Afghanistan heating up

[-rb]

Well it looks like they HAVE retracted the story.....
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1576/5406678.html

And of course with their retraction everybody's happy now :. In addition to Bruce's link CNN has a bit more from the reaction of some muslims in Afghanistan...

But Muslims said they suspected that pressure from Washington was behind the magazine's climbdown, Reuters reported Monday.

"We will not be deceived by this," Islamic cleric Mullah Sadullah Abu Aman told Reuters in the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan.

"This is a decision by America to save itself. It comes because of American pressure. Even an ordinary illiterate peasant understands this and won't accept it."

For full article... http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/16/newsweek.quran.intl/index.html

Stating the obvious but sadly, it seems the damage is done whether they (Newsweak Magazine) have issued the retraction or not.

cheers.

 

[Sergeant295]

You know, everyone is so quick to draw conculsions when it comes to the United States these days especially when it comes to foreign policy and military matters.  I for one am not.  As a duel US-Canadian citizin, someone who was raised for a great deal of my life in Canada, and someone serving in the US military I find it offensive. 

Canada is supposed to be a country of due process and when people, either in this Army.ca forum or elsewhere for that matter condem Americans for anything before hearing bothsides of the story I think many will agree with me that it offends the very principals that Canada holds dear.  Do I deny that there are some real nuts in America?  No, nor do I question wether they have found their way into the military as I have served with many of them.  However to condem the boys at Guantonamo Bay is wrong and I think everyone should stop for now, then when and if proof comes then you can cut them a new #$%&hole. 

I would also like to make the point that many people on this forum were offened with the New York Times collumist who blasted Canada in the paper several weeks ago.  You accused him of being a racist and every other bad name in the book and I do agree with you all.  However that being said I would like to say when you lump all of us Americans into one pile (in this case as prisoner abusors) you only further the points that are made in that article, mainly that Canada is too anti-American for its own good.  I for one know that whatever is said about each other when it comes down to it in the end Canada and the United States are there for each other no matter what, I just wish everyone on both sides would act like it. Also I wish Canadians would stop treating the Guantonamo Bay Holding Facility like they have nothing to do with it.  Have you all forgoten that JTF-2 memebers have sent a few boys there too?

To close I wouds also like to make the point that these claims of a Holy War are being made by Clereks that were known to be Anti-American from the very start, and perhaps this is just an excuse to wage a war that they have been seeking for a long time.  Do you really think that we would be having this conversation if some Clereks pissed on a Bible? Doubtful.  It would dismissed as their right to free expression or some other nonesense, as the new western way seems to be to coddle the rest of the world for fear of offending.

Let me throw this question out:  Since everyone is so offended by these supposed acts at Guantonomo Bay, and working under the assumption that they are true will everyone still be offeneded if these acts maybe allowed interrigators to turn up information about a possible terrorist attack on Canada?  Or will they be suddenly heros? I think everyone needs to face the fact that we are all at war with terrorism and anyone reading this who had dealt with these people recently overseas (any Operation Apollo out there?) sometimes a hard line needs to be drawn.

To sum it all up I think that we should be less concerned with unsubstantiated rumors on CNN and focus on the real issues and that is that Afghanistan has become a much more dangerous place for all troops and civilians there.  My thoughts are with alll American, Canadian and Allied troops there.  They are doing a wonderful job, lets focus on that and leave the rumours until they turn to truth.

 

[Britney Spears]

Like pbi said, it's campaign season, that's all.

Here's an excerpt from a blog that I find fairly reasonable.

<a href=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_05/006322.php>Washington Monthly</a>

Anyway, let's get some things straight:

    *      Newsweek's source blew it. But it was a source they had used before and they had no reason not to trust him.

    *      Hundreds of items similar to Newsweek's story have been published in the past year, all of them true. The torture at Abu Ghraib was far worse than this, and other reports of Koran desecration have been published in the past year as well. They inspired no riots, and there was no special reason for Newsweek to think their report would inspire any riots either.

