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  • 'Dozens die' in Afghan clashes

    'Dozens die' in Afghan clashes

    Nato forces in southern Afghanistan say they have killed about 70 Taleban fighters following an ambush.

    Troops fought a four-hour battle after a large-scale insurgent attack near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand Province, the alliance says.

    British troops recently brokered a truce with rebels to allow local forces in Musa Qala to police the area.

    The attack may fuel suspicions the Taleban use Musa Qala as a safe haven, a BBC correspondent in Kabul says.

    A Danish patrol serving alongside British troops came under fire outside Musa Qala and called in air support, a Nato spokesman said.

    Between 70 and 80 suspected Taleban died in the battle and no Nato troops were killed, he added.

    There was no independent confirmation of the death toll. The attack happened outside the area of Musa Qala covered by the deal struck in October between British forces, Taleban fighters and local elders.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6204866.stm
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
    I wonder if they'd be able to save the province.

    80 militants is a good show, though.

    12 out of the 17 districts in that Province support the Taliban at the grassroot levels.

    The deal they did with the tribal elders has been violated by both the sides by now with such sporadic fighting. But it did show nato's first acceptance of "local" pashtun police.

    The interesting thing is they chose to deal with Musa Qala, a village almost 100% Pashtun and thus with one of the highest support for the Taliban.

    Inevitably, sooner or later Nato would get off its high horse of idealism and we'd see more and more of such deals.

    Comment


    • #3
      Afghan army takes fight to Taliban's heartland
      By Gethin Chamberlain, Sunday Telegraph
      Last Updated: 1:28am GMT 17/12/2006Page 1 of 2

      In pictures: Afghan soldiers prepare to ambush Taliban
      The Taliban were out there, somewhere in the darkness to the north of the jagged peaks of Masum Gar, just the other side of the Arghandab river. They had fired one rocket. Now they were ready to fire again.

      The light had faded about an hour earlier. Inside the compound only a few tiny *****s of light, spilling through the gaps in the doorway leading into the warren of vaulted underground cellars, betrayed the presence of the Afghan soldiers and their Canadian counterparts.

      Suddenly, two huge explosions shook the night. And on the other side of the river to the north, where a moment earlier two men had been crouching down preparing the rocket, there was nothing left but the craters where the shells fired by the Leopard tank had detonated.

      The Taliban are back. They were driven west from their traditional stronghold in the Panjvai area of southern Afghanistan by Afghan and Canadian troops in Operation Medusa three months ago. Now they have returned from neighbouring Helmand.

      Afghan police and army commanders report that about 250 hard-core fighters have moved into the area, including men from Chechnya, Pakistan and Syria, and at least three suicide bombers are feared to be preparing attacks. The Afghans blame Pakistan for failing to secure its borders, but this was always the Taliban's heartland.

      The Afghan army is determined to stop them and with the help of Canadian forces, it is finally taking the fight to the Taliban. Afghan and Nato forces are to launch Operation Falcon's Summit – or Baaz Tsuka – against them in the next few days in an attempt to show local people their determination to defeat the Taliban. The Sunday Telegraph travelled with units of the Afghan National Army (ANA) as it geared up for a new offensive.

      About 250 Afghan soldiers and a similar number of Canadians are dug in at Masum Gar – 20 miles west of Kandahar and scene of the heaviest fighting during the opening phase of Medusa – bringing in tanks and setting up heavily armed observation posts on the hills around the forward operating base.

      It was from one of those observation posts that Afghan soldiers managed to locate the Taliban fighters on Monday night, moments after a rocket had been fired in the direction of the main base.

      In the radio room of the headquarters, inside an old house set into the ground at the heart of the base, French, Dari, Pashtun and English voices spilled out of the radio sets stacked on the trestle tables lining one wall. Bare bulbs cast a dim yellow light across the room.

      Over the radio came the message from the observation post that two men had been seen on the far bank of the river, apparently setting up another rocket. The Afghan signaller pulled on a cigarette while his senior officer spoke over the radio to the men on the hill.

