Militants Seize Americans And Other Hostages In Algeria

The French military assault on Islamist extremists in Mali escalated into a potentially much broader North African conflict on Wednesday when, in retribution, armed attackers in unmarked trucks seized an internationally managed natural gas field in neighboring Algeria and took at least 20 foreign hostages, including Americans.
Algerian officials said at least two people, including a Briton, were killed in the assault, which began with a predawn ambush on a bus trying to ferry gas-field workers to an airport. Hundreds of Algerian security forces were sent to surround the gas-field compound, creating a tense standoff, and the country’s interior minister said there would be no negotiations.
Algeria’s official news agency said at least 20 fighters had carried out the attack and mass abduction. There were unconfirmed reports late on Wednesday that the security forces had tried to storm the compound and had retreated under gunfire from the hostage takers.
Many details of the assault on the gas field in a barren desert site near Libya’s border remained murky, including the precise number of hostages, which could be as high as 41, according to claims by the attackers quoted by regional news agencies. American, French, British, Japanese and Norwegian citizens who worked at the field were known to be among them, officials said.

Afghanistan: withdrawal maximum security

The planned withdrawal of the French armies engaged in Afghanistan since 2008, is accelerating. More than 2000 men and 2000 tons of material have already left the country. To perform this maneuver logistics to its end, or the summer of 2013, freedom of action and security areas are essential.

The process of lightening the French forces began in 2011. In May 2012, François Hollande, president and army chief, calls for the acceleration of the movement. During the year 2012, the armies proceeded to withdraw about 2,100 troops and 2,000 tons of equipment. To allow convoys reach Kabul, security zones and areas is a key element. A security driven primarily by Task Force La Fayette 6 (TFLF 6) , commanded by Brigadier-Hautecloque Raysz between April 14 and November 25, 2012, and composed of groupings arms tactics (CATF) Steel , Wild Geese and Helicopter Battalion 

From May to July, tactical operations chained themselves to maintain the security of the axis Vermont, only practicable route between Kabul and Tagab. In April, " the insurgency led harassment actions in the area of Tagab , "says Colonel LAROUZIERE, commander GTIA Steel. Before starting the withdrawal of Tagab, sub-GTIA Tagab and Nijrab supported combat operations to the Afghan National Army (ANA), in Kapisa. The goal: to create a bubble of security around the FOB to perform the removal in a safe manner optimal. "  In five months, forty operations were mounted and we went more than thirty times in the fire , "says Captain H., unit commander of the sub-GTIA Tagab. And Colonel LAROUZIERE added: "  We were in contact to disrupt the insurgency and disrupt. While leading the ANA twenty-two transactions per month, we took over. "

Mid-August, 700 men did sometimes two trains per day, with the support of helicopters to carry the material to Nijrab or Kabul. Two hundred and fifty containers of about 10 tons each and armored vehicles (each representing an ATU unit to transport) passed on the axis Vermont.

Maneuver transport back to the men of Logistics Battalion (BATLOG) in Kabul. To Colonel Lawrence, Deputy Joint Support, " such a move log has not been conducted since the operation Daguet. " In mid-October, 350 UAT had reached Kabul.

The transit area of Kabul is the point of entry and exit of equipment. "  In the morning, we organize training convoy leaving empty containers to retrieve the Nijrab FOB. Simultaneously, another convoy full one, leaving the transit area to get to the storage area on the Kabul airport. This 2 to 3 times per day with a minimum of 6 to 8 vehicles. To protect logistics trucks, we need tanks and fighters , "says Captain B., the platoon commander and handling. Each vehicle and equipment "silcenté", that is to say, numbered " the SILCENT, centralized logistics information system, used to identify each package with a tracking computer  , "says Captain B.

The sub-group service adapted to the theater is responsible for "unequip" armored vehicles operational equipment (nets antiroquette, jammers ...). Then all vehicles, equipment and containers are deratted, bugged and disinfected. "  This plan will mastery of operational health is binding not import diseases in France  , "says Colonel Lawrence.

After this tactic loop, a loop is set up strategic. Afghanistan has no coastline. "  The air is the safest and fastest  , "says Col. Lawrence. Sensitive equipment or rare (aircraft parts, medical equipment ...) Antonov flies out to join France. The rest of the cargo is sent to a port in the Persian Gulf. It will join the cargo France by sea within 2 to 8 weeks. Since 1 ^st May, 262 rotations allowed the repatriation of equipment and personnel. 

