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Posts Tagged afghanistan
Combat Outpost Keating
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Warriors on 26/Jul/2010 00:33
" A Chinook helicopter lands at Combat Outpost Keating, Afghanistan, in this March 2007, file photo. A military investigation of a Taliban attack last fall on the remote U.S. army outpost that left eight American soldiers dead and 22 wounded has resulted in administrative punishments for two commanders blamed for "inadequate measures taken by the chain of command." (Sgt. Amber Robinson/U.S. Army)
“[Combat Outpost Keating] was opened in 2006 in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan Province, an area of mountain escarpments, thick forests and deep canyons with a population suspicious of outsiders. The outpost’s troops were charged with finding allies among local residents and connecting them to the central government in Kabul, stopping illegal cross-border movement and deterring the insurgency.
But the outpost’s fate, chronicled in unusually detailed glimpses of a base over nearly three years, illustrates many of the frustrations of the allied effort: low troop levels, unreliable Afghan partners and an insurgency that has grown in skill, determination and its ability to menace.”
Dying faces, body bags: How trauma hits a US unit
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Warriors on 24/Jul/2010 19:11
“— More than half a year after one of the deadliest battles ever waged by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the men of Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry are still fighting in — and with — their memories.
Sgt. Daniel Rodriguez, 22, of Stafford, Va., with Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry, was awarded Silver Star for his actions in one of the deadliest battles ever waged by U.S. forces on Oct. 3, 2009 when hundreds of insurgents attacked their combat outpost "Keating" in eastern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
“They cannot forget Oct. 3, 2009. On that day, 300 insurgents attacked two outposts in eastern Afghanistan manned by 72 soldiers, sparking a 12-hour fight. By nightfall, eight U.S. soldiers were dead. Three days later, the outposts were closed.
Like so many of their comrades, they suffer from mental trauma. Nearly 20 percent of the 1.6 million troops who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress or major depression, according to a 2008 study by Rand Corp.
Only slightly more than half of those sought treatment.
Sgt. Daniel Rodriguez sees the face of a dying soldier when he tries to sleep.
“There’s not a night that I go to sleep that I don’t think about it,” says Rodriguez, 22. “He was speechless. His eyes were open like he was trying to tell me something and it didn’t come out. And he was gurgling. And I’m trying to pull him in and it just isn’t happening, and it kicks in that there’s nothing I can do for my friend.”
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/07/24/4742638-dying-faces-body-bags-how-trauma-hits-a-us-unit
Marines: Salam Bazaar in Helmand province
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 24/Jul/2010 18:20
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While ridding the Salam Bazaar in Helmand province of known Taliban activity, April 14, the Marines of Company A, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, along with the Afghan national army and the Afghan national police encountered heavy resistance from insurgent forces. Once the Marines and the ANSF successfully cleared the bazaar, they conversed with the local people, receiving valuable information on insurgent activity from the town elders. Photo by Cpl. Daniel Blatter
5 US troops die in blasts in southern Afghanistan
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 24/Jul/2010 18:14
Kabul, Afghanistan
“KABUL, Afghanistan – Five American service members died Saturday in bombings in southern Afghanistan where international forces are stepping up the fight against the Taliban, officials said.
Four of the victims died in a single blast, NATO said in a statement without specifying nationalities nor providing further details. A fifth service member was killed in a separate attack in the south, NATO said.”
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=1099672
Taliban using children to plant IEDs
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 23/Jul/2010 00:48
“In mid-May, a 9-year-old boy and his 4-year-old spotter died when an IED they were laying blew up, Kidnie said. And on June 6, two Afghan kids, aged 11 and 8, were caught in the act of planting an IED. Their hands tested positive for explosive residue, Brown added.”
Oscar Company savoring some payback
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 00:42
Canadian soldiers patrolling for IEDs in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, are finding it easier to take out insurgents due to a shortened "kill chain." LOUIE PALU/THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO
“Oh ya, baby!†one soldier shouted up at the sky as the airborne gatling gun spewed repeated bursts. Whoops and cheers rippled across the dust-blown camp.
In a war where the enemy hides in villages, and fights mainly with homemade bombs hidden in cooking pots, water jugs, farmer’s fields and trees, it’s not often Canadian soldiers get to fight back.
Oscar Company was savouring some payback, a sweet taste they’ve been enjoying more often in recent days.”
Canadian Commander in Afghanistan Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance
Since Brigadier-General Jon Vance returned to take command in early June, the kill chain has been cut shorter, and Canadian troops on the battlefields of eastern Panjwai district say it’s getting easier to take the fight to the insurgents.
Major Steve Brown, commander of Oscar Company, in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group, called Vance “a no-nonsense kind of guy†whose personality has helped reshape battlefield operations.
