Wikileaks :Afghanistan War Diary (2004-2010)

Release date

July 25, 2010

Summary

25th July 2010 5:00 PM EST WikiLeaks has released a document set called the Afghan War Diary, an extraordinary compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.
The reports, while written by soldiers and intelligence officers, and mainly describing lethal military actions involving the United States military, also include intelligence information, reports of meetings with political figures, and related details.

The document collection is available on a dedicated webpage.

The reports cover most units from the US Army with the exception of most US Special Forces' activities. The reports do not generally cover top secret operations or European and other ISAF Forces operations.

We have delayed the release of some 15,000 reports from the total archive as part of a harm minimization process demanded by our source. After further review, these reports will be released, with occasional redactions, and eventually in full, as the security situation in Afghanistan permits.

The data is provided in HTML (web), CSV (comma-separated values) and SQL (database) formats, and was rendered into KML (Keyhole Markup Language) mapping data that can be used with Google Earth. Please note that the checksums will change.

• Complete dump of the website, HTML format 75 MB
• • (SHA1: 80adb634a0d218bd0f9a0f22734e3d2e7e67acfc)
  • This is a complete dump of the website at http://wardiary.wikileaks.org. Extract this to your local hard disk and open it with your web browser. Please check the project website http://wardiary.wikileaks.org for the most recent version.
• All entries, CSV format 15 MB
  • (SHA1: d6b82f955a7beb9589f92e9487c74669d1912a34)
  • Raw data in comma-separated value format for further processing.
• All entries, SQL format 16M MB
  • (SHA1: 9463f73ebbcd3f95899a138d6ba9817e1b6b800d)
  • Raw data in SQL format for further processing.
• All entries, KML format 16 MB
  • (SHA1: 34562c0c7722522161e40330d80ac9082014845f)
  • This archive contains all events in one KML file. This file needs much memory if opened with Google Earth.
• All NATO entries, KML format 209 kB
  • (SHA1: 088ff8999a316f30e5e398021375fa3b4fc6349e)
  • Contains the events that were tagged with NATO.
• Entries by month, KML format 16 MB
  • (SHA1: 01a5c0639e1e1e844b10e962a44849b2a521d092)
  • This archive provides the entries split by month. This makes it easier to browse the data in Google Earth on low power machines.
• Entries with scale filter, KML format 981 kB
  • (SHA1: 4669c721b87775a44472f6688e768305c686beff)
  • File that will show a scale corresponding to the number of incidents in Google Earth. Each incident begins with a 0.5 base score, and 0.1 has been added for each incident involving humans. This set of data provides only events that have a scaling of 1.5.
• Insurance file 1.4 GB
  • (SHA1: cce54d3a8af370213d23fcbfe8cddc8619a0734c)

To decompress the files you will need the program 7zip. A free client for Windows can be downloaded here. Please use your favorite search engine to find clients for other operating systems; these include p7zip for Unix/Linux and EZ7z for Mac.

Further information

Context

United States

Military or intelligence (ruling)

Central Command

Primary language

English

http://mirror.wikileaks.info/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010/

#Afghanistan: #Russia allows #NATO to use air base.

Moscow: Russia has allowed the US and its NATO allies to use a Russian air base in Ulyanovsk city as a hub for transits to and from Afghanistan.

Moscow had announced plans to create a NATO transit hub in Ulyanovsk in March, and the decision was taken on June 25.

The decision sparked protests in the city, the birthplace of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin....read more
 http://fb.me/GrNpOMEz

Pakistan:U.S. Enemy Number One - 3 in 4 Pakistanis now consider US an enemy as resentment grows.

 

 

Pakistani Islamists burn a US flag against the killing of Osama bin Laden during a protest outskirt of Quetta on May 6, 2011. (AFP Photo/Banaras Khan)

Approximately 3 in 4 Pakistanis now consider the US an enemy according to a new Pew research poll released on June 27th. The polls show increasing hostility towards the US and new lows in the already strained relationship between the two countries.

The Pew Research poll conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project has published stark numbers.  The poll, entitled “Pakistani Public Opinion Ever More Critical of US”, says 74% of Pakistanis now view the US as an ‘enemy’ up from 69% last year, while support for President Barack Obama continues to be exceptionally low.  A majority of Pakistanis hold the view that Obama has been just as bad a president as George W. Bush was in his last year in office.  Furthermore, approximately 4 in 10 Pakistanis believe that US military and financial aid is having a negative impact on their country; only 1 in 10 believes the impact has been positive.

Tensions have been extreme between the two countries due to unceasing US drone attacks inside Pakistani territory. Pakistan shut down a highly strategic NATO supply route through its territory into Afghanistan last November in response to a NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border.

 http://on.rt.com/bj4qgj

Pakistan: War Criminal Hague Sued Over Pakistan Drone Strikes.

Human rights lawyers are going to sue British Foreign Secretary William Hague for allegedly using intelligence to assist American drone strikes in Pakistan, according to the BBC.
The case is being considered at the High Court in London, on behalf of Noor Khan, whose father was killed in a drone strike.

Khan's father, Malik Daud Khan, was part of a local council of elders holding a meeting in northwest Pakistan when a drone-fired missile hit the group, according to the law firm. Khan was among 40 killed in the attack, according to the Guardian.

