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Talks With Afghan Insurgents Draw Closer

Associated Press — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:59:00 +0200

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In a further step toward reconciling with insurgents, President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he will soon name the members of a council tasked with pursuing peace talks with rebelswilling to break with al-Qaida and recognize the government in Kabul.

Karzai's announcement was given added poignancy by comments from the outgoing deputy commander of NATO forces in the country that commanders promised too much when they predicted quick success taking the key Taliban-held town of Marjah last winter.

While British Lt. Gen. Nick Parker now sees signs of a turnaround in the turbulent area, he said the military will be more restrained in forecasting success in the future military will be more restrained in forecasting success in the future .

The formation of the High Peace Council was approved in June at a national peace conference in Kabul and Karzai's statement that its membership would be announced next week marks a "significant step toward peace talks," according to a statement issued by Karzai's office.

It said members will include former Taliban, jihadi leaders, leading figures in Afghan society and women, but gave no other details. They will be prepared to negotiate with insurgents who renounce violence, honor the Afghan constitution, and sever ties with terrorist networks.

The Taliban have so far rejected peace talks while foreign troops remain in the country. Talks held in Kabul and the Maldives with an insurgent group led by ex-Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar produced no breakthrough.

Still, Karzai hopes the reconciliation process will help render a split in the Taliban between its hardcore members - who have shown no appetite for compromise - and those willing to consider abandoning the insurgency.

Though some observers have expressed concern about cutting any sort of deal with insurgents, foreign governments working to stabilize the Afghan government and economy have welcomed the move, especially given U.S. plans to begin withdrawing some of its forces next July.

"We warmly welcome today's announcement," the British Foreign Office said of Karzai's move. "We will not bring about a more secure Afghanistan by military means alone ... We have always said that a political process is needed to bring the conflict in Afghanistan to an end."

With the nearly 9-year war showing no sign of winding down, calls for talks have increasingly echoed among policy analysts and Afghan politicians, growing louder since the February campaign to take Marjah, in Helmand province, ended without a clear victory.

U.S. Marines and Afghan troops overran the area and announced plans to put in place an effective Afghan administration in hopes of inspiring local populations to rise up against the Taliban.

Instead, the Taliban have fought back with hidden bombs, ambushes, assassinations and intimidation, undercutting NATO's efforts to win public support. That has fueled doubts on Capitol Hill and among the American public that the Afghan war can be won.

Parker, who leaves his post at the end of this month, told reporters in Kabul it was "nobody's fault" that the Marjah campaign has gone slower than expected, but is simply a product of the "complexity of the environment we're operating in."

"I think we were probably a little bit over-enthusiastic," Parker said.

Elsewhere Saturday, a midday attack in the northern province of Kunduz killed seven people, including four policemen, and wounded another 16 people, provincial spokesman Mabubullah Sayedi said.

While there was no immediate sign of a connection, the bombing came on the first anniversary of a NATO airstrike on two fuel trucks just outside Kunduz city that killed as many as 142 people - the single largest loss of civilian lives since the 2001 U.S. invasion of the country.

Also on Saturday, an American service member was killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. No further details were released.

Two rockets were fired late Saturday in the northwestern city of Herat, one of which landed about 500 yards (meters) from the Five Stars Hotel that serves as a U.S. consulate, police said. There were no casualties.

At least three people were also killed and 11 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on a U.S. Army convoy in the insurgent hotbed of Kandahar, according to local hospitals. NATO said there were no injuries to coalition forces or damage to their vehicles.

Meanwhile, nervous Afghans on Saturday continued pulling funds out of the nation's largest bank despite assurances from government leaders that their money was safe.

Crowds gathered at Kabul Bank branches around the capital to withdraw dollar and Afghan currency savings, with customers saying they had lost faith in the bank's solvency following a change in leadership and reports that tens of millions of dollars had been lent to political elites for risky real estate investments.

While there was little apparent sign of panic, the deputy commander of the international coalition in Afghanistan said contingency plans were being drawn up in case of unrest sparked by a run on the bank.

"We're prepared to deal with the unexpected," Lt. Gen. Sir Nick Parker said.

