Militants attack remote U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan

[Judi Lynn]

Militants attack remote U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan
By Associated Press
Wednesday, March 10, 2004

KABUL, Afghanistan - Militants attacked a remote U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan with rockets and heavy machine-guns, sparking a battle that killed a bystander, the military said Wednesday. The main American base in the south also came under rocket assault.

At least a dozen guerrillas assailed the outpost at Nangalam, about 100 miles east of the capital Kabul, in Kunar province early on Tuesday morning.

The attackers shot about 20 rockets then opened fire on the base, which houses about 100 U.S. Marines and special forces, but inflicted no American casualties, military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said.

U.S. forces responded with gunfire and called in an A-10 ground attack aircraft.
(snip/...)

http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=1095

[daleo]

1. Taliban claimed to have killed 7 U.S. soldiers

I think I read this in DU yesterday. I wonder if this is the disputed event. P.S. - I don't put a lot of stock in Taliban claims in these matters.

[mobuto]

2. If you added the Taliban's claims,

they've killed significantly more Americans than the Census Bureau believes exist.

[Ms. Clio]

3. impossible

That "war" has been won. The Taliban are crushed. The Bushistas say it, so it must be true.

[mobuto]

4. More about the region

Attacks conducted by the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Hekmatyar's forces in eastern and southern Afghanistan, alongside Pakistan's tribal areas, happen almost daily. The arc extends from Zabol, in the Afghan south, and runs north through the provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Nangarhar and Kunar (a possible hideout of Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri). The Afghan resistance's rearguard bases are in the neighboring Pakistani tribal areas, from Zhob in the south to Kohistan in the north, through South Waziristan (another region where bin Laden might be hiding), North Waziristan, Kurram and Khyber. The Taliban are infiltrating all over these areas, non-stop. Since last year, the Musharraf government has prohibited access to journalists, especially the foreign press.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FB20Ag01.html