President Barack Obama's promise to bring U.S. troops back from Afghanistan in 18 months time is so riddled with caveats as to make his commitment almost meaningless, defence sources in Washington claim.

The sources explain that the U.S. president's promise applies only to the extra 'surge' of 30,000 troops and not to the vast majority of the remaining soldiers who will continue to serve in the war-torn country. The promised withdrawal of the 'surge' soldiers also does not preclude a subsequent boost to the U.S. military presence, which is expected to hit a 2010 peak of some 100,000 pairs of American boots on Afghan soil.

The promise to bring the soldiers back by some defined future date is seen as a necessary political tactic to reassure American voters that the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan is not open ended. The reality is that the war is not going well for the Americans and their Nato allies — repeated comparisons are being made with Vietnam — and no American leader can make a hard and fast commitment about when to bring the boys back home.

Some idea of why the latest military surge was deemed necessary is explained by the continuing difficulties of retaining control of the main Kabul to Kandahar highway, the steady and continuing rise of Nato — principally British — casualties in Helmand province and the specific failure of U.S. marines to dislodge Taliban militants from the Helmand town of Marjeh.

The Americans are also deeply frustrated by the way their allies in Pakistan continue to play a double game by offering safe passage and sanctuary to the Taliban. Whether the extra deployment will persuade Pakistan's military and political leaders to wholeheartedly join in with the U.S. remains to be seen.

Meanwhile U.S. military commanders are faced with the daunting prospect of sustaining a massive military presence in one of the most inhospitable areas of the world. Parallels have been drawn between the American strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq, but, unlike Iraq, the U.S. lacks a friendly immediate neighbour to help with logistics.

During the Iraq operation the U.S. was able to rely on Kuwait as a base for food, transport and communications. The nearest parallel for Afghanistan would be Pakistan, but all are agreed that the Pakistanis are less than reliable, if not disloyal, when it comes to helping the Americans across the border.

This means the Americans have to rely on friendlier Central Asian states like Tajikistan to bring over the fuel, military supplies and other sensitive equipment that their troops need in Afghanistan. According to one recent estimate it costs U.S. $1 million a year to sustain a single U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. The cost of a single gallon of petrol can be as high as U.S. $400 in some of the more remote areas. These are just some of the considerations the Americans have to take into account when planning for their future deployment.

N. Korean arms shipment seized

U.S. intelligence is understood to have been behind the tip off that enabled Thai customs officials to search a cargo plane en route from North Korea to the Middle East.

Before landing in Bangkok to refuel, the five-man crew, four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus, indicated they were carrying oil drilling equipment. Yet when the Russian-made Ilyushin-76 aircraft was searched, it revealed a treasure trove of weapons, including rocket propelled grenades, rocket launchers and surface to air missiles apparently destined for Iran.

This is the second time in less than six months that an arms shipment from North Korea has been intercepted following the passage of UN Resolution 1874 calling on countries to inspect and destroy heavy weapons, missiles and spares parts exports from North Korea.

Last August a Bahamian registered ship, the ANL-Australia, was detained by the UAE authorities and found to be carrying North Korean defence equipment. Like the cargo subsequently intercepted in Thailand, this too was destined for Iran.

Arms exports are one of North Korea's biggest sources of hard currency estimated at U.S. $ one billion a year. Past customers have included Pakistan, Myanmar, Iran and other Middle East countries.

By embargoing such exports the U.S. hopes to increase pressure on Pyongyang to return to the six nation disarmament talks that Pyongyang pulled out from a year ago, shortly before carrying out its second nuclear test.
The talks with the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea were aimed at ending North Korea's isolation by significantly boosting economic aid in exchange for nuclear disarmament. But following widespread criticism of its missile and nuclear tests, Pyongyang pulled out of the talks last April after pronouncing them 'dead'
.
Although North Korea is frequently cited as an international villain and rogue state, it turns out that its neighbour and rival, South Korea, is no less sly when it comes to nuclear research and development.

According to controversial U.S. historian and journalist Dr Gareth Porter, South Korea violated IAEA safeguards agreements by carrying out covert plutonium experiments, as well as uranium conversion and enrichment activities over a period of two decades.The violations uncovered in 2004 have since been confirmed by the IAEA.

Dr Porter's revelations will inevitably strengthen concerns about the knock-on effects of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and what could happen in the future if Pyongyang is not persuaded to disarm.

