Friday 19 February 2010

Afghan operation turns to farce


THE LATEST US-led operation in Afghanistan descended into farce this week, with an air strike attacking the wrong side.

Official propaganda has been making much of the fact that the USA and its allies have been fighting alongside Afghan forces in the latest phase of their occupation.

But, having already killed half a dozen innocent locals in one battle, NATO launched a disastrous air strike that "mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded two others on Thursday", according to reports.

Said AFP: "The incident occurred when a joint patrol by the Afghan army and police and NATO forces came under Taliban attack in the Imam Sahib district, Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP."

Meanwhile, a group of about two dozen Afghan national police officers may have defected to the Taliban, according to American and Afghan officers in Wardak Province.

Reported the New York Times: "The police officers left their posts in Chak, a remote district of Wardak, just before midnight Wednesday, and on Thursday morning a spokesman for the Taliban claimed that the officers had surrendered to them. 'They left with all their weapons, two trucks and machine guns and heavy weapons,' said Maj. Abdul Khalil, the police chief in the Jalrez district, just north of Chak."