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Monday, December 13, 2010

War from a different point of view....



News of attacks and bombings are reported but the reports come with different perspective.
The Same event can be looked at in several different ways.
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Invaders suffer deadly losses in Kandahar martyrdom attack, outpost completely destroyed: Taliban
The Nation Pakistan
Reports from Kandahar say that Ahmadullah, a hero of Islamic Emirate detonated his explosive-laden Van, which was packed with 2000 kg explosive material inside a newly built American outpost in Malangyano village of Zhiri district at 09:00 am yesterday morning.
Reports add that the invaders took over an old Qala (huge house) and  have been busy for the past few days in an attempt to turn it into their outpost when the attack took place.
Mujahideen Officials from the district say that the Qala has been turned into rubble due to the powerful explosion, killing and wounding over 30 invaders with destroying their military and logistical vehicles inside.
Witnesses say that helicopters have arrived at the scene of the blast where bulldozers are busy retrieving the corpses of the invaders.
This incident comes as the NATO has reported the death of 6 of its soldiers in the south of the country.
Associated Press
Kabul 12 December 2010 --  Six NATO service members were killed on Sunday in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, the international alliance said in a statement.
NATO did not give further details, in keeping with a policy of waiting for individual countries from the alliance to identify their casualties.
Most NATO troops in southern Afghanistan come from the United States, but there are contingents from several nations in the area.
Fighting has increased in southern Afghanistan as a surge of U.S. troops have poured into Helmand and Kandahar provinces this year in an attempt to push the Taliban out of their traditional strongholds.
Sunday’s attack was the second incident in two weeks to kill so many service members.
By Ismail Sameem
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan  updated 12/12/2010  — An insurgent attack in south Afghanistan killed at least six foreign troops and two Afghan soldiers on Sunday, officials said, days before Washington is due to complete a review of its war strategy.
General Abdul Hameed, commander of the Afghan army in the south, said a suicide car bomber staged the attack outside a U.S. base in Kandahar province, the heartland of Taliban insurgents.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said six troops were killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan but declined to give any details or confirm if it was the same incident.
The deaths, underlining the rising tide of violence, come days before President Barack Obama unveils a White House-led review of his Afghanistan war strategy.
A senior administration official said Obama would make a statement on Thursday about the reviews findings, which are not expected to lead to major changes in strategy.
The review is expected to conclude that, despite entrenched corruption and weak governance, U.S. and NATO forces are making progress on security in parts of Afghanistan.
Violence is at its worst across the rugged country since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, with military and civilian casualties at record highs.
Arrests in Afghan Attack that Killed 6 U.S. Soldiers
Published December 13, 2010
Associated Press/ Fox News
KABUL, Afghanistan –  Several suspects have been arrested for a suicide attack that killed six U.S. troops when an explosives-packed minibus blew up at the entrance of a joint NATO-Afghan base in southern Afghanistan, officials said Monday.
NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said that several arrests had been made Sunday night for the blast, which was the deadliest attack on coalition troops this month.
"Individuals believed to be involved in yesterday's attack have been arrested by Afghan and coalition forces," Blotz said at a news conference, adding that no shots were fired as the suspects were taken into custody.
NATO has declined to identify the victims' nationalities, but an Afghan army official in southern Afghanistan said on Monday that the six were Americans. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about NATO casualties.  He said the confirmation came in an official report about the attack.
NATO has claimed improvements in security after months of raids, patrols and strikes on insurgents in Kandahar province, but Sunday's attack shows the area is still far from safe.
The assault came just days ahead of a major White House review of its Afghan strategy following President Barack Obama's decision last year to send 30,000 American reinforcements in a bid to reverse gains by the Taliban since they were ousted from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
Afghan officials said Sunday's suicide attack took place in Kandahar's Zhari district, where Mullah Mohammad Omar organized the Taliban in the early 1990s.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the blast, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for attacks on its fighters in the area in recent months.
U.S. and Afghan forces launched a major operation in September to secure Zhari, a lush farming region of irrigation canals and grape vineyards that the Taliban have used as a staging area for attacks on nearby Kandahar city and other parts of the south.
Zhari has remained insurgent territory despite five major NATO operations in recent years. In 2006, a Canadian-led force launched a concerted push in Zhari and nearby Panjwai
More than 680 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in 2009. The last attack to kill that many NATO troops happened Nov. 29, when an Afghan policeman turned his gun on his American trainers in the east, killing six of them before he himself was shot dead. The Taliban claimed that they had sent him to join the police as a sleeper agent.
Two weeks before that attack, insurgents killed five U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan.The level of ongoing fighting and the mounting death toll will be key to the Obama administration's December review. The president has committed to begin withdrawing U.S. forces in June 2011, but the feasibility of that goal will depend greatly on whether commanders believe last year's surge has reined in violence to the point that Afghan forces can start taking the lead.
In Kabul, meanwhile, a group of about 100 recently elected parliamentarians signed a letter urging President Hamid Karzai to convene the new parliament by Dec. 19 in order to end uncertainty about the legislature following an election plagued by accusations of fraud.  Parliament is currently in its winter recess, which typically ends around mid-January. The lawmakers urged Karzai to start the new session next week to show that pending Supreme Court cases will not block legislature's work.
Afghanistan's attorney general has called on the court to annul the elections, citing evidence that high-level officials were involved in cooking the results. Election officials, meanwhile, have said that neither the attorney general nor the Supreme Court have the authority to change the results.
Karzai has said that he is not planning to delay the opening session and his spokesman argued Monday that the disagreements over how to resolve election disputes will not spark a crisis.
"What is right now going on between the institutions in Afghanistan is a normal issue in a democratic country," spokesman Waheed Omar said. "There are specific institutions who are working on interpreting the law and we are sure that a legal solution is going to be found."
US names 6 soldiers killed in Afghan attack
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Six American soldiers killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan were named by the U.S. military Tuesday as members of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell.
The soldiers died Sunday when an explosives-packed minibus blew up at the entrance of a joint NATO-Afghan base in Kandahar province. It was the deadliest attack on coalition troops this month and the latest loss for the 101st, which has fielded soldiers this year in two of Afghanistan's most violent regions, the south and the east.
The Department of Defense named the men as Cpl. Sean M. Collins, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii; Cpl. Willie A. McLawhorn Jr., 23, of Conway, N.C.; Spc. Patrick D. Deans, 22, of Orlando, Fla.; Spc. Kenneth E. Necochea Jr., 21, of San Diego, Calif.; Spc. Derek T. Simonetta, 21, of Redwood City, Calif.; and Spc. Jorge E. Villacis, 24, of Sunrise, Fla.
The army planned a video news conference at Fort Campbell on Tuesday to discuss the attack. NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said Monday several suspects had been arrested in Afghanistan for the bombing.
The attack came less than a month after six Fort Campbell solders were shot and killed by a lone gunman from the Afghan Border Police during a training mission in Nangahar province.
It also came just days ahead of a major White House review of its Afghan strategy, following President Barack Obama's decision last year to send 30,000 reinforcements in a bid to reverse gains by the Taliban since they were ousted from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

