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http://www.irna.com/en/world/021008042207.ewo.shtml Five US soldiers killed, a dozen injured in east of Afghanistan Kabul, Oct 8, IRNA(Iran)-- Two rocket attacks against the American forces' headquarters in Afghanistan's eastern Khost Province, near Khost city has claimed the lives of five American soldiers, and seriously wounded about a dozen more soldiers and commanders, a local source told IRNA late Monday night. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source added, "during the past two days, marking the first anniversary of the American forces' entry into Afghanistan, unidentified forces, that are most probably the remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, launched two heavy rocket attacks against the American forces' military headquarters in host mountainous region." He said that the American forces' command ordered a house to house search for the attacker and besieged the whole area using armored vehicles, tanks, and helicopter. "They have arrested a number of Afghan youths and middle aged men suspects, who are being interrogated currently, but the attackers are most probably still at large," he added. The American military sources in Afghanistan have still not announced the news and the independent sources here, too, have still remained silent about the shocking issue. According to similar reports, during the first half of the current week at least four attacks have been launched against the American forces' gathering centers in the mountainous eastern parts of Afghanistan, where it is easier to hide, attack and flee. The United States has some ten thousand military forces in Afghanistan currently, the major part of whom are stationed in two military air bases, one in Bagram in the north of the capital, Kabul, and the other in Qandihar Air Port in the south. The US administration recently announced that the army is considering plans to revise the US military activities in Afghanistan. The military observers believe as the time of a US attack against Iraq approaches its zero hour, the military maneuvers of the US forces in Afghanistan would drastically decrease. Meanwhile, the US military has shifted the emphasis of its mission in Afghanistan from combat operations to humanitarian activities to help shore up the central government, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday. Speaking on the anniversary of the US-led campaign that toppled the Taliban regime, Rumsfeld said US forces will be in the country "as long as it takes" for the government to stand on its own. "The government has to find its sea legs, and people have to develop confidence in that government, that that government is delivering to them and making their lives better," Rumsfeld said. "That means you have to focus on the humanitarian side, you simply have to focus on the civil affairs side, and people have to develop a stake in that country, and in that government," he said. About 10,000 US troops are currently in Afghanistan, but more of the force is being dedicated to humanitarian or civil affairs activities, he said. President George W Bush came into office as a vehement critic of the previous administration's use of the US military for "nation-building" in the Balkans and elsewhere. But Rumsfeld conceded that it had to be done to keep Afghanistan from again becoming "a terrorist training camp." Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden remains an elusive "fixation" a year after the start of a US military campaign to uproot his al-Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged Monday. Rumsfeld said as many as 20 top al-Qaeda leaders remain "unaccounted for" and there has been no new evidence that bin Laden is alive and functioning since December. "So he's therefore either alive and well, or alive and not too well, or not alive!" he told reporters. Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based television news network, on Sunday broadcast another audiotape of bin Laden warning that the "youth of Islam" would strike vital US economic targets. Rumsfeld said it was impossible to tell when the tape was made because it contained no reference to events that could date it. He said he had not heard the tape, only read reports about it, but others were examining it. Rumsfeld recalled that from the outset of the war he had tried to discourage people from "personalizing this global war on terrorism into the face or name of a single individual." "I failed," he said. "There's a fixation on him. And I suppose we'll just all have to work our way through it." "Needless to say, we would like to locate him and determine what his circumstance is," he said. About 15 to 20 top al-Qaeda and Taliban figures also remain unaccounted for, their fate unknown, he said. He said Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban leader, too, is "probably still alive." Rumsfeld complained that press leaks had tipped off al-Qaeda to US intelligence gathering methods, making them more difficult to find. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
