This is called ABC Dumped Dictated Democracy of DoD
A=Appache
B=Blackhawk/Blackwater
C=Chinook
These helicopters are means of transportation of State Department, installing/removing/transporting dictators from 1 neighborhood/region to another and to/from military bases/forts to US Embassy/Mission. As anyone with American attachment is hated on local streets.While Americans haved crossed skies and landed on moon 40 years ago but American human being involved to fulfill OilGasMineWar Neocon's/Cartels agenda are not allowed to walk freely on earth in Obama's World of 2009.
A U.S. military helicopter carrying ballot boxes packed with votes from last week's Afghan election accidentally dumped some of them somewhere over the rugged mountains of Nuristan, officials said on Wednesday.
Some 50 ballot boxes were being carried in a "sling load" beneath a Chinook helicopter from the provincial capital Paroon when the accident happened, they said.
"During transport, apparently some of the materials came out of the load as it was travelling," U.S. army Lieutenant Tommy Groves told Reuters.
This is called ABC Dumped Dictated Democracy of DoD
A=Appache
B=Blackhawk/Blackwater
C=Chinook
These helicopters are means of transportation of State Department, installing/removing/transporting dictators from 1 neighborhood to another and to/from military bases/forts to US Embassy/Mission. As anyone with American attachment is hated on local streets.While Americans haved crossed skies and landed on moon but American human being involved to fulfill OilGasMineWar Neocon's/Cartels agenda are not allowed to walk freely on earth in Obama's World of 2009.
U.S. helicopter accidentally dumps Afghan ballot boxes
26 Aug 2009 07:51:33 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more on Afghanistan, click on [ID:nAFPAK])
KABUL, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A U.S. military helicopter carrying ballot boxes packed with votes from last week's Afghan election accidentally dumped some of them somewhere over the rugged mountains of Nuristan, officials said on Wednesday.
Some 50 ballot boxes were being carried in a "sling load" beneath a Chinook helicopter from the provincial capital Paroon when the accident happened, they said.
"During transport, apparently some of the materials came out of the load as it was travelling," U.S. army Lieutenant Tommy Groves told Reuters.
He said 15 of the 25 boxes that fell were recovered. The Independent Election Commission said the votes had already been counted and the totals added to the national tally.
A partial tally based on 10 percent of the votes counted has President Hamid Karzai and rival Abdullah Abdullah running neck-and-neck, suggesting a close race headed for second round.
(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan) (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Nick Macfie)
----------------
Parachuting cowboy-style democracy!
In Afghanistan, the Americans and their European allies are trying to get support for their agents, Hameed Kharzai or Abdullah Abdullah in order to give a form of legitimacy to their brutal occupation. The irony of the election is eloquently expressed by ballot boxes carried on donkeys to illiterate people while under the protection of sophisticated warplanes firing precision bombs. The result of parachuting cowboy-style democracy on primitive societies will be divisions, rivalries and violence. The divisions in Iraq and the fragmentation of the country under the brutal American occupation have led to violence that Iraq has never seen in its history. No matter how the Americans want to portray their costly efforts, they have entirely failed in getting popular support for their imperialistic projects on behalf of international cartels. Their client regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan are besieged inside heavily-protected one square mile inside their respective capitals frequently attacked by resistance movements rejecting the anti-Islamic crusaders and their agents in governments, albeit ‘democratically elected’.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
---------------------
Following the collapse of the hated Saddam rule, most Iraqis gave the Americans the benefit of the doubt, went along playing the political game by US rules and hoped for the best. But instead of understanding the aspirations of Iraqis, the arrogant and uncivilised Americans cowboys continued their strong-arm policies, which included the establishment of a client regime, fragmenting Iraq and unleashing their agents and mercenaries to detain, rape, torture and to kill Iraqis with impunity. That is at the time when the US encourages Israel to carry out its Nazi-style atrocities against Palestinians and to impose sanctions on Muslim countries like Syria, Iran and Sudan. Despite Obama’s empty gestures to Muslims, visitors with Muslim names continue to be humiliated at US borders check points. With this record, it is no wonder that US client regimes of Al-Maliki and Kharzai regimes are being exposed and rejected while the national resistance movements continue to get wide support and to rake havoc on US military personnel and US-paid mercenaries. In every possible way the Afghanis and the Iraqis continue to ensure that American project and USraeli designs will fail. Obama proved himself to be spineless and a fraud.