    *      The Taliban stages a resurgence every spring, anti-Americanism has been on the rise for some time, and the rioters in Afghanistan are responsible for the riots in Afghanistan. The Newsweek story is clearly just a pretext, and another story would have done just as well given their obvious animosity toward America.

    *      Under any other circumstances, conservatives would heartily agree. The phony outrage over this is just a cynical excuse for the usual press bashing. Newsweek should buck up.

 

[George Wallace]

To sum it all up I think that we should be less concerned with unsubstantiated rumors on CNN and focus on the real issues and that is that Afghanistan has become a much more dangerous place for all troops and civilians there.   My thoughts are with alll American, Canadian and Allied troops there.   They are doing a wonderful job, lets focus on that and leave the rumours until they turn to truth.

The unfortunate thing is that these "unsubstantiated rumours" on CNN and in Newsweek (neither one a Canadian News outlet) are costing people their lives.  You don't have to be American, Canadian, an American Basher or whatever to realize this.  Idiots in the Press, no matter what country they publish in, who spread inaccurate journalism should be held just as accountable as if they themselves had pulled the trigger, slit the throat, stoned, bombed or whatever - they should be held just as accountable for murder as the fanatic who takes their printed word as gospel and commits murder on that word alone.

 

[Sergeant295]

George,

You say it best man.

 

[Britney Spears]

Idiots in the Press, no matter what country they publish in, who spread inaccurate journalism should be held just as accountable as if they themselves had pulled the trigger, slit the throat, stoned, bombed or whatever - they should be held just as accountable for murder as the fanatic who takes their printed word as gospel and commits murder on that word alone.

Well in the civilized world, they already are, as per slander/defamation laws. In this case, I think the rioters and their clerics are responsible for the riots, not Newsweek.

 

[Dare]

The unfortunate thing is that these "unsubstantiated rumours" on CNN and in Newsweek (neither one a Canadian News outlet) are costing people their lives.  You don't have to be American, Canadian, an American Basher or whatever to realize this.  Idiots in the Press, no matter what country they publish in, who spread inaccurate journalism should be held just as accountable as if they themselves had pulled the trigger, slit the throat, stoned, bombed or whatever - they should be held just as accountable for murder as the fanatic who takes their printed word as gospel and commits murder on that word alone.

While I rarely defend the media, I think I have to in this instance. It was not these rumours that directly cost people their lives. It was caused by illiterate fanatics fueled by various factions most notibly Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami.. which was founded in Palestine, or "Jordanian-occupied East Jerusalem" as CNS news calls it.. very rarely are these "protests" or "uprisings" spontaneous or genuine. They are usually funded and organized. People often think terrorist groups are small and isolated sleeper cells, but they're usually quite large and almost a society unto themselves.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200505\FOR20050516a.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/hizb-ut-tahrir.htm

There's no doubt that they should have known better to get more sources for their research but nonetheless, it is those different factions and fanatics that caused the deaths, not a news report. I believe they are free to print whatever they want, their credibility is theirs to lose. Just because some nuts go off the handle because of what they print in a few sources on the other side of the planet does not mean the news staff should be tried for any degree of murder. Personally, I suspect (without any proof, don't try me for murder, thanks) that it's highly likely such interrogation tactics are used, even if unofficially or informally. If we were interrogating communists, I'd expect them to rip up the Communist manifesto too, or a Christian their bible.. sure, it's not very nice to rip up someone elses sacred cows, but it's also not very nice to plot mass murder either. I weigh on that. It's information retrieval, not a daycare centre. "Tantamount to torture", despite how it is often implied, still isn't torture.

P.S. The link does not format properly, you'll have to cut and paste the line if you wish to see it.

 

[Infanteer]

sure, it's not very nice to rip up someone elses sacred cows, but it's also not very nice to plot mass murder either. I weigh on that. It's information retrieval, not a daycare centre. "Tantamount to torture", despite how it is often implied, still isn't torture.

