Germany Lends Air-Defense Radar to Israel

TEL AVIV - Germany recently delivered a Patriot air defense radar to Israel as a cost-free loaner pending conclusion of a three- to four-year refurbishment in the United States of Israel's own AN/MPQ-53 radars for its PAC-2 force.

German, U.S. and Israeli sources confirmed the trilateral cooperation, aimed at filling potential gaps in Israeli air defense coverage while Israel Air Force radars are being serviced at Fort Sill, Okla.

The loaner radar provided by the German Bundeswehr arrived here in mid-October, shortly before the first of three Israeli Patriot radar sets was shipped to the United States for servicing. The German delivery marks an expansion of strategic cooperation with Israel, which received two full-up Patriot PAC-2 batteries from Luftwaffe stocks in 2003 in the run-up to the U.S.-led coalition war in Iraq.

Sources said it will take about a year to replace aging components of each radar, extend service life, and improve its ability to interoperate with U.S. European Command's Patriot batteries that participate in biannual U.S.-Israel exercises and could be rushed here for emergency deployment during wartime.

The refurbishment program is estimated at $15 million and will be funded through annual U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) assistance to Israel. Israeli and German officials confirmed that the German loaner radar would remain here until the upgrade program is complete and all Israeli radars are redeployed and integrated with other elements of the Air Force's Air Defense Force.

"Germany has contributed to the air defense system of Israel since 2003 with the loan of two Patriot systems. Additional components are temporarily on loan to maintain the operational capability of the systems," said Lt. Col. Holger Neumann, a German MoD spokesman.

An Israel Air Force officer emphasized that the recently launched Patriot radar upgrade is more logistical in nature and is not aimed at converting Israel's PAC-2 air defense force to the PAC-3 ballistic missile intercepting configuration.

Israel has no plans to procure PAC-3 missile interceptors from Lockheed Martin, he said. Instead, the Air Defense Force is looking to deploy the David's Sling air and missile defense system now in development by Rafael and Raytheon.

Nevertheless, the Air Force officer said Israel "is looking very closely" at a so-called Config-3 program that would render its existing PAC-2 force more capable of operating with PAC-3 intercepting batteries.

No decision has been made on the estimated $60 million Config-3 program with Raytheon, producers of the Patriot radar, engagement control stations, launching units, and improved PAC-2 interceptor missiles.

Still-angry Pakistan Backs Out of Afghan Conference

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan decided Nov. 29 to boycott a key international conference on Afghanistan next month, ramping up its protest over lethal cross-border NATO air strikes that have plunged U.S. ties into deep crisis.

The decision was taken at a Pakistani cabinet meeting in the eastern city of Lahore, days after Islamabad confirmed it was mulling its attendance in the German city of Bonn, where Pakistan's participation was considered vital.

"The cabinet has decided not to attend the Bonn meeting," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The prime minister's office said the cabinet agreed that "unilateral action" such as the Nov. 26 strike in the tribal district of Mohmand and the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden near the capital was "unacceptable."

U.S.-led investigators have been given until Dec. 23 to probe the attacks, threatening to prolong significantly Pakistan's blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan implemented in retaliation for the killings.

The U.S. military appointed Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark to lead the investigation into the attack.

The team, set to include a NATO representative, is yet to arrive in Afghanistan but an initial military assessment team went to the border at the weekend after the catastrophic strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

The Afghan and Pakistani governments are also being invited to take part.

There was no immediate reaction from Islamabad or Kabul, although some analysts voiced surprise that it will take as long as nearly four weeks.

A Western military official in Kabul said the schedule for the findings being delivered was "way quicker" than initially expected.

U.S.-Pakistani ties have been in free fall since a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in January, and the latest attack raises disturbing questions about the extent to which the two allies cooperate with each other.

Islamabad insists that the air strikes were unprovoked, but Afghan and Western officials have reportedly accused Pakistani forces of firing first.

"With the kind of technology available to the U.S. and NATO, it was expected they would be able to do it [the investigation] much earlier, not more than two weeks," Pakistani defence analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

In Pakistan, angry protests over the NATO strikes pushed into a fourth day, with 150 to 200 people demonstrating in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, setting fire to an American flag and an effigy of NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The crowd carried banners and shouted: "Those who befriend America are traitors" and "We are ready for jihad," an AFP reporter said.

Pakistan has vowed no more "business as usual" with the United States. In addition to shutting its Afghan border, it has ordered Americans to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones and a review of the alliance.

Yet behind the rhetoric, Islamabad has little wriggle room, being dependent on U.S. aid dollars and fearful of the repercussions for regional security as American troops wind down their presence in Afghanistan in the coming years.

In an interview with CNN, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stopped short of threatening to break the alliance altogether saying: "That can continue on mutual respect and mutual interest."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said U.S. President Barack Obama believed the latest incident was "a tragedy," and said Washington valued what he called an "important cooperative relationship that is also very complicated."

Last time Pakistan closed the border, in September 2010 after up to three soldiers were killed in a similar cross-border raid, it only reopened the route after the United States issued a full apology.

The U.S. military has insisted the war effort in Afghanistan would continue and has sought to minimize the disruption to regular supply lines.

Nearly half of all cargo bound for NATO-led troops runs through Pakistan.

About 140,000 foreign troops, including about 97,000 American forces, rely on supplies from the outside to fight the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Yet so far, officials say there has been no sign that Islamabad would bar the U.S. aircraft from flying over Pakistan.

