Why are we killing them when they never did anything to us, readers?
"Afghan, NATO strike leaves 12 Taliban dead" by Noor Khan/Associated Press December 9, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - NATO and Afghan forces were making gains in an operation to retake a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan, which has killed at least 12 Taliban fighters and two children, the Afghan Defense Ministry said yesterday.
Yup, being told we are winning a losing war!
That's AmeriKa's MSM credibility shot right there!
The troops conducting the operation were positioned to the east, west, and south of Musa Qala, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. Coalition forces warned that they would mount an intense attack if the Taliban refused to surrender.
Twelve Taliban have been killed in fighting since the operation began Friday afternoon. Separately, two children were killed when security forces clashed with Taliban traveling in a convoy with civilians, Azimi said.
US-led coalition forces, meanwhile, conducted air strikes in an operation targeting a Taliban commander believed to be responsible for attacks against security forces and involvement in weapons and drug trafficking, the coalition said.
The US-led forces bombarded the compound where he was hiding with several militants Friday in Musa Qala district. As NATO and Afghan forces closed in on Musa Qala town, residents said many villagers remained in their homes as the area was bombed and were refusing to shelter insurgents.
Musa Jan, a resident of Musa Qala district: "If we let the Taliban in, NATO will bomb our homes. We're trying our best not to let the Taliban into our homes."
Taliban commander Mullah Ahmadullah said the insurgents were strengthening their positions in Musa Qala and militants in nearby districts were pouring into the area for the battle:
"The morale of the Taliban is high. . . . We will fight until the death."
But I don't want them to have to die!
How about leaving them alone instead?
Let them LIVE in PEACE?!
However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the Taliban would retreat if there were too many casualties among insurgents and civilians.
Well, that can't be right! Everyone knows Taliban don't have hearts!
In other violence in southern Afghanistan, a NATO soldier was killed and another wounded in an explosion, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said."
Here's the Times' lame take on it all:
"NATO and Afghan Forces Hem In Taliban Haven"
"KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 8 — The Afghan government called on Taliban fighters in the town of Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan to put down their weapons and give themselves up or face a heavy attack from Afghan and NATO forces hemming in the town on Saturday.
Two children were killed and five civilians were wounded when a car came under fire in the town as NATO and Afghan forces closed in during the second day of an operation to retake the town from the Taliban, the Defense Ministry spokesman, Gen. Zaher Azimi, said at a news conference here in the capital.
General Azimi: “The Afghan government and NATO deeply regret the incident, and our message to the insurgents is not to use civilians as a human shield.”
Twelve insurgents were killed in the fighting, and one was arrested, he said.
Musa Qala has been a haven for Taliban and foreign fighters since February, when they moved in four months after British forces pulled out of the town. General Azimi said the plan to retake the town came after tensions rose between local elders and clerics and the hundreds of foreign fighters who had set up in the town. The tribal elders had asked the government to reassert control, he said.
Asadullah Wafa, the governor of the surrounding province, Helmand, also urged the Taliban to give up their weapons in a radio announcement. He said the local tribes had asked for the operation and had agreed not to give shelter to the Taliban anymore.
General Azimi said Afghan and NATO forces were using mostly ground forces to avoid civilian casualties. They had flanked the town on three sides, allowing an exit route for civilians to the north, he said.
As often happens with larger military operations, the Taliban quickly issued countering claims. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said the insurgents had destroyed three armored vehicles and killed NATO soldiers; General Azimi dismissed those claims.
The district chief of Musa Qala, Izatullah Mujahid, said that five important Taliban commanders had been killed in an airstrike, adding that people still in the town had confirmed the deaths of the commanders. The Taliban spokesman conceded that five Taliban had been killed but denied they were commanders.
A shopkeeper from Musa Qala, Abdul Raziq, said that large numbers of Taliban were still in the town and that they were trading artillery barrages with NATO and Afghan forces positioned more than a mile from the town. NATO forces were also using helicopter gunships and planes to hit Taliban positions."
Yeah, NATO is "winning," all right!
Ooooooh, am I ever tired of garbage lies from the Zionist War dailies!
