Posted on 09/26/2004 7:21:52 AM PDT by OESY
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan security forces killed a senior Taliban commander and two of his comrades in southern Afghanistan, an official said Sunday.
Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, a former inmate at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, died in a gunbattle Saturday night in Pishi village in the southern province of Uruzgan, said Jan Mohammed Khan, governor of Uruzgan.
Khan said authorities had received intelligence that Ghaffar was hiding in the village and was planning an attack against the government. Security forces launched a raid after surrounding a house, and three men, including Ghaffar, were killed in gunfire. None of the security forces was hurt.
The governor said Ghaffar had been a senior Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan and was arrested about two months after a U.S.-led coalition drove the militia out of power in late 2001. After being held for eight months in Guantanamo, he was released and returned to Afghanistan.
Khan said Ghaffar was then appointed as the leader of Taliban fighters in Uruzgan, a rugged region believed to be a stronghold of the hardline Islamic militia.
The U.S. military said it could not yet confirm the report.
Taliban-led insurgents are active in much of southern and eastern Afghanistan and frequently launch attacks on the U.S.-backed government despite the deployment of thousands of U.S. forces to hunt them down. Officials are predicting an upsurge in violence before landmark presidential elections on Oct. 9.
On Saturday also in Uruzgan, suspected Taliban rebels attacked a convoy of coalition and Afghan forces, who were on patrol ahead of the elections, Khan said.
The rebels opened fire on a vehicle carrying Char Cheno district chief Wali Jan, killing him and seriously injuring two Afghan soldiers in the Yakhdan area, he said. The rebels fled into surrounding mountains after the attack.
No coalition forces were hurt, Khan said.
Maj. Mark McCann, a U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, confirmed the attack on the convoy near Deh Rawood in which one district official was killed and three other Afghans wounded, but had no details on the identity of the official.
Officials say it is common for district and local police chiefs with a knowledge of the terrain to accompany coalition forces on patrol in remote areas of Afghanistan.
Security guard provides secure at the place where President Hamid Karzai's helicopter is landing in Shiberghan, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of the capital Kabul Sunday, Sept. 26, 2004. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, leader in next month's landmark election, has traveled north to inaugurate a road project, his first domestic trip since he survived a rocket attack 10 days ago. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Yeah, that caught my eye.
Why was he released, and how many of our soldiers died because that that?
The circumstances, and details, of his release should be made public. It would be interesting to see if any liberal politicians were involved.
Whoa, back up! We had this bad guy in custody and let him out to shoot at us again? Too bad we wasted time and money on this slug but no more. The question here is, how many others have we released who are killing our guys?
Does anyone have book on this bird? When was he released? Why was he released?
"Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, a former inmate at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay,"
Another one, Pong
I have wondered what The US and its allies were going to do with prisoners captured in the War on Terror. It is not like other wars where they are repatriated to their defeated country and they go back to the farms and factories to work.
It is probably a 90%+ chance that a terrorist would just go back to being a terrorist when released.
Does that mean a terrorist prisoner has to be held until death in prison to protect innocent lives from that terrorist?
Americans will never purposely kill prisoners when they deem they have gotten all the useful information from them.
So what is the answer?
Results speak. A hint to those who question the release of one of the dead guys. beep, beep, beep now there are three dead guys, one a high commander, and no dead soldiers.
A small tracking chip was implanted when he was in Guantanamo Bay. When he returned to Afghanistan and joined his friends, they were all taken out. </end tinfoil hat mode>
What if they surreptitiously implant GPS signalers in these guys and set them free? ;^)
Pass the tinfoil! LOL
What a wonderful idea.
Another ACLU success story.
Makes me wonder why they are letting these guys loose?????
Not that I like soldiers being killed because these guys are released. But maybe we are releasing them so we can kill them on the battlefield, rather than deal with them and their atty's, etc.
I cannot believe that US forces will be taking many prisoners in the future given what is going on in the US.
Whoa, back up! We had this bad guy in custody and let him out to shoot at us again? Too bad we wasted time and money on this slug but no more. The question here is, how many others have we released who are killing our guys?
That's a good question for the ACLU or whoever is moaning and groaning about the "rights" of these vermin. Liberals just don't get it. What's it gonna take to wake them up?
I have always thought this was a great idea...
and also implant them on the contractors in Iraq.
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