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The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread
September 2008
News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
Thanks for helping this "news only" thread system work!
ARTICLES FOUND 1 SEPT 08
800 U.S. troops in Kandahar just the start, MacKay says
GLORIA GALLOWAY AND HEATHER SCOFFIELD, Globe and Mail, 1 Sept 08
Article link
The arrival of 800 U.S soldiers alongside Canadian forces in Kandahar is just the start of an increase in NATO's presence in the dangerous Afghan province, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday. The top Canadian soldier in Afghanistan announced Saturday that the 800-strong U.S. battalion has officially joined his own forces, almost doubling the number of foot soldiers on the ground in the province that is under Canadian command. "We're expecting, based on just anecdotal reporting, that there may in fact be more [U.S. troops] coming," Mr. MacKay said yesterday. "In the meantime, we're requesting that all NATO countries consider sending personnel, military equipment or civilian aid workers. So this is an open and ongoing invitation to other NATO-allied countries to provide support to Kandahar." The addition of the U.S. troops in the region, with the possibility of more on the way, will free up some Canadian resources to enhance security in the area, train Afghan forces and shift some of their focus to redevelopment, Mr. MacKay said ....
Ongoing Operation in Afghan Province Kills 220 Enemy Fighters
American Forces Press Service, 31 Aug 08
Article link
Afghan and coalition forces have killed more than 220 militants during operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand province since Aug. 25, military officials reported. Attacked repeatedly by militants with small-arms and heavy-weapons fire during multiple engagements, the Afghan and coalition soldiers have responded with small-arms fire, heavy weapons and close-air support, eliminating the militant threats, officials said. Operations in the area have led to the discovery and destruction of multiple weapons caches containing ammonium nitrate, 107 mm rockets, motorcycles, 60 mm mortar rounds, pipe bombs, machine guns, rifles and small-arms ammunition. Several fortified fighting positions also have been destroyed. No Afghan or coalition forces servicemembers have been killed during the operations, officials said ....
Factory workers take up Taliban arms
Jobless workers join the insurgents in the troubled south, factory head says
Parwiz Shamal, quqnoos.com, 1 Sept 08
Article link
A LARGE number of jobless factory workers have joined the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, the head of the factory said. More than 2,000 men were employed by the textile factory, but now only 30 workers remain to guard the disused building, which was forced to close because of the ongoing insurgency in the south. Head of the factory, Muhammad Muhsin, said: "The factory workers were sacked. We know that most of the workers have now joined the Taliban or have turned into criminals." Some of the former factory workers have blamed the government for failing to create job opportunities for the people. One of the citizens in Kandahar said: "The government can rehabilitate the factory and can rescue the people from unemployment, if it wants." Another citizen said: "The government gives no money to re-build the factory. About 5,000 people would have jobs if the factory started functioning."
Insurgents torment villagers in Helmand
ISAF news release #2008-448, 1 Sept 08
News release link
ISAF units in Helmand provided medical care to several civilians who came to ISAF installations for treatment of blast and fragmentation wounds August 31. More than 20 wounded civilians arrived at two ISAF bases. ISAF immediately treated those with the most severe injuries, and those with minor injuries received money for taxis to local hospitals or to Lashkar Gah. One treated civilian said his village, Sarevan Qal’eh, was attacked the evening of Aug. 30. Insurgents ransacked three compounds and killed three women and an unspecified number of children. He then reported that the insurgents had shot him in both kneecaps before fleeing. He believed that the insurgents attacked his village because some villagers had been seen talking with ISAF troops in the last week ....
Civilian worker has only praise for soldiers
Edmonton woman found it tough to leave Afghanistan, because troops still there fighting
Trish Audette, Edmonton Journal, 1 Sept 08
Article link
A white-robed man carrying a clutch of helium-filled balloons as he walked along a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, was a symbol of promise for Michelle Joljart. In a corner of the world where she had come to expect and anticipate midnight rocket attacks and sand in her teeth, the Edmonton woman knew to keep a keen eye out for the unusual, for the potentially dangerous. "It's like a fairy tale," the Edmonton woman says of the Afghan capital. "It's alive, the whole city's alive. The stalls are out, there's children playing ball. There's women walking to the market." Kabul is what Kandahar City can be one day, but she expects its transformation will take years. For 71/2 months this year, the 38-year-old civilian was employed by the government as support staff for troops in Afghanistan .....
ISAF soldiers help injured Afghans in Sangin
ISAF news release #2008-446, 31 Aug 08
News release link
At approximately 8:00 a.m. today a number of injured civilians presented themselves to ISAF Forces in the Sangin district of Helmand province. ISAF soldiers provided medical treatment to them and assisted with their evacuation to medical facilities around Helmand and Kandahar. The cause of their injuries is unknown at this time. Further details will be released in due course. ISAF works to bring security and stability to Afghanistan and will provide medical assistance to its people whenever possible.
Insurgents plan to make false claim of civilian deaths
ISAF news release #2008-447, 31 Aug 08
News release link
SAF can confirm that following an earlier report of its forces having given medical assistance to injured civilians in the Sangin district of Helmand province yesterday it has received information, from a reliable source, that insurgents are planning to make a propaganda claim that international military forces have killed up to 70 civilians in the same area. ISAF has had no reports that would substantiate a claim such as this. There have been no reports other than of those injured, the cause of which remains unknown at this time. ISAF and Coalition forces take all claims of civilian casualties and deaths extremely seriously and are currently establishing the facts relating to the injured civilians.....
‘500 civilians killed, injured in Afghanistan’
Pak Tribune, 1 Sept 08
Article link
At least 500 civilians were killed or wounded during the five-day US-led troops` ground and air operation in the Sangin district of Helmand province, a member of Afghanistan`s parliament said on Sunday. "Foreign forces have been conducting operation in Sarwan Qala area of Sangin district for the last five days in which artillery and aircraft are being used," Dad Muhammad Khan, member of Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament), told Afghan Islamic Press ....
Estonia Helps Helmand Province Central Hospital in Afghanistan with Close to 3 Million
Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs news release, 1 Sept 08
News release link
The Foreign Ministry is supporting Bost Hospital, the central hospital of Helmand province in Afghanistan, in the acquisition of medical supplies with 2,943,213 kroons (188,000 EUR, CAN $293,000). The sum was allocated from the Foreign Ministry’s budget for development and humanitarian aid .... Within the framework of the non-profit organisation Mondo’s project, a medical oxygen delivery system will be obtained for the hospital, along with transportable medical oxygen tubing and medical supplies such as an autoclave, gurneys, wheelchairs, aspirators, throat masks, sterilisers, splints, crutches, and an ultrasound machine ....
Afghan commission says U.S. troops fired on first
Associated Press, 1 Sept 08
Article link
An Afghan army commander said that U.S. and Afghan troops were fired on first from a village where a government investigative commission says scores of civilians were killed, according to a report released Sunday. The chief of staff for the army's Herat corps told the head of the government's investigative commission that shots were fired early Aug. 22 from Azizabad at U.S. and Afghan troops. The troops had gone to the village on a raid. But the report, released by the office of President Hamid Karzai, did not specify who fired the shots. "When the ANA (Afghan army) and coalition troops got close to the village, firing started after the ANA unit stopped, and the coalition forces conducted the operation in the village," the report said ....
AMBUSHED FRENCH TROOPS FACED LARGE REBEL FORCE: OFFICERS
Tocqueville Connection, 1 Sept 08
Article link
French soldiers ambushed in Afghanistan last month were confronted by about 170 heavily-armed rebels who were better organised than usual, officers involved in the firefight told AFP. Ten Frenchmen, most of them from an elite paratroop unit, were killed and 21 others wounded in the August 18 clash on a rocky mountaintop overlooking the Uzbeen valley, 65 kilometres (40 miles) east of Kabul. The ambush, the deadliest ground battle for foreign forces since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and the worst French military loss in 25 years, prompted a public outcry in France, with some calling for an immediate troop withdrawal. The attack "took us by surprise," said Sebastien, a 37-year-old troop commander whose full name cannot be used for security reasons. "Until then, rebels mostly attacked with groups of 30 to 50 men, with only 20 of them actually taking part in the fighting," he said. "But this time, they had regrouped and coordinated forces," he added, putting the total enemy forces at 170, broken up into different groups ....
