Tom Boyle, Civilian Contractor, Highly Decorated Marine, Heroic Former Police Officer Killed in Afghanistan

CBS Chicago  June 22, 2012

Chicago Police officer once hailed as a hero locally has been killed by insurgents in Afghanistan.

Tom Boyle, 62, of Barrington Hills died in one of the latest attacks on a coalition forces in Kandahar Province. He’d been working as a civilian security consultant, training Afghan police officers.

He was well-qualified.

Boyle had been a highly decorated Marine in Vietnam before becoming a Chicago police officer.

“Tom was a hero in Vietnam, he was a hero in Chicago,” says longtime friend Steve Kirby, an Elmhurst private investigator. “He was a hero in 1985 when he caught the Strickland brothers.”

Civilian Contractor Fatality in Afghanistan Attack

But Faisal and provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq both said a foreigner had been killed and two wounded, with Faisal describing the fatality as a civilian contractor. Their nationalities were unclear.

Dawn.com  June 20, 2012

KANDAHAR: Eleven Taliban suicide attackers struck two Afghan and Nato bases in Kandahar province on Tuesday, after gunmen in police uniforms killed a coalition soldier, officials said.

Seven insurgents stormed a joint Afghan-Nato base in Shah Wali Kot district at around 3:30 am, sparking a 30-minute gun battle that left all the attackers dead, Kandahar governor’s spokesman Jawed Faisal said.

Nato’s US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the attackers breached the outer perimeter of the base but no coalition soldiers were killed.

But Faisal and provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq both said a foreigner had been killed and two wounded, with Faisal describing the fatality as a civilian contractor. Their nationalities were unclear.

Academi Training Center, XE, Blackwater picks up Afghan DoD Security Services Contract

Defense Professionals  June 13, 2012

(W560MY-12-C-0006)

Academi Training Center, Moyock, N.C., was awarded a $17,448,051 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the security services in support of Forward Operating Base (FOB) Dwyer, and an option for FOB Delaram II. Work will be performed in Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of May 22, 2016. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with 12 bids received. The Rock Island Contracting Center, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W560MY-12-C-0006).

John Kirkland, Civilian Contractor, Fluor, Killed in Afghanistan

Florida Today  June 8, 2012

American Contractor Killed at Forward Operation Base Salerno

John Kirkland, 55, of Houston, TX, passed away on June 1, 2012, during an attack by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Son of Jeannine and Gordon, John was born in Atlanta, Georgia on June 16, 1956. He would have been 56 years old on June 16th.

John grew up in Florida, where he lived in Melbourne and Palm Bay. He owned and operated a local stucco business until he moved to Houston in 1998. He lived there before becoming employed in 2006 as a Maintenance Mechanic for KBR, a civilian military contractor.

John’s first job assignment was at a military base located in Iraq in 2006. In May, 2010 he was transferred to a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan named Salerno, where he worked for the civilian military contractor Fluor. He was killed on June 1, 2012 during an attack by the Taliban. His remains will be cremated at Dover Air Force Base.

John is survived by his son, Christopher Ashley Kirkland; and his two brothers, Virgil Eugene Kirkland of Ocala, FL and Douglas Paul Kirkland of Palm Bay, FL; as well as an Aunt and Uncle, Glenda and Eddie McCoy of Mooresville, NC, along with numerous cousins.

Veiled suicide bomber kills four French soldiers in Afghanistan

Reuters Kabul June 9, 2012

A suicide bomber dressed in a burqa blew himself up near a French patrol in Afghanistan on Saturday, killing four soldiers and wounding five, one of the deadliest attacks on the French contingent in months, as the Taliban step up a spring offensive.

The attack occurred in the mountainous Kapisa province in the east of the country, an area mainly patrolled by a French force under NATO command.

“It was an unfortunate incident. There was a patrol of coalition soldiers in a small bazaar and they were attacked by a suicide bomber wearing a burqa,” Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told Reuters.

French President Francois Hollande’s office in Paris confirmed that the soldiers involved in the attack were French.

A statement from his office said among the five wounded, three were in a serious condition, and Hollande would despatch defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Afghanistan on Sunday.

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American Contractor killed Forward Operating Base Salerno

DoD American Forces Press Service  June 7, 2012

The attack on June 1 killed an American contractor and wounded dozens of service members.

Panetta was particularly incensed about the Haqqani network using the Federally Administered Tribal Area in Pakistan as a safe haven. The Haqqanis most recent outrage was an attack on Forward Operating Base Salerno in Regional Command-East. The attack on June 1 killed an American contractor and wounded dozens of service members.