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How Britain Trounced Napoleon In Battle - And In The Bedroom

By Peter Snow — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:39:00 +0200

TWO HUNDRED years ago this month, in late September 1810, William Grattan -- a young soldier serving in Portugal with the British Army -- heard his colonel shout an order: 'Drive those French rascals down the hill ... push home your bayonets to the muzzle.'

Grattan described what followed: 'All was now confusion and uproar, smoke, fire and bullets, officers and soldiers, French drummers and French drums knocked down in every direction.'

He was watching the opening clash in the Battle of Bussaco, one of the most savage engagements of the Peninsular War -- a campaign that lasted for six years from 1808 to 1814, in which Wellington's army fought relentlessly to drive Napoleon's troops out of Spain and Portugal.

The French struggled but failed to reach the top of a ridge where the British commander-in-chief, Arthur, Lord Wellington, had drawn up his forces. Afterwards Grattan heard Wellington, who was never far from any action, saying he'd 'never witnessed a more gallant charge.'

Merge Our Royal Navy With The Feeble French?

It's the gripping reality of eyewitness accounts like William Grattan's that convinced me to write the story of what is also one of the greatest military enterprises in British history.

Grattan was just one of hundreds of men whose vivid personal accounts make Wellington's war with Napoleon -- which famously reached its denouement at Waterloo in June 1815 -- the earliest in history to be so fully recorded by the men who actually fought it.

Wellington and his men were first sent to the Peninsula in 1808. Napoleon -- at the height of his power -- had added Spain and Portugal to his empire, which prompted rebellions there against French oppression.

Britain saw an opportunity to undermine Napoleon by landing an army to support the rebels. It began a mere 14,000 strong, but by 1810 Wellington had more than 50,000 men under his command, as well as fastgrowing Portuguese and Spanish forces fighting with him.

The stories his men tell are as harrowing as accounts of the fighting in Afghanistan today, and if the technology of war they experienced was vastly different, the need for personal courage and inspired leadership from senior officers was the same.

Just like today they were fighting in extremes of climate. Spanish and Portuguese summers were so hot and water so short that one young soldier, Thomas Todd, was reduced to sucking pebbles to slake his thirst. Supplies were a constant headache, with local people suspicious and often reluctant to help.

And all the time -- just as with our modern commanders -- Wellington had to look over his shoulder and work to persuade the government and the people at home that he was winning. Luckily, he nearly always was.

Through the eyewitness accounts of the Peninsular soldiers, we learn of the appalling conditions of camp life with virtually no sanitation, of the primitive medicine that left so many soldiers limbless, and of the surprising role of women in warfare. Above all, the letters and diaries of the time tell us about the horrors of battle.

One of the bloodiest encounters with the French was the siege of the great fortress town of Badajoz in 1812. Among the first into the main breach in the walls there was the rifleman Ned Costello. He was carrying a ladder with three others. They were all shot dead beside him and the full weight of the heavy ladder came down on him.

'I fell backward ... the remainder of the stormers rushed up, regardless of my cries or of those of the wounded around me. Many in passing were shot and fell upon me so that I was actually drenched in blood.'

Another soldier, William Lawrence, also made it to the breach but was hit twice in the leg. Then a musket ball pierced his side and would have killed him if it hadn't been stopped by his metal water canteen.

In front of him he saw a murderous trap set across his path by the French defenders -- a forest of sword blades fixed on a huge wooden plank 'from behind which the garrison opened a deadly fire on us. Vain attempts were made to remove this fearful obstacle during which my left hand was dreadfully cut by one of the blades.'

The town fell in the end, but Wellington lost nearly 5,000 men dead and wounded out of his besieging force of some 20,000. The fury of the victorious British troops at the loss of so many friends and comrades led to an orgy of drunkenness and looting that remains one of the most shameful blots on the Army's record.

One nunnery was subjected to wholesale rape. George Hennell reported that 'one of our officers saw a man go among a number of women and force off all their earrings. Those that would not give way he broke off a bit of their ear.'

But there were flickers of humanity as well. Two teenage girls who had blood trickling down their necks where their earrings had been torn off appealed to John Kincaid of the Rifles and his fellow officer, Harry Smith. Kincaid later wrote that the younger woman, who was just 14, 'was one of delicate freshness, irresistibly attractive. To look at her was to love her'.

