Cela rappelle des images déja tant vu durant le XXeme siecle. Les principales victimes de guerre sont toujours les civils. On se croirais en France en juin 40, en Europe de l'est en 45... Seul le lieu et la date change. Les récits des réfugiés restent les mêmes.

Les forces russes de maintien de la paix ? Oui ben comme toutes armées d'invasion. Cela se passe de commentaires. L'armée russe retombe dans ses travers "historiques".

Reportage d'envoyé spécial datant de 2007 montrant l'engagement des soldats français contre les talibans. Il ne faut plus se leurrer la face. La France est aussi en guerre en Afghanistan.

 

Dix soldats français de la force de l'Otan en Afghanistan ont été tués lundi et mardi lors de combats contre les talibans, a-t-on appris mardi de source proche de la présidence française.

Les soldats ont péri lors d'affrontements déclenchés par une "embuscade tendue par les talibans", qui ont débuté lundi et se sont poursuivis tout au long de la nuit de lundi à mardi à une cinquantaine de kilomètres à l'est de Kaboul, a précisé cette source à Paris.

La Force internationale d'assistance à la sécurité (Isaf) de l'Otan avait indiqué auparavant que des soldats étaient engagés dans un "incident majeur" dans la province de Kaboul.

Un officier afghan interrogé sous couvert de l'anonymat avait pour sa part indiqué que dix soldats français avaient été tués et vingt blessés lors de ces affrontements dans le district de Saroubi, à quelque 50 km de la capitale afghane.

Un porte-parole des talibans a affirmé que les insurgés avaient infligé "de lourdes pertes" aux forces de l'Otan dans le district de Saroubi.

"Ce matin, nous avons tendu une embuscade aux troupes de l'Otan dans le district de Saroubi, à l'aide de mines et de roquettes. Nous avons détruit cinq véhicules et infligé de lourdes pertes", a déclaré à l'AFP Zabihullah Mujahed.

"L'Otan a riposté par des frappes aériennes aux cours desquelles cinq talibans et 15 civils ont été tués", a-t-il ajouté.

Il n'était pas possible de vérifier ces informations et les bilans donnés par les talibans sont souvent très exagérés.

Le porte-parole du ministère de la Défense, le général Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a affirmé que 13 insurgés, parmi lesquels un Pakistanais, avaient été tués dans les combats de Saroubi.

Ces pertes sont les premières depuis le renforcement de la présence militaire française en Afghanistan, annoncée par Nicolas Sarkozy lors du sommet de l'Otan à Bucarest en avril.

Environ 3.000 militaires français sont actuellement engagés en Afghanistan, au sein de l'Isaf, principalement à Kaboul et dans la province de Kapisa, au nord-est de la capitale.

A Kaboul, l'ossature de la présence française est constituée par le Régiment de marche du Tchad, basé à Noyon (Oise, nord de la France). La France a pris le 5 août le commandement de la région "capitale", assuré à tour de rôle par la France, l'Italie et la Turquie, qui disposent chacun d'un bataillon déployé à Kaboul et dans sa région proche.

Depuis fin 2001 et sans compter les morts de lundi et mardi, quatorze militaires français sont morts en Afghanistan dans des accidents, opérations ou attentats. Le dernier en date avait péri le 21 septembre 2007, dans un attentat suicide à la voiture piégée à Kaboul.

Quelque 176 soldats étrangers sont morts en Afghanistan depuis le début de l'année, selon un décompte de l'AFP basé sur les communiqués militaires. La plupart d'entre eux ont été victimes de bombes improvisées.

Les talibans ont lancé une insurrection meurtrière depuis qu'ils ont été chassés du pouvoir à la fin 2001 par une coalition internationale emmenée par les Etats-Unis.

Les violences ont redoublé d'intensité depuis près de deux ans malgré la présence de 70.000 soldats de deux forces multinationales, l'une de l'Otan, l'autre sous commandement américain (Operation Enduring Freedom).

Par ailleurs, la base américaine Salerno située à proximité de la ville de Khost, à quelque 30 km de la frontière avec le Pakistan, a fait l'objet d'une nouvelle attaque dès l'aube, au lendemain d'un attentat suicide qui y avait fait 10 tués civils.

"D'après les premiers rapports, quelque 30 talibans ont tenté d'attaquer la base. Nous avons découvert les corps de six personnes portant des vestes bourrées d'explosifs", a déclaré à l'AFP le gouverneur de la province de Khost, Arsala Jamal.

