Taliban Slaughter 8 Afghan Police Officers in Northern Afghanistan

Not only is this attack by the Taliban that killed eight Afghan policemen disturbing, but the fact that it happened in the far north of the country is just as disturbing.

From the report at DAWN:

Taliban militants killed eight Afghan police officers on Thursday in northern Kunduz, an official said, stepping up strikes in what was once a relatively secure part of Afghanistan.

The attack happened just before dawn when the police were asleep, Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar told reporters. One policeman was wounded and one managed to escape, he said, lowering his earlier death toll of nine.

Residents said there were some casualties among civilians, but details were not immediately available.

The Taliban, largely active in their traditional bastion of support in the south and east, have increased attacks in recent months in some areas of the north despite the presence of some 150,000 foreign forces in the country.

As you can see from the article, there is reference to the increase in attacks in the northern part of Afghanistan by the Taliban. I can remember a couple of years ago when the joke was that the German army was in northern Afghanistan and they basically played soccer all day long for something to do. Well, the north is getting more hot now and I have a distinct feeling that this is due to some major movements of Taliban from the south to the north. I have said all along that there was going to be Taliban movement out of Pakistan because of the huge operations in Pakistan by the military there that were gutting the Taliban. At the same time, there have been several NATO and U.S. operations in southern Afghanistan so it stands to reason that a number of Taliban were going to make the trek northward for a bit calmer area to raise their hell.

I'm guessing that in the southern part of Afghanistan, you wouldn't see a squad of policemen like this going to sleep at night without a guard on duty - it's my guess that it probably won't happen again in the north now, either.

Taliban kill eight policemen in Afghan north


KUNDUZ: Taliban militants killed eight Afghan police officers on Thursday in northern Kunduz, an official said, stepping up strikes in what was once a relatively secure part of Afghanistan.

The attack happened just before dawn when the police were asleep, Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar told reporters. One policeman was wounded and one managed to escape, he said, lowering his earlier death toll of nine.

Residents said there were some casualties among civilians, but details were not immediately available.

The Taliban, largely active in their traditional bastion of support in the south and east, have increased attacks in recent months in some areas of the north despite the presence of some 150,000 foreign forces in the country.

Kunduz has been the focus of attacks in the north and insurgents are increasingly using it as a base to launch attacks elsewhere in the region.

Early this month, a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven policemen in Kunduz. As a sign of their growing strength in the province, the Taliban publicly stoned to death a young woman and a man accused of an illicit affair.

US President Barack Obama has described Afghanistan as his top foreign policy priority and wants to reduce the number of its soldiers in the country by mid 2011.

In the face of rising Taliban attacks, the top US Marine, General James Conway, this week said Obama's timeline to begin withdrawing troops had given a morale boost to the insurgents who believe they can wait out foreign forces.

With public opinion of the conflict souring as casualties rise, Conway's unusually blunt assessment will likely fan criticism of Obama's war strategy ahead of US congressional elections in November and a strategy review a month later.