US-led coalition helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, 2 NATO service members killed

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — A Walla Walla soldier based out of North Carolina was killed Wednesday in an attack in Afghanistan, his family said. First Lt. Mathew “Mat” Fazzari was killed by enemy fire while flying in his first tour in Bagram.

AP at Fox News  June 6, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO: US-led coalition helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, two NATO service members killed.

UK hostage recovers after special forces rescue, one UK soldier killed

British soldier killed in Afghan rescue mission

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan says a British soldier has been killed during a successful mission to rescue an Afghan police officer kidnapped by militants.

The provincial government of southern Helmand province says the policeman was kidnapped Sunday evening from a police checkpoint in Payan village in Nahri Sarraj district.

The NATO coalition said Monday that British forces recovered the kidnapped policemen, but the insurgents managed to flee. Security forces seized one of their mobile phones, some documents and explosives.

The NATO statement did not provide any further details about the soldier, nor how he was killed. It says another British soldier was injured.

The Independent UK  June 4, 2012

A British aid worker held hostage in Afghanistan is recovering from her ordeal today after special forces swooped on a remote hide-out.

Helen Johnston, 28, was dramatically rescued yesterday in an early morning raid following her 12-day ordeal.

Prime Minister David Cameron later commended the soldiers who carried out the “extraordinarily brave, breath-taking” operation and returned her to safety.

In a strongly-worded statement issued outside 10 Downing Street, he also warned hostage-takers could

“expect a swift and brutal end”.

The rescue attempt was authorised amid increasing concerns for the safety of Ms Johnston and her colleagues from Medair, a humanitarian non-governmental organisation based near Lausanne, Switzerland.

The aid worker, Kenyan national Moragwe Oirere, 26, and two Afghan civilians were abducted by a group associated with the Taliban on May 22 as they visited relief project sites in Badakhshan province in the north-east of the country.

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U.S.-Pakistan Freeze Chokes Fallback Route in Afghanistan

Rod Nordland New York Times   June 3, 2012

SALANG PASS, Afghanistan — Nowhere is the impact of Pakistan’s ban on NATO truck traffic more visible than here at the top of the Hindu Kush, on one of the only alternative overland routes for supply convoys to reach Kabul and the rest of the country.

For 20 miles north and south of the old Soviet-built tunnel at Salang Pass, thousands of trucks are idled beside the road, waiting for a turn to get through its perilous, one-and-a-half-mile length.

This is the only passable route for heavy truck traffic bringing NATO supplies in from the Central Asian republics to the north, as they now must come.

There are other roads, but they are often single-lane dirt tracks through even higher mountain passes, or they are frequently subject to ambushes by insurgents and bandits. So a tunnel built to handle 1,000 vehicles a day, and until the Pakistani boycott against NATO in November handling 2,000, now tries — and often fails — to let 10,000 vehicles through, alternating northbound and southbound truck traffic every other day.

“It’s only a matter of time until there’s a catastrophe,” said Lt. Gen. Mohammad Rajab, the head of maintenance for the Salang Pass. “One hundred percent certain, there will be a disaster, and when there is, it’s not a disaster for Afghanistan alone, but for the whole international community that uses this road.” He said 90 percent of the traffic now was trailer and tanker trucks carrying NATO supplies.

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Afghan National Police Contract Requirements Were Not Clearly Defined but Contract Administration Improved

DODIG-2012-094    May 30, 2012

MEMORANDUM FOR DEPUTY COMMANDING GENERAL FOR SUPPORT,
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION TRAINING
MISSION-AGHANISTAN/COMBINED SECURITY
TRANSITION COMMAND-AFGHAN 1STAN
AUDITOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
COMMANDER, DEFENSE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
AGENCY, AFGHANISTAN

SUBJECT: Afghan National Police Contract Requirements Were Not Clearly Defined but
Contract Administration Improved (Report No.  DODIG-2012-094)

We are providing this repoli for your information and use,   This is one in a series of reports on
the DoD Afghan National Police contract.     We considered management comments on a draft of
this report when preparing the final report. The management comments conformed to the
requirements of DoD Directive 7650.3; therefore, additional comments are not required

Please read the report here

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Afghans say kidnapped aid workers in mountains, talks begin

Reuters May 24, 2012

Gunmen in Afghanistan are demanding money for the release of five aid workers, including two Western women doctors, held in remote mountains and authorities have opened negotiations in the hope of freeing them, an investigator said on Thursday.

The aid workers employed by Swiss-based aid group Medair were making their way from Faizabad city in rugged northeast Badakhshan province on Tuesday to visit flood-stricken areas when they were abducted about half-way to their destination.