China's First Aircraft Carrier Starts Second Trial

BEIJING - China's first aircraft carrier began its second sea trial on Nov. 29 after undergoing refurbishments and testing, the government said, as tensions over maritime territorial disputes in the region ran high.

The 300-meter (990-foot) ship, a refitted former Soviet carrier called the Varyag, underwent five days of trials in August that sparked international concern about China's widening naval reach.

"China's aircraft carrier platform, after successfully completing its first sea trial in August, returned to the shipyard as planned for further refitting and testing," the defense ministry said in a brief statement.

"The work has been carried out and it set sail again on November 29 to carry out relevant scientific and research experiments."

Beijing only confirmed this year that it was revamping the old Soviet ship and has repeatedly insisted that the carrier poses no threat to its neighbors and will be used mainly for training and research purposes.

But the August sea trials were met with concern from regional powers including Japan and the United States, which called on Beijing to explain why it needs an aircraft carrier.

The Nov. 29 announcement comes against a background of heightened tensions over maritime disputes in the Asia-Pacific region, where China's growing assertiveness has put it on collision course with the United States.

President Barack Obama this month irritated Beijing with a drive to enhance the U.S. role as a regional power, positioning Marines in northern Australia and pushing for a potentially transformational trans-Pacific trade pact.

Beijing sees the initiatives as intruding into its own sphere of influence, with the dispute over the South China Sea putting the two major world powers' differences into stark focus.

China claims all of the strategic area, as does Taiwan, while four Southeast Asian countries declare ownership of parts of it, with Vietnam and the Philippines accusing Beijing's forces of increasing aggression there.

The region is a conduit for more than one-third of the world's seaborne trade and half its traffic in oil and gas, and major petroleum deposits are believed to lie below the seabed.

The announcement of the carrier's second sea trial comes after Beijing said last week it would conduct "routine" naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean before the end of November.

China reportedly bought the carrier's immense armored hull - with no engine, electrics or propeller - from Ukraine in 1998.

The PLA - the world's largest active military - is extremely secretive about its defense programs, which benefit from a huge and expanding military budget boosted by the nation's runaway economic growth.

Earlier this year, China announced military spending would rise 12.7 percent to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.7 billion) in 2011.

Russia Activates Missile Warning System Near EU

MOSCOW – Russia on Nov. 29 activated a radar warning system against incoming missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad on the borders of the EU, in response to Western plans for a U.S. missile shield in Europe.

President Dmitry Medvedev announced that the Voronezh-DM station was moving on to immediate combat readiness, days after threatening to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad amid a growing dispute with the West.

Using rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War, he added: "If this signal is not heard, we will deploy other methods of protection including the taking of tough countermeasures and the deployment of strike forces.""I expect that this step will be seen by our partners as the first signal of the readiness of our country to make an adequate response to the threats which the (Western) missile shield poses for our strategic nuclear forces," Medvedev said.

Medvedev said last week Russia was prepared to deploy Iskander missiles, which officials say have a range of up to 500 kilometres (310 miles), in the Kaliningrad exclave that borders EU members Poland and Lithuania.

Romania and Poland have agreed to host part of a revamped U.S. missile shield which Washington said is aimed solely at "rogue" states like Iran but Moscow believes would also target its own capability.

NATO member Turkey has decided to host an early warning radar at a military facility near Malatya in the southeast as part of the missile defence system.

Medvedev, who visited Kaliningrad to sign the decree on activating the station, said Russia needed to hear more than promises from the West to resolve the standoff.

"Verbal statements do not guarantee our interests. If other steps are made then of course we are ready to listen," Medvedev added in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies from Kaliningrad.

"We can no longer be content with verbal promises that the (U.S. missile shield) system is not aimed against Russia. These are empty statements and do not guarantee our security."

But he said that the activation of the Kaliningrad station "does not close the door for dialogue" with the United States on missile defense.

Kaliningrad is part of the former German East Prussia region that was annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II and remains one of Moscow's prime territorial strategic assets.

The RIA Novosti news agency quoted Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying that the station could keep track of 500 objects at a range of up to 6,000 kilometers.

The move comes in the run-up to legislative elections on Dec. 4, where Medvedev is leading the list of the ruling United Russia party amid an atmosphere of growing nationalism in Russia.

Medvedev has championed a reset of relations with the United States under President Barack Obama. But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who traditionally has a more prickly relationship with the West, is set to become president in 2012.

An analyst said the decision to activate the system was important but had to be seen in a domestic context.

"Data from this station will allow Russia's leadership to make a decision about a retaliatory nuclear strike, should such a hypothetical need arise," said Mikhail Khodaryonok, editor of journal "Aerospace Defence."

But he described the announcement as mainly "pre-election rhetoric" given that both the U.S. missile shield and the Russian system are defensive in nature.

"You would really need to have a vivid imagination to link it to the U.S. missile defense system."

French Senate's Call: Buy Reaper, Not Heron UAV

PARIS - A left-led French Senate has adopted a budgetary amendment calling for procurement of the General Atomics Reaper UAV while safeguarding funds for development of a new-generation combat drone planned as a common project with Britain, the upper house said in a statement.

The amendment seeks to reverse a government decision to acquire the Heron TP drone from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), partnered with Dassault Aviation.

"The Senate wanted, in the general interest, to separate the operational needs of the Armed Forces from the industrial policy considerations," the amendment text said. "With this in mind, the Senators wanted, in the short term, to put priority on the safety of our troops by giving them the best equipment at the best price, in this case, the Reaper from General Atomics, while allowing, in the medium term, the emergence of an industrial sector by setting aside a larger amount of funds for French and European companies than that envisaged in the government's industrial plan."

