Fierce Fighting Kills 36 in Afghanistan

[maddezmom]

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Fighting raged across southern Afghanistan on Saturday with attacks on government offices and a police convoy killing a district chief and 14 others — raising the death toll from two days of battles to 36, officials said.

Government officials said more than 200 rebels were fighting 250 police and Afghan soldiers, as well as U.S. forces, making it the biggest battle this year in Afghanistan.

American war planes bombed suspected Taliban militants before dawn Saturday, killing eight of them, said Khan Mohammed, a police chief in Helmand province.

At the same time, militants attacked a government office in Helmand province's Musaqala district, killing the government chief and wounding four police, said Amir Mohammed Akhund, deputy governor of southern Helmand province.

more;http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/afghan_fighting;_

Still bombing Afghanistan...:eyes:

[xchrom]

1. aghana who?

[JohnnyRingo]

2. I think invading and occupying any foreign country is almost impossible

because the indigenous people have nowhere to go. Their backs are against a wall of sorts, so they always come out fighting.

We should have learned that in 'Nam, when we finally realized we were fighting the Vietnamese people instead of just the NVA..
But we didn't.

After we entered Afghanistan the Russians warned us that we'll be able to conquer them, but we'll never be able to permanently occupy the country. They seemed to speak from experience.

[Yupster]

4. I think we tried to learn

we attacked Afghanistan with as few US troops as possible and gave it as much of an Afghan face as we could.

Since then we've kept as few troops as possible in the country and kept them in the less populated mountain regions of the south. We've made it a point to put other than US troops in the cities.

I think we've tried to learn the lessons, but Afghanistan will be a twenty year effort even if everything works out.

What I don't get is posts on DU saying we need more troops in Afghanistan or we pulled out troops out too early. Anyone who says a larger US presence is the key to Afghanistan doesn't understand anything about the history of Afghanistan I believe.

[rodeodance]

3. yes, I saw read of several US air strikes over the last year.