Tags
Afghanistan still one of the worst places to be a woman, says EU ambassador
Afghanistan still one of the worst places to be a woman, says EU ambassador
08 Saturday Mar 2014
Posted in International News, Women
Tag Archives: Afghanistan
Afghanistan troop cuts will likely lead to Taliban surge, study warns
20 Thursday Feb 2014
Posted in International News
Tags
Afghanistan troop cuts will likely lead to Taliban surge, study warns
The Taliban make a ‘comeback’
20 Monday Jan 2014
TEMPLATE ANALYSIS
One attack on a hotel popular with foreigners and Afghans who have done well for themselves under the current administration of Hamid Karzai, was followed yesterday with a raid on an Afghan military base. Both attacks put a lie to any claims that the Taliban who have been very quite over the winter period were no longer a force to be reckoned with.
Whether the Taliban were finished or not, no one can really knows, however, based in the ferocity of the fighting it is fair to assume that they can still call on volunteers who are prepared to fight to the death, which also means that those who are fighting for them believe in the cause they are fighting for.
Afghanistan under the US led alliance has seen little in terms of real change, the administration of Hamid Karzai has swallowed the bulk of the foreign aid that has come into the country, and whatever has trickled down to the rest of the country has not made any difference to the ordinary Afghan, whom the Taliban are calling upon to act as volunteers for their’ jihad.’
Afghanistan like the subsequent conflicts is proving to be a great lost opportunity for the outside world – as late as 2005, that is some four years into this war, the Taliban were struggling to find recruits to fight for them, that is because many Afghans genuinely believed that America would help rebuild their war ravaged country.
This year, as the coalition prepares to leave, you will only find people glad to see the back of an army that has presided over a corrupt government that won a questionable election and that now resembles Rome under the Emperor Nero.
And what of the Taliban – let’s hope they have learned from their own excesses when they were in power, and to reaction they got when they were ousted.
If they haven’t, then Afghans may fighting once again to get rid of them.
Posted by The Template News, Current Affairs and Sport Website | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Comment, International News
American PoW alive in Taliban captivity
17 Friday Jan 2014
Tags
Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, Nayab Chohan, NayabChohan, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Taliban, Terrorism, USA 🇺🇸
Posted by The Template News, Current Affairs and Sport Website | Filed under Arab World 🌎, Asia 🌐, International News, Television 📺, Terrorism, USA 🇺🇸
🪖 Two Afghan boys ‘killed in Nato airstrike’ 🇦🇫
02 Saturday Mar 2013
TEMPLATE REPORT
Two brothers who were out collecting firewood with their donkeys have been killed during an air strike from a Nato helicopter.
The new American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford said the killings were an accident. “I offer my personal apology and condolences to the family of the boys who were killed,” General Dunford said. “We take full responsibility for this tragedy.”
The victims – Toor Jan, 11, and Andul Wodood, 12 – had been walking behind their donkeys in the Shahed-e-Hasas district of Oruzgan Province when the helicopter fired on them, according to Afghan officials in the district. The two donkeys were killed as well.
General Dunford said that coalition forces had opened fire on what they thought were insurgent forces, and killed the boys by accident.
There was some disagreement about the presence of Taliban in the area and about the details of the episode.
Haji Mohammad Esmail, head of the district shura or council, said the area was “fully under government control,” and that “we haven’t seen any engagement in the area and nor is the area threatened by the Taliban.”
This is the second airstrike to kill civilians since General Dunford assumed command in February – In Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan, up to 11 civilians were killed, including 5 children, when airstrikes were used to destroy two homes.
Posted by The Template News, Current Affairs and Sport Website | Filed under International News
Mother and her new born baby killed in roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan
11 Sunday Nov 2012
Posted in International News
TEMPLATE REPORT
Six people – including a mother and her newborn baby have been after a roadside bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan..
The bomb hit a group returning home from hospital, striking their vehicle as it travelled through Khost province, on the Pakistan border.
Taliban insurgents frequently use roadside bombs to target security forces in Afghanistan.
The same roads are used by civilians who often become the victims.
Two more women and two men were also among those killed in Sunday’s attack.
“A pregnant woman was taken by her family to a hospital last night at 10pm, and they were making their way home in the morning with their newly born baby when the bomb hit,” Zarmaeed Mokhlis, governor of Khost’s Sabari district, told Reuters.
A Taliban spokesman said the group was aware of the Khost incident, the news agency reports, but could not immediately confirm or deny involvement.
More civilian deaths in Afghanistan…
31 Wednesday Oct 2012
Posted in International News
TEMPLATE REPORT
Women and children have been killed following a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan. Ten civilians were killed after an improvised explosive device was detonated in Helmand Province.
