It's been a rough year for them. The WORST ONE YET, in fact!
Strange, I heard we were winning.
Do they look like terrorists to you, reader?
"Deaths mark grim Afghan, Iraq milestones" by Jason Straziuso/Associated Press November 10, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan --Militants ambushed and killed six U.S. troops walking in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan -- the most lethal attack in a year that has been the deadliest for the U.S. military here since the 2001 invasion.
The number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan this year mirror the record toll in Iraq. Both conflicts have seen an increase in troop levels this year that has put more soldiers in harm's way.
The five soldiers and one Marine killed in Afghanistan Friday were ambushed while returning from a meeting with village elders in Nuristan province. Militants using rocket propelled grenades killed the six Americans and three Afghan soldiers. Eight U.S. troops were wounded.
Lt. Col. David Accetta, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S. military:
"They were attacked from several enemy positions at the same time. It was a complex ambush."
The six deaths brings the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year to at least 101, according to an Associated Press count, surpassing the 93 troops killed in 2005. About 87 died last year. The toll echoes the situation in Iraq, where U.S. military deaths this year surpassed 850, also a record.
Launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the war in Afghanistan appeared to have been a swift military victory. But insurgent attacks -- advanced ambushes and suicide and roadside bombs -- have risen sharply the last two years, and analysts say the counterinsurgency battle U.S. and NATO forces now face will take a decade or more to win.
Ready for the long haul and a draft, Amurka?!
Kiss your sons and daughters good-bye!
Though attacks in Iraq have dropped in recent months, U.S. troops there have also faced a rising number of suicide and roadside bombs since the 2003 invasion, known as asymmetric attacks in military circles.
Then there is this type of asymmetric warfare: Asymmetrical Warfare Group
And this kind: 75 air raids a day, and a five-fold increase in air bombings!
And why is this next paragraph cut from the web?
After months of rising violence, President Hamid Karzai has been trying to reach out to Taliban militants in aneffort to find a political settlement. He has invited insurgents to take part in negotiations and even join his administration. His overtures have received varied responses from Taliban factions.
Why would a war daily censor a paragraph about peace?
U.S. forces have two combat brigades -- more than 8,000 troops -- in eastern Afghanistan this year, up from one last year. The U.S. has about 25,000 forces in Afghanistan today -- 15,000 under NATO and 10,000 under the U.S.-led coalition.
Accetta said U.S. forces this year have pushed into new areas that traditionally have been militant safe havens:
"If you look back, last year we didn't have a significant presence in Nuristan and now we do. That all contributes to the fact there have been more casualties this year than there have been in previous years."
It's always the same thing with these liars!
As we lose ground, we are winning because we weren't operating there!
SICK OF BEING LIED TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Violence is at record levels across the board. More than 5,800 people, mostly militants, have died due to insurgency-related violence this year, also a record, according to an AP count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
And that is 100 more in just the last few days! Oh, Lord, more life gone!
Anthony Cordesman, an expert on the U.S. military, said in a report this month that the average number of attacks in Afghanistan each month has risen 30 percent this year, from 425 in 2006 to 548 this year.
He labeled the Afghan conflict a "war of attrition that can last 15 or more years" that militants can win simply by outlasting U.S. and NATO efforts.
You can't win, Rock!!!!
Cordesman wrote in a report for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that called for greater development of the Afghan government and military:
"As in Vietnam, tactical victory can easily become irrelevant."
Mohammad Daoud Nadim, Nuristan deputy police chief, said the ambush happened in the remote province's Waygal district, about 40 miles from the border with Pakistan, which militants are known to use as a sanctuary.
Accetta said it resulted in the highest number of U.S. casualties from a battle this year:
"With Sunday being Veterans Day, this is a reminder of the sacrifices that our troops and our Afghan partners make for the peace and stability of the Afghan people."
Fighter aircraft and troops using artillery and mortars at nearby outposts fired on the militants' positions, Accetta said.
Oh, is that helping the peace and stability of the Afghan people, puke?
How many more lives lost?
Doesn't anyone care about the victims of our slaughter?
Arabs and other foreign fighters from Chechnya and Uzbekistan are known to operate in the Nuristan region, but the provincial governor, Tamin Nuristani, blamed the attack on Taliban militants. Nuristani said the combined troops searched two houses after the meeting with village elders and were ambushed while walking to their base afterward.
Nuristan province has seen heavy fighting recently. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 13 wounded by an ambush in July, while militants disguised in Afghan army uniforms wounded 11 U.S. troops in August.
The attack Friday was the deadliest incident for U.S. troops since a Chinook crashed in February in Zabul province, killing eight Americans."
Are we winning or not? WTF?!
George and his damn failures!
Everything the guy fucking touches... poof!
