Taliban don't have stinger missiles: Gates

[Lankan Ranger]

Taliban don't have stinger missiles: Gates

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday dismissed reports that Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan use anti-aircraft stinger missiles similar to those directed against Soviet forces in the 1980s.

"I don't think so," Gates told CNN's "State of the Union" program in response to a question on the matter.

Documents released by whistleblowers' website WikiLeaks one week ago suggested Taliban insurgents had the shoulder-fired, heat-seeking, surface-to-air missiles.

The use of stingers against US forces would be a step-up in the insurgency's capabilities although there have been no reports of US aircraft in the country being brought down by one during the near nine-year war.

The CIA delivered hundreds of stingers to Afghan fighters during the 1980s Soviet occupation. They destroyed up to 300 helicopter gunships, fighter jets and transport aircraft, prompting Russia's humiliating withdrawal.

AFP: Taliban don't have stinger missiles: Gates

 

[RescueRanger]

This whole Wikileaks is a load of Hogwash. If Afghan Taliban had any decent number of Stingers we would have seen a dramatic rise in ISAF and NATO air assets being downed by the enemy.

 

[GUNNER]

Obviously the Taliban do not have Stingers. If they can shoot down Helis with RPGs, we can only guess what would have happened if they had Stingers.

Also, the US has tracked all the stingers it distributed during Soviet War. Those which weren't used, were bought back during the nineties through 'stinger buy-back' programme.

 

[skybolt]

Wikileaks 'guilty' on moral grounds: Gates

Washington (AFP) Aug 1, 2010 - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday pronounced the Wikileaks website "guilty" on moral grounds for releasing secret US documents on the Afghan war, saying the move was reckless.

Gates said it remained unclear if the website would face legal charges for leaking some 92,000 classified documents on Afghanistan, but the organization deserved condemnation for its actions.

"My attitude on this is that there are two areas of culpability," he told ABC television's "This Week."

"One is legal culpability. And that's up to the Justice Department and others. That's not my arena.

"But there's also a moral culpability. And that's where I think the verdict is guilty on WikiLeaks. They have put this out without any regard whatsoever for the consequences."

As a former CIA analyst who rose to become director of the spy agency, Gates said "protecting our sources is sancrosanct" and the leak jeopardized the trust that underpinned ties to informants.

The massive leak of documents, which in some cases contained names of those cooperating with the United States, showed "no sense of responsibility or accountability associated with it," he said.

As the Pentagon and the FBI launched an investigation into the case, US officials have engaged in a war of words with the Wikileaks' founder, Julian Assange, who has defended the release of the files.

Assange has argued the leak would help focus public debate on the war in Afghanistan and on possible atrocities by US-led forces.

The leak comes weeks after a magazine profile led to the abrupt dismissal of the US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.

The general and his aides made disparaging remarks in a Rolling Stone article about top civilian officials as well as President Barack Obama.

Despite the incidents, the US military remained committed to engaging the media, said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Mullen said neither episode would lead to more restrictions press relations.

He said it was "very important that we have a good relationship with the press and that we keep telling our story."

"I've been a big believer that we engage with the press and we need to continue to do that. I don't feel any additional tension with the press based on the Wikileaks, per se," he said.

The US military, however, needed to tell its side "correctly," he added.
Taliban don't have stinger missiles: Gates

 

[FreekiN]

I do not have much knowledge of military tech, so do you guys think a stinger missile could shoot down a drone?

 

[skybolt]

 

[skybolt]

 

[skybolt]

Afghan Mujahadeen with surface to air stinger missile, near Jalalabad 1989

 

[skybolt]

 

[skybolt]

 

[skybolt]

 

[Thomas]

There is most likely a few stingers still out there. But after so many years of improper storage and maintenance they would be no good.

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

If there were any left---they would have been used up by now---.

The original stinger batterrey packs would have degraded a while ago.

 

[Russ]

It's been reported that the reason that the Taliban or other terrorist groups do not have Stinger missiles but it's also been reported
that the U.S. military can not confirm that Stingers were not used to down helicopters in Afghanistan. Some U.S. government agencies speculate that the missiles are to old and that they have degraded to much to not operate at all. I have some news for you on that subject and it's not good news. I am a U.S. Army veteran who operated and fired successfully in 1998 stinger missiles dated from 1976. The missiles that my unit were givin to live fire were from a stockpile and all but a handful used out of the 80 or so fired at aerial targets hit their mark. The missiles were over 20 years old and if the Taliban does posses Stingers it is very possible that they can use them successfully. There are factors though that could stop the Taliban or others from doing so. 1. The missiles must remain in a cool dry place for storage. 2. The cooling batteries for seeker heads must never be handled by hand or be subject to any static or they will not work. 3. The trigger assembly is not fool proof and if subjected to repeated abuse will not work. My government, the U.S. government I am sure is only down playing that the threat of Stingers but I am sure that the C.I.A. and NSA find the idea of terrorists having American missiles very viable.

The only question that should be asked is when will terrorists use them. It's not a matter of if they have them because it's been documented that in all likelyhood that they do. In my opinion I feel that a country like Iran is probably the one who would benefit from using Stingers against military and civilian aircraft. It is a strong possibility that Iran has possession of some of the leftover Stingers from the Afghan war with Russia. Who is to say that they will not attempt to use them or engineer their own version with the help of China. I guess only time will tell if Stingers or a knock off variant are going to play a roll in any future conflicts.

 

[Black Widow]

Russia had golden chance to take revange of afghan war, But russians don't believing in backstabbing.


I apriciate russian stand, and condemn American cheap tactics.

Any way american were also right, they revanged the vietnaam war.