NATO on guard as big turnout expected in Afghan elections

Despite high-profile suicide bombings and attacks by the Taliban, NATO commanders believe voter turnout will be strong in Afghanistan during Thursday’s national elections. Just two days before election day, the Taliban said it plans to disrupt the elections with continued attacks, and threatened to kill Afghans who vote. But in an effort to disrupt and counter Taliban attacks, Afghan and NATO commanders are fielding some 300,000 troops to help secure voters on Thursday, according to NATO officials in charge of election security

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House of Commons report critical of Britain’s Afghan war effort

The British government should refocus its objectives in Afghanistan and concentrate on one priority: security, a House of Commons committee said in a report released Sunday. The report also criticizes the NATO mission in Afghanistan, saying the lack of a unified vision and strategy is jeopardizing the military alliance’s reputation. Britain has moved away from its initial goals of counterterrorism in Afghanistan and has started working on areas it isn’t able to handle alone, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee said in the report, which examines security in Afghanistan and Pakistan

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NATO, Russia to resume military relationship

NATO and Russia have agreed to restart their military relationship, nearly a year after it had been frozen over the war in Georgia, the top NATO official said on Saturday. “The NATO-Russia Council is up and running again also at the political level,” said NATO Secretary- General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, speaking at a meeting of ministers in Corfu, Greece. Russia is not a member of NATO but is a member of the NATO-Russia Council, formed in 2002.

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Will Germany’s Army Ever Be Ready for Battle?

On June 15, the German army’s General Wolfgang Schneiderhan found himself in front of an audience of politicians and senior officers defending military policy — on sleeping bags. Many German soldiers “are whingeing to high heaven,” Schneiderhan said at a reception thrown by the parliamentary army ombudsman, complaining about everything from being sent on yet another overseas tour of duty to the “unsuitable” sleeping bags they are given for their deployment in the Congo. Then Schneiderhan did some complaining of his own, noting the tendency for his officers to delegate blame, with no-one taking responsibility for their actions.

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Behind the Military Mutiny in Georgia

Georgia’s government has called Tuesday’s mutiny at a military base near Tbilisi part of a coup attempt orchestrated by Russia, but opponents of beleaguered President Mikheil Saakashvili accuse him of using the incident to crack down on mounting domestic opposition. Soldiers in tanks and armored personnel carriers raced to the base in Mukhrovani, 20 miles from the capital, to confront mutinous soldiers, about 500 of whom were arrested after the standoff ended peacefully

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Pirates hijack UK-owned ship in Indian Ocean

Pirates hijacked a British-owned bulk carrier Saturday in the Indian Ocean, but NATO forces stopped an attack on another vessel in the Gulf of Aden hours earlier, NATO maritime authorities said. The UK cargo ship, the MV Ariana, was carrying 35,000 tons of soya about 250 nautical miles (287 miles) northwest of the Seychelles when it was seized around dawn.

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