the hotel was also attacked in January 2008 when six people were killed.
DEADLIEST MONTH
Efforts to stabilize Afghanistan have been complicated by weeks of political tension over the August 20 first round of the presidential poll, which was marred by widespread fraud in favor of Karzai, forcing the run-off.
Eight U.S. troops were killed in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the NATO-led alliance said, in the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the start of the war eight years ago.
U.S. soldiers make up two-thirds of the 100,000-strong coalition force, with Obama considering proposals to send an extra 40,000 troops or a far smaller number.
Ahead of that decision, the New York Times reported that Karzai's brother had been getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency and was a suspected player in Afghanistan's lucrative opium trade.
Ahmed Wali Karzai was quoted as denying the report and the CIA neither confirmed nor denied the payments.
As part of his review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Obama is set to meet on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said.
(Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen and Adam Entous in WASHINGTON and Andrew Quinn in ISLAMABAD; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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