Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani Killed

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.

Updated February 13, 2008:

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, the Number 4 ranking Taliban leader, has been killed, along with 2 of his deputies, Haji Mullah Abdul Zahir Baloch and another man, via a precision strike by a US aircraft as his vehicle drove alone in the desert wilds of southern Helmand Province near the border with the Balochistan region of Pakistan.

Two separate news reports, one out of Pakistan and one out of Afghanistan from Pawjok News, said Osmani was killed in the Dishu District of Helmand as he was entering Afghanistan from Pakistan. The Dishu District was the first in Helmand to fall to the Taliban, falling in February 2006.

The Pakistan report said he was killed near the town of Bahram Chah, which is in the Garmser District, not the Dishu District. The Garmser District is totally Taliban-controlled, except for one bridgehead on the Helmand River outside Garmser city, which is controlled by NATO and Afghan forces.

On my National Geographic Atlas, Bahram Chah (listed as Barabcha) is a significant enough town to appear on the atlas, but the atlas places it in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Obviously, this town straddles the border. A map of Bahram Chah is here. The town lies 8 miles north of the Mazari Pass. This region is a profoundly isolated and barren desert.

It was near here, actually on the border with Pakistan and Iran, in early March 2003, that US forces felt that they had Osama bin Laden isolated in a huge Balochi camel and donkey caravan moving along the border.

US and Pakistani agents felt that they were only a few hours behind bin Laden's footsteps. However, when commandos raided the caravan, they found only opium smugglers and no bin Laden, and the caravan moved across into Iran.

The town of Ribat, on the border of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran (it has versions of itself on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border) is a known hideout for Al Qaeda. In September 2003, Mohammad Sarwar Kakar, a Pashtun tribal leader in Balochistan, said he thought that bin Laden was in Ribat. The town is vigorously defended by armed heroin and opium smugglers.

According to Robert Young Pelton, author of The World's Most Dangerous Places, this region is one of the most remote and dangerous on Earth. In fact, it is so dangerous that Pelton felt it warranted a designation as a "forbidden place" instead of a "dangerous place". A good description of the region is given in this Guardian article here.

In early March, 2003, US and Afghan forces reportedly raided a safe house in Ribat. In the shootout, two of bin Laden's 14-18 sons (out of his 27 children by 4 wives), Hamza, 19 and Saad, 23, were wounded and captured where they were being sheltered by the Zehri tribe who live in the area. 9 other Al Qaeda suspects were killed in this shootout.

Saad bin Laden is the oldest son and is considered Osama's spiritual and ideological heir. Hamza is also reportedly an emerging leader of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The two sons reportedly stay in close proximity to bin Laden.

Bin Laden was a devoted father in Kandahar, taking his sons hunting and riding and sending them on military missions with the Taliban to fight the Northern Alliance. He encouraged them to write poetry and read classical Arabic literature, and they were taught in modern subjects by Al Qaeda teachers in schools in the compounds where they lived. Bin Laden always tried to eat meals with his sons.

In return, his sons doted on him, often standing armed guard over him while he slept.

US and Pakistani forces subsequently said that no prisoners were taken in this raid, and that it was conducted only by Afghan forces. However, those denials should be taken with a grain of salt.

Ribat is reportedly used by Al Qaeda to move between Iran and Pakistan. A recent report described the town as little more than a dusty bazaar around an oasis where drug smugglers stop to refuel as they move opium and heroin from Afghanistan to Iran. A Time Magazine report on this wild town is here.

The area of Iran just across the border near Ribat is also Ground Zero for Jundallah, a radical Sunni extremist group with ties to Al Qaeda which has fought repeated battles with the Iranian government. A report on Ribat and Jundallah is here.

Despite the fact that commandos were not able to capture bin Laden during this period, there is good evidence that he was actually in the area during early March 2003 around the time of the camel caravan report and the raid in Ribat wounding 2 of his sons, so intel reports were not far off.

At the time, according to captured Taliban diplomat Nasser Ahmed Roohi, bin Laden was reportedly in the Saikoh Mountains on the border of Helmand and Nimroz Provinces in Afghanistan and Balochistan (not far from the strike that killed Osmani), where he was meeting with Taliban officials.

He left quickly with his reported 200 bodyguards (!) after hearing of Khalid Sheik Mohammad's arrest on March 1, 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Sheik Mohammad was captured due to his contacts in Balochistan, where he was born and raised.

Specifically, a raid in Quetta, a large city in Balochistan, in mid-February 2003, netted Mohamed Abdel Rahman (nom de guerre "Assadullah"), son of the "Blind Sheik", Omar Abdel Rahman, imprisoned in the US for his role in bombing the World Trade Center in 1995. Traces on Rahman's phone led to Sheik Mohammad's residence in Rawalpindi, which was then raided.

Khalid Mohammad reportedly said that he had met bin Laden in this same general area, between Chaman in Balochistan (across from the Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Afghanistan) and the Iranian border in December 2002.

Bin Laden has been known to move along the Afghan-Pakistan border from Ribat along the border up to the Dir District of Pakistan, where he spends a lot of time, and possibly up to the Chitral District and further north.

Journalists have termed this area along the border as bin Laden's "friendship zone". Few Muslims in this area would turn him in, even for the $25 million reward.

Osmani was actually killed four days ago, but US officials waited until they were sure that Osmani himself had actually been killed in the strike to announce it to the press. US forces said that the kill had been confirmed via "various sources" but due to the total destruction of the vehicle by the airstrike, there was no longer any corpse to produce as evidence.

Although US forces did not use DNA evidence to determine Osmani's identity, they did use "forensic evidence" and intelligence information.

This undated photo of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was released by the US military after US forces announced his death.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, initially denied the claim and insisted that Osmani is still alive. They did however admit that Haji Mullah Abdul Zahir Baloch and 2 other fighters were killed instead in the strike.

Later, according to an article by Rahimullah Yusufzai, one of Pakistan's top journalists known for his excellent Taliban contacts, the Taliban admitted that Osmani was killed in the strike.

The news of Osmani's death is reportedly slowly filtering down through the organization. According to Yusufzai, Osmani's demise is a significant blow to the Taliban. How much of a blow will be seen in coming months. I do not think that the Taliban is like Peru's Shining Path, which was significantly decapitated by the capture of Abimael Guzman, the leader of the group.

Osmani is the highest ranking Taliban leader yet killed by Coalition forces since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Amazingly, this is not the first time that the US has had Osmani in its sights.

According to a December 18, 2002 Washington Times piece by R. Scarborogh, a US Special Forces Green Beret A-team along with 20 Afghan troops raided the town of Sangin in Helmand Province in July 2002 and arrested Osmani as he left his compound at daylight and spirited him off to the prison at the US Bagram Airbase north of Kabul.

The Special Forces team had been tipped off by informants that Osmani had returned to his home in Sangin, where he was being protected by local Helmandi power brokers. The team traveled via trucks at night and kept the compound under surveillance until daylight, when it was raided.

Although the age of the captured man did not match intel data, scars on his chest and a Taliban-era ID card with the name Osmani on it told another story. Adding weight to the theory that the captured man was indeed Osmani, all of the Afghan forces participating in the capture and transportation of Osmani to prison kept their faces covered with masks the entire time. Apparently they had an idea who this man was.

To due a mix up, he was released a few weeks later by officials in Task Force 180, who oversee all US Special Forces operations in Afghanistan. He immediately hightailed it to Pakistan, where he set up shop in Quetta and soon rose high in Taliban ranks.

Scarborogh noted that most US officials denied that he had ever been in custody in an apparent cover your ass attempt, but the soldiers involved and an unnamed Administration official admitted to the screwup. Thanks to page 195 of Marc Herold's Afghan Daily Body Count for this scoop.

We now have some specifics on precisely how Osmani was killed. The Taliban commander was tracked by a British RAF R-1 monitoring aircraft which was working with a US Special Forces Delta Force team and an intelligence team known as Task Force Orange that was tracking him on the ground. The British plane tracked him via his satellite phone.

As he left a town called Zahre via a 4 X 4 vehicle, a US aircraft dropped a smart bomb on his vehicle. The town of Zahre could not be located anywhere in Helmand, much less in Southern Helmand, nor in neighboring Kandahar. The word just means desert, and that's a good description of the land on the Helmand/Balochistan border region all right.

Osmani was the Taliban leader in charge of operations for Helmand, Kandahar, Oruzgan, Nimroz, Herat and Farah Provinces. All of these provinces, with the exception of Nimroz, have seen quite a bit of fighting lately.

In Helmand, 80% of the population supports the Taliban and the Taliban control at least the Dishu, Bagran, Garmser, Sangin, Kajaki, Nahri Sarraj, Now Zad and Musa Qala Districts. Many of these districts are discussed in depth on this blog. Use the search function to search for articles.

The Taliban are still very strong in Uruzgan. In the Tirin Kot District, they control the entire district outside of the main town. Recently, they have moved into the town itself and fought battles with Afghan police there. The Taliban have been strong in the Deh Rawood District for some time now, especially around Cahar Cineh near the Helmand border.

Fighting has recently moved to the Khas Uruzgan District, where the Taliban overran the district capital for a few days. In the Chora District, the Taliban recently overran the district capital there too. In Kandahar, the Panjwayi District has been a continuous source of conflict. Despite Operation Medusa that reportedly killed over 400 Taliban, the Taliban still seem to be in control of that district.

The district capital, Kandahar, is being besieged, and there have been a terrifying number of suicide car bomb attacks on the Airport Road against Canadian troops lately. Other districts such as Maiwand and Shah Wali Kot have long had a strong Taliban presence but they seem to be laying low there lately.

The Taliban presence in Farah is much less than in Kandahar, Helmand or Uruzgan but recently they have made a big play for various districts here, including the Gulistan, Bala Buluk and Bakwa Districts. In Nimroz, the main Taliban presence has been in the Dilaram District in the far northeastern corner of the district. Hundreds of Taliban fighters recently cut the Kandahar-Herat Highway there for a few days.

Osmani was interviewed by Pakistan's Geo TV in June 2006, with his face covered by a black turban. In the interview, he said that bin Laden and Mullah Omar were still alive, and that he was in direct contact with Omar, who was giving him directions on how to fight the insurgency.

