Is Barack Obama forcing military leaders to lie about so-called ‘progress’ in Afghanistan ?

Apparently, at least one whistleblower and several members of Congress think so.





A US army officer has accused the American military of painting a misleading picture of progress in the war in Afghanistan while glossing over the Afghan government's many failings.


The accusations have sparked fresh debate about the US mission in Afghanistan.


"What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by US military leaders about conditions on the ground," Colonel Davis wrote in an article published in Armed Forces Journal, a private newspaper not affiliated with the Pentagon.


"Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level," he wrote under the headline, "Truth, Lies And Afghanistan: How military leaders have let us down".


"How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding ...?"


Troop commanders and politicians say the handover to Afghan troops is going well, but Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Davis, who has just returned from the country, is challenging those statements in congress.


He says that conditions on the ground are ruinous - a conclusion deeply at odds with the picture of progress put forth by the top US military brass.


It is a rare instance of a US officer openly contradicting his superiors, and Davis' insights, first published in a military journal on Sunday, have been picked up by several members of congress.


At a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday, the US military's number-two commander in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti, answered Davis' criticism, saying it was only one person's opinion of the general situation.


"I am confident, in my personal view, that our outlook is accurate," he said.


Scaparrotti says he does not doubt some of what Davis wrote, and he believes US forces have work to do in training Afghan forces.


Last week, Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, said US forces would transition next year from a combat role to training Afghan soldiers and police.

Battle Tested !!! MarinesTV Headlines: Taliban Attack

Date Taken: 12.9.2011
Marines were attacked by surprised by Taliban. The Marines scramble to defend, but suffer casualties due to grenades. Lance Cpl. Jacob Lagoze, Kajaki, Afghanistan with the story.

Guess who Sesame Street didn’t bring to Afghanistan ???

That’s right, Miss Piggy. “This is so unfair. Moi went out and had a custom-designed burqa made just for the trip. Taliban bastards.”

Afghanistan: Mother, daughter stoned to death "moral deviation and adultery" in Ghazni

A group of armed men have stoned a woman and her daughter to death in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, security officials have told the BBC.


Officials blamed the Taliban for the attack and said they had accused the widow and her daughter of "moral deviation and adultery".


The incident happened on Thursday in the Khawaja Hakim area of Ghazni city, where the family lived.


The police said two men had been arrested in connection with the murder.


Security officials said armed men entered the house where the young widow lived with her daughter, took them out, and stoned them to death.


"Neighbours did not help or inform the authorities on time," an official said.


Taliban grip
Officials said a number of religious leaders in the city had been issuing fatwas (Islamic religious edicts) asking people to report any one who was "involved in adultery".


In October last year, a woman accused of murdering her mother-in-law was killed by Taliban in Ghazni.


Ghazni has seen an upsurge in violence in recent years.


Strategically located on the route between Kabul and Kandahar, the province was once a centre of trade. Read More

Islamists say U.S. drone in Afghanistan kills son of Egyptian sheik imprisoned over New York bomb plot

CAIRO (AP) -- A U.S. drone strike killed a son of Egyptian-born Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in Afghanistan, a radical Islamist group said.

Egypt's Gamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, had posted on its website on Saturday a notice mourning the death of Ahmed Abdel Rahman, the son of the "Blind Sheik" now serving a life sentence in the U.S. for his involvement in a plot to blow up New York city landmarks.

Abdel Rahman was the spiritual leader of the Gamaa, as well as of the men convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Read More: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_EGYPT_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT