NATO officials are crowing about the week-long offensive in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan, terming it “one of the greatest successes to date” and claiming that at least 200 militants have been “captured or killed” so far.
For most Afghans, however, the latest offensive is nothing to celebrate and just another round of killings in a war that has dragged on for over a decade. Locals see the offensive not as a success, but a potentially destabilizing event.
In the border district of Musa Khel, they see the NATO territorial gains as temporary, good until the troops wander off to attack another district, and the violence likely to attract even more fighters into the area in the meantime.
NATO says the offensive has forced the militants “into hiding” but it also is making commerce along the border virtually impossible, which for a sparsely populated district is just going to make trade harder.
When Nato claims, " at least 200 insurgents killed", that means 180 civilians or more were killed, and maybe 10 or 20 insurgents died.
The twentieth US soldier to die in Afghanistan in October was reported by the DOD today. A US Marine died in Helmand province on Sunday, October 23. Just last week the Pentagon was claiming nearly all of Helmand province secure.
Six American soldiers reported killed in two days in Afghanistan. The only story on
Afghan combat deaths by AntiWar in the last three days is a story about the death of a Polish soldier. Why?
The Afghans will just have to understand that this is the way we do hearts & minds at NATO, aside from the fact that we are a bunch of losers with much, much bigger guns.
This is the story of all military operations as great success but the fact is to kill innocent is not a succes but a slap on the face of NATO for their lies. Busch has done a great job i.e. the reputation of Europe and america has been destroyed for lies and killings.
Tjhe afct is Pakhtuns will never accept foreigners as occupiers, this is history.
Another death in Helmand where the Pentagon recently claimed the entire province nearly under control.