Afghanistan: Taliban seal off valley in Helmand under heavy NATO attack, USPI guards attacked

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Asia Times Online :: South Asia news - Time is on the Taliban's side

'I knew Afghanistan would be tough, but I didn't think it would be this tough' Guardian Unlimited

Two Americans among eight dead in Afghan blast By Mirwais Afghan

Reuters Wednesday, December 6, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber attacked the office of a U.S.-owned security company in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday killing seven people, including two Americans, a government and company official said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast outside the office of the Houston-based U.S. Protection and Investigations (USPI) in Kandahar city.

"The bomber was questioned by a security guard as to where he was going, in front of the office, and he blew himself up among company employees," Kandahar's police chief Esmatullah Alizai told reporters.

The employees had gathered for a regular morning briefing outside their office, which is opposite a base of Afghanistan's NATO security force, he said.

Two of the victims were Americans working for the company. Five Afghans and the bomber were also killed. The company provides guards to protect foreign companies working on construction and infrastructure projects.

Also more importantly Taliban repel British assault in south Afghanistan By Peter Graff, Reuters, Tuesday, December 5, 2006; 1:33 PM

GARMSER, Afghanistan (Reuters) - British Marines attacked a Taliban-held valley in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday but withdrew after a ferocious counterattack that withstood air strikes and artillery fire, witnesses said.

One Royal Marine was killed and a second wounded during the battle, the UK Helmand Task Force (UKTF) said.

Scores of soldiers ran across a bridge over the Helmand River under a full moon shortly before daybreak and began sweeping south through wheatfields in the south of the province, the opium center of the world's major producer.

A Reuters cameraman said the Marines initially faced only sporadic resistance but when they advanced, Taliban fighters launched a ferocious, organized riposte with heavy weapons and tried to outflank the British troops.

The fierce resistance illustrated the challenges facing the NATO troops in Afghanistan where they are trying to subdue well-armed Taliban and other militants bolstered by profits from a record opium crop, according to Afghan and foreign officials.

Major Andy Plewes, who led the Royal Marines of Zulu Company 45 Commando, on the assault, said the soldiers had expected resistance: "What we didn't know was how strong it was."

"We don't currently have enough forces in the area to hold ground completely and that has to be done by Afghan security forces," he told a Reuters reporter with the Marines.

The 32,000-strong force NATO-led International Security Assistance Force took over command of the war against the Taliban from U.S.-led forces in October and has launched a string of offensives.

British casualties have been mounting since ISAF took over command of operations in southern Afghanistan at the end of July. Britain has lost 41 soldiers since the Taliban government was toppled in 2001, the bulk of them this year.

This is not good. Afghanistan is a valley-chokehold organized kind of place. If they can't hold the valley entrance then there isn't much to do. The winter is traditionally time to hunker down and hide in the caves. More things change, more stays the same.