178 Insurgents Killed In Southern Afghanistan
26 June 2005 -- Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says that Afghan troops, supported by U.S. forces, killed 178 Taliban fighters and detained over 80 others in the southern province of Kandahar.
General Zahir Azimi, the ministry spokesman, said today that the fighting has taken place in the Mia-Nishin district of Kandahar Province since 20 June.
He said Afghan Army and police were involved in the fight against the insurgents that ended yesterday.
The joint operation by Afghan and U.S. troops was accelerated in the area, a day after insurgents publicly executed eight Afghan police in the same district.
About 20,000 U.S.-led troops are presently hunting Taliban remnants and their Al-Qaeda allies, mainly in the south and southeast region's of the country.
Insurgents have increased their attacks on U.S. and Afghan troops recently.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/...78F66B25BE.html
Full Version: Afghan chaos growing
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > Foreign Policy and National Defense > Foreign Policy & National Defense Issues Archive
Afghanistan: World's Largest-Ever Pile Of Drugs Destroyed
Afghanistan has commemorated the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking by burning nearly 60 tons of drugs recently seized by the government. The Afghan Interior Ministry says one stockpile destroyed near Kabul included 13 tons of opium, 9 tons of hashish, 2 tons of heroin, and 6 tons of other illegal narcotics. That makes it the largest single stockpile of illegal drugs ever destroyed in the history of the world.
Prague, 26 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The enormous stockpile of illegal drugs was gathered together on the outskirts of Kabul where it was doused with gasoline by police in Afghanistan's antidrug unit.
Bluish clouds billowed from the 30-ton pile when Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali ignited the hundreds of bags of drugs in front of a crowd of journalists:
The ceremony is just one of many across Afghanistan commemorating the United Nations' International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. It was on 26 June 1987 that the a UN declaration was adopted against drug abuse and trafficking at an international conference.
Afghanistan, as the world's largest producer of illegal drugs, has been harshly criticized for the failure of the government to end opium farming. According to UN estimates, about 90 percent of the world's illegal opium and heroin is supplied by Afghan drug lords.
At today's drug-burning ceremony near Kabul, Interior Minister Jalali recognized that without stronger enforcement efforts, Afghanistan risks deteriorating into a narco-state just four years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime:
"I am really happy that we are burning a large amount of drugs here while marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking. This is a symbolic moment in the fight against narcotics," Jalali said.
Jalali emphasized that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government is firmly committed brining an end to illegal opium-poppy cultivation, heroin production, and drug smuggling.
"All the drug traffickers must remember that our judicial system and our police have already collected evidence against them. They will be soon brought to justice," Jalali said.
The United States, Britain, and other countries are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help Kabul's antidrug campaign.
The funds are being used to train police units to search out and destroy drug laboratories, arrest smugglers, and destroy opium crops. Funds also are committed to help Afghan farmers rebuild the infrastructure they need to grow legal crops like fruits and vegetables.
But last week, Counternarcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi told AP that some provincial governors and police chiefs are suspected of being involved in the illegal drugs trade. He said none are being investigated because of what he called "a lack of evidence." Qaderi declined to name those suspected.
President Karzai predicted during a visit to the United States last month that the drug-eradication programs would cause a 20 to 30 percent reduction in the amount of opium being grown in Afghanistan this year compared to last year.
But Qaderi says he thinks strong rains after years of drought could lead to another record-size opium crop in Afghanistan.
The British ambassador to Afghanistan, Rosalind Marsden, says today's drug burning is highly symbolic of positive steps being taken by officials in Kabul:
"This stockpile is a testament to the commitment of President Karzai and the government of Afghanistan to ending the drugs trade in this country," she said.
General Mohammad Daoud, the deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, says seven other stockpiles of illegal drugs -- weighing a total of about 32 tons -- also were destroyed today in other provinces. Altogether, today's massive bonfires of opium, heroin, hashish, and other drugs in Afghanistan totaled more than 60 tons.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/...E28781456A.html
Afghanistan has commemorated the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking by burning nearly 60 tons of drugs recently seized by the government. The Afghan Interior Ministry says one stockpile destroyed near Kabul included 13 tons of opium, 9 tons of hashish, 2 tons of heroin, and 6 tons of other illegal narcotics. That makes it the largest single stockpile of illegal drugs ever destroyed in the history of the world.
Prague, 26 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The enormous stockpile of illegal drugs was gathered together on the outskirts of Kabul where it was doused with gasoline by police in Afghanistan's antidrug unit.
Bluish clouds billowed from the 30-ton pile when Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali ignited the hundreds of bags of drugs in front of a crowd of journalists:
The ceremony is just one of many across Afghanistan commemorating the United Nations' International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. It was on 26 June 1987 that the a UN declaration was adopted against drug abuse and trafficking at an international conference.
Afghanistan, as the world's largest producer of illegal drugs, has been harshly criticized for the failure of the government to end opium farming. According to UN estimates, about 90 percent of the world's illegal opium and heroin is supplied by Afghan drug lords.
At today's drug-burning ceremony near Kabul, Interior Minister Jalali recognized that without stronger enforcement efforts, Afghanistan risks deteriorating into a narco-state just four years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime:
"I am really happy that we are burning a large amount of drugs here while marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking. This is a symbolic moment in the fight against narcotics," Jalali said.
Jalali emphasized that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government is firmly committed brining an end to illegal opium-poppy cultivation, heroin production, and drug smuggling.
"All the drug traffickers must remember that our judicial system and our police have already collected evidence against them. They will be soon brought to justice," Jalali said.
The United States, Britain, and other countries are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help Kabul's antidrug campaign.
The funds are being used to train police units to search out and destroy drug laboratories, arrest smugglers, and destroy opium crops. Funds also are committed to help Afghan farmers rebuild the infrastructure they need to grow legal crops like fruits and vegetables.
But last week, Counternarcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi told AP that some provincial governors and police chiefs are suspected of being involved in the illegal drugs trade. He said none are being investigated because of what he called "a lack of evidence." Qaderi declined to name those suspected.
President Karzai predicted during a visit to the United States last month that the drug-eradication programs would cause a 20 to 30 percent reduction in the amount of opium being grown in Afghanistan this year compared to last year.
But Qaderi says he thinks strong rains after years of drought could lead to another record-size opium crop in Afghanistan.
The British ambassador to Afghanistan, Rosalind Marsden, says today's drug burning is highly symbolic of positive steps being taken by officials in Kabul:
"This stockpile is a testament to the commitment of President Karzai and the government of Afghanistan to ending the drugs trade in this country," she said.
General Mohammad Daoud, the deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, says seven other stockpiles of illegal drugs -- weighing a total of about 32 tons -- also were destroyed today in other provinces. Altogether, today's massive bonfires of opium, heroin, hashish, and other drugs in Afghanistan totaled more than 60 tons.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/...E28781456A.html
Afghanistan: U.S. Forces Continue Campaign Against Taliban Strongholds In South
By Ron Synovitz
U.S. troops in Afghanistan (file photo)
(CTK)
U.S. and Afghan government troops have advanced into southern Afghanistan's Khakeran Valley as part of an ongoing effort to flush Taliban fighters out of their strongholds ahead of September parliamentary elections. Hundreds of Taliban militants are thought to have fled into the mountains of Zabul Province after U.S. and British air strikes last week reportedly killed dozens of guerrillas in the area.
Prague, 27 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- U.S.-led coalition forces are advancing into Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan this week in an attempt to prevent guerrilla attacks aimed at derailing parliamentary elections in September.
Taliban fighters have been on the run since a bloody battle last week in the area where the provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Zabul meet. Teams of U.S. Army soldiers and Special Forces commandos are being airlifted on Chinook helicopters to hunt the fighters down in remote parts of the Kafar Jar Ghar mountain range.
Those mountains form a natural border between Oruzgan and Zabul provinces. The area has been a sanctuary for guerrilla fighters since the Taliban was ousted from Kabul and Kandahar city in late 2001. It includes the town of Daychopan, where there have been frequent battles between U.S. troops and Taliban fighters.
Lieutenant Luke Langer is a member of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade. He is also a platoon leader for one team that is now in the Khakeran Valley in northern Zabul Province. Langer says up to 300 Taliban fighters are thought to be hiding in the Khakeran Valley. He says intelligence gathered from local villagers confirms the Taliban is aware of the presence of U.S. troops.
Langer spoke with Reuters before leaving on the mission from Kandahar airfield. He spoke about the dangers of the operations now under way in the mountains of southern Afghanistan: "Certainly, there is a lot of pressure. Our enemy is extremely smart. They are capable. They are well equipped. They know what they are doing. So there is not a moment's notice when we can let our guard down. Every time we leave the gate [of Kandahar airfield], there is a chance that someone is going to hit us with an [improvised explosive device] or a small-arms ambush. Or something. You can never let your guard down here."
As Langer spoke, other U.S. troops kept their marksmanship skills sharp at firing ranges near the airfield. Among them was Lieutenant Christopher Stone, who was recently transferred from combat duties in Iraq. U.S. troops are far more likely to come under mortar attack in Iraq than Afghanistan. But Stone says there are similarities between the guerrilla tactics employed by insurgents in Iraq and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.
"The [improvised explosive device] threats, I think, are the biggest similarities between here and Iraq," Stone said. "The ones that we have seen here are probably a little more complex. The Taliban is thinking. They are constantly changing their tactics. So we have to change with them to make sure that we can meet that threat."
The operation to flush out Taliban fighters who fled last week's assault in the Mianshin District of Kandahar Province is part of that effort. A force of U.S. and Afghan troops is remaining in that area to guard against a possible Taliban counterattack.
The Afghan government initially reported that 178 Taliban fighters had been killed in the U.S.-led offensive. Today, however, the U.S. military significantly revised the Taliban death toll. They say they can only confirm the deaths of 77 guerrilla fighters and the capture of 22 others.
Afghan government commanders say some of those detainees are Urdu-speaking Pakistanis who recently crossed into Afghanistan.
Mullah Dadullah is one of two key Taliban commanders still at large after fleeing last week's fighting. He telephoned Reuters yesterday and claimed that no more than eight Taliban fighters have been killed in the past week, including a Taliban commander named Mullah Mohammad Easa.
Many of the militants who escaped last week's fighting are thought to have fled south toward Pakistan. But to get to Pakistan, they must first cross the heavily patrolled Kandahar-Kabul highway.
U.S. military officials say they haven't detected much movement across the highway since last week's operation. One suspected militant was shot dead yesterday east of Qalat, Zabul's provincial capital, as he sped toward a U.S. checkpoint on the highway while wielding an AK-47 assault rifle.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/...B9BD4AB7B1.html
By Ron Synovitz
U.S. troops in Afghanistan (file photo)
(CTK)
U.S. and Afghan government troops have advanced into southern Afghanistan's Khakeran Valley as part of an ongoing effort to flush Taliban fighters out of their strongholds ahead of September parliamentary elections. Hundreds of Taliban militants are thought to have fled into the mountains of Zabul Province after U.S. and British air strikes last week reportedly killed dozens of guerrillas in the area.
Prague, 27 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- U.S.-led coalition forces are advancing into Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan this week in an attempt to prevent guerrilla attacks aimed at derailing parliamentary elections in September.
Taliban fighters have been on the run since a bloody battle last week in the area where the provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Zabul meet. Teams of U.S. Army soldiers and Special Forces commandos are being airlifted on Chinook helicopters to hunt the fighters down in remote parts of the Kafar Jar Ghar mountain range.
Those mountains form a natural border between Oruzgan and Zabul provinces. The area has been a sanctuary for guerrilla fighters since the Taliban was ousted from Kabul and Kandahar city in late 2001. It includes the town of Daychopan, where there have been frequent battles between U.S. troops and Taliban fighters.
Lieutenant Luke Langer is a member of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade. He is also a platoon leader for one team that is now in the Khakeran Valley in northern Zabul Province. Langer says up to 300 Taliban fighters are thought to be hiding in the Khakeran Valley. He says intelligence gathered from local villagers confirms the Taliban is aware of the presence of U.S. troops.
Langer spoke with Reuters before leaving on the mission from Kandahar airfield. He spoke about the dangers of the operations now under way in the mountains of southern Afghanistan: "Certainly, there is a lot of pressure. Our enemy is extremely smart. They are capable. They are well equipped. They know what they are doing. So there is not a moment's notice when we can let our guard down. Every time we leave the gate [of Kandahar airfield], there is a chance that someone is going to hit us with an [improvised explosive device] or a small-arms ambush. Or something. You can never let your guard down here."
As Langer spoke, other U.S. troops kept their marksmanship skills sharp at firing ranges near the airfield. Among them was Lieutenant Christopher Stone, who was recently transferred from combat duties in Iraq. U.S. troops are far more likely to come under mortar attack in Iraq than Afghanistan. But Stone says there are similarities between the guerrilla tactics employed by insurgents in Iraq and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.
"The [improvised explosive device] threats, I think, are the biggest similarities between here and Iraq," Stone said. "The ones that we have seen here are probably a little more complex. The Taliban is thinking. They are constantly changing their tactics. So we have to change with them to make sure that we can meet that threat."
The operation to flush out Taliban fighters who fled last week's assault in the Mianshin District of Kandahar Province is part of that effort. A force of U.S. and Afghan troops is remaining in that area to guard against a possible Taliban counterattack.
The Afghan government initially reported that 178 Taliban fighters had been killed in the U.S.-led offensive. Today, however, the U.S. military significantly revised the Taliban death toll. They say they can only confirm the deaths of 77 guerrilla fighters and the capture of 22 others.
Afghan government commanders say some of those detainees are Urdu-speaking Pakistanis who recently crossed into Afghanistan.
Mullah Dadullah is one of two key Taliban commanders still at large after fleeing last week's fighting. He telephoned Reuters yesterday and claimed that no more than eight Taliban fighters have been killed in the past week, including a Taliban commander named Mullah Mohammad Easa.
Many of the militants who escaped last week's fighting are thought to have fled south toward Pakistan. But to get to Pakistan, they must first cross the heavily patrolled Kandahar-Kabul highway.
U.S. military officials say they haven't detected much movement across the highway since last week's operation. One suspected militant was shot dead yesterday east of Qalat, Zabul's provincial capital, as he sped toward a U.S. checkpoint on the highway while wielding an AK-47 assault rifle.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/...B9BD4AB7B1.html
RFE/RL Afghanistan Report A Weekly Review of News and
Analysis of Events and Trends in Afghanistan
6 June 2005, Volume 4, Number 18
SPECIAL FEATURES
IS RECONCILIATION WITH THE NEO-TALIBAN WORKING?
By Amin Tarzi
The latest surge of violence associated and often claimed by the neo-Taliban brings into question Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reconciliation policy with members of the ousted regime. However, the incidents, including the deadly suicide attack inside a mosque in the southern city of Kandahar on 1 June, may involve more actors than the resurgent elements from the Taliban regime, or the neo-Taliban, and, as such, can be a destabilizing factor in Afghanistan's future.
The Reconciliation Policy
In a little-noticed speech before a gathering of the ulema in Kabul in April 2003, Karzai said that a "clear line" has to be drawn between "the ordinary Taliban who are real and honest sons of this country" and those "who still use the Taliban cover to disturb peace and security in the country." No one has "the right to harass/persecute anyone under the name of Talib/Taliban anymore," Karzai emphasized (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 3 July 2003).
