"Karzai went to
Hey, my newspaper never told me that!
"Afghan strategy shifts from war to reconstruction; Kandahar push now prioritizes civilian projects" by Rod Nordland, New York Times | June 9, 2010
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The prospect of a robust military push in Kandahar Province, widely expected to begin this month, has evolved into a strategy that puts civilian reconstruction efforts first.
Related: Spies Like Them in Afghanistan
Civilian reconstruction, huh?
The strategy, Afghan, American, and NATO civilian and military officials said in interviews, was adopted because of opposition to military action from an unsympathetic local population and from Afghan officials here and in Kabul. There are also concerns that a frontal military approach has not worked as well as hoped in a much smaller area in Marjah in neighboring Helmand Province.
Yeah, after the failure to "take" -- it's a bunch of farms -- Marjah it disappeared from the MSM coverage.
There has been little new fighting in Kandahar, and the very word “offensive’’ has been banished.
I'm going to backtrack this piece so you decide if the MSM is telling the truth, readers.
“We cannot say the term offensive for Kandahar,’’ said the Afghan National Army officer in charge here, General Sher Mohammad Zazai. “It is actually a partnership operation.’’
The commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, Major General Nick Carter, insisted that there never was a planned offensive.
“The media have chosen to use the term offensive,’’ he said. Instead, he said, “we have certainly talked about a military uplift, but there has been no military use of the term offensive.’’
Do YOU want to play WORD GAMES, world?
Whatever it is called, it is not happening this month....
Yeah, WHATEVER, NYT!
And that is the first good thing I have read.
Less dead people.
American officials, on the other hand, say it has already begun, not with a bang, but with a steady increase of specialists from the US Embassy and NATO and aid workers — a “civilian surge’’ — accompanied by a quiet increase in American troops to provide security for them.
Yeah, I heard something about that:
The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Kandahar Offensive Has Begun
Didn't see it in my paper, though.
The Americans strongly deny that they planned an offensive.
A rose, by any other name....
In Marjah, the plan was to carry out a military assault to oust the Taliban, followed by rapid delivery of government services; in Kandahar, the approach is now the opposite.
But NOT an OFFENSIVE, got that?
Civilian aid workers, protected by an increased military force, will try to provide services first, before any major military action.
“This is not going to be a door-to-door military campaign,’’ said one American civilian official who requested anonymity in line with his agency’s policy....
Bombs from on high then.
It is not so much what happened as what did not. Marjah did not go nearly as well as hoped and the area is still not sufficiently controlled for the local government’s activities to resume or take root.
And after the MSM TOLD US.... !!!!!
--more--"
You mean we actually almost listened for once?
Related: The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: The Next Afghanistan Offensive
Kandahar Next in Amerika's Crosshairs
Decide for yourself if it was the MSM or government, readers -- not that it makes much difference. They are one in the same.
"12 troops killed in Afghan attacks; 7 Americans swell the toll, highest of year" by Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press | June 8, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Twelve foreign soldiers, including seven Americans, were killed in separate attacks on the deadliest day of the year for Western forces in Afghanistan. A US civilian contractor who trains Afghan police also died in a brazen suicide assault.
The bloodshed yesterday came as insurgents stepped up bombings and other attacks ahead of a major NATO operation in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar that Washington hopes will turn the tide of the nearly nine-year war....
And the next day they report.... (sigh)????
It was a grim reminder the insurgents can strike throughout the country, not simply in the south....
Two other US troops were killed in separate attacks in the south: one in a bombing and the other by small-arms fire.
NATO said three other service members were killed in attacks in the east and south but gave no further details. The French government announced one of the victims was a sergeant in the French Foreign Legion killed by a rocket in Kapisa province northeast of Kabul. Three other Legionnaires were wounded.
Also yesterday, two Australian soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province, Acting Defense Force Chief Lieutenant General David Hurley told reporters today....
The American police trainer and a Nepalese security guard were killed when a team of three suicide bombers attacked the main gates of the police training center in the southern city of Kandahar, US officials said....
