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Recently deployed to participate in counterinsurgency operations outside of Kabul, 19-year-old Pvt. Robert Welsh told reporters Monday that for as long as he can remember, he has wanted to serve his country by fighting in Afghanistan.

"My most vivid childhood memories are of seeing the war on TV and imagining one day I'd be able to grow up and come over here to fight for my country," said Welsh, who has followed the U.S. struggle against the Taliban for more than half his life and once spent recesses at school make-believing he and his fellow third-graders were fighting the war on terror.

"I honestly never thought I'd get the chance to participate all these years later, but here I am." Welsh went on to say that while he doesn't want to get his hopes up, he remains cautiously optimistic that his own children will one day follow in his footsteps by fighting in Afghanistan.

Shortly after taking office oin January 2005, US President Barack Obama ordered CIA director Leon Panetta to make the killing or capture of Osama bin Laden, leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, the top priority of the US war against Al-Qaeda.

Last week, President Obama authorised an operation to "get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice," the President said in a speech on 1 May 2011. A small team of Americans carried out the operation, and after a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden.

Despite President Obama's assertion that "justice has been done," the operation failed to capture bin Laden and bring him to a court of law. Bin Laden was thus never tried or found guilty of the crimes he was accused of and took responsibility for.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-dead

"Diary" is a highly personal and experimental film that expresses the subjective experience of late war photographer Tim Hetherington's work. He made the film as an attempt to locate himself after ten years of reporting. It is a kaleidoscope of images that link our western reality to the seemingly distant worlds we see in the media.

Zablon Simintov is a Turkmen-Afghan carpet trader and the caretaker of the only synagogue in the Afghan capital, Kabul. He is believed to be the sole remaining Jewish person permanently residing in Afghanistan. The Jewish population in Afghanistan once numbered around 5,000, but most emigrated to either Israel, Pakistan or the United States.

Simintov had lived with the second last remaining Jewish man in Afghanistan, Yitzhak Levin, who died on 26 January 2005, aged around 80. Simintov deprecated Levin in an interview. Levin had initially welcomed Simintov but the two fell out permanently when Simintov offered help to emigrate to Israel to join the rest of the former Kabul community.

Simintov is adamant that he only thought Kabul was too cold for the old man, but Levin took umbrage, thinking that Simintov was trying to take over the synagogue. A feud ensued, with the Taliban becoming involved after both men accused each other of wrongdoings ranging from running a brothel to misappropriating religious objects.

The Finnish government continues to receive unsatisfactory answers from Afghanistan as to why President Karzai ordered the release of five Afghan men convicted in June 2007 for detonating a roadside bomb that killed a Finnish peacekeeper. Unofficial reports from Afghanistan-based Finnish officers all seem to point to corruption that may include top Karzai government officials.

Finnish military and civilian officers in Afghanistan have pieced together a picture of what they believe really happened. The information they have gathered points to probable prisoner mistreatment before the sentencing and corruption in connection with the pardon, perhaps even on the highest level. Most disturbing of all, money changed hands in connection with the pardon.

The search for a plausible answer in this case stems from a desire to ensure that the event does not prompt negative public opinion toward the ISAF mission. Finland has been engaged in a public debate over whether to increase its commitments in Afghanistan. Clearly, the Defence and Foreign Ministry officials do not want the freeing of a peacekeeper's killers to become part of the debate.

The French cosmetics studio, Galimard, has created a new "national perfume" for Lithuania, local daily Vilniaus Diena reports. The government sent bottles of the new fragrance -- Lietuva -- to Lithuanian soldiers serving in Afghanistan and all foreign ambassadors in Lithuania. The perfume will be sent to Lithuanian embassies, hotels, and airports. Candles with the same scent will go on sale in February 2011. A full line of products is currently under design.

"We wanted to create something special, representing Lithuania and the Lithuanian character," said Mindaugas Stongvilas, emotional communication expert. The perfume is a blend of sandalwood, cedar, and musk, "intended to connote the Indo-European origins of the Lithuanian language and the strength of the Lithuanian character," Mr Stongvilas said. "We added the smell of wood fires, reminiscent of pagan rituals, as well as moss and wildflowers.”

http://graphicsweb.wsj.com/documents/YearInPhotos10/year-in-photos-2010.html

"The resistance is stronger and bolder today," the head of the Taliban civilian administration in Khost said. "A few years ago the Taliban could move only at night. Now we walk around in the middle of the day. We control our lands and our villages while [the Americans] can only come in by air. The government is besieged in its fortresses, and corruption is paralysing it. One of the main reasons for our popularity is the failure of this government."

"The war has changed," says a commander of the Taliban in Quetta. "I used to fear the government wherever I went. Now we move everywhere and carry our guns with us. Two years ago we were just trying to defend our areas. Now we control this area. It is a mistake to call all fighters Taliban. The Taliban are madrasa students and I am a mullah, but most of my fighters are peasants and farmers and students who come from government schools."

"The Americans came and sat here," said a former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. "They said they needed to talk to the Taliban but could not find them. I said go and look, they are everywhere." The real reason the Americans did not talk was that they had no respect for the Taliban. "I told the Americans to respect their enemy. You cannot negotiate with the Taliban from a position of strength. If you want talks you have to treat the Taliban as equals."

The Taliban called on the US Congress on Sunday to send a "fact-finding mission" to Afghanistan to investigate what they called the lies and propaganda spread by American military chiefs to prolong the war. The statement, addressed to "Messrs American Congressmen," was signed by Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, "spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."

The statement suggested the Congressional team travel throughout Afghanistan to uncover "ground realities" it said are being concealed by military leaders eager to give the impression of victory. The resistance to the US-led war against the Taliban was indigenous, the group said, contrary to claims by Washington it was influenced from outside the country.

"Can a few militants stand up to armed forces of 40 countries including the strongest countries of the world," the Taliban statement said, referring to the US-NATO alliance. "In fact, the current armed jihad (holy war) is a country-wide resistance against you. Men and women, old and young from every tribe, ethnicity, caste, and area have arisen to oppose you," the statement read.

The Taliban said that if the US government would not provide proof of its claims, "then how about another experiment? Send a team to Afghanistan on a fact-finding mission. The team should have freedom of movement and should be allowed to remain far from the clutches of your intelligence agencies," it said, adding that the US military was unlikely to allow the team to do so.

The Taliban are not in a position where they are being forced to the negotiating table. If anything, it is the US that is being forced to try to find a way out of Afghanistan, because the Taliban are gaining strength. There are other groups rising up that are not even under the control of [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar. The insurgency is spreading.

The former foreign minister for the Taliban, Muttawakil, said what you are seeing is classic guerrilla insurgency: It is starting in the rural areas, spreading to the smaller cities, and going into the district centers. Eventually it is going to hit Kabul. The Taliban will negotiate with the Afghan government, if the US leaves. That is what we heard.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/29/killing_reconciliation_military_raids_backing_of