In some senses, Karzai speech was an announcement, albeit not formally at the time, of the launch of his reconciliation policy designed to weaken the resolve of the neo-Taliban by breaking their ranks into good and bad Talibs. Moreover, at the time Karzai -- who was leading a transitional administration in which he was not the dominant force -- needed the backing of his co-ethnic Pashtuns who were perceived to be -- or were actually -- marginalized from the Afghan political scene since the demise of the mostly Pashtun Taliban regime in December 2001.
The reconciliation policy, more articulated by Karzai since April 2003, essentially maintains that other than between 100 to 150 former members of the Taliban regime are known to have committed crimes against the Afghan people; all others, whether dormant or active within the ranks of the neo-Taliban, can begin living as normal citizens of Afghanistan by denouncing violence and renouncing their opposition to the central Afghan government.
The list of the unpardonable former Taliban members has never been made public by Karzai despite requests for by the Afghan media and politicians. Moreover, comments made in May by Sebghatullah Mojaddedi -- which were initially supported by Karzai -- have changed the issue of who cannot be pardoned into a contentious political problem.
As the head of the Independent National Commission for Peace in Afghanistan, an organ established to facilitate the reconciliation process with the former Taliban members, Mojaddedi announced that the amnesty offer from Karzai's government extended to all Taliban leaders, including the regime's former head, Mullah Mohammad Omar (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 17 May 2005). Both Mojaddedi and Karzai have since backed off of those statements, but distrust has increased and the door of misuse of the reconciliation policy has opened wider.
Upsurge In Violence
In line with the expectations of Afghan authorities and U.S.-led coalition forces, disruptive activities and terrorist acts either committed by or in the name of the neo-Taliban and their allies has increased since the weather improved in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In April, U.S. Major General Eric Olson said that there "has been an increase in Taliban and enemy activity in the spring [compared to the winter months]. And we anticipate that the enemy has the intention of trying to raise the level of activity this spring." However, Olson predicted that these activities would lack cohesion and fade in traditional neo-Taliban strongholds (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 11 March 2005).
While from a purely military perspective -- often no more than sporadic gun battles and launching of small rockets -- engagements between the neo-Taliban and the coalition forces and their Afghan National Army allies have not shown any significant cohesion or an increase that has not been expected, acts of terror have become more organized and, indeed, deadlier.
The well-planned killing of Mawlawi Abdullah Fayyaz, head of the Council of Ulema of Kandahar and an ardent opponent of the neo-Taliban, on 29 May and the suicide blast inside a Kandahar mosque on 1 June that claimed at least 21 lives, are gruesome illustrations of the increase in terror activities in Afghanistan.
Dilemma Facing Kabul
Following Fayyaz's killing, the office of Karzai's spokesman issued a statement in which the Afghan president strongly condemned the slaying of the cleric, adding that Fayyaz was assassinated by "the enemies of Afghanistan's peace and prosperity," without mentioning the neo-Taliban by name.
Soon after Fayyaz's assassination, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, a spokesman for the neo-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the act, calling Fayyaz a supporter of the "Americans, [who] preached against an Islamic way of life and intended to lead people away from the path of righteousness."
On 31 May, Karzai responded to Fayyaz's assassination and said that it "is clear that the people who call themselves Taliban and act under the name of Taliban -- whether they are Taliban's representatives or not -- but it is clear that they are enemies of Afghanistan," Radio Afghanistan reported. Indirectly in support of his reconciliation policies, Karzai called on all of those who are "in the ranks of the Taliban, and [are] an Afghan, and belong to this soil," as their "national and religious duty" should act against those people who kill Afghans and their religious scholars. "They should take revenge on them and push them out of this country and prove that they are Afghans and they do not allow foreigners in the country," Karzai added, in an attempt to portray the killers of Fayyaz as non-Afghans.
In a statement, the Afghan Interior Ministry linked the suicide blast on 1 June, which occurred during a special funeral prayer for Fayyaz and claimed the life of Kabul's security chief General Akram Khakrezwal, to Fayyaz's killing. However, according to Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, the suicide bomber was not an Afghan, and was "an enemy of Islam" and an "enemy of peace and stability in Afghanistan" -- using what have recently become the standard official Afghan terms for what once was referred to as the Taliban.
Referring to Fayyaz's slaying, the 1 June statement refrains from mentioning the Taliban by name, referring to those who carried out the assassination simply as "gunmen."
Neo-Taliban spokesman Hakimi on 1 June contacted the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press, saying that the bombing "shouldn't have occurred" and "strongly" condemning the act. While Pakistani journalist and Taliban expert Rahimullah Yusofzai told Dubai-based Geo TV on 1 June that the militia had claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. In "my view, the Taliban was looking for this opportunity. It believed that important people would visit this mosque to offer prayer for" Fayyaz, Yusofzai told the station. There are reports that two of Karzai's brothers were due to arrive to the mosque later.
Whether the neo-Taliban or a splinter group within their ranks carried out the mosque bombing, the incident has opened a new chapter of violence in Afghanistan, in which mosques are no longer considered sanctuaries safe from violence. Moreover, with the killing of Fayyaz and the possible implications of the neo-Taliban in the mosque bombing, the currency of Karzai's reconciliation policy towards the militia becomes more tenuous. And the tensions created between Karzai and some within his own government regarding his Taliban policy and between the president and some of the opposition parties might lead to a radicalization ahead of the elections for the lower house of the Afghan parliament and provincial councils; that could, in turn, allow the reconciliation issue to be brought into the forefront of the political debate in the country with dire consequences for national unity of Afghanistan and leaving more opportunities for foreign hands to destabilize the country.
http://www.rferl.org/reports/aspfiles/printonly.asp?po=y
Analysis of Events and Trends in Afghanistan
6 June 2005, Volume 4, Number 18
SPECIAL FEATURES
IS RECONCILIATION WITH THE NEO-TALIBAN WORKING?
By Amin Tarzi
The latest surge of violence associated and often claimed by the neo-Taliban brings into question Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reconciliation policy with members of the ousted regime. However, the incidents, including the deadly suicide attack inside a mosque in the southern city of Kandahar on 1 June, may involve more actors than the resurgent elements from the Taliban regime, or the neo-Taliban, and, as such, can be a destabilizing factor in Afghanistan's future.
The Reconciliation Policy
In a little-noticed speech before a gathering of the ulema in Kabul in April 2003, Karzai said that a "clear line" has to be drawn between "the ordinary Taliban who are real and honest sons of this country" and those "who still use the Taliban cover to disturb peace and security in the country." No one has "the right to harass/persecute anyone under the name of Talib/Taliban anymore," Karzai emphasized (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 3 July 2003).
In some senses, Karzai speech was an announcement, albeit not formally at the time, of the launch of his reconciliation policy designed to weaken the resolve of the neo-Taliban by breaking their ranks into good and bad Talibs. Moreover, at the time Karzai -- who was leading a transitional administration in which he was not the dominant force -- needed the backing of his co-ethnic Pashtuns who were perceived to be -- or were actually -- marginalized from the Afghan political scene since the demise of the mostly Pashtun Taliban regime in December 2001.
The reconciliation policy, more articulated by Karzai since April 2003, essentially maintains that other than between 100 to 150 former members of the Taliban regime are known to have committed crimes against the Afghan people; all others, whether dormant or active within the ranks of the neo-Taliban, can begin living as normal citizens of Afghanistan by denouncing violence and renouncing their opposition to the central Afghan government.
The list of the unpardonable former Taliban members has never been made public by Karzai despite requests for by the Afghan media and politicians. Moreover, comments made in May by Sebghatullah Mojaddedi -- which were initially supported by Karzai -- have changed the issue of who cannot be pardoned into a contentious political problem.
As the head of the Independent National Commission for Peace in Afghanistan, an organ established to facilitate the reconciliation process with the former Taliban members, Mojaddedi announced that the amnesty offer from Karzai's government extended to all Taliban leaders, including the regime's former head, Mullah Mohammad Omar (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 17 May 2005). Both Mojaddedi and Karzai have since backed off of those statements, but distrust has increased and the door of misuse of the reconciliation policy has opened wider.
Upsurge In Violence
In line with the expectations of Afghan authorities and U.S.-led coalition forces, disruptive activities and terrorist acts either committed by or in the name of the neo-Taliban and their allies has increased since the weather improved in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In April, U.S. Major General Eric Olson said that there "has been an increase in Taliban and enemy activity in the spring [compared to the winter months]. And we anticipate that the enemy has the intention of trying to raise the level of activity this spring." However, Olson predicted that these activities would lack cohesion and fade in traditional neo-Taliban strongholds (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 11 March 2005).
While from a purely military perspective -- often no more than sporadic gun battles and launching of small rockets -- engagements between the neo-Taliban and the coalition forces and their Afghan National Army allies have not shown any significant cohesion or an increase that has not been expected, acts of terror have become more organized and, indeed, deadlier.
The well-planned killing of Mawlawi Abdullah Fayyaz, head of the Council of Ulema of Kandahar and an ardent opponent of the neo-Taliban, on 29 May and the suicide blast inside a Kandahar mosque on 1 June that claimed at least 21 lives, are gruesome illustrations of the increase in terror activities in Afghanistan.
Dilemma Facing Kabul
Following Fayyaz's killing, the office of Karzai's spokesman issued a statement in which the Afghan president strongly condemned the slaying of the cleric, adding that Fayyaz was assassinated by "the enemies of Afghanistan's peace and prosperity," without mentioning the neo-Taliban by name.
Soon after Fayyaz's assassination, Mufti Latifullah Hakimi, a spokesman for the neo-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the act, calling Fayyaz a supporter of the "Americans, [who] preached against an Islamic way of life and intended to lead people away from the path of righteousness."
On 31 May, Karzai responded to Fayyaz's assassination and said that it "is clear that the people who call themselves Taliban and act under the name of Taliban -- whether they are Taliban's representatives or not -- but it is clear that they are enemies of Afghanistan," Radio Afghanistan reported. Indirectly in support of his reconciliation policies, Karzai called on all of those who are "in the ranks of the Taliban, and [are] an Afghan, and belong to this soil," as their "national and religious duty" should act against those people who kill Afghans and their religious scholars. "They should take revenge on them and push them out of this country and prove that they are Afghans and they do not allow foreigners in the country," Karzai added, in an attempt to portray the killers of Fayyaz as non-Afghans.
In a statement, the Afghan Interior Ministry linked the suicide blast on 1 June, which occurred during a special funeral prayer for Fayyaz and claimed the life of Kabul's security chief General Akram Khakrezwal, to Fayyaz's killing. However, according to Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, the suicide bomber was not an Afghan, and was "an enemy of Islam" and an "enemy of peace and stability in Afghanistan" -- using what have recently become the standard official Afghan terms for what once was referred to as the Taliban.
Referring to Fayyaz's slaying, the 1 June statement refrains from mentioning the Taliban by name, referring to those who carried out the assassination simply as "gunmen."
Neo-Taliban spokesman Hakimi on 1 June contacted the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press, saying that the bombing "shouldn't have occurred" and "strongly" condemning the act. While Pakistani journalist and Taliban expert Rahimullah Yusofzai told Dubai-based Geo TV on 1 June that the militia had claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. In "my view, the Taliban was looking for this opportunity. It believed that important people would visit this mosque to offer prayer for" Fayyaz, Yusofzai told the station. There are reports that two of Karzai's brothers were due to arrive to the mosque later.
Whether the neo-Taliban or a splinter group within their ranks carried out the mosque bombing, the incident has opened a new chapter of violence in Afghanistan, in which mosques are no longer considered sanctuaries safe from violence. Moreover, with the killing of Fayyaz and the possible implications of the neo-Taliban in the mosque bombing, the currency of Karzai's reconciliation policy towards the militia becomes more tenuous. And the tensions created between Karzai and some within his own government regarding his Taliban policy and between the president and some of the opposition parties might lead to a radicalization ahead of the elections for the lower house of the Afghan parliament and provincial councils; that could, in turn, allow the reconciliation issue to be brought into the forefront of the political debate in the country with dire consequences for national unity of Afghanistan and leaving more opportunities for foreign hands to destabilize the country.
http://www.rferl.org/reports/aspfiles/printonly.asp?po=y
June 27, 2005 - Monday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
Neighbouring countries asked to stop interference
By Abdul Samad Rohani
LASHKARGAH CITY, June 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A jirga comprising government officials, tribal elders and ulema Monday condemned foreign involvement in Afghanistan's internal affairs and called for a halt to the detrimental practice.
Addressing over 300 participants, Helmand Governor Haji Sher Mohammad Akhonzada alleged both the neighbouring Iran and Pakistan were interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs over the years. "Pakistan gives training to Taliban and sends them into Afghanistan to carry on their killing spree."
He asked for a halt to the interference saying, "Let the Afghans reconstruct and restore lasting peace to their war-ravaged country."
A former Taliban commander, known as Raees Baghran, who had recently surrendered, asked the Afghans to promote unity in their ranks to foil the evil designs of the foreign elements.
Ali Shah Mazloomyar, a tribal elder and candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections, said Pakistan should stop interference to avoid further harm to Afghanistan and its ties with that country.
Helmand Ulema Council chief Maulvi Salih Mohammad lashed out at the government for the worsening law and order situation across the country. He said the authorities concerned had failed to provide security of life and property to the common man.
It merits a mention here that Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf and foreign minister, in their recent statements, have vehemently denied the mounting allegations regarding their country's interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs.
Jh/mhh/amm/dk
Neighbouring countries asked to stop interference
By Abdul Samad Rohani
LASHKARGAH CITY, June 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A jirga comprising government officials, tribal elders and ulema Monday condemned foreign involvement in Afghanistan's internal affairs and called for a halt to the detrimental practice.
Addressing over 300 participants, Helmand Governor Haji Sher Mohammad Akhonzada alleged both the neighbouring Iran and Pakistan were interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs over the years. "Pakistan gives training to Taliban and sends them into Afghanistan to carry on their killing spree."
He asked for a halt to the interference saying, "Let the Afghans reconstruct and restore lasting peace to their war-ravaged country."
A former Taliban commander, known as Raees Baghran, who had recently surrendered, asked the Afghans to promote unity in their ranks to foil the evil designs of the foreign elements.
Ali Shah Mazloomyar, a tribal elder and candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections, said Pakistan should stop interference to avoid further harm to Afghanistan and its ties with that country.
Helmand Ulema Council chief Maulvi Salih Mohammad lashed out at the government for the worsening law and order situation across the country. He said the authorities concerned had failed to provide security of life and property to the common man.
It merits a mention here that Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf and foreign minister, in their recent statements, have vehemently denied the mounting allegations regarding their country's interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs.
Jh/mhh/amm/dk
Excerpt from report by Afghan news agency Hindokosh
Kabul, 26 June: Unconfirmed reports say that Ali Ahmed Jalali has resigned from his post as the interior minister of Afghanistan. The reports say that Jalali has officially submitted his resignation to Hamed Karzai and that the president has accepted his resignation.
Kabul, 26 June: Unconfirmed reports say that Ali Ahmed Jalali has resigned from his post as the interior minister of Afghanistan. The reports say that Jalali has officially submitted his resignation to Hamed Karzai and that the president has accepted his resignation.
