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| Afghanistan |
| Taliban under attack in area where U.S. soldiers killed |
| 2009-10-05 |
| ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Foreign and Afghan forces launched an assault on Monday against a group of Taliban in an area of eastern Afghanistan where the militants killed eight American soldiers at the weekend, an official said. Saturday's attacks in remote Nuristan province near the Pakistani border were the deadliest on U.S. forces in more than a year. Nuristan's governor, Jamaluddin Badr, said foreign and Afghan troops besieged a group of Taliban in an area of the province's Kamdesh district on Monday, but did not give further details. "The operation started this morning," Badr told Reuters by phone. A press officer for U.S. and NATO-led troops said there was "activity ongoing" in the area but gave no further details. At least two Afghan security forces members were killed in Saturday's battle along with the eight Americans. Provincial authorities on Sunday said they had lost contact with the police force in the area after the day-long battle. Badr said 13 police, including the top commander for the district, had gone missing and the rest were believed to have abandoned their posts and gone home. The Taliban say they are holding 35 police, including the police chief. In Kabul, the Interior Ministry said that the government had lost contact with a "number of police", but did not say how many. The Taliban attack coincided with a plan to abandon the two outposts as part of a new strategy by the commander of NATO and U.S. forces, General Stanley McChrystal, to focus on population centers. Militia from a local mosque and a nearby village launched the attacks on two joint NATO and Afghan outposts with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and rifles, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. The attacks were the deadliest for U.S. forces since nine were killed in a July 2008 battle in nearby Kunar province. U.S. forces have suffered some of their worst casualties in the east, where they have tried to control remote mountain passes used by Taliban fighters as infiltration routes from Pakistan. In other attacks, one U.S. service member was killed by insurgents on Sunday in southern Afghanistan, and a NATO service member was killed on Monday by a bomb in the south. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #10 I think it might have. No decision is a decision. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2009-10-05 21:56 |
| #9 Not all rural areas there are equally dense, or equally accessible. I dont think population focus means withdrawl to the cities, but it DOES mean concentrating on the rural areas that strategically most important, in terms of density and geography Which is why the troop increase was asked for. A pull-back is a pull-back, is a pull-back. You can't spin that to the Taliban. This administration had better decide what it want to do, and soon. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-10-05 21:08 |
| #8 ION TOPIX > DEADLY AFGHANISTAN BATTLE: IT WASN'T JUST THE TALIBAN [Tribal forces > "reconstituted BRIGADE 55"]; + NEW PAKISTAN TALIBAN COMMANDER SHOWS "LOVE AND AFFECTION" FOR AL QAEDA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-10-05 20:03 |
| #7 Of course the taliban leadership knew we were planning on leaving. That's why they attacked the NATO outpost--so they could claim victory over the infidels. Also, agree that leaving the countryside to the enemy and retreating to the cities doesn't sound like a recipe for victory. Even most members of our congress--who lack any military background whatsoever, should be able to see that. Isn't nursistan the "land of light" that was the last part of Afghanistan to be forceably converted to Islam? Used to be Kafaristan? Very nasty bunch there... |
| Posted by: Menhadden Gloger1118 2009-10-05 19:20 |
| #6 "The only people who don't know are those who wish to delude themselves." delude themselves into thinking withdrawal equals peace or an absence of a merciless enemy. delude themselves into thinking peace equals peace. delude themselves into thinking passivity equals peace. peace=illusion or a nice symbol for t-shirts and bumper stickers. |
| Posted by: girlthursday 2009-10-05 18:00 |
| #5 It doesn't matter how you spin it. Retreat is defeat. The enemy knows it. The civilian population knows it. The soldiers know it. The only people who don't know are those who wish to delude themselves. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-10-05 17:31 |
| #4 "You don't win a war by surrendering most of the ground to the enemy, especially in a third world country like Afghanistan where the population are relatively dispersed and rural." Not all rural areas there are equally dense, or equally accessible. I dont think population focus means withdrawl to the cities, but it DOES mean concentrating on the rural areas that strategically most important, in terms of density and geography. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2009-10-05 16:53 |
| #3 "The Taliban attack coincided with a plan to abandon the two outposts as part of a new strategy by the commander of NATO and U.S. forces, General Stanley McChrystal, to focus on population centers. ... U.S. forces have suffered some of their worst casualties in the east, where they have tried to control remote mountain passes used by Taliban fighters as infiltration routes from Pakistan." You don't win a war by surrendering most of the ground to the enemy, especially in a third world country like Afghanistan where the population are relatively dispersed and rural. The strategy of retreating to population centres can only be intended to limit casualties in the short term. In the long term, this makes the rest of the place bandit country, and sends the message that, to get from A to B, you'd better be friends with the Taliban. Development? Forget it. Hearts and minds? Forget it. Allies outsides of the cities? Forget them. Attack is the best form of defence. We haven't gone all the way to Afghanistan to take on the Taliban only to retreat to fortresses. Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2009-10-05 15:55 |
| #2 And burry them sewn into pig skins. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-05 15:21 |
| #1 kill every last one of em |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-10-05 15:03 |