Iraq/Afghan War News: Airstrike 'problems'

'Problems' in U.S. strike on Farah province

A U.S. military investigation into a May 4 airstrike in the Afghan province of Farah found violations of the rules of engagement, officials say.

U.S. military forces provided air support to Afghan police who became overrun by Taliban militants in the Bala Boluk district of Farah province. Afghan officials say U.S. military airstrikes killed more than 100 civilians, while American generals say the number is closer to 30.

A draft of the U.S. military report published by The New York Times last week found one U.S. bomber was cleared for airstrikes on insurgent targets but dropped additional bombs without target confirmation on a return run.

Geoff Morrell, the press secretary for the U.S. Defense Department, said he was briefed on the report by top military officials, noting the investigation found "problems" with some of the tactics used in the May 4 operations.

A B-1 bomber broke away from positive identification of targets as it approached enemy targets "because of how it takes it bombing routes," Morrell said.

Morrell added, however, that it "appeared" American forces "took extraordinary care" in tracking militant activity during the operation.

Eyewitness accounts of the operation say U.S. airstrikes commenced well after Taliban and other insurgents had fled the area.

Morrell said U.S. combat forces in Afghanistan tightened the rules for air support, noting civilian casualties in Afghanistan were down 40 percent since the beginning of the year.

The final report on the Bala Boluk attack is expected later in the week.

Karzai lobbies for base lease extension

Afghan President Hamid Karzai petitioned the government of Kyrgyzstan to allow American forces to extend their lease at a base used by international forces.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in February signed a measure to close the U.S. Manas Air Base, which was used as a staging point to ferry military and other supplies into Afghanistan.

Bishkek had given the Americans 180 days to remove their 1,200 troops and military equipment from the air base. Aibek Moldogaziyev, a spokesman for Bakiyev, said the government there had received the lease request from the Afghan government, RIA Novosti reports.

"Hamid Karzai has indeed sent such a letter to Kurmanbek Bakiyev," the spokesman said. Karzai had said the situation in his country had "evolved," requiring dialogue with Afghanistan's neighbors.

Analysts worry souring relations between Washington and former Soviet clients in Central Asia may inhibit efforts to control a growing insurgency in the region.

Afghan and Kyrgyz officials are expected to raise the lease issue during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit scheduled to begin Monday in Russia.

Military equipment not ready for Afghanistan

Engineers are scrambling to retrofit an Iraqi fleet of bomb-resistant vehicles to handle the rough terrain of Afghanistan in preparation for the surge.

Military engineers at a testing facility in Maryland are racing to refit suspension systems on its $1 million mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles after it became evident the trucks were not suitable for Afghanistan, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"The MRAPs were bought for Iraq," said Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, who heads the suspension system efforts. "They weren't bought with any vision of needing to handle the rough terrain that's common in Afghanistan."

U.S. military efforts since 2003 have focused on equipping American troops in Iraq to fight in an urban environment, leaving rural combat measures sidelined.

With U.S. Marines headed to Afghanistan as part of the new Washington strategy to control the growing Taliban insurgency, the Pentagon is racing to retrofit the suspension systems of each of its 1,000 MRAPs assigned to Afghanistan at a cost of $100,000 per vehicle.

The Journal reports that only five of those vehicles were retrofitted as of June. Meanwhile, Pentagon officials are pushing for a new $2 billion armored fleet designed for Afghanistan as military strategists for American forces wrestle with evolving combat scenarios.

Militant tied to British hostages in Iraq released

U.S. military officials released a Shiite rebel leader from custody in what Baghdad says is an effort to secure the release of five British hostages.

Four security guards and a computer programmer were kidnapped from a training facility in Baghdad in May 2007.

A statement from the Shiite militant group Band of the Righteous issued in March said it would tie the release of the five British nationals to the release of Laith al-Ghazali, his Lebanese brother Qais al-Ghazali and Mahmoud al-Dakdouk, who is linked to Hezbollah.

American and British officials doubt the authenticity of the March statement, saying it was a power move by rival factions within the Band of the Righteous.

Anonymous Iraqi government sources told The Guardian newspaper in London the kidnapping was retaliation for the British arrest of Ghazali and his supporters.

The sources told the newspaper the freeing of Laith al-Ghazali, who has ties to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, was a "straightforward" gesture to secure the release of the Britons, but American officials were reluctant to move on his brother because of his ties to attacks on U.S. soldiers.

Intelligence officials suspect the British hostages are still alive and in Iraq despite Band of the Righteous statements to the contrary.

Interior focus of U.S. efforts in Iraq

U.S. political transition specialists are pushing for reform efforts in the Iraqi Interior Ministry as Baghdad prepares for a larger security role, officials say.

U.S. combat forces are obligated to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June under the terms of a bilateral Status of Forces Agreement with Baghdad.

American military forces are preparing for security transfer throughout the country while transition advisers work with the Baghdad government to help create an autonomous and transparent national security force, the U.S. Defense Department reports.

"What we and the Iraqis are striving for is a condition known as police primacy," said Army Maj. Gen. James Milano, a U.S. commander in charge of transition for Iraqi interior affairs. "Under police primacy, the Iraqi police forces will have primary responsibility for internal security, under civilian control, in accordance with the constitution and consistent with the rule of law."

Milano said his team was working on transparency issues as several Iraqi government ministries face charges of criminal ties and rampant corruption.

Allegations mounted that the Iraqi Interior Ministry has used death squads and supplied militants with official documents to escape scrutiny since the influential Shiite Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council took control over of the Interior Ministry in 2005.

Milano, however, said public trust in national police forces has increased substantially since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, but acknowledged corruption was plaguing security developments in the government.

"You can see there's a lot of work left to be completed," he said. "My advisers and I are fully committed to continuing to build police capacity and a capable (Iraqi) Ministry of Interior."

Ban praises Iraqi developments

Iraq has made significant progress in terms of national security and political developments, but national reconciliation measures are lacking, U.N. officials say.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his latest report on Iraq to the Security Council said there were "encouraging signs of progress" in Iraq, but warned issues ranging from Kurdish ambitions to national hydrocarbon laws remained points of concern.

"In particular, the resolution of key issues, including federalism, the sharing of natural resources and disputed internal boundaries, could serve as a means to achieving lasting peace," the secretary-general notes.

He added mounting political tensions threatened regional stability in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, the volatile Diyala province and Ninawa province. All three are the focus of regional disputes over administrative authority between the Kurdish and Baghdad lawmakers.

"Further progress on these complex issues will be possible only if Iraqi leaders come together in a spirit of national unity and adopt much needed constitutional and legislative measures in the political, electoral, economic and social fields," added Ban.

The secretary-general praised Iraq, however, on the ability to conduct provincial elections in 14 of the 18 provinces in January, which saw more than 14,000 candidates competing for 440 council seats.

Meanwhile, Ban commended Iraqi national security forces on their ability to operate independently of their American counterparts.

"Those developments underscore a general positive trend in the country on both the political and security fronts," the secretary-general's report says.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)