      In the Canadian headquarters about 50 yards away, they were also mulling over the information. The fighting had emptied civilians from the area; there was little doubt that the men were Taliban. The tank fired once, missed, and fired again. The second time it hit its target.

      Only four days earlier, 14 Taliban had been killed when they attempted to ambush a joint Afghan and Canadian patrol in countryside to the west. The Afghans and Canadians work closely together, but the Afghans have begun taking the lead on operations only recently.

      Previously they worked with and were trained by US special forces; now the Canadians have attached small teams of their soldiers to each Afghan unit, to offer advice and assistance. The Canadians say they have been impressed by the Afghan army's enthusiasm for the fight. They are led by experienced officers and make good individual soldiers, although there is still work to be done on co-ordinating their resources and establishing a reliable supply chain.

      Relations between the Afghan security forces are more strained. At a meeting between the ANA and the local police chief, Col Hafizala Besmila, last week there was talk of working together to stop three suicide bombers thought to be preparing attacks in the town. But afterwards the ANA commander, Major Abdul Samad, told the Canadians he did not want police manning checkpoints into the town. "They will take money from people," he said.


      Capt Gul: 'When we capture the Taliban we punish them'


      One subject that unites everyone involved in the fight against the Taliban, however, is frustration at Pakistan. "Only once we have warned off Pakistan will we be safe," said Major Samad. "Pakistan is training Taliban in compounds there." The soldiers tell the same story. "Pakistan has the places to train the Taliban and then they send them to Afghanistan," said 20-year-old Sgt Naqib Ullah. "It is not a secret."

      Capt Wali Gul, the veteran operations officer, said they had the evidence to back up their claims. "We have captured several Taliban and they told us that they were trained in Pakistan," he said. The men were sitting in the radio room, Sgt Ullah fresh-faced, a hat pulled over his ears to keep out the cold, AK47 clips stuffed into the pockets of his flak jacket; Capt Gul, 55, short and wiry, with a gold tooth that gleamed when he grinned. Neither man was from Kandahar; very few in the army are.

      "When we capture the Taliban we punish them," said Capt Gul. "We punch and slap them. They are scared and they think we will kill them." Instead, he said, they handed them to Afghan military intelligence. He was not sure what happened afterwards.

      "We have captured people from Chechnya and Arabs. We hand them to the government," he said. "Maybe they are in Cuba," he added referring to the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.

      Capt Gul has been in the army for 25 years. He sees his wife and nine children once every two months when he goes home to Khost. Recently, he said, his men had caught a number of Taliban who admitted crossing into Kandahar from Pakistan and thought they were fighting a holy war.

      On an outcrop overlooking Panjvai, Abdul Ghany was preparing to pack up work for the day. He and his friends had spent the past couple of days filling sandbags for a new Afghan army observation post for 500 Afghanis each (about £5). "When we finish our work we cover our faces," he said. "The Taliban have our names and they say if we work here they will slit our throats."

      Most of the people did not want the Taliban, he said. But he had a wife and a baby to support: what could he do? "I go home and close the door and I don't go out at night, but I am a poor man and we must work for our families."

      Last week Pakistan denied again that the Taliban were using its tribal areas as a safe haven, but one senior US diplomat in the region told The Sunday Telegraph that there were serious problems in the lawless areas of Waziristan, where the US believes Osama bin Laden is hiding. "We would like to see significant development so people think there is an alternative to the islamists, but security is a problem," the diplomat said. "We are building schools in the tribal areas but the Taliban kill the teachers and assassinate the tribal leaders who criticise them."

      Standing next to the gun emplacement at his observation post, Capt Safil Ullah shrugged. "Most of the Taliban come from Pakistan," he said. "We want to find their bases but how can we? We can't go to Pakistan."
      To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

      Comment


      • #4
        Cdn. troops launch artillery barrage in Panjwaii

        Updated Tue. Dec. 19 2006 8:39 AM ET

        CTV.ca News Staff

        Heavy, sustained fire from Canadian artillery and light armoured vehicles pounded a militant stronghold in southern Afghanistan early Tuesday.

