3 U.S. Troops Killed In Afghan Blast

Also, NATO Bomb Misses Target, Kills Two Afghani Civilians

(AP)  A NATO bomb missed its target by more than 1.5 miles and hit a house Tuesday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding 10 at a time of rising tension between the Afghan government and international troops over the use of airstrikes.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed three U.S. coalition soldiers and an Afghan contractor, the coalition said.

NATO said its weapon malfunctioned Tuesday in the eastern Khost province. The bomb's target was a spot used by insurgents to fire rockets.

"An immediate investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched and further details will be forthcoming once established," the statement said.

Because of Afghanistan's mountainous terrain and few roads, U.S. and other foreign forces rely heavily on the use of airpower in their fight against Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. But the use of airstrikes in civilian areas have been blamed for a series of civilian deaths, which caused President Hamid Karzai to ask for a review of the use of U.S. and NATO air power.

"The war against terrorism will only be won if we have the people with us. There is no other way," Karzai said after attending the inauguration ceremony for Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari. "In order for us to have the people with us, we must avoid civilian casualties."

Afghan and U.N. officials say some 90 civilians were killed in a U.S. special forces operation in the village of Azizabad on Aug. 22. The U.S. has said up to seven civilians were killed but is reinvestigating the incident after video images of victims came to light.

The bodies of at least 10 children and many more adults covered in blankets and white shrouds appear in videos obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.

The two grainy videos, apparently taken by cell phones, showed bodies lying side-by-side on the mosque floor, covered by floral-patterned blankets and black-and-white checkered shawls. One young boy lay curled in a fetal position; others looked as though they were asleep. One child had half its head blown off.

It was impossible to verify conclusively that the videos showed the aftermath of the Azizabad attack, but the contents appeared to back claims by Afghan and U.N. officials that the U.S. operation killed far more civilians than the military has acknowledged.

Karzai said Tuesday that he was pleased that the investigation into the Azizabad incident had been reopened. He said Afghan authorities had received "messages of regrets and condolences from as high as the president of the United States."

"While we say 'no civilian casualties,' we reiterate ... that we are dedicated in the war against terrorism because it brings our people safety and security that we so much need," Karzai said.

Karzai has said that the Azizabad bombings have brought relations between the Afghan government and the U.S. to one of its lowest points since the ouster of the Islamic militia from power in 2001.

Shortly after the Azizabad attack, he ordered a review of whether the U.S. and NATO should be allowed to use airstrikes or carry out raids in villages. He also called for an updated "status of force" agreement between the Afghan government and foreign militaries. That review has not yet been completed.

Meanwhile, two separate airstrikes in Afghanistan's south and east killed more than 27 militants, including Chechen fighters, Afghan officials said Tuesday.

Authorities clashed with Taliban fighters and requested airstrikes from foreign troops in the southern Uruzgan province on Tuesday, which killed 15 militants, said provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat.

In the eastern Paktika province, meanwhile, another airstrike hit a group of foreign fighters and killed 12 militants, including nine Chechen fighters, said Ruhulla Samon, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

There were no casualties among Afghan forces in either clash.

Afghan and Western officials have warned that higher numbers of foreign militants have joined the fight inside Afghanistan, which is seeing record levels of violence nearly seven years after a U.S.-led invasion drove the fundamentalist Taliban from power over its sheltering of the al Qaeda terrorist network.

More than 4,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials.

[nextgenman]

Who cares?! Sarah Palin''s Pretty!

[rushliberal]

What I would like to know is WHY there is NO News about all the troops in Iraq committing suicide.

Is that the Bush troop reduction Plan?

Our Proud soldiers are dieing and these news agencies are playing politics with Bush and Cheney - this is pathetic!

[tapsettle]

Todays america bombs and kills the helpless and guily alike, but still it loses. If it continues this path it will surely unleash larger bombs in desperation, until ultimately it is waging war with all muslims and all in that favour the east. This is the 13,000 year cycle of prophecy that culminates in 2012. God help us all.

[tapsettle]

...and we probably would have looked equally as sadistic, stupid, and steadfast .. ''''
-----
Posted by vechiblesss

You need therapy. Get some help.

