3 Taliban Attacks on NATO Forces Result in Casualties, Assault on German Forces for the First Time

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Editor's Note:

Afghani soldiers are referred to as "puppet" soldiers, Taliban fighters are referred to as Mujahideen, which means holy warriors. In their propaganda war, NATO countries news media refer to Taliban fighters as terrorists, militants, extremists, and insurgents. Taliban resistance to the NATO occupation is referred to as violence.

In absence independent verification, readers are bombarded by news reported by NATO countries news agencies degrading the Afghanis resisting the NATO occupation, mentioning high figures of Taliban fighters who are killed by US-led force. Systematically, past events showed that the vast majority of the victims were Afghani civilians, who are killed in US air strikes.

On the Taliban side, like in the case of pro-Taliban websites, many Afghani and NATO soldiers are reported killed. NATO forces are referred to as invaders and Afghani forces are referred to as terrorists and puppets.

There is no way that objective reporting may happen unless reporters and their news media are neutral in this conflict. As General Patton once said, "The first casualty of war is the truth."

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30 American soldiers killed n in Wardak

Heavy fighting is going on as of 10:00 am [local time] this morning between the mujahedin of the Islamic Emirate and the American soldiers in Onchidara area of Saed abad District of Wardag Province.

According to a report, the face to face fighting started when the Mujahideen attacked an American patrol in the area. Intense heavy fighting is going on in the area, and full information about the casualties will be published later.

Reported by Zabihollah Mojahed

6 tanks of Americans destroyed in Paktia

Today morning 08-05-2009 , A convoy of the American invader army came under armed attack by the mujahedin of the Islamic Emirate Sata Kando area of Paktia Province .

According to a report, in the attacked 6 tanks were destroyed and killing all American soldiers on board.

A large number of enemy soldiers were also wounded in the attack and later in the bloody attack.

Reported by Zabihullah Mujahid

puppet army check posts demolished and 5 terrorists killed in Helmand

Last midnight 07-05-2009 at approximately 11:30pm local time , Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with light and heavy weapons attacked a check post of puppet army in Bolan area near Lashkargah city capital of Helmand province.

In the attack Mujahideen captured the check post, killed 5 puppet terrorists and wounded 4.

Reported by Zabihullah Mujahid

Taliban Assault on German Forces, Report on Attempt to Kill Angela Merkel in Afghanistan

Germans detail new Taliban assault in northern Afghanistan

Fri, 08 May 2009 11:41:40 GMT

DPA, Berlin -

German defence officials released details Friday of an aggressive attack on German forces near Kunduz in northern Afghanistan which suggests a new phase in the war with the Taliban. A German patrol of nearly 30 men came under attack Thursday afternoon with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, according to Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe in Berlin.

In the resulting gunbattle, which lasted several hours, the Germans killed four Taliban, wounded four and took four prisoners who were handed over to Afghan authorities, he said.

The firefight came only eight days after the German military suffered its first death in direct action since the Second World War.

An infantryman, 21, trading fire with rebels was killed April 29 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his light-armour Dingo vehicle near Kunduz in an encounter lasting several minutes. The attacks suggest a contest is developing for terrain, military analysts said.

Modern Germany had lost many soldiers in fatal accidents, and 12 have been killed by Afghan suicide bombs and booby traps, but none had previously been killed while using lethal force in battle.

Also on Thursday, German helicopter-borne commandoes captured a Taliban leader, Abdul Razek, who heads the movement in Badakshan province, after several hours of fighting near his home.

The arrival of the war in the north, where the Germans had been comparatively safe and concentrated on aiding civilians, could bring the military into dispute with Germany's large pacifist movement.

Raabe said Friday, "Anyone who attacks us or our allies has to expect that we'll fight back."

Germany begins to flex military muscle in Afghanistan

by Patrick Rahir Patrick Rahir –

Fri May 8, 2009, 12:47 pm ET

BERLIN (AFP) –

Rattled by increasingly brazen Taliban fighters' attacks in Afghanistan, German NATO troops have gone on the offensive with a rare raid to capture a Taliban commander and threatened Friday to target more.

The operation by German KSK special forces and Afghan troops on Thursday and the public sabre-rattling in Berlin mark a dramatic shift for Germany, where the Afghanistan mission is extremely unpopular.

Analysts say the more muscular posture comes not only in response to a growing threat but also a desire to quiet doubts in the United States and among other allies that Germany is fully committed to stabilising Afghanistan.

Three days before a visit to Berlin by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, officials in Berlin trumpeted the capture of alleged Taliban fighters leader Abdul Razeq blamed for a string of high-profile attacks in northern Afghanistan.

"With this successful operation, which was long planned and in which a major terror suspect was arrested, German forces demonstrated their effectiveness," Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said.

A state secretary at the ministry, Christian Schmidt, added that Abdul Razeq was "not the only one we have in our sights".

And a ministry spokesman said Friday: "Those who attack our soldiers need to know that they will be hunted".

Until now -- and to the frustration of some of its NATO allies -- Germany had put the accent on reconstruction and training in Afghanistan, where it has the third largest contingent behind the United States and Britain.

Berlin has long said its priority is to help Afghanistan begin to ensure its own defence and rebuild after several war-ravaged decades.

But those goals "are under threat by a growing number of attacks," which is why the German government is beginning to talk tough, said Henning Riecke of the German Council on Foreign Relations, a Berlin think-tank.

Riecke said the message was also targeted at Washington to show the administration of US President Barack Obama that it takes all aspects of the NATO's ISAF mission in Afghanistan seriously, not just reconstruction.

German troops bitterly report that GIs have taken to reinterpreting the mission's acronym to "I Saw Americans Fighting" to complain about the burden-sharing in the country.

"They've been under pretty sustained attacks on the part of the allies who have questioned the seriousness of the German commitment," said Daniel Korski a London-based analyst with the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Germany has 3,800 soldiers based in the relatively tranquil north of the country -- the number will rise to 4,400 ahead of a presidential election in August -- while US, British and Canadian troops are battling the Taliban in the south.

A total of 32 German soldiers have died in Afghanistan since their deployment in 2002.

US and British troops also frequently criticise the Germans' rules of engagement, which outlaw firing on militants if they are retreating and actively trying to snuff out the booming narcotics trade.

"The concern is that under the German approach, because there is too much concern about force protection, not enough is effectively being done," Korski said.

"Too much (enemy) activity in the area could ultimately reverse the progress that has been seen to this day. I wouldn't be surprised if the Germans wanted to address that."

Did Taliban try to kill German chancellor?

May 8, 2009 at 11:18 AM

BERLIN, May 8 (UPI) --

A Taliban leader said his group had tried to kill German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, after obtaining classified information on her secret trip to Afghanistan.

The German daily Bild reports that Mullah Barijalai, a Taliban leader for northern Afghanistan, told an interviewer from a Taliban-affiliated Web site that his group had planned and staged a terrorist attack targeting Merkel on April 6, when she was in the country for an unannounced visit.

According to Bild, Barijalai said he had received "classified information" on Merkel's secret visit to northern Afghanistan but refused to give his source.

The Taliban had fired rockets at the airport of Mazar-i-Sharif roughly 20 minutes after Merkel had taken off for Germany. The rockets' target, the Taliban said, was Merkel's plane.

Security officials are worried that a Taliban spy may have infiltrated government or military circles in Germany or Afghanistan; the visit had been kept secret until the very last moment.

Merkel was in the country to visit some of the 4,000 German troops stationed with the International Security Assistance Force.

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