We’re getting quite a few stories about the frustration soldiers are having with the operational restrictions brought in by McChrystal (which was actually the focus of the Rolling Stone article that got him fired). I can understand the frustration…but let’s remember why those restrictions were brought in, yes? It’s the big picture. The negative effects of dead civilians almost always outweigh the benefits of dead Taliban.
“Always we women should do the sacrifice?”
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 00:36
Governor of Bamyan Province, Dr Habiba Sorabi
“Habiba Sorabi, the governor of the Bamiyan province — where the Taliban terrorized Shiite members of the Hazara minority during their rule, and destroyed ancient Buddhist monuments — rejected a suggestion from a minister in the national government that women would have to “be sacrificed†in return for a deal with the fundamentalist insurgents. Speaking in English to a crew from Channel 4 News, Ms. Sorabi said:
“Why are they not doing the sacrifice? Always we women should do the sacrifice? Always women during the war and during the conflict, for a long period in Afghanistan, women sacrificed. So this is enough I think.”
Ms. Sorabi was not invited to the conference in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Tuesday.
http://canada-afghanistan.blogspot.com/
The Canada-Afghanistan Blog: Nation-building in Afghanistan is a noble and justified cause, consistent with our broad Canadian values of democracy and human rights. We recognize the military aspect is a vital, but not sufficient, component of this mission.
Riding with Ghosts
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 00:30
“Doing the Canadian thing: getting the job done without all of the fuss and fanfare.”
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN—We are motoring down a bare-dirt back road in Kandahar Province, a road where NATO patrols never go. This way is better, explains the ghost behind the wheel, because roads without soldiers tend not to explode….
…Nearly every other civilian foreigner has fled Kandahar. Some have taken refuge inside nearby NATO bases, others have retreated to comparably calmer Kabul. But not Team Canada, despite the rash of bombs and targeted killings that torment this crucial southern city. They are working under the radar to rapidly turn tens of millions of international aid dollars into jobs for thousands of Afghan men.
Fighting-age Afghan men, you understand, some of whom, in their desperation for income, would join the only other gainful employers in town — the cash-paying Taliban, or, more likely, one of the corrupt private armies that Panjwaii Tim assesses bluntly as “akin to the Sicilian mafia.â€
Never mind hearts and minds, Team Canada is about hands and bellies — a largely invisible aid network on the front line, offering stay-alive sustenance to Afghans who might otherwise plant roadside bombs aimed at sending more Canadian bodies home down the Highway of Heroes…
…“They are the best crew in the country,†the blogger, Tim Lynch, an American contractor who does work similar to Team Canada in safer Nangahar Province, wrote in an email to the Star. “They have balls the size of grapefruit.â€
http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=3357
Afghans soldiers during a patrol near Kandahar.
The Military in Pictures
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 22/Jul/2010 23:40
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An MV-22B Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepares to land on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan during routine flight operations.
Members of Task Force Cyclone load a Chinook helicopter while another lands in Surkh-e Parsa district, Parwan province, Afghanistan, Nov. 16. Task Force Cyclone's mission was to check on current building projects, meet with Afghan police officials and talk with civilians about concerns in the area. Photo by Spc. William Henry
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An Afghan national army soldier speaks with the elder of one of the villages visited Sept. 23 during Operation Gator Crawl. Photo by Cpl. Daniel Flynn
http://www.freemilitaryphotos.com/photo/03-23-2010/operation-enduring-freedom-ghazni-prt
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An Indiana National Guard Soldier fires his M4 Assault Rifle on a range at the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in central Indiana, Jan. 22. His unit is training for deployment to Afghanistan slated for the following
Petty Officer Scott "Doc K" Kuniyuki, Medic from Provincial Reconstruction Team Ghazni, provides security for the landing zone during 9-line training with Polish medics and Special Forces along with U.S. Army personnel on the side of a mountain inside Ghazni province, Afghanistan. Photo by Master Sgt. Sarah Webb
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An F/A-18C Hornet from Carrier Air Wing 5 prepares to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. George Washington, the Navy's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, is underway supporting security and stability in the western Pacific Ocean. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class John Hageman
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U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin Cascarano, from Lisle, Ill., Security Forces member assigned to Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team, keeps watch as members of the Ghazni PRT conduct a quality assurance/quality control inspection at the construction site of the Ergato comprehensive health clinic located in Waghez district, Ghazni province, Feb. 3. Photo by Master Sgt. Sarah Webb Date: 02.03.2010
U.S. Soldiers with Bravo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment fire a 155mm illumination round using an M-777A2 towed howitzer at Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, Jan. 10. (Photo by: Tech Sgt. Francisco V. Govea II)
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MV-22B Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (Reinforced), 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, fly over the Egyptian coastline during Exercise Bright Star 2009 in Egypt, Oct. 12. The multinational exercise is designed to improve readiness, interoperability, and strengthen the military and professional relationships among U.S., Egyptian and participating forces
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Residents of western Paktika stand in line to receive saplings handed out by members of the provincial government, the Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team, and the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, March 24. Afghan national security forces escorted the tree saplings to their respective district for distribution as well as providing security for the class and distribution process to prevent thievery and corruption. These trees will be equally distributed and planted throughout the region in order to allow the root systems to hold the soil in place.
