KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 17, 2008
Taliban Fighters Launch Afghan Attack
Thousands Flee Southern Afghanistan's Largest City As Army Takes On Insurgents
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An Afghan soldier searches a man before he leaves Arghandab district in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, on his way to Kandahar City, June 17, 2008. Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city, is about 300 miles south of Kabul. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
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A Canadian soldier with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stands on alert at a joint checkpoint in Arghandab district, which is partly controlled by the Taliban militants, in Kandarhar province, some 300 miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan, June 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
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Canadian soldiers with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stand guard during a press conference on a prison attacked by Taliban militants in Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, June 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
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Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that between 300 and 400 militants - many of them foreigners - had taken over the Arghandab region 10 miles northwest of Kandahar. Afghan officials, fearing a major battle brewing, told residents to leave.
The Taliban have long sought to control Arghandab and the good fighting positions its pomegranate and grape groves offer. With control cemented, militants can easily cross the countryside's flat plains on a decent road network for probing attacks into Kandahar itself, in possible preparation for an assault on their former spiritual home.
Haji Anas, deputy governor of Kandahar, described the situation in the city as calm. He told CBS News from Arghandab, "It is nothing big, we are used to these kind of things. The operation has not started yet and you will witness that they (Taliban) will be defeated."
Anas also dismissed the Taliban's claim of having their fighters inside the city. "The situation is totally under control," he said, adding, "it is impossible for the enemy to deploy any fighters in the city."
Earlier Tuesday, Gen. Aminullah Pakiani, the Afghan commander in Arghandab district, told CBS News there was "no direct threat to Kandahar." He acknowledged a large buildup of Taliban, but said his forces would "get them out of the entire area within a couple of days."
Meanwhile, NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S.-led coalition offered a strikingly different picture of the Arghandab region than the one Afghan officials portrayed. The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement that it had sent a patrol through Arghandab that met no resistance.
"Recent reports of militant control in the area appear to be unfounded," the statement said.
Coalition spokesman Capt. Christopher Colster said troops patrolled for about five hours on the west side of the Arghandab River - where Afghan officials say the militants are - but didn't make any contact with insurgents. The troops also didn't report seeing civilians fleeing the region, he said.
NATO aircraft, meanwhile, dropped leaflets in Arghandab telling residents to stay in their homes - despite the fact the Afghan Defense Ministry was telling residents to leave.
"Keep your families safe. When there is fighting near your home, stay inside while ANSF (Afghan security forces) defeat the enemies of Afghanistan," NATO spokesman Mark Laity quoted the leaflet as saying.
Despite that message, more than 700 families - meaning perhaps 4,000 people or more - had fled Arghandab, said Sardar Mohammad, a police officer manning a checkpoint on the east side of the Arghandab River.
On the west side of the river, hundreds of Taliban controlled about nine or 10 villages, Mohammad said.
"Last night the people were afraid, and families on tractors, trucks and taxis fled the area," said Mohammad. "Small bridges inside the villages have been destroyed."
The Ministry of Defense - which rushed in some 700 Afghan soldiers, many by air from Kabul - said insurgents got close to a police checkpoint in Arghandab and asked the police to "join them." The ministry said the fact the militants had to use a translator proves that foreign fighters - it didn't say from where - were behind the assault.
Haji Agha Lalai, a provincial council member and the head of the province's reconciliation commission, which brings former insurgents who lay down their weapons back into the folds of society, said the militants were destroying bridges and planting mines as defensive measures in hopes they can repel attacks from Afghan and NATO forces.
"From a strategic military point of view, Arghandab is a very good place for the Taliban," Lalai said. "Arghandab is close to Kandahar city, allowing the Taliban to launch ambushes and attacks more easily than any other place in the province. Secondly, it's covered with trees and gardens - they can easily hide from airstrikes."
The Taliban assault on the outskirts of Kandahar was the latest display of strength by the militants despite a record number of U.S. and NATO troops in the country. The push into Arghandab came three days after a coordinated Taliban attack on Kandahar's prison that freed 400 insurgent fighters.