Agree with you here, Dare - these people are in Gitmo for a reason....

 

[George Wallace]

Should we as Soldiers in a Combat Zone trust Journalists?  Have they proven themselves to be untrustworthy?  Will soldiers in a Combat Zone be tempted to direct the Press down an "Uncleared Route" in protest?

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20050518.shtml

It's not just Newsweek
Michelle Malkin (archive)


May 18, 2005

If you want to hear an earful, ask an American soldier how he feels about our news media. You will invariably hear an outpouring of dismay and outrage over antagonistic and reckless reporting. I have stacks of letters and e-mails from soldiers and their families sharing those frustrations. During the Vietnam War, those sentiments would get packed away -- private hurts to be silently borne for decades.

But today the Internet has allowed soldiers on the front to disseminate their views -- breaking through the media's entrenched, anti-military bias -- in unprecedented ways. In the wake of Newsweek's publication of its unsourced, mayhem-inducing and now-retracted item about Koran desecration by U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, a sergeant in Saudi Arabia immediately responded on a blog called The Anchoress (theanchoressonline.com):

  I have placed my life and the life of my fellow soldiers in danger in order to achieve a measure of the freedoms we enjoy at home for the Iraqi and Afghani people. As soldiers, we all understand that we may be asked to participate in wars (actions) that we (or our countrymen) don't agree with. The irresponsible journalism being practiced by organizations such as Newsweek, however, [is] just inexcusable. At this point, because of their actions and failure to follow up on a claim of that magnitude, they've set the process back in Afghanistan immensely . . .

I don't regret serving my country, not one bit, but to have everything I'm doing here undermined by irresponsible journalists leaves me disgusted and disappointed.

Military bloggers across the Web this week echoed the sergeant's disgust with American journalism. And it's not just Newsweek.

It's the New York Times and CBS News and the overkill over abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. It's the Boston Globe publishing porn photos passed off by an anti-war city councilor as proof that American GIs were raping Iraqi women.

It's the constant editorial drumbeat of "quagmire, quagmire, quagmire."

It's the mainstream media's bogus reporting on the military's failure to stop purported "massive" looting of Iraqi antiquities.

It's the hyping of stories like the military's purported failure to stop looting of explosives at al Qa Qaa right before the 2004 presidential election -- stories that have since dropped off the face of the earth.

It's the persistent use of euphemisms -- "insurgents," "hostage-takers," "activists," "militants," "fighters" -- to describe the terrorist head-choppers and suicide bombers trying to kill American soldiers and civilians alike. It's the knee-jerk caricature of American generals as intolerant anachronisms. It's the portrayal of honest mistakes in battle as premeditated murders.

It's the propagandistic rumor-mongering spread by sympathizers of Italy's Giuliana Sgrena and former CNN executive Eason Jordan about American soldiers targeting and/or murdering journalists.

It's the glorification of military deserters, who bask in the glow of unquestioning -- and largely uncorroborated -- print and broadcast profiles.

And it's the lesser-known insults, too, such as the fraudulent manipulation of Marine recruits by Harper's magazine. In March, the liberal publication plastered a photo of seven recruits at Parris Island, S.C., under the headline, "AWOL in America: When Desertion Is the Only Option." None of the recruits is a deserter. When some expressed outrage over the deception, the magazine initially shrugged.

  "We are decorating pages," sniffed Giulia Melucci, the magazine's vice president for public relations, to the St. Petersburg Times.

As Ralph Hansen, associate professor of journalism at West Virginia University and a rare member of academia with his head screwed on straight, observed: "Portraying honorable soldiers as deserters is clearly inappropriate. And I don't see any way Harper's could claim that they weren't portraying the young Marines as deserters. A cover is more than just art. I think that someone had a great idea for a cover illustration and forgot that he or she was dealing with images of real people."

