"Afghan troop surge will take longer; Top commander says it could be 9 to 11 months" by Anne Gearan, Associated Press | December 15, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan - Meanwhile, the deaths of 16 Afghan police officers yesterday was a reminder of the difficulties awaiting the Obama plan to quickly train Afghan forces to take over the fight. An attack that killed eight officers in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand province may have been an inside job, a provincial spokesman suggested....
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More:
"Car bombing kills 8 in Afghan capital; Karzai prepares to announce new Cabinet" by Laura King, Los Angeles Times | December 16, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomber struck in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital yesterday, killing eight people and injuring more than 40.
Officials said the target might have been former vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud, whose house was badly damaged. Massoud is the brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a much-revered leader of the anti-Taliban resistance who was assassinated in 2001 just before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Massoud had left the residence shortly before the explosion and was uninjured....
Already stinking.
Like many past attackers, the bomber penetrated a wealthy area of the capital where tight security measures are in place. The ease with which attackers are able to gain access to high-security zones has raised suspicion of collusion between the Taliban and Afghan security forces.
Oh, ANTHER INSIDE JOB, hanh?
The blast, which echoed across Kabul and sent black plumes of smoke billowing into the air, brought traffic in the city center nearly to a standstill. Witnesses said ambulances were not on the scene right away, so neighbors and passersby helped the injured as best they could. “There were no police; everybody was helping carry the wounded away themselves,’’ said Farhad Yaftali, a construction worker.
Hmmmmmmmm!!!
Aides to Massoud believe he was the intended target, although authorities initially thought the bomber might have been trying to approach a hotel several hundred yards away that is frequented by foreigners and diplomats. A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry, Zemeri Bashary, said the eight dead included four women. He said more than three dozen others were hurt....
In a reminder of the continuing cost of the conflict as the United States prepares to increase its troop commitment by 30,000, military officials yesterday disclosed the death of a US serviceman a day earlier in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, and reported the deaths of two British and two Afghan soldiers, also in the south....
Amazing how LITTLE COVERAGE the ACTUAL WAR GETS in my WAR PRESS, 'eh, world?
