BSR

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cities/indexintl.htm


Here is a weather site with several locations in Afghanistan, for you, if you want to check on the weather where your son is.

For some reason, I can't find Kandahar there, though, but several smaller places.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,161665,00.html


'Aggressive Search' Underway in Afghanistan


WASHINGTON — U.S. military forces in Afghanistan (search) are conducting an "aggressive search" for a Navy SEAL who has been missing since June 28, a commander on the ground told FOX News.

"It's nighttime and a lot happens for us at night," the commander said. When asked if hopes were fading for finding the SEAL alive, he said "oh no, I would not characterize it that way at all."

The search is to find the final member of an elite four-man Navy SEAL (search) commando team. One SEAL has been rescued, while the bodies of two others were recovered Monday and taken to the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, at Bagram (search), a U.S. military statement said. A transport helicopter sent in to rescue the four was shot down the day the team went missing, killing all 16 U.S. servicemen aboard.

"We're ... doing everything we can to find the last of the four SEALs. And it's a real priority, and something the president asked to get briefed on this morning," U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Another U.S. military spokesman, Col. James Yonts, would not go into details about the search to reporters. "We are very hopeful that we will recover this individual back into our care soon. We are working this very hard," he told reporters in Kabul.

He said the U.S. military has 300 troops in the area as well as numerous aircraft.

A U.S. military statement said the sole rescued serviceman was receiving medical treatment for "non-life-threatening injuries" at the Bagram base.

The commander who spoke to FOX News on condition of anonymity said the SEAL team found itself in a heavy firefight with a group of Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters when it called for backup.

The SEALs started moving out of the area and down a ravine when they came under more heavy small arms and rocket propelled grenades from another direction. The rescued SEAL remembers seeing two of his colleagues being shot — although he didn't know whether the shots were fatal, according to the commander.

The one SEAL was knocked unconscious from the concussion of an explosion nearby. When he woke up, it was night and he didn't see anyone. He then went to a pre-assigned checkpoint to get out of the area, the commander said.

Rebels Attack U.S. Medical Team

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, rebels attacked a U.S. military medical team as it was helping villagers in the same region of eastern Afghanistan (search) where a U.S. airstrike that killed up to 17 civilians sparked sharp criticism from the government, the military said Wednesday.

No one was wounded in the assault Tuesday on the medical team near the town of Asadabad in Kunar province (search), a military statement said. U.S. forces used mortars to respond and the insurgents fled.

"It's incredible to us that the enemy would attack our forces while we are providing innocent Afghans with health care," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said.

The airstrike last Friday also was in Kunar and targeted a known terrorist base, the U.S. military said, but an Afghan government spokesman said the deaths of the civilians, including women and children, could not be justified.

It marked unusual criticism from the government of President Hamid Karzai (search), often viewed by critics as an American puppet. The United States provides security for the president as well as hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid to Afghanistan.

The reprimand also highlighted Afghan government concern that deadly mistakes could erode public support for the U.S. presence here. In the past, Karzai's government has expressed interest in a long-term U.S. military presence in the region as Afghanistan recovers from nearly a quarter-century of war.

The air strike that killed civilians targeted a house in the same area. The number of people killed was still unclear, but "roughly half" may have been civilians, while the rest were Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday.

U.S. forces described the house as "a known operating base for terrorist attacks ... as well as a base for a medium-level terrorist leader."

"We deeply regret any loss of civilian life in the course of military actions," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the U.S. military takes "great strides" in trying to be precise when targeting combatants.

"But these things do occur and we obviously regret when they do. And we'll investigate to be able to determine what may have happened and how it can be avoided in the future," he said.

Jawed Ludin, Karzai's chief of staff, said "there is no way ... the killing of civilians can be justified."

An initial U.S. air strike destroyed a house, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, killing 17 people, including three women and children, Kunar provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa said.

He said it was unclear who was killed in the initial attack on the tiny village of Chechal.

FOX News' Bret Baier, Nick Simeone and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Area of latest ops.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=913743


Details Released on U.S. Afghan Missions


U.S. Military Officials Reveal Details About Ambush of Navy SEALs, Downed Helicopter


KABUL, Afghanistan Jul 6, 2005 — The last radio contact was an urgent appeal for help. Night was falling, a rainstorm threatening, and four Navy SEAL commandos were surrounded by about a dozen militants in rugged, wooded mountains. They needed reinforcements.

That hurried call set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the U.S. military's deadliest blow in Afghanistan, and the greatest loss of life ever for the elite force of SEALs.

