Ooooo look at us we are shaking in our little space boots.
The Taliban are going to attack us with sticks and stones.![greekturkish/uhoh2.gif](http://greekturkish.18.<a href="http://www.forumer.com">forumer</a>.com/html/emoticons/greekturkish/uhoh2.gif)
The Taliban are going to attack us with sticks and stones.
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| Taliban prepares for battle outside Kandahar Taliban militants have destroyed bridges and planted mines in villages outside southern Afghanistan's largest city in apparent preparation for battle, residents and officials said today. More than 700 families have fled the Arghandab district 15 kilometres northwest of Kandahar city, said Sardar Mohammad, a police officer manning a checkpoint on the east side of the Arghandab River. On the west side of the river, hundreds of Taliban controlled around nine or 10 villages, Mohammad said. "Last night the people were afraid, and families on tractors, trucks and taxis fled the area. Small bridges inside the villages have been destroyed," Mohammad said. The Afghan army today flew four planeloads of soldiers to Kandahar from the capital, Kabul. Canadian forces have also moved in to the region. "When we get permission from commanders, we will attack the Taliban," Mohammad said. The Taliban assault yesterday on the outskirts of Kandahar was the la-*test*-('") display of strength by the militants despite a record number of US and NATO troops in the country. The push into Arghandab district - a lush region filled with grape and pomegranate groves that the Soviet army could never conquer - came three days after a coordinated Taliban attack on Kandahar's prison that freed 400 insurgent fighters. Police and army soldiers increased security throughout Kandahar and enforced a 10pm curfew. A Taliban commander named Mullah Ahmedullah called an Associated Press reporter today and said that around 400 Taliban moved into Arghandab from Khakrez, one district to the north. He said some of the militants released in Friday's prison break had joined the assault. "They told us 'we want to fight until the death'," Ahmedullah said. "We've occupied most of the area and it's a good place for fighting. Now we are waiting for the NATO and Afghan forces." The hardline Taliban regime ousted from power in a 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan regarded Kandahar as its main stronghold, and its insurgent supporters are most active in the volatile south of the country. NATO and the US have pleaded for additional troops over the last year and now have some 65,000 in the country. But the militants are still finding successes that the international alliance can't counter. Arghandab lies just northwest of Kandahar city, and a tribal leader from the region warned that the militants could use the cover from Arghandab's orchards to mount an attack on Kandahar itself. NATO officials dismiss the idea that the Taliban can mount an attack on Kandahar. One of the thousands of Afghans fleeing Arghandab said today that families were being forced out just as grape groves needed harvesting, meaning financial ruin for thousands. Haji Ibrahim Khan said Taliban fighters were moving through several Arghandab villages with weapons on their shoulders, planting mines and destroying small bridges. "They told us to leave the area within 24 hours because they want to fight foreign and Afghan troops. But within a week we should be harvesting," Khan said. Two powerful anti-Taliban leaders from Arghandab have died in the last year, weakening the region's defences. Yesterday's assault came one day after President Hamid Karzai angrily told a news conference that he would send Afghan troops into Pakistan to hunt down Taliban leaders in response to the militants that cross over into Afghanistan from Pakistan. http://www.theage.com.au/world/taliban-pre...46.html?page=-1 |
| QUOTE (Georgios @ June 18, 2008 12:29 am) |
| Ooooo look at us we are shaking in our little space boots. The Taliban are going to attack us with sticks and stones. |
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| Jail raid gives lie to bold talk FOR several months, coalition defence chiefs have been claiming that the Taliban have been tactically defeated in southern Afghanistan, yet the Sarposa prison break in Kandahar would suggest otherwise. This was a highly sophisticated attack involving about 30 insurgents who stormed the prison, taking it by surprise and creating panic and mayhem. Kandahar is the country's second-largest city, whose airport is home to NATO's southern headquarters. Even in Afghanistan, where weapons and explosives are freely available, mounting an attack of this size and in complete secrecy is a significant achievement for an organisation supposedly on its knees. It seems almost impossible that a force of 30 Taliban could have been trained and equipped to carry out the operation without anybody noticing, or at least telling the NATO-trained Afghan army or police. There must be several billions of dollars of sophisticated intelligence-gathering technology inside Kandahar Air Base, yet it gave no warning of a nearby attack. It would also appear that NATO's intelligence network in Kandahar and elsewhere in southern Afghanistan is poor. In the most brazen way imaginable, the Taliban have shown that they are capable of mounting a highly sophisticated attack in a city just a few miles from one of NATO's largest bases in the world — and in complete secrecy. It is clear that the war is far from over. http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/jail-r...3468238332.html |
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| US casualties point to Taliban resurgence JUNE was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the war there began in late 2001. The figures came as a coalition helicopter was shot down south of Kabul yesterday and a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of NATO forces last night, wounding two Canadian soldiers, three policemen and two civilians on a road near the southern town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan. The Black Hawk helicopter landed safely and all on board were evacuated before it caught fire in the Kharwar district of Logar province, where Taliban militants are known to be active. US defence officials and Afghanistan experts said the 28 US combat deaths last month demonstrate a resurgence of the Taliban, driven from power almost seven years ago. Taliban units and other insurgent fighters have reconstituted in the country's south and east, aided by easy passage from mountain redoubts in neighbouring Pakistan's tribal areas. The officials and experts said the spike in troop deaths should not be taken as the only measure of the growing conflict in Afghanistan. But they acknowledged that the Taliban's persistent attacks on military units and civilians have succeeded in frustrating efforts to help the Afghan Government secure the country. "What it points to is that the opposition is becoming more effective," said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University. "It is having a presence in more areas, being better organised, better financed and having a sustainable strategy. In all, their strategic situation has improved." Violence in rural areas controlled by the Taliban and in eastern provinces along the Pakistan border has surged in recent weeks as insurgents have begun using more improvised bombs, borrowing a tactic honed by insurgents in Iraq. According to top US commanders, the number of violent incidents has increased nearly 40% this year. British troops also had one of their worst months for combat fatalities since the invasion of Afghanistan, with 13 killed last month. The Pentagon's first congressionally mandated report on Afghanistan last week predicted increased violence throughout this year. US officials point to the situation in Pakistan as a central problem. As the Pakistani Government has reduced pressure on militants in largely ungoverned tribal areas, insurgents have increased their movement and the number of attacks. "That has proven to be particularly problematic lately," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. As in Iraq, he added, "a military solution will not suffice. There has to be better governance, less corruption, more economic development and more vigilance paid to counter-narcotics in order to ultimately bring peace and stability to Afghanistan." Seth Jones, an Afghanistan expert at Rand Corporation, said some areas had had an increase in violence because US troops had moved into areas of insurgent control. In some rural areas, however, insurgents had moved in and faced little or no governmental influence. "As you track these numbers month by month, you do see peaks and valleys in levels of violence," Mr Jones said. "The biggest concern is that violence levels are higher than they ever have been." Some experts, including those at the Pentagon, believe the war in Afghanistan will likely become more violent before it calms. "A lot of it is psychological warfare, with the belief that what they (the Taliban) have to do is stay in the game," said Marvin Weinbaum, Afghanistan expert at the Middle East Institute. "They want to draw attention to themselves as a serious force, with the expectation that the international community is going to tire of this and is going to back off. "They don't expect to take over the country in the short term. They're playing for the longer term." http://www.theage.com.au/world/us-casualti...0na.html?page=2 |