Afghan Army outpost destroyed by Taliban
According to the New York Times, an outposting of 13 Afghan soldiers was overwhelmed by over 200 Taliban fighters yesterday. It’s a favorite method of the taliban to use overwhelming force like that when they directly attack. US troops have faced such odds at the Ranch House, COP Keating, and other battles, the difference being that US troops were able to call for indirect fire and air strikes to save themselves. Thanks to Taliban chief/Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan Army no longer has that option.
It was one of the bloody insurgent attacks in the current spring offensive that have helped drive the rate of government fatalities to the highest level of the war. Afghan soldiers and police officers are dying at more than double the rate of a year ago, according to military officials.
The numbers both underscore how much more of the fighting has been handed over to Afghan forces and raise questions about how ready those forces are for the increased responsibility, even as the insurgents ratchet up their much-anticipated spring onslaught.
There have been a number of high-profile insurgent attacks on the ground this year, not just the remote-control and suicide bombings the Taliban favored in the past. The shift suggests that they are testing how well Afghan forces can operate on their own at a critical juncture in the planned withdrawal of the American military.
Of course, knowing that we’re rushing for the exits and there’s date certain for our withdrawal doesn’t seem to be scaring the Taliban senseless. They pretty much know that the Afghans aren’t completely ready to assume their duties, and these massive attacks and large number of casualties will only help them to scare the Afghans into submission.
Bill Roggio at The Long War Journal writes about the area with which he’s familiar;
The Taliban have overrun district centers in [Kunar and Nuristan provinces] ever since, while areas have fallen under the control of the Taliban, and training camps for al Qaeda have opened. The Long War Journal has warned of this result since 2009, when the US began pulling out of combat outposts after several were nearly overrun by hundreds of fighters from the Taliban and al Qaeda.
yeah, but we’ve been told that al Qaeda has been “decimated” in Afghanistan – but here they are rebuilding training camps – is someone not telling us the truth?
Category: Terror War
Naw, Jonn, telling us the truth would give the administration a bad image. And we wouldn’t want that, now, would we?
I remember reading that Al Q wasn’t a factor in Afghanistan, how can this be?
No surprise there.
So the rich are fleeing the sinking ship and the Taliban are gradually re-taking what they had before. Why did we stay in Afghanistan?
Hindsight being 20/20, we should have given them a little Shock and Awe, then put up a virtual wall around the entire country with a warning that any attempt to cross that wall in the direction of the US or our (real) allies would result in more Shock and Awe. Not one of our heroes is worth anything or anybody in the hellhole.
This is what happens when an inept administration is more concerned with ending wars than it is with WINNING THEM.
I may not like the Afghan situation, but being hung out to dry, in hostile territory, by your government, is no way to go.
The Left is still looking for their new Vietnam….Looks like their getting it too.
@6 Yes,depressingly familiar: win the battles while losing the war and get to watch as the locals you trained take it in the shorts.
Afghanistan is toast. Hope Karzai has his “bingo bag” ready.
The ANF has nothing to worry about. Once American forces are gone, the ANF will disband on its own and all the military assets will be absorbed by the Taliban, then the country will get caught in a power vaccuum and it will be just like it was before we got there 11 years ago.
Anyone who has studied Afghan culture knows they only operate under the banner of what is in their immediate interest. As long as we’re there, they are on our side. Once we leave, it will be as if we were never there.