"Taliban attack road crew; several dead" by Amir Shah and Mirwais Khan, Associated Press | August 20, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters attacked a road construction crew yesterday in southern Afghanistan and several people were killed or wounded, officials and witnesses said....
The attack on the road crew occurred in the Sangin district of Helmand Province, according to a company employee, Salam Khan Durrani.
He said several people had been killed or wounded, but he had no precise figures because fighting was still raging.
Dawood Ahmadi, provincial spokesman, said the crew and its security guards called for help from Afghan security forces but he had no other details.
The crew was working on the main road from Sangin to the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. Sangin, has been the scene of bloody fighting between the Taliban and coalition forces....
In the east, two Afghan civilians were killed and 14 wounded yesterday when a fuel truck exploded in the Bati Kot district of Nangarhar Province, the coalition said.The blast also destroyed three civilian vehicles and caused damage to shops nearby. The event was being investigated, but initial reports indicated an explosive device was the cause, NATO said.
This is what we are being told anyway.
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Careful. We are coming up on an intersection:
"Taliban boost attacks against Afghan police; At least 15 officers killed in 5 assaults across country" by Rod Nordland, New York Times | August 22, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban campaign focusing on the Afghan police appears to have intensified in recent days, with five cases reported yesterday in which at least 15 police officers were killed throughout the country. Three of the officers died in a NATO airstrike.
Oooops!!
The latest casualties were in addition to a Taliban massacre of private security guards in Helmand Province on Friday morning, in which the death toll has risen to 25; the poisonings of six police in Kandahar Province on Monday, reportedly by a cook who defected to the Taliban; and the suicide bombing deaths of four police, including a district commander, in Kandahar Province on Wednesday....
Afghan police officers have been dying at the rate of four to six a day, according to Zemarai Bashary, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior....
But we are winning, America.
In the worst of the new cases, six police officers were killed yesterday morning while asleep at their checkpoint on the strategic Ring Road in Helmand Province, after some police colleagues betrayed them to the Taliban, according to Dawood Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor....
In northern Afghanistan, in Baghlan Province, the chief of police in the Burka district, Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Haq, was shot to death by gunmen who entered his home Thursday, Munshi Abdul Majeed, the governor of the province, said yesterday.
He said Taliban and other insurgent groups were active in the area, but the authorities did not know who was responsible.
In Logar Province, just south of the capital, Kabul, a former district police chief, Hajji Bismillah, and an official of the National Directorate for Security, the Afghan intelligence service, who was not identified, were kidnapped by insurgents a week ago, and their bodies recovered Thursday, provincial officials said yesterday.
In eastern Paktika Province on Friday, a roadside bomb in the Yousaf Khail district struck a police vehicle, killing three of the officers inside, Mukhles Afghan, the spokesman for the Paktika governor, said yesterday.
In the fifth new case, three officers were apparently killed as a result of a NATO airstrike in northern Afghanistan on Friday during an engagement between Afghan forces and insurgents.
Notice how that is minimized and "Taliban" atrocities magnified?
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"Karzai helped accused official; Aide was charged with corruption" by Eric Schmitt, New York Times | August 23, 2010
WASHINGTON — In the north, a former guerrilla leader who battled Soviet invaders decades ago was killed by a roadside bomb. Salaam Pahlawan was traveling Saturday to government offices in Faryab Province, said Khalil Andarbi, a provincial police commander.
Why would Taliban kill him?
Maybe they didn't:
"NATO forces allegedly killed civilians in raid; Investigators are sent to Afghan village" by Dexter Filkins, New York Times | August 25, 2010
Have you noticed that since Petraeus took over the civilian killings have skyrocketed?
KABUL, Afghanistan — A team of investigators from the American-led forces headed to a volatile corner of northeast Afghanistan yesterday after local officials reported that a nighttime raid by NATO commandos had left eight civilians dead and 12 wounded.
Details were sketchy, but the governor of Tala Wa Barfak, a district in Baghlan Province, said the Afghans had been killed in the village of Naik early Sunday by what appeared to have been a raid carried out by special forces.
The governor, Mohammed Ismail, said a group of tribal elders he had sent to the village had returned with details. Among the dead were two women and a child, he said. Six of the dead were found in Naik, and two more villagers were found later in a field farther away, he said.
“It was a cruel act against the civilians,’’ he said.
Witnesses said the raid began about 2 a.m., when a number of helicopters descended on Naik. Groups of commandos entered a pair of houses, where the gunfire began, the witnesses said.
“As they entered our neighbor’s house, we heard some shouting and yelling and then gunshots,’’ said Ahmad Shah, a resident of Naik.
In Kabul, a spokesman for the American-led coalition said a team of investigators had been sent to the scene.
Though insurgents cause the overwhelming majority of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the issue is a delicate one between NATO and the Afghan government.
So says the lying American MSM anyway.
In recent months, NATO commanders have sharply curtailed airstrikes and night raids to reduce the number of civilian deaths.