1. In 1947, Jewish gangs of Stern, Irgun and Haggana hanged the entire male population ( Over 180) of Deir Yassin in one afternoon. This was meant to fighten the popultion which many compared to Himmler's practices in the former Soviet Union.
2. Israel has established its own SS (Stafel Schutz,Defence Force) and called it IDF; which carries out arbitary arrests, torture and killing.
3. Israel has concentrations camps with Israeli doctors carrying out routine medical experiments similar to those of the infamous Nazi Doctor Mengle.
4. Israel carries out ethnic cleansing and remove Arabs from their homes and lands.
5. Like the Nazis, the Israelis disregard international law and human right conventions.
-----------------
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
====
Afghan president says helicopter crash kills 31 US, 7 Afghan troops
06 Aug 2011 09:37
Source: reuters // Reuters
KABUL, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday 31 U.S. soldiers and 7 Afghan troops had been killed in a helicopter crash overnight, one of the worst incidents of its kind in the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.
a NATO helicopter crashed in the east amid fighting with insurgents, police and the NATO-led coalition said on Saturday.
Taliban fighters said they had brought down the helicopter, but it was not immediately clear why it had crashed or whether there were any casualties.
The statement from the presidential palace said the helicopter had crashed in central Maidan Wardak province, just to the west of the capital, Kabul. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the troop-carrying helicopter.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed a helicopter had crashed but gave no further details. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Paul Tait)
===
NATO helicopter crashes, airstrike kills 8 Afghans
06 Aug 2011 08:31
Source: reuters // Reuters
An Afghan shepherd walks with his herd of goats near Bagram, Parwan province, 50 km (31 miles) from Kabul August 2, 2011. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani
(Adds detail of helicopter crash)
By Abdul Malik
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan Aug 6 (Reuters) - A NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan killed eight civilians, adding to a 2011 toll that is the deadliest for civilians in the decade-old war, and a NATO helicopter crashed in the east amid fighting with insurgents, police and the NATO-led coalition said on Saturday.
Taliban fighters said they had brought down the helicopter, but it was not immediately clear why it had crashed or whether there were any casualties.
Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001, with high levels of foreign troop deaths, and record civilian casualties during the first six months of 2011.
The NATO airstrike, with eight dead, took place on Friday afternoon in southern Helmand province.
Civilian casualties caused by NATO-led troops hunting Taliban fighters and other insurgents have long been a major source of friction between Kabul and its Western backers.
The airstrike occurred in Helmand's Nad Ali district after insurgents had attacked troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the area, said Nad Ali district police chief Shidi Khan.
ISAF confirmed an airstrike was carried out after a coalition patrol came under attack and said it was investigating the incident after meeting local leaders.
In eastern Afghanistan, ISAF said a helicopter had crashed overnight and it was in the process of recovering it.
Nawaz Haqyar, police chief of Maidan Wardak province, said the helicopter had come down in the province, which is west of the country's capital Kabul.
The Taliban said in a statement that its fighters had brought down the helicopter. It said eight insurgents from the Islamist group had been killed in the fighting.
CIVILIANS HELD HOSTAGE
The victims of Friday's airstrike in Helmand were members of a family that had fled fighting in a neighbouring province, police said.
ISAF said the civilians may have been held hostage by the insurgents.
"Shortly after the (airstrike), coalition forces received reports that civilians were being held captive by the insurgents and may have been present during the airstrike," an ISAF spokesman said.
A gradual transition of security control to Afghan forces began last month, when areas were handed over by the ISAF. Afghan forces are to take full control across the country by the end of 2014.
The most contentious of the first seven areas to be handed over was Helmand provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
Helmand province has been the site of some of the most vicious fighting of the war. Far more foreign troops have died there than in any other province and there are still several Helmand districts dominated by the Taliban.