The amendment, adopted Nov. 29 by a Socialist-led Senate, seeks to cut the amount for UAV acquisition in the draft 2012 defense budget law from 318 million euros ($423.8 million) to 209 million.

The 209 million euros is the amount General Atomics proposed in May for a non-French modified package consisting of seven air vehicles, two ground stations and maintenance for 10 years.

Under the Reaper offer, EADS would modify the U.S.-built UAV at a cost of 40 percent of the acquisition, or 88 million euros, bringing the total value of the package to 297 million euros, the amendment said.

That compares with an offer made by Dassault and IAI, also in May, for a package of seven modified Heron TP UAVs for 320 million euros. Modifications by Dassault, mainly adapting the satellite communications and integrating extra sensors, would bring the total amount to 370 million euros, the amendment said.

The Dassault-IAI deal also included two ground stations and 10 years' maintenance, the amendment said.

The senators debated the amendment until 4 a.m., a parliamentary official said.

"It was Homeric," the official said.

But senators of both right and left voted in favor of the amendment, which pushes the government to buy the American Reaper UAV, which can be armed.

The U.S. Air Force's selection of Boeing over Airbus for its KC-X tanker program made it extremely difficult for French senators to call for the purchase of a U.S. system, the official said. But the lack of operational and industrial sense in the French government's decision to buy the Israeli drone meant the Senate adopted the amendment, he said.

Besides the cut in procurement funding, the amendment called for the move of 80 million euros into technology studies for the future Anglo-French drone, and 29 million euros for upgrades to the current Harfang medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV operating in Afghanistan.

The 80 million euros for research studies would benefit Dassault and/or EADS for work on the planned Anglo-French program, rather than IAI, the amendment said.

Although the amendment does not specify the money should go to the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) project in the Lancaster House Treaty, that was the intention, the parliamentary official said.

The amendment pointed up concern over the lack of competition in the government's pick of the Heron TP.

"This decision to choose the Heron TP drone, with a tender, is difficult to understand: it is financially disadvantageous, militarily debatable and industrially hazardous," the amendment said.

Defense Minister Gérard Longuet told the Senate's foreign affairs and defense committee that the Heron TP was 30 percent more expensive and 20 percent less effective than the Reaper, the amendment said.

Dassault was not available for comment.

A bipartisan group from the Senate foreign affairs and defense committee drafted the amendment, which will go to a joint committee of seven senators and seven members of parliament from the National Assembly for review.

It is unlikely the joint committee will agree on the same text, and the lower house, the National Assembly, will probably carry the day, the parliamentary official said.

The Senate and National Assembly defense committees put the safety of service personnel above any political concerns, an industry source said.

India To Develop AIP Technology for Subs

NEW DELHI - Even as the Indian Navy has announced that it is floating a global tender to procure six air independent propulsion (AIP) submarines for $11 billion, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told the parliament Nov. 28 that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing such technology itself.
"The DRDO proposes to develop a technology to reduce vulnerability of the submarines available with the Indian Navy. The Naval Material Research Laboratory (NMRL), Ambernath, under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is progressing a technology demonstration project, 'Development of Land-based Prototype for Air Independent Propulsion (AIP),' for submarine propulsion," Antony told the parliament in a written reply, according to an Indian Defence Ministry statement.

The system is likely to be demonstrated by 2015, adds the release.
Last year, the Defence Ministry cleared the plan to procure six conventional submarines with AIP technology, and the request for proposals is likely to be floated by the end of the year or early 2012.
In 2004, India contracted the licensed production of six Scorpene conventional submarines for about $3.9 billion, but the production has been delayed by almost two years.
Under the proposal, six submarines are to be procured, of which three are likely to be built at the state-owned Mazagon Docks in Mumbai; one built at the state-owned Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam, with the help of a foreign collaborator; and two purchased directly from the overseas vendor.
The six submarines are being procured under the Navy's Project-75, and the subs will be equipped with stealth, land-attack capability and the ability to incorporate future technologies, such as AIP systems, to boost their operational capabilities.
The RfP is likely to be issued to French company DCNS, Germany's HDW and Russia's Amur Design Bureau.

French, Germans Should Team on UAV: German Minister

PARIS - Germany's junior defense minister is calling for France and Germany to cooperate on a common UAV program rather than pursue competing projects, business daily La Tribune reported Nov. 28.
Asked in an interview on what programs France and Germany should collaborate, Stéphane Beelemans said: "Drones, for example. The projects being studied in France and Germany reflect a split from the past.

"And I say it clearly in France and Germany to our companies. I don't believe in two projects of this scale at the European level. And I find it hard to believe there is the political will to realize two competing projects. There is enough political will to do a common project," he said, according to the paper.
There was no sense in having two different kinds of equipment, for reasons of interoperability, maintenance, use and budgets, he said.
The competing projects are the next-generation medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) Talarion advanced UAV, proposed by EADS to France, Germany and Spain; and the Telemos air vehicle from BAE Systems and Dassault, pitched to Britain and France.
EADS seeks a place at the top table in the Telemos project alongside BAE and Dassault, but Dassault will only consider a junior subcontractor role for the pan-European company, retaining leadership firmly in the hands of the Anglo-French team.
France, Germany and Spain paid for a 60 million euro ($79.5 million) risk-reduction study for the advanced UAV, but EADS has been unable to convert that into a development and production contract.
Work on a next-generation MALE drone is seen as vital to maintaining a design engineering capability in Europe's military aircraft sector in the absence of development for a manned jet fighter.
The Anglo-French military cooperation treaty calls for joint work on a new-generation MALE surveillance UAV, and collaboration on an unmanned combat aerial vehicle.