Osmani reportedly had close contact with bin Laden, Omar, and a group led by Jalaluddin Haqqani (which includes the Pakistani Taliban) and Hezb-i-Islami commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

A photo of Mullah Akhtar Osmani during his June interview with Pakistan's Geo TV. In the interview, Osmani said that he was in personal contact with Mullah Omar, who was giving him instructions on the Taliban insurgency.

The #4 ranking commander designation is somewhat misleading, as there are a number of "co-equal" Taliban commanders directly under Mullah Omar. The 2 other top Taliban leaders are Mullah Dadullah, Taliban senior military commander for the south and southeast of Afghanistan and Mullah Obaidullah, top Taliban policymaker.

Bill Roggio reports that Osmani was a member of the Taliban's Shura Maglis, or Executive Council. Most of the 10 members of the leadership council are from Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan. The remaining nine members Mulla Ubaidullah, Mulla Biradar, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Saifur Rahman Mansoor, Mulla Dadullah, Mulla Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, Mulla Mohammad Rasul and Hafiz Abdul Majeed.

Osman is the second member of the Taliban Shura to be killed since the US invasion. Adbul Razzaq Nafiz was killed earlier during fighting in Zabul Province, which is almost totally Taliban-controlled.

He was also in charge of Taliban finances. During the Taliban's reign, he was the corps commander of the Taliban's 2nd Army Corps in Kandahar and is said to be a good friend of Mullah Omar's. In fact, in his role as corps commander in Kandahar, he was directly responsible for security for Mullah Omar. Osmani received a great deal of Arab money to build up his force in Kandahar.

Other reports say he was the former Foreign Minister for the Taliban. Yet another report says he was a former governor of Uruzgan Province under the Taliban. He also served as head of the entire Afghan Army itself under the Taliban.

Under the Taliban, Osmani played important roles in two of the most notorious excesses of the fundamentalist idiot regime.

Those incidents were the insane and criminal destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas (I think a UN force should have invaded right after the Taliban did that) and a grotesque incident whereby Christian aid workers who may or may not have been proselytizing Muslims in Afghanistan were threatened with the death penalty for "trying to convert Muslims".

The aid workers were released soon afterwards on promises that they would leave Afghanistan.

Osmani was also one of the first Taliban leaders to support Osama bin Laden.

As of 2003, Osmani was working under Mullah Baradar, who was running all Taliban operations out of the Uruzgan town of Deh Rawood, capital of the Deh Rawood District in the southwestern part of Uruzgan, bordered by northwestern Kandahar and northeastern Helmand Provinces.

In October 2004, Osmani was said to be in headquartered in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where many Taliban and their leaders are said to be holed up. Quetta is not far from where he was killed.

Osmani played an important role in the recent truce negotiated between the Pakistan government and the Taliban and Al Qaeda in North Waziristan. In a prior post on this blog, it was noted that Latif Afridi, a top official of the Awami National Party, said he received a letter written by Osmani containing Omar's stamp of approval, sealing the deal between the state and the insurgents.

Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.

100,000 Visitors

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.

Updated January 31, 2008:

This blog recently surpassed 100,000 visitors. That is over almost 2 years in existence. It's not the greatest record in the world but I think it is something to be proud of. Since I started this blog, blogs have become vastly more popular, and as they have, it has become increasingly difficult to build up high traffic due to competition.

I never thought that the day would come when I hit 100,000 visitors. Perhaps it is not much but we look on it with pride.

In this year, we also obtained our first advertiser. We continue to sell ads on the site at very competitive rates compared to advertising in print media. In fact, the ads are ludicrously cheap - $20 a month for a basic text ad. Inquire at the email address in the upper right hand corner if you are interested in advertising on the site.

It's hard to say what this blog is really all about, as we have written about so many different things. We have had some guest authors, including Wendy Campbell, Simon Jones and Stojgniev O'Donnell. Lately, of course, the focus is on Afghanistan. The blog has received particular controversy for dealing with the Jewish Question and the Israel/Palestine conflict. We continue to uphold a strong anti-Zionist line in the finest Leftist tradition.

After all, Zionism is simply neo-colonialism, no? And the Palestinians defending their lands are no different from the anti-colonial fighters in the Algerian FLN; the American revolutionary war fighters; Tupac Amaru, the Inca rebel in Peru; Simon Bolivar; Desallines in Haiti; Pontiac and Sitting Bull in the USA; Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam; the Mau Maus in Kenya and so many more.

For the crime of defending anti-colonial revolutionaries fighting the colonization of their land by racist settler-colonial invaders, this anti-racist blog has been predictably condemned as racist and anti-Semitic by the usual suspects, who are either mentally disordered (paranoid and hypersensitive) or calculatedly dishonest and criminal-minded, or both.

In cases where anti-Semitism means opposition to Israeli Apartheid and nothing else, while avoiding the true Jew-hatred of traditional anti-Semitism, then anti-Semitism of that sort should be a badge to be worn with pride and honor. Jimmy Carter, Ward Churchill, John Walt and Stephen Mearshimer, Gilad Atzmon, Jeff Blankfort, Mary Rizzo and Norman Finkelstein should don such an anti-Semite label with pride.

There is so much more to write. About Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, India, Hezbollah, Islam, Stalin and Mao and more. It's all in my notes. Only my chronic writer's block prevents it from moving to the blog.

This is an occasion for a rendition of the Greatest Hits of this humble blog. The first article that ever appeared on this blog, The Catastrophe of the Iraqi Resistance, is little-known, but was widely praised, read and linked at the time. It is, sadly, as relevant now as it was then.

Iraqi Resistance Takes Out a Bradley discusses the US Bradley fighting vehicle and its vulnerability to roadside bombs.

I Don't Hate the Jews, I Hate Everyone is one of the most controversial and widely read pieces to have appeared on this blog. It describes a Jewish-led and dominated group I called the British Pro-War Left, a British analogue to the US neoconservatives. So far, this PWL grouping has only been discussed on this blog and nowhere else in the media.

Answering the Libertarians and Their Lies demonstrates how this increasingly popular philosophy leads inexorably to the ruined Third World states that litter our globe, while explicitly confronting this faddish group's increasingly brazen lies.

The popular Racial Holy Wars, Real and Phantom contrasts 1.6 million dead Iraqis, killed by racist US imperialism, with the US media's obsession with a few racist neo-Nazi boneheads, most of whom are less dangerous than a 3-year old girl.

The sad story of Ted Westhusing, the highest ranking soldier to die in the Iraq War, was chronicled in Ted Westhusing An Apparent Suicide, a very widely read and linked article. The article took quite a bit of heat from some of Ted's rightwing friends and a couple of his relatives, but most of his relatives were quite supportive of the piece.

At the time it was written, it was not apparent at all that Ted was a suicide, and the military was mum on the subject. About 6 months later, an LA Times article revealed that he had committed suicide and described the details surrounding the incident. My article accurately predicted that Ted had killed himself 6 months before it was revealed to the public.

Some of Ted's rightwing friends and a few of his relatives continue to insist that Ted did not commit suicide and offer an interesting scenario whereby he was murdered by people connected with mercenary companies.

Despite repeated efforts by me and other journalists for more information on their tantalizing story, these strange, often-anonymous sources have refused to meet with anyone to flesh out the details. As such, the story presently stands that Ted is, sadly, a suicide, until proven otherwise. Ted was a leading ethicist in the US military. When your military ethicists start killing themselves, your military might have some problems, no?

National Guard Troops Shoot Dead Worshiper in New Orleans Church showcased a photo by Marvi Lacar, an excellent New York-based photojournalist. This photo is one of the strangest pics to come out of Hurricane Katrina. At the height of the storm, an alligator sought refuge in a church in Gulfport, Mississippi and was shot dead by National Guard troops.

Did Zionism Cause the Holocaust? Part 1 and Did Zionism Cause the Holocaust? Part 2, features a debate between me and a former contributor to this site, Wendy Campbell. I take the line that Zionism did not cause the Holocaust.

These two articles continue to be quite popular and get visits almost every day. The articles are wide-ranging discussions of the Holocaust itself and events leading up to it that may or may not have caused it.

The Worst Katrina Photo Sequence of All is one of the most widely read pieces on this site. It features exclusive photos by Allen Frederickson, a freelance photographer out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, of dogs actually feeding on human corpses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while the government dithered and New Orleans residents screamed for help.

This sequence is an excellent summation of the Bush Administration's failure to deal with this crisis.

Those Darned Mohammad Cartoons is probably the most widely linked, and possibly the most widely read, piece on this site. At the height of the controversy, this piece was getting 2,500 visitors a day.

The article reprints all 12 of the infamous Danish Mohammad cartoons and exhaustively reports on the story of the cartoons and the aftermath of their publication. This is one of the ultimate articles on the cartoon crisis available anywhere.

A follow-up to that piece, You Thought the Danish Cartoons Were Bad? was also quite popular. That piece reprinted another dozen or so notorious Mohammad cartoons, though not the original 12. The post noted that the publication of the original dozen, plus the idiotic Muslim overreaction, had set off a wild frenzy of copy-cots saturating the Internet and press with derogatory cartoons about Mohammad.

The protests had had the opposite effect - instead of inhibiting the production of blasphemous images, they had created a cottage industry. The article reprinted a variety of blasphemous and insulting cartoons of Mohammad, from the Middle Ages to this year, while still trying to address the issue in a way that was sensitive to Muslim sensibilities.

For those who wish to know, I received at least one, and maybe two, death threats from Muslim throwbacks for publishing these cartoons.

Cartoon Wars a Disaster for the Left and Islam continued with this story, while noting that the Left had completely blown it by lining up with the worst Islamic reactionaries on this issue, while the reaction of far too many Muslims seemed to merely further blacken the religion's reputation.

The post offered some constructive ways for Muslims to deal with the cartoon issue and reprinted a couple of more cartoons for good measure, including one showing Mohammad with a testicle protruding from his shorts.

Wikipedia, Ziopedia, or Judeopedia is another highly controversial piece on this blog. It has been widely read and linked.

The piece deals with my experience in editing articles on Wikipedia dealing with Jews, anti-Semitism and the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and running up against an amoral gang of largely, though not exclusively, militant Jewish Zionists who, with a the ethics of prison gang members, simply destroyed every contribution I made for no reason other than sheer thuggery.

After a while, I reluctantly concluded that there is a militant Judeophilic/Zionist cabal active on Wikipedia that has been allowed to rise to the highest levels of the organization - a cabal which is allowed to run amok like some kind of criminal gang on the site, and one that has reduced many of the articles in the areas involved to a sickening joke.

