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Afghan military operation goes badly wrong: NY Times
Afghan military operation goes badly wrong: NY Times Saturday, 14 August 2010 03:20
WASHINGTON: An Afghan operation to flush out the Taliban and showcase growing military competence has turned into a debacle, with many troops dead or captured and commanders pleading for help, The New York Times reported yesterday.
A senior US official with knowledge of the mission -- apparently not coordinated in advance with Nato officers -- said commanders called for backup from foreign forces after at least 10 Afghan soldiers were killed and up to 20 captured since the operation began August 3 in a rugged region east of Kabul.
Fighting has raged so intensely over the past week in the area around Bad Pakh village, in Laghman province, that the Red Cross has been unable to reach the battle zone and evacuate the wounded and dead, the Times reported.
There are several soldiers unaccounted for and killed, a senior American military official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity because the operation was ongoing.
He said about 10 soldiers had been killed.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned here, he said. How they started that and why they started that.
Nato has reportedly sent in French and American rescue teams. But when contacted, the spokesman for French troops in Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel Pierre-Yves Sarzaud, confirmed that Nato troops had been requested but denied that French units were involved.
There are no French soldiers in Laghman, he said.
A high-ranking official in Afghanistans defense ministry said the militarys plan was betrayed, and that Taliban fighters were lying in wait to ambush the bulk of the 300 men from the First Brigade of the 201st Army Corps.
The ministrys spokesman, Major General Muhammed Zahair Azimi, said seven soldiers had died and that an unknown number were taken prisoner.
We can not say the number captured because some of them were in difficult places, but some of our soldiers were captured by the Taliban, Azimi said Wednesday, according to the Times.
A Taliban spokesman said 27 Afghan soldiers were killed, 14 wounded and eight captured, the paper reported. The Taliban often exaggerates its claims of damage and casualties.
The mission marks a major embarrassment for the Afghan army, which said this week it has met a target of 134,000 troops two months ahead of schedule, and as it gears up to take responsibility for security from US-led Nato forces by 2014.
Despite its steady expansion of operational capacity, the Afghan army runs few major missions on its own.
Afghanistans troops are at similar force size to Nato troops on the ground. War monitor group iCasualties says 521 coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in 2009, while the Times reported 282 Afghan soldiers were killed.
Meanwhile, two Nato soldiers, one of them British, were killed fighting militants in southern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said.
Another British soldier died in a hospital in England from injuries he had sustained in Afghanistan, the British defence ministry said.
Natos International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it lost two soldiers fighting insurgents on Friday. An ISAF official confirmed that one of the soldiers was a Briton whose death was announced in London.
The soldiers were killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, where the insurgency is most intense, the ISAF official said. Much of southern Afghanistan is troubled by a Taliban-led insurgency now into a ninth year and at its most violent.
agencies
Afghan military operation goes badly wrong: NY Times Saturday, 14 August 2010 03:20
WASHINGTON: An Afghan operation to flush out the Taliban and showcase growing military competence has turned into a debacle, with many troops dead or captured and commanders pleading for help, The New York Times reported yesterday.
A senior US official with knowledge of the mission -- apparently not coordinated in advance with Nato officers -- said commanders called for backup from foreign forces after at least 10 Afghan soldiers were killed and up to 20 captured since the operation began August 3 in a rugged region east of Kabul.
Fighting has raged so intensely over the past week in the area around Bad Pakh village, in Laghman province, that the Red Cross has been unable to reach the battle zone and evacuate the wounded and dead, the Times reported.
There are several soldiers unaccounted for and killed, a senior American military official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity because the operation was ongoing.
He said about 10 soldiers had been killed.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned here, he said. How they started that and why they started that.
Nato has reportedly sent in French and American rescue teams. But when contacted, the spokesman for French troops in Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel Pierre-Yves Sarzaud, confirmed that Nato troops had been requested but denied that French units were involved.
There are no French soldiers in Laghman, he said.
A high-ranking official in Afghanistans defense ministry said the militarys plan was betrayed, and that Taliban fighters were lying in wait to ambush the bulk of the 300 men from the First Brigade of the 201st Army Corps.
The ministrys spokesman, Major General Muhammed Zahair Azimi, said seven soldiers had died and that an unknown number were taken prisoner.
We can not say the number captured because some of them were in difficult places, but some of our soldiers were captured by the Taliban, Azimi said Wednesday, according to the Times.
A Taliban spokesman said 27 Afghan soldiers were killed, 14 wounded and eight captured, the paper reported. The Taliban often exaggerates its claims of damage and casualties.
The mission marks a major embarrassment for the Afghan army, which said this week it has met a target of 134,000 troops two months ahead of schedule, and as it gears up to take responsibility for security from US-led Nato forces by 2014.
Despite its steady expansion of operational capacity, the Afghan army runs few major missions on its own.
Afghanistans troops are at similar force size to Nato troops on the ground. War monitor group iCasualties says 521 coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in 2009, while the Times reported 282 Afghan soldiers were killed.
Meanwhile, two Nato soldiers, one of them British, were killed fighting militants in southern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said.
Another British soldier died in a hospital in England from injuries he had sustained in Afghanistan, the British defence ministry said.
Natos International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it lost two soldiers fighting insurgents on Friday. An ISAF official confirmed that one of the soldiers was a Briton whose death was announced in London.
The soldiers were killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, where the insurgency is most intense, the ISAF official said. Much of southern Afghanistan is troubled by a Taliban-led insurgency now into a ninth year and at its most violent.
agencies
