Operations
Other Conflicts
Defense Policy / Programs
News Reports

Current Operations

• AFGHAN AUTHORITIES ARREST SUSPECTED TERRORIST IN KABUL NATO/ISAF 07 Oct 2003 -- At 0654 hrs on October 7, 2003 the Afghan Authorities with the assistance of ISAF troops carried out a security operation to arrest a suspected terrorist and criminal in the Central Kabul area.
• Afghanistan: NATO Praised For Willingness To Expand ISAF RFE/RL 07 Oct 2003 -- An agreement, in principle, by NATO countries to expand the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan beyond Kabul has been welcomed today by the Afghan government as well as aid workers and analysts. But important steps remain before NATO troops can be deployed to the country's provincial regions -- including approval of a new ISAF mandate by the UN Security Council and final approval by NATO of specific military plans.
• AFGHANISTAN U-S TALEBAN VOA 07 Oct 2003-- Two years after the start of the U-S war against Afghanistan's former Taleban regime, U-S special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad says attacks by resurgent Taleban fighters are expected to worsen in the weeks ahead
• AFGHANISTAN ECONOMY VOA 07 Oct 2003-- Starting Tuesday, Afghanistan is no longer accepting the U-S dollar and other foreign currencies as legal tender
• U.N. Security Council Expects to Expand Afghan Security Force Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said October 7 that he expected the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) to be expanded by the end of the month.
• U.S. Says No Final Decision Yet on Serbian Troops for Afghanistan Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- Following is a statement in response to a question about Serbia sending troops to Afghanistan taken at the State Department's October 6, 2003 Daily Press Briefing; an answer was posted later in the day:
• AFGHAN-RECONSTRUCTION VOA 07 Oct 2003-- On October 7, 2001, the United States launched an aerial bombing campaign in Afghanistan that led to the collapse of the ruling Taliban regime. Now, two years later, the Bush Administration is reorganizing its reconstruction efforts in both Afghanistan and Iraq
• U-N/Afghanistan VOA 07 Oct 2003-- The U-N Security Council is planning prompt action to authorize an expanded international peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan. U-S Ambassador John Negroponte says the authorization should be approved before he and other Security Council ambassadors visit Afghanistan late this month

Other Conflicts

• Rebel armies` running on narcotics trade along border with Myanmar IRNA 07 Oct 2003 -- A flourishing narcotics trade along India`s border with Myanmar was helping scores of rebel armies getting finances for running their violent military campaigns, officials Tuesday said.
• Three soldiers killed, two injured blast in Jammu and Kashmir IRNA 07 Oct 2003 -- Three Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and two others injured when militants set off an improvised explosive device (IED), targeting the road opening party of the force, on Srinagar-Pahalgam road in south Kashmir on Tuesday.
• U.S. Calls On Serbia, Kosovo To Talk RFE/RL 07 Oct 2003 -- The U.S. State Department is urging officials from Serbia and Kosovo to enter into serious talks next week in Austria when they meet for their first formal discussions since the end of the 1999 war.
• CONGO/VIOLENCE VOA 07 Oct 2003-- The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now confirmed 55 killed in the latest massacre in the country's northeastern province of Ituri. U-N troops have been dispatched to conduct reconnaissance missions in the area and hunt down the attackers
• PALESTINIANS/POLITICS VOA 07 Oct 2003-- Palestinian President Yasser Arafat formally installed his emergency cabinet Tuesday. The cabinet, which is to serve for a maximum of two months, is headed by new Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who is facing calls by Israel and the United States to halt Palestinian terrorism.
• IVORY COAST/POLITICS VOA 07 Oct 2003-- Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has called on all his political rivals to take part in a national dialogue so that Ivory Coast can be reunited. He made the comment amid growing fears that a power-sharing peace deal signed with rebels in January is collapsing
• ISRAEL / MIDEAST VOA 07 Oct 2003-- Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, says his country is ready at any time to strike its enemies, even across national boundaries. His comments come two days after Israeli warplanes targeted a suspected Palestinian terrorist base inside Syria
• ISRAEL'S SYRIA RAID VOA 07 Oct 2003-- Much of the American press is viewing the Israeli air raid into Syria as a significant escalation of the Middle East conflict. While describing the Palestinian suicide bombing that killed 19 people on the eve of Yom Kippur [the Jewish Day of Atonement] as "horrific," many papers are editorializing that the Israeli response may broaden hostilities.
• UN envoy condemns attack from Lebanese territory that killed Israeli soldier UN News Centre 07 Oct 2003 -- The senior United Nations envoy for the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, today condemned an attack from Lebanese territory that killed an Israeli soldier across the southern withdrawal line last night and urged Beirut to control the use of force everywhere in its jurisdiction.
• U.S. Urges All in Middle East to Avoid Heightened Tensions Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- President Bush repeated October 7 that Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorism but at the same time said it is important that Israeli actions not escalate the violence in the Middle East.
• Kosovo: UN mission chief invites leaders from Pristina, Belgrade for direct talks UN News Centre 07 Oct 2003 -- The head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo today sent out formal invitations to the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro to participate in direct talks next week in Vienna.
• Use of unilateral and pre-emptive force is dangerous - Annan UN News Centre 07 Oct 2003 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today told a group of African-American civil society groups that he is "convinced that it is in America's interest today to work through the United Nations."
• UN team finds 65 bodies in eastern DR of Congo UN News Centre 07 Oct 2003 -- The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has discovered 65 bodies, mostly children, apparently massacred Monday, a UN spokesman said today.

