The involvement of the United States in the Afghanistan War, October-November 2006, some selected articles.
Introduction
Target, goals, operations Kunar:
Kunar is a volatile region bordering Pakistan where U.S. forces have deployed in large numbers to track down Taliban, al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists.
In Korangal Valley, U.S. troops are hunting the Korangali tribe, which is believed to be linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida and has been sidelined by other area tribes for its militant activities, the military said.
A separate U.S.-led operation called Big Northern Wind has been under way in Kunar province's Korangal Valley since late August.
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BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (27 November)
Yesterday evening, 2 ISAF soldiers were involved in a single vehicle accident after their military truck rolled down a sharp embankment in Kamdesh, Nuristan province. Both of the casualties were evacuated to an ISAF hospital for treatment, however, sadly one soldier later died of his injuries.
The soldiers were conducting a combat logistics patrol, providing supplies to the Kamdesh Civil Military Operations Centre (CMOC). The CMOC is an extension of the Kamdesh Provincial Reconstruction Team and provides reconstruction and development assistance to the people of Nuristan.
“Our deepest sympathies are extended to the family and friends of our brave soldier, who gave his life in an effort to create a better future for the Afghan people,” said Maj Gen Benjamin C. Freakley, commanding general of ISAF’s eastern command. “We also pray for the speedy recovery of our other soldier injured in this unfortunate accident.”
Kamdesh Civil Military Operations Centre (CMOC). The CMOC is an extension of the Kamdesh Provincial Reconstruction Team and provides reconstruction and development assistance to the people of Nuristan.
Note: Nuristan
Politics
The current Governor of the province is Tamim Nuristani.
Nuristan is extremely poor and ridden with violent ethnic and economic conflicts. Different tribes in the province often engage in high-intensity fighting over economics and resources, especially water and timber. The province's border with Pakistan makes it a historical transit point for insurgents, if not a central base for the Taliban.
Insurgent and criminal groups are also rife in Nuristan, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami militia and a paramilitary led by Maulvi Afzal.
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Two American soldiers killed
On Tuesday officials said two US troops and one Afghan soldier died in Kunar province. In Kandahar province at least one Nato-led soldier was killed.
Kunar, on Pakistan's border, is eastern Afghanistan's most troubled province. Three US soldiers were also wounded in the clash in Pech district.
"The soldiers were operating as part of a combat patrol that made contact with enemy extremists," a US military statement said.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said as well as the soldier killed in Kandahar province, another was presumed dead.
A further eight had been injured when their patrol came under mortar and small arms fire in the province's Zhari district, a statement said.
International forces in the country's south and east are increasingly coming under attack from Taleban fighters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5401626.stm
De BBC verwijst ook naar een artikel in de Pittsburg Tribune van Fisnik Abrashi:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHANISTAN?SITE=PAGRE&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dit is tevens een goede aanvulling voor “buitenlandse kranten”. Verder:
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=ISL214324
About 7,000 Afghan and U.S. troops are operating in eastern Afghanistan as part of Operation Mountain Fury, aimed at wiping out militants and extending the Afghan government's reach.
NATO's twin roles of combating the growing violence and trying to extend the reach of the Afghan government are among the most challenging missions the alliance has undertaken in its 57-year history.
Afghanistan in recent months has seen the largest increase in violence since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=5488966&nav=menu29_2
(CBS) Separately, three border police were killed and three wounded late Monday after Taliban fighters attacked their outpost near the border in the eastern province of Paktika, said provincial Gov. Mohammad Akram Akhpelwak.In the Taliban's former southern stronghold of Kandahar, flames engulfed a military vehicle after a suicide bomber rammed into a NATO convoy, witnesses said.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/03/ap/world/mainD8KH5D4O2.shtml
6-9; Achtergrondartikel met een typering van de sfeer in Nuristan
(Vanaf donderdag 5 oktober zal de NAVO-ISAF dus ook het bevel gaan voeren over het oosten van Afghanistan: zie in de map: Afghanistan: NAVO-ISAF). (Het artikel komt in aanmerking om opgenomen te worden in de bundel).
In Afghanistan, US troops tackle aid projects - and skepticism
3. October 2006, 10:27
By Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor The white-bearded Afghan police chief is not pleased with his village "force" of 15 rag-tag cops. They have no radios, just two AK-47 assault rifles, and a single pistol with 9mm ammunition that jams.
Afghan officials have also not paid police salaries for months in this remote eastern Afghanistan province of Nuristan on the Pakistan border. An officer is said to be collecting funds now - the proverbial "check is in the mail" - but the delay is hampering US plans to start police training this week. "Of course it's a good idea to train," chief Nur Mohamed tells the US Military Police platoon leader, as they meet under a rock overhang.
"The day they pay us, we will be there." Money talks in Afghanistan, particularly in this undeveloped region. Whether training local police or getting tips on insurgent positions, success for US forces depends on fulfilling promises of aid and reconstruction. That's the logic behind a new fight-and-build strategy that arms the US military with millions of dollars to spend on projects to convince Afghans, one village at a time, of the benefits of opposing Taliban-led militants. But obstacles abound here. In the wilds of Nuristan, sheer rock cliffs and mountain run-off rivers leave few options for roads.
US Army convoys have been attacked nearly every time they set out in recent weeks. The terrain not only makes ambushes easier but also frustrates logistics, like getting money and supplies flowing to Mr. Mohamed's police. Mohamed tells the MP that his unit only patrols a few hundred yards down the road to the graveyard - "where you were ambushed the other day."
"The [insurgents] couldn't come here, but we see a lot in the mountains, and they [are armed with] everything," says Mohamed. "That is why we are so afraid. How could we attack them?" "It's been pretty frustrating," the MP, 1st Lt. Candace Mathis from Rome, N.Y., says later. "It's hard because they do not have the food, ammunition, and blankets - all the stuff they need to be successful. All I can do is pat them on the back and say security is important." (?) p infrastructure
So far, the Army has signed more than a dozen contracts in a string of villages. Work has begun on popular road building, water pipe schemes, and micro-hydro projects to bring electricity. So when troops join the police chief and mullah for a visit to Mirdish village, there is a cautious welcome, and even gratitude. More information about militant movements is coming to the Americans from such villagers. More elders want projects for their areas.
"We like you Americans here, and want to work with you," the police chief tells the MP, before adding a warning. "We appreciate when you take care of us. But when you fire [into valleys] with women and children, they are so scared." While officers deem these to be positive signs, the US strategy is long-term, and envisions keeping militants on the run throughout a cold winter - depriving them of shelter in the villages - as progressing projects convince people to side with the government. But there have also been two high-profile killings in this district in the past month, of one cooperating elder and a border police chief, both claimed by the Taliban. (-)
The Islamist militia has historically had little presence in Nuristan, but use it as a route to Kabul from Pakistan and an out-of-the-way area for training grounds. The murders have shocked and intimidated elders, and the 200 fledgling police recruits. "In counterinsurgency, you can't lead with a rifle," says Lt. Col. Mike Howard, who commands the 3rd Squadron 71st Cavalry from Fort Drum, N.Y., in Nuristan. "You must lead with actions, with reconstruction." "The elders have bet on reconstruction, and ending this stupid fighting," says Colonel Howard, who is on his third Afghan tour.
"You've got to come and stay, and plop down in the middle of [insurgent territory], and make them choose to work with you, or fight you, or leave." (Nuristan's extreme isolation once earned it the name "land of infidels" because it was the last Afghan region to accept Islam, a little more than 100 years ago.)
Two enemies: insurgents, skepticismUS forces are fighting two enemies here: the insurgents, and local skepticism that they will stay and deliver on promises of projects that will improve their lives. For two years, one elder carried a letter and business card from a US State Department official - and his unfulfilled promise to build a road. (Opbouw)
The 3-71 Cavalry has so far approved $1.33 million worth of projects, contracted $966,000 of that, and disbursed some $250,000 in the long-neglected Kamdesh District alone. It is one element of the US Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, that is spread across 19 forward bases and several outposts in eastern Afghanistan.
It is fielding 13 Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) which include two civilian engineers each, civil affairs personnel, and military police, in areas under US control. Road project opened new pathsAn initial $200,000 road project to Kamdesh - though tangled because of an Afghan contractor from a distant city - whetted local appetites for more work. Building a five-classroom school building in Naray, a basic $23,000 effort, prompted more local requests and a better welcome across the district.