The military in Afghanistan are really multinational unlike in Iraq. The U.S. soldiers are doing a good job with the resources they have. Most politicians have declared victory and don't want to discuss the problems in Afghanistan anymore. A handful of democrat congress people speak out about this during their evening speeches in the House.
Hostile Fire May Have Downed U.S. Copter
Updated 12:02 PM ET June 29, 2005
By DANIEL COONEY
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b1cbv00&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A U.S. Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan was likely shot down by hostile fire, and the fate of 17 American service members aboard was unclear, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The Taliban claimed it attacked the aircraft.
The troops were on a mission against al-Qaida fighters when the helicopter went down Tuesday in a mountainous region near Asadabad, in Kunar province.
"Initial reports indicate the crash may have been caused by hostile fire. The status of the service members is unknown at this time," a U.S. military statement said.
The coalition and Afghan troops "quickly moved into position around the crash to block any enemy movement toward or away from the site" and coalition support aircraft were overhead, the statement said.
The helicopter was carrying forces into the area as part of Operation Red Wing against al-Qaida militants, the military said.
"Coalition troops on the ground in this area came in contact with enemy forces and requested additional forces to be inserted into this operation," U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts told a news conference. "That is why there was an aircraft, that is how it arrived on the battlefield."
Yonts said the helicopter took indirect or direct fire from the ground. "Whether or not that caused it to crash, we do not know yet," he said.
The U.S. military knew from its contacts with local leaders and residents that "terrorist organizations" were operating in the area of the crash, Yonts said.
"That did not come as a surprise to us, this area has been known to harbor those terrorist organizations or personnel," he said.
Provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press the Taliban downed the aircraft with a rocket. He gave no other details.
Purported Taliban spokesman Mullah Latif Hakimi telephoned the AP before news of the crash was released and said the rebels shot the helicopter down.
He said the rebels filmed the attack and would release the video to the media. He also claimed that rebels killed seven U.S. soldiers in an attack in the same area, although U.S. spokeswomen Lt. Cindy Moore said no such attack had been made on an American convoy.
Hakimi often calls news organizations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban. His information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated, and his exact tie to the group's leadership is unclear.
"This is a tragic event for all of us, and our hearts and prayers go out to the families, loved ones and men still fighting in the area," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Greg Champion, deputy commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76. "This incident will only further our resolve to defeat the enemies of peace."
The crash was the second of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan this year. On April 6, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their chopper went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.
The twin-rotor Chinook _ an all-purpose cargo helicopter _ was one of the workhorses of the Vietnam War, where it was first used, and has been in service in all wars since. It able to lift large loads of fuel or ammunition, or retrieve smaller helicopters.
It has a crew of four, including two pilots, a flight engineer and a crew chief, who man M60 machine guns to protect it.
The U.S. military has launched operations in several areas along the border with Pakistan. Those offensives target remnants of al-Qaida and the hard-line Taliban movement, as well as foreign fighters using high mountain passes to cross the largely uncontrolled border from Pakistan.
Tuesday's crash came after three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 465 suspected insurgents, 29 U.S. troops, 43 Afghan police and soldiers, and 125 civilians.
The violence has left much of Afghanistan off-limits to aid workers and has heightened concerns that the war here is escalating into a conflict on the scale of that in Iraq.
Afghan and U.S. officials have predicted the situation will deteriorate in the lead-up to legislative elections in September _ the next key step toward democracy after a quarter-century of war.
Updated 12:02 PM ET June 29, 2005
By DANIEL COONEY
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b1cbv00&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A U.S. Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan was likely shot down by hostile fire, and the fate of 17 American service members aboard was unclear, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The Taliban claimed it attacked the aircraft.
The troops were on a mission against al-Qaida fighters when the helicopter went down Tuesday in a mountainous region near Asadabad, in Kunar province.
"Initial reports indicate the crash may have been caused by hostile fire. The status of the service members is unknown at this time," a U.S. military statement said.
The coalition and Afghan troops "quickly moved into position around the crash to block any enemy movement toward or away from the site" and coalition support aircraft were overhead, the statement said.
The helicopter was carrying forces into the area as part of Operation Red Wing against al-Qaida militants, the military said.
"Coalition troops on the ground in this area came in contact with enemy forces and requested additional forces to be inserted into this operation," U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts told a news conference. "That is why there was an aircraft, that is how it arrived on the battlefield."
Yonts said the helicopter took indirect or direct fire from the ground. "Whether or not that caused it to crash, we do not know yet," he said.
The U.S. military knew from its contacts with local leaders and residents that "terrorist organizations" were operating in the area of the crash, Yonts said.
"That did not come as a surprise to us, this area has been known to harbor those terrorist organizations or personnel," he said.
Provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press the Taliban downed the aircraft with a rocket. He gave no other details.
Purported Taliban spokesman Mullah Latif Hakimi telephoned the AP before news of the crash was released and said the rebels shot the helicopter down.
He said the rebels filmed the attack and would release the video to the media. He also claimed that rebels killed seven U.S. soldiers in an attack in the same area, although U.S. spokeswomen Lt. Cindy Moore said no such attack had been made on an American convoy.
Hakimi often calls news organizations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban. His information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated, and his exact tie to the group's leadership is unclear.
"This is a tragic event for all of us, and our hearts and prayers go out to the families, loved ones and men still fighting in the area," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Greg Champion, deputy commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76. "This incident will only further our resolve to defeat the enemies of peace."
The crash was the second of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan this year. On April 6, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their chopper went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.
The twin-rotor Chinook _ an all-purpose cargo helicopter _ was one of the workhorses of the Vietnam War, where it was first used, and has been in service in all wars since. It able to lift large loads of fuel or ammunition, or retrieve smaller helicopters.
It has a crew of four, including two pilots, a flight engineer and a crew chief, who man M60 machine guns to protect it.
The U.S. military has launched operations in several areas along the border with Pakistan. Those offensives target remnants of al-Qaida and the hard-line Taliban movement, as well as foreign fighters using high mountain passes to cross the largely uncontrolled border from Pakistan.
Tuesday's crash came after three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 465 suspected insurgents, 29 U.S. troops, 43 Afghan police and soldiers, and 125 civilians.
The violence has left much of Afghanistan off-limits to aid workers and has heightened concerns that the war here is escalating into a conflict on the scale of that in Iraq.
Afghan and U.S. officials have predicted the situation will deteriorate in the lead-up to legislative elections in September _ the next key step toward democracy after a quarter-century of war.
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/43088
June 27, 2005
Afghan Children Burned Correspondent Jim Rupert and photographer Moises Saman of Newsday have just done a magnificent report explaining how and why Afghan women and children are increasingly getting burned by exploding kerosene lamps. One of the problems is that the black market is sometimes selling aviation fuel--far more combustible at lower temperatures--as regular kerosene; women and children, who usually have lamp lighting duties, are getting maimed when the lamps explode.
June 27, 2005
Afghan Children Burned Correspondent Jim Rupert and photographer Moises Saman of Newsday have just done a magnificent report explaining how and why Afghan women and children are increasingly getting burned by exploding kerosene lamps. One of the problems is that the black market is sometimes selling aviation fuel--far more combustible at lower temperatures--as regular kerosene; women and children, who usually have lamp lighting duties, are getting maimed when the lamps explode.
That is very sad.
What have we brought on these poor people?
The country is still third world after $1 billion per month for 4 years.
What have we brought on these poor people?
The country is still third world after $1 billion per month for 4 years.
There it is.... the reality check of it all.
http://rense.com/general66/feair.htm
The Other War We're Losing
By William S. Lind
6-30-5
"Insurgents linked to the former Taliban regime have set off a wave of violence in Afghanistan, launching a string of almost daily bombings and assassinations that have killed dozens of U.S. and Afghan military personnel and civilians in recent weeks. [A] virtual lockdown is in effect for many of the roughly 3,000 international residents of Kabul."
As recently as April of this year, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, said he envisioned "most of [the Taliban] collapsing and rejoining the Afghan political and economic process" within a year. He seems to have projected the winter's quiescence as a trend, forgetting that Afghan wars always shut down in wintertime, as war did everywhere until the 19th century. Afghanistan is not so much Iraq Lite as Iraq Slow, the land that forgot time. Our defeat will come slowly. But it will come.
The reason we will lose is that our strategic objective is unrealistic. Neither America nor anyone can turn Afghanistan into a modern state, AKA Brave New World. In attempting to do so, we have launched broad-scale assaults on Afghanistan's rural economy and culture, guaranteeing that the Pashtun countryside will eventually turn against us. Afghan wars are decided in the countryside, not in Kabul.
The Pashtun countryside's economy depends on opium poppies. Columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave, an old Afghan hand, recently wrote that poppy cultivation generates 12 times more income than the same acreage planted in wheat. 400,000 acres now grow poppies.
Our assault on traditional Afghan culture is also guaranteed to unite the rural Pashtuns against us.
In consequence of these blunders, assailing rural Afghanistan's economy and its culture, de Borchgrave reports that "Britain's defense chiefs have advised Tony Blair 'a strategic failure' of the Afghan operation now threatens." That term is precisely accurate. Our failure is strategic, not tactical, and it can only be remedied by a change in strategic objective. Instead of trying to remake Afghanistan, we need to redefine our strategic objective to accept that country as it is, always has been and always will be: a poor, primitive, and faction-ridden place, dependent on poppy cultivation and proud of its strict Islamic traditions.
In other words, we have to accept that the Afghanistan we have is as good as it is going to get. Once we do that, we open the door to a steady reduction in our presence there and the reduction of Afghan affairs to matters of local importance only. That, and only that, is a realistic strategic objective in Afghanistan.
http://rense.com/general66/feair.htm
The Other War We're Losing
By William S. Lind
6-30-5
"Insurgents linked to the former Taliban regime have set off a wave of violence in Afghanistan, launching a string of almost daily bombings and assassinations that have killed dozens of U.S. and Afghan military personnel and civilians in recent weeks. [A] virtual lockdown is in effect for many of the roughly 3,000 international residents of Kabul."
As recently as April of this year, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, said he envisioned "most of [the Taliban] collapsing and rejoining the Afghan political and economic process" within a year. He seems to have projected the winter's quiescence as a trend, forgetting that Afghan wars always shut down in wintertime, as war did everywhere until the 19th century. Afghanistan is not so much Iraq Lite as Iraq Slow, the land that forgot time. Our defeat will come slowly. But it will come.
The reason we will lose is that our strategic objective is unrealistic. Neither America nor anyone can turn Afghanistan into a modern state, AKA Brave New World. In attempting to do so, we have launched broad-scale assaults on Afghanistan's rural economy and culture, guaranteeing that the Pashtun countryside will eventually turn against us. Afghan wars are decided in the countryside, not in Kabul.
The Pashtun countryside's economy depends on opium poppies. Columnist Arnaud de Borchgrave, an old Afghan hand, recently wrote that poppy cultivation generates 12 times more income than the same acreage planted in wheat. 400,000 acres now grow poppies.
Our assault on traditional Afghan culture is also guaranteed to unite the rural Pashtuns against us.
In consequence of these blunders, assailing rural Afghanistan's economy and its culture, de Borchgrave reports that "Britain's defense chiefs have advised Tony Blair 'a strategic failure' of the Afghan operation now threatens." That term is precisely accurate. Our failure is strategic, not tactical, and it can only be remedied by a change in strategic objective. Instead of trying to remake Afghanistan, we need to redefine our strategic objective to accept that country as it is, always has been and always will be: a poor, primitive, and faction-ridden place, dependent on poppy cultivation and proud of its strict Islamic traditions.
In other words, we have to accept that the Afghanistan we have is as good as it is going to get. Once we do that, we open the door to a steady reduction in our presence there and the reduction of Afghan affairs to matters of local importance only. That, and only that, is a realistic strategic objective in Afghanistan.
Marsha Blackburn, R-TN today criticized Pelosi on C-span for saying that the war in Afghanistan was over.
Haven't Bush and Cheney been saying that for 3 years now???
Haven't Bush and Cheney been saying that for 3 years now???
All 16 U.S. Troops Killed in Afghan Crash
Updated 5:26 PM ET June 30, 2005
By DANIEL COONEY
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - All 16 U.S. troops on a special forces helicopter were killed when the chopper was shot down by insurgents, the U.S. military said Thursday after rescuers recovered the bodies from the wreckage in a mountainous ravine.
The MH-47 Chinook helicopter went down Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan while ferrying troops to a battle against militants _ the deadliest single blow to American forces who ousted the Taliban in 2001 for harboring al-Qaida and are now grappling with an escalating insurgency.
"At this point, we have recovered all 16 bodies of those servicemen who were onboard the MH-47 helicopter that crashed on Tuesday," Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.
The dead on the helicopter included eight Navy SEALs and eight Army air crew, a U.S. official said in Washington.
Authorities initially reported 17 people were on board, but the manifest included a person who apparently missed the flight, military officials said......
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b267600&src=ap
Updated 5:26 PM ET June 30, 2005
By DANIEL COONEY
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - All 16 U.S. troops on a special forces helicopter were killed when the chopper was shot down by insurgents, the U.S. military said Thursday after rescuers recovered the bodies from the wreckage in a mountainous ravine.
The MH-47 Chinook helicopter went down Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan while ferrying troops to a battle against militants _ the deadliest single blow to American forces who ousted the Taliban in 2001 for harboring al-Qaida and are now grappling with an escalating insurgency.
"At this point, we have recovered all 16 bodies of those servicemen who were onboard the MH-47 helicopter that crashed on Tuesday," Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.
The dead on the helicopter included eight Navy SEALs and eight Army air crew, a U.S. official said in Washington.
Authorities initially reported 17 people were on board, but the manifest included a person who apparently missed the flight, military officials said......
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b267600&src=ap
Same source above
Rescuers reached the crash site Thursday, about 36 hours after the chopper went down in high mountains near the town of Asadabad, close to the border with Pakistan, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara told The Associated Press.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed the group shot down the helicopter, and also said there was video of the attack. No video has been released, however, and the spokesman could not be reached Thursday.
Conway said it appears an unguided rocket-propelled grenade hit the chopper. He called it "a pretty lucky shot against a helicopter."
He said it appears the troops on board died during the crash and not during a fight on the ground afterward.
A storm that hampered rescuers from reaching the wreckage Wednesday was over Thursday. Recovery operations also were hindered by the rugged terrain of the remote crash site, which could be reached only by foot, and by continued fighting with militants.
O'Hara said "there are still bad guys in the area" around the crash site and that troops were having to "do a recovery and a tactical operation at the same time."
Only eight months ago, Afghan and U.S. officials were hailing a relatively peaceful presidential election as a sign that the Taliban rebellion was finished. That bravado has been yet another casualty in a war some feel could escalate into a conflict on the scale of Iraq's.....
Rescuers reached the crash site Thursday, about 36 hours after the chopper went down in high mountains near the town of Asadabad, close to the border with Pakistan, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara told The Associated Press.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed the group shot down the helicopter, and also said there was video of the attack. No video has been released, however, and the spokesman could not be reached Thursday.
Conway said it appears an unguided rocket-propelled grenade hit the chopper. He called it "a pretty lucky shot against a helicopter."
