NATO reports that a raid in the Pech River Valley of eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province may have killed “more than 40 insurgents.” The raid, which they called Operation Bulldog Bite, lasted four days.
The sweep was meant to target weapons stores in the region, not far from the Pakistan border. At least five NATO troops were killed Sunday in the course of the sweep, the deadliest single incident in Afghanistan since May.
The sweep is actually much smaller than one the US launched in Kunar’s Marawara District in June, which officials said killed “as many as 150” insurgents. Despite that claimed success of that raid, and this one, the region remains hotly contested by the insurgency.
The operation came as NATO prepares for a major policy summit in Lisbon, which is expected to focus around the nearly decade long Afghan War effort. Officials are expect to rubber stamp a plan to keep troops in Afghanistan through 2014, and some concede that the war will last well beyond this date.
All five "NATO" soldiers from Eastern Afghanistan were identified yesterday on the DOD website as US soldiers killed on Sunday by small arms fire in Kunduz.. Four US soldiers also died earlier in the month of small arms fire in Kunduz. Thirty seven US soldiers have died in the first 16 days of November in Afghanistan
Correction five US soldiers killed by small arms fire in Kunar province last Sunday, Nov. 14. Four US soldiers killed earlier in the month by small arms fire in Kunar.
Many, many more US and NATO troops are dying on a daily basis not to even mention the numerous soldiers who are getting horribly maimed and injured, going home with limbs, eyes and/or big chunks of their faces or bodies missing. Near Kabul and also at 2 sites one near Gardi and another at Khayrabad there are giant US installed self-contained refrigerator units contained in shipping containers where bodies of US and NATO servicemen are stored and from where they are removed and flown intermittently to the US. The idea I suppose is not to overwhelm the public with scores of coffins of dead US soldiers arriving in the US.
more 3 & 4 yr. old insurgents