Monday, April 30, 2007
More on the Dreaded Spring Taliban Offensive
It's not really happening, this Spring, or at least it's not going really well. Here are two stories: U.S.: Afghan offensive ineffective and US aircrews show Taliban no mercy
Here are my favorite parts from the first story:
Last year, better weather saw a surge in violence around the country. But [Col] Schweitzer downplayed attacks as "modest" compared to the level of violence since the beginning of the year.
Schweitzer described suicide attacks in the south of the country as desperation tactics by Taliban fighters and other insurgents.
"We have an increase of some (small) attacks, but I would not call it a spring offensive," Schweitzer said.
And from the second story:
The soldiers said they had information that the Taliban were escaping across the river. "Look out for any boats," they said. He spotted a small aluminium fishing boat pushing out from the eastern shore of the 200-yard-wide river. In it were six or seven people. When they caught sight of the Apaches, they started to paddle back towards shore.
The aircrew hesitated. "It seemed a little premature," said Lt Denton. "We didn't have hostile intent or a positive ID from the ground commander." But the special forces soldiers were adamant that, although they could not themselves see the men on the boat, they must be the Taliban who had attacked them. That, said Lt Denton, was good enough for the Apache crews.
By then, most of the men were ashore, walking quickly towards the tree line. They appeared to be pulling clothing over their heads - burqas, Capt Staley thought, and Lt Denton concurred. As the helicopters came in to attack, Lt Denton said, one of the men turned to face him and dropped to his knees. "I think he knew that there was no hope," he said. "He was making his peace."
Capt Staley's helicopter hit them with its rockets while Lt Denton, the gunner in the other helicopter, opened up with his 30mm cannon. Three or four of the Taliban died where they stood and the rest made a dash for the trees. "They were trying to get to their bunkers," Capt Staley said. "We started a diving run and destroyed four of the six people we could see, including the Taliban commander."
From 500ft up, Lt Denton said: "You can see the person but you can't see the features of his face. The 30mm explode when they hit and kick up smoke and dust. You just see a big dust cloud where the person used to be."
[...]
Dropping to 200 ft., it swooped close to the motorcyclists - and the two men could not believe their luck: some of the passengers were holding the parts of a long-barrelled heavy machine-gun. [Probably a DShK in 12.7 mm or perhaps a KPV in 14.5 mm].
Six of the bikes slewed to a stop, their passengers leaping off and aiming their weapons at the helicopter in what appeared to be a well-practised drill, while the others took off across country. The Apache banked away to begin its attack run.
"Some of them were trying to get the heavy machine-gun up a small hill to engage us," Lt Denton said. "Capt Staley used the 30mm gun to take out the two guys who had taken off, and then we fixed on the ones with the heavy machine-gun. They were huddled around a large boulder and we shot them. We put as many rounds around it as we could, because if they got to it they could cause us trouble. But they never had a chance to set it up."
Using its cannon and then its rockets, the Apache finished off all the Taliban fighters it could find, then launched nail-filled rockets and dropped white phosphorous to destroy the motorcycles and the machine guns. After the shooting stopped, 12 Taliban were confirmed dead.
Not surprisingly, the Apache assaults have forced the Taliban to adopt a lower profile.
Come out, come out, Taliban, wherever you are. You're doing well.
Here are my favorite parts from the first story:
Last year, better weather saw a surge in violence around the country. But [Col] Schweitzer downplayed attacks as "modest" compared to the level of violence since the beginning of the year.
Schweitzer described suicide attacks in the south of the country as desperation tactics by Taliban fighters and other insurgents.
"We have an increase of some (small) attacks, but I would not call it a spring offensive," Schweitzer said.
And from the second story:
The soldiers said they had information that the Taliban were escaping across the river. "Look out for any boats," they said. He spotted a small aluminium fishing boat pushing out from the eastern shore of the 200-yard-wide river. In it were six or seven people. When they caught sight of the Apaches, they started to paddle back towards shore.The aircrew hesitated. "It seemed a little premature," said Lt Denton. "We didn't have hostile intent or a positive ID from the ground commander." But the special forces soldiers were adamant that, although they could not themselves see the men on the boat, they must be the Taliban who had attacked them. That, said Lt Denton, was good enough for the Apache crews.
By then, most of the men were ashore, walking quickly towards the tree line. They appeared to be pulling clothing over their heads - burqas, Capt Staley thought, and Lt Denton concurred. As the helicopters came in to attack, Lt Denton said, one of the men turned to face him and dropped to his knees. "I think he knew that there was no hope," he said. "He was making his peace."
Capt Staley's helicopter hit them with its rockets while Lt Denton, the gunner in the other helicopter, opened up with his 30mm cannon. Three or four of the Taliban died where they stood and the rest made a dash for the trees. "They were trying to get to their bunkers," Capt Staley said. "We started a diving run and destroyed four of the six people we could see, including the Taliban commander."
From 500ft up, Lt Denton said: "You can see the person but you can't see the features of his face. The 30mm explode when they hit and kick up smoke and dust. You just see a big dust cloud where the person used to be."
[...]
Dropping to 200 ft., it swooped close to the motorcyclists - and the two men could not believe their luck: some of the passengers were holding the parts of a long-barrelled heavy machine-gun. [Probably a DShK in 12.7 mm or perhaps a KPV in 14.5 mm].
Six of the bikes slewed to a stop, their passengers leaping off and aiming their weapons at the helicopter in what appeared to be a well-practised drill, while the others took off across country. The Apache banked away to begin its attack run.
"Some of them were trying to get the heavy machine-gun up a small hill to engage us," Lt Denton said. "Capt Staley used the 30mm gun to take out the two guys who had taken off, and then we fixed on the ones with the heavy machine-gun. They were huddled around a large boulder and we shot them. We put as many rounds around it as we could, because if they got to it they could cause us trouble. But they never had a chance to set it up."
Using its cannon and then its rockets, the Apache finished off all the Taliban fighters it could find, then launched nail-filled rockets and dropped white phosphorous to destroy the motorcycles and the machine guns. After the shooting stopped, 12 Taliban were confirmed dead.
Not surprisingly, the Apache assaults have forced the Taliban to adopt a lower profile.
Come out, come out, Taliban, wherever you are. You're doing well.
Labels: Afghanistan; Taliban Spring Offensive
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:34 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
The Russian invasion, and then the horrible civil war, wrecked that country. I think it will take a generation to make it a non basket case. I hope we don't have to be there the whole time. NATO (with a large American contingent) has been doing pretty well lately. Tough to see a future time line that's not a wild ass guess. If I had to say something I'd say 10,000 American soldiers in country by 2012.
Post a Comment
<< Home
