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Wednesday 7 February 2018
Pentagon: Afghan war costing US $45 billion per year

By MAT PENNINGTON hope for it."
Associated Press Democratic Sen. Ed Markey
WASHINGTON (AP) — For- of Massachusetts suggest-
ty-five billion dollars. That's ed that those funds could
how much the Pentagon be more effectively spent
says the Afghan war is cost- in saving American lives by
ing American taxpayers, investing in treatment for
and with no end in sight those suffering from opioid
they may have to keep abuse. He cited research
footing that bill for years to that two months of Af-
come. ghan spending could fund
Lawmakers, skeptical an opioid center in every
about the prospects of county in the United States.
victory, grilled the Trump Painting a bleak picture of
administration Tuesday on the Afghan political and
the direction of the nation's security situation, Demo-
longest-running war, now cratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of
in its 17th year. The Senate Oregon complained that
Foreign Relations Commit- every couple of years, U.S.
tee hearing comes after a administrations claim the
wave of shocking militant corner is being turned in
attacks in Kabul that killed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, left, speaks, accompanied by Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs the Afghan war. He listed
more than 200 people. General Paul J. Selva, during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, problems with corruption,
Randall Schriver, the De- Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 in Washington. government dysfunction
fense Department's top (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) and Afghan security forces,
Asia official, said the $45 nificantly lower than during Afghanistan. involvement in the war- and said U.S. hopes of using
billion total for the year in- the high point of the war in Both Republican and Dem- battered country, saying it military pressure to compel
cludes $5 billion for Afghan Afghanistan. From 2010 to ocratic senators highlight- would be based on condi- the Taliban to reach a po-
forces and $13 billion for 2012, when the U.S. had as ed the scale of the continu- tions on the ground. litical settlement were unre-
U.S. forces inside Afghani- many as 100,000 soldiers in ing outlay from Washington. Tens of billions are "just be- alistic.
stan. Much of the rest is for the country, the price for Six months ago, President ing thrown down a hatch "Why do the Taliban want
logistical support. Some American taxpayers sur- Donald Trump unveiled his in Afghanistan," said Re- a political settlement? They
$780 million goes toward passed $100 billion each strategy for turning the tide publican Sen. Rand Paul of now control more territory
economic aid. year. There are currently in the war, setting no time Kentucky. "We're in an im- than they did since 2001,"
The costs now are still sig- around 16,000 U.S. troops in limit on the U.S. military's possible situation. I see no Merkley said.q
Abbas' government sued over alleged CIA-backed wiretapping

By M. DARAGHMEH Jawad Obeidat told The ments.
Associated Press Associated Press on Mon- Adnan Damiri, the spokes-
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) day that transcripts of his man of the security servic-
— A former Palestinian in- phone conversations, as es, dismissed the document
telligence chief and the published in the document, Monday as “nonsense.”
head of the West Bank bar were accurate. The allegations come at a
association are suing the "I made these phone calls low point in Palestinian rela-
Palestinian self-rule gov- and this is evidence that tions with the United States,
ernment after a purported the leaked report is true," following Trump’s policy
whistleblower alleged the said Obeidat, who spear- pivot on Jerusalem, whose
two were targeted, along headed recent protests by Israeli-annexed eastern
with many other allies and lawyers after one of them sector the Palestinians seek
rivals of President Mah- was arrested from a court as a future capital.
moud Abbas, in a large- room during a legal case Abbas said at the time that
scale CIA-backed wiretap- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks in the West Bank against the government. he was suspending con-
ping operation. city of Ramallah. A former Palestinian intelligence chief and the "This is a blatant violation of tacts with U.S. officials deal-
Allegations of continued head of the West Bank bar association have sued the govern- human rights," he said. ing with the Israeli-Palestin-
ment of President Mahmoud Abbas after a 37-page document
intelligence-sharing with by an anonymous whistleblower alleged the two men were tar- Tawfiq Tirawi, an outspoken ian conflict. The U.S. shift on
the United States could geted in a large-scale wiretapping operation backed by the Abbas critic and West Bank Jerusalem angered many
prove embarrassing for Ab- CIA. intelligence chief from 1994 Palestinians, and in this
bas who has been on a po- (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) to 2008, said he checked context, allegations of con-
litical collision course with leges that three of the the surveillance unit who with his contacts and be- tinued intelligence-sharing
Washington since President Palestinian security services quit "this dirty job" several lieves the document is au- with the U.S. could pose a
Donald Trump's recognition set up a joint electronic sur- months ago because of thentic. domestic political problem
in December of contested veillance unit in mid-2014 his growing opposition to The CIA declined com- for Abbas.
city of Jerusalem as Israel's and monitored the phone Palestinian government ment. The 82-year-old has also
capital. calls of thousands of Pales- practices, including intel- In mid-January, when the faced pushback from crit-
The claims are contained tinians, from senior figures ligence-sharing with the document first surfaced, ics who say his rule has be-
in a 37-page anonymous in militant groups to judges, United States. He wrote Palestinian security services come increasingly authori-
document that was been lawyers, civic leaders and that Trump's policy shift on said in a joint statement tarian. The date and venue
shared widely among Pal- political allies of Abbas. Jerusalem provided anoth- that it was part of a "plot" of the conference in the in-
estinians, mostly on What- The author describes him- er impetus to go public. seeking to harm the politi- vitation match those on the
sApp. The document al- self as a former member of Bar association head cal and security establish- ISS website. q