Posts Tagged War in Afghanistan

Staff Sergeant Adam Hendrickson: heading home with his unit of the 101st Airborne Division

Staff Sergeant Adam Hendrickson (left), 29, of Winter Park, Fla., tries to fit his assault rifle into the overhead compartment upon boarding a flight at Manas, Kyrgyzstan. He is heading home with his unit of the 101st Airborne Division after completing its deployment in Afghanistan on Aug. 11. President Obama plans to withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

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US soldiers from Bravo Company and Afghan security forces prepare their weapons

US soldiers from Bravo Company and Afghan security forces prepare their weapons before boarding a Chinook helicopter in Kandahar province on Aug. 14. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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Soldiers with the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, begin the first leg of return home

Soldiers with the 506th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the 101st Airborne Division, begin the first leg of their return home, boarding a plane at a forward base in Paktika province. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

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US soldier from the Third Brigade on joint security patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers

A US soldier from the Third Brigade passes an Afghan family outside their mudhouse during a joint security patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers in Kandalay village on Aug. 4. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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US soldiers keep guard near a canal in Kandahar province

US soldiers keep guard near a canal running thru Highway 1 on the outskirts of Kandalay village in Kandahar province on August 6, as part of a mission to secure southern Afghanistan's strategic roadway against Taliban insurgents' placements of improvised explosive devices (IED). According to Captain Max Ferguson commander of Charlie Co., a Taliban was killed while trying to place IED some 800 meters from the area where soldiers were sealing off the road culvert with iron grids and barb wires. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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Captain Max Ferguson at Kandalay village in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar

Captain Max Ferguson plays with Afghan children during a joint patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers at Kandalay village in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Aug. 8, while US troops launched missile attacks on Taliban targets in nearby Kelawai village killing at least three and capturing two insurgents. US forces push their counterinsurgency efforts to battle for the hearts and minds of the local population. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)

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Shura with villagers July 23 at US Marine Patrol Base Salaam Bazaar in Helmand province, Afghanistan

Now Zad District Governor Said Murad Sadtak hangs his head during a shura with villagers July 23 at US Marine Patrol Base Salaam Bazaar in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Afghan government officially took control of security in the capital of Helmand last month, as Western influence wanes. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

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Top US Envoy in Talks with Pakistani, Afghan Officials

The talks come as the two allies in the war against terrorism are trying to ease diplomatic tensions that have worsened since al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. commando raid into Pakistan on May 2.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Top-US-Envoy-in-Talks-with-Pakistani-Afghan-Officials-126706948.html

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Lance Cpl. Robert Greniger of Greenfield, Minnesota dies in combat in Afghanistan

by: Mark Brunswick

The remains of servicemen, including Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Greniger of Greenfield, Minn., arrived Thursday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Greniger, 21, was killed in combat Tuesday in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. Photo: Steve Ruark, Associated Press

Lance Cpl. Robert Greniger of Greenfield had been in Afghanistan only a few months, a friend said.

“He talked about getting to know some people, especially some of the natives around the main base where he was at. He had met a little girl that looked just like his youngest sister, Greta, who’s 8. He was teasing her about getting him some bread, and the girl went home and got him some bread,” his father recalled.

Kurt Greniger said his son had been in Afghanistan since March.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Corpsman Killed in Afghanistan

MIDLAND, Mich. — A Navy hospital corpsman who enlisted out of high school and was on his first deployment to Afghanistan has been killed in action, his mother said Wednesday.

The remains of Aaron Ullom, 20, of Midland are scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Ullom was serving alongside a Marine unit when he was killed Tuesday.

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General Petraeus leaves a still deadly Afghanistan to head CIA

“When U.S. General David Petraeus was named supreme commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan one year ago, he had the reputation of something of a military miracle worker.

He was dubbed King David, the man who set unruly Iraq to rights, and lauded as the most influential general of his era, a warrior-scholar and the brilliant mind behind the American military’s new gospel of counterinsurgency.