        A platoon of light armoured vehicles and a troop of tanks rumbled out of the forward operating base in the Panjwaii district, reports The Canadian Press, with the sound of 50-calibre machine guns, tanks and artillery echoing through the area within minutes.

        Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant indicated Monday that Canadian troops were about to join fellow NATO soldiers in Operation Baaz Tsuka (Falcon Summit), an offensive battling the Taliban.

        As part of the mission's first phase, information pamphlets were dropped throughout the Panjwaii district warning Taliban forces to leave or face the consequences.

        CTV's Murray Oliver, in Afghanistan, said NATO is battling two types of Taliban -- the hard-core Jihadists and locals who could be convinced not to fight. He said NATO hopes to push out the hard-core fighters while persuading the locals to give up their arms.

        The locals "could be persuaded if they can see the interest for their community to put down their guns, pick up their tools and go back to living a normal life," said Oliver.

        Grant, commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said he hoped the mission would "achieve the aim of dislocating the Taliban and have the village elders take more responsibility for influence and security."

        "Sometimes they (local fighters) are referred to as Tier-2," said Grant. "I've also heard them described as the Afghan equivalent of European soccer hooligans."

        "There's not much else to do. They get paid pretty well by the Taliban. We're just trying to see if we can find an alternate lifestyle for them."

        Afghans murdered

        Meanwhile, Taliban militants beheaded a man and fatally stabbed another, hanging his body from a tree in an apparent warning to villagers not to give government or NATO information about Taliban activities, a man who witnessed the incident told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

        Villager Lal Jan said the militants brought a young man to Talukan village's central market in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday, then stabbed him.

        The militants told villagers that the men had been spying on the Taliban, and said the killings were a lesson for others co-operating with the government or NATO forces, he said.

        They hanged the stabbed man's body from a tree and beheaded another man, he said.

        Government and NATO officials could not immediately confirm the killings.

        This weekend in Kandahar province, coalition troops seizing weapons caches containing mines and explosives, NATO said Monday in a statement.

        During a clash Sunday in Sperwan Ghar district, coalition troops had to call in air strikes. Four insurgents were killed and three coalition troops were wounded over the weekend, said NATO.
        To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

        Comment


        • #5
          Kabul quiet after Special Forces clear out suicide cell

          The Associated Press

          TAGAB VALLEY, Afghanistan — Hundreds of Taliban fighters had massed just 60 miles north of Kabul in this isolated valley, where militants trained suicide bombers who launched a deadly wave of attacks in the Afghan capital this fall.

          Military officials feared a bloody winter campaign in Kabul, an extension of an unprecedented bombing spree that’s seen 115 suicide attacks across Afghanistan this year.

          But the capital is now quiet. While the southern city of Kandahar reels from a recent series of suicide attacks, Kabul hasn’t seen such a bombing in over two months.

          U.S. Special Forces say a little-publicized Afghan-U.S. operation in the Tagab Valley north of the city busted three suicide training compounds and scattered hundreds of Taliban fighters.

          “There was definitely the potential for Tagab to provide that launch board, if you will, for additional attacks,” U.S. Army Special Forces Lt. Col. Lynn Ashley said this week. “A threat to Bagram, a threat to Kabul,” he said, referring to the main U.S. base in Afghanistan.

          Between 300 and 500 militants had been able to gather so close to the capital partly because of the region’s rough terrain, Ashley said. Minor operations had been conducted but never a full-scale push, allowing fighters to create suicide training compounds.

          But a weeklong operation early last month scattered the militants and has brought security to the valley. Gov. Abdul Satar Murad, the governor of Kapisa province, said about 20 fighters — some of whom had come from Pakistan — were killed and that the rest left the region.

          After launching five suicide attacks in Kabul during the first eight months of the year, fighters had stepped up their offensive, detonating eight suicide bombs in September and October, said Maj. Dominic Whyte, a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.