Pakistan Blockade Raises NATO Supply Questions

KABUL, Afghanistan - Supplies for NATO in Afghanistan have been hit by a Pakistani blockade enforced after a cross-border strike killed 24 of its troops, but it remains unclear how seriously coalition forces will suffer.
There are around 140,000 foreign troops in landlocked Afghanistan who rely on fuel, food and equipment brought in from outside.

Nearly half of all cargo bound for foreign troops routes through Pakistan, which closed the border to NATO traffic on Nov. 26. But the coalition force insists its fight against the Taliban will not be affected.
"ISAF uses a vast supply and distribution network to ensure coalition forces remain well-stocked in order to carry out their assigned mission across Afghanistan," said Lt. Gregory Keeley, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.
Some 48 percent of all coalition cargo usually passes through two points on the Pakistan border, while for U.S. forces, who provide around 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, the figure is around 30 percent, he said.
ISAF and the U.S. have been building up alternative supply routes through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from the north of Afghanistan as relations between Washington and Islamabad have deteriorated this year.
The so-called Northern Distribution Network has been built up to address concerns about over-reliance on Pakistani supply lines amid what was a growing U.S. troop commitment in Afghanistan.
The northern route accounts for 52 percent of coalition cargo transport and 40 percent for the U.S., which also receives around 30 percent of its supplies by air, Keely said.
But U.S. officials admit that the Pakistan route is cheaper and shorter.
John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News that U.S. forces also keep stockpiles in case supply lines are choked as in the past.
"This is not the first time, our forces do have stockpiles on the Afghan side of the border," he said. "It is obviously something that needs to be corrected but there is no immediate concern."
Keeley would not discuss how long stockpiles would tide foreign troops over, calling it an "operational issue."
The last time the Pakistani border was closed to foreign military supplies was in September last year for 10 days following a previous NATO strike that killed up to three Pakistani soldiers.
The deadliest such incident prior to the Nov. 26 strike came in June 2008 when another NATO strike killed 11 Pakistani soldiers.
Some warn that ISAF will need to take swift action to address Nov. 26's murky incident to ensure that supplies are not disrupted in the longer-term.
"Even a closure lasting more than a week should not impact operations on the ground, especially now that stockpiles have been established and the alternative Northern Distribution Network has been significantly expanded," intelligence analysts Stratfor wrote in assessment of the situation.
"But Washington is not yet completely free of its reliance on supplies moved through Pakistan and so will need to find a way to resume the flow."
Retired U.S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey told NBC News that he believed the coalition effort in Afghanistan was "one step short of a strategic crisis."
"I do not believe we can continue operations at this rate," he said. "So we've got to talk to them, we've got to pay them, we've got to apologize for this strike. We have no option, literally."

Russia To Send Warships to Syria in 2012: Report

MOSCOW - Russia will send a flotilla of warships led by its only aircraft carrier to its naval base in Syria for a port call next year amid tensions with the West over the Syrian crisis, a report said Nov. 28.
The ships, headed by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, will dock at the little-utilized Russian base in the Syrian port of Tartus in spring 2012, the Izvestia daily said, quoting the Russian navy.

The Tartus base, a strategic asset for Moscow dating back to Soviet times, is rarely used by Russian vessels. Currently no Russian ship is based there, but civilian and military personnel are present.
A naval spokesman confirmed the plan to send the ships but insisted it had nothing to do with the deadly violence in Syria between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition.
"The call of the Russian ships in Tartus should not be seen as a gesture towards what is going on in Syria," the spokesman told the paper, adding the Admiral Kuznetsov would also visit Beirut, Genoa and Cyprus.
"This was planned already in 2010 when there were no such events there. There has been active preparation and there is no need to cancel this," added the spokesman.
Russia and the West have become deeply split over the situation in Syria, with Moscow insisting that sanctions and pressure against the Assad regime are not the way to solve the crisis.
Izvestia said the Admiral Kuznetsov - Russia's only operational aircraft carrier - would head down from the Russian Far North in December, keeping west of Europe and heading into the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. It would also carry around a dozen aircraft.
It said the Admiral Kuznetsov would not be able to dock in Tartus itself due to the size of the vessel but anchor outside and be supplied by the smaller ships accompanying it. The ship has visited Tartus before in 1995 and 2007.

NATO Scrambles to Contain Pakistan Fallout

BRU.S.SELS - NATO moved Nov. 27 to contain the damage from the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers, seeking to soothe Islamabad's rage against the U.S. and its military allies in Afghanistan over the airstrike.

Pakistani protesters burn U.S. and NATO flags during a protest in Multan on Nov. 27. (S.S Mirza / AFP)

Alliance Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stopped short of issuing a full apology to Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gilani for the "tragic, unintended" killings, which he deemed "regrettable".