Pakistan stops its offensives for Ramadan
Zarar Khan, Associated Press via The Guardian (UK), 1 Sept 08
Article link
Pakistan said yesterday it was suspending a military operation against insurgents in the tribal region for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A Taliban spokesman welcomed the decision to halt the strikes in the Bajur tribal region, a rumoured hide-out of Osama bin Laden, but government and military officials warned that any provocation by insurgents in the area would prompt immediate retaliation. Despite not committing to a formal end to the operation against insurgents, interior minister Rehman Malik said people displaced from Bajur could return to the region "without any fear". He said the suspension would take effect today, but army spokesman Major Murad Khan said the military had already halted its activities ....
Pakistani Taliban vow to strike during Ramadan
Reuters, 31 Aug 08
Article link
Pakistani Taliban will continue attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, rejecting a government announcement it would halt military actions in the northwest, a Taliban spokesman said on Sunday. Violence has surged in Pakistan in recent weeks with the military battling al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked fighters in three different parts of the northwest. The militants have responded with suicide and remotely detonated bomb attacks on the security forces and civilian targets ....
Taliban divided over ceasefire
Daily Times (PAK), 1 Sept 08
Article link
The Taliban were divided on Sunday in their response to the government’s decision to suspend the military operation against them during Ramazan. “It’s a joke. It isn’t a matter of holy or unholy. All months are holy. If they want to end fighting, it should be permanent,” Muslim Khan, Taliban spokesman in Swat, told Reuters. In an apparent act of defiance, the Taliban bombed the abandoned house of PML-Q leader Haroonur Rashid. But TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar welcomed the government’s offer and said his group would release six soldiers. A complete ceasefire was observed in Dara Adam Khel on Sunday.
- edited to reformat first page of month -
September 2008
News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
Thanks for helping this "news only" thread system work!
ARTICLES FOUND 1 SEPT 08
800 U.S. troops in Kandahar just the start, MacKay says
GLORIA GALLOWAY AND HEATHER SCOFFIELD, Globe and Mail, 1 Sept 08
Article link
The arrival of 800 U.S soldiers alongside Canadian forces in Kandahar is just the start of an increase in NATO's presence in the dangerous Afghan province, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday. The top Canadian soldier in Afghanistan announced Saturday that the 800-strong U.S. battalion has officially joined his own forces, almost doubling the number of foot soldiers on the ground in the province that is under Canadian command. "We're expecting, based on just anecdotal reporting, that there may in fact be more [U.S. troops] coming," Mr. MacKay said yesterday. "In the meantime, we're requesting that all NATO countries consider sending personnel, military equipment or civilian aid workers. So this is an open and ongoing invitation to other NATO-allied countries to provide support to Kandahar." The addition of the U.S. troops in the region, with the possibility of more on the way, will free up some Canadian resources to enhance security in the area, train Afghan forces and shift some of their focus to redevelopment, Mr. MacKay said ....
Ongoing Operation in Afghan Province Kills 220 Enemy Fighters
American Forces Press Service, 31 Aug 08
Article link
Afghan and coalition forces have killed more than 220 militants during operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand province since Aug. 25, military officials reported. Attacked repeatedly by militants with small-arms and heavy-weapons fire during multiple engagements, the Afghan and coalition soldiers have responded with small-arms fire, heavy weapons and close-air support, eliminating the militant threats, officials said. Operations in the area have led to the discovery and destruction of multiple weapons caches containing ammonium nitrate, 107 mm rockets, motorcycles, 60 mm mortar rounds, pipe bombs, machine guns, rifles and small-arms ammunition. Several fortified fighting positions also have been destroyed. No Afghan or coalition forces servicemembers have been killed during the operations, officials said ....
