Afghani F.U.B.A.R.
Reversal for the American Army on the Afghan Front
By Marie-France Calle
Le Figaro
Tuesday 05 July 2005
The Taliban, who have redoubled the violence in Afghanistan since the spring, are now trying to muscle in on another warfare category, the war of information. At the end of last week, their spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, asserted that the rebels had "captured an American soldier alive" and killed "seven American spies." Then he added, "We shall soon broadcast videos of those killed and of the prisoner." These statements followed the two most bitter reversals endured by the American army in the Afghan theatre since the end of 2001: the disappearance, at the beginning of last week, of four soldiers who were part of a Special Forces reconnaissance team in Kunar province on the border with Pakistan; the loss of an MH 47 Chinook helicopter sent there to try to find them. The 17 soldiers on board the helicopter were killed. And the Americans do not exclude the possibility that the vehicle was shot down by an enemy rocket, as the Taliban had claimed.
Finally, new searches to find the Special Forces members bore fruit. Sunday night, an official of the Defense Department in Washington confirmed that one of the team's soldiers had been recovered - wounded, but alive - and a second "located." Yesterday evening, the BBC, citing military sources, announced that the two other soldiers from the lost team were dead. The American Army denied that, clarifying that searches continued.
It is becoming very difficult to get information on military operations. The Americans don't want to imperil the operation for recovering the lost soldiers. They also don't want to give very many details about Operation "Red Wing," launched during the spring in eastern Afghanistan. Observers deem that the Taliban have made a comeback in force after the winter break. They would be assisted by "foreigners," Pakistanis, but also "Arabs" from Bin Laden's movement and people from the former Soviet republics.
The announcement yesterday of the arrest by Kabul's intelligence services of four Afghan journalists who had left to cover the operations of American and Afghan forces in Kunar province following the Chinook helicopter crash will not help transparency. The Afghan reporters worked for foreign outlets: Radio Free Europe and a press agency the name of which was not released. Imprisoned at the end of last week, they are supposed to be brought back to Kabul after being interrogated locally.
One of the Radio Free Europe journalists asserts he was arrested after he went to a village that had been bombed Friday by American forces, a bombardment that occasioned a controversy. Friday, the Taliban Abdul Latif Hakimi had called foreign editors in Kabul to inform them that "twenty-five civilians, including women, children, and old people," had been killed in an American Army raid in Kunar province. Sunday, the governor of the province, Assadullah Wafa, assured that, "according to the information (he had), twenty Taliban militants had been killed," but no civilians. The same Wafa asserted yesterday to AFP: "Seventeen civilians were also killed." Which the Americans ended up acknowledging last night.
One thing is certain: at a little more than two months before the legislative elections scheduled for September 18, the Taliban seem better armed and better organized than they were before the Presidential election on October 9, 2004. Sunday, near their former fief of Kandahar, the Taliban assassinated a member of the Council of Ulemas, Mohammad Nabi Masah, who did not hide his sympathies for President Hamid Karzai. We are moving toward very high risk elections.
Link in headline.
By Marie-France Calle
Le Figaro
Tuesday 05 July 2005
The Taliban, who have redoubled the violence in Afghanistan since the spring, are now trying to muscle in on another warfare category, the war of information. At the end of last week, their spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, asserted that the rebels had "captured an American soldier alive" and killed "seven American spies." Then he added, "We shall soon broadcast videos of those killed and of the prisoner." These statements followed the two most bitter reversals endured by the American army in the Afghan theatre since the end of 2001: the disappearance, at the beginning of last week, of four soldiers who were part of a Special Forces reconnaissance team in Kunar province on the border with Pakistan; the loss of an MH 47 Chinook helicopter sent there to try to find them. The 17 soldiers on board the helicopter were killed. And the Americans do not exclude the possibility that the vehicle was shot down by an enemy rocket, as the Taliban had claimed.
Finally, new searches to find the Special Forces members bore fruit. Sunday night, an official of the Defense Department in Washington confirmed that one of the team's soldiers had been recovered - wounded, but alive - and a second "located." Yesterday evening, the BBC, citing military sources, announced that the two other soldiers from the lost team were dead. The American Army denied that, clarifying that searches continued.
It is becoming very difficult to get information on military operations. The Americans don't want to imperil the operation for recovering the lost soldiers. They also don't want to give very many details about Operation "Red Wing," launched during the spring in eastern Afghanistan. Observers deem that the Taliban have made a comeback in force after the winter break. They would be assisted by "foreigners," Pakistanis, but also "Arabs" from Bin Laden's movement and people from the former Soviet republics.
The announcement yesterday of the arrest by Kabul's intelligence services of four Afghan journalists who had left to cover the operations of American and Afghan forces in Kunar province following the Chinook helicopter crash will not help transparency. The Afghan reporters worked for foreign outlets: Radio Free Europe and a press agency the name of which was not released. Imprisoned at the end of last week, they are supposed to be brought back to Kabul after being interrogated locally.
One of the Radio Free Europe journalists asserts he was arrested after he went to a village that had been bombed Friday by American forces, a bombardment that occasioned a controversy. Friday, the Taliban Abdul Latif Hakimi had called foreign editors in Kabul to inform them that "twenty-five civilians, including women, children, and old people," had been killed in an American Army raid in Kunar province. Sunday, the governor of the province, Assadullah Wafa, assured that, "according to the information (he had), twenty Taliban militants had been killed," but no civilians. The same Wafa asserted yesterday to AFP: "Seventeen civilians were also killed." Which the Americans ended up acknowledging last night.
One thing is certain: at a little more than two months before the legislative elections scheduled for September 18, the Taliban seem better armed and better organized than they were before the Presidential election on October 9, 2004. Sunday, near their former fief of Kandahar, the Taliban assassinated a member of the Council of Ulemas, Mohammad Nabi Masah, who did not hide his sympathies for President Hamid Karzai. We are moving toward very high risk elections.
Link in headline.
posted by Christy at 3:24 PM
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