Nine days after the ambush and subsequent downing of a U.S. special forces helicopter with 16 troops aboard, U.S military officials in Kabul and Washington are starting to draw a clearer picture of what happened and have revealed some details.

Suddenly, militants hiding in the thick forest fired what is believed to have been a rocket-propelled grenade at the massive chopper, hitting it, he said.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the shot as "pretty lucky."

Though damaged, the chopper flew on for about a mile before landing badly on a small ledge on the side of the mountain, then tumbling into a steep ravine. All 16 onboard are thought to have died in the crash. Militants then swarmed over the wreckage.

The Chinook, when hit, had been flying alongside other choppers. Their pilots immediately informed U.S. commanders of the crash, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of information regarding special forces operations.

U.S. warplanes, more helicopters and forces on the ground were dispatched to the site, but they were hampered by the approaching rainstorm that lashed the mountains for 24 hours.

In the meantime, there was no contact from the four commandos. No one knew if they had been killed in the firefight, or had survived and escaped but were unable to radio for help, the official said.

Fears were further raised when a purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed rebels had captured one of the men. But he gave no proof and U.S. officials were skeptical.

Hakimi who also claimed insurgents shot down the helicopter often calls news organizations to take responsibility for attacks, and the information frequently proves exaggerated or untrue. His exact tie to the Taliban leadership is unclear.

U.S. forces finally reached the wreckage of the helicopter last Thursday, 36 hours after it went down.

"We put forces on the ground, we established positions so no more enemy could enter the region. Little by little we took control of the greater area so we could reach the crash site and begin recovery operations," another military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, told The Associated Press.

U.S. officials initially said 17 people were on the chopper, but later revised it downward when they realized that one of the service members who was listed on the flight manifest did not get on the aircraft.

The bodies of the 16 ages 21 to 40 were recovered and flown to Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, before being transported to Dover, Del.

Then on Saturday, a breakthrough came in the desperate search for the four commandos. A friendly tribal elder living in the nearby mountains told authorities he was caring for one of them in his house, Kunar Gov. Asadullah Wafa said. It wasn't clear how the commando got there, he said.

U.S. forces rushed to the site and found the commando, wounded, but in stable condition. He was flown to Bagram for treatment and a debriefing, giving military commanders the first crucial clues about what happened to the ill-fated team.

But the good news didn't last.

On Saturday, a U.S. airstrike in the region killed as many as 17 civilians, prompting a strong rebuke by the Afghan government. The next day, U.S. troops in the area spotted the bodies of two of the commandos in a deep ravine. It took another 24 hours to recover their remains and fly them to Bagram.

It was the largest loss of Navy SEALs in a single incident since the force of about 2,400 was formed in 1962.

U.S. commanders refused to give up hope for the fourth missing service member. About 300 troops and numerous aircraft were still in the area Wednesday, searching for him and hunting "a large number" of militants, Yonts said.

"We're, of course, doing everything we can to find the last of the four SEALs. And it's a real priority, and something the president asked to get briefed on this morning," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said aboard Air Force One.

The U.S. military has remained tightlipped on what the commandos were doing in the area, or what happened to the men following their urgent calls for help and the helicopter crash.


Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

quote:

Originally posted by Tours732:
BSR

Sorry to hear about that, but I am sure that things will work out with your son and his superiors.

Did someone there actually see what you posted here in the forum? Or did I misunderstand that?

Keep the faith!

They way I understand it someone there read my comments and went running to the shirt, for whatever reason.

Kinda pi$$ed me off that they would take my comments and turn them into something against my son.

Being with the headquarters element can't be all bad for him. If the command element felt he wasn't hacking it as a warrior, I'm sure they would have shipped him back to their home post.

He was planning to extend his tour in Italy by at least one year, but the last I heard about his re-enlistment plans, part of the deal is to pick and choose a CONUS posting, so I guess extending in Italy and staying with his current unit is now out the window - oh well, it's their loss.

He's asking for either Fort Steward (3 ID) or Fort Hood (1 Cav). He also mentioned returning to Fort Bliss or maybe going to Fort Lewis.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-07-07-taliban-claim_x.htm


Taliban repeats claim to be holding American commando

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A purported Taliban spokesman reiterated a claim Thursday that his group is holding a missing U.S. Navy SEAL and said insurgent leaders had decided to kill him. He offered no proof to back up the claim.
U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore, reacting to the claim, said: "We hope he is not in harm's way. We are making every effort to locate him."

