US special force soldier killed in Afghanistan

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2711777a12,00.html

KABUL: A US special force soldier has died of wounds suffered in a clash in volatile southern Afghanistan, a US military statement says, the third death involving US servicemen in less than a week.

The clash between US-led special operation forces and their Afghan allies and "a 10 to 15-member anti coalition element" took place on Friday (NZT) in an area about 56km west of the district of Deh Rawood in the province of Uruzgan.

"The US special operations soldier died from wounds received in combat," said the statement on Friday sent from Bagram, the hub of US-led forces in Afghansitan, to the north of Kabul.

It said an "enemy" soldier was also killed in the clash.

more

[0007]

1. It appears we're losing the upper hand, 'eh?

This is moving in slow motion and doesn't look good.

[diamond14]

2. there's a real big war going on there too, and nobody talks about

it...it's as if the bush* victory against osama is complete...osama doesn't matter anymore, according to bush, while the whole country falls apart...

hold bush* to his lies...TWO years and still fighting, no victory yet...

[xchrom]

3. it must surprise the media

when reports come in that there was fighting in afghanistan.
they've worked so hard to make every body forget that we are there as well.

[VolcanoJen]

4. Kick

[Judi Lynn]

5. Later version of this story:

Oct. 31, 2003, 9:33PM

American dies after Taliban attack
Special Forces soldier 3rd casualty in Afghanistan in week
New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An American Special Forces soldier has died from wounds sustained during an operation against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Friday. He is the third American to die in operations in Afghanistan in less than a week.

The Special Forces soldier, whose name has not yet been released, was with a combat unit of Americans and Afghan militia when they came under attack on Thursday from a group of 10 to 15 gunmen suspected of being members of the Taliban in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

While U.S. Apache helicopters and A-10 planes blasted the rebels, an Afghan soldier, who was also wounded, and the American were both evacuated by helicopter to the U.S. air base just outside the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

The attack comes after three U.S. soldiers were slightly wounded in an ambush on Monday in eastern Afghanistan and after two Americans working for the CIA were killed during a separate combat operation near the Pakistani border last Saturday. (snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2195031

[Snazzy]

6. poppy harvest profits coming

expect more bad news. Plus whomever would seek to to do damage in Afghanistan is now getting daily lessons on how to mess with the US from Iraq.

[Judi Lynn]

7. New Reuters story: Afghan Clashes Kill at Least 10, Turk Kidnapped

Afghan Clashes Kill at Least 10, Turk Kidnapped
Sat November 1, 2003 08:41 AM ET

(Page 1 of 3)
By Mike Collett-White
KABUL (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed in clashes in the last two days and a Turkish engineer kidnapped ahead of a high-level U.N. visit to Afghanistan to consider how NATO can bring security to unruly provinces.

Factional rivals in the north of the country engaged in what one commander called "fierce fighting" from Friday in Sar-i-Pul province southwest of the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing at least five soldiers.

Three of the dead were from ethnic Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum's forces and two fought for the mainly ethnic Tajik faction of Ustad Atta Mohammad.

Dostum and Atta are senior members of Karzai's government, which was installed after U.S.-led forces overthrew the hardline Muslim Taliban regime in late 2001.

"Fierce fighting is going on. We are engaged in heavy exchanges of fire," Malim Abdul Aziz, a commander from Atta's faction, told Reuters on Saturday. He added that a woman and child died when a rocket from Dostum's forces hit their house. (snip/...)

~~~~ link ~~~~

[Minstrel Boy]

8. If Iraq is to be America's Afghanistan,

then what's Afghanistan going to be?

The Taliban are retaking the country, surrounding the cities. The US has been negotiating, unsuccessfully, with Taliban leaders, as reported most everywhere but in the US. And the Taliban has patience.

Is it going to take Karzai's body swinging in a Kabul square, like Najib before him, for the US media to pay attention? But maybe they won't even then.