Afghan militants in US uniforms storm 2 NATO bases

Afghan militants in US uniforms storm 2 NATO bases
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer Robert H. Reid, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 28, 9:27 pm ET
KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. and Afghan troops repelled attackers wearing American uniforms and suicide vests in a pair of simultaneous assaults on NATO bases near the Pakistani border, including one where seven CIA employees died in a suicide attack last year.
The raids before dawn Saturday appear part of an insurgent strategy to step up attacks in widely scattered parts of the country as the U.S. focuses its resources on the battle around the Taliban's southern birthplace of Kandahar.
Also Saturday, three more American service members were killed — two in a bombing in the south and the third in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. command said. That brought to 38 the number of U.S. troops killed this month — well below last month's figure of 66.
The militant assault in the border province of Khost began about 4 a.m. when dozens of insurgents stormed Forward Operating Base Salerno and nearby Camp Chapman with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, according to NATO and Afghan police.
Two attackers managed to breach the wire protecting Salerno but were killed before they could advance far onto the base, NATO said. Twenty-one attackers were killed — 15 at Salerno and six at Chapman — and five were captured, it said.
Three more insurgents, including a commander, were killed in an airstrike as they fled the area, NATO said.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said two Afghan soldiers were killed and three wounded in the fighting. Four U.S. troops were wounded, NATO officials said.
U.S. and Afghan officials blamed the attack on the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based faction of the Taliban with close ties to al-Qaida. Camp Chapman was the scene of the Dec. 30 suicide attack that killed the seven CIA employees.
Afghan police said about 50 insurgents took part in the twin assaults. After being driven away from the bases, the insurgents approached the nearby offices of the governor and provincial police headquarters but were scattered, said Khost provincial police Chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai.
"Given the size of the enemy's force, this could have been a major catastrophe for Khost. Luckily we prevented it," he said.
Small-arms fire continued through the morning, while NATO helicopters patrolled overhead. The dead were wearing U.S. Army uniforms, which can be easily purchased in shops in Kabul and other cities, possibly pilfered from military warehouses.
The twin attacks appeared to be part of a growing pattern of insurgent assaults far from the southern battlefields of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, which have been the main focus of the U.S. military campaign. Last December, President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan, most to the Kandahar area where the Islamist movement was organized in the mid-1990s.
On Saturday, a candidate running for a seat in parliament from Herat province in northwestern Afghanistan was shot and killed on his way to a mosque, said Lal Mohammad Omarzai, deputy governor of Shindand district. He said two men on a motorbike opened fire on Abdul Manan, a candidate in the September balloting. He later died of his wounds.
Late Friday, insurgents stormed a police checkpoint in Takhar province near the northern border with Tajikistan. The Interior Ministry said nine insurgents were killed and 12 wounded with no losses on the government side. The day before, Taliban fighters killed eight Afghan policemen in a raid on a checkpoint outside the northern city of Kunduz.
And on Wednesday, an Afghan police driver with family links to the Taliban killed three Spaniards — two police trainers and their interpreter — at a training center in the northern province of Badghis.
A joint NATO-Afghan investigative team found the shooter, whose brother-in-law is a Taliban commander, had been arrested and disarmed a year ago for links to insurgents but was reinstated after two local elders vouched for him, NATO said in a statement Saturday.
Although the Afghan capital is relatively secure, incidents apparently directed at female students have raised concern about Taliban intimidation within the city.
The Health Ministry said 48 pupils and teachers at the Zabihullah Esmati High School were rushed to hospitals Saturday after falling ill with breathing problems and nausea. All but nine were treated and released after blood samples were taken to try to determine the cause.
On Wednesday, dozens of students and teachers at another Kabul girls' school became sick when an unknown gas spread through classrooms, education officials said. The cause of that incident has not been determined, but officials fear the apparent poisonings could be part of an insurgent campaign to frighten girls from attending school.
Also Saturday, the government criticized U.S. media reports that alleged numerous Afghan officials had received payments from the CIA. A presidential office statement did not address or deny any specific allegations, but called the reports an insult to the government and an attempt to defame people within it.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the CIA had been paying Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for Afghanistan's National Security Council, who was arrested last month as part of an investigation into corruption. The Washington Post reported the next day the agency was making payments to a large number of officials in President Hamid Karzai's administration.
"Afghanistan believes that making such allegations will not strengthen the alliance against terrorism and will not strengthen an Afghanistan based on the law and rules, but will have negative effects in those areas," the statement by Karzai's office said, without commenting on the substance of the reports.
"We strongly condemn such irresponsible allegations which just create doubt and defame responsible people of this country," it said.
Meanwhile, NATO issued a statement saying coalition helicopter pilots were not responsible for the deaths of three Afghan policemen killed Aug. 20 in what had been considered a friendly fire incident in Jowzjan province's Darzab district.
It said the helicopters showed up hours after fighting began and it was possible the three had been killed earlier.
All Afghan forces had also been ordered to remain inside compounds at the time the two helicopters fired a missile and 80 30-millimeter rounds at an insurgent firing position, NATO said.