Police and army soldiers increased security throughout Kandahar and enforced a 10 p.m. curfew.
A Taliban commander named Mullah Ahmedullah called an Associated Press reporter Tuesday and said about 400 Taliban moved into Arghandab from Khakrez, one district to the north. He said some of the militants released in Friday's prison break had joined the assault.
"They told us, 'We want to fight until the death,"' Ahmedullah said. "We've occupied most of the area and it's a good place for fighting. Now we are waiting for the NATO and Afghan forces."
The hardline Taliban regime ousted from power in a 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan regarded Kandahar as its main stronghold, and its insurgent supporters are most active in the volatile south of the country.
The U.S. and NATO have pleaded for additional troops over the last year and now have some 65,000 in the country. But the militants are still finding successes the alliance can't counter, a blow to international efforts to stamp out the insurgency.
One of the thousands of Afghans fleeing Arghandab said Tuesday that families were being forced out just as grape groves needed harvesting, meaning financial ruin for thousands. Haji Ibrahim Khan said Taliban fighters were moving through several Arghandab villages with weapons on their shoulders.
"They told us to leave the area within 24 hours because they want to fight foreign and Afghan troops," Khan said. "But within a week we should be harvesting, and we were expecting a good one. Now with this fighting we are deeply worried - the grapes are the only source of income we have."
Two powerful anti-Taliban leaders from Arghandab have died in the last year, weakening the region's defenses. Mullah Naqib, the district's former leader, died of a heart attack in October. A second leader, police commander Abdul Hakim Jan, died in a massive suicide bombing in Kandahar in February.
The assault Monday came one day after President Hamid Karzai angrily told a news conference he would send Afghan troops into Pakistan to hunt down Taliban leaders in response to the militants that cross over from Pakistan.
His spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, said Tuesday that Karzai does not intend to send troops into Pakistan and was only making "a strong point" that Pakistan needs to crack down on militant safe havens.
CBS News' Sami Yousafzai in Peshawar, Pakistan contributed to this report.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 255 CommentsWe invaded Afghanistan to:
A. Further destabilize that country
B. Revive global opium production (which was negligible under Taliban rule)
C. Establish a military launch point for a campaign of aggression in the region (see Iraq)
D. Provide an overseas location to develop U.S. torture programs and secret prisons
E. Install a U.S. corporate-friendly puppet-ruler to plunder the resources of the region (see former Unocal executive and "Mayor of Kabul", Hamid Karzai)
F. Create a state of never-ending and unwinnable "war", for profit
Based on these criteria, much of the "Mission" has been "Accomplished".
Best of luck to the people of Afghanistan to unaccomplish it.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com
The plan to attack and invade Afghanistan was in the works well ahead of the attacks of 9/11/01. In fact, the final invasion plan was on George''''s desk, 2 days prior to these attacks.
Many of us will recall that the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan even offered to capture Osama bin Laden and turn him over for trial, if the Western leaders could provide evidence of his involvement in the 9/11/01 attacks.
The Bush regime did not provide this evidence, because they did not have any, and because they were already determined to wage a war of aggression against Afghanistan no matter what, and to install a compliant puppet (see- Hamid Karzai).
We have no legitimate business in Afghanistan, and we should apologize, withdraw, and figure out a way to begin reparations payments to the people of that country.
Our focus must be to bring Bush regime officials and accomplices before a war crimes tribunal.
Several people that I respect are of the opinion that the invasion and destruction of Afghanistan is somehow justified, as they view this invasion as being a righteous effort aimed at holding those responsible for the attacks to account.
I don''t believe that Osama, or any sophisticated foreign "TERRA" network (other than maybe the Pakistani ISI and the Israeli Mossad) had anything to do with the events of 9/11/01, so there is no valid justification for us being there, in my opinion.
Re: "The U.S.-led military coalition had reportedly dropped leaflets warning residents to flee the area in advance of an upcoming operation."