I would like to point out that there are many similar ethnic and political lobbies who have conspired to manipulate Wikipedia in the same way as this cabal but most of those have been, commendably, halted in their tracks. The Judeophilic/Zionist Conspiracy on Wikipedia is distinguishable from these similar thwarted conspiracies only in that it has been given free reign to flourish.

The article goes on to note how the Wikipedia Jewish/Judeophilic Cabal is an example of how Jewish conspiracies, or for that matter any conspiracies, actually work in our world. Conspiracies exist, and many of us, if we have any cleverness, social skills, or drive at all, are actively conspiring to do this or that at any given time.

Those in power have always utilized the most convoluted and amoral conspiracies in order to obtain, increase and retain power and money. Yes, the history of aristocracies is one of conspiracies as tangled and twisted as the roots on the floor of a rain forest. That power elites are as amoral as your typical street gang member should surprise no one who has studied them at length.

That many Jews, members of the most ethnocentric tribe on Earth, blessed with high intelligence, aggression and psychological intensity, should combine these four qualities to produce some of the world's finest conspirators and propagandists is not necessarily Nazism, racism or even hatred - it is potentially only the obvious, empirical conclusion of any honest, fearless person who has studied this fascinating ethnic group.

Danish Cartoonist Burnt Alive, sadly, is a post that never should have been written. It was written to shed light on a fraudulent story making the rounds in the world Muslim community that the "cartoonist who drew the Mohammad cartoons" was "burned alive", apparently in a case of spontaneous combustion, presumably initiated by God as punishment for "drawing the cartoons".

The urban legend is traced back to a Saudi newspaper that apparently, despicably, made the story up out of whole cloth. To their credit, most of the Muslims reading and linking to the post seem to accept that the incident never happened. Perhaps Muslims are less credulous than our stereotypes say they are?

Lord Macaulay's Speech to British Parliament 1835 - another article dealing with an urban legend - has been a surprisingly popular piece. This piece deals with a purported speech to British Parliament made by this man about India. The speech talks about how the British need to destroy Indian culture in order to colonize India because Indian culture is so great and wonderful. The speech never occurred.

This speech was completely made up by Machiavellian Hindu ultranationalist fascist sociopaths, and has since been distributed all around the gutter known as the Internet, where it has been quite popular in telling lots of Indian ruling-class types precisely the lie that they wish to hear.

The article noted that I originally believed that the quote was accurate, but then determined, amidst rage, that I had been conned by a crafty lie perpetrated by Hindu fascists.

For some paradoxical reason, this article has been very popular in India and in the US, presumably with Indian expats, often working at large computer firms. The Indians flocking to the post would be just those who would be inclined to fall for this clever fraud. As far as what these Indian visitors are getting out of the article, I really have no idea.

Fix For a Nasty Firefox CPU Bug has been an unlikely popular piece, one that will be of interest mostly to computer nerds. Clearly, many Firefox (an Internet browser and competitor to Microsoft's Internet Explorer that is based on the Mozilla project) installs continue to have problems with hogging of the CPU, or processor, the brain of your computer.

It's a mysterious problem and no one really knows why Firefox is so bad about this, especially as compared to other browsers, but I am happy to report that the browser has been improving dramatically in CPU use in recent months. The article offers theories about why Firefox uses so much CPU in certain cases, and offers some possible solutions and/or workarounds for the problem.

I continue to recommend to Firefox to all of my readers, if only because my hatred for the Microsoft Corporation is almost fathomless. As far as why I hate Microsoft, that goes beyond the subject of this post, but suffice to say that it is an illegal monopoly, the corporate equivalent of the Medellin Crime Cartel. For more, just Google "Microsoft illegal monopoly" and do some research of your own.

If you think that illegal business monopolies are not a problem, you are either ignorant, an ideologue, or philosophically in bed with the crooks. You are hopeless and there is nothing I can do for you. A huge body of research and case law has been amassed in the past century that proves to any honest person how criminal monopolies harm consumers, the business community and society as a whole.

Despite their best efforts, the intellectually dishonest super-liar acolytes of Milton Friedman have not challenged this clear-as-air conclusion. If you are still confused, please do some basic research on business monopolies.

Believe it or not, the posts that have gotten the most hits on this blog (and continue to get the most hits) are those dealing the the death toll for Hurricane Katrina. I started writing about the hurricane early and wrote some popular pieces about it (see New Orleans is Gone for an example). At some point, I decided that the death toll for the hurricane was not being reported accurately, so I set about to tally up the totals myself.

Early on, this blog was widely regarded as having the most accurate death toll for the hurricane, and for a long time, Wikipedia was using this blog as the final source for the hurricane death toll, until an utterly arbitrary and insane Wikipedia rule called "no quoting personal blogs" kicked in. See the Wikipedia article above for the profoundly flawed and crooked nature of this online encyclopedia.

Not to claim any laurels here - honestly - I really wish that the mainstream media had picked up the ball on this story instead of leaving it to an unpaid journo like myself. What does it say about our media that the mainstream media cannot even seem to sit down and figure out how many were killed by this hurricane, and the job falls to measly bloggers like me?

It is now over a year past landfall for Katrina, and while the subject of the death count for Katrina is quite convoluted, my death count is still often regarded as the most accurate out there, and the big newspapers, newsmagazines and TV news stations cannot even seem to come up with a proper figure, much to their discredit.

A discussion of the morally fallen and professionally inept nature of the US media goes beyond the scope of this post, but the Katrina death toll anecdote is sobering evidence for the frightening failure of the US corporate media to even begin to do a basic job.

The most recent Katrina death toll article was Katrina Death Toll Plummets to 1,723, and this is my most recent figure on this morbid accounting. The count will continue to be updated as it changes, as no doubt it will, in the future.

A surprisingly popular recent piece on this blog has been The Jews of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Lebanon. While it is difficult to briefly summarize this wide-ranging piece, one of the most notable aspects of it is its astounding claim that there may be thousands of crypto-Jews living quiet lives in the supposedly homicidally anti-Semitic Wahhabi state of Saudi Arabia.

To conclude, I would like to thank all my readers all over the world (and they DO come here from the world over) especially my loyal, regular readers and commenters. Here's to hoping another 100,000 visitors comes even sooner.

Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.

Afghanistan Wrapup for December 14, 2006

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.

Updated January 31, 2008

Thursday, December 14

Zabul Province: Suicide bomber attack on a police commander's vehicle as it traveled along a crowded street killed 4 civilians and wounded 25 more. It is not known if the commander was hurt.

Along the highway in Zabul Province. This is from a trip taken by Bill Roggio from Kabul to Kandahar. Numerous Taliban were seen along the way, especially in this province. They were typically riding motorcycles are were quickly pointed out by the Afghan guides. This province is quite arid and gets up to 120 F in summertime.

Khost-Gardez Highway, Khost Province: Hundreds of tribesmen protested the killings of what they said were civilians in a raid on a home in nearby Darnami 2 days before (see the December 12 report for more on that).

*****

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: French M-2000D Mirages attacked Taliban fighters battling US troops near here. For the past few weeks, the Asadabad area has been bombed continuously, even as winter looms.

Now Zad, Now Zad District, Helmand Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban forces battling British troops near here. Now Zad has been being bombed almost every day for the past few weeks with no end in sight.


Wednesday, December 13

Siah Choy, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, Late: NATO launched an air strike on a Taliban command post here, completely destroying the post. A number of Taliban commanders were said to have been killed in this attack. A US B-1B Lancer dropped a GBU-38 on the target. Siah Choy (map) is located along the Arghandab River 23 miles west of Panjwayi, the capital of the district.

Now Zad, Now Zad District, Helmand Province: US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and a B-1B attacked Taliban fighters again near here, with the A-10's firing cannons at the rebels. The B-1B dropped GBU-31s and GBU-38s on Taliban positions.

Kabul: French M-2000Ds attacked guerrillas battling NATO forces near here, dropping GBU-12s on their positions.

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province: Air Force A-10s and French M-2000Ds attacked guerrillas battling US troops near here. Urgun is being bombed regularly in recent weeks.


Tuesday, December 12

Farah Province: The Afghan police and army launched an operation against the Taliban here, killing 8 Taliban. 1 Afghan officer was wounded in the clash.

*****
Laskhar Gah, Lashkar Gah District, Helmand Province: Suicide bomber attack on a the compound of the governor of Helmand, Mohammed Daud. The bomber blew himself inside the governor's compound but the governor was not there at the time.

The governor has been widely accused of corruption and abuse of his position and is despised by the vast majority of Helmandis. 4 policemen and 2 civilians were killed in the attack.
*****

*****
Darnami, Khost Province, 1 AM: The mainstream press reported on a US Special Forces raid on a home here.

According to the report, which is disputed by locals, US forces surrounded 4 guerrillas in their home here and ordered all "military-age males" to come out but they opened fire on US forces instead. Troops returned fire, and among the casualties were a 14-year-old girl, who was killed and an 8-year-old girl, who was wounded. All 4 guerrillas were killed.

Sources on the ground dispute this description of the events. According to Marc Herold, in the other version of this event, US Special Forces raided the home of a man named Engineer Shafik, killing 3 members of his family, including a 14-year-old girl.

According to Abdul Majid Arif and Javid Hamim of Pajhwok Afghan News, U.S Special Forces raided the home of Sarfaraz, an Afghan intelligence official serving in Khost.

Engineer Shafiq Mandozai, manager of a private bank in Khost and a member of the Sarfaraz family, said US troops broke into the home and an Afghan interpreter shouted in a Kandahari dialect for everyone to get out. US forces then inexplicably started shooting (apparently there were no shots fired by people inside the home), killing 5 people.

The dead were Mandozai's 14-year-old sister; Engineer Sarfaraz; Mandozai's father, Mohammad Jan, chief of the Forestry Department in Khost; and 2 other civilians. 3 civilians were wounded, including 2 more of Mandozai's sisters, one of them an 8-year-old girl.

Startled by the shootout, neighbors came running towards Sarfaraz' home. Guldad, an official working with the intelligence department in Khost, said two more civilians were then wounded by US forces, including another one of Mandozai's sisters.

Mandozai said US forces tied him up and beat him. As they were getting ready to kill him, he pulled out some personal documents and showed them to the troops. He was then released.