          Two attacks in particular set residents on edge and raised the specter of Baghdad-type violence: an attack Sept. 8 near the U.S. Embassy that killed 16 people, including two U.S. soldiers, and a bombing near the Interior Ministry Sept. 30 that killed 12 Afghans and wounded 40.

          The violence has, at least for now, subsided in Kabul — even as militants have recently launched seven suicide attacks within 11 days this month in the Kandahar region, the former seat of the Taliban militia that was ousted from power in late 2001 but has bounced back this year, threatening Afghanistan’s new democracy.

          “What we had predicted was the intensity of suicide bombings was going to pick up throughout the winter months in Kabul,” Ashley said. “What we think is that by us denying them that safe haven over the winter that it will definitely lessen their ability to mass when they come out in the spring like they normally do.”

          About 250 U.S. special and conventional forces along with more than 800 Afghan police and army personnel launched the offensive in early November.

          Murad was closely involved in its planning and execution, fueling its success and cutting down on civilian casualties, Ashley said. As part of a hearts-and-minds campaign, medics gave free care to hundreds of Afghans and passed out food supplies.

          The U.S. has since built a small military base on a high plateau at the top of a long, winding dirt road on the valley’s northern edge. U.S. soldiers on a security patrol there last week marveled at how much work has been done on the road recently.

          The $3 million road project had been delayed because of the security threat. Other projects have benefited from the increased security, including a new cell phone tower, Ashley said.

          Murad said there have been no attacks on police posts in Kapisa since the operation.

          “Tagab was a key base for the Taliban, where they made homemade bombs and gave suicide attackers training,” Murad said. “Coalition forces and the Afghan army and police have regular patrols now, and I’m sure the Taliban will not come back.”

          The Afghan-U.S. cooperation during the operation was hailed as a model of success by Gen. David Richards, the top NATO general in Afghanistan, and by Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry.

          Afghan officials “needed to take ownership and they needed to do most of the piece to liberate the valley,” Ashley said. “Our special forces teams enabled that to happen through their expertise and through close-air support.”

          Jittery nerves remain in Kabul after the fall bombings, though they have calmed somewhat. Residents are aware the attacks could start again.

          “The situation has improved, but still we are afraid because the enemy, whenever it finds an opportunity, it will do something,” said Faruz Ahmad, a 44-year-old money changer.
          Ashley is hopeful the fighters won’t return.

          “You try to clear the majority of them out, whether they choose to leave or through the engagement,” he said. “As the people realize the government of Afghanistan is there to stay, they won’t accept the Taliban back.”
          To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

          Comment


          • #6
            Road warriors

            Our engineers on the move

            By DOUG BEAZLEY


            It's one and a half kilometres of dust and gravel, running straight as a pool cue through the Arghandab River valley in the Panjwayi district.

            To Lieut. Anthony Robb, 24, of the 23 Field Squadron Combat Engineers, it could well be the most precious section of dirt in all Afghanistan.

            "When you consider all the bloody work we had to do during Op Medusa just claiming this ground, it's pretty important to us," he said, looking to where the flat stretch of dirt road turns past the town of Pashmul.

            Route Summit is more than a road - it's a promise. Right now, NATO forces are moving through Panjwayi district in an effort to flush out the Taliban in an operation dubbed Baaz Tsuka - "falcon's summit."

            The aim of Baaz Tsuka is to clear the region of insurgents, allow the locals to return to their homes and their lives, and build contacts between them and the Afghan National Army and police so that Afghans can defend their own ground. The aim of Route Summit is to rebuild the region's economy and give security forces a safe corridor.

            The two operations are co-dependent; one can't work without the other. And right now, Route Summit depends on the skills and courage of Canadian engineers.


            "Building roads is only one part of what we do," said Robb. "We build bases, disarm mines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Route Summit is putting all our skills to the test."

            When it's completed (the target date is sometime early next year), Route Summit will connect the Panjwayi district with Highway One in the north.

            VITAL CONNECTION

            Highway One connects Kabul and Kandahar City - it's the most important road in all of Afghanistan, a sort of central Asian Trans-Canada.