And our war criminal military commanders seem to think that dropping leaflets telling dirt-poor people to leave, people who may well have nowhere to go, somehow justifies murdering them.
Stop leading people into lies, and risking them to Hell, "feelfree4U".
And our war criminal military commanders seem to think that dropping leaflets telling dirt-poor people to leave, people who may well have nowhere to go, somehow justifies murdering them.
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Posted by FeelFree4U
I''d bet the people in the trade center, pentagon, and the airplanes on 9-11 would have liked a flyer warning them, you piece of ***!
Malik Obama confirms his half-brother Barack grew up a Muslim
Apparently the Obamas of Kenya have no doubt -- contrary to the claims of the Obama campaign, that the presidential candidate was raised a Moslem. They take that as a given.
"Barack Obama''s half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya."
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12918.htm
http://www.anobamanation.net/2008/06/obamas-brother-confirms-barack-grew-up.html
caliengineer,
Re: "The hope is that people will be too stupid to realize they can believe part and reject part."
I don''t know how you determined the "hopes" of the film makers. I find it hard to believe that you are an engineer, with those kind of reasoning skills.
I found the second section of the film to be by far the most interesting and important of the three, and it had nothing to do with religion.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com
to pisss you offf and the rest of the fascist nazi terrorislamic jihadists as well,,, LOL
hahaha
Re: "Yousef said Tuesday that many of the fighters in Arghandab were freed prisoners from Kandahar, and that some of them were not previously members of the fundamentalist movement but had joined the fight after being freed by the militants."
Man, talk about painfully stupid and counterproductive!
I guess that lengthy detentions of innocent people without charge, and torturing them and so forth, wasn''t such a bright idea.
Our current military commanders must be some of the dimmest in history.
Re: "FeelFree4U...Most of the time I don''''t even bother with you...but I have to say...either you are totally stupid, mentally deficient...or you simply have done too many drugs...ot maybe you have the same education as the president of Iran."
Posted by guadalcanal3
I think that the President of Iran has earned a PhD, so that is a pretty strange insult, but what are you basing your other conclusions on?
Could you elaborate, and be a little more specific?
farmerbb,
Re: "Where did they get the weapons to do this so quickly ?"
Probably leftovers from the ones that we gave them in the ''80s.
Re: "...and that will be the end of them."
Do you really think that we can re-defeat them once again?
We "smoked em out" and "got em runnin" nearly seven years ago. You''d think that they would be tired by know. We have seen them in their "final throes" with "broken backs" as well.
That was quite a recovery, wouldn''t you say?
Time to get started. We''re behind the Soviets.
Bin Laden is in Pakastan/or dead
Re: "The U.S. has been in Afghanistan for seven years now. We''ve expanded the Opium production, turned thousands into prostitutes, and killed lots of people. The Soviets gave up after ten years, with a peak troop strength of 302,000. It took four years for the Soviets to exit."
"Time to get started. We''re behind the Soviets."
Posted by mljohns00
Very good analysis, and excellent conclusion!
Re: "FeelFree4U- I see Bin Ladens propaganda minister is hard at work this morning."
Posted by libhater1
Are you referring to yourself? Because, in my opinion, Osama has been dead for a long time, and was really not very significant anyway.
By contrast, you seem to think that he is pretty important, and apparently share in his hatred of liberals.
Re: "FeelFree4U - Is that what your boy Osama is telling you to talk about this morning??"
Posted by libhater1
You don''t seem to be making any sense.
Imagine my surprise.
HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,
Obama Sides With Radical Islamists
The magnitude of difference between the two candidates running in our presidential election could not be more stark! After reading the statements of both Obama and McCain regarding the horrible Supreme Court 5-4 decision to allow Gitmo detainees the right to be tried in civilian courts, we can clearly see what a flawed, unfortunate, and terrible direction Obama would take this country if [God forbid!!]elected in November.
