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After Vowing to End Combat Mission in Afghanistan, Obama Secretly Extends Americas Longest War
http://democracynow.org - President Obama has secretly extended the U.S. role in Afghanistan despite earlier promises to wind down America #39;s longest war. According to the New York Times,...

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After Vowing to End Combat Mission in Afghanistan, Obama Secretly Extends Americas Longest War - Video

By Ehsan Popalzai and Ashley Fantz, CNN

updated 1:26 AM EST, Mon November 24, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- At least 45 people were killed and 60 others wounded Sunday when a suicide bomber attacked a crowd watching a volleyball match in the Yahyakhil district of Afghanistan's southeastern Paktika province, according to a spokesman for the provincial governor.

In 2010, a suicide car bomb exploded in the middle of a group of men playing volleyball, a popular sport in the region, in northwest Pakistan. That attack left 30 people dead and 52 wounded.

Sunday's attack comes the same day the nation's parliament agreed to allow U.S. and NATO forces to remain in Afghanistan after 2014.

It's unusual for an attack in Afghanistan to kill so many people.

Only a few comparable incidents come up in the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database, which tracks acts of terror from 1970 to 2013.

In October 2012, a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform attacked a mosque in the city of Maymana in Faryab province, according to the database. At least 42 people, including 19 members of the Afghan security forces, were killed and another 50 people injured in that blast. No group claimed responsibility for the incident, but sources attributed it to the Taliban.

In April 2013, nine attackers dressed as soldiers killed 53 people at a courthouse complex where several Taliban members were standing trial in the city of Farah.

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Afghanistan

President Obama's decision to authorize a wider U.S. military role in Afghanistan next year was a pragmatic one, a recognition that as much as he would like it to be so, the fighting in Afghanistan is not over.

The administration quietly approved guidelines, revealed over the weekend, that could broaden the military role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan next year beyond what had been expected.

But how much fighting the 9,800 U.S. troops will see depends on hard-to-predict factors, such as the continuing strength of the 13-year-old insurgency and the effectiveness of Afghanistan's own security forces, said several U.S. officials, who agreed to discuss the decision in return for anonymity.

A stark reminder of those challenges came Sunday when a suicide bomber killed 45 people in eastern Afghanistan, the deadliest attack since a new government took power this year.

The administration's new approach will also depend on how short a leash Obama keeps the Pentagon on during his final two years in office.

Senior officials familiar with the president's decision, which was made in recent weeks, say that in approving continued U.S. ground operations and airstrikes in Afghanistan after the end of this year, Obama was clear that he was not granting permission for large-scale combat operations.

"These authorities ensure we can protect our forces and our coalition partners, support the [Afghan security forces] in emergencies and continue the fight against Al Qaeda," a senior military official said. "This is not a license for offensive combat operations against the Taliban just because we still have U.S. capabilities in the country."

It is, however, a clear indication that the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the end of the year will not be limited to training Afghan forces and conducting occasional small raids against the remnants of Al Qaeda, which is how White House officials had been portraying the post-2014 mission.

American forces will be able to carry out missions against Taliban insurgents and other militant groups that pose a threat to U.S. troops or allies, despite Obama's vow this year that the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan was coming to an end.

There will also be U.S. drones, bombers and fighter aircraft stationed in Afghanistan or on aircraft carriers to provide airstrikes in case U.S. troops are threatened or Afghan forces find themselves in danger of being overrun by insurgents, the officials say.

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Obama confronts need for broader U.S. military role in Afghanistan

Published November 24, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan Bombings across Afghanistan killed two NATO troops and six civilians Monday, authorities said, as the death toll in the country's deadliest insurgent attack this year rose to at least 50.

The attacks, including Sunday's mass killing by a suicide bomber at a volleyball tournament, come amid a renewed Taliban offensive as foreign troops begin to withdraw from the country.

In a statement, NATO said the troops had been killed by an "enemy attack in eastern Afghanistan." It did not identify the nationalities of dead, as the coalition waits for their home countries to make the announcement.

A spokesman for Kabul's police chief, Hashmat Stanekzai, said the troops were killed when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded near a foreign military convoy in the eastern part of the capital Monday morning. He said the blast wounded one Afghan civilian.

A total of 63 NATO troops have been killed this year, 46 of them Americans.

Another bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded later Monday in a crowded market in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province, killing six people and wounding at least five, police spokesman Sarwar Hussaini said.

No group claimed responsibility for either attack Monday. Insurgents have stepped up their assaults against Afghan security forces in a bid to undermine the Western-backed Kabul government of President Ashraf Ghani.

The insurgents' deadliest attack this year, the volleyball tournament bombing Sunday in Paktika province bordering Pakistan, killed at least 50 people, said Mokhlis Afghan, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He said authorities were still trying to determine an accurate death toll Monday.

The suicide bomber detonated explosives as he mingled with the large crowd there, causing the many casualties. Interior Ministry spokesman Seddiq Sediqqi said the dead included 10 members of a local police force, including a police commander.

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2 NATO servicemembers killed in Afghanistan attack - Withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan threatens rollback ...

24 November 2014 A brutal terrorist attack which killed at least 50 civilians in Afghanistan over the weekend is an “atrocity” and may amount to a war crime, the top United Nations envoy to the country declared today as he condemned the indiscriminate suicide bombing in “the strongest terms.”

On 23 November, a suicide attacker detonated an improvised explosive device in a sports field in the Yahyakhail district of Afghanistan's southeastern province of Paktika. At least 50 civilians who were attending a volleyball match were immediately killed while another 60 were injured. According to reports, many children were among the dead and injured.

“This indiscriminate attack in an area crowded with civilians demonstrates a complete disregard for civilian lives,” the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Nicholas Haysom said in a statement.

“Deliberately and indiscriminately causing death and injury to such a large number of civilians is an atrocity.”

In a statement released by his spokesperson, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon similarly denounced the attack as “fundamentally abhorrent” and expressed his “steadfast solidarity with the people of Afghanistan in refusing to be cowed by such attacks.”

“He hopes those responsible will be brought swiftly to justice,” concluded the Secretary-General.

2014 has been the deadliest year for civilians in Afghanistan since 2009. The UN mission in the country has documented a rising number of civilian casualties attributed, in large part, to increased ground engagements and the increased use of improvised explosive devices – both of which are killing and injuring more Afghan civilians than previously documented by UNAMA.

In its statement, UNAMA reiterated that the indiscriminate use of explosives in areas crowded by civilians is “a serious violation of international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime.”

“All parties to the armed conflict in Afghanistan – including all Anti-Government Elements – are bound to uphold their legal obligations to at all times avoid harm to civilians,” it added.

For its part, the Security Council equally condemned the “reprehensible acts of terrorism” committed in Afghanistan in a press statement while also reaffirming that terrorism is “criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of its motivation.”

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Afghanistan: UN strongly condemns suicide bombing at volleyball match