Against a backdrop of longstanding pressure on Pakistan to step up the fight against "terrorists" hiding out in the border region with Afghanistan, Rasmussen's statement followed a flurry of overnight diplomacy.
He had initially left the issue Nov. 26 in the hands of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fighting the U.S.-led war and which includes non-NATO allies, letting the commander on the ground deal with the immediate fallout.
But as Pakistan's anger mounted in the hours following the strike early Nov. 26 and Islamabad ordered a full-scale review of its frosty alliance with Washington and the military bloc, NATO headquarters decided to react.
An official said allies had sought to ascertain "exactly what was meant" by Pakistan's public position and to prevent lasting damage from the suspension of supply lines for Afghanistan and an order for U.S. troops to leave a secretive air base in Pakistan.
Pakistan represents a vital life-line for 130,000 foreign troops, mostly American, fighting in landlocked Afghanistan, and Rasmussen joined U.S. efforts in a scramble to salvage cooperation.
"I have written to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to make it clear that the deaths of Pakistani personnel are as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel," Rasmussen said in a statement, deeming the strike "a tragic unintended incident."
Pakistan says two border posts were fired upon "unprovoked" in the early hours of Nov. 26 in Pakistan's tribal Mohmand district, and on Nov. 27 conveyed its "rage" to the United States.
An ISAF investigation into the incident is likely to ask whether Afghan and American troops on the Afghan side of the border were fired upon first - whether by insurgents or Pakistani military.
"I fully support the ISAF investigation which is currently underway," Rasmussen said of the International Security Assistance Force fighting the war and which includes non-NATO allies.
"We will determine what happened, and draw the right lessons," Rasmussen added.
The U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan has admitted it is "highly likely" that the force's aircraft caused the deaths before dawn on Saturday.
As the first funerals took place Nov. 27 for the dead Pakistani soldiers, NATO was trying to reopen the Pakistani-Afghan border after Islamabad on Nov. 26 held up convoys at two key crossings.
It is not the first time Pakistan shut the main land route in, after a 10-day closure in September 2010 following the deaths of three troops then.
The border was reopened after the United States formally apologized.
Pakistan, battling its own Taliban insurgency in the northwest, is dependent on billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
Relations between Pakistan and the United States have been in crisis since American troops killed Osama bin Laden in May this year near the capital without prior warning and after a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in Lahore in January.

Half of Afghanistan Switching to Local Control

KABUL - More than half of Afghanistan will soon be under the control of local forces after President Hamid Karzai announced Nov. 27 that the second wave of a process which should see all NATO combat forces leave by 2014.
Karzai's office said that six provinces, seven cities and dozens of districts - including three in Helmand, among Afghanistan's most dangerous areas - will pass from foreign to local control.

The exact date for the transition process to start has not been decided but the long-awaited announcement is another step towards the withdrawal of most of the 140,000 mainly U.S. foreign troops in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
The second tranche of places which will transition is significantly larger than the first, which included seven areas and has been heralded as a success by officials.
It notably includes Nawa, Nad Ali and Marjah in Helmand, once seen as hotbeds of the insurgency but which NATO-led international forces now claim to have brought under control.
After a decade-long war which continues to rage across Afghanistan, particularly in the south and southeast, places which have already transitioned to Afghan control have faced continuing violence along with other parts.
"With today's decision by the president, over half the country's population would now be covered by the transition process," said a statement from Karzai's office which listed the places to be handed over.
The provinces being transferred in their entirety to local control in the second phase are Balkh, Daikundi, Kabul, Takhar, Samangan and Nimroz.
The cities being handed over are Jalalabad, Ghazni city, Maydan Shahr, Faizabad, Chaghcharan, Shibirghan and Qalay-I-Naw.
Jalalabad is one of Afghanistan's main cities, close to the border with Pakistan.
The statement listed over 40 districts around the country which would also transition in provinces including Badakhshan, Wardak and Nangarhar.
Karzai endorsed the locations proposed by a commission set up to oversee the transition, the statement said.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed the move, saying it showed the transition process was "firmly on track."
"It is driven by the determination of the Afghan people and sustained by the courage of the Afghan National Security Forces and of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force)," he said in a statement.
"We will keep our commitment to training and supporting the Afghan security forces throughout the transition process, and beyond."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the handover of Nad Ali, which is in Britain's area of operation in Helmand.
"This announcement marks continued progress in the process of phased transition from an international to an Afghan security lead," he said.
"Circumstances remain challenging but steady and positive progress is being made."
Britain has the second-largest troop presence in the country at around 9,500.
Foreign forces are in Afghanistan helping the Western-backed government fight a bloody, Taliban-led insurgency which flared up following a U.S.-led invasion shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
But amid a rising death toll, troubled domestic economies and the unpopularity of the Afghan war in many Western countries, troop withdrawals are now getting under way.
President Barack Obama has vowed to bring home 33,000 U.S. forces by September next year.
While Western officials in Kabul praise the transition process so far, they acknowledge that challenges remain including Afghan government corruption, a weak state and lack of a properly functioning justice system.

Germany Backs Taliban Talks in Afghanistan

BERLIN - Germany's foreign and defense ministers called for the Taliban to be included in Afghanistan peace talks, ahead of a major international conference for the war-ravaged country next month.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Nov. 27 that negotiations with the Islamist militant group was the only realistic option for lasting peace.

"Reconciliation does not happen among friends but rather between erstwhile opponents," Westerwelle was quoted as saying. "That is what we need to work on instead of speculation about who might not be ready to reconcile."
Germany has the third largest contingent of foreign troops in Afghanistan but had long rejected proposals to include the Taliban in peace negotiations.
Westerwelle, who will host ministers from more than 100 countries in the western city of Bonn on Dec. 5 to discuss the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014, said there was no guarantee of success.
"But all agree that it must be tried," he said. The West "cannot simply say, 'You are evil, we won't negotiate with you,'" added de Maiziere.
"We cannot exclude everyone from the inner-Afghan reconciliation process who once had a sword in his hand," he said. Only when "a sufficient number of important groups" take part will the peace process have a chance of working.
Westerwelle said the war in Afghanistan could not be won militarily.
"After 10 years it is obvious that in Afghanistan, there can only be apolitical solution, not a military one," he said.
Taliban fighters frequently attack convoys supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, as part of a 10-year insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government since U.S. troops toppled their regime in 2001.
This month, Afghan elders backed talks with Taliban who renounce violence, despite the assassination in September of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani which officials blame on insurgents.
De Maiziere said Berlin would keep troops in Afghanistan after the NATO pullout at the end of 2014, to focus on the training of local forces.

