I thought we won in Afghanistan
Afghan Guerrillas Kill 32 With Ties to Legislator
By CARLOTTA GALL
New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 19 — Suspected Taliban guerrillas in the southern province of Helmand ambushed and killed 32 people on Sunday, all of them relatives and tribesmen of an influential member of Parliament, among them a former local government official, the legislator said Monday.
The attack, in broad daylight, was the latest sign of the strength of the suspected Taliban insurgents in Helmand, a poppy-growing province where NATO and the Afghan Army have recently increased their troops in an effort to contain the spreading insurgency.
The legislator, Dad Muhammad, who was the intelligence chief of Helmand after the fall of the Taliban and is now an elected member of the upper house of Parliament, said his 15-year-old son and two of his brothers, one a former chief of the Sangin district, were killed in the fighting, which lasted most of Sunday.
Another son of Mr. Muhammad was among five people wounded, he said. Ten more people were missing and thought to have been abducted by the insurgents. All of those killed were relatives or supporters, he said.
Mr. Muhammad and the brother who was the former district chief have worked to rid the area of the suspected Taliban insurgents, who are believed to be in league with drug traffickers in the poppy trade.
"We buried 32 people," he said. "Ten are missing. They are in Taliban hands, we don't know if they are dead or alive." He ruled out a personal vendetta, though, and said the Taliban had about 2,000 fighters in the area.
Mr. Muhammad, speaking in Kabul, said it was too dangerous for him to travel to his home. His surviving relatives were now under siege from the Taliban in their home in the town of Sangin, he said.
(There is more.)
By CARLOTTA GALL
New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 19 — Suspected Taliban guerrillas in the southern province of Helmand ambushed and killed 32 people on Sunday, all of them relatives and tribesmen of an influential member of Parliament, among them a former local government official, the legislator said Monday.
The attack, in broad daylight, was the latest sign of the strength of the suspected Taliban insurgents in Helmand, a poppy-growing province where NATO and the Afghan Army have recently increased their troops in an effort to contain the spreading insurgency.
The legislator, Dad Muhammad, who was the intelligence chief of Helmand after the fall of the Taliban and is now an elected member of the upper house of Parliament, said his 15-year-old son and two of his brothers, one a former chief of the Sangin district, were killed in the fighting, which lasted most of Sunday.
Another son of Mr. Muhammad was among five people wounded, he said. Ten more people were missing and thought to have been abducted by the insurgents. All of those killed were relatives or supporters, he said.
Mr. Muhammad and the brother who was the former district chief have worked to rid the area of the suspected Taliban insurgents, who are believed to be in league with drug traffickers in the poppy trade.
"We buried 32 people," he said. "Ten are missing. They are in Taliban hands, we don't know if they are dead or alive." He ruled out a personal vendetta, though, and said the Taliban had about 2,000 fighters in the area.
Mr. Muhammad, speaking in Kabul, said it was too dangerous for him to travel to his home. His surviving relatives were now under siege from the Taliban in their home in the town of Sangin, he said.
(There is more.)
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