The Taliban Is Tired Of War And Ready To Negotiate

How strange after all this time.

The Taliban is prepared to completely disown al-Qaeda, allow the US to retain several military bases in Afghanistan and agree a ceasefire deal to end its 11 year conflict with Nato, a major report released on Monday discloses.

The group, which was ousted by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11, is now willing to cooperate with the US on security and take part in peace negotiations in return for international political recognition, the study says.

The report was compiled by the respected Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) following interviews with four

US suspends Afghan militia training after attacks on Nato forces

Stopping attacks by members of various branches of the Afghan security forces on Nato troops has become a priority for Nato commanders, with one in seven of all coalition deaths this year coming at the hands of Afghan colleagues. Poor vetting of police and soldiers has been partly blamed for the attacks, which have killed 45 and wounded at least 71 in 2012 alone.

All 16,300 Afghan Local Police members will be re-examined for possible links to the insurgency, and about 1,000 new recruits will have their training put on hold.

Those already trained will continue operations while they are screened, commanders said. The suspension will not affect the nearly 350,000-strong national police and army whose members have been responsible for the majority of “green and blue” incidents.

An American military statement said

Soldiers in Afghanistan issued heat-ray gun

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7894040/Soldiers-in-Afghanistan-issued-heat-ray-gun.html



Coalition forces in Afghanistan having been issued a newly-developed heat-ray gun to disperse crowds and repel enemies without injuring them

The Active Denial System (ADS) uses a focused invisible beam, which causes an “intolerable heating sensation" but does not permanently harm the skin.

The first batch of the vehicle-mounted non-lethal weapons has been sent to US troops in the war-torn country but it has not yet been used on the battlefield.


When the beam is pointed at a person, it penetrates the skin to the equivalent of three sheets of paper – enough to cause pain by burning nerve endings.

The discomfort is enough to force people to move away but not to cause long-term damage. The US military says the chance of injury from the system is 0.1 per cent.

Alcohol banned on Afghanistan base after troops party too hard

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6153744/Alcohol-banned-on-Afghanistan-base-after-troops-party-too-hard.html


General Stanley McChrystal tried to contact his subordinates after a Nato strike killed 125 civilians, but too many had been “partying it up” and could not be raised.

General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), has since put a stop to drinking, admonishing staff for not having “their heads in the right place” on Friday morning a few hours after the attack, the Times reports