ARmy Rumour SErvice

ith 4 U.S. Deaths, Grim Milestone In Afghanistan War
2009-08-25 15:55:50 (44 minutes ago)
Posted By: Intellpuke

Four American soldiers were killed Tuesday when their patrol vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan, said NATO, making the 2009 death toll for foreign forces in Afghanistan the highest since the war began nearly eight years ago.

The milestone came as Afghans awaited the results in a presidential election marred by accounts of intimidation and fraud, and as high-level American commanders say that more troops are required to defeat the insurgency by Taliban militants.

An official NATO statement provided few details about the four dead soldiers, pending notification of family members. They were killed when “patrolling in one of the most violent areas of Afghanistan,� said Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, a NATO spokeswoman.

The latest casualties bring to 63 the number of foreign soldiers who have died in Afghanistan this month, and to 295 the death toll since January, according to the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks reports of deaths.

The death toll for foreign forces has risen steadily over the course of the war, from 12 in 2001 to 294 in 2008, which up until now had been the deadliest year.
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http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=22665

SITREP FROM SHEWAN, AFGHANISTAN



A target rich environment...Lucky Devil Dogs!


Outnumbered 8 - 1: 'A good day for the Corps'

By Peter Bronson



"Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs(rocket-propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our humvees was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast."



The quote comes from a "designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified." He was reporting what happened recently in the city of Shewan, Afghanistan. The story was told in a Marine Corps News report by Cpl. James M. Mercure. It will give you goose bumps and make you want to stand up and salute the nearest flag. Here's more, because it's a lot better than anything I could write today:



"The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat,"the marksman said. Mercure reported, "Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines' deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area."



"The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.



"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they're given the opportunity to fight," the sniper said. "A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong."



"During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a

company-sized enemy RPG and machine gun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatinglyaccurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemyfire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position. "I was in my own little world," the young corporal said. "I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target."



After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more. "I didn't realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies' lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us," the corporal said. "It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured."



Such an amazing story of heroism and victory would have been on Page One in every paper in the country during World War II. Just 30 Marines giving eight hours of hell to 250 insurgents is the kind of story that would make a good movie -- if that kind of movie still could be made.



But these days, it did not even make Page 10. I couldn't find a story about it anywhere. The only mentions were on conservative blogs and military Web sites. The soldiers who are fighting for their lives and our country might as well be in another dimension. News from the battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan is apparently not important. It reminds the jaded anti-war crowd that they were wrong. We're winning. It reminds a self-centered nation that some Americans are making sacrifices much bigger than a loss in their [retirement plans].

So we don't hear about it.


But we need to hear news like that, because a good day for the Marine Corps is a good day for freedom. And that's a good day for America.

British soldier dies after Afghanistan explosion
Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:08pm BST Email | Print | Share | Single Page [-] Text [+]
London (Reuters) - A British soldier died in hospital on Tuesday after being wounded in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

The soldier, from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was wounded while on a foot patrol on August 15 in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

Violence escalated before last week's election, with July emerging as the deadliest month for British troops since 2001. The latest death takes the British toll to 207.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Editing by Alison Williams)

ANALYSIS
It's too early to get cold feet on Afghanistan
Published Date: August 26, 2009
By Trudy Rubin

Even before Afghans went to the polls last week, Americans were getting queasy about US involvement in Afghanistan. At this writing, the election results are still unclear. But with 60,000 US troops in the country and a chance that their commanders will request more, a recent Washington Post-ABC poll indicated 51 percent of Americans said they believed it was not worth fighting a war there. Seventy percent of the doubters are Democrats, which must give President Obama pause. And only 24 percent of American
s would back sending more forces.
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http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news...d=OTY0NzA3MjY5

[quote]August 23, 2009
Marines Fight Taliban With Little Aid From Afghans
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.



American Marines meet for a briefing in Khan Neshin, a desolate village in southern Afghanistan that has been under the Taliban’s sway.

KHAN NESHIN, Afghanistan — American Marines secured this desolate village in southern Afghanistan nearly two months ago, and last week they were fortifying bases, on duty at checkpoints and patrolling in full body armor in 120-degree heat. Despite those efforts, only a few hundred Afghans were persuaded to come out here and vote for president on Thursday.

