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| Afghanistan |
| Taliban Navy Loses Troop Transport |
| 2007-06-02 |
| Boat filled with Taliban sinks; 60 dead KABUL, Afghanistan - A boat crossing a river in Afghanistan's most dangerous province sank on Saturday, and at least 60 people were killed, including Taliban militants, the Defense Ministry said. Overloaded? Poorly maintained? Ran into a large piece of descending ordnance? 'Work accident'? while crossing the Helmand River, which snakes through Helmand province, the world's leading opium poppy region and site of fierce battles the last several months. Hundreds of Taliban insurgents are believed to be in Helmand. The Afghan army was investigating to see how many Taliban insurgents and how many civilians were on board, the ministry said. Why would civilians be traveling on the same riverboat with 'insurgents'? Because they are the 'camp followers' - the Taliban equivalent of the logistical 'tail', and as such are not truly civilians. The only other answer is they were human shields. Holy men needs lots of camp followers. Keeps them holy, and besides, they can wash the turbans. Elsewhere, suspected Taliban militants attacked a local police commander's home, killing five of his family members and sparking a gunbattle with police that left 10 insurgents dead, an official said. The attack in the southeastern province of Ghazni killed the commander's wife, two sons and two nephews, ... Different tribes as well as different 'sides'? If so, what are the relative strengths of the tribes? ... said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. The commander worked for Afghanistan's auxiliary police, a system of backup officers who supplement the country's regular police force. Taliban militants often target police and government officials. More than 1,900 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan officials. Maybe only a couple of hundred people, and 1700 Taliban? At a rally in Pakistan, a man described as the Taliban's new top field commander ... If he's the 'field' commander, what's he doing in Pakistan? Getting up to speed ... ... vowed in an audiotaped message to liberate Afghanistan from "American slavery," said Abdul Sattar Chishti, the cleric who organized the event. Chishti said more than 12,000 people listened to the speech by the brother of Mullah Dadullah, the top Taliban commander who was killed in a U.S. operation last month in southern Afghanistan. Another missed opportunity of a target-rich envronment. He said Dadullah Mansoor vowed to avenge his brother's death and those of others killed while fighting U.S., NATO and Afghan forces. "The blood of my brother will never go waste. We will never forget his sacrifices, and the role of other martyrs. We will complete Dadullah's mission by expelling Americans and liberating Afghanistan," Chishti quoted Mansoor as saying. It was not immediately possible to verify Chishti's claims about the rally at Killi Nalai, a village about 45 miles west of Quetta near the Afghan border. Although pro-Taliban elders have held similar rallies in northwestern tribal regions, protests the size of the one organized in Killi Nalai are rare. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #13 Been there, done that, out now, seen all the sea I care to see. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-06-02 09:58 |
| #12 AirForce is damn good, Army is excellent, but don't never, never, ever, ever, ever fuck around with boats. The USN is like own you from day 1. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-06-02 09:55 |
| #11 Typical Muzzie incompetence. No life jackets? No instructions? Oh well "Allah will provide'. (Enough water for all.) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-06-02 09:55 |
| #10 It used to. |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-06-02 09:30 |
| #9 Abu McHale |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-06-02 09:30 |
| #8 The Taliban has a navy? |
| Posted by: Raj 2007-06-02 08:48 |
| #7 60 of the worthless bastards drowned (which is a pretty frightening, not-too-quick death)? Awwwwwwwww - ain't that just too bad. It's a start.... [Say, can we provide then some more sabotaged "naval troop transports"? On the QT, of course.... :-D] |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-06-02 21:35 |
| #6 Sat "chishti" as fast as you can 10 times - by the end you'll be saying "shitty shitty shitty..." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2007-06-02 18:51 |
| #5 Dang Ima realize this is like the Austrian Navy. I'd insert Von Troop pic here only I can't find it. /sound of money |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-06-02 17:45 |
| #4 I'd guess overload. A boat that can safely transport 60 people with their stuff, and the crew, would be pretty big. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2007-06-02 13:05 |
| #3 Hey, I just had a brilliant idea. Let's teach the Afghan poppy farmers to grow gum arabic! OK, so we'll have to heavily subsidize them for a while, but it'll be cheaper than hunting down the poppy smugglers. *AND* it'll impoverish the Sudanese. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-06-02 12:25 |
| #2 Well, if the US didn't sink the boat, there probably weren't any civilians (or puppies or fluffy bunnies). Next time, have Ted Kennedy drive them across. |
| Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds 2007-06-02 11:11 |
| #1 They sank the TS Insh'Allah, ya say? Good-Oh!! Proving again that Archimedes' principles of bouyancy transcend all religions. *TS = Taliban Ship |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-06-02 11:07 |