Today's News from Aghanistan - Saturday February 20, 2010

Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan military operations against the kafirs and munafiqs

At least 40 American invading terrorists killed as seven U.S tanks struck by blasts in Marjah

Police checkpoints come come under attack in Gerishk district

3 Americans invading terrorists killed, two injured as U.S tanks hits a roadside bomb in Paktia

Border puppet police outpost attacked in Nangarhar

U.S invading terrorists patrol comes under attack in Kunar

3 German invaders tanks destroyed and a dozen invading terrorists, 15 puppet army terrorists killed in Kunduz battle

Remote-controlled bomb kills 5 U.S invading terrorists in Logar

5 German invading terrorists killed as another German invaders tank eliminated in bomb attack in Kunduz

A dozen U.S-led invaders coalition terrorists killed as their 3 tanks destroyed in Helmand

Mujahideen conquer Archi district in Kunduz

http://theunjustmedia.com/

Six Nato troops killed in Marjah
By Matthew Green in Kabul

Published: February 19 2010 09:05 | Last updated: February 19 2010 16:30

Six Nato troops have been killed in Afghanistan in the worst single-day loss for international forces since the launch of a big offensive to drive Taliban insurgents from the town of Marjah.

The deaths on Thursday, followed by the loss of another soldier on Friday, underscore the risks US, UK and Afghan troops face as they seek to clear what commanders describe as pockets of resistance by fighters digging in to resist one of the biggest operations launched by Nato in Afghanistan since 2001.


The seven casualties brought the death toll of international troops from the six-day operation to 12, an official for the Nato-led force in Afghanistan said.

More than a dozen civilians have also lost their lives in the operation. Provincial officials said several dozen insurgents had been killed.

Nick Carter, the British commander of Nato forces in southern Afghanistan, said late on Thursday via a video link to the Pentagon that the offensive was facing resistance in Marjah and might take another month to clear the area of Taliban fighters.

“In Marjah itself there remains stiff resistance from the insurgents,” Maj-Gen Carter told reporters. “It will be some days before we can be completely confident that Marjah is secure.”

Maj-Gen Carter said it could take another three months to determine how successful the operation had been.

It is the first big offensive launched since Barack Obama, US president, ordered an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in December, and is seen as an important test of whether the latest troop surge can have a lasting impact on the Taliban.

Commanders have said the assault on Marjah is part of a wider plan to secure population centres in southern Afghanistan, the focal point for the insurgency, that will give the Afghan government time to start building the institutions needed to deny insurgents support.

The offensive has taken place alongside signs that the Taliban is facing growing pressure in Pakistan, where the movement’s second-in-command and military chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was arrested last week in a joint US-Pakistan operation. Pakistani security officials said on Thursday they had also arrested two Taliban “shadow governors” – appointed by the movement to set up parallel administrations in two Afghan provinces.

An important part of US strategy for stabilising the region is to encourage Pakistan to crack down on Afghan insurgents operating from its territory while Nato forces increase the military pressure on the movement in Afghanistan.


link: www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6754b44a-1d2e-11df-b12e-00144feab49a.html