In a region the Taliban have lorded over for six years, and where they remain a menacing presence, American officers say their troops alone are not enough to reassure Afghans. Something is missing that has left even the recently appointed district governor feeling dismayed. “I don’t get any support from the government,� said the governor, Massoud Ahmad Rassouli Balouch.

Governor Massoud has no body of advisers to help run the area, no doctors to provide health care, no teachers, no professionals to do much of anything. About all he says he does have are police officers who steal and a small group of Afghan soldiers who say they are here for “vacation.�

It all raises serious questions about what the American mission is in southern Afghanistan — to secure the area, or to administer it — and about how long Afghans will tolerate foreign troops if they do not begin to see real benefits from their own government soon. American commanders say there is a narrow window to win over local people from the guerrillas.

Securing the region is overwhelming enough. The Marines have just enough forces to clear out small pockets like Khan Neshin. And despite the Americans’ presence, Afghan officials said 290 people voted here last week at what is the only polling place in a region the size of Connecticut. Some officers were stunned even that many voted, given the reports of widespread intimidation.

Even with the new operation in Helmand Province, which involves the Marines here and more than 3,000 others as part of President Obama’s troop deployments, the military lacks the troop strength even to try to secure some significant population centers and guerrilla strongholds in central and southern Helmand.

And they do not have nearly enough forces to provide the kinds of services throughout the region that would make a meaningful difference in Afghans’ lives, which, in any case, is a job American commanders would rather leave for the Afghan government.

Meanwhile, Afghans in Khan Neshin, the Marines’ southernmost outpost in Helmand Province, are coming to the Americans with requests for medical care, repairs of clogged irrigation canals and the reopening of schools.

“Without the Afghan government, we will not be successful,� said Capt. Korvin Kraics, the battalion’s lawyer, who is in Khan Neshin. “You need local-level bureaucracy to defeat the insurgency. Without the stability that brings, the Taliban can continue to maintain control.�

Local administration is a problem throughout Afghanistan, and many rural areas suffer from corrupt local officials — if they have officials at all. But southern Helmand has long been one of the most ungovernable regions, a vast, inhospitable desert dominated by opium traffickers and the Taliban.

It not clear what promises of support from the Afghan government the Americans had, or whether they undertook the mission knowing that the backing necessary to complete it, at least in southern Helmand, might not arrive soon — if at all. The Americans in Khan Neshin doubt that the Afghan government promised much of anything.

Governor Massoud said he personally admired the Marines here, from the Second Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, but he said many people “just don’t want them here.�

He estimated that two of every three local residents supported the Taliban, mostly because they make a living growing poppy for the drug trade, which the Taliban control. Others support them for religious reasons or because they object to foreign forces.

Not least, people understand that the Taliban have not disappeared, but simply fallen back to Garmsir, 40 miles north, and will almost surely try to return.

Lt. Col. Tim Grattan, the battalion commander, said the local residents’ ambivalence reflected fears of what could happen to anyone who sided with the Marines, an apprehension stoked by past operations that sent troops in only for short periods.

“They are on the fence,� Colonel Grattan said. “They want to go with a winner. They want to see if we stay around and will be able to protect them from the Taliban and any repercussions.�

As for follow-up assistance, Colonel Grattan said the Afghan national government “has been ineffective to date.�

The shortfall in Afghan government support is important not only in terms of defining the Marines’ mission here, but also because it crimps their operations. The Marines, unlike units in some other regions, answer to a NATO-led command and are under orders to defer to Afghan military and civilian officials, even if there are none nearby.

For instance, Marines must release detainees after 96 hours or turn them over to Afghan forces for prosecution, even if the nearest prosecutors or judges are 80 miles away. Some detainees who the Marines say are plainly implicated in attacks using improvised explosive devices or mortars have been released.

The problems are compounded by a shortage of American troops, despite the recent reinforcements. The Marine battalion, which deployed with less than 40 percent of its troops, can regularly patrol only a small portion of its 6,000-square-mile area.

To do even that they have stretched: three-fifths of the Marines are stationed at checkpoints and a handful of austere outposts ringing Khan Neshin, living without air-conditioning or refrigerated water.

