The Long View: The Taliban Express

The Long War Journal is pleased to introduce The Long View, a monthly cartoon that tackles the issues of the war. The Long View is illustrated by Chris Muir.
This month's cartoon looks at the contentious issue of NATO supplies flowing through Pakistan to Afghanistan. The supply lines were shut down for seven months after US and Pakistani troops clashed on the border; then they reopened last month after a US apology, were shut down again due to security reasons, and then again reopened. Weeks later, supplies have just begun to trickle through to NATO troops in Afghanistan, after further delays blamed on Pakistani bureaucracy and lack of security. Meanwhile the Taliban and allied terror groups move across the border to fight NATO forces with ease.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/08/the_long_view_the_taliban_expr.php#ixzz22yQkrrZH

NATO announces new head of Norfolk command

The Associated Press

Published: August 6, 2012

Captain Ronald Reis, commanding officer of the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau, talks with French Air Force General Stephane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, on the ship's quarterdeck. Abrial became the first non-American officer to head a major command in North America in 2009.

James R. Stilipec/U.S. Navy

BRUSSELS (AP) -- NATO said Monday that France's air force commander will take over the military alliance's strategic command based in the United States, which is in charge of maintaining NATO's military capabilities in an age of austerity and shrinking defense budgets.
Air Force Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros will replace fellow Frenchman Gen. Stephane Abrial, who in 2009 became the first non-American officer to head a major command in North America.
Palomeros, chief of staff of the French air force, was nominated by French President Francois Hollande, the statement said. The nomination was endorsed on Monday by the North Atlantic Council, the alliance's governing body.
Palomeros will be in charge of the Allied Transformation Command in Norfolk, Virginia, whose current focus is "smart defense," a concept under which NATO's 28 member nations pool resources to increase cost-efficiency as military expenditures are declining in Europe and the United States.



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Afghan parliament votes to dismiss security minister

NATO has some 130,000 U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan helping Karzai’s government fight Taliban Islamist insurgents. (Reuters)

inShare

By AFP
Kabul

The Afghan parliament Saturday voted to dismiss two powerful ministers for failing to act over cross-border shelling blamed on neighboring Pakistan and over other security issues.

The move obliges President Hamid Karzai to sack Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, who has strong support among Afghanistan’s Western allies, and Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi, a key Karzai ally.

The men are expected to continue serving in an acting capacity until the president introduces replacements.

“General Abdul Rahim Wardak will continue serving in the ministry as the acting defense minister until a new minister is introduced by the president,” defense ministry spokesman General Zaher Azimi told AFP.




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Putin Criticizes NATO Withdrawal From Afghanistan

ULYANOVSK — NATO forces should stay in Afghanistan until they have finished their job to ensure stability, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, criticizing the planned withdrawal of most combat troops by 2014.
Putin reiterated Kremlin concerns that the pull-out of the U.S.-led alliance, due to start next year, will leave Central Asia vulnerable to militant violence and drug trafficking.
"It is regrettable that many participants in this operation are thinking about how to pull out of there. They took up this burden and should carry it to the end," Putin said at a meeting with paratroopers in Ulyanovsk.
"If there is no order in Afghanistan, it will not be calm on our southern borders. The current [Afghan] leadership will have difficulties keeping the situation under control. NATO member states are present there, and are performing this function," he said.
"We need to help them [NATO]. We should not be fighting there again. Let them sit there and fight."
The Soviet Union fought a disastrous war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and Russia ruled out sending troops to aid the U.S.-led invasion after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-criticizes-nato-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/463029.html#ixzz22VHEH0W5
The Moscow Times

Pakistan suspends NATO supply route to Afghanistan

July 26, 2012 - 15:48 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pakistan has temporarily stopped NATO supply trucks crossing its northwestern border into Afghanistan over security concerns due to fears of Islamist attacks, officials said Thursday, July 26, according to AFP.
Gunmen on Tuesday attacked a convoy of NATO supply trucks, killing a driver, in the town of Jamrud near the main northwestern city of Peshawar, in the first such attack since Pakistan lifted a seven-month blockade of the border.
"Movement of NATO vehicles has been temporarily suspended since Wednesday evening to beef up security," a paramilitary official said. "We have launched a search operation in the hills surrounding Jamrud."


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Gunmen carry out first attack on NATO convoy in Pakistan since supply route reopened, 1 killed

K.M. Chaudary/Associated Press - Pakistani truck drivers, chant prayer before breaking their fast, on the third day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, July 23, 2012. Muslims from Morocco to Afghanistan are steeling themselves for the toughest Ramadan in more than three decades with no food or drink, not even a sip of water during the hottest time of the year.

 PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Gunmen opened fire on a convoy carrying NATO troop supplies to Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing a driver in the first attack in Pakistan since Islamabad ended its seven-month blockade of the route, a government official said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban had warned they would target the trucks after the government reopened the supply line earlier this month.
Pakistan closed the route last November in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, an incident the U.S. said was a mistake but the Pakistani military claimed was deliberate. Islamabad finally reopened the supply line after the U.S. apologized for the deaths.

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Pakistan Boosting Capacity at Crossings for NATO Cargo

TORKHAM, Pakistan — Pakistan is doubling the capacity for NATO trucks at a key border crossing, officials said July 9, to speed up processing for an expected influx of supplies for troops in Afghanistan.
Customs officials at Torkham border crossing in the country’s troubled northwest saud that work had begun to expand dedicated parking space for NATO containers.
Islamabad agreed to reopen overland routes to NATO convoys on July 3 after a seven-month blockade sparked by a botched U.S. air raid on a border post that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
“After expansion the parking capacity for NATO trucks will be doubled,” said Obaidullah Khan, a customs official at Torkham, the closest border crossing to Kabul. “Prior to the closure the terminal had a parking capacity of 250 vehicles and now we are expanding it to 500.”

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USAF Raptors train with Eurofighters at Red Flag-Alaska

The US Air Force's Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors are participating in their first Red Flag-Alaska war-games with German Eurofighter Typhoon fighters and other foreign aircraft.

Poland is flying its first Red Flag with its new F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft while Japan has brought its Boeing F-15J Eagles.

©Eurofighter

Pilots from the 3rd Wing's 525th Fighter Squadron and its reserve associate unit, 477th Fighter Group, are flying the Raptors during the exercise. The Typhoons, Raptors and Eagles are all flying as friendly "Blue forces" during the exercises.

"They are never on the Red side," says Major James Mixon, an exercise planner with the 353 Combat Training Squadron referring to the Raptors. The idea is to teach the visiting forces how to interact with the stealthy fifth-generation fighter, he says.

For the exercise, the Luftwaffe brought over eight Typhoons from Jagdgeschwader 74 to Eielson AFB, Alaska, says unit commander Col Andreas Pfeiffer.

For the Germans, the exercise affords a unique opportunity to training over the vast ranges found in Alaska. The ranges at the base offer the ability to replicate the latest surface-to-air threats while the USAF's 18th Aggressor squadron replicates enemy aircraft like the Russian Su-27, Su-30 and Chengdu J-10.

Pfeiffer says flying with the Raptor was an interesting experience.

"Its unique capabilities are overwhelming," Pfeiffer says.

Source : http://www.flightglobal.com