Feral Jundi

Sunday, December 7, 2008

News: More Than 160 US, NATO Vehicles Burned in Pakistan

Filed under: Afghanistan,News,Pakistan — Tags: , , — Matt @ 1:18 PM

     Pathetic.  Whomever the security company was, that was contracted to protect this depot, did a horrific job of protecting it.  When guards just stand by helplessly, and allow the attackers to come in and destroy everything, then something is severely screwed up.  That much is apparent.   You get what you pay for I guess, and we need to take a more assertive role in protecting our vital supplies out there.  

     Pakistan is doing a terrible job, Pakistani PSC’s are doing a terrible job, and 70 % of our logistics comes from Peshawar.  If we are serious about fighting the war in Afghanistan, then we need to get serious about protecting our logistics.  I say pay the money to hire competent security to protect these convoys and depots, or send the troops to protect this stuff. Or get out of the business of even dealing with Pakistan for our logistics. –Head Jundi

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More than 160 US, NATO vehicles burned in Pakistan

By RIAZ KHAN 

December 7, 2008

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants torched 160 vehicles, including dozens of Humvees destined for U.S. and allied forces fighting in Afghanistan, in the boldest attack so far on the critical military supply line through Pakistan.

The American military said Sunday’s raid on two transport terminals near the beleaguered Pakistani city of Peshawar would have “minimal” impact on anti-Taliban operations set to expand with the arrival of thousands more troops next year.

However, the attack feeds concern that insurgents are trying to choke the route through the famed Khyber Pass, which carries up to 70 percent of the supplies for Western forces in landlocked Afghanistan, and drive up the cost of the war.

(more…)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Afghanistan: Policing Afghanistan, by Graeme Wood

Filed under: Afghanistan — Tags: , , — Matt @ 4:36 PM

   I have never heard of the Hazaras, and you learn something new every day.  Perhaps they could be part of the solution of protecting the local populations in Afghanistan, instead of using Pashtuns exclusively? It sounds like the Hazaras care, and they certainly have the incentive.  From the sounds of it, they have been crapped on for a long time in Afghanistan. They kind of remind me of the Kurds in Iraq. Great article, and worth the read.  –Head Jundi

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New Yorker

Afghan National Police commander Muhammad Khan. Photograph by Louie Palu.

Letter from Pashmul

Policing Afghanistan

An ethnic-minority force enters a Taliban stronghold.

by Graeme Wood

December 8, 2008 

In late 2007, in Pashmul, a tiny cluster of villages in southern Afghanistan, Muhammad Khan began his tenure as the police commander by torching all the hemp in a farmer’s field. Farmers in the area had grown plants up to seven feet tall, and, being teetotallers, like many Afghans, they smoked hashish constantly. Afghan soldiers and policemen in the area also smoked, to the exasperation of the NATO troops who were training them. But Khan wasn’t from Pashmul and he didn’t smoke. He ordered his men to set the harvest ablaze, moved upwind, then turned his back and left, with an expression of indifference.

Khan and his police officers are members of Afghanistan’s Hazara minority, identifiable among Afghans because of their Asiatic features; the population they patrol is Pashtun. Hazaras are mostly Shia, with a history of ties to Iran, whereas most Pashtuns are Sunni and have turned to Pakistan for support. Over the past century, the two peoples have fought periodically, and the Hazaras, who are thought to make up between nine and nineteen per cent of Afghanistan’s population—the Pashtuns make up nearly half—have usually lost. On the border between the Hazara heartland, in the country’s mountainous and impoverished center, and the Pashtun plains in the south and east, conflicts over grazing land are common. But, working alongside NATO soldiers, Hazara police units are now operating far to the south of these traditional battlegrounds and deep into Pashtun territory.

(more…)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Industry Talk: A Call for Help from Free Range International

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , , — Matt @ 11:13 AM

     Hey guys and gals, the gang over at Free Range International needs our help. On one of their last missions, some checkpoint thugs ripped off their body armor.  Read the ‘Shakedown’ story, to get the details.  Tim and company are doing good things over there, and they are not some large Blackwater type group, with endless resources available to them.  So when things like body armor are taken, that is a huge cost for a small business to eat.  Also, if anyone in country has kit that they might be able to sell for a good price, then that might be an option as well.  Either way, if you go to Tim’s blog, he has a donation page set up and you can contact him through the site.  –Head Jundi

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From the site:

Our work is dangerous and replacing our stolen body armor is expensive. Shem and I could use a little help. Please contribute what you can today so we can order 2 more sets soon, inshallah. 

(Read the full story on how we lost our armor at Shakedown).

Story Here

 

Friday, November 21, 2008

Jobs: Close Protection Officer, Iraq/Afghanistan

Filed under: Afghanistan,Iraq,Jobs — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 1:46 AM

Control Risks

Close Protection Position

Ref :         000002

Region:          Global

Country:  Global, Afghanistan, Iraq  

Department: Project Management

Role Type:  Close Protection

Job Purpose

The Individual is expected to have sufficient training and flexibility to be able to undertake the role of a Close Protection Officer as detailed below.

(more…)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Legal News: Contractor Charged With Murder in Afghan’s Death

Filed under: Afghanistan,Legal News — Tags: , , — Matt @ 2:39 PM

     Boy, this is a terrible story.  Obviously Ayala was severely impacted by the incident, to do such a thing as shoot this combatant point blank to the head.  I wasn’t there, nor will I judge.  But you can see the kind of emotions this could have brought up–to see your comrade be purposely burned by some random individual in a village.  I know I would be furious.  But that gives no justification to be the judge and jury for such a horrific criminal act, by just killing the guy out right.  

     Although, Ayala could make the argument that he saw the guy move wrong, or reach for something, and that is why he fired.  But still, if he purposely executed an unarmed individual, despite the horrible act this Afghani committed, then that is wrong.

     All I have to say at this point is that Ayala is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If he did in fact commit this act, then he should pay the price. I would hold that standard towards anyone in the military, law enforcement, and the security contracting community, and justice should be served.

   On another note, this sounds like the Human Terrain Systems contract BAE has, where they use civilian anthropologists in military civilian affairs units out in the field.  It is an initiative to better understand the villages, so the military forces know how to best work with them. And the reason we use anthropologists like this, is because the military cannot home grow that type of resource to meet the demands of the war effort.  And that is where BAE stepped in, by filling that need. –Head Jundi

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Contractor Charged With Murder in Afghan’s Death

By Jerry Markon

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, November 20, 2008; B05

 

A defense contractor who once protected top foreign leaders was charged yesterday with second-degree murder in the shooting of an Afghan civilian who had attacked one of his colleagues with a flammable liquid during a routine patrol.

Don M. Ayala, 46, of New Orleans was charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria in the Nov. 4 shooting. Court documents said he works in Afghanistan for Rockville-based BAE Systems, but he formerly provided personal security to the Iraqi prime minister and the Afghan president.

(more…)

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