In the past month, insurgents have carried out a string of destabilising assassinations of high-profile southern leaders, including President Hamid Karzai's younger brother, and several large attacks killing police and civilians.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that the first six months of 2011 had been the deadliest period for civilians since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.
It said 1,462 civilians were killed in conflict-related incidents, up 15 percent on the first half of 2010. It blamed insurgents for 80 percent of those deaths. (Additional reporting by Mustafa Andalib in GHAZNI and Mirwais Harooni in KABUL, writing by Michelle Nichols, editing by Ron Popeski)
===
NATO helicopter crashes in east Afghanistan
SOLOMON MOORE, Associated Press THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
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The shadow of a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-52, comes in to land on a mission on the outskirts of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday Aug 5, 2011.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A NATO helicopter crashed overnight in east Afghanistan following an operation against Taliban insurgents, the coalition and Afghan officials said Saturday.
Afghan provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the helicopter crashed in the Sayd Abad district of Wardak province. The volatile region borders the province of Kabul where the Afghan capital is located and is known for its strong Taliban presence.
NATO said the alliance was conducting a recovery operation Saturday at the site and investigating the cause of the crash, but did not release details or a casualty figure.
"We are aware of an incident involving a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Justin Brockhoff, a NATO spokesman. "We are in the process of accessing the facts."
NATO said insurgents were in the area at the time of the crash.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed the downed aircraft was a U.S. military helicopter and that the Taliban fighters had brought it down with a rocket attack.
In a written statement released Saturday, Mujahid said that NATO attacked a house in Sayd Abad where insurgent fighters were gathering Friday night.
Mujahid says the Taliban fired on NATO and downed the helicopter, killing all the crew. He says eight insurgents also died.
The Taliban often exaggerates casualty numbers in their statements to the media.
Aircraft crashes are relatively frequent in Afghanistan, where insecurity and difficult terrain make air travel essential for coalition forces transporting troops and equipment.
There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year.
Most of the crashes are attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures. However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25. Two coalition crew members were injured in that attack.
Associated Press
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
===
Copter shot down, killing 30 US troops, 7 Afghans
APBy KIMBERLY DOZIER - Associated Press,SOLOMON MOORE - Associated Press | AP – 48 mins ago
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Virginia Beach residents Tom Hall, left, and Mark Janik, center, watch as news about the Navy Seal Team Six helicopter accident is displayed on a television at a bar in Virginia Beach , Va., Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011. The headquarters for the Navy Seal Team Six is located in Virgina Beach. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Virginia Beach residents Tom Hall, left, and Mark Janik, center, watch as news about …
Cars pass through the main gate of the Naval Air Station Oceanna Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach , Va., Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011. The base is the headquarters for Seal Team Six whose team members were involved in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Cars pass through the main gate of the Naval Air Station Oceanna Dam Neck Annex in …
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as seven Afghan commandos, U.S. officials said Saturday. It was the deadliest single loss for American forces in the decade-old war.
The downing was a stinging blow to the lauded, tight-knit SEAL Team 6, months after its crowning achievement. It was also a heavy setback for the U.S.-led coalition as it begins to draw down thousands of combat troops fighting what has become an increasingly costly and unpopular war.
None of the 22 SEAL personnel killed in the crash were part of the team that killed bin Laden in a May raid in Pakistan, but they belonged to the same unit. Their deployment in the raid in which the helicopter crashed would suggest that the target was a high-ranking insurgent figure.
Special operations forces, including the SEALs and others, have been at the forefront in the stepped up strategy of taking out key insurgent leaders in targeted raids, and they will be relied on even more as regular troops pull out.
The strike is also likely to boost the morale of the Taliban in a key province that controls a strategic approach to the capital Kabul. The Taliban claimed they downed the helicopter with a rocket while it was taking part in a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered in the province of Wardak overnight. Wreckage of the craft was strewn across the crash site, a Taliban spokesman said.
A senior U.S. administration official in Washington said it appeared the craft had been shot down. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the crash is still being investigated.
"Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan," President Barack Obama said in a statement, adding that his thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who perished.
