“The Claims Were Fabricated As Part Of A Propaganda War”
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan once again accused Taliban militants Monday of falsely reporting civilian casualties to discredit Afghan and international forces.
The U.S.-led coalition made the claim Monday after Afghan elders alleged that up to 18 civilians were killed late Sunday by coalition troops in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.
Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman, said credible intelligence suggested the claims were fabricated as part of a propaganda war. “The insurgents continue to follow their pattern of falsely reporting civilian casualties,” she said.
NATO-led forces, whose operations in Helmand are being supported by U.S.-led coalition troops and aircraft, insist that no noncombatants were killed in the fighting.
Reports of civilian casualties at the hands of foreign forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly deplored such deaths, saying they undermine efforts to win the trust of the people.
Insurgent attacks on Afghan and Western troops are running at their highest level since U.S. forces invaded the country in 2001 to oust the hard-line Islamic Taliban rulers, who had harbored Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders before and after the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S.
Late Sunday, Afghan police killed six Taliban during a one-hour gunbattle in Paktika province, which borders Pakistan, said Ghamia Khan, a spokesman for the governor. He gave no more details.
Also Sunday, Afghan troops destroyed a heroin laboratory after battling Taliban fighters guarding the facility, a U.S.-led coalition statement said. The lab in Helmand contained large amounts of opium- processing chemicals along with weapons, insurgent propaganda and explosive materials, it said.
Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin supply, and a significant portion of the profits from the $3.1 billion trade are thought to flow to Taliban fighters who tax and protect poppy farmers and drug runners.
Meanwhile, Taliban on Sunday shot and killed a soldier from the 37-nation strong security assistance force during a foot patrol in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said Monday in a statement. It did not identify the nationality of the dead solider.
In the Netherlands, defense chief Gen. Dick Berlijn told reporters on Monday that a Dutch soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. The 30-year-old sergeant, whose name was not immediately released, died late Sunday night when an improvised explosive device detonated near the southern town of Deh Rawod.
(AP)
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Known Talibum strong hold? Bomb the bastard flat. Fewer civilians will be killed in the long run by abreviating the War. KNOWN STRONGHOLD? WTF? Kill,kill,kill!
August 27th, 2007 at 5:18 am“Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman, said credible intelligence suggested the claims were fabricated as part of a propaganda war. “The insurgents continue to follow their pattern of falsely reporting civilian casualties,” she said.”
Of couse they lie? It’s part of their culture to lie? This is tagyiya…or deception at it’s best. You counter lies with facts and truth…And use their Koran to do it.
That’s what is lacking in American counter-propaganda broadcasts. You want to beat these assholes? Beat them with their own words…in their own language.
In the field…it is always game…set…match…for us…
August 27th, 2007 at 6:55 amIn the propaganda war, the lies of the Taliban are given more weight by the Western MSM and the mideast press. Stop playing their game….
Learn from the enemy: “War is deceit” - Muhammad (Bukhari 4.52.267). They’re playing the game, why aren’t we countering their rhetoric?
August 27th, 2007 at 10:45 am