The purported spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, said previously that the Taliban are holding the commando, who has been missing in Afghanistan for 10 days. Hakimi frequently contacts news agencies claiming to speak for the rebels, but his information in the past has proven exaggerated or untrue, and his exact tie to the Taliban leadership cannot be independently verified.

"This American will never be forgiven. Definitely he will be killed," Hakimi said. He said the group would release a video after the man's death.

Hakimi said he was last in contact Wednesday with the rebels who he says are holding the American and was told that his health was good and that he had not been abused. He said the rebels were holding the U.S. service member in a house in Kunar.

The man is the last of a four-member U.S. Navy SEAL commando team missing since last month. One of the men was rescued; two others were found dead.

A special forces helicopter carrying reinforcements to the area crashed on June 28, killing all 16 Americans on board, the deadliest single attack on the U.S. military since the war here began in 2001.

About 300 troops and several aircraft are in the mountainous area searching for the service member and hunting militants, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said Wednesday.

The eastern province of Kunar has long been a hotbed of militant activity and a haven for fighters loyal to renegade former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is wanted by the United States. U.S. officials said al-Qaeda fighters also were in the region. Osama bin Laden was not said to be there — though he is believed to be somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier.

The region's rugged, wooded mountains are popular with militants because they are easy to infiltrate from neighboring Pakistan and have plenty of places to hide.

On Saturday, a U.S. airstrike in the region killed as many as 17 civilians, prompting a strong rebuke by the Afghan government.

The violence in Kunar follows an unprecedented spate of fighting that has left about 700 people dead and threatened to sabotage three years of progress toward peace. Afghan officials insist the violence will not disrupt landmark legislative elections slated for September.

In the latest clash, suspected Taliban rebels late Wednesday attacked a government office 40 miles south of the Afghan capital, Kabul, local police chief Khan Mohammed said.

Police guarding the building fought back during a two-hour gunbattle before the insurgents fled. No officers were killed, though it was not clear if the rebels suffered any losses, he said. The fighting was the closest by suspected Taliban rebels to Kabul in months.

...

And all the self proclaimed so called "human rights" groups are saying....?

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/07/07/austral...ghanistan/index.html


Australia mulls Afghan troop plea


SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australia will decide next week whether it will again send troops to Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Howard has said.

Australia was one of the first countries to commit forces to Afghanistan as part of the U.S.-led action against the al Qaeda terrorist group and their Taliban hosts in 2001.

All told, 1,550 Australian defense personnel were sent, including air force and navy units. The main fighting commitment was a group of 150 elite Special Air Services soldiers.

But Australia withdrew its special forces troops from Afghanistan in 2002 after they completed their mission there.

Howard, a close ally of U.S. President George W. Bush, has since sent other troops, aircraft and ships to the Middle East to take part in the Iraq operation.

A deteriorating security environment in Afghanistan has led both the administration of President Hamid Karzai and NATO commanders to press Australia to contribute troops again.

NATO commands the 8,000-strong international force now in Afghanistan.

Taliban and al Qaeda forces have stepped up attacks in recent days, particularly in the south and along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.

In a recent incident, a U.S. helicopter going to the aid of a U.S. reconnaissance team crashed on June 28, with the loss of 16 lives. As well, two members of the four-man team were killed and another is missing.

Howard, who is due to meet Bush in Washington on July 16, told Australian radio on Thursday that the cabinet would make a decision on the troop commitment next week.

"There's been a standing request from the government of Afghanistan over quite a period of time to a lot of countries including Australia to send troops," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

Defense analysts say Australia once again has the capacity to send troops to Afghanistan, following the winding down of its peace-keeping commitments in East Timor and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said at the weekend that the government received a "steady stream of requests" on troops for Afghanistan. He said the government was looking at it, but stressed that no decision had yet been made.

"This is something we'll be having a look at over the next few weeks, and we'll make a decision one way or the other then," he said.





Australian special forces served in Afghanistan in 2001-02.




Australia withdrew its special forces troops from Afghanistan in 2002.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/20050707_1997.html


Attack on Medical Group Highlights Taliban Desperation

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, July 7, 2005 – A recent attack on a medical assistance team in Afghanistan highlights the enemy's desperation, officials in the country said.

A joint Afghan-U.S. medical assistance team came under attack from a small group of enemy forces in the eastern province of Kunar. Soldiers drove the enemy away and continue to search the region.

"It's incredible to us that the enemy would attack our forces while we are providing innocent Afghans with health care," said Army Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force 76. "These attacks will not deter us; we will continue to provide this type of civic assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

"The enemy has proved through their actions again that they are only interested in oppression and terror for the people of this nation," he continued. "Every step we take forward with the Afghanistan government further and further marginalizes their cause."