The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement that 30 American service members, a civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos were killed when their CH-47 Chinook crashed in the early hours Saturday. A current U.S. official and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 SEALs, three Air Force combat controllers and a dog handler and his dog. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because military officials were still notifying the families of the dead.
Geneva Vaughn of Union City, Tennessee, told The Associated Press on Saturday that her grandson Aaron Carson Vaughn, a Tennessee native, was one of the SEALs who was killed.
Jon Tumilson of Rockford, Iowa, was also among the SEALs killed in the attack, his father George Tumilson told The Des Moines Register.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the number of people killed in the crash and the presence of special operations troops before any other public figure. He also offered his condolences to the American and Afghan troops killed in the crash.
The deaths bring to 365 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan and 42 this month.
The overnight raid took place in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak's Sayd Abad district, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul. Forested peaks in the region give the insurgency good cover and the Taliban have continued to use it as a base despite repeated NATO assaults.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that the helicopter was involved in an assault on a house where insurgent fighters were gathering. During the battle, the fighters shot down the helicopter with a rocket, he said.
An American official in Brussels said the helicopter was a twin-rotor Chinook, a large troop and cargo transporter.
The casualties are believed to be largest loss of life in the history of SEAL Team Six, officially called the Navy Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. The team is considered the best of the best among the already elite SEALs, which numbers 3,000 personnel.
NPR and ABC News first reported that those aboard were believed to be Navy SEALs. The AP withheld the report at the request of their sources until they believed the majority of families of those lost had been notified.
The death toll surpasses the previous worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 — the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province.
In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded.
Afghanistan has more U.S. special operations troops, about 10,000, than any other theater of war. The forces, often joined by Afghan troops, carry out as many as a dozen raids a night and have become one of the most effective weapons in the coalition's arsenal, also conducting surveillance and infiltration.
From April to July this year, special operations raids captured 2,941 insurgents and killed 834, twice as many as those killed or captured in the same three-month period of 2010, according to NATO.
The coalition plans to increase its reliance on special operations missions as it reduces the overall number of combat troops.
Night raids have drawn criticism from human rights activists and infuriated Karzai, who says they anger and alienate the Afghan population. But NATO commanders have said the raids are safer for civilians than relatively imprecise airstrikes.
The loss of so many SEALs at once will have a temporary impact on the tempo of missions they can carry out, but with an ongoing drawdown of special operations forces from Iraq, there will be more in reserve for Afghan missions.
The site of the crash, Tangi, is a particularly dangerous area, the site where many of the attacks that take place in the province are planned, said Wardak's Deputy Gov. Ali Ahmad Khashai. "Even with all of the operations conducted there, the opposition is still active."
The U.S. army had intended to hand over its Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan National Security Forces in April, but the Afghans never established a permanent base there. "We deemed it not to be stategic and closed it," said coalition spokesman U.S. Army Maj. Jason Waggoner. "The Taliban went in and occupied it because it was vacant."
Western military commanders have been debating moving forces from other areas in Afghanistan to reinforce troops around the capital and in the east, where the Taliban is often aided by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. Earlier this year, the U.S. military closed smaller outposts in at least two eastern provinces and consolidated its troops onto larger bases because of increased insurgent attacks and infiltration from the Pakistan border.There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year.
Most of the crashes were attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures. However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25. Two coalition crew members were injured in that attack.
___
Associated Press writers Anne Gearan and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, and Rahim Faiez and Patrick Quinn in Kabul contributed to this report.
====
NATO helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, killing 38
06 Aug 2011 23:01
Source: reuters // Reuters
An Afghan shepherd walks with his herd of goats near Bagram, Parwan province, 50 km (31 miles) from Kabul August 2, 2011. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani
* Single highest death toll for foreign troops
* Taliban say they downed chopper, although case unclear
* Crash comes two weeks after start of security handover
(Corrects number of dead in headline)
By Michelle Nichols
KABUL, Aug 6 (Reuters) - A NATO helicopter crashed during a battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan, killing 30 U.S. soldiers, an interpreter and seven Afghans, the Afghan president said on Saturday, the deadliest single incident for foreign troops in 10 years of war.