Tribunal to probe war crimes

The Sri Lankan government has come under fresh pressure following a British newspaper report confirming video footage that appears to show government troops engaged in the summary execution of Tamil Tiger fighters.
The highlighting of the video footage comes less than a month before the convening in Dublin of a 'People's Permanent Tribunal' that will hear evidence of the Sri Lankan government's crimes against humanity. Members of the tribunal include the former chief justice of the Delhi High Court and 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel.

Sri Lankan officials have dismissed members of the tribunal as a collection of eccentrics and government sources have described the controversial video as 'fabricated.'

But a report in the Times newspaper, which had the video footage analysed by an independent forensics expert, contests the government's claim that the footage was fabricated. The newspaper quotes the former head of the Vancouver police forensic unit in Canada, Grant Fredericks, as saying, 'This level of subtle detail cannot be virtually reproduced. This is clearly an original recording.'

The video, which was aired on Channel Four last August, shows a Sri Lankan government soldier shooting dead a man who is naked, bound and blindfolded. After the naked man is killed, his executor laughs and says, 'It's like he jumped.'

International concern about the Sri Lankan government's human rights record has focused on the activities of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother, Gotabaya, who is also the country's Defence Secretary.
Former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka claims it was Gotabaya who ordered that defeated leaders of the Tamil Tigers resistance movement should be killed rather than taken prisoners following the end of the country's civil war last May.

Gotabaya himself served as a Sri Lankan Army officer before he retired and left for the United States. He is a naturalised U.S. citizen who returned to Sri Lanka in 2005. Gotabaya has denied reports that he threatened to 'exterminate' a local, Colombo-based journalist for writing about civilian war casualties. In 2008 the New York Times quoted him as insisting that journalists should not be allowed to report anything that demoralises the war effort.

Royal price for royal shoes

A pair of shoes that once belonged to Maharaja Dalip Singh, the last ruler of an independent Sikh kingdom, have been sold for the princely sum of £15,000. The traditional shoes or juttis, made with gold braid and crimson velvet were part of a collection of personal items that belonged to the exiled Maharaja who died in 1893.

A jacket, also made with matching crimson velvet and gold braid, failed to reach the reserve price of £60,000 when it came under the auctioneer's hammer at the sale in Edinburgh organised by the Lyon and Turnbull auction house. Sources close to the auctioneers said the shoes had been acquired by an English collector, but the most the collector was prepared to offer for the jacket was £50,000.

Earlier, in advance of the auction, two multi millionaire Sikh businessmen, one based in the UK and one in the U.S., were expected to compete with each other for the items once the auction got going.

Karachi-born Kartar Singh Lalvani, founder and owner of the UK's Vitabiotics vitamin manufacturing company, and Moga-born Narinder Singh Kapany, who is regarded as the father of fibre optics in the U.S., had each expressed an interest in both the jacket and the shoes.

When contacted at his home in California, Dr Kapany commented, 'We will certainly consider buying these items. They could go to my personal collection or to the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco where there is a permanent Sikh Arts section.'

Dr Lalvani's initial response to news of the auction was that he was not interested in western-style clothing worn by Dalip Singh. But when told that the jacket and shoes were specially made and designed in the Punjabi style for Dalip Singh, Lalvani forwarded his mobile telephone number to the auctioneers and asked them to contact him directly.

Dalip Singh, youngest son of Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh, lost his kingdom in the mid-19th century to the advancing British Empire. He was forcibly parted from his mother, converted to Christianity and exiled to the UK where he surrendered the fabulous Kohinoor diamond to Queen Victoria. The British authorities subsequently granted the exiled Maharaja an annual income and a lavish country estate, Elveden Hall, that was sold after his death to Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh.

Dalip Singh's clothes and other personal items were bought in 1952 by a well known antiques dealer, John Bly, who is now in the process of selling them on.

News of the sale attracted considerable interest within the UK and among members of the Punjabi Sikh community in particular who have since been debating how to raise the necessary funds to buy any unsold items.

Jaspal Singh Bhambra, Pradhan of the Ramgarhia gurdwara in Southall, London, told Punjab Kesari, 'Basically, there is no central body with the funds and there is no single gurdwara that can come up with the money. Basically, what we need is a businessman.

'Then the problem comes with what to do with such items. They really should be acquired by heritage bodies; they are the ones that should be contacted. I will be speaking to the jathedar of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. They have a heritage section and an exhibition hall and that is where Dalip Singh's possessions belong.'

top