Restive Afghanistan: Update

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[from Rick Rozoff in Chicago]
---------------------------
1) Clash Between Karzai Forces, Rebels Leaves 47 Dead
2) Bomb Blast Hits US Special Forces Convoy
3) Rocket Attack Against Demining Unit
4) US, Italian Troops Arrest 21 In 'Operation Dragon
Fury'
5) US Army Helicopter Crashes In Afghanistan
6) Blair May Send More British Combat Troops To
Afghanistan


http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_272525,00050004.htm

Clash between Afghan Govt troops, Taliban suspects
leaves 47 dead
Associated Press
Kandahar, June 5



Government troops laid siege to three towns in
southern Afghanistan where remnants of the Taliban
were hiding on Thursday engaging in a fierce gunbattle
that left at least 40 Taliban fighters and seven
soldiers dead, a senior official said.
The fighting broke out at about 10 am in Nimakai, a
town about 10 km north of Spinboldak, district chief
Fazaluddin Agha told The Associated Press. It quickly
spread to the nearby hamlets of Populzai and
Hassanzai, he said.

"We were trying to find these Taliban and we got a tip
that they were hiding in these villages," he said. He
said several of the Taliban had been conducting
hit-and-run missions against the Afghan troops in
recent days.

Agha said about 50 Afghan troops were originally sent
to Nimakai, and reinforcements were brought in later
that doubled that number.

Some 20 Taliban fighters were killed in Populzai, and
the rest killed in the other two villages, he said.
Seven Afghan government troops were also killed in the
fighting, which raged for nine hours.

The Taliban used rockets and heavy machine guns
against the government troops, Agha said.

He said it was not clear who was commanding the
Taliban fighters, or if any important fugitives were
among those killed.

"We don't know yet who was their commander because
they were all killed and nobody is left," Agha said.
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http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bk/Qafghanistan-us-attacks.Rk3h_Du5.html

Bomb blast hits US convoy in southeast Afghanistan


BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, June 5 (AFP) - A US
Special Forces convoy was hit by a bomb blast while
travelling in Afghanistan's southeast province of
Paktia, but there were no casualties, a US military
spokesman said Thursday.

"An improvised explosive device exploded near a
Special Operations Forces convoy one kilometre (half a
mile) from the Gardez fire base yesterday (Wednesday)
morning," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Douglas
Lefforge told reporters at Bagram Air Base 50
kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul.

Lefforge said there were no casualties and one vehicle
was slightly damaged with a cracked windscreen.

"The convoy continued to the fire base and returned
with other forces to investigate," he said.

A US Special Operations Forces vehicle was last
Tuesday hit by a remote-controlled bomb in
neighbouring Khost province, again without injuries.

Earlier this week around 500 coalition troops and 20
aircraft launched Operation Dragon Fury in the Shahi
Kot valley 25 kilometres (15 miles) southwest of
Gardez. Some 21 people were seized during the two-day
operation which ended Tuesday.

An AH-64 Apache helicopter that crash-landed Tuesday
while supporting Dragon Fury was blown up at the crash
site Wednesday, he said.

Eighteen months after the fall of the Taliban, US-led
forces and pro-government troops still regularly come
under attack from militia holdouts and their al-Qaeda
allies, mainly in southern and eastern provinces
bordering Pakistan.

A US-led coalition force of more than 11,500 troops is
currently hunting Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants.
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cr/Qafghanistan-security.Rsum_Du5.html

Rocket attack against Afghan deminers

KABUL, June 5 (AFP) - Unknown attackers fired a rocket
at deminers working on the main Kabul-Kandahar road in
the latest of a string of attacks which have left at
least one worker dead and eight injured, a United
Nations spokesman said Thursday.

"There was a rocket attack (Monday) on a deminers'
camp along the Kabul-Kandahar road," Manoel de Almeida
e Silva told reporters at a press conference.

The rocket went over the Afghan Technical Consultants'
camp in Sheykhabad village, Wardak province 60
kilometres (40 miles) southwest of Kabul but did not
cause any casualties or damage, he said.

"There have been numerous attacks on demining teams
working along the Kabul to Kandahar road, mostly in
Ghazni but also in Wardak," de Almeida e Silva said.

"There are ongoing discussions with the authorities to
see what can be done to improve security for the
deminers so the work can resume," he said.

