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Afghan operation kills 178 Taliban, leaders escape
Reuters ^ | Jun 25, 2005 | Yousuf Azimy

Posted on 06/25/2005 8:51:09 AM PDT by Jackknife

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To: j-damn
It's almost like a bad James Bond movie.

Donald Pleasance as Mullah Omar?

21 posted on 06/25/2005 9:44:00 AM PDT by Jackknife (No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.-MacArthur)
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To: stboz
[ I want to understand how we always have these jackasses surrounded and they still escape every time. Who's wishful thinking is it that has the enemy "surrounded" only to find out "The big 'uns got away again?" ]

It DOES happen just a little TOO often don't it...
Very suspicious..

22 posted on 06/25/2005 9:54:21 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been ok'ed me to included some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: All
From StrategyPage.com .......

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Camp Wiped Out

June 24, 2005: The battle in southern Afghanistan has led to a major defeat for the Taliban, with over a hundred enemy dead and several dozen captured. American AC-130 gunships, AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships, A-10 and Harrier ground attack jets, combined with rapidly responding police and soldiers, trapped a large Taliban force in the open, or in caves from which there was no escape. The Taliban had a local government official working for them, and his disappearance was first thought to be a kidnapping. But it turns out that the traitorous official helped set up an ambush of local police. The two Taliban leaders who had organized that particular operation were believed among the dead, which are still being recovered.

June 23, 2005: In several days of fighting, American warplanes, and Afghan troops, chased several dozen Taliban from a town in southern Afghanistan, found their camp and attacked it. Some 76 Taliban were killed, and another 30 were captured, including several leaders. A dozen police and soldiers were killed, and a few Americans wounded. About 400 Afghan police and troops were involved, plus a few dozen American troops. American bombers and attack helicopters did most of the damage at the Taliban camp the Taliban were trying to reach. There are believed to be several hundred Taliban gunmen in the hills outside Kandahar, and the police and aircraft continue to search for them. The Taliban tactics have resulted in some successful attacks on towns, but the police quick reaction tactics have caused considerable casualties on the enemy. In the last three months, nearly 400 Taliban fighters have been killed, as groups of them roamed around southern Afghanistan, attacking government offices, the police and army bases. Many of these Taliban fighters come from Pushtun tribes in Pakistan, which still support the Taliban. Many of the Afghan Taliban have made peace with the government. At the same time, 29 American and 39 Afghan troops (and police) have died, along with 125 civilians.

Over six million Afghans fled the country during the Russian occupation in the 1980s. Around 3.5 million refugees have returned back in the last three years. In the last year, more than 700,000 have returned. Only about two million Afghans remain in exile, about 55 percent of them in Iran, the rest in Pakistan.

June 22, 2005: An American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, after flying a mission over Afghanistan, crashed while attempting to land at its base in the United Arab Emirates. The pilot was killed. U-2s regularly fly over Afghanistan, using its sensors to search for terrorists and Taliban operations.

June 21, 2005: In the last three months, fighting with Taliban raiders in the south has left 260 rebels, and 29 American troops, dead. Bands of Taliban gunmen, riding in pickup trucks and SUVs, drive around country roads, shooting at troops and police, or trying to raid government offices. Some of these groups just drive around for a few days, not really making much of an impression, and then go back to their bases in Pakistan. But those that make contact, are soon being pursued by helicopter gunships, UAVs and bombers.

23 posted on 06/25/2005 10:02:16 AM PDT by Jackknife (No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.-MacArthur)
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To: ASA Vet
Everything I've seen tells me that they [Special Forces]are. But I'm not privy to what some of those posters are. The charge that the military gave up was a ridiculous and clearly farcical campaign stunt. Guess it didn't work.

D.O.
24 posted on 06/25/2005 10:05:38 AM PDT by Das Outsider
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To: hosepipe; stboz
It DOES happen just a little TOO often don't it... Very suspicious..

Your suspicions and mine could be answered in part by this .....

June 24, 2005: The battle in southern Afghanistan has led to a major defeat for the Taliban, with over a hundred enemy dead and several dozen captured. American AC-130 gunships, AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships, A-10 and Harrier ground attack jets, combined with rapidly responding police and soldiers, trapped a large Taliban force in the open, or in caves from which there was no escape. The Taliban had a local government official working for them, and his disappearance was first thought to be a kidnapping. But it turns out that the traitorous official helped set up an ambush of local police. The two Taliban leaders who had organized that particular operation were believed among the dead, which are still being recovered.

25 posted on 06/25/2005 10:09:19 AM PDT by Jackknife (No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.-MacArthur)
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To: sure_fine

Good theory.


26 posted on 06/25/2005 10:11:18 AM PDT by listenhillary (Socialists have only killed 100 million. We'll never learn will we?)
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To: listenhillary
Good theory.

I concur. As long as our guys have their eyes on them, and take them out before they can do more damage.

27 posted on 06/25/2005 10:20:43 AM PDT by Jackknife (No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.-MacArthur)
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To: jakkknife

178 defeated & dead! Jihad is for losers.

28 posted on 06/25/2005 10:59:52 AM PDT by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: jakkknife

That is good news. But I thought they were "insurgents" and "Freedom Fighters".


29 posted on 06/25/2005 11:03:04 AM PDT by popdonnelly
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To: jakkknife

What a nutball Pelosi is. She's arguing that the detainees should be released because the war in Afghanistan is "over". Does it occur to her that the detainees could go back to fighting us anywhere in the World.

The English arrested several hundred men after the 1916 uprising in Ireland. They later let them out of the detention camps - and they promptly went back to the IRA.


30 posted on 06/25/2005 11:09:18 AM PDT by popdonnelly
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To: popdonnelly
The English arrested several hundred men after the 1916 uprising in Ireland. They later let them out of the detention camps - and they promptly went back to the IRA.

Exactly. If you catch a poisonous snake in your yard, keep it for a few days in a box, then release it........

......Where does it go?

31 posted on 06/25/2005 11:17:49 AM PDT by Jackknife (No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.-MacArthur)
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To: jakkknife

From another source:

The brother-in-law of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is one of the key figures under siege in a mountain hideout.

This is a key operation to try and shut down the continuing Pushtun support for the Taliban.


32 posted on 06/25/2005 11:18:23 AM PDT by gandalftb
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To: gandalftb

Is this an inside source, or do you have a story link?


33 posted on 06/25/2005 11:28:37 AM PDT by Jackknife (No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.-MacArthur)
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To: jakkknife

I monitor several Pakistani newspapers and one of them quoted an afghani military source on this and it didn't make it mainstream so I threw it in. I am waiting on an after action report to confirm, but this was a major op with inside intel.


34 posted on 06/27/2005 2:02:22 PM PDT by gandalftb
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To: gandalftb

Very cool. Please update me when you know something.


35 posted on 06/27/2005 4:58:37 PM PDT by Jackknife (No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.-MacArthur)
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