The lawyers said that civilian intelligence officers who passed on information may also be liable as "secondary parties to murder," according to the BBC.

More on GlobalPost: Pakistan: Zaheerul Islam appointed new head of ISI
Richard Stein, the head of human rights at London law firm Leigh Day & Co., said, "We believe that there is credible, unchallenged evidence that the secretary of state is operating a policy of passing intelligence to officials or agents of the US government; and that he considers such a policy to be 'in strict accordance' with the law," according to the Guardian.
The lawyers plan to argue that those involved in planning the drone attacks can only claim immunity from criminal prosecution if they are "lawful combatants," according to Reuters. Since the staff working at the UK's Government Communications Headquarters are mostly civilians, they are not classified as combatants in an "armed international conflict" and could be prosecuted, said the law firm.

More on GlobalPost: US soldier held in deaths of 16 Afghans


http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/pakistan/120311/william-hague-sued-over-pakistan-drone-strikes

#Pakistan:Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani Disqualified .

The Supreme Court in Pakistan has disqualified Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani from office after declaring him "ineligible for office". He can no longer be a member of Parliament.
President Zardari is holding an emergency meeting to find a replacement.

#Pakistan A Hired Gun To Kill U.S. Enemies - Julian Assange.

Assange Episode 9 preview with Imran Khan: 'Pakistan a hired gun to kill US enemies'

http://fb.me/1YsS5dMB0 http://assange.rt.com/

 

#Pentagon says #airstrikes on #Afghan homes will continue.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2246871&Language=en

#Afghanistan: The #US #Mafia Pretending To Be A Legitimate Government.( 10 Videos You Must Watch)

These are 10 films that I believe if watched by the majority of US citizens there would be demands of impeachment, a push to pull out of Afghanistan/Iraq and a complete shift in thought or at the very least some questioning of the government.

Ever had a sneaking suspicion that there’s another world, a secret world, hidden just out of sight of this one? Good news: There totally is! Bad news: There’s a reason they’re hiding that secret world from you …

http://www.pakalertpress.com/2010/08/30/10-films-the-us-government-would-rather-you-not-see/

#Afghanistan: The #US Slaughter Of Innocent Civilians Mounts.

by Sumaira Nasir Durrani

Civilian casualties have been a foremost concern in Afghanistan and Pakistan since the presence of US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. To target the Taliban, US-led NATO forces are continuously slaughtering innocent civilians in the name of so-called Global War on Terror (GWoT) by air strikes and drone attacks.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was formed to help out the Afghan Transitional Administration and the first post-Taliban elected government to counter the Taliban insurgency. It was not intended for civilian killings.

The U.S and NATO led ISAF besides having highly sensitive technology and sophisticated spying systems are unable to differentiate and mark actual targets for which they have been spending huge amounts of money. Careless and unverified attacks caused innocent killings instead of actual targets. To kill few suspects killing of hundreds of innocents cannot be justified.

Pathetically, after more than ten years of continuous war and spending trillions of dollars, U.S and its allied forces did not realize that show of power is not the only solution to resolve the issues. Indeed the presence of foreign forces has created a complex situation in Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan. In the presence of large number of US- led NATO forces, the suicide attacks, bombing and terrorist attacks are routine in both countries.

The United Nations reported that in the year of 2011 the civilian death toll in Afghanistan was 3,021 and 4,507 Afghans were wounded. According to other sources the actual number of civilian casualties was probably five times as large as the number that the UN mentioned. In February 2012 the annual report on ‘Protection of civilians in armed conflict’ prepared by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), acknowledged that 3,021 civilian deaths last year is an increase of eight percent than the previous year’s total of 2,790. Jan Kubis, the head of UNAMA said that “for much too long, Afghan civilians have paid the highest price of war. Parties to the conflict must greatly increase their efforts to protect civilians to prevent yet another increase in civilian deaths and injuries in 2012.” He also stated that according to U.N. figures, “the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 79 percent of civilian casualties, Afghan and NATO led ISAF 9 percent, but it was not clear who was responsible for the remaining 12 percent of the casualties”.

These target killings of NATO-led ISAF are total violation of the UN Charter. The Geneva Convention clearly mentions that “Civilians shall not be the object of attack”. No one should be above the law but who has to justify? It has been easy to pass blame for NATO-led forces killings on the Taliban and others while civilian death toll is rising. Putting the responsibility of these casualties upon anti-government activists, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and suicidal attacks by Taliban, which is an easy way to get rid of the blame of killing innocent civilians.

Pakistan has constantly protested against drone attacks. These attacks breach Pakistan’s sovereignty. As drone attacks also cause civilian killings, including women and children, which adds anger to the Pakistani government and people. More than 35,000 civilians have died in suicide bombings in Pakistan since 2001. Although these suicide attacks seem having no direct involvement of the U.S or allied troops but this happened in response of GWoT operations against the Taliban in North Waziristan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan has suffered approx more than seventy billion dollars loss in this GWoT including precious lives of soldiers and civilians. Recently UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said “Drone attacks do raise serious questions about compliance with international law, and called for a UN investigation into US drone strikes in Pakistan, questioning their legality and saying they kill innocent civilians”.