The US version of events implies that Sarfaraz and Mohammad Jan, one an Afghan intelligence agent working in Khost and the other the chief of the Forestry Department in Khost, were both members of the Taliban. If this is what US forces feel, then they need to back that accusation up with evidence. As it panned out, this is looking more like a botched raid. Darnami (map) is 10 1/2 miles west of Khost.

Khost Province is an interesting place. Right now, the city of Khost is regarded as a haven for backwards, reactionary fundamentalist morons but during the Russian War, the city was known as "Little Moscow", due to the large number of Communists who lived there. Isn't it amazing the way places change?
*****

Northern Now Zad District, Helmand Province: A British Royal Marine was killed when his patrol was attacked with small arms fire by the Taliban here. The dead Marine was Richard J. Watson. Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers provided air support for British troops during this battle, firing enhanced Paveway II and Paveway II munitions, dropping general-purpose 500-pound bombs and firing rockets on Taliban positions.

Kandahar: US Air Force MQ-1 Predators fired Hellfire missiles at Taliban forces near here.

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrilla positions near here.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrilla positions here once again


Monday, December 11

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban forces here. This area is being bombed almost every single day recently.

Now Zad, Now Zad District, Helmand Province: An Air Force B-1 Lancer and RAF GR-7s attacked Taliban forces here. The GR-7s fired an Enhanced Paveway II munition on a Taliban position.

Uruzgan Khas, Uruzgan Khas District, Uruzgan Province: US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs provided attacked Taliban forces near here.


Sunday, December 10

Balabuluk District, Farah Province, Night: US troops and warplanes attacked a Taliban hideout here, killing at least 9 Taliban, including Mullah Abdul Samad, a regional commander, in fighting that went on for several hours. The Taliban have been in this Pashtun district for some time now. Their aim, among other things, is to cut the highway running from Herat to Helmand that runs through the district.

*****
Sperwan, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province: Canadian and Afghan forces battled the Taliban here. Much of the battle was engaged using small arms, but Coalition forces also called in air support. There were no Coalition casualties but 1 Taliban was wounded. News reports constantly list this town's name as Sperwan Ghar but the real name of the town is Sperwan.

Sperwan (map) is 19 miles southwest of Panjwayi, the district capital. The Canadians have a large base here. A description of the base can be found here. In September, US Special Forces fought a major battle with the Taliban that they are calling the Battle of Sperwan Ghar. A detailed description of this gripping battle is here.

Unfortunately, I am not sure what good all this fighting has done, as I think the Taliban are still deeply dug into this area, where many of them are simply farmers who pick up a weapon and fight one minute and then put it down and pick up a farm implement the next. The Taliban has a deep network of spies here, and they are warned in advance of any Canadian troop movement.

Furthermore, at least some of the informants the Canadians have been using here are Taliban informants. The area is a rich river valley, with grapes, corn and a great deal of marijuana growing in the area. The Taliban use the high crops as cover and have turned many of the villages into armed fortresses.

The Canadians are unfortunately associated with the Indian movies and music videos that the locals can now see on their satellite TV's - in other words, the locals are convinced that NATO has come to corrupt their society. It will be a long, difficult fight here.

This is one of the most unstable areas in Afghanistan. Repeated operations, including Operation Medusa that reportedly killed 900 Taliban, cannot seem to rid this area of the Taliban, who obviously have deep roots here.
*****

Qalat, Qalat District, Zabul Province: A Air Force B-1B and Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban forces battling US troops near here. The Taliban control this entire province.

Now Zad, Now Zad District, Helmand Province: The never-ending bombing of the Now Zad continued, with US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs firing cannon rounds on Taliban positions here.

Sangin, Sangin District, Helmand Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban fighters near here. Sadly, the Sangin District is totally controlled by the Taliban.

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province: US Air Force A-10s and a B-1B Lancer attacked Taliban forces once again near here.

Tagab Valley, Kapisa Province: US and Afghan forces were patrolling through a bazaar and a compound nearby when they became engaged in a battle with guerrillas. 1 guerrilla was killed but that was the only casualty. The Tagab Valley, previously stable, is becoming increasingly unstable in the past couple of months, a worrisome trend.

Bombing attack on the village of Khanaqa, Kapisa, from Marc Herold's excellent webpage about Afghanistan, Archivistan. US warplanes attacked this village on November 7, 2001, and completely obliterated it. No word on civilian casualties in that attack.


Bombing attack on Khan Agaha village in Kapisa during the initial US invasion. US bombs hit a residential area in this village called Qalaye Katir, killing 16 Afghan civilians, including 9 children.

The attack took place on October 27, 2001, when US FA-18's dropped 36 bombs on the village, apparently aiming for a Taliban machine gun on a nearby hill. One bomb hit a timber and mud-brick home and destroying it, killing an entire family, including 7 children who were eating breakfast with their father.


The US government has sponsored women's conferences in Kapisa and Logar. This is a photo from one of those conferences. The poster shows some fundamentalist bonehead beating an Afghan woman, which is one of the favorite activities of these "macho" guys, when they are not blowing up schools and threatening men for shaving their beards and stopping people from playing music.


A boy dives into a stream to go for a swim in Kapisa Province. There is quite a bit of flowing water here, even in early summer, when this photo was taken, and there are still many trees here. But that water doesn't look very clean. Photo taken June 21, 2006 - this past summer.


Kapisa Province is still fairly well-forested. 25 years of war have resulted in the deforestation of 70% of Afghanistan, a heartbreaking figure. In this arid land, the forests do not necessarily grow back after you cut them down, either, as is the case in very wet regions. Hillsides simply become barren, erosion increases and rainfall probably decreases with resulting drought, hunger, starvation, disease, etc.

It is not well known, but Lebanon and Greece were once forested - now the hills of both lands are largely barren after being denuded centuries ago. Further north in Scotland, the famous barren Scottish hills were once covered with oak forests, a fact few people know. Only 2% of these oak forests remain.


A burqa-clad woman crosses a full stream in Kapisa Province this past summer on June 21, 2006. As you can see, the creeks here run full and high in early summer and there is plenty of riparian vegetation. That burqa looks like a hazard when crossing the creek, though.


The village of Obdarah, in mountainous Kapisa Province. The Panjshir Valley is located in this province. This is where the famous Lion of the Panjshir, Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, held sway against first the Russians and then the Taliban. He was killed by Tunisian Al Qaeda suicide operatives posing as journalists, armed with an exploding video camera, a mere 2 days before 9-11, in an operation that was clearly intended to be part and parcel with the 9-11 attacks.

Many girls are still not in school here for some reason - less than 20% of the students in school here are girls. Taliban night letters have appeared, threatening teachers with death unless they resign. The number of girls in school has increased somewhat here recently, as international aid agencies have been quite active in this province since it is comparatively safe. That may all be changing now with these increased attacks.


Artillery shells hidden in a cave in Kapisa Province. International aid agencies continue to work here, and one of their priorities is demining and cleaning up hidden munitions. With increased attacks here, it is not certain that the aid agencies will be able to continue to do their good work here.

*****

Laghman Province: Afghan sources said that a NATO airstrike here earlier in the week killed at least 4 Afghan civilians and wounded 1 more when a house was bombed. The Taliban are definitely increasing their presence here lately.


Saturday, December 9

Paktia Province, Late: Roadside bomb attack on Afghan forces killed 6 Afghan soldiers here. The bomb hit their vehicle and killed all 6 men on board. Paktia is known as a stronghold of the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami. There are also Al Qaeda fighters here from time to time. The famous Operation Anaconda in early 2002 was fought in this province.

*****
Mizan District, Zabul Province: The Taliban attacked a US patrol here with machine guns and a land mine in this Taliban-controlled district, damaging vehicles and wounding 2 US troops in a gunbattle that went on for some time. This district is fairly quiet but that is just because the Taliban here spend most of their time hiding out rather than attacking.

The Mizan District, in the west of Zabul, borders the Shah Wali Kot District of Kandahar. Similarly, Shah Wali Kot is fairly quiet only because not many foreign troops are there right now. This is one of the most backward districts in the whole country. As an example, the last census was in 1963! The district is 100% Pashtun.

Water is a problem here, although it is widely available. Twice a day, residents walk 1 mile to get water, and then wait in 1-hour lines to fill their containers. As usual, sanitation is a typical problem here. The bathrooms here are known as "wherever you can squat". Women squat inside compounds; men wherever there is open space. I assume people learn to watch their step here.

2/3 of the open cultivated land, and all of the rain-fed land, lies fallow due to drought. The livestock here are sheep, camels, goats, donkeys, cows and chickens. An incredible 97% of the sheep and goats are dead after years of drought, which has even killed 50% of camels! I wasn't aware a camel could die from a drought.

Brangel, okra, tomatoes, cabbage, pomegranates and almonds are grown here. The parts of the district near the Arghandab River, which runs through the center of the district, still have good farming. In other areas, the harvest is poor. As is usual in so many Afghan districts, the main road here is partly destroyed and the rest of the roads are muddy much of the time.

The bridges, as usual, are partly destroyed. The economy is so poor here that 70% of residents travel outside the district to look for work. There is not one health clinic in this district. Residents can thank George Bush for that.

There are no high schools here at all, and only a few students at all in the grade schools - 80% of the grade school aged boys are not in school. No girls are in school and there are no female teachers, as we might expect for Zabul. The schools here actually have water and washrooms, unlike so many Afghan schools. Most actually have buildings too, though some are held outdoors.

As we might expect, women play no role in the community at all.

Resupplying a US base in Zabul. Photo by Joseph Marble.


A Taliban night letter from Zabul Province warning teachers to stop teaching or be killed. On January 3, 2005, Taliban worms entered the Sheik Mathi Baba high school in Qalat, the capital, and beheaded the teacher in front of his students, in one of the most shocking attacks on education so far in Afghanistan.


This is what parts of Zabul, especially the mountainous areas, look like in wintertime. Here US forces are supplying snowed-in residents in Zabul in early February 2005, when harsh winter weather hit the region, especially Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan.

*****


Saturday, December 9

****
Afghanistan: US officials are voicing new worries about the situation in Afghanistan. The fears are that a renewed Taliban offensive next Spring will be a "tipping point" which could tip a large number, or possibly a majority, of Afghans over into support for the Taliban. Government control is tenuous at best in 20% of the country.

