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| Afghanistan/South Asia | ||
| 17 More Taliban Snuffed | ||
| 2004-06-04 | ||
U.S.-led forces backed by warplanes killed 17 militants in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, the American military confirmed Friday, the bloodiest battle with Taliban-led insurgents in almost a year. Afghan officials reported the clash Thursday, saying American and Afghan troops attacked insurgents in the Miana Shien district of Kandahar province, some 150 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul. Three U.S. Marines were slightly wounded in the fighting, which killed 17 combatants, Master Sgt. Cindy Beam, an American military spokeswoman, said in an e-mail statement. Khalid Pashtun, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial government, said Thursday that 13 suspected Taliban were killed and eight were arrested in the fighting, which began late Wednesday and ended Thursday afternoon. Pashtun said some 300 Afghan soldiers and a smaller number of Americans had skirmished repeatedly with gunmen in the mountains of an area called Purlaiz. Beam confirmed the joint operation and that U.S. warplanes joined the fray, but she gave no other details.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 Sounds to me like the Marines are spreading the Taliban thinner and over a wider area! Thanks, guys! I bought a young Marine an iced coffee and two biscottis the other day. He was just home from Okinawa. He looked perplexed and pleased that a civilian would do that just to say "Thanks" but I meant it. |
| Posted by: JDB 2004-06-04 7:57:39 PM |
| #4 I just got back from the Naval Academy graduation/commissioning held last Friday. 190 out of 970 graduated mids are heading to Quantico, the most since Vietnam. Looks like the officer corps will be fine at least. BTW, Commandant Hagee gave a great speech, best of the day IMO and much better than Gen. Meyer's speech. I'm so proud of all those guys. America has been blessed throughout our history with people who are willing to step up to the plate when called and accept the responsibility for defending our nation. For everyone who worries about reenlistments and overstretch, I think the USMC will do what it has done since the very beginning - adapt and overcome. |
| Posted by: Blue 2004-06-04 2:46:52 PM |
| #3 Down side: The "Spread too thin" issue Up Side : Pashtun said some 300 Afghan soldiers and a smaller number of Americans . . . The Afghans are contributing largely to their own defense against the crazies. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-06-04 12:23:56 PM |
| #2 I was working with some Marines yesterday who complained about the same "spread thin" issue. They also said the retention rates are going to go down because of the very high op tempo over the last few years. I sure wish someone in the admin would talk about increasing the overall size of our military. |
| Posted by: remote man 2004-06-04 12:16:52 PM |
| #1 hmmmmm Marines again... talk about spread thin. Course then again it's the old 1 war 1 MEU thing. :) |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-06-04 11:20:22 AM |