"They don't trust anybody," says an Afghan-American translator named Pali, who visits villages with US patrols and PRT teams. She remembers the first visit to Mandagal village, when "people were so afraid of the Americans, and women and children were crying. They told us: 'We thought you were just like the Russians' " who occupied Afghanistan during the 1980s, says Pali. "I told them: 'the Americans are different.' "
In Mirdish over the weekend, children trailed the soldiers, laughing, and watched from high rooftops. "The only thing to convince them is to build something and pay people. They are sick and tired of insurgents," says Pali. "They say: 'For heaven's sake, if you are here to build for us - promise and do it. If we see one or two projects, all Nuristan is with you.' " Though still in its early stages, the US effort is sparking a violent reaction. Before moving into the district last July, officers held meetings and killed a goat with elders, and signed contracts. (Aanvallen op bases)
But forward bases were attacked daily for weeks. The first 30 days at Kamdesh outpost, as construction got under way, no one took up the US offer to hire base guards for $153 per month. Last week they reached their goal of 60 guards, requiring just two critera that recruits be at least 18 years of age, and have a rifle. But many have aged rifles, or appear too young to grow beards, or both. Radio chatter indicated that insurgents planned to "attack [Americans] like the Russians."
Then insurgents switched to going after convoys on the single-lane dirt road that winds along the river - and invites ambush. In the past month, this unit at Kamdesh has earned eight Purple Hearts. One soldier lost a hand to a rocket-propelled grenade round - the only one to make a direct hit out of 30, says Capt. Matt Gooding, commander of Alpha Troop, 3-71 Cav, which is building Kamdesh outpost.
The unit moved here from Helmand Province in the south, where the fighting was intense, but conducted in a by-the-book manner across a desert battlefield. "In Helmand, you knew when you cleaned house; you knew when you had a good day," says Capt. Gooding. "I don't feel that here, and it's frustrating."
But this unit has become adept at fending off an attack for an hour, then they "transform - you can see it in their faces," says Gooding, when they continue on to a village visit. But still the attacks continue. Insurgents in the darkOn Saturday night last week - during a storm and with no moonlight at all - three groups of 10 to 15 men moved toward the Gowardesh outpost, but were spotted and hit with US mortars and dispersed. A few days before that, officers called in a 2,000-pound bomb 10 minutes after an ambush.
For days after, insurgent radio traffic all but stopped. "I haven't attacked a thing up here, but I killed a lot of bad guys because they can't bear me being here, putting in water pipe," says Howard, of the frequent ambushes. "Now if [soldiers] go into a village, and enter every home and go through their underwear, who has the high ground then?" But the Taliban is making its mark.
On Aug. 29, a well-known elder from Gowardesh village, Haji Younis, was kidnapped, tortured, and dumped near the Pakistan border.
He had signed a US Army contract three days before, and was on the road to get it ratified by the sub-governor when he was abducted. A note pinned to his clothes said: "Don't work with coalition forces. This will happen to you." It was signed in the name of Mullah Omar, the fugitive Taliban leader. "Haji Younis was a friend of mine," says Howard. "But his killing backfired.
Instead of being intimidated, people were outraged." A blood feud between families has now erupted, a tradition in Nuristan. Such feuds can last for decades, and often end in further revenge bloodshed. Ahmad Shah has been another victim. A colonel in the border police, he was killed by a roadside bomb on Sept. 13.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, sending "shock waves" that "completely intimidated" the untrained police force, which one US officer says has gone from "extremely awful to just bad." Counterinsurgency a 15 year project"Realistically, it will take three to five years to be where we want to be with the police," says Col. John "Mick" Nicholson, who commands the 3rd BCT. "This is a counterinsurgency; it's going to take 15 years.... What we're looking for is buy-in." Some results may be emerging, judging by the number of roadside bombs discovered and turned into US or Afghan forces for cash.
Only two of 21 on the main Kamdesh road have exploded, US officers say. Elders have come to this outpost four times in a week, asking for projects. And Afghan police - green as they are, out in this wilderness - have been passing on tips about the insurgent presence. "I see indications that we are being successful," Lt. Col. Anthony Feagin, the Kamdesh PRT commander, tells his projects team. "But we've got to make sure we don't make any tactical blunders."
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1276
Bronnenonderzoek
In het artikel worden verschillende bronnen aangehaald. De Amerikanen worden verder steeds aangevallen door vermoedelijke Taliban.
De Amerikanen proberen de bewoners van Nuristan op hun hand te krijgen door projecten voor ze te ontwikkelen, zoals de bouw van wegen, de aanleg van waterleidingen en de bouw van scholen.
Het artikel beschrijft verder de omgeving waar de gebeurtenissen zich afspelen.
Amerikaanse militairen omgekomen in Oost-Afghanistan
(Telegraaf: 03-10-2006)
KABUL - Gevechten in het oosten van Afghanistan hebben maandagavond twee Amerikaanse en een Afghaanse militair het leven gekost. Dat heeft de door de Amerikanen geleide coalitie dinsdag bekendgemaakt. Drie Amerikaanse soldaten raakten gewond door de schietpartij in de provincie Kunar, ten noordoosten van de hoofdstad Kabul.
De slachtoffers waren op een gevechtsmissie als onderdeel van de operatie Mountain Fury, toen zij maandagavond „contact maakten met vijandelijke extremisten”, aldus een verklaring. Bij de door de Amerikanen geleide operatie proberen 7000 Afghaanse en Amerikaanse militairen opstandelingen in grensprovincies met Pakistan uit te schakelen.
Kunar geldt in het oosten van Afghanistan als de gewelddadigste regio. Buitenlandse sympathisanten van de opstandige Taliban kunnen vrijwel ongehinderd de grens oversteken om de rebellen te ondersteunen.
In Afghanistan bevinden zich circa 20.000 coalitietroepen. Daarnaast proberen ook ongeveer 20.000 door de NAVO geleide eenheden de Taliban te bestrijden en het ontwrichte land op te bouwen.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/50901351/Amerikaanse_militairen_omgekomen_in_Oost_Afghanistan.html
Monday, June 4, 2007
Isaf-Afghanistan, the United States, september 2006
This is a selection of articles about the US involvement in the Afghanistan War.
August-September, 2006
4-6 East Afghanistan: Operation Mountain Fury (16-09-2006)
The goal of the operation, called Mountain Fury, is not only to defeat Taliban insurgents but also to assist with economic growth and development in the communities, a coalition statement said.
Mountain Fury is part of a series of operations "placing continuous pressure on Taliban extremists," the statement said.
Aan de operatie nemen in totaal ruim 7000 militairen deel, aldus een woordvoerder van de coalitie. Naast 4000 Afghaanse militairen doen er ook 3000 man van de door de Verenigde Staten geleide coalitiemacht mee. (16-09-2006)
De Operatie Mountain Fury is gericht tegen opstandelingen in de provincies Paktika (1), Khost (2), Ghazni (3), Paktya (4) en Logar (5)
U.S. unit focuses on Afghan construction
28. September 2006, 13:07
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press
The Black Hawk helicopter carrying a top U.S. general swooped down into the jagged mountains along the Pakistani frontier and into the heart of the U.S. military's latest offensive in Afghanistan. But Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley was not supervising combat with Taliban militants who have stepped up attacks in the east.
Wearing a big smile, he clipped a ceremonial ribbon and wandered among hundreds of schoolboys waving Afghan flags to celebrate a new eight-room school. Unlike a U.S. offensive this summer in the south that killed an estimated 800 Taliban fighters, Operation Mountain Fury has seen less sustained fighting, though about 300 rebels have been killed, Lt. Col. John Paradis, a U.S. military spokesman, said Thursday.
The operation has 3,000 U.S. soldiers and 4,000 Afghan troops operating in five eastern provinces. But they are focused on the $43 million being spent on 120 reconstruction projects, including government headquarters, clinics, roads and bridges. The construction is key to U.S. counterinsurgency strategy. Commanders say it is critical to extend the Afghan government's credibility, open up commerce and increase security, steps that could help persuade Afghans to shun Taliban fighters and put their faith in President Hamid Karzai.
"This is a big part of Mountain Fury," Freakley said. "The Taliban can't build stone roads, the Taliban can't build a house, the Taliban can't build confidence in government." The school opened by the general last week will accommodate 250-300 boys. Its sturdy concrete walls, corrugated metal roof and solar-powered lights make it a standout building in a region where hardened mud houses blend into the landscape. The 26 district centers being built in the Mountain Fury region cost about $275,000 each and will hold government offices, classrooms and a religious school, said Lt. Col. Russ Henderson, director of civil military operations.
"The district centers are a focal point for a variety of things. These show that the government is here, that the government is in control," Henderson said. (x) It's not a sure bet. Afghan militants last year burned down or attacked 146 schools, and already this year have attacked 158 schools, said Zuhoor Afghan, top adviser to Afghanistan's education minister.
Mustafa Alani, a military analyst with the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said infrastructure is crucial but security is Afghanistan's greatest concern. "It's a question of which comes first, the egg or the chicken?" he said. "Do we build in the hopes that it will bring security, or do we bring security so that we can build infrastructure?"