He said it appears the troops on board died during the crash and not during a fight on the ground afterward.
A storm that hampered rescuers from reaching the wreckage Wednesday was over Thursday. Recovery operations also were hindered by the rugged terrain of the remote crash site, which could be reached only by foot, and by continued fighting with militants.
O'Hara said "there are still bad guys in the area" around the crash site and that troops were having to "do a recovery and a tactical operation at the same time."
Only eight months ago, Afghan and U.S. officials were hailing a relatively peaceful presidential election as a sign that the Taliban rebellion was finished. That bravado has been yet another casualty in a war some feel could escalate into a conflict on the scale of Iraq's.....
July 1, 2005 - Friday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
US military says rescuers secure Chinook crash site
By By S. Mudassir Ali Shah & Borhan Younus
KABUL, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The American military said on Thursday a team of rescuers has finally succeeded in reaching the wreckage of a Chinook helicopter that apparently went down as a result of hostile fire in the militancy-haunted eastern province of Kunar earlier in the week.
A BBC correspondent quoted American military officials as saying that 13 bodies have so far been recovered from the site west of Asadabad. The report feared the remaining soldiers may have been captured by militants active in the rugged mountain region.
But the US-led coalition forces' spokeswoman Cindy Moore, while confirming rescuers' access to the wreckage, declined to comment on the fate of the soldiers aboard the military helicopter that crashed on Tuesday near the Shurak village.
Approached by Pajhwok Afghan News for comments, Lieutenant Cindy Moore said she had no information with regard to the recovery of bodies or the fate of the missing servicemen. She added the hard-to-reach crash site had been secured and a rescue operation was underway.
In a brief statement released in the morning, the US military said: "Coalition forces have secured the site where a helicopter crashed June 28 and are currently assessing the cause of the crash and the status of the 17 service members who were on board the MH-47 helicopter."
The MH-47 helicopter was transporting service members to support US forces battling insurgents when it crashed. "Afghan National Army and coalition forces remain actively engaged in Operation Red Wing, an effort to defeat terrorists operating in Kunar province. Forces are also in position to impede any enemy movement into or away from the crash site."
On Wednesday, the American army hinted its twin-rotor helicopter might have been shot down by hostile fire. "Initial reports indicate the crash may have been caused by hostile fire."
Kunar Governor Asadullah Wafa, in a chat with this news agency, had said a rocket had been fired at the CH-47 copter. However, the governor was unclear about the exact cause of what could be the worst-ever crash in four years suffered by the American forces in the landlocked country.
Latifullah Hakimi, purported spokesman for the Taliban movement which enjoys a huge following in Kunar, claimed immediately after the crash they had shot down the chopper. The copter was hovering over the Shurak village in aid of seven men spying for the US forces, he claimed.
Since the toppling of the Taliban government in 2001, nine copters belonging to the US military have crashed so far. Twenty-one people had died in the previous eight accidents. But Tuesday's fatal crash is the first linked to enemy fire.
If the 17 servicemen are confirmed dead, it would be the highest toll for American forces from a single incident of enemy fire in four years in Afghanistan. It will be pertinent to recall that a Chinook, with 18 people including three civilians aboard, crashed in Ghazni in April. All 18 people on board were killed.
US military says rescuers secure Chinook crash site
By By S. Mudassir Ali Shah & Borhan Younus
KABUL, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The American military said on Thursday a team of rescuers has finally succeeded in reaching the wreckage of a Chinook helicopter that apparently went down as a result of hostile fire in the militancy-haunted eastern province of Kunar earlier in the week.
A BBC correspondent quoted American military officials as saying that 13 bodies have so far been recovered from the site west of Asadabad. The report feared the remaining soldiers may have been captured by militants active in the rugged mountain region.
But the US-led coalition forces' spokeswoman Cindy Moore, while confirming rescuers' access to the wreckage, declined to comment on the fate of the soldiers aboard the military helicopter that crashed on Tuesday near the Shurak village.
Approached by Pajhwok Afghan News for comments, Lieutenant Cindy Moore said she had no information with regard to the recovery of bodies or the fate of the missing servicemen. She added the hard-to-reach crash site had been secured and a rescue operation was underway.
In a brief statement released in the morning, the US military said: "Coalition forces have secured the site where a helicopter crashed June 28 and are currently assessing the cause of the crash and the status of the 17 service members who were on board the MH-47 helicopter."
The MH-47 helicopter was transporting service members to support US forces battling insurgents when it crashed. "Afghan National Army and coalition forces remain actively engaged in Operation Red Wing, an effort to defeat terrorists operating in Kunar province. Forces are also in position to impede any enemy movement into or away from the crash site."
On Wednesday, the American army hinted its twin-rotor helicopter might have been shot down by hostile fire. "Initial reports indicate the crash may have been caused by hostile fire."
Kunar Governor Asadullah Wafa, in a chat with this news agency, had said a rocket had been fired at the CH-47 copter. However, the governor was unclear about the exact cause of what could be the worst-ever crash in four years suffered by the American forces in the landlocked country.
Latifullah Hakimi, purported spokesman for the Taliban movement which enjoys a huge following in Kunar, claimed immediately after the crash they had shot down the chopper. The copter was hovering over the Shurak village in aid of seven men spying for the US forces, he claimed.
Since the toppling of the Taliban government in 2001, nine copters belonging to the US military have crashed so far. Twenty-one people had died in the previous eight accidents. But Tuesday's fatal crash is the first linked to enemy fire.
If the 17 servicemen are confirmed dead, it would be the highest toll for American forces from a single incident of enemy fire in four years in Afghanistan. It will be pertinent to recall that a Chinook, with 18 people including three civilians aboard, crashed in Ghazni in April. All 18 people on board were killed.
July 1, 2005 - Friday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
Thousands of reconstruction projects on the verge of completion
By Mustafa Basharat
KABUL, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) will complete thousands of small reconstruction projects across the country under the National Solidarity Programme.
Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development Mohammad Hanif Atmar told journalists here on Thursday that as many as 8,300 projects costing $100 million and being executed in 33 different provinces would be completed soon.
He added the National Solidarity Programme largely focused on potable water schemes, irrigation plans, building schools, upgrading the power system and road construction.
In response to a query, the minister claimed locals had been consulted on which projects suited them best. The schemes under the National Solidarity Programme were initiated in line with suggestions floated by residents and in deference to their genuine requirements.
In all, Atmar pointed out, 25,000 villages would benefit from the 18-month-old programme, which would run for another three years. But the reconstruction effort will continue beyond the three-year duration of the plan.
Following the plan's conclusion in three years from now, the minister explained, the government would extend loans to the masses for reconstruction projects.
Thousands of reconstruction projects on the verge of completion
By Mustafa Basharat
KABUL, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) will complete thousands of small reconstruction projects across the country under the National Solidarity Programme.
Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development Mohammad Hanif Atmar told journalists here on Thursday that as many as 8,300 projects costing $100 million and being executed in 33 different provinces would be completed soon.
He added the National Solidarity Programme largely focused on potable water schemes, irrigation plans, building schools, upgrading the power system and road construction.
In response to a query, the minister claimed locals had been consulted on which projects suited them best. The schemes under the National Solidarity Programme were initiated in line with suggestions floated by residents and in deference to their genuine requirements.
In all, Atmar pointed out, 25,000 villages would benefit from the 18-month-old programme, which would run for another three years. But the reconstruction effort will continue beyond the three-year duration of the plan.
Following the plan's conclusion in three years from now, the minister explained, the government would extend loans to the masses for reconstruction projects.
July 1, 2005 - Friday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
20 commanders surrender arms in Ghor
By Khalida Khursand & Ahmad Ihsan Sarwaryar
HERAT CITY, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Twenty former jihadi commanders and candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections Wednesday surrendered arms under the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process in the western Ghor province, officials said.
Ghor police chief Colonel Fayazullah Salehi told Pajhwok Afghan News of the 20 candidates, names of 15 had been excluded from the primary electoral list.
The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) had set July 1 deadline for surrendering weapons. If failed, the candidates will be disqualified for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Without disclosing the names, the police chief said the arsenal included mortars, rockets, artillery and a large number of AK-47 assault rifles.
Asked about the 150 commanders in the province, who are yet to be disarmed, Salehi showed ignorance whether they were running for the election or not.
Contacted by this news agency, Ghor Governor Shah Abdul Ahad Afzali hoped rest of the commanders would also surrender weapons.
20 commanders surrender arms in Ghor
By Khalida Khursand & Ahmad Ihsan Sarwaryar
HERAT CITY, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Twenty former jihadi commanders and candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections Wednesday surrendered arms under the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process in the western Ghor province, officials said.
Ghor police chief Colonel Fayazullah Salehi told Pajhwok Afghan News of the 20 candidates, names of 15 had been excluded from the primary electoral list.
The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) had set July 1 deadline for surrendering weapons. If failed, the candidates will be disqualified for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Without disclosing the names, the police chief said the arsenal included mortars, rockets, artillery and a large number of AK-47 assault rifles.
Asked about the 150 commanders in the province, who are yet to be disarmed, Salehi showed ignorance whether they were running for the election or not.
Contacted by this news agency, Ghor Governor Shah Abdul Ahad Afzali hoped rest of the commanders would also surrender weapons.
July 1, 2005 - Friday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
Weapons seized in Herat
By Sadeq Behnam
HERAT CITY, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Security officials in the northern Herat province claimed unearthing a dump of arms and ammunitions in Injil and Guzra districts of the province.
Press officer of the provincial police headquarters colonel Abdur Rauf said 250 light and heavy arms including anti-tank and personnel mines had been recovered over two days. The seized weapons had been handed over to DDR commission in the province.
Abdus Salam Yarzada, a local, complained armed gangs were rampant in most parts of the Injil district while police authorities had no control over them. Another resident said the security situation would not improve as long as the areas were not purged of all types of arms.
Weapons seized in Herat
By Sadeq Behnam
HERAT CITY, June 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Security officials in the northern Herat province claimed unearthing a dump of arms and ammunitions in Injil and Guzra districts of the province.
Press officer of the provincial police headquarters colonel Abdur Rauf said 250 light and heavy arms including anti-tank and personnel mines had been recovered over two days. The seized weapons had been handed over to DDR commission in the province.
Abdus Salam Yarzada, a local, complained armed gangs were rampant in most parts of the Injil district while police authorities had no control over them. Another resident said the security situation would not improve as long as the areas were not purged of all types of arms.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireSt...TC-RSSFeeds0312
Team of U.S. GIs Missing in Afghanistan
U.S. Forces Search for Small Team of American Soldiers Missing in Eastern Afghanistan
By DANIEL COONEY Associated Press Writer
The Associated PressThe Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan Jul 1, 2005 — A small team of U.S. soldiers was still missing Friday in the same mountains in eastern Afghanistan where a special forces helicopter was shot down earlier this week, and U.S. forces are using "every available asset" to find them, a U.S. military spokesman said.
The MH-47 Chinook helicopter with 16 people on board who all died in the crash had gone into the mountains Tuesday to "extract the soldiers." The team on the ground has been missing since the chopper was downed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said.
Team of U.S. GIs Missing in Afghanistan
U.S. Forces Search for Small Team of American Soldiers Missing in Eastern Afghanistan
By DANIEL COONEY Associated Press Writer
The Associated PressThe Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan Jul 1, 2005 — A small team of U.S. soldiers was still missing Friday in the same mountains in eastern Afghanistan where a special forces helicopter was shot down earlier this week, and U.S. forces are using "every available asset" to find them, a U.S. military spokesman said.
The MH-47 Chinook helicopter with 16 people on board who all died in the crash had gone into the mountains Tuesday to "extract the soldiers." The team on the ground has been missing since the chopper was downed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said.
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Taliban official surrenders in Khost
By Abdul Majid Arif
KHOST CITY, June 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A low-profile Taliban commander surrendered to government in the restive Khost province, officials claimed on Tuesday.
Provincial intelligence chief Sadiq Tarakhail told Pajhwok Afghan News Mullah Osmanullah Osman, resident of Yaqubi district, surrendered and pledged to cut-off links with the insurgents.
Mullah Osman was stated to be involved in carrying out attacks against the government and coalition forces and was wanted to them for alleged ties with the ousted Taliban militia.
"He was once a madressah teacher; his house has been searched several times by the coalition forces for his relations with the Taliban," said Tarakhail.
But the surrendered leader denied the charges, pleading he was never involved in ant-government activities. "My opponents had misguided the US forces just to settle an old score with me."
Earlier, a Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Malik Zulfan had accepted the amnesty and surrendered to the government last month.
Taliban official surrenders in Khost
By Abdul Majid Arif
KHOST CITY, June 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A low-profile Taliban commander surrendered to government in the restive Khost province, officials claimed on Tuesday.
Provincial intelligence chief Sadiq Tarakhail told Pajhwok Afghan News Mullah Osmanullah Osman, resident of Yaqubi district, surrendered and pledged to cut-off links with the insurgents.
Mullah Osman was stated to be involved in carrying out attacks against the government and coalition forces and was wanted to them for alleged ties with the ousted Taliban militia.
"He was once a madressah teacher; his house has been searched several times by the coalition forces for his relations with the Taliban," said Tarakhail.
But the surrendered leader denied the charges, pleading he was never involved in ant-government activities. "My opponents had misguided the US forces just to settle an old score with me."
Earlier, a Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Malik Zulfan had accepted the amnesty and surrendered to the government last month.
U.S. searches for team missing in Afghanistan
By Carlotta Gall The New York Times
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2005
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the subject of a search and rescue mission.
Troops have been engaged on a broad anti-insurgent operation in the region in the past week, but there was no fighting reported Friday, O'Hara said.
The helicopter crash with 16 dead represents the single heaviest American combat loss in the three-and-a-half-year war in Afghanistan. The losses came during a period of insurgent activity as the Taliban have staged a resurgence and U.S. forces have ventured into particularly remote areas to root out longstanding militant forces.
They have encountered hardened fighters, most of them Afghans but with some elements of foreign fighters, including Arabs and Pakistanis, and showing evidence of outside funding, equipment and weapons, U.S. military officials have said.
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the subject of a search and rescue mission.
Troops have been engaged on a broad anti-insurgent operation in the region in the past week, but there was no fighting reported Friday, O'Hara said.
The helicopter crash with 16 dead represents the single heaviest American combat loss in the three-and-a-half-year war in Afghanistan. The losses came during a period of insurgent activity as the Taliban have staged a resurgence and U.S. forces have ventured into particularly remote areas to root out longstanding militant forces.
They have encountered hardened fighters, most of them Afghans but with some elements of foreign fighters, including Arabs and Pakistanis, and showing evidence of outside funding, equipment and weapons, U.S. military officials have said.
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the subject of a search and rescue mission.
Troops have been engaged on a broad anti-insurgent operation in the region in the past week, but there was no fighting reported Friday, O'Hara said.
The helicopter crash with 16 dead represents the single heaviest American combat loss in the three-and-a-half-year war in Afghanistan. The losses came during a period of insurgent activity as the Taliban have staged a resurgence and U.S. forces have ventured into particularly remote areas to root out longstanding militant forces.
