Friday, September 22
Between Jalalabad and the Pakistani border, Nangarhar Province, Early AM: The Taliban attacked a Pakistani convoy of five oil tankers on the road between Jalalabad and Torkham on the Pakistani border, killing 1 driver. All of the oil tankers were destroyed while they were parked at a gas station between the two towns. Afghanistan gets all of its oil and most of its other supplies through Pakistan.
Kandahar Province: The Taliban bombed and then opened fire on a bus full of construction workers, killing 19 and wounding 3 more. The workers were probably commuting to go to work on a Coalition military base, but this was not stated in the article.
Uruzgan Province: Afghan police said they killed 20 Taliban in fighting here. The Taliban denied that report and said that instead, they killed 14 Afghan police.
Ismailkhel, Mandozai District, Khost Province: The Taliban fired two rockets at an Afghan National Army camp but caused no casualties or damage. Ismailkhel is a small town about 10 miles west of Khost City. The Mandozai District is in the central part of the province.
Gulistan, Gulistan District, Farah Province: The police chief of this province reported that the Taliban had seized control of the district headquarters here when 500 Taliban attacked the headquarters and seized control over it. The Taliban said the head of the province and the police chief had surrendered, but that was denied by local officials.
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Herat Province: Fighting was continuing between Afghan forces and the Taliban here.
Women on the street in Herat. Herat is ruled by Ismail Khan, a pro-Iranian Shia warlord. Under his rule, women have had few rights. As you can see, they still wear burkas.****
Thursday, September 21
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Dilaram, Nimroz Province: Afghan forces cleared the Taliban out of this area after they seized control of the main highway linking Herat and Kandahar. Previously, the Taliban had cut the highway here, blocking all traffic. Dilaram is located 80 miles west of Farah City where the Farah, Nimroz and Helmand Provinces all come together. Women Without Borders, a great German group, has been very active here.
Nimroz is a desolate desert province but the Helmand River is still very wide here, making a shocking contrast with the desert. Sand dunes line the banks of this wide river here, making for a strange sight. Most of the water is being taken by neighboring Iran and Nimroz gets almost nothing left.A treaty was signed with the Afghan king and Iran splitting up the water here, but when the king died, the treaty was null and Iran just grabbed all the water. Across the border in Iran, the fields are lush, but Nimroz almost looks like Saudi Arabia.
Women in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz Province. These women are with a great group called Women Without Borders who were active there last summer setting up women's schools, which the women took to very enthusiastically. Most of the people here have been living as refugees in Iran for a long time with few to no rights. They are just now returning.In Zaranj, a city of 85,000, there are exactly 3 women who are driving vehicles. In this large city, there is not one telephone, there is no Internet and the only TV is satellite. This city actually gets lots of electricity for an Afghan city, since it all comes from Iran. But Iran often cuts off the supply for no apparent reason. The temperature in summer is 115 with frequent sandstorms that make it almost impossible to even walk through town.
Near Miran Shah, North Waziristan, Pakistan: Local Islamist guerrillas executed an Afghan man who they said was spying for the US in Khost Province across the border in Afghanistan and dumped his his bullet-riddled body at a checkpoint near here. A note near the body explained why he had been killed.
Wednesday, September 20
Garmser District, Helmand Province, Early: There was heavy fighting between NATO forces and the Taliban in a mountainous part of Southern Afghanistan, probably in the Garmser District near Garmser. The fighting lasted for 2 hours and 7 Taliban were killed. There were no NATO casualties.
Near Kabul: 1 Italian soldier was killed and 2 more were wounded when their armored vehicle overturned while going up an incline. The troops were on their way to the town of Musay-Tal when the accident occurred.
Zabul Province: Taliban guerrillas tried to set an oil tanker on fire here on the Kandahar-Kabul highway but Afghan police intervened. A battle ensued and 4 Taliban were killed. 1 policeman was injured.
Khost Province: Roadside bomb attack on Afghan soldiers wounded 3 troops.
Arghandab District, Zabul Province: NATO soldiers arrested 4 Taliban as they rode on motorcycles here.
Wardak Province: Dozens of guerrillas using automatic weapons and RPG's attacked police here, killing 1 policeman and wounding 2 more, 1 seriously. It is really disturbing that so many Taliban guerrillas are now attacking in mass formations in this previously fairly stable province. The eastern part of the province is largely Pashtun, however. The Taliban insurgency is increasingly turning into a Pashtun tribal insurgency.
Tuesday, September 19
Kakhtapul, Garmser District, Helmand Province, Early AM: NATO troops and Afghan police killed 7 Taliban and wounded 4 more in fighting here. There were no NATO or police casualties. Three Taliban vehicles were destroyed in the fighting. This town could not be located on a map.
Miankhail, Garmser District, Helmand Province, Early AM: Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan police and NATO troops killed 4 Taliban. Some of the Taliban killed here and in Kakhtapul were Pakistanis. This town also could not be located on a map.
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Lawara Mandi, North Waziristan, Pakistan, AM: Guerrillas attacked US forces in Pipali, Afghanistan. Afterwards, six US helicopters violated Pakistan’s air space here. The guerrillas apparently fled into Pakistan after they attacked US forces.
