Gunmen in Pakistan have torched a dozen trucks used for supplying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan. The attack took place near the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Posts Tagged ‘nato forces in afghanistan’
US apologises over civilian deaths in Afghanistan
February 24th, 2010 |
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The commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan has taken his apology for a weekend airstrike that killed civilians directly to the Afghan people. In a video, he pledged to work to regain their trust as Nato continues a mass offensive against the Taliban in the south. General Stanley
Less to cheer
February 23rd, 2010 |
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A series of setbacks for the coalition in Afghanistan
STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, the famously self-controlled commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, could be forgiven if he let off an expletive when he heard that soldiers under his command had killed 27 civilians on Sunday February 21st. A missile strike on a three-vehicle convoy in an isolated area on the edge of the southern province of Uruzgan wrecked General McChrystal’s vigorous efforts to persuade Afghans that foreigners in their midst are striving to implement a counterinsurgency doctrine of “protecting the people”.
That is not how it looked to Saeed Zahir Zia, a local police chief, who said that he spent all day picking through the devastation to recover body parts and corpses, many of which were so badly mutilated that they were unrecognisable. The victims included women and children and were from the Hazara ethnic group, which is famously anti-Taliban. …
NATO hails major Afghan operation
February 14th, 2010 |
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NATO forces in Afghanistan have hailed as a success the first phase of a major operation to oust the Taliban from two key districts of Helmand in the south. More than 15,000 US, UK and Afghan troops swept into Marjah and Nad Ali before dawn on Saturday. Officials said key day one objectives had been met.
Obama to discuss Af-Pak strategy in situation room
October 26th, 2009 |
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US President Barack Obama would hold his sixth Situation Room meeting with his national security team on Monday to discuss his administrations strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The meeting at the White House will be attended by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Advisor General James Jones, Deputy NSA Tom Donilon, [...]
ISI behind attack on Indian embassy alleges Afghan envoy to US
October 10th, 2009 |
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The blast on Indian embassy in Kabul that killed 17 people and wounded more than 60 on Thursday was sponsored by no unknown but very much distinguished Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, according to declaration of Afghan envoy to the US.
In an interview to a news channel, Afghan Ambassador to the US, Said T Jawad [...]
Afghan forces will be ready to take over from NATO by 2013
October 6th, 2009 |
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Afghanistan has said that its army would be ready by 2013 to handle complete responsibilities and to fight the Taliban without the direct help of international forces.
“Within the next four years we will take the complete responsibility of the security from the international community, and the international forces will stay on their bases to support [...]
McChrystal ball
September 1st, 2009 |
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Seeing a way ahead amid the Afghan gloom
ARRIVING at the end of the deadliest month yet for American forces in Afghanistan and amid allegations of widespread vote-rigging in its recent presidential election, General Stanley McChrystal’s review of the Afghan war comes at a gloomy time. In a strategic assessment this week, General McChrystal, the commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has described the situation on the ground as serious. He tempered his gloom by saying that the war is still winnable but argued that a new strategy is needed.
The thrust of General McChrystal’s argument is not new. He has stressed the need to protect the population, before hunting insurgents, for some time. Indeed, the Americans claimed to be doing exactly that long before he showed up in June. But his report puts greater emphasis than before on winning hearts and minds, for example by sharply curtailing air strikes. …
Afghan bomb kills four US troops
August 6th, 2009 |
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Nato forces in Afghanistan say that four American service members have been killed in a roadside bomb attack in the west of the country.
Two other roadside bomb attacks on Thursday in Helmand province left five civilians and five policemen dead.
The news comes as new Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen makes his first visit to the country.
In July Nato and US forces suffered their bloodiest month in the eight-year war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Wedding guests
A statement from Nato’s International Security Assistance Force said on Thursday: "Four Isaf service members died after their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device today in western Afghanistan."
It confirmed the dead were all Americans.
A separate statement confirmed another US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Earlier it was reported that another bomb had killed five people travelling to a wedding on a tractor-trailer in the Garmsir district of Helmand province on Wednesday.
Five other people were hurt.
Nato troops are conducting offensives in Helmand ahead of presidential and provincial council elections on 20 August.
Garmsir district is a militant stronghold where US marines have been trying to flush out insurgents ahead of the elections.
The Taliban have ordered a boycott of the elections and have vowed to block roads leading to polling stations. Analysts say violence is mounting as the elections draw nearer.