Paradis said attacks on U.S. troops along the Pakistan border have increased two- to threefold the last several weeks, underscoring the risks of building new infrastructure. Gayan's new school was built close to a U.S. and Afghan army base, so troops can keep an eye on it. Abdul Qadir, a district commissioner for Gayan who spoke at the school's opening, said Afghans in this remote eastern region far from the national capital in Kabul are beginning to embrace Karzai's government.
"Six months ago, people were afraid of the government. They were afraid to come to the district center," he told the crowd of men and fidgety boys sitting under a glaring sun. "But now people come down to the center and are looking to the future." Still, with Freakley and Paktika Gov. Mohammed Akram Akhpelwak in the audience, Qadir took the opportunity to note that Gayan needs a new mosque, and he said families had pooled their money to pay for a road but couldn't afford to complete the project.
"In Gayan, we have doctors, we have nurses, but we have no clinic," Qadir said. Akhpelwak said he would try to fulfill the requests for roads, a mosque and clinic, but made no promises. Freakley kept his remarks short, knowing his audience was tired from the daytime fasting that the holy month of Ramadan requires. "We will help you with roads, we will help with new clinics, we will help with new mosques and madrassas," he said. "With your help we can make Gayan the best district in Afghanistan and give these young boys a good education and bright future."
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1260
Afghan, coalition forces launch Operation Mountain Fury
Pajhwok Report
KABUL, Sep 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan and Coalition forces Saturday started the maneuver phase of Operation Mountain Fury focusing on defeating Taliban resistance in provinces Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktia and Logar provinces.
A press statement stated Mountain Fury is just one part of a series of coordinated operations placing continuous pressure on Taliban across multiple regions of the country in order to provide security to the population, extend the government to the people and to increase reconstruction.
Approximately 4,000 Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and Afghan National Border Police, along with approximately 3,000 US coalition forces in support, are conducting Mountain Fury in east-central Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the ISAF-led Operation Medusa, employing more than 10,000 Afghan and NATO forces, continue to defeat Taliban attempts to establish themselves in the Panjwayee District, Kandahar Province.
In a smaller, but no less important operation, Big North Wind continues to prevent Taliban fighters from threatening Afghans in the Korangal Valley of Kunar Province.
Mountain Fury has been ongoing for several weeks in shaping operations designed to improve security for the Afghan people and separate fighters from the population they would otherwise coerce and intimidate.
The combined operations of Big North Wind, Mountain Fury and Operation Medusa will increase security to the Afghan people and prevent the intimidation that is the trademark of the Taliban, said Army Maj Gen Ben Freakley, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force 76.
While we offer stability, governance and reconstruction, the Taliban offer oppression and violence in the form of killing innocent Afghans attending funerals, burning schools and murdering effective governors.
The combined efforts of Afghan and International forces will replace Taliban violence and threats with a future for the Afghan people, the Taliban offer nothing of value, the statement added.
The goal of Mountain Fury is to not only defeat Taliban extremists in this region, but to continue the process of economic growth and development.
Already, $43.5 million in reconstruction has been committed to building 26 new district centers providing the infrastructure for local governance; 77 road and bridge projects to promote commerce and connect villages that have traditionally been separated by arduous terrain; 34 health care programs; 23 electrical power projects; 85 schools; 30 agricultural programs and 120 civic projects.
The statement added the Taliban attacked the innocent Afghan people with improvised explosive devices and threatened and manipulated them. They burn schools in an attempt to deny Afghan children opportunities for education and a prosperous future.
The Government of Afghanistan and the coalition are committed to the Afghan people to in order to rid them of these fighters ensuring the next generation a brighter future.
In southern Afghanistan, approximately 2,500 US army ground personnel and helicopters, along with the US Air Force, have fought along side ISAF coalition forces in Operation Medusa, centered around the Panjwayee District, Kandahar. US forces will continue to support this operation through the successful defeat of Taliban resistance in Panjwayee.
Afghans understand that by working with, and being represented by, a fair and responsive government, they have the opportunity to earn a living, improve their lives and educate their children. The populace is the big winner and the Taliban will be forced to fade away.
The Taliban exert their will almost exclusively on defenceless Afghans where adequate security is not present, said Freakley. The counter to Taliban oppression is a representative local through national government supported by security for the people.
The Afghan government, with the support of US Coalition and NATO ISAF forces, are extending the reach of the government to areas that never enjoyed that influence before. It takes time and resources, but collectively we are winning.
Mountain Fury will continue until the conditions of bringing security, construction and growth are met, added Freakley. Afghans welcome peace and security. The Afghan people are tired of war. They want what their government is capable of providing: security, employment, education and a better way of life.
http://www.pajhwok.com/
In het artikel is ook informatie over Operatie Medusa en Big North Wind. In dit artikel wordt eveneens een keer gesproken over de opbouwprojecten en wat er gerealiseerd is. Dit Afghaanse persbureau geeft dat nieuws.
U.S., Afghan troops begin new offensive (x)
16. September 2006, 13:58
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Thousands of American and Afghan troops unleashed a new offensive against Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday in an effort to expand the government's reach into the volatile Pakistani border region.
The operation comes as a NATO-led force, including 2,500 U.S. soldiers, is launching heavy attacks on militants in Afghanistan's south, claiming to have killed hundreds of guerrillas over the past two weeks.
The new push is "just one part of a series of coordinated operations placing continuous pressure on Taliban extremists ... in order to provide security to the population, extend the government to the people and to increase reconstruction," the military said in a statement.
Dubbed Operation Mountain Fury, the offensive involves 7,000 U.S. and Afghan soldiers in the central and eastern provinces of Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktya and Logar, the military said. Fighter planes and helicopters will back the forces. Taliban and other Islamic extremist groups, including al-Qaida, are known to operate in the region, especially in the area bordering Pakistan where the reach of the government is weak and militants find sanctuaries.
Highlighting the dangers the troops face, two separate insurgent attacks on a military base in Khost province killed a U.S.-led coalition soldier and wounded another on Friday, the military said. A number of Afghan troops also were wounded, a statement said. ( )
A suspected suicide bomber also blew himself up in the same province when explosives strapped to his body went off prematurely as he approached a police checkpoint on Saturday. Nobody else was injured in the blast, police said.
The U.S. military said troops have been preparing for weeks for Mountain Fury but launched its "maneuver phase" early Saturday. A separate U.S.-led operation called Big Northern Wind has been under way in neighboring Kunar province's Korangal Valley since late August.
(The offensives come as the country is going through its bloodiest phase since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the hard-line Taliban from power in 2001.)
According to an Associated Press count based on reports from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials, 2,800 people have died so far this year in violence nationwide, including militants and civilians — about 1,300 more than the toll for all of 2005.
"Mountain Fury will continue until the conditions of bringing security, construction and growth are met," Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, the top U.S. operational commander, said in a statement. "The Afghan people are tired of war. They want what their government is capable of providing: security, employment, education and a better way of life,"
Freakley said. ( ) Elsewhere, NATO troops and aircraft in the country's southern Uruzgan province killed 17 suspected insurgents placing roadside bombs near a military base Friday, the alliance said. ( )
About 60 suspected Taliban militants also attacked a police checkpoint in southern Afghanistan Friday, sparking a battle in which four militants died, police said. (Uruzgan)
NATO and Afghan soldiers came to the aid of police after the insurgents attacked the checkpoint near the district police headquarters in the Khas Uruzgan district of southern Uruzgan province, said Mohammad Zahir, the district police chief. Afghan security forces and NATO suffered no casualties. Police recovered the bodies of four suspected Taliban fighters along with their weapons, Zahir said.
(Kabul)( ) Separately, a bomb blast south of the Afghan capital killed three security guards and wounded another on Saturday, police said. The remote-controlled device went off as a car carrying four Afghans passed on the main road in the Musayi district of Kabul province, said Ali Shah Paktiawal, a police official. The victims were all working for local private security firms which provides services to local and international non-governmental organizations, said Mohammad Daud Nadim, regional police chief. All four were armed at the time of the blast, he said.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1178
(Veel bronnen, veel gebeurtenissen)
Groot offensief in Oost-Afghanistan
(Telegraaf online: 16-09-2006)
BAGRAM - Het Afghaanse leger en militairen van de internationale vredesmacht ISAF zijn zaterdag een groot offensief begonnen tegen de Taliban in Oost-Afghanistan.
Aan de operatie nemen in totaal ruim 7000 militairen deel, aldus een woordvoerder van de coalitie. Naast 4000 Afghaanse militairen doen er ook 3000 man van de door de Verenigde Staten geleide coalitiemacht mee.
Deze Operatie Mountain Fury is gericht tegen opstandelingen in de provincies Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktya en Logar.
Daarnaast gaat Operatie Medusa in de zuidelijke provincie Kandahar ook nog steeds door. Hieraan nemen in totaal 10.000 Afghaanse militairen en eenheden van de NAVO deel.
