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AUSTRALIA is likely to send more troops to Afghanistan to protect engineers about to be deployed to that country, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says. Dr Nelson said the Special Operations Task Group already in Afghanistan, which includes elite Special Air Service soldiers, will come home as planned at the end of September. But the minister said worsening security in southern Afghanistan may require extra protection for the reconstruction taskforce Australia was about to send to the country. "The threat level and the risks in Afghanistan have been increasing substantially over the last few months," Dr Nelson said on Channel 9....

BAGHDAD, June 29 (KUNA) -- The US-led multinational forces in Iraq have observed a remarkable decline in its losses and that 74 percent of terrorist attacks have its focus on innocent civilians, said on Thursday the spokesman of the forces, Maj.Gen. Willian B. Caldwell IV. Addressing a news conference, Caldwell said at least 60 to 70 foreign terrorists are killed in Iraq every month. He noted that 57 foreign fighters were killed at the hands of American and Iraqi forces since early June. At least 587 terrorist suspects have been detained in the week ending June 28, the spokesman said,...

Excerpt - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced a plan on Tuesday to withdraw Japanese ground troops from the southern Iraq city of Samawah, ending their aid and reconstruction mission that started with the dispatch order issued in January 2004. At a meeting of executives of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party before making the announcement, Koizumi said of the Iraq mission, ''A chapter has been finished. I will announce the withdrawal today.'' Koizumi held a news conference on the withdrawal of the Ground Self-Defense Force troops after meeting with leader of the LDP's ruling coalition partner, New Komeito, as well as...

Australia troops will still have a role in Iraq after foreign forces hand over security to Iraqi forces in the country's south, Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday, indicating his country's troops would not be brought home soon. Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie said on Friday that Iraq has an agreement to take over security responsibilities from Japanese, Australian and British troops in southern Iraq this month. About 460 Australian troops are providing security for the Japanese contingent of 600 in Iraq's southern Muthanna province. In total, Australia has about 1,320 troops in Iraq and the Middle...

Japan denies Iraq pullout From correspondents in Tokyo 17-06-2006 From: Agence France-Presse   JAPAN denied a newspaper report today that it was considering pulling its troops out of southern Iraq after Britain told Tokyo the multinational forces in the south would soon hand over responsibility for security to the new Iraqi Government. <I>The Yomiuri</I> newspaper reported today that Britain had told Japan the transfer of the security authority for Muthanna Province in southern Iraq would be announced on June 20 and the transfer would be carried out promptly. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told reporters he was unaware of...

U.S.-led coalition in Iraq dwindles as Italy and South Korea cut troops By WILLIAM J. KOLE VIENNA, Austria (AP) - It's a coalition of the dwindling. The U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq is losing troops from two of its most important allies - Italy and South Korea - and up to a half dozen other members could draw down their forces or pull out entirely by year's end. The withdrawals are complicating the U.S. effort to begin extracting itself from the country, where a fresh onslaught of deadly attacks on coalition forces is testing the resolve of key partners such...

1,000 Serbs Serving With U.S. Forces in IraqAbout a thousand people from Serbia are on active duty in Iraq, wearing US uniform and fighting alongside the Americans, writes Belgrade daily "Blitz." Jacqueline (Zhaklina) Chetich's dream came true last Tuesday when, along with 83 other foreigners, she became a U.S. citizen at a ceremony held at a military base near Baghdad. Like Jacqueline, many other Serbs currently serving in Iraq hope to one day become U.S. citizens and earn what they could only dream about in Serbia. Jacqueline joined the U.S. Forces in Germany three years ago. She took part in...

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – A recently completed international experiment successfully explored a "holistic" approach to dealing with conflict situations, the general who heads U.S. Joint Forces Command and serves as NATO's supreme allied commander for transformation, said today. "We have moved from thinking only about major combat operations to thinking about the entire spectrum of conflict," Air Force Gen. Lance Smith said via telephone from a senior leadership seminar in Brussels, Belgium. "The experiment delved in a lot of areas, but primarily looking at a stabilization and reconstruction." The general was speaking about Multinational Experiment 4, an international test...

PRIME Minister Stephen Harper warned today that would unilaterally extend the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan by one year if Parliament failed to pass a motion to extend the mission longer. "This government is not in a position to simply walk away or to run away," Mr Harper told the House of Commons. "If we do not get a mandate (from) Parliament to extend for two years and beyond, we will proceed cautiously with a one-year extension." Thereafter, Mr Harper said he would ask voters for a mandate to extend it further. Canadian MPs will vote today in what...

KABUL, May 15, 2006 (AFP) - A French soldier was killed Monday in a blast during a mine clearance operation near Afghanistan's main international airport in the capital, the French military said. The soldier, aged 22, was seriously hurt in the explosion and died later of his wounds, the military said in a statement. France has now lost five soldiers in Afghanistan since deploying to the country in 2001, weeks after the hard-line Taliban government was removed from power by a coalition led by the United States, a spokesman said. Two were killed in action in the south in the...