Iran to Target NATO Shield in Turkey if Threatened

TEHRAN - Iran will target NATO's missile shield in neighboring Turkey if it is threatened by military action, the commander of the aerospace division of the Revolutionary Guards said Nov. 26.
"We are prepared to first target the NATO defense missile shield in Turkey if we are threatened. And then we'll move on to other targets," Amir-Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

Although Iranian officials have said several times they could retaliate with ballistic missiles against Israel if attacked, Hajizadeh's remark was the first time the Revolutionary Guards spoke of targeting Turkey.
Speculation has intensified in Israel that it was preparing air strikes on Iran to hit nuclear facilities following a Nov. 8 report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog strongly suggesting Tehran was researching atomic weapons.
Hajizadeh, whose unit is in charge of Revolutionary Guards' missile systems, told a crowd of Basij militia members in the western city of Khorramabad that Iran's stance now was to "threaten in the face of threats," in line with a decree this month by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Turkey last year agreed to host an early warning radar system in its southeast as part of NATO's shield which the United States says is aimed at thwarting missile threats from the Middle East, particularly Iran.
Hajizadeh said Nov. 21 that the Revolutionary Guards' "greatest wish" was for Israel to attack Iran, so they could retaliate and relegate the Jewish state to "the dustbin of history."

Pakistan Condemns 'Unprovoked' Border Attack

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan accused NATO and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of a deliberate and unprovoked attack on two of its border posts along the Afghan-Pakistan border on the night of Nov. 25/26, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers, and wounding 13.

Trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan are parked Nov. 26 at the Pakistan's Torkham border crossing after Pakistani authorities suspended NATO supplies. (STR / AFP via Getty Images)

A statement from the Army's Inter Services Press Release, said the attack on the two army-manned posts in Mohmand Agency had been "unprovoked" and that the chief of army staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, "strongly condemned NATO/ISAF's blatant and unacceptable act".

The release also stated Kayani had "directed that all necessary steps be under taken for an effective response to this irresponsible act," and that a "strong protest" had been lodged with NATO/ISAF which demanded "strong and urgent action" be taken against those responsible for the "aggression."
Pakistan sealed its Afghan border to NATO, shutting down a lifeline for the estimated 130,000 U.S.-led foreign troops fighting the Taliban, and called on the United States to leave a secretive air base reportedly used by CIA drones.
The Associated Press of Pakistan said a strong protest had been lodged with U.S ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter. Protests were also lodged in Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The Pakistani foreign office issued a statement saying the attacks were "totally unacceptable, constituted a grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty, were violative of international law and a serious transgression of the oft conveyed red lines and could have serious repercussions on Pakistan-U.S./NATO/ISAF cooperation."
No further details of the attack or explanation were forthcoming from the Pakistan Army or the Air Force when asked just how the attack was able to take place in the aftermath of the U.S. Navy Seals raid into Pakistan in May when the military was supposed to be more alert to threats emanating from the western border, or why ISAF/NATO attacked posts they knew to be manned by the Pakistan Army, or why the Pakistan Air Force was not able to intervene.
South Asia analysts and former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad Brian Cloughley said the consequences of the raid would be probably severe.
"This is quite outrageous and I have no doubt it signifies the end of the last lingering shreds of trust that the Pakistan army had for the U.S.," Cloughely said.
He added: "The locations of Pakistani posts have been notified to ISAF. There is no excuse whatever for this incident, especially after the meeting between Kayani and [ISAF commander Gen. John R] Allen."
Cloughley visited Mohmand Agency in early November and was hosted by the Pakistan Army's 77 Brigade that is based there. The brigade had just concluded Operation Brekhna, a three-phase operation to clear the area of some one thousand Taliban militants that took place between January and September 2011.
The operation faced substantial threats from IEDs (which accounted for 47 of the brigade's 74 killed), uncovered nine bomb factories, and an elaborate tunnel system (one part of which contained a 40-bed hospital).
Cloughley also said the Pakistani officers complained that no ISAF or Afghan forces were based between the border and the Kunar River in Afghanistan, and that this area had militant bases (which remained unharmed) from where raids were carried out into Pakistan.
A raid emanating from this area of Afghanistan in August killed 16 Frontier Scouts in the Pakistani region of Chitral.
Information from Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.

War Games Spotlight China-Pakistan Hype

JHELUM, Pakistan - Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week's latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.

A Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldier and a Pakistani commando from Special Service Group (SSG) shake hands Nov. 24 as they take part in a Pakistan-China anti-terrorism drill. (Aamir Qureshi / AFP via Getty Images)

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running around scrubland - the fourth joint exercises since 2006 - were ostensibly a chance for China to benefit from Pakistan's counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military cooperation.
But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as any other, as China competes with Pakistan's arch-rival India for Asian dominance.
And it is far from easy to decipher.
"They operate silently so as not to make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn't know what's happening," said retired Pakistani Gen. Talat Masood.
China is Pakistan's main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.
But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an independent homeland for Xinjiang's Muslim Uighurs, is training "terrorists" in Pakistani camps.
Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that Taliban and al-Qaida bases are funneling recruits to fight in Afghanistan and hatch terror plots against the West.
During the exercises outside Jhelum, 50 miles southeast of Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to keep off winter rays.
Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honor incapable of talking to each other without the help of an interpreter.
"We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other extremists for China because we consider honestly that China's security is very dear to Pakistan," Kayani told a news conference after the war games.
He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.
Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.
Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.
Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan's febrile relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of an ecstatic lover.
"Higher than mountains" and "sweeter than honey" were phrases used by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the U.S. were at their most difficult in years.
The top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the U.S. embassy in Kabul as ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real ideological links, China's relationship with Pakistan is primarily strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.
"There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism might be in China's interests," he told AFP.
"They've got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the subcontinent," he said.
Neither can China present an alternative to the U.S. alliance.
But Kayani described China as "very important" to regional stability, perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan's own rivalry with India.
"It's not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to improve your relationship with the U.S.," said Masood.

New Cluster Munitions Treaty Rejected

A U.S.-led effort to regulate the use of cluster bombs failed to get sufficient support from countries that have signed the Oslo Convention, an international treaty that bans the weapons.

Abu Ali Ahmad, left, shows a friend a crate full of detonated cluster bombs in a field in southern Lebanon in 2006. An effort to regulate the use of cluster bombs failed to get enough support from countries that have signed the Oslo Convention. (File photo / Agence France-Presse)

The protocol was rejected Nov. 25 after several weeks of negotiations between member states of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva.

If it had passed, the legally binding protocol would have banned cluster bombs manufactured before 1980 and required safeguards and regulations for those manufactured after that date. China and Russia, who, along with the United States, are major producers of the weapons, supported the effort.
Meanwhile, several of the 111 signatories of the Oslo Convention believed this regulatory approach undermined or at least diluted the outright ban. Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other groups opposed the treaty and praised its defeat.
It is unclear when the major users will be brought to the table again, a senior U.S. official said.
Until the last hour of negotiations, amendments were being offered to address the Oslo countries' concerns, but in the end they were insufficient, the U.S. official said.
Part of the U.S. argument for the protocol was that if enacted, it would prohibit more cluster munitions for the United States than the Oslo Convention has prohibited for all of its member states combined.

MBDA To Build Facility To Disarm Cluster Bombs

PARIS - MBDA is set to invest about 15 million euros ($16 million) to set up a plant in central France to disarm cluster weapons as part of a new business pursuit, the European missile maker said Nov. 25.
"MBDA undertakes to establish within two years, and within national territory, a facility to process classified munitions in accordance with the very strict regulations that apply to defense safety; namely operational reliability and respect for the environment," the company said in a statement.

Creation of the munitions processing plant at its Bourges Subdray site follows a Nov. 3 contract from the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency for the destruction of 36,000 complex munitions, the statement said.
MBDA expects to create 20 new jobs at the facility.
"The demilitarization of complex weapons has become a new strategic activity for MBDA," said MBDA Executive Chairman Antoine Bouvier.
"Customers not only require guaranteed availability and sustained support for their equipment, but also that we ensure the safe end-of-life disposal of their complex weapons, as well," he said.
Under the contract, MBDA is in charge of disposing of more than 1,000 missiles; 22,000 M26 rockets (formerly used in multiple launch rocket systems), each containing 644 submunitions; and 13,000 155mm grenade shells, each containing 63 submunitions, totaling more than 15 million submunitions.
The work is due to be complete by 2017.
MBDA worked with Esplodenti Sabino and Aid of Italy, and NAMMO of Norway to bid for the NATO contract.
The contract follows the Oslo Convention, which outlawed cluster munitions and called on signatory states to dispose of their weapons by 2018.

U.S. Says It Will Not Alter Missile Shield Plan

WASHINGTON - The United States will not alter its plans to deploy a NATO missile defense system in Eastern Europe, U.S. officials said Nov. 23, adding the shield was not aimed at Russia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, speaks with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, center, and Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov, left, on Nov. 21. (Dmitry Astakhov / AFP via Getty Images)

"The United States has been open and transparent with Russia on our plans for missile defense in Europe, which reflect a growing threat to our allies from Iran that we are committed to deterring," insisted National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor.

He added: "In multiple channels, we have explained to Russian officials that the missile defense systems planned for deployment in Europe do not and cannot threaten Russia's strategic deterrent."
He was speaking after Russia warned it could deploy missiles on the EU's borders to strike against the planned missile defense facilities.
President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow was prepared to deploy short-range Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad enclave that borders EU members Poland and Lithuania.
Romania and Poland have agreed to host part of a revamped U.S. missile shield which Washington said is aimed solely at "rogue" states like Iran but Moscow believes would also target its own capability.
NATO member Turkey has also decided to host an early warning radar at a military facility near Malatya in the southeast.
Vietor said the implementation of the missile system in eastern Europe "is going well and we see no basis for threats to withdraw from it."
"We continue to believe that cooperation with Russia on missile defense can enhance the security of the United States, our allies in Europe, and Russia, and we will continue to work with Russia to define the parameters of possible cooperation," he said. "However, in pursuing this cooperation, we will not in any way limit or change our deployment plans in Europe."
A Pentagon spokesman also stressed Nov. 23 that the system was not aimed at Russia, but sought to deter any ballistic missile threat from Iran.
"It's worth reiterating that the European missile defense system that we've been working very hard on with our allies and with Russia over the last few years is not aimed at Russia," said spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby. "It's designed to help deter and defeat the ballistic missile threat to Europe and to our allies from Iran."

