Pentagon: More Than 100 Haqqani Fighters Killed

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Associated Press

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 5, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says U.S. and NATO forces have killed more than 100 fighters from a Pakistan-based faction of the Taliban over the past two weeks.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell (moh-REHL') says the killings targeted the Haqqani (ha-KAH-knee) network in eastern Afghanistan. The Islamist group is a Pakistan-based offshoot of the Taliban with ties to al-Qaida. It is considered one of the main threats to U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has generally been reluctant to provide specific "body counts" in Afghanistan. Usually, commanders say Afghanistan is a counterinsurgency fight that can never be won by attrition.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/05/us/politics/AP-US-US-Pakistan.html?_r=1&ref=news

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Watch out if they start talking about the light at the end of the tunnel.

[WhiteTara]

1. or the corners we are turning. n/t

[TatonkaJames]

2. Then we should be ready to close up shop according to this

President Obama's Secret: Only 100 al Qaeda Now in Afghanistan

A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.

President Obama made only a vague reference to the size of the al Qaeda presence in his speech at West Point, when he said, "al Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same number as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border."

A spokesperson at the White House's National Security Council, Chris Hensman, said he could not comment on intelligence matters.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/president-obamas-secret-100-al-qaeda-now-afghanistan/story?id=9227861

[Devil_Fish]

3. More like "he could not comment on intelligent matters." NT