• The Return of the Child Soldiers of Sierra Leone Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- Actor Michael Douglas, starring in the role of United Nations Messenger of Peace in the U.N. film "Child Soldiers," discovered in the making of the documentary that "unlocking the child" in a boy who did unspeakable things as a combatant in Sierra Leone's decade-long civil conflict could come from something as simple as sharing a favorite song.

Defense Policy / Programs

• U-S / GUANTANAMO PROBE VOA 07 Oct 2003-- Investigators examining possible security breaches at the U-S Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are now considering the possibility that interrogations of hundreds of suspected Taleban and al-Qaida detainees have been sabotaged by interpreters

• Multilateral Arms Control: Time to Opt for Effectiveness US Dept. of State 07 Oct 2003 -- Stephen G. Rademaker, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Statement to the First Committee of the 58th Session of the UN General Assembly

• DoD Must Tighten Controls on Excess Equipment Sales AFPS 07 Oct 2003-- The United States needs to tighten controls on Internet sales of excess Defense Department laboratory equipment that could be used to make chemical and biological agents, a General Accounting Office official said here today.
• U.S. Working to Shore up Allies, Take on 'Narcoterror' AFPS 07 Oct 2003-- The United States is working diligently with neighbors to the south to shore up democratic states and take on terrorist organizations, said Army Gen. James E. Hill at the Association of the U.S. Army meeting here.
• U.S. Will 'Reposition' Overseas Footprint Before BRAC Cuts at Home AFPS 07 Oct 2003-- Although many in the standing-room-only audience expected to hear the Army's plans for the next Base Realignment and Closure round scheduled for 2005, Raymond DuBois, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, said that for now, the major issue concerning the Pentagon is the military's global footprint overseas.
• Air Force Academy Introduces Sweeping Changes, Looks to Future AFPS 07 Oct 2003-- When the Class of 2007 cadets reported for in-processing at the U.S. Air Force Academy in late June, they found many new changes that are putting academy policies more directly in line with those of the active Air Force.
• New shotgun to be fielded in Afghanistan Army News Service 07 Oct 2003-- Dismounted Battlespace Battle Lab's lightweight shotgun system is undergoing operational inspection and test firing for 200 shotguns to be fielded to the 10th Mountain Division for future use in Afghanistan.
• The mail runners of Iraq Army News Service 07 Oct 2003-- Leaving the secure confines of the coalition-controlled Baghdad International Airport each morning and heading out onto the dusty sun-drenched highways of Iraq is a daily adventure for the crew of mail runners.
• Navy's First Expeditionary Medical Unit Deploys to Djibouti Navy Newsstand 07 Oct 2003-- The Navy's first Expeditionary Medical Unit (EMU) deployed here Sept. 14 to provide expanded medical care to personnel supporting Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa.
• The eyes and ears of the battlefield... Arty support elements work ahead of the scene Marine Corps News 07 Oct 2003-- The big guns of artillery get the attention and the glory during training exercises, but it's the Marines behind the scenes, or more appropriately, in front of the scenes, that are the key to accurate firing and protection of the artillery batteries.
• Recon offers immediate action Marine Corps News 07 Oct 2003-- The mission of a reconnaissance Marine is to shape the battlefield by gathering intelligence behind enemy lines, undetected. But in combat, enemy contact may be unavoidable. If they are to prevail and continue with the mission, then they must prepare for any possibility that may arise throughout a patrol.

• NATO SHIPS VISIT MALTA NATO AFSOUTH 07 Oct 2003 -- NATO ships will visit Malta, 10-12 October 2003, when 7 units from NATO's Standing Naval Force Mediterranean (STANAVFORMED) will be berthed at the port of La Valetta.
• Transcript: Secretary Rumsfeld Press Conference on Informal NATO Ministerial 07 Oct 2003 -- "This is a big event, needless to say, not just for Colorado Springs but for our country and for NATO. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the last two, two and a half years has done some things it's never done before in history. We proposed a NATO Response Force last year, the Prague Summit endorsed it, and it's happening. It is a significant event."

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 07 Oct 2003 -- No EU military "HQ" in Tervuren / EU plans 65 million euro spend on defence research / Turkey's Cabinet agrees to contribute troops to Iraq, seeks authorization from Parliament / Security Council mission to visit Afghanistan this month / Pentagon deficient in monitoring surplus biological, chemical lab equipment / Germany and Saudi Arabia to intensify anti-terrorism cooperation
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 07 Oct 2003 -- NATO-led peacekeepers arrest terror suspect in Kabul / Informal Alliance defense ministers' meeting under media scrutiny

• PHILIPPINES / SECURITY VOA 07 Oct 2003-- In the Philippines, three policeman and one Muslim guerilla are dead after a hostage stand-off at the National Police headquarters. The guerrilla, a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group and a prisoner at the police station, was apparently attempting to escape
• White House Daily Briefing, October 7, 2003 Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- Economy, leak allegation, Middle East/violence, Iraq/stabilization group, Turkey/contributing troops to Iraq, Mideast/road map, California recall election
• State Department Noon Briefing, October 7, 2003 Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- Syria, Iraq, Turkey, China/Taiwan, North Korea, Kuwait, Department/leak investigation, Iran
• Promotion of Human Rights Vital for Security, Amb. Smith Says Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- "We cannot attempt to address the threat to the stability of our region if we do not deal with ensuring the fundamental human and democratic rights of our populations," Ambassador Pamela Hyde Smith told the opening plenary of the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation meeting, which this year is taking place in Warsaw.
• OAS Calls for Coordinated Global Approach to Combat Terrorism Washington File 07 Oct 2003-- Addressing an anti-terrorism meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) headquarters in Washington, El Salvador's Foreign Affairs Minister Maria Eugenia Brizuela has called for a coordinated global approach to combating international terrorism, according to an OAS press release.