Het doel van Operatie Mountain Fury is niet alleen om de extremisten uit de regio te verdrijven, maar ook om de economie weer op de been te helpen. De coalitiemacht heeft al ruim 43 miljoen dollar gereserveerd voor de bouw van bestuurscentra, scholen, elektriciteitscentrales en wegen in de regio.
(Volgens de ISAF-vredesmacht zijn bij Operatie Medusa zeker 500 Taliban omgekomen. Volgens lokale functionarissen zijn hierbij ook dertien tot veertig burgers omgekomen. De vredesmacht onderzoekt hoeveel burgerslachtoffers er zijn gevallen. (Een “oprolbare” alinea die er bij de Volkskrant online nog bijstond)).
http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/50084821/Groot_offensief_in_Oost-Afghanistan.html?p=4,1
Coalition begins anti-Taliban operation
16. September 2006, 06:27
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Thousands of U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops on Saturday launched a large-scale anti-Taliban operation in five Afghan provinces, the coalition said. The goal of the operation, called Mountain Fury, is not only to defeat Taliban insurgents but also to assist with economic growth and development in the communities, a coalition statement said. The 7,000 troops will concentrate their fight on the central and eastern provinces of Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktya and Logar, the statement said.
The operation comes as NATO-led troops in the south press on with their own anti-Taliban operation, which they claim has killed over 500 militants in the last two weeks. Mountain Fury is part of a series of operations "placing continuous pressure on Taliban extremists," the statement said. "Mountain Fury will continue until the conditions of bringing security, construction and growth are met," said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, the top U.S. operational commander. "The Afghan people are tired of war. They want what their government is capable of providing: security, employment, education and a better way of life," Freakley said.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1175
Het Afghaanse leger en militairen van de internationale vredesmacht ISAF zijn zaterdag een groot offensief begonnen tegen de Taliban in Oost-Afghanistan. (16 september 2006).
Operatie Mountain Fury is gericht tegen opstandelingen in de provincies Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktia en Logar.
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Notes
Paktika is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the south-east of the country and overwhelmingly conservative Sunni Pashtu. Its capital is Sharana.
In 2004, an American Provincial Reconstruction Team base was established in Sharana to lead the development effort.
Khost (Persian: خوست). It is in the south-east of the country. Its capital is Khost. It used to be part of Paktia province. The province is montanius and borders Pakistan on the east.
Su superficie es de 4.151 km².
Su población es de 286.573 habitantes (2006).
Su capital es Hawst.
Fue parte de la provincia de Paktiyā.
Ghazni (Persian: غزنى) Its capital is Ghazni. The province lies on the important Kabul to Kandahar road.
(This province was once the seat of the mighty Ghaznavid Empire, that ruled all of Persia and its eastern territories.)
Paktia (Persian: پکتیا ) It is in the east of the country. Its capital is Gardez. It used to cover Khost Province, which was split off recently.
Lowgar (Persian: لوگر). South-east of Kabul and the geography of the province centers on the large Logar River which enters the province through the north and leaves to the west. Its capital is Pul-i-Ilam. The majority of the population is Tajek with a strong Pashtun minority.
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U.S. launches attack in east Afghanistan
6. September 2006, 14:39
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press
U.S. troops on Wednesday launched a fearsome barrage of artillery and rockets into a mountainous militant stronghold in eastern Afghanistan where they suffered their deadliest combat loss more than a year ago.
Despite high casualties suffered by Taliban-led militants since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 and tough military action to root them out, insurgents still pose as deadly a threat as ever to the scores of troops from the New York-based 10th Mountain Division deployed near the Pakistan border.
No militant casualty figures were immediately available from the heavy bombardment that sent plumes of smoke rising over the tops of pine tree-forested mountain ranges. The barrage was aimed at locations some three miles deep into the Korangal Valley, where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have set off roadside bombings and staged ambushes targeting U.S. and Afghan forces operating in the region. "We have had nonstop contact for several days and the enemy is on the run," said Staff Sgt. William Wilkinson, 36, of Charlotte, N.C., who heads a team firing mortars toward militant positions.
"We have cut them off a couple of times and they are not doing as well as they thought they would." The Korangal Valley was the scene of a June 28, 2005, ambush by militants of a four-man team of Navy SEALs, three of whom were killed. The fourth was rescued days later. A U.S. helicopter sent to find the SEALs crashed in the valley on that day after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 16 American troops in the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war began here in 2001.
"This is a place where the Taliban and al-Qaida have (been) known to roam freely, and right now we are putting a stop to that," Wilkinson said. Afghan and U.S. officials have long expressed frustration that militants appear to have a free run along the rugged Pakistan border, although Pakistan is a key ally in the war on terror.
An upbeat Pakistan-Afghan summit meeting Wednesday in Kabul offered some impetus to the campaign against resurgent Islamic militants, as Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared the two nations were "brothers" and should fight terrorism together.
But given the hazardous terrain and local sympathies for jihadis, or holy warriors, it's a tough mission. In Korangal Valley, U.S. troops are hunting the Korangali tribe, which is believed to be linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida and has been sidelined by other area tribes for its militant activities, the military said. The echo of cannon fire rumbled through the valley overnight and during the day Wednesday as howitzers fired round after round of 155 mm artillery shells toward insurgent positions.
Tracer fire lit up the nighttime sky and Apache helicopters fired rockets into hilltop positions. Kunar's eastern border abuts the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan, which has long provided a safe haven for militants operating in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida fugitives, including leader Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.
On Tuesday, Pakistan's government signed a truce with militants they had been battling in North Waziristan. Under the deal, tribal leaders in North Waziristan have agreed to ensure the region can't be used as a staging ground for cross-border militant attacks, a move that could lead to a reduction in Pakistan-linked violence in Kunar — although skeptics say (which, who?) it may allow militants to operate more freely.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1124
U.S.: 7 operatives killed in Afghanistan
24. August 2006, 13:11
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press
A pre-dawn raid by American troops in eastern Afghanistan left seven suspected al-Qaida fighters and one child dead, the U.S. military said in an account that was disputed by police who say those killed were two families sorting out a feud. The raid aimed at capturing a "known al-Qaida facilitator" in the village of Asmar in Kunar province, said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition. The seven dead al-Qaida suspects included the facilitator, he said.
Four others were detained. Afghan officials, however, said those targeted in the compound were from two families trying to resolve a dispute through village elders. Abdul Sabur Alluhyar, the deputy provincial police chief, denied the families were members of al-Qaida. "According to our district chief, the people who have been killed in the incident this morning are civilians from Shigal district," he said, adding that someone had given the coalition incorrect information that an al-Qaida meeting had been under way at the compound.
Kunar is a volatile region bordering Pakistan where U.S. forces have deployed in large numbers to track down Taliban, al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists. Militants have stepped up attacks this year and triggered the deadliest violence here since the late-2001 ouster of the Taliban regime for hosting Osama bin Laden.
More than 1,600 people, mostly militants, have died in the past four months, according to an Associated Press tally of violent incidents reported by U.S., NATO and Afghan officials. The U.S. military said it had initiated Thursday's raid, but that it was the suspects who had opened fire first on the U.S. and Afghan forces as they approached the compound.
The forces had consequently killed them with return fire. "We strongly believe and have evidence to support (the seven killed) were al-Qaida," Collins told reporters, without offering evidence other than that soldiers also seized multiple weapons, ammunition and grenades from the compound. (Die liggen in elke compound?)
The U.S. military said a child aged between 10 to 12 years was killed in the fighting, but that the circumstances of the death were unclear. A woman was also wounded. Militants have repeatedly staged deadly attacks on coalition forces in Kunar, still regarded as a possible hiding place of bin Laden. Last week, three U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded in when their convoy hit a roadside bomb in the province.
Meanwhile, a purported Taliban spokesman denied reports that militants are holding talks with government officials or foreign forces in a bid to end the country's violence, which has been mostly focussed on the hardline militia's southern heartland. In an e-mail sent to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan, Mohammed Hanif said resurgent Taliban fighters "have neither held talks with invading forces and their puppets nor are ready to sit with them in the presence of the country's invasion."
Hanif's exact ties to the Taliban leadership are unclear. Earlier this week, Afghan officials in the south said authorities had returned the bodies of 21 militants killed in recent fighting to their families after being contacted by the Taliban, amid signs of an effort to strike up a dialogue. Agha Lalai, an official with an Afghan reconciliation commission that encourages Taliban militants to disarm, said it was negotiating with a number of insurgents in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1061
(Schrijfschema’s blijven onderzoeken en topische zinnen)
The push further into Afghanistan, Nuristan
Battle in Nuristan
(08-08-2006)
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - Three U.S.-led coalition soldiers died in a battle with militants in the remote northeast.
And a Nato soldier in the south, officials said Saturday.