Zabul Province is almost totally Taliban-controlled, and in Helmand and Kandahar, the Taliban control most areas outside of the cities. Further, since April, the Taliban have been in control Baghran, Sangin and Dishu Districts. Dishu was captured first in February. By April, Baghran was captured. By May, they had grabbed Sangin.

Since then, the Taliban have clearly seized the Garmser and Musa Qala Districts. In the Helmand districts they control, the Taliban have banned music and forbidden men from shaving their beards. Men are forced to go to the mosque to pray five times a day.

The Taliban have a great deal of power and possibly wield control in the Now Zad, Kajaki and Nahri Sarraj Districts, especially the latter. The Taliban do not completely control the Washer, Lashkar Gah, Nad Ali, Reg and Nawa-i-Barakzayi Districts, although they are active there.

In Kandahar Province, the Taliban have a huge presence in the capital city and in control much of the Panjwayi District west of the capital. The violence is increasing inexorably; there were four times as many attacks last year as the year before. In the past year, up to 7,000 Taliban may have been killed but there seems to be an inexhaustible supply of new recruits.

A timeless scene from Zabul Province, with ancient mud-brick homes. The report above notes that Zabul is totally controlled by the Taliban at the moment.

*****

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: US Navy F/A-18 Hornets dropped a GBU-12 on a Taliban position during fighting with British troops near here. Lashkar Gah is being bombed regularly these days.

Kabul: An Air Force B-1B Lancer and Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas fighting NATO troops near here. The B-1B dropped GBU-38s on Taliban positions.


Friday, December 8

Uruzgan Province, Afternoon: Roadside bomb attack on a US vehicle killed 2 Afghan interpreters but did not injure any Americans.

Now Zad District, Helmand Province: The Taliban attacked British and Afghan forces here. The Coalition returned fire, killing 5 Taliban. There were no Coalition casualties. Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers assisted in this battle. One of the GR-7s dropped a general-purpose 500-pound bomb on an enemy position.

*****
Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: US Air Force B-1Bs, Navy F/A-18 Hornets, an Air Force B-1B Lancer, Air Force A-10s Thunderbolt IIs, French M2000D Mirages and an Air Force MQ-1 Predator attacked guerrillas fighting US troops near here, an area that has seen constant fighting the past few weeks.

The B-1Bs and F/A-18s dropped GBU-12s and GBU-38s, one of the A-10s dropped a GBU-12 and a general-purpose 500-pound bomb, the B-1B dropped GBU-31s on enemy targets, and the Predator fired a Hellfire missile on the guerrillas.
*****


Thursday, December 7

Airport Road, Kandahar: Suicide car bomb attack on a Canadian convoy caused no Canadian casualties but either killed or wounded 15 civilians. This was the 7th suicide car bomb attack on the airport road in the last nine days, an incredible figure.

*****
Between the Gulran District and Herat, Herat Province: The Taliban attacked a district police chief's vehicle, killing him and wounding his bodyguard. Hajji Zahir, police chief for the Gulran District, was driving towards Herat city when the Taliban opened fire. The Gulran District is located in the northwest corner of Herat. It is bordered on one side by Iran and on the other side by Turkmenistan.

An ethnic group called the Jamshidi Aimaq makes up a large percentage of the population of the Gulran District. There are 120,000 Jamshidi Aimaqs in Afghanistan and another 37,000 in Iran. The Jamshidis are part of a larger group called Aimaqs, numbering about 850,000 - 650,000 in Afghanistan and 200,000 in Iran.

Other figures put the total population at about 1.75 million in all countries, and 1.53 million in Afghanistan. If there are 900,000 Aimaqs in Afghanistan, they would make up 3.4% of the population. They are best classed as semi-sedentary, since they wander with their flocks somewhat. This is part of a cluster of 8 tribes called the Char Aimaq. The tribal formations date back to the 1500's and 1600's.

The Aimaq language is related to Persian, with some Turkic and Mongolian vocabulary and influence. Jamshidi is one of the dialects of Aimaq. The leader of the a group of Jamshidi is known as a khan. He typically traces his ancestry back to the founder of the tribe.

For a tribe of rural Afghans, women have a surprisingly high position. Many do not marry until age 18, and girls are even known to reject the husbands who have been picked for them. The future groom often moves in with his future wife's family for up to 2 years before marrying.
****

Kandahar: U.S. Navy F/A-18s dropped GBU-12's on Taliban positions near here.

Kabul: French Air Force M2000D Mirages attacked guerrilla forces fighting NATO troops near here. The Kabul area is being bombed regularly lately, an ominous development.

Musa Qala, Musa Qala District, Helmand Province: An Air Force B-1B Lancer attacked Taliban fighters battling British forces near here, an area where a truce between the British and local elders has apparently completely broken down.

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province:Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrilla fighters once again near here in an area that is being bombed all the time lately.


Wednesday, December 6

******
Kolikhel, Paktia Province: Armed men, probably the Taliban, kidnapped two NGO employees here. Two employees of a relief agency Ibn-e-Sina were driving towards the Zurmat District when they were captured.

The employees had failed to inform the police before leaving for Zurmat. The town was listed as Kalal Koh in news reports, but there is no such town. However, there is a town called Kolikhel (map), which is located about 3 miles north of Zurmat.

The Taliban fundamentalist nutcases have stated that they will be targeting all NGO employees, because they are serving the interests of the "infidel (Tarzan's) regime". By the same lunatic reasoning, all Afghan teachers are being ordered to quit their jobs, because schools "benefit the Karzai government". The Taliban must be one of the most insane and evil insurgencies on Earth.
*****

*****
Kandahar: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the offices of a US mercenary firm here, killing two Americans and five Afghans. The bomber approached the USPI (US Protection and Investigation) compound as men were leaving the building and detonated himself. In addition to the two Americans killed, an additional 5 Afghan employees of the firm were also killed, including two interpreters.

A regional USPI chief may have been amongst the dead. 1 of the Americans was John Micheal Krancich. We do not have the name of the other American.
****

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: Navy F/A-18 Hornets and Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs once again attacked Taliban fighters battling British troops near here. The F/A-18s dropped a GBU-12 on and fired cannon rounds at Taliban positions. Do you get the impression that the Taliban are besieging the capital of Helmand?


Tuesday, December 5

****
Garmser, Garmser District, Helmand Province, 5 AM: British Marines attacked the Taliban-held town of Garmser, a city of 50,000 people in Helmand Province, the province that produces 1/3 of the world's opium supply. But the British were forced to withdraw after the Taliban surrounded advancing Marines and threatened to cut them off.

Marines called in air strikes and artillery fire but the Taliban managed to withstand those attacks. The only place in the Garmser District that is held by the Afghan government and British troops is a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Helmand River in Garmser.

Scores of Marines ran across the bridge just before sunup and moved out into wheat fields on the other side. At first, there was only off and on Taliban fire. But as the British moved forward, Taliban forces hiding in a well-designed series of trenches launched a vicious attack using heavy weaponry in an attempt to outflank the British.

British forces counterattacked from light armored vehicles and fired mortars and machine guns at guerrillas. The British felt trapped and called in heavy air support. Apache helicopters fired rockets, B-1 bombers dropped 500-pound bombs and A-10 Thunderbolts shot cannon fire at the Taliban, but the guerrillas were able to hold their ground in spite of the heavy fire from above.

Two Royal Marines were injured in the fighting, and one of those, Jonathan Wigley, later died of wounds. Both were airlifted to the UK hospital in Camp Bastion. An article about Wigley and the Afghan War is here. Wigley was apparently killed by friendly fire from a US A-10 attack jet.

Taliban fighters officially seized the town of Garmser over the summer two times and NATO forces had to come back days later to retake it. The Taliban angered even those locals opposed to foreign troops by burning the Afghan flag and hoisting the flags of two fundamentalist idiot groupings in Pakistan.

Schools have been shut down across Garmser and the Taliban have staged a number of public executions, further angering locals. Some locals here despise the Taliban creeps and want the British to drive the fundamentalist freaks out of the area. But Britain lacks enough troops to do that.

The British commander has been constantly calling for another 1,000 troops for Helmand but all his requests have been turned down. This means that the only way that the British could drive the Taliban worms out of Garmser would be to devastate the town from the air, which would leave a victory of ruins.

Further complicating efforts is the blatantly dishonest nature of the British role here - the British did not come to Helmand to fight the Taliban, but instead came here to rebuild the place. Shades of Alice in Wonderland.
****

Kandahar: Suicide car bomb attack on a Canadian convoy on the Airport Road wounded two Canadian soldiers and six Afghan civilians. The bomber, driving a minivan, blew up his vehicle next to a Nyala RG-31 armored vehicle and a transport truck. The two wounded Canadian troops were in the truck.

*****
Miran Shah, North Waziristan, Pakistan: Tribesmen furious over the government's failure to restore power to Miran Shah cut off road links to the town by placing burning tires and boulders on three main roads leading to Miran Shah.

Power was cut to the region, supposedly due to technical problem, on November 13, and has not yet been restored. Makes you wonder if the government is not cutting off power to the Taliban and Al Qaeda-controlled region on purpose?
*****

*****
Great Britain: A bizarre new ruling by the British courts is rewarding millions of pounds to British troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan by referring to them as crime victims. What this means is that the court said that the guerrillas fighting British troops in those countries are criminals, not irregular soldiers.

This ruling was necessary because the British Ministry of Defense became liable for possible damages from British troops wounded after the official "end of the war" in Iraq in May 2003.
*****

Kandahar: An Air Force MQ-1 Predator fired a Hellfire missile on a Taliban target near here.

*****
Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: An Air Force B-1B Lancer, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, U.S. Navy F/A-18s and Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban fighters swarming the Helmand capital once again.

The B-1B dropped GBU-38s, the A-10s dropped general-purpose 500-pound bombs and fired cannon rounds, the F/A-18s dropped GBU-12s and fired cannon rounds, and the GR-7s fired an enhanced Paveway II munition on Taliban forces.
*****

Kajaki Dam, Kajaki District, Helmand Province: An Air Force B-1B, Navy F/A-18s and RAF GR-7s attacked Taliban fighters battling British troops near here, an area that has been bombed for months now.


Monday, December 4

Kandahar, 11:50 AM: A US Special Forces soldier was wounded while demolitions training here.

****
Germany: A report from the German military, the Bundeswehr, warns in a classified report that the Taliban are moving in on Kabul and that attacks in the capital city are likely to increase. The analysis is based on the notion that security in districts within Kabul Province adjacent to the capital is deteriorating.

