 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Washington (AFP) Feb 25, 2011 The US military has begun pulling soldiers out of the Pech valley in eastern Afghanistan, a location once said to be vital to the war effort in the region, the Pentagon said Friday. The commander of US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, Major General John Campbell, is "repositioning" forces "within the province to achieve greater effect and allow for more flexibility," said Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Robbins, a Pentagon spokesperson. Campbell, "is moving forces around within his area of responsibility away from isolated static security outposts and more towards protecting the population in Kunar (province)," said Robbins. "There are dozens of mountain passes and we cannot be in all of them," Robbins said, confirming the news first reported in the New York Times and the Washington Post. The Post said that a battalion of some 800 US troops have been deployed to the valley since 2006. "If your forces are static, it takes away your opportunities and flexibility," Campbell told the Post. The Times reported that US soldiers began withdrawing from the valley starting on February 15 in a two-month long operation. Afghan army units will remain in the valley. However the Afghan army many not be up to the task. "It will be difficult for Afghans to hold these areas on their own. The terrain there is very tough," Afghan Defense Minister Rahim Wardak told the Post. "I personally fought against the Soviets in that area," he said. During the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Pech valley, located near the border with Pakistan, was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between the Afghan resistance and Soviet soldiers. The Soviets pulled out of the valley in 1988, and many Afghans saw it as a key turning moment in the war, the Times said. Within six months the mujahedeen resistance groups had taken the valley from the Soviet-supported Afghan army. Nearly 1,500 US troops have died in Afghanistan in the longest US war, launched in 2001 to root out Al-Qaeda extremists responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States. President Barack Obama ordered a 30,000-strong surge under a last-ditch war strategy in late 2009, ahead of handing security to Afghan forces in 2014.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links News From Across The Stans
US drone kills three in NW Pakistan: officialsMiranshah, Pakistan (AFP) Feb 24, 2011 A US drone strike in a Pakistani tribal area Thursday killed at least three militants, security officials said. The strike took place in the restive Datta Khel region, 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, considered a stronghold of Al-Qaeda-linked militants. "A US drone fired missiles on a house used by milit ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
