Afghan President defiant after recent violence
In a link sent to us by Ex-PH2 from MSN, violent attacks against Afghans is on the rise this week as we get closer to the much anticipated withdrawal date for US troops. 21 people were killed in separate attacks, the count included two US troops.
The Americans were killed Friday in a bombing of a convoy near the Bagram military base, north of Kabul, the capital. The fatalities were initially reported as two NATO soldiers, but a U.S. defense official in Washington confirmed the two were Americans, according to Reuters.
On Saturday, Atiqullah Raufi, the head of the Supreme Court’s secretariat, died after gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire as he left his house in the Afghan capital for work Saturday morning, killing him instantly, said Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai.
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Late Saturday afternoon, gunmen — again on motorbikes — fatally shot 12 workers clearing unexploded mines in the volatile southern province of Helmand.
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By nightfall, the death toll rose again when a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a bus carrying Afghan soldiers in Kabul, killing six people and wounding more than 10, including a young girl, Stanikzai, the police spokesman, said.
The Associated Press reports that the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, condemned the attacks and pledged to remain resilient in the face of the increasing assaults;
In his speech Sunday, Ghani offered no specifics about his plans to combat the surging insurgents. His administration has embarked on a top-to-bottom review of the country’s military and security strategy, promising to remove provincial governors and other security officials.
The uptick in Taliban attacks come after Ghani signed a bilateral security agreement with Washington and a status of forces agreement with NATO that his predecessor Hamid Karzai declined to sign. U.S. President Barack Obama also has approved an expanded combat mission authorizing American troops to engage Taliban insurgents — not just al-Qaida — and to provide air support when needed.
Well, at least, for a change, the Afghan government isn’t blaming the US for deaths of Afghans as with the previous administration there. According to Iranian propaganda machine, Press TV, more than 8,000 Afghan civilians have been murdered by Taliban there, this year.
UPDATED: From the Department of Defense; the two US soldiers who were killed yesterday were with the 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. They were: Sgt. 1st Class Ramon S. Morris, 37, of New York, New York; and Spc. Wyatt J. Martin, 22, of Mesa, Arizona.
Category: Terror War
Just curious. Has Karzai left A-stan yet?
I give it six months: either we ramp up our troop strength there again or the Taliban takes over the country and runs us all out with our collective tail between our legs.
As has been said before, “Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires.”
We cleaned up that country and kicked out that Taliban once before, at the request of the Afghan government. The second we left, the Taliban ran right back in.
Tell me, why should we spend one more cent or one more llfe on a country that can’t keep those creepcrawlers outside its borders?
When are we getting our people out of that pisshole country? When?
UPDATED: From the Department of Defense; the two US soldiers who were killed yesterday were with the 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. They were: Sgt. 1st Class Ramon S. Morris, 37, of New York, New York; and Spc. Wyatt J. Martin, 22, of Mesa, Arizona.