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NEWS ABOUT: Helmand province

Fresh Troops to Target Afghanistan's Troubled South

Kandahar key in coming Afghan surge

(Newser) - Though President Obama has yet to announce his plan for finishing the job in Afghanistan, military commanders say the bulk of the fresh troops—regardless of their number—will be sent to the country's volatile south to reverse Taliban gains, specifically targeting the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The coming surge... More »

Rogue Afghan Cop Kills 5 Brit Soldiers

Culprit escapes after turning weapon on training team

(Newser) - Five British soldiers died in Helmand province yesterday after a rogue Afghan cop opened fire on a group of Afghan policemen and their British mentors drinking tea together. The mentors had been training the Afghans for two weeks when one of the trainees turned his weapon on them without warning.... More »

Britain to Send 500 More Troops to Afghanistan

Expects other NATO countries to follow suit

(Newser) - Britain will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, Gordon Brown is expected to announce today, defying calls to reduce Britain’s presence there. The men will come with strings attached, however: “The prime minister will want assurances from military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped,”... More »

Taliban Threaten to Mutilate Afghan Voters

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai's battle for reelection on Thursday is facing a significant hurdle: threats by the Taliban to mutilate anyone who shows up at the polls. Insurgents are strongest in Pashtun regions, normally a Karzai stronghold, and in one town a group of Taliban fighters told citizens anyone who votes will... More »

Marines Launch New Afghan Assault

(AP) - US Marines battled Taliban fighters today for control of a strategic southern town in a new operation to cut militant supply lines and allow Afghan residents to vote in next week's presidential election. Insurgents appeared to dig in for a fight, firing rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, and even missiles from... More »

After Rash of Deaths, UK Rethinks Afghanistan

(Newser) - Eight British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan last week within just 24 hours, the worst day of casualties the UK had seen in 30 years. After 15 fatalities in July alone, Gordon Brown is facing severe criticism for underfinancing the war effort, particularly for not providing enough helicopters to troops,... More »

The Afghan Region Marines Invaded? America Built It

(Newser) - The 4,000 US Marines who invaded the Helmand Province in Afghanistan this week might feel at home—the US helped build it, the Christian Science Monitor reports. In a Cold War race against the Soviets, Washington lavished more than $110 million on irrigating land, constructing schools, and building the... More »

Afghan Generals Want, But Won't Get, More Troops

(Newser) - President Obama has sent 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan so far, and he’s not sending more anytime soon, writes Bob Woodward, who accompanied national security adviser James Jones as he visited commanders last week, delivering the unwelcome news. They repeatedly told him their troops are spread too thin,... More »

Brits Grab $105M in Drugs From Afghan Taliban

Taliban drug factory found and destroyed in Helmand province

(Newser) - British troops have seized a huge stash of Taliban drugs after fierce fighting in Afghanistan, the Telegraph reports. Soldiers from the elite Black Watch squad discovered opium, heroin, and cannabis with a street value of some $105 million after attacking a Taliban drug factory in Helmand province. A number of... More »

Town's Stalemate Offers Snapshot of Afghan War

(Newser) - A stalemate between US Marines and Taliban fighters in a small, abandoned town in southern Afghanistan could be seen as a microcosm of the war there, Michael M. Phillips writes in the Wall Street Journal. In Now Zad, a 300-strong company of Marines has traded fire with a Taliban force... More »

US, Afghan Forces Kill 60 in Massive Taliban Drug Raid

(Newser) - US and Afghan forces seized a massive drug cache and and killed 60 militants in a four-day operation in Helmand province, Reuters reports. The troops scored more than 17 tons of morphine, opium, and heroin, along with 75 tons of poppy seeds, and caches of weapons and equipment, the military... More »

US Preps Plans to Take Out Taliban Poppy Crop

Offensive aims to cut off Afghan insurgency's financial lifeline

(Newser) - American commanders in Afghanistan are preparing a huge assault on the Taliban's opium-growing heartlands this summer, reports the New York Times. Taking out the opium crop is key to NATO strategy, and commanders expect casualties on both sides will be high as the militants stand their ground to defend the... More »

Pentagon to Send 30K New Troops to Afghanistan

Heartland strategy seeks to cut off Taliban's supply of fighters, drug money

(Newser) - US commanders are finalizing plans to beat back the resurgent Taliban with tens of thousands of extra American troops in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal reports. As part of Barack Obama's emerging strategy, reinforcements will be deployed in rural areas where Kabul's grip is weak, including along the border with... More »

9 US Troops Die in Afghan Attack; Suicide Bomb Kills 24

But at least 40 militants killed in separate attack on coalition forces

(AP) - A multi-pronged militant assault on a remote US base killed nine American soldiers and wounded 15 today in the deadliest attack on US forces in Afghanistan in 3 years, officials said. The attack came the same day a suicide bomber targeting a police patrol killed 24 people, while US coalition... More »

Harry Praised by US Pilots

F-15 flyers note composure of then unknown Brit who called in airstrikes

(Newser) - American F-15 fighter pilots were impressed with the composure of the British soldier who called in air cover on Taliban entrenchments in Afghanistan in December. But for 2 months Capt. Ben Donberg and Col. Dan DeBree had no idea that "Widow Six Seven" was actually Britain's Prince Harry calling... More »

Prince Harry Should Have Stayed

Christopher Hitchens asks what threat he posed others

(Newser) - When Matt Drudge revealed to the world Prince Harry was in Afghanistan, there he should have stayed, writes Christopher Hitchens for Slate. It's "piffle" to think that his royal highness was a "bullet magnet" in Helmand province, already one of the most dangerous places on Earth for any... More »

We Were Hunting Harry: Taliban

Militants after 'important chicken'

(Newser) - Taliban militants knew Britain's Prince Harry was deployed with his infantry unit in Afghanistan and were plotting to kidnap or kill him, one of their leaders tells Newsweek. Deputy Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Karim claims he learned of the presence of "an important chicken" as long ago as December,... More »

Media Leak Ends Harry's Afghan Mission

Army planning emergency exit for soldier prince

(Newser) - Britain's defense ministry is setting up emergency plans to withdraw Prince Harry from his battalion in Afghanistan after yesterday's news leak that he had been stationed there. He has completed 10 weeks of what was supposed to be a four-month tour of duty in Helmand Province, reports the Times of... More »

Afghan Deputy Governor, 5 Others Killed in Mosque Attack

Bombing comes amid 'failed state' warnings

(Newser) - A suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed six people, including the deputy governor of the dangerous Helmand province, in an attack inside a mosque today. At least 11 others were injured in the explosion in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, a focus of reconstruction programs led by the British army,... More »

Afghans Facing Food Crisis

Minister pleads for wheat from international community

(Newser) - Afghanistan is facing a critical food shortage and is appealing to the world to send extra wheat, the BBC reports. "The situation is serious," warned the nation's commerce minister. Afghanistan relies on food imports, and the rising price of grain on world markets is triggering a national hardship.... More »

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