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October 3, 2009

Review of 2008 battle disaster sways Afghan strategy (A Must-read)

Topics: Afghanistan, Political News and commentaries

The deadly 4-hour firefight on the fringe of a hostile frontier village, cost nine American lives in July 2008, and has become the new template for how not to win the war in Afghanistan:

The 'Black Hawk Down' of Afghanistan
The battle of Wanat is being described as the "Black Hawk Down" of Afghanistan, with the 48 American soldiers and 24 Afghan soldiers outnumbered three to one in a four-hour firefight that left nine Americans dead and 27 wounded in one of the bloodiest days of the eight-year war.

Soldiers who survived the battle described how their automatic weapons turned white hot and jammed from nonstop firing. Mortally wounded troops continued to hand bullet belts to those still able to fire.

The ammunition stockpile was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, igniting a stack of 120-millimeter mortar rounds -- and the resulting fireball flung the unit's antitank missiles into the command post. One insurgent got inside the concertina wire and is believed to have killed three soldiers at close range, including the platoon commander, Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom.

The description of the battle at Wanat -- the heroism, the violence and the missteps that may have contributed to the deaths -- ends with a judgment that the fight was "as remarkable as any small-unit action in American military history."

Read it all ... - it's a must-read primer on some of the history that's behind General Stanley McChrystal's strategy in Afghanistan.

Posted by Abdul at October 3, 2009 11:49 AM

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