11K US Troops in Afghanistan

[longknife]

A bit more than the 84k previously admitted to.

Story @ Pentagon Admits True Number of Troops in Afghanistan

DoD: We Lowballed the Number of Troops in Combat Zones for Years @ DoD: We Lowballed the Number of Troops in Combat Zones for Years | Military.com

This doesn’t surprise me one bit.

 

[Desperado]

That is 11K too many, and that does not even count the private security Blackwater types
When will we learn?

 

[waltky]

ISIS attacks mosque in Afghanistan...

Afghan suicide mosque attacks kill scores of worshippers
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 - Some 60 people are killed as worshippers are targeted in two separate attacks on mosques.

Some 60 people have been killed in two separate attacks on mosques in Afghanistan, officials say. A gunman entered a Shia Muslim mosque in Kabul before opening fire and detonating an explosive, killing at least 39 worshippers. An attack on a Sunni Muslim mosque in Ghor province killed 20 people. So-called Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the attack on Kabul's Imam Zaman mosque, but provided no evidence for the claim. The group has previously targeted Shia mosques across Afghanistan. The new attacks bring to at least 176 the number of people killed in bomb attacks across the country this week.

Security forces guarded the scene after Friday's Kabul attack​

One eyewitness told the BBC that the scene at the Imam Zaman mosque, in the west of Kabul, looked like a "front line". Another witness, Mahmood Shah Husaini, said people had been praying when the bomber detonated his explosives. The attacker is reported to have opened fire as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers, before detonating a bomb. Kabul police spokesman Basir Mojahid confirmed the incident at the Shia mosque in Kabul, but did not give further details. A spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry said investigators were working at the scene to determine the "nature of the explosion," AFP news agency reports. The attack on the Sunni mosque in Ghor, central Afghanistan, also killed a pro-government militia commander, according to reports.

Local TV showed images of injured people in hospital​

Details of the attacks remain unclear and the number of casualties is likely to rise. Dozens of worshippers were also injured, Afghan's health ministry said. Friday's attacks come just days after police in Kabul said they had arrested a would-be suicide truck bomber, averting a major incident. In August, more than 20 people were killed in a bomb attack against worshippers in Kabul. IS, a Sunni Islamist militant group, said it had carried out the attack. A truck bomb in the Afghan capital in May killed more than 150 people and wounded some 400 more, most of them civilians. No group claimed to be behind that attack but the US-backed Afghan government accused the Haqqani group, an affiliate of the country's biggest militant group, the Taliban. Afghanistan has seen a spate of suicide attacks and bombings in recent months.

There have been four major attacks on Afghan security forces this week alone:

* On Thursday, 43 Afghan soldiers were killed after two Taliban suicide bombers in Humvee armoured vehicles destroyed a military base in the southern province of Kandahar. Two police officers were also killed in in Ghazni province
* On Tuesday, Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen killed at least 41 people when they stormed a police training centre in the eastern city of Gardez while two police officers

* Also on Tuesday, at least 30 people died in car bombings in Ghazni

Afghanistan's army and police have suffered heavy casualties this year at the hands of the Taliban, a Sunni group who want to re-impose their strict version of Islamic law in the country.

Attacks on Afghan mosques kill scores

See also:

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Afghan Mosque Suicide Bombing
21 Oct 2017 | The assailant blew himself up in a mosque packed with worshippers as they began their prayers.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the capital, as Afghan officials on Saturday raised the number of casualties from the attack to at least 39 dead and at least 41 wounded. IS claimed in a statement on its website Friday that its fighter, Abu Ammar al-Turkmani, "detonated his explosive vest among the apostates" during Friday prayers in the Imam Zaman mosque in western Kabul. The attack was one of two on mosques in the troubled, war-torn country. A suicide bombing in western Ghor province struck a Sunni mosque, also during Friday prayers, killing 33 people, including a warlord who was apparently the target, said Mohammad Iqbal Nizami, spokesman for the provincial chief of police. The attacks were the latest in a devastating week that saw Taliban attacks kill scores across the country.

The so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan has taken responsibility for most of the attacks targeting Shiites, a minority in Afghanistan whom the Sunni extremist group considers to be apostates. Earlier this year, following an attack claimed by IS on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul, the militant group effectively declared war on Afghanistan's Shiites, saying they would be the target of future attacks. Several mosques have been attacked following this warning, killing scores of Shiite worshippers in Kabul and in western Herat province. Residents say attendance at local Shiite mosques in Kabul on Friday has dropped by at least one-third. The Interior Ministry released a statement Saturday saying it was investigating the attack in Kabul's Dashte-e-Barchi neighborhood. It said the assailant blew himself up as worshippers began their prayers.