I'm sorry; I wanted out a long time ago and no longer care about the Empire's dead.
I don't want them to die; however, I can't wish 'em all home and the civic activism went nowhere.
US commanders have warned of more casualties as the alliance gears up for a major operation to secure Kandahar, the former headquarters of the Taliban and the biggest city in the south with a half million people....
A collection of farms.
President Obama has shifted the focus of the US campaign against Islamist terror to Afghanistan from Iraq....
Oh, he did that, huh?
Pffft!
Btw, I'm sick of the "Islamist," Muslim-hating code words in my ZIONIST WAR PAPER!
It's HATE SPEECH posing as NEWS REPORTING!
As fighting escalates, the Afghan government is reaching out to the insurgents in hopes of ending the war.
Don't worry; AmeriKa and "Al-CIA-Duh" will f*** that up.
They always do, and peace doesn't stick in a war-promoting paper.
And I WAS TOLD "little new fighting" ABOVE!
Last week, President Hamid Karzai won endorsement from a national conference, or peace jirga, for his plan to offer economic and other incentives to the militants to lay down their arms, and to seek talks with the Taliban leadership.
The leadership has so far publicly shunned the offer, and the United States is skeptical whether peace can succeed until the Taliban are weakened on the battlefield.
F*** YOU, lying, mass-murdering AmeriKan government!
The Taliban have branded Karzai a US puppet and say there will be no talks while foreign troops are in Afghanistan....
--more--"
And you could see the halt coming:
NAWA, Afghanistan — In this patch of southern Afghanistan, the US strategy to keep the Taliban at bay involves an economic stimulus....
As your nation collapses, America.
We turn it into rubble and then we rebuild (?Ask an Iraqi) it and cui bono?
Pumping reconstruction dollars into war zones has long been part of the US counterinsurgency playbook, but the blanketing of Nawa with cash has resulted in far more money getting into local hands, far more quickly, than in any other part of Afghanistan.
Oh, so THAT is where MY TAXPAYER-FUNDED check is going?
So WHERE is MY TAXPAYER-FUNDED BLANKET?
After all, it is MY MONEY!!!!
The US Agency for International Development’s agriculture program aims to spend upwards of $30 million within nine months in this rural district of mud-walled homes and small farms.
AID = CIA
Other US initiatives aim to bring millions more dollars to the area over the next year.
Good thing you didn't need that money, unemployed, uninsured, and foreclosed-upon American.
Because aid is so plentiful in Nawa, many young men have opted to stop serving as the Taliban’s guns for hire.
Related: U.S. Paying Taliban For Protection
Unlike neighboring Marja, where insurgent attacks remain a daily occurrence, the central parts of Nawa have been largely violence-free the past six months.
That is why Marjah FADED from the MSM coverage!
But the cash surge has also unleashed unintended and potentially troubling consequences....
I'm tired of the lies, obfuscations, and insults, folks, sorry.
The White House recently asked Congress for an additional $4.4 billion for reconstruction and development programs in Afghanistan, with the aim of increasing employment and promoting economic growth....
Americans!!!!!
Most of it will go to US-based development firms with the ability to hire lots of people and spend lots of money quickly....
Then it WILL NOT BE HELPING the Afghans!!
See: The OverBearing Government of Afghanistan
Oh, they HAVE BEEN RUNNING the PLACE, huh?--more--"
And about that lack of violence:
"Bomb at governor’s office kills 1" by Associated Press | June 6, 2010
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A bomb exploded yesterday outside the provincial governor’s office in the Afghan city of Kandahar, killing one police officer and wounding at least 14 civilians, officials said.
The attack reflects deteriorating security in the largest city in the country’s volatile south — also the Taliban’s spiritual home — where NATO is preparing for a major operation seen as key to combating the insurgency.
I have not seen the word offensive yet (unless I missed it).
Governor Tooryalai Wesa was not in his office at the time....
Hmmmmm.
Kandahar city police Chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai said the explosives were strapped to a bicycle on the street outside the compound where the governor lives and works. Five children were among the wounded....
