Thursday, April 21, 2011

Mass Suicides in Afghanistan

Let's first consider who or what might be behind such things:

"NATO, Afghan forces hold insurgent leaders" by Associated Press / February 18, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO and Afghan forces captured leaders of an insurgent group in eastern Afghanistan, including one believed to be linked to last month’s suicide attack on a Kabul supermarket, the coalition said yesterday....

The detainees were identified as members of Hizb-i-Islami, a militant group made up of loyalists of regional warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Among those captured was the group’s Kabul-based “media emir’’ — typically a senior official responsible for disseminating propaganda....

Hekmatyar the CIA ASSET? 

"Gulbuddin Hekmatyar the favored warlord of the ISI and CIA. Casey was said to be particularly fond of him as both shared a goal of extending the fighting beyond Afghanistan into the Soviet Union itself. He was a ruthless fighter, who also led several raids into USSR territory. He was also a major drug trafficker. Almost half of all the covert weapons directed at Afghanistan were sent to his group"  

Also see: CIA's Ace-in-the-Hole in Afghanistan 

Holding him up their sleeve, huh?

Also in Khost, the multinational force said it killed a member of the Haqqani network, a group with ties to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, in an airstrike. NATO identified the insurgent as Salem and said he was the leader of a bomb-making cell....  

Oh, the Haqqani network! 

"Haqqani.... credited with introducing suicide bombing to the region.... cultivated as a "unilateral" asset of the CIA and received tens of thousands of dollars in cash for his work.... He may have had a role in expediting the escape of Osama Bin Laden.... In July 2008, CIA officials confronted Pakistan officials with evidence of ties between Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani. Haqqani has been accused of involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul.... The Haqqani Network is based in Pakistan and is believed to have links to Al Qaeda."  

Yes, the fact that suicide bombing has not been a style or tradition of the Taliban really makes one wonder -- especially when the lying, war-promoting media pushes the narrative.

Insurgent attacks elsewhere killed three, including a NATO service member.

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"Terror blast at Kabul mall takes 2 lives" February 15, 2011|Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck Kabul’s first Western-style shopping mall yesterday, killing two security guards at the entrance to the complex. It was the second attack in less than a month targeting a site frequented by foreigners and upscale Afghans in the heavily secured capital....

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, NATO said a homemade bomb killed a coalition service member in the south of the country but did not provide details.

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"Afghan soldier kills 2 German troops" by Associated Press / February 19, 2011

PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan — German soldiers, just back from patrol, had started shedding their body armor when shots rang out yesterday at their coalition base in northern Afghanistan. An Afghan soldier, a man they thought was on their side, was spraying them with bullets at close range.

The shooter was gunned down, but not before he killed two German soldiers and wounded seven others in an attack that highlights the challenges of trying to train Afghan forces so foreign troops can go home.

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"Afghan police: At least 30 killed in suicide blast

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to an Afghan government office Monday, killing at least 30 people — many who were waiting in line to obtain government identification cards, police said....

Violence has been on the rise in the north, where there are known hide-outs for the Taliban, al-Qaida and fighters from other militant factions, including the Haqqani network, Hizb-i-Islami and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. NATO has sent more troops to the north and has been pushing harder into militant-held areas....  

They were supposed to be in the south, but who is quibbling anymore?  I basically dismiss anything the agenda-pushing corporate AmeriKan media says these days.

Also on Monday, a NATO service member was killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan....

Gee, those NATO service members are not only an afterthought, it is right down the memory hole with them.

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"At least 13 killed in separate bombings

KABUL — An insurgent detonated his vest of explosives yesterday, killing at least four people and injuring 19 at a sports field in northwest Afghanistan. It was the latest in a spate of attacks that have hit nearly every corner of the country in recent weeks."  

And here I am being told we are winning.

Related:  

"Now stop and think here for a moment. All revolutions depend on public support. Revolutionaries try to first win the people before they take on the government. So, no revolutionary goes out and murders civilians in cold blood. Did Washington and his men just mow down a marketplace of their fellow colonials for the heck of it? No, they did not. Washington and the Founding Fathers knew that their revolution to build a new country needed the support of those who would live in that country. This is true for every revolution in history. Therefore, these acts of terror being blamed on the insurgency must all be fakes, committed by intelligence agencies working for the governments to be blamed on the insurgents in order to destroy public support for the revolution." -- Wake the Flock Up

You know, that is REALLY a GOOD POINT!  

Especially once Karzai started complaining about civilian casualties!

"Suicide blast leaves 35 dead at Afghan Army recruiting center; Petraeus begins a week in D.C." March 15, 2011|By Rahim Faiez, Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber posing as an army volunteer blew himself up outside a military recruiting center in northern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 35 people and escalating the insurgent campaign to scare young Afghans away from military service....

Yesterday’s attack was the second suicide bombing in five days in Kunduz, where Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and numerous other militant groups, including one from neighboring Uzbekistan, have increased their presence.  

But they are losing ground.

Violence in recent months has shifted away from Afghanistan’s south, where the US-led coalition has poured thousands more troops....

No one is calling it the Taliban’s last stand despite predictions that the wounded Taliban insurgency will mount an especially bloody fight this spring, but US officials say this is the year that the insurgency will be tamed on the battlefield and at the bargaining table....   

They said that last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year befo....

 Kunduz and surrounding provinces are known hide-outs for the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and fighters from militant factions that include the Haqqani network, Hizb-i-Islami, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.  

That sentence sure seemed familiar.

The province is also a major agricultural and transit center along a main highway used by NATO supply convoys.  

