Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Three British soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan when a U.S. aircraft supporting them in a battle against the Taliban dropped a bomb, the Ministry of Defense said on Friday.

The incident on Thursday takes the number of British deaths in Afghanistan since the Taliban was toppled in 2001 to 73.

Two other soldiers were injured.

The soldiers were on a mission to disrupt Taliban activity north west of Kajaki, in the lawless Helmand province.

“Their patrol was attacked by Taliban insurgents and during the intense engagement that ensued, close air support was called in from two U.S. F15 aircraft to repel the enemy,” the ministry said in a statement.

“A single bomb was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed all three soldiers, who were declared dead at the scene.”

An investigation into the incident has begun, the ministry said.

from Earth Times.org

Kabul - Shortly before the expiration of Monday’s deadline set by the Taliban threatening to kill the 22 remaining South Korean hostages the Afghan government has asked the rebels for two more days. “Our delegates are in discussions with them (the Taliban),” Mehrajuddin Patan, governor of the south-eastern province of Ghazni, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

“Our delegates are in talks with them to give us two more days whenever there is a result we will let you know .”

The latest deadline was set for Monday at noon (0930 GMT), though since the group of 23 was abducted on July 19, the Taliban has set several deadlines, but all expired without any breakthrough.

There has been no response from the Taliban regarding the time extension.

On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said that the government had been given a list of Taliban prisoners who could be exchanged for the hostages.

Also Monday, the body of the leader of the group was expected in Seoul. The kidnappers shot dead 42-year-old pastor Bae Hyung-kyu on Wednesday.

By AMIR SHAH

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police discovered the bullet-riddled body of a South Korean hostage Wednesday as the Taliban released eight other captives who were taken to a U.S. military base, officials said.

Because of a recent spike in kidnappings - including an attempt against a Danish citizen Wednesday - police announced foreigners were no longer allowed to leave the Afghan capital without their permission.

The male South Korean victim was found with 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, the region where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped last week, said Abdul Rahman, a police officer.

A police official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said militants told him the hostage was sick and couldn’t walk and was therefore shot.

read more at YAHOO

For this post I’ll go by my Mom’s words: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anthing at all.”

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber on foot killed and wounded some two dozen people outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target.

The blast happened near the first of several security gates outside the base at Bagram, north of the capital Kabul. Cheney’s spokeswoman said he was fine, and the U.S. Embassy said the vice president later met with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said 20 people were killed, but NATO said initial reports indicated only three were killed, including one U.S. soldier and 1 coalition soldier. NATO said 23 were wounded. It was unclear why there was such a large discrepancy in the reports.

Read more MSNBC

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Taliban have deployed 10,000 fighters for a spring offensive of “bloody attacks” against foreign troops in Afghanistan, a rebel commander said on Friday.

More than 4,000 people, a quarter of them civilians, were killed in fighting last year, the most violent year since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. NATO commanders and analysts warn this year could be just as bad or worse.

As the harsh winter snows melt, the insurgents have resumed their attacks, mostly in the south, where they have captured a major town and have threatened a key hydroelectric dam.

Mullah Abdul Rahim, the Taliban’s operational commander for southern Helmand province — the opium center of the world’s major producer — said militants would step up attacks in spring.

“As the weather becomes warm and leaves turn green, we will unleash bloody attacks on the U.S.-led foreign troops,” Rahim told Reuters by satellite phone from a secret location.

“Our war preparations, especially in southern Afghanistan and in Helmand province, are complete and for this our 10,000 fighters are ready to take up arms the moment they are ordered.”

Read more at Reuters

Incidents of civilian deaths in airstrikes and other military action by international forces in Afghanistan:

Oct. 26: Between 30 and 80 civilians are killed during NATO airstrikes in Panjwayi, a volatile district in southern Afghanistan, according to the Afghan government and villagers. NATO says its preliminary inquiry found 12 civilian deaths.

Oct. 18: Airstrikes by NATO helicopters hunting Taliban fighters destroy three dried-mud homes in Ashogho, in southern Afghanistan, as villagers sleep, killing 13 people.

May 21: U.S. warplanes hunting Taliban fighters bomb a religious school and mud-brick homes in the village of Azizi in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 16 civilians.

April 15: An airstrike in the eastern Kunar province bordering Pakistan kills seven.

July 2, 2005: A U.S. airstrike on a house in eastern Afghanistan killed as many as 17.

Jan. 17, 2004: An American airstrike on a village in Uruzgan province kills 10 civilians, including women and children, according to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Dec. 6, 2003: A U.S. airstrike, said to target a Taliban commander, kills nine children in an Afghan mountain village in eastern Ghazni province. The attack occurs the day after a U.S. raid on a suspected militant’s compound in eastern Paktia province killed six children.