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but suspicion focused on Taliban militants.
The hard-line Islamist movement, ousted from power in 2001 but now a formidable militant force, says it will keep fighting.
Its leaders say no talks are possible until foreign troops withdraw from the country, a step Karzai cannot afford as the war rages.
Even though.... sigh.... CUI BONO, readers?
So WHICH GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE AGENCY was behind THIS FALSE FLAG, 'eh?
"Biden honors war dead; rain forces Obama to cancel Ill. speech; In Afghanistan, McChrystal leads tribute to fallen" by Darlene Superville, Associated Press | June 1, 2010
ARLINGTON, Va. — US-led NATO forces launched air strikes against Taliban insurgents who had forced government forces to abandon a district in Nuristan, Afghanistan. NATO also said it killed one of the Taliban’s top two commanders in the insurgent stronghold of Kandahar in a separate air strike....
The quietest air strikes you almost never saw.
--more--"
Oh, puke!
"NATO, US look to Afghan jirga to boost unity; But security concerns rise over Iran’s role" by Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times | May 31, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — The US command said an American service member was killed yesterday in a small arms attack in southern Afghanistan.
There was violence as well in the southeastern province of Khost, where a barely completed high school, built with international aid, was blown up late Saturday night. The school, which cost $220,000 to build, would have provided classrooms for 1,300 students, said Musa Majrooh, the spokesman for the Khost Education Department.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, denied that the Taliban were involved in the blast.
And I BELIEVE HIM.
Here is why:
"Now stop and think here for a moment. All revolutions depend on public support. Revolutionaries try to first win the people before they take on the government. So, no revolutionary goes out and murders civilians in cold blood. Did Washington and his men just mow down a marketplace of their fellow colonials for the heck of it? No, they did not. Washington and the Founding Fathers knew that their revolution to build a new country needed the support of those who would live in that country. This is true for every revolution in history. Therefore, these acts of terror being blamed on the insurgency must all be fakes, committed by intelligence agencies working for the governments to be blamed on the insurgents in order to destroy public support for the revolution." -- Wake the Flock Up
Related:
"She taught at one of the handful of girls’ schools the Taliban permitted"
Huh?
Also in Khost, a car bomb detonated at the entrance to the police battalion that patrols suburban areas around the city. Nine police officers were wounded, two of them seriously.
In Nangahar Province, in the east, which until recently was relatively calm, two bombings killed five members of the Afghan security forces, and in Badakshan Province in the far northeast, six counternarcotics officers were killed when their patrol vehicle was blown up by a homemade bomb.
They were on a mission to eradicate poppy and the province’s governor, Baz Mohammed, accused narcotics traffickers and the Taliban of setting the bomb.
Oh, yeah?
Related: WHAT OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FOR IN AFGHANISTAN
Sick of the MSM lies yet, America?
--more--"
"Car bomb explodes outside small NATO base in Afghanistan" by Mirwais Khan, Associated Press | May 27, 2010
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A car bomb exploded yesterday outside a small NATO military base in southern Afghanistan’s largest city, wounding two Afghans and destroying several cars, police said.
It was the latest in a string of bold attacks on high-profile NATO targets in the past two weeks, following a Taliban announcement of a spring offensive against alliance and Afghan forces....
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but....
--more--"Sure is a lot of violence for "little new fighting."
"7 Afghans arrested in coalition deaths" by Rahim Faiez, Associated Press | May 25, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — A senior official accused Pakistan’s intelligence service of having a role in their training....
It's possible; however, they would have done it in conjunction with the CIA.
Also onvenient for AmericKan war planners who want to get into Pakistan.
In Islamabad, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit called the allegation “all baseless and groundless.’’
Taliban fighters still use the lawless border areas of Pakistan as a sanctuary despite Pakistani military operations and US drone attacks.
Haven't read much about those in the last month.
The spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, Saeed Ansari, told reporters the seven were part of a Taliban cell responsible for numerous other attacks in the capital, including last February’s assault against guesthouses frequented by Indians in which six Indians were killed....