Harry Smith was so captivated by her that he proposed, and then married her three days later in the presence of Wellington. Harry and Juana Smith were to remain happily married for a lifetime.

Many years later, he became a popular Governor of the Cape Colony in South Africa, and the grateful South Africans named two towns after them -- Harrismith and Ladysmith.

Women played a remarkable role in Wellington's army. A small number of soldiers were allowed to take their wives to war with them. They, and the babies who were soon born to them, followed the troops everywhere.

The women performed useful tasks like washing and cooking (they were allowed half a man's ration of food, the children a quarter), but these spouses who followed the army were not the only females that interested the men.

Women played a part in the boisterous life of soldiers away from the battlefield as well. Wellington's officers and men lost no time in carousing in local towns and villages in their long march across Portugal and Spain.

Fred Ponsonby, a cavalry officer, caused chaos at a ball in Madrid. 'In waltzing after supper I got a tumble by sticking my spurs into a lady's gown, and brought half Madrid down with me,' he recalled.

George Bell, meanwhile, an officer in the 35th regiment, said he and his comrades spent several weeks in one Spanish town where 'there were many pretty girls ... every fellow had his own sweetheart. The young ladies were charming, barring education ...'

August Schaumann, a young supply officer, claimed he had five lovers in one village, including the wife of the church organist. She used to visit him when her husband was busy playing at Sunday services.

Those women who travelled with the soldiers did what they could to care for the wounded, but medical services were wretchedly inadequate. Nearly half a century before Florence Nightingale, there was little organised nursing in Wellington's army. There were doctors, but their prescriptions were primitive. They saw amputation as the only safe cure for a wound from a musket ball that had penetrated far below the surface of the flesh.

There was no anaesthetic save a stiff glass of brandy: chloroform was still more than 40 years away. The best hope was that the victim would faint as the surgeon's knife cut through the infected limb.

One soldier, William Grattan, described a makeshift hospital full of dreadfully wounded men, and surgeons stripped to their shirts and covered with blood.

A number of doors had been ripped off their hinges to serve as amputating tables, and 'to the right and left were arms and legs, flung here and there, without distinction ...'

Grattan was asked by a doctor to hold down a man while his thigh was cut off. 'The operation was the most shocking sight I have ever witnessed: it lasted nearly half an hour but his life was saved.'

The aftermath of battle also left dead and wounded soldiers untended on the field, prey to looting by local people -- and by their own former comrades. Bodies were stripped of jewellery, money, even boots and items of uniform and clothing.

Almost anything was thought to be fair game, but one British soldier couldn't get a valuable ring off the finger of one of his own dead countrymen, so he slashed off the finger with his knife. He was spotted and earned himself a court martial and 500 lashes. Juana Smith -- in her diary -- describes how wives searched sometimes in vain for their husbands after each battle, though one cynic remarked that a woman was seldom alone for long. 'The worst that could happen to them was the chance of being in a state of widowhood for a week.'

Wellington himself was a notorious ladies' man. Later in his career, when he was ambassador in Paris, he was said to have had affairs with two of Napoleon's mistresses. One of them later remarked that of the two, 'the Duke was by far the more vigorous'.

But he had little time for affairs on his campaigns. This was a man who took not one day's leave until he had fought Napoleon's forces well back into Southern France in 1814.

He was ruthless in insisting on discipline in his ranks, but he was ruthless with himself as well. It was an extraordinary transformation from the youth whose only possible talent appeared to have beenplaying the violin.

He had been the despair of his mother: 'I don't know what I shall do with my awkward son Arthur,' she complained. But this son of the Earl of Mornington was to surprise everyone by setting aside his violin, learning to be a fine horseman, buying himself a commission in the Army and being posted to India.

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There he struck lucky. His brother became Governor General, and appointed Arthur commander of the Indian army that greatly enlarged Britain's Indian empire. By the time he'd returned home and was posted to the Peninsula, he had developed the skills that made him one of the greatest of history's commanders.

His eye for the ground, his sense of timing and cool tactical judgment made him master of every battlefield.

From the moment he landed in the Peninsula he was outsmarting the French. He fooled the French Marshal Nicolas Soult at Oporto in 1809 by attacking from a direction that was the precise opposite to the one Soult expected.