The members of our military are more than just an expedient means to a titillating magazine cover or juicy scoop or Peabody Award. Too often since the "War on Terror" was declared, eager Bush-bashing journalists have forgotten that the troops are real people who face real threats and real bloodshed as a consequence of loose lips and keyboards.

It's not just Newsweek that needs to learn that lesson.


Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at michellemalkin.com

©2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

 

[GGboy]

Please: Malkin has a rather large ideological axe to grind and is painting the media coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan with a very large brush.
I'd be interested to hear the impressions of anyone who was on Op Athena of "The Media" because my understanding is that for the most part, the guys got along fairly well with the embedded reporters.
It's fine and good to rant about "The Media" as if it were a unified, monolithic entity, just as it's easy for the media to talk about "The Military" in the same way. Reporters are individuals, for good or ill, just as soldiers are. Seems to me the more personal contact there is between The Media and The Military, the more understanding develops on both sides.
And from a CF perspective, the more positive or at least realistic media coverage results ...

 

[Copper_Sunrise]

Just updatig the post. I hope the guards at Guantanamo didn't do this because it doesn't help anyone out.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4581383.stm

FBI records detail Koran claims 

An inmate at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp accused US guards of flushing a Koran down the toilet back in 2002, declassified FBI documents reveal.
The disclosure follows a row over a similar claim made in Newsweek, which the magazine was forced to retract.

The Newsweek claims sparked protests across the Muslim world, and riots in Afghanistan that killed 15 people.

The Pentagon said last week it had seen "no credible and specific allegations" about putting a Koran in a toilet.

Newsweek last week apologised for, and then retracted its report, after saying it could not corroborate the story.

The White House rounded on the magazine, saying its report had done "lasting damage" to the US image in the Muslim world.

But the FBI documents made public on Wednesday, after a request from the human rights group American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), show that such allegations had been made at Guantanamo Bay.

After interviewing a detainee, an unnamed FBI agent wrote on 1 August 2002: "Personally, he has nothing against the United States. The guards in the detention facility do not treat him well. Their behaviour is bad.

"About five months ago, the guards beat the detainees. They flushed a Koran in the toilet.

"The guards dance around when the detainees are trying to pray. The guards still do these things."

Guantanamo 'gulag'

The ACLU said the documents showed the Pentagon was aware of such allegations being made at Guantanamo Bay long ago, but had repeatedly turned a blind eye to "mounting evidence of widespread abuse".

The Pentagon did not immediately comment on the documents, but officials have said recently that various claims made by former detainees have been proved false.

Officials say they have begun comparing detainee complaints to see if any are corroborated.

ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said: "Unfortunately, one thing we've learned over the last couple of years is that detainee statements about their treatment at Guantanamo and other detention centres sometimes have turned out to be more credible than US government statements."

Other FBI documents released on Wednesday detailed further accusations, including one by a detainee who said a female interrogator wiped his face with her menstrual blood.

Meanwhile Amnesty International urged the US to shut Guantanamo Bay, calling it "the gulag of our time".

In a report the group said the US had undermined human rights across the world, by trying to "redefine and sanitise torture".

The White House dismissed the report as "ridiculous and unsupported".

Spokesman Scott McClellan said allegations of mistreatment were being investigated.

More than 500 people are being held at Guantanamo Bay, the US naval base on Cuba, suspected of links to the al-Qaeda network.

Some have been detained for more than three years, but have not been charged.

 

[paracowboy]

took the Law of Armed Conflict Course a few weeks ago. One of the instructors was a lovely woman from the ICRC. She's one of those Liberal-types who's BTDT. Her resume impressed the hell out of me, as did her courage (both physical and of convictions), her intellect, and her chassis (hey sue me, I like girls). She's been to Gitmo a few times, and so have a number of her compatriots. She says that nothing in Gitmo violates any part of the ICRC's views on how prisoners should be treated. The Red Cross says it's kosher, to me, it's kosher.
But then again, maybe the American gov't, the Illuminati, and the Free Masons are simply pressuring them, right?  :

 

[Pikache]

and her chassis (hey sue me, I like girls).

