US warplanes kill scores of Taliban in worst Afghan clashes for years

And whilst Blair is making elaborate claims about withdrawal in Iraq, it is worth having a peek at how things are faring in the lesser discussed war zone that is Afghanistan.

US warplanes killed up to 80 insurgents and 16 civilians during a raid on a Taliban hideout, as southern Afghanistan saw some of the heaviest fighting since 2001. Six days of violence resulted in 285 deaths, triggering fresh worries about Afghanistan's stability and raising the stakes for a 3,300-strong British force deploying to Helmand province.

On Sunday night, American A-10 "Warthog" fighter jets pounded houses and compounds in Azizi village in western Kandahar, where Taliban renegades were sheltering. The strikes, which lasted several hours, were in response to Taliban fire on a coalition mission, according to a US military statement. A security source in Kandahar said the US also used Apache helicopter gunships in the battle.

Sixteen civilians were killed and another 16 injured, said an unapologetic Kandahar governor, Asadullah Khalid. "These sort of accidents happen during fighting, especially when the Taliban are hiding in homes," he said. An injured villager, Haji Ikhlaf, estimated that up to 40 Taliban were killed and that 50 civilians were dead or wounded. A coalition statement said it confirmed 20 Taliban killed and there were an unconfirmed 60 additional Taliban casualties.

Zurmina Bibi cradled a baby in her arms and wept as she described how 10 people were killed in her home, including three or four children. "There were dead people everywhere," she said.

The Taliban, it appears, are spoiling for a fight. Insurgents are spilling over the borders from Pakistan.

And all of this is taking place with Osama bin Laden - the man Bush said he wanted, "Dead or alive" - still on the loose. Almost five years after 9-11.

Maybe the Bushites should have cleared up the mess that was Afghanistan before they launched their illegal war against Iraq.

But then, as history is teaching us, some of them - and I'm thinking of Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld in particular - didn't even want to go into Afghanistan, such was their haste to invade Iraq.

So we can hardly be surprised that they left too soon, and that carnage brewed in the wake of their absence.

They were already on to the next party. Iraq.

Woo Hoo!

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