At Salamanca in 1812 he caught the French overextended and rolled up one division after another in a magnificently orchestrated set of attacks.

At Vitoria in 1813 he delivered the decisive blow to France's army in Spain by attacking from four quarters at the same time -- sending his enemy scampering back to the Pyrenees.

One of his most notable qualities -- and perhaps his greatest legacy and lesson for his successors today -- was his determination only to join battle when he believed he could win it, and to retreat when he faced overwhelming odds.

In 1812, frustrated by his lack of artillery at the siege of Burgos and told that large French armies were gathering, he retreated all the way back to Portugal rather than risk defeat.

For all that, Wellington was respected rather than loved by his men. Very few of those who wrote about him said he was a man they could get close to. The nearest one of them could come to an affectionate description of him was 'that longnosed beggar that licks the French'.

But all admired him for what he was -- a matchless battlefield commander.

Immensely sel fconfident, he remarked after his victory at Waterloo: 'By God I don't think it would have been won if I had not been there.'

He was always in control, always within reach of the front line, so that he could make sure that his orders got through to the key commanders. He was lucky not to be killed or wounded as many of his aides were -- so lucky that he said he believed the 'finger of God was upon me'.

Like our modern generals in Afghanistan, Wellington believed that winning the hearts and minds of the people on whom his army depended was of vital importance. When he heard of two men stealing from the one village, he ordered them hanged immediately.

But there were rare occasions when Wellington showed he was capable of deep feeling. He was so appalled by the bloodshed in the breach at Badajoz that he admitted weeping when he saw the carnage the following morning.

Two hundred years after one of Wellington's great victories, at Bussaco, we are once more honour ing British soldiers giving their lives to defend our country.

But I hope we will never forget the heroism of the men who fought Napoleon's armies, and the debt we owe to them and to their extraordinary commander.

TO War With Wellington: From The Peninsula To Waterloo by Peter Snow. Published on September 16 by John Murray, Pounds 25.

'So many died that I was drenched in their blood'

A nunnery was subjected to wholesale rape

Soldiers robbed the bodies of their dead comrades

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Ex-Army Boss Blasts Blair And Brown On Troops

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:34:29 +0200

Karzai Offers To 'Reintegrate' Taliban

Associated Press — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:30:00 +0200

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he will set up a peace council as part of the reconciliation effort to reintegrate some Taliban militants.

A spokesman for Karzai's office said the list of council members will be announced early next week, CNN reported Saturday.

Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, said earlier this week approaches to some Taliban members as part of a reconciliation initiative have yielded results and could be instrumental in resolving the conflict there.

Approaches to senior level Taliban officials have shown promise, Petraeus said, but the military isn't envisioning peace talks with hard-liners .

"Abusive" Taliban officials, like one who recently approved the stoning of a young couple in northern Afghanistan, shouldn't be offered positions of authority after a peace deal, a Human Rights Watch official said last month.

"The Afghan government has said there will be negotiations with the Taliban," Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said.

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British Commander Warns: Worst Violence In Afghanistan Is Yet To Come

By PATRICK SAWER — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:25:00 +0200

BRITAIN'S MOST senior commander in Afghanistan has warned that violence in the country will get worse before it gets better.

Lt Gen Sir Nick Parker, the deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force, said Allied forces were making progress against Taliban insurgents but it was "hard, slow and variable".

His warnings follow what has been a bloody year for British troopsin Afghanistan, with 87 dying since January, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of operations in 2001 to 332.

Lt Gen Parker said: "I am afraid this absolutely tallies with what we have been telling people for the last four to five months: that the 'bell curve' of violence will increase before it decreases, as we demonstrate the fact that we can dominate this insurgency."

He compared the current stage of ISAF's mission to the period in a battle when violence was at its height.

"We are going up the hill into the enemy at the moment," he told BBC Radio. "This is a complex counter-insurgency and a resilient enemy.

"Over the course of the summer, the momentum of the campaign has continued much as we predicted it would earlier in the year. We are seeing progress but it is hard, it is slow and it is variable.

"But I am convinced that we are showing persistent security in areas where the insurgency has dominated in the past and the people who live in those areas are beginning to realise not only that we are serious, but also - importantly - that the Afghan government is beginning to bring more governance and development to those areas."

