Republican neglect of Afghanistan leads to Taliban resurgance

December 31, 2007

Attacks Kill 23 Afghan Police, Soldiers

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:05 a.m. ET

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint in

the south and killed 16 officers, officials said Monday. Seven Afghan police

and soldiers were reported dead elsewhere as Afghanistan's bloodiest year

since the Taliban's ouster drew to a close.

Violence in Afghanistan this year reached the highest level since the U.S.

invasion toppled the Taliban militant movement in 2001.

More than 6,500 people -- mostly militants -- died in 2007, according to an

Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.

Also in 2007, 110 U.S. soldiers were killed in the country -- the highest

American toll since the 2001 invasion.

Afghan policemen were manning a checkpoint in the Maywand district of

Kandahar province on Saturday when a large group of militants attacked, said

Zemerai Bashary, the Interior Ministry spokesman.

''We still have not found the bodies, but police in Kandahar have launched a

search operation,'' Bashary said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the group was responsible for

the killings.

The militants have repeatedly attacked the checkpoint -- situated near

Highway 1, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare -- over the last year, part of

the reason so many police were stationed there.

The acting police chief of Kandahar province, Omar Khan, said police were

investigating and he couldn't give any details about the attack.

Taliban fighters have shied away from attacking international military

forces and the Afghan army, which is better trained and better equipped than

Afghan police.

More than 850 police officers have been killed in attacks since March -- the

beginning of the Islamic calendar -- said Bashary. That represents more than

1 percent of the countrywide police force of some 73,000 officers.

In Uruzgan province, four Afghan soldiers were killed in a mine explosion

Sunday, while one soldier was killed in Paktia province in another blast,

the Ministry of Defense said.

In Helmand province, a roadside bomb exploded Monday against a police

vehicle driving through Musa Qala, killing two officers, said Musa Qala

district chief Haji Bir Mohammad.

Spain's King Juan Carlos, meanwhile, made an unannounced visit to Spanish

troops based in western Afghanistan, the royal palace said.

In the country's west, Carlos traveled with the Spanish defense minister to

the Spanish base in the city of Herat.

Spain has some 700 troops based in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led

peacekeeping force. The soldiers were first deployed in 2002.

"Sid9" <sid9@bellsouth.net> wrote in message

news:XX7ej.56650$L%6.28485@bignews3.bellsouth.net...

> December 31, 2007

>

> Attacks Kill 23 Afghan Police, Soldiers

>

> By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

>

>

> Filed at 10:05 a.m. ET

>

>

>

> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint

> in the south and killed 16 officers, officials said Monday. Seven Afghan

> police and soldiers were reported dead elsewhere as Afghanistan's

> bloodiest year since the Taliban's ouster drew to a close.

>

>

the lying republicans are deceiving the slow thinking feeble and simple

minded hillbillies again,

telling them how good things are in iraq while the terrorists have moved to

afghanistan and pakistan

and the dumb fuckers will buy it