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| Afghanistan |
| NATO air raid kills dozens of Taliban: Afghan army |
| 2007-11-06 |
| Of course the Afghan Army may use the same counting multiplier the Paki army does, and they may have only killed two bunnies. But given a NATO airstrike was involved, I expect it was more than two. In fact, as a strategy it might make good sense to 'let' the Taliban take a district (as another article today laments) just so we can concentrate a decent number of legitimate bad guys to warrant a 500# bomb or three. I don't believe those guys are immune to fear and dissillusionment, nor that there are an infinite supply of them - and it has already been proven that they are not mountain winter supermen; we'll only lose to them if we convince OURSELVES we can't win. HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An air strike by NATO-led forces has killed dozens of Taliban insurgents in northwestern Afghanistan, the Afghan army said on Tuesday. Since relaunching their insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign troops two years ago, the hardline Islamist Taliban have expanded their operations northwards from the Pashtun-dominated south and east where they are strongest. Monday night's air strike, backed by Afghan and NATO ground forces, targeted Taliban positions in Badghis province, Defence Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said. He said a senior Taliban commander was among those killed. Azimi and a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) denied reports there had been civilian casualties in the fighting. The Taliban in the area said two militant fighters were killed and 10 wounded in the operation. Aid organizations say increased Taliban activity in the last few months in and around an ethnic Pashtun enclave in Badghis has disrupted delivery of supplies to the region. The Afghan army launched a large operation in the area last week. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #4 Things might have changed. Early on, I gather that the Afghans were utterly mystified as to why NATO and the US consistently under-counted enemy killed and wounded. However, we probably explained to them several very good reasons, even though it probably makes their heads hurt. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-11-06 10:58 |
| #3 link goes to wrong place |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-11-06 09:42 |
| #2 Im not sure we want them to take districts, esp in areas like Herat where they hadnt been strong. When they take a district they can inflict severe harm on folks whod been cooperating with us, and undo the work we've done to consolidate Afghan govt control - holding is important if we're going to win. But, OTOH, when they do take territory, we can and should make it very costly for them, and reduce their resources to do the same elsewhere. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2007-11-06 09:39 |
| #1 But how many fluffy bunnies and baby ducks were killed in this horrible raid? Oh the huge manatee! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-11-06 08:18 |