His comments came ahead of an announcement yesterday by Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, of a council to pursue peace talks with the Taliban.

The High Peace Council will act as a negotiating body made up of representatives from across Afghan society and was described as a "significant step towards peace talks" by Mr Karzai's office.

Negotiations with insurgent leaders are seen as critical to any hopes of ending the nine-year rebellion. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said yesterday it "warmly welcomed" the plans. "We will not bring about a more secure Afghanistan by military means alone," he said.

Britain has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and is the secondlargest contributor to the 150,000-strong international force fighting Taliban militants.

A recent lull in British casualties has been credited to a number of offensives against the Taliban. The most recent British fatality was L/ Cpl Jordan Bancroft of 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, who was killed during a battle in Nad-e Ali on Aug 21.

Lt Gen Parker said he could not allow himself to be swayed by individual deaths, though he described each one as a "tragedy".

He said: "At the level I am operating at, you have to try to look above that, you have to look at the effect we are trying to create more widely across the campaign.

"If your judgments were affected by each individual tragedy, you would make some very dubious decisions. We mustn't allow our judgments to be made simply on the basis of casualties." Lt Gen Parker's son Harry, 26, lost a leg when he caught the full force of a Taliban booby-trap bomb while leading a patrol in July last year.

Asked whether progress was being made rapidly enough for British troops to be withdrawn within the five-year timescale laid down by David Cameron, Lt Gen Parker said: "It's progressing in the right way, it's progressing as we predicted.

"There's a heck of a lot of work to be done in the next year to make sure it continues to ... build towards those targets being set by our various political masters."

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The English Channel Air Force?

Colin Clark — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:51:00 +0200

One of the trial balloons floated in the last two weeks in the fevered European debate about what not to buy for defense was that France and Britain would share aircraft carriers.

Publicly and officially their defense ministers repudiated that idea today but they did raise the prospect of sharing the fleet of the hugely over-budget but technologically hugely over-budget but technologically impressive A400M air transport, as well as helicopters and some “naval units.”

“Tankers, A400s, naval units, but just to be clear not aircraft carriers, are areas where we can work toward pooling,” French Defense Minister Herve Morin said after a meeting with British counterpart Liam Fox. Several news agencies reported Morin’s and Fox’s remarks earlier today.

“This is about mutual interests. Our two natural partners are the U.S. and France. I can’t deny that there is an element of urgency added by budget concerns ,” Fox said. Even though his country won’t share carriers with France, Fox left open the possibility the U.K. might cancel one of its Queen Elizabeth carriers, a decision he said would be taken in October. BAE Systems is the lead on the deal, with Babcock International Group and Thales as key partners on £ 4.9 billion deal.

The comments by Morin and Fox appear to leave on the table the idea that Britain might borrow F/A-18s from the United States for its carrier fleet. Britain has also reportedly considered canceling its F-35B STOVL buy for the carriers in favor of longer-range F-35Cs. this would require substantial additions to the carrier fleet, changes that have been designed to. But they would presumably increase the ships’ costs.

Terrifying Experiences During And After The Falklands War

By Edd McCracken — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:07:00 +0200

For three weeks after he turned 18, David Cruickshanks sat in the bowels of a Royal Navy assault ship while Argentinian forces ripped its sides with machine gun fire and bombs tore at its bow. He prayed none were destined for him as he listened helplessly to the terrifying noises outside.

Now aged 46, Cruickshanks's experiences during and after the Falklands war form part of a new graphic novel about a Scottish soldier returning from modern-day Afghanistan to Glasgow.

Written by Rodge Glass, the Glasgow-based secretary and biographer of Scottish writer and artist Alasdair Gray, and illustrated by Dave Turbitt, who works on the BBC series Doctor Who, Dougie's War is published next week.

Glass interviewed soldiers who served in the Second World War, the Falklands, Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan to investigate the hidden problem of post-traumatic stress disorder - a mental time-bomb that plagues many ex- servicemen.

Dougie's War may follow one of the thousands of young men returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, but Cruickshanks believes his experiences are timeless.

" We've had more suicides from soldiers who served in the Falklands than were killed there," he said. "There are large numbers of people coming back from war zones with problems. And its compounded by the ambivalence towards the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq by the British people.