The report voices a fear that attacks on Kabul will increase in coming months. The report indicates that the Taliban have said that they will focus attacks during the winter on the largest cities in Afghanistan. The security situation has already "visibly deteriorated" in two districts located only 5 miles from Kabul's city limits.

In these districts, Afghan security forces don't even dare to patrol the streets at night. The districts were not named in the Der Spiegel article on the military report. The report feared that the Taliban could use the deteriorated districts as "gateways" to Kabul and also as a safe haven to plan future attacks.

The report said that Taliban fighters are smuggled into the districts in small "groups of up to eight men," and they blend into the local area by staying in the homes of local residents for several days at a time.
*****

Kandahar Province: German authorities said that two journalists may have been kidnapped here. One of them is apparently a German citizen. The pair did not registered with NATO's media office and were not covering NATO's activities.

Sangin, Sangin District, Helmand Province: U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets and Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban forces near here in this Taliban-controlled district. The F/A-18s dropped GBU-12s and a GBU-38 and the GR-7s fired rockets on enemy positions.

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: An Air Force B-1B Lancer attacked Taliban forces fighting British troops once again near here. It appears the capital of Helmand is surrounded by the Taliban.


Sunday, December 3

Kabul-Kandahar Highway, Near Qalat, Zabul Province, Early AM: The Taliban attacked a police checkpoint here, setting off a gunbattle that killed 4 Taliban and 1 policeman. Police recovered three AK-47's, one RPG and one dead Taliban fighter.

Mus'am Ghar, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, 5:10 PM: Two rebel rockets landed near this Canadian base, but caused no casualties. Canadian troops fired back with two mortar rounds of their own. Mus'am Ghar could not be located on any maps.

Kunduz: Guerrillas attacked a German patrol here. The attack did not cause any casualties, but it did slightly damaged three Dingo armored troop carriers. German soldiers returned fire at the attackers. It is not yet known who is carrying out these attacks in relatively calm northern Afghanistan.

*****
Airport Road, Kandahar: A suicide car bomb exploded next to a NATO convoy here, damaging an open-top NATO vehicle. As troops sped away, they fired on several civilian cars, wounding several Afghans. All together, 19 people were wounded, 16 Afghans including three NATO soldiers.

10 Afghans were wounded in the initial blast and 6 more were wounded by NATO troops afterwards. NATO troops fired on vehicles as far away as 1/2 mile from the blast site. All told, at least eight people were killed in the attack, 3 by the bombing and 5 more by NATO troops afterwards.
*****

Kandahar: Navy F/A-18 Hornets and French Air Force M-2000Ds attacked Taliban forces once again here.


Saturday, December 2

Panjwayi, Panjwayi District, Afghanistan, AM: For the first time since the Korean War, Canadian tanks have been deployed in a combat situation. A squadron of Canadian Leopard tanks drove through here as locals watched on their way to a forward observation base. Canadian forces said the tank deployment was meant to send a message to the Taliban.

*****
Duabi, Jawand District, Badghis Province, 9:23 PM: Unknown gunmen attacked Chinese workers in a remote camp being run by the China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation here. The workers managed to evacuate the base to a major base 25 miles away after the attack. No workers were injured. Afghan police guarding the walled camp returned fire against the attackers.

A gunbattle lasting 1 1/2 hours ensued. After 90 minutes, the firing ended, but the attackers had not yet retreated. 2 hours after the initial attack, police reinforcements arrived and the attackers fled. At the time of the battle, around 30 Chinese workers, building a local road, were stationed in the camp.

The camp is surrounded by barbed wire netting and trenches. There has not yet been any information about who was behind the attack or why it was launched. Doabi (map) is located 1/4 mile west of Jawand, a major city.

Badghis is a quiet but desperately poor province that is suffering from drought and resulting lack of food. Jawand is one of the worst districts in all Afghanistan. The entire area is ravaged by disease, drought and starvation.

There are no roads, no doctors, no medical clinics, no schools and almost 100% of the population is illiterate. Check out the heartbreaking Guardian story above about the district. The article is from 2002, but I doubt if things have much improved since.
*****

*****
Musa Qala District, Helmand Province: British forces attacked a Taliban force here, after being informed by local police that the guerrillas were gathering nearby. The ensuing attack killed an estimated 70 to 80 Taliban. There were no British casualties. The fighting was quite heavy and continued into early Sunday.

The fighting occurred in a remote part of the district and there was no way to independently confirm the casualty figures. This seems to be the end of the truce negotiated in October between British forces and the Taliban here, negotiated by local elders. The truce was intended to keep the Taliban out of the area but all it did was cement Taliban control over the district.

There is some question about whether the truce applied to the entire district or just to the town of Musa Qala. In recent days, locals, many of them women and schoolteachers, have traveled to Kabul to complain about the truce, saying that all it did was let the Taliban take over.
*****

****
Northern Kandahar Province, AM: A US NATO-chartered MI-21 helicopter with a crew of eight personnel flown by the US mercenary firm Dyncorp International, flying supplies from a NATO base in Kandahar city to another in Tirin Kot in Uruzgan, went down here for unknown reasons in poor weather. The Taliban said they shot it down but NATO would not confirm or deny that.

It is also not known how many, if any of the crew were killed and whether any were wounded, although it was suggested that there may have been fatalities. This crash is mysterious. A search and rescue team found the helicopter at noon.

Initially, NATO was not able to dispatch ground troops to the crash site due to weather, location and terrain and the last report was that it had no information about the crew. This crash is very strange and we need more information about it. Dyncorp is widely considered to be a CIA front corporation.

2 weeks later, the Taliban were still saying that they shot this helicopter down. They may indeed have done so. If the crew was CIA, then that explains why there has been no information about any possible casualties, since CIA casualties are often not reported.
*****

Afghanistan: Much of Afghanistan saw significant snowfall. This will slow down the insurgency.


Friday, December 1

*****
Ghazni Province, 5 PM: A US convoy fired on a group of officers twice in twilight in a very confused situation, killing 1 Afghan policeman and wounding 1 more. waning daylight in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. NATO said that the police fired first on the convoy as it moved through a bazaar in a town and troops then returned fire.

Afghan police said that troops had opened fire without provocation, killing 1 officer out of 3 manning the checkpoint. 2 of the 3 police manning the checkpoint that was attacked were in civilian clothes. The other 2 officers ran away and hid.

About 45 minutes later, the convoy passed by once again, and again opened fire on police, this time wounding an officer who was shouting at them to try to show them he was a friendly. Clearly a very confused situation.
*****

Tirin Kot, Tirin Kot District, Uruzgan Province, Night: The Taliban attacked police in the Darwishan area of the city of Tirin Kot , capital of Uruzgan Province. Over the course of a 3-hour battle, 7 Taliban were killed and 4 others wounded. 2 policemen were also wounded.

Wardak Province, Night: In a battle with guerrillas here, police killed 4 guerrillas. There were no further details. Wardak is definitely deteriorating lately.

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets and Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban forces once again besieging the capital, in what is becoming a daily affair.

*****
Muqur District, Ghazni Province: Navy F/A-18s attacked Taliban forces fighting US troops near here. US forces have made some great changes here recently as they have ignored Washington and gone ahead with their own reconstruction and security-related projects.

The locals are sick and tired of the Taliban and want security and development. Prior, security forces were woefully ill-equipped. US forces are even funding the building of mosques in villages, arguably a positive thing.
******


Thursday, November 30

Sangin District, Helmand Province, Early: British and Afghan troops, backed up by warplanes and helicopters, killed 10 Taliban and captured two Taliban commanders in a raid on an alleged suicide bomb cell here. One British soldier was lightly wounded in the operation. The identities of the Taliban leaders captured raid were not revealed. Troops seized two suicide vests, several RPG's and a cache of equipment and weapons.

*****
FOB Martello, Northern Kandahar Province, Afternoon: A speeding taxi approached a Canadian patrol near here and refused to slow when directed to do so. Canadian troops fired one shot at the car, which missed the driver but hit the passenger in the leg. FOB Martello was created by the Canadians in April of this year. It is located on the road between Kandahar and Tirin Kot in Uruzgan.

The area is a high, rocky desert with scattered oases and farming communities grouped around the oases. It is definitely swarming with Taliban. The base is located near a town called Elbak (map). Elbak is located 49 1/2 miles northeast of Kandahar and only 10 1/2 miles south of the border with Uruzgan Province.
*****

Muqur District, Ghazni Province: A US vehicle rolled over here during a battle with guerrillas, killing 1 US soldier, Specialist Chris Kleinwachter. The death is now being classified as non-hostile.

Kabul: U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets dropped GBU-38s on guerrilla positions. Do you get the impression that the guerrillas are besieging the capital?

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers and French Air Force M2000D Mirages attacked Taliban fighters once again near here. The GR-7s expended rockets on Taliban positions.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: An Air Force B-1B Lancer dropped GBU-38s on Taliban positions. Are the guerrillas besieging this regional capital also?

Kandahar: An Air Force B-1B and Navy F/A-18s attacked the Taliban who were battling Canadian troops near here.


Wednesday, November 29

Kabul: NATO said that suicide bombings have killed 244 people including 17 NATO soldiers, in Afghanistan this year, a dramatic increase over the previous year.

Afghan/Pakistan border of Eastern Afghanistan: Scores of al-Qaeda fighters stormed a checkpoint here, setting off a 1-hour battle that left 2 guerrillas dead. This attack must have taken place on the border with either North or South Waziristan on the Pakistani side and Paktika Province on the Afghan side.

Airport Road, Kandahar: A suicide bomber attacked a Canadian convoy here, killing two civilians. There were no Canadian casualties.

United States: About $2 billion worth of U.S. Army and Marine Corps equipment is wearing out or being destroyed every month in Iraq and Afghanistan. The figure is equal to about a quarter of the $8 billion per month that the US is spending on the wars themselves on direct military expenditures.

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban forces battling British troops near here. The GR-7s fired an enhanced Paveway II munition and rockets on enemy positions.

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province: An Air Force B-1 Lancer once again attacked guerrillas near here, dropping GBU-31s on enemy positions.

Khost Province: An Air Force B-1 Lancer attacked guerrillas here.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas once again near here, in what has become a regular occurrence.