They have encountered hardened fighters, most of them Afghans but with some elements of foreign fighters, including Arabs and Pakistanis, and showing evidence of outside funding, equipment and weapons, U.S. military officials have said.
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the U.S. searches for team missing in Afghanistan
By Carlotta Gall The New York Times
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2005
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/01/news/afghan.php
By Carlotta Gall The New York Times
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2005
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the subject of a search and rescue mission.
Troops have been engaged on a broad anti-insurgent operation in the region in the past week, but there was no fighting reported Friday, O'Hara said.
The helicopter crash with 16 dead represents the single heaviest American combat loss in the three-and-a-half-year war in Afghanistan. The losses came during a period of insurgent activity as the Taliban have staged a resurgence and U.S. forces have ventured into particularly remote areas to root out longstanding militant forces.
They have encountered hardened fighters, most of them Afghans but with some elements of foreign fighters, including Arabs and Pakistanis, and showing evidence of outside funding, equipment and weapons, U.S. military officials have said.
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the subject of a search and rescue mission.
Troops have been engaged on a broad anti-insurgent operation in the region in the past week, but there was no fighting reported Friday, O'Hara said.
The helicopter crash with 16 dead represents the single heaviest American combat loss in the three-and-a-half-year war in Afghanistan. The losses came during a period of insurgent activity as the Taliban have staged a resurgence and U.S. forces have ventured into particularly remote areas to root out longstanding militant forces.
They have encountered hardened fighters, most of them Afghans but with some elements of foreign fighters, including Arabs and Pakistanis, and showing evidence of outside funding, equipment and weapons, U.S. military officials have said.
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the subject of a search and rescue mission.
Troops have been engaged on a broad anti-insurgent operation in the region in the past week, but there was no fighting reported Friday, O'Hara said.
The helicopter crash with 16 dead represents the single heaviest American combat loss in the three-and-a-half-year war in Afghanistan. The losses came during a period of insurgent activity as the Taliban have staged a resurgence and U.S. forces have ventured into particularly remote areas to root out longstanding militant forces.
They have encountered hardened fighters, most of them Afghans but with some elements of foreign fighters, including Arabs and Pakistanis, and showing evidence of outside funding, equipment and weapons, U.S. military officials have said.
KABUL American forces were still searching for a small reconnaissance team missing in mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan where a helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing all 16 aboard, military officials said Friday.
The helicopter, a Chinook MH-47 with special operations forces and navy commandos aboard, was flying in to extract the soldiers on the ground during a battle with suspected insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, said Lieutenant Colonel Gerry O'Hara, U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
The helicopter came under attack from small arms-fire and a missile, probably a rocket-propelled grenade, and crashed, killing all on board, the military has said.
Ground troops and troops in aircraft searched the steep wooded mountainsides of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan for the team but had still not located them by sundown Friday, O'Hara said. "We are using all available assets to work the search for our missing," he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said earlier that the Taliban had killed seven American "spies" on Tuesday.
In another telephone conversation he told Reuters on Friday that the Taliban had captured one American soldier. Some of his statements in the past have been unreliable, but his announcement that the Taliban had shot down a U.S. helicopter Tuesday proved correct.
There was no evidence to suggest that the members of the missing unit were injured or dead, O'Hara said.
U.S. forces secured the crash site and recovered the bodies of the 16 from the downed helicopter Thursday and were investigating the crash site.
Another U.S. service member was reported missing when his Humvee slid down a steep river embankment in the same area and is also the U.S. searches for team missing in Afghanistan
By Carlotta Gall The New York Times
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2005
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/01/news/afghan.php
Nobody knows where bin Laden is
June 26, 2005 - 6:24AM
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Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said that no one had any real evidence of where Osama bin Laden was hiding, and anyone who believed the al-Qaeda chief was in Pakistan should tell him where.
"There are a lot of people who say that Osama bin Laden is here in Pakistan," Musharraf told reporters in Islamabad before leaving on an official visit to Saudi Arabia.
"Please come and show us where he is or tell us where he is. We will act on such information."
Musharraf's comments came little more than a week after US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said bin Laden and fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar were probably not in Afghanistan. He didn't say where the two were hiding.
"He (bin Laden) could be anywhere," Musharraf said today.
He said Pakistan was working closely with Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism and had already taken steps to secure their shared border to prevent militants from crossing into or from Afghanistan, where US-led coalition forces were operating.
Advertisement
Advertisement"There is a total and complete understanding between us," he said.
Musharraf - who abandoned support for Afghanistan's former Taliban regime after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States - spoke twice with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the telephone this week.
When asked what they had discussed, Musharraf said "a small difference of opinion was discussed and resolved."
Last week, Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said Islamabad wasn't doing enough to fight the militants, and said there would never be peace in Afghanistan until the two nations "join hands together to fight terrorism."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Nobody...l?oneclick=true
June 26, 2005 - 6:24AM
Page Tools
Email to a friend Printer format
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said that no one had any real evidence of where Osama bin Laden was hiding, and anyone who believed the al-Qaeda chief was in Pakistan should tell him where.
"There are a lot of people who say that Osama bin Laden is here in Pakistan," Musharraf told reporters in Islamabad before leaving on an official visit to Saudi Arabia.
"Please come and show us where he is or tell us where he is. We will act on such information."
Musharraf's comments came little more than a week after US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said bin Laden and fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar were probably not in Afghanistan. He didn't say where the two were hiding.
"He (bin Laden) could be anywhere," Musharraf said today.
He said Pakistan was working closely with Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism and had already taken steps to secure their shared border to prevent militants from crossing into or from Afghanistan, where US-led coalition forces were operating.
Advertisement
Advertisement"There is a total and complete understanding between us," he said.
Musharraf - who abandoned support for Afghanistan's former Taliban regime after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States - spoke twice with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the telephone this week.
When asked what they had discussed, Musharraf said "a small difference of opinion was discussed and resolved."
Last week, Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said Islamabad wasn't doing enough to fight the militants, and said there would never be peace in Afghanistan until the two nations "join hands together to fight terrorism."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Nobody...l?oneclick=true
There it is folks..... the real deal with what's going on in Afghanistan under BushCo interference. Chaos is on the march.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_n...05070321414.xml
Afghan progress in danger of unravelling
7/3/2005 2:14:14
Source ::: AP
KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan was held up as an example of US-led nation-building just three months ago. But that optimism has succumbed to near-daily ambushes, bombings, execution-style killings and this week's downing of a US military helicopter
From US and UN officials to Afghan villagers, fear is growing that this country may be at a seminal moment — with the barrage of violence in danger of overwhelming three years of state-building.
"After the presidential elections last year, everyone was optimistic that we were heading toward a stable, peaceful democracy. But it no longer seems that way," said Malalai Juya, a female candidate in September's upcoming elections. "Everyone is scared now. Security has been getting worse and worse by the day." The resurgence of the Taleban insurgency could not have come at a worse time — with just 10 weeks remaining before key legislative elections that are the next step toward democracy after a generation of war.
Tuesday's downing of a special forces helicopter — and the loss of an elite military team still missing on Friday — reinforced concerns that while American casualties here are far fewer than in Iraq, the rebellion may be fast becoming a mirror of the insurgency there.
Stability also is threatened by a rise in crime, such as gangs kidnapping foreigners in Kabul. Opium and heroin trade is booming and resentment is growing toward the presence of US forces, which erupted into deadly riots in May. But it's not all bad news.
The first democratically elected president, Hamid Karzai, took office after relatively peaceful elections last October. The economy, at least in cities, is growing. Construction is on the rise in Kabul, cell phones are spreading and trade with neighbors Pakistan and Iran is lively.
One significant development is the emergence of the US-trained Afghan army, which now numbers 26,000 and regularly fights alongside troops from the 20,000-strong US-led coalition.
A separate Nato-led force of 8,000 soldiers is responsible for security in Kabul and the country's north and west. It plans to expand into the volatile south next year, freeing up American forces to go after Osama bin Laden, still thought to be hiding in the rugged mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.
The government has warned that bin Laden's Al Qaeda fighters and the Taleban rebels have launched a campaign of violence to subvert September's elections. It started with a suicide bombing inside a mosque in Kandahar on June 1 that killed the Kabul police chief and 19 others, officials said.
A purported Taleban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, who claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter this week, vowed rebel attacks will increase. "This uprising will rage on until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan. We are going to break the back of these foreign troops," he said. "Our fighters are strong and our leader Mullah Omar is in charge." Hakimi's exact tie to the Taleban leadership is unclear and his claims often prove exaggerated or untrue.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_n...05070321414.xml
Afghan progress in danger of unravelling
7/3/2005 2:14:14
Source ::: AP
KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan was held up as an example of US-led nation-building just three months ago. But that optimism has succumbed to near-daily ambushes, bombings, execution-style killings and this week's downing of a US military helicopter
From US and UN officials to Afghan villagers, fear is growing that this country may be at a seminal moment — with the barrage of violence in danger of overwhelming three years of state-building.
"After the presidential elections last year, everyone was optimistic that we were heading toward a stable, peaceful democracy. But it no longer seems that way," said Malalai Juya, a female candidate in September's upcoming elections. "Everyone is scared now. Security has been getting worse and worse by the day." The resurgence of the Taleban insurgency could not have come at a worse time — with just 10 weeks remaining before key legislative elections that are the next step toward democracy after a generation of war.
Tuesday's downing of a special forces helicopter — and the loss of an elite military team still missing on Friday — reinforced concerns that while American casualties here are far fewer than in Iraq, the rebellion may be fast becoming a mirror of the insurgency there.
Stability also is threatened by a rise in crime, such as gangs kidnapping foreigners in Kabul. Opium and heroin trade is booming and resentment is growing toward the presence of US forces, which erupted into deadly riots in May. But it's not all bad news.
The first democratically elected president, Hamid Karzai, took office after relatively peaceful elections last October. The economy, at least in cities, is growing. Construction is on the rise in Kabul, cell phones are spreading and trade with neighbors Pakistan and Iran is lively.
One significant development is the emergence of the US-trained Afghan army, which now numbers 26,000 and regularly fights alongside troops from the 20,000-strong US-led coalition.
A separate Nato-led force of 8,000 soldiers is responsible for security in Kabul and the country's north and west. It plans to expand into the volatile south next year, freeing up American forces to go after Osama bin Laden, still thought to be hiding in the rugged mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.
The government has warned that bin Laden's Al Qaeda fighters and the Taleban rebels have launched a campaign of violence to subvert September's elections. It started with a suicide bombing inside a mosque in Kandahar on June 1 that killed the Kabul police chief and 19 others, officials said.
A purported Taleban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, who claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter this week, vowed rebel attacks will increase. "This uprising will rage on until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan. We are going to break the back of these foreign troops," he said. "Our fighters are strong and our leader Mullah Omar is in charge." Hakimi's exact tie to the Taleban leadership is unclear and his claims often prove exaggerated or untrue.
QUOTE
"US endures deadliest year in Afghanistan
Military figures say 54 killed in half of year
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | July 3, 2005
WASHINGTON -- This year has been the deadliest for US troops in Afghanistan since war began in late 2001, as more American soldiers have died than in each of the previous three years, according to military figures.
The statistics signal that well-armed Taliban and Al Qaeda militants holed up in caves, tribal villages, and craggy peaks along the border with Pakistan will remain a threat to the new Afghan government for years and require US troops, now numbering 18,000, to remain indefinitely, according to regional specialists.
In the first half of this year, at least 54 Americans lost their lives, compared with 52 in all of last year, according to official statistics reviewed by the Globe.
The number of overall casualties, which saw an upsurge with the shootdown of a US military helicopter and the potential loss of a reconnaissance team in eastern Afghanistan last week, have edged up every year since Operation Enduring Freedom began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the figures show"
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeas...in_afghanistan/
Military figures say 54 killed in half of year
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | July 3, 2005
WASHINGTON -- This year has been the deadliest for US troops in Afghanistan since war began in late 2001, as more American soldiers have died than in each of the previous three years, according to military figures.
The statistics signal that well-armed Taliban and Al Qaeda militants holed up in caves, tribal villages, and craggy peaks along the border with Pakistan will remain a threat to the new Afghan government for years and require US troops, now numbering 18,000, to remain indefinitely, according to regional specialists.
In the first half of this year, at least 54 Americans lost their lives, compared with 52 in all of last year, according to official statistics reviewed by the Globe.
The number of overall casualties, which saw an upsurge with the shootdown of a US military helicopter and the potential loss of a reconnaissance team in eastern Afghanistan last week, have edged up every year since Operation Enduring Freedom began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the figures show"
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeas...in_afghanistan/
QUOTE
"Afghanistan may quickly become `a mirror of Iraq'
AP , KABUL
Sunday, Jul 03, 2005,Page 4
"This uprising will rage on until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan. We are going to break the back of these foreign troops."
Mullah Latif Hakimi, purported Taliban spokesman
Just three months ago, Afghanistan was proudly held up as a poster-child of US-led nation-building. But near-daily ambushes, execution-style killings, suicide bombings and this week's shooting down of a US special forces helicopter have quashed much of that optimism.
From US and UN officials down to Afghan villagers, there is growing fear that this country may be at a seminal moment with three years of state-building in danger of succumbing to the barrage of violence."
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/arch...7/03/2003262003
AP , KABUL
Sunday, Jul 03, 2005,Page 4
"This uprising will rage on until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan. We are going to break the back of these foreign troops."
Mullah Latif Hakimi, purported Taliban spokesman
Just three months ago, Afghanistan was proudly held up as a poster-child of US-led nation-building. But near-daily ambushes, execution-style killings, suicide bombings and this week's shooting down of a US special forces helicopter have quashed much of that optimism.
From US and UN officials down to Afghan villagers, there is growing fear that this country may be at a seminal moment with three years of state-building in danger of succumbing to the barrage of violence."
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/arch...7/03/2003262003
Uruzgan farmers get improved seeds and fertilizers
By Zarghona Salehi
KABUL, July 3 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food has distributed more than 45 metrics tonnes of improved seeds and 232 tonnes of fertilizers to farmers in the southern Uruzgan province.
Agriculture Ministry spokesman Abdul Latif Rasooli told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday 3,500 growers had benefited from the assistance provided by the USAID.
He added the assistance was essentially aimed at putting an end to poppy cultivation and improving agriculture in the country. The official hoped the aid would go a long way in discouraging poppy cultivation.
USAID Mission Director Patrick Fine revealed his office planned to extend similar help to farmers in all Afghan provinces. According to an USAID report, poppy cultivation has been reduced by 50 percent in Tirinkot and chora districts of the Uruzgan province.
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4018
By Zarghona Salehi
KABUL, July 3 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food has distributed more than 45 metrics tonnes of improved seeds and 232 tonnes of fertilizers to farmers in the southern Uruzgan province.
Agriculture Ministry spokesman Abdul Latif Rasooli told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday 3,500 growers had benefited from the assistance provided by the USAID.
He added the assistance was essentially aimed at putting an end to poppy cultivation and improving agriculture in the country. The official hoped the aid would go a long way in discouraging poppy cultivation.
USAID Mission Director Patrick Fine revealed his office planned to extend similar help to farmers in all Afghan provinces. According to an USAID report, poppy cultivation has been reduced by 50 percent in Tirinkot and chora districts of the Uruzgan province.
