Gates made the pledge to lawmakers after receiving a letter from Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who urged the defense secretary to reconsider awarding a possible one billion dollar contract to the firm, now known as Xe, due to allegations of wrongdoing.

"He is looking into it and he takes it seriously," press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

Gates has told the senator that "he shares his (Levin's) concerns," Morrell said.

The letter dated February 25 and released publicly on Thursday notes that the Defense Department is reportedly preparing to give a contract to Xe for "highly sensitive work" to train Afghan national police, despite its controversial record in Iraq and amid fresh allegations of misconduct.

The letter cites a recent Senate hearing on a contract given to a Blackwater affiliate to provide weapons training in Afghanistan.

Levin's committee heard evidence that alleged that Blackwater may have used a front company for the contract, lied to Pentagon officials in its proposal documents, "misappropriated" government weapons, carried weapons without approval and hired staff with serious criminal records including larceny and substance abuse.

Blackwater's conduct may have "contributed to a shooting incident that has undermined our mission in Afghanistan," it added.

Levin has also written a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in light of accusations that the firm gave false statements to the Justice Department.

While acknowledging concerns about Blackwater's conduct, Morrell said there were strict legal standards that applied to government contracts and that a company could not be excluded without adhering to the criteria.

He added that the firm had "technical expertise" that had to be taken into account for tasks that few companies were ready to take on.

"Like it or not, Blackwater has technical expertise that very few companies do have. And they have a willingness to work in places that very few companies are willing to work," he said.

Some Democratic lawmakers have called for banning the federal government and the US military from using subcontractors in combat zones, namely in Iraq and Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of troops are deployed.

The secretive Blackwater was thrown into the spotlight after five of its guards were accused of killing 14 unarmed Iraqis in a gun and grenade attack, and wounding 18 others during a September 2007 incident at the busy Nisur Square in Baghdad.

Earlier this month, Iraq expelled 250 former employees of the security firm.

The North Carolina-based firm lost its contract to provide security for US embassy diplomats in Baghdad in May 2009 after Iraqis and others repeatedly accused it of adopting a cowboy mentality to duties in the country.

Pentagon concerned over Blackwater’s work in Afghanistan is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

The Yemen aid package represents a near trebling of US military assistance to the government headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, which received $67 million last year. It is the latest in a series of efforts undertaken or supported by the US to turn the tide in its global conflict with al-Qaida by shoveling money at the problem.

Last month, an international conference in London pledged $140 million to support an Afghan government effort to reconcile Taliban leaders and reintegrate their foot soldiers.

The effort, run by an Independent National Commission for Peace and Reconciliation headed by former anti-Communist mujahedin leader Sibghatullah Mojadeddi, has in fact been ongoing since 2005, but has been dogged by problems.

The Crisis States Research Centre at the London School of Economics analyzed the Afghan effort - known as the Takhim-e-Solh, or 'Strengthening Peace,' program - in a report last month. According to the center, some of those who accepted reintegration “found out that they were not necessarily safe, and in a significant number of cases participants were not treated by international military forces in keeping with the [reintegration] agreement.” Other participants did not receive promised financial support, “creating problems with the credibility of the whole process.”

“As a result,” the center’s report concludes, “trust was lost” and no more than 2,000-3,000 combatants were successfully processed through the program.

Nonetheless, this kind of effort is now seen by US policymakers as part and parcel of any low intensity conflict. So much so that since the end of 2008 it has even merited its own place in the US Army’s vaunted Field Manual - its ‘how to’ guide on military operations.

“Reintegration is the process through which former combatants [and] belligerents [...]receive amnesty, reenter civil society, gain sustainable employment, and become contributing members of the local populace,” reads FM 3-07, the section of the manual covering stability operations. “Reintegration […] includes programs to impart marketable skills to demobilized armed forces and groups […] relocation assistance to support their resettlement in civilian communities; basic and vocational education; and assistance in finding employment in local economies.”

The sub-text is clear: We pay, they stop fighting.

The rent-an-insurgent phenomenon
But what is sauce for the goose is obviously sauce for the gander, too. It is not just in Afghanistan - where more than a third of the insurgency’s foot soldiers are estimated to be among the so-called $10-a-day-Taliban - that US enemies are apparently attempting to buy support and loyalty from the local population.