That leaves no regular troop presence across the vast southernmost reaches of Helmand. On the Pakistani border the town of Baramcha — a major smuggling hub and Taliban stronghold — remains untouched by regular military units. American and Afghan officials say Baramcha’s influence radiates through southern Helmand, undermining Marine and British military units elsewhere. “It’s the worst place in Afghanistan,� Governor Massoud said.

If the Afghan national government can provide more resources and security forces — and the Marines add more men — then the United States may be able to leave in two to three years, Colonel Grattan said.

Without that, he said, it could take much longer. For now, little help is materializing.

Frustrated, Governor Massoud said his “government is weak and cannot provide agricultural officials, school officials, prosecutors and judges.�

He said he was promised 120 police officers, but only 50 showed up. He said many were untrustworthy and poorly trained men who stole from the people, a description many of the Americans agree with. No more than 10 percent appear to have attended a police academy, they say. “Many are just men from the streets,� the governor said.

The Afghan National Army contingent appears sharper — even if only one-sixth the size that Governor Massoud said he was promised — but the soldiers have resisted some missions because they say they were sent not to fight, but to recuperate.

“We came here to rest, then we are going somewhere else,� said Lt. Javed Jabar Khail, commander of the 31-man unit. The Marines say they hope the next batch of Afghan soldiers will not be expecting a holiday.

In the meantime, at the local bazaar, just outside the Marines’ base, the foreign troop presence remains a hard sell.

When one man, Abdul Hanan, complained that “more people are dying,� First Lt. Jake Weldon told him that the Taliban “take away your schools, they take away your hospitals; we bring those things.�

Mr. Hanan remained doubtful. Some people have fled the area, fearful of violence since the Marines have arrived. He asked, “So you want to build us a hospital or school, but if nobody is here, what do we do?�[quote]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/wo...arines.html?hp[quote]

Don't expect quick results in Afghanistan
By Bill RoggioAugust 23, 2009 1:12 AM

The Obama administration is betting that the 'surge' of nearly 21,000 US forces to Afghanistan will produce positive results within the next year. What will happen if the situation doesn't improve in that year isn't stated, and leaves much cause for concern.

If you are hoping the influx of US forces into Helmand province and neighboring Kandahar will have a dramatic positive impact, this article at The New York Times should give you pause. To sum it up: the Afghan government has nearly no presence in much of Helmand. The police are near non-existent and the few that are on duty are crooked, ineffective, and poorly trained. There is only one Afghan soldier for every six US Marines, and some Afghan soldiers believe they've been sent to Helmand for a "vacation." There are too few US troops to effectively patrol and secure much of the province. And finally, the Taliban enjoy significant support from the local population.

If anything, Helmand province (and I gather much of Kandahar and Farah provinces as well) looks much like Iraq's notorious Anbar province during 2004-06, before the Awakening took hold and Iraqi security forces came into their own. And the Marine effort to secure outposts along the Helmand River Valley looks much like the effort to clear and secure the Euphrates River Valley in Iraq during 2005 (even the terrain is similar: the vast majority of those living in Anbar and Helmand live along the main river; much of the province is a vast desert expanse). The Anbar campaign laid the groundwork for success in Iraq's most violent province. But the success in Anbar in 2005 could not be capitalized on until the Iraqi government got on its feet, the security forces developed and grew, and the US launched the comprehensive counterinsurgency program nationwide in 2007. Until then, al Qaeda in Iraq and Sunni insurgents used neighboring provinces and safe havens across the border in Syria to fuel the insurgency in Anbar.

The Afghan problem has been 30 years in the making. Even if the US government and military have fully absorbed the lessons from Iraq and have put the right leaders in place to direct the counterinsurgency operation (both which remain to be seen), implementing any solutions are difficult given the poor resources in Afghanistan. And we haven't even discussed Pakistan. Those expecting dramatic progress in one year will be sorely disappointed.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat...#ixzz0PFbs7E9Z


http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat...sults_in_a.php[quote]

Danger Room in Afghanistan: Helmand’s Bomb Fight, Up Close and Personal

* By Noah Shachtman Email Author
* August 25, 2009 |
* 9:06 am |



MIANPOSHTEH, Afghanistan – The robot was back in the armored truck, and the truck was parked across the canal. That meant Gunnery Sgt. Tony Lindsey had to get right up close to the pair of improvised bombs, and try to get rid of the things by hand.

