bad news from afghanistan

[lord of the mark]

From Reuters :

american soldier, afghan civilians wounded in friendly fire incident

Apparently happened during search for Taliban who attacked the police stations.

Read between the lines: Incident was in Paktika province, one of the southeastern provinces with the most problems, and happened a few miles from the Pakistan border. It still appears the taliban has NO bases inside Afghanistan, and continues to rely on sanctuary in Pakistan to launch raids.

[Jon Miller]

I don't remember starting this thread

Jon Miller

[MRT144]

interesting

[Sava]

There are daily bombings in Afghanistan that the Western media doesn't report.

[Proteus_MST]

Not really new, that large Parts of the Pakistan Population and even parts of the Pakistan Military are suppotive of the Taliban and even Al Quaida.

Also not new that the Influence of the Govrnment in the Mountainous Regions of Pakistan which border Afghanistan is near Zero and the People there are also Supporters of the Taliban.

After all it was also Pakistani Quran-Schools where most of the Taliban have been educatd and then sent to Afghanistan to free the Country from the Sowjets (and later to fight the Northern Alliance)

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Proteus_MST
Not really new, that large Parts of the Pakistan Population and even parts of the Pakistan Military are suppotive of the Taliban and even Al Quaida.

Also not new that the Influence of the Govrnment in the Mountainous Regions of Pakistan which border Afghanistan is near Zero and the People there are also Supporters of the Taliban.

After all it was also Pakistani Quran-Schools where most of the Taliban have been educatd and then sent to Afghanistan to free the Country from the Sowjets (and later to fight the Northern Alliance)

BTW Proteus :

this from DW, via Afghan online press

"The German government aims to send troops to the Afghan province before winter, the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Referring to government sources, the paper wrote that a first Bundeswehr contingent including civilian reconstruction helpers could be sent to the northern Afghan city of Kundus in the autumn. The intended strength of the deployment, 200 to 300 soldiers, could be reached by early 2004 at the soonest.

The paper said the mission would almost certainly be approved as soon as a U.N. mandate was issued. The German government would reportedly lobby the U.N. for an extension of the current mandate in September. "

[Dom Pedro II]

Khan believed the helicopter may have mistaken the civilians for guerrillas it has been pursuing since overthrowing the former Taliban regime in late 2001.

That's one hell of a chase! You'd think they would've run out of gas by now...

[Az]

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
BTW Proteus :

this from DW, via Afghan online press

"The German government aims to send troops to the Afghan province before winter, the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Referring to government sources, the paper wrote that a first Bundeswehr contingent including civilian reconstruction helpers could be sent to the northern Afghan city of Kundus in the autumn. The intended strength of the deployment, 200 to 300 soldiers, could be reached by early 2004 at the soonest.

The paper said the mission would almost certainly be approved as soon as a U.N. mandate was issued. The German government would reportedly lobby the U.N. for an extension of the current mandate in September. "

Yep, our Bundeswehr is very involved in Afghanistan,
although at the Moment AFAIK rather in the Vicinity of Kabul than
in any Provinces.
Due to this Fact we have only few Soldiers to date who returned home in Bodybags.

Maybe this will change (and the numbers of killed Bundesehr-Soldiers rise) if Struck (our Defense - Minister) really intends to send Troops into the Provinces.

Obviously there are already many people here in Germany who are against expanding the mission in Afghanistan and even our Non-Governmental humanitarian Organizations, whose workers in Kunduz should be protected by these Troops are against sending German Troops to Kunduz:

http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=36490

http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=36461

Dunno, on the one Hand i think it may be necessary to send Soldiers to these Regions (and german Soldiers shouldn´t be exempted from this Duty) on the other Hand it may be right what the Spokesperson of the Aid-Organizations says, that it might be more difficult to gain confidence of the Afghans, if the Aid-Workers in Kunduz always appear escorted by heavy armed Soldiers

But I am rather one of those People who are Pro expanding the Mission to Kunduz.

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Dom Pedro II



That's one hell of a chase! You'd think they would've run out of gas by now...

[Mr. President]

What's with all these stupid open-ended missions? America's got no exit strategy for Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush promises to stay until they have functional democracy . . .

. . . even though it took six thousand years to create functional democracy in the West.

[Lord Merciless]

Originally posted by Mr. President
What's with all these stupid open-ended missions? America's got no exit strategy for Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush promises to stay until they have functional democracy . . .

. . . even though it took six thousand years to create functional democracy in the West.

It's far cheaper to station our troops there than to let the place become a wretched hive for terrorists again.