Dear Mr.Shamim,
While reading your GOOD ideas about cost reduction wings in various Bangladesh Missions overseas don't you think that the dumb idea of a defense attache in all the foreign missions are not required.(I salute your service to our country )but do not think that Bangladesh needs a branch called Army,because whom these guys are going to fight with? India?The Army is in Bangladesh as a major source of employment for some young people who once every few year kicks out the corrupt but democratically elected governament and grabs the power to build their future.While the previous group is enjoying their loots and the future group is in their planing state.It also spoils the purpose of grooming a smart(education related) student who joins the army visioning the super chair in the future instead joining other fields as a career where they realy have to work hard.
Mchowdhury.
--- On Fri, 1/23/09, sheikh hasnain <majshamim2004@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: sheikh hasnain <majshamim2004@yahoo.com>
Subject: [chottala.com] Kill the white Elephants at our High Commission Offices in the World
To: chottala@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 1:44 PM
Dear AllFrom my practical experiences be informed that, at present the number of the employees in the the various Bangladesh embassies in the world is beyond any count. PM has taken a small number of cabinet members in her team.Definitely, it is a very encouraging step for the country. Other sectors should learn from her " expenditure- reduction" strategy. If I show a high commission office without naming, it has total 50+ staff in a developed country, where price of everything is 100 times higher than that of Bangladesh. Bangladesh govt pays their monthly salaries, house rents, telephone bills (including house one), car, fuel, 2/3 times travel expenses in a year to come to Bangladesh with family ( all expenses at the rate of the country where the embassy is operating). It is also astonishing to note that,many of them are also allowed to bring a servant and driver with them. The govt also pays their drivers and servants' monthly salaries as well. It is more surprising that all employees enjoy two benefits, their normal salaries in Bangladesh also go to their accounts in Bangladesh. All poor people's money. I feel beneath dignity to remind you all about the level of exploitation of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs.A cost-benefit analysis will make the thing more clear. How much business or mutual diplomatic relationship they are maintaining! Billion of dollars are going out of our country to only maintain the embassy offices in foreign countries. I tell you a little care on this point, shall help to construct Padma Bridge very quickly.My suggestion is, pl keep only 2 staff (including defense personnel)in any embassy office till Padma Bridge is constructed. Yes, our foreign ministry shall try to justify their position, how two persons can do the big jobs? Those who are capable to maintain an office with two persons, they should be posted.It may include any ministry/services.Think and suggest AL govt. I strongly believe they shall do good as they have wholehearteddedication for the country.CheersMaj Shamim (Retd)UK
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Ziaur Rahman
CEO
International Institute of Technology & Management
www.linkedin.com/in/ziaur
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KABUL, Afghanistan – Thousands of U.S. troops originally destined for Iraq have deployed south of Afghanistan's capital in the first illustration of a new military focus on the increasingly difficult fight in the South Asian nation, NATO said Tuesday.
Nearly 3,000 American soldiers with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, New York, moved into the provinces of Logar and Wardak to the south of Kabul, the military alliance said. They will serve as part of the 55,000-strong NATO force in the country.
The latest deployment indicates the shifting focus in military operations from Iraq to Afghanistan, where the U.S. and its allies are trying to turn the tide of Taliban gains and prop up the government of embattled President Hamid Karzai.
President Barack Obama is expected to double the size of American troops in Afghanistan this year, as the country becomes one of his foreign policy priorities.
There are some 70,000 foreign soldiers, including 33,000 U.S. troops, in Afghanistan, the highest number since the Taliban were ousted from power in the 2001 U.S. invasion. The majority of the American troops, including the new brigade, fight under NATO command, which is headed by a U.S. four star general. The rest are part of 13,000-strong U.S. coalition.
Last year was the deadliest for foreign troops since the invasion, with 286 killed, up from 222 the previous year. NATO said two of its troops were killed Tuesday in the south.
The new brigade was originally slated to deploy to Iraq but was officially rerouted to Afghanistan in September, NATO said in a statement. It is not included in Obama's plan to send up to 30,000 more troops to the country.
Both provinces where the troops are deploying have become areas of near-daily insurgent activity and little government presence beyond provincial capitals and main roads, creating a sense of encirclement around the capital.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari said Tuesday security in Afghanistan is deteriorating with insurgents now controlling nearly three-quarters of the country's territory.
"It's getting worse and worse ... With the presence of the foreigners, you see the situation is getting more complicated," Safari said in Athens, while speaking at a political research institute.
The focus of the brigade for the next year will be to help improve security in Wardak and Logar and help bring stronger government and better infrastructure to the local population, NATO said.
"Our first steps are to get forces out into these more populated areas and begin to interact with the people," Col. David B. Haight, the unit commander, said in the statement.
"Knowing the human terrain is as important as knowing the mountainous terrain surrounding our forward operating bases." Haight said.
Underscoring daily violence that afflicts the country, NATO said two of its troops were killed in southern Afghanistan, which is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency.
The military alliance did not provide the troops' nationalities or any other details on the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
In the same region, five Taliban fighters were killed in an overnight gunbattle with Afghan and international forces, said provincial police chief Assadullah Sherzad. There were no casualties among Afghan and foreign troops.
Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency, which has spread over the last three years in many areas of the country. As part of their resurgence, militants have increasingly relied on roadside bombs in their campaign against Afghan and foreign forces.
A roadside bomb struck a police patrol and wounded two officers on Tuesday in southern Kandahar province. The bomb went off in the center of Kandahar city, the provincial capital, said provincial Police Chief Matiullah Khan Qateh.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said three civilians were killed late Monday in eastern Nangarhar province when their minivan was hit by a remote-controlled bomb blast.
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Associated Press writer Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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