AHAHAHAH. That just made my day.

Sorry for hijacking a bit, but couldn't just let that past.

 

[Armymedic]

the weather isn't everything that is hotter now...

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Stay safe, my friend.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/06/06/1074285-ap.html
 
Romania, Spain and the Netherlands may send extra troops to Afghanistan
   
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - NATO is close to completing plans for a major strengthening of its peacekeeping force in Afghanistan during September's parliamentary elections, with Romania, Spain and the Netherlands providing hundreds of extra troops, diplomats said Monday.
Each of the three countries is expected to send a battalion to bolster the NATO force. With additional air support and smaller contributions from other allies, that could add up to 3,000 soldiers to the existing force of 8,300.

NATO defence ministers are scheduled to discuss the reinforcement plan at their regular mid-year meeting Thursday in Brussels. The deployment of the extra Spanish and Dutch troops depends on approval from parliaments in the two countries, said NATO diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Afghanistan's parliamentary elections, set for Sept. 18, are seen as a key step toward the development of democratic institutions there, and the extra NATO troops will be needed to provide security for thousands of candidates and hundreds of polling stations.

NATO took similar steps to boost its peacekeeping force during the presidential elections in October.

 

[Armymedic]

Thankfully, I am safely at home for HLTA.....

Unfortunately, it seems some of my new friends in the ETT working out at FOBs are not doing so well....
The province mentioned for those looking for a Cdn angle is just to the west of that the main road between Kabul, Ghazni and Quandahar.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/06/11/us_soldier_killed_3_hurt_in_ambush_in_afghanistan/

US soldier killed, 3 hurt in ambush in Afghanistan
Deadly attack is third in week
By Daniel Cooney, Associated Press   |   June 11, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan -- An American soldier was killed and three US troops were wounded when insurgents ambushed a patrol yesterday in eastern Afghanistan, the third deadly attack on US forces in the border region in a week.

Seven militants were killed in fighting set off by the ambush of US-led coalition and Afghan forces in Paktika province, a US military statement said. The militants fled after the fighting and American forces deployed attack aircraft in pursuit.

Fighting in Paktika has killed five US troops in the past week. The province is next to the Pakistani border, and militants based in tribal regions on the other side of the mountainous frontier often cross into Afghanistan to launch attacks. Seventeen suspected Taliban militants were reported captured in the area Monday.

Two US soldiers wounded in yesterday's attack were taken to a nearby base for treatment, while the third was treated and returned to duty, the statement said.

''Our patrols of coalition and Afghan forces are relentless in the pursuit of the enemy," Army Brigadier General Jack Sterling said. ''We are deeply saddened by the loss of our soldier and will honor him by continuing to take the fight to the enemy."

The death brought to 149 the number of US military personnel killed in and around Afghanistan since the Taliban were driven from power in 2001.

Even though US military commanders express optimism about progress toward making Afghanistan secure, there has been a sharp rise in bombings, shootings, and other violence since winter's snow melted in mountain passes used by insurgents.

Security forces have hit back hard, killing more than 200 suspected militants since March, US and Afghan officials said.

In Rome yesterday, an Italian aid worker arrived home after being held hostage in Afghanistan for more than three weeks. Clementina Cantoni said she had been treated well, but she expressed concern for detainees still being held.

Cantoni, 32, was released Thursday in Kabul, the Afghan capital, where she had been abducted by armed men May 16. She was working for CARE International on a project helping Afghan widows and their families.

In Kabul, the Afghan government said four people detained because of alleged links to the kidnappers had been questioned and released.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was among those gathered at Ciampino military airport in Rome to greet Cantoni. She was taken to Rome's courthouse, where antiterrorism prosecutors questioned her.

 

[Armymedic]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1118657733253_134/?hub=World

Four U.S. troops injured in Afghan attack
Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan â ” An explosion near a U.S. military vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Monday wounded four American troops, a U.S. military spokesman said, in the latest in a series of bloody assaults on coalition forces.

