US military says 14 insurgents killed in Afghanistan

THE STANS

The Afghanistan National Environmental Protection Agency says it has established that country's first internationally recognized national park.

The United States Agency for International Development provided key funding for the park's creation, while the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York conducted preliminary wildlife surveys and helped identify and delineate the park's boundaries.

Known as Band-e-Amir, the park will protect one of Afghanistan's best-known natural areas -- a series of six deep blue lakes separated by natural dams made of travertine, a mineral deposit. Travertine systems are found in only a few places around the world, virtually all of which are major international tourist attractions.

"At its core, Band-e-Amir is an Afghan initiative supported by the international community. It is a park created for Afghans, by Afghans, for the new Afghanistan," said Steven Sanderson, president and chief executive officer of the WCS. "Band-e-Amir will be Afghanistan's first national park and sets the precedent for a future national park system."

Though much of the park's wildlife has been lost, recent surveys indicate it still contains ibex, a species of wild goat, and urial, a type of wild sheep, along with wolves, foxes, smaller mammals, fish and various bird species including the Afghan snow finch, which is believed to be the only bird found exclusively in Afghanistan.

by Staff Writers
Kabul (AFP) April 24, 2009
The US military said Friday that air strikes killed 14 insurgents when troops under its command were locked in a six-hour battle with militants at a Taliban hotspot in southern Afghanistan.

It said insurgents ambushed an Afghan-coalition patrol in the Sangin district of Helmand province, a notorious hub for Taliban militants fighting against foreign troops and the main opium producing part of Afghanistan.

After coming under attack troops "identified an enemy position and called in for close-air support resulting in six insurgents killed," the military said.

Insurgents then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and gunfire before troops called in another air strike "killing eight more insurgents," it added in a statement.

Three suspects were arrested during the incident Thursday, including one who surrendered with a RPG launcher and was receiving medical treatment, it said.

There was no independent confirmation of the death tolls.

Separately, a makeshift bomb exploded in the same province Friday, killing a man and a woman riding a motorbike, a local official said.

"Today at 8:00 am (0430 GMT) a roadside bomb exploded against a woman and a man travelling by motorcycle. Both of them were killed," said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the Helmand governor.

He blamed the attack on "enemies of Afghanistan".

In the capital Kabul, a policeman was killed when a booby-trapped bag he was inspecting blew up, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP.

A roadside bomb killed two Afghan soldiers and wounded another four late Thursday in Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan, an army commander said.

There were no immediate claims for any of the attacks.

However, Taliban militants, who have been waging an insurgency since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted them from power, frequently carry out bombings against the Western-backed Afghan government and foreign military targets.

About 70,000 foreign troops are stationed in the country with the United States preparing to deploy an extra 21,000 troops as part of a sweeping new strategy to counter an increasingly deadly insurgency.

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THE STANS

Beyond Pakistan: The First Nuclear Failed State Part One

Washington (UPI) April 24, 2009
Afghanistan is a big problem for the Western world and for the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But if Pakistan fails, the United States and its allies have an even bigger problem.

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