2 comments:

  1. Just discovered your blog - great stuff!

    FYI, the account from The Nation of Pakistan is amazingly "similar" to the official Taliban account of the event here at the Taliban's web site:
    http://is.gd/iN3Ok
    "Reports from Kandahar say that Ahmadullah, a hero of Islamic Emirate detonated his explosive-laden Van, which was packed with 2000 kg explosive material inside a newly built American outpost in Malangyano village of Zhiri district at 09:00 am this morning. Reports add that the invaders took over an old Qala (huge house) and w have been busy for the past few days in an attempt to turn it into their outpost when the attack took place. Mujahideen Officials from the district say that the Qala has been turned into rubble due to the powerful explosion, killing and wounding over 30 invaders with destroying their military and logistical vehicles inside. Witnesses say that helicopters have arrived at the scene of the blast where bulldozers are busy retrieving the corpses of the invaders. This incident comes as the NATO has reported the death of 6 of its soldiers in the south of the country."

    A hint: if the byline of a story on the Nation's web site is either Zabihullah Mujahid or Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, it's been cut/pasted from the Taliban's site.

    Good compare-and-contrast - much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its also possible if we look at just the fact that the wording and the article are not cut and paste but come from the same source.
    Could the Nation be a voice for the Taliban outside their website.?

    ReplyDelete