Kandahar: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas again near here. The Kandahar region is getting bombed almost every day these days.

Muqur District, Ghazni Province: An Air Force B-1 attacked Taliban fighters battling US troops here. This area is getting bombed quite a bit lately, and there have been some US casualties also.


Tuesday, November 28

*****
Puli-i-Nam District, Logar Province, Afternoon: Roadside bomb attack on a NATO vehicle here killed two US soldiers, Staff Sergeant Michael A. Shank and Specialist Jeffrey G. Roberson, and wounding one soldier and one interpreter. Puli-i-Nam is the capital of Logar. Logar is a conservative district, but not as conservative as the south of the country.

There is evidence that Ayman al-Zawahiri sought refuge here soon after the US invasion of Afghanistan. He was in a familiar place. There were several Al Qaeda training camps in Logar during the Taliban's rule but the locals were not very friendly towards the largely-Arab foreign fighters.

Parts of Logar were controlled by the Taliban and others by the Northern Alliance during the Civil War. Hezb-i-Islami has always been very popular here. The district is majority Pashtun with a Tajik minority.
*****

South of the Arghandab River, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, Afternoon: in a suicide bomb attack in the Suicide bomb attack on a Canadian Bison armored personnel carrier A slightly wounded a Canadian soldier.

*****
5 miles south of Herat, Herat Province: A suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle next to a counterterrorism police truck that had been chasing him, killing one policeman and wounding 1 more.

The vehicle approached a police checkpoint where police tried to stop and search bomber's car, but he sped away. Police then chased the vehicle. In the course of the chase, the bomber detonated his vehicle, killing himself and causing the 2 other casualties.
*****

Garmser District, Helmand Province: RPG attack on a British vehicle here wounded 1 British soldier. The Taliban control virtually 100% of this district.

Khost Province: An Air Force B-1 Lancer attacked guerrillas once again here.

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked the Taliban once again near here, firing enhanced Paveway II munitions and rockets on enemy positions.

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province: A B-1 Bomber once again attacked guerrillas here. This areas is getting bombed all the time lately. It is right across from North Waziristan, which explains the heavy fighting. The B-1 dropped GBU-31s on guerrillas here. enemy positions near Orgun-e.

Kandahar: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked the Taliban again near here, in a reprise of the constant bombing in this area.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas again near here. Asadabad is getting bombed most every day lately.

Muqur District, Ghazni Province: An Air Force B-1 once again attacked the Taliban here. This province is getting bombed a lot lately.


Monday, November 27

Shindand District, Herat Province, Night: Roadside bomb attack on a police convoy wounded three police.

*****
Makeen, North Waziristan, Pakistan: The Taliban shot and killed a local cleric here, accusing him of spying for the US in Afghanistan. Gul Tahmim's body was found in a ravine near a Pakistani base.

A note left with his body said: "See this body! He was spying for America and had friendship with Maulana Salahuddin and Maulana Hashim Khan, who were also American spies." Those 2 men had been killed in the area previously, one of them 2 weeks before.
*****

*****
Airport Road, Kandahar: Suicide car bomb attack on a Canadian convoy here damaged a Bison armored personnel carrier, killing two Canadian soldiers, the crew commander and the driver of the Bison. An Afghan was also killed in the attack. The 2 soldiers were Chief Warrant Officer Robert Girouard and Corporal Albert Storm.

A minivan pulled up alongside the Bison soon after it left the airport and detonated. Several camels alongside the road were also killed. There were several other soldiers inside the vehicle but they were not hurt. The troops were helping on reconstruction projects in the Panjwayi District. On the day of the attack, they were leaving the Airport base for the District to work on more rebuilding.
*****

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province: French M2000D Mirages and Navy F/A-18 Hornets attacked guerrillas fighting US troops near here, in an area that is getting bombed almost every day lately.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: An Air Force B-1 Lancer attacked Taliban forces battling US troops near here. What is going on here? Why is Asadabad getting bombed every day?

Tirin Kot, Tirin Kot District, Uruzgan Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked Taliban fighters battling NATO forces here. The Taliban control the entire rural area surrounding this capital, and recently they have moved into the city itself.


Sunday, November 26

Gereshk, Nahri Sarraj District, Helmand Province, 2 PM: A "suspect" vehicle approached a US British convoy here, and jittery soldiers opened fire on the vehicle when it refused to slow down, killing an Afghan civilian. A similar incident happened only 4 days ago. According to NATO, "Despite clear signals to stop, including the use of flares and warning shots, the vehicle refused to halt".

*****
Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province, Night: A US military truck rolled down a sharp embankment here in this remote province, killing one US soldier, 1st Lieutenant Benjamin Keating, and injuring 1 more. The troops were providing supplies to the Kamdesh Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) at the time of the accident in this extremely rugged and remote area, where roads are little more than rude dirt tracks.

Men greet mountaineers in Kamdesh, Nuristan Province. Notice that there are no women present here. Also note that the homes are made of wood. This region has become very fundamentalist since it was forcibly converted to Islam 110 years ago. Osama bin Laden has probably been hiding in Nuristan at least some of the time since 2003, when he is not in Dir across the border in Pakistan.

*****

*****
Mano Gai, Pech District, Kunar Province: Guerrillas captured 4 Afghans returning from work at a U.S. military base here. The guerrillas here include Hezb-i-Islami Hekmatyar, Hezb-i-Islami Khalis, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba and some other obscure fundamentalist dolts.

The fighters include Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs and are often very well-armed and very well-trained. Mano Gai (map) is the capital of the district.
*****

Urgun, Urgun District, Paktika Province: A Pakistani suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant here, killing 15 Afghans and injuring 24,. He was apparently targeting an Afghan special forces commander and a district chief who were at the restaurant and were among the injured. The restaurant was destroyed.

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: RAF GR-7s once again attacked the Taliban, who are surrounding this capital city, dropping a 540-pound bomb and an firing enhanced Paveway II on Taliban positions.

Kandahar: RAF GR-7s dropped a 540-pound bomb and an fired enhanced Paveway II munitions on enemy positions. The Kandahar area is getting bombed about every day these days.

Musa Qala, Musa Qala District, Helmand Province: U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets attacked the Taliban here, dropping a GBU-12 and firing cannon rounds on enemy positions. Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers also attacked in the same area, expended rockets on enemy positions.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: An Air Force B-1B Lancer attacked Taliban forces once again near here.


Saturday, November 25

*****
Kabul-Kandahar Highway, Zabul Province, Night: The Taliban ambushed a police convoy here in this Taliban-controlled province, setting off a gunbattle in which 1 Taliban was killed.

US forces in Zabul in June 2005. As you can see, this province is quite arid. The Taliban now rules almost this entire province. In 2005, 86 schools here were closed down due to terror threats from Taliban fundamentalist losers, the highest number for any province, even Helmand or Kandahar. As of March 2006, about 1/2 of the schools are closed, and only 8% of girls are in school.

*****

*****
Tirin Kot District, Uruzgan Province: NATO forces said that they killed about 55 Taliban fighters in 2 separate battles here. Original reports said two NATO soldiers died in one of the clashes, but later reports indicate that only 1 soldier was killed, 2nd Lieutenant Scott B. Lundell.

Lundell was killed by small arms and RPG fire. The fighting began when the Taliban attacked NATO forces here. NATO returned fire and called in attack aircraft, killing about 50 Taliban.
******

*****
Arghandab district, Zabul Province: About 50 Taliban fighters attacked the police chief's compound here, setting off a 1-hour firefight. At the end, 1 Taliban was killed 3 more were wounded. There were no police casualties.

US forces in Zabul in an undated photo from a Slovenian newspaper. These homes appear to be in ruins for some reason, possibly still from the Russian War. This entire province is Taliban-controlled, so US forces are fighting an uphill battle here.

*****

Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province: The Taliban fired on Canadian and Afghan troops here, wounding 3 Canadian soldiers. The Canadians called in an air strike that killed about five Taliban.

*****
United States: US Air Force C-17 transport planes, planes that fly troops, supplies and fuel in missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, were attacked 215 times — an average of four times a week — in 2006. The smaller turbo-prop C-130 transports were attacked 65 times.

70% of the attacks happened when the planes were flying below 5,000 feet. Most of the attacks were with small arms such as assault rifles and machine guns. Since the war on terrorism began five years ago, there have been five “major” hits on C-17s.
*****

Charkh District, Logar Province: Suicide car bomb attack on a combined Afghan-NATO convoy wounded 2 who were walking in the street. Some vehicles in the patrol were lightly damaged.

Kabul: Roadside bomb attack on an Afghan army jeep damaged the vehicle but caused no injuries. A public bus was also damaged.

Helmand Province: Two Pakistani journalists held by the Taliban in southern of Afghanistan and put on trial for unknown reasons, A reporter for The Star said that its reporter Saleem Shahzad and another journalist, Qamar Yousafzai, had been detained by Taliban commander named Matiullah. Shahzad was detained on November 21 by the Taliban.

Kabul: Czech troops arrived to take command of the Kabul International Airport. A unit of 47 Czech troops is scheduled to take charge of the airport starting in early December until early April 2007.

Musa Qala, Musa Qala District, Helmand Province: Navy F/A-18Fs attacked the Taliban once again here, in a district where a truce with the Taliban has clearly totally broken down. The F/A-18Fs dropped GBU-38s and a GBU-12 on enemy positions.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas fighting US troops near here.


Friday, November 24

Kandahar Province, 12:11 PM: US forces fought with the Taliban somewhere in this province, in a battle in which US forces utilized mortars, artillery, and air power. 7 Taliban were killed in the fighting.

Mus'am Ghar, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province: The Taliban fired a rocket near the Canadian base here, missing an assembled foot patrol by 50 yards. There were no casualties. As noted above, Mus'am Ghar cannot be located on a map.

Kandahar: Navy F/A-18 Hornets and Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers attacked the Taliban once again here, where the Taliban are possibly besieging the capital. The F/A-18s dropped GBU-12s and fired cannon rounds on the Taliban.

Laskar Gah, Laskar Gah District, Helmand Province: RAF GR-7s attacked the Taliban once again here, in what appears to be a case of whack-a-mole.


Thursday, November 23

*****
Qarabagh District, Ghazni Province: The Taliban fired a rocket at a US patrol, killing 1 US soldier and wounding 1 more. US forces and guerrillas traded small arms fire and later US troops called in air support. The soldier's name has now been released as Corporal Nathan Joel Goodiron.