In the summer of 2013, France will have achieved its goal. Force of International Security Assistance will include about 500 French soldiers against 3600 to 1 ^st January 2012. They will continue their mission in the detachment Epidote, hospital medical-surgical French military, the military airport in Kabul and international staffs of NATO.

Bye bye Kabul: the story of the French disengagement

REPORT to KABUL | The last flight of French fighting forces left Kabul. It will take six months to repatriate all 1200 vehicles and containers as much of the French army.

In order. But no battle disengagement, according the semantic precision of the military.

Do not tell them that the coalition of forty-seven NATO countries will never overcome these insurgents of all stripes beard. International jihadists, Taliban local interests and objectives fuzzy variables, Mujahideen hardened by a life of war, here are the masters of the majestic mountains and rocky valleys.

" The insurgents have still picked up well. The average age of Taliban commanders has dropped from 31 to 27 years , "says an officer, without being able to check the reliability of the statistical deadly. And interest because it is better to go to the old to negotiate rather than young dogs crazy. It adds a slightly bitter observation: " It was the right time to go. For them and for us. Before the Afghans see us as enemy aliens, as the occupier. "

The French leave (pictured, a convoy carrying VAB to the storage area of Kabul airport) and the future of Afghanistan remains unresolved. " The region was occupied by the French (district of Surobi and Kapisa) is now led by the Afghan National Army (ANA). And the insurgents have not taken the hand. This is evidence of their effectiveness , "says Colonel Antonelli, head of the training mission Epidote.

Further down in ranks, we find less convinced. " The Afghan soldiers are tough but the evil I do not give them five years before getting to defend Kabul , "said Master Corporal Loïc original douaisienne. Camp Warehouse, east of Kabul, where are grouped the ultimate French forces, "the leader" of poker or karaoke evenings of the 1st company of the 35th Infantry Regiment Belfort would have stayed a few more months. For compensation multiplied by more than two according to rank and marital status, and not subject to income tax ...

To the exit from the death of Osama bin Laden

But we must return one day. Eleven years after the first steps of special forces or agents of the DGSE on Afghan soil. War must have a meaning. This is the output from the death of bin Laden in May 2011.

The French army has gained a technological leap (the lattice to surveillance drone) and hardening in a country hostile group. She lost 88 men. It is not. This is huge.

In this bright and glossy Sunday in December on the plateau of Kabul (1800 m), Warrant Officer Denis, of the 16th Infantry Battalion of Bitche, thirty-two years in the army in counter is not angry to return home with two hundred comrades Fire Task Force La Fayette. They just spent seven months in Kapisa. They closed the forward base of Tagab September 30, the Nijrab November 25. The guys will be able to steel battalion blow.

" The pressure Tagab was permanent. But the man gets used to everything. As the camp was on a slope, there were three tracks discovered that avoided taking. It is still made ​​"ICT-er" several times , "says the sergeant at the foot of the A340 of Air Force departure. An ICT in NATO jargon, it is a snap (French acronym for Troops in Contact ).

A professional army does not fight an army insensitive. If the closure of the forward bases have generally passed without incident, the sergeant Denis remembers the departure of Tagab: " At the end of the village, a pilot VAB (armored vehicle from the front) has seen him right a rocket. He said : "It is for me. Just when we leave." Fortunately, it was at the end of the race and its sting incandescent collided at the bottom of the box. A little higher and it was good. "

The driver needed to speak, made ​​of chargepar shrinks. The post-traumatic syndrome can be an enemy soldier inside the back of OPEX (external operation). The decompression chamber to Paphos in Cyprus has been created for it. Three days to relax in a comfortable hotel - " five stars here, two star Palavas "- to regain its footing with normal life -" it's very funny, a shower and toilet in the room! "- to speak group with experts ...

This is where we discovered the silent suffering of men who were inside the VAB to Tagab. Unlike the pilot, they had not seen the rocket fall on their vehicle. They slept in more ...

" When we closed Nijrab was a sort of pre-sas after Tagab pleasant Warrant Officer Denis. Warehouse camp in Kabul, it was almost the holidays. Now Paphos. According to those who have already passed, it is a good thing. It allows to decompress, to ask before returning to the family. "Normal life.