"Deux enfants ont été tués et trois hommes blessés alors qu'ils se trouvaient dans une maison proche de la base. Nous ne savons pas dans quelles circonstances ils ont été atteints", a précisé le service de presse du gouverneur.

Le porte-parole du ministère de la Défense, le général Mohammad Zaher Azimi, a affirmé que 13 "terroristes" avaient été tués dans l'attaque de la base. "Une unité de commando s'est déployée et a repoussé les assaillants. Six commandos ont été blessés", a-t-il précisé.

Pour sa part, l'Isaf a fait état de sept insurgés tués.

"Les forces de l'Isaf ont identifié un groupe d'insurgés se préparant à attaquer la base et ont ouvert le feu contre eux. Des hélicoptères ont ensuite pris à partie les insurgés alors qu'ils tenaient de s'enfuir", a indiqué la force dans un communiqué.

"Aucun membre de l'Isaf n'a été blessé dans l'attaque", a-telle précisé.

Zabihullah Mujahed a revendiqué cette nouvelle attaque au nom des talibans. "Un groupe de 30 moujahidine équipés d'armes à feu et de vestes bourrées d'explosifs ont attaqué la base américaine de Khost, tuant de nombreux américains", a-t-il déclaré.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htcbtsp/articles/20080813.aspx

August 13, 2008: As Russian troops invade, from bases in southern Russia, 127 American military trainers remain in Georgia (the one in the Caucasus). They weren't the only foreign troops around, as at the end of July, a thousand Ukrainian, Azeri, Armenian and U.S. troops departed after holding joint training exercises with their Georgian counterparts.

For the past three years, several hundred American military trainers have run the GSSOP (Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program), which has trained over 5,000 Georgian troops, many for eventual service in Iraq. The trainers were American soldiers and marines, who imparted their combat experience to the Georgians. This was much appreciated, as Georgia aspires to membership in NATO. That requires the Georgian being able to achieve NATO standards in training and equipment. Georgia hoped to get into NATO by next year.

The U.S. trainers, usually a team of 70 Americans taking a 600 man Georgian infantry battalion through a 17 week training program, concentrate on combat subjects. Other training programs instructed support and staff troops.

Georgia has been an active participant in peacekeeping operations since 1999, when they sent 200 troops to Kosovo, and kept troops there until the present. In 2003, 70 peacekeepers were sent to Iraq. The following year, 50 troops were sent to Afghanistan. In 2004, the Iraq contingent was increased to 300. That was increased to 850 in 2005. Last year, the Iraq force was increased to 2,000. The Georgians were highly regarded by troops they worked with on these peacekeeping missions.

Georgia has a population of about 4.6 million, and an active duty military of about 28,000 troops. Russia has a population of 142 million, and an active duty military of about a million personnel. The U.S. has been helping Georgia train and equip an army reserve force of about 100,000. Only about a fifth of that force has been organized so far.  Georgia was hoping to develop a sufficient qualitative advantage to discourage the Russians

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20080810.aspx

August 10, 2008: To no one's surprise, the  Russians drove back a Georgian attempt to regain control of South Ossetia. There were several hundred military and civilian casualties. The fighting apparently began when some South Ossetia militiamen fired across the border at Georgian troops. This escalated to a Georgian invasion, and a Russian reinforcement of its peacekeepers, and the expulsion of the Georgian troops. All in the space of a week. The fighting continues, with Russian warplanes bombing civilians and military targets in Georgia and moving more troops into another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia. Georgia has asked for a ceasefire, but the Russians have not responded.

Since the early 1990s, Russia and Georgia have argued over who should control South Ossetia, a Georgian province on the Russian border. Just to the north of South Ossetia, is the Russian territory of North Ossetia. The Soviets often split ethnic groups between two provinces (or "Autonomous Republics") to make it more difficult for the people to unite in opposition to the Soviet Union. This, among many similar measures, worked. Since the Russians moved in their peacekeepers in the early 1990s, they have issued Russian passports to the South Ossetians and, in effect, annexed the region.

