Taliban Raids Widen in Parts of Afghanistan

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=68&e=2&u=/nyt/20030901/ts_nyt/talibanraidswideninpartsofafghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (news - web sites) The Taliban, backed by new volunteers from Pakistan, are regrouping and steadily expanding their attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan, their former stronghold, according to Afghan officials, Western diplomats and captured fighters.


The clashes have increased since mid-August, particularly in Zabul Province and other parts of the southeast.


In the region generally, Western diplomats said, the Taliban have changed their tactics. Not only are American forces being attacked, but so are Afghan policemen, aid workers and midlevel officials. The United Nations (news - web sites) reports that attacks on aid workers, most of them Afghans, have "intensified significantly" since May.


The intermittent assaults have made the south and the east an unpredictable mosaic of territory that is safe one day and dangerous the next. As a result, United Nations officials say the pace of reconstruction and investment is slowing and that the populace, nearly all of whom are ethnic Pashtuns, is becoming more alienated from the government in Kabul and its American backers.
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[4dsc]

1. Another QUAGMIER!!!

EOM!!

[NNN0LHI]

2. If this is what Afghanistan looks like after 2 years of US occupation...

...I really wonder what Iraq will look like in another 2 years.

Don

[varun]

3. Taliban has actually spread

into Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir...

...we defeated Taliban...yeah right!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. This is odd, I remember Rummy saying that the Taliban was no longer

a real problem. Rummy wouldn't tell a fib, would he?

[cthrumatrix]

5. Question...is the Unocal pipeline up and running ?

Besides a planted 911 passport..I heard that this was a main reason for going in..