tagged w/ War in Afghanistan
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A Modernized Taliban Thrives in Afghanistan
Recent Events in Afghanistan
KABUL, Sept. 19 -- Just one year ago, the Taliban insurgency was a furtive, loosely organized guerrilla force that carried out hit-and-run ambushes, burned empty schools, left warning letters at night and concentrated attacks in the southern rural regions of its ethnic and religious heartland.
Today it is a larger, better armed and more confident militia, capable of mounting sustained military assaults. Its forces operate in virtually every province and control many districts in areas ringing the capital. Its fighters have bombed embassies and prisons, nearly assassinated the president, executed foreign aid workers and hanged or beheaded dozens of Afghans.
A Modernized Taliban Thrives in Afghanistan
Recent Events in Afghanistan
KABUL,... more
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KABUL, Afghanistan: Militants killed two U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan on the anniversary of 9/11, making 2008 the deadliest year for American forces in the country that sheltered al-Qaida while it plotted the terror attacks on New York and Washington.
The NATO-led force said one soldier was killed when insurgents attacked a compound. The separate U.S.-led coalition said a second service member died in combat. No other details were released, but a Western military official told The Associated Press that both troops were American.
Thursday's deaths brings to 113 the number of troops who have died in Afghanistan, surpassing last year's record toll of 111, according to an AP tally. Last year's count included one American killed just over the border in Pakistan.
Afghanistan was the launching pad for al-Qaida's terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In response, U.S. forces invaded in October 2001 and drove the Taliban out of power in a matter of weeks.
At a ceremony in Kabul commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks, Col. Cody Smith said the date is a reminder of the terror experienced by those killed in the U.S. attacks experienced.
"That is what drives me, to fight for freedom all over the world because those people that died were in terror of seeing the fire, of seeing ... their lives being taken from them," Cody said. "We should fight, so that freedom reigns and terror does not."
Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaida network, is believed to be in the lawless tribal belt on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Once derided as a ragtag insurgency after the fall of their regime, Taliban fighters have transformed into a fighting force advanced enough to mount massive conventional attacks. Suicide and roadside bombs have turned bigger and deadlier than ever.
KABUL, Afghanistan: Militants killed two U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan on the... more
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added this
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3 years ago
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The strategy in Afghanistan isn't working, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this is a war that can't be won. Although, no one has ever defeated the Afghan's keep up hope that this isn't impossible.The strategy in Afghanistan isn't working, but that doesn't necessarily mean... more
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American forces launched a raid inside Pakistan Wednesday, a senior U.S. military official said, in the first known U.S. ground assault in Pakistan against a suspected Taliban haven. The government condemned the attack, saying it killed at least 15 people.
The American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross border operations, told The Associated Press that the raid occurred on Pakistani soil about one mile from the Afghan border. The official didn't provide any other details.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry protested saying U.S.-led troops flew in from Afghanistan for the attack on a village in the country's wild tribal belt. A Pakistan army spokesman warned that the apparent escalation from recent foreign missile strikes on militant targets along the Afghan border would further anger Pakistanis and undercut cooperation in the war against terrorist groups.
The boldness of the thrust fed speculation about the intended target. But it was unclear whether any extremist leader was killed or captured in the operation, which occurred in one of the militant strongholds dotting a frontier region considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.
U.S. military and civilian officials declined to respond directly to Pakistan's complaints. But one official, a South Asia expert who agreed to discuss the situation only if not quoted by name, suggested the target of any raid like that reported Wednesday would have to be extremely important to risk an almost assured "big backlash" from Pakistan.
"You have to consider that something like this will be a more-or-less once-off opportunity for which we will have to pay a price in terms of Pakistani cooperation," the official said.
Suspected U.S. missile attacks killed at least two al-Qaida commanders this year in the same region, drawing protests from Pakistan's government that its sovereignty was under attack. U.S. officials did not acknowledge any involvement in those attacks.
But American commanders have been complaining publicly that Pakistan puts too little pressure on militant groups that are blamed for mounting violence in Afghanistan, stirring speculation that U.S. forces might lash out across the frontier.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American forces launched a raid inside Pakistan Wednesday,... more
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