News on Afghanistan - Page 74

mlurp · #**731** (**permalink**) 10-13-2012, 12:55 PM

I can't believe this is still going on after 11 years. It was about won till Bush Jr.
decided to invade Iraq and draw down troops in Afghanistan.

Quote:

.Blasts in southern Afghanistan kill 8

Associated Press – 3 hrs ago. 13 Oct. 2012 ...........

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least eight people were killed Saturday in attacks in southern Afghanistan, including one incident where a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up at a local intelligence office, officials said.

Six people — four Afghan intelligence officers, a coalition service member and a civilian employee working for the coalition — died in the suicide attack in the Maruf district of Kandahar province.

Insurgents frequently target Afghan security forces and government officials in an effort to weaken the government.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, with spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi saying in a text message to reporters that the group was targeting international forces operating in Afghanistan.

Kandahar provincial spokesman Ahmad Jawed Faisal said the blast occurred in the morning at an entry point to the intelligence office. He said three other Afghan intelligence officers were wounded, including two who were in critical condition.

Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the international coalition, confirmed that one coalition service member and a civilian working with the coalition died in the attack. The wounded were evacuated to coalition medical facilities for treatment, he added.

A second attack killed two Afghan policemen and left three others wounded in Qalat, the capital of neighboring Zabul province, provincial spokesman Shariullah Nasari said. After a police vehicle ran over a roadside mine, he said, a second blast struck police who had rushed to aid their colleagues.

Blasts in southern Afghanistan kill 8 - Yahoo! News

33 comments.

Asia News Headlines: http://news.yahoo.com/asia/

mlurp · #**732** (**permalink**) 10-13-2012, 12:57 PM

To keep these links in reach of the readers.

There is plenty to read at each of these site.

Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Middle East News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Africa News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Europe News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Latin America News Headlines - Yahoo! News

iCasualties | OEF | Afghanistan | Fatalities Details

............................................. NEW ITEMS ................................................

ARMED FORCES JOURNAL

The Public Record | Intrepid New Journalism

Again my thanks to each reader and those who add to these threads....

mlurp · #**733** (**permalink**) 10-15-2012, 02:27 PM

Hummmm I wonder if this request will bring up memories of Russia's time trying to control Afghanistan. It has kind of shocked me how we are the great Satan, while the things done by Russia were closer to tactics Satan would have used.
In fact the current president of Iran over 30+ years ago wanted to attack the Russian Embassy instead of the American Embassy.

Quote:

.Russia asks Afghanistan for help with Soviet MIAs

By SLOBODAN LEKIC | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago. 15 Oct. 2012 .......

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Russia appealed Monday to the Afghan authorities and public to provide information on over 200 Soviet troops listed as missing since Soviet forces ended their occupation of Afghanistan in 1989 — including 30 to 40 who may still be alive.

Russian ambassador Andrey Avetisyan said the two countries are preparing an agreement that would regulate future efforts to recover the servicemen, who went missing during a decade of guerrilla warfare in the impoverished nation.

Difficulties remain, he noted, in accessing some areas believed to contain soldiers' graves because of the current war between international forces, the Taliban and other insurgents.

"We are talking about places where nobody goes, remote points where fighting is still heavy," he told reporters.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Dec. 27, 1979, telling the world it aimed to transform Afghanistan into a modern socialist state. Moscow sought to prop up a communist regime facing a popular uprising, but left largely defeated on Feb. 15, 1989 by anti-communist mujahedeen forces receiving massive support from the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and others.

The Soviets maintained a garrison of about 80,000 troops in Afghanistan through much of that war. Nearly 700,000 rotated through the country and about 15,000 died in the 10-year conflict.

A Russian veterans group says 265 soldiers remain unaccounted for. About 20 are thought to have resettled in other countries after they deserted, while 30 to 40 may still be in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

One of those was Nikolai Bystrov, an army lieutenant captured by guerrillas fighting the Soviet occupation. He later became the personal bodyguard of Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud who battled the Taliban during the 1990s.

Aleksander Lavrentyev, deputy head of a veterans group searching for Soviet MIAs, said his group had received excellent help from Afghan authorities, the Red Crescent, NGOs and ordinary citizens — including those who had fought on the opposing side — in locating the remains of 15 soldiers in the past 4 years. Of those, five were positively identified while the rest were still undergoing forensic testing.

