Attack on Intercontinental Hotel

On Saturday, January 20, 2018 insurgents attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan. The attack, staged by 3-6 insurgents, seemed to target foreigners. At least four Afghans and 12 foreigners were killed. Many of the dead included members of Kam Air flight crews. Some media reports indicated that up to 40 people died in the attack. The elite SOF unit of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) - the Crisis Response Unit (CRU 222) - responded to the attack. The hotel is a state-owned enterprise and just recently contracted with a new security firm to provide security for the establishment. Some news reports indicate that four Americans were killed during the attack. One American was identified as Glenn Selig - a former spokesman for the Trump campaign.

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Afghan War News Snippets

Deploying. A small group of Soldiers from Fort Bragg, NC going on a deployment. Read "82nd Airborne Division postal unit headed to Afghanistan", Fayetteville Observer, March 7, 2016.

Flights to Bamyan. The road from Bamyan to Kabul is fraught with danger. The Taliban will stop cars at random along the east-west road and government troops are hard-pressed to defend the many static checkpoints setup on the throughway. So its good news that flights are now available for transport to/from Bamyan and Kabul. The Afghan airline known as Kam Air (and also known for drug smuggling for high-ranking government officials in years past) will take your money for a trip to Afghanistan's ski resort area. (Khaama Press, Mar 9, 2016).

Movie Review - Hyena Road. This film, released in October 2015, is set in Panjwei district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. A Canadian unit is charged with building a road but there is a slight problem - insurgents. Read "Hyena Road Brings Grinding Complexity of Ground Combat In Afghanistan to the Screen", Task & Purpose, March 10, 2016.

Canadian Memorial for Afghan War. More than 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014. The previous Canadian government supported the establishment of a Afghanistan War Memorial; however, it is unknown what the present government plans are. Read more in "Former ministers press to save Afghanistan war memorial", iPolitics.ca, March 6, 2016.

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Kam Air - Least Safe Airline

According to a recent news report Kam Air - an Afghan airline - is one of the most dangerous airlines in the world. It sits at the top of the list with three other airlines - Nepal Airways, SCAT Airline (Kazakhstan), and Tara Air (Nepal). Apparently flying in the high remote mountains of Nepal is dangerous. In fact, all four airlines are prohibited from flying in the airspace of the European Union (EU).  Kam Air has also been the subject of controversy a few years back. It was the centerpiece of an investigation by the United States of drug smuggling activities where high level officials were involved. However the corrupt President Karzai came to the airlines' rescue. Read about the safety of Kam Air in "The world's safest and least safe airlines", AOL.com, January 8, 2015.

Kam Air - ISAF and DoS Folds Again

In a case of "you can't make this up" we now learn that Kam Air, the Afghan Airlines that has without doubt smuggled large quantities of opium for Karzai and his friends, is now cleared to take part in U.S. contracts. Unbelievable! ISAF and the State Department have rolled over for Karzai once again. When will we learn?

The owner of Kam Air, Zamari Kamgar, is a staunch ally of Karzai. In early 2013 the U.S., after a thorough investigation, decided that Kam Air would be barred from U.S. contracts because of its extensive drug movement activities. However, the U.S. balked and acceded to Karzai's demands that it hold off until the Afghans completed their investigation. Well, the (Afghan) jury is in and the Afghans say Kam Air is innocent (of course). The U.S. Embassy didn't lose much time in sending out a letter stating that Kam Air was free to take part in U.S. contracts. Quite an astounding turn of events but not surprising given the Embassy and ISAF track record of not standing up to the corrupt Karzai regime.

Read more in  "Dubious Afghan airline Kam Air circles back into US orbit", Security Watch Backchannels, Christian Science Monitor, January 23, 2014.

Kam Air to be Investigated by Afghan Attorney General - One Corrupt Agency Looking at Another

The U.S. has backed off its threat to deny Kam Air, an Afghan airlines, lucrative transport contracts because of allegations of shipping opium out of Afghanistan. Once again, the U.S. caved in to corrupt Afghan government leaders (that would be President Karzai and his cronies). Instead, the U.S. has said that they will let the Afghan attorney general investigate the allegations of widespread opium smuggling. Sure, . . . except that . . . the Afghan attorney general's office is less than useless and is very much involved in covering up and hiding cases of high-level Afghan corruption. Read more in this in "So, this is the office that will investigate Afghanistan's Kam Air?", The Christian Science Monitor, February 6, 2013.

Kam Air - U.S. Caves to Karzai . . . Again

One of Afghanistan's airlines, Kam Air, was recently blacklisted for smuggling opium within and outside of Afghanistan by the U.S. military. This meant that Kam Air could not bid on the very lucrative contracts for transporting personnel and equipment that are offered by the U.S. military. Naturally Karzai (the corrupt King of Kabul) objected and the U.S. caved. Read more in a recent news article that investigates this case.

"Afghan corruption, opium, and the strange case of Kam Air", The Christian Science Monitor, February 5, 2013.