DP Afghanistan Updates

Afghan dam triumph as 1,600 British troops carry out most daring raid 'since Second World War'

British troops used a mixture of bribery, trickery and bombs to mount one the most daring operations since the Second World War.

In an extraordinary operation, a huge force was responsible for driving a massive hydroelectric turbine through the heart of Helmand - so engineers can complete Afghanistan's biggest reconstruction project.

It was the largest operation British forces have mounted in Afghanistan since the early 1900s, and it will let the Americans finish a project they started more than 50 years ago.

At least 1,600 troops were involved in clearing the route and guarding a 200 vehicle convoy that delivered more than 100 tons of turbine to the Kajaki dam on Monday.

They were backed by two US aircraft carriers worth of fighter jets, on constant standby off the Pakistani coast.

The hydroelectric power station, in northern Helmand, has potential to supply most of southern Afghanistan with energy.

But US-led engineers have been unable to get a new turbine into the power station because the area is surrounded by thousands of Taliban fighters.

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Tricking the Taliban

Their first step was to trick the Taliban into thinking they would use the 611.

As hundreds of troops helicoptered into Kajaki, soldiers further down the valley in Sangin began clearing the road as if they were expecting a convoy.

'We tried to look at what they were expecting - and there's only one road,' said Lt Col Williams. 'We were just trying to play to their preconceived ideas.'

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US probe finds fewer Afghan deaths than UN claimed

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. investigation into U.N. and Afghan allegations that dozens of civilians were killed in fighting around a village found Tuesday that seven of the dead were civilians.

An Afghan government commission concluded that 90 civilians were killed in the Aug. 22 fighting in Azizabad — a claim backed by a preliminary U.N. report. The U.S. report Tuesday said 30 to 35 of those killed were Taliban fighters.

The civilian death claims in Azizabad has caused new friction between President Hamid Karzai and his Western supporters. Karzai has long castigated Western military commanders over civilian deaths resulting from their raids.

The U.S. report said American and Afghan forces began taking fire from militants as the forces approached Azizabad in the early hours of Aug. 22. The incoming fire "justified use of well-aimed small-arms fire and close air support to defend the combined force," the report said.

The U.S. said its range in casualty numbers was determined by observation of enemy movements during the engagement and on-site observations immediately after the battle. It said a known Taliban commander, Mullah Siddiq, and five to seven civilians were among the dead. Two civilians were wounded. Five Taliban were detained, the report said.

Alaska soldiers leave for Afghanistan

Fifteen Alaska Army National Guard members are deploying to Afghanistan for one year to embed with the Afghan National Army, according to the guard. They are scheduled to leave Alaska today and train for two months at Fort Riley, Kan., before getting to Afghanistan, the guard said.

The deployed soldiers live in Anchorage, Eagle River, Chugiak, Wasilla, Palmer, Kenai and Dillingham. In April 2007, another group from the Alaska Army National Guard deployed to embed with the Afghanistan army for a one-year stint, the guard said.