Ten US Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

The President needs to start making decisions now. Either he pulls out or reinforces our troops. Otherwise, he won't be any different than Bush in terms of loses of American troops. The only real answer is for us to pull back and provide reinforcement for the central government in Afghanistan. We must continue to launch raids against Taliban and al Qaeda positions, including into Pakistan. We need to continue the heavy use of Predators. But the loss of American troops should be minimized. And support of the Afghan government should not be a priority. Killing Jihadists should be the main objective.

Ten American troops were killed at the weekend in two surprise attacks that caused alarm in Nato’s US-led coalition.

In one, hundreds of insurgents attacked a pair of isolated outposts in eastern Afghanistan, killing eight US soldiers and several Afghan policemen in the deadliest battle in 15 months. Scores more Afghan policemen were reportedly captured by the Taleban.

In the other an Afghan policeman opened fire on the American soldiers with whom he was working in central Wardak province, killing two and injuring three.

It was unclear whether the policeman was working for the Taleban or simply ran amok but the attack fuelled the distrust that many Nato soldiers already feel for the Afghan security forces that they are supposed to be working with and training as part of the coalition’s eventual exit strategy.