Taliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults

by: Richard Allen Smith

Tue Aug 19, 2008 at 13:56:13 PM EDT


This isn't good:

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting, one a complex attack with multiple suicide bombers on an American military base on Monday night, and another by some 100 insurgents on French forces in a district east of the capital, killing 10 French soldiers and wounding 21 others, military officials said Tuesday.
...
The attack on Camp Salerno in Khost Province was one of the most complex attacks seen so far in Afghanistan with multiple suicide bombers and a backup fighting force that tried to breach defenses on to the airport at the base. It followed a suicide car bombing at the outer entrance to the same base on Monday morning, which killed 12 Afghan workers lining up to enter the base, and another attempted bombing that was thwarted shortly after.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for all three attacks in Khost. Their spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, reached by telephone at an unknown location, said that 15 suicide bombers, equipped with machine guns and vests packed with explosives, with 30 militants backing them up, attacked the base, one of the largest foreign military bases in Afghanistan. He claimed that some of the bombers had gotten inside the base and had killed a number of American soldiers and destroyed equipment and helicopters. This last claim was denied by General Azimi of the Afghan military.

The article goes on to describe in detail the eight hour Taliban attack and the coalition/Afghan National Army response.  Basically, the Taliban attackers were very precise, very coordinated, and very large in numbers.

This isn't an attack on a remote firebase.  Forward Operating Base Salerno is home to one of two U.S. combat brigades in  Afghanistan. Along with the headquarters, there are significant numbers of support, aviation and field artillery assets. I can't locate exact numbers (probably unavailable for OPSEC reasons), but I'd estimate it is the second largest U.S. commanded installation in the country, behind only Bagram Airfield.  A footprint this size comes with a proportional security operation. What the Taliban have demonstrated with this incident is that they are able to conduct large scale, coordinated attacks on significant coalition military bases, and that is unacceptable for a group we should have defeated several years ago.

When will the powers that be recognize that we need to stop chasing the easter bunny in Iraq before the Taliban and Al Qaeda over run our bases in Afghanistan?  Hopefully, a moment of clarity will come soon and several thousand additional boots can be on the ground before the next Taliban attack is more successful than this one.

H/t to Spencer Ackerman
Richard Allen Smith :: Taliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults
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Taliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults | 16 comments
Afghanistan - the real central front in the Real Global War On Terror (0.00 / 0)

July 6, 2008
If elected, Obama says, he would immediately withdraw thousands of ground troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan to help undermanned US forces defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
"It's time to refocus our attention on the war we have to win in Afghanistan," Obama said in a speech last week. "It is time to go after the Al Qaeda leadership where it actually exists."

However, McCain, a former fighter pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war, says Iraq, not Afghanistan, is the "central front" in the war on terrorism. He believes that NATO and Pakistan must do more in Afghanistan until the United States can draw down its commitment in Iraq - a position which tracks Bush administration strategy.

Only weeks after the Taliban were routed from Kabul and the remnants of al-Qaeda had fled from bases in Tora Bora, McCain took the lead in urging the Bush administration to turn its attention toward Iraq.
In a Feb. 2, 2002, speech to the Munich Conference on Security Policy, McCain said the United States and its allies needed to concentrate on overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
"The next front is apparent, and we should not shirk from acknowledging it," McCain said. "A terrorist resides in Baghdad, with the resources of an entire state at his disposal, flush with cash from illicit oil revenues and proud of a decade-long record of defying the international community's demands that he come clean on his programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.



"No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided." - Barack Obama

A Leader.............. (0.00 / 0)
Sarkozy Heads to Afghanistan Following French Troop Deaths

French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled to Afghanistan Tuesday, after 10 French troops were killed and 21 wounded in the deadliest attack in several years on French forces deployed abroad. From Paris, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA.


'Hearts and Minds, "The ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live there." -- President Lyndon Johnson
Yeah but (0.00 / 0)
what kind of boots will we put on the ground? Will we send our best in to get these guys? I am talking about Spec Ops types and Marines who will actually be able to think like the enemy does and have a rudimentary knowledge of the languages such as Pashto, Arabic, Urdu, and Dhari? Or will this simply be a political stunt to put a check in the box?  
First... (0.00 / 0)
lets through out the notion that the Marines should be included in "our best" :)

We need a massive influx of troops of all types. Our problem now is we don't have enough of a troop presence. Thats why a firebase can be over run by the Taliban. Thats why a unit can spend 15 months clearing districts of Helman Province only to have the first cities the unit cleared back in Taliban hands in the end.  We have forces to fight, but not enough to hold our gains.  