Seem to be on the upswing again.
But special forces commandos are sent on missions at a high tempo, in a campaign to kill midranking Taliban leaders. Those commandos often carry out their raids at night, exploiting the elements of darkness and surprise.
Related:
The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Blackening Out Blackwater Assassins
The Boston Globe Bucks Up the CIA
"Al-CIA-Duh" Invades Afghanistan
CIA Assassins Lend a Helping Hand in Afghanistan
CIA Strike Teams Swoop Into Afghanistan
More Assassins Headed to Afghanistan
Nice guys, huh?
Think of them the next time you see the word "gunmen" in your paper, readers.
Afghanistan is a tribal society, and the results of botched raids are often difficult to overcome. Mahmood Haqmal, a spokesman for the governor of Baghlan Province, put it this way: “If coalition forces kill one civilian, 20 other family members will pick up weapons and stand against them.’’
Great!
That is why we are LOSING BIG TIME over there!
Also in northern Afghanistan, a group of 21 Taliban fighters surrendered their weapons and gave up fighting last week, officials said yesterday. The surrender offered a glimpse of what Afghan and American officials hope might one day grow into a larger movement.
Another PoS psyop posing as news in my paper?
The fighters, led by a Taliban commander named Mullah Obeidi, gathered Friday at a government building in Muqoor, a district in Badghis Province, and promised to fight no more. Each of the erstwhile fighters received a “reintegration certificate’’ and congratulations from several hundred tribal elders who had gathered to celebrate.
Most important, the provincial governor, Delbar Jan Arman, promised to provide the men with jobs to help ensure that they would not return to fighting.
“All of our angry brothers came in,’’ said Sharafuddin Majidi, a spokesman for the Badghis governor. “And we hope we will get some more.’’
Afghan and American officials say they hope the small ceremony in Badghis is a harbinger of a larger phenomenon, one that perhaps might rival the movement in Iraq known as the Awakening.
I am truly tired if the psyop prop.
And did you notice how the NYT article has totally veered away from the civilian dead?
There, beginning in late 2006, tens of thousands of insurgents gave up fighting and took jobs with the government.
Then WHY has it been DOWNHILL EVER SINCE?
The idea underlying the initiative is that many if not most of the Taliban’s fighters are not especially committed to the cause. The Afghan government and its NATO backers have pledged $150 million for the effort.
Now WAIT a MINUTE! You can NOT SAY ONE DAY they are RABID, FANATICAL F***S that must be destroyed and then say they are, well, not that bad after all.
Related: Taliban I Told You So
Yeah, that one-day wonder tells you they are only the PEOPLE that LIVE THERE who do not like foreign killers wiping out their families!!
But the defections have amounted to a relative trickle, limited to small, isolated groups like the one in Badghis.
What, after 2006?
Forgot all about that NATO raid, haven't you?
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Well, shift is over:
"Afghan working for Spain kills 3 at base; Riots break out after gunman dies in firefight" by Robert H. Reid, Associated Press | August 26, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan driver working for Spanish police opened fire on a NATO base yesterday, killing three Spaniards before dying in a hail of gunfire.
Afghans angry at the driver’s death stormed the base in northwestern Badghis Province with stones and set fire to at least one vehicle, underscoring the brewing resentment among many Afghans over the presence of foreigners on their soil and the problems in rapidly expanding Afghanistan’s security forces.
America, it is TIME TO LEAVE!
Details of the shooting were unclear, but Spain’s interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, described it as a “terrorist attack.’’
Pffft!
“I can’t say if the Taliban were behind this or not,’’ he told reporters in Madrid. “But what is clear is that it was a premeditated attack. The person who opened fire knew exactly what he was doing.’’
He said the assailant had worked with the Spanish Civil Guard, a paramilitary force, since the unit arrived in Afghanistan five months ago to train Afghan police....
Yeah, WHY are you guys even there at this point -- especially when YOUR PEOPLE want OUT!
When word of the shooting spread, several hundred angry men gathered outside the walls of the Spanish compound, shouting “God is Great,’’ hurling stones, and ripping down fences, Associated Press Television video showed. Gunshots rang out, although it was unclear who was firing.
Turns out it was NATO FIRING INTO the CROWD from the BASE!
I guess that's one reason the U.S. isn't criticizing India for opening up on Kashmiris.
Abdul Aziz Tariq, provincial health director, said 25 people were wounded in the protest, most of them by bullets, with two in critical condition. Seven of those hospitalized were under 18 years old, but their wounds were not life-threatening, he said.
Police strung barbed wire in the streets to contain the crowd and restored order by midafternoon, said Sharafuddin Majidi, provincial government spokesman.
That's the freedom and liberation we are bringing them, Amurkn!
He said shots had been fired both from and toward the base, but James P. Judge, NATO spokesman, said there was no indication NATO soldiers had fired.
