"KABUL, Afghanistan -- Twelve trucks, most of them carrying fuel to a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan, were burned by an angry crowd early Sunday less than 30 miles from Kabul, according to local officials and NATO reports. ...
"People are fed up with these night raids and willful operations," said Mohammed Sharif, a teacher in Pul-i-Alam, the provincial capital, which is near the villages raided by the joint forces.
"They are raiding houses during the night, killing innocent people," he said. "Sometimes they kill opposition people as well, but usually they are harming ordinary and innocent people."
Five Afghan insurgents, as well as two American soldiers, were killed Friday night in the first raid of the weekend, according to a NATO report. The second raid, on Saturday night, killed three people, ... One of those killed was the headmaster of the high school at Poorak, a neighboring village; he was also a cleric."
On the front page of the same edition:
click here
Elite U.S. Units Step Up Effort in Afghan City Before Attack, with illustrating photo of an American military convoy
by Thom Shanker, Helene Cooper and Richard A. Oppel Jr.
Small bands of elite American Special Operations forces have been operating with increased intensity for several weeks in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's largest city, picking up or picking off insurgent leaders to weaken the Taliban in advance of major operations, senior administration and military officials say.
The looming battle for the spiritual home of the Taliban is shaping up as the pivotal test of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy, ... It will follow a first offensive, into the hamlet of Marja, that is showing mixed results. ... Two months after the Marja offensive, Afghan officials acknowledge that the Taliban have in some ways retaken the momentum there, ... "If you are planning for operations in Kandahar, you must show success in Marja. You have to be able to point to something. Now you don't have a good example to point to there."
The question is whether military force, softened with appeals to the local populace, can overcome a culture built on distrust of outsiders, including foreign forces and even neighboring tribes.
"Large numbers of insurgent leadership based in and around Kandahar have been captured or killed," said one senior American military officer ... But, he acknowledged, "it's still a contested battle space."
Stepped up bombings and attacks against foreign contractors, moderate religious leaders and public officials are viewed as proof that Taliban insurgents are trying to send a message to Afghan tribal leaders not to cooperate with the American offensive. Last Monday night, gunmen killed Azizullah Yarmal, the deputy mayor of Kandahar, as he prayed in a mosque in the city.
American and NATO officials are not eager to speak publicly about one of their biggest challenges: the effect of the continued presence of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Afghan president's brother and head of the Kandahar provincial council, whose suspected links with drug dealers and insurgents have prompted some Western officials to say that corruption and governance problems have led locals to be more accepting of the Taliban.
... Rather than civil assistance, many residents fear only military action. Already in Kandahar, many locals view Afghan and NATO checkpoints and convoys as great a danger on the roads as Taliban bombs and checkpoints.
"Instead of bringing people close to the government," cautioned Haji Mukhtar, a Kandahar Provincial Council member, more combat "will cause people to stay further from the government and hate the foreigners more."
... an increase in operations will put more residents in the crossfire. ... Recent episodes of civilian casualties, including an attack on a bus, have undermined trust for NATO operations".
- The NY Times puts it mildly, as it has for nearly nine years of reporting on the Afghan reaction to the U.S./ NATO war of occupation.
"People are fed up with these night raids and willful operations," said Mohammed Sharif, a teacher in Pul-i-Alam, the provincial capital, which is near the villages raided by the joint forces.
"They are raiding houses during the night, killing innocent people," he said. "Sometimes they kill opposition people as well, but usually they are harming ordinary and innocent people."
Five Afghan insurgents, as well as two American soldiers, were killed Friday night in the first raid of the weekend, according to a NATO report. The second raid, on Saturday night, killed three people, ... One of those killed was the headmaster of the high school at Poorak, a neighboring village; he was also a cleric."
click here
Elite U.S. Units Step Up Effort in Afghan City Before Attack, with illustrating photo of an American military convoy
by Thom Shanker, Helene Cooper and Richard A. Oppel Jr.
Small bands of elite American Special Operations forces have been operating with increased intensity for several weeks in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's largest city, picking up or picking off insurgent leaders to weaken the Taliban in advance of major operations, senior administration and military officials say.
The looming battle for the spiritual home of the Taliban is shaping up as the pivotal test of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy, ... It will follow a first offensive, into the hamlet of Marja, that is showing mixed results. ... Two months after the Marja offensive, Afghan officials acknowledge that the Taliban have in some ways retaken the momentum there, ... "If you are planning for operations in Kandahar, you must show success in Marja. You have to be able to point to something. Now you don't have a good example to point to there."
The question is whether military force, softened with appeals to the local populace, can overcome a culture built on distrust of outsiders, including foreign forces and even neighboring tribes.
"Large numbers of insurgent leadership based in and around Kandahar have been captured or killed," said one senior American military officer ... But, he acknowledged, "it's still a contested battle space."
Stepped up bombings and attacks against foreign contractors, moderate religious leaders and public officials are viewed as proof that Taliban insurgents are trying to send a message to Afghan tribal leaders not to cooperate with the American offensive. Last Monday night, gunmen killed Azizullah Yarmal, the deputy mayor of Kandahar, as he prayed in a mosque in the city.
American and NATO officials are not eager to speak publicly about one of their biggest challenges: the effect of the continued presence of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Afghan president's brother and head of the Kandahar provincial council, whose suspected links with drug dealers and insurgents have prompted some Western officials to say that corruption and governance problems have led locals to be more accepting of the Taliban.
... Rather than civil assistance, many residents fear only military action. Already in Kandahar, many locals view Afghan and NATO checkpoints and convoys as great a danger on the roads as Taliban bombs and checkpoints.
"Instead of bringing people close to the government," cautioned Haji Mukhtar, a Kandahar Provincial Council member, more combat "will cause people to stay further from the government and hate the foreigners more."
... an increase in operations will put more residents in the crossfire. ... Recent episodes of civilian casualties, including an attack on a bus, have undermined trust for NATO operations".
- The NY Times puts it mildly, as it has for nearly nine years of reporting on the Afghan reaction to the U.S./ NATO war of occupation.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
2
