U.S. soldier killed, 8 wounded, in Afghan attack

[DoYouEverWonder]

June 8, 2005

KABUL (Reuters) - Insurgents fired at least one mortar bomb into a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday killing one member of the U.S. armed forces and wounding eight, the U.S. military said.

Eleven U.S. military personnel have been killed in a wave of clashes, blasts and rebel ambushes in Afghanistan since late March.

U.S. troops were preparing to unload supplies from a Chinook helicopter at a forward operating base near Shkin, near Paktika province's border with Pakistan, when the attack occurred, the U.S. military said in a statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050608/ts_nm/afghan_usa_dc;_ylt=A9FJqavv36ZCE_UA_QJZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[oblivious]

1. Kind of scary for an outfit with a broken spine.

Taliban backbone said broken, but still a danger

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan security officials in the troubled south of the country say Taliban guerrillas are finished as a threat on the battlefield but they will be able to stage ambushes and bomb blasts for some time yet.

..."They can manage to plant mines and carry out small-scale attacks or ambushes, but I can say that their backbone has been broken," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050607/wl_nm/afghan_taliban_dc_1

[Supersedeas]

9. the forgotten war is not getting much press from Corporate outlets with

some much Jacko and then there's Dean bashing to boot.

Sports...weather, anyone?

[Mizmoon]

2. This whole thing makes me want to vomit

To think of our people being slaughtered like that ... that Dubya put them in that meat grinder for his own stinkin purposes ...

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[soup]

10. meat grinder - apt description.

Two more come home in a box under cover of night, and eight more face heaven knows what from their injuries.

--

Rockets Kill 2 GIs In Afghanistan
(Page 1 of 2)

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 8, 2005


(AP) Rebels fired rockets at a military base in Afghanistan, killing two U.S. service members and wounding eight as they were unloading supplies from a helicopter Wednesday, in one of the bloodiest assaults against American forces since insurgents ramped up their fighting in March.

The killings came a day after the country's government warned that Taliban and al Qaeda fighters had launched a campaign of violence to undermine legislative elections set for September.

U.S. war planes and helicopters rushed to the area around the base in Shkin, 4 miles from the border with Pakistan, to hunt for the attackers, but found no trace of them, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said.
>snip<

Even though U.S. officials remain upbeat about progress toward peace, there has been a steep rise in bombings, shootings and other killings since spring's warmer weather melted thick snow on mountain passes the rebels use.

But security forces have hit back hard, killing more than 200 suspected rebels since March, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/08/terror/main700307.shtml

[zanne]

3. We've been reading about Afghanistan alot lately...

It's really heating up over there, isn't it? There was virtually no news coming out of Afghanistan for a long time. Now we keep hearing about casualties, and the administration claims that the enemy is "on the run". It's beginning to sound an awful lot like Iraq.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. It's springtime in Afghanistan

and the resistance is just getting started in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US ain't seen nothing yet. These folks are a lot more patient then we are. They been there for 1000's of years and have been through this before.

[Roland99]

5. We have less than 2 divisions in Afghanistan searching for what?

bin Laden?


HA!

[NNN0LHI]

6. Its so Afghan women don't have to wear burqas no more silly

[Roland99]

7. Ah...oh...and maybe the CIA wanted to diversify into Opium?

[oblivious]

8. The article says 18,300 international troops hunting bin ladin

The United States commands an 18,300-strong international force in Afghanistan, most of whom are American, fighting the militants and hunting their leaders, including bin Laden.

But the article below says 18,000 US troops plus 8,500 NATO troops.

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=11442


Edit: The Chicago Tribune article below quotes the DOD website:
16,700 US troops
9,000 Nato peacekeepers
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0506050297jun05,1,3423933.story?page=3&ctrack=1&cset=true&coll=chi-news-hed