Re: Bush success! 70% of Afghanistan lost!

On Feb 27, 7:04 pm, "Kommienezuspadt" <nos...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Karzai Only Controls 1/3 of Afghanistan

Feb 27, 9:29 PM (ET)

By PAMELA HESS

(AP) Afghan president Hamid Karzai, foreground left, cuts a ribbon during a
ceremony to mark the opening...

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than six years after the U.S. invaded to establish a
stable central regime in Afghanistan, the Kabul government under President
Hamid Karzai controls just 30 percent of the country, the top U.S.
intelligence official said Wednesday.

National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell told the Senate Armed
Services Committee that the resurgent Taliban controls 10 percent to 11
percent of the country and Karzai's government controls 30 percent to 31
percent. The majority of Afghanistan's population and territory remains
under local tribal control, he said.

Underscoring the problems facing the Kabul government, a roadside bomb in
Paktika province killed two Polish soldiers who are part of the NATO force
in the country and opium worth $400 million was seized in the southern part
of Afghanistan. That brought the number of foreign troops killed in
Afghanistan to 21 this year, according to an Associated Press tally.

In 2007, insurgency-related violence killed more than 6,500 people,
including 222 foreign troops. Last year was the deadliest yet since the
U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Officials estimate that up to 40 percent of proceeds from Afghanistan's drug
trade - an amount worth tens of millions of dollars - is used to fund the
insurgency.

Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, told the
committee at the same hearing that the Pakistan government is trying to
crack down on the lawless tribal area along the Afghan border area where
Taliban and al-Qaida are believed to be training, and from which they launch
attacks in Afghanistan. But neither the Pakistani military nor the tribal
Frontier Corps is trained or equipped to fight, he said.

Maples said it would take three to five years to address those deficiencies
and see a difference in their ability to fight effectively in the tribal
areas.

"Pakistani military operations in the (region) have not fundamentally
damaged al-Qaida's position. ... The tribal areas remain largely
ungovernable and, as such, they will continue to provide vital sanctuary to
al-Qaida, the Taliban and regional extremism more broadly," Maples said.

Under questioning from committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., Maples also
said he considers the harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding
to be inhumane. That would put it outside the bounds of U.S. law, which
since late 2005 has prohibited cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of
detainees.

The Bush administration has refused to rule on whether waterboarding is
torture. Waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water
over his or her cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It
has been traced back hundreds of years to the Spanish Inquisition, and is
condemned by nations around the world.

Waterboarding remains among the interrogation methods potentially available
to the CIA but its use must be approved on a case-by-case basis by the
attorney general and the president.

The U.S. military specifically prohibited waterboarding in 2006. Maples said
the 19 other interrogation techniques allowed under military rules are
effective.

"We have recently confirmed that with those who are using those tools on
operations," Maples said.

Earlier this month, Congress approved a bill that would limit the CIA to the
military's interrogation techniques. The White House has threatened to veto
that measure.

CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a statement to the Associated Press on
Wednesday that other lawful, Geneva Convention-compliant interrogation
techniques not in the Army Field Manual would also be outlawed.

"There will be no conditions of threat or danger that would cause us to make
an exception. This is an important national decision and it will have a
direct impact on our ability to gather intelligence and to detect and
prevent future attacks."

Hayden told the House Intelligence Committee on Feb. 7 that he prohibited
CIA operatives from using waterboarding in 2006 in the wake of a Supreme
Court decision and new laws on the treatment of U.S. detainees. He said the
agency has not used waterboarding for five years.

President Bush could authorize waterboarding for future terrorism suspects
in certain situations, including "belief that an attack might be imminent,"
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Feb. 6. The president would consult
with the attorney general and intelligence officials before authorizing its
use, Fratto said.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080228/D8V31QCO2.html

30% -- better than his normal rate!

it is unknown if the Russia supplied arms to Afga, I am surprise if
they don't.
.

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