Battle Rages Anew for Afghan Fortress

AP | 11/26/01 | BURT HERMAN

[GuillermoX]

The average 'foot soldier' of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban know nothing.

Better dead now than having them survive to fight another day or fly an airplane into a building.

[Paul Ross]

Which is undoubtedly why Osama gave his final orders yesterday to all the imprisoned Al-Quaeda to commit suicide attacks. And lo and behold, that is what happens in Kunduz. For another take on the story, the following is clipped from Newsweek/MSNBC:

CONSOLIDATION IN KUNDUZ      

 In Kunduz, which fell Sunday after a two-week siege, the Northern Alliance was trying to consolidate its hold on the city. Soldiers went house-to-house looking for holdout Taliban and foreign troops, shooting it out with some and taking others prisoner.        

As three captured men in turbans were placed into a pickup truck, hands bound behind their backs with dirty rags, children crowded around and taunted them, yelling “Talib! Talib!”        

Foreign fighters who surrendered or were captured during the siege of Kunduz staged Sunday’s uprising at a fortress-prison outside Mazar-e-Sharif.        

The prisoners — about 300 Chechens, Pakistanis and Arabs — seized weapons and turned on their guards, triggering fighting so fierce that U.S. airstrikes were called in to quell it.

Hundreds killed in prison riots

The alliance said most of the prisoners were killed, but a hard core of holdouts was still battling alliance troops on Monday. A fighter named Massood who witnessed Monday’s fighting said several dozen prisoners were firing rockets at Northern Alliance troops.    

   Among those killed in Mazar-e-Sharif was an American who worked for the CIA, U.S. sources told NBC News. Five members of the U.S. Special Forces also were wounded by friendly fire, U.S. sources said.

(Looks to me like we did indeed suffer an unfortunate intelligence loss.)

NBC, MSNBC and Newsweek correspondents in the war zone.        

The troops, who had called in an airstrike on a Taliban position, were injured by shrapnel when the precision-guided bomb was dropped on the target. None of the injuries were said to be life-threatening.        

Before the fall of Kunduz, Pakistan had appealed for safety guarantees for any of its nationals who were among those captured. Foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan avoided criticizing the United States for its role in putting down the insurrection, saying only that prisoners who surrender should be treated in accordance with international law.      

 Khan said it had asked the United Nations and the Red Cross to try to find out whether there were any Pakistanis among the dead in Mazar-e-Sharif.        

By late afternoon, an aide to the local commander, Gen. Rashid Dostum, said only a few prisoners were still alive and fighting. He did not indicate there was any attempt to get them to surrender again.      

 “Those who are left over will be dead,” said Dostum’s political adviser Alim Razim. “None of them can escape.”      

[GuillermoX]

You don't need 800 of them to tell you that...one or three would suffice.

It wouldn't surprise me if their "officers" were whisked away for interrogation anyways.

[jerod]

Of course.

[ppaul]

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Check this out:

Dropping Their Burkhas - GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!!!

:

[madison46]

I hope your right. Kill 'em all. It too is beyond me how their death is a 'disaster'. Gheez

[Keith]

Your choice of nicks shows all we need to know about YOUR credibility. ZERO.

[11B3]

If that isn't enough, go through the $hit that he's posted here in the past - fringe is way too close to center for Milo.

[dvan]

Two solutions:

• Keep the press out of these areas!
• Use a Daisy cutter!

[afraidfortherepublic]

...how this can be construed as a 'disaster' is beyond me.

Easy. POV. (Point of view) If you are a Taliban or Taliban symp then the loss of 600 or so of your compatriots would be considered a disaster from your POV. If you are NA or US Special Forces, the loss of 600 Taliban vs the los of 20 of your own would be considered a rout from your POV!