Ah, yes, the Haqqani network, yes:
"Haqqani.... credited with introducing suicide bombing to the region.... cultivated as a "unilateral" asset of the CIA and received tens of thousands of dollars in cash for his work.... He may have had a role in expediting the escape of Osama Bin Laden.... In July 2008, CIA officials confronted Pakistan officials with evidence of ties between Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani. Haqqani has been accused of involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul...."
In a separate development, the Pentagon announced that more US forces are serving in Afghanistan than in Iraq — a first since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and a reflection of the new primacy of the nine-year Afghan war....
The Canadian Ministry of Defense announced that a 26-year-old Canadian soldier was killed Monday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.
Elsewhere, officials said insurgents on motorbikes shot and killed a tribal elder in northern Afghanistan who had resisted Taliban in the region and who planned to attend an upcoming government-organized peace conference.You mean the coup attempt, right?
--more--"
Good thing there is little violence then.
Peace will be easier to achieve.
"Insurgents stage assault on Kandahar Air Field; In the past week, 2 bases hit with ground attacks" by Heidi Vogt, Associated Press | May 23, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents firing rockets, mortars, and automatic weapons launched a ground assault yesterday against NATO’s biggest base in southern Afghanistan, wounding several coalition troops and civilian employees in the second such attack on a major military installation in a week, officials said....
The next day, dozens of Taliban militants attacked the main US military base — Bagram Air Field — killing an American contractor in fighting that lasted more than eight hours....
Two attacks in the same week show that the militants are capable of complex operations despite NATO military pressure.
The attacks follow a Taliban announcement of a spring offensive against NATO forces and Afghan government troops — their response to a promise by the Obama administration to squeeze the Taliban out of their strongholds in southern Kandahar Province.
Kandahar Air Field is the launching pad for thousands of additional US forces pouring into the country for a summer surge against the Taliban.
Attacks in the south earlier yesterday killed three NATO service members — one American, one French, and one Dutch — and an Afghan interpreter. That brought to 997 the number of US service members who have died since the war began in October 2001, according to an Associated Press count. The Dutch death toll in Afghanistan now is 24 and the French toll is 42....
Related: Slow Saturday Special: From One to One Thousand
NATO’s current push is aimed at winning over the population in Taliban-friendly areas by establishing security and bolstering the local government. However, each military strike has created potential for backlash amid arguments about who is an insurgent.
In the latest such incident, at least a dozen people were killed south of the capital yesterday after US troops spotted two insurgents trying to plant bombs, an Afghan official said.
The two were shot dead in Paktia Province, district chief Gulab Shah said. Troops saw comrades drag the two bodies away and called in a helicopter gunship that killed 10 more people, whom US officials said were all militants, Shah said.That is MURDER!!!!
--more--"
"Insurgents assault US-run base in Afghanistan; Attack follows deadly day for US forces" by Robert H. Reid and Amir Shah, Associated Press | May 19, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents launched a brazen predawn assault today against the giant US-run Bagram Air Field one day after a suicide bomber struck a US convoy in the capital of Kabul, killing 18 people. The Kabul dead included five American troops and a Canadian and was the deadliest attack on NATO in the Afghan capital in eight months.
Yup, "little new fighting."
The back-to-back attacks appeared part of a Taliban offensive that the insurgents had announced earlier this month. The insurgent attacks against both the capital and a major American military installation show the militants are prepared to strike at the heart of the American-led mission.
A US statement said seven insurgents had been killed so far during the “ongoing attack’’ on Bagram, which included rockets, small arms, and grenades.....
An Afghan provincial police commander, General Abdul Rahman Sayedkhail, said the assault began when US guards spotted would-be attackers in a car just outside the Bagram base. The Americans opened fire, triggering a gunbattle in which at least one militant triggered his suicide vest. Running gunbattles broke out as US troops hunted down the other attackers.
If that is the way it really happened.