BYU Football Right Around The Corner 4 Sep 2010

Go Cougars!!!

Another Trip to NKC (New Kabul Compound)

Went over to meet with some guys I work with at NKC. Went with the military with full battle gear and escorts in armored vehicles. I must say I feel more threatened in those vehicles than I do in my unarmored vehicle. It was uneventful and returned safely. Today is my 15th month anniversary. Only 33 more to go!!!!

John Kerry Visit and Other Useless Things

Sen. John Kerry visited with his constituents at the Goat DFAC on Friday. I couldn't eat in my normal room because he had taken it over to meet with constituents from MA. I wouldn't meet with him if the bought me lunch.
Sen John Kerry also visited the President of Afghanistan Hamed Karzi to say to him -- stop being a crook like me -- not really but he should have.

Dang Hot!!!!!!

Yesterday I sweat a bucket in my suit coming home from Church. When I got home I checked the Weather Channel and they said it was 97 degrees outside -- bring on the Fall weather. Saturday it got up to 99 degrees -- ugh!!!

Design Pictures

We are contemplating landscaping the east side of our home. It is steep and needs some tiering so that it won't wash away. Here are some graphic designs.

Bookstore Trip

Took another trip to the bookstore in downtown Kabul yesterday. It was uneventful and fun. I enjoy getting out and about in town to view the locals up close and personal. I bought a picture of the Afghan Girl with the green eyes that graced the cover of National Geographic or Time. Picked up some maps and other pictures too. Perused the books available -- definitely not a discount bookstore.

Dari Class

I am taking a 2 week Dari class to learn the Dari language basics. It seems hard to learn and am picking it up slowly. I have a local national friend that is helping me practice. I have 3 classes a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday).

Bicycle Buying Trip

There are a couple of boys that hang out around the south gate of Camp Eggers that peddle their wares for U.S. Personnel -- bracelets, scarves, and maps. I asked them where they lived and they said they walked to school (German School next to Camp Eggers) and it took them 1 and 1/2 hours. They went to school and then peddled their wares till late at night and then walked home. I volunteered to buy them bicycles for their birthdays but found out their birthdays were in the Fall/Winter, so I decided to buy them bicycles during the Summer so they could get some use out of them. So we all went bicycle shopping yesterday in downtown Kabul. Wow was traffic a bear. There are no stop lights so everyone pushes their way into the intersection and whoever gets his car nose in wins. People stand along the side of the street waiting for rides -- anyone that wants to give them a ride for a charge. Also, vans come by and guys will pile into the van with people heads sticking out of the sunroof and hanging out of the sliding doors. What an experience. Everyone was out shopping for Ramadan. They have a big meal the night before the start their month of fasting.