A second roadside bomb in the same province killed another person.
According to the UN, 1,145 civilians were killed in the first six months of this year. It says that 80% of the deaths are the fault of the insurgents, with more than half caused by roadside bombs. About 30% of casualties have been women and children.
Last year, a record 3,021 civilians died in the war, the UN has said, most of them victims of roadside bombs.
A massive roadside bomb earlier this month killed at least 18 people, mostly women and children. They were on their way to a wedding in northern Afghanistan.
Taliban attack on Camp Bastion
17 Monday Sep 2012
Tags
Afghanistan, Camp Bastion, Distant Echoes, Nayab Chohan, NayabChohan, NayabChohanLIVE, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Taliban, Template News, Terrorism, US base
TEMPLATE ANALYSIS
The full extent of the Taliban’s audacious raid on Camp Bastion/Camp Leatherneck, a massive complex in southern Helmand province that serves as the main base for U.S. Marines and British forces only became clear on Sunday. It was a coordinated assault that destroyed six Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier jump-jets and “significantly” damaged two others, as well as some hangars.
The Taliban also destroyed three refueling stations.
Harrier jets cost an inflation-adjusted $30 million to $40 million apiece when they were acquired in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Armed with automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests, they organized into three teams and appeared “well-equipped, trained and rehearsed.”
According to the Coalition, the militants had penetrated one point of the perimeter fence. and the damage caused represents a major loss of combat
power – around half a Harrier squadron
To have pulled this off, reports suggest that the attack would have required advance scouting and perhaps inside assistance.
When the Taliban attempted a similar assault on Kandahar Air Field in 2010, they failed.
This attack is a powerful demonstration that they have learned from previous mistakes and are now able to penetrate a base’s defences.
Posted by The Template News, Current Affairs and Sport Website | Filed under Arab World 🌎, Asia 🌐, International News, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Terrorism, UK
🪖 Taliban Assault on British Base was ‘aimed at Prince Harry’ 🇦🇫
15 Saturday Sep 2012
Tags
Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, Camp Bastion, Distant Echoes, Nato and Afghanistan, Nayab Chohan, NayabChohan, NayabChohanLIVE, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Prince Harry, Royal Family, Taliban, Taliban Attacks Afghanistan, Taliban attacks Camp Bastion, Template News, Terrorism
HELMAND – Two American soldiers were killed during a Taliban attack on the British base of Camp Bastion in Southern Afghanistan last night.
The assault involved between 18 and 20 fighters who used small arms, rockets and mortars to attack the perimeter of the British base.
Prince Harry was at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan during the attack and a Taliban spokesman said he was the target.
The Taliban spokesman had at first said that the attack was a response to a US-made film mocking Islam.
They released a video of the attack, a snatch of which is pictured above.
The Prince, who is third in line to the British throne, is celebrating his 28th birthday and is in Afghanistan for four months on his second tour of duty.
He was not in any danger during this unprecedented assault on one of the world’s busiest airports.
Several other Nato troops were wounded, whilst one Taliban fighter was caught alive and the rest killed.
Camp Bastion which is situated in the middle of the desert is extremely heavily fortified.
An MoD spokesman said this was a significant attack adding: “there has been some damage to equipment which is still being assessed.”
“After swift action by ISAF forces, including UK personnel, the incident was contained.”
Three hundred and thirty coalition soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan this year, of which 252 are from the US.
PROTESTS AGAINST FILM
11 September
1. US embassy in Cairo attacked, flag torn down and replaced with black Islamist banner
2. Mob attacks US consulate in Benghazi, US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed
13 September
3. Protesters break into the US embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen, amid clashes with security forces
14 September
4. Sudanese protesters attack US, German and UK embassies in Khartoum and clash with police. Three killed
5. One person killed in Lebanon in protest at a KFC by Text-Enhance” href=”#”>restaurant
6. Protesters in Tunis attack the US embassy, with a large fire reported and shots heard. Two killed
7. Riot police in Cairo clash with protesters near US embassy. One person killed
Posted by The Template News, Current Affairs and Sport Website | Filed under Arab World 🌎, Asia 🌐, International News, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Terrorism, UK, USA 🇺🇸
August was deadliest month of the year for NATO troops in Afghanistan
31 Friday Aug 2012
Posted in International News
Fifty-three Western troops – including 38 Americans – were killed in Afghanistan during August, according to the website icasualties.org.
Fifteen of these were caused by members of the Afghan security forces turning their weapons on their allies – 12 of these were Americans.
Another nine coalition deaths, seven of them Americans, occurred in helicopter crashes.
Template - News, Current Affairs and Sport Website 