5 US Soldiers, 2 Britons Killed in Afghanistan, Corruption Sours Reaching $4.2 in Suitcases Leaving Kabul

Editor's Note:

The following news stories represent the NATO side of the conflict, as the Taliban website is offline. We know very little about the war, indeed.

Taliban fighters are routinely described as insurgents in NATO statement. Pro NATO Media refers to them also as insurgents, militants, extremists, and terrorists - a media tactic known as dehumanization of the enemy.

5 US Soldiers were killed in Afghanistan today, Tuesday, July 6, 2010, in addition to a British soldier earlier, and another who died of earlier wounds.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/20738021;_ylt=AtTSWJ83x.CokEyJrbEhKggBS5Z4

Four US-led troops killed in Afghanistan

Press TV, Tue, 06 Jul 2010, 12:52:13 GMT

US-led troops in Afghanistan are increasingly falling victim to the Taliban.
Four more US-led soldiers have been killed in separate bomb explosions in southern and eastern Afghanistan amid a surge in violence.

NATO said in a statement on Tuesday that three soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan. A fourth trooper has also died in a bomb blast in the east.

The nationalities of the soldiers have not been disclosed.

The announcement takes the number of US-led foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 335.

June was the bloodiest month for the US-led troops in Afghanistan since the beginning of invasion of the country in 2001, with a record 102 fatalities.

The US military has warned that fighting will intensify in the upcoming months, causing a further rise in the number of casualties.

Some 140,000 US and NATO troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan. A further 10,000 are expected to be deployed there in the coming weeks.

Nine years after the invasion of the country, the US and its Western allies have yet to bring stability to Afghanistan.

JR/HGH/MMN

‎2 British soldiers killed within hours

Press TV, Tue, 06 Jul 2010, 02:08:58 GMT

A total of 312 British troops have died in Afghanistan since ‎‎2001.‎
The death of a second British Royal Marine in Afghanistan within hours, takes the overall British death toll to 312.

Amid a surge in militant attacks against the foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan, the first British soldier was killed by an explosion Monday night near Sangin.

The second one was killed in the early hours of Tuesday in a gun battle with militants in the same district of Helmand province, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

The latest death brings the number of British personnel who have died in Afghanistan to 312 since 2001 — 273 of them killed in hostile action.

Britain has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, the largest international force after the United States.

FTP/HGL

British soldier dies of Afghanistan injuries

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

LONDON (AFP) –

A British soldier has died in hospital in Britain from wounds he suffered in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

The soldier was injured on Sunday while on patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.

His patrol was providing protection for the clearance of a road in the Upper Gereshk Valley when an improvised explosive device -- the name given to the homemade bombs used by Taliban insurgents -- blew up.

The soldier was treated on the ground and at a British army base before being flow to Britain for further treatment, but he died in hospital in Birmingham on Monday.

A total of 312 British forces personnel have now died while serving in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001. Of these, at least 274 were killed as a result of hostile action.

4.2 billion dollars have left Kabul airport: report

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 12:48 am ET

LONDON (AFP) –

At least 4.2 billion dollars in cash have left Kabul airport in the past three-and-a-half years, a newspaper said Tuesday, raising fresh concerns about corruption in war-torn Afghanistan.

A senior US lawmaker last week blocked billions of dollars in aid for Afghanistan after a report indicated that three billion dollars (two billion pounds, 2.4 billion euros) had been flown out of the country over three years.

But Tuesday's report in British daily The Times put the figure higher, citing a letter from Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal to US lawmaker Nita Lowey, who suspended the aid.

"Our records show that 4.2 billion dollars has been transferred in cash through Kabul International Airport alone during the last three-and-a-half years," wrote Zakhilwal.

"The amount could be even higher." In the letter, dated June 30, two days after Lowey angrily blocked the aid, the finance minister also requested American cooperation to determine the money's origins.

Lowey's decision to block the aid was in response to a report in the Wall Street Journal that top Afghan officials flew suitcases full of cash from US aid to foreign safe havens.

The lawmaker, who sits on the powerful committee in charge of the budget, said she would hold hearings into the allegations.

"I do not intend to appropriate one more dime for assistance to Afghanistan until I have confidence that US taxpayer money is not being abused to line the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials, drug lords and terrorists," she said.

Afghan-ISAF Operations in Ghazni, Helmand, Logar

7/5/10 | ISAF Public Affairs Office

ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan 2010-07-CA-028

KABUL, Afghanistan (July 6, 2010) -

Joint Afghan-international security forces conducted operations in Ghazni, Helmand and Logar Provinces last night, detaining a Taliban commander and several suspected insurgents.

An Afghan-international security force detained two suspected insurgents in Ghazni province last night while pursuing a Taliban facilitator responsible for providing money, munitions and guidance to Taliban and Haqqani networks in Ghazni and Paktika Provinces. The security force went to a compound in the village of Kala in Gelan district, and Afghan forces used a loudspeaker to call for the occupants to exit the buildings before the combined force cleared the compound. Over the last several years the district has faced numerous acts of Taliban suppression. Since 2005 several schools have been targeted by insurgent groups resulting in several cases of arson and the shooting of a teacher in class at a school in Gelan.

A separate Afghan-international security force captured the Nawah-ye Barakzai district Taliban shadow government chief and detained two suspected insurgents in Helmand Province last night. The Taliban chief is responsible for decisions involving Taliban military operations shadow governance, and he also led intimidation operations against residents in the area. He was captured during a search of a series of compounds outside Lashkar Gah. The security force identified the suspect with identification cards found at the scene. In an operation in the same area of Helmand Province Saturday, a combined security force captured a Taliban commander suspected of facilitating weapons and suicide bombers, as well as a number of suspected Taliban fighters.

Another Afghan-international security force detained several suspected insurgents in Logar province last night while pursuing a Taliban facilitator responsible for improvised explosive device attacks in Baraki Barak districts as well as indirect fire attacks at an ISAF forward operating base (FOB), most recently on June 20. The security force went to a series of compounds in the village of Molla Hazrat in Baraki Barak district to search the area. Afghan forces used a loudspeaker to call for the occupants to exit the buildings and then cleared the compound. The security force found multiple automatic weapons and jihad propaganda material. Since July 1 combined Afghan and international forces have captured two Taliban commanders operating within the same network including one suspected to be involved in an attack on an ISAF FOB, Sunday.

No shots were fired, and women and children present were protected by joint security forces during all of the above operations.

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