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Afghanistan – Ten French soldiers die in Taliban ambush |
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In the biggest single loss of foreign troops in combat since 2001, Taliban militants killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in battle, east of Kabul, on August 19. Officials said, the soldiers were killed in a battle that erupted when the Taliban ambushed their patrol in Sarobi district of Kabul on Monday. Air support was used to extract the Unit from the extremely violent ambush which left 10 French soldiers dead and 21 wounded. The Afghan Defence Ministry said 27 militants were killed in the fighting. In another collapse near Kabul, three Polish soldiers and 30 militants were killed on August 21.
According to a Polish military officer, the three soldiers were killed in the fighting about 20 km from their Ghazni base in Central Afghanistan.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Afghanistan on August 20 to express his sympathy and solidarity with his troops. France has 1670 troops with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, after Sarkozy sent an extra 700 soldiers this year in response to a US call for its NATO allies to send more force to check a surge in violence.
Both the US and Britain are planning to send more troops in view of the increased Taliban attacks. Reports from London say, Britain’s special forces will play a key role in a newly planned surge against Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The INDEPENDENT newspaper said SAS and SBS troops are to be used to expand the army’s “D capitation” strategy, working along with US Marines against the Taliban leadership. American forces are expected to expand by a third while the number of British troops will also increase as more forces are pulled out of Iraq.
The plans reflect deep unease in Washington and London at the political turmoil in Pakistan under its fractured four-month-old civilian government, which could now deepen with the power struggle expected to follow the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf. According to a senior Defence source, all the intelligence and analysts point to a further “implosion of security” in Pakistan, allowing Islamist groups to use the frontier area to step up attacks into Afghanistan.
Karzai to seek re-election
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has announced that he will seek re-election next year. maintained that he has yet to finish the job he began four years ago as Afghanistan’s freely-elected President after nearly 30 years of war. In an interview with AP, he admitted that his job record is a patch work of success and failures. Karzai said he had at least begun the task to rebuild the war-torn country.
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