Britain makes final major deployment to Afghanistan

The Rack: "America’s Afghan Victims," Bob Dreyfuss and Nick Turse (The Nation)

Withdrawal pangs

Britain’s 1^st Mechanized Brigade will hand control over to the 7^th Armored Brigade on Thursday, representing Britain’s final major deployment to Afghanistan (BBC).  According to the BBC, the newly deployed brigade is made up largely of engineers and will focus on returning equipment to Britain.  By the end of the year, the British presence in Afghanistan is expected to drop by half, falling to 5,200 troops located in only five bases from a peak of over 130 bases.

As the withdrawal continues, Yury Fedotov, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, warned on Wednesday that Afghanistan would become a full fledged narco-state without international support to ensure employment (Reuters).  He noted that NATO combat forces are responsible for about a third of Afghanistan’s employment and pointed to a forthcoming UN survey showing increased production and cultivation of opium. 

Afghan security forces recaptured an ISAF base that had been captured by the Taliban five days ago according to a statement by Abdul Haq Shafaq, the governor of Faryab province, on Thursday (Pajhwok).  According to Shafaq, 26 rebels were killed in the operation.  The Taliban, however, disputed the comments, claiming that only one Taliban fighter was killed during the battle.

Missing person

Pakistan denied, on Wednesday, that it was still holding former Afghan Taliban second in command, Abdul Ghani Baradar, prisoner (AFP). The Afghan Taliban has alleged that Baradar, who is expected to play a major role in reconciliation talks, remains in Pakistani custody.  Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry told reporters: "As far as we are concerned, he is free to meet and contact anyone to advance the cause of reconciliation."  An anonymous security source told AFP that Baradar was under house arrest in Karachi. 

Open to negotiations?

Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, stated an openness to negotiations with the Pakistani government during an interview with the BBC conducted last month (BBC, Dawn, ET).  Mehsud stated that the government has to sit down with the Taliban prior to the beginning of negotiations and that he would not conduct negotiations through the media.  Mehsud also emphasized that negotiations would require a halt to U.S. drone strikes.

A Pakistani court granted bail, on Wednesday, to former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who has remained on house arrest since April due to charges stemming from his time ruling Pakistan (NYT, ET).  Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League released a statement saying in part: "It is a day of victory for the people of Pakistan… it is a day where justice seems to be done."

In other legal news, an Indian court issued warrants on Tuesday for two Pakistani military officials, Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali, for their alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks (ET).

Relief slows

Relief efforts for people affected by recent earthquakes in Pakistan continue to face hurdles and have only reached half of the impacted population according to numbers released by the government on Wednesday (ET).  The official death toll from the tremors has risen to over 500 people.  The army has sent 2,400 troops to provide relief in the affected areas and has distributed 36,843 tents and 3,308 tons of rations.  However, difficulties persist.  Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, stated that relief efforts were ongoing despite continued threats from militants.

Book fair

For the first time ever, Afghan publishers exhibited their books at the publishing industry’s largest get together in Frankfurt, Germany on Wednesday (AFP).  Mohammad Ibrahim Shariti, the owner of one of Afghanistan’s largest publishers, set up his stand selling books on Afghan history among other topics.  Shariti told AFP that he hopes to sell the copyright for several books to foreign publishers in order to raise Afghanistan’s profile.  According to Katja Boehne, the fair’s spokesperson, this is the first time an Afghan publishing company has attended although Afghan booksellers have attended in the past.

–David Sterman