A suicide bomber crashed his car into a US military patrol just outside Kandahar June 13, killing himself and wounding four US soldiers, one seriously. The US ambassador in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, condemned such attacks as "cowardly acts of desperation, committed by criminals who move in shadows and hide in holes" and vowed to catch those responsible. (IHT [2], June 14)
Here we go again. Suicide bombing may be fanatical and criminal, but whatever else you want to say about it, it is certainly anything but "cowardly." But then we guess the officious Khalilzad is just doing his job by using approved vocabulary. WW4 REPORT readers will recall that Khalilzad is a former Unocal advisor [3], Bush's special envoy [4] to the Iraqi opposition before the 2003 invasion, and a member [5] of the National Security Council.
Another US soldier was killed and three wounded June 10 when a patrol was ambushed in Paktika province. (AP [6], June 11)
The UN's disarmament demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants has boasted today that it has passed a significant milestone, having processed a total of 60,000 former miltia fighters. But UN officials acknowledged key areas of the country, such as the Panjshir Valley, remain under the control of local warlords. Kabul has ordered more than 1,000 illegal armed groups around the country to hand over their guns by June 28 as the nation prepares for parliamentary elections. (Reuters [7], June 13)
And the UK announced it is sending 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan to help the US restore order in the country. Britain currently has 900 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led force. (UK Evening Standard [8], June 13) See WW4 REPORT #92 [9]
See our last post [10] on Afghanistan.