"But now time is passing and it is becoming more and more difficult to find witnesses of those events," he said.

The move to resolve the remaining MIA cases comes as the U.S.-led NATO coalition is preparing to draw down its forces in Afghanistan and hand over responsibility for the war in 2014 to the Afghan security forces.

Despite the presence of up to 140,000 foreign troops, NATO has not been able to defeat the guerrillas who have successfully regrouped after their crushing defeat by U.S.-led forces in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Russia has backed the international coalition in the war, providing air and land transit routes for troops and equipment. But Moscow has been critical of the alliance's plans to pull out while the Taliban remain undefeated.

Russia asks Afghanistan for help with Soviet MIAs - Yahoo! News

29 comments.

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**734** (**permalink**) 10-17-2012, 12:11 PM

Well once again our TRUSTED hosts have turned on on our & their forces.

Quote:

.US official: CIA operative killed in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK | Associated Press – 30 mins ago. Oct. 17, 2012 ......

WASHINGTON (AP) — An officer for the Central Intelligence Agency was among those killed in a suicide bombing at an Afghan intelligence office — the latest so-called "insider attack" in the war, according to one current and one former U.S. official.

The attack Saturday in Kandahar province killed four Afghan intelligence officials and two U.S. intelligence officers. One of the Americans has been identified as a female solider — 24-year-old Spc. Brittany B. Gordon, assigned to a military intelligence company from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

A senior U.S. defense official and a former U.S. intelligence official said the other American was an officer working for the CIA. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information on the record. The officer's name is being withheld.

NATO says the bomber was a member of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, but the Afghans deny that.

The CIA declined to comment Wednesday.

__

Associated Press writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report.

US official: CIA operative killed in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

379 comments with one repeat spammer.

mlurp · #**735** (**permalink**) 10-20-2012, 03:38 PM

This is but one of the news stories about Afhanistan at the Asian site.

Quote:

.Al-Qaida in Afghanistan is attempting a comeback

By DEB RIECHMANN and ROBERT BURNS | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A diminished but resilient al-Qaida, whose 9/11 attacks drew America into its longest war, is attempting a comeback in Afghanistan's mountainous east even as U.S. and allied forces wind down their combat mission and concede a small but steady toehold to the terrorist group.

That concerns U.S. commanders, who have intensified strikes against al-Qaida cells in recent months. It also undercuts an Obama administration narrative portraying al-Qaida as battered to the point of being a nonissue in Afghanistan as Western troops start leaving.

When he visited Afghanistan in May to mark the one-year anniversary of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama said his administration had turned the tide of war. "The goal that I set — to defeat al-Qaida, and deny it a chance to rebuild — is within reach," he said.

As things stand, however, an unquestionably weakened al-Qaida appears to have preserved at least limited means of regenerating inside Afghanistan as U.S. influence in the country wanes. The last U.S. combat troops are scheduled to be gone by Dec. 31, 2014, and security matters turned over to the Afghan government.

"They are trying to increase their numbers and take advantage of the Americans leaving," the police chief of Paktika province, Gen. Dawlat Khan Zadran, said through a translator in an interview this month in the governor's compound. He mentioned no numbers, but said al-Qaida has moved more weapons across the border from Pakistan.

For years the main target of U.S.-led forces has been the Taliban, rulers of Afghanistan and protectors of al-Qaida before the U.S. invasion 11 years ago. But the strategic goal is to prevent al-Qaida from again finding haven in Afghanistan from which to launch attacks on the U.S.

Al-Qaida's leadership fled in late 2001 to neighboring Pakistan, where it remains.

The group remains active inside Afghanistan, fighting U.S. troops, spreading extremist messages, raising money, recruiting young Afghans and providing military expertise to the Taliban and other radical groups.

U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander of international forces in Afghanistan, has said al-Qaida has re-emerged, and although its numbers are small, he says the group doesn't need a large presence to be influential.

.............................................. CONTINUED ...............................................

Al-Qaida in Afghanistan is attempting a comeback - Yahoo! News

775 comments.

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**736** (**permalink**) 10-23-2012, 01:01 PM

As any full time reader of this threads knows what the Taliban claim when it comes to dead/wounded civilians is a lie. As there are more civilians harmed or killed by them.