Brutal killings of defenceless civilians, by air strikes, and drone attacks only been responding through an ‘apology’ by NATO. Apologies for civilian deaths cannot be enough because there is no justification of innocent killings, not at all. No apology can return a life. If apology does compensate a human life then why GWoT was initiated, United States could ask terrorists of 9/11 for formal apology to compensate the loss. Life value of an Afghan or Pakistani is equally important as any American’s or European’s life. But international law, and international community were paying no attention and maintaining silence even NATO’s bombing killed thousands of innocent men, women and children from Yugoslavia, to Iraq, from Afghanistan to Libya and in Pakistan as well.

US is fighting a war far away from its homeland. From the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Iraq and then Afghanistan and Pakistan, US never fought a war on its own land that’s why people of U.S are living in a peaceful environment without any fear of air strike, bombing, night raids and drone attack; they do not realize the fear of war. While innocent people of Afghanistan and Pakistan are paying for a sin which they haven’t committed. In fact these innocent casualties are becoming the cause of terror for civilians. Article 51/2 of Geneva Convention ‘Protection of the Civilian Population’ states: “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited”.
Civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan are in a constant threat and uncertainty. Their future generations are growing in a pathetic environment where no American or Western would like to raise his children.

These incidents are spoiling the immature minds of young generation of both countries which could certainly turn into an unthinkable disaster. The killing of innocent people is an alarming situation, its increasing hatred for US, NATO and ISAF Forces and equally for local forces of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Reason of uncertainty and internal instability in Pakistan is the presence of US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. Total withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan is the only solution to bring peace and stability in the region. It has been observed that after the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, graph of violence and killing of civilians dropped dramatically. It is believed that withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan will bring peace and stability in the region.

The US should immediately stop air strikes, night raids, and drone attacks in both countries. Government of Pakistan should remain firm against drone attacks. On December 9,2011, Pakistan’s Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani issued a directive to shoot down US drones.
A senior Pakistani military official said, “Any object entering into our air space, including U.S. drones will be treated as hostile and will be shot down”. Statements were issued but it never happened. Therefore U.S continued drone attacks with out any difficulty. Government of Pakistan should practically show their will to stop drone attacks.

Recently US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said that ‘Washington was reaching the limits of its patience with Islamabad because of the safe havens the country offered to insurgents in neighbouring Afghanistan’. Its astonishing that in the presence of 90,000 US troops along with the eastern border of Afghanistan (along with Pakistan), equipped with state-of-the-art weapons, air support, sufficient trained manpower and also claims the hold of the terrain, insurgents safely cross the border of Afghanistan, attack and then escape inspite of US knowing their “safe heavens” in Pakistan. Even with the drone attacks which US claims highly precise targeting and sophisticated spying systems they kill innocent people instead of their claimed high profile targets. US is not satisfied and pushing Pakistan to ‘do more’ again and again.

Asian region has four nuclear weapon states which increases its importance as well as concerns for US-led western states. So regional co-operation and support among the Asian states will enhance the regional strength and also help to eliminate any foreign influence in the region again.

Source: Global Research


http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/2012/06/14/us-killings-of-innocent-civilians-in-afghanistan-and-pakistan/ 

#Pakistan: #US Game Of Drones - Who Is Next On America's Hit List ?

Published on 15 Jun 2012 by RussiaToday

Despite Pakistan's repeated demands for an immediate end to U.S.-led drone strikes in the country, reports of fresh attacks are continuing. At least 3 people, believed to be militants, have been killed in the latest incident. But with their identities hard to verify, there are concerns that America's war drones could be causing civilian deaths in the process, so-called collateral damage. RT's Gayane Chichakyan explains.

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Pakistan: US Dirty Tricks On Paki-Iran Gas Pipeline - BUT Now All That Has Changed China Are On Board!

http://paktribune.com/articles/US-Dirty-Tricks-%5E-Pak-Iran-Gas-Pipeline-242879.html

http://afghanistantapipipeline.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/pakistan-iran-beijing-willing-to.html

#Pakistan #Iran :#Beijing Willing To Participate In Iran-Pakistan

Gas Pipeline.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9103081792


Clinton threatens Pakistan ' Back Off Iran Gas Pipeline'

http://afghanistantapipipeline.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/usa-threatens-pakistan-drop-iran.html

 

#Iran #Pakistan : IPI Gas Pipline Ready By 2013

Pakistan's Minister of Oil and Natural Resources Asim Hussain

Pakistan's minister of oil and natural resources says Iran-Pakistan natural gas pipeline will be finished before the end of 2013 one year ahead of the original schedule, Press TV reports.

Addressing the Friday session of Pakistan's Senate, Asim Hussain said feasibility study of the project has been already carried out and tender documents will be given to applicant companies soon, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The minister stated that early estimates have put the project's cost at USD 1.5 billion, but the final figure will be determined by banks which will finance the project.

He added that Pakistan will rapidly build its share of the pipeline and two gas compression stations along its southern coastal highway.

The multi-billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline deal, which was signed in June 2010, aims to export a daily amount of 21.5 million cubic meters (or 8.7 billion cubic meters per year) of Iranian natural gas to Pakistan.