[tapsettle]

Why does it bother them when the U.S. accidently kills people?
-----
Posted by downsteamjim

Of course it doesnt bother them. Quite the opposite for the same obvious reasons as the US is losing in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Who do you think the relatives of the slaughtered civillians turn to - the US troops killing them, or the ''resistance'' fighting their killers? Duh !

[downsteamjim]

Everytime al Quaeda intentionally blows up a market or a bus, they win friends and impress the media. Why does it bother them when the U.S. accidently kills people?

[missingamerica]

""The war against terrorism will only be won if we have the people with us. There is no other way," Karzai."

You know every time an Iraqi or Afghanistani leader says something intelligent and rational I keep expecting to read the next day that they were accidentally killed when Cheney unintentionally dropped a framed copy of our Constitution out his jet aircraft''s window.

[antoniof123]

Speaking from expiriance, a huge majority of the people over there are over joyed that we walk the streets in there country. It''''s unfortunate that the media dosn''''t cover that aspect of the war.

Posted by unfadeable21 at 01:14 PM : Sep 09, 2008


Then how come the Iraq wanted us out so bad even the government that the US instilled. Sorry but you quote facts that are not real.

That said it just gets better and better every day doesn''t it.

[gce65]

Dangerous place. The US should have finished the job in 2001/2002 when Afghanistan was the only center for al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Instead, Bush took his eye off the goals and wandered over to Iraq...

You can do the job very well and do it once, or you can do a shabby job and forever be correcting your past mistakes. Bush chose the latter.

[nextgenman]

Who cares? Sarah Palin is Purty!

[hermitdave]

OH I bet the relatives of the thousands of innocent women and children we killed and maimed in the Bush crusade for Big Oil are not so overjoyed that we still control their country.

[unfadeable21]

I dont believe that the statement " if the Russians bombed us to free us from the Moral Majority - who would you fight for ? " is valid. The U.S. and the middle eastern countries we occupie are two diffrent worlds. I see where you''re comming from but the Russians couldn''t provide for us like we have and our still providing for the people of iraq. Speaking from expiriance, a huge majority of the people over there are over joyed that we walk the streets in there country. It''s unfortunate that the media dosn''t cover that aspect of the war.

[jamster31]

test

[superdem]

Why are we fighting in Afghanistan ? None of the people we are killing in these villages had anything to do with 9/11. We hate them for their culture, their religion, their politics, because they are not like US. Because they would join the Taliban. We tell ourselves there are "good" Afghans and there are "bad" Afghans, and if we kill enough "bad" Afghans the "good" Afghans will "win" and be like us and have freedom - this is child-like fantasy. These are tribal people who will never be like us. The more we interfere, the more bombs we drop, the more the people think the Taliban are right, the more recruits join against us. The Afghan people need to throw off the Taliban, they will only do that when they are sick of such orthodoxy, not because foreign invaders bomb their towns. If the Russians bombed us to free us from the Moral Majority - who would you fight for ?

[hacker101001]

Toronto2008.."Go ahead and squeal, Canadians!

[toronto2008]

"Can''''t feel sorry for the coalition troops, they insist on being there to make money, they kill people for a living." You are a moron. This war is costing Canada billions, there is no ''payback'', we are there so the Taliban stops shooting women in soccer stadiums, so they stop being the number one supplier of narcotics, so they stop harbouring Islamic Fundamentalists, so we can bring prosperity to the region by building schools, utilities, roads. If your mother was dragged into a crowded soccer stadium full of tens of thousands of people, and shot in the head with an AK-47 at point blank range...wouldn''t you hope that someone was coming to bring change.....whether Afghanistan or Darfur, there are real reasons to be involved around the world.

[toronto2008]

It would be very respectful if you stopped referring to Canadian troops being killed as "U.S. Coalition" forces and start recognizing them by nation. Canada has lost 100 soldiers in Afghanistan including the three you mention in this article.

[hacker101001]

August 26, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan %u2014 A United Nations human rights team has found %u201Cconvincing evidence%u201D that 90 civilians %u2014 among them 60 children %u2014 were killed in airstrikes on a village in western Afghanistan on Friday, according to the United Nations mission in Kabul.

[hacker101001]

"Go ahead and squeal, Yankees."

[metsobitso]

Can''t feel sorry for the coalition troops, they insist on being there to make money, they kill people for a living. Our hearts go out to the poor defenceless and unsuspecting civilians who had a bomb dropped on their house. May the evil people who dropped the bomb be punished in hell.