Mid Time

US opens 'major Afghan offensive'. & Obama strategy focus of Afghan talks.

noreply@blogger.com (Mid Time) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 19:36:00 -0700

The United States army says it has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.

The US military says about 4,000 marines as well as 650 Afghan troops are involved, supported by Nato planes.

Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said the operation was different from previous ones because of the "massive size of the force" and its speed.

Officers on the ground said it was the largest marine offensive since Vietnam.

It is the first such operation under President Barack Obama's presidency.

The operation began when units moved into the Helmand river valley in the early hours of Thursday.

Helicopters and heavy transport vehicles carried out the advance, with Nato planes providing air cover.

Southern Afghanistan is considered a Taliban stronghold.

"Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces," said Brig Gen Nicholson in a statement.

At a briefing at the US military's Camp Leatherneck last week, he told personnel and embedded reporters: "One of the most critical things is to tell people why we're there, and we are going to have a limited opportunity to gain their trust."

The operation would have an initial highly aggressive stage lasting 36 hours, AFP news agency reported.

It aims to improve security ahead of presidential elections on 20 August 20, allowing voter registration where before there was none, Gen Nicholson said.

A US military spokesman, Captain William Pelletier, told the BBC there had been "no enemy contact" in the first hours of the operation, but one marine was slightly injured when an improvised explosive device detonated.

He said the US military was prepared for casualties, but stressed that "it is absolutely essential that no civilians be harmed".

Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal predicted the operation would be "very effective".

"The security forces will build bases to provide security for the local people so that they can carry out every activity with this favourable background, and take their lives forward in peace."

Obama strategy focus of Afghan talks

Delegates from 70 nations are gathering in The Hague to discuss reconstruction in Afghanistan, against the new backdrop of the major Obama strategy for the country unveiled last Friday.

President Barack Obama wants a modest increase in US troops, many more civilian advisers, and is hoping to engage wider regional support to improve security in Afghanistan.

The Hague meeting could see the first moves towards high-level contact between the US and Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979 brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power.

If it goes well, there is even speculation that the US will ask Iran if non-military equipment for Nato forces could be allowed to cross Iran.

'Investment for the world'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will head a large team from Kabul, and his ambassador in the US, Said Jawad, made a passionate appeal that the world should not forget Afghanistan as it has done before.

At a pre-conference meeting, organised by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, he said: "Being in Afghanistan is dangerous, but not being in Afghanistan is a lot more dangerous, and we learnt this on 9/11.

"Being in Afghanistan is an investment for your children, for the future of Afghanistan and the world."

The political system that is emerging in Afghanistan may not have the most rigorous democratic standards, but the Bush years of believing that countries could be fixed by imposing a voting system from outside are over.

Said Jawad said there were other tests of democracy.

"If democracy means not fearing the secret police, having the opportunity to send your daughter to school, or the opportunity to give birth as a woman without fearing death - this is the right of every human being," he said.

"This is what every Afghan deserves and demands."

Funds needed

Although this conference will not make specific demands for cash, the need to raise more money is at the heart of the negotiations.

And a wider regional strategy demands that the money be raised more widely.

Afghanistan needs funds in particular to pay for its larger armed force. For now international support for that raises $25m (£17.5m), far short of the requirement for $2bn a year.

Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said it would be "impossible" for Nato countries to find that money.

In an interview with the Financial Times before the conference, he said that other nations such as Japan, the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia should shoulder more of the burden.

"It is difficult to see how Nato allies, given the enormous amount they are spending keeping forces there, can bring in $2bn a year," he said.

Rising ambitions of India's Maoists

noreply@blogger.com (Mid Time) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 19:21:00 -0700

Maoist rebels took control of a tribal area in India's West Bengal state for nearly eight months before a security offensive forced them out last month. Subir Bhaumik on why the rebels chose to wrest control of Lalgarh and their future plans.

Why did India's Maoist rebels end up taking over a tribal-dominated area barely 250km from the eastern Indian city of Calcutta?

The Communist state government lost control of Lalgarh in West Midnapore district last November. It took all of eight months and paramilitary troops to drive out the rebels from the area late last month.

Lalgarh, an embattled forest enclave on the borders of the eastern Indian states of West Bengal and Jharkhand, has been described as "the second Naxalbari" by Maoist leaders.

