Swedish Afghanistan force can use lethal fire
Published: 8 Jul 10 08:52 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/27668/20100708/
The Swedish mission in Afghanistan has received new rules of operation, SVT's Rapport reported on Thursday.
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In early March, the former head of the Swedish mission in Afghanistan, Christer Tistam, made an inquiry about greater authority to use force. He believed that the soldiers should be allowed to use force themselves before they are attacked and not only in self-defense.
According to Rapport, Supreme Commander Sverker Göransson decided that new rules of engagement should be used. The rules mean that the mission will not only be able to use fire in self-defense but should be able to independently plan its operations, including the use of lethal force.
"I neither confirm or deny it," Armed Forces Lieutenant General Anders Lindström told Rapport. "We have well adapted rules for the units that are serving in Afghanistan and they follow the rules that apply to troops in the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force). Exactly who they are, we are not commenting."
Four Swedish troops have been killed since Sweden began sending troops to Afghanistan in 2002. Sweden has contributed 500 soldiers to the international force in Afghanistan.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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The US is after Afghan's mineral resources so sweden must not lose their soldiers for a US cause.
the tragedy is that our tax money is being used for this , i.e. we are all part of this humanity crime .
we must open our eyes and use our democratic power (IF we have, as i have doubt on it ) to stop this Holocaust 2.0.
Then the Maurya Dynasty documented those resources.
Then Gheghis Khan documented those resources.
Then when the British were building there empire by invading various countries and bringing civilisation to them by destroying there cultures, languages, killing and enslaving them, the British documented the mineral wealth in Afghanistan. The British eventually got kicked out of Afghanistan in 1919.
The Russians then further documented the mineral resources, before being kicked out of Afgnaistan by an alliance of warlords led by the Northern Alliance.
Then a bunch of Saudis who were very close to the Bin Ladin family moved to Afghanistan and started to cut deals with the Bush family who had a very close relationship with the Bin Laden family, regarding oil pipelines and various other exploration techniques.
Now the USA is just building on the documentation of those resources.
Anyone who claims that the mineral finds in Afghanistan are new, should be taken to a school, taught first to read and write, then given a history book that does not have large syllables and lots of pretty pictures to explain it to them.
Regarding deranged restrictions on the troops from people in Stockholm who are not there, that is easily fixed.
Anyone restricting soldiers from doing there jobs with ridiculous rules, should be arrested, charged and jailed in Afghanistan, not Sweden, for causing the deaths or injuries of any soldiers injured or killed.
On a different note,even if Swedish soldiers were not in Afghanistan, weapons sold by Sweden would be, so ,still blood on your hands. End of rant, cheers
If I was jewish I would be highly insulted at the comparasion or the use of the word holocaust in relation to afghanistan and that of the systematic whole scale slaughter of 6.5 million unarmed people including 1.5 million children.It is beyond the realms of comprehension how utterly exaggerated such usage is.The death of innocent people whoever they are or where ever they come from,afghanistan,iraq or new york city for that matter is a tragedy indeed but lets try to keep things in proportion...to say the least.
Diplomacy did not save Sweden from invasion by Germany.
What actually happened is that Hermann Goering for the only time in his life stood up to Hitler when he found out about the invasion plan. Goering threatened to resign from the Nazi party and public life, if the planned invasion did not go ahead.
Hitler made clear that if he won the war, Sweden would be invaded. Sweden was included in his plans for full germanification, with extermination of all minorities of those not deemed pure.
@ hjoian
Thanks.
Regarding Swedish weapons.
Swedes sell weapons to every war zone, usually to both sides so as to maximise profit.
If there weapons do not appear in a war zone, there money does.
At present the main supplier of finances to the Real IRA in Northern Ireland, which is trying to destroy the peace process, is Sweden. The Real IRA was the people who carried out the Omagh bombing.
Sweden is not a neutral country and never was. It is neutral in name only.
Most forget that until Sweden was defeated in the Napoleonic wars, it had an empire.
@ "green Swede"
Good point.
Regarding the holocaust.
The death toll from the holocaust is put around 17 million, 5.9 to 6.2 million of whom were Jews. The rest were from various groups, such as ethnic Poles, Romani, disabled, etc.
How convenient.