The number of attacks directed against Afghan and coalition forces has increased, said Pentagon officials, who noted that there are a couple of reasons. First, summer is the "season" for war in the region. Winter in Central Asia is tough, and throughout history, it was a time when opposing sides hunkered down and waited for the weather to improve.

Second, the democratically elected Afghan government is making real progress. About 8.5 million Afghans voted in the October 2004 contest that elected Hamid Karzai as president. On Sept. 18, Afghanistan will hold elections for a national assembly and provincial councils. Officials hope the elections will show Taliban and al Qaeda remnants that the Afghan people do not sympathize with their brand of extremism.

In addition to the elections, other signs of progress in Afghanistan make terrorist positions untenable. Afghan and coalition officials are building roads, digging wells, building schools, establishing health clinics, providing veterinary services, and providing security. The NATO International Security Assistance Force has assumed security in the area around the capital of Kabul and the eastern part of the country, to include the city of Herat. About 8,000 NATO soldiers are helping the Afghan National Army and police forces maintain order and stability in the area.

The steps have splintered the Taliban. Officials said Taliban sympathizers are increasingly turning to the government. Karzai has reached out to those people to bring them into the political process. Officials believe this is a sign that the "moderates" in Afghanistan are winning.

Now is not the time to declare victory and pull out of the country, officials said. The opposition knows its only hope of beating the Afghan government and the coalition is to continue these small-scale attacks and hope that the international community loses patience.

Pentagon officials believe that, as the September elections approach, Taliban and al Qaeda operatives will step up their attacks in hopes of intimidating voters.

There is a hard-core group in the Taliban that will continue to fight, and the United States has about 19,000 troops in country to continue offensive operations.

Increasingly effective Afghan forces are joining those forces. There are about 24,000 members of the Afghan National Army and coalition forces have accelerated training to reach 70,000 by September 2007. In addition, there are about 40,000 Afghan police aiming toward 62,000 by October 2006.

http://www.ngb.army.mil/news/story.asp?id=1656


Guard Soldier Says Afghan Troops Eager to Serve


CAMP VICTORY, Afghanistan (6/30/2005) — Imagine a Soldier getting paid and then disappearing for a month or so because he has to cross his country on his own to take the money to his family. Is he AWOL? Has he deserted? Will he be back?

Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Derrick Kelly gets to wrestle with questions like that fairly often in western Afghanistan while serving with and mentoring newly minted Soldiers in the Afghan National Army.

This personnel NCO is dealing firsthand with some of the growing pains that countries experience while forming new governments and organizing new military forces. The United States experienced similar growing pains a couple of centuries ago. The Afghan National Army is experiencing them now while striving to help take control of their country from the Taliban during the Global War on Terrorism.

“Overall, they’re pretty good Soldiers. They have issues like our Soldiers have. It’s just that resolving them is more complex,” said Kelly, a Florida Army Guard Soldier who has spent nearly a year on Operation Enduring Freedom duty with the Army Guard’s 76th Brigade Combat Team from Indiana.

“Many of them really do want to serve their country,” Kelly explained. “But this also gives them a stable income for their families.”

And, no, the Afghan Soldiers do not have direct deposit bank accounts. The pay has to be delivered in person. Many of them come from the Kabul area, in the eastern part of the country, and they have to get to their homes and back on their own, Kelly said.

The Guard Soldiers from Indiana – and South Carolina, Alabama, Montana, Oregon and Texas – have gotten a lot of attention while training members of the Afghan National Army this year at Camp Phoenix and at a former Russian military training center near Kabul, the Afghan capital.

About 125 of them, including Kelly, however, are members of the 207th Regional Corps Assistance Group that is commanded by Col. Randall Smith and that has worked with more than 2,200 of the newly trained Afghan Soldiers in their country’s western desert.

Their mission is to provide security and stability in the provinces of Herat, Farah, Badghis and Ghowr and to help give a new Afghan government the chance to take root.

“The warlords made money by setting up checkpoints and taxing vehicles and commerce coming through here. We’re a threat to them,” Smith told LTG H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and other Washington dignitaries who recently visited Camp Victory. One of them was Mary Beth Long, deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics.

There were 2,227 Afghan Soldiers in the 207th Zafar Corps commanded by Maj. Gen. Abdul Wazilladah, but 477 were listed as absent without leave on that mid-June day, the Blum party was told.