Maximum daily gas transfer capacity of the 56-inch pipeline which runs over 900 km of Iran's soil from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to the city of Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province has been given at 110 million cubic meters.

The project was originally known as the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project. Iran, India and Pakistan held tripartite negotiations over the project, which was also known as 'The Peace Pipeline.'

New Delhi finally left the trilateral talks over disagreements with Islamabad on issues such as the fee Pakistan would charge India for the gas transit.

In October 2007, Iran and Pakistan began a new round of talks in Tehran, where the details of the deal were finalized.

Iran ranks second in the world in natural gas resources after Russia with available gas reserves estimated at over 33 trillion cubic meters.

In addition to exporting gas to Turkey, Armenia, and Pakistan, the country is currently negotiating gas exports to Iraq.

YH/SS/HGH

Clinton threatens Pakistan ' Back Off Iran Gas Pipeline'

http://afghanistantapipipeline.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/usa-threatens-pakistan-drop-iran.html

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/207115.html

Pakistan :CIA Unleash Aggressive Drone Strikes - This Will Continue Until Pakistan Agree To Isolate Iran And The IPI Gas Pipeline.

By David S. Cloud and Alex Rodriguez

Tribune Washington Bureau

ALSO ON PHILLY.COM

Pakistan hints supply path may open

Pakistan talks aim at border accord

NATO asks Pakistan to summit

New US leverage seen in talks with Pakistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Expressing public and private frustration with Pakistan, the Obama administration has unleashed the CIA to resume an aggressive campaign of drone strikes in Pakistani territory over the last few weeks, approving strikes that might have been vetoed in the past for fear of angering Islamabad.

Now, said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity in discussing sensitive issues, the administration's attitude is, "What do we have to lose?"

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta made clear the deteriorating relations with Islamabad on Thursday, saying the United States is "reaching the limits of our patience" because Pakistan has not cracked down on local insurgents who attack U.S. troops and others in neighboring Afghanistan.

"It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan," Panetta told reporters on the last stop of his nine-day swing through Asia. He made it clear that the drone strikes will continue.

The CIA has launched eight Predator drone attacks since Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, was invited to attend the May 20-21 NATO summit in Chicago but refused to make a deal to reopen crucial routes used to supply U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as the White House had hoped.

The CIA had logged 14 remotely piloted strikes on targets in Pakistan's rugged tribal belt in the previous 51/2 months, according to the New America Foundation, a U.S. think tank that tracks reported attacks.

"Obviously, something changed after Chicago," said a senior congressional aide in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity in discussing a classified program. "I am only getting the official story, but even within the official story there is an acknowledgment that something has changed."

Another congressional official said the surge in drone attacks stemmed in part from success in tracking down militants on the CIA's target list, although only one has been publicly identified.

Pakistanis view the drone strikes as an attempt to intimidate their civilian and military leaders into giving in to U.S. demands. If that's the strategy, it won't work, said experts and analysts in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

"They are trying to send a message: 'If you don't come around, we will continue with our plan, the way we want to do it,'" said Javed Ashraf Qazi, a retired Pakistani intelligence chief and former senator. It's "superpower arrogance being shown to a smaller state. . . . But this will only increase the feeling among Pakistanis that the Americans are bent on having their way through force and not negotiation."

A White House official said no political or foreign policy considerations would have prevented the CIA from taking action when it found Abu Yahya al Libi, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, who was killed Monday by a drone-fired missile in Pakistan.

Each side blames the other for the current dispute.

Pakistan has blocked convoys hauling NATO war supplies from the port city of Karachi since a clash near the Afghan border in November led U.S. helicopters accidentally killing two dozen Pakistani soldiers.

As part of the fallout, Pakistan ordered the U.S. to leave an air base in the country's southwest that the CIA had used to launch drones bound for targets in the tribal areas. Since then, the aircraft reportedly have flown from across the border in Afghanistan.

The U.S. initially halted all drone strikes for two months to ease Pakistani sensitivities, and the attacks resumed only sporadically after mid-January. By May, Pakistani officials were signaling a willingness to reopen the supply route to resurrect relations.

But talks deadlocked over Pakistan's demands for sharply higher transit fees just before the NATO conference, and President Obama appeared to give Zardari a cold shoulder in Chicago. Pentagon officials will visit Islamabad this week for a new round of talks.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, Pakistan allowed NATO supplies to be transported through its territory at no charge. It later levied a token $250 charge per truck. Islamabad now wants more than $5,000 per truck to reopen the road, a toll U.S. officials refuse to pay.

As an alternative to Pakistan, Washington concluded a deal this week to haul military gear out of landlocked Afghanistan through three Central Asian nations.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/158332275.html

Afghanistan: The TAPI Pipeline War - The ONLY Reason Thousands Have Died.

On December 11, a preliminary agreement was signed in Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat, by representatives of the four countries to proceed with plans for the American and Israeli-backed pipeline. Here are the basic points about the TAPI pipeline: 
Construction of pipeline will be completed by 2014 (▼)

1,680 kilometer gas pipeline will supply 3.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (much of this gas will come from Israeli/Mossad-owned gas fields in Turkmenistan, meaning immense profits for the Mossadniks who pulled of 9/11)............►The Obama administration, elected on the promise to withdraw U.S. troops by July 2011, now says the U.S. will maintain combat troops in Afghanistan until December 2014.  On December 17, the House passed a defense authorization bill (by a 341-48 vote) that authorizes the Pentagon to spend more than $160 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011 without major restrictions on the conduct of operations.  Why are U.S. (and NATO) troops being kept in Afghanistan for another 4 years?  What's really going on there? What is the cost and who is involved in this game??