            The Canadians are building 1.4 km of the route, south of the river, at a projected cost of slightly more than $500,000 US. It's about one-fourth complete.

            Germany is paying to pave another 3.2 km, and the Americans have promised to build the bridge over the Arghandab. Right now the Canadians are taking the risks, directing earth movers and local labour under the constant threat of rocket and small arms fire and hidden land mines.

            On Dec. 16, Pte. Frederic Couture of the 2nd Van Doos regiment based in Valcartier, Que., was seriously injured after stepping on a land mine less than a kilometre away. He was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition.

            "We're always digging up old rocket warheads, artillery shells," said Sgt. Rene Grignon of 23 Field Squadron.

            GOING SMOOTHLY

            "So far, things are going very smoothly. We have very good security and the war sort of goes on around us. The Taliban targets (forward operating base Ma'sum Ghar) over there, mostly, so we can concentrate on our work."

            Route Summit started under fire. The road was plotted and cleared by Canadian troops during Operation Medusa in September, as a combat corridor.

            "The existing roads in the area were too narrow for our vehicles, and had compounds right up next to them. Too many spots for ambushes," said Maj. Todd Scharlach, operations officer for the Canadian task force.

            "The idea was to make the road as straight as possible, and to clear enough area around it to make it safe. It's going to be paved, which will make it very difficult to lay (mines) under it."

            In the longer term, the hope is that Route Summit will revitalize the local economy by giving area farmers access to markets in Kandahar City and Kabul.

            They'll be able to get better prices for the local staple crops: grapes, wheat ... and marijuana.

            "Well, yes, marijuana is a local cash crop," said Scharlach. "Obviously that's not what the road is being built for. And we hope someday that crop will be replaced with others. But the purpose of the road is to support the area economy.

            "We're not over here to do drug eradication or to enforce Canadian law. That's not the mission."

            www.canoe.ca


            ====
            Wait Canada has a military? And having this military it has engineers?
            To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

            Comment


            • #7
              Canadian troops surround Taliban
              NATO forces leave Afghan insurgents 2 choices: Surrender, or fight way out

              Brian Hutchinson
              National Post, With Files From the Canadian Press

              Saturday, December 23, 2006

              http://www.canada.com/components/pri...1-36d115ecca48

              HOWZ-E MADAD, Afghanistan - There is no place to hide, and nowhere to run for the 700 to 900 Taliban insurgents now squeezed into a box near here by NATO forces.

              They only have two options: Surrender, or attempt to fight their way out.

              Such is the situation in and around Howz-e Madad, a dusty farming village 40 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

              A week has passed since NATO and Afghan national security forces launched Operation Falcon's Summit, a massive demonstration of military might and discipline aimed at protecting Howz-e Madad from Taliban fighters to the south, and putting the insurgents in a quandary.

              Once tightlipped about their objectives, and their chances of success, Canadian officers leading their army's effort in the campaign are practically boastful of its swiftness and its efficacy. "This is the first time we've projected (this) much combat power forward," said Canadian battle group commander Lt.-Col. Omer Lavoie. "(NATO) and Afghan forces are surrounding them, 360 degrees."

              The Taliban are hemmed inside 10 square kilometres of mud fortresses and walled farm compounds, terrain that is well-suited to their guerrilla tactics, but which also makes it difficult -- if not impossible -- to escape.

              As Lt.-Col. Lavoie noted with satisfaction, British and U.S. troops sit approximately 10 kilometres south of Howz-e Madad.

              More British soldiers line the west, sealing that corridor, and Canadian combat teams rolled on Wednesday through Howz-e Madad.

              About 30 vehicles and hundreds of soldiers now hold the northern flank. Canadian tanks and light-armoured vehicles are spread out there, in a giant circle, ready to attack fleeing insurgents.

              The vehicles and weaponry are a menacing presence that can be seen for several kilometres, in all directions.

              To the east, running in a straight line to the Arghandab River, is impenetrable Route Summit, the 4.5-kilometre roadway established in September, during Operation Medusa.

