This morning I posted an urgent update about this story with links to PJ Tobia’s blog. Here is another update from Scott to me along with several pictures.
Eight suicide bombers attacked Gardez today. Two detonated themselves, four were killed by Afghan forces before being able to detonate their suicide vests, and two escaped. The Afghan forces performed brilliantly. They received intel early in the day and were able to minimize the damage from the attacks. Unfortunately, four Afghan soldiers were killed in the process, but civilian casualties were minimal to none. Following the attacks, patrols were dispatched to attempt to find the two bombers that escaped.
The attack, by tactical considerations, was a failure for the Taliban. Their inability to effectively fight the Afghan and Coalition Forces has left them with tactics that try to instill fear in the populous. Three to four hours following the attacks, I drove through the markets with the 203rd Corp Afghan Army SGT. Major, and the markets were full and busy. This was a good day for the Afghan forces.
WARNING- GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW
US Army forces patrolling downtown Gardez
Dead attacker outside of Paktia Province Governor’s Mansion (noticeBLUE BURKA laying next to him)
Gardez Traffic Circle near Afghan National Police HQ
Dead Insurgent outside of Afghan National Police HQ
National Directorate of Security (Afghan FBI) building Guard Shack
Dead insurgent outside of National Directorate of Security compound
Afghan and U.S. forces repelled a coordinated Taliban assault in two major cities in eastern Afghanistan today as suicide bombers armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles attacked government installations and a US base in the cities of Gardez and Jalalabad.
The Obama administration pushed back its own deadline for devising new anti-terrorism policies. The decision had been expected, as presidentially appointed task forces have failed to meet a six-month schedule for making policy recommendations.
The recent aborted voyage of a North Korean ship, photographs of massive tunnels and a secret meeting have raised concern that one of the world's poorest nations may be aspiring to join the nuclear club - with help from its friends in Pyongyang.
Ten percent of the freshman class at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has swine flu, and that number could rise in the coming days as more test results come in.
This past week, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for his first official visit to the Middle East since assuming his current position. Although in many respects the Obama administration is off to a bumpy start with Saudi Arabia, Geithner praised Saudi efforts in combating terrorist financing, which is a significant departure from statements made by senior Treasury officials in recent years. His remarks in Riyadh were more than just empty praise, reflecting the broader view in Washington that the Saudis are finally beginning to make progress on this important front. Despite improved Saudi efforts, however, the kingdom remains one of the major sources of terrorist financing throughout the world, with significant funds continuing to go to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Laskhar-e Taiba (LET), among other groups.
Targeting Operatives, Not Financiers
Al-Qaeda's May 2003 attacks in Riyadh have been described as a watershed event in Saudi Arabia, awakening the Saudi government to the terrorist group's threat to the kingdom's survival. In the wake of that attack, Saudi Arabia aggressively took on Usama bin Laden's networks in the kingdom, arresting and killing numerous operatives, and effectively dismantling al-Qaeda's Saudi-based operational infrastructure. The Saudis however, did not bring that same aggressiveness to their efforts to combat terrorist financing, particularly when it came to money exiting the kingdom for terrorist groups abroad.
Although many U.S. government officials began to laud Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism efforts publicly in the years after the Riyadh attack, Treasury officials continued to heavily criticize Riyadh's handling of terrorist-financing-related issues. In a widely quoted September 11, 2007, appearance on ABC, Treasury undersecretary Stuart Levey stated: "If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country [for terrorism], it would be Saudi Arabia." Levey also criticized the Saudis for failing to prosecute terrorist financiers and called on Saudi officials to treat the financing of terrorism as real terrorism. Former Treasury secretary Henry Paulson had offered similar sentiments in a speech several months earlier, cautioning that although the Saudis are "very effective at dealing with terrorists within the kingdom," the Saudis "need to do a better job holding people accountable who finance terrorism around the world."
Major Steps Forward
Over the past several years, Saudi Arabia has made significant improvements to its counterterrorism-financing efforts. In the week prior to Geithner's visit, the Saudis announced that 330 individuals had been convicted of terrorism charges in the first trials involving the kingdom's new specialized terrorism court. Although the Saudis provided few details about these cases, it was notable that the charges included terrorist-finance-related offenses, an indication that Riyadh may have begun to consider terrorist financing as "real terrorism," as Levey put it. Saudi Arabia no longer appears to be focused solely on al-Qaeda; the kingdom has expanded its efforts to crack down on Taliban fundraising activities as well.
The Senate voted Tuesday to halt production of the Air Force's missile-eluding F-22 Raptor fighter jets in a high-stakes, veto-laden showdown over President Barack Obama's efforts to shift defense spending to a next generation of smaller, single-engine F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
PJ Tobia has talked to Scott Kesterson who as many of you know is in the Gardez area. Scott gave PJ a live description from on the ground of what happened in Gardez today.
Gardez was one of 3 cities in eastern Afghanistan where Government buildings were simultaneously attacked.
“There were multiple bombs targeted at the NDS (National Security Directorate, Afghanistan’s NSA) the governor’s mansion and Afghan National Police headquarters in the district….”
It has been a while since Scott has given us an update from Afghanistan. In this latest episode we talk about progress he has seen, some of the reasons why he has been so busy, GEN McChrystal’s new policies, and the missing US soldier among other topics.
Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano will travel to Washington State on July 27. She will visit the 2010 Olympics Coordination Center in Bellingham, the Pacific Highway and Peace Arch border crossing, and the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in Seattle.
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