.Afghanistan plight grows worse for U.S.
WASHINGTON | The situation on the ground in Afghanistan continues to escalate.
The U.S. military said Friday that airstrikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. The province’s governor said 22 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed.
This comes one day after the Pentagon decided to extend the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan after insisting for months the unit would come home on time.
The Pentagon’s decision comes as violence in Afghanistan has increased markedly over recent weeks. June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began in 2001, with 28 combat fatalities.
Militants killed more U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in June than in Iraq for the second straight month.
Violence has claimed more than 2,100 lives so far this year. And more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks in Afghanistan last year — the most since the U.S.-led war began.
The nation’s top military officer, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan.
However, Mullen said the military does not have sufficient forces to send because of the war in Iraq.
Mullen said insurgent Taliban and extremist forces in Afghanistan have become “a very complex problem” that is tied to the drug trade, a failing economy and the porous Pakistan border.
1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said Friday that the airstrikes in Nuristan province hit militants who earlier attacked a U.S. military base with mortars.
The helicopters identified the militants’ firing positions, tracked them down and destroyed the vehicles they were traveling in, Perry said.
“These were combatants. These were people who were firing on us,” Perry said. “We have no reports of noncombatant injuries.”
He gave no account of casualties in the vehicles.
But Nuristan’s governor, Tamim Nuristani, said 22 civilians were killed in the Waygal district of Nuristan province. It was impossible to independently verify any of the claims because of the remoteness of the area.
Meanwhile, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and come home in early November rather than October, said Marine Col. David Lapan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, has repeatedly said he did not intend to extend or replace the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, calling their deployment there an extraordinary, one-time effort to help tamp down the increasing violence in the south. Asked about the possibility of an extension in early May, Gates said he would “be loath to do that.” He added that “no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation.”
Lapan said Thursday that commanders in Afghanistan asked that the Marines stay longer.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the longer tour does not open the door to an extension beyond the 30 days, nor to the possibility of replacing them with other U.S. troops when they come out in November.
He added that commanders in Afghanistan “asked for 30 more days to milk the fighting season to the bitter end and cement the gains they have made in the south.”
Commanders faced with increasing violence have said they need at least 7,500 more troops in Afghanistan. And President Bush and defense officials have said they hope to identify additional units by the end of the year that could go to Afghanistan early next year.
There are 32,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The NATO force has more than 52,000 troops from as many as 40 countries.
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FRIDAY’S AFGHANISTAN DEVELOPMENTS
•LAWMAKER KILLED: An Afghan official says gunmen in southern Afghanistan have assassinated a lawmaker.
Kandahar provincial council member Bismullih Afghanmul says gunmen killed parliament member Habibullah Jan after he visited an Afghan army compound in the Zhari district of Kandahar province late Friday. Zhari is a dangerous part of Kandahar that has been contested heavily by militants and Canadian forces the last two years.
Jan was a military commander before he became a member of parliament. Taliban fighters have frequently targeted Afghan officials, but Jan’s death was the first of a parliamentarian in months.
•GRENADE ATTACK: Gunmen lobbed a grenade and sprayed a police checkpoint with gunfire in southern Afghanistan, killing eight officers, Kandahar’s police chief said. The attack in Kandahar’s Panjwayi district late Thursday also left one officer wounded and two others missing, said provincial police chief Sumanwal Matiullah. The area where the attack happened is known as a base for Taliban militants.
•ROADSIDE BLAST: A roadside blast next to a police vehicle in central Ghazni province killed two officers and wounded five others, said deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman. He blamed Taliban militants for the attack.
•BORDER CLASH: In eastern Paktika province, Afghan and foreign troops killed seven suspected militants during a clash near the Pakistan border, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.
Kansascity
Poor fucking Marines, it's like they have to carry the weight of the world.
The U.S. military said Friday that airstrikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. The province’s governor said 22 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed.
This comes one day after the Pentagon decided to extend the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan after insisting for months the unit would come home on time.
The Pentagon’s decision comes as violence in Afghanistan has increased markedly over recent weeks. June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began in 2001, with 28 combat fatalities.
Militants killed more U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in June than in Iraq for the second straight month.
Violence has claimed more than 2,100 lives so far this year. And more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks in Afghanistan last year — the most since the U.S.-led war began.
The nation’s top military officer, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan.
However, Mullen said the military does not have sufficient forces to send because of the war in Iraq.
Mullen said insurgent Taliban and extremist forces in Afghanistan have become “a very complex problem” that is tied to the drug trade, a failing economy and the porous Pakistan border.
1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said Friday that the airstrikes in Nuristan province hit militants who earlier attacked a U.S. military base with mortars.
The helicopters identified the militants’ firing positions, tracked them down and destroyed the vehicles they were traveling in, Perry said.
“These were combatants. These were people who were firing on us,” Perry said. “We have no reports of noncombatant injuries.”
He gave no account of casualties in the vehicles.
But Nuristan’s governor, Tamim Nuristani, said 22 civilians were killed in the Waygal district of Nuristan province. It was impossible to independently verify any of the claims because of the remoteness of the area.
Meanwhile, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and come home in early November rather than October, said Marine Col. David Lapan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, has repeatedly said he did not intend to extend or replace the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, calling their deployment there an extraordinary, one-time effort to help tamp down the increasing violence in the south. Asked about the possibility of an extension in early May, Gates said he would “be loath to do that.” He added that “no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation.”
Lapan said Thursday that commanders in Afghanistan asked that the Marines stay longer.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the longer tour does not open the door to an extension beyond the 30 days, nor to the possibility of replacing them with other U.S. troops when they come out in November.
He added that commanders in Afghanistan “asked for 30 more days to milk the fighting season to the bitter end and cement the gains they have made in the south.”
Commanders faced with increasing violence have said they need at least 7,500 more troops in Afghanistan. And President Bush and defense officials have said they hope to identify additional units by the end of the year that could go to Afghanistan early next year.
There are 32,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The NATO force has more than 52,000 troops from as many as 40 countries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FRIDAY’S AFGHANISTAN DEVELOPMENTS
•LAWMAKER KILLED: An Afghan official says gunmen in southern Afghanistan have assassinated a lawmaker.
Kandahar provincial council member Bismullih Afghanmul says gunmen killed parliament member Habibullah Jan after he visited an Afghan army compound in the Zhari district of Kandahar province late Friday. Zhari is a dangerous part of Kandahar that has been contested heavily by militants and Canadian forces the last two years.
Jan was a military commander before he became a member of parliament. Taliban fighters have frequently targeted Afghan officials, but Jan’s death was the first of a parliamentarian in months.
•GRENADE ATTACK: Gunmen lobbed a grenade and sprayed a police checkpoint with gunfire in southern Afghanistan, killing eight officers, Kandahar’s police chief said. The attack in Kandahar’s Panjwayi district late Thursday also left one officer wounded and two others missing, said provincial police chief Sumanwal Matiullah. The area where the attack happened is known as a base for Taliban militants.
•ROADSIDE BLAST: A roadside blast next to a police vehicle in central Ghazni province killed two officers and wounded five others, said deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman. He blamed Taliban militants for the attack.
•BORDER CLASH: In eastern Paktika province, Afghan and foreign troops killed seven suspected militants during a clash near the Pakistan border, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.
Kansascity
Poor fucking Marines, it's like they have to carry the weight of the world.
posted by madtom at 3:32 PM
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