That border never should have been there to begin with."
US and Afghan forces kill 15 militants in raid" by Amir Shah, Associated Press |
July 18, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - US Special Forces and Afghan troops called in airstrikes during a raid on a militant cell in western Afghanistan yesterday, killing 15 insurgents and freeing 15 hostages, officials said.
NATO, meanwhile, said its troops in the south have killed a senior Taliban commander, while the US-led coalition reported its forces along with Afghan security forces killed several militants in the same region. The raid comes amid concerns that the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining momentum.
"
GIs getting more bomb protection in AfghanistanWASHINGTON (AP) - The Defense Department will send close to 800 more bomb-resistant vehicles to Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban has military leaders developing plans to add thousands of U.S. troop reinforcements.
Here's the cut(?):
General Dynamics received a $552 million order for the vehicles, the Pentagon announced Thursday. The work will be done in South Africa, Lansing Mich., and Anniston, Ala. All trucks are to be completed by the end of the year.
"Pakistani troops kill five militants; Death toll rises sharply over 3 days of fighting" by Reuters | July 19, 2008
KOHAT, Pakistan - A Pakistani army helicopter killed five Taliban militants yesterday in a restive northwestern town, taking the death toll in three days of fighting to 13, government and military officials said.
An offensive was launched late Wednesday in the Hangu district after militants killed 15 soldiers in an ambush last weekend and threatened to execute about 50 troops and government officials being held hostage by Pakistani Taliban.
The hostages include police, paramilitary officers, and state government officials. In exchange for their release, the Taliban are demanding the release of four of their fighters who were captured last week.
Early yesterday, the army helicopter spotted a vehicle filled with Islamist fighters in an area close to the Orakzai tribal region, previously one of the most peaceful of Pakistan's seven semiautonomous tribal lands.
"The helicopter fired at a vehicle in Zargari area, killing five militants and wounding six," a government official in the region said. After the attack, militants managed to take away their wounded comrades, while the dead were shifted to Hangu.
A military official in the region confirmed the action. He said 13 militants had been killed in the past few days.
On Thursday, troops cleared two militant strongholds in Hangu district. Residents and military officials said the security forces followed up by targeting militant positions in the nearby hills with artillery and helicopter gunships.
Hundreds of villagers fled the combat zone yesterday, after officials relaxed a curfew on a main road leading to Kohat, a garrison town about 25 miles northeast of Hangu.
The security situation across the northwest has deteriorated in recent weeks amid mounting pressure by Western allies on Pakistan to stop militants making cross-border attacks on their troops in Afghanistan.
Afghan, US, and NATO officials say the flow of Islamist guerrillas into Afghanistan has increased after Pakistan's new civilian government, sworn in three months ago, sought to quell violence inside Pakistan by engaging Taliban factions in talks.
The provincial government has negotiated peace deals with militants and tribes, but concern is growing that the deals have strengthened the hand of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants."
It is just what the blogs said it would be: Demonization of Pakistan with the "threat" from the FATA areas increasing.
I'm so sick of the war propaganda I can hardly stand it!
"Afghan violence leaves 14 dead
by Associated Press | July 20, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan troops clashed with Taliban insurgents attacking a supply convoy, killing nine militants, officials said yesterday, while roadside bombs killed a NATO soldier in a separate convoy and four police officers.
The violence occurred as Barack Obama arrived in Kabul for his first visit to Afghanistan. The militants were killed after they attacked a supply convoy for NATO-led troops in Zabul Province, said provincial police official Jalali Khan. There were no casualties among the Afghan troops, he said.
In neighboring Kandahar Province, a blast struck a police patrol in Maywand district, killing four officers and wounding another, said Khan Mohammad, a police official.
Another bomb struck a NATO convoy in Kandahar's Panjwayi district, killing a soldier, NATO's press office in Kabul said. NATO did not release the dead soldier's nationality or say how many were wounded. Most of the troops in the area are Canadian.
In northwestern Pakistan, at least 10 Taliban died in fierce fighting between two rival militant groups, a government official and Taliban spokesman said yesterday.
Hundreds of supporters of top Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud clashed Friday with a breakaway faction of the group in the Mohmand tribal region, said local administrator Syed Ali.
He said both sides used rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons in the fighting."
"Obama’s Visit Renews Focus on Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — Senator Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, in a country that is increasingly the focus of his clash with Senator John McCain over whether the war in Iraq has been a distraction in hunting down terrorists.
