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NATO's Deadliest Days In Afghanistan

Afghanistan will never be taken by a purely military force or even with a name sake political + mil force.
It needs more input from regional forces that have or at least claim to have a say in afg`s ways...
 
KABUL, Sept 20, 2010 (AFP) - A NATO soldier was killed fighting Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan on Monday, the alliance said, as the military's death toll inches closer to last year's record figure.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the soldier was killed in an insurgent attack but gave no further details.
The latest death takes to 518 the number of foreign soldier deaths since the beginning of the year, according to an AFP count based on a tally by independent website iCasualties: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Casualties.
 
Crash Makes 2010 Deadliest Year Of Afghan War

KABUL, Sept 21, 2010 (AFP) - Nine NATO troops were killed in a helicopter crash in the insurgent heartland of southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, making 2010 the deadliest year for international forces since the war began.

The Taliban, who have been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign troops since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted them from power, immediately claimed responsibility.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the cause of the crash was "under investigation", adding: "There are no reports of enemy fire in the area."

The helicopter came down in the Daychopan district of Zabul province in the Taliban stronghold of southern Afghanistan, said provincial spokesman Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar.

"We don't know the cause of the crash or the number of casualties," he said.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said the insurgents shot the helicopter down and killed "more than 10 foreign soldiers". The militia routinely issue exaggerated claims.

Another NATO soldier, an Afghan soldier and a US civilian were injured, ISAF said, but it did not identify the nationalities of the dead troops.

"We have no more details at the moment because the helicopter recovery operation is underway," an ISAF officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The incident brings to 529 the number of foreign troops killed this year, according to an AFP tally based on the count kept by icasualties.org, surpassing the previous record of 521 deaths in 2009.

A total of 2,097 coalition troops have now died since the US-led invasion of 2001, which ousted the hardline Islamist Taliban regime and set off a brutal insurgency which has also killed thousands of Afghans.

The US Marines and US Army dominate the foreign forces concentrated in hotspots of the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul.

After only nine months, 2010 has now become the deadliest year of the long war, with the extra deployment of international forces to nearly 150,000 drawing more battlefield engagements and leading to a spike in casualties.

June was the deadliest month of the war for coalition troops, with 103 fatalities, the tally shows.

Ten foreign troops, mostly American, were killed in a series of attacks across the country on June 22, and another 10 ISAF soldiers died in bombings in the south and east on June 7.

Until recently NATO identified American casualties, while leaving coalition partners to identify their own dead separately. That changed earlier this month and US casualties are no longer revealed.

The United States and NATO are almost at full capacity of 150,000 troops trying to quell the insurgency, which has spread across the country with the Taliban now present in almost every one of the 34 provinces.

NATO has still to deploy 2,200 troops and the United States a "few hundred", an ISAF official has said.

The Americans are bearing the heaviest burden of the war, accounting for at least 20 of this month's 39 troop deaths, according to icasualties.org.
 
LONDON, Sept 27, 2010 (AFP) - A British soldier was killed in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said Monday, taking the country's military death toll there since the 2001 invasion to 338.

Corporal Matthew Thomas of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers died on Saturday when the vehicle he was driving in the Garmsir district of Helmand province was hit by an improvised explosive device, the ministry said.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox said Thomas had "made the ultimate sacrifice protecting the national security of our country."
 
KABUL, Sept 30, 2010 (AFP) - Taliban attacks including a suicide car bomb killed three international soldiers and as many Afghans in the troubled country's south, the alliance and Afghan authorities said Thursday.

The NATO-led soldiers were killed in separate attacks -- two in homemade bomb explosions and the third in a firefight with insurgents, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in separate statements.

The latest deaths bring to 544 the number of foreign soldiers to die in the Afghan war so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by the icasualties.org website. The 2009 toll was 521.

ISAF did not disclose the nationalities of the deceased soldiers but most troops deployed in the south, heartland of the Taliban insurgency, are American, Canadian and British.

In a separate incident also involving ISAF troops a suicide bomber detonated a bomb-laden sedan near an alliance convoy, killing three Afghan civilians nearby, Afghan officials said.

ISAF confirmed the attack and said none of its soldiers had been injured.

The force said it had evacuated a dozen Afghans injured in the blast outside the troubled city of Kandahar, which was the capital of the Taliban's regime which ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001.
 