SOUTHWEST ASIA: The French Navy Carrier Air Wing returned to the coalition fight last week, flying their first missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since November. "Our main mission while we are here is to support troops on the ground and contribute to reconnaissance efforts as well," said Lt. Col. Gerard Brunel, commander of the French detachment at the Combined Air Operations Center. It is Central Command Air Forces policy not to disclose the specific location of its forward headquarters or the CAOC.

SOUTHWEST ASIA, May 9, 2006 – The French Navy Carrier Air Wing returned to the coalition fight last week, flying their first missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since November. "Our main mission while we are here is to support troops on the ground and contribute to reconnaissance efforts as well," said Lt. Col. Gerard Brunel, commander of the French detachment at the Combined Air Operations Center. It is Central Command Air Forces policy not to disclose the specific location of its forward headquarters or the CAOC. The French also hope to strengthen cooperation with countries in the Indian...

COPENHAGEN -- Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday that the furor over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad had "strengthened our resolve for the long haul" and that Danish troops would remain in Iraq. In an interview with The Washington Times in his Copenhagen office, Mr. Rasmussen brushed off a Danish television report of plans to cut Denmark's 530-man deployment in Iraq by nearly one-fifth in July. "It is clearly our intention to stay in Iraq as long as we are requested by the Iraqi government, as long as our presence is based on a U.N. mandate, and as...

Polish Defense Minister Proud to Have Polish Army Protecting Freedom in Iraq by Sebastian Kwiatkowski Posted Apr 24, 2006 Radek Sikorski travelled a long and winding road on his voyage to become Polish defense minister. When communist dictator Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski sent troops to the streets in Poland, Sikorski, at age 18, sought political asylum in Great Britain. Later, with a master's degree from Oxford University in his pocket, he travelled through Soviet-occupied Afghanistan with a Kalashnikov (AK-47) in hand as a war correspondent. As a foreign affairs expert, the author, journalist and World Press Photo prize winner, he is...

SUFFOLK, Va., March 7, 2006 – While participants in an international experiment taking place here and at 10 sites around the world are looking at ways to improve future coalition operations, their findings are already being applied to coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. Joint Forces Command officials explained today. About 800 participants from seven nations and NATO, many of them at the command's Joint Futures Lab here and others overseas, are midway through an experiment designed to promote interagency and intergovernmental cooperation. Multinational Experiment 4, which kicked off in February, is part of a series of international experiments...

The good fight National Post Mon 06 Mar 2006 Page: A19 Section: Issues & Ideas Byline: Lorne Gunter Near the end of the federal election campaign, NDP Leader Jack Layton said the "warlike offensive role" Canadian troops have assumed in southern Afghanistan was wrong. "The peacekeeping role is one that Canadians support. Offensive roles are not roles that Canadians support, and certainly our party does not support." We're lovers, not fighters. Put some flowers in our hair and pass the bong, man. According to this logic, fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in southern Afghanistan -- a mission Canada took...

Cartoon Jihad = Reconnaissance in Force The protests over “blasphemous” cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed continue to spread and intensify: Nigeria, Indonesia ,Turkey ,Pakistan,Libya,Syria,Lebanon,Afghanistan,Somalia,Egypt,Algeria,Kashimir,Yemen,Malaysia ,SaudiArabia , Denmark, Norway , Russia , France , Germany , Britain , Canada , Italy , and ,of course, the USA. While the “great thinkers” of the Western world –(including Ex-President Clinton) -beat their breasts and abase themselves with cries of “ Oh,where did we go wrong ? “ ,the Islamic militants – who started the whole fuss – are conducting a brilliant “reconnaissance in force “ against the West – and against their own...

Iraqi Special Troops Company and Macedonian Rangers executed Operation Level Sand this morning at 1 a.m. north of Baghdad to neutralize terrorist activity and destroy weapons caches in the area. The operation netted 18 suspected terrorists and resulted in the confiscation of 10 AK-47 assault rifles and three pistols. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, worked together to disrupt insurgent activity northwest of Baghdad in a combined cordon-and-search operation that began about 11:30 p.m. Feb. 15 and ended yesterday morning. The 6th IA and 2-22...

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's new mission in the perilous southern region of Afghanistan will be dangerous, with no guarantees that everyone will come home safely, says the man in charge of the force. Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, who will lead 2,200 soldiers into the Kandahar region this month, says their training and equipment will reduce the risks. But in a province where suicide bombers and roadside booby traps are part of the landscape, the threat remains high. "This is a dangerous mission, this is a dangerous environment," Fraser said. "We can mitigate the risk, but I can't reduce the risk to...

The Netherlands will send an extra 1,400 troops to southern Afghanistan, after parliament ended six months of wrangling to approve the deployment. Despite opposition from one of three parties in the ruling coalition, most MPs supported the plan, including those from the main opposition Labour party. Nato, the UN and US have been urging the Netherlands to send the extra troops to bolster peacekeeping work. Polls show that Dutch public opinion is almost equally divided on the issue. Many Dutch MPs had demanded assurances that the country's troops would not have to work under US forces in Afghanistan. Democrats-66, the...