http://news.antiwar.com/2013/09/02/afghan-police-deaths-soaring-officials-admit/
Though the exact scope of the trend is impossible to determine without all the past data available, Daudzai conceded that this was roughly in line with the overall toll of the previous 12 month period.
NATO downplayed the incident, saying that no soldiers were killed in the three hour gunbattle and that the interior of the outpost was not breached by the insurgents, but that may not have been the point.
Afghan Police Deaths Soaring, Officials Admit
Gen. Dunford: Death Tolls 'Unsustainable' for Afghan Forces
by Jason Ditz, September 02, 2013
The Afghan government doesn’t release official troop death tolls anymore – the figures are just too depressing and officials said they didn’t want to damage morale. Today, however, newly appointed Interior Minister Umer Daudzai revealed that 1,792 Afghan national police have been killed in the last six months.
Though the exact scope of the trend is impossible to determine without all the past data available, Daudzai conceded that this was roughly in line with the overall toll of the previous 12 month period.
That’s a big jump, and reflects the huge surge in violence in this year’s “spring offensive” by the Taliban, along with the insurgency’s renewed focus on targeting government security forces as NATO targets are less and less visible targets.
Individual reports suggest the Afghan army is faring no better than the police, and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the US commander for the occupied nation, warns that the Afghan forces are losing troops at an “unsustainable” level, arguing that NATO needs to commit to the war for years to come.
Dead and wounded Afghan forces are just part of the equation too, as the Afghan military in particular, owing to its dangerous missions and extremely low rate of pay, is losing huge numbers of fighters regularly to desertion, and is having a hard time recruiting replacements for them. The casualties lower troop levels directly, but as they rise, so will the number of troops convinced they’re on the losing side.
Taliban Attack US Base, Shutting Down Supply Route
Destroyed Many Vehicles in Three-Hour Gunbattle
by Jason Ditz, September 02, 2013
Taliban forces attacked a key US outpost in the Nangarhar Province today, effectively shutting down the key eastern supply route into neighboring Pakistan, and underscoring just how bad the security situation in Afghanistan is getting.
NATO downplayed the incident, saying that no soldiers were killed in the three hour gunbattle and that the interior of the outpost was not breached by the insurgents, but that may not have been the point.
The Taliban forces destroyed over 30 military supply vehicles in the attack in addition to temporarily shutting down the supply route, underscoring their ability to hit sensitive NATO targets even now, 12 years into the war.
Supply vehicles are regularly hit on the road in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, meaning maintaining the supply lines of occupation forces is always difficult, with the US regularly having to rely on a more expensive northern route.
Iraq.....
Bombers Attack Iraq Militia Leader; 26 Killed Across Country
Sunday: 26 Killed, 49 Wounded
by Margaret Griffis, September 02, 2013
Suicide bombers in the capital tried to assassinated Wissam al-Harden who is the appointed head of the Sahwa movement. It was today’s deadliest attack. At least 26 people were killed and 49 more were wounded in that and other violence.
In Baghdad, a two suicide bombers attacked Sahwa leader, Wissam al-Hardan. Theykilled eight people and wounded 14 more. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appointed Harden as the head of the Sunni Sahwa militia movement.
Gunmen killed one civilian and wounded three more in Melhaniya. Gunmen killed a civilian in Bayaa. In Amil, gunmen killed a man at a shop. Two kidnapped children were liberated. Gunmen, probably in Amin, killed two people and wounded three more.
Five people were killed and six others were wounded when a bomb exploded inTikrit; a judge, who was the target of the blast, was among the wounded.
Police killed a suicide bomber in Abbara, but he was still able to kill four people and wound 12 more when his car exploded.
In Mosul, a health director was shot dead when gunmen stormed the center. A bombwounded a soldier.
Two bombs wounded three people on a Mussayab soccer field.
In Ramadi, a bomb wounded two policemen.
Gunmen wounded two policemen in Amiriyat al-Falluja.
Gunmen in Dibis wounded two soldiers.
An I.E.D. in Zab targeted a Sahwa leader but wounded a civilian instead.
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