Another overnight cross-border raid by militants from Afghanistan’s Kunar Province into neighboring Pakistan was quickly repelled, according to Pakistani officials, but it also spawned an angry response from the Afghan government.
That’s because after the militants fled across the border, Afghan officials say the Pakistani military kept shelling them, hitting Afghan villages in Kunar and causing civilian casualties. Exactly what those casualties were was not revealed.
The attacks inside Pakistan targeted a paramilitary checkpoint and left four soldiers killed as well. The Pakistani military again complained about the NATO occupation forces’ inability to control their side of the border, particular in Kunar.
Afghan officials said they issued a complaint about the shelling as well, but with both sides constantly issuing complaints about one another it seems unlikely the latest incident is going to make anyone give an inch. Rather it will further entrench the tensions along the border.
Of the eight "NATO" soldiers reported killed by AntiWar yeasterday in a headline story, so far seven of the dead have been identified by the Department of Defense as US soldiers. A US soldier died in Kandahar province from small arms fire. Another US soldier died in Helmand during combat operations. One US soldier died in Khost province in a non combat related incident. And finally four US soldiers died in a vehicle roll over accident.
Of the eight "NATO" soldiers reported killed in Afghanistan "in one day" at AntiWar yesterday, seven have already been identified as Americans. One was killed in combat in Helmand. Another killed by small arms fire in Kandahar. Four were killed in a vehicle rollover accident. And one was killed in another non combat incident.
I wonder how much the CIA promised them for that?
With the report of two more US combat deaths today in Afghanistan by the DOD, 29 US soldiers have died in Afghanistan in the first three weeks of June, 2011. Another US soldier was reported killed in Kandahar by an IED on Monday, June 20. Another US soldier was killed by small arms fire in Ghanzi, also on Monday the 20th. Twelve US soldiers have died in Afghanistan in the last week in nine separate incidents. Many deaths occur routinely in Kandahar and Helmand but there are deaths scattered across Afghanistan. A complete tactical and political catastrophe.