Mon Dec 21, 2015 | 4:16 PM EST
AFGHANISTAN-ATTACK-USA-FATALITIES
AFGHANISTAN-ATTACK-USA
By Mirwais Harooni and Phil Stewart
KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six American troops were killed in Afghanistan on Monday when a suicide bomber on a motorbike struck their patrol near Bagram air base, a U.S. official said, in the latest high-profile attack claimed by Taliban insurgents.
Just days ago, the Pentagon warned of deteriorating security in Afghanistan in the second half of 2015 and a rise in the number of effective strikes by Taliban insurgents.
NATO's Resolute Support mission in Kabul said that the attack killed six Resolute Support troops and wounded three others but declined to provide the nationalities of casualties.
A U.S. official said all six killed were Americans. More than 2,300 U.S. troops have died in the Afghan war since the 2001 invasion.
The police chief of Parwan province said three Afghan police had been wounded in the bombing, which was carried out just days after other suicide attacks on Kandahar air base in southern Afghanistan and on a Spanish embassy guesthouse in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
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Bagram, around 40 km (25 miles) to the north of Kabul, is one of the main bases for the 9,800 U.S. troops left in Afghanistan after international troops ended combat operations last year.
District Governor Abdul Shukur Qudusi said the suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol.
The attack underlined the Taliban's ability to hit high-profile targets linked to the U.S.-backed government, which wants to reopen the peace process aimed at ending the 14-year-long insurgency.
On Monday, Taliban forces in Helmand closed in on the district of Sangin as they tightened their grip on the volatile southern province.
In a report to the U.S. Congress released last week, the Pentagon said casualties among Afghan national defense and security forces, or ANDSF, rose 27 percent from Jan. 1 to Nov. 15, compared with the same period last year.
Although the Pentagon praised Afghan forces for regaining territory and becoming increasingly capable of staging large-scale operations, it assessed their overall performance as "uneven and mixed."
(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul and Phil Stewart in Washington; writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Nick Macfie and Grant McCool)
Showing posts with label Kandahar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kandahar. Show all posts
Monday, December 21, 2015
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Aghan provincial governor's compound under attack: New commander faces challenge of winding down Afghanistan war
Updated 25 minutes ago
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KANDAHAR: The governor's compound in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province came under attack Saturday.
At least one attacker was exchanging fire with Afghan security forces inside the compound, while a NATO helicopter was hovering overhead, the report said. (AFP) ============ New commander faces challenge of winding down Afghanistan war Tue, Dec 04 13:55 PM EST By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, who takes over as head of international forces in Afghanistan next year, faces the challenge of winding down a war in a country where he has little experience using a strategy he did not devise. Dunford, whose nomination was confirmed by the Senate on Monday night, will be the fifth commander of the International Security Assistance Force since President Barack Obama took office, a leadership churn that worries Afghan war analysts. Friends and colleagues describe Dunford, the Marine Corps assistant commandant, as a calm and thoughtful leader who earned the nickname "Fighting Joe" on the battlefields of Iraq by creating conditions for success with careful planning and harmonious execution. But analysts expressed mixed views on his selection to replace Marine Corps General John Allen. Some worry about the No. 2 Marine's lack of experience in Afghanistan and his vocal support for President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw most U.S. forces by the end of 2014. That could make him reluctant to ask for more time and troops if conditions on the ground are not right for a stable transition, they say. But others contend that after a dozen years of war, Dunford's job is to execute the strategy he has been given, not reinvent it. And while he may be able to suggest some adjustments to the plan, he has very little room for maneuver as members of the 46-nation coalition edge toward departure. "The problem is at this point nobody is going to fight it. It's the strategy. It's not his choice," said Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "For good or evil, the question is: How does he manage the shift towards an exit." "FIGHTING JOE" Dunford, a Boston native, is a 35-year veteran of the Marines. He was commissioned as an officer in 1977 and he served as a platoon and company commander for several years before moving to administrative roles. He holds two master's degrees and is a graduate of the elite Army Ranger School. As the United States moved toward war with Iraq in 2003, Dunford - then