[A-List] Afghanistan: the blowback continues

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

12.15pm strap
Guardian online

Afghan rebels kill two CIA agents

Associated Press
Wednesday October 29, 2003

Two CIA agents have been ambushed and killed in a mountainous border region
of Afghanistan, the US military said today.

The CIA confirmed that William Carlson, 43, of Southern Pines, North
Carolina, and Christopher Glenn Mueller, 32, of San Diego, California were
killed on Saturday near the village in Shkin in Paktika province while
"tracking terrorists".

The ambush happened on the same day and in the same area as a six-hour
firefight in which US-led forces and Afghan militia killed 18 alleged
al-Qaida fighters, US military spokesman Col Rodney Davis said. Coalition
airpower was called in, and six Afghan militiamen were wounded in the
fighting.

Col Davis declined to comment on the CIA deaths, or to say whether the two
men were involved in the same battle. But he said soldiers in the area from
the US army's 10th mountain division have been involved in some of the
heaviest fighting of any coalition forces across Afghanistan, engaging in
battle several times a month.

"No secrets there, Shkin is a hot place," said Col Davis, adding it has
earned the distinction of being "the most evil place in Afghanistan".

The base at Shkin, 135 miles south of Kabul, is the most forward position
for US forces in Afghanistan, Col Davis said, making it a natural target for
those opposed to the US presence. The terrain is also some of the most
challenging for soldiers, with mountain peaks rising as high as 3,350 meters
and harsh weather conditions.
Col Davis declined to say the attackers were based in neighbouring Pakistan,
but acknowledged that "they retreat in the direction of Pakistan".

The governor of Paktika province, Mohammed Ali Jalali, said the fighters -
mostly Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks - ride into Afghanistan from Pakistan on
motorcycles, armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and
heavy machine guns.

"There is no control, control is very difficult," he said.

Col Davis acknowledged there has been a spike in fighting across Afghanistan
in recent months.

"The enemy is definitely attempting a resurgence," he said. "They are
failing miserably."

Carlson and Mueller were veterans of military special operations forces, the
CIA said, and were working for the agency's directorate of operations that
conducts clandestine intelligence-gathering and covert operations.

They are the third and fourth CIA operatives that the agency has
acknowledged as killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan since the
September 11 2001 attacks on Washington DC and New York.

"William Carlson and Christopher Mueller were defined by dedication and
courage," the CIA's director, George J Tenet, said in a statement. "Their
sacrifice for the peoples of the United States and Afghanistan must never be
forgotten."