Carnage in Afghanistan!!

US soldier rescued after big losses in Afghanistan

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Monday July 4, 2005
The Guardian

An American special forces soldier stranded for six days in Taliban territory was rescued yesterday in the only good news from a disastrous mission that cost the US its greatest combat loss in Afghanistan since 2001.

The soldier "evaded the enemy and was successfully rescued by US forces", said an unnamed US official, quoted by CNN. He gave no further details because several other team members were still missing.

The soldiers were part of a reconnaissance mission that called for backup last Tuesday after coming under attack in eastern Kunar province during a mission against al-Qaida.

But the Chinook helicopter sent to rescue them came under fire and smashed into a mountainside, killing all 16 soldiers - including eight navy seals - on board.

A Taliban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said his forces had killed six American soldiers and taken a seventh hostage, promising to deliver video proof to news services in Kabul. But Mr Hakimi has frequently made exaggerated or false claims, and US officials said they had no information about any captives.

Yesterday US forces pounded suspected Taliban positions among the wooded slopes where the four-man reconnaissance team went missing, raising further fears about civilian casualties from the surging violence. The optimism that followed last year's peaceful presidential election has crumbled over a summer campaign of roadside ambushes, suicide bombings and assassinations of pro-government clerics and tribal leaders.

Afghan officials believe that al-Qaida militants using Iraq-style tactics are fighting alongside the resurgent Taliban, pointing to a suicide bombing in a Kandahar mosque last month that killed 20.

The US military responded by pulverising suspected Taliban redoubts with planes and helicopter gunships. It has resulted in Afghanistan's worst bloodletting in years - 500 insurgents killed since March, as well as 55 members of the Afghan security forces and 45 US soldiers.

The coalition is bolstered by a newly trained, 25,000-strong Afghan army, but faces increasingly sophisticated insurgent tactics. The Taliban shot down the Chinook with a rocket-propelled grenade, US officials said, which is considered a difficult strike.

At least 134 civilian deaths have been counted but the real toll could be higher. More than 25 villagers were killed after US fighter jets attacked an alleged Taliban compound in Kunar on Friday, an Afghan official told the BBC. Most died in a second wave of bombing after rushing to help victims of the first, he said.

A US spokeswoman in Kabul, Lieutenant Cindy Moore, declined to comment. "The battle assessment is ongoing," she said. "All efforts are taken to avoid non-combatant deaths."

With parliamentary elections 10 weeks away, the upheaval bodes ill for efforts to build democracy and resuscitate the war-ravaged economy.

The worst of the violence is confined to the southern provinces, where Britain is due to take military control by next March. But analysts say an array of other threats, ranging from drugs warlords to Islamic extremists to the perceived weakness of President Hamid Karzai, could also destabilise the country.

In Kabul, a string of armed robberies and the kidnapping of Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni - since released - have raised questions about the government's commitment to the rule of law.

One development worker, who requested anonymity to protect her safety, blamed the interior ministry. "It's out of control, corrupt from top to bottom. The ministry is a law unto itself, connected with God knows what political and narcotic currents."

Relations with neighbouring Pakistan are also plunging amid allegations that Islamabad is secretly encouraging the upheaval.

"It's the hot topic on TV, the radio and across society," said Paul Fishstein, director of the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit. "The level of distrust with Pakistan is higher now than I've seen it in over three years."