a colonel - found himself in the First Marine Expeditionary Force serving as commander of Regimental Combat Team 5, the unit that would lead the U.S. invasion, seize the Rumaila oil fields and then head toward Baghdad. When officials advanced the timing of the invasion by a day, Dunford had his forces ready to move in three hours. He kicked off the assault with a nighttime crossing of the 10-foot berm and anti-tank ditch separating Iraq and Kuwait, moving in darkness rather than at dawn as initially planned. "He earned the Fighting Joe title by his actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom, when he led the initial attack into Iraq (crossing the berm on the accelerated timeline) and leading all the way to Baghdad," said General James Mattis, the head of U.S. Central Command, who was Dunford's commander in Iraq. "He's not flashy, but he's the fighter - one I could always count on when the going got difficult," Mattis said in an email. "He is tactically cunning and does a superb job at setting his subordinate commanders up for success by orchestrating complex battle plans into harmonious actions." Congressman Duncan Hunter, who served in the Marines in Iraq and occasionally had a chance to interact with Dunford, said the commander was seen as "a decisive leader who was well-respected by subordinates and peers throughout the chain of command." "In a stressful, combat environment he proved himself to be an accomplished and energetic warrior," Hunter said in an email. Since the war Dunford has moved rapidly up the chain of command. He became a brigadier general in 2004, was selected to become a major general in December 2007 and then promoted to lieutenant general two months later, before Congress had acted to confirm his second star. "That in itself will give you an idea of how he was seen in the Marine Corps," said Marine Colonel David Lapan, a spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has worked for Dunford and been his neighbor. He has a "great reputation as a combat commander, as an operational commander, very even-keeled, measured, analytical," Lapan said. While his combat experience is not in Afghanistan, the differences are not that great and he can bring a fresh perspective to the situation, Lapan said. SOME QUESTIONS But some Afghan war analysts are concerned about Dunford's appointment, saying his support for Obama's withdrawal strategy will make it difficult for him to adjust the drawdown based on conditions on the ground. "He was in a very small minority among senior military officers in articulating that President Obama's Afghanistan strategy and the notion of firm deadlines could work," said Michael Rubin, a defense analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "He has never explained ... how or why he thinks it could work." Dunford will have to guide international forces through a series of critical milestones over the coming two years, starting with Afghan forces taking over the lead role for the country's security next summer. The presidential election in the spring of 2014 is viewed as essential to ensuring Afghan support for the government once international forces withdraw. And Dunford also must manage the drawdown of U.S. and international forces and the transition to full Afghan control by the end of 2014. "All too often when officials talk about the transition, they just talk in terms of numbers and the actual Afghans doing security and fighting," Rubin said. "But to really have transition and independence, you need a lot in the background." Afghan National Security Forces still lack important specialty skills, from intelligence, logistics and communications to maintenance, engineering and accounting, he said. Medical support is a "huge example." "When we're fighting with the Afghans and the Afghans get wounded, we triage them, evacuate them, that sort of thing. They have no capability of that on their own. We haven't focused on it in transition," Rubin said. Ultimately the issue is whether withdrawal from Afghanistan will take place as Afghan security forces acquire the skills they need to defend the country, or whether it will move ahead according to a political timeline, he said. "Most generals are looking at the capabilities," Rubin said. "Dunford is the exception. He appears to be looking at the politics." But Cordesman said Dunford's job in Afghanistan is to execute the policy approved by the White House, the Pentagon and NATO and he has little flexibility in the matter. "The purpose of a commander is not to tell the president what to do," he said. "The purpose of a commander is to do the task he's assigned as well as he possibly can." He said he believed Dunford would be able to "tell the president bad news or make recommendations that indicated we had to change the way in which we exit ... or the timing." "This is certainly not somebody who would simply accept or follow orders regardless of conditions," he said. "But it is obvious that no commander at this point is going to come in ... charged with reexamining and reinventing the strategy." (Editing by Cynthia Osterman) =======
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KANDAHAR: The governor's compound in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province came under attack Saturday.
