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| Afghanistan |
| Soldiers retake Afghan town from Taliban |
| 2006-07-18 |
| Run away, Brave Jihadi Bitches! KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of Afghan and coalition soldiers reclaimed one southern town from the Taliban without incident Tuesday and were planning to recapture another, an Afghan official said. The troops descended on Naway-i-Barakzayi, taking back the town after Taliban fighters fled, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor of Helmand province. Insurgents torched a police compound, a health clinic and a school before leaving, he said. "The Afghan flag has been raised back over the compound," Akhunzada said. The troops were planning to move onto Garmser, a town of several thousand that was captured by militants Sunday, Akhunzada said. He did not say when operations there would begin. U.S.-led forces declared earlier Tuesday that the towns would be taken back in "decisive operations." They declined to comment on Akhunzada's report. Afghan officials said a small group of police had holed up in a concrete compound in Garmser for 16 days before they were defeated by scores of Taliban fighters, including some who had apparently crossed from Pakistan. Yes, ummmmmmmmm...apparently??? Large numbers of militants chased police from the town of Naway-i-Barakzay after a brief clash the next day, officials said. An official with the International Organization for Migration said about 4,000 Afghans have fled fighting between Taliban and coalition forces in southern Helmand province in recent days. It was not clear how many, if any, were escaping the two towns taken by the Taliban. Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba — an outlawed militant organization — and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a pro-Taliban political party, of aiding the Garmser takeover. "They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag," Sidiqi told reporters, saying the government "technically and temporarily left Garmser ... to prevent casualties to civilian people." In the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, Jamiat spokesman Riaz Durrani dismissed Afghan claims that his group's members were involved in the Helmand fighting. "We are not helping any militant group in Afghanistan against (President) Hamid Karzai's government, but the fact is that he has failed to restore order," Durrani told The Associated Press. He just restored it in Naway-i-Barakzayi. A Lashkar-e-Tayyaba spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Must've dropped his cellphone running away. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #3 During the conflict in Central America, Communist terrorists would occupy a non-defended village for a few hours, then proclaim a great military victory. |
| Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133 2006-07-18 21:34 |
| #2 The only way to recapture a town like that is to encircle it, first, so that when the baddies come skipping out, you can hose them away from the civvies. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-07-18 18:28 |
| #1 But now they'll have to hold it. Quagmire! |
| Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden 2006-07-18 16:38 |