The News Line: Editorial
Friday, 18 July 2008
US troops flee from Afghan fighters =96 time to quit Afghanistan
US and Afghan troops have quit the village where Taleban fighters
fought their way into a US base and killed nine US soldiers wounding
many more last Sunday.
A statement attempted to cover the rout of the US-led troops by saying
that the outpost had been tem****ary and that =91regular patrols=92 were to
be carried out in the area.
Two hundred Taleban stormed the combat outpost in the village of Wanat
on Sunday. US troops quit the area on the Monday taking all of their
heavy weaponry with them.
The fact that the Taleban has stormed their fortress, defying the
desperate use of aircraft and helicopter gun****ps to try and halt
them, means that the whole US garrison risked annihilation if it
remained in the area.
The Afghan government position on the defeat of the US forces was put
by Omar Sami Taza, a spokesman for the governor of Nuristan.
He said that US troops had withdrawn from the area, =91leaving the
district in the hands of only 20 policemen.
=91American troops have taken all of the heavy weapons out of the
district and this is why we have lost that district to the Taleban.
Our police could not hold it with just one AK-47.=92
The main weapon of the US-UK forces is a mass bombing of targets,
mainly civilian, where it is alleged that the Taleban is operating.
This is a tactic that sees Afghan women and children slaughtered in
droves with the Taleban the real winner strategically, while the US
seeks to cover its bloody tracks by claiming that the casualties were
minimal and that they were all Taleban fighters.
An Afghan parliamentary investigation has found that a US air strike,
also last Sunday in the eastern province of Nangarhar, killed 47
civilians.
Regional officials said the casualties were attending a wedding party
and that the bride had been killed, along with a very large number of
women and children.
The US military has said it has launched an investigation into the
incident. It earlier claimed that only Taleban fighters had been
killed and that the number of corpses was less that a dozen.
In recent days, international humanitarian organisations have voiced
concern about the high number of civilian casualties being caused by
US and UK military forces.
With all their technological advances, how can they not differentiate
between a wedding party with women and children and the Taleban and al-
Qaeda? asked Burhanullah ****nwari, an Afghan senator sent to
investigate the deaths of the 47 civilians.
The inquiry into Sunday=92s incident in Nangarhar, has raised tensions
between the Afghan puppet government and the foreign troops who put it
into power and keep it there by force of arms.
In the past, President Hamid Karzai has said that no civilian
casualties are acceptable.
Some local politicians have demanded that charges be brought against
those responsible for Sunday=92s air strike.
=91The Americans say they can=92t miss a target of four inches,=92 said
Burhanullah ****nwari, the head of the investigating team.
=91With all their technological advances, how can they not differentiate
between a wedding party, women, children and the Taleban and al-
Qaeda?=92
Isaf spokesmen can only say that the number of civilians killed in
Isaf operations were in the =91low double figures=92.
However, all local organisations say the true number is far higher,
into the thousands.
The only answer of the US-UK forces to the renowned combativity of the
Afghan people, historically for their bravery in the defence of their
country, is to slaughter more and more civilians, thereby
qualitatively increasing the numbers of Afghans who take up arms
against them after every massacre.
British workers must give their full sup****t to the Afghan people and
fight for all of the imperialist armies to be withdrawn from
Afghanistan. They must stand for the victory of the Afghan people.
http://www.wrp.org.uk/news/3377
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