Thursday's attack happened in the Rostaq district of Takhar, a relatively peaceful province in the north near Tajikistan, said a spokesman for the provincial governor, unlike areas in the south and east where the resurgent Taliban are mostly active.
Spokesman Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi said the candidate, Abdul Wahid, and some of his supporters were wounded in the air strike, which Tawhidi said included two helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft.
Tawhidi initially said six people were killed but later said the toll had risen to 10. He said he had been told of the strikes by security officials.
US denial as usual. Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned the raid during a joint press briefing with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Gates said he had no knowledge of civilian casualties. It's bad enough that such little concern is given to Afghan civilians. One would like to think September's election would necessitate additional care of the situation, but discounting the political ramifications of this attack is vintage Gates.
ReplyDeleteI just do not understand it any more.
ReplyDeleteThey are like alcoholics. One death is too many, one hundred is not enough.
Gates is even putting the old KGB to shame with his bag of tricks.
It's hard to decide what is the most contemptible. The incompetence of the weekly bungled attacks,the crassness of the statements ('12 militants killed') etc. which the MSM print as news, or the subsequent duplicity of the spun cover-ups and excuses.
ReplyDelete