Afghan president welcomes U.S withdrawal

The Afghan government on yesterday welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to bring home half of the 66,000 American troops in Afghanistan within the next year, and said its forces are ready to take responsibility for the country's security.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been pressing for a faster pace in the withdrawal of foreign combat troops from Afghanistan and agreed with Obama last month to accelerate the handover of security responsibilities to his country's newly trained security forces to this spring — instead of late summer as originally planned.

"Afghanistan welcomes the announcement by President Obama," Karzai's office said. "This is something Afghanistan has wanted for so long now. The withdrawal in spring of foreign forces from Afghan villages will definitely help in ensuring peace and full security in Afghanistan."

The Afghan Defense Ministry said it was ready to take on the responsibility.

"We are ready to fill the vacuum and we are ready to take full responsibility for security in 2013," ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi told The Associated Press.

Many Afghans, however, worry that a quick drawdown will destabilize a country that is still fighting a war with insurgents more than 11 years after the US invasion. They also fear that the nearly 352,000 strong Afghan army and police forces are not ready to take the lead for security.

Although the drawdown was widely expected, the announcement for the first time put numbers on the withdrawal plan and for many Afghans brought home the fact that foreign troops are indeed leaving.

"I heard on the news this morning about the withdrawal and became very sad. This is bad news for me," said Mohammad Naim, a 45-year-old Kabul restaurant owner. "The presence of the US soldiers increased the morale of the Afghan people, the country was stable. I don't believe Afghan forces can keep security. For example, you can see that there is still fighting in the provinces."

He recalled the civil war that followed in the years after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, and said he was worried history would be repeated.

"The US lost men and women in this country and spent billions of dollars. We should never forget this. If all the troops leave, the future of the country is dark," Naim said.

Obama said Tuesday in his State of the Union address that the first 34,000 troops will leave within a year and more in 2014, when all foreign combat forces are to leave the country. But he did not reveal what US military presence would remain after 2014 to help advise and train the Afghan forces, and fight al-Qaida and other extremist groups.

That may stem from the lack of an agreement so far on a bilateral security deal between the United States and Afghanistan that would regulate the status of those forces, including the contentious issue of immunity from prosecution under Afghan laws. If no agreement is struck, the US will not retain any forces in Afghanistan after 2014, just as Washington pulled all of its troops out of Iraq at the end of 2011. No other NATO forces are expected to remain either if the Afghans don't strike a deal with the Americans.

The US-led NATO coalition has about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, including the 66,000 Americans. Many countries are also expected to accelerate their own withdrawals. Britain, which has 9,000 troops here, is expected to drop to 5,200 by the end of the year — although they and the US troops are expected to start the main withdrawals after the summer fighting season

Before making the announcement, Obama had briefed Karzai in a video conference.

Karzai's office said the two leaders discussed the pending security agreement, strengthening and equipping the Afghan forces, and the pullout of US forces.

"This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over," Obama said, adding that al-Qaida was no longer the threat it was on Sept. 11, 2001. The US invaded less than a month later to rout al-Qaida in Afghanistan and overthrow its Taliban supporters.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid also welcomed the drawdown, but said it wasn't enough. The coalition, he said, should leave immediately.

"The Western governments must realize that their baseless war in Afghanistan had no benefit for them," Mujahid said in a statement. "Thousands of their soldiers were killed, disabled or faced psychological problems. Billions of dollars were spent, which affected their economies. Their people are faced with poverty and other problems. Now it is time for America and all other countries to put an end to this baseless war in Afghanistan and withdraw their troops."

In some of the country's eastern provinces, where coalition forces have been fighting a resurgent Taliban with mixed success, some people were worried.

Aziza Maisam, a female member of the provincial council in eastern Ghazni province, said she was worried about the fate of women if the Taliban should make a comeback.

"I heard the news this morning and I was thinking of the effect it would have on women. The situation is bad and insecure in Ghazni province. It is a premature decision by Obama to withdraw the troops," she said. "The foreign troops are very necessary. The fighting is not over as President Obama said."

She said it is too early for US troops to leave because the country is still not safe.

"My province is an example," she said. "After 5 p.m. you can't leave Ghazni city."

"Dont be afraid to stand for what you believe in, even if that means standing alone".

Fugitive LA cop Dorner' in police shoot-out!

A man believed to be a former Los Angeles police officer accused of three murders has been involved in a shoot-out with police, reports say.