Two coalition soldiers were also wounded in the battle in Waygal district of northeastern Nuristan province on Friday, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Terry said.
The coalition would not disclose the nationalities of the dead soldiers, but in recent weeks U.S. forces have been pushing to their northernmost points along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border, including Nuristan.
Their mission is to crush militants loyal to the Hezb-e-Islami militant group of renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the toppled Taliban regime and remnants of al-Qaida.
"The soldiers killed and wounded today fought against extremists who oppose the rights of women, murder the innocent and harbor terrorists as they did during the Taliban regime," Terry said in a statement late Friday.
(The suicide attack took place on a highway in the Spin Boldak border district of southern Kandahar province, the hardline Taliban's stronghold, killing a soldier of the NATO-led force that leads security operations there. The soldier's nationality was not released. Most of the foreign forces in the area are Canadians.)
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the blast and said the bomber was an Afghan named Mohammad Ilyas. Ahmadi often contacts journalists to claim attacks for the Taliban, but his exact ties to the militia's leadership are unclear.
Meanwhile, an explosion occurred outside a NATO base in Kabul early Saturday. No one was injured in the blast, said Maj. Toby Jackman, spokesman for the NATO-led force. It was unclear if it was a bombing or rocket attack by insurgents.
(Afghanistan has seen a surge in violence this year, particularly in the south, where rebel Taliban supporters have stepped up attacks, as Afghan and NATO-led troops try to drive insurgents out of their safe havens. (Oud Nieuws)
The worsening security situation contributed to a fourfold rise in polio cases this year, almost entirely in the insurgency-wracked south, Afghanistan's Health Ministry said Saturday.
Afghanistan has suffered 24 cases so far this year, all but one in the south, compared to nine cases during the whole of 2005, all in the south, said Dr. Shukrullah Wahidi, who oversees the ministry's polio program. He blamed the region's rising violence, difficulty in establishing health services and poor communication with community leaders.
(The fighting has been the bloodiest since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001. In a two-month offensive in the south that ended early this month, the coalition claimed to have killed, wounded or captured some 1,100 militants. (Oud nieuws)
But Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, told the German news weekly Der Spiegel that the numbers do not reflect success.
"The Taliban fighters' reservoir is practically limitless," Koenigs told the magazine in an interview. "The movement will not be overcome by high casualty figures." (Want vrijwel iedereen in die region is Taliban.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060812/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan_152
3 coalition soldiers die in Afghanistan (Boston Globe)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/08/12/3_coalition_soldiers_die_in_afghanistan/
Mission in Nuristan
Their mission is to crush militants loyal to the Hezb-e-Islami militant group of renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the toppled Taliban regime and remnants of al-Qaida.
(Tussenkopjes plaatsen)
U.S. forces push further into Afghanistan
8. August 2006, 06:41
By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers have (1) established their northernmost base in Afghanistan, (2) pushing further up the border with Pakistan to block militants crossing jagged mountains, (3) train fledgling local forces and (4) build support among wary tribesmen. In doing so, they have put themselves further into harm's way, drawing rocket fire from enemies on surrounding mountain peaks and losing at least seven soldiers since February, including their previous commanding officer in a May 5 helicopter crash in bad weather.
NATO helpWith NATO taking charge of security in southern provinces wracked by a Taliban resurgence, the U.S. is increasingly able to focus on stabilizing the dangerous east, extending the Afghan government's authority there and hunting for fugitives like Osama bin Laden.
KunarMore than 600 U.S. soldiers have deployed to Naray, a clutch of mud-brick and stone villages inhabited by 30,000 Pashtun tribespeople in Kunar province — a virtually forgotten corner of Afghanistan at the northern end of the belt of eastern provinces patrolled by U.S. forces.
Bin Laden is familiar with Kunar's mountainous terrain from the days of the war against the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The province was once a stronghold of Afghan warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose Hezb-e-Islami faction has long held ties with bin Laden and now fights the government of President Hamid Karzai.
American officials say heavily armed remnants of Hekmatyar's group are still active in Kunar and receive aid from militants crossing into Afghanistan from lawless tribal regions in Pakistan. They are also supported by holdouts from the Taliban (regime, which was toppled in late 2001 by U.S.-led forces for harboring bin Laden.) (Overlap) But Lt. Col. Michael Howard, commanding officer of Forward Operating Base Naray, said the main challenge facing his American forces is not the virtually impossible task of sealing the frontier from militant incursions but winning the trust of villagers from five local tribes.
"You have a group of people who for years have had one option, and that was to cower to, or be a part of the likes of the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami or al-Qaida. That was their only choice," said Howard, who runs the 3rd Battalion, 71st Cavalry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y. "The greatest challenge is making folks realize that things have changed." Some soldiers in Naray have recently arrived from southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where NATO has deployed thousands of forces in recent months — mostly British and Canadian — and last week took over command from the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition. More U.S. soldiers are expected to be shifted to the east in the months ahead.
NuristanIn recent weeks, U.S. soldiers broke ground further north in Kunar's neighboring province of Nuristan, establishing a tiny outpost and trying to launch road, water and power projects in Kamdesh, an isolated village surrounded by sheer cliffs and often shrouded by low clouds. Poor weather regularly closes Kamdesh to Chinooks and other U.S. supply helicopters, cutting it off from vital supply routes for several weeks at a time.
On Monday, about 100 U.S. and Afghan forces launched an operation in Nuristan province to destroy a suspected anti-craft gun operated by militants and threatening American helicopters flying between Kamdesh and Naray, said Capt. Dan Walker of the 4th Battalion, 25th Artillery Unit of the 10th Mountain Division. Soldiers were setting up howitzers and mortars, and infantry were preparing to move on foot into mountains to locate the high-powered weapon. Few foreigners have ventured into this isolated region of Afghanistan. Even in Naray, the only foreigners villagers had previously seen were hashish-smoking Soviet troops, who were based here briefly during the Russian occupation, and U.S.-funded Arab, Chechen and Pakistani mujahedeen who would cross from Pakistan to fight against them.
(Flash-back to Russian occupation)"The Russians would come knocking on our doors with guns looking for hashish whenever they ran out," said Naray's most prominent tribal elder, white-bearded Rahmat Noor, in his fortified home built on the eastern bank of the roaring Kunar River. "We all made jihad (holy war) against the Russians because we didn't like them. They were occupiers," Noor said. "But we like the Americans. They came to help. They built a mosque on their base for our soldiers." Following the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent hunt for bin Laden, a U.S. Special Forces contingent established a small outpost in Naray. The 10th Mountain Division base has grown around it and has employed more than 1,000 local people. About 160 Afghan soldiers live side-by-side with U.S. forces at the base, training to use American weapons, like Howitzer cannons.
(Help locals)
A medical facility run by the 758th Forward Surgical Team out of Fort Lewis, Wash., and medics from the 3-71 Cavalry's reconnaissance unit have treated dozens of Afghans. They include a 12-year-old Kamdesh girl, Aleema, whose right foot and bottom half of her shin were blown off by a land mine planted by tribesmen along a tribal border. "These people first understood that we were here to kill them and the kids would stand off, but now we treat them, give them teddy bears and soccer balls," said cavalry medic Sgt. Michael La Clair, 38, of San Diego. "They know now that we are here to help."
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1008
August-September, 2006
4-6 East Afghanistan: Operation Mountain Fury (16-09-2006)
The goal of the operation, called Mountain Fury, is not only to defeat Taliban insurgents but also to assist with economic growth and development in the communities, a coalition statement said.
Mountain Fury is part of a series of operations "placing continuous pressure on Taliban extremists," the statement said.
Aan de operatie nemen in totaal ruim 7000 militairen deel, aldus een woordvoerder van de coalitie. Naast 4000 Afghaanse militairen doen er ook 3000 man van de door de Verenigde Staten geleide coalitiemacht mee. (16-09-2006)
De Operatie Mountain Fury is gericht tegen opstandelingen in de provincies Paktika (1), Khost (2), Ghazni (3), Paktya (4) en Logar (5)
U.S. unit focuses on Afghan construction
28. September 2006, 13:07
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press
The Black Hawk helicopter carrying a top U.S. general swooped down into the jagged mountains along the Pakistani frontier and into the heart of the U.S. military's latest offensive in Afghanistan. But Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley was not supervising combat with Taliban militants who have stepped up attacks in the east.
Wearing a big smile, he clipped a ceremonial ribbon and wandered among hundreds of schoolboys waving Afghan flags to celebrate a new eight-room school. Unlike a U.S. offensive this summer in the south that killed an estimated 800 Taliban fighters, Operation Mountain Fury has seen less sustained fighting, though about 300 rebels have been killed, Lt. Col. John Paradis, a U.S. military spokesman, said Thursday.