This indicates how important it was for them to take control of this tribal-dominated area.

Naxalbari, the site of India's Maoist-inspired uprising in 1967, is now a sleepy village in West Bengal bordering Nepal. It is inhabited by smugglers or struggling tea garden workers.

'Alienated'

The only thing that is common between Naxalbari and Lalgarh is that both have predominantly tribal populations who are alienated and have not benefitted from the land reforms of the Marxist government.

"The tribals in Bengal's Junglemahal area (in which Lalgarh falls) have been completely alienated because in the last 30 years, they have got nothing from the Communist coalition government here. The Communist rulers have taken the tribals for granted," says Ranabir Sammadar, director of the Calcutta Research Group, who has worked on the area.

Maoist leader Kishenji claimed in a BBC interview that the mass movement in Lalgarh against "oppression of the establishment Left and its police" has given them a major base in West Bengal for the first time since the Naxalite uprising was crushed in the mid-1970s.

"We have 1,100 villages with us in the movement. The resistance they have offered in the face of massive state-led coercion has given us much hope, as did the mass boycott of the parliament polls in the area," he said.

"For the first time since the Naxalite movement, we have struck a place which is the weakest spot of the state and which automatically makes it our stronghold."

Honduras leaders reject deadline

noreply@blogger.com (Mid Time) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 19:02:00 -0700

The newly installed government in Honduras has rejected international calls to reinstate deposed President Manuel Zelaya.

The Organization of American States has given Honduras a 72-hour deadline for reinstatement or warned it could face suspension from the regional group.

Mr Zelaya has delayed his planned return home on Thursday, until the deadline expires at the weekend.

Interim leaders said he would be arrested for treason on his return.

The army ousted Mr Zelaya on Sunday over his plans for constitutional reform, which his critics said were aimed at prolonging his presidency.

Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of Congress who was sworn in as interim president, said of the OAS deadline: "We can't negotiate anything.

"We can't reach an agreement because there are orders to capture the ex-President Zelaya here for crimes he committed when he was an official."

He told the Associated Press: "He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns."

The president's expulsion has been widely condemned by leaders ranging from US President Barack Obama to Mr Zelaya's regional allies, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Mr Zelaya, in Panama for the presidential inauguration, said: "I'm going to respect those 72 hours that the OAS asked for."

The US has suspended military co-operation with Honduras and says it will decide next week whether to cut aid.

Mr Zelaya's decision to postpone his return was described as "wise" by a senior official from US President Barack Obama's administration, quoted by Reuters news agency.

Protests

The World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have cut new loans and some European countries have recalled their ambassadors.

The head of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, condemned what he described as "an old-fashioned coup" in Honduras, after an emergency meeting of the regional grouping on Tuesday.

"We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted," he said.

But thousands of people demonstrated in the capital, Tegucigalpa, against the return of the ousted leader, whose popularity has slumped in opinion polls to around 30% in recent months.

Jackson leaves estate to family

noreply@blogger.com (Mid Time) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 18:56:00 -0700

Michael Jackson's will has been filed in a Los Angeles court, giving his entire estate to a family trust.

The document, dated 7 July 2002, also reveals the star "intentionally omitted" to provide for his former wife, Debbie Rowe.

Jackson's mother, Katherine, is named as a beneficiary of the trust and the guardian of the singer's three young children, who are named in the will.

It estimated Jackson's estate at that time to be more than $500m (£303m).

Custody rights

The Michael Jackson Family Trust would benefit his three children, his mother and unnamed charities, according to Reuters.

The news agency also reported that Jackson's five-page will said: "I have intentionally omitted to provide for my former wife, Deborah Rowe Jackson."

Rowe married Jackson in 1996 but filed for divorce in 1999. She gave up custody rights to the children but sought them again in 2003.

They agreed a settlement in 2006 but the terms were never disclosed.

She is the biological mother of Jackson's eldest children - Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, known as Prince Michael, 12, and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11.

The singer's youngest son - seven-year-old Prince Michael II - was born to a surrogate mother whose identity has never been revealed.

Long-time friend and singer Diana Ross is also named as guardian for Jackson's children in the event that his mother was unable to fulfil her duties.

Katherine Jackson was granted temporary guardianship of Jackson's three children on Monday.