OVER REACH

Pakistan troops killed in Taliban ambush on truck (Noor Khan, 8/25/03, Examiner)

TALIBAN fighters ambushed a truck full of government soldiers in the southern province of Zabul, killing several, the provincial governor and a Taliban spokesman said yesterday.

The sides gave differing death tolls from Saturday’s attack. Mohammed Hanif, a Taliban spokesman who contacted the Associated Press by satellite telephone, said 12 government soldiers were killed and that no Taliban fighters had died. Governor Hafizullah Khan said five soldiers and three Taliban were killed. [...]

Hanif said the bodies of the dead government soldiers were left behind, but Taliban attackers took 17 automatic rifles from the vehicle before leaving the scene.

He said Abdul Rahim, a former Taliban commander of the border region of Spinboldak, led the attack. Rahim is one of several former Taliban being sought by the Afghan government. In talks with neighbour Pakistan, the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai has expressed concern that Rahim and other former Taliban have found refuge in Pakistan’s conservative tribal regions.

Attacks against the government soldiers and police have been stepped up in recent weeks. Dozens of police have been ambushed or their police stations attacked by suspected Taliban.

There are reports from former Tal iban that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban’s leader, has reorganised his religious militia, appointing military commanders to areas of control. Rahim is well-known in the southeastern regions of Afghanistan.

It seems like one of our biggest problems in finishing off the Afghan phase of the war is that the Taliban remnants and al Qaeda can seek refuge in Pakistan. They're doing us a favor if they start attacking Pakistani forces and give that government an excuse to help us.

MORE:
U.S. jets attack Afghan Taliban camp, killing at least 14 (AP, 8/25/2003)

U.S. jets pounded a Taliban mountain hideout Monday, killing at least 14 insurgents in the deadliest air assault since rebels launched a series of strikes against Afghan government targets, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

Sweeping through the rugged mountains of southeastern Afghanistan, scores of Afghan militia and U.S.-led coalition special forces hunted down suspected Taliban fighters, who in recent weeks have been waging attacks on police officials and government convoys. [...]

The Afghan administration has complained to Pakistan -- a U.S. ally in the war on terror -- that Taliban leaders appear to have found refuge in its lawless tribal regions. Pakistan has deployed its troops there but the border regions are long and porous and lined with rugged mountains in which to hide.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2003 12:32 AM