In Somalia, the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab has been recruiting ethnic Somalis from Kenya to fight with them against the internationally backed transitional government in Mogadishu - offering unemployed youth up to $600 a month, according to the BBC. The same report alleged that the Kenyan military was training other ethnic Somalis to fight with the Mogadishu government against al-Shabab.

The problems with this strategy are manifold and increasingly manifest.

To begin with, efforts to buy support can easily boomerang, as one British diplomat points out.

US and allied backing for reintegration efforts risks alienating Afghans, creating a public perception that the coalition wants “to strike a 'power-sharing' deal with the Taliban so we can leave quickly,” wrote Simon Shercliff, a senior official at the British Embassy in Washington.

The US aid to Yemen will be used to buy equipment and training for the country’s counterterrorism forces, reported Reuters, citing unnamed US officials.

But other reports have pointed out that increasing US support for the Saleh government “risks tying the United States more closely to an autocratic ruler whose repression of economic and political grievances is strengthening the terrorists and pushing his impoverished nation toward breakup.”

''Any association with the [Yemeni] regime will only confirm al-Qaida's narrative, which is that America is only interested in maintaining corrupt and despotic rulers and is not interested in the fate of Arabs and Muslims,'' warns Bernard Haykel, a Princeton University professor.

Moreover, he who pays the piper only calls the tune as long as he continues to pay. The ethnic Somalis the BBC interviewed gave up the insurgency and returned to Kenya as soon as al-Shabab stopped paying them.

If it is true, as Afghans are fond of saying, that you cannot buy an Afghan’s friendship, but you can rent it, for how long will the US and its allies keep paying the rent? And what will happen when they stop?

Shaun Waterman is a senior writer and analyst for ISN Security Watch. He is a UK journalist based in Washington, DC, covering homeland and national security.

Costs of War: Renting Victory is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

"I have repeatedly said that these types of efforts are hard, and they're hard all the time," Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Likening operations in Afghanistan to the surge in Iraq, the general pointed out that when U.S. forces go on the offensive to take away Taliban safe havens, they will see definite resistance.

Petraeus said the past year has been spent putting things in place for a "comprehensive civil military campaign," putting in the best leaders, helping to develop concepts, giving counterinsurgency guidance and starting to filter an additional 30,000 forces into the country.

"So the inputs we think now are about right, and now we're starting to see the first of the output, and the Marja operation is the initial salvo, the initial operation in that overall campaign," he said.

Early results have included taking down high-value targets, such as Taliban shadow governors, Petraeus said.

"We are there for a very, very important reason and we can't forget that," Petraeus emphasized. "We are in Afghanistan to ensure that it cannot once again be a sanctuary for the kind of attacks that were carried out on 9/11, which were planned initially in Kandahar, first training done in eastern Afghanistan before the attackers moved to Hamburg and then on to U.S. flight schools."

When asked if al-Qaida still poses a threat to the United States, Petraeus pointed out that the terrorist organization is a "flexible, adaptable" enemy whose threat, although diminished within the 20 countries making up the Central Command area, is one that requires constant vigilance.

"It is a network, and it takes a network to keep the pressure on a network, and that is, indeed, what we are endeavoring to do," Petraeus said.

Although he wouldn't get into the details on the intelligence operations surrounding the recent capture of Afghanistan's No. 2 Taliban commander, Abdul Baradar, Petraeus said Pakistan leaders have done "very impressive" work over the past several months leading up to this event.

"They saw this as the most pressing existential threat to their country, and they supported the Pakistan army and frontier corps as it went into Swat in the Malikan division of the northwest frontier province, and then expanded this operation in to the federally administered tribal areas," Petraeus said. "They know they can't just clear and leave. They have to clear, hold, build and, over time, transition to the local security forces. That's indeed, what they are endeavoring to do. They are carrying out this fight."

On the topic of potentially revising the law that prohibits homosexuals from serving openly in the military, Petraeus said he's sure there's a very sound and good process at work on that issue.

During Feb. 2 testimony before the Senate, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the creation of a review to be headed by Gen. Carter F. Ham and the Defense Department's general counsel, Jeh C. Johnson.

"It will provide a rigorous analysis of the views of the force on the possible change," Petraeus said. "It will suggest the policies that could be used to implement a change, if it does come to that, so that it could be as uneventful as it was, say, in the U.K. or the Israeli militaries or, indeed, in our own CIA and FBI."