So how much are the paying the "terrorists" for safe passage?

In Kandahar province, another Taliban stronghold, a well-known insurgent fighter agreed to lay down his weapons along with 20 other militants. Azizullah Agha said too many foreigners had joined the insurgency and he did not like that they were burning schools. He spoke at a press conference at the Afghan intelligence agency in Kandahar city....   

He must mean "CIA-Duh."

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"Blast by Taliban kills 23 people in Afghanistan" March 29, 2011|Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — A team of suicide bombers shot its way into the compound of a road construction company in eastern Afghanistan and detonated a truck loaded with explosives, killing 23 people and wounding about 60, the Afghan government said yesterday.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack....  

So claims my lying, war-promoting newspaper.

The area is on the border with Pakistan’s lawless tribal region, which is home to many insurgents who infiltrate into Afghanistan across the rugged and mountainous frontier....

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"A man wearing an Afghan border police uniform yesterday shot and killed two American military personnel tasked with helping train members of the country’s security forces, NATO and Afghan officials said.

The assailant fled and it was not known whether he was a police officer who turned on his Western counterparts or an insurgent disguising himself to infiltrate the northern compound and attack from inside."  

Almost like an INSIDE JOB, huh?

"Suicide siege at Afghan police compound kills 6; Kandahar attack comes amid fury at Koran burning" by Solomon Moore, Associated Press / April 8, 2011

KABUL — Suicide attackers stormed a police compound with AK-47s, grenades, and an explosives-rigged ambulance in southern Afghanistan yesterday in an escalation of fighting that coincides with demonstrations — some of them deadly — over the burning of a Koran in Florida.

Six Afghan security personnel died in the attack in Kandahar Province. Riots in the same province incited by the Koran burning killed 10 people Saturday, part of a wave of protests that has forced international aid organizations and embassies to virtually lock down their facilities for more than a week....

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"Suicide bomber kills 12 in Afghanistan" April 14, 2011|Globe Wire Services

KABUL — A suicide bomber detonated himself yesterday as tribal elders left a meeting in a remote mountain village in eastern Afghanistan, killing one of the most senior local figures and 11 other people, including five children....

In a rare disavowal, a spokesman for the Taliban denied that anyone linked to the group had played a role in the attack.

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"Suicide attack kills Afghan police chief; Sophisticated bombing fuels doubt on security" April 16, 2011|By Alissa J. Rubin and Taimoor Shah, New York Times

KABUL — A sophisticated attack....

The suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform....

Attacks in which the bombers gain entrance into heavily guarded areas often involve bribes as well as intensive preparation. Guards have to be bribed to look the other way or to be diverted from their posts at the moment the assassin enters.

Attacks like the one on Mujahid also involve substantial reconnaissance, because the planners needed to know the police chief’s habits and whether he would be in his office at the time of the attack.

Yup, smelling MORE and MORE like an INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OPERATION!

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"Suicide bombing on Afghan military base kills 10" April 17, 2011|By Solomon Moore, Associated Press

KABUL — A suicide bomber wearing an Afghan Army uniform blew himself up yesterday inside a military base in eastern Afghanistan, killing five NATO soldiers, four Afghan soldiers, and an interpreter, officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the bomber was a sleeper agent who joined the army a month ago....

Four Afghan soldiers and three interpreters were wounded.

Attacks by insurgents who donned uniforms to infiltrate bases have appeared to increase over the past 12 months as NATO and Afghan forces work more closely together. The international coalition is stepping up the training of Afghan soldiers and policemen so they can take the lead in securing their nation by the end of 2014.

'The Afghans added more than 70,000 police and soldiers last year, and there are plans to increase the force to 305,000 by the end of the year.  

Why should we believe that?

Related: Afghanistan's Invisible Army

So how many were sleeper agents?

Yesterday’s attack was the deadliest sleeper agent assault since November....

The endless propaganda is starting to put me to sleep.

After the explosion, Blackhawk helicopters swooped down to carry the dead and wounded to hospitals....

On Friday, a suicide bomber dressed as a police officer blew himself up inside the Kandahar police headquarters complex....

Earlier this month, a man wearing an Afghan border police uniform shot to death two American military personnel tasked with training the country’s security forces in Faryab Province.

In February, an Afghan soldier shot and killed three German soldiers and wounded six others in the northern province of Baghlan....

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"2 killed in Afghan suicide attack; Taliban targets Defense Ministry" April 19, 2011|By Joshua Partlow, Washington Post

KABUL —The attack added to the sense that Afghan government installations are porous and their security forces susceptible to infiltration by Taliban sleeper cells....    

So we will JUST HAVE TO STAY, huh?

The attacks have raised intense concern among US and Afghan officials that the Taliban is ramping up its effort to deploy insurgents within the security forces to slip past the concrete walls and armed guards that protect bases.

I was told they were on the run.

Although it has not been confirmed whether yesterday’s assault was carried out by an Afghan soldier or someone posing as one, there have been a number of previous incidents of soldiers or police targeting United States and foreign troops, which undermines trust at a time when the United States is working aggressively to grow and train the Afghan security forces....  

And the murder of civilians doesn't?

To combat the threat, NATO advisers, at the Afghan government’s request, are planning to assist in training a force of about 450 counterintelligence officers who would work down at the battalion level to investigate vulnerabilities and look for potential insurgent infiltrators.

The Afghan government has also begun in recent weeks a “personnel asset inventory’’ of all security forces, essentially placing every soldier and police officer in a biometric database that can be used to help identify those with criminal backgrounds....

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