KABUL, Oct 2, 2010 (AFP) - Two soldiers from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in a bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said on Saturday.

NATO did not release the nationalities of the soldiers, but the incident took the number of foreign troops killed in the war so far this year to 551 -- the deadliest on record.

"Two ISAF service members died following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in eastern Afghanistan yesterday (Friday)," a NATO statement said.

Homemade bombs cause the majority of casualties among foreign and Afghan troops fighting the Taliban.

Separately six insurgents were killed on Friday in a joint Afghan and NATO operation in Zahri district of Kandahar.

In neighbouring Uruzgan province five insurgents were killed in an air strike overnight, provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat told AFP.
 
KABUL, Oct 4, 2010 (AFP) - Three NATO soldiers were killed Monday in attacks in Afghanistan's militant-riddled south and east, the force said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced the deaths in separate statements but gave no further details.

Two of the soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in the south while the third died fighting rebels in the east of the country, it said.

The new deaths took to 559 the number of foreign troops killed in the Afghan war so far in 2010, according to a tally by independent website icasualties.org, as the toll from the nine-year Taliban-led insurgency worsens.

This year's toll is the highest on record since the war began in late 2001 with a US-led invasion toppling the Taliban regime. In 2009 the force suffered 521 deaths.
 
Five Nato soldiers, 14 militants die in Afghan attacks

Tuesday October 05, 2010


KANDAHAR: Bombs and shootings on Monday killed five Nato soldiers and targeted two pro-government officials in Kandhar while 14 insurgents and three civilians were also killed in air strike in Helmand, Afghan officials said.

Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said four soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in the south and a fifth died fighting rebels in the east of the country. It declined to release their nationalities.

On Monday, gunmen shot and killed a former district governor and current member of the Kandahar provincial religious council, said provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa.

“Habibullah was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle in Kandahar city and was martyred,” the governor told reporters. At least three civilians were killed along with 14 insurgents in a Nato air strike targeting a senior Taliban commander in Helmand province.

The raid comes only a day after another air strike by foreign forces targeting insurgents in Helmand which Afghan police said killed civilians. The strike on a compound killed 14 insurgents and three civilians, said provincial police intelligence chief Kamaluddin.

A spokesman for the Isaf said it was investigating the report of strike, but did not have any information. At least three Afghan civilians were killed along with 17 insurgents in a Nato air strike in Helmand on Sunday, police said.

Pakistan News Service - PakTribune
 
Daily brief: nine dead in Kandahar blasts

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The military and the political

For the second consecutive evening, a series of bombs shook Kandahar City last night, killing at least nine people including five Afghan children in five attacks that apparently targeted a police checkpoint (AP, Reuters, AJE, AFP, BBC, AP, Pajhwok). Three civilians were killed in a roadside bombing in Zabul province en route to a fruit market (AP). In northern Afghanistan, coalition forces have captured the Taliban district commander who was said to be involved in the kidnapping of a New York Times journalist and his translator last fall, and in ongoing intimidation of the local population (NYT, CNN). In the western Afghan province of Faryab, coalition forces say they have killed a Taliban shadow governor in an overnight airstrike (Pajhwok). And in the east over the last several weeks, the Pentagon claims NATO forces have killed more than 100 Haqqani network fighters in stepped up operations along the border (AP).

The Post reports that for the first time, representatives of the Taliban at preliminary high level talks with the Afghan government are believed to be authorized to speak for Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the Quetta Shura (Post). The talks are not said to include representatives from the Haqqani group, and the Obama administration is reportedly warming up to the idea of discussions. A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that the coalition needs to continue applying military pressure to the insurgency and that it is "too soon" to suggest the "tide is turning in terms of reintegration and reconciliation" (Reuters, Pajhwok).

James Risen describes in detail how members of the extended Karzai family are using their family ties to gain power and positions of influence in Afghanistan, which former ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann asserted is part of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's "survival mechanism" (NYT). Earlier this week, Karzai and members of the Obama administration team, including the president, held a rare video teleconference to discuss a range of topics such as the "strategic vision for long-term U.S.-Afghan relations," regional relations, and the recent parliamentary election (AFP). Afghan authorities have pushed back the announcement of preliminary results of the September 18 contest by a week, to October 17, because of complaints of fraud (Pajhwok).

For the record: tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan (AP).