The general said that he'll be ready to provide his input on the topic when he testifies before Congress with other combatant commanders in a few weeks.

"I think that it's very important that these issues be handled and discussed and addressed by this review that will be so important in forming decisions as we move forward," Petraeus said. "I think it is hugely important that we have the answers from the questions that they'll be asking in a very methodical way - something we've not done before because of the emotion and the sensitivity of this issue."

Afghan campaign will be tough, Says Petraeus is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

Justice and Equality Movement leader Khalil Ibrahim said he and Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir signed the accord, which is due to take effect at midnight in Darfur (2100 GMT).

Also present were the host, Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, as well as Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno and Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki.

The signing was delayed for more than two hours after the JEM asked the government to agree to postpone general elections set for April, but no deal was reached on that point.Text:Darfur peace agreement

JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein said "there is a consensus among the people of Darfur and Sudan that the election must be postponed."

For his part, Ibrahim said: "I call on my brothers in the other movements to (come together) in an overall partnership it the service of our country and say, let us unite and commit ourselves together and at the same time to peace."

Beshir said the signature in Doha was "an important step toward ending war and the conflict in Darfur."

Canada welcomed late Tuesday the signing of the ceasefire and peace framework for a final peace between Sudan and Darfur's main rebel group.

Since the conflict broke out in February 2003, some 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million people displaced, according to UN figures. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000.

"Canada welcomes the signing of the framework agreement between the government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement" (JEM), said Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, referring to Darfur's most heavily armed rebel group.

"This agreement, with its ceasefire, is another step toward a general political settlement for Darfur."

Canada "calls on all parties to the conflict to continue working toward a sustainable, inclusive peace agreement," he added in a statement.

On Saturday, government and JEM representatives inked a framework agreement in Chad proclaiming a "ceasefire" in the seven-year-old conflict.

The 12-point provisional deal offered the JEM, long-seen as Darfur's most heavily armed rebel group, a power-sharing role in Sudan, where presidential and legislative polls are to be held in April.

Article three stated that the Sudanese government and the JEM agreed on "the participation of the JEM at all levels of power (executive, legislative ...)," according to a copy of the accord seen by AFP.

It was not immediately clear if that, and other provisions, were mentioned in the Doha accord.

The two sides also agreed on Saturday that the JEM would become "a political party as soon as the final agreement is signed between the two parties" by March 15.

The conflict has claimed about 300,000 lives and displaced 2.7 million people, according to UN figures, since it broke out in February 2003. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000.

But it has also seen a splintering into small factions of rebel groups, fighting against the marginalisation of their region, making efforts to seal a lasting peace in the troubled region a massive task.

A ceasefire with the JEM would close the most active front in Darfur, but smaller rebel groups such as the faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army of France-based exile Abdelwahid Nur have refused to enter talks with Khartoum.

One of the smaller factions, the JEM-Democracy, also has turned its back on the accord, saying it was biased.

However, on Tuesday four of the smaller groups announced that they were merging to form the Liberation Movement for Justice and also hoped to come to an agreement with Khartoum.

Beshir's adviser on Darfur, Ghazi Salaheddine, who inked the framework accord with JEM leader Ibrahim on Saturday, has also said he hoped other rebel groups would enter talks with Khartoum.

This arrangement "does not exclude other movements specially those who come to the Doha process; we are open to them," he said.

On Monday, Beshir said this year will "mark a new Sudan, stable and peaceful, a united Sudan, by the will of its people."

Washington has hailed the accord as a "significant move" towards formal negotiations due to resume in Qatar.

"We encourage all parties to the conflict to continue working toward a comprehensive agreement that includes the other major armed movements and civil society representatives," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

Britain also praised the accord, with Africa Minister Glenys Kinnock saying "all sides in Sudan must now urgently redouble their efforts for peace."

Canada also welcomed the accord.

"Canada welcomes the signing of the framework agreement between the government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement" said Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon.

"This agreement, with its ceasefire, is another step toward a general political settlement for Darfur."

The framework accord calls for the JEM and Khartoum to "launch immediate discussions to reach a (final) agreement."

