Three U.S. soldiers killed in Afghan clash

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL262024.htm

Three U.S. soldiers killed in Afghan clash

KABUL, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers have been killed in heavy fighting with Taliban guerrillas in northeastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

Three other U.S. soldiers and an Afghan colleague were wounded in the battle on Friday close to the border with Pakistan, when rebels attacked their patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.

U.S. forces called in artillery support to repel the attack.

"These soldiers were fighting extremists who are against progress and good governance in Afghanistan," the spokesman for U.S.-led coalition forces, Colonel Tom Collins, told reporters.

[blonndee]

1. Here's more on this story and context.

Thanks for posting this. Sigh.

U.S soldiers die in Afghan battle

Saturday, August 12, 2006; Posted: 8:38 a.m. EDT (12:38 GMT)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) --

<snip>

Separately, a highway police commander was killed by a blast on his way to work in eastern Lagman province, said Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanezai. The commander patrolled a major road between Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, which hug the Pakistan border, the spokesman said, offering no further details.

An explosion also occurred outside a NATO base in Kabul early Saturday. No one was injured in the blast, said Maj. Toby Jackman, spokesman for the NATO-led force. It was unclear if it was a bombing or rocket attack by insurgents.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in violence this year, particularly in the south, where rebel supporters of the toppled Taliban regime have stepped up attacks, as Afghan and NATO-led troops try to drive insurgents out of their safe havens.

<snip>

"The Taliban fighters' reservoir is practically limitless," Koenigs told the magazine in an interview. "The movement will not be overcome by high casualty figures."

from http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/12/afghan.attacks.ap/index.html

[acmavm]

3. I wonder if the families of these troops understand that they are being

fed into a fight that this administration ceased caring about years ago? If they understand that they don't even make a little blip on the pResident's conscience (which is the only word I can come up with but I do understand it's an oxymoron)?

In other words, I wonder if they realize that there's absolutely no reason for these people to have died because there is no longer any point or reason for us or NATO to be in Afganistan. We lost that fight years ago.

[peacebird]

2. How can they spew this crap with straight faces?

"These soldiers were fighting extremists who are against progress and good governance in Afghanistan," the spokesman for U.S.-led coalition forces, Colonel Tom Collins, told reporters."

:puke:

[bronxiteforever]

4. GOP incompetence leads to Afghanistan disaster

"Resources were not taken from Afghanistan" when the President secretly moved $700 million out of the Afghanistan spending bill.
- National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 4/18/04

FACT:

"In 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces Group were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq." Former top Pentagon officials said the President's Iraq focus "siphoned spy aircraft and light infantry soldiers" and "diverted enormous military and intelligence assets."
- USA Today, 3/28/04