April 9, 2003: A U.S. warplane, called in to support allied Afghans under fire near the Pakistani border, mistakenly bombards a home instead, killing 11 civilians.

July 1, 2002: A U.S. airstrike kills 48 people in attacks on five villages in Uruzgan province, Afghan officials said. A U.S. investigative report later confirmed 34 dead.

Source: current NYT/AP Headlines, but they want your info to read it. The article titled A Look At Civilian Deaths In Afghanistan is posted here in its entirety.

A very disturbing collection of photos purporting to be of Afghanistan war dead can be found here.
From this site: Please note that these pictures below represent less than 0.01% of the actual reality. About 99.99% has not been reported in pictures due to the continued bombing and finally the destruction of the Al Jazeera offices in Afghanistan.

A 2001 Guardian article about the U.S. bombing of Al-Jazeera offices in Kabul can be found here.

The BBC’s David Loyn had exclusive access to Taleban forces mobilised against British forces in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.

He answers some of your questions about his trip.

Q: In the UK, the Taleban are depicted as a harsh oppressive regime which ruled by fear. You associate closely with them. What are your feelings about them?
Raymond Mcalpine, Gravesend, UK

I am not sure about the word ‘associate’, which seems to imply approval, but if it means that I have spent a fair amount of time with them, then yes that is true, both in the late 90s and since.

As far as their regime was concerned, it is worth remembering that it was popular in many parts of the country - particularly the Pashtun rural areas in the south, although deeply resented in the north, the west and urban areas everywhere. It was popular because it was seen as not corrupt, and brought law and order so it was possible for Afghans to travel safely around the country in ways that have not been possible before or since. Their new leadership do admit that some mistakes were made in terms of the harshness of their rule, but they have not changed their profoundly conservative religious austerity, nor their desire to impose severe restrictions on women.

continue reading

Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent
14oct06

A CONTROVERSIAL peace agreement with Taliban’supporting militants in the rugged frontier region of Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding, emerged yesterday as the blueprint for a possible accord with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Following this week’s visit to Islamabad by General David Richards, NATO’s commander of coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan, it appeared the US and Britain had authorised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to attempt to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.
Before going to Islamabad, it had been suggested General Richards was preparing for a showdown with President Musharraf over alleged Pakistani double-dealing with the Taliban and al-Qa’ida through its top spy agency, the ISI.

It had even been reported he would take with him the address in the Baluchistan capital of Quetta where Taliban leader Mullah Omar is living, and demand Pakistani forces arrest him.

But far from criticising General Musharraf, it appears the Pakistani leader’s deal with Taliban’supporting tribal militants in the North Waziristan district of the North West Frontier Province could form the basis of an accord aimed at ending the insurgency and bringing the Taliban into the Government in Kabul.

Full article at the Australian
Then why not Hezbollah and Hamas?

Guess George and the gang didn’t like it that Cmdr. Swift did his job.

Passed over for Navy promotion, a Guantnamo lawyer who has served with distinction says he will defend Osama bin Laden’s driver in civilian life once he leaves military service.
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com
NEWARK, N.J. - The Navy lawyer who took the Guantnamo case of Osama bin Laden’s driver to the U.S. Supreme Court — and won — has been passed over for promotion by the Pentagon and must soon leave the military.

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, 44, said last week he received word that he had been denied a promotion to full-blown Navy commander this summer — ”about two weeks after” the Supreme Court sided against the White House and with his client, a Yemeni captive at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

Under the military’s ”up or out” promotion system, Swift will retire in March or April, closing out a 20-year career.

A Pentagon appointee, Swift embraced the alleged al Qaeda sympathizer’s defense with a classic defense lawyer’s zeal — casting his client as an innocent victim in the dungeon of King George, a startling analogy for the attorney whose commander-in-chief is President George Bush.

Read more at the Miami Herald

The French defense ministry on Saturday called for an internal investigation of the leak of an intelligence document that raises the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan a month ago but said the report of the death remained unverified.

“The information defused this morning by the l’Est Republicain newspaper concerning the possible death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed,” a Defense Ministry statement said.

The daily newspaper for the Lorraine region in eastern France printed what it described as a confidential document from the French foreign intelligence service DGSE citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

More here from the Associated Press

The situations are spiralling downward in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Yet these arrogant SOB’s won’t admit failure in planning or execution. When is enough going to be enough??????

The Taleban have ousted Afghan security forces from a district headquarters in the western Farah province after days of heavy fighting, police say.
The forces were besieged and support was unable to reach them, Farah police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib told the BBC.

The Taleban have fought fierce battles with Afghan and foreign troops this year, mostly in the south and east, in which hundreds of people have died.

The Farah attack has raised concerns of a new front opening up in the west.

More here