6 Americans on medical team among 10 killed by militants in remote Afghanistan

6 Americans on medical team among 10 killed by militants in remote Afghanistan
Published August 07, 2010
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Ten members of a medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed by militants as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages in northern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the team said Saturday.
Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, said one German, one Briton and two Afghans also were part of the team that made the two-week trip to Nuristan province. They drove to the province, left their vehicles and hiked for hours over mountainous terrain to reach the Parun valley in the province's northwest.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in Pakistan that they killed the foreigners because they were "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity."
Frans said the International Assistance Mission is registered as a nonprofit Christian organization but does not proselytize.
"This tragedy negatively impacts our ability to continue serving the Afghan people as IAM has been doing since 1966," the charity said in a statement. "We hope it will not stop our work that benefits over a quarter of a million Afghans each year."
The team, made up of doctors, nurses and logistics personnel, was attacked as it was returning to Kabul after the two-week mission in Nuristan, Frans said. They had decided to travel through Badakhshan province to return to the capital because they thought it would be the safest route, Frans said.
Among the dead was team leader Tom Little, an optometrist from Delmar, New York, who has been working in Afghanistan for more than 30 years, Frans said. Another relief organization, Bridge Afghanistan, said on its website that the group included one of its members, Dr. Karen Woo of London.
Little was expelled by the Taliban government in August 2001 after the arrest of eight Christian aid workers — two Americans and six Germans — for allegedly trying to convert Afghans to Christianity. He returned to Afghanistan after the Taliban government was toppled in November 2001 by U.S.-backed forces.
Frans said he lost contact with Little on Wednesday. On Friday, a third Afghan member of the team, who survived the attack, called to report the killings. A fourth Afghan member of the team was not killed because he took a different route home because he had family in Jalalabad, Frans said.
According to Frans, two members of the team worked for IAM, two were former IAM workers and four others were affiliated with other organizations, which he did not disclose. He said five of the Americans were men and one was a woman. The Briton and German also were women.
Gen. Agha Noor Kemtuz, police chief in Badakhshan province, said the victims, who had been shot, were found Friday next to three bullet-riddled four-wheel drive vehicles in Kuran Wa Munjan district. He said villagers had warned the team that the area was dangerous, but the foreigners said they were doctors and weren't afraid. He said local police said about 10 gunmen robbed them and killed them one by one.
He said the two dead Afghans were interpreters from Bamiyan and Panjshir provinces. The third Afghan who survived "told me he was shouting and reciting the holy Quran and saying 'I am Muslim. Don't kill me,'" Kemtuz said.
Elsewhere, five people were killed and 13 were wounded Saturday when a bomb struck a police vehicle in the Nahri-Saraj district of Helmand province in the south, the Interior Ministry said. Four of the dead were police, but all but one of the wounded were civilians.
The NATO-led coalition also reported the arrests late Friday of two suspected insurgents in Kandahar province and of "several" suspected members of the Haqqani network, a Taliban faction with close ties to al-Qaida, in the eastern province of Khost.
___
Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to this report.

Taliban's Revenge!!!

Well the results of my indiscretion of going out to dinner on the open market has had it's effect on me -- I have been riding the white horse for 3 days now!!! The other American guys have told me they are in the same shape. I guess Chinese food out on the town is out for tonight!!! May have to let our digestive systems recover before we assault them again!

Papa Smurf's Night Out On The Town

Last night we took Rafi (Our Custodian/Clothes Washer) from our office and his family out to dinner. There was 13 in our party. We tested the local fare (probably not a good idea) -- I had the chicken fried rice. Wasn't to bad -- also had chicken corn soup. Most everyone else had beef or lamb kabobs with naan (bread). Basically your local type of food. The restaurant seemed a little dodgy -- there were people sitting in booths (on the floor) and smoking something out of a bong. The whole meal (for 13 people) only came to 2,580 Afghanis ($52). Not bad -- I thought it would be several hundred dollars. Got home by 8 pm and all was well and un-eventful.

Iraq Humor

A soldier with an injured ankle from the US Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division is assisted past his burning M-ATV armored

U.S. Army soldiers with Task Force Thor Route Clearance Patrol from 23rd Engineering Company, Airborne detonate an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) t

The tomb of Sultan Mohammed Telai, which was destroyed during the Afghan civil war in 1990's is lit by setting sun on Friday, July 23, 2010 in Kabul,

Local Shopping Center -- Anything You Want from China

See shopping mall in Kabul.

Convoy Hits and Kills Local Afghans

A convoy of two Contractor vehicles hit a car that pulled out in front of them killing the 4 people inside the vehicle. Local Afghans threw stones at the vehicles and the passengers were shuttled to safety. The locals torched the vehicles -- I guess this isn't a no-fault state.