Tangled alliances


In the sixth attack on NATO supply lines through Pakistan since the Pakistani government ordered the closure of the Torkham checkpoint in northwest Pakistan last Thursday, gunmen shot up vehicles earlier this morning as they sat in a parking lot on the outskirts of Quetta en route to the southern Chaman border crossing (AP, NYT). Some 25 trucks were destroyed by a quickly-spreading fire, and the attack, like several others in the last week, was claimed by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (AFP). NATO is due to release the results of its joint investigation with Pakistan into last week's cross-border helicopter strike that killed three Pakistani troops, which preceded the Torkham closure; Dawn reports that the two sides are haggling over the language in the report (Reuters, CNN, Dawn).

The Post analyzes the increase in tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan over the strikes and border closure more broadly (Post). The Journal reports on a recent White House assessment that aggressively criticizes the Pakistani military for avoiding "military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or al-Qaeda forces in North Waziristan," and assessed that the Zardari administration's clumsy response to Pakistan's floods "exacerbated inter-party tensions, civil-military relations, and damaged [Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's] image in the domestic and international media" (WSJ).

The BBC reports that a British man said to be killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan last month was to be the head of a new militant faction called the Islamic Army of Great Britain, which was given the task of organizing Mumbai-style attacks in the U.K. (BBC, Dawn, Tel). That decision was reportedly made at a meeting of around 300 militants in North Waziristan that was monitored by intelligence agencies three months ago. There have been 25 reported drone strikes in Pakistan since September 1 and Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. Amb. Husain Haqqani told the BBC, "The activity we see in North Waziristan, in terms of strikes and terms of measures to try to get people from al-Qaeda and associated groups, is connected to the terrorist warnings that we have heard about potential strikes in Europe" (WSJ, BBC).

As expected, yesterday failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (LAT, ABC, AJE, WSJ, Tel).

Flashpoint

Yesterday, Indian authorities in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, began to dismantle paramilitary bunkers as part of an effort to defuse tensions which have left at least 107 dead and hundreds wounded since June (CNN). The Times of India reports that two officials from the American embassy in New Delhi have met with Kashmiri separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik earlier this week, ahead of a planned visit to India by Barack Obama next month (ToI).

Vegetable price gouging

Local authorities in Rawalpindi have failed to stop price gouging at vegetable stands at markets in the city, according to shoppers (The News). Fruit and vegetable sellers at Chungi No. 22 Sabzimandi are said to be particular offenders, allegedly charging double the list price for some items.

Daily brief: nine dead in Kandahar blasts | The AfPak Channel
 
KABUL, Oct 13, 2010 (AFP) - A total of six NATO soldiers were killed in attacks in Afghanistan on Wednesday, four of them in a bomb explosion in the country's insurgent-hit south, the alliance said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave no further details of the four soldiers' deaths.

The coalition had earlier announced that a soldier was killed in another bomb attack, the main tactic used by militants waging an Islamist insurgency now into its 10th year.

The sixth soldier died fighting rebels in eastern Afghanistan, the force said.
 
KABUL, Oct 13, 2010 (AFP) - A total of six NATO soldiers were killed in attacks in Afghanistan on Wednesday, four of them in a bomb explosion in the country's insurgent-hit south, the alliance said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave no further details of the four soldiers' deaths.

The coalition had earlier announced that a soldier was killed in another bomb attack, the main tactic used by militants waging an Islamist insurgency now into its 10th year.

The sixth soldier died fighting rebels in eastern Afghanistan, the force said.

It seems like the Taliban is getting more and more sofisticated and deadly in their attacks. Does this come due to high skilled people joining the Taliban or having access to beter weapons or both?
 
Probably not better weapons...

Taliban are established now. They know how to fight guerrilla style. Now they are learning how to organize.

I am partly blaming the situation as more and more uneducated people go radical after anger against either Pakistan or the West (more likely the latter)
 
WASHINGTON, Oct 13, 2010 (AFP) - Six soldiers killed in Afghanistan in three separate incidents on Wednesday were all Americans, a US defense official confirmed.

Four were killed in a single bomb attack in the Taliban-rife south, another in a different bomb attack there and a sixth died fighting insurgents in eastern Afghanistan.

The US defense official, who requested anonymity, told AFP that all six soldiers killed were Americans.

It is ISAF policy not to reveal the nationalities of troops killed in action.
 
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