Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

Afghanistan: America's forgotten war


Air Force SSgt. Aric Benally, from Farmington, New Mexico, takes a break while searching for Taliban fighters high in the Afghanistan mountains.
TOM PENNINGTON, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By Jonathan S. Landay
Posted on Fri, Aug. 19, 2005 [and obviously updated since]

Five years into Afghanistan, U.S. confronts Taliban's comeback[ http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15614480.htm (F6 note -- my next post, a reply to this post)]. The soldiers of Bravo Company knew that their quarry was here, somewhere. They could hear the Taliban fighters radio one another.Yet in three tense, sweat-soaked days, the 10th Mountain Division troops never found a single Taliban fighter. "They just hide their weapons and become farmers." 9/26/06 / Video: Video | The war in Afghanistan [ http://www.dfw.com/multimedia/dfw/news/archive/092406AfghanMCT/index.html ] / Photo Slideshow [ http://www.realcities.com/multimedia/nationalchannel/news/KRT_Packages/archive/krwashington/Afghan-5... ]

4 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan as insurgents step up attacks [ http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12441107.htm ]: The attacks come amid a growing insurgency by the Taliban that U.S. military commanders and Afghan officials describe as a campaign to impede Sept. 18 parliamentary and provincial council elections intended to put Afghanistan on a path to democracy and peace. 8/21/05

A new Taliban threatens stability in Afghanistan [ http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/jonathan_s_landay/12418046.htm ]: Nearly four years after a U.S.-led military intervention toppled them from power, the Taliban has re-emerged as a potent threat to stability in Afghanistan. 8/18/05

War in Afghanistan has intensified [ http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14854293.htm ]: The Bush administration declared more than two years ago that major combat in Afghanistan was over. Tell that to the 60 young men of Battle Company. 8/17/05

On patrol with American soldiers in Afghanistan [ http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/jonathan_s_landay/12406812.htm ]: The men of Battle Company scrambled down the rear ramps of their Chinook helicopters. Down below, villagers tended fields and flocks and threshed wheat. Chimes of cowbells, brays of donkeys and cries of rollicking children drifted from hamlets of dried mud, carried on a languid wind tinged with the fragrance of mountain flowers. 8/17/05

Efforts to build Afghan road illuminate challenges, possibilities [ http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/jonathan_s_landay/12347348.htm ]: this American outpost of plywood shacks and shipping containers embodies the promise and problems of the U.S.-led effort to pacify Afghanistan nearly four years after the fall of the Taliban. 8/9/05

© 2006 McClatchy Washington Bureau and wire service sources.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/12426823.htm