Posted on 01/16/2009 10:09:20 AM PST by nickcarraway
KABUL: An Afghan army helicopter crashed yesterday, killing a senior Afghan general and 12 other men.
The helicopter came down in poor weather in western Afghanistan in the worst crash for the fledgling army that began forming after the Taliban regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001. It had been carrying a delegation of senior Afghan National Army officers, including the commander of Zafar military corps, General Fazel Ahmad Sayar, from the western city of Herat to an army base in adjoining Farah province, defence officials said.
The helicopter hit a mountain peak in dense fog, the defence ministry said, adding all the bodies were burnt.
The Taliban claimed it had brought down the Russian-designed Mi-17 chopper but this was not be independently confirmed.
British Defence Secretary John Hutton criticised the failure of fellow Nato countries to send enough troops to Afghanistan.
"There should be no one in Nato who believes that all that is needed is a bit of soft power, a bit of nice warm words for the Afghan government.
"That is not going to beat Al Qaeda and the Taliban," he said in London.
The Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, said a US investigation into an air strike in western Afghanistan last year was "deeply flawed" and casts doubt over the military's commitment to reduce civilian casualties.
The accidental killing of Afghan civilians has eroded support for international forces in the country and opened a rift between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers. After a US air strike in Azizabad in August, US forces reported five to seven civilian deaths. Both the Afghan government and the UN said more than 90 civilians had been killed.
The international media rights watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, also warned the media in the country was increasingly under pressure from worsening security.
Everyone in the Taliban is a civilian. Everyone.
Clouds always have rocks in them. Always.
Wonder how this turn of events is going to change the power structure there.
/johnny
RIP.
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