The Ossertians are a different ethnic group from the ethnic Georgians, as are the Abkhazians. This sort of ethnic mélange is common throughout the Caucasus. During the last years of the Soviet Union (1989-1991), ethnic tensions increased throughout the Soviet Union, as long dormant (and suppressed by a brutal police state) aspirations stirred once more. While the Soviet politicians pulled off an astonishing feat by dissolving the empire without bloodshed (and creating fourteen new countries from portions of the empire that decided not to stay with the new Russia), there were lots of smaller groups that still had separatist grievances. Two of these groups were in Georgia, and occupied the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The populations rebelled against the Georgian government and drove out Georgian officials, troops and ethnic Georgians. Thousands of ethnic Abkhazians and Ossetians fled to the new statelets. Since both of these areas were on the Russian border, Russia saw an opportunity to quiet things down (they did not want an ethnic based guerilla war going on along their border). So Russia offered its services as mediator and peacekeeper in the early 1990s, and peace was restored. The UN agreed all this, and a reluctant Georgia went along. But after that, the Russians refused to leave, or encourage the Abkhazians and Ossetians to work out a deal to become part of Georgia once more. Abkhazians and Ossetians wanted to be independent, and declared themselves so. No one else recognized this. In 2004, Georgia began cracking down on the smuggling and other criminal activity that was keeping the economy in South Ossetia going. This led to more and more gunfire along the border between Georgia and South Ossetia.

Two years ago, Georgia began a major expansion of its armed forces. Officially, the active forces were then about 26,000 troops, already up from about 12,000-14,000 just a couple few years before that. Unofficially, the government has raised strength to about 28,000. This was done by adding more professional troops and increasing the order-of-battle by two battalions of conscripts. The government goal is to increase the active force to about 35,000. In addition, Georgia began building a reserve force.

Until a few years ago the "reserves" constituted the entire body of conscripts discharged over the past 15 years. But this pool, of about 250,000 men, was just that, a pool. The "reservists" were not subject to periodic refresher training, and so no more than perhaps 10 percent of them could be considered useful in the event of activation. Beginning four years ago, Georgia instituted a more rigorous reserve training program. An active reserve has been created, which apparently numbers over 10,000 men, and is expected to grow to as many as 100,000 over the next few years, as conscripts (drafted at 18 to 18-24 months) leave active service, and enter 5-10 years of reserve duty. 

While Georgia doesn't have the money for modern equipment (it's stuff is mostly Russian Cold War vintage), it does have enough professional soldiers from the old Red Army, and a military tradition going back centuries. Much to the discomfort of Russia, the United States has been supplying Georgia with military trainers and some equipment. Partly, this is in response to Georgian help in Iraq. Georgia first sent 800 peacekeepers to Iraq, and began increasing that force. Currently there are 2,000 Georgian troops in Iraq, where they obtain useful operational experience.

The principal reason for the military build-up is the secessionist regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Georgians wanted the option of trying for a military solution. There are also some Russian troops, leftovers from Soviet Union era garrisons, still in the country. Georgia has been trying get all the Russian soldiers out since the Soviet Union collapsed (and Georgia became independent once more) in 1991. But the Russians have come up with a long string of excuses for delaying a final pullout. To make matters worse, several thousand of those troops are "peacekeepers" in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. To most Georgians, the Russian peacekeepers are there mainly to keep the rebel regions free of Georgian control.

It's not yet clear what the Georgian government was thinking when they allowed the border skirmishing to escalate to a military effort to restore government control over South Ossetia. It didn't work, as the Russians promptly counterattacked and drove the Georgian troops out of South Ossetia. The Georgians can try a guerilla war, and hope that their new relationship with the United States and the European Union will add some measure of protection. That's a false hope. The Russians have made it clear during the last few years that any real, or imagined, Western influence or interference in nations that border Russia (what the Russians call the "near-abroad") will be opposed with lots of noise, followed by some firepower. The recent events in Georgia are an example of that, an example the Russians hope the West takes seriously, even if the Georgians don't.

Russian politicians have been playing the nationalism card, catering to widespread feelings that the Soviet Union should be restored. Most Russians never cared for the communist dictatorship, but they did like being a superpower.  The Russians also feel that those fourteen nations that split off when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, left Russia surrounded by a lot of unstable and vulnerable nations. This sounds paternalistic and paranoid to Westerners, but not to Russians. And the Russians are willing to use force to back up these attitudes, as the Georgians just discovered. Russia still has nukes, and some Cold War attitudes that make for a potentially very dangerous situation.