# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread June 2014



## George Wallace (4 Jun 2014)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread June 2014  *              

*News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
Thanks for helping this "news only" thread system work!*​


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## George Wallace (4 Jun 2014)

We still have 'civilians' who for whatever reason are still going to Afghanistan:

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

LINK




> CTV NEWS
> 
> 
> Canadian-American couple held in Afghanistan appear in videos pleading for help
> ...



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## McG (11 Jun 2014)

> *Five U.S. soldiers killed by friendly fire amid ambush*
> RAHIM FAIEZ & PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press
> The Globe and Mail
> 11 June 2014
> ...


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## GAP (15 Jun 2014)

*Articles found June 15, 2014*

Roadside bombing kills 11 in northern Afghanistan after presidential runoff
Published June 15, 2014 Associated Press
  Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan –  A roadside bomb killed 11 people in Afghanistan, including four election monitors, and the Taliban cut off the fingers of 11 people to punish them for voting in this weekend's presidential runoff, officials said Sunday.

The Taliban had warned people not to participate in Saturday's vote to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai. The two candidates, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, have vowed to improve ties with the West and sign a long-delayed security pact allowing nearly 10,000 U.S. troops to remain in the country for two more years.

Sediq Azizi, spokesman for the provincial governor in the northern Samangan province, said a minibus hit an improvised explosive device Saturday night, with the blast killing six women, one child and four men in the provincial capital Aybak.

Azizi said four of the victims were employees of the country's election commission, which organized Saturday's vote. It was not immediately clear if they were the target of the explosion.

In a separate incident, the Taliban cut off the fingers of 11 civilians on Saturday in western Herat province to punish them for voting, police spokesman Raoud Ahamdi said.

Afghans braved threats of violence and searing heat Saturday to vote in the presidential runoff, which likely will mark the country's first peaceful transfer of authority, an important step toward democracy as foreign combat troops leave.
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Afghans brave Taliban threats to choose new leader
Published June 15, 2014 FoxNews.com
Article Link

Millions of Afghans braved the threat of violence Saturday to vote in a presidential runoff that will mark the country's first peaceful transfer of power as it prepares for the departure of foreign combat troops by the end of this year. 

Abdullah Abdullah, who emerged as the front-runner with 45 percent of the vote in the first round, faced Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, an ex-World Bank official and finance minister. Neither garnered the majority needed to win outright, but previous candidates and their supporters have since offered endorsements to each, making the final outcome unpredictable.

The new leader will be challenged with trying to improve ties with the West and combating corruption while facing a powerful Taliban insurgency and declining international aid.

Despite a series of rocket barrages and other scattered attacks that Interior Minister Mohammad Umar Daudzai said killed 47 people, including 20 civilians and an election commission worker, the voting was largely peaceful. Daudzai also said 60 militants were killed. However, the government also reported voting was not significantly disrupted by the time polls closed at 4 p.m. local time.

Independent Election Commission Chairman Ahmad Yousuf Nouristani, speaking at a joint press conference after polls closed, said initial estimates show that more than 7 million Afghans voted, which would be equivalent to the first round on April 5. That would be a turnout of about 60 percent of Afghanistan's 12 million eligible voters.

Official preliminary results were to be announced on July 2, with final results released on July 22. Nouristani said his commission would release partial results in the coming weeks.
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Airstrikes kill as many as 100 militants in Pakistan
Published June 15, 2014 Associated Press
Article Link

ISLAMABAD –  Pakistani military jets pounded militant hideouts in the northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan early Sunday morning, officials said, killing as many as 100 militants in the second strike on the region since a deadly attack on the Karachi airport a week ago.

The Pakistani government has been under pressure to combat the resilient insurgency that has plagued the country for years after the shocking attack on the country's busiest airport that left 36 people dead, including 10 assailants. Government efforts that started months ago to negotiate with the militants appeared to be going nowhere and the airport violence has made negotiations even less likely to succeed.

Pakistani air force jets targeted eight militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal area, two intelligence officials said. Many of the dead were believed to be Uzbeks and other foreign fighters, they said.

One of those killed was Abu Abdul Rehman al-Maani, who is believed to have helped orchestrate the five-hour airport siege last Sunday, said two other officials. Uzbek fighters and the Pakistani Taliban both claimed responsibility for the attack on Jinnah International Airport, and the Pakistani Taliban said the two had worked together to carry it out, marking a disturbing increase of militant groups working together.

When the jets struck, the militants had been gathered to discuss a deadline given by authorities for militants to leave the area, said two of the Pakistani officials.
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