Then any of the troops acting in behalf of Afghanistan. Plus at the Asia site there is more news on Afghanistan.

Quote:

.Taliban deny their bombs cause most Afghan deaths

Associated Press – Sun, Oct 21, 2012. Posted 23 Oct. 2012 .........

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban dismissed on Sunday a UN report that roadside bombs are causing most civilian casualties in Afghanistan as "Western propaganda."

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that the insurgents only use the weapons to target foreign troops and the Afghan security forces.

"By spreading such propaganda they are trying to prevent us from planting bombs which cause the deaths of invaders in our country," he said in an emailed statement.

On Saturday, the UN mission in Afghanistan urged the insurgents to end the use of roadside bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, saying they were by far the biggest killer of civilians in the conflict. The organization used the term in reference both to bombs detonated by remote control and land mines that go off when a vehicle goes over them.

The call came a day after 19 civilians died and 15 were injured when their bus struck a mine in northern Balkh province on Friday. The UN said that blast was caused by an IED planted on a busy public road and set off by a pressure plate. It said the bomb was "consistent with documented patterns and tactics of choice by the Taliban."

Insurgent-placed homemade bombs continue to be the deadliest weapon for civilians, according to the world body. IEDs killed 340 civilians and injured a further 599 over the past nine months, an increase of almost 30 per cent compared to the same period last year, the UN said.

The Taliban spokesman denied that any insurgents were operating in the area of Balkh province where Friday's blast occurred.

He also said the Taliban use only remote-controlled roadside bombs which — unlike the devices automatically activated by pressure-plates — allow a bomber to choose the time of the blast and specifically target coalition troops and their Afghan allies.

About half of the casualties suffered by coalition forces in recent years have been caused by roadside bombs and mines.

Also Saturday, a service member with the NATO military coalition was killed by a bomb in the south, the alliance said in a statement. The coalition did not provide the service member's nationality or any other details about the incident. The NATO force usually waits for national authorities to give such information.

Taliban deny their bombs cause most Afghan deaths - Yahoo! News

144 comments.

Asia News Headlines: Asia News Headlines - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**737** (**permalink**) 10-24-2012, 02:35 PM

More threats that might get done no matter what we do. Unless all foreign forces stop training all forces. We have trainnned so many they can start there own training groups.

Plus there are other news on Afghanistan at the Asia site.

Quote:

.Taliban leader says insider attacks will increase

By SLOBODAN LEKIC | Associated Press – 1 hr 35 mins ago. 24 Octt. 2012 ....

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban insurgents will increase the number of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces, which have resulted in the deaths of at least 52 foreign troops so far this year, the movement's reclusive leader said Wednesday.

In an emailed statement congratulating Muslims as they prepare to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, Mullah Mohammad Omar urged "every brave Afghan in the ranks of the foreign forces and their Afghan hirelings ... to strike them."

"Jihadist activities inside the circle of the state militias are the most effective stratagem. Its dimension will see further expansion, organization and efficiency," he said. "Increase your efforts to expand the area of infiltration in the ranks of the enemy."

Also Wednesday, NATO said in a statement that two of its soldiers died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. It did not provide further details about the attack or the nationality of the victims.

The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops ahead of a planned handover to the Afghans in 2014. It has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO countries.

The attacks have not been limited to members of the NATO-led international coalition. More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this in attacks by their own colleagues.

The Taliban leader also claimed his fighters were winning the war and vowed to continue the struggle "against the invaders who have invaded our country until the occupation ends completely."

"We told the enemy 11 years ago that their coming (to the country) will be easy but their presence and exit will be full of complications," he said.

Omar also exhorted his fighters to "pay full attention to the prevention of civilian casualties," saying the enemy was trying to blame them on the insurgents.

Last week the United Nations called on the Taliban leadership to stop the use of homemade roadside bombs and mines. The Taliban say they use only remote-controlled roadside bombs which — unlike the mines automatically activated by pressure-plates — allow a bomber to choose the time of the blast and specifically target coalition troops and their Afghan allies.

But the world body says that insurgent-placed homemade bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, continue to be the deadliest weapon for civilians. IEDs killed 340 civilians and injured a further 599 over the past nine months, an increase of almost 30 per cent compared to the same period last year, the UN said.

Taliban leader says insider attacks will increase - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #**738** (**permalink**) 10-26-2012, 03:07 PM

. and there is a lot of news at the Asia link...

