Feral Jundi

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Cool Stuff: Afghan Police Trap Reveals How ‘Insider Attacks’ Actually Work

Bravo to Beyar Kahn Weyaar and this Afghan police force for quickly jumping on this opportunity and taking the risk to foil this attack. This action also coincides with that famous Sun Tzu quote ‘all war is deception’. Hell, if our police mentors are not teaching this kind of undercover/sting operations stuff, they should be. My guess is that it is being introduced at some level, but who knows? All I know is Beyar was able to stop a major attack with his work, and that is awesome.

The other thing I like about this sting operation is the use of reward or incentive, and the televising of such a thing. To basically communicate to the world and to the Taliban that insider attacks go both ways, and the Afghan government was able to penetrate this suicide assaulter ring and take it down with an insider of their own. Perhaps this will encourage other police/army personnel, or even citizens, to get in the game of deceiving the Taliban?

Now the funniest part of this story below was the idea that the Taliban sold Beyar on the idea of turning, by offering him money and riches. But then when the assault was to happen, instead of bringing gold they brought a suicide vest and VBIED for Beyar, and expected him to blow himself up during the attack.  Ummmm?….Say Again? lol.

“He said he would give me 2.5 million Afghani ($50,000), two brand new cars and a house in Pakistan,” Weyaar said…About a month later, Mohammed returned to launch the attack. He was with two more people, a pick-up truck packed with explosives, and had 60 hand grenades, six machine guns and six suicide vests.
“I asked him about the sixth suicide bomber that he had told me would take part,” Weyaar said. “He said, ‘The sixth person is me, I will detonate the vehicle.'”

Pretty cool and I hope they are able to conduct more of these types of sting operations. –Matt

 

Beyar Khan Weyaar receiving his award.

 

Afghan Police Trap Reveals How ‘Insider Attacks’ Actually Work
Dec. 30, 2012
The Taliban believed Beyar Khan Weyaar was the perfect candidate to prepare an insider attack on Afghan police, but instead he set a daring trap that has given a rare insight into suicide bombing tactics.
Weyaar, a low-ranking police officer in the eastern province of Paktika, was approached in November by a man who offered him the chance to get rich if he met a local insurgent commander.
“I thought he was joking,” Weyaar told AFP after collecting a hero’s medal from Interior Minister Mujtaba Patang in Kabul on December 25.
“But the commander, who said he was called Mohammed, came to meet me at my police post in Sar Hawza district. He must have known I worked there.
“He brazenly asked me to take the Taliban side and help them launch an attack inside the police force. I asked him to give me time to think.”
Weyaar, aged in his early 40s, instead informed senior officers, who gave him clearance to continue meeting the insurgents to gain intelligence.
He then got a telephone call from a leader of the Taliban-linked Haqqani group offering him a luxury house in Pakistan if he helped bombers infiltrate the Paktika provincial headquarters where the governor and police chief work.

(more…)

Friday, December 28, 2012

Industry Talk: DynCorp Police Mentor Joseph Griffin Killed In Afghanistan

Rest in peace to the fallen and my heart goes out to the friends and family of Joseph Griffin. What makes this green on blue incident different from others is that it was a female police officer that shot him. –Matt

 

DynCorp International Police Mentor Killed in Afghanistan
FALLS CHURCH, Va. – December 24, 2012 – Joseph Griffin, 49, of Mansfield, Ga., was tragically killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 24, 2012, while supporting the Afghan Ministry of Interior and Afghan National Police Development Program (AMDP). Mr. Griffin worked in support of several of the company’s global training and mentoring programs since November 2000; he began his most recent assignment in July 2011. A veteran of the U.S. military who served in various U.S.-based law enforcement positions over the years, Mr. Griffin was an experienced professional who will be missed by his colleagues.
“Joe spent his career helping people all over the world, most recently working to help the Afghan people secure a better future,” said Steve Gaffney, chairman and CEO of DynCorp International. “The loss of any team member is tragic but to have this happen over the holidays makes it seem all the more unfair. Our thoughts and prayers are with Joe’s family, loved ones and colleagues during this difficult time.”
Under the AMDP contract with the U.S. Army, DI assists the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (NTM-A/CSTC-A) by providing training and mentoring services for the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior and Afghan National Police.
Press Release here.

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Mission to help costs Griffin man his life
By Craig Schneider
The pain had a precise beginning for the family of Joseph Griffin: the moment on Christmas Eve morning when government agents came to the door, bringing his wife, Rennae, the news dreaded by every wife of a man at war.
When the pain will ease, nobody can say, because it is compounded by the strangeness of his death and the lengthy process of unraveling why he died.
Griffin, a Newton County resident working as civilian adviser to the Afghan police, was shot and killed Monday at police headquarters in Kabul by a woman described as a police sergeant.
Questions have been swirling since: Who is the woman? Did she have permission to be there and carry a gun? What was her motive? Was the killing without either political overtones or personal connections, as authorities have said?
This week, the family struggled with their grief. They had a Christmas anyway at the family farm near Cedartown, if only to let the kids open gifts.

(more…)

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Cool Stuff: Merry Christmas!

Filed under: Afghanistan,Cool Stuff — Tags: , , — Matt @ 11:20 PM

Merry Christmas everyone. –Matt

 

Door Gunner Petty Officer Richard Symonds of the Royal Navy wears a Santa Claus outfit as he delivers mail and presents to troops around Helmand province in this handout released by Britain’s Ministry of Defence December 25, 2010. REUTERS/Sgt Rupert Frere RLC

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Industry Talk: Afghanistan Seeks Taxes From Contractors To US

These guys kill me. What part of this bilateral agreement do the Afghans not understand? Here it is again, just to emphasize how stupid this is.

