GIs Hunt Taliban Ahead of Afghan Elections

[Coventina]

Source: CBS News

Operation Champion Sword is a pre-election surge of U.S. and Afghan forces in the country's volatile eastern border region. The goal is to disrupt insurgents planning attacks during the elections scheduled for August 20.

It's all happening around Khowst, one of Afghanistan's biggest cities along the border with Pakistan and a key target for suicide attacks by Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants.

The daily operations consist of precisely targeted, in-and-out missions by small groups of soldiers. The targets are pinpointed by intelligence agencies and can include militant safe-havens, weapons caches or bomb-making facilities.

This afternoon, aircraft will drop a platoon of about 60 lightly-armed soldiers within 50 to 100 yards of their intended target. Like most of these missions, it's all meant to be over in just a few hours.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/29/world/worldwatch/entry5195152.shtml

[tekisui]

1. The election is going to be a farce.

The remoteness of some of the polling areas and the grip on the power levers that Karzai has will result in a rigged election. US and NATO troops are going to be the enforcers of a sham election. If the people even dared to rise up, our military would squash them, and label them all Taliban/insurgents. It is convenient that we just instituted a new policy of not counting the Afghan dead anymore.