The operation has 3,000 U.S. soldiers and 4,000 Afghan troops operating in five eastern provinces. But they are focused on the $43 million being spent on 120 reconstruction projects, including government headquarters, clinics, roads and bridges. The construction is key to U.S. counterinsurgency strategy. Commanders say it is critical to extend the Afghan government's credibility, open up commerce and increase security, steps that could help persuade Afghans to shun Taliban fighters and put their faith in President Hamid Karzai.
"This is a big part of Mountain Fury," Freakley said. "The Taliban can't build stone roads, the Taliban can't build a house, the Taliban can't build confidence in government." The school opened by the general last week will accommodate 250-300 boys. Its sturdy concrete walls, corrugated metal roof and solar-powered lights make it a standout building in a region where hardened mud houses blend into the landscape. The 26 district centers being built in the Mountain Fury region cost about $275,000 each and will hold government offices, classrooms and a religious school, said Lt. Col. Russ Henderson, director of civil military operations.
"The district centers are a focal point for a variety of things. These show that the government is here, that the government is in control," Henderson said. (x) It's not a sure bet. Afghan militants last year burned down or attacked 146 schools, and already this year have attacked 158 schools, said Zuhoor Afghan, top adviser to Afghanistan's education minister.
Mustafa Alani, a military analyst with the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said infrastructure is crucial but security is Afghanistan's greatest concern. "It's a question of which comes first, the egg or the chicken?" he said. "Do we build in the hopes that it will bring security, or do we bring security so that we can build infrastructure?"
Paradis said attacks on U.S. troops along the Pakistan border have increased two- to threefold the last several weeks, underscoring the risks of building new infrastructure. Gayan's new school was built close to a U.S. and Afghan army base, so troops can keep an eye on it. Abdul Qadir, a district commissioner for Gayan who spoke at the school's opening, said Afghans in this remote eastern region far from the national capital in Kabul are beginning to embrace Karzai's government.
"Six months ago, people were afraid of the government. They were afraid to come to the district center," he told the crowd of men and fidgety boys sitting under a glaring sun. "But now people come down to the center and are looking to the future." Still, with Freakley and Paktika Gov. Mohammed Akram Akhpelwak in the audience, Qadir took the opportunity to note that Gayan needs a new mosque, and he said families had pooled their money to pay for a road but couldn't afford to complete the project.
"In Gayan, we have doctors, we have nurses, but we have no clinic," Qadir said. Akhpelwak said he would try to fulfill the requests for roads, a mosque and clinic, but made no promises. Freakley kept his remarks short, knowing his audience was tired from the daytime fasting that the holy month of Ramadan requires. "We will help you with roads, we will help with new clinics, we will help with new mosques and madrassas," he said. "With your help we can make Gayan the best district in Afghanistan and give these young boys a good education and bright future."
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1260
Afghan, coalition forces launch Operation Mountain Fury
Pajhwok Report
KABUL, Sep 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan and Coalition forces Saturday started the maneuver phase of Operation Mountain Fury focusing on defeating Taliban resistance in provinces Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktia and Logar provinces.
A press statement stated Mountain Fury is just one part of a series of coordinated operations placing continuous pressure on Taliban across multiple regions of the country in order to provide security to the population, extend the government to the people and to increase reconstruction.
Approximately 4,000 Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and Afghan National Border Police, along with approximately 3,000 US coalition forces in support, are conducting Mountain Fury in east-central Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the ISAF-led Operation Medusa, employing more than 10,000 Afghan and NATO forces, continue to defeat Taliban attempts to establish themselves in the Panjwayee District, Kandahar Province.
In a smaller, but no less important operation, Big North Wind continues to prevent Taliban fighters from threatening Afghans in the Korangal Valley of Kunar Province.
Mountain Fury has been ongoing for several weeks in shaping operations designed to improve security for the Afghan people and separate fighters from the population they would otherwise coerce and intimidate.
The combined operations of Big North Wind, Mountain Fury and Operation Medusa will increase security to the Afghan people and prevent the intimidation that is the trademark of the Taliban, said Army Maj Gen Ben Freakley, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force 76.
While we offer stability, governance and reconstruction, the Taliban offer oppression and violence in the form of killing innocent Afghans attending funerals, burning schools and murdering effective governors.
The combined efforts of Afghan and International forces will replace Taliban violence and threats with a future for the Afghan people, the Taliban offer nothing of value, the statement added.
The goal of Mountain Fury is to not only defeat Taliban extremists in this region, but to continue the process of economic growth and development.
Already, $43.5 million in reconstruction has been committed to building 26 new district centers providing the infrastructure for local governance; 77 road and bridge projects to promote commerce and connect villages that have traditionally been separated by arduous terrain; 34 health care programs; 23 electrical power projects; 85 schools; 30 agricultural programs and 120 civic projects.
The statement added the Taliban attacked the innocent Afghan people with improvised explosive devices and threatened and manipulated them. They burn schools in an attempt to deny Afghan children opportunities for education and a prosperous future.
The Government of Afghanistan and the coalition are committed to the Afghan people to in order to rid them of these fighters ensuring the next generation a brighter future.
In southern Afghanistan, approximately 2,500 US army ground personnel and helicopters, along with the US Air Force, have fought along side ISAF coalition forces in Operation Medusa, centered around the Panjwayee District, Kandahar. US forces will continue to support this operation through the successful defeat of Taliban resistance in Panjwayee.
Afghans understand that by working with, and being represented by, a fair and responsive government, they have the opportunity to earn a living, improve their lives and educate their children. The populace is the big winner and the Taliban will be forced to fade away.
The Taliban exert their will almost exclusively on defenceless Afghans where adequate security is not present, said Freakley. The counter to Taliban oppression is a representative local through national government supported by security for the people.
The Afghan government, with the support of US Coalition and NATO ISAF forces, are extending the reach of the government to areas that never enjoyed that influence before. It takes time and resources, but collectively we are winning.
Mountain Fury will continue until the conditions of bringing security, construction and growth are met, added Freakley. Afghans welcome peace and security. The Afghan people are tired of war. They want what their government is capable of providing: security, employment, education and a better way of life.
http://www.pajhwok.com/
In het artikel is ook informatie over Operatie Medusa en Big North Wind. In dit artikel wordt eveneens een keer gesproken over de opbouwprojecten en wat er gerealiseerd is. Dit Afghaanse persbureau geeft dat nieuws.
U.S., Afghan troops begin new offensive (x)
16. September 2006, 13:58
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Thousands of American and Afghan troops unleashed a new offensive against Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday in an effort to expand the government's reach into the volatile Pakistani border region.
The operation comes as a NATO-led force, including 2,500 U.S. soldiers, is launching heavy attacks on militants in Afghanistan's south, claiming to have killed hundreds of guerrillas over the past two weeks.
The new push is "just one part of a series of coordinated operations placing continuous pressure on Taliban extremists ... in order to provide security to the population, extend the government to the people and to increase reconstruction," the military said in a statement.
Dubbed Operation Mountain Fury, the offensive involves 7,000 U.S. and Afghan soldiers in the central and eastern provinces of Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktya and Logar, the military said. Fighter planes and helicopters will back the forces. Taliban and other Islamic extremist groups, including al-Qaida, are known to operate in the region, especially in the area bordering Pakistan where the reach of the government is weak and militants find sanctuaries.
Highlighting the dangers the troops face, two separate insurgent attacks on a military base in Khost province killed a U.S.-led coalition soldier and wounded another on Friday, the military said. A number of Afghan troops also were wounded, a statement said. ( )
A suspected suicide bomber also blew himself up in the same province when explosives strapped to his body went off prematurely as he approached a police checkpoint on Saturday. Nobody else was injured in the blast, police said.
The U.S. military said troops have been preparing for weeks for Mountain Fury but launched its "maneuver phase" early Saturday. A separate U.S.-led operation called Big Northern Wind has been under way in neighboring Kunar province's Korangal Valley since late August.
(The offensives come as the country is going through its bloodiest phase since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the hard-line Taliban from power in 2001.)
According to an Associated Press count based on reports from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials, 2,800 people have died so far this year in violence nationwide, including militants and civilians — about 1,300 more than the toll for all of 2005.
"Mountain Fury will continue until the conditions of bringing security, construction and growth are met," Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, the top U.S. operational commander, said in a statement. "The Afghan people are tired of war. They want what their government is capable of providing: security, employment, education and a better way of life,"
Freakley said. ( ) Elsewhere, NATO troops and aircraft in the country's southern Uruzgan province killed 17 suspected insurgents placing roadside bombs near a military base Friday, the alliance said. ( )
About 60 suspected Taliban militants also attacked a police checkpoint in southern Afghanistan Friday, sparking a battle in which four militants died, police said. (Uruzgan)
NATO and Afghan soldiers came to the aid of police after the insurgents attacked the checkpoint near the district police headquarters in the Khas Uruzgan district of southern Uruzgan province, said Mohammad Zahir, the district police chief. Afghan security forces and NATO suffered no casualties. Police recovered the bodies of four suspected Taliban fighters along with their weapons, Zahir said.