Think I'm believing a newspaper that lies about anything?
The Bagram assault followed the deadliest day of the year for US forces in Afghanistan with seven Americans dead — including two who died in separate attacks in the south....
Twelve Afghan civilians also died in the blast yesterday — many of them on a public bus in rush-hour traffic along a major thoroughfare that runs by the ruins of a one-time royal palace and government ministries. At least 47 people were wounded, the Interior Ministry said....
Yeah, the darn near forgotten dead!
--more--"
At least there is "little new fighting."
"Taliban kill 4 for helping US military
KABUL — A Taliban spokesman said yesterday that the group had kidnapped and killed four Afghan interpreters, one on his wedding day, apparently because they worked for the US military and a Western contractor. The spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the Taliban found the four interpreters guilty of working as informers for “foreign forces’’ and executed them on Friday; the Taliban deemed two others to be innocent and released them, he said (New York Times)."
Then they must have been innocent, and it must have happened that way.
The New York Times says so.
"NATO helps to raise Taliban’s death toll; 3 dozen insurgents are killed during 2 days of fighting" by Amir Shah, Associated Press | May 14, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least three dozen suspected insurgents were killed in two days of joint NATO and Afghan operations across Afghanistan, officials said yesterday, one of the highest death tolls reported in recent weeks for Taliban fighters.
Suspected?
Also yesterday....
In one of the three operations....
In a second clash....
Separately....
--more--"
Yeah, VERY LITTLE NEW VIOLENCE!
"Obama: Afghan war will worsen before it improves" by Anne Gearan, AP National Security Writer | May 12, 2010
WASHINGTON --The war in Afghanistan will get worse before it gets better, President Barack Obama warned on Wednesday, but he declared his plan to begin withdrawing U.S. forces next year remains on track.
Oh, I can't take much more of this disassembler-in-chief.
Standing alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama said, "The campaign for Kandahar, already under way in districts outside the city, is expected to be among the bloodiest of the nearly 9-year-old war.
WTF MSM????!!!
"There is no denying the progress," Obama said....
Is he INSANE or just the world's greatest liar?
Karzai's warm White House welcome followed months of sniping and frustration over management of the war and about fraud allegations surrounding Karzai's re-election last year. Both leaders said disagreements are normal with so much at stake....
Related: Why Obama Went to Afghanistan
The United States has taken "extraordinary measures" to avoid civilian deaths in the war, Obama said, a nod to Karzai's loud complaints last year that U.S. airstrikes were killing innocents and making enemies of those who might be friends.
"I do not want civilians killed," Obama said, adding that he is ultimately accountable when they are....
So WHEN do you face the bar at the Hague, huh, Obomber?
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, facing Obama and Karzai in the front row Wednesday, has said he is willing to let a few killers slip away if it means saving civilian lives. Insurgents often hide among civilians, taking over homes or using refuge provided willingly by sympathizers.
Related:
Hey, it's okay when they do it.
Obama accepted McChrystal's argument that either way, killing the other people in a house only breeds resentment and makes it harder to argue that the U.S.-backed government in Kabul is on their side.
"After all it's the Afghan people we are working to protect from the Taliban," Obama said.
Shut up, sir.
Related: U.S. Paying Taliban For Protection
US investigates alleged bribing of Taliban
What a damn liar!
In announcing a major expansion of the war last year -- one that will bring a record 98,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan by the end of this summer -- Obama also said he would begin bringing some forces home in July 2011.
He is just saying that so the American public doesn't have a conniption fit -- like a carrot on a string in front of the jackass.
The date was meant to reassure Pakistan and Obama's anti-war supporters at home that the war was not open-ended.
They MUST BE HAPPY because they sure are QUIET!!!
It was also intended as a signal to Karzai that the United States expected something for its commitment, namely progress in establishing a real working government and attacking endemic corruption.
"We are not suddenly as of July 2011 finished with Afghanistan," Obama said. "After July 2011 we are still going to have an interest in making sure that Afghanistan is secure, that economic development is taking place, that good governance is being promoted."