Lawara Mandi is about 34 miles west of Miran Shah. Locals report "constant" violations of Pakistani airspace in the area due to militant activity. Pakistani forces did not take any action regarding the US helicopters.
Pipali is not the name of a village, but instead is the name of a US/Afghan military base 2 miles inside Afghanistan in Paktika Province. The base is probably located near Bermal and Urgun. See the photos of Bermal below.
Here is an excellent map from the Washington Post of the Pakistani Tribal Agencies. Good maps of these agencies are hard to come by. Click to enlarge the map to see the detail. Pipali and Lawara Mandi are probably due west of Miran Shah on the border - Pipali on the Afghan side and Lawara Mandi on the Pakistani side.Note the location of North and South Waziristan, which are both totally controlled by Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban right now. This image is used on the basis of fair use policy for educational use. Since we make almost nothing off this blog, I can't see how this is commercial use.
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Giro District, Ghazni: The Taliban ambushed police here and a battle ensued. 2 police and 17 Taliban were wounded. Police said that 13 Taliban were killed in the fighting. The Giro District is 30 miles south of Ghazni City on the border with Paktika Province. It has started to unravel security-wise in recent months.
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Paktika Province: There was fighting here between guerrillas and Afghan troops. 4 guerrillas were killed in the fighting. Ammunition and a mortar were seized.
US forces in Bermal, Paktika, near the Pakistani border, on September 9. This area has been red-hot dangerous for years now.
US forces firing artillery at guerrillas at the US base in Bermal, Paktika Province, on September 9. This area is extremely dangerous and has been crawling with guerrillas for years now with no end in sight.
A view of the terrain near the US base in Bermal, Paktika. Right across the border is North Waziristan, which is now completely controlled by the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda. These guerrillas constantly raid across the border, fire on US forces and then go back to Pakistan.*****
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Yakhthal, Gereshk District, Helmand Province: The Taliban said that they had executed a Turkish mercenary who was working for a Turkish construction company after the company he worked for ignored an order to leave Afghanistan. Mustafa Asimi was captured Aug. 28 in an ambush.
There is no Gereshk District in Helmand, but there is a province called Nahri Sarraj, in which the largest city is Gereshk. There is also no town called Yakhthal; instead, the town is called Yakhchal (map here) and it is located 7 1/2 miles east of Gereshk. The Nahri Sarraj District borders Kandahar Province to the east.
The Nahri Sarraj District is 90% Pashtun, but there are some girls in school in Gereshk. Honor killings of teenage girls still occur here. 75% of the livestock has been killed in the drought. The district is very fertile with irrigation from the Helmand River.
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Khar, Bajour Agency, Pakistan: Roadside bomb attack on an aid vehicle carrying health care workers near the Afghan border wounded 2 female health workers.
The women were working for the Pakistani National Commission for Human Development and were heading for a rural health center at the time. The attack occurred after local fundamentalist cretins told agencies not to hire women as health workers or teachers.
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Monday, September 18
South of Farah, Farah Province, 7:35 AM: Roadside bomb attack here on a convoy of eight Spanish armored vehicles caused no damage and no casualties.
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Kafir Band, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, 10 AM: As Canadian troops handed out candy to children here, a diabolical suicide bomber-criminal on a bicycle attacked them, killing 4 Canadian troops and wounding 14 others. 24 children were wounded by the devilish bomber, 4 critically.
The Taliban later announced that the bomber, Mullah Qadratullah, was from Kandahar. 50 to 60 Canadian troops were patrolling in the town at the time. A local villager disputed the account that soldiers were handing out candy to kids at the time of the attack, saying that there were few kids in the village at the time.
Other reports said the attack took place in the Kolf area, near Pashmul, 12 miles west of Kandahar. Neither Kolf nor Kafir Band could be located on a map.
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Hawasha, Gereshk District, Helmand Province: Battles between Afghan police and the Taliban killed 13 Taliban and wounded more. A Taliban leader was killed in the fighting. The bodies of the Taliban fighters were scattered through the orchards in the area.
No town called Hawasha could be located on a map. The town in question is probably Pasaw (map here), located 8 1/2 miles east of Gereshk, near the town of Yakhcha, where the Turkish engineer was kidnapped and then killed (see above).
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Sayadan, Parwan Province: Attackers threw grenades at women having an outdoor wedding celebration in a garden behind walls here about 40 miles north of Kabul, killing five women and wounding 18. Four suspects were arrested.
The motive for the attack was a private feud. Sayadan (map here) is located 5 miles east of the capital of Charikar. Charikar was founded in 329 BC by Alexander the Great as Alexandria of the Caucasus. Bagram Air Base is located in Parwan Province, near Charikar. This is one of the most important, if not the most important, US bases in Afghanistan.
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Herat: Yet another suicide attacker on a bicycle killed at least 10 people and wounded 15 more in Herat. The deputy police chief was amongst those wounded.
A view of Herat from a hill outside the city. As you can see, there is some vegetation here; the area is not a complete desert. Furthermore, it is quite a large city.*****
Poli-e-Charki, Kabul: Yet another suicide bomber attacked Afghan police here, killing 3 police. 3 other police and 2 civilians were wounded in the attack, which occurred in a market.