Obama''''s statement:
Barack Obama statement on the Supreme Court''''s 5-4 decision today extending civilian legal protections to terrorist suspects held in Guantanamo Bay:
Um...er...earth to Obama? Foreign terrorists caught in battle against our forces during war have never been eligible for "habeas corpus"! They are not covered by the Constitution of the United States of America. So...what "rule of law" are you referring to?
http://talkwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-sides-with-radical-islamists.html
VOTE DEMONIC-RAT AT YOUR PERIL,,,
DEMONIC-RAT UN-SUPREME COURT JUDGES TRASH THE CONSTITUTION,,,
Scalia asserted that the decision will have dire consequences. He warned that some detainees will be freed and return to war against America: "The nation will live to regret what the court has done today."
Supreme Court maintains post-9/11 course on Gitmo
The Supreme Court''s 5-4 decision Thursday declaring for the first time that Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to a hearing in U.S. courts is a milestone. It also reinforces a familiar court pattern in the post-9/11 world of insisting on judicial review of detainee cases.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2008-06-12-court-pattern_N.htm
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/12/supremecourt/main4175226.shtml
HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,
Obama''s Cousin Charged With Ethnic Cleansing
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-obamas-cousin-charged-with-ethnic.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7192958.stm
Obama''s relative linked to Ethnic Cleansing in Kenya
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/02/obamas-relative-linked-to-ethnic.html
Signs in Kenya That Killings Were Planned
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1957451/posts
Ten Obvious Reasons Why Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Top-10-Reasons.htm
Kenya Muslim Violence Pictorial *Warning Graphic*
Africa, Kenya, Muslims%u2026nothing more needs to be said%u2026
http://patdollard.com/2008/01/kenya-muslim-violence-pictorial-warning-graphic/
The Kenyan jihad
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/433766/the-kenyan-jihad.thtml
nothing new,,, more radical muslims ethnically cleansing non-muslims
19 Burned to Death in Violence in Kenya
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960644/posts
HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,
will hussein stop his radical muslim luo tribe relatives from slaughtering non-muslims???
apparently not,,,
U.S. Troops to African "hotspot"?
Obama Jr. Says ''Not Yet''
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan08/obama_lou%20tribe.htm
Just one day before the Jan. 3, 2008 Iowa caucus, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (D-Ill.), who is aiming to be America''s first African-American president, found himself taping a message from Iowa to Kenya for broadcast on the Voice of America.
Kenya, the homeland Obama Jr''s family''s Luo tribe, burst into post-election violence after Raila Odinga, a fiery Luo tribe opposition leader and Kenya presidential candidate, alleged the Dec. 27 voting that re-elected President Mwai Kibaki of the Kikuyu tribe was rigged
More than 360 people were killed and over 250,000 displaced provoking a humanitarian crisis in a country previously considered a stable pillar in east Africa.
Re: "You spew the same cr@p about the war in Iraq. Unlike there, the war in Afghanistan that the US is fighting is totally justified!! Go preach your Al Qeada propaganda somewhere else"
Posted by libhater1
Both conflicts are completely unjustifiable, counterproductive, and staggering defeats on the military, economic, and dignity fronts, in my opinion.
Also, I think that "al Qaeda" is mostly a hype-based ruse, and a handful of dupes- nothing to get worked up about- so it looks like you and "terrorsalami" are the only ones spreading "al Qaeda" propaganda here.
hahaha
wronggggggggggggggggg
the coalition defeated both afghanistan and iraq,,,
now they are fighting fascist nazi terrorislamic jihadists,,,
got it,,,
Re: "the coalition defeated both afghanistan and iraq"
Posted by terrorsalami
Well, at least you admit that these conflicts are AGAINST those countries, and have nothing to do with "freedom" or "liberation" for them.
You keep on telling yourself that we are "victorious" against those countries there, "terrorsalami".
We''ll see how that works out for you.
Re: "Battle Set For Afghanistan''s Second City"
This headline sounds like CBS Newz is preparing to have a wargasm over the pending mass-murder of more Afghan civilians.
