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| Afghanistan |
| U.S. Jets Bomb Suspected Taliban Hideouts |
| 2003-08-28 |
| EFL U.S. fighter jets and helicopters bombed suspected Taliban hideouts Thursday in Afghanistan’s rugged southern mountains following intense battles between the insurgents and Afghan troops, officials said. Still going at it, keep the pressure up, boys. The troops were trying to flush out the Taliban from Zabul province when the guerrillas attacked with heavy machine guns in the Chinaran mountains, said Haji Granai, an Afghan military commander. The bodies of three Taliban members were found, and four Afghan soldiers were slightly injured, Granai said as explosions boomed in the background. Two U.S. bombers and two helicopters helped in the battle, he said. In fighting earlier this week, Zabul’s governor, Hafizullah Hashami, said about 40 Taliban and three Afghan soldiers were killed in the ongoing operation to clear guerrillas from the province. Khalil Hotak, the head of intelligence in Zabul, said troops were also searching village homes. He said the insurgents were being led by Mullah Arif, who’s in contact with the Taliban’s fugitive chief, Mullah Mohammed Omar. He gave no evidence to back his claim, saying only that he had intelligence information. Guess Omar is running the show from a safe location. A spokesman for Kandahar’s military chief, Mohammed Yaqub, said two other prominent Taliban commanders, Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Shafiq, were leading the fighting in the area. Two fighters arrested in the area two days ago told investigators they were recruited by the Taliban and fighters loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. They said they received $650 from the two groups, Hotak said. Advertising for fighters on MonsterJihadi.com. Also on Thursday, Col. Rodney Davis, spokesman for the U.S. military at Bagram Air Base, just north of the capital, Kabul, said a band of insurgents attacked coalition forces Wednesday near the village of Shkin in eastern Paktika province. The guerrillas fired small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the coalition soldiers. The insurgents fled toward the Pakistani border after coalition forces fired back and called in air support. No casualties were reported. The usual launch and run suspects. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #11 Zhang: Superior resources are almost ALWAYS why armies, especially armies from capitalist democracies, will easily prevail in such conflicts...You're right, it's not because of our hearts are pure...it's because we have a superior SYSTEM (economic, political, cultural) that incredibile resources and armies that are virtually unbeatable on the battlefield Victor Davis Hanson's Culture and Carnage book lays this out very very plainly. Well worth the read. |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-8-29 1:32:07 AM |
| #10 Dear Taliban, thank you for concentrating your forces. This isn't a mistake on their part. They can't help it. They can't attack coalition positions with just a handful of men, given that coalition troops have large amounts of prepositioned equipment and ammo, on-call air support and the ability to call up additional supplies at will. The Taliban are using classic guerrilla tactics, of the kind the Vietcong used during the Vietnam War, which consisted of using local numerical superiority and surprise attacks to overcome the firepower of spread-out American units. The Taliban are handicapped by two disadvantages - no jungle canopy to conceal their movements and on-call precision airstrikes for coalition forces. Superior resources are the reason why the Afghan troops allied with us are winning. And that is also the same reason why we're winning in Iraq. (Take it from me - while I'd like to think we're winning because of clean living and also because our collective heart is pure, that's simply not the real reason). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-8-28 6:06:26 PM |
| #9 Erik: They must be using runners. Elk-runners? Sorry, slow day :-) |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-8-28 3:14:31 PM |
| #8 I'm just wondering if the Afghans we trained started talking like us? I mean, snipe hunting, cleaning out the next of vipers, amongst other colorful language. Those Afghan soldiers have to be proud. Scared, too, but proud. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-8-28 12:58:28 PM |
| #7 Sounds like the Taliban got a little frisky after some previous successful ambushes. Thought that the time was right for taking the area over. Now, after the loss of a good number of gunnies, they will go back to Pak, lick their wounds, and resume small scale hits on |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-8-28 12:55:16 PM |
| #6 The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press agency quoted Afghan Colonel Qudratullah as saying he saw around 40 bodies on the battlefield in the Tangi Chinaran area of Dai Chopan district, part of Zabul province where the fighting has raged. Afghan officials had already claimed 70 Taliban losses in the first three days of fighting, as Afghan soldiers and small groups of U.S.-led special forces searched for up to 1,000 militants. While estimates vary, it could be the largest concentration of Taliban fighters since the hardline Islamic regime was ousted late in 2001, raising concerns that the movement has rallied support to undermine the U.S.-backed central government. Zabul governor Hafizullah told Reuters that at least four Taliban had been killed by around midday, before the heaviest clashes began. Asked about reports that the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar may be among the fighters, he replied: "I cannot tell you about that. I am not sure. I have not seen him with my own eyes." A Taliban official denied that the one-eyed Omar, wanted by the United States, was among the fighters. Hafizullah said Thursday's fighting began after noon (3:30 a.m. EDT) and was continuing late into the Afghan evening. "The bombing is also still going on," he said, adding that he knew of injuries to three Afghan soldiers. Dear Taliban, thank you for concentrating your forces. Signed, U.S.A.F. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-8-28 12:40:52 PM |
| #5 thought of that Erik, but that's not real efficient, time-wise. Maybe the runners are on the "Mullah Omar Holy Escape-Cycle"? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-28 11:59:39 AM |
| #4 Frank G wrote: ...but how can they communicate with security? A cell or satphone's gonna be a beacon for a Warthog and choppers They must be using runners. Erik |
| Posted by: eLarson 2003-8-28 11:22:39 AM |
| #3 Special ops ought to set up a toll-free sat phone porn line to keep the Talibs talking... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2003-8-28 10:54:00 AM |
| #2 Additional: A Taliban official denied on Thursday that the group's supreme ruler, Mullah Mohammad Omar, was in a region where U.S.-led forces have been pursuing fighters of the ousted regime. "He is somewhere else," Mullah Abdul Samad, a senior Taliban commander, told Reuters, when asked about a report that Omar was in Zabul province, where intense fighting has raged since Sunday. Samad, who spoke by satellite phone from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan, gave no other details about Omar. Samad said there were more than 1,000 well-equipped Taliban fighters in Dai Chopan district of Zabul with sufficient ammunition to fight for several weeks. Using islamic math, that means around 500 starving fighters. Ammo they got plenty of. Oh, and Abdul? Just keep talking on that sat phone. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-8-28 10:47:27 AM |
| #1 Omar's not gonna let himself, so holy and important and all, be anywhere near where he could be harmed...but how can they communicate with security? A cell or satphone's gonna be a beacon for a Warthog and choppers |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-28 10:47:25 AM |