As Obama met with American troops, military leaders and Afghan officials in the eastern part of the country, he made no public statements on his first day here, the first stop on a weeklong trip that will take him to Iraq, Israel and Western Europe.
I'm tired of MSM rewrites and redits, I really am.
The trip is intended to build impressions, and counter criticism, about his ability to serve on the world stage in a time of war.
It carries political risk, particularly if Mr. Obama makes a mistake — the three broadcast network news anchors will be along for the latter parts of the trip — or is seen as the preferred candidate of Europe and other parts of the world. But his advisers believe it offers an opportunity for him to be seen as a leader who can improve America’s image.
“I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” Mr. Obama told reporters before leaving Washington for a trip cloaked in secrecy because of security concerns. “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time.”
Obama touched down here just before noon on Saturday, his aides said, after stopping to visit, and play basketball with, American troops in Kuwait.
In Afghanistan, he received a briefing from military commanders at Bagram Air Base and Afghan officials at an American base in Jalalabad. He was scheduled to meet on Sunday with President Hamid Karzai before heading to Iraq.
Even as the fragile economy has emerged as the chief issue on American voters’ minds, the arguments that reverberated from the United States to Afghanistan served as a reminder that the nation is at war and that the candidates offer very different backgrounds and approaches when it comes to national security.
While the Iraq war has been one of the dominant issues in the presidential campaign, Afghanistan has moved to the forefront of the foreign policy plans of both candidates. President Bush’s agreement to a “general time horizon” for withdrawing American troops in Iraq has opened the door to new consideration of strengthening the American and NATO presence in Afghanistan, which Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain agree on in principle.
Yeah, but they are different says the NYT!
I've really had it, readers, can you tell?
This is SUCH SHIT and I am TIRED OF WASTING YOUR TIME and MINE!!!!!!!
Republicans were carefully watching Mr. Obama’s trip, which is rare in its profile and scope for a presidential candidate. The White House also made clear Saturday that it was monitoring Mr. Obama’s travels; it accidentally sent e-mail to a broad list of reporters with the news report that the Iraqi prime minister supported Mr. Obama’s proposed 16-month timeline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq.
Besides visiting Iraq, Mr. Obama is also set to meet with presidents, prime ministers and opposition leaders as he travels to Jordan, Israel and three European capitals, including Berlin, where he is to give a major speech on Thursday. On the Afghanistan and Iraq leg of the trip, he is being joined by Senators Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, and Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island; the two men have been mentioned as possible running mates for Mr. Obama.
The three senators, all of whom have been critical of the administration’s policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, were casually dressed as they flew on Saturday to Jalalabad, one of 13 provincial bases that are commanded by American forces in the Regional Command East of the NATO force in Afghanistan. Many of those provinces, including Kunar, Nuristan, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika, line the border with Pakistan’s turbulent tribal areas, where militant groups allied with the Taliban and Al Qaeda have gained in strength and have increased attacks by some 40 percent in recent months.
The governor of Nangarhar Province, Gul Agha Shirzai, was the only Afghan official to meet the senators, along with the United States ambassador and generals. A former mujahedeen commander with a brutal past, Mr. Shirzai is nevertheless favored by the United States as someone who can get things done, and has been praised for his tough action against poppy cultivation and official corruption in his province. He is thought to have his own aspirations in Afghan presidential elections next year.
Hey, he's a WARLORD -- but he's OUR WARLORD!!!!
Afghans in Kabul said they knew nothing of Mr. Obama’s visit; some interviewed on the streets near the embassy did not even know who he was. But some who had heard of him said they liked his message, in particular that he would pursue Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
“So far what he is talking about is what Afghans want to hear: reduce troops in Iraq, focus on Afghanistan and focus on Pakistan,” said Ashmat Ghani, an influential tribal leader whose home province of Logar, just south of the capital, is suffering from growing instability by insurgent groups.
Mr. Ghani, a critic of Mr. Karzai’s leadership who opposes his running for another presidential term next year, also welcomed Mr. Obama’s recent criticism that the Afghan president had not come out of his bunker to lead efforts in reconstruction and building security institutions.
“We would welcome such a direct voice that would close up this problem,” Mr. Ghani said.
Yet other Afghans interviewed were skeptical that a new American president would make much difference for them.
“What have we seen from the current president that we should expect anything from a future president?” said Abdul Wakil, 28, who runs a juice stall in the street near the heavily guarded embassy in central Kabul."
I left that in because I've had it. I've had it with Zio-prop.