In 2008, a JEM assault on the Sudanese capital brought it to just across the Nile from the presidential palace in the first ever such offensive by a Sudanese rebel group. The fighting cost at least 220 deaths.

In other developments, the Qatari emir announced the creation of a Darfur reconstruction bank that he hoped would draw other founders and reach a capitalisation of one billion dollars.

Khartoum, Darfur rebels sign ceasefire accord is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

The commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, Major General Nick Carter, cautioned against "triumphalism" in Marjah, and said it could be months until the US-led forces could be sure of controlling the area.

The troops engaged in Operation Mushtarak (Together) would need another 25 to 30 days just to secure the Taliban stronghold, said Carter.

"In three months' time or thereabouts we should have a pretty fair idea about whether we've been successful. But I would be very cautious about any triumphalism just yet," he said.

The offensive is being keenly watched as the first major test of US President Barack Obama's strategy to end eight years of war by driving out the hardline militia and reasserting government control.

Obama has ordered more than 50,000 extra troops into Afghanistan since taking office. Fresh pledges from NATO allies will raise to 150,000 the overall number of foreign troops by August.

NATO said four of its soldiers were killed on Thursday during the operation, three of them by mines and one by gunfire. It did not give their nationalities, but London said it had lost two of its soldiers during the day.

Carter's assessment and the news of fresh allied deaths stood in marked contrast to US pronouncements.

The Pentagon remained upbeat on the progress of the campaign, which kicked off a week ago and pits 15,000 US, Afghan and NATO troops against a Taliban force numbering between 400 and 1,000.

"The squeeze is being put to the Taliban," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, adding the United States was "pleased with the rate of progress" despite the threat posed by "a slew" of bombs planted across Marjah.

"Mushtarak" has been billed as the biggest assault since the 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban.

General Mohaidin Ghori, the commander of the estimated 4,400 Afghan troops taking part in the operation, had said this week that Marjah and the Nad Ali district were almost under control.

But he painted a bleak picture for the region's civilian population, saying the militants put "women and children on the roofs of homes and are firing from behind them."

In one case, rebels were seen firing from the window of a house packed with non-combatants, with a crying child forced to stand in front of the compound, said an Afghan military report.

Taliban spokesmen have denied using human shields.

Thousands of people have fled the stricken area for the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and neighbouring provinces including Nimroz, where the UN's World Food Programme handed out food to hundreds of hungry families.

The area is home to around 80,000 people and although Amnesty International has said about 10,000 civilians have fled, the rights group warned that thousands were trapped in the conflict zone.

Pakistan raised concerns that Afghan refugees and fighters could flee across the frontier to escape the offensive -- as happened after the 2001 invasion, leading to an explosion of militant activity in the border region.

In a blow to NATO, an allied air strike in the northern province of Kunduz mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded two others on Thursday, said interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary.

NATO said it was investigating the strike, which could add to strains following repeated warnings by President Hamid Karzai about civilian deaths.

UK commander: Afghan offensive could take weeks is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

The study presents an analytical framework for policymakers to examine the shifting motivations and capabilities of the groups that affect Iraq's security, as well as options for U.S. responses to continuing challenges.

"Many of Iraq's problems will take generations to solve," said Terrence K. Kelly, one of the study's authors and a senior operations researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "As U.S. troops leave Iraq, it's important to take every step possible to encourage Iraqis to address these problems in a constructive fashion."

Among the major problems facing Iraq are longstanding tensions between the majority Arab population and the minority Kurds, who are located primarily in the country's oil-rich northern region.

The study recommends that U.S. forces remain in the north as long as possible and that the United States provide senior military professionals at every level to serve as "honest brokers" who can mediate disputes and develop long-term relationships with their Iraqi counterparts.

"It will be important for the U.S. government to continue to work to try to mitigate tensions on the border between the Arab and Kurdish populations, and how U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq will be more important than the rate at which they withdraw," Kelly said.

Iraq has become more stable since 2006-2007, mainly because the main political factions—Sunni, Kurd and Shi'a—are participating in the political process. At the same time, extremist violence will likely continue in Iraq, regardless of the U.S. troop drawdown. As in other war-torn countries, many of Iraq's power brokers have spent their entire adult lives relying on violence to achieve political goals and that approach is not going to vanish overnight, Kelly said.