Translation: We are NOT LEAVING!!!
Addressing Americans, Obama said they should know "we are steadily making progress. It's not overnight."
What a DAMNABLE LIAR!!!!!!!
At least 982 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. military action since late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.
OVER 1,000 now -- despite the "little new violence."
Billions in aid, roughly 80 percent of it from the United States, has helped provide schools, roads, government offices and impartial judges.
Good thing YOU DIDN'T NEED any of those things, Americans!!!
The money and the constant presence of U.S. forces have failed to decisively turn the tide of the war, however, and military commanders say time is dwindling to make a difference.
Despite the "progress," huh?
The Taliban have surged back over the past five years to become a flexible army with plenty of resources and wider popular support than the United States has sometimes been willing to acknowledge.
Tired of being LIED TO by your NEWSPAPERS, America?
"I've used whatever political capital I have to make the case to the American people that this is in our national security interests, that it's absolutely critical that we succeed on this mission," Obama said.
Meet George Bush's brother-in-arms!!!!!
The war against violent extremism isn't confined within Afghanistan's borders, he said.
Questioned by an Afghan reporter, he said he sees a growing recognition among leaders in neighboring Pakistan that the extremist groups who are based there represent a "cancer in their midst."
I know the feeling; we call it AIPAC over here.
Where my printed paper cut it.
He said Pakistani leaders are recognizing that the groups that are using Pakistan's frontier as a base are threatening the nation's sovereignty....
So WHEN are we INVADING THEM?
Afghanistan's top leaders are spending most of the week in Washington for fence-mending and an examination of the war strategy ahead of the Kandahar operation.
I guess they NEVER DID cal it an OFFENSIVE!
The visit comes about midway between Obama's announcement last December that he would add 30,000 troops and what he has said will be a reappraisal of the U.S. battle plan at the end of this year. It also comes weeks ahead of a peace summit called by Karzai to prepare for eventual talks with Taliban and other militants.
Karzai appears to agree with outside analysts who say that senior Taliban, including some with blood on their hands, must be at the table for any serious negotiation to stick. The United States has ruled out discussions with anyone who has not renounced ties to al-Qaida, reflecting the sensitivity of cutting deals with people who were even indirectly responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks....
And here we are still friends with Israel.
Initial outreach is directed at Taliban foot soldiers who are not motivated by ideology or affiliated with terrorists, Karzai said. He called them "country boys" driven to the fight by economic hardship.
He said that about Amerikan soldiers?
Obama said the two leaders will keep talking about how to approach the larger goal of a full reconciliation that could end the war.
And that is all it will be.... talk.
--more--"
Related: Hard fight ahead in Afghanistan, Obama says (By Scott Wilson, Washington Post)
That's what the web version shoveled your way.
Updates:
"Ex-Afghan spy chief argues against talking to Taliban" by Matthew Pennington, Associated Press | June 10, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — An explosion in southern Afghanistan killed 39 people and wounded dozens. It followed the downing of a NATO helicopter by the Taliban, which killed four American servicemen....
Violence is at record levels despite an increase in US forces aimed at turning the war around.
Or BECAUSE OF, a**hole AmeriKan MSM!!
Yup, RECORD LEVELS of VIOLENCE even though there has been "little new fighting."
The blast last night ripped through a wedding party in Kandahar Province, killing 39 people and wounding more than 70, according to the provincial executive director Mohammad Annus. The cause was not known. “We don’t know if it was a suicide attack, or a bombardment or something else,’’ Annus said.
Oh, STINKOLA!!!!!!!!
At least 17 US service members have been killed in the past four days, including the four Americans who died yesterday when insurgents in southern Helmand Province’s Sangin district — one of the most volatile in the country — shot down a NATO helicopter.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, with spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi saying militants hit the aircraft with two rockets.
NATO said the four died “after their helicopter was brought down by hostile fire.’’
*****Also yesterday, another NATO service member died in a homemade bomb attack. The Ministry of Defense in London said he was British.
