Wow, perusing the news coming out of Afghanistan, I came across several articles.

One is dated December 29, and describes how two would-be suicide bombers accidentally blew themselves up while strapping on their explosives. More’s the pity.

Next, from the Conservative Voice, Coalition Air Crews Fly Support Mission, also dated December 29, from the American Forces Press Service.

U. S. and coalition aircrews flew combat and support missions yesterday in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, U. S. Central Command Air Forces Forward officials in Southwest Asia reported today.

Coalition aircraft flew 46 close air support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom, supporting coalition troops, infrastructure protection, reconstruction activities and operations to deter and disrupt terrorist activities. U. S. Air Force F-16s struck an insurgent bunker near Ramadi and an enemy mortar firing location near Balad, officials said.

From the same article, music to my ears–close air support with ISR aircraft, British Royal Air Force fighter aircraft and our very own C-130s and C-17s!!!

In Afghanistan, coalition aircraft flew 20 close air support missions, including A-10 and B-52 missions near Gereshk, and ISR aircraft flew operational support missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. These missions included support to coalition and Afghan troops, reconstruction activities and the conduct of presence route patrols. British Royal Air Force fighter aircraft performed in a nontraditional ISR role, officials said.

Air Force C-130s and C-17s provided intra-theater heavy airlift support, helping sustain operations throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa. About 185 airlift sorties carried about 330 tons of cargo and nearly 2,700 passengers. Coalition C-130 crews from Australia, Canada, Japan, and the Republic of Korea also flew in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Dec. 28, officials added, Air Force and Royal Air Force tankers flew 28 sorties and off-loaded more than 1. 9 million pounds of fuel.

(From a U. S. Central Command Air Forces Forward news release. )

Next, 4 police killed in Bomb Explosion in Afghanistan, from the Peoples’ Daily Online dated December 30.

Four policemen were killed, seven others were injured Thursday in a remote-control bomb explosion in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand, a local official said Friday.

“Last night a bomb explosion happened in a police post in Hasht area of Hazarjuft district, which killed four policemen and injured seven others,” Haji Bahadir Khan, the district police chief told Xinhua.

The police chief blamed Taliban for carrying out the explosion, and said they installed the bomb when the police were out and launched the explosion afterwards.

Oh, God forbid the Taliban should be using Al Qaeda remote-control detonation techniques and increasing the frequency of their attacks after what we went through in 2001 and 2002 to drive them out and kill them. Notice how that wonderful policy of appeasement is working. Give the Taliban “amnesty”, allow them to come back into the country, and look what happens. Makes sense, though, doesn’t it?

Next, Two US Soldiers, Afghan, Killed In Afghanistan, dated December 30 from the Daily Times.

KABUL: Militants used remote-control bombs to attack US forces in two assaults in Afghanistan, killing one US service member and an Afghan employed by the military as well as wounding four American troops, officials said on Thursday.

A second US soldier was killed and four others hurt when their armoured vehicle rolled over in an accident during a combat operation, the military said.

The first attack occurred on Wednesday in Kunar, a rugged mountainous province on the border with Pakistan where scores of militants are believed to hide out. The troops and the Afghan employee were driving in an armoured vehicle when they were hit by a roadside bomb near the regional capital Asadabad, a military statement said. A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammed Yousaf, claimed responsibility. Two would-be suicide bombers blew themselves up while strapping on explosives in an Afghan town bordering Pakistan on Thursday, police said. No one else was injured in the blast. ap/reuters

Gee. Could it be Jack was right and we should keep an eye on what’s happening in Afghanistan? naaah–he’s a wannabe-fake-mercenary-convicted felon-gun-for-hire-catch-me-if-you-can guy. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

ooh, next is U.S. Commander sure of NATO in Afghanistan from the Seattle PI (and AP) dated December 30:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A U.S. commander expressed confidence Friday that NATO-led peacekeeping troops will aggressively keep up the fight against insurgents when they take over control of southern Afghanistan from American troops in the spring.

Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the U.S.-led coalition’s operational commander, also called a recent rise in suicide bombings a sign of the insurgency’s increasing desperation over Afghanistan’s successful parliamentary elections in September and other democratic advances.

“As we approached the elections I think the enemy realized what was at stake,” Kamiya told reporters at the U.S. base in Kandahar, a southern city that was the former stronghold of the ousted Taliban religious militia.

NATO foreign ministers approved plans earlier this month to send up to 6,000 mostly European and Canadian soldiers into volatile southern Afghanistan, while about 10,000 NATO troops continue to watch over the north and west.

The expansion, which is expected to begin in May, will free U.S. forces to focus on counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters along the country’s southern and eastern frontier with Pakistan, where insurgents are most active.

At least that’s what they’re SAYING….I have no faith in peacekeeping forces to carry on a fight–peacekeepers are glorified social workers in uniforms. although–I’d love to hear US forces are fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban to drive them back across the border that was recently reopened.

This is probably the result of Qanuni’s announcement that they’re going to continue fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda and the hunt for Bin Laden.

This only means one thing: Jack and his men are due to be released and guess what? They’ll be IN those mountains looking for the man, rather than looking at them from inside Pulcharke Prison.