   The real reason for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan is to build and secure a 1,080-mile long gas pipeline designed to carry trillions of dollars of Israeli-owned gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India. You could ask how come Turkmenistans gas could be Israeli-owned, here is the answer:  

Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Israeli agents sought to gain control of the strategic assets of the newly independent Soviet republics. In mineral-rich Turkmenistan, a Mossad agent named Yosef A. Maiman was very successful in gaining control of the republic's immense resources of natural gas.  Yosef Maiman, born in Germany in 1946, grew up in Peru and studied in the United States before becoming an Israeli citizen in 1971. As an agent of Israeli intelligence, Maiman heads a network of Mossad-controlled companies that serve Israeli interests. As the chief executive of the Merhav Group, Maiman has controlled the development of Turmenistan's gas resources. Maiman's key colleagues at Merhav are the former head of the Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, and Nimrod Novik, chief adviser to Shimon Peres, the current president of Israel. 

Maiman was described as "a leading miner" of Central Asian gas fields by the Jerusalem Post in 2004. Given their control of the immense gas resources of Turkmenistan, Maiman, Merhav, and the "Mossad" would all profit if and when the U.S.-led coalition were able to "pacify" and control Afghanistan so that the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline could be built allowing the gas of Turkmenistan to be sold to energy-hungry India . The TAPI pipeline project would bring billions of dollars into "Mossad" coffers every year. This is the real reason for the war in Afghanistan and why the Zionist-controlled Obama administration has increased the war effort in Central Asia. It has nothing to do with terrorism or 9-11. ....read more

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=217166281637605

Afghanistan: TAPI Pipeline Agreement Signed.

In a step that is likely to boost peace and give new shape to regional energy cooperation, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, on Wednesday, inked the historic gas sale purchase agreement (GSPA) for the $7.6-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, often touted as the peace pipeline.

Turkmenistan, which holds more than 4 per cent of the world's natural gas reserves, signed agreements to sell gas to India and Pakistan through the 1,680 km pipeline at the Caspian Sea resort of Avaza in Turkmenistan, according to a statement issued here. For India, the agreement was signed by GAIL (India) Chairman B. C. Tirpathi in the presence of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Jaipal Reddy who described the signing of the GSPA as “no ordinary event” and a triumph of multilateralism, regional cooperation and economic integration.

The TAPI pipeline will have a capacity to carry 90 million metric standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) of gas for a 30-year period and is likely to become operational by 2018. India and Pakistan would get 38 mmscmd each, while the remaining 14 mmscmd will be supplied to Afghanistan.

Besides Mr. Reddy, the GSPA, signed by national oil companies of the four nations, was witnessed by Turkmenistan Oil Minister, B. Nedirov, Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Asim Hussain and Afghanistan's Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani.

“Without a doubt, the economic benefits of the TAPI gas pipeline will be immense for our energy-starved economies. The flow of natural gas will bring in industrial and economic development in our countries,” Mr. Reddy said.

“It is our belief that the TAPI gas pipeline will transform the politics of this region.” Hopefully, the spin-off benefits of this pipeline will encourage us to emphasise trade and investment issues over contentious political issues and enable us to build trust and confidence among ourselves as neighbours and partners in progress,” he said.

Last week, the Union Cabinet gave its nod to the signing of GSPA and also approved the payment of 50 cents per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) as the transit fee to Pakistan and Afghanistan for the gas.

The contract price of TAPI gas is linked to a formula which contains indices based on fuel basket and other indices which are not as volatile as crude oil. The formula is similar to the ones used in international contracts.

The U.S. is backing the pipeline as an alternative to the India-Pakistan-Iran (IPI) pipeline that has been stalled for quite some time now due to U.S. pressure on India and Pakistan not to go ahead with the project.

The pipeline will run from the Turkmenistan gas fields to Afghanistan.

It will start from the Dauletabad gas fields and run into Afghanistan alongside the highway running from Heart to Kandahar and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan.

The final destination of the pipeline will be Fazilka near the India-Pakistan border.

Keywords: TAPI gas pipeline, GSPA, GAIL India




http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/article3449588.ece

#Pakistan Rejects #Panetta's Comments On Safe Havens.

Islamabad on Saturday rejected US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's comments on militants’ safe havens in Pakistan. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry accused Panetta of oversimplifying complex issues “we are all dealing with in our efforts against extremism and terrorism.” The Pakistani diplomats described the statements as “misplaced and unhelpful in bringing about peace and stability in the region.” Panetta said on Thursday that stabilization efforts in Afghanistan would remain difficult as long as militants had safe havens in Pakistan.

Source: RT Question More.

#Afghanistan: Purple Heart Suicide.

Quote From The Comments Section: 'Had they not raped and killed innocent women and children, their minds would be free'



Corporal Clay Hunt earned a Purple Heart in Afghanistan. Among his colleagues, the 28-year-old Marine-turned-construction worker was known for putting others before himself time and again.