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4018
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle...bcontinent&col=
US airstrike kills 17 Afghan civilians: governor
(AFP)
4 July 2005
KABUL - Seventeen civilians including a number of women and children died when US aircraft bombed a suspected militant hideout in eastern Afghanistan last week, a provincial governor said on Monday.
US forces launched the airstrike on Chichal village in the rebel-infested province of Kunar on Friday during a search for a missing American reconnaissance team.
“Seventeen civilians died in the US bombing of the village,” Kunar governor Assadullah Wafa told AFP. “There are a number of children and women among the victims but I don’t have the exact figure right now.”
US airstrike kills 17 Afghan civilians: governor
(AFP)
4 July 2005
KABUL - Seventeen civilians including a number of women and children died when US aircraft bombed a suspected militant hideout in eastern Afghanistan last week, a provincial governor said on Monday.
US forces launched the airstrike on Chichal village in the rebel-infested province of Kunar on Friday during a search for a missing American reconnaissance team.
“Seventeen civilians died in the US bombing of the village,” Kunar governor Assadullah Wafa told AFP. “There are a number of children and women among the victims but I don’t have the exact figure right now.”
July 5, 2005 - Tuesday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
23 girls complete school education after 11 years
By Saeed Zabuli
KANDAHAR, July 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): After a lapse of more than a decade, the first batch of 23 girls Tuesday completed their high school education in the southern Kandahar province, a former stronghold of Taliban who had banned female literacy in Afghanistan.
Kandahar Education Department chief Hayatullah Rafiqi told Pajhwok Afghan News after the passage of 11 long years, the girls graduated from the Zarghona Ana High School in Kandahar City. He appeared upbeat about the event seen as a watershed in female education.
Girls were barred from going to school during the Taliban rule, with Kandahar serving as their bastion. And during the civil war and the mujahideen government, girl schools remained closed owing to an instable security situation.
Head of Women Affairs Department Safi Ama Jan described the success of the school's outgoing girls as a new beginning after a crippling war and subsequent bouts of violence.
She was glad that the girl students were now in a position to apply for government jobs or pursue higher education at the university level. She viewed it as big stride because female education is still in a phase of infancy in the conservative south.
jh/by/mud
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4104
23 girls complete school education after 11 years
By Saeed Zabuli
KANDAHAR, July 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): After a lapse of more than a decade, the first batch of 23 girls Tuesday completed their high school education in the southern Kandahar province, a former stronghold of Taliban who had banned female literacy in Afghanistan.
Kandahar Education Department chief Hayatullah Rafiqi told Pajhwok Afghan News after the passage of 11 long years, the girls graduated from the Zarghona Ana High School in Kandahar City. He appeared upbeat about the event seen as a watershed in female education.
Girls were barred from going to school during the Taliban rule, with Kandahar serving as their bastion. And during the civil war and the mujahideen government, girl schools remained closed owing to an instable security situation.
Head of Women Affairs Department Safi Ama Jan described the success of the school's outgoing girls as a new beginning after a crippling war and subsequent bouts of violence.
She was glad that the girl students were now in a position to apply for government jobs or pursue higher education at the university level. She viewed it as big stride because female education is still in a phase of infancy in the conservative south.
jh/by/mud
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4104
July 5, 2005 - Tuesday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
Minister announces aid for flood-hit areas in Badakhshan
By Manizha Rasuli
FAIZABAD, July 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar Tuesday announced 10 million afghanis in aid for flood-hit areas in the northeastern Badakhshan province.
Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News here, Atmar said: "My visit to Badakhshan is aimed at delivering a massage of sympathy from President Hamid Karzai to the affectees and surveying flood-hit areas here."
An amount of 10 million afghanis would be spent on the reconstruction of bridges, roads and dams destroyed by the recent floods, the minister promised, assuring the blocked roads would be cleared soon.
With regard to the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructural facilities in the province, the minister claimed NGOs and welfare organisations had pledged cooperation with the government in the rebuilding effort.
Since the roads leading to Yamgan, Baharak and Shuhada districts remained blocked, he said planes continued to air-drop food and other relief supplies in the affected districts.
Atmar admitted some 4,000 families were still in need of immediate aid, although his ministry had distributed tents and food supplies to 3,000 households over the last two weeks.
He declared Ragh, Draiam, Kisham, Nasi and Kofab as flood-ravaged districts, whose inhabitants needed food and shelter on an emergency basis.
Accompanying the minister, Badakhshan Governor Munshi Abdul Majid said the floods had killed 43 people including children and women besides damaging hundreds of houses and farmlands.
Sh/r/amm/mud
Minister announces aid for flood-hit areas in Badakhshan
By Manizha Rasuli
FAIZABAD, July 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar Tuesday announced 10 million afghanis in aid for flood-hit areas in the northeastern Badakhshan province.
Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News here, Atmar said: "My visit to Badakhshan is aimed at delivering a massage of sympathy from President Hamid Karzai to the affectees and surveying flood-hit areas here."
An amount of 10 million afghanis would be spent on the reconstruction of bridges, roads and dams destroyed by the recent floods, the minister promised, assuring the blocked roads would be cleared soon.
With regard to the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructural facilities in the province, the minister claimed NGOs and welfare organisations had pledged cooperation with the government in the rebuilding effort.
Since the roads leading to Yamgan, Baharak and Shuhada districts remained blocked, he said planes continued to air-drop food and other relief supplies in the affected districts.
Atmar admitted some 4,000 families were still in need of immediate aid, although his ministry had distributed tents and food supplies to 3,000 households over the last two weeks.
He declared Ragh, Draiam, Kisham, Nasi and Kofab as flood-ravaged districts, whose inhabitants needed food and shelter on an emergency basis.
Accompanying the minister, Badakhshan Governor Munshi Abdul Majid said the floods had killed 43 people including children and women besides damaging hundreds of houses and farmlands.
Sh/r/amm/mud
Editorial: Afghan slide / Things are not going well in Bush's first war
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05186/532932.stm
The recent downing of a U.S. Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan, presumably by al-Qaida or Taliban forces, killed 16 Americans and refocused public attention on the situation there.
Afghanistan was America's first post-9/11 war. It commanded full public support. Sharp, decisive U.S. military action there against al-Qaida and its Afghan Taliban hosts was entirely appropriate and, regardless of the sneering comments of President Bush's political counselor Karl Rove, a vigorous campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban would have been carried out by a President Gore, as well as it was by President Bush.
The problem is that the job in Afghanistan was not completed. Instead, as is made clear by information such as the British "Downing Street" memo, the attention of the Bush administration had turned as early as the summer of 2002 to preparations for war against Iraq, for whatever reason.
Al-Qaida and the Taliban had in theory been driven out and some American resources continued to be devoted to the problems of Afghanistan, but as time went by it increasingly became apparent that as much remained to be done as had been achieved. Hamid Karzai, elected president in a reasonable facsimile of participatory elections, is perhaps the best thing that has happened to Afghanistan, and to America in Afghanistan. At the same time, his very credibility and decency will make it hard for the United States to walk away from him when that becomes necessary.
Loose ends include the fact that the mandate and authority of the Karzai government extend scarcely beyond Kabul, the capital. There have been many international pledges of aid to Afghanistan and some important basic reconstruction, but donors have not fulfilled their pledges, and development has been difficult to achieve in the face of ongoing security problems and classic Afghan corruption.
Of course, neither Osama bin Laden nor Taliban leader Mullah Omar has ever been caught, in spite of 31/2 years of strenuous efforts involving U.S., Afghan and Pakistani forces.
Now the trouble seems to be getting worse. The Taliban seem to be coming back and, with them probably al-Qaida. U.S. forces appear to be particularly targeted. U.S. deaths in Afghanistan so far this year number 38, a rate 46 percent higher than last year's.
It may be too late now. The Iraq war did start before the Afghanistan campaign was completed and it continues to have first claim to U.S. forces and financial resources. It wouldn't be too late to shift U.S. resources from Iraq to Afghanistan to complete the job there. But that would require the Bush administration to, in effect, admit it was wrong in starting the Iraq war before finishing Afghanistan.
It is hard to imagine the Bush administration doing that. So what that means is that America is probably condemned to watch Afghanistan slide further into the kind of disarray that terrorists love, while Mr. Karzai and the democratic process associated with him becomes increasingly at risk. In the meantime, U.S. casualties will continue to go up.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05186/532932.stm
The recent downing of a U.S. Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan, presumably by al-Qaida or Taliban forces, killed 16 Americans and refocused public attention on the situation there.
Afghanistan was America's first post-9/11 war. It commanded full public support. Sharp, decisive U.S. military action there against al-Qaida and its Afghan Taliban hosts was entirely appropriate and, regardless of the sneering comments of President Bush's political counselor Karl Rove, a vigorous campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban would have been carried out by a President Gore, as well as it was by President Bush.
The problem is that the job in Afghanistan was not completed. Instead, as is made clear by information such as the British "Downing Street" memo, the attention of the Bush administration had turned as early as the summer of 2002 to preparations for war against Iraq, for whatever reason.
Al-Qaida and the Taliban had in theory been driven out and some American resources continued to be devoted to the problems of Afghanistan, but as time went by it increasingly became apparent that as much remained to be done as had been achieved. Hamid Karzai, elected president in a reasonable facsimile of participatory elections, is perhaps the best thing that has happened to Afghanistan, and to America in Afghanistan. At the same time, his very credibility and decency will make it hard for the United States to walk away from him when that becomes necessary.
Loose ends include the fact that the mandate and authority of the Karzai government extend scarcely beyond Kabul, the capital. There have been many international pledges of aid to Afghanistan and some important basic reconstruction, but donors have not fulfilled their pledges, and development has been difficult to achieve in the face of ongoing security problems and classic Afghan corruption.
Of course, neither Osama bin Laden nor Taliban leader Mullah Omar has ever been caught, in spite of 31/2 years of strenuous efforts involving U.S., Afghan and Pakistani forces.
Now the trouble seems to be getting worse. The Taliban seem to be coming back and, with them probably al-Qaida. U.S. forces appear to be particularly targeted. U.S. deaths in Afghanistan so far this year number 38, a rate 46 percent higher than last year's.
It may be too late now. The Iraq war did start before the Afghanistan campaign was completed and it continues to have first claim to U.S. forces and financial resources. It wouldn't be too late to shift U.S. resources from Iraq to Afghanistan to complete the job there. But that would require the Bush administration to, in effect, admit it was wrong in starting the Iraq war before finishing Afghanistan.
It is hard to imagine the Bush administration doing that. So what that means is that America is probably condemned to watch Afghanistan slide further into the kind of disarray that terrorists love, while Mr. Karzai and the democratic process associated with him becomes increasingly at risk. In the meantime, U.S. casualties will continue to go up.
Afghans Condemn U.S. Airstrike Deaths
Updated 10:00 AM ET July 5, 2005
By AMIR SHAH
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b594s80&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned the killing of up to 17 civilians in a U.S. airstrike, and a senior American defense official confirmed the deaths of two Navy SEALs who were missing in action in the country's northeast.
The airstrike came Friday in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, the area where a U.S. transport helicopter was downed late last month, killing 16 troops in the deadliest single blow to American forces since they ousted the Taliban in 2001.
"The president is extremely saddened and disturbed," said Jawed Ludin, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff. "There is no way ... the killing of civilians can be justified. ... It's the terrorists we are fighting. It's not our people who should suffer."
A government team is on its way to the site to investigate the bombing, a Defense Ministry statement said.
Meanwhile, two members of the U.S. Navy's elite special forces branch who were missing in Kunar have been found dead, a senior U.S. defense official in Washington said Monday night. Another SEAL was rescued Saturday and the fate of a fourth was unknown.
The official who confirmed the recovery of the two bodies spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing effort to account for the missing U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan.
The team of SEALs was reported missing on June 28. A rescue effort that day ended in tragedy when the transport helicopter seeking to extract the team was shot down.
The serviceman rescued Saturday had taken shelter in a village elder's home before American forces were notified of his location and picked him up, said Kunar provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa.
Speaking about the U.S. airstrike, Wafa told The Associated Press that an initial strike destroyed a house, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, killing 17 of them, including three women and children.
He said it was unclear who was killed in the initial attack in the tiny village of Chechal. "Maybe some militants were killed, but I don't know," he said. "The 17 people were killed in the second bombing."
The U.S. military said the attack was carried out "with precision-guided munitions that resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of enemy terrorists and noncombatants."
"The targeted compound was a known operating base for terrorist attacks in Kunar province as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader," it said. "Battle damage assessment is currently ongoing."
The statement added U.S. forces "regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded. However, when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk."
The civilians are the latest victims in an unprecedented spate of violence that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed last week that militants had captured one of the SEALs. He said the "high-ranking American" was caught in the area where the helicopter went down.
Hakimi, who also claimed insurgents shot down the helicopter, often calls news organizations to take responsibility for attacks, and the information frequently proves exaggerated or untrue. His exact tie to the Taliban leadership is unclear.
U.S. officials said they had no evidence indicating any service members had been taken into captivity.
Updated 10:00 AM ET July 5, 2005
By AMIR SHAH
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b594s80&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned the killing of up to 17 civilians in a U.S. airstrike, and a senior American defense official confirmed the deaths of two Navy SEALs who were missing in action in the country's northeast.
The airstrike came Friday in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, the area where a U.S. transport helicopter was downed late last month, killing 16 troops in the deadliest single blow to American forces since they ousted the Taliban in 2001.
"The president is extremely saddened and disturbed," said Jawed Ludin, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff. "There is no way ... the killing of civilians can be justified. ... It's the terrorists we are fighting. It's not our people who should suffer."
A government team is on its way to the site to investigate the bombing, a Defense Ministry statement said.
Meanwhile, two members of the U.S. Navy's elite special forces branch who were missing in Kunar have been found dead, a senior U.S. defense official in Washington said Monday night. Another SEAL was rescued Saturday and the fate of a fourth was unknown.
The official who confirmed the recovery of the two bodies spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing effort to account for the missing U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan.
The team of SEALs was reported missing on June 28. A rescue effort that day ended in tragedy when the transport helicopter seeking to extract the team was shot down.
The serviceman rescued Saturday had taken shelter in a village elder's home before American forces were notified of his location and picked him up, said Kunar provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa.
Speaking about the U.S. airstrike, Wafa told The Associated Press that an initial strike destroyed a house, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, killing 17 of them, including three women and children.
He said it was unclear who was killed in the initial attack in the tiny village of Chechal. "Maybe some militants were killed, but I don't know," he said. "The 17 people were killed in the second bombing."
The U.S. military said the attack was carried out "with precision-guided munitions that resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of enemy terrorists and noncombatants."
"The targeted compound was a known operating base for terrorist attacks in Kunar province as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader," it said. "Battle damage assessment is currently ongoing."
The statement added U.S. forces "regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded. However, when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk."
The civilians are the latest victims in an unprecedented spate of violence that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed last week that militants had captured one of the SEALs. He said the "high-ranking American" was caught in the area where the helicopter went down.
Hakimi, who also claimed insurgents shot down the helicopter, often calls news organizations to take responsibility for attacks, and the information frequently proves exaggerated or untrue. His exact tie to the Taliban leadership is unclear.