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Herat Province: Spanish, Italian and US troops launched Operation Wyconda Pincher here in response to the massive Taliban offensive that has occurred in this province recently. It seems clear to me that the large Taliban forces here are in part made up forces have fled from Helmand and Kandahar Provinces to the southeast, where major offensives have been underway for some time now.
We will see how this operation works as far as defeating the Taliban in this province. This province is disastrously in need of the most basic reconstruction money.
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Sunday, September 17
Gereshk District, Helmand Province, Early: Roadside bomb attack on Afghan police here killed 2 police and destroyed their vehicle.
3 miles east of Kabul: Yet another in the mad wave of suicide bombers blew himself up next to a U.S. military convoy here, wounding 2 US soldiers and 2 civilians, police said. The bomber was on foot and had explosives strapped to his body. He ran up the US convoy and detonated himself.
West of Kandahar: The mad suicide bomber parade continued as a suicide car bomber attacked a Canadian convoy here, killing 1 civilian and wounding 3 Canadian soldiers. 8 civilians were wounded in the blast.
Ghazni Province: The body of an Afghan engineer who was working for a local aid agency for rural development was found here after he was abducted by the Taliban earlier in the week. His body had been mutilated.
Southern Afghanistan: A top NATO general said that Operation Medusa in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province had been a significant success. Guerrillas had been forced to abandon their positions and reconstruction projects, which have typically been horribly botched by the US reactionaries, are set to begin in the district. Don't expect any miracles.
Saturday, September 16
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Musayi District, Kabul Province: Roadside bomb attack on a vehicle carrying Afghan mercenaries working providing security help for a water project killed 3 mercenaries and wounded 1 more. The Musayi District is located 9 1/2 miles south of Kabul on the southern border of Kabul Province on the border with Logar Province.
Musayi is a majority-Pashtun district with a few Tajiks living there. Once again, we see the Pashtun factor in the Taliban insurgency. Most of the homes were destroyed in the Soviet War. There is no health clinic in the village and pregnant women must travel to Kabul to have their children. A number of them die along the way. Thank you George Bush!
There are no girls in school here, although there are 4 schools functioning. Amazing - 9 miles from Kabul and no clinics and no girls in school.
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Kandahar: A Canadian soldier fired on a vehicle that he felt was driving too close to his convoy here, wounding 2 Afghans, apparently civilians. Looks like Iraq all over again.
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Eastern Afghanistan: Operation Mountain Fury began in five eastern provinces, Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Logar and Ghazni. About 4,000 Afghan police and soldiers and 3,000 Coalition troops kicked off the operation. The goal is not only to attack the Taliban but also to rebuild local infrastructure.
Seeing how catastrophically the Bush conservatives have failed with every reconstruction project they have ever undertaken to date, we will wait with bated breath how this goes. The Bush Administration approaches reconstruction with the mentality that corporations will be given a blank check with no-bid contracts to charge as much as they want for the contract, which results in massive overcharges.
Then there is zero oversight, so the corporation logically does minimal or terrible work while being paid top dollar. Obviously, any corporation in the private sector with such a mindset would be driven out of business by market forces if they did not have a monopoly.
The fact that this is the sort of crooked, 3rd world style crony, organized crime-type capitalism that Bush promotes gives the lie to the notion that these crooks support free market capitalism in any way. Instead, they support rigged markets with crony monopoly capitalism. It is clear that even a principled state agency could do a better job that crony capitalists, who have already been ruining the 3rd World for most of the last century.
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Friday, September 15
Uruzgan Province, Late: Coalition forces spotted guerrillas laying roadside bombs near a Coalition base here and attacked them with gunfire and bombs, killing 17 Taliban.
Khost Province: Guerrillas attacked a US base here, killing 1 US soldier and wounding 1 more.
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Khas Uruzgan, Khas Uruzgan District, Uruzgan Province: 60 Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint near the district headquarters here in an apparent bid to overrun the district headquarters of yet another Afghan district. NATO and Afghan soldiers came to help the police under attack. The Taliban retreated and there were no Coalition casualties.
The Khas Uruzgan District is in the far east of Uruzgan Province, bordering the Day Chopan District of Zabul to the east. This area is mountainous, desolate and wild, with a mixed population of Hazara and Pashtun. The Taliban have long been active in this area. There is, a US base here called Firebase Anaconda. Map of Khas Uruzgan city here.
A woman carries a bushel of some sort of vegetation in the stark beauty near Khas Uruzgan.
Taliban fundamentalist cretins burned this school to the ground, possibly because, being cretins, they are opposed to learning.
The same school that was burned down by the Taliban fundamentalist idiots has now been rebuilt by US forces from Firebase Anaconda in Khas Uruzgan. At least some US aid money is not being wasted on Bush and his crony capitalist, war profiteering corporate pirates.
Local Afghans get together with US troops for a soccer match at the sports field built by US forces in Khas Uruzgan.
Afghans play soccer at the Sports Stadium in Khas Uruzgan.****
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