              Five Canadian soldiers lost their lives during that two-week campaign, and dozens more were injured. Hundreds of Taliban were killed.

              Prime Minister Stephen Harper remained steadfast in his defence of military operations in Afghanistan yesterday.

              Mr. Harper told a Calgary-based radio program the United Nations and the entire international community want Canadian troops in the war-torn country.

              And he said the soldiers still believe in the mission. "If they're willing to take the real bullets, we can take the rhetorical bullets back here at home," Mr. Harper said.

              Route Summit is a distinct and well-protected eastern border the Taliban has dared not cross.

              Now that line has shifted, another 10 kilometres west -- to Howz-e Madad.

              The village is small, consisting of perhaps 30 homes and, save for a large blue-and-white mosque, lacks any distinguishing features.

              Under different circumstances, the insurgents might surge forward from the south and launch an attack on Howz-e Madad itself, in a vain attempt to inflict the maximum possible harm on the maximum number of people, even though such a mission would be suicidal.

              CanWest News Service followed a section from Charles Company, Royal Canadian Regiment, as it established a strong cordon on the village's southern flank. The soldiers met no resistance as they drove their LAVIII to the village boundary. In fact, they were met with smiles, hot tea and candies.

              It helped that the Canadians had come with gifts: Containers of farming implements, and $50,000 in cash that was soon sprinkled around Howz-e Madad.

              Operation Falcon's Summit succeeded Operation Medusa; it was not meant to duplicate it, especially not the violence that defined it.

              The primary objective, soldiers can recite, is to help civilians and protect them from the Taliban, and to do it within 48 hours of the first Canadian deployment.

              Isolating the Taliban to the south and, by surrounding them on all sides, creating an impenetrable box, is described as a secondary benefit.

              Meanwhile, during operational briefings, engaging the enemy unless first provoked is declared off limits.

              The 48 hours are now up, and it would appear Operation Falcon's Summit worked -- Howz-e Madad is safe.

              But the Taliban are ready for a fight.

              They fired the first shots on Thursday night; two 107-millimetre rockets blasted past the Charles Company platoon cordon set up just south of Howz-e Madad.

              The rockets came from a compound one kilometre away, where up to 35 Taliban remain huddled, using women and children as human shields.

              The Afghan National Army responded with machine-gun volleys, but no one was hurt on either side.

              The Canadians did not fire a single shot. And they didn't fire early yesterday morning, either, when one private doing guard duty swore he had spotted a Taliban fighter running about 100 metres from the Canadian position.

              "I could have killed him," the soldier said to his mates later on. "I bet he was planting IEDs on the road. I could have got him."

              He was ordered not to shoot. "It would have ruined more than just my day if that guy was not a Taliban, and we shot him" explained Lt. Ray Corby of Fergus, Ont. "One dead civilian and this whole operation is "fu--ed."

              An hour later, Lt. Corby -- the 25-year-old platoon leader -- received new information: Down the road, in their compound, the Taliban were assembling missiles.

              He ordered his men to don their flak jackets and helmets and brace themselves for an attack.

              It didn't come. But the Taliban are surrounded. They have taken innocent people hostage. No one expects them to surrender.

              Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's top soldier, has already started visiting troops overseas, arriving aboard the patrol frigate HMCS Ottawa in the Persian Gulf yesterday.

              He plans to fly into Afghanistan on Christmas Eve and visit troops stationed in the main Canadian base in Kandahar as well as in the capital of Kabul.
              _________________
              To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

              Comment


              • #8
                UK Troops Battle Taliban

                http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...246866,00.html

                Updated: 16:05, Wednesday January 10, 2007

                More than 100 elite British troops in Afghanistan have fought a furious four-hour battle at close quarters with the Taliban.

                The company of Royal Marines were ambushed at dawn as they built checkpoints to keep insurgents away from a town in the Helmand province.

                The rebels had been hiding in trenches and compounds just 40 metres away.

                The force included marines from J Company of Plymouth-based 42 Commando and from Arbroath-based 45 Commando.

                They were helped by Danish and Estonian troops and the Afghan National Army.

