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Meanwhile In Afghanistan


Panzermann

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New UNAMA report on civilian casualties:

 

https://unama.unmissions.org/un-calls-parties-take-urgent-measures-halt-civilian-casualties-numbers-2016-reach-record-high

 

The United Nations called on all warring parties in Afghanistan to take urgent steps to halt the killing and maiming of civilians, as a new UN report issued today recorded the highest ever number of civilian casualties in a single year, including record figures for children killed and injured in 2016.

The report documents 11,418 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 3,498 killed and 7,920 injured. Of these, 3,512 were children 923 dead and 2,589 injured, up 24 per cent on the previous highest recorded figure. The figures, recorded by UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), are the highest since the UN began systematically documenting civilian casualty figures in 2009.

The killing and maiming of thousands of Afghan civilians is deeply harrowing and largely preventable, said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan. All parties to the conflict must take immediate concrete measures to protect the ordinary Afghan men, women and children whose lives are being shattered.

the report: https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/protection_of_civilians_in_armed_conflict_annual_report_2016_feb2017.pdf

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Scaparrotti, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe suggested that Russia might be supplying Taliban

 

 

Russia 'Perhaps' Supplying Taliban in Afghanistan

March 23, 2017 2:47 PM
Russia may be supplying the Taliban as they fight U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, a top U.S. military commander said Thursday.
" have seen the influence of Russia of late — an increased influence — in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban," General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander and U.S. Army General, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Scaparrotti did not elaborate on what kinds of supplies might be provided or how direct Russia's involvement could be.
His comments are built on suspicions raised last month by General John Nicholson, the U.S. commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, who testified that Russia is giving the Taliban encouragement and diplomatic cover. Nicholson did not, however, address whether Russia was supplying the terrorist group.
“Russia has been legitimizing the Taliban and supporting the Taliban,” he told VOA's Afghan service in an interview last month.
Russia, which had an ill-fated intervention in Afghanistan that started in 1979 and ended nearly a decade later, has been trying to exert influence in the region again and has set up six-country peace talks next week that exclude the United States.

http://www.voanews.com/a/russia-perhaps-supplying-taliban-in-afghanistan/3779099.html

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That has been said for some time now. Problem is that at the moment everything is blamed on Putin. hard to tell, if this is true or if they want to cast Russia in a bad light.

 

OTOH feeding the struggles in Afghanistan keeps NATO occupied.

 

see for example this aljazeera article: Russia's new game in Afghanistan

which talks about russia exerting more influence

 


 

meanwhile the Taliban call for more forestry protection and agriculture in Afghanistan, because half of Afghanistan's forests have been cut in the last three decades and exported illegally and simply burnt. Afghans! Plant more trees!

 

http://text.derstandard.at/2000054658075/Taliban-rufen-zum-Baumschutz-auf(in german)

 

 

Who would have thought that the Taliban become green and environmentally friendly? The next suicide bomb is built from biodegradeable explosives I bet. ;)

Edited by Panzermann
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who controls what in Afghanistan as of Jan 2017:

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2016/08/afghanistan-controls-160823083528213.html

 

Since the Taliban was ousted from power following the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the armed group's control over parts of Afghanistan has fluctuated widely.

According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the Western-backed Afghan government has lost control of nearly 5 percent of its territory to the Taliban since the beginning of this year.

The report says the area under Afghan government "control or influence" decreased to 65.6 percent by the end of May from 70.5 percent last year, based on data provided by US forces in Afghanistan.

That amounts to a loss of 19 of the country's approximately 400 governing districts.

However, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, said the Taliban presence is mostly in rural areas.

Afghan officials, on the other hand, say an exact figure on areas controlled cannot be measured as the fight against the Taliban and other armed groups is still ongoing.

Based on reports gathered by Al Jazeera from local police, security forces and the Taliban, here is a conservative estimate of the areas in Afghanistan that are contested, under the Taliban, and under government forces.

 

 

 

Edited by Panzermann
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Actually I would think Moab would be a poor choice of weapon as the blast would not really affect caves that much, it was designed to open up LZ for helicopters as I recall?

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Actually I would think Moab would be a poor choice of weapon as the blast would not really affect caves that much, it was designed to open up LZ for helicopters as I recall?

It was Daisy Cutter(BLU-82). Gone long time ago. MOAB was made in early 00's to destroy soft surface targets at somewhat big area(mostly Boogeyman weapon without great effectiveness).

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I can easily seen using MOAB on a cave complex, as burning up all of the oxygen inside such a complex is something that thermobaric weapons such as MOAB do very well.

MOAB is not thermobaric.

 

I thought FAE munitions were considered thermobaric. I realize I might be wrong, and if I am how are such munitions categorized?

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I read that in a briefing the US Commander had said that ISIS had prepared the area for defense, with booby traps, suicide bombers and fixed defenses, so the MOAB is to neutralize those surface defenses. Frankly a couple of MOABs and few Grand Slams and you be just mopping up the stragglers and many would be already in their unmarked grave.

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I recall this is from Yemen, an aerial bomb hit a munition storage which blew up spectacularly (and spawned rumours about use of tactical nukes...). Or at least it was very similar footage.

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