Once Hunt flew to a German hospital to accompany a peer that had been shot in both legs, while Hunt himself had taken a bullet to the wrist a day earlier. He lobbied for veterans on The Hill, performed humanitarian work in Haiti and helped build bikes for wounded veterans after receiving an honorable discharge in 2009.

Hunt’s benevolent behavior has come to a head, though. Corporal Hunt, a hero to many, is dead.

It wasn’t the gunfire and cataclysmic combat that he faced in Iraq and Afghanistan that killed him, though.

Well, in a way, it was.

Hunt is, according to Army Times, one of around 18 American veterans that commit suicide each day. Data released last year says that there is an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans, and those are just the ones that are receiving treatment from the VA Department. Their suicide hotline has been receiving about 10,000 calls a month from service members—both former and current—and data released from the department in 2010 says that of the more than 30,000 suicides each year in America, veterans constitute around one fifth of them.

Matthew Pelak served in Iraq and worked alongside Hunt doing humanitarian work following the Haitian earthquake. To the Associate Press, Pelak acknowledges the trend. "We know we have a problem with vets' suicide, but this was really a slap in the face," says Pelak. Hunt’s death has come as a shock to many even though statistics have shown that this plague is far from outside the periphery. Since retiring from the military, Hunt had devoted much of his time towards efforts that better the lives of his fellow soldiers that have faced hardships as a result of their service to America.

Despite his regular rallying and rooting for his fellow servicemen, Hunt was never able to escape the horrors he faced on duty. "I think everybody saw him as the guy that was battling it, but winning the battle every day," says Jacob Wood, 27, a friend that worked alongside Hunt in Haiti and in the Marines. "He really was looking for someone to tell him what it was he went over to do and why those sacrifices were made," Wood says to AP.

Many men and women who served or are currently enlisted in the military are still searching for a way to make sense of their service. All too many have given up that search, however, and given up on life.

309 active servicemen committed suicide in 2009, a number that has grown in recent years. The number of those that attempted to take their own lives in ’09—over 1,000—is more than three times that of those killed on the battlefield. The tally of those that did take their own life between 2005 and 2009—1,100—comes close to exceeding the number of military personnel killed in Afghanistan in nearly a decade.

“Why do we know so much about suicides but still know so little about how to prevent them?" asks Eric Shinseki, a secretary at the VA. "Simple question, but we continue to be challenged."

As simple of a question, it doesn’t solve the problem. And it doesn’t bring Corporal Hunt back to life, either. Nor does it the hundreds who can’t make do with the dilemma themselves every year.

http://rt.com/usa/news/purple-heart-suicide-hunt/

#Afghanistan:#NATO - Why I Returned My Medals.

On May 20, during the first day of the NATO Summit in Chicago, Mr. Clumpner returned his medals along with 43 other veterans.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/9545-why-i-returned-my-medals

#Afghanistan: #NATO kills 18 civilians in Afghanistan, including women and children.

Nato planes have carried out an air strike in the Afghan province of Logar, south of the capital Kabul, with several people reported dead.

Nato said "multiple insurgents" were killed, and the air strike had been called after Afghan and foreign troops came under fire from militants.

Afghan officials said 18 civilians died, including women and children.

Widespread reports of civilian deaths during air strikes often draw angry criticism from Afghan officials.

Separately, Nato said one of its helicopters had crashed in the east of the country, killing two service personnel.

The alliance said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Sensitive issue

Tribal elders and officials in Logar told the BBC that top Taliban commanders had gathered at a house in a remote village in the district of Baraki Barak.

Afghan and Nato forces surrounded the house and warned the Taliban to surrender, but came under intense fire.

Nato forces then called for an air strike.

According to Afghan intelligence officials, the strike killed 18 civilians, including women and children who were in the houses at the time.

At least eight Taliban commanders were also killed.

A statement from Isaf, Nato's Afghan operation, confirmed much of the account. But it did not mention civilian deaths.

"While conducting a follow-on assessment, the security force discovered two women who had sustained non-life-threatening injuries," the statement said.

"The security force provided medical assistance and transported both women to an Isaf medical facility for treatment."

A Nato spokesman said later he could not confirm or deny reports of civilian deaths.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says the issue of civilian casualties at the hands of Nato is highly sensitive.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has issued several warnings to the Nato-led mission that killing Afghan civilians, even by accident, is unacceptable.

#Afghanistan http://bbc.in/Lyd9Y5

#NATO & #Uzbekistan : The Shameful Alliance Deepens.

by Craig Murray


While the UK media focused on bunting, NATO announced the substantial deepening of its most shameful alliance with the vicious Uzbek dictatorship. As long prefigured in this blog, NATO is forced to retreat from Afghanistan through Uzbekistan, after cutting yet more deals to support the World’s most vicious torture and slave labour regime. The irony of this when the Afghan “Mission” still pretends to be about bringing democracy and human rights to Afghanistan, is apparently lost on the entire western media. I cannot find a single article critical of the NATO deal.

