- Reaction score
- 33
- Points
- 560
From Small Dead Animals
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/004006.html
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/004006.html
Countering The Taliban Propaganda Ministry (Ottawa Bureau)
Bill Roggio; http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/05/the_inaccurate_taliban_offensi.php
The news reports of a major Taliban offensive in southeastern Afghanistan are inaccurate, as Coalition offensives and Taliban attacks have been lumped together to give the impression of a coordinated Taliban assault in multiple provinces. A reading of the various reports indicates that while the Taliban has launched a major strike on a police station and government center in Helmand province and a small scale attack on a police patrol in Ghazni, as well as two suicide attacks against U.S. contractors in Herat and an Afghan army base in Ghazni, the fighting in Kandahar was initiated by Afghan and Coalition security forces during planned operations. Over 100 have been reported killed during the fighting, with 87 being Taliban. Well over half of those killed were killed during the Coalition offensives in Kandahar.
There were two separate major engagements in Kandahar province, and both were initiated by the Coalition. Coalition forces conducted a raid and subsequent air strikes against a Taliban safe haven in the village of Azizi. As many as 27 Taliban are believed to have been killed during the operation. A joint Canadian and Afghan security force conducted a sweep in the Panjwai district of Kandahar, and killed 18 Taliban and captured 26 in the process. One Canadian officer was killed and three Afghan police were wounded during the operation.
[...]
It is important to understand how the fighting was initiated, as the current reporting is giving the impression of a coordinated Taliban uprising. This provides the Taliban with a propaganda victory, as their power is perceived as far greater than it actually is, which can negatively influence the government and peoples of the Coalition forces serving in Afghanistan. The narrow passage of the extension of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan (by a 149-145 vote in Parliament) illustrates the fragile nature of the support for the mission in some Western nations.
Emphasis mine. More on Afghanistan at Strategy Page. http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20060518.aspx
Bill goes to Afghanistan to embed with the Canadian Forces next week. Be sure to bookmark him.
Posted by Kate at May 20, 2006 03:51 PM