NATO faces critical battle in Afghanistan

Cid_Yama · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 1:16 pm Post subject: Taliban Prison Break

The insurgents attacked with rockets, suicide bombers and an explosives-laden truck on Friday. Afghanistan's interior minister said Saturday the prison had held 1,005 prisoners -- including 398 Taliban. Most of the prisoners escaped during the attack.

Nine police officers died in the well-co-ordinated attack. The truck bomb attacked the front gates, a suicide bomber the back wall, while rockets were fired inside the institution's courtyard.

"Soldiers are desperately searching for prisoners that are still remaining in the city, but as of today, a lot of them have already fled Kandahar City."

NATO officials concede the Taliban's attack was a success.

"We admit it,'' said International Security Assistance Force spokesperson Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco. "Their guys did the job properly in that sense, but it does not have a strategic impact. We should not draw any conclusion about the deterioration of the military operations in the area."

Some prisoners stayed behind, either because they were injured in the blast or too old to flee. The number who stayed behind is estimated to be 80 to 200, O'Neill said.

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Among the escapees were about 350 Taliban members, including commanders, would-be suicide bombers and assassins, said the head of Kandahar's Provincial Council, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who is a brother of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

"It is very dangerous for security," Ahmed Wali Karzai said by telephone from Kandahar. "They are the most experienced killers, and they all managed to escape."

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said that the attack was carried out by 30 insurgents on motorbikes and two suicide bombers and that they had freed about 400 Taliban members, The Associated Press reported.

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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

Cid_Yama

Pakistan's former premier and a major partner in the ruling coalition Nawaz Sharif said Saturday President Pervez Musharraf could be hanged for declaring a state of emergency late last year and sacking of more than 60 judges. Musharraf declared the emergency Nov 3 when the Supreme Court was set to rule on his controversial re-election, in a move that turned him into a highly unpopular figure and caused the crushing defeat of his political allies in the Feb 18 general elections. Since then there have been rising calls for the beleaguered president to step down. "We asked you to respect the Feb 18 mandate and quit with honour, but you didn't," Sharif told a rally of some 40,000 protesters, which assembled in Islamabad demanding the reinstatement of deposed judges.

"You did not accept the verdict and now hear people have a new judgement for you," he said as the crowd chanted "hang Musharraf hang." "People do not want you to simply leave. They want you to held accountable," added Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a military coup in 1999.

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20080615/1506191.htm
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

Cid_Yama

Members of Pakistan's intelligence services and its paramilitaries are supporting Taliban insurgents who enter Afghanistan to attack US and NATO forces.

The study by the RAND corporation, funded by the US Department of Defense, finds that if Taliban bases in Pakistan are not eliminated, the forces supporting the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai "will face crippling long-term consequences in their effort to stabilize and rebuild Afghanistan."

The study, titled "Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan," says that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and paramilitary Frontier Corps "have failed to root out Afghan insurgent groups based in Pakistan and, in some cases, individuals from these Pakistani organizations have provided direct assistance to such groups as the Taliban and Haqqani network."

According to the report's author, Seth Jones, the Taliban and other groups "are getting help from individuals in Pakistan's government, and until that ends, the region's long-term security is in jeopardy."

Islamabad has signed a peace deal with pro-Taliban militants in the Swat Valley, about 99 kilometres (61 miles) from Afghanistan, which has seen soldiers leave the area and the rebels implementing Islamic Sharia law.

The Pakistani government is in talks with Al-Qaeda-linked leader Baitullah Mehsud, who has vowed to continue "jihad" (holy war) in Afghanistan.

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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

Cid_Yama

The Taliban claimed a victory over NATO on Wednesday saying it had foiled the capture of a Pakistan army post during clashes on the Afghan border overnight.

"The multiple Taliban groups operating on both sides, in the Afghan Kunar Valley and in the Mohmand Agency, spotted the NATO forces launched at Mohmand Agency's mountain top, Sarhasoko military post," said Taliban spokesperson Zubair Mujahid in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).

Mujahid is the spokesperson for Qari Ziaur Rahman, the Taliban commander in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nooristan.

"We found Pakistani troops struggling against the NATO forces, so we activated our network all over the area," he told AKI.

The US military confirmed on Wednesday that it had carried out an air strike on the border with Afghanistan which killed 11 Pakistani troops.