So luxurious to be able to exercise your freedom of speech and instantly publish your thoughts world-wide on a largely-uncensored communication medium like the Internet, while under the umbrella of protection of your own democratic government, while partaking of affordable technological services so freely allowed the average citizen. Just remember that while you're doing that, someone has to stand on the wall and guard the perimeters of your functioning civilization, and remember that forces from afar on the other side of the world, would like to undo the privileges you now enjoy and export their own way of life and bring violence to your doorstep.
And to those of you who harbor a philosophy of "not my problem, not in my backyard," or believe they only mess with you only because you messed with them first, ("if Sweden wasn't there they wouldn't export violence to Swedish soil") and we'd otherwise all be living together harmoniously, I say:
Get real!
Welcome to the real world, Sweden!
OTHERWISE, History will not forgive those who committed crimes against Humanity in Afghanistan.
Note - we are one of the few countries in the world that doesn't or hasn't tried to take over other countries. I think that's why europeans try to say these things, they can't contemplate that wee are actually trying to bring them peace.
Peace is something that history will tell you is very Un-European.
Alexander the Great and his Macedonian (Greek) army arrived to the area of Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier at the Battle of Gaugamela.[50] In a letter to his mother, Alexander described the inhabitants of what is now Afghanistan as lion-like brave people:[54]
"I am involved in the land of a 'Leonine' (lion-like) and brave people, where every foot of the ground is like a well of steel, confronting my soldier. You have brought only one son into the world, but Everyone in this land can be called an Alexander.[54]"
Source Wikipedia
Soon or later, USA and UK + 34 countries would run away from Afghanistan or would compromise .
There is no need for Sweden to get involves into killing, My advise to Swedish people /government is to "Stay cool" Play double standard politics, and bring back safe home all these boys!
Very long time ago, it was easy to invade country but now
"Invading of Afghanistan just became impossible" Open Minded
if this time Afghans kicks out all these countries/netto/ petto. I think they would be the world's number champion kicking almost everybody's butt :P
"Regarding Swedish weapons.
Swedes sell weapons to every war zone, usually to both sides so as to maximise profit."
Another load of crap from you.
Swedish defence manufacturers are not allowed to sell weapons to ANY war zone. I have worked for the Swedish defence industry and there is a list of countries where it is not allowed to sell. This list is regularly updated. I was once pulled out of a country because it had just on to the list after I arrived there.
Regardless of which side you back, one side taking fire but not having the authority to fire back is........ stupid.
I wish all our troops to be safe.
(This in before morons start bringing Palestine/Jews/Flotilla/War crimes/ Bible/ Quran/Allah/Arabs etc into the thread)
And where I see it there is only one difference between a terrorist and a soldier and that is the uniform. How could you justify a killing by a soldier in self defense and a killing of a soldier by a person in self defense. Where one is permitted and the other one is called a terrorist activity.
Shame on every human being who support this thing.
Fuking Media, controlling the definition of terrorism not the religion.
Any one remember Rambo 3 movie when stallone went to afghan war. At that time they were called the freedom fighters and they were encouraged at the end of the films officially by the USA government and now its totally opposite. Now films are being made which shoes their terrorism.
Silly Western ppl.
These rules of engagement have exponentially increaed the US and British casualties to almost the former rates that were seen in Iraq a few years ago, This is why Gen. McChrystal exposed this nonsense in Rolling Stone.
Now we can all see what the Israeli Forces have been dealing with in the past 62 years
You write: "Any one remember Rambo 3 movie when stallone went to afghan war. At that time they were called the freedom fighters and they were encouraged at the end of the films officially by the USA government and now its totally opposite. Now films are being made which shoes their terrorism. Silly Western ppl".
Um, do you get your history from Rambo 3?
Why am I not surprised!
@Open Minded 21
Um, do you get your history from Wikepedia?
Why am I not surprised!
I did not ask any permission from any lawyers, but I thanked my Bofors Gun training for saving my life. I would also like to give long overdue thanks to Commie Jane Fonda for her video on the Viet Cong shooting at US planes with AK-47's, which was the gun I used in a disproportional response to defend myself from a peaceful Sukhoi-7 only loaded with bombs and heavy ammo.
When I defend Israel's right to exist I not only talk the talk but I walk the walk.