--more--"
Time to leave.
"Some blast victims belonged to anti-Taliban force; Commander says US failed to give support" by Alissa J. Rubin and Taimoor Shah, New York Times | June 11, 2010
In Kandahar, Afghans prayed yesterday over the graves of victims of the attack. At least 40 people were killed and 77 injured in the attack on a wedding party. (Ahmad Nadeem/ Reuters)
Sorry, but they DO NOT LOOK like evil "terrorists" to me!
KABUL, Afghanistan — The groom and 17 of the guests at a rural Kandahar wedding party attacked by a suicide bomber Wednesday night were members of an anti-Taliban guard organization encouraged initially by American Special Operations forces, and the bomber’s goal appeared to be to undermine support for the group, elders and government officials in the area said yesterday.
Oh, speaking of whom:
"Al-CIA-Duh" Invades Afghanistan
CIA Assassins Lend a Helping Hand in Afghanistan
CIA Strike Teams Swoop Into Afghanistan
The Boston Globe Bucks Up the CIA
The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Blackening Out Blackwater Assassins
More Assassins Headed to Afghanistan
Special Operations, huh?The governor of Kandahar Province decried the attack at a news conference.
“People from all walks of life are participating in a wedding: They are teachers, they are farmers, they are scholars, they are children,’’ said the governor, Tooryalai Wesa. “It’s not legal to kill large numbers of innocent people,’’ he said.
Forty wedding guests were killed and 87 were wounded, according to the governor’s office.
The commander of the group, known as an arbeki, a traditional form of a village defense force, said the American forces had supported him at the beginning but then had backed away and never delivered ammunition or other promised support....
We do that ALL the TIME!
The government of President Hamid Karzai has been skeptical of the groups, which it fears will develop local bases of power outside government control. People in areas lacking Afghan security forces, however, have had little choice but to fend for themselves, and about nine months ago American Special Operations forces started encouraging the formation of a handful of local groups in vulnerable places around the country. One was the group in Nagahan, where the attack on the wedding party took place.
“This is a tragedy. The village as a whole chose peace and to renounce violence and stand against the Taliban, and this senseless act has taken innocent lives,’’ said Colonel Edward T. Nye, a spokesman for Special Operations forces in Afghanistan.
So when does AmeriKa and Israel follow suit?
Nye would not comment on the local commander’s remarks about American aid, but he said, “this is not going to dissuade us or drive us away, and I’m sure we’re going to continue to support the people of the area and side with them.’’
Elders in the area said they believed that the suicide bomber’s intent was to erode confidence in the group and to make the area more vulnerable to insurgent infiltration.
“The local militia were quite effective and helpful and were supported by the civilian population, they were not letting Taliban come to their area,’’ said Haji Shah Aka, an elder from Nagahan.
“They are trying to terrify the people who want to protect their areas. It was a concrete message from the Taliban to the residents of Nagahan not to help the government and not to secure their area,’’ he said.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the bombing that, because it killed mostly civilians, went against their efforts to soften their image and reach out to civilians. The Taliban spokesman for southern Afghanistan sent text messages to local reporters denying any involvement and blaming NATO forces for the bombing.
And once again, I believe them over my lying military and government.
How sad.
In Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan, 2,000 local leaders gathered in a district just a ridge away from the Pakistan border to endorse the recommendations of a peace conference held last week in Kabul. The crowd, heavily protected by the local police and NATO helicopters, would most likely have been far larger had the local Taliban not threatened to disrupt it, local leaders said.
Most of the speakers at the meeting condemned what they called Pakistan’s intervention in Afghan affairs. Those in attendance called on the government to intensify its efforts to persuade Pakistan to stay out of Afghan affairs, said Afghan reporters who attended the gathering.Looks like PAKISTAN is UP NEXT for U.S. OCCUPATION!!!
It's what Obama would call PROGRESS, I'm sure!!!!
--more--"
Update:
"A senior military official said yesterday that the offensive will begin in June, the Associated Press reported."
Someone used the word at least once!