The Taliban claimed that the Pakistani security forces were attacked by NATO troops during the operation.

"Pakistani security forces were under siege and were almost forced to evacuate the military post by the NATO troops, when we opened fire on them from multiple positions," Mujahid told AKI.

"Our attack was so unexpected for NATO that they had to retreat."

The Taliban claim that the NATO forces also lost troops during the operation.

"The Pakistan Army lost 11 soldiers, Taliban lost 8 and NATO lost 20 soldiers during the operation," Mujahid told AKI.

"Once again it has been proven who is Pakistan's real friend and who is its real foe," said Mujahid.

"Had the Taliban-led resistance not been in place, Pakistan would be on the losing end because of a hostile neighbouring Afghanistan whose government is pro-India and pro-West," he said.

Pakistan's military condemned Wednesday's attack which it blamed on coalition forces.

"We have the right to protect our citizens and soldiers against aggression," the army's inter-services public relations said in a statement.

The statement said the clash in the Mohmand tribal region "had hit at the very basis of cooperation" between the allies in the war on terror.

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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

Cid_Yama

The leader of the pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, said on Wednesday that his group is ready to fight against Americans.

"We are ready to fight against the Americans and we are proud of the fact of that we are always their target," said Mehsud in an interview with the Arabic satellite TV network Al Jazeera.

"As a principle, we consider all Christians and Jews to be enemies," he said.

"We are strengthened by their threats and we feel proud that we are considered their enemies. Now we are ready and at any moment we can fight against them."

Mehsud also commented on the US fear that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could end up in the hands of the pro-Taliban militants.

"Pakistan should defend its Muslims through the use of the atomic weapon."

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Now that's one scary bad guy. Iregardless of whether they have large quantities of oil or not, shouldn't we be focusing our efforts there? After all, the whole point was to fight these guys, right? As least that's what the Bush Administration claimed.
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

SILENTTODD

For all the Brouhaha made by Tel Aviv and its vassal, the Bush administration, about an "Iranian" bomb. It seems to be forgotten there are already well developed Islamic bombs! They are in Pakistan today and probably match anything Israel has.

Anyone who doubts this, get a digital copy of the Scientific American cover article from December 2001, "India, Pakistan and the Bomb". Already over 6 years ago.

Listening to a regular Pacifica Radio program last year called 'Background Briefing', heard every Sunday in L.A. on station KPFK; I heard a retired state department hand make a comment on this. Said once Musharraf falls, there are at least 5 different major factions that will vie for power. His assessment was once Musharraf is gone; Pakistan could become the Sudan with Nukes!
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Skeptical scrutiny in both Science and Religion is the means by which deep thoughts are winnowed from deep nonsense-Carl Sagan

DantesPeak · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:44 pm Post subject: Re: Taliban Prison Break

Judging from the pictures, it must have been one heck of an explosion. I wouldn't be surprised if they found a number of prisoners dead in the rubble too.
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It's already over, now it's just a matter of adjusting.

WyoDutch

Don't the Islamic barbarians understand the efforts we're making to free Afghanistan from the yoke of Islamofascism and instill "Western values"???

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A string of lights spells out the name of the bar in the back of the basement in capital letters, PARADISE. A dozen Chinese women in skintight miniskirts and halter tops flit around clusters of beefy Western men and flirt in broken English.

Now and then, a man and woman climb the stairs to the upper reaches of the house, where Paradise does its real business.

Paradise is a brothel in an unmarked residential compound in an upscale Kabul neighborhood where prostitutes from China cater to Western men. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, thousands of Westerners working for security firms, companies and aid groups have poured into Afghanistan. Not long after came Chinese prostitutes, in some cases trafficked into the country.

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Be yourself... Everyone else is already taken.

3aidlillahi

WyoDutch,

From the COC:

vetusfirma

So are all you 'America is evil and should perish' guys going to help the taliban nuke the US. That is what you want, isn't it. Destroy the evil 'American way of life'.
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HOLDING THE CENTER

americandream

americandream

Stupid Brits partitioned secular India and created this monster, dumb yank went and fed the bugger with Jihad nonsense to defeat the Soviets. Now, look at the mess it is...and it's blimmin well armed with nukes! Talk about a geo-political fcuk up!
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Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!

Concerned · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 23, 2004 Posts: 1537

americandream

3aidlillahi