Coalition launches attack in Afghan south

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060715/ts_nm/afghan_violence_dc;_ylt=AupBnBdHTesK13ckZqLfmYFZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--


Coalition launches attack in Afghan south

By Robert Birsel Sat Jul 15, 9:08 AM ET

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S., British and Canadian troops launched a pre-dawn offensive against Taliban guerrillas in
Afghanistan on Saturday, taking control of a southern district from militants and their drug-gang allies.


The attack was part of a big offensive foreign troops have launched in response to the most intense phase of violence by a resurgent Taliban across the south.

The surge in violence comes as a NATO peacekeeping force prepares to take over in the south from a U.S.-led coalition force at the end of the month.
......

"The purpose is to act against what we believe to be a massing of Taliban in Sangin," said the spokesman, Major Scott Lundy. Several thousand coalition troops were involved in the operation, he said. One had been wounded.

[still_one]

1. If we would have concentrated on Afganistan instead of

diverting resources to Iraq based on lies, perhaps bin laden would be dead, and we would be dealing with a much different situation in Afganistan

[bemildred]

2. Thought he said "Taliban in Saigon" there for a minute. nt

[daleo]

4. Talk about deja vu

It looks more and more like he could have said Saigon. Maybe we could just rerun the old news tapes from the 60's.

[Eugene]

3. Reuters: UK troops under fire in Afghanistan

UK troops under fire in Afghanistan
Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:14am ET

By Mirwais Afghan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) -

<snip>

Foreign troops are engaged in one of the biggest offensives against militants
since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, in the south where NATO is due to take
over from the coalition force at the end of the month.

British and Afghan forces came under heavy fire in Nazad town in Helmand province
on Sunday, days after nearly being overrun in an attack by 200 Taliban.

<snip>

In two separate raids late on Saturday close to Sangin district of Helmand province,
coalition and Afghan troops, backed by air strikes, killed 35 Taliban guerrillas,
Helmand's police chief said.

<snip>

In another attack, the U.S. military said a coalition soldier had died of wounds
suffered during a firefight with militants on Sunday in the southern province
of Zabul.

<snip>

Full article: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-16T151440Z_01_SP214844_RTRUKOC_0_US-AFGHAN-VIOLENCE.xml

[CHIMO]

5. Major military operation fails to find Taliban targets

Major military operation fails to find Taliban targets
It was the single-biggest Coalition operation in Afghanistan in three years.

KANDAHAR — Six hundred Canadian soldiers, working with U.S. infantry, early this morning put the squeeze on a Taliban stronghold in the badlands of Helmand Province so that British paratroopers could storm several compounds.

Intelligence considered highly reliable led Coalition forces to suspect there may be have been as many as 300 insurgents, including some mid-level Taliban leaders, holed up in the area.

But early reports, Coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy said today, suggest that against all predictions, insurgents may have opted not to make a stand this time, but rather melt away into surrounding districts, lending credence to the description offered by the senior Canadian official about the difficulty of fighting an insurgency moving on its home turf — "Like punching flies."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060715.wblatch0715/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

[bemildred]

6. Gee, who could have predicted this? nt