Attack on a Patrol in Afghanistan Kills Seven

Source: The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — A bomb attack on a patrol killed two NATO soldiers and five Afghan soldiers on Friday evening, in an impoverished area of eastern Afghanistan where the Afghan government has little presence and where there have not previously been many lethal attacks on soldiers.

The explosion, at dusk in a mountainous area of Paktia Province’s eastern Zurmat district, also wounded two Afghan soldiers and a NATO interpreter, according to a NATO spokesman.

Although Paktia is one of three provinces where the Haqqani network, a particularly brutal insurgent group that is now based across the border in Pakistan, is active, local elders said this attack was staged by local Taliban who are angry at the government.

“Most of the Taliban here are from Paktia Province and are fighting the government and foreign forces bravely because the government has done nothing for these people here,” said a local tribal elder, who asked that his name not be used. “Not one of the government officials has shown up to help the Mamozai tribe; neither have they come to the village where this happened, nor come down to our village.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/world/asia/31afghanistan.html

and keep our military out of this. We are giving them tax breaks, right? Let them pay for their own wars.