Older, but relevant piece of information:
Losing the war on Afghan drugs
By Andrew North
BBC News, Lashkar Gah, Helmand
Sunday, 4 December 2005,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4493596.stm
"Of course we're growing poppy this year," said the district chief. "The government, the foreigners - they promised us help if we stopped. But where is it?"
Two British soldiers killed in Afghanistan attack
Updated Sun. Jul. 2 2006 8:35 AM ET
Associated Press
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060702/britons_killed_afghanistan_060702/20060702?hub=World
Two British soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed when their base came under attack in southern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday. Afghan forces killed 11 militants in a separate attack in the same area.
Fear of UK backlash on Afghan war
Jason Burke in Kabul
Sunday July 2, 2006
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1810735,00.html
Britain's military chiefs believe the public is not ready for the inevitable casualties of renewed fighting with the Taliban
also from American Forces Press Service - Sunday, July 02, 2006 12:12 PM
Officials Announce New Casualties,
Two coalition servicemembers were killed in Afghanistan today, two U.S. servicemembers died yesterday in what officials described as noncombat incidents, and the Defense Department has identified previously announced casualties in the global war on terror.
A coalition patrol supporting Operation Mountain Thrust became involved in a small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade firefight with enemy extremists today in the Sangin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province, resulting in the death of two coalition members and a coalition interpreter.
Four wounded coalition members were evacuated by air to a nearby coalition hospital for treatment. They were reported to be in stable condition.
Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, as a matter of policy, does not provide the nationality of its casualties in its initial announcements.
"This is a tragic loss," said a coalition spokesman, quoted in the news release announcing the incident. "These troops paid the ultimate price for freedom, giving their lives so that others might live in a nation free of tyranny and oppression. Our prayers go out to the families of the deceased, and our thoughts are with those that were wounded in this attack."
Coalition in Afghanistan Rejects Reports on Civilian Casualties
American Forces Press Service
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 2, 2006 - News reports published June 30 that claimed coalition forces fired rockets in Afghanistan's Kunar province, allegedly killing a school headmaster and injuring two others, are false, military officials here said today.
A Combined Forces Command Afghanistan statement said the three people noted in news articles are, in fact, Taliban extremists responsible for conducting attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.
According to the statement, three extremists attacked a coalition patrol on a road in the province's Pech district June 29, and the soldiers responded with small-arms and mortar fire, all positively observed by coalition forces. The three extremists fled in a blue Hilux truck.
Later, a blue Hilux truck was reported to have delivered three men with gunshot wounds to the Asadabad hospital. One extremist died of his wounds. The other two were taken into custody by coalition forces and are being treated for their wounds in a coalition hospital.
The man who died was identified as Sayeed Alam, the nephew of a known Taliban commander in the Pech valley. Alam is known to be a member of a cell that plants roadside bombs, officials said. The wounded were also identified as known Taliban extremists. Their names are not being released for security reasons, officials said.
"These three men were without a doubt Taliban extremists and not innocent civilians," said Army Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force 76 spokesman. "Coalition forces make every effort to protect Afghan civilians and limit the possibility of civilian casualties. The coalition is improving the lives of Afghan people through reconstruction projects and civil and medical assistance visits to villages. The Taliban's only purpose is to stop progress and instill fear and intimidation."
(From a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release.)
Related Sites:
Combined Forces Command Afghanistan [http://www.cfc-a.centcom.mil/]
Combined Joint Task Force 76 [http://cjtf76.army.mil/main.html]
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2006/20060702_5561.html.
We'll beat you again, Afghans warn British
Declan Walsh in Maiwand
Monday June 26, 2006
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1806030,00.html
Many great armies have rolled through Maiwand. Over the centuries Persians, Moghuls and Russians have traversed the ramshackle hamlet on the sunbaked plains of western Kandahar. But nobody has forgotten the British
excerpt:
One quarter of the town's 60 police had been killed in the past three months, he complained, yet Canadian soldiers based in Kandahar, 40 miles east, had done little to help. "They show up maybe once a week, promising vehicles and ammunition but bringing nothing," he said. "Now we take their words like a joke."
Afghan history's warning to UK troops
By Paul Danahar
BBC South Asia bureau editor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4926628.stm
The British have made some disastrous decisions in Afghanistan - one led to one of the worst massacres in the UK's military history.
Distempered days
Growing Taliban violence, drug-smuggling, corruption and deteriorating foreign relations are eroding Afghan president Hamid Karzai's authority, writes Declan Walsh
Wednesday June 28, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1807806,00.html