General: History Will Judge Afghan War Positively

LONDON - Britain will eventually be proud of its role in the Afghanistan war but it could be another decade before its gains are realized, the head of Britain's armed forces said in an interview published in the Nov. 24 edition of the Times.
Gen. Sir David Richards, the chief of the defense staff, admitted tactical mistakes had been made but that he had "every expectation" history would judge the war positively.

"At the end of the day, we won't know (if it has succeeded) until 2018, '19, '20," he told the British newspaper.
"I have every expectation that we will all agree in 10 years' time that this was a necessary war and we've come out of it with our heads held high," he added.
Richards admitted last month that public support for the Afghanistan campaign was waning and that proponents of the war were losing "the battle of perceptions" among the British public.
Public enthusiasm has been sapped by a steadily rising death toll among British soldiers, reports of troop and equipment shortages and U-turns in military tactics.
Richards said he was "the first to concede" that mistakes had been made but pointed out that no terrorist attack had been launched out of Afghanistan since the campaign began 10 years ago.
The general conceded that policymakers and military leaders were guilty of neglecting Afghanistan during the parallel campaign launched in Iraq in 2003, but added that strategy had been correct since U.S. President Barack Obama's 2009 troop surge.
Britain will withdraw 500 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year, leaving 9,000 in the country.
Some 389 British troops have been killed since U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. Of these, at least 344 were killed in combat.
Prime Minister David Cameron has stressed that Britain's commitment to Afghanistan would endure after the last NATO combat troops leave the country at the end of 2014.

Japan, China Eye Plan to Avoid Sea Disputes

BEIJING - Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba asked China's Premier Wen Jiabao to agree to set up a "crisis management mechanism" aiming to avoid conflict over disputed waters, reports said Nov. 23.
China and Japan have often had strained relations, particularly over claims to East China Sea gas fields and disputed islands known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese.

Gemba - on a one-day visit to Beijing - also called for the resumption of negotiations towards a treaty on a joint gas development project in the East China Sea, Kyodo News agency reported, quoting the Japanese foreign ministry.
His talks with Wen were also to lay the ground for a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to China later this year.
In his meeting with Gemba, Wen said Japan and China should work together to boost development in East Asia, the official Xinhua news agency said.
"The just-concluded East Asia Summit has demonstrated a strong trend of forging solidarity, development and cooperation within the region," Wen said, referring to the weekend meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Gamba later met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, who told him Beijing would "seriously consider" further easing restrictions on food imports from Japan imposed after an earthquake and tsunami triggered the country's nuclear crisis in March, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. Gamba was then due to return to Tokyo.
The crisis management mechanism has been described by Japanese media as a regular dialogue scheme that will involve the two countries' foreign and defense ministries, fisheries and energy agencies, and coastguards.
Japan has long expressed concern over China's growing assertiveness and widening naval reach in the Pacific and over what it calls the "opaqueness" of Beijing's military budget.
A major crisis erupted between the two countries in September 2010 when Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain near the disputed islands. China issued protests and scrapped meetings and cultural events in a diplomatic offensive that continued after Japan freed the captain, while nationalist sentiment sparked demonstrations in both countries.
Japan, meanwhile, has bitterly complained that China may have started drilling for gas in an offshore energy field in the disputed waters.

Up to 763 Contractors to Train Iraqi Forces: U.S.

BAGHDAD - A maximum of 763 civilian contractors and 157 U.S. military personnel will train Iraqi security forces post-2011, if the Iraqi government gives its approval, a U.S. officer said Nov. 23.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced Oct. 21 that U.S. troops would depart Iraq by year's end, after negotiations with Baghdad on a larger-scalepost-2011 U.S. military training mission broke down.

The military personnel and contractors are part of the Office of Security Cooperation - Iraq (OSC-I), which falls under U.S. embassy authority, Lt. Col. Tom Hanson, director of strategic communications for OSC-I, told AFP.
"The 157 (military personnel) are here, and the up to 763 number is based on the number of active foreign military sales cases at any given time," he said.
As not all are active at once - the 763 contractors will probably not be in Iraq at the same time, he added.
The contractors are "involved in some aspect of bringing the equipment to the Iraqis and helping them learn how to operate it, and bringing (them) to a minimum level of proficiency on it, whether it's a tank or an airplane or an air traffic control system or a radar," Hanson said.
Meanwhile, "most of the uniformed personnel are program managers, so they're supervising contractors." The aim "is to help the Iraqi security forces build their capability, build the proficiency, and modernize their equipment," he said.
The contractors are not required to be American citizens, Hanson said, adding that there are OSC-I contractors of various nationalities, including some Iraqis. OSC-I military personnel have immunity from Iraqi prosecution, but the contractors do not.
"The uniformed military personnel are protected the same way that the diplomats in the embassy are. The contractors do not have any immunity, any legal protections right now," Hanson said.
The issue of immunity scuppered the talks on a post-2011 U.S. military training mission.
Washington insisted that the trainers must have immunity, while Baghdad said that was not necessary.
Both Iraq and the U.S. have consistently said that Iraqi forces still require significant improvement.
Iraqi military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Babaker Zebari, was quoted in an October report from a U.S. watchdog as saying Iraq "will be unable to execute the full spectrum of external defense missions until sometime between 2020 and 2024."
Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said earlier this week that Iraqi forces were near "having the ability to control the internal security environment".
But "I don't think they have very much of a capability at all to address an external threat," Austin said.