Translation: they did
Majidi blamed rabble-rousers for inciting the crowd.
Many Afghans are often quick to blame international soldiers and contractors for acts of violence, reflecting public resentment about the role that foreigners play in their country.
Yeah, because THEY KNOW that if we were not there, there would be NO VIOLENCE!
It may not be the highest standard of living ever, but the VIOLENCE would DROP like WTC TOWER on 9/11!
Lieutenant General Bill Caldwell, head of NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan, told reporters Monday that coalition and Afghan forces keep a sharp eye out for possible infiltrators at the recruitment, training, and deployment stages....
Must have been asleep on the job.
Just three weeks ago, coalition forces detained a recruit at a police training site in the western province of Herat who was discovered to be a Taliban infiltrator from Pakistan.
We got one!
Almost made you forget how terrible things are there.
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KABUL, Afghanistan — The latest example occurred yesterday when about a dozen gunmen stormed a police checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Kunduz, about 150 miles north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Eight policemen were killed, said provincial police chief Abdul Raziq Yaqoubi.
Also yesterday, a candidate in next month’s parliamentary elections said 10 of her campaign workers were kidnapped while traveling in the northwestern province of Herat, 450 miles west of the capital.
The candidate, Fawzya Galani, said villagers told her armed men had stopped the group Wednesday and drove them off in their two vehicles.
Those incidents followed Wednesday’s fatal shooting of three Spaniards — two police trainers and an interpreter — at a training base in Badghis province about 230 miles northwest of Kabul.
The shooter, who was also killed, was a police driver who local officials said was a brother-in-law of a local Taliban commander.
Earlier this month, 10 members of a Christian medical team — six Americans, two Afghans, one German, and a Briton — were gunned down in Badakhshan, a northern province that had seen little insurgent activity. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
See: Aid Workers Killed in Afghanistan
Yup, PLAYING the GENDER CARD again -- as if dropping missiles on them and destroying their villages and families is doing them a favor.
In an interview aired Monday by the British Broadcasting Corp., General David Petraeus, the top US and NATO commander, said NATO forces had reversed the momentum which the Taliban gained in recent years....
As they are EXPANDING THEIR AREA of OPERATIONS, huh, Dave?
Yeah, Taliban are now driving in reverse!
The insurgency has been slowly expanding its presence in areas such as Kunduz, Faryab, and Baghlan since 2007....
Afghan authorities believe that in establishing a northern foothold, the Taliban use veterans from southern battlefields to help organize local groups, sometimes with help from the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which provides recruits from among the Uzbek minority....
A study published last spring by the Afghan Analyst Network, an independent policy research organization, said that expanding into the north and west strengthens the Taliban claim to be a legitimate national government fighting on behalf of the Afghan people and not simply the Pashtun community.
That is the way MOST AFGHANS have come to see them because they are the ONLY FORCE RESISTING the foreign invaders!
It also enables the Taliban to threaten NATO supply lines coming south from Central Asia. Those routes were established to reduce reliance on supply lines from Pakistan, under attack from fighters on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Attacks which we rarely read about here.
If Americans knew their supply lines were s*** and that we were paying Taliban for safe passage, well, they might really get angry and want an end to the fraud, I mean, war!!!
“Furthermore, there’s no doubt the psychological impact of the north’s destabilization upon Western Europe and the US would be considerable, overstretching resources as well as reducing the recruitment pool of Afghan army and police by enabling the Taliban to intimidate the families of volunteers,’’ the study said.
The psychological impact was evident in the reaction in Spain to the killing of the two trainers and the interpreter, a Spanish citizen of Iranian origin....
Taliban hate Iranians, huh?
The enemy of my enemy.... ?
Why are we fighting any of them?
If sectarianism were such a potent force would they wipe each other out for us?
Or could it possibly be you have been LIED TO ONCE AGAIN by your Muslim-hating, war-promoting press, Americans?
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Related:
An Afghan boy bought a kite after sunset in Kabul. It is the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast all day. (Yuri Cortz/AFP/Getty Images)."
That's one way of getting around Afghanistan.
Related: The Boston Globe Flies an Afghanistan Kite
Also see: Go Fly a Kite, Pakistan!
Looks like fun (and it is; I've flown a few in my day).
Update:
"Homemade bombs leave three US troops dead" by Associated Press | August 28, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — A roadside blast tore through a crowded market in the increasingly volatile north, killing three police officers and two civilians....
Meanwhile, a police official said three Afghan police officers and two civilians were killed and 15 civilians wounded in Thursday evening’s bombing in Kunduz Province’s Archi town. The blast went off as residents shopped for food in anticipation of the breaking of the daily fast observed during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Smells like CIA-Duh to me!
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Kunduz, about 150 miles north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, has not traditionally been a Taliban stronghold. However, insurgents have steadily built their presence there since 2007.
Yeah, then it must have been them.
And we have been losing all this time and the MSM hasn't been telling us?
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