U.S. officials said they had no evidence indicating any service members had been taken into captivity.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/07...-name_page.html
U.S. medical team attacked in Afghanistan
Jul 6 2005
icWales
Rebels attacked a US military medical team as it was helping villagers in the same region of eastern Afghanistan where a US airstrike that killed up to 17 civilians sparked sharp criticism from the government.
No one was wounded in the assault yesterday on the medical team near Asadabad town, Kunar province, a military statement said. US forces used mortars to respond and the insurgents fled.
"It's incredible to us the enemy would attack our forces while we are providing innocent Afghans with health care," said US military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara.
The airstrike last Friday was also in Kunar and targeted a known terrorist base, the US military said, but an Afghan government spokesman said the deaths of the civilians, including women and children, could not be justified.
It marked unusual criticism from the government of President Hamid Karzai, often viewed by critics as an American puppet. The US provides security for the president as well as hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid to Afghanistan.
U.S. medical team attacked in Afghanistan
Jul 6 2005
icWales
Rebels attacked a US military medical team as it was helping villagers in the same region of eastern Afghanistan where a US airstrike that killed up to 17 civilians sparked sharp criticism from the government.
No one was wounded in the assault yesterday on the medical team near Asadabad town, Kunar province, a military statement said. US forces used mortars to respond and the insurgents fled.
"It's incredible to us the enemy would attack our forces while we are providing innocent Afghans with health care," said US military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara.
The airstrike last Friday was also in Kunar and targeted a known terrorist base, the US military said, but an Afghan government spokesman said the deaths of the civilians, including women and children, could not be justified.
It marked unusual criticism from the government of President Hamid Karzai, often viewed by critics as an American puppet. The US provides security for the president as well as hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid to Afghanistan.
July 6, 2005 - Wednesday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
NATO jets fly in tomorrow to secure Afghan elections
By Ahmad Khalid Mowahid
KABUL, July 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Four F-16 jets of the Dutch contingent within the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan will arrive here on Thursday to help secure the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Lt. Col. Karen Tissot van Patot, spokesperson for the multinational force in Kabul, told a news conference here on Wednesday a 60-member unit would be deployed in the capital city to take care of the aircraft.
Some of the 2,000 additional troops to come from the Netherlands and Romania to maintain security for the September 17 polls in Kabul and the northern province of Mazar-i-Sharif have also arrived.
In spring this year, four more Dutch jets of the kind were sent to Afghanistan for the same mission - to ensure security ahead of the landmark first post-Taliban legislative vote.
In addition to the 8000-strong International Security Assistance Force, there are about 20,000 coalition troops and a 42,000 Afghan police force struggling to boost security for the elections.
Remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have warned to disrupt the polls, although their threat to scuttle last year's presidential ballot did not succeed.
NATO jets fly in tomorrow to secure Afghan elections
By Ahmad Khalid Mowahid
KABUL, July 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Four F-16 jets of the Dutch contingent within the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan will arrive here on Thursday to help secure the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Lt. Col. Karen Tissot van Patot, spokesperson for the multinational force in Kabul, told a news conference here on Wednesday a 60-member unit would be deployed in the capital city to take care of the aircraft.
Some of the 2,000 additional troops to come from the Netherlands and Romania to maintain security for the September 17 polls in Kabul and the northern province of Mazar-i-Sharif have also arrived.
In spring this year, four more Dutch jets of the kind were sent to Afghanistan for the same mission - to ensure security ahead of the landmark first post-Taliban legislative vote.
In addition to the 8000-strong International Security Assistance Force, there are about 20,000 coalition troops and a 42,000 Afghan police force struggling to boost security for the elections.
Remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have warned to disrupt the polls, although their threat to scuttle last year's presidential ballot did not succeed.
http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=3561894&nav=ZolH0yEa
Another Virginia Beach Based SEAL Killed In Afghanistan
July 6, 2005, 07:20 PM
The week of July 4th, 2005 will go down as the saddest, most trying week in the history of the elite US Navy SEALs.
Not only is the SEAL community preparing to bury eight fallen SEALs, now they've learned of two more fallen SEALs and continue to frantically search for another SEAL still missing in the mountains of Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon released the names of 25-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny Dietz and 29-year-old Lt. Michael Murphy.
Murphy was based in Hawaii.
Dietz was based with Seal Vehicle Delivery Team 2 at Little Creek Amphibious Base and lived with his wife, Maria in Virginia Beach.
Dietz may have only been 25, but his resume was long. He was a war veteran, one of the best of the best, a highly-skilled Seal, a medal winner, a husband and a son.
He was part of a four-man SEAL team fighting on the ground in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. When their tiny team came under fire they called for back-up.
Another Virginia Beach Based SEAL Killed In Afghanistan
July 6, 2005, 07:20 PM
The week of July 4th, 2005 will go down as the saddest, most trying week in the history of the elite US Navy SEALs.
Not only is the SEAL community preparing to bury eight fallen SEALs, now they've learned of two more fallen SEALs and continue to frantically search for another SEAL still missing in the mountains of Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon released the names of 25-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny Dietz and 29-year-old Lt. Michael Murphy.
Murphy was based in Hawaii.
Dietz was based with Seal Vehicle Delivery Team 2 at Little Creek Amphibious Base and lived with his wife, Maria in Virginia Beach.
Dietz may have only been 25, but his resume was long. He was a war veteran, one of the best of the best, a highly-skilled Seal, a medal winner, a husband and a son.
He was part of a four-man SEAL team fighting on the ground in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. When their tiny team came under fire they called for back-up.
Right ghost, let's let the Taliban have the place back.
This woman is burried up to her waist in preparation for her stoning to death.
This woman is burried up to her waist in preparation for her stoning to death.
July 6, 2005 - Wednesday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
Laghman has taken lead in poppy eradication: UK envoy
By Zubair Babakarkhail
KABUL, July 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The British ambassador to Afghanistan Thursday hailed the eastern Laghman province as an example worth emulating for the rest of the country in poppy eradication.
Speaking to a gathering of provincial officials and tribal elders from Laghman, Ambassador Dr. Rosalind Marsden said people of the province destroyed the crop voluntarily.
"To eradicate poppy from Laghman, the central government did not have to send police," observed the diplomat, whose country is leading counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan.
Based on a survey conducted by the United Nation Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), poppy cultivated over 3,000 hectares land in Laghman was voluntarily destroyed in 2004.
Aerial pictures of voluntary poppy destruction in Alingar and Alishing districts were displayed at the gathering, at which Marsden demanded of the international community, the Afghan government and Laghman inhabitants to step up effort for preventing cultivation, trafficking and production of opium in the province.
Appreciating the role of people, Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar argued there was lawlessness in provinces where poppy was cultivated. "But Laghman's people preferred peace and security to chaos and insecurity.
About poverty in the province he said: "The government is aware of economic problems of Laghman citizens. As far as I know, youths here are making bricks in the Punjab province of Pakistan."
The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development MRRD has set aside up to 10 million dollars for spending next year on road construction, water schemes and small loan plans under the National Solidarity Programme in the province.
Laghman Governor Shah Mahmood Safi, Deputy Counter-Narcotics Minister General Khudaidad, Deputy Agriculture Minister Engineer Mohammad Sharif, General Daud Daud and USAID official Roger Carlson were also present on the occasion.
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4179
Laghman has taken lead in poppy eradication: UK envoy
By Zubair Babakarkhail
KABUL, July 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The British ambassador to Afghanistan Thursday hailed the eastern Laghman province as an example worth emulating for the rest of the country in poppy eradication.
Speaking to a gathering of provincial officials and tribal elders from Laghman, Ambassador Dr. Rosalind Marsden said people of the province destroyed the crop voluntarily.
"To eradicate poppy from Laghman, the central government did not have to send police," observed the diplomat, whose country is leading counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan.
Based on a survey conducted by the United Nation Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), poppy cultivated over 3,000 hectares land in Laghman was voluntarily destroyed in 2004.
Aerial pictures of voluntary poppy destruction in Alingar and Alishing districts were displayed at the gathering, at which Marsden demanded of the international community, the Afghan government and Laghman inhabitants to step up effort for preventing cultivation, trafficking and production of opium in the province.
Appreciating the role of people, Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar argued there was lawlessness in provinces where poppy was cultivated. "But Laghman's people preferred peace and security to chaos and insecurity.
About poverty in the province he said: "The government is aware of economic problems of Laghman citizens. As far as I know, youths here are making bricks in the Punjab province of Pakistan."
The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development MRRD has set aside up to 10 million dollars for spending next year on road construction, water schemes and small loan plans under the National Solidarity Programme in the province.
Laghman Governor Shah Mahmood Safi, Deputy Counter-Narcotics Minister General Khudaidad, Deputy Agriculture Minister Engineer Mohammad Sharif, General Daud Daud and USAID official Roger Carlson were also present on the occasion.
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4179
Taliban Threatens to Kill U.S. Commando
Updated 4:05 AM ET July 7, 2005
By AMIR SHAH
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b6e4100&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A purported Taliban spokesman reiterated a claim Thursday that his group is holding a missing U.S. Navy SEAL and said insurgent leaders had decided to kill him. He offered no proof to back up the claim.
U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore, reacting to the claim, said: "We hope he is not in harm's way. We are making every effort to locate him."
The purported spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, said previously that the Taliban are holding the commando, who has been missing in Afghanistan for 10 days. Hakimi frequently contacts news agencies claiming to speak for the rebels, but his information in the past has proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
"This American will never be forgiven. Definitely he will be killed," Hakimi said. He said the group would release a video after the man's death.
Hakimi said he was last in contact Wednesday with the rebels who he says are holding the American and was told that his health was good and that he had not been abused. He said the rebels were holding the U.S. service member in a house in Kunar.
The man is the last of a four-member U.S. Navy SEAL commando team missing since last month. One of the men was rescued; two others were found dead.
A special forces helicopter carrying reinforcements to the area crashed on June 28, killing all 16 Americans on board, the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war here began in 2001.
About 300 troops and several aircraft are in the mountainous area searching for the service member and hunting militants, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said Wednesday.
The eastern province of Kunar has long been a hotbed of militant activity and a haven for fighters loyal to renegade former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is wanted by the United States. U.S. officials said al-Qaida fighters also were in the region. Osama bin Laden was not said to be there _ though he is believed to be somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier.
The region's rugged, wooded mountains are popular with militants because they are easy to infiltrate from neighboring Pakistan and have plenty of places to hide.
On Saturday, a U.S. airstrike in the region killed as many as 17 civilians, prompting a strong rebuke by the Afghan government.
The violence in Kunar follows an unprecedented spate of fighting that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.
In the latest clash, suspected Taliban rebels late Wednesday attacked a government office 40 miles south of the Afghan capital, Kabul, local police chief Khan Mohammed said.
Police guarding the building fought back during a two-hour gunbattle before the insurgents fled. No officers were killed, though it was not clear if the rebels suffered any losses, he said. The fighting was the closest by suspected Taliban rebels to Kabul in months.
Updated 4:05 AM ET July 7, 2005
By AMIR SHAH
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b6e4100&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A purported Taliban spokesman reiterated a claim Thursday that his group is holding a missing U.S. Navy SEAL and said insurgent leaders had decided to kill him. He offered no proof to back up the claim.
U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore, reacting to the claim, said: "We hope he is not in harm's way. We are making every effort to locate him."
The purported spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, said previously that the Taliban are holding the commando, who has been missing in Afghanistan for 10 days. Hakimi frequently contacts news agencies claiming to speak for the rebels, but his information in the past has proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
"This American will never be forgiven. Definitely he will be killed," Hakimi said. He said the group would release a video after the man's death.
Hakimi said he was last in contact Wednesday with the rebels who he says are holding the American and was told that his health was good and that he had not been abused. He said the rebels were holding the U.S. service member in a house in Kunar.
The man is the last of a four-member U.S. Navy SEAL commando team missing since last month. One of the men was rescued; two others were found dead.
A special forces helicopter carrying reinforcements to the area crashed on June 28, killing all 16 Americans on board, the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war here began in 2001.
About 300 troops and several aircraft are in the mountainous area searching for the service member and hunting militants, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said Wednesday.
The eastern province of Kunar has long been a hotbed of militant activity and a haven for fighters loyal to renegade former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is wanted by the United States. U.S. officials said al-Qaida fighters also were in the region. Osama bin Laden was not said to be there _ though he is believed to be somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier.
The region's rugged, wooded mountains are popular with militants because they are easy to infiltrate from neighboring Pakistan and have plenty of places to hide.
On Saturday, a U.S. airstrike in the region killed as many as 17 civilians, prompting a strong rebuke by the Afghan government.
The violence in Kunar follows an unprecedented spate of fighting that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.
In the latest clash, suspected Taliban rebels late Wednesday attacked a government office 40 miles south of the Afghan capital, Kabul, local police chief Khan Mohammed said.
Police guarding the building fought back during a two-hour gunbattle before the insurgents fled. No officers were killed, though it was not clear if the rebels suffered any losses, he said. The fighting was the closest by suspected Taliban rebels to Kabul in months.
C-span ran a program at the Nixon Center yesterday with an historian and Terrorism expert.
He says that the Taliban are training and expanding in northern Pakistan and some groups are tied to Pakistani intelligence and military. Musharef catches Alqaeda members only after Rumsfeld, Rice or Wolfowitz visited him and gave him intelligence and more bribe money. The Alqaeda have munitions factories in northern Pakistan. The weapons are sold in every store. They even try to make US type munitions but the weapons are not of the same quality. They also have sophisticated video/communications equipment to spread their propaganda and raise funds around the world.
ABC had the man on last night. His photos and video have been shown by ABC in the last 2 weeks.
We have taken our eye off of the real terrorism problem and now they are returning to Afghanistan where they know the terrain and can beat our few forces.
The program is about 2 hours - search and see at http://www.c-span.org or check the TV schedule when it will replay this weekend.
He says that the Taliban are training and expanding in northern Pakistan and some groups are tied to Pakistani intelligence and military. Musharef catches Alqaeda members only after Rumsfeld, Rice or Wolfowitz visited him and gave him intelligence and more bribe money. The Alqaeda have munitions factories in northern Pakistan. The weapons are sold in every store. They even try to make US type munitions but the weapons are not of the same quality. They also have sophisticated video/communications equipment to spread their propaganda and raise funds around the world.
ABC had the man on last night. His photos and video have been shown by ABC in the last 2 weeks.
We have taken our eye off of the real terrorism problem and now they are returning to Afghanistan where they know the terrain and can beat our few forces.
The program is about 2 hours - search and see at http://www.c-span.org or check the TV schedule when it will replay this weekend.
Thanks for the heads up C-Span information heritage.... it's good to see forthright information being applied here.
Speaking of 'wake up' pills being passed around, We have had the Pentagon finally admit that fighting more than one war front is 'too much work' for our military forces, and some news media agencies are now also waking up to the fact that the 'real' problem exists in Afghanistan, and not Iraq.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/07/fox_ad...the_problem.php
July 7,2005
Fox Admits - Afghanistan Is The Problem
In a striking piece from Tim Marshall, Sky News, London, which was aired on Studio B today, Marshall admitted that the bombings today were shocking but not surprising.
