14 U.K. Troops Die In NATO Plane Crash

Plane Crashes In Afghanistan; Clashes Leave At Least 13 Taliban Dead

(CBS/AP)  A NATO aircraft crashed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 14 British armed forces personnel, the Defense Ministry said. Clashes across the volatile south killed nine Afghan policemen and at least 13 suspected Taliban.

A suicide attacker also detonated a car bomb near a U.S.-led coalition convoy, wounding a coalition soldier.

The International Security Assistance Force said the plane had reported a technical problem before going down and hostile fire did not appear to be the cause. The British Ministry of Defense said the dead included 12 Royal Air Force personnel, a Royal Marine and an army soldier.

The "aircraft was supporting a NATO mission. It went off the radar and crashed in an open area in Kandahar," said Maj. Scott Lundy, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force.

The crash happened about 12 miles west of the city of Kandahar, he said.

Lundy gave no other details, but ISAF said in a statement that the plane had announced it had a technical problem before going down.

However, shortly after the crash, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, Abdul Khaliq, claimed responsibility.

"We used a stringer missile to shoot down the aircraft," he said.

Haji Eisamuddin, a local tribal elder, told The Associated Press by phone that the wreckage of the plane was burning in an open field, and that coalition forces had started arriving at the scene.

"I can see three-four helicopters in the sky, and coalition forces are also arriving in the area," he said.

The plane crash and the violence came amid the deadliest upsurge in militant attacks and fighting in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban regime by U.S.-led forces nearly five years ago.

In the deadliest incident, insurgents attacked a police checkpoint on Friday, killing five policemen and wounding seven others in the Grieshk district of Helmand province, about 250 miles southwest of Kabul, said Ghulam Muhiddin, the Helmand governor's spokesman. Police returned fire and killed three Taliban and wounded two.

Muhiddin said the Taliban abducted four other police, and hundreds of police were hunting for them Saturday.

[alphaa10-2009]

Dr.Goodwin-- Afghanistan is the "Bush Back Burner War" in every sense, despite a Bush pledge to the American people to respond fully and effectively against al Qaeda. You aptly characterized how the scene was subtly but rapidly shifted for the American public, almost as if someone had the "remote" control for their attention. The news media-- ever the sensationalists, thriving on it, profiting from it-- hardly blinked an eye as they switched scenes. It was Gen. Tommy Franks, himself, who revealed when the American commitment to Afghanistan began to wane in favor of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Hamid Karzai continues to wait patiently for effective American support, a variety of programs all too often simply under-delivered, sidelined-- or worse, pulled out from under him because Karzai is not on the current White House Hot List. Now, as Iraq becomes the epicenter of a struggle for power between two poles of Islamic state power-- Saudi Arabia and Iran-- Afghanistan's prospects have not brightened..

Bush flunked his first test with 911, and he still has not made up his remedial work exterminating al Qaeda / Taliban elements in Afghanistan. Bin Laden is still at large, his al Qaeda structure decentralized and mobilized well beyond its original confines. Bush finally has admitted in public there is no Iraq-al Qaeda connection, driving many of his former supporters to understand Bush is a criminal, third-rate politician from Texas who has played fast and loose with the American public.

[drgoodwin12]

This is the war we forgot.In 2001 after 9/11 we went in and outed the Taliban/Al Queda goverment,we then virtually left them on their own allowing the Taliban/Al Queda to regroup and grow.This country had been ravaged by war for over 20 years and was/is living in the 7th. century.The NATO forces have yet to find and capture the leaders of the Taliban/Al Queda who escaped.The restrainst placed upon them by the Pakistani goverment prevent them from following the taliban/al queda into Pakistan or even searching for them there.The increase in opium production is probaly help finance the taliban/al queda operations. Yet our eyes and ears are on Iraq a war that had nothing to do with 9/11(9/11 commision report)and never had WMDs or was a danger to anyone besides it's own people. After the first Gulf War which took our president 5 days to decide that it was a threat,we beat the hell out of them.UN inspectors put them in compliance with the WMD agreement and Saddam only ruled by his army and police.This is why the world looks at us as fools.So lets fix it, finish Afghanistan and place some very firm language to the new Iraqi goverment.Shape up or else,purge your electorialat from thier ties to militias,insurgents and terrorist.Purge your country from the same.Non action will be met with action far more devasting than they can imagine.