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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| U.S. Warns Afghan Villages Over Kidnapped GI |
| 2009-07-18 |
| At least two Afghan villages have been blanketed with leaflets warning that if an American soldier kidnapped by the Taliban two weeks ago isn't freed, "you will be targeted." Villagers near the border of two volatile provinces, Ghazni and Paktika, tell CBS News' Sami Yousafzai that aircraft dropped the leaflets during the past several days. Military spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias confirmed that the leaflets were produced at Bagram Air Base, the primary U.S. installation in Afghanistan, and distributed in the region. She told CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark, however, that they were distributed by hand, not aircraft. The papers show on one side an image of a soldier with his head bowed so that his face is not visible (above). A message in the local Pashtun language over the image says, "If you do not free the American soldier, then..." On the other side, an image shows Western troops breaking into a house. The rest of the message is printed across the photo: "...you will be targeted". According to the military, the translation of the last word in the sentence is "hunted," not targeted, but CBS News' independent translators say the word also means "targeted". Mathias told Clark that another leaflet was dropped from aircraft in Ghazni and Paktika which notifies locals that a U.S. soldier is missing and requests any information on his whereabouts. Mathias' colleague, Lt. Com. Christine Sidenstricker, said no threats are made in the leaflet which was air-dropped. The image shows an unidentified U.S. soldier (not the one who was kidnapped) sitting on the ground and talking to Afghan children. On the front it reads: "One of our American guests is missing." On the back: "Return the guest to his home. Call us at...," according to the military's translation. A Taliban source in Paktika claimed on Wednesday that U.S. forces had already launched three attempts to find the missing soldier in different locations near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, "but all three raids were ineffective and the solder is in a safe and secure protected area controlled by the Taliban." A militant commander in southern Afghanistan said a decision to keep the American hostage "in good shape of health" had come from the Taliban's military council, or Shura. The commander, and the other Taliban source in Paktika, indicated that a ransom may be sought for the soldier's safe return, but the commander warned there was also an order to kill the man if there was any kind of operation to rescue him or an escape attempt. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 Actually, offering informants a couple hundred thousand, asylum for them and their immediate family, and a DC cab drivers permit would sweeten the pot. Oh, and a pony too. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-07-18 22:07 |
| #2 According to the military, the translation of the last word in the sentence is "hunted," not targeted, but CBS News' independent translators say the word also means "targeted". Had there been an independent translator said the word meant 'buggered', CBS would've hired him too. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-07-18 14:36 |
| #1 Gasp. Imagine, in a part of the world where power and seriousness are, naturally, the only human behaviors anyone has known in all history and pre-history, actually implying a serious attitude to using power to secure your objective. Surely the staff schools and Kilcullen can come up with something more elegant than this? |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2009-07-18 13:17 |