Revamping the U.S. military’s creaky air fleet on the cheap?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 16/Jul/2010 17:34
“Every time the Air Force sends a B-1B bomber on a mission over Afghanistan, it spends costs $720,000 in fuel, repair, and other costs. And when the plane comes back, it has to spend 48 hours being repaired for every hour it was in the air. All of which is double-crazy, because the bomber doesn’t really drop bombs over Afghanistan any more, thanks to the military’s airstrike restrictions. The B-1B just lingers over the country with a camera: a big Predator drone, at many, many times the price.”
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Afghanistan: army major murdered by rogue Afghani soldier
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 14/Jul/2010 18:19
Major James Joshua Bowman was killed in his sleeping quarters by a rogue Afghan soldier Photo: MoD/PA
“Major James Joshua Bowman, 34, from Salisbury, Wilts, was one of three soldiers from the 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles murdered on Tuesday by Taleb Hossein at the base they shared in Helmand province.
Hossein, 23, shot dead Maj Bowman in Patrol Base 3 in Nahr-e Saraj district, near Helmand’s capital, Lashkar Gah, in southern Afghanistan.
The Afghan soldier also fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the base’s command centre, killing Lt Neal Turkington, 26, from Craigavon, Northern Ireland, and Cpl Arjun Purja Pun, from Nepal, and wounding four other UK soldiers.
The attack was the second time in eight months that members of Afghanistan’s security forces have turned on UK troops.
Five British soldiers were killed and six injured when an Afghan policeman opened fire on them at a secure checkpoint in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand in November.”
Self-Driving Trucks Let Soldiers Watch for Bombs
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 12/Jul/2010 18:53
By Spencer Ackerman
“As insurgents in Afghanistan target the U.S. military’s soft underbelly — its long logistics lines — trucking materiel through war zones has become an increasingly dangerous mission.
One U.S. Army solution? Self-driving trucks that let the humans behind the wheel look out for bombs, instead.”
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/armys-self-driving-trucks-let-the-humans-watch-for-bombs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29
Taliban Attacks Kill 11 Afghan Policemen
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 11/Jul/2010 15:31
Kochis (Afghan nomads) on their way from their winter settlement in Kunduz province to the Shiva pastures in Badakshan.
The Kunduz Valley, Kunduz Province, Afghanistan, 1975 © Luke Powell
“KABUL, Afghanistan — Eleven police officers and a district governor were killed in three separate attacks by the Taliban in northeast Afghanistan, NATO and local officials said on Sunday.
Two took place in Kunduz Province, and the third was just outside the province. Throughout the early years of the Afghan war, most insurgent activity was focused in the south, with the north remaining relatively calm. But in the past two years, violence in the north has grown dramatically, especially in Kunduz Province.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/world/asia/12afghan.html?_r=1
Five US soldiers killed in Afghanistan attacks – June worst month for casualties since 2001
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 10/Jul/2010 11:57
Five US soldiers have been killed in separate incidents of violence in Afghanistan, Nato has said.
Three died in east Afghanistan and two were killed in separate roadside bombings in the south.
More than 350 Nato soldiers have been killed this year.
In other violence, gunmen killed 11 Pakistani Shia tribesmen in the east and one person was killed by a motorbike bomb in Kandahar.
Also on Saturday, hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in protest at increasing civilian deaths.
Canadian Muslim immigrant charged with plotting genocide of Canadian Jews
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 10/Jul/2010 00:23
After police visited Mr Hossain at his suburban home in Mississauga, Ontario in 2007, he wrote: "You can't charge me for possessing a thought."
“A Muslim immigrant who called for “the slaughter of Jews” in online postings has become the first person to be charged with promoting genocide in Canada, police said on Friday.
Salman Hossain, a 25-year-old from Bangladesh who apparently left Canada in May, was charged with five counts of promoting hatred and advocating or promoting genocide over postings on his website and blog, as well as on a third-party website, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.
He “wilfully promoted hatred and advocated genocide of the Jewish community,” said a statement.
Mr Hossain, who immigrated to Canada as a child, openly called for “violent regime change in Western nations in order to remove the presence of Jews” and “the slaughter of Jews,” according to reports.
He also advocated terrorist attacks in Canada, cheered the killing of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, and urged fellow Muslims to overthrow the “Jewish-run Canadian government”.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/7882761/Muslim-charged-with-plotting-genocide-of-Canadian-Jews.html
He immigrated as a child to a peaceful, tolerant (maybe too tolerant?) country – Canada – and yet, when he grew up to be a young man he actively and openly advocated killing Jews and committing terrorist attacks in Canada. Why? Where did he learn this? Where was his loyalty to Canada, the country that took him and his family in?