Six Americans Killed in Afghanistan as Top General Arrives
Source: The Guardian (UK)
Six Americans and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks on Saturday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the US military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said.
In the south, three US service members, two US civilians and the doctor were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives just as a convoy with the international military coalition drove past another convoy of vehicles carrying the governor of Zabul province. Another American civilian was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan, the US military said in a statement.
The attacks occurred on the same day that US General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Afghanistan for a visit aimed at assessing the level of training that American troops can provide to Afghan security forces after international combat forces complete their withdrawal at the end of 2014.
Those killed in Zabul province included three members of the military and two US civilians, including at least one employee with the US State Department, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement. Several other Americans and Afghans, possibly as many as nine, were wounded, the official said.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/06/six-americans-killed-afghanistan
And so it goes in year 12 of the occupation.
Meanwhile, the US is engaged in peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Skittles
(153,193 posts)Ash_F
(5,861 posts)...we should remember that we still have this going on.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)"I have a scheme for stopping war. It's this - no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one."
Will Rogers
DCBob
(24,689 posts)part of the transcript from an ABC news report..
A convoy of american troops and diplomats were driving down this road in southern afghanistan this morning after pulling out of their base. They joined the local governor's convoy and were going to deliver books to schoolchildren.
Two suicide attackers sped for the U.S. truck and exploded killing three U.S. troops, one pentagon civilian and one female diplomat. One of very few killed in afghanistan during the entire war.
Secretary of state John Kerry had just met her in kabul and called her everything a foreign service officer should be, smart, capable, eager to serve, deeply committed. That diplomat was helping rebuild this area. Part of the same team I met when troops first arrived here. We feel the biggest way we can help this country is by helping the youth.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/americans-killed-afghan-mission-mercy-18897887
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Beacool
(30,251 posts)My condolences to the families. The woman diplomat was so young, very sad.
May they all rest in peace.