NATO have not announced what specific sweeteners the governments of Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan and Kazakhstan are going to get. It is worth noting that they will have to pass through either Uzbekistan or Kirghizstan first to reach Kazakhstan, and the transport logistics are such over 80% of this will have to be through Uzbekistan. ....read more


http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/06/the-shameful-alliance-deepens/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

#Pakistan :How much more blood must be shed in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan .....?

by Jonathan Azaziah

How much more blood must be shed in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan before it is understood that the country is being torn to shreds from the inside out in a foreign-sponsored 4th Generation Warfare (4GW) campaign? How many more men, women and children must have their lives snuffed out before a little, not a goliath amount, but a little bit of attention is given to this horrific and blood-soaked crisis that deepens every day? The geopolitical implications will surely be drastically and negatively groundbreaking if Pakistan plunges into the unadulterated chaos that its enemies, “Israel,” Hindutvadi India and the Zionist-occupied United States government, so passionately and stridently desire. Pakistan, the “child of Jinnah, child of ‘Allama Iqbal”, indeed stands on the brink.

Hideous sectarian killings across the country since the start of April have revealed the deepening of a plot engineered by the forces of Zionism and Hindutva, its ugly first cousin. Whilst the Zionist media coverage has typically and predictably attempted to depict the bloodshed as “Sunni-Shi’a” strife, it is quite revealing that its coverage has been scarce, with the weight of reportage being carried by Pakistani and Iranian outlets. Additionally, the evidence will show that this sectarianism, drenched in innocent blood, is a product of the Zionist-Hindutvadi nexus, with the sect of oppressed being butchered by the sect of the supremacist oppressor....read more 
http://www.maskofzion.com/2012/05/hideous-sectarian-killings-reveal.html

#Pakistan: #Obama's Killer Drones - U.S. Once Again Bomb Mourners.

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/04/obama_again_bombs_mourners/singleton/

#Pakistan: #Obama Killer Drones - 15 More Dead - The Third Strike In Three Days.

Reuters) - Rockets fired from a U.S. drone killed 15 people in northwest Pakistan on Monday, intelligence officials said, an attack likely to add to tensions between Washington and Islamabad amid a standoff over NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

The strike, the third in three days, targeted a militant hideout in the Hesokhel village of the North Waziristan tribal region, officials said.

It brought the death toll from drone attacks in Pakistan in the past three days to 27. Pilotless U.S. drones hit targets in the South Waziristan tribal region on Saturday and Sunday.
The United States and Pakistan are deadlocked in difficult negotiations for the re-opening of overland supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan. No breakthrough is in sight.

Islamabad blocked the routes in November 2011 after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed by cross-border "friendly fire" from NATO aircraft.

The supply lines through Pakistan are considered vital to the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan before the end of 2014.

The Pakistan government says the CIA drone campaign fuels anti-American sentiment in the country, and is counterproductive because of collateral damage.

U.S. officials, however, say such strikes by the remotely piloted aircraft are highly effective against militants and are an important weapon in war against militancy.

(Reporting by Haji Mujtaba in MIRANSHAH, Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR and Saud Mehsud in DERA ISMAIL KHAN; Writing by Qasim Nauman; Editing by Paul Tait)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/04/us-pakistan-drone-idUSBRE85302920120604

ISRAEL 2014 :USA Threats To Pakistan Over IRAN Gas Pipeline.
http://afghanistantapipipeline.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/usa-threatens-pakistan-drop-iran.html

#Pakistan #Yemen:Video - Obama Killer Drones - The Nobel Peace Prize In The Hands Of A Cold Blooded Murderer.

Please go to link for video.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/244401.html

The US has urged on continuing its assassination drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan, in defiance of the criticisms which condemn the operations as aggressions against civilians.

In recent days, at least 17 people have lost their lives in Pakistan and Yemen following the drone strikes, which Washington claims are targeted at suspected terrorists in the countries.

Yemeni opposition activist and Nobel Peace laureate Tawakul Karman says US drone strikes in southern Yemen are ineffective because they are hitting mainly civilians.

Tribal leaders in Yemen have warned that the attacks have been turning more Yemenis against Sana’a and Washington.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, Waziristan and other tribal northwestern regions been frequently targeted by US drones over the past few years.

Figures show that the American drone strikes have killed at least 212 people in Yemen and Pakistan in the month of May.

The aerial attacks were initiated by former US President George W. Bush but have been escalated under President Barack Obama.

The following is a rush transcript of Press TV’s interview with Tighe Barry, an American political activist with CODEPINK in Washington, about the issue:


Press TV: The first question that comes to mind is How legal are these drone strikes. What international authority allows the US to carry out such attacks?

Barry: I would like to start out with what you stated. These are suspected terrorists or suspected evildoers, as term is used by our government. These drone strikes are definitely illegal under the international law.

The US at one point says it is in a war on terror and with terrorists. These are wars that are allowed to conduct. These wars are conducted by a group called CIA. These are CIA drone strikes. We do not know the criteria that they are using to pick out the suspected terrorists.

Dennis Kucinich, the representative from Ohio, has called on the United States government in a bill in the House of Representatives to give us the criteria of how they are picking up their list of suspects; how they are conducting these weapon strikes; and who is actually in charge of all the equipment that has been in use.

At this point, everything that I just mentioned is unknown to the American public and even to our House representatives.

Press TV: Why is it that only Muslim countries are the target?