                The fight began at 6.45am after the British force went to an area 5km from their base at Camp Price, near Gereshk, as part of Operation Bauxite, to install permanent vehicle checkpoints.

                The security measures are being introduced at the request of locals to stop the Taliban coming into their town and also to keep the British base out of range of rebel mortars.

                Up to 50 Taliban fighters attacked the multinational forces from irrigation ditches near the hamlet of Habibolah-Kalay.

                During the battle the Taliban leapt up in groups of four to open fire within a few yards of the British troops.

                Major Ewen Murchison, the commander of J Company who led the battle, said: "That is one of the fiercest fights we've been in to date in terms of both the weight of fire that was coming our way and the proximity of the Taliban to my own troops.

                "We went in at first light and the fire fight started at about 6.45am.

                "We were under heavy small arms, RPG and mortar fire.

                "There were 35 to 50 Taliban flying at us from numerous fire positions in and around the compounds and trenches employing their classic shoot and scoot tactics.

                "During the course of the four hours I used the full range of military weapons available to me."

                British troops responded to the Taliban ambush with small arms and machine guns, before resorting to mortars and artillery.

                When this failed they deployed shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles at the enemy compounds and then called in air strikes by Apache helicopter gunships.

                The battle climaxed with a raid by two Harrier GR7 jump jets, which dropped two 1,000lb bombs on the Taliban positions, finally ending resistance.

                Smoke from the battle could be seen 5km away at Camp Price.

                No one from the multinational forces was injured in the battle.

                It is not known how many Taliban were killed.

                As the Taliban fled, the British forces stormed the compounds where they found a bomb factory and weapons cache.

                Maj Murchison continued: "I conducted an incursion into one of the compounds and found AK variant weapons, RPG launchers, grenades and rudimentary IED bomb making equipment, batteries, wires and explosives, so a pretty good find from my perspective."
                To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

                Comment


                • #9
                  My good buddy is down for the weekend, he was telling me some stories from the guys who are coming back from afghanistan.

                  He told me, that his one buddy maning a post, when about 20 or so taliban guys ambushed them, and fired there RPG's, the Canadians replied with rockets of there own, apparantly it suprised the taliban fighters, who ran out from there hiding spot trying to run away, however they ran into an open field and a LAV was right there, and the LAV gunners chopped all 20 fighters to peices as they tried to flee in the open.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Canmoore View Post
                    He told me, that his one buddy maning a post, when about 20 or so taliban guys ambushed them, and fired there RPG's, the Canadians replied with rockets of there own, apparantly it suprised the taliban fighters, who ran out from there hiding spot trying to run away, however they ran into an open field and a LAV was right there, and the LAV gunners chopped all 20 fighters to peices as they tried to flee in the open.
                    Hehe... good show... Hats off to Candian commitment in Afghanistan...
                    Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
                    -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Canmoore View Post
                      My good buddy is down for the weekend, he was telling me some stories from the guys who are coming back from afghanistan.

                      He told me, that his one buddy maning a post, when about 20 or so taliban guys ambushed them, and fired there RPG's, the Canadians replied with rockets of there own, apparantly it suprised the taliban fighters, who ran out from there hiding spot trying to run away, however they ran into an open field and a LAV was right there, and the LAV gunners chopped all 20 fighters to peices as they tried to flee in the open.
                      Excellent.

                      Keep it up!

                      Give my regards to all Canadian soldiers that you meet.


                      "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                      I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                      HAKUNA MATATA

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        US victory linked to Pakistan


                        WASHINGTON: The US administration has been advised to put “pressure” on Pakistan to ensure that the Taliban find “no safe haven within its borders”, otherwise American plans to stem the growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan will have only limited impact.

                        According to Lisa Curtis of the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, the effectiveness of US policy towards Pakistan over the next few years will largely determine whether the US prevails in the global war on terror. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border area is one of the “most dangerous terrorist safe havens in the world”. She said although Musharraf deserved credit for apprehend hundreds of Qaeda operatives, the continued presence of the Taliban and Qaeda terrorists along the border posed a threat to American interests and the US relations with Pakistan.