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Posted by libhater1 at 05:57 AM : Jun 17, 2008
+ report abuse
I CAN''T BELIEVE it!! I just CAN''T BELIEVE it!! A Nazi at LONG LAST admits the War in Iraq is NOT justified. NO doubt about it folks! Now IF we can convince him that Obama is right, that this is the fight we should have been involved with all along and it''s time we stopped trying to "Give" another Country a Government, a real accomplishment will have been made. SIEG HEIL!!
nobody says we went to war to liberate anybody haji,,,
your limp wrist never won a war nancy,,,
the only thing your limp wrist defeats us your butttbussies in frisco,,,
got it,,,
Posted by terrorislami at 07:23 AM : Jun 17, 2008
Neither have your fellow xenophobes lars, in case you haven''t noiced.
They took us into Afghanistan 7 years ago now and we''re still at square one.
Tell you something?
Posted by terrorislami
hey chickenhawk - with the bs you post, I''d say it''s you with the weak wrists....believe it shows.
just to remind you chicken, your nazi task-master himself said, among other lies, that he wanted to liberate iraq from the "deadly dictator".... probably he should have offed himself.
goodnite, weak-wrists!
and these fascist nazi terrorislamic muslim collaborators,,,
THEY ARE LOSING
Attacks in Baghdad fall 80 percent: Iraq military
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1880448320080216?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
Qaeda defeated in Baghdad: Iraqi PM
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080215182516.1kw853y4&show_article=1
Al-Qaeda leaders admit: ''We are in crisis. There is panic and fear''
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3346386.ece
Last letter from doomed Al Qaida chief: "We are so desperate for your help"
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/ss_iraq_09_30.asp
Iraq insurgency: People rise against al-Qa''eda
Damien McElroy spent a week in the heart of the insurgency in Anbar province in Iraq. In the second of seven exclusive reports he describes how peace and prosperity have returned to a town formerly riven by sectarian killings.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/08/wanbar308.xml
and these fascist nazi terrorislamic muslim collaborators,,,
THEY ARE LOSING
Al Qaeda Dealt Devastating Blow in Iraq
The U.S. military says it has dealt devastating and potentially irreversible blows to Al Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over the group, which the Bush administration has long described as the most lethal U.S. adversary in Iraq, the Washington Post reported Monday.
Al-Qaeda In Iraq Reported Crippled
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/14/AR2007101401245_pf.html
REHAB IS NOT JUST FOR HOLLYWOOD TERRORISTS NOW
U.S. Tries Rehab For Religious Extremists
Singapore Has Reduced Its Detainee Ranks With Islamic Reeducation; A Model For U.S.?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/09/world/main3347089.shtml
Posted by neoconRcrazy at 07:32 AM : Jun 17, 2008
and iraq is liberated from saddam,,,
he is gone gone gone,,, dead,,, dead,,, dead,,,
if you don''t believe me, then you sir are worse than Hitler.
www.dailygut.com/
Willie: Swing Heil! Swing Heil, Peter! Swing Heil!
Swing Kids (1993)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108265/quotes
right mcNUT,,,
Islam--the religion of peace.
hey weak wrists! with all bs you write, you could at least do it for the army - you know, a desk job, for you chickenhawks w/o cojones - at least you''d be serving the "global war on terror" -
Posted by MCVet at 06:57 AM : Jun 17, 2008
Not too late for you to get over there and help defeat the Americans Nazi. I''''ll pay for your plane ticket!
Posted by hillaryin012
Democrats like MCVet will take the good news of this story and remind us that Democrats hate the United States as much as any terrorist. Democrats are never angry when Women, children and Soldiers get killed. But when Democrat partners in Al Qaeda and IRAN are losing, Democrats like MCVet are outraged and filled with anger for anything American.
What? I thought the surge was working. That victory was near. What?
Am I surprised? Not really.
Republicans. GW Bush. Failure.
Want 4 more years of this cr*ap? Vote McSame!
come on haji,,, blow yourself up already,,, your 72 virgin piglettes are waiting for you,,,
iran haji???
hahaha
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