Afghanistan: May 24, 2004

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  A Norwegian peacekeeper was killed by an RPG fired at a convoy outside Kabul. This makes eleven, the number of NATO peacekeepers killed in Afghanistan over the past two years. Another 16 have died in accidents (plus 62 Spanish troops who died in an airplane crash outside of Afghanistan as they were returning to Spain.) Several dozen have also been wounded. There are 6,500 NATO peacekeepers in Afghanistan and all the attacks on them have been small scale, like ambushes or suicide bombers. The major security problem in Afghanistan remains banditry, heavily armed drug gangs and many warlord militias. There are not enough Afghan police or troops to take care of all these many small groups of gunmen doing doing as they please all over the country. Afghanistan's problem has been, for centuries, a lack of law and order throughout the country. 

 

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