This is nothing unusual. It has helped us a lot, it has solved lots of our problems. We appreciate it. …This is cash. It is the choice of the U.S. government. If tomorrow the State Department decides to give us such cash, I’d welcome that, too.Afghan President Hamid Karzai • Responding to criticisms of cash payments (reportedly literal bags of cash), sent from the CIA directly to Karzai’s presidential palace in Kabul. Karzai suggested that the money was used for such diverse purposes as paying off warlords, funding scholarships and tending to wounded members of the presidential guard, though this explanation leaves unattended the main criticisms that have been waged at both his administration and the CIA over this — corruption, opacity, and accountability. Both present and former Afghan sources indicated in reports last week that the cash amount delivered in this manner, over the last decade or so, totaled tens of millions of dollars, while Karzai himself said they were “not allowed to disclose” the official figure. source
Anne and those with her were attacked by the Taliban terrorists who woke up that day not with a mission to educate or to help, but with a mission to destroy. A brave American was determined to brighten the light of learning through books, written in the native tongue of the students she had never met, whom she felt it incumbent to help.Secretary of State John Kerry • Discussing the death of Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old U.S. Foreign Service Officer who was killed when delivering books to a school in Afghanistan. (Her group was ambushed by the Taliban, and she was one of six Americans killed Saturday.) Kerry, who had met the Illinois native just two weeks ago while on a trip to the country, said that she was ”a selfless, idealistic woman who woke up yesterday morning and set out to bring textbooks to school children, to bring them knowledge.” Her parents offered up a similar statement on the tragedy. Smedinghoff’s death is the first of a U.S. diplomat since last year’s Benghazi’s attack.
A senior Pakistani Taliban commander has been captured in south-eastern Afghanistan in what was hailed as a major sign of much improved relations between the two neighbouring countries.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, described as a top-ranking Pakistani member of the Taliban, was captured on Monday, along with three of his bodyguards and a small cache of weapons, in Mohmand Dara district, which shares a border with Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.
The ambush was carried out by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and the Afghan police, an official in Nangarhar said.
With some worried that the Taliban could continue to gain ground in both countries, an allied front from the two nations’ governments should certainly increase regional stability in the weeks and months to come, and assuage the concerns of some doubters.
By the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.President Obama, delivering a line that drew hearty applause. The Afghanistan War, as demonstrated during the 2012 presidential campaign, is actually an issue on which botht he Democrats and GOP have had some second thoughts in recent years. If and when it ends next year will not elude one dubious distinction, though – it’s already the longest war in U.S. history.
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I would expect it will be significant, which means thousands, not hundreds, but I would not expect it to be the majority.British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond • Discussing the planned troop withdrawals out of Afghanistan next year. Roughly 500 troops will get removed by the end of 2012, leaving about 9,000 still in the country — so based on Hammond’s statement, as many as 4,500 troops will get withdrawn in 2013.
I’ve been throughout that whole country… the fact is we went there for one reason, to get those people who killed Americans. Al-qaeda. We have decimated al-qaeda central, we have killed Osama bin Laden.Joe Biden, finally name dropping Osama bin Laden in the debate’s Afghanistan segment. Biden and Ryan clashed earlier over looming defense cuts forced by last year’s sequestration deal – Biden advocated for a “leaner” military with more special forces, while Ryan denounced the deal’s mandatory cuts, despite having voted for them in congress.
centerforinvestigativereporting:
Wait time grows for disabled veterans seeking benefits
Veterans across the country are waiting an average of 260 days for a decision on a war-related disability claim – three days longer than last week and 80 days longer than in mid-2011, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. More than 815,000 veterans are waiting for a response from the VA this week.
Attention to the issue is growing. A new story from The New York Times underscores the extent to which some families must sacrifice as a result of their wait, and Congress addressed the backlog in a hearing on Friday, Sept. 21.
Check out our interactive map each week for a look at how wait times have changed around the country. Learn how the backlog is affecting veterans nationwide by clicking cities with pulsing red circles. We’ll be adding more veterans’ voices, along with additional coverage from our media partners, so stay tuned.
For anybody concerned with the impact of America’s wars, this should be an issue of the highest order – with individual soldiers serving more tours of duty than ever before, and shouldering a burden so disproportionate to that of the general populace, making sure things like the above don’t happen should be imperative.
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