Factory workers take up Taliban arms
Jobless workers join the insurgents in the troubled south, factory head says
Parwiz Shamal, quqnoos.com, 1 Sept 08
Article link
A LARGE number of jobless factory workers have joined the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, the head of the factory said. More than 2,000 men were employed by the textile factory, but now only 30 workers remain to guard the disused building, which was forced to close because of the ongoing insurgency in the south. Head of the factory, Muhammad Muhsin, said: "The factory workers were sacked. We know that most of the workers have now joined the Taliban or have turned into criminals." Some of the former factory workers have blamed the government for failing to create job opportunities for the people. One of the citizens in Kandahar said: "The government can rehabilitate the factory and can rescue the people from unemployment, if it wants." Another citizen said: "The government gives no money to re-build the factory. About 5,000 people would have jobs if the factory started functioning."
Insurgents torment villagers in Helmand
ISAF news release #2008-448, 1 Sept 08
News release link
ISAF units in Helmand provided medical care to several civilians who came to ISAF installations for treatment of blast and fragmentation wounds August 31. More than 20 wounded civilians arrived at two ISAF bases. ISAF immediately treated those with the most severe injuries, and those with minor injuries received money for taxis to local hospitals or to Lashkar Gah. One treated civilian said his village, Sarevan Qal’eh, was attacked the evening of Aug. 30. Insurgents ransacked three compounds and killed three women and an unspecified number of children. He then reported that the insurgents had shot him in both kneecaps before fleeing. He believed that the insurgents attacked his village because some villagers had been seen talking with ISAF troops in the last week ....
Civilian worker has only praise for soldiers
Edmonton woman found it tough to leave Afghanistan, because troops still there fighting
Trish Audette, Edmonton Journal, 1 Sept 08
Article link
A white-robed man carrying a clutch of helium-filled balloons as he walked along a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, was a symbol of promise for Michelle Joljart. In a corner of the world where she had come to expect and anticipate midnight rocket attacks and sand in her teeth, the Edmonton woman knew to keep a keen eye out for the unusual, for the potentially dangerous. "It's like a fairy tale," the Edmonton woman says of the Afghan capital. "It's alive, the whole city's alive. The stalls are out, there's children playing ball. There's women walking to the market." Kabul is what Kandahar City can be one day, but she expects its transformation will take years. For 71/2 months this year, the 38-year-old civilian was employed by the government as support staff for troops in Afghanistan .....
ISAF soldiers help injured Afghans in Sangin
ISAF news release #2008-446, 31 Aug 08
News release link
At approximately 8:00 a.m. today a number of injured civilians presented themselves to ISAF Forces in the Sangin district of Helmand province. ISAF soldiers provided medical treatment to them and assisted with their evacuation to medical facilities around Helmand and Kandahar. The cause of their injuries is unknown at this time. Further details will be released in due course. ISAF works to bring security and stability to Afghanistan and will provide medical assistance to its people whenever possible.
Insurgents plan to make false claim of civilian deaths
ISAF news release #2008-447, 31 Aug 08
News release link
SAF can confirm that following an earlier report of its forces having given medical assistance to injured civilians in the Sangin district of Helmand province yesterday it has received information, from a reliable source, that insurgents are planning to make a propaganda claim that international military forces have killed up to 70 civilians in the same area. ISAF has had no reports that would substantiate a claim such as this. There have been no reports other than of those injured, the cause of which remains unknown at this time. ISAF and Coalition forces take all claims of civilian casualties and deaths extremely seriously and are currently establishing the facts relating to the injured civilians.....
‘500 civilians killed, injured in Afghanistan’
Pak Tribune, 1 Sept 08
Article link
At least 500 civilians were killed or wounded during the five-day US-led troops` ground and air operation in the Sangin district of Helmand province, a member of Afghanistan`s parliament said on Sunday. "Foreign forces have been conducting operation in Sarwan Qala area of Sangin district for the last five days in which artillery and aircraft are being used," Dad Muhammad Khan, member of Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament), told Afghan Islamic Press ....
