Word: june
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...took all of 30 minutes. On June 13, Taliban forces sent two suicide bombers into a prison in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar; they were followed by 30 motorcyle-riding militants, who systematically broke down every cell door in the jail. The audacious raid freed an estimated 400 Taliban fighters, and many of them appear to have gone right to work. Within three days, hundreds of insurgents swarmed through the key district of Arghandab - and escaped prisoners were among them, says district chief Ghulam Farouq. As the Taliban gained a footing in the villages, NATO and Afghan army troops...
...International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO's military arm in Afghanistan, concurs. "In the wake of the jailbreak we obviously have a different and more difficult security situation in Kandahar," he says. While ISAF officials are skeptical about reports of high numbers of Taliban forces fighting together, on June 18 Afghan National Army (ANA) and ISAF troops launched an offensive, assisted by helicopter gunships, to drive the Taliban from the villages. Later that day, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said that dozens of Taliban fighters - including foreign militants - had died in the confrontation, as had two ANA soldiers...
...more troops will be of little use if Afghan insurgents are finding support and sanctuary across the border in Pakistan. McNeil, who spent 16 months in Afghanistan and left on June 3, blamed April's 50% increase in attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan's east and south on insurgents crossing the border from Pakistan. Despite "tactical success on the battlefield last year, we still have a lot of work to do," he told journalists just before departing the country. "As long as there are these sanctuaries that remain out of the reach of security forces here, long-term security...
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has said he is fed up with Taliban militants using Pakistan as a sanctuary, announcing in a press conference on June 15 that he would send Afghan troops into Pakistan to hunt down Taliban leaders. "Afghanistan has a right to self-defense," Karzai said. Pakistani officials reacted angrily, swearing to defend their territorial sovereignty. Relations between the two countries have always been fragile; Karzai's statement strained them further. But instead of being chastised for his lack of diplomacy, Karzai received the blessing of U.S. President George Bush: "Our strategy is to deny safe haven...
When George Bush and Gordon Brown held their first joint press conference last summer, there seemed to be little chemistry between the two leaders. How times have changed. A visit to London and Belfast by the President on June 15-16, the finale of his week-long European tour, showed just how much common ground he shares with the British Prime Minister...