News of the Day for Sunday, October 7, 2012

Two U.S special operations forces killed by small arms fire in Wardak province.

Spokesperson for Kandahar governor says two Taliban killed by police. It is not clear from the way the story is written whether they were in the act of planting mines or were believed to be planning to do so.

Taliban attack a police officer in Ghazni and kill his two children. Few details are given - I'm guessing they attacked his vehicle.

As always, Afghan government claims to have killed 28 militants in past 24 hours. As always, Taliban deny it. (The number, as far as I can tell, ranges from 28 to 32 and never varies outside that range. Quite mysterious. -- C)

Interior Ministry says Afghan police killed an intended suicide bomber in Helmand province.

Faroq Husaini, a cleric in Herat province, offers a $300,000 reward for the death of the producer of "The Innocence of Muslims," and $100,000 for the death of the pseudonymous French cartoonist who recently mocked the prophet.

In Pakistan, charismatic politician Imran Khan leads thousand in a protest against U.S drone strikes. The Pakistani participants are joined by Western activists in a convoy toward South Waziristan. However, it appears they will not be allowed to reach their destination.

Not that anybody has particularly noticed, but today, October 7th, is the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. As America's longest war enters its 12th year, with over 2,000 U.S. troops dead along with untold Afghans (who's counting?), the Taliban issue a statement: "With the help of Allah, the valiant Afghans under the Jihadi leadership of Islamic Emirate defeated the military might and numerous strategies of America and NATO alliance. And now after eleven years of unceasing terror, tyranny, crimes and savagery, they are fleeing Afghanistan with such humiliation and disgrace that they are struggling to provide an explanation." This statement, so far, has gone unanswered by the U.S. and Afghan governments.