"We are hopeful that very soon something will be done
concretely about it."

Deminers last week suspended work along part of the
road north of Ghazni 120 kilometres (75 miles)
southwest of Kabul following a fresh series of attacks
and threats against demining teams.

Mine clearing organisations a week earlier suspended
operations in 10 provinces across southern Afghanistan
following a series of attacks on deminers which left
one Afghan worker dead, and eight injured.

"It's not clear whether they are being targeted
because they are deminers," the UN spokesman said,
pointing out that with around 8,000 workers, deminers
are the single largest group working on Afghanistan's
reconstruction.

"Whatever the motivation is, the impact is
tremendously negative."

Suspension of mine clearing work affects farming and
refugee returns as agricultural land makes up around
29 percent of the mine-contaminated area in
Afghanistan.

Demining work is also crucial to reconstruction as
road rebuilding cannot proceed until the areas are
cleared.

"So you can well imagine the impact of this for
development projects, for humanitarian assistance and
for return of Afghans who want to go back to their
places of origin," he said.

Government and foreign targets regularly come under
attack from suspected Taliban remnants and their
al-Qaeda allies or extremists linked to former premier
and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

After 23 years of war Afghanistan is one of the most
heavily mined countries in the world. Millions of
mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance continue to
maim and kill more than 100 people a month.
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2003/06/6-SWA/swa-050603.asp

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
June 5, 2003

COALITION FORCES ARREST 21 GUERRILLA FIGHTERS

U.S. and Italian troops arrested 21 people in a major
military operation in the Shahi Kot Mountains in the
eastern province of Paktiya, AP reported on 4 June.
According to U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant
Colonel Douglas Lefforge, the 21 suspected guerrilla
fighters were arrested on 2 and 3 June without
incident after coalition troops searched 300 vehicles
and 800 people as part of a mission dubbed "Operation
Dragon Fury." The mission, in which several hundred
U.S. soldiers were joined by 150 Italian troops and
backed by 20 aircraft, ended on 3 June. Its purpose
was to "prevent the re-emergence of terrorism, deny
anti-coalition members sanctuary, and prevent further
attacks against nongovernmental organizations,
coalition forces, and equipment," according to an
official statement. TH
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_271227,00050004.htm

The Hindustan Times
Agence France-Presse
June 4, 2003

US helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, no casualties
Agence France-Presse
Kabul, June 3



A US army helicopter crashed while supporting combat
operations in southeast Afghanistan on Tuesday
afternoon, but there were no casualties, the US
military said.
"An army AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed about 1:30 pm
(0900 GMT) today (Tuesday) near Orgun-e in the Paktika
province in southeast Afghanistan while supporting
combat operations," it said in a statement from Bagram
Air Base north of Kabul.

"It is not believed the crash was caused by hostile
fire, however the cause of the incident is under
investigation."

No details were given of the operation the helicopter
was supporting.

"Security forces sent to secure the crash site picked
up both pilots," the statement said.

The two pilots were not injured although the
helicopter was "significantly damaged" in the crash
near the Pakistani border.

A US-led coalition force of some 11,500 troops is
currently hunting Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants in the
south and east of the country.
-------------------------------------------------------http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,971650,00.html



Afghanistan may get more troops
Ewen MacAskill
Friday June 6, 2003
The Guardian

The British government will not rule out sending more
troops to troubled provinces in Afghanistan where
security is still lacking and the Taliban are
reappearing.

This week it said it was sending a detachment of about
70 soldiers to Mazar-i-Sharif, in the north, in
addition to the 300 it has in Kabul. Officials said
sending further troops to Mazar was possible, but
stressed that the number would not be significant.

On Wednesday seven Afghan soldiers were killed in a
clash with the Taliban, who are said to have lost 40
dead, about 20 miles north-east of the border town of
Spin Boldak.

The Afghanistan president, Hamid Karzai, who met Tony
Blair at Downing Street yesterday, is pleading for the
the Isaf, the US-led international force, to be
deployed outside Kabul, to provide security, and for
more money for reconstruction.

Mr Blair and Mr Karzai also discussed the efforts to
build up an Afghan army, the introduction of
constitutional government, and the reduction of Afghan
opium production.

Mr Blair told Mr Karzai Britain was unlikely to
provide more money, given that its contribution was
already £180m a year.