He said that the hunt is on by MI-6 and MI-5, who are now searching for a group they know is in the UK. He said that is for the short term.
But as part of the bigger picture he said there is 'still Aghanistan.' He said there were still Al Qaeda type bases there using drug money as finance for operations. He announced that, 'Targeting them is about to go up the British list of priorities.'
Comment: I'd like to congratulate our readers on this one. You have been the ones to keep Afghanistan in the forefront here on this website. Your instincts are good. Apparently when you said that the poppy production was going up, it was, and they are using that drug money to finance Al Qaeda terrorist attacks.
You should also be congratulated for your focus on keeping the focus on Afghanistan instead of Iraq. My fellow News Hounds have also been dilgent on this matter.
My shock is on the London reporting of Sky News to say that emphasis will be put on Afghanistan. I haven't watched much Sky News, but it was an enlightening piece that was aired on Studio B today.
Speaking of 'wake up' pills being passed around, We have had the Pentagon finally admit that fighting more than one war front is 'too much work' for our military forces, and some news media agencies are now also waking up to the fact that the 'real' problem exists in Afghanistan, and not Iraq.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/07/fox_ad...the_problem.php
July 7,2005
Fox Admits - Afghanistan Is The Problem
In a striking piece from Tim Marshall, Sky News, London, which was aired on Studio B today, Marshall admitted that the bombings today were shocking but not surprising.
He said that the hunt is on by MI-6 and MI-5, who are now searching for a group they know is in the UK. He said that is for the short term.
But as part of the bigger picture he said there is 'still Aghanistan.' He said there were still Al Qaeda type bases there using drug money as finance for operations. He announced that, 'Targeting them is about to go up the British list of priorities.'
Comment: I'd like to congratulate our readers on this one. You have been the ones to keep Afghanistan in the forefront here on this website. Your instincts are good. Apparently when you said that the poppy production was going up, it was, and they are using that drug money to finance Al Qaeda terrorist attacks.
You should also be congratulated for your focus on keeping the focus on Afghanistan instead of Iraq. My fellow News Hounds have also been dilgent on this matter.
My shock is on the London reporting of Sky News to say that emphasis will be put on Afghanistan. I haven't watched much Sky News, but it was an enlightening piece that was aired on Studio B today.
The C-span program on Pakistan and Alqaeda is replaying now on C-span 1.
The historian is from France - Dr. Alexis Debat - wrote articles att
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com
Zarqawi's Global Reach
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Artic...y2005Debat.html
Vivisecting the Jihad: Part Two
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Artic...r2004Debat.html
"Foreign Fighters," Terrorism and the Iraqi Handover
June 23, 2004
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Artic...25DebatPFV.html
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com
Zarqawi's Global Reach
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Artic...y2005Debat.html
Vivisecting the Jihad: Part Two
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Artic...r2004Debat.html
"Foreign Fighters," Terrorism and the Iraqi Handover
June 23, 2004
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Artic...25DebatPFV.html
The C-span program on Pakistan and Alqaeda is replaying now on C-span 1. It is almost over. Check c-span.org for the next airing.
July 8, 2005 - Friday :: Welcome. Subscribe to receive newstories.
30 jihadi commanders pledge support to government
By Mohammad Hakim Basharat
MAIDAN SHAHR, July 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Around 30 former jihadi commanders pledged support to the Afghan government at a meeting in Maidan Shahr on Thursday.
Maidan Wardak Governor Abdul Jabar Naeemi, who took the initiative of convening the meeting, urged the commanders to turn in their weapons and take an active part in the reconstruction of the war-weary country.
"I cannot tolerate even a single illegal weapon in this province, just as I can't put up with poppy cultivation," the governor said while addressing the gathering.
Naeemi asked the commanders to hold out cast-iron guarantees that they would not retain weapons in the future if they wanted to get a clean bill of health from his government.
Haji Moosa Hootak, one of the commanders and a former Loya Jirga delegate, said he had already surrendered all his weapons and that the government should not bother too much about arms being hidden.
The commanders, in a written statement, promised to surrender remaining weapons they had and to cooperate with the government in rebuilding the country.
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4230
30 jihadi commanders pledge support to government
By Mohammad Hakim Basharat
MAIDAN SHAHR, July 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Around 30 former jihadi commanders pledged support to the Afghan government at a meeting in Maidan Shahr on Thursday.
Maidan Wardak Governor Abdul Jabar Naeemi, who took the initiative of convening the meeting, urged the commanders to turn in their weapons and take an active part in the reconstruction of the war-weary country.
"I cannot tolerate even a single illegal weapon in this province, just as I can't put up with poppy cultivation," the governor said while addressing the gathering.
Naeemi asked the commanders to hold out cast-iron guarantees that they would not retain weapons in the future if they wanted to get a clean bill of health from his government.
Haji Moosa Hootak, one of the commanders and a former Loya Jirga delegate, said he had already surrendered all his weapons and that the government should not bother too much about arms being hidden.
The commanders, in a written statement, promised to surrender remaining weapons they had and to cooperate with the government in rebuilding the country.
http://www.pajhwak.com/en/news/viewStory.asp?lng=eng&id=4230
Karzai Says Bin Laden Isn't in Afghanistan
Updated 10:02 PM ET July 8, 2005
By AMIR SHAH
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b7j08o0&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - President Hamid Karzai said Friday that Osama bin Laden wasn't in Afghanistan, saying his government has no idea of his whereabouts.
"God knows where he is," he said. "We don't know. ... He is not in Afghanistan."
The comments come just days after Pakisani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said the al-Qaida leader wasn't in Pakistan and could be hiding in southeastern Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have said they believe bin Laden to be hiding somewhere in rugged mountains between the two nations.
Also Friday, a purported Taliban spokesman reiterated a claim that a missing American commando was being interrogated by the Taliban and would soon be killed.
U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore declined to comment on the latest claim that a U.S. Navy SEAL commando has been captured, except to say that "we are continuing to search for him."
The commando is the last of a four-member U.S. Navy SEAL team missing for 11 days in Kunar province, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two have been found dead.
"Right now the interrogation is taking place of the American who is with us about the American strategy in Afghanistan," Mullah Latif Hakimi said.
Hakimi's information has in the past frequently proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
The claims follow an unprecedented spate of insurgent violence that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.
Updated 10:02 PM ET July 8, 2005
By AMIR SHAH
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b7j08o0&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - President Hamid Karzai said Friday that Osama bin Laden wasn't in Afghanistan, saying his government has no idea of his whereabouts.
"God knows where he is," he said. "We don't know. ... He is not in Afghanistan."
The comments come just days after Pakisani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said the al-Qaida leader wasn't in Pakistan and could be hiding in southeastern Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have said they believe bin Laden to be hiding somewhere in rugged mountains between the two nations.
Also Friday, a purported Taliban spokesman reiterated a claim that a missing American commando was being interrogated by the Taliban and would soon be killed.
U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore declined to comment on the latest claim that a U.S. Navy SEAL commando has been captured, except to say that "we are continuing to search for him."
The commando is the last of a four-member U.S. Navy SEAL team missing for 11 days in Kunar province, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two have been found dead.
"Right now the interrogation is taking place of the American who is with us about the American strategy in Afghanistan," Mullah Latif Hakimi said.
Hakimi's information has in the past frequently proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
The claims follow an unprecedented spate of insurgent violence that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.
QUOTE(ghostgovt @ Feb 22 2005, 07:21 AM)
The UN has announced that Afghanistan is in very bad ways. I read also the other day that the US is doubling it's troops there. Infind it more than interesting that in the UN's closing statements, that Afghanistan has deeply suffered in more than it's 20 yrs of war. That would be back when the US CIA created the Bin Laden Taliban and war with Russia. Another intervention by our govt that has left a country in shambles and depending on more financial aid from American taxpayers.
Let's not get revisionist on this. USSR occupied Afghanistan, not Russia. We organized and funded a resistance, of which Bin Laden was an important part, but none-the-less, only a part. The consequence was the default Taliban government, but I hardly believe we can place the blame on the USA; it was a consequence of the Cold War perpetrated by the USSR. It was the same game they played on us in Vietnam: funding the insurgency.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4657645.stm
6 July, 2005
Stung in an Afghan 'hornets' nest'
Andrew North
BBC News at US Camp Tillman, Afghan-Pakistan border
It did not make any headlines. It was just another incident among many in this volatile region.
But it gives an insight into why the US-led coalition is having such difficulty defeating the insurgency that has affected much of eastern and southern Afghanistan for the past two years.
6 July, 2005
Stung in an Afghan 'hornets' nest'
Andrew North
BBC News at US Camp Tillman, Afghan-Pakistan border
It did not make any headlines. It was just another incident among many in this volatile region.
But it gives an insight into why the US-led coalition is having such difficulty defeating the insurgency that has affected much of eastern and southern Afghanistan for the past two years.
This will be part of future history. This will be further proof of the massive blunders of Bush. We should have stayed in Afghanistan and finnished the job of getting those who attacked us, and stabilizing Afghanistan!
Biggest mistake we ever made!
Biggest mistake we ever made!
Group Claims It Killed U.S. Commando
Updated 8:26 AM ET July 9, 2005
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b7s4mo0&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A purported Taliban spokesman said Saturday that the group has killed a missing American commando, but he offered no proof and the U.S. military said it was still searching for the Navy SEAL.
The commando is the last of a four-member elite commando team missing since June 28 in Kunar, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two were found dead.
"This morning in Shagal district in Kunar province, the Taliban killed the American soldier and cut his head off," Mullah Latif Hakimi, the purported spokesman, told The Associated Press in a telephone call. "We left the body on a mountainside in this area so Afghan or U.S. soldiers there can find it."
Hakimi repeatedly has said the rebels were holding the commando. But information from him in the past has frequently proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, however, said "the search for the commando continued.
"The only proof we have is that he is missing," he said. "We will run down these reports to see if anything thing pans out."
Updated 8:26 AM ET July 9, 2005
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8b7s4mo0&src=ap
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A purported Taliban spokesman said Saturday that the group has killed a missing American commando, but he offered no proof and the U.S. military said it was still searching for the Navy SEAL.
The commando is the last of a four-member elite commando team missing since June 28 in Kunar, near the Pakistani border. One of the men was rescued and the other two were found dead.
"This morning in Shagal district in Kunar province, the Taliban killed the American soldier and cut his head off," Mullah Latif Hakimi, the purported spokesman, told The Associated Press in a telephone call. "We left the body on a mountainside in this area so Afghan or U.S. soldiers there can find it."
Hakimi repeatedly has said the rebels were holding the commando. But information from him in the past has frequently proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, however, said "the search for the commando continued.
"The only proof we have is that he is missing," he said. "We will run down these reports to see if anything thing pans out."
My thots of a sad and tragic personal loss for this commando goes out to his family.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&cl...20898161688B212
Taliban kills 'captured' US commando
July 09 2005 at 11:28AM
By Sayed Salahuddin
Kabul - Taliban guerrillas said on Saturday they had killed a missing American commando they claimed to have captured in eastern Afghanistan last month. The United States military said it had no information to support the claim.
"We killed him at 11 o'clock today; we killed him using a knife and chopped off his head," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said from an undisclosed location. He said that the body had been dumped on a mountain in the eastern province of Kunar.
The US military has said it has no information to suggest the Navy SEAL commando, part of a four-man team that went missing during a clash with militants in mountainous Kunar on June 28, has been captured.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&cl...20898161688B212
Taliban kills 'captured' US commando
July 09 2005 at 11:28AM
By Sayed Salahuddin
Kabul - Taliban guerrillas said on Saturday they had killed a missing American commando they claimed to have captured in eastern Afghanistan last month. The United States military said it had no information to support the claim.
"We killed him at 11 o'clock today; we killed him using a knife and chopped off his head," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said from an undisclosed location. He said that the body had been dumped on a mountain in the eastern province of Kunar.
The US military has said it has no information to suggest the Navy SEAL commando, part of a four-man team that went missing during a clash with militants in mountainous Kunar on June 28, has been captured.
QUOTE(winston smith @ Jul 8 2005, 09:20 PM)
USSR occupied Afghanistan, not Russia. We organized and funded a resistance, of which Bin Laden was an important part, but none-the-less, only a part. The consequence was the default Taliban government, but I hardly believe we can place the blame on the USA; it was a consequence of the Cold War perpetrated by the USSR. It was the same game they played on us in Vietnam: funding the insurgency.
Appreciate your contribution.
Thanks for that correction on my post made on Feb 22 of this year. The Soviets were, in fact, Washignton's 'defined' enemy inside Afghanistan of which our CIA did fund and help train the Taliban via the Mujahedeen in their terroristic means and ways. The Bin Ladens ties with the Carlyle Group and the Bushes, that went sour, also prompt further anger in OBL after the Saudis kicked him out of his country while putting a bounty on his head. I see both sides to the story and understand the feeling for retaliation by OBL. I sure am not supporting OBL in his actions and what he believes in, but one has to look at what if it were you, and you were used in fighting a war for those who later turned on? One needs to try and look inside that person's mind while standing in their shoes and understand the entire picture for what had happened all those years. Same same Saddam.... another CIA foreign operative.... used then severed from such relations. I look at things in an overall picture and not the narrow picture with propaganda blinders on. You were right about the US funded 'enemy' in the Vietnam War. Our wars seems to do a 360 on US.... in those who we create, support and supply.
This is the monster that our CIA helped build.... in OBL's statements to Bush last Nov.
"We became experts in gang warfare and in the war of attrition," says bin Laden in the new excerpts, published on the eve of the US presidential election.
"We fought the unjust superpower, waging [a war of] attrition, along with the [Afghan] mujahedeen, [against] Russia for 10 years until they became bankrupt and decided to withdraw in defeat," he says, referring to the fight against Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
"The more serious thing for America is that the mujahedeen recently forced Bush to draw on an emergency fund to continue the combat in Afghanistan and in Iraq, which proves the success of the plan of attrition until bankruptcy," bin Laden says in the new excerpts of the message, which US intelligence agencies have deemed authentic.
He also boasts of the ease with which Al Qaeda has been able to make the US administration jump.
"It was easy for us to provoke this administration and drag it" to places of Al Qaeda's choosing, he says.
"It only takes sending two mujahedeen to the far Mashreq [east] raising a piece of cloth bearing the name of Al Qaeda for the [US] generals to scurry there, causing America human, material and political losses without any gain to speak of, except some benefits for their private companies," bin Laden adds.
***********************
http://www.september-11th.us/Supported-bin-Laden.html
As America fought wars around the globe in the 20th century, one principle guided U.S. alliances: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
In the war against Hitler, the United States found common cause with Stalin. In the war against Japan, America aided Vietnamese rebel Ho Chi Minh. In Third World struggles, America helped Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein.
Pakistani investigative journalist Ahmed Rashid reported recently that the CIA funded an underground arms depot, training facility and medical center that bin Laden helped build in 1986 near the Pakistan border. There bin Laden set up his first training camp.
Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., likened the situation to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, where the United States aided a future adversary, Hussein. American policies contributed to the environment that exists today, he said, "but it was an inadvertent action".
The United States provided many of the arms used today by all the forces in Afghanistan.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he's received recent reports that bin Laden or sympathizers might have shoulder-fired Stinger missiles the U.S. supplied to resistance fighters.
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