(Kabul)( ) Separately, a bomb blast south of the Afghan capital killed three security guards and wounded another on Saturday, police said. The remote-controlled device went off as a car carrying four Afghans passed on the main road in the Musayi district of Kabul province, said Ali Shah Paktiawal, a police official. The victims were all working for local private security firms which provides services to local and international non-governmental organizations, said Mohammad Daud Nadim, regional police chief. All four were armed at the time of the blast, he said.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1178
(Veel bronnen, veel gebeurtenissen)
Groot offensief in Oost-Afghanistan
(Telegraaf online: 16-09-2006)
BAGRAM - Het Afghaanse leger en militairen van de internationale vredesmacht ISAF zijn zaterdag een groot offensief begonnen tegen de Taliban in Oost-Afghanistan.
Aan de operatie nemen in totaal ruim 7000 militairen deel, aldus een woordvoerder van de coalitie. Naast 4000 Afghaanse militairen doen er ook 3000 man van de door de Verenigde Staten geleide coalitiemacht mee.
Deze Operatie Mountain Fury is gericht tegen opstandelingen in de provincies Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktya en Logar.
Daarnaast gaat Operatie Medusa in de zuidelijke provincie Kandahar ook nog steeds door. Hieraan nemen in totaal 10.000 Afghaanse militairen en eenheden van de NAVO deel.
Het doel van Operatie Mountain Fury is niet alleen om de extremisten uit de regio te verdrijven, maar ook om de economie weer op de been te helpen. De coalitiemacht heeft al ruim 43 miljoen dollar gereserveerd voor de bouw van bestuurscentra, scholen, elektriciteitscentrales en wegen in de regio.
(Volgens de ISAF-vredesmacht zijn bij Operatie Medusa zeker 500 Taliban omgekomen. Volgens lokale functionarissen zijn hierbij ook dertien tot veertig burgers omgekomen. De vredesmacht onderzoekt hoeveel burgerslachtoffers er zijn gevallen. (Een “oprolbare” alinea die er bij de Volkskrant online nog bijstond)).
http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/50084821/Groot_offensief_in_Oost-Afghanistan.html?p=4,1
Coalition begins anti-Taliban operation
16. September 2006, 06:27
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Thousands of U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops on Saturday launched a large-scale anti-Taliban operation in five Afghan provinces, the coalition said. The goal of the operation, called Mountain Fury, is not only to defeat Taliban insurgents but also to assist with economic growth and development in the communities, a coalition statement said. The 7,000 troops will concentrate their fight on the central and eastern provinces of Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktya and Logar, the statement said.
The operation comes as NATO-led troops in the south press on with their own anti-Taliban operation, which they claim has killed over 500 militants in the last two weeks. Mountain Fury is part of a series of operations "placing continuous pressure on Taliban extremists," the statement said. "Mountain Fury will continue until the conditions of bringing security, construction and growth are met," said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, the top U.S. operational commander. "The Afghan people are tired of war. They want what their government is capable of providing: security, employment, education and a better way of life," Freakley said.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1175
Het Afghaanse leger en militairen van de internationale vredesmacht ISAF zijn zaterdag een groot offensief begonnen tegen de Taliban in Oost-Afghanistan. (16 september 2006).
Operatie Mountain Fury is gericht tegen opstandelingen in de provincies Paktika, Khost, Ghazni, Paktia en Logar.
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Notes
Paktika is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the south-east of the country and overwhelmingly conservative Sunni Pashtu. Its capital is Sharana.
In 2004, an American Provincial Reconstruction Team base was established in Sharana to lead the development effort.
Khost (Persian: خوست). It is in the south-east of the country. Its capital is Khost. It used to be part of Paktia province. The province is montanius and borders Pakistan on the east.
Su superficie es de 4.151 km².
Su población es de 286.573 habitantes (2006).
Su capital es Hawst.
Fue parte de la provincia de Paktiyā.
Ghazni (Persian: غزنى) Its capital is Ghazni. The province lies on the important Kabul to Kandahar road.
(This province was once the seat of the mighty Ghaznavid Empire, that ruled all of Persia and its eastern territories.)
Paktia (Persian: پکتیا ) It is in the east of the country. Its capital is Gardez. It used to cover Khost Province, which was split off recently.
Lowgar (Persian: لوگر). South-east of Kabul and the geography of the province centers on the large Logar River which enters the province through the north and leaves to the west. Its capital is Pul-i-Ilam. The majority of the population is Tajek with a strong Pashtun minority.
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U.S. launches attack in east Afghanistan
6. September 2006, 14:39
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press
U.S. troops on Wednesday launched a fearsome barrage of artillery and rockets into a mountainous militant stronghold in eastern Afghanistan where they suffered their deadliest combat loss more than a year ago.
Despite high casualties suffered by Taliban-led militants since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 and tough military action to root them out, insurgents still pose as deadly a threat as ever to the scores of troops from the New York-based 10th Mountain Division deployed near the Pakistan border.
No militant casualty figures were immediately available from the heavy bombardment that sent plumes of smoke rising over the tops of pine tree-forested mountain ranges. The barrage was aimed at locations some three miles deep into the Korangal Valley, where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have set off roadside bombings and staged ambushes targeting U.S. and Afghan forces operating in the region. "We have had nonstop contact for several days and the enemy is on the run," said Staff Sgt. William Wilkinson, 36, of Charlotte, N.C., who heads a team firing mortars toward militant positions.
"We have cut them off a couple of times and they are not doing as well as they thought they would." The Korangal Valley was the scene of a June 28, 2005, ambush by militants of a four-man team of Navy SEALs, three of whom were killed. The fourth was rescued days later. A U.S. helicopter sent to find the SEALs crashed in the valley on that day after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 16 American troops in the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war began here in 2001.
"This is a place where the Taliban and al-Qaida have (been) known to roam freely, and right now we are putting a stop to that," Wilkinson said. Afghan and U.S. officials have long expressed frustration that militants appear to have a free run along the rugged Pakistan border, although Pakistan is a key ally in the war on terror.
An upbeat Pakistan-Afghan summit meeting Wednesday in Kabul offered some impetus to the campaign against resurgent Islamic militants, as Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared the two nations were "brothers" and should fight terrorism together.
But given the hazardous terrain and local sympathies for jihadis, or holy warriors, it's a tough mission. In Korangal Valley, U.S. troops are hunting the Korangali tribe, which is believed to be linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida and has been sidelined by other area tribes for its militant activities, the military said. The echo of cannon fire rumbled through the valley overnight and during the day Wednesday as howitzers fired round after round of 155 mm artillery shells toward insurgent positions.
Tracer fire lit up the nighttime sky and Apache helicopters fired rockets into hilltop positions. Kunar's eastern border abuts the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan, which has long provided a safe haven for militants operating in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida fugitives, including leader Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.
On Tuesday, Pakistan's government signed a truce with militants they had been battling in North Waziristan. Under the deal, tribal leaders in North Waziristan have agreed to ensure the region can't be used as a staging ground for cross-border militant attacks, a move that could lead to a reduction in Pakistan-linked violence in Kunar — although skeptics say (which, who?) it may allow militants to operate more freely.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1124
U.S.: 7 operatives killed in Afghanistan
24. August 2006, 13:11
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press
A pre-dawn raid by American troops in eastern Afghanistan left seven suspected al-Qaida fighters and one child dead, the U.S. military said in an account that was disputed by police who say those killed were two families sorting out a feud. The raid aimed at capturing a "known al-Qaida facilitator" in the village of Asmar in Kunar province, said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition. The seven dead al-Qaida suspects included the facilitator, he said.
Four others were detained. Afghan officials, however, said those targeted in the compound were from two families trying to resolve a dispute through village elders. Abdul Sabur Alluhyar, the deputy provincial police chief, denied the families were members of al-Qaida. "According to our district chief, the people who have been killed in the incident this morning are civilians from Shigal district," he said, adding that someone had given the coalition incorrect information that an al-Qaida meeting had been under way at the compound.
Kunar is a volatile region bordering Pakistan where U.S. forces have deployed in large numbers to track down Taliban, al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists. Militants have stepped up attacks this year and triggered the deadliest violence here since the late-2001 ouster of the Taliban regime for hosting Osama bin Laden.
More than 1,600 people, mostly militants, have died in the past four months, according to an Associated Press tally of violent incidents reported by U.S., NATO and Afghan officials. The U.S. military said it had initiated Thursday's raid, but that it was the suspects who had opened fire first on the U.S. and Afghan forces as they approached the compound.