                        “It would be politically risky for Musharraf to crack down on the Taliban as they were assisted by Pakistan security services in the 1990s, and still has close ties to some intelligence officers and religious parties. Musharraf has to contend with a growing perception that he is doing US bidding in the war on terror at the expenseof his country’s interests. US officials understand Musharraf’s constraints, but they are increasingly frustrated by the continued cross-border movement of Taliban forces.”

                        He said a recent bill wanted the US to condition military aid to Pakistan was unlikely to advance its objectives and could well backfire. She wrote, “Public debate on limiting US assistance to Pakistan could actually weaken Musharraf’s hand in convincing his military commanders that the US is a reliable partner. Islamabad has been most responsive in the past to targeted, hard-headed diplomacy. Only this type of tough diplomacy will persuade Islamabad that the US will remain in Afghanistan until the Taliban are defeated.”

                        She believes US officials should take a more direct role in mediating differences between Kabul and Islamabad. Part of this effort involves encouraging both sides to pursue the development of cross-border tribal jirgas. Failure to fully confront Pakistan’s reluctance to crack down on the Taliban would have disastrous implications for the war on terror, she added. khalid hasan
                        Do you subscribe to that?


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                        • #13
                          Ray Reply

                          Brigadier,

                          "Musharraf has to contend with a growing perception that he is doing US bidding in the war on terror at the expenseof his country’s interests."

                          And what are the interests of Pakistan that contravene this goal and make impossible Pakistan's active cooperation? How is Pakistan's public interest and global standing advanced by a populace expressing such resistance? To what worthy end-goal do they instead aspire? The permanent de-stabilization of modern Afghanistan to it's advantage as a strategic rear against India?

                          "'Failure to fully confront Pakistan’s reluctance to crack down on the Taliban would have disastrous implications for the war on terror', she added."

                          Hmmm...Confront is difficult to reconcile with the development of cross-border tribal jirgas, entirely helpful only if they reach concurrence to assist the removal of taliban/al qaeda sanctuary. OTOH, decidedly unhelpful if it further unites tribal opposition to both the Pakistani and Afghani governments, which is a quite likely outcome it might seem.
                          "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by S-2 View Post
                            And what are the interests of Pakistan that contravene this goal and make impossible Pakistan's active cooperation? How is Pakistan's public interest and global standing advanced by a populace expressing such resistance? To what worthy end-goal do they instead aspire? The permanent de-stabilization of modern Afghanistan to it's advantage as a strategic rear against India?
                            Exactly. Afghanistan had been for them, all thoughout the late 80s and 90s, ever since the Soviets left, an active Jehadi training and recruiting centre to wage a proxy war against India in Kashmir...

                            Hmmm...Confront is difficult to reconcile with the development of cross-border tribal jirgas, entirely helpful only if they reach concurrence to assist the removal of taliban/al qaeda sanctuary. OTOH, decidedly unhelpful if it further unites tribal opposition to both the Pakistani and Afghani governments, which is a quite likely outcome it might seem.
                            All those tribes are not pro-Taliban as they have been made out by Pakistan... as I had pointed out earlier on another thread, there are tribes like the Bangash and the Turi, which are anti-Taliban and pro-Northern Alliance.. however, instead of rousing these tribes against the Taliban, the Pakistani authorities chose to ignore them and concentrate on the tribes as if they are all pro-Taliban... secondly, the Taliban and AQ pretty much run their own odinance factories in Pakistan, and again, the Pakistanis choose to ignore them... Peshawar is still a major arms base for terrorists and Darra Adam Khel is still pretty much rolling out weapon stockpiles... Pakistan is just patiently waiting by until the ISAF and NATO troops leave, and then they can again go on and screw Afghanistan over again...
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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Canmoore View Post
                              He told me, that his one buddy maning a post, when about 20 or so taliban guys ambushed them, and fired there RPG's, the Canadians replied with rockets of there own,
                              CG I think?

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