A municipality worker removes blood stains from the wall of a damaged mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan on Oct. 21, one day after a suicide bombing.​

Eyewitness Ali Mohammad said the mosque was packed with worshippers, both men and women praying at the height of the Muslim week. The explosion was so strong that it shattered windows on nearby buildings, he said. Dashte-e-Barchi is a sprawling neighborhood in the west of Kabul where the majority of people are ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiite Muslims. As attacks targeting Shiites have increased in Kabul, residents of this area have grown increasingly afraid. Most schools have additional armed guards from among the local population. Abdul Hussain Naseri, a Shiite cleric, condemned the attack and said more security is needed for Shiite mosques in the city.

The attack on the Sunni mosque in Ghor province took place in the Do Laina district, according to Mohammad Iqbal Nizami, the spokesman for the provincial chief of police. He said the target apparently was a local commander, Abdul Ahed, a former warlord who has sided with the government. Seven of his bodyguards were also killed in the bombing. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. It has been a brutal week in Afghanistan, with more than 70 killed, mostly policemen and Afghan soldiers but also civilians as militant attacks have surged. The Taliban have taken responsibility for the earlier assaults this week that struck security installations in the east and west of the country. Funerals were scheduled for Saturday at several cemeteries in western Kabul.

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Afghan Mosque Suicide Bombing | Military.com

 

[Desperado]

Fuck Afghanistan, we have wasted way too much time, money and blood. Time to pack up and leave not only Afghanistan but all Middle East countries. As we found out this week time to pull all our troops out of Africa too

 

[waltky]

Mosque attack death toll rises to 89...

Kabul mosque attack death toll rises to 89
Saturday 21st October, 2017: The death toll from suicide bomb attacks on two mosques in Afghanistan has risen to at least 89 people.

A RadioFreeEuropeRadioLiberty web site report said the two attacks took place yesterday on a Shi'ite mosque in Kabul and on a Sunni mosque in the central Afghan province of Ghor. The Kabul mosque death toll has risen to 56, the Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman said. At least 55 people were also injured while praying at the Imam Zaman mosque in the western Dasht-e-Barchi section of Kabul. The extremist group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack.

In the second attack in Ghor, officials said at least 33 people were killed and 10 injured. The suicide bomber detonated an explosive in Khewiagan, a Sunni mosque located in the district of Dulaina. No claim of responsibility has been made so far for the attack. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the attacks show that "the terrorists have once again staged bloody attacks, but they will not achieve their evil purposes and sow discord among the Afghans."

The United States strongly condemned the October 20 attacks and previous attacks in Afghanistan during a week in which U.S. drones strikes were reported to have killed more than 30 militants in the region. "In the face of these senseless and cowardly acts, our commitment to Afghanistan is unwavering," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

"The United States stands with the government and people of Afghanistan and will continue to support their efforts to achieve peace and security for their country," she said. Afghanistan's minority Shi'ite population has been the target of several terror attacks this year that have been blamed on the Taliban and IS. A recent United Nations report said at least 84 people had been killed and 194 wounded so far in 2017 in attacks on Shi'ite mosques and religious ceremonies prior to the most recent incidents.

Kabul mosque attack death toll rises to 89

 

[whitehall]

Nobody even understands what former president Barry Hussein thought about his responsibility for the Afghanistan military adventure. The last thing we saw is Hussein calling an Army deserter a "hero" and inviting his family to the White House while snubbing the families of the Soldiers who were killed in an effort to bring him back. It seems that Trump is doing the right thing by giving responsibility to the Military. Maybe the Military will decide to kick ass and risk killing civilians or the option of getting the hell out and leaving the dirt eaters of Afghanistan to kill each other.

 

[longknife]

Nobody even understands what former president Barry Hussein thought about his responsibility for the Afghanistan military adventure. The last thing we saw is Hussein calling an Army deserter a "hero" and inviting his family to the White House while snubbing the families of the Soldiers who were killed in an effort to bring him back. It seems that Trump is doing the right thing by giving responsibility to the Military. Maybe the Military will decide to kick ass and risk killing civilians or the option of getting the hell out and leaving the dirt eaters of Afghanistan to kill each other.

My sentiments exactly.