Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Asia centrale

Mar 19, 9:02 AM EDT
10th Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - An Australian bomb disposal expert was killed 
trying to defuse a device in Afghanistan, the country's defense chief said 
Thursday, announcing the country's 10th combat death there.
Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston declined to give details on the exact 
location and time of the death - the second of an Australian soldier this 
week - suggesting that doing so could compromise a continuing operation.
Australia has some 1,000 troops in Afghanistan and is a key U.S. ally in the 
Afghan war. While the death toll of Australian troops is low compared to 
America's and some of its other allies, every new death triggers fresh 
debate about how long the country will keep its troops there.
U.S. Defense Department figures on Tuesday listed at least 591 members of 
the U.S. military having died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a 
result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd did not immediately comment on the 
death of the latest soldier. He said earlier this week his government's 
resolve in confronting the threat of terrorism in Afghanistan would not be 
shaken by the death Monday of the ninth Australian killed in combat - an 
infantryman shot dead during a gunbattle with suspected Taliban insurgents.
Rudd is due to leave for Washington to meet President Barack Obama for the 
first time. U.S. officials are widely expected to ask Australia to increase 
its troops in Afghanistan to help quell rising Taliban violence there.
Australian officials did not identify the latest soldier killed, saying his 
family needed to be informed first.
Houston said Australian troops were "involved in a large operation, a wider 
operation, we're playing a part in it, and I'm not prepared to indicate 
where we might be at this time."
He said the soldier was an expert in improvised explosive devices - 
makeshift bombs often planted as weapons to ambush vehicles - and that he 
died "trying to make the environment safe for his mates and local Afghans by 
neutralizing the threat the device posed."
"The situation in Afghanistan remains very dangerous but the importance of 
our mission should not be overlooked," Houston told reporters in Canberra. 
"These IEDs are indicative of the ruthlessness of the enemies we seek to 
defeat."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AUSTRALIA_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-03-19-09-02-49
Iraqi Sunni politician gunned down in Baghdad
Pakistan: attack stops traffic on NATO supply line
Attack stops traffic on secondary US-NATO supply line in Pakistan
NAHAL TOOSI
AP News
Mar 18, 2009 03:56 EST
Two men on a motorcycle threw a bomb at a truck carrying an excavating 
machine to NATO troops in Afghanistan, halting traffic Wednesday along a 
supply route through Pakistan's southwest, officials said.
No one was injured in the blast near the Pakistani frontier town of Chaman, 
but the machine was damaged, area police chief Gul Mohammed said.
Meanwhile in the northwest, dozens of assailants opened fire at a 
university, killing three police officers and a security guard. A top 
official said the Taliban later detained some of the gunmen.
U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan rely heavily on two major supply routes 
running through Pakistan. The main one goes through the Khyber Pass in the 
northwest, and trucks that use it have frequently been attacked.
The smaller route through Chaman has attracted less attention from 
militants, but has not been exempt from violence.
Wednesday's attack happened as the driver awaited security clearance to 
cross into Afghanistan, Mohammed said. Police closed the crossing and began 
searching other vehicles, he said. The route was expected to reopen later 
Wednesday.
The gun attack occurred in Lower Dir, which borders Pakistan's 
militant-plagued tribal regions and is near the Swat Valley, where the 
government recently agreed to impose Islamic law to strike a peace deal with 
the Taliban.
Local police official Pervez Rahim said the gunmen's identities were not 
clear, but that they fired upon police who were in a vehicle guarding the 
school. A guard was also shot and died on the spot, Rah said.
Dir lies next to Bajur, a tribal region where Pakistan's military recently 
declared victory over al-Qaida and Taliban fighters after a monthslong 
offensive. There are concerns that militants under fire might have fled to 
safer areas.
The U.S. has pushed Pakistan to crack down on militants who use its soil as 
a base from which to plan attacks on American and NATO forces in 
Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have expressed concerns at the country's attempt to forge 
peace in the Swat Valley by agreeing to impose Islamic law. A cease-fire 
between the Taliban and the military in the valley, struck in February, 
appears to be holding.
Syed Mohammad Javed, a senior regional administrator, said Taliban fighters 
detained 14 of the alleged gunmen after they arrived in Swat, and that the 
men may have to face a newly established Islamic court in the valley.
The military tried for more than a year to oust Taliban fighters from Swat, 
but the militants kept gaining sway, essentially setting up their own 
parallel administration in the lush region that once attracted legions of 
tourists.
The fighting killed hundreds and displaced up to one-third of the valley's 
1.5 million people.
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http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/03/18/pakistan-attack-stops-traffic-on-nato-supply-line/
 

 Thursday, announcing the country's 10th combat death there.
povero outis....cosě democratico...cosě imparziale... :-))