If it were up to me I'd increase our presence by several thousand, while keeping the same proportion of conventional forces (Army Combat Brigades and Marines) to Nonconventional forces (SEALs, SF, CIA, etc.) This isn't a political stunt to send troops just for the sake of saying we sent troops. Its something that NEEDS to happen before shit gets any more out of control than it already is.

I'm on twitter.

[ Parent ]
Agreed, (0.00 / 0)
except for the Marines part, hahaha. We need CIA, SEALs, SF, etc. I would recommend something along the lines of joint CIA/SF teams to take down HVTS, if we don't have that there already. My main concern however, is with the politicans up in DC, rather than the guys on the ground. If this thing starts getting ugly, which it very well may, are the politicians going to let our guys do their job, or will knee-jerk damage control be the concept of the day.  
[ Parent ]
We've always sent in the nonconventional guys (0.00 / 0)
to do the real work, while conventional backups are there for support and to take the credit. 4th ID didn't really snatch Saddam, it was nonconventional guys that pulled him out of that hole.

We were in that role in that link about losing bin Laden that I posted in a reply to one of your comments. Although, I have it from the mouth of a VERY reliable source that he wasn't there anyway.

You couldn't send Marines to do the job. They'd end up punching each other in the face before they could even start to make progress. :)

I'm on twitter.

[ Parent ]
Yeah (0.00 / 0)
we used to whup each other's ass pretty good. We were pretty good at whipping the enemy's ass too though. Nothing like a little interservice shit talking eh. I actually read that AQ pulled a ruse to make our guys think that bin Laden was at Tora Bora back in 01. I'll post that when I can remember what book it was, but I seem to remember it was written by an Arab journalist who interviewed bin Laden.

[ Parent ]
Now (0.00 / 0)
how exactly are we supposed to handle Pakistan? The FATA region is going to be about a bitch and a half, and that is without all of the political shit.
[ Parent ]
I'm no expert on (0.00 / 0)
mountain or wilderness tactics, but my idea would be to do on a larger scale what was done at Tora Bora. Set up blocking positions to seal off escape routes, warn the populace of an impending assault and escort all non combats out of the area, a few 155s and JDAMS, and send in the nonconventional guys to clean up. Of course all of this is for nil if we aren't operating unfettered on a large scale with in the FATA region in a joint US-Pakistani security effort.

I'm on twitter.
[ Parent ]
Additionally (0.00 / 0)
I would stress that we would need all of the local support that we can get, but that will be much easier said than done. The tribesman have historically been extremely hostile to outsiders, including other Pakistanis,and AQ has one major advantage over us. The locals know we have rules and don't usually break them, but AQ pretty much has no rules. AQ is truly ruthless with the will to act. We haven't exactly sent a clear cut message that we are willing to truly eradicate AQ these past 7 years, so why would the locals possibly want to roll over on AQ for us? Our politicians are a major concern for me as well. They pretty much fucked us when Fallujah started getting ugly, so I shudder to think what they might do when this starts getting really nasty.
[ Parent ]
Yes (0.00 / 0)
popular support in Afghanistan is a must.  The problem there is that they remember the proxy war in the 80s between the mujahadeen and the Soviets, and how we totally hung them out to dry afterwards leaving a power vacuum that allowed the Taliban to come into power in the first place.  

I'm on twitter.
[ Parent ]
It also doesn't (0.00 / 0)
help that we really don't have anything to offer or threaten them with. They practically are back in the stone age and AQ has money in addition to being utterly ruthless. By the way, how are the borders looking?  
[ Parent ]
In my experience (0.00 / 0)
Afghans could give a shit less about he money and care more about them being utterly ruthless.

I didn't spend much time on the border, but from what I heard they were rather porous.

I'm on twitter.

[ Parent ]
Well that (0.00 / 0)
gives us one less tool to work with. I remember Michael Scheuer saying if you bribe Afghans, they will do whatever they intended to do regardless of your bribe. Any truth to that? And is there any feasible way to close the borders there?
[ Parent ]
I've never bribed an Afghan, (0.00 / 0)
so I can't speak to that.

I don't think there is a way to seal the borders, saying who it isn't a real border, per se. Its recognized by pretty much everyone in the world except the people that live there, which are the people who's opinions really count.

I'm on twitter.

[ Parent ]
New Report: (0.00 / 0)
Washington D.C., August 20, 2008 - On the tenth anniversary of U.S. cruise missile strikes against al-Qaeda in response to deadly terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, newly-declassified government documents posted today by the National Security Archive (www.nsarchive.org) suggest the strikes not only failed to hurt Osama bin Laden but ultimately may have brought al-Qaeda and the Taliban closer politically and ideologically.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/N...

Taliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults | 16 comments
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