The Taliban quickly claimed to have shot down the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, although the Islamist militant group often exaggerates incidents involving foreign troops or Afghan government targets. They also said eight insurgents were killed in fierce fighting.
In Washington, a U.S. official said the helicopter was thought to have been shot down. The Pentagon has said the cause of the crash is being investigated.
A U.S. official said some of the dead Americans were members of the Navy's special forces SEAL Team 6 -- the unit that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May in Pakistan, but that none of the dead were part of the bin Laden raid.
Officials initially said 31 Americans were killed but the Pentagon revised the toll to 30 Americans, seven Afghans and an interpreter, whose nationality was not immediately known.
A brief statement from Afghanistan's presidential palace said the troop-carrying Chinook helicopter had crashed in Syedabad in central Maidan Wardak province, just west of the capital, Kabul.
U.S. and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) officials in Kabul confirmed a helicopter had crashed on Friday night but gave no details.
"ISAF is still assessing the circumstances that resulted in these deaths and recovery operations are currently underway," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.
U.S. TO STAY THE COURSE
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a statement the United States would "stay the course" to complete the mission in Afghanistan, a sentiment echoed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
"The incident is under investigation right now as this helicopter belongs to international forces," Afghanistan's Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimy told Reuters television. "Obviously they will provide details of the crash and the reason."
He said the Afghans killed also were from a commando unit.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai "shared his deep sorrow and sadness" with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, and the families of the victims, the palace statement said.
The deaths come two weeks after the start of a gradual security handover from foreign forces to Afghan troops and police, and at a time of growing unease about the increasingly unpopular and costly war.
The helicopter crash likely will raise more questions about the transition process and how much longer troops should stay. All foreign combat troops are due to leave by the end of 2014 but some U.S. lawmakers question whether that is fast enough.
The crash was the deadliest incident of the war for foreign troops. In April 2005, another CH-47 Chinook crashed, killing 15 U.S. servicemen and three civilian contractors. Another Chinook crash in June of the same year killed 17 U.S. troops.
U.S. and other NATO commanders have claimed success in reversing a growing insurgency in the Taliban's southern heartland, although insurgents have demonstrated an ability to adapt their tactics and mount attacks in other areas.
375 FOREIGN SOLDIERS KILLED THIS YEAR
Any gains against the Taliban have come at a high price, with 711 foreign troops killed in Afghanistan in 2010, the deadliest year of the war since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed foreign troops in late 2001.
The crash in Maidan Wardak, where the majority of foreign troops are American, means at least 375 foreign troops have been killed so far in 2011. More than two-thirds were American, according to independent monitor www.icasualties.com and figures kept by Reuters.
Another three ISAF soldiers were killed in the south over the previous 24 hours, the coalition said.
Earlier on Saturday, Afghan police said a NATO air strike killed eight civilians in the Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province on Friday.
Nad Ali district police chief Shidi Khan said the air strike was called in after insurgents attacked ISAF troops in the area. Those killed in the strike were members of a family that had fled fighting in neighboring Uruzgan province, police said.
ISAF confirmed there had been an air strike in the district and said it was investigating whether civilians had been present at the time. It said it had received reports civilians were being held hostage by insurgents. [ID:nL3E7J601M]
Civilian casualties caused by foreign troops hunting Taliban fighters and other insurgents have long been a major source of friction between Kabul and its Western backers.
CIVILIANS BEAR THE BRUNT
Despite the growing military toll, Afghan civilians have continued to bear the brunt of the war, with casualties hitting record levels in the first half of this year.
A U.N. report last month said 1,462 civilians were killed in conflict-related incidents in the first six months of 2011, up 15 percent on the first half of 2010. It blamed insurgents for 80 percent of those deaths.
Helmand province, where the Taliban still dominate several districts, has been the scene of some of the most vicious fighting of the war and far more foreign troops have died there than in any other province. Its capital Lashkar Gah was the most contentious of the first seven areas to be handed over.
