Colonel Pete Petronzio worries Afghanistan will become a 'forgotten war'

U.S. marine leader worries Afghanistan will become a 'forgotten war'
KATHERINE O'NEILL

Globe and Mail Update

June 1, 2008 at 5:28 PM EDT

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The highest-ranking U.S. Marine in Afghanistan is worried he's losing the battle when it comes to getting Americans interested in the war.

“I get concerned some days that, as Americans, we are a military at war, not a nation at war,” Colonel Pete Petronzio told Canadian reporters Sunday during a frank and wide-ranging interview at Kandahar Air Field.

“Afghanistan is not a story that's being told as much as it should be,” added the 47-year-old marine colonel, who leads the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Already dubbed the “forgotten war” by many Americans, the conflict has long been overshadowed by the U.S. military's on-going and much bloodier battle in Iraq.

The commanding officer said that it doesn't help that U.S. residents are currently more captivated by stories about the presidential campaign and rising gas prices.


Col. Petronzio said that over the weekend, marines were engaged in the heaviest fighting since they arrived in Afghanistan in March. About 2,400 troops are currently in Afghanistan, with the majority stationed in Helmand province, an area along the Pakistani border that remains held by Taliban militants. The province, located in southern Afghanistan, neighbours Kandahar province, where Canadian soldiers are deployed.

Col. Petronzio hopes the marines' efforts have reduced insurgent activity in Kandahar this spring.
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Col. Petronzio is right, but it's already happened. No one is talking about Afghanistan on the TV or cable news. It's very hard to even find reports on Afghanistan. Other than ICasualties.org, there are not many reports to be found at all. While we were all talking about the death count in Iraq being at an all time high for 2007, it was also at an all time high in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, they are doing some fantastic things but hardly none of it gets reported on the nightly news if they report on any part of either occupation. I think the lack of reports are by design. The vast majority of the American people still agreed with the need to address Afghanistan so there is no story there as far as the media goes. We fight over Iraq and all the talking heads only seem to want to discuss and debate Iraq while ignoring Afghanistan.


These reports are just from this weekend alone

06/01/08 Reuters: Scores of Taliban killed in operation
Scores of Taliban militants were killed last week in an operation involving Afghan and foreign troops in Afghanistan, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

06/01/08 AP: 1 killed in Kabul blast against Afghan army bus
Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says a remote-controlled bomb detonated as a bus carrying Afghan soldiers passed by, killing one civilian and wounding five people.

06/01/08 AP: Roadside bomb wounds 2 ISAF soldiers in Paktia province
Two other ISAF soldiers were wounded in a roadside bombing on Saturday in Paktia province, a troubled region in the country's east bordering Pakistan, ISAF spokesman Carlos Branco said.

06/01/08 AP: U.S. authorities release citizen held in Afghanistan
U.S. authorities in Afghanistan have released a German citizen who had been held since January accused of being on a U.S. base without authorization, the German Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

06/01/08 AFP: Japan may send troops to Afghanistan
Japan is considering whether to send its first troops to Afghanistan on a reconstruction mission, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Sunday. Tokyo has been a major donor to Afghanistan, pledging 1.3 billion dollars since the fall...

06/01/08 AP: Suicide bomb kills 2 soldiers in Afghanistan
A suicide car bomb attack against a NATO convoy Saturday killed two soldiers and wounded four others...The bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad hit a contingent of NATO's International Security Assistance Force

05/31/08 : DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. 1st Class David Nunez, 27, of Los Angeles, Calif., died May 29 in Shewan, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he encountered small arms fire while conducting combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion...

05/31/08 AP: NATO soldier killed in Afghan bombing
A suicide car bomber killed one NATO soldier and wounded at least seven other people, an Afghan official said on Saturday. The attack targeted a convoy of international troops in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

05/31/08 AFP: Suicide car bomb targets foreign troops - 4 wounded
A suicide car bomb exploded Saturday near an international military convoy in eastern Afghanistan, injuring four coalition troops, officials said.

05/31/08 Reuters: Two insurgents in killed in Farah province
The Afghan National Army, with air support from international forces, killed and wounded a number of insurgents in two separate districts in the western province of Farah on Friday, during an operation to clear the area of insurgents...

05/31/08 Reuters: Afghan soldier killed, 2 wounded in Sangin District
One Afghan soldier was killed and two others wounded when they came under fire from insurgents at a military checkpoint on Friday in Sangin District in the southern province of Helmand, the defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

05/30/08 M&C: Frenchman kidnapped in Afghanistan
A French national, two Afghan associates and their chauffeur have been kidnapped by a group linked to the Taliban, the web site of the daily Le Figaro reported on Friday.

05/30/08 AFP: US-led soldier killed in Afghanistan, district falls
A soldier in the US-led coalition and several militants have been killed in separate clashes in Afghanistan...The soldier was killed "in action" Thursday near the western town of Farah, the coalition said in a statement.

05/30/08 Reuters: Taliban insurgents capture remote Afghan town
Taliban insurgents seized a remote Afghan town overnight, patrolling the streets for some hours before withdrawing ahead of a government operation to retake it on Friday, residents and officials said.

05/30/08 AP: Afghanistan seeks to revive farming sector
Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $4 billion to revive its agricultural sector, but it could be a hard sell with another massive crop of opium expected this year.

05/30/08 NYTimes: NATO Chief - Pakistan’s Tack on Militants Is Not as Expected
The departing American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, raised concerns on Thursday that Pakistan had not followed through on promises to tackle militancy on its side of the border...

05/30/08 paktribune: Taliban claim US chopper shot down in Afghanistan
Taliban in Afghanistan on Thursday claimed to have shot down a chopper of a United States private security company, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), in the restive province of Khost.

05/30/08 Reuters: Several militants killed near Sangin
Afghan security forces and U.S.-led coalition troops killed several militants near Sangin in the southern province of Helmand on Thursday after coming under fire, the U.S. military said on Friday.

05/30/08 Reuters: Several militants killed, 16 detained in Ghazni province
U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants and detained 16 during search operations in Ghazni province, south of Kabul on Thursday, the U.S. military said on Friday.

05/30/08 Reuters: Several militants killed in Farah province
U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants with small arms fire and air strikes after coming under fire from a house in the western province of Farah on Wednesday, the U.S. military said on Friday.

05/30/08 Reuters: Suicide car bomber attacks convoy - no military casualties
A suicide car bomber blew himself up alongside a convoy of military engineers in the eastern province of Khost on Friday, the U.S. military said. No soldiers were wounded and no equipment was damaged in the incident, it said.
38 US were killed this year and 40 Coalition
http://icasualties.org/oef/