4 Swedish soldiers were killed before this decision was made, even by your calculations.. they started it first killing a peace keeping force's troops.
Should a terrorist/extremist act occur anywhere on Swedish soil (god forbid), thats exactly what it will be - a terrorist act.
swedish troops are part of foreign occupation, so it is the terrorist, it is the extremist.
for Taliban, they are not extremist, they are not terrorist. i think it is not easy to notice that they are the only Afghans in this equasion. they are entitled to self-defense. thier fight against swedish troops is legitimate resistance guranteed by the international law.
so yes, Talibans have a right to fire at swedish troops and at any foreign occupying forces. the swedish troops have no right whatsoever to fire at Talibans. they should go home before it is late.
to close with, i should despise the barbaric arrogance of those here who defend the swedish troops in Afghanistan. it is, i must say, i atraditional western colonial mentality. would Swedes accept for instance, an arab armed forces in the street of stockholm?
i doff my hats to taliban. they defend thier country against illegal occupation. they deserves respect as those who resisted the nazi occupation in europe.
>>>i doff my hats to taliban. they defend thier country against illegal occupation. >>
Do you know about the atrocities that the Taliban commit upon their own people?? Throwing acid into girls' faces? Hanging 7 year old children? Using child soldiers? Blowing up schools? The list goes on and on.
Sweden, why do you take people who think like this into your country?? Aren't there people in Far East Asia, South America, Central America or other places who are in need of your generosity? Vote wisely this year!
remember the 9/11 bombings were planned in Afganistan and the planners protected by the Taliban which is why the west is there ..
Sometimes I wonder why people are so ignorant (or just plain lie) about historical events that, in the relative scheme of things, occurred in the recent past. Yes, yes, I know that they are agenda driven (usually to bash the West). But it borders on the sickening.
Swedish are terrorists and Taliban are freedom fighters.
Give me a break.
Had I known you had slotted the Taliban into the "poor good guys" category, I wouldnt have even responded to you as that goes wayyy beyond delusional.
TheLocal really needs a "ignore all future comments from this person" feature.
The Taliban are a fanatical minority & do by no means reflect the wishes of the people. They rule by fear & should be returned to the past were they belong.
How do you justify attacks on Afghanistan just because they are bad to their own people. Their atrocities on their own people doesn't allow anyone to attack them. Why don't US and their allies save African countries from the same atrocities and worse. For example, there are many warlords in Africa who attack a village and cut the breasts of women who breast feed their children,
warlord cutting penises of men so that his army can sleep with their women, warlords killing people and force the family members to chew the meat from the dead, .. and the list goes on and on. what about such warlords...
I can give you so many examples and you'll get goosebumps and pray to God not to witness anything like that.
grow up , bring up something more logical to attack Afghanistan.
also why not send special forces to help out the troops?
It's scary to think that people like you have an outlit for your thoughts, and that other unevolved monkeys with just enough ability to stap a bomb to their chest will actually listen.
@truthworthy, the "the US is after the minerals or oil" argument is getting a little old. China has signed more money worth of oil contracts in Iraq then any other nation. Russia has signed a large contract. Angola signed a large one. The Iraqi government can sign contracts with anyone they please.
@goodbyeammar, "would Swedes accept for instance, an arab armed forces in the street of stockholm?" No that is the whole point. The West does not accept this. I am glad you brought up the Nazi occupation of Europe. In that case allied troops went into Germany (you would call them occupiers) to stop the offensive where it was being controlled from. Same thing here. Afghanistan harbored the people funding and training armed "arab" forces in the West, and now the West is countering that. Just because they are armed with fertilizer and airplanes does not change the fact that there are armed people planning attacks on the West that are being controlled from Afghanistan. Stop flying planes into buildings, blowing up subways, and public gatherings and you will have much less to worry about.
whizkid.. Let me educate you about African countries and Afghanistan... No African country was involved with the 9/11 attacks as was Afghanistan who harbored and helped al qaeda. Ok, do you now see the difference?
It's a shame this even needs to be answered. Remember back in 2001 when all of those planes flew into buildings in the United States? Do I need to continue? Are you serious?
@Andersson- Why is it that Muslim people are simply unable to acknowledge when they are obviously guilty of something? Just wondering.
I am speechless at the depth of stupidity.