“They’re not necessarily AWOL,” Smith explained. “We believe they’re caught up in trying to get money to their families and then getting back.”

The American Soldiers have faced many challenges since late last summer, said Kelly, even though that region has been fairly quiet while they have been there.

-- They have built Camp Victory and helped organize the Afghan force a year earlier than originally expected.

“Camp Victory was dust when we got here 10 months ago. Then it came to life,” said Kelly of the modern military camp located about 40 miles from Iran.

-- They have introduced the concept of a noncommissioned officer corps to the Afghans whose military background was structured on officers and privates. That means they had little or no idea that an enlisted Soldier like Kelly could be given any significant responsibilities.

“Most of the officers are former militia officers. They have a military background and an idea of what the military is,” Kelly said. “We’ve helped them understand during this last year the importance of the individual Soldier and the importance of an NCO.

“Not a lot of the Soldiers have military backgrounds, but many of them are pretty sharp,” he added.

-- The American Guard Soldiers have also mourned four of their own who were killed when their vehicle struck a mine in Kabul late last March.

Overall, serving in Afghanistan has been a satisfying experience, Kelly said.

“These people have a different way to do business,” he said. “We’re just trying to help them learn how to do their business better.”

Seems the media already lost interest in Afghanistan. Too slow casualty rate for them, I guess.

http://www.dod.mil/news/Jul2005/20050711_2026.html


More U.S. Forces Headed to Afghanistan; Unit to Change Role

American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, July 11, 2005 – An Army airborne infantry battalion is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan to provide more flexibility in the fight against terrorism and to support the National Assembly and Provincial Council elections, U.S. officials in Afghanistan said.
About 700 members of 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, are expected to deploy from Fort Bragg, N.C., within two weeks. The unit returned from Iraq in March after deploying there in December to provide security for the January elections in that country.

"The Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and coalition forces, along with this additional airborne battalion, will provide greater flexibility to continue offensive operations and enhance security during the election period," said Brig. Gen. Jack Sterling, deputy commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force 76. "We want to provide Afghanistan with an environment for democracy to flourish. It is our goal to allow security that promotes participation in the election process."

Elections for Afghanistan's National Assembly and provincial councils are scheduled for Sept. 18.

In other developments, the Office of Military Cooperation Afghanistan will officially change its designation to the Office of Security Cooperation Afghanistan July 12 at Camp Eggers.

The redesignation is due to the command's assumption of the U.S. government's role in Afghan security-sector reform. This will include support to the lead nation, Germany, in the reform of the Afghan National Police, in addition to the unit's current Afghan National Army reform mission.

(Compiled from Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news releases.)

http://www.dod.gov/news/Jul2005/20050711_2024.html


Afghan Army Logisticians to Visit U.S.

By Sgt. Lynnette M. Jefferson, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service


KABUL, Afghanistan, July 11, 2005 – Senior members of the Afghan National Army's Logistics Command will travel to the United States this week to visit Army Materiel Command headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Va., and other military logistics depots and supply centers.
Gen. Shah Aqa Haidari, the ANA General Staff's director of logistics materiel readiness; Col. Mohammad Ewaz Esar, commander of the ANA's Central Supply Depot; and Lt. Col. Mohammad Ibrahim, secretary to the General Staff, will first visit a logistics depot in Philadelphia on the way to their scheduled Fort Belvoir visit July 15. They will also travel to Washington July 16-17 to visit the Afghan Embassy and the Pentagon.

"I hope to learn from the U.S. Army leaders," Ibrahim said. "The experience will help me to learn more for my country and will help the people of Afghanistan too. It will be a good trip."

He said this is his first trip to the United States. "I am very happy to go to the United States, and my family is excited for me as well," he said.

Escorting the Afghan delegation will be U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Theodore Walker, a logistics plans maintenance officer from the Office of Military Cooperation Afghanistan's Defense Resource Sector directorate. He said the trip will strengthen the logistics capabilities of the Afghan military.

"It is a great experience for them to see how the U.S. Army manages resources," Walker said.

The ANA Logistics Command provides national-level logistics support to the Ministry of Defense and other ministries. It serves as the national provider of supplies, maintenance and strategic transportation for the ANA.

When the ANA officers return to Afghanistan, they will work to apply their experiences to improve the management of the ANA's Logistics Command.

(U.S. Army Sgt. Lynnette M. Jefferson is assigned to the Office of Military Cooperation Afghanistan.)

Afghan horsemen

Panjshir Valley

Farah, west central Afghanistan

Ghazni, east central Afghanistan

Balkh