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U.S. Soldier Wounded in Afghanistan Attack
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
(9:55 AM CT)
The Associated Press

The Khost attack was the second battle this week to exemplify the type of fighting ahead for U.S. forces in mopping up pockets of Taliban and al Qaeda resistance.

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- AP
The U.S. military said Taliban and al Qaeda fighters attacked coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan early today, with one U.S. soldier wounded, in a strike highlighting the dangers posed by a mobile, elusive enemy.

The U.S. soldier was in a stable condition after being shot in the arm in the overnight attack at an airfield at Khost near the eastern border with Pakistan, the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said in a statement.

Khost and the province of the same name borders the area where for three weeks the biggest ground battle of the Afghan war was fought in the rugged mountain terrain around the Shahi Kot Valley in Paktia province.

Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported three Afghan allied soldiers were killed and eight wounded, but that could not be independently confirmed.

U.S. Army spokesman Maj. Bryan Hilferty said the attack started at about midnight and lasted several hours.

"Terrorists using machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked coalition forces in Khost," he told a news conference at Bagram Air Base on the outskirts of Kabul. "We returned fire."
(More: The Houston Chronicle News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

I notice the enemy is still being labeled as Afghanistan, even though the recognized Afghanistan interim government has yet to have raised a hand against the coalition... you'd think reporters reporting the change in leadership would be able to recognize this fact.

Dan