Kathianne
09-20-2008, 01:20 PM
Via Michael Yon (http://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2105:secret-report-detailing-french-deaths-in-afghanistan&catid=34:dispatches&Itemid=55#yvComment)
Looks like others are not taking the war too seriously, at a very high cost.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080919.wparatroopers20/BNStory/International/home/?pageRequested=1
French soldiers unprepared for Taliban ambush: report
A secret NATO review obtained by The Globe and Mail shows that the French who were killed in August did not have enough bullets, radios and other equipment. By contrast, the insurgents were dangerously well prepared
* Article
* Comments (Comment30)
*
GRAEME SMITH
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
September 20, 2008 at 1:11 AM EDT
It was mid-afternoon when a tribal elder invited a U.S. military commander for a quiet chat in a garden. His village was surrounded by foreign troops, hunting around the mountain valley in search of infiltrators from Pakistan rumoured to be lurking in the barren hills.
Thirty soldiers from a French airborne platoon wandered farthest from the village, exploring a steep slope covered with rocks and scrubby vegetation under a high ridge.
That hill would soon become a killing ground, scene of the deadliest ambush against international forces since 2001, and the latest troubling sign that the insurgents are mastering the art of guerrilla war.
A NATO report on the incident obtained by The Globe and Mail provides the most in-depth account so far of an attack on Aug. 18 that shook the countries involved in the increasingly bloody campaign. The NATO report, marked “secret,” reveals woefully unprepared French troops surprised by well-armed insurgents in a valley east of Kabul. Ten soldiers were killed, the report concludes, but the other soldiers were lucky to escape without more deaths.
The French did not have enough bullets, radios and other equipment, the report said. The troops were forced to abandon a counterattack when the weapons on their vehicles ran out of ammunition only 90 minutes into a battle that stretched over two days. One French platoon had only a single radio and it was quickly disabled, leaving them unable to call for help. Chillingly, in an indication that the French troopers may have been at the mercy of their attackers, the dead soldiers from that platoon “showed signs of being killed at close range,” the report said.
...
The appearance of well-trained marksmen among the insurgents may point toward the involvement of extremists trained in Pakistani territory, said Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette, a Canadian who serves as chief spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
“We do have hints that al-Qaeda provides training to some insurgents on the other side of the border,” Brig.-Gen. Blanchette said. “Because it's close, it would be very reasonable to believe that this could have been an influence of outside training.” He added: “The fact that they have more sophisticated arms is perhaps also a sign there's a connection to outsiders.”
By one account, the insurgents were preparing for a strike against the government headquarters in Surobi town, but found a ready target when a column of military vehicles snaked up the narrow road among the steeps hills of the valley. They were driving toward a small collection of mud houses known as Spur Kunday, in the valley east of Kabul, investigating reports of 40 Pakistanis sheltering in the village.
“This attack was most likely the result of two things,” the NATO report said. “Either, A) the ISAF forces picked a village that had a great deal of insurgents. The insurgents moved to defensive positions upon the ISAF approach and executed a rehearsed plan.
A Taliban fighter this month displays gear stripped from French soldiers slain in an Aug. 18 ambush. Taliban attacks are growing more sophisticated and their marksmanship is improving.
The report continued: “Or, B) the insurgents had intelligence indicating the route and destination.”
....
Looks like others are not taking the war too seriously, at a very high cost.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080919.wparatroopers20/BNStory/International/home/?pageRequested=1
French soldiers unprepared for Taliban ambush: report
A secret NATO review obtained by The Globe and Mail shows that the French who were killed in August did not have enough bullets, radios and other equipment. By contrast, the insurgents were dangerously well prepared
* Article
* Comments (Comment30)
*
GRAEME SMITH
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
September 20, 2008 at 1:11 AM EDT
It was mid-afternoon when a tribal elder invited a U.S. military commander for a quiet chat in a garden. His village was surrounded by foreign troops, hunting around the mountain valley in search of infiltrators from Pakistan rumoured to be lurking in the barren hills.
Thirty soldiers from a French airborne platoon wandered farthest from the village, exploring a steep slope covered with rocks and scrubby vegetation under a high ridge.
That hill would soon become a killing ground, scene of the deadliest ambush against international forces since 2001, and the latest troubling sign that the insurgents are mastering the art of guerrilla war.
A NATO report on the incident obtained by The Globe and Mail provides the most in-depth account so far of an attack on Aug. 18 that shook the countries involved in the increasingly bloody campaign. The NATO report, marked “secret,” reveals woefully unprepared French troops surprised by well-armed insurgents in a valley east of Kabul. Ten soldiers were killed, the report concludes, but the other soldiers were lucky to escape without more deaths.
The French did not have enough bullets, radios and other equipment, the report said. The troops were forced to abandon a counterattack when the weapons on their vehicles ran out of ammunition only 90 minutes into a battle that stretched over two days. One French platoon had only a single radio and it was quickly disabled, leaving them unable to call for help. Chillingly, in an indication that the French troopers may have been at the mercy of their attackers, the dead soldiers from that platoon “showed signs of being killed at close range,” the report said.
...
The appearance of well-trained marksmen among the insurgents may point toward the involvement of extremists trained in Pakistani territory, said Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette, a Canadian who serves as chief spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
“We do have hints that al-Qaeda provides training to some insurgents on the other side of the border,” Brig.-Gen. Blanchette said. “Because it's close, it would be very reasonable to believe that this could have been an influence of outside training.” He added: “The fact that they have more sophisticated arms is perhaps also a sign there's a connection to outsiders.”
By one account, the insurgents were preparing for a strike against the government headquarters in Surobi town, but found a ready target when a column of military vehicles snaked up the narrow road among the steeps hills of the valley. They were driving toward a small collection of mud houses known as Spur Kunday, in the valley east of Kabul, investigating reports of 40 Pakistanis sheltering in the village.
“This attack was most likely the result of two things,” the NATO report said. “Either, A) the ISAF forces picked a village that had a great deal of insurgents. The insurgents moved to defensive positions upon the ISAF approach and executed a rehearsed plan.
A Taliban fighter this month displays gear stripped from French soldiers slain in an Aug. 18 ambush. Taliban attacks are growing more sophisticated and their marksmanship is improving.
The report continued: “Or, B) the insurgents had intelligence indicating the route and destination.”
....