The vehicle was hit by the blast near the main southern city of Kandahar. A local Afghan police chief said it was a suicide assault. The U.S. military confirmed it was a bombing, but gave no further details.

Spokesman Col. James Yonts told reporters in Kabul that the four wounded, one in a serious condition, were flown to a U.S. base in Kandahar for medical treatment.

Gen. Salim Khan, the deputy police chief for Kandahar city, said a suicide bomber had rammed a car full of explosives into the U.S. vehicle. The head of the attacker was found near the site of the blast and it appeared to be that of an Arab, he said.

"The U.S. vehicle was blown up in the suicide attack," Khan said.

He said at least three American troops were killed, but in a statement, the U.S. military said no U.S. service members had died.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw three American soldiers being carried on stretchers into a U.S. military helicopter. Two other U.S. helicopters hovered overhead, while dozens of Afghan and U.S. troops took up positions around the site.

Troops blocked the highway where the attack happened. The road links Kandahar and the western city of Herat. Hundreds of Afghans who had been driving along the road looked on.

Three other bombs were found hidden on roadsides around Kandahar on Monday morning, a government official in the city said on condition of anonymity. All were defused, he said.

A bomb attack Sunday on an Afghan family's pickup truck just north of Kandahar killed a woman and wounded four others, including two children, said Khan, the deputy police chief. He said the attackers may have thought the four-wheel-drive vehicle belonged to the Afghan army as it was similar to ones the army uses.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, said in a telephone call to AP that the group was responsible for Monday's bombing and that the suicide attacker was an Afghan.

Hakimi often calls news organizations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban. His information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated, and his exact tie to the group's leadership is unclear.

The bombing follows an upsurge in attacks by Taliban-led rebels in recent weeks, which the government says marks an effort to sabotage legislative elections due in September.

On June 1, a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber killed 20 people at the funeral of an anti-Taliban cleric in Kandahar, one of the worst terror attacks here since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.

Five American troops also died in attacks earlier this month.

 

[SHELLDRAKE!!]

Watching the ctv last night, I see there is a new secret logbook out of Gitmo that lists more dark secrets of the prisoner abuse. Although I don't condone abuse prisoners, the media has yet again made a huge issue out of quote:sleep depravation and dousing prisoners with cold water. Didn't the media learn its lesson from the bloodshed caused by the last unsubstantiated article on Koran abuse. Or maybee its that if they stir up the proverbial pot again, then they will get juicier stories than the heat wave in Ontario.

The al-Kahtani case

Citing information obtained from secret logs, Time reports that prisoner Mohammed al-Kahtani -- a top al Qaeda suspect -- was made to bark like a dog and growl at pictures of terrorists.

The magazine reports that in 2002-03, interrogators also forced Kahtani to stand for prolonged periods, kept him awake by blasting pop music and pouring water on his head. They also made him urinate in his pants.

"Is it torture? That's a tough call?" said Greg Hartley, a former U.S. Army interrogator. "Is it dehumanizing? Absolutely it's dehumanizing."

Kahtani, a Saudi citizen, is suspected to have been an intended fifth hijacker on board United Airlines flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, said the Pentagon in a statement. Kahtani was denied entry into the U.S. in August 2001, and was captured on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 2002.

Reacting to the Time report, the Pentagon said Kahtani's interrogation was conducted by trained professionals.

The Pentagon said al-Kahtani provided valuable logistical information on the Sept. 11 attacks and the means by which al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden evaded capture.

"The Department of Defence remains committed to the unequivocal standard of humane treatment for all detainees," the Pentagon said.

It also described the document cited in Time as a "compromised classified interrogation log," and said it notified appropriate congressional committees.