Quote:

.Suicide attack kills 41 at Afghan mosque

By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago. 26 Oct. 2012 ......

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a mosque packed with senior regional officials in northern Afghanistan on a major Muslim holiday Friday, killing 41 people. The officials escaped unhurt, and many of the dead were soldiers and police.

The attack was the latest in a series of deadly strikes in recent weeks against Afghan army, police and government officials. The choice of targets suggests that the insurgents are increasingly turning against Afghan authorities and security forces now that NATO is drawing down toward a final withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014.

Deaths of Afghan police and soldiers are higher this year than last year, according army spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zaher Azimi. Although the Taliban have claimed responsibility for a parallel sharp increase in attacks by Afghan servicemen on their foreign colleagues, the overall number of coalition deaths has been noticeably lower than last year.

Health Minister Soraya Dalil said 41 people were killed and 56 wounded in Friday's attack.

At least 14 civilians were among the dead, just two days after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar urged his fighters to "pay full attention to the prevention of civilian casualties" because he said the enemy was trying to blame them on the insurgents. Taliban attacks account for the vast majority of civilian casualties in the war, according to the U.N.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the suicide bombing outside the mosque. The attack took place in the town of Maymana, capital of northern Faryab province, where the Taliban and allied militant groups have been active far from their traditional strongholds in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The bomber struck after top provincial officials, including the governor and the police chief, had assembled inside the mosque to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday. The blast went off in the middle of a large crowd that included police and soldiers waiting for the dignitaries to remerge.

.................................................. . CONTINUED ..........................................

http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-attack...163657446.html

44 comments.

Asia News Headlines: http://news.yahoo.com/asia/

mlurp · #**739** (**permalink**) 10-29-2012, 02:34 PM

Sad the civilians were killed, yet not the enemy who died. And sense OBL was killed Obama seems to think we won something.

Yet my fear is this war on terror will never be over...

Quote:

..Afghan raid kills 4 Taliban, 3 civilian bystanders

Associated Press – 6 hrs ago.. 29 Oct 2012 .....

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan army officer says a pre-dawn raid in the eastern province of Ghazni killed four Taliban and three civilian bystanders.

Lt. Ghulam Sarwer Attai, who commanded the special army unit which carried out Monday's raid along with NATO forces, said it was in Qalai-i-Qazi area of Ghazni.

NATO said in an announcement that the raid targeted a Taliban leader and that the force was attacked by insurgents carrying assault rifles and returned fire, killing a number of them. It did not mention the number of Taliban killed or civilians.

Villagers at the funeral of the civilians told reporters they included a farmer, his wife and their 14-year-old son. Video images from the funeral showed the bodies of two men and a woman.

Afghan raid kills 4 Taliban, 3 civilian bystanders - Yahoo! News

24 comments.

mlurp · #**740** (**permalink**) 10-30-2012, 02:20 PM

Man I thought we gave up doing this training. Unless the deals in the works with Pakistan, USA, Afghanistan and some of the Taliban leaders work out (see the last post in the Pakistan thread) NATO should be thinking of pulling out earlier. As drones do work.

Quote:

..Apparent insider attack kills 2 NATO troops

By HEIDI VOGT | Associated Press – 7 hrs ago.. 30 Oct. 2012.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A man wearing an Afghan police uniform killed two NATO troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the international military alliance said.

The assault appeared to the be the latest in a string of insider attacks that have threatened to sever the partnership between international troops and the Afghan forces they are trying to train to take over responsibility for the country's security. There have also been cases of insurgents donning Afghan uniforms in assaults.

A statement from NATO gave no further details, saying the shooting is still under investigation.

Afghan officials said there was an attack in Helmand province's Nahri Sarraj district but also could not confirm any details.

"We know that there are casualties," said Ismail Hotak, the director of the provincial office that coordinates with the international forces.

Both the British and American militaries have large contingents in Helmand.

At least 53 international troops have been killed in attacks by Afghan soldiers or police this year, and a number of other assaults are still under investigation, the international alliance has said.

The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops ahead of a planned handover to the Afghans in 2014. It has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO countries.

The attacks have not been limited to members of the NATO-led international coalition. More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this in attacks by their own colleagues.

Apparent insider attack kills 2 NATO troops - Yahoo! News

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