Barry: It is obvious. It is easy for them to use the Muslims as a scapegoat. The United States has been in dangerous peril of its economy collapsing; Europe is falling into economic collapse. So, they find an easy scapegoat to take the people’s minds off of what is truly affecting their everyday lives.

These drone strikes are just a tool that Obama is using to not take prisoners, so that the truth won’t one day be revealed that they killed everyone while they are doing the drone strikes; [so that] there is nobody to come out to say that they were not terrorists and there is no terrorist activity in Yemen, Pakistan, in the northern region of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and that we use these weapons in Somali and Sudan.

Press TV: It's interesting that one report indicated that President Obama is given a list of nominees and then he signs the list for the drones to kill those nominees. Many say what Obama is actually doing is committing summary executions?

Barry: Absolutely; and some of these people who have been killed so far are Americans; are children; He has put children on the list of targets. The president has no authority to put anyone on a hit list.

In 1973, when it was revealed that the United States had a secret hit list and they attempted to kill leaders overseas, this was put into our law that no president has this authority. Obama is usurping the constitution and it is funny you are mentioning the Nobel Peace Prize winners, because Barack Obama is a Nobel Peace Prize winner that is clearly murdering people overseas.

#Azizabad #US Massacre : Double Standards On Civilian Deaths.

In the war fever being ramped up against Syria, there is broad public indignation over the massacre of more than 100 civilians in the town of Houla last weekend. Would that the U.S. diplomatic corps and the commercial press were equally outraged over our own military's atrocities.

While details of the Syrian massacre are unclear and still subject to dispute, Canada, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Australia, Germany, Spain and the United States have expelled Syrian diplomats in protest. The State Department called the rampage "despicable" and complained about a regime that could "connive in or organize" such a thing.

However, the department was silent on the U.S. killing four years ago of just as many Afghan civilians, including 60 children, in Azizabad. A draft UN Security Council press statement said about the Aug. 22, 2008, bombing that member nations "strongly deplore the fact that this is not the first incident of this kind" and that "the killing and maiming of civilians is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."....read more


http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/9561-double-standards-on-civilian-deaths

#Pakistan: #Obama Killer Drones - 12 More Dead.

Ten more people have been killed by a US drone strike against suspected militants in Pakistan, with the aircraft firing its missiles into a gathering mourning one of two fighters killed in a similar atttack the previous day.

 

Two Pakistani intelligence officials say four missiles were fired at the village of Mana Raghzai in South Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan on Sunday morning.

At the time of the attack, suspected militants had gathered to offer condolences to the brother of a militant commander killed during another US unmanned drone attack on Saturday. The brother was one of those who died in the Sunday morning attack. The Pakistani officials said two of the dead were foreigners and the rest were Pakistani.

It brought to 12 the total number of people killed in two days and was the sixth American drone strike over the last two weeks. The US government considers the drone campaign a vital tool in the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

 

The drone campaign has been a source of deep frustration and tension between the US and Pakistan. Under Barack Obama the US has stepped up its drone campaign in the Pakistani border areas as a way to combat insurgents and terrorists who use Pakistan as a base for attacks against American and Nato forces in Afghanistan. The number of drone attacks has eased in recent years.

 

Many Pakistani military commanders are believed to secretly support the drone campaign. But among the Pakistani public, where the US is viewed with mistrust, the strikes are considered an affront to the country's sovereignty.

 

The attacks are complicating efforts for the US and Pakistan to come to an agreement over reopening the supply routes to Nato and American forces in Afghanistan. US air strikes inadvertently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November, prompting Islamabad to block the supply lines into Afghanistan. Pakistan wants an apology and an end to drone strikes before it reopens them.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sj0E5TXAx57eofkHPXJ2iVQ/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2012/jun/03/american-drones-kill-12-pakistan&cat=top-stories

#Pakistan: #USA Drone Kills 10 In Northwest Pakistan.

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - The second U.S. drone attack in as many days killed 10 people in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, intelligence officials said, an incident likely to raise tensions in the standoff between Washington and Islamabad over NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

The remotely-piloted aircraft fired four missiles at a suspected Islamist militant hideout in the Birmal area of the South Waziristan tribal region near the Afghanistan border, officials said.

A drone strike in the same area killed two suspected militants on Saturday.

The United States and Pakistan are locked in difficult negotiations to re-open overland supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan, with no signs of a breakthrough.

Islamabad blocked the routes last November to protest the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers by cross-border friendly fire from NATO aircraft. The supply lines through Pakistan are considered vital to the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan before the end of 2014.

Israel : TAPI gas pipline Israel want in place by 2014

http://afghanistantapipipeline.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/usa-wants-israel.html

The CIA drone campaign fuels anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan and is counterproductive because of collateral damage, Pakistani officials say. But U.S. officials say such strikes are highly effective against militants.

(Reporting by Hafiz Wazir in WANA, Saud Mehsud in DERA ISMAIL KHAN and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Qasim Nauman, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

http://news.yahoo.com/u-drone-strike-kills-10-nw-pakistan-officials-072812301.html

USA Threats To Pakistan Over IRAN Gas Pipeline.
http://afghanistantapipipeline.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/usa-threatens-pakistan-drop-iran.html