This isn’t the way he is supposed to operate. During the Iraq war, the military gave explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians like Lindsey a heap of new gear to help them dispose of jury-rigged bombs in relative safety. Forget the “pull the red wire� cliché. These newly-outfitted bomb squads drove up to the hazard zone in hard-shelled, blast-deflecting vehicles. Radio frequency jammers blocked the signals that remotely detonated the explosives. Bomb-handling robots picked the weapons apart, while the EOD teams stayed inside their heavily-armored trucks.

But the improvised explosive device (IED) fight has shifted here in Helmand province — the epicenter of America’s renewed war in Afghanistan. Unlike Iraq, there aren’t many paved roads for the robots and the armored vehicles to roll down. And it’s so hot, EOD technicians like Lindsey don’t even bother wearing the heavy protective suits that are supposed to give them some semblance of protection. Besides, the bombs here are so big and so deadly, the suits wouldn’t help much, if everything went bad.

Which left Lindsey staring at two steel pipes, each 15 inches long, six inches wide, and packed with homemade explosives. Spark plugs, motorcycle gears and ball bearings provided the improvised shrapnel.

Lindsey says he wasn’t any more nervous than usual when he goes out on a bomb disposal call. But he knew he was taking an extra risk. “Any time we gotta leave the truck, the threat is stepped up. Ordinarily, we sit inside the truck so if something blows up, we’ll be alright,� he tells me.

The bombs were sitting off the side of a dirt road bisected by a canal, a few hundred meters south of an outpost from Echo company of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. Lindsey and his partner, Staff Sgt. Andrew Toothman, did manage to get rid of the IEDs — detonating them in place with explosives of their own.

Which meant there were only two more bombs to go. A few hundred meters to the west, near a canal winding through a tree-lined corn field, an Echo company Marine had noticed a wire poking out of the dirt. He brushed it away with his hand, and saw a metal tube — another IED. A second was next to it. Most of his squad had walked right by them both.

Taliban militants have been trying all sorts of trickery to keep their bombs from being seen. They’ve used pressure-triggered IEDs, tied together with wood and rubber, to avoid being picked up by metal detectors. They’ve buried bombs underground, or placed them near small footpaths and berms, where they can blend in with the foliage.

Some of the bombs have been huge: 40- or 50-pound-jugs filled with homemade explosives. That’s enough to rip a Humvee in half — or send a soldier with the Afghan National Army flying dozens of feet in the air. Which makes Toothman and Lindsey’s inability to use their robots and their bomb-resistant trucks even more frustrating. They’ve had to trudge through mud, and swim through a goat-dung-filled canal just to handle the deadly threats.

Lindsey and Toothman blew up the second pair of IEDs – sending a chest-thumping shockwave more than a hundred meters away. Then they walked back, got inside their armored vehicle, a drove about a kilometer back to their base.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009...-and-personal/[quote]

How To: Run an ‘Honesty Trace’ to Counter Roadside Bombs

* By Nathan Hodge Email Author
* August 25, 2009 |
* 1:47 pm |


090815-M-0440G-724Roadside bombs remain the number-one threat to U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. But as Noah recently reported, one Marine officer has forwarded an ingenious, off-the-shelf method for avoiding natural ambush points: The “honesty trace.�

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Matt Pottinger — now a Marine Corps first lieutenant — came up with the idea while working with Combat Logistics Battalion 3 in Helmand Province. The idea was simple: Pottinger hooked up the unit’s vehicles with commercial GPS trackers to create a digital record of the routes they were driving. Then he overlaid the routes to see where tracks were converging. It turned out that terrain often forced the Marines into natural chokepoints where the Taliban could set up ambushes.

Changing up routes is standard in military operations, but creating “honesty traces� (a term borrowed from the British in Northern Ireland, who did the same thing with tracing paper) can help troops avoid falling into unexpected — and potentially deadly — patterns. This unclassified briefing — prepared for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, but also for other International Security Assistance Force units — doesn’t involve much more than a Garmin GPS, a USB port and Excel spreadsheets.

“Honesty traces plainly tell us which wadi crossings we gravitate toward, which stretches of desert we have traversed before, and which contours and chokepoints we and our sister units tend to repeatedly navigate,� the briefing states. “Hence, the traces keep us honest.�

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009...oadside-bombs/[quote]