The suspect exchanged shots with officers in California's Big Bear Lake region and barricaded himself inside a cabin, local police said.

Two officers have been wounded by gunfire and airlifted to hospital.

Christopher Dorner, 33, has been on the run since last week, after the murders in southern California.

He had sworn revenge on police officers he blamed for his sacking in 2008.

US television networks showed police and vehicles surrounding a cabin in a rural area outside Big Bear in the San Bernadino mountains where the fugitive is thought to be holed up.

"The suspect has not been positively identified but we have reason to believe it is Dorner," Cindy Bachman of San Bernadino County Sheriff's Department said.

Dozens of law enforcement officers have rushed to the scene.

Police were alerted after a man matching Mr Dorner's description reportedly broke into a house and tied up two people before making off in a stolen vehicle.

The search moved to the area of Big Bear Lake, a ski resort 80 miles (130km) east of Los Angeles, after the suspect's burned-out truck was found there last Thursday.

Manifesto

LA officials have offered a $1m (£630,000) reward for information leading to his arrest.

The former officer with Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is suspected of killing three people, including a policeman.

Police have been protecting 50 families, many belonging to former LAPD colleagues, against whom Mr Dorner has vowed revenge for allegedly ruining his career.

In an online manifesto, Mr Dorner, a former US Navy reservist, suggested that racism was rife in the LAPD.

culled from BBC news.

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

President Jonathan’s Convoy Reportedly Involved In Car Crash!

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan‘s motor convoy was today involved in an accident in Paris as the Nigerian president was traveling with his aides to a meeting with the French President Francois Gerard Hollande.

Our sources disclosed that the accident occurred 15 minutes away from the Elysee Palace, the venue of the official meeting with the French leader. “The car involved in the accident was the fifth car behind that of President Jonathan,” said a French police source.

Jamilu Waziri, a presidential liaison officer (PLO), was injured in the accident and had to be taken to a Paris hospital where he received treatment for a roken ankle. As a result of the accident, Mr. Waziri was unable to attend the meeting.

 According to a reliable source, Mr. Waziri later flew with President Jonathan who is due to arrive in Abuja shortly. The wounded officer walked with aid of a pair of crutches.

A French official confirmed the accident. The large size of the Nigerian delegation meant that Mr. Jonathan’s aides could not fit into the official vehicles provided by the French government. According to the French source, a car rented by the Nigerian embassy in Paris to convey some of the Nigerian delegates was involved in the accident. Asked who was liable for any damages that resulted from the accident, the source disclosed that French authorities “would not be liable for injuries or damages from the car crash.”

Adenuga Gives Super Eagles $1m!

Globacom boss Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr. last night gave the victorious Super Eagles $1million for winning the Cup of Nations.

Mike Adenuga

   Coach Stephen Keshi got $200,000 cash from the billionaire industrialist who said he will take over the payment of his salary from next month.



 Adenuga announced the package shortly after the team’s 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso’s Stallions.

Aliko Dangote

 Africa’s richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote had earlier given the team N130million, promising to do more after they might have won the cup.

The government’s package for the team will be announced when President Jonathan hosts them at the Presidential Villa on Tueday.

                                                                                            

            

    

All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea. - Napoleon Hill 

Suicide Bomber Stabbed On Public Transportation!

Amir Hefez, 34, an unsuccessful suicide bomber with a dozen sticks of dynamite hidden beneath his coat, was stabbed several times on a local bus in a botched robbery attempt near Hannover Square in London today.

Mr Hefez was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where he remains in critical condition, London media reports.

Based on the testimony of witnesses, Mr. Hefez was attacked with a knife around 4 p.m. today while riding on bus 43. Mr. Hefez had engaged in a verbal conflict with a young man who attempted to flee the scene, but was later apprehended by police.

The incident occurred when the attacker, who has yet to be identified, attempted to steal Mr. Hefez’s backpack. The bomber was stabbed repeatedly when he tried to stop the theft.

For the British public, the case of Amir Hefez has some parallels with that of Jabalabdul Johnson, who had planned to hijack and blow up a plane on a flight between London and New York last year but passed out during takeoff due to his fear of flying, which caused him to remain unconscious throughout the entire flight.

“Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we ought to be.” ― John Gardiner

Pope Benedict XVI To Resign

Pope Bdnedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he would step down at the end of the month is stunning but not surprising for a man with experience running a critical sector of the Vatican hierarchy while his predecessor John Paul II lingered in extremis as absolute ruler of a spiritual empire of a billion living souls. The last years of John Paul II, still much admired since his death on April 2, 2005, were excruciating for the Curia, as the organization’s chief decision maker slowly but publicly withered away in the throes of what was believed to be Parkinson’s disease. Many of Benedict’s pronouncements over the past eight years or so — including a few made while he was yet Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — have led observers to believe he was considering resignation rather than allowing the Catholic Church to go through the ordeal again.

As cited by Thomas Reese in the National Catholic Reporter, Benedict had already emphatically concluded that a Pope may resign if, as the Pontiff said in Light of the World, his wide-ranging 2010 interview with the journalist Peter Seewald, “he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.” But Benedict added, “One can resign at a peaceful moment or when one simply cannot go on. But one must not run away from danger and say someone else should do it.”

The resignation of a Pope is not unprecedented. Gregory XII resigned in 1415 in an act that would restore the unity of the Catholic Church, which had been fractured by schism for nearly 70 years. Gregory, who would live on for two more years, would see the election of his replacement in the orthodox line of succession to Saint Peter. Unless Pope Benedict XVI’s health deteriorates rapidly — he cited it as his reason for stepping down at the end of February — he too will see the election of his successor. And that is likely to do more than extend the Petrine tradition: Benedict XVI may actually have influence over — though not a vote — who the next Pontiff will be, furthering the chances of candidates who will continue his policies. If so, this resignation would not just have been for health reasons but will have important, if not historic, political implications. Benedict isn’t likely to be running away from anything.

The conclave that will elect the next Pope has yet to be assembled, but even if he isn’t present in the Sistine Chapel, Benedict’s living presence as the Emeritus Pontiff is bound to influence the vote. (He is past the age of eligibility of casting a vote.) This sort of informal influence has proved powerful in other cultures — particularly Japan and China, where “retired” shoguns and Emperors continued to make pivotal decisions. Thus, just by living, Joseph Ratzinger, by then the ex-Pope Benedict XVI with a title yet to be decided, will be able to champion his conservative theological and social policies and stack the decks so that a successor of like mind and spirit is enthroned.

That the Pope was physically weakening is no surprise to people who have watched his public appearances in St. Peter’s. He has been more halting in his steps, slightly slower and more difficult to make out in his speech. His brother Georg, also a cleric, said that doctors had advised the Pope to stop making transoceanic trips. As Cardinal Ratzinger, the Pope had headed up what was probably the most efficient bureaucracy in the Vatican; so he would have been the first to notice that things were slagging. Indeed, he may have realized from the start of his papacy that he had ascended as an aging Pope — and not the young athletic Pontiff that John Paul was when he astounded the world with his surprise election as the first Pope from Poland.

Indeed, the Pope has made his share of impolitic statements and overseen a number of scandals. To be fair, he inherited the long-running priestly molestation scandal that has damaged the church’s reputation deeply in many parts of the world, particularly the U.S. and Ireland. But the recent arrest and conviction of his manservant for passing on papal documents to a journalist (who eventually wrote a book about the less-than-savory inside workings of the Vatican) must have pained him. The convicted butler’s reason for the revelations that emerged from the so-called theft: he was afraid Benedict was not getting all the information he needed to know about the running of the church. The idea that such organizational disarray had come right into his personal office must have pained the Pope and, if it reflected a failure in physical ability, contributed to his perception that the time had come to leave the papacy in healthier hands.

The question, then, is who will be the next Pope. While Benedict has been assiduous, as had John Paul II, of expanding the global representation of the College of Cardinals, speculation has been rife in the Holy See that the Italian contingent, which had been almost the sole producers of Popes for centuries, wants the papacy back. They will have to deal with a host of conservative candidates from the rest of the world, particularly Latin America. (The last so-called great hope of liberal Catholics, the Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Martini died in August 2012.) The role of the Italians in the Curia, however, remains strong — at times perhaps stronger than any living Pope’s. Every conclave develops its own dynamic and the world must simply wait for the white smoke to emerge from the Sistine Chapel to try to figure out what has happened. But in this particular case, a living Pope — along with the Holy Spirit — will be guiding the proceedings as well as the first steps of the next ruler of the Roman Catholic Church.

“Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.” ― Criss Jami

2013 GRAMMY!

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“Loving ourselves creates miracles in our lives.” - Louise Hay