Iraq seems to be on track to stabilization although peace is still very very fragile in that country. But what is proving to be rather irksome is Afghanistan. Especially because the militants have the ability to hit at the stationed American and NATO forces, and then scurry back to ungoverned tribal bad lands of Pakistan for R&R.
The fact that Pakistan is not doing its bit or unable to do so, either intentionally or unintentionally, to eliminate this threat is further adding to the frustration of American troop commanders posted in Afghanistan.
In the latest attack, 9 American soldiers lost their lives when their remote outpost in Wanat, Afghanistan was attacked by mortars and small arms fire.
Voice of America is reporting that,
Western officials in Kabul say heavy fighting in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan has killed nine American soldiers and a large number of Taliban militants.
Accounts of the clash Sunday in Kunar province, near the Pakistani border, say it began with a dawn attack by militants on a small U.S. base at Wanat village and that a firefight raged throughout the day.
One unconfirmed report says “dozens” of Taliban insurgents died in the battle. No official count of casualties on either side has been released, due to continuing fighting, but it appeared to be one of the deadliest assaults on U.S. forces since they entered Afghanistan in late 2001.
American government officials have started to publicly decry the lack of action on the part of Pakistan and its refusal to act on these elements. (The Islamic country is oscillating between getting peace deals done to battling the militants in a half baked manner).
The American officials recently announced plans to launch attacks using their own ground based special forces. (Aerial attacks have already taken place without any issues except for when there is collateral damage).
Although it would be hard to blame Pakistanis as they themselves have never had much control of these areas, in stead preferring to rule through center appointed proxies who colluded with region’s tribal elders. But now even this approach seems to be faltering.
Bottom line is, that Pakistan should be told in no uncertain terms that if it refuses to fulfill its responsibility of getting rid of non-state actors who use its land to plot attacks in Afghanistan or as a safe haven, then it no longer should concern itself if American forces enter to do its job.
Either Pak army should do the cleaning act or shut up, get out of the way, and let others who are capable, do it.
Check out this forum for more details and discussion.
These guys are my heroes.
About 15 GIs were injured in this attack.
Hey, what’s up?
The ball game was interrupted for a bulletin about some U.S. Volunteers fighting in Afghanistan.
Go Troops! Hope you win!
BTW…what are they there for, and hope they got lots of beers!
i knew one of the guys that died that day jason bogart i m.o.b. with himin bragg in 06 to deploy to o.e.f cool guy he knew his job
i just know he did well during the fight prayers to his family
Joe Six packs, whats your nationality?
WE mourn the death of these great men and pray for reinforcements immediately.
This blog fully supports the troops Roby.
I have a good family friend who was involved in the firefight. His wife called us to let us know there was something up, as he’d been in the middle of a video-chat session with her when the base went into lockdown and he disconnected abrubtly. Thank God he was not one of the 9 casualties and our prayers go out to the families of the Heroes who are putting their life on the line for this country’s safety.
Please pray for the family and friends of 1st. Lt. Jonathan Brostrom my fellow ROTC cadet… one of the 9 brave men who died for our country, he is in God’s hands now.
And for the others as well, they are our heroes.
R.I.P. Sgt. Israel Garcia 1.19.84-7.13.8
We love you and miss you more than this world.
Just want to say may our fallen heroes rest in peace, and it was an honor to fight by their side. Everyone there did theyre job with out hesitation, and more
We also support the afghan people fighting to free their country from the foreign invaders, so, keep mourning
173rd we replaced them here this past july were 1-26IN and let me say it was even hard on our unit to hear about something like that my platoon is supposed to take over wanat again here in a couple months its gonna be tough is what we have been told but cant let the bad guys take what was ours and where our brothers were
My nephew was injured in the attack in Wanat,Thank God it’s not life threatening injuries.I pray for everyone of the soldiers(and thier families)fighting over there and in Iraq.Bless you all.And Thank You.
Saw a TV show about this battle and I was truely upset at the outcome of the Pentagon investigation of this tragic loss. Our brave soldiers died due to the lack of support and ill timed, poorly supported move to new firebase position. Some heads should roll from some senior military brass! Giving these “jokers” a letter of repremand and then pulling the letters from their 201 files is a gross miscarriage of justice. The officers involved should be court marshelled or the let the letters stay in their 201 files. There is no place for a cover-up or “good-ole-boy” covering each others ass!
My problem is with the Army “higher ups”. They are at fault over this but want to cover their own a&&es and blame the junior officer…Lt.Brostrom for the way he set up the defenses. They take no blame for the location pick of Wardag. They might as well invited the Afgans in for lunch. Anyone with a grain of sense would not put an out-post in a location lower than the mountains around them….stupid move and deadly decision but they will not lose any sleep over that, I’m sure. Senator Webb was aware of this and was checking on it but the four-star in charge decided that Lt. Brostrom was the only one at fault. This is not the end of this if I can do anything about it. Sec. Gates and the President will hear about it along with the Joint Chiefs. I will pass the info around to everyone I know and ask them to write their Congressmen to get to the bottom of this and clear Lt. Brostrom’s name and put the blame where it belongs. Can’t you see “Stormin’ Norman”s reaction to this crap??
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