With a report from CTV's Joy Malbon 

 

[Armymedic]

reports of large battle in southern Afghanistan.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/06/22/afghanistan.fighting/index.html

U.S. pounds Afghan site, 76 insurgents killed
Rebels, policeman killed; U.S. soldiers wounded

Thursday, June 23, 2005; Posted: 12:33 a.m. EDT (04:33 GMT)

KABUL, Afghanistan -- American fighter planes bombarded a southern Afghanistan rebel hide-out with missiles and bombs, killing up to 76 insurgents in one of the deadliest single clashes since the Taliban's ouster in 2001.

At least 12 Afghan police and soldiers also died in the fighting Tuesday, with bodies littered across a rugged Afghan mountainside, and five U.S. troops were wounded.

The surge in fighting has raised fears that an Iraq-style quagmire is developing here, just months ahead of key legislative elections.

Two American CH-47 helicopters were hit by small arms fire in the 11-hour battle. One made an emergency landing and was repaired, while the other made it back to a nearby base, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara on Wednesday.

O'Hara said 49 rebels had been killed, but Gen. Ayub Salangi, police chief for southern Kandahar province, said Afghan forces had recovered the bodies of 76 suspected insurgents from the battlefield on the border between Kandahar and Zabul provinces.

He said the fighting spread to other areas Wednesday, and there were unconfirmed reports of more dead elsewhere.

Gen. Salim Khan, commander of about 400 Afghan policemen involved in the fighting, described the battlefield:

"Their camps were decimated. Bodies lay everywhere. Heavy machine guns and AK-47s were scattered alongside blankets, kettles and food," he said. "Some of the Taliban were also killed in caves where they were hiding, and U.S. helicopters came and pounded them."

Khan said that hundreds of insurgents were in the mountains, and that his forces were spotting them before giving the information to U.S. officials on the ground, who called in air strikes. Many of the rebels have started fleeing the area, he said.

O'Hara said AC-130 gun ships, AH-64 Apache helicopters, A-10 attack aircraft and Harriers were "hammering enemy positions" and having a "devastating effect on their forces." Though the worst of the fighting had ended, U.S. and Afghan forces were pushing forward Wednesday with their hunt for insurgents, he said.

"We are not letting up on the enemy and will continue to pursue them until the fighting stops. Coalition and Afghan forces will continue to defeat these militants for as long as necessary to ensure the people of Afghanistan remain free of oppression and tyranny," he said.

O'Hara said the wounds of the five injured U.S. soldiers were not serious, and they had been evacuated to a base in the southern city of Kandahar. Their names were withheld pending notification of their families.

Five Afghan police officers and seven soldiers were killed, while three officers and three troops were wounded, Khan said.

Some 30 militants were captured, including two district rebel commanders, Khan said. Eight of the 30 were wounded.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane crashed in an undisclosed location in southwest Asia while returning to its base from a mission in Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The pilot was killed in the crash Tuesday night.

The death toll from this week's fighting appeared among the heaviest since U.S. planes pounded Taliban forces before the hard-line regime folded in late 2001. The last single battle of this magnitude was in August, when 70 suspected rebels were killed near the Pakistani border.

The new deaths bring to about 360 the number of suspected rebels killed since the start of a major surge in violence in March, when snows melted on mountain tracks used by the insurgents, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. In the same time, 29 U.S. troops, 38 Afghan police and soldiers have been killed, as well as 125 civilians.

The increase in fighting has reinforced concerns that the Afghan war is widening, rather than winding down. U.S. and Afghan officials warn things could get worse ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

The officials have warned that foreign militants, backed up by networks channeling them money and arms, had come into Afghanistan to try to subvert the polls. Fears have been further compounded by a spate of ambushes, execution-style killings and kidnappings reminiscent Iraqi militants' tactics.

Afghan officials claim the infiltration of rebels from neighboring Pakistan has contributed to the rise in violence, and have urged Islamabad to crack down on militants there. On Sunday, Afghan intelligence agents scuttled a plot by three Pakistanis to assassinate Zalmay Khalilzad, the departing U.S. ambassador.