Afghanistan — U.S. Marines pushed deeper into Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan on Friday, seeking to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local elders on the second day of the biggest U.S. military operation here since the American-led invasion of 2001.
On the other side of the border, U.S. missiles struck a Pakistani Taliban militant training center and communications center, killing 17 people and wounding nearly 30, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Both U.S. operations were aimed at what President Barack Obama considers as the biggest dangers in the region: a resurgent Taliban-led insurgency allied with al-Qaida that threatens both nuclear-armed Pakistan and the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan.
The 4,000-strong U.S. force met little resistance Friday as troops fanned out into villages in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, although one Marine was killed and several others were wounded the day before, U.S. officials said.
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SettingTheRecordStraight (anonymous) says…
According to members of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice - who are protesting in downtown Lawrence as I type this - the US should simply withrdraw its forces now and surrender Afghanistan back to the terrorists.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
Thanks for reminding us that your favored flavor of violence is better than that of "the terrorists," STRS. I'm sure all those Pushtun tribespeople in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan would much rather be blown to bits by a 2000-lbs. NATO bomb than to have figure out on their own how to create some form of civil society with their fellow tribesmen.
SettingTheRecordStraight (anonymous) says…
If America's security were not on the line, I would happily concede a foreign civil matter to a sovereign nation. After all, I'm not suggesting we get involved in Chechnya, Ethiopia/Eritrea or Kashmir.
However, when we find terrorists arming themselves for future attacks on our homeland, I believe we have a responsibility to intervene.
Godot (anonymous) says…
When and how did the goal of this war transition into defeating the Taliban and the subsquent occupation of Afghanistan? I thought this war was about snuffing out Al Qaeda and capturing bin Laden.
soldier1 (anonymous) says…
Godot-
Where were you for the past seven years?
OeraLinda-
LOL I dont think that is going to happen. You forget so easy that the military is made up of its own citizens. I dont think I could bear dropping a bomb on my own mother :)