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| Afghanistan |
| 'Taliban surrounded' in Kandahar fight |
| 2007-10-31 |
| Afghan, U.S. and Canadian troops have surrounded a pocket of some 250 Taliban fighters who have commandeered people's homes in villages just outside Afghanistan's major southern city, officials said Wednesday. Hundreds of Afghans — their cars and tractors piled high with personal possessions — were fleeing the battleground about 15 miles north of Kandahar city. The provincial police chief said the combined forces have killed some 50 Taliban in three days of fighting. Three police and one Afghan soldier have also died, Sayed Agha Saqib said. "The people are fleeing because the Taliban are taking over civilian homes," Saqib said. "There have been no airstrikes. We are trying our best to attack those areas where there are no civilians, only Taliban." Saqib said 16 suspected Taliban have been arrested during the operation. The fighters moved into the Arghandab district of Kandahar province this week, about two weeks after the death of a powerful tribal leader, Mullah Naqib, who had kept the Taliban militants out of his region. "He was a good influence for his tribe. He was supporting the government," Saqib said. "After he died the Taliban were thinking they would go to Arghandab and cause trouble for Kandahar city. But now they're surrounded and they're in big trouble. We are capturing and killing them and I don't think it will cause any problem for Kandahar." Still, hundreds of Afghan villagers were fleeing the area in the middle of harvest season, leaving pomegranate crops at a prime picking time. |
| Posted by: |
| #12 The eradication program is run by the state departement not the military or the agricultural guys. Ah! That explains why there's no eradication program. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-10-31 22:55 |
| #11 We kill them in big batches and they just keep coming. When do they give up? Ever? They give up before we do, Jonathan. Defeat is not an option. |
| Posted by: Kirk 2007-10-31 20:31 |
| #10 We kill them in big batches and they just keep coming. When do they give up? Ever? |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2007-10-31 19:35 |
| #9 Talibunny a go go. Another happy story the traitors in the msm won't report. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-10-31 18:24 |
| #8 That is a little easier said than done. They plant the opium in rows between the pomegrantes and the wheat. The only spray vehicles they are using are ATV size and the booms are only 10'. There are also environmental rules so no agent orange. The eradication program is run by the state departement not the military or the agricultural guys. |
| Posted by: Thrairt Oppressor of the Lichtensteiners6029 2007-10-31 17:24 |
| #7 We either burn/eradicate the opium crop or this is only going to get worse. Short term pain, long term gain. Idiotic that we have not done so yet. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2007-10-31 16:51 |
| #6 The insecurity in the south has also fueled an explosion in Afghanistan's opium crop, source of most of the world's heroin. In Kabul, the U.N. anti-drug chief warned that a "tsunami" of opium will hit Afghanistan's neighbors if border security remains weak and officials fail to intercept the drug, whose profits fund terrorism. Maybe the Talibunnies are trying to confiscate the opium. I would like to suggest that US or Canadian troops reinforce the Afghan lines to prevent the Talibunnies from breaking out of the encirclement. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-10-31 15:07 |
| #5 This isn't gonna be your - "surrounded by Saudi Arabian security forces" fiasco. Goodbye Taliban "fighters". Spit. |
| Posted by: Mark Z 2007-10-31 15:06 |
| #4 Pomegranates? What about the poppy crop. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2007-10-31 14:35 |
| #3 Launch the D-9's forthwith.... |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2007-10-31 13:54 |
| #2 Excellent, excellent indeed. |
| Posted by: Hunting B. Easy 2007-10-31 13:52 |
| #1 And again, the rest of the NATO troops have to sit on their hands and watch, the poor, frustrated dears. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-10-31 13:51 |