His vehicle took the full brunt of an RPG attack while escorting a military convoy. His cousin, Sergeant C.J. O'Berry, was the soldier wounded in the attack. Interesting that 2 cousins were manning the same vehicle.
*****

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets attacked guerrillas once again, in what is becoming a daily series of bombings in this area. The F/A-18s expended cannon rounds on enemy positions.

Ghazni, Ghazni Province: Navy F/A-18s attacked Taliban forces battling US forces near Ghazni.

Gereshk, Nahri Sarraj District, Helmand Province: French Air Force M2000D Mirages attacked Taliban forces battling British troops near here. This area is Taliban-controlled.

Forward Operating Base Carlson, Afghanistan: An Air Force B-1B Lancer attacked guerrillas fighting NATO forces near here. FOB Carlson could not be located.

Khost, Khost Province: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas once again here. This area is getting bombed a lot these days.


Wednesday, November 22

Kandahar, 12:30 PM: An explosion at a gun shop here killed 1 civilian and wounded 4 more. Five gun shops were destroyed and a mosque was partially damaged. The blast was apparently caused by improper storage of gunpowder in one of the gun shops.

*****
Between Kabul and Bagram Airbase, Kabul Province: US troops fired warning shots at a civilian van here, upsetting the driver and causing him to crash his van, killing an Afghan doctor and wounding four other people The doctor had been working at a health clinic at the Bagram base.

The doctor was in a civilian van that US forces felt was acting suspiciously in the vicinity of a US patrol. US forces signaled for the van to stop and fired a number of warning shots. The shots upset the driver so much that he crashed his car, resulting in the casualties above.

The view of the Hindu Kush near Bagram Airbase. This photo looks like the Great Basin in Western US. That could be Eastern California, Nevada, Utah or Eastern Oregon.

*****

Kabul: Militant activities have dropped in Afghanistan over the past month. The daily number of guerrilla attacks dropped below 10 in November and roadside bomb attacks dropped to 0.2. The last NATO soldier killed was on November 6, however in the days afterwards, a few more NATO troops were killed, along with some US mercenaries.


Tuesday, November 21

*****
Kandahar Province, Late: Taliban criminals on motorbikes attacked a female provincial councilor's car here, killing her husband. The gunmen attacked when Zarghona Kakar and her husband stopped at a roadside bakery to buy bread here.

She is the third prominent woman to be attacked in Kandahar in recent days. This woman was attacked first for being a prominent woman, and only secondly for being a Karzai legislature. The Taliban's misogyny is boundless.
*****

*****
Spin Boldak, Kandahar Province: The Taliban are plotting a fresh offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan when the winter ends early next year, according to a top Taliban commander. Attacks have declined rapidly in recent weeks.

Winter runs from late November to early March in Afghanistan. The Taliban say it is hard to stay up in the mountains during the harsh winter months. An early winter has already hit this year, with sleet falling in valleys and snow higher up in the mountains.
*****

*****
Khost Province: Suicide bomber attack on a US convoy here wounded four Afghans, including two school children. No US troops were hurt in the attack. Troops were distributing kits to school children when the blast went off.

The bomber's nationality was not known. The Taliban here are mirroring the Iraqi guerrillas for being the most disgusting and evil guerrillas on Earth.

Just as the Sunni guerrillas in Iraq have delighted in repeatedly attacking US forces while they handed out candy to Shia schoolchildren, slaughtering dozens of kids in the process, the Taliban cancer here follows in the malevolent footsteps of the Iraqi criminals, targeting schoolkids once again, in this case their own Pashtun Sunnis.
****

*****
Islamabad, Pakistan: A local BBC journalist disappeared as he was set to leave here and head back home to Dera Ismail Khan in the Northwest Frontier Province. He was kidnapped and roughed up by Islamists but turned up 24 hours after he disappeared, shaken but healthy. Dilawar Khan Wazir was quite upset and broke down repeatedly while telling his story.

The kidnappers took him to a house where they roughed him up and questioned him about his reporting and sources. The kidnappers dumped him in a remote area and threatened to kill him if he talked about what they did to him.
*****

Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province: Canadian troops were on a foot patrol in a town here when one of them stepped on an anti-personnel land mine, injuring two soldiers. One soldier was severely wounded, the other only superficially wounded.

****
Sangin, Sangin District, Helmand Province: Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers and Navy F/A-18 Hornets attacked Taliban fighters here, with the GR-7s firing rockets on enemy positions. The enemy is generally lying low in Sangin lately, though they control the district. The British stay in their bases and the Taliban stay in their villages.

The British come out at night and shoot into the air to scare the Taliban and let the Taliban know the British are there. The Taliban do not fire back. The Taliban have realized that the best strategy here is to just lay low and not attack the British. The British, for their part, are not keen on endless battles with the Taliban.
*****

Kandahar: US Navy F/A-18s attacked Taliban fighters battling Canadian troops near here. Kandahar is bombed almost every day these days.

Khost, Khost Province: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas here once again. Khost is getting bombed a fair amount lately.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: An Air Force B-1B Lancer and Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked guerrillas again near here, in an area that is being bombed almost every day lately.


Monday, November 20

Bermal, Paktika Province, Late: A suicide bomber blew himself up next to an Afghan army patrol, killing himself but no Afghan troops were injured.

****
Marja, Nad Ali District, Helmand Province, Late: The Taliban attacked a local police station here, killing 2 policemen. Marja (map) is 17 miles west of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the province. The Nad Ali District is 80% Pashtun, 10% Hazara, 5% Tajik and 5% Baloch.

Most of the people live in the far east of the district near Lashkar Gah. Except for the far east of the district, the rest of the district is uninhabited desert. That region is known as Zamindovar. This district is very warm. In the wintertime, it averages 68 F, and in the summer it climbs to 120 F.

As usual in Afghanistan, there is no sanitation, and waste water flows right into the canals where the people get their drinking water. Cotton, wheat, corn, turnips, tomatoes, ladyfinger brinjiles, pomegranates, apples and opium are grown here - especially opium - but cotton is still the primary crop.

The harvest is good on irrigated lands, but the rain-fed lands are all dry. 90% of the arable land is still being cultivated, which is a very good figure for Afghanistan. The main road is partly destroyed and the rest of the roads are often muddy, typical for an Afghan district. Most of the bridges are partly destroyed also. Water is readily available but the well water is salty and therefore difficult to drink.

Most people in the district are working and few are unemployed. There is plenty of work in the cotton fields. There are two clinics in the district with two female nurses, but there are no woman doctors. The clinics treat 50 people a day and have fairly good facilities for Afghanistan. Still, the district needs more health centers.

There are a number of schools here, and there are actually a few girls in school, though boys outnumber girls by 10-1 in high school. There are also four woman teachers here. There are no girls in grade school. 70% of the boys are in school - the rest are working, usually in the fields. The schools are in bad shape, with no water or bathrooms available. The teachers are not trained.

Although women are usually confined to their homes in the Pashtun tradition, some work in the fields and others work as maids or cooks.
*****

Kandahar: French M2000D Mirages, US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets and Royal Air Force GR-7 Harriers all attacked the Taliban once again near here. The F/A-18s dropped a GBU-12 and fired cannon rounds on enemy positions.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: Air Force A-10s and an Air Force B-1B Lancer attacked guerrillas again here, in what are apparently daily battles in this area.

Kabul: Air Force A-10s and Navy F/A-18s attacked guerrillas fighting NATO forces near here once again. The Kabul area is really getting bombed a lot lately.

****
Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province: Air Force A-10s and U.S. Navy F/A-18s attacked guerrillas near here. Hezb-i-Islami Hekmatyar and Hezb-i-Islami Khalis are particularly strong in this region, in particular Younis Khalis' faction.

Bear in mind that in the last election, Hezb-i-Islami won an incredible 25% of the seats in the Afghan government, though Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has not yet made a peace with the government. There are yet rumors that Hekmatyar is negotiating a peace with the government. Hekmatyar is probably hiding in the Dir District in Pakistan south of Chitral and east of Kunar and Nuristan Provinces in Afghanistan.

Dir is the rear guard for Hezb-i-Islami Hekmatyar. Speaking of Dir, there is excellent evidence that this is precisely where bin Laden is, and has been since at least 2003. Hopefully, more on that in a future post. It is obvious that Pakistani intelligence, the ISI, knows where Hekmatyar is, and it is probable that they also know where Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are also. The ISI just does not feel like catching them.

Hekmatyar has influence in Kunar and Nuristan Provinces and to a lesser extent Kunduz Province in the north, where he is from, and he also has forces in Khost, Paktia, Logar and Paktika Provinces. Hekmatyar's super-Islamist faction was favored by the CIA in the Russian War, receiving 70% of funds.

These funds were all distributed by the ISI. This funding is the genesis of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Younis Khalis is a warlord from Nangarhar Province who gave bin Laden a training camp and base at a place called Farmada, south of Jalalabad.

Khalis had a particularly close relationship with bin Laden, but he quickly sold out and cut a deal with the US soon after the invasion. Hekmatyar is now with the Taliban and Al Qaeda and the rumors are that Khalis' faction has now aligned with the Taliban and Al Qaeda too.
******

Orgun-E, Urgun District, Paktika Province: Navy F/A-18s attacked guerrilla forces once again in the endless air strikes on guerrillas here.


Sunday, November 19

Eastern Afghanistan: NATO forces said they killed 11 Taliban in air raids and artillery strikes here.

Kandahar: Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attacked the Taliban once more here, dropping general purpose 500-pound bombs and GBU-12s, and firing cannon rounds on enemy positions.

Gereshk, Nahri Sarraj District, Helmand Province: U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets attacked Taliban forces fighting British troops near here.

Musa Qala, Musa Qala District, Helmand Province: Navy F/A-18s attacked the Taliban here again, where a truce has totally unraveled and heavy fighting has resumed. The F/A-18s dropped a GBU-12 on enemy positions.

Asadabad, Asadabad District, Kunar Province: An Air Force B-1B Lancer and Air Force A-10s attacked guerrillas once again battling US troops in this dangerous area. The A-10s dropped a GBU-12 and a general purpose 500-pound bomb and the B-1B dropped GBU-12s on guerrilla positions.


Friday, November 17

Afghanistan: Air strikes in Afghanistan have increased dramatically lately, according to this report here.

Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.