Estonia Helps Helmand Province Central Hospital in Afghanistan with Close to 3 Million
Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs news release, 1 Sept 08
News release link
The Foreign Ministry is supporting Bost Hospital, the central hospital of Helmand province in Afghanistan, in the acquisition of medical supplies with 2,943,213 kroons (188,000 EUR, CAN $293,000). The sum was allocated from the Foreign Ministry’s budget for development and humanitarian aid .... Within the framework of the non-profit organisation Mondo’s project, a medical oxygen delivery system will be obtained for the hospital, along with transportable medical oxygen tubing and medical supplies such as an autoclave, gurneys, wheelchairs, aspirators, throat masks, sterilisers, splints, crutches, and an ultrasound machine ....
Afghan commission says U.S. troops fired on first
Associated Press, 1 Sept 08
Article link
An Afghan army commander said that U.S. and Afghan troops were fired on first from a village where a government investigative commission says scores of civilians were killed, according to a report released Sunday. The chief of staff for the army's Herat corps told the head of the government's investigative commission that shots were fired early Aug. 22 from Azizabad at U.S. and Afghan troops. The troops had gone to the village on a raid. But the report, released by the office of President Hamid Karzai, did not specify who fired the shots. "When the ANA (Afghan army) and coalition troops got close to the village, firing started after the ANA unit stopped, and the coalition forces conducted the operation in the village," the report said ....
AMBUSHED FRENCH TROOPS FACED LARGE REBEL FORCE: OFFICERS
Tocqueville Connection, 1 Sept 08
Article link
French soldiers ambushed in Afghanistan last month were confronted by about 170 heavily-armed rebels who were better organised than usual, officers involved in the firefight told AFP. Ten Frenchmen, most of them from an elite paratroop unit, were killed and 21 others wounded in the August 18 clash on a rocky mountaintop overlooking the Uzbeen valley, 65 kilometres (40 miles) east of Kabul. The ambush, the deadliest ground battle for foreign forces since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and the worst French military loss in 25 years, prompted a public outcry in France, with some calling for an immediate troop withdrawal. The attack "took us by surprise," said Sebastien, a 37-year-old troop commander whose full name cannot be used for security reasons. "Until then, rebels mostly attacked with groups of 30 to 50 men, with only 20 of them actually taking part in the fighting," he said. "But this time, they had regrouped and coordinated forces," he added, putting the total enemy forces at 170, broken up into different groups ....
Pakistan stops its offensives for Ramadan
Zarar Khan, Associated Press via The Guardian (UK), 1 Sept 08
Article link
Pakistan said yesterday it was suspending a military operation against insurgents in the tribal region for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A Taliban spokesman welcomed the decision to halt the strikes in the Bajur tribal region, a rumoured hide-out of Osama bin Laden, but government and military officials warned that any provocation by insurgents in the area would prompt immediate retaliation. Despite not committing to a formal end to the operation against insurgents, interior minister Rehman Malik said people displaced from Bajur could return to the region "without any fear". He said the suspension would take effect today, but army spokesman Major Murad Khan said the military had already halted its activities ....
Pakistani Taliban vow to strike during Ramadan
Reuters, 31 Aug 08
Article link
Pakistani Taliban will continue attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, rejecting a government announcement it would halt military actions in the northwest, a Taliban spokesman said on Sunday. Violence has surged in Pakistan in recent weeks with the military battling al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked fighters in three different parts of the northwest. The militants have responded with suicide and remotely detonated bomb attacks on the security forces and civilian targets ....
Taliban divided over ceasefire
Daily Times (PAK), 1 Sept 08
Article link
The Taliban were divided on Sunday in their response to the government’s decision to suspend the military operation against them during Ramazan. “It’s a joke. It isn’t a matter of holy or unholy. All months are holy. If they want to end fighting, it should be permanent,” Muslim Khan, Taliban spokesman in Swat, told Reuters. In an apparent act of defiance, the Taliban bombed the abandoned house of PML-Q leader Haroonur Rashid. But TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar welcomed the government’s offer and said his group would release six soldiers. A complete ceasefire was observed in Dara Adam Khel on Sunday.
- edited to reformat first page of month -