"People just want it to end. Soldiers come back, have the medal ceremonies, hero worship, but the hardest part is fitting back in to civilian life ."

Cruickshanks served in the navy between 1981 and 1986. He was 17 when he signed up. On his 18th birthday he was part of a flotilla when HMS Sheffield was sunk by Argentinian forces. As a semi- skilled trainee his job was to remain below deck and reconnect any power supplies that were lost.

"We could hear lots of things, our guns going up, their bombs landing," he said. "That was pretty terrifying. You have no control. It's not like a gunner who can see what is happening, aim the gun and shoot the enemy. We just had to sit and wait, listen to these terrifying noises and hope none is for you. I did a lot of praying, I'm not ashamed to admit. In sheer terror you've not many get-out clauses. I went for the big one."

After triumphantly landing in Port Stanley, complete with hugs and kisses from the locals, he returned home only to find the British public less impressed. "I thought I was a hero here," he said. "And then I got beaten up by a couple of thugs in London. I'm not invincible. I realised because I survived a war does not mean I'll survive civvy street."

The beating is one aspect of Cruickshanks's life that made it into the graphic novel. Another is the panic and anxiety attacks. Fifteen years after the conflict, he started having pains in his neck and leg, being overwhelmed by the feeling he was going to die. He started drinking to self-medicate. Feelings of survivor guilt, again shared by Dougie in the graphic novel, also crept in.

"After the Falklands you are ecstatic about being alive, but it will always be juxtaposed with 'why me'?" he said.

"You want to live a good life. There were guys who died when they were 19 or 20, and I've had all this time. You hope you haven't wasted it. And of course you have wasted some of it getting drunk and being a bit of an idiot."

Cruickshanks is now married and living in Fife. Despite still being affected by loud noises in the cinema, he has received therapy for his stress disorder and is now recovered and working as a photographer. According to Glass, Cruickshanks is one of several ex- military men whose lives make up the character of Dougie.

"Really the whole comic is supposed to make connections with this war and past wars," said Glass. "Many of the stories people told me were very similar: feeling abandoned afterwards, not knowing how to admit to problems, a culture of not speaking out. All these things we are trying to get changed."

There is a clear reason why Dougie's War is a comic rather than a novel. "Because we are trying to get at teenagers," said Glass. "We are trying to get to people who are considering going into the army. It's about raising awareness about the trouble people who have served can experience, and say we need to treat them right. Raising awareness among young people about the real consequences of war can only be a good thing."

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British and French Officials Say Sharing Carriers a Silly Idea

Greg Grant — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:51:00 +0200

News reports surfaced this past week that in a drastic bid to trim government spending Britain and France were discussing sharing aircraft carriers. Britain currently operates two carriers, HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious, with two more under construction, while France operates the large deck carrier Charles de Gaulle.

Today, British and French officials threw cold water on the idea with Britain’s defense secretary Liam Fox calling the carrier time share idea “utterly unrealistic.” The two countries are discussing sharing aerial refueling aircraft and maintenance on the A400M transport aircraft and further industry collaboration, reports the Financial Times.

In a related story, Britain’s Telegraph reports that the Royal Navy may abandon plans to buy the short take off and vertical landing version of the F-35 in favor of the carrier launch version to replace their Harrier jump jets. That would mean fixing catapults on the carriers under construction; the new carriers are not due to enter service until 2014 and 2016.

Phony Princess Di Hawks Undies

United Press International — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:41:00 +0200

A Chinese lingerie company used a Princess Diana lookalike to launch an undergarment line on the anniversary of her death, prompting criticism from Britons.

Pictures of the Princess Diana lookalike were splashed on billboards throughout China accompanied by the tag line "Feel the romance of British royalty. Diana underwear," Sky News reported Thursday.

The phony Princess Diana is pictured in bra and undies, wearing a tiara and necklace while playing a cello to a child.

Jealousy International, the underwear company using the Diana lookalike, is in China's southern Guandong province.

Princess Diana died Aug. 31, 1997, in a car crash in a tunnel in Paris, along with her boyfriend, Dodi al Fayed, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul.

On its Web site, Jealousy promotes its "Diana" with copy urging visitors to "Free your mind, free your style."

Britain restricts usage of images of the royal family for product promotion but lacks authority to act against foreign companies that do so.