But such violence is unlikely to escalate into large-scale conflict unless one of the main Iraqi factions—the ones with the ability to field small armies—resorts to violence to achieve political goals. The United States should use its diplomatic and military strengths to keep these major political actors in the political process.

Kelly says the current situation is more of a strategic calculation by these groups, rather than a newfound embrace of democracy. The scales could be tipped by any one of a number of factors—political disaffection, electoral failure, economic hardship or inequity, disputes over land and resources, shifts in the balance of armed power, or harsh treatment or provocation.

In addition, the United States' ability to prevent large-scale conflict has limits and will decline as its forces leave Iraq. The best leverage will be from U.S. support for improved Iraq Security Force capabilities, and then only if the Iraq Security Force acts in the interests of a unified Iraqi state, rather than any particular faction.

To that end, long-term U.S.-Iraq military cooperation should have three missions: aiding in the training, equipping, advising and operational support of the Iraq Security Force; partnering in the promotion of professional qualities in the Iraq Security Force and security ministries; and continuing to mediate between Kurd and Arab forces.

The study, "Security in Iraq: A Framework for Analyzing Emerging Threats as U.S. Forces Leave," can be found at www.rand.org. Other authors of the report are David C. Gompert, formerly of RAND, and Jessica Watkins of RAND Europe.

The study was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and conducted within the International Security and Defense Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies and the defense Intelligence community.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world.

Read Full Report in PDF format.

Factors Contributing to Iraq’s Security After US Forces Withdraw is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young told lawmakers the AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder systems had been set up on Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands.

"A few days ago, deployment of anti-artillery radar systems was completed," the minister was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

The system is designed to determine where incoming artillery and rocket fire originated, to allow for a possible counter-attack.

After declaring two "no sail" zones, the communist state last week fired 370 shells into the sea near the border over three straight days, heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Seoul's military said Wednesday the North had designated another two "firing zones" in the area, effective for four days from Friday, raising the prospect of more artillery fire.

The North said its salvoes last week were part of a routine winter exercise but South Korea and the United States described them as provocative.

The Yellow Sea border was the scene of deadly naval battles in 1999 and 2002 and of a firefight last November which left a North Korean patrol boat in flames.

SKorea deploys Firefinder radar after NKorea barrage is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

The newspaper said the Pakistani military, which mounted a major offensive against Mehsud and his loyalists in South Waziristan last year, said it could not confirm the report.

But government officials in the capital, Islamabad, and Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, said they believed that there was a good chance Mehsud was dead, though they could not offer proof, the report said.

A official from the Barack Obama administration in Washington said intelligence reports over the weekend came close to a definitive conclusion -- about 90 percent certainty -- that Mehsud had died from wounds suffered in a drone strike on January 14 and that he was believed to have been buried in a tribal plot in Pakistan?s tribal areas, the paper noted.

The United States had been eager to retaliate against Mehsud after he claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a Central Intelligence Agency base in southeast Afghanistan in late December that killed five agency officers and two private contractors, The Times said.

US officials said they hoped the death of Mehsud would signal their resolve against the Taliban groups and their Al-Qaeda allies who have used Pakistan?s tribal areas to strike at US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the paper noted.

US, Pakistani officials believe Mehsud is dead is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

"Such firing drill by the units of the KPA will go on in the same waters in the future," the (North) Korean People's Army General Staff said in a statement, hours after its first exercise at the flashpoint border sparked an exchange of fire between the two militaries.

South Korea condemned the North's artillery fire as "a gravely provocative act" and warned it would respond sternly to future provocations.

North Korean land artillery batteries fired about 30 shells over more than an hour into the sea north of the disputed west coast borderline, Seoul officials said.

South Korean Marines on a nearby island responded by firing about 100 warning shots from Vulcan cannons.

No casualties or damage were reported but the incident further raised tensions along the sea border, the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002. The latest firefight in the area on November 10 left a North Korean patrol boat in flames.

The North's army said it had staged an annual artillery live firing drill in its own waters with which "no one can argue".

The drill came a day after the communist North declared two "no sail zones" around the borderline, which has been a persistent flashpoint since it was drawn up by United Nations forces after the 1950-53 Korean War. Related article: Korea's history of clashes

The North refuses to accept the line and says it should run further to the south.