In the past month, insurgents have carried out a string of assassinations of high-profile southern leaders, including Karzai's half brother, and several large attacks which have killed police and civilians. (Additional reporting by Mustafa Andalib in Ghazni Mirwais Harooni and Haseeb Sadat in Kabul, Robert-Jan Bartunek in Brussels and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Paul Tait, Bill Trott and Sophie Hares)
=====
Second NATO helicopter crashes; Afghans protest over killings
08 Aug 2011 09:23
Source: reuters // Reuters
An Afghan woman and her children walk past a destroyed building at the old part of Kabul August 3, 2011. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani
By Paul Tait and Michelle Nichols
KABUL, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A NATO helicopter crashed in Afghanistan's east on Monday but there were no apparent casualties, officials said, a reminder of the dangers of the war after 38 people were killed in an air incident two days ago, the largest single loss of foreign forces in 10 years.
A worrying surge of military deaths is being matched by record casualties among civilians, who continue to bear the brunt of a war that appears to have become bogged down despite claims of success from both sides.
On Monday, three hundred angry Afghans took to the streets in central Ghazni province carrying the bodies of two people they claimed had been killed during a raid by ISAF troops.
Civilian casualties caused by foreign troops hunting insurgents have long been a major source of friction between Kabul and its Western backers. U.N. figures show such casualties hit record levels in the first six months of 2011, although it blamed 80 percent of them on insurgents.
NATO officials are still investigating the cause of a helicopter crash two days ago that killed 38 people, including 30 U.S. soldiers, seven Afghan commandos and an Afghan interpreter.
The Taliban claim to have shot down that troop-carrying CH-47 Chinook helicopter in central Maidan Wardak province and a U.S. official in Washington, who asked not to be identified, said that helicopter was believed to have been shot down.
"We're still not aware of the cause of the incident, this is a very vital part of the investigation," said Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen, senior spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"The area in which the helicopter was operating was known to be not free of insurgents," he told a news conference.
ISAF has imposed a security crackdown on the area while the grim task of recovering the aircraft and the bodies of those killed is completed, although some residents have complained about some of the measures that have been taken.
"I can only advise (civilians) not to try to approach the site of the crash while the investigation is ongoing," Jacobsen said .
Separately, another ISAF helicopter made a "hard landing" in Paktia province, a volatile area in Afghanistan's east, on Monday, other officials said.
"There were no casualties," another ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Doherty said. An investigation was underway but it appeared there was no enemy activity in the area at the time.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed in a text message sent to Reuters that the Islamist group had shot down the helicopter, another Chinook, in the Zurmat district of Paktia, killing 33 American soldiers.
The Taliban often exaggerate claims in attacks against foreign troops and Afghan security forces and government targets, although they correctly identified the number killed in the weekend's Chinook crash in Wardak.
DEVASTATING TOLL
At least another seven ISAF troops were killed in a ghastly 48 hours for the coalition. Four were killed in two separate attacks on Sunday, including two French legionnaires.
The spike in casualties -- at least 383 foreign troops have been killed so far this year, almost 50 of them in the first week of August -- comes at a time of growing unease about the increasingly unpopular and costly war.
U.S. and NATO officials issued statements vowing to "stay the course" in Afghanistan after the deadly weekend Chinook crash but the recent devastating death toll will likely raise more questions about how much longer foreign troops should stay in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone overnight and shared condolences over the Wardak crash, Karzai's palace said in a statement.
"The U.S. president thanked the Afghan president and emphasised the fight against terrorism, which is a threat for security in the region and the world, and said the people of Afghanistan and the U.S. unitedly stand against the terrorists and their sacrifices will be never forgotten," it said.
The deaths came barely two weeks after foreign troops began the first phase of a gradual process to hand security responsibility over to Afghan soldiers and police.
That process is due to end with the last foreign combat troops leaving at the end of 2014, but some U.S. lawmakers are already questioning whether that timetable is fast enough.
Karzai has already said "enemies of Afghanistan" -- the Taliban and other insurgents -- want to disrupt the process.
In Ghazni, deputy police chief Mohammad Hussain said almost 300 people had gathered to carry the bodies of what they said were two civilians to the provincial governor's office after an overnight raid by ISAF in the Khogyani district.