The forces had consequently killed them with return fire. "We strongly believe and have evidence to support (the seven killed) were al-Qaida," Collins told reporters, without offering evidence other than that soldiers also seized multiple weapons, ammunition and grenades from the compound. (Die liggen in elke compound?)
The U.S. military said a child aged between 10 to 12 years was killed in the fighting, but that the circumstances of the death were unclear. A woman was also wounded. Militants have repeatedly staged deadly attacks on coalition forces in Kunar, still regarded as a possible hiding place of bin Laden. Last week, three U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded in when their convoy hit a roadside bomb in the province.
Meanwhile, a purported Taliban spokesman denied reports that militants are holding talks with government officials or foreign forces in a bid to end the country's violence, which has been mostly focussed on the hardline militia's southern heartland. In an e-mail sent to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan, Mohammed Hanif said resurgent Taliban fighters "have neither held talks with invading forces and their puppets nor are ready to sit with them in the presence of the country's invasion."
Hanif's exact ties to the Taliban leadership are unclear. Earlier this week, Afghan officials in the south said authorities had returned the bodies of 21 militants killed in recent fighting to their families after being contacted by the Taliban, amid signs of an effort to strike up a dialogue. Agha Lalai, an official with an Afghan reconciliation commission that encourages Taliban militants to disarm, said it was negotiating with a number of insurgents in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1061
(Schrijfschema’s blijven onderzoeken en topische zinnen)
The push further into Afghanistan, Nuristan
Battle in Nuristan
(08-08-2006)
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - Three U.S.-led coalition soldiers died in a battle with militants in the remote northeast.
And a Nato soldier in the south, officials said Saturday.
Two coalition soldiers were also wounded in the battle in Waygal district of northeastern Nuristan province on Friday, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Terry said.
The coalition would not disclose the nationalities of the dead soldiers, but in recent weeks U.S. forces have been pushing to their northernmost points along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border, including Nuristan.
Their mission is to crush militants loyal to the Hezb-e-Islami militant group of renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the toppled Taliban regime and remnants of al-Qaida.
"The soldiers killed and wounded today fought against extremists who oppose the rights of women, murder the innocent and harbor terrorists as they did during the Taliban regime," Terry said in a statement late Friday.
(The suicide attack took place on a highway in the Spin Boldak border district of southern Kandahar province, the hardline Taliban's stronghold, killing a soldier of the NATO-led force that leads security operations there. The soldier's nationality was not released. Most of the foreign forces in the area are Canadians.)
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the blast and said the bomber was an Afghan named Mohammad Ilyas. Ahmadi often contacts journalists to claim attacks for the Taliban, but his exact ties to the militia's leadership are unclear.
Meanwhile, an explosion occurred outside a NATO base in Kabul early Saturday. No one was injured in the blast, said Maj. Toby Jackman, spokesman for the NATO-led force. It was unclear if it was a bombing or rocket attack by insurgents.
(Afghanistan has seen a surge in violence this year, particularly in the south, where rebel Taliban supporters have stepped up attacks, as Afghan and NATO-led troops try to drive insurgents out of their safe havens. (Oud Nieuws)
The worsening security situation contributed to a fourfold rise in polio cases this year, almost entirely in the insurgency-wracked south, Afghanistan's Health Ministry said Saturday.
Afghanistan has suffered 24 cases so far this year, all but one in the south, compared to nine cases during the whole of 2005, all in the south, said Dr. Shukrullah Wahidi, who oversees the ministry's polio program. He blamed the region's rising violence, difficulty in establishing health services and poor communication with community leaders.
(The fighting has been the bloodiest since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001. In a two-month offensive in the south that ended early this month, the coalition claimed to have killed, wounded or captured some 1,100 militants. (Oud nieuws)
But Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, told the German news weekly Der Spiegel that the numbers do not reflect success.
"The Taliban fighters' reservoir is practically limitless," Koenigs told the magazine in an interview. "The movement will not be overcome by high casualty figures." (Want vrijwel iedereen in die region is Taliban.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060812/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan_152
3 coalition soldiers die in Afghanistan (Boston Globe)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/08/12/3_coalition_soldiers_die_in_afghanistan/
Mission in Nuristan
Their mission is to crush militants loyal to the Hezb-e-Islami militant group of renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the toppled Taliban regime and remnants of al-Qaida.
(Tussenkopjes plaatsen)
U.S. forces push further into Afghanistan
8. August 2006, 06:41
By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers have (1) established their northernmost base in Afghanistan, (2) pushing further up the border with Pakistan to block militants crossing jagged mountains, (3) train fledgling local forces and (4) build support among wary tribesmen. In doing so, they have put themselves further into harm's way, drawing rocket fire from enemies on surrounding mountain peaks and losing at least seven soldiers since February, including their previous commanding officer in a May 5 helicopter crash in bad weather.
NATO helpWith NATO taking charge of security in southern provinces wracked by a Taliban resurgence, the U.S. is increasingly able to focus on stabilizing the dangerous east, extending the Afghan government's authority there and hunting for fugitives like Osama bin Laden.
KunarMore than 600 U.S. soldiers have deployed to Naray, a clutch of mud-brick and stone villages inhabited by 30,000 Pashtun tribespeople in Kunar province — a virtually forgotten corner of Afghanistan at the northern end of the belt of eastern provinces patrolled by U.S. forces.
Bin Laden is familiar with Kunar's mountainous terrain from the days of the war against the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The province was once a stronghold of Afghan warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose Hezb-e-Islami faction has long held ties with bin Laden and now fights the government of President Hamid Karzai.
American officials say heavily armed remnants of Hekmatyar's group are still active in Kunar and receive aid from militants crossing into Afghanistan from lawless tribal regions in Pakistan. They are also supported by holdouts from the Taliban (regime, which was toppled in late 2001 by U.S.-led forces for harboring bin Laden.) (Overlap) But Lt. Col. Michael Howard, commanding officer of Forward Operating Base Naray, said the main challenge facing his American forces is not the virtually impossible task of sealing the frontier from militant incursions but winning the trust of villagers from five local tribes.
"You have a group of people who for years have had one option, and that was to cower to, or be a part of the likes of the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami or al-Qaida. That was their only choice," said Howard, who runs the 3rd Battalion, 71st Cavalry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y. "The greatest challenge is making folks realize that things have changed." Some soldiers in Naray have recently arrived from southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where NATO has deployed thousands of forces in recent months — mostly British and Canadian — and last week took over command from the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition. More U.S. soldiers are expected to be shifted to the east in the months ahead.
NuristanIn recent weeks, U.S. soldiers broke ground further north in Kunar's neighboring province of Nuristan, establishing a tiny outpost and trying to launch road, water and power projects in Kamdesh, an isolated village surrounded by sheer cliffs and often shrouded by low clouds. Poor weather regularly closes Kamdesh to Chinooks and other U.S. supply helicopters, cutting it off from vital supply routes for several weeks at a time.
On Monday, about 100 U.S. and Afghan forces launched an operation in Nuristan province to destroy a suspected anti-craft gun operated by militants and threatening American helicopters flying between Kamdesh and Naray, said Capt. Dan Walker of the 4th Battalion, 25th Artillery Unit of the 10th Mountain Division. Soldiers were setting up howitzers and mortars, and infantry were preparing to move on foot into mountains to locate the high-powered weapon. Few foreigners have ventured into this isolated region of Afghanistan. Even in Naray, the only foreigners villagers had previously seen were hashish-smoking Soviet troops, who were based here briefly during the Russian occupation, and U.S.-funded Arab, Chechen and Pakistani mujahedeen who would cross from Pakistan to fight against them.
(Flash-back to Russian occupation)"The Russians would come knocking on our doors with guns looking for hashish whenever they ran out," said Naray's most prominent tribal elder, white-bearded Rahmat Noor, in his fortified home built on the eastern bank of the roaring Kunar River. "We all made jihad (holy war) against the Russians because we didn't like them. They were occupiers," Noor said. "But we like the Americans. They came to help. They built a mosque on their base for our soldiers." Following the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent hunt for bin Laden, a U.S. Special Forces contingent established a small outpost in Naray. The 10th Mountain Division base has grown around it and has employed more than 1,000 local people. About 160 Afghan soldiers live side-by-side with U.S. forces at the base, training to use American weapons, like Howitzer cannons.
(Help locals)
A medical facility run by the 758th Forward Surgical Team out of Fort Lewis, Wash., and medics from the 3-71 Cavalry's reconnaissance unit have treated dozens of Afghans. They include a 12-year-old Kamdesh girl, Aleema, whose right foot and bottom half of her shin were blown off by a land mine planted by tribesmen along a tribal border. "These people first understood that we were here to kill them and the kids would stand off, but now we treat them, give them teddy bears and soccer balls," said cavalry medic Sgt. Michael La Clair, 38, of San Diego. "They know now that we are here to help."
http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1008
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