Clarence House, which represents Prince Charles, did not comment on the ad, Sky News said.

Alan Berry, co-founder of the Diana Appreciation Society, called the ad a "blatant exploitation of a dead lady's name," e-zine First Post in London said.

Sam Chambers, a British journalist who works in China, told Sky News he "couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. ... It's all the more striking because today is the anniversary of her death."

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Afghans Continue Run on Kabul Bank

Associated Press — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:36:00 +0200

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Nervous Afghans on Saturday continued pulling funds out of the nation's largest bank despite assurances from government leaders that their money was safe.

"Kabul Bank has lost the trust of the people. Even the chairman resigned so all the people are concerned," said Mohammad Nawaz, head of an Afghan aid group who had been trying for three hours to withdraw the $15,000 in his account.

The bank run that began earlier in the week undermines efforts by the central government to build an efficient political and financial system to drag Afghanistan out of its dire poverty.

Petraeus: Relationship with Karzai Sound

Problems at the bank could have wide-ranging political repercussions since it handles the pay for Afghan public servants, soldiers and police in the unstable nation beset by a Taliban insurgency, widespread drug trafficking and the plundering of aid money.

Kabul Bank's woes also underscore entrenched problems with cronyism and corruption, with millions of dollars in deposits allegedly loaned to relatives and friends of the ruling elite to buy property in financially troubled Dubai.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Kabul Bank's losses could exceed $300 million -- more than the bank's assets. In addition, The Washington Post said Afghanistan's central bank had ordered Kabul Bank's newly resigned chairman to hand over $160 million in Dubai real estate holdings.

On Thursday, President Hamid Karzai reassured anxious bank customers, saying every penny of their deposits would be guaranteed by the government.

"The Kabul Bank is safe," Karzai said in comments echoed by the country's central bank governor and independent banking association.

Despite the growing skepticism, Kabul Bank could still be the best option for Afghans with cash holdings, with its nationwide network of branches and automated teller machines and ability to provide financial services such as loans, bill paying, and money transfers.

Mohammad Habib Angar, a calligrapher, said he was taking out most of his Afghan and dollar savings, but wasn't ready to close his account.

"I will wait to see what will happen next. If the bank is able to create confidence, for sure I will put my money back in Kabul Bank because I do not want to close my account," Angar said.

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Mullen Seeks Turkish Support Over Iran

Associated Press — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:31:00 +0200

ANKARA, Turkey -- The United States' top military officer stressed on Saturday the need for Turkey to help enforce United Nations sanctions against Iran aimed at deterring the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

Turkey voted against the U.S.-backed sanctions against Iran in June, insisting that its neighbor's nuclear program is peaceful , despite fears that Tehran might be seeking to develop nuclear arms. Turkey has, however, stated that it will abide by the sanctions.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in the Turkish capital he did not plan to "question or rebut" Turkey over the vote and welcomed Turkey's stated intention to abide by those sanctions.

The U.N. approved a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in early June over accusations that Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies its nuclear program is militaristic in nature and says it has a right to conduct uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes. Washington and other powers accuse Iran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon.

Mullen said that both countries agree that Iran should not achieve "a nuclear weapons capability," and need "to do all that we can to ensure that."

Mullen arrived in Ankara on Friday to meet with his new Turkish counterpart, Gen. Isik Kosaner, who took office on Aug. 27. He also met with Turkey's prime minister and defense minister. No statements were released after those meetings.

Mullen praised Turkey -- NATO's sole Muslim member state -- for its role in Afghanistan and said the United States would welcome any additional help it can provide.

Turkey currently holds the rotating command of the international peacekeeping force guarding the Afghan capital, while Turkish instructors are training the Afghan army and police force.

"We would like Turkey to sustain all of those efforts," Mullen said. "Any additional capabilities that Turkey can provide against the training shortfall, that would certainly be of great help."

The U.S. military chief said Washington has no plans to withdraw its weapons from Iraq through Turkey, though the U.S. military has sought Turkish permission to transport some non-combat equipment from Iraq through its territory.

Turkey has said it looks favorably on the passage of such equipment and technical material, but not arms, which would require parliament's approval.

In 2003, Turkey refused to allow U.S. forces to use its territory to invade Iraq.

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