ISAF earlier said there were no reports of civilian casualties but Jacobsen said a man had fired on an ISAF patrol from inside a house with his family around him.
"We are very much certain that ISAF could not be aware that the man was shooting from a house where his family was inside," Jacobsen said, adding that an investigation was underway.
On Sunday, Karzai ordered an investigation into a NATO air strike that allegedly killed eight civilians in volatile southern Helmand province on Friday.
U.N. figures show that 1,462 Afghan civilians were killed in conflict-related incidents in the first six months of 2011, the deadliest period for civilians since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.
Foreign military deaths also hit record levels in 2010 with 711 killed, with 2011 following a similarly bloody trend. (Addional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in KABUL and Mustafa Andalib in GHAZNI; Editing by Ed Lane)
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mimi jacques 39 minutes(s) ago
The terrain in Afghanistan is trecherous for aviation (wind factors,turbulence pockets,dust etc). I'd like to know why US is buying from Russia 21 MI-17 helicopters (Soviet workhorse choppers in Afghanistan) for Afghan forces instead the Chinooks- US has had equipment troubles with them. The second question- why to fly spec.ops forces in one Chinook instead of 2,3 choppers? If my memory serves me correct Hamid Karzai was part of the Afghan Taliban prior 9/11. The Afghan civilians will be antiwestern and uncooperative since they have had so many collateral damages and sneering insults of making up their civilian losses by the brass of western forces. If there ever was a comparison - it is the far out mini fortresses reminescent of Indochina and French forces under attack.Furthermore there azre crumblings by other members who are teaching policed etc. that US is starting to be a Wild Westerner- shoot and don't ask.
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NATO helicopter crash kills 16 people in Afghanistan
Fri, Mar 16 06:48 AM EDT
By Hamid Shalizi and Jack Kimball
KABUL (Reuters) - A NATO helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians on the ground, Turkey's military and a senior Afghan police official said.
The crash came amid growing unease among NATO partner countries about the increasingly unpopular and costly war nearly 11 years into the conflict as most foreign combat troops set to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
"Twelve of our military personnel on board the helicopter have been martyred," the Turkish general staff said in a statement in Ankara. A team had been sent to the scene to investigate, it said.
Wreckage as well as corpses and body parts littered the site. Relief workers and Turkish soldiers covered bodies with red and purple blankets on a ground in front of a smoking hole in a two-storey house.
Two women and two children were among those killed when the helicopter crashed into the house, an Afghan police officer said.
The officer said the cause of the crash appeared to be a technical fault. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said earlier that the cause of the crash was still unknown but that there had been no reports of insurgent action in the area.
Turkey's foreign minister also said the cause was apparently a technical fault.
"Both the location and the way the crash happened makes the impression that it's due to technical failure," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul.
"It's a cause of great pain, I am sending my condolences once again to the families and the general staff."
Turkey's mission in Afghanistan is limited to patrols and its soldiers do not take part in combat operations. It has more than 1,800 soldiers serving in the country, most of them around the capital.
Unlike other NATO countries, public opinion in Turkey has been less critical about having troops in Afghanistan, given their non-combat role. Nor is there as much resentment among Afghans over the Turkish presence, because they are fellow Muslims and due to the historical links between the countries.
In January, six U.S. Marines were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, which followed the death of 30 American personnel, including 22 Navy SEAL commandos, in eastern Afghanistan in August last year.
An investigation into the August incident confirmed the Taliban had fired a rocket-propelled grenade that hit one of the rotary blades and exploded, sending the helicopter plummeting to the ground and bursting into flames.
On Thursday, in a blow to NATO hopes of a negotiated end to the decade-old war, the Afghan Taliban said they were suspending nascent peace talks with the United States, following the massacre of 16 civilians by an American soldier.
The U.S. government said it remained committed to political reconciliation involving talks with the Taliban but progress would require agreement between the Afghan government and the insurgents.
(Additional reporting by Reuters TV in Kabul, and Jon Hemming and Ece Toksabay in Turkey; Editing by Rob Taylor and Robert Birsel)
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