Sunday, July 13, 2008
A desperate fight
The Taliban attempted to overrun a newly established U.S. outpost in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan, launching a complex attack at approximately 4:30 in the morning. As of right now, the coalition confirms that nine U.S. soldiers have been killed in the attack, with 15 more US troops and 4 Afghan troops wounded.
Bill Roggio has more details, including information about a separate incident in which the Taliban was able to mass in company strength and conduct an ambush.
This engagement ended better for us, with US Marines and allied Afghans killing 40 screaming moojies in the Helmand province in Southern Afghanistan.
The Taliban have been resurgent lately, undertaking bolder and larger scale operations, though these are very risky for them, since to concentrate in enough force to overrun a combat outpost, they would have to gather in clumps large enough to be vulnerable from the air. I suspect that Taliban casualties in the first attack will prove to be severe indeed.
But, of course, they don't care a lot about their own. The point of the attack was, doubtless, to successfully overrun and eliminate an outpost at whatever cost. The real target isn't the US military. The real target is the halls of congress, the halls of parliament in allied nations, and the media.
Were they successful? That's up to us.
Meanwhile, send up a prayer for our fallen soldiers, our families, and all the men and women of the units engaged.
Splash, out
Jason
(P.S., The photo, I believe, was taken by Ahmad Terry. The photo is not connected to the incident today.)
Labels: Afghanistan, Army, Warfighting
Comments:
Post a Comment