…Gen. Petraeus had more than double the number of Afghan and foreign soldiers under his command than were available to fight the Taliban just three years ago. They created a new dynamic that critics say made Afghanistan a more violent place and spread the insurgency.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/general-petraeus-leaves-a-still-deadly-afghanistan-to-head-cia/article2098028/

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Marines’ tour was one of the most brutal of the entire war

“These Marines’ tour was one of the most brutal of the entire war. In its first three weeks in Afghanistan’s Sangin district, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines got into more than 100 firefights, and sustained 62 casualties. The insurgents managed to negate the Marines’ night-vision gear, and rendered their traditional close-combat tactics useless. Things got so bad, the 3/5’s superior officers even suggested pulling their troops back.

That didn’t happen. Instead, the 3/5 went after the militants, hard. They went on the offensive constantly. They leveled booby-trapped compounds without apology. They didn’t bother with school-building until the insurgents were back on their heels. Nor did they mess with the poppy growers; the Marines had more than their fair share of enemies.”

Danger Room

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British Female Medic Awarded Military Cross

From: American Ranger

Courageous Army medic awarded Military Cross

By Brian Brady, Whitehall Editor
Sunday, 27 March 2011

An Army medic who put herself in “mortal danger” to treat a wounded Afghan soldier under heavy Taliban fire has been awarded the Military Cross, Britain’s third-highest medal for gallantry.

Lance Corporal Kylie Watson, who gave the casualty medical care in exposed open ground for 20 minutes before getting him to a helicopter, is one of more than 130 servicemen and women commended for bravery in the latest military honours list.

The medic, who also made a 100-yard dash through enemy fire to help another Afghan soldier, was praised for her “immense courage [and] willingness to put her own life at risk”.

L/Cpl Watson, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, stemmed the soldier’s bleeding despite being hampered by other Afghan troops, and got the injured man to a helicopter landing site 200 yards away.

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Meet “the snapper.”

by Michael Yon

“The enemy has difficulty hitting our vehicles with RCIEDs (radio-controlled IEDs) because our countermeasures are excellent. Low-tech inexpensive methods, such as land mines, can work against us on roads, but the problem with land mines is that they are dumb and they blow up the first thing that ticks them off, which likely will be civilian traffic. Enemy CIVCAS toxifies their operating environment and also misses their target.

And so the enemy has developed techniques to circumvent countermeasures and reduce CIVCAS. One of those techniques is “the snapper.”

The snapper uses a tire for a diaphragm in which nails are used for contacts. When a vehicle rolls over a snapper, the circuit closes. To avoid CIVCAS, the enemy waits in hiding with a battery. One of the electrodes is connected. Traffic is allowed to roll over the snapper but there is no explosion. When the target approaches, the enemy attaches the other connection and now the snapper is ARMED.”

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/the-snapper.htm

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The Taliban Will Rule Afghanistan

By Walid Phares

The administration’s plan for Afghanistan may include reconciliation with the Taliban, but the latter have no plans that allow American gains, much less bilateral-negotiations to end the conflict.

It appears that the administration is tangoing with an imaginary partner. Neville Chamberlain’s wishful Sept. 30, 1938 proclamation, “I have returned to Germany with peace in our time,” should serve as a chilling reminder to those who are under the illusion that war is receding which in fact, it is about to escalate into global conflict.

The Taliban strategy is not obscure; most of it has been announced, publicized and is based in ideology, as has been the case with totalitarian movements throughout history. U.S. inability to grasp Taliban plans is not due to the jihadists’ highly-developed denial and deception skills, but rather to the unwillingness or inability of the U.S. and its allies to see it.

The Taliban long-term strategic plan is simple: practice taqiyya to gain terrain and power; resume jihad to eliminate the other forms of governance; and implement their version of Shariah to reverse democracy.

http://www.newsmax.com/WalidPhares/taliban-shariah-afghanistan-Taqiyya/2011/07/02/id/402288

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