A 2003 bilateral agreement states the U.S. government, “its military and civilian personnel, contractors, and contractor personnel shall not be liable to pay any tax or similar fees assessed within Afghanistan.” A subsequent 2004 Military Technical Agreement also carved out a tax-free status for contractors to the U.S., a view that has been reinforced by U.S. officials in correspondence with Afghan officials.

Not only that, but because of this dumb APPF force, these companies are forced to used government security. I don’t know if the APPF was protecting Contrack International or not during this latest attack, but I do know that according to the business folks in that area, they have been screaming for more security in that area for awhile. It is a logistics hub, and attacks on such sites are part of the Taliban goal of inflicting economic damage.

We will see if the US can press back and protect these companies that are essential to the war effort. I think this quote says it all, if the US cannot square this away.

A person involved in logistics issues said the matter could come to a head if the Afghan government imposes fees or restrictions on cargo that slows the delivery of goods to forward operating bases, or FOBs.
“We’ve been told [by the coalition] to reduce stocks. So they’ll run out of fuel and they’ll go on MREs on some of these FOBs,” the person said, referring to the military’s packaged rations. “And little Johnny’s going to call Mom, and that’s now going to be all over the press.”

We will see how it goes? –Matt

 

 

Afghanistan Seeks Taxes From Contractors to U.S.
By NATHAN HODGE
Afghanistan has launched tax audits of major contractors to the U.S. military, government officials say, in a bid to shore up the country’s finances as the international military presence winds down and reconstruction funds dry up.
In particular, Kabul is focusing on the U.S. military’s main food supplier in Afghanistan, Supreme Foodservice GmbH, alleging that the company and similar logistics firms are abusing their status to illegally bring taxable goods into the country for resale.
Supreme says it isn’t engaging in any commercial activity in Afghanistan that should make it liable for taxes.
Kabul’s move potentially puts the Afghan government at odds with Washington, which has viewed, with limited caveats, materials imported to support the 66,000 U.S. forces here as exempt from taxation and customs fees. Since 2005, the Pentagon spent more than $7.9 billion on its food-supply contract with Supreme alone, awarding the company an additional $1.5 billion extension contract this past summer.

(more…)

Monday, November 26, 2012

Afghanistan: The Discussion On Troop Numbers Beyond 2014

Filed under: Afghanistan,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 11:03 PM

A Wall Street Journal report, meanwhile, said top Obama administration officials want to keep about 10,000 American troops in the country – a midpoint in the range of options that Allen presented to Panetta, which the newspaper said varied from 6,000 to 15,000.
Many observers have said the Afghan government is unlikely to be able to take over logistical operations, air support and other facets of the current war, in addition to the training and counterterrorism missions foreign troops would provide.

As the article pointed out below, a solid number is premature. But you can definitely point to a ‘range’ of what we are looking at in the quote up top.

The other thing to think about with this stuff is the logistics requirements of Afghanistan beyond 2014. We have given the Afghans a military force that requires some serious upkeep, and especially the aviation assets. Couple that with the idea that most Afghans have a poor reading capability (hence cannot read a manual to fix or maintain whatever), that it will take someone with outside expertise to continue to assist. That is where contractors will come in.

I also look at Afghanistan’s means of financially supporting this military as the west exits. Where will the revenue come from to pay salaries and maintain this military and government?  So economics plays into this, and I think the west will continue to support Afghanistan well after we are gone. So yet again, with western dollars comes western contractors to support the Afghans.

One final point is Iraq and how that turned out, might be a scenario for Afghanistan. Meaning we purposely depended upon Iraq to use their parliament to come up with a SOFA, knowing full well that parliament would not support immunity of any sorts for US troops in their country. It is a smart political move by the US administration, who wanted fully out of Iraq, because they knew that Iraqi politicians did not want to be known as the leaders that wanted US troops to stay. Some would say we pulled out prematurely in Iraq because of those politics and not because of a logical withdrawal plan–but that is another discussion and only time will tell with that country.

So if we start doing actions that put the full decision of troops staying in Afghanistan, into the hands of Afghans and not just one main leader, then we might see an exodus of troops from Afghanistan much like how Iraq turned out. Just because Afghan politicians do not want to be viewed as the folks that supported foreign occupiers to stay. (May is when a new SOFA is to be decided upon…) Any SOFA that does not have troop immunity in it, is a sure sign that we will be exiting, and contractors will be the only ones left standing–just like in Iraq. –Matt

 

Pentagon: Discussion of troop numbers remaining in Afghanistan ‘premature’
By CHRIS CARROLL
November 26, 2012
The Pentagon says it plans to tell the White House within weeks how many American troops military leaders believe will be needed in Afghanistan after 2014 to train local forces and continue to target al-Qaida.
With NATO’s formal combat role set to end in just over two years, the United States — along with its NATO allies and the Afghan government — is keen to define a postwar presence well in advance, avoiding the precipitous pullout and security problems that came with the end of the Iraq War.
The troop calculations, however, have to achieve a delicate balance that weighs military capability against the U.S. public’s weariness of continuing conflict – and meets Afghan expectations of the residual force.
The troop strength recommendation will be based on options presented in recent weeks by Marine Gen. John Allen, the NATO commander for the war, to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The final decision has yet to be made, officials said.

(more…)

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