Five policemen were also killed by a bomb in the Nadali district of Helmand.
The interior ministry said the bomb exploded next to a police vehicle.
The blasts came as Mr Rasmussen visited Afghanistan. He is now in the southern city of Kandahar.
Mr Rasmussen said on Wednesday he was determined to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters make roadside bombs, known as IEDs (improvised explosive devices), from mines and explosives.
They are activated by pressure plates, trip wires or mobile phones.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Afghan blast kills UK bomb disposal soldier
July 21st, 2009 |
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Death brings to 187 the number of UK troops killed since US-led invasion began in 2001
A British soldier from a bomb disposal team has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.
The soldier from the joint force explosive ordnance disposal group was killed yesterday afternoon while on patrol in Helmand province. His death brings to 187 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.
Britain has increased its troop levels in Afghanistan to about 9,000 soldiers this year to improve security before next month’s presidential election.
Most of the recent British casualties have been caused by roadside bombs. The son of a British army general lost a leg in a blast on Saturday, the Sun newspaper reported. Captain Harry Parker, 26, was seriously ill in Selly Oak hospital, Birmingham, after suffering multiple injuries in the explosion.
His father is Lieutenant General Sir Nick Parker, the army’s third most senior officer who will become deputy commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan in September, the newspaper said.
Capt Parker was injured by a bomb as he led a foot patrol of the 4th Battalion The Rifles in Helmand.
Meanwhile, in eastern Afghanistan, at least eight people were killed when Taliban suicide bombers attacked government buildings in Gardez, the capital of Paktika province. Witnesses said at least five members of the Afghan security forces and three Taliban fighters were killed during gun battles in the town.
Two of the attackers were suicide bombers dressed in traditional female burkas, an Afghan working for a foreign aid agency told Reuters.
A number of government offices were hit in the attacks, the source said. The Taliban have carried out similar attacks recently in Paktika, the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere.
The violence has flared across Afghanistan since thousands of US marines and British troops launched major offensives in the southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand.
The offensives are the first operations under Barack Obama’s new regional strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat the Taliban and its Islamist allies.
The recent fighting has led to a record number of British casualties since the start of the war, with more than 150 seriously wounded within a week, defence officials said yesterday. The figures are in addition to the 18 soldiers killed so far this month.
Experts said the death of another British soldier and the row over helicopters masked a wider issue: the new strategy is nearly identical to the old one of using military force to secure an area before bringing in development and governance. The one difference is the use of an additional 17,000 troops.
“As in the past, it has proved relatively easy to push the Taliban out of an area,” said Gareth Price of the Chatham House thinktank. “The question now is whether the Afghan state has the ability to garner genuine public support. It is that popular support, and not just military power, that will prevent the Taliban returning once the western troops have left.”
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‘Taliban die’ in Pakistan clashes
July 14th, 2009 |
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At least 23 militants have been killed in fighting between pro-government tribesmen and Taliban insurgents in north-west Pakistan, officials say.
The clashes took place in Ambar village in the lawless Mohmand tribal region, bordering Afghanistan’s Kunar province.
Mohmand in North-West Frontier Province is said to be a hub for Taliban.
In the neighbouring Khyber tribal area, militants attacked a tanker carrying fuel for Nato forces in Afghanistan. Two people died in the attack.
‘On the run’
"According to reports received here, a lashkar (traditional tribal militia) killed 23 militants and several others were wounded," local administration official Asad Ali Khan was quoted by news agency AFP as saying.
Another official Mohammad Rasul Khan said three villagers were missing after the clashes between a 150-strong village force and militants, the agency reported.
"The lashkar has fought very well and militants are now on the run," he said, adding that villagers had gone into the mountains to take on the rebels.
In recent months, tribesmen in the north-west have taken up arms to fight the Taliban alongside Pakistani troops.
Pakistan’s government has encouraged the tribesmen and groups have been set up in several regions, but they face stiff Taliban resistance.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Khyber, militants ambushed a tanker carrying fuel for Nato forces in Afghanistan.
The attack took place near the town of Landi Kotal on the main highway which links Pakistan with Afghanistan.
"Militants first fired a mortar on the oil tanker and then set it on fire," local official Rehan Gul Khattak said.
"A gunfight broke out with paramilitary troops which left two civilians dead and three others wounded," Mr Khattak said.
The Taliban regularly carry out attacks on trucks laden with supplies for Nato personnel in Afghanistan in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.