September 20, 2006
NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S PEACEKEEPERS
Canadian-led offensive may have killed 1,500 Taliban fighters (CBC, September 20th, 2006)
The U.S. general who heads all NATO military forces says a two-week campaign that cost five Canadian lives in southern Afghanistan may have wiped out half of the "hard-core" Taliban fighters in the country.The Canadian-led push, Operation Medusa, ended on Sept. 15 when Taliban forces stopped fighting and slipped away, Gen. James L. Jones said on Wednesday.
The Taliban "suffered a tactical defeat in the area where they chose to stand and fight" and got "a very powerful message … that they have no chance of winning militarily," he told reporters at the Pentagon.
NATO estimates that "somewhere in the neighbourhood of around 1,000" Taliban fighters were killed, and the number could be higher, he said. "If you said 1,500 it wouldn't surprise me."
A lot of shibboleths have been challenged by the War on Terror. One is that the Canadian Forces are useless in war and another is that diplomats always lie.
Sorry, all. I don't know why the link won't work. Try here.
Posted by: Peter B at September 20, 2006 8:27 PMThis is just the tune up for the liberation of Hans Island from its Danish occupiers and their Greenlander puppets.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at September 20, 2006 10:18 PMExcellent news. Let's go get the rest, before the dreaded Afghan winter sets in. And it's probably time to start crossing the Pakistani border at will, too.
Posted by: jim hamlen at September 20, 2006 10:27 PMWouldn't it be funny if soviet canuckistan turns out to be the reddest state of all.
Posted by: lebeaux at September 21, 2006 1:01 AM