Posted on 06/19/2008 6:04:30 AM PDT by Clive
ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of Taliban fighters have been killed or wounded after two days of fierce fighting over a strategic area just northwest of Kandahar City that insurgents had taken over at the start of the week.
By Thursday, all that remained was the mopping up of small scattered pockets of resistance, jubilant political leaders and Afghan and Canadian military commanders told reporters from a mountainside perch overlooking the entire battlefield in a wide river valley.
"This will give them a good lesson," Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said, referring to Taliban insurgents. Mr. Khalid said residents who had fled the area when Taliban infiltrated from the mountains to the north will be allowed to return in the days ahead.
First, though, Afghan authorities have to clear out landmines and roadside bombs planted by the insurgents, and fix destroyed bridges and culverts, he said. Residents are clamouring to get back after the fighting interrupted the important harvest period in the agriculturally rich valley, and some farmers have already been passing through checkpoints to get back to their crops and livestock.
Military officials did not want to divulge any numbers. Mr. Khalid, however, said there were no civilians deaths, but two Afghan National Army soldiers died. They were among the more than 1,000 government and coalition troops who launched an assault across the Arghandab River Wednesday morning.
"The enemy is defeated, but the enemy is still present," said Canada's Joint Task Force Afghanistan commander Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson. He said some of the insurgents had escaped the fight into adjoining districts.
"I'm encouraged by what I saw," Gen. Thompson said of the Afghan-led operation that saw Canadians and other NATO forces assume a supportive battle role, including providing helicopter gunship cover.
Gen. Thompson said Arghandab, while on the doorstep of the Taliban's birth city, is "not a friendly area to the Taliban" and that Afghan forces were assisted with intelligence from locals who wanted the invaders out.
The Taliban had perhaps hoped that a series of recent assassinations of local leaders might have eased the way for its fighters to move in and retake control of an area that has always been an essential conduit for invaders targeting Kandahar City, Afghanistan's second-largest city.
The Windsor Star
right, and the first order as commander and chief for Obama would be to retreat.
Nice of them to come down out of the mountains and concentrate themselves, so our soldiers could kill them. There’s nothing like shooting fish in a barrel.
That pict was one for the Stupid political mistakes book.
Who the hell is that pickle faced moron anyway.
Al Qaida gets booted in the ass once again. Let’s move on to the destruction of this evil group.
The helicopter gunships must have a field day. Good thing the Taliban don’t have Stinger missile-like weapons any more.
Obama isn’t going to fight anybody, and the whole World knows it. Why is Susan Rice wasting her time trying to convince us that he will? Because she gets paid to lie.
Sure is splashed across all the media outlets! This world of instant global communications makes the MSM look really stuuuuuuuuuuupid.
Amen. And the great news here is that the Afghans themselves played an important role.
More good news!
If the good guys have killed hundreds, that is a fairly high casuality rate....poor damn virgins, these dead Tali's are no great catch.
Why some of those Talibanis might even think about
converting to christianity before they died.
So the Afghani's solved the problem....the Afghani way.
Actually, the crappy western media coverage is probably what encouraged the Taliban to act so recklessly and expose themselves to mass destruction.
So thanks, AP, Reuters, AFP, and Al Jazeera! All of you really helped!
(IDIOTS!)
"You have the right to remain DEAD MOFO!!"
Harsh tokes
Yes indeed, a big Thank You to the 5 SC Justices that likely have made sure most of the wankers that got whacked did receive “justice”, and at home too.
Hmmmm. So I guess the attack by hundreds of Taliban amassed outside town, that the Canadian media were so jubilantly reporting was imminent, got slightly thwarted. Amazing though, I have not seen anything in our press at all saying that we kicked their ass.
Woo-hoo go Canadians!
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