“All five aid workers have been carried to the mountainous district of Shahr-e Bozorg and they are keeping them there,” said Sakhidad Haidari, the senior police detective for the remote province.

“We have found their position and we are in negotiation, but that process has not reached any conclusion yet,” Haidari said.

The kidnapping of foreigners has become relatively common in parts of Afghanistan since U.S-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001, heralding a 10-year anti-insurgent war.

In 2010, 10 foreign medical workers, including six Americans, were killed in Badakhshan in an attack blamed on insurgents.

Haidari said the gunmen in the latest incident were thought to belong to kidnap and criminal groups who were taking advantage of the difficult terrain and the loose grip on the area of Afghan security forces.

“I don’t think that they have any connection with the Taliban or other insurgent groups,” Haidari said.

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N.J. man is awarded $50.4M after claiming he was cheated out of money from Afghanistan and Iraq construction

New Jersey .com Morristown  May 22, 2012

A judge in Morristown has awarded $50.4 million to a Livingston businessman who says he was cheated out of his share of proceeds from reconstruction work in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Lawrence Longhi, 76, sued his former partner, Khaled Monawar, 35, a former East Hanover resident and nephew of a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who he says invited him to join a construction venture as a project facilitator and agreed to pay him one-third of their proceeds from a partnership that involved two other companies.

Monawar has not responded to Longhi’s lawsuit and was judged in default in 2010.

Under the order issued by Superior Court Judge Stephan Hansbury, Monawar must pay Longhi $8.4 million in compensatory damages and $42 million in punitive damages.

Hansbury said $42 million was the maximum amount allowed and called it “appropriate” because Monawar “has simply turned his back to these accusations and provided no attempt to explain the failure to honor the various obligations.”

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Two Foreign Doctors and Three Afghans kidnapped in NE Afghanistan

Officials: 2 foreigners, 3 Afghans abducted
May 23, 2012 07:08 GMT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Officials say two foreign doctors and three of their Afghan colleagues have been kidnapped in a remote area in the extreme northeast Afghanistan.

Abdul Maroof Rasikh, the spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan province, said on Wednesday that it’s unclear who kidnapped the five. He says the kidnapping occurred Tuesday as the group was traveling on horseback between Yaftal and Ragh districts about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the provincial capital of Faizabad.

He says the five were employed by a non-profit humanitarian organization, which reported the kidnapping.

Neither the name of the organization or the identities of the five who were abducted have been released.

A police official and the deputy governor also confirmed the kidnapping.

Leaked Memo: Afghan ‘Burn Pit’ Could Wreck Troops’ Hearts, Lungs

Spencer Ackerman at Wired’s Danger Room

For years, U.S. government agencies have told the public, veterans and Congress that they couldn’t draw any connections between the so-called “burn pits” disposing of trash at the military’s biggest bases and veterans’ respiratory or cardiopulmonary problems. But a 2011 Army memo obtained by Danger Room flat-out stated that the burn pit at one of Afghanistan’s largest bases poses “long-term adverse health conditions” to troops breathing the air there.

The unclassified memo (.jpg), dated April 15, 2011, stated that high concentrations of dust and burned waste present at Bagram Airfield for most of the war are likely to impact veterans’ health for the rest of their lives. “The long term health risk” from breathing in Bagram’s particulate-rich air include “reduced lung function or exacerbated chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, atherosclerosis, or other cardiopulmonary diseases.” Service members may not necessarily “acquire adverse long term pulmonary or heart conditions,” but “the risk for such is increased.”

The cause of the health hazards are given the anodyne names Particulate Matter 10 and Particulate Matter 2.5, a reference to the size in micrometers of the particles’ diameter. Service personnel deployed to Bagram know them by more colloquial names: dust, trash and even feces — all of which are incinerated in “a burn pit” on the base, the memo says, as has been standard practice in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade.

Accordingly, the health risks were not limited to troops serving at Bagram in 2011, the memo states. The health hazards are an assessment of “air samples taken over approximately the last eight years” at the base.

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Five Afghan security guards killed by bomb

Sky News May 21, 2012

Five Afghan guards with a private security company have been killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, a district governor says.

The incident took place in the Shahr-e-Safa district of the volatile southern province of Zabul on Monday, district governor Shadi Khan told DPA.

“The guards’ vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Shahr-e-Safa district while protecting a convoy of the foreign forces,” Khan said.

He said there were no casualties among the foreign soldiers. He refused to disclose the troops’ nationalities