"There is only the extension of the Military Demarcation Line recognised by the DPRK (North Korea)..." its military statement said.

The two nations have remained technically at war since their conflict ended without a formal peace treaty.

South Korea called an emergency meeting of security and other ministers.

A senior South Korean military officer told a briefing that Seoul would have counter-attacked rather than just firing warning shots had the North's shells landed in the South's waters, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The North committed a gravely provocative act by declaring no-sail zones in the Yellow Sea in breach of the (Korean War) armistice and the inter-Korean non-aggression pact," Seoul's defence ministry said in a statement.

"We expressed grave concerns over the North's threatening behaviour and demanded an immediate halt to all such activities."

The protest was contained in a message sent to the North's side.

"The military will strongly react to any provocative acts by the North and all the responsibility for consequences will rest with the Northern side," the ministry said.

Baek Seung-Joo, of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said before the North's latest announcement that Pyongyang would probably persist with its current strategy for some time.

"North Korea will likely continue such low-intensity military provocations like this in the next few months," Baek told AFP.

"But it is unlikely to take things to the extreme, as in general it wants to maintain economic cooperation with South Korea."

The sanctions-hit North has sent mixed messages to its neighbour in recent months. It is pressing to upgrade or restart joint business projects with the South, while its military at the same time has issued threats of war.

Pyongyang also demands talks with the United States on a formal peace treaty before returning to nuclear disarmament negotiations.

The November clash broke out when a North Korean patrol boat crossed the border and refused to turn back despite warnings, according to Seoul.

The firefight left the North's boat retreating in flames and one South Korean craft with bullet holes in its hull. There was no information on North Korean casualties, while the South's crewmen were unhurt.

Last month the North warned South Korean ships to avoid the border area, saying its coastal artillery would stage firing exercises in response to "reckless military provocations".

On Sunday the military lashed out at South Korea's vow to launch a preemptive strike to thwart any nuclear attack, calling it "an open declaration of war".

Two Koreas trade fire, Pyongyang vows no let up is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons

A series of explosions and intense gunfire rocked Kabul at the height of the morning rush hour, but there was no immediate information about possible casualties.

"It is our work, the targets are the (presidential) palace, the finance, justice and mines ministries, and the central bank," a purported Taliban spokesman told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"Twenty of our suicide bombers have entered the area and fighting is ongoing," the spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, adding that one militant had detonated a suicide vest at the entrance to the presidential palace complex.

Insurgents also stormed a five-storey shopping mall and were exchanging gunfire with security forces surrounding the building, witnesses said.

Army and police snipers took positions on buildings around Pashtunistan Square in the centre of the capital after attacks, whnich appeared to be well-coordinated and involve a large number of gunmen.

"I heard the blast then we started running, but we happened to be running towards the explosions," said witness Bahram Sarwary.

"I saw smoke coming from a building near the central bank and the presidential palace and I saw at least one person injured," he said.

The central business district of the Afghan capital is the nexus of political, business and diplomatic life.

Attacks on the capital are infrequent, thanks say military and government officials to better intelligence, which is supplemented with a surveillance balloon that hovers over the city.

The attacks came a day after the government said President Hamid Karzai was to announce a new plan aimed at forging peace with the Islamist Taliban and other militants fighting to topple his administration.

The plan would be announced ahead of a key international conference on Afghanistan's security and development due to be held in London on January 28, Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omar said.

"The scheme we are proposing this time is taking all those into consideration and learning from the past and trying to come up with a proper programme where we have all the necessary ground to allow those joining the programme to have a peaceful life," he said.

Karzai has long called for peace talks with the Taliban -- even offering government posts to its leaders -- but the militia has refused dialogue until the withdrawal of international troops on which Kabul relies for security.

Rockets were also fired into the heavily fortified diplomatic area of Wazir Akbar Khan on Saturday night, coinciding with visits by the US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

The last major attack on the capital was on December 15, when a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside the homes of former senior government officials, killing eight people and injuring more than 40.

On October 28, a guesthouse occupied by United Nations employees was overrun by Taliban militants, who murdered six UN workers. The incident prompted the organisation to evacuate most of its Kabul-based staff.

Taliban launch attacks on central Kabul is a post from: DefenceTalk | Defense & Military News - Forums - Pictures - Weapons