Five Killed in Year’s Deadliest Attack on Americans in Afghanistan

[Truthseeker420]

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomb in southern Afghanistan killed three American soldiers and two American civilians, including a State Department Foreign Service officer, on Saturday, the deadliest single attack against United States forces this year, officials said.

The violence came as Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.

Attacks are picking up in what is known as the country’s fighting season as the weather gets warmer. And the Taliban are expected to intensify their efforts to destabilize the Afghan security forces as the NATO troops who have secured the country for the last decade start packing up for their departure at the end of 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/asia/afghan-suicide-attack-kills-5-americans.html?_r=0

 

[varelse]

Afghani kids must have gotten ahold of some Americans' XBoxes

 

[waltky]

First diplomatic death since Benghazi...

US diplomat killed in Afghanistan had passion for foreign affairs
April 7, 2013 - A young U.S. diplomat killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan was an up-and-comer in the State Department and loved working directly with residents of the country, those who knew her said Sunday.

Anne Smedinghoff had a quiet ambition and displayed a love of global affairs from an early age, joining the U.S. Foreign Service straight out of college and volunteering for missions in perilous locations worldwide. So when the 25-year-old suburban Chicago woman was killed Saturday in southern Afghanistan - the first American diplomat to die on the job since last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya - her family took solace in the fact that she died doing something she loved. "It was a great adventure for her ... She loved it," her father, Tom Smedinghoff, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "She was tailor-made for this job."

Anne Smedinghoff grew up in River Forest, Ill. - an upscale suburb about 10 miles west of Chicago - the daughter of an attorney and the second of four children. She attended the highly selective Fenwick High School, followed by Johns Hopkins University, where she majored in international studies and became a key organizer of the university's annual Foreign Affairs Symposium in 2008. The event draws high-profile speakers from around the world. Those who knew Smedinghoff described her as a positive, hard-working and dependable young woman.

While a student in Baltimore, she worked part time for Sam Hopkins, an attorney near campus. He described her as ambitious "but in a wonderfully quiet, modest way." Her first assignment for the foreign service was in Caracas, Venezuela, and she volunteered for the Afghanistan assignment after that. Her father said family members would tease her about signing up for a less dangerous location, maybe London or Paris. "She said, `What would I do in London or Paris? It would be so boring,'" her father recalled. In her free time, she would travel as much as possible, her father said.

Smedinghoff was an up-and-coming employee of the State Department who garnered praise from the highest ranks. She was to finish her Afghanistan assignment as a press officer in July. Already fluent in Spanish, she was gearing up to learn Arabic, first for a year in the U.S. and then in Cairo, before a two-year assignment in Algeria.

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See also:

Americans, Afghan civilians killed in weekend violence
Sun April 7, 2013 - Anne Smedinghoff "was doing what she loved," her parents say; The 25-year-old is believed to be the first U.S. diplomat killed since Benghazi; Two civilians and 3 U.S. service members were killed delivering books to a school; At least 11 children killed in an Afghan/NATO operation Saturday, officials say

The death toll has surged from weekend violence in Afghanistan, with six Americans and more than a dozen Afghan civilians reportedly among the casualties. Five Americans -- including a U.S. diplomat, a civilian from the Defense Department and three U.S. service members -- were killed while delivering books to an Afghan school, when a suicide bomber struck their convoy in southern Afghanistan's Zabul province Saturday. Another U.S. service member was killed in a separate attack Saturday. The diplomat's death was a grim reminder of the risks and importance of pushing for change in "one of the toughest places on earth," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.

Anne Smedinghoff, 25, is believed to be the first U.S. diplomat killed since a September attack in Benghazi, Libya. "I think there are no words for anybody to describe the extraordinarily harsh contradiction of a young 25-year-old woman with all of the future ahead of her, believing in the possibilities of diplomacy, of changing people's lives, of making a difference, having an impact, who was taking knowledge in books to deliver them to a school," Kerry said. In separate clashes in Kunar province on Saturday, local officials said, at least 11 children were killed in a NATO operation aimed at Taliban targets. NATO officials said they were investigating reports of civilian casualties.

Family: Diplomat "was doing what she loved"

Kerry was emotional Sunday as he spoke to U.S. diplomats stationed in Istanbul about Smedinghoff's death. Smedinghoff was "vivacious, smart, capable, chosen often by the ambassador there to be the lead person because of her capabilities," Kerry said. The attack killed Afghan civilians and wounded four more State Department personnel. One of them was in critical condition in a hospital in Kandahar, Kerry told reporters Sunday. "I wish everyone in our country could see first-hand the devotion, loyalty and amazingly hard and hazardous work our diplomats do on the front lines in the world's most dangerous places," Kerry said in a statement Saturday. "Every day, we honor their courage and are grateful for their sacrifices, and today we do so with great sadness."

Smedinghoff volunteered for an assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and had been working there since July, her parents said in a statement. "She particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war," Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff said. "We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world."

Afghan children killed

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

Wow.

Will the nation survive the loss?

What are soldiers doing escorting a civilian grandstander in a combat zone? Those soldiers would probably be alive tonight if they weren't assigned to escort some fucking civilian punching a career ticket.

Foreign service people are a dime a dozen. Soldiers? Not any more.

On the upside, maybe if she was good looking more people will want to either vaporize the enemy there or get out. It's time to choose one and do that.