During this time in Kabul, meticulous repatriation of equipment continues. Intensely. With two or three jumbo Antonov day by rushing into their mouths gyms flying the VAB VBCI, Caesar cannons, helicopters ... Specialists Air Detachment Kabul airport feel in time: half of 1200 vehicles and containers that leave much to France. In order.

IS LIGHTER

ELEVEN YEARS OF WAR

Attacks of September 11, 2001: Nearly 3,000 victims.

October 7, 2001: start of Operation Enduring Freedom, the pursuit of Osama bin Laden.

20 December 2001: beginning of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) under NATO command in 2003.

October 9, 2004: the first democratic presidential election in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai is elected.

May 2, 2011: Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda was killed by U.S. commandos in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Yankees 4 DEAD

David Poulain (Halluin) Corporal 1st RPIMA, killed by hostile fire in the area of ​​Helmand Bruno Fauquembergue (Lille), Chief Warrant Officer CFT in Kabul, Lionel Knight (St-Pol-sur-Mer ), Corporal of the 35th RI, killed in Tagab in an accident with his weapon Denis Estin (Douai), the 93rd Chief Warrant Officer RAM, killed by a shot Gwan "Green on blue."

550

The number of soldiers suffering psychological problems related to their mission in Afghanistan, or 6-7% of staff, according to the Department of Health armies. The U.S. military estimates that figure to nearly 20%.

REMAINS?

At the end of the disengagement, there will only be 500 French soldiers in mid-2013, the command of the Kabul airport, hospital medical-surgical Role 3, Epidote and training in various ISAF HQ.

PERFORMERS

Afghans who worked with the French army (including interpreters) and are "direct threat" to their country will be welcomed in France (case by case study of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

End of mission for the fighters of Afghanistan

The Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, hosted Saturday, December 8, 2012 in Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, a group of 153 French soldiers returning from Afghanistan. They expressed the gratitude of the nation for commitment of French forces in the country since 2001.

Saturday, December 8, 2012, the Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian, came to meet 153 French soldiers returning from Afghanistan, on the occasion of their visit to Cyprus decompression chamber.Wishing to stand alongside some of the last troops engaged in combat operations, the Minister expressed the gratitude of the Nation with regard to the mission carried out by our forces in Afghanistan since 2001.

In his speech on the tarmac of the airport of Paphos, Cyprus, Jean-Yves Le Drian was first saluted the memory of the 88 French soldiers who sacrificed their lives in this theater. The Minister pointed to the soldiers the courage of their wounded comrades during operation. He said: "It is with a sense of accomplishment that you get in France. You will soon be in your home. In two weeks, you will celebrate Christmas with family. You will find those that you like and that you have missed so much. It was a commitment that the President had taken before the French. The honored here. "

The minister then embedded with the 153 soldiers on board the Airbus of Air Force, to join France.

Developed in June 2009 in favor of French units engaged in Afghanistan, the lock end of the mission is a component of psychological implemented by the Army. Innovative device to enable the transition between the end of a difficult operational mission and return to garrison life standard, it lasts 72 hours and is conducted in a civilian environment in Paphos, in the south-west of the island of Cyprus. Gradually extended to joint components, it has already affected some 13,000 soldiers.

France maintains its position as the fourth largest arms exporter

The Ministry of Defence yesterday presented to Parliament the report on arms exports to France. In 2011, the export orders amounted to 6.5 billion euros in France now the leading exporting countries in a market increasingly competitive. This figure represents an increase of 27% compared to 5.12 billion orders in 2010. Over the period 2006-2011, France has maintained its fourth place. The two main contracts that derive results last year were the renovation of Indian Mirage 2000 and the two PCBs for Russia. Note that the Asia Pacific region has made a remarkable rise in the share of French exports last year with 42% of orders (India, Malaysia ...). Over the past five years, the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates mainly) remains the leading French customer with 26% of controls.

Note that the 350 SMEs in the defense sector represent between 3% and 5% of total direct exports. The report notes that a new information system for the administrative management of export licenses (SIGALE) will be implemented in July 2013, in particular to facilitate access to these markets for SMEs (electronic procedures, deposits line ...).

"Results honorable" said Jean-Yves Le Drian, which is not the case in 2012, called the "worst year" by the Minister, due to reports of contracts for technical or political reasons. 2013 announcement against under good omens, and negotiations are underway on major contracts.

The defense industry represents 165,000 jobs in France and generates an annual turnover of 16 billion euros. The next report will be published in six months.