At least one attacker was exchanging fire with Afghan security forces inside the compound, while a NATO helicopter was hovering overhead, the report said. (AFP) ============ New commander faces challenge of winding down Afghanistan war Tue, Dec 04 13:55 PM EST By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, who takes over as head of international forces in Afghanistan next year, faces the challenge of winding down a war in a country where he has little experience using a strategy he did not devise. Dunford, whose nomination was confirmed by the Senate on Monday night, will be the fifth commander of the International Security Assistance Force since President Barack Obama took office, a leadership churn that worries Afghan war analysts. Friends and colleagues describe Dunford, the Marine Corps assistant commandant, as a calm and thoughtful leader who earned the nickname "Fighting Joe" on the battlefields of Iraq by creating conditions for success with careful planning and harmonious execution. But analysts expressed mixed views on his selection to replace Marine Corps General John Allen. Some worry about the No. 2 Marine's lack of experience in Afghanistan and his vocal support for President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw most U.S. forces by the end of 2014. That could make him reluctant to ask for more time and troops if conditions on the ground are not right for a stable transition, they say. But others contend that after a dozen years of war, Dunford's job is to execute the strategy he has been given, not reinvent it. And while he may be able to suggest some adjustments to the plan, he has very little room for maneuver as members of the 46-nation coalition edge toward departure. "The problem is at this point nobody is going to fight it. It's the strategy. It's not his choice," said Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "For good or evil, the question is: How does he manage the shift towards an exit." "FIGHTING JOE" Dunford, a Boston native, is a 35-year veteran of the Marines. He was commissioned as an officer in 1977 and he served as a platoon and company commander for several years before moving to administrative roles. He holds two master's degrees and is a graduate of the elite Army Ranger School. As the United States moved toward war with Iraq in 2003, Dunford - then a colonel - found himself in the First Marine Expeditionary Force serving as commander of Regimental Combat Team 5, the unit that would lead the U.S. invasion, seize the Rumaila oil fields and then head toward Baghdad. When officials advanced the timing of the invasion by a day, Dunford had his forces ready to move in three hours. He kicked off the assault with a nighttime crossing of the 10-foot berm and anti-tank ditch separating Iraq and Kuwait, moving in darkness rather than at dawn as initially planned. "He earned the Fighting Joe title by his actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom, when he led the initial attack into Iraq (crossing the berm on the accelerated timeline) and leading all the way to Baghdad," said General James Mattis, the head of U.S. Central Command, who was Dunford's commander in Iraq. "He's not flashy, but he's the fighter - one I could always count on when the going got difficult," Mattis said in an email. "He is tactically cunning and does a superb job at setting his subordinate commanders up for success by orchestrating complex battle plans into harmonious actions." Congressman Duncan Hunter, who served in the Marines in Iraq and occasionally had a chance to interact with Dunford, said the commander was seen as "a decisive leader who was well-respected by subordinates and peers throughout the chain of command." "In a stressful, combat environment he proved himself to be an accomplished and energetic warrior," Hunter said in an email. Since the war Dunford has moved rapidly up the chain of command. He became a brigadier general in 2004, was selected to become a major general in December 2007 and then promoted to lieutenant general two months later, before Congress had acted to confirm his second star. "That in itself will give you an idea of how he was seen in the Marine Corps," said Marine Colonel David Lapan, a spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has worked for Dunford and been his neighbor. He has a "great reputation as a combat commander, as an operational commander, very even-keeled, measured, analytical," Lapan said. While his combat experience is not in Afghanistan, the differences are not that great and he can bring a fresh perspective to the situation, Lapan said. SOME QUESTIONS But some Afghan war analysts are concerned about Dunford's appointment, saying his support for Obama's withdrawal strategy will make it difficult for him to adjust the drawdown based on conditions on the ground. "He was in a very small minority among senior military officers in articulating that President Obama's Afghanistan strategy and the notion of firm deadlines could work," said Michael Rubin, a defense analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "He has never explained ... how or why he thinks it could work." Dunford will have to guide international forces through a series of critical milestones over the coming two years, starting with Afghan forces taking over the lead role for the country's security next summer. The presidential election in the spring of 2014 is viewed as essential to ensuring Afghan support for the government once international forces withdraw. And Dunford also must manage the drawdown of U.S. and international forces and the transition to full Afghan control by the end of 2014. "All too often when officials talk about the transition, they just talk in terms of numbers and the actual Afghans doing security and fighting," Rubin said. "But to really have transition and independence, you need a lot in the background." Afghan National Security Forces still lack important specialty skills, from intelligence, logistics and communications to maintenance, engineering and accounting, he said. Medical support is a "huge example." "When we're fighting with the Afghans and the Afghans get wounded, we triage them, evacuate them, that sort of thing. They have no capability of that on their own. We haven't focused on it in transition," Rubin said. Ultimately the issue is whether withdrawal from Afghanistan will take place as Afghan security forces acquire the skills they need to defend the country, or whether it will move ahead according to a political timeline, he said. "Most generals are looking at the capabilities," Rubin said. "Dunford is the exception. He appears to be looking at the politics." But Cordesman said Dunford's job in Afghanistan is to execute the policy approved by the White House, the Pentagon and NATO and he has little flexibility in the matter. "The purpose of a commander is not to tell the president what to do," he said. "The purpose of a commander is to do the task he's assigned as well as he possibly can." He said he believed Dunford would be able to "tell the president bad news or make recommendations that indicated we had to change the way in which we exit ... or the timing." "This is certainly not somebody who would simply accept or follow orders regardless of conditions," he said. "But it is obvious that no commander at this point is going to come in ... charged with reexamining and reinventing the strategy." (Editing by Cynthia Osterman) =======
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Insurgents tunnel into Kandahar jail, freeing nearly 500
25 Apr 2011 05:38
Source: reuters // Reuters
(Adds details, quotes)
By Ahmad Nadeem
KANDAHAR, April 25 (Reuters) - Insurgents tunnelled into the main jail in Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province on Monday, freeing hundreds of prisoners, including many Taliban commanders, a serious setback for U.S. forces who hope to start withdrawing in coming months.
Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province, said a total of 478 prisoners managed to escape due to "negligence" of Afghan security forces. He said the start of the tunnel had been traced to a house near the prison.
The prison, which is supposed to be one of the country's most secure, sits on the outskirts of Kandahar city and holds both captured insurgents and criminal prisoners.
The Taliban, in its own statement, said that 541 prisoners escaped through an extensive tunnel that took months to construct, and were later moved in vehicles to safer locations.
"Mujahideen started digging a 320-meter tunnel to the prison from the south side, which was completed after a five-month period, bypassing enemy check posts and (the) Kandahar-Kabul main highway leading directly to the political prison," the Taliban statement said.
The Taliban said the carefully-targeted tunnel was completed late on Sunday night, with hundreds of insurgents escaping over a four-and-a-half hour period immediately afterwards.
The brazen jailbreak comes months before the start of a transfer of security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces in several areas as part of the eventual withdrawal of the U.S-led troops from the country.
Under the transition programme, Afghan forces will begin by taking over from foreign troops in a few areas, but should have control of the whole country by the end of 2014.
Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, is not among the areas listed for the transition of forces in the first stage.
"It is a major setback for the foreign and Afghan troops who have claimed gains against the insurgents recently," said Waheed Mujhda, a Kabul-based expert on the Taliban.
In 2008, Taliban insurgents blew open the gate of the Kandahar prison under cover of darkness, allowing up to a 1,000 inmates to escape including hundreds of Taliban insurgents.
Days after that break, Taliban fighters seized many villages in districts close to Kandahar and appeared to threaten the city itself, with the government sending more than 1,000 extra troops from the north as reinforcements.
Nearly 100 Taliban fighters were killed in the ensuing battle. (Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Source: reuters // Reuters
(Adds details, quotes)
By Ahmad Nadeem
KANDAHAR, April 25 (Reuters) - Insurgents tunnelled into the main jail in Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province on Monday, freeing hundreds of prisoners, including many Taliban commanders, a serious setback for U.S. forces who hope to start withdrawing in coming months.
Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province, said a total of 478 prisoners managed to escape due to "negligence" of Afghan security forces. He said the start of the tunnel had been traced to a house near the prison.
The prison, which is supposed to be one of the country's most secure, sits on the outskirts of Kandahar city and holds both captured insurgents and criminal prisoners.
The Taliban, in its own statement, said that 541 prisoners escaped through an extensive tunnel that took months to construct, and were later moved in vehicles to safer locations.
"Mujahideen started digging a 320-meter tunnel to the prison from the south side, which was completed after a five-month period, bypassing enemy check posts and (the) Kandahar-Kabul main highway leading directly to the political prison," the Taliban statement said.
The Taliban said the carefully-targeted tunnel was completed late on Sunday night, with hundreds of insurgents escaping over a four-and-a-half hour period immediately afterwards.
The brazen jailbreak comes months before the start of a transfer of security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces in several areas as part of the eventual withdrawal of the U.S-led troops from the country.
Under the transition programme, Afghan forces will begin by taking over from foreign troops in a few areas, but should have control of the whole country by the end of 2014.
Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, is not among the areas listed for the transition of forces in the first stage.
"It is a major setback for the foreign and Afghan troops who have claimed gains against the insurgents recently," said Waheed Mujhda, a Kabul-based expert on the Taliban.
Mujhda said it was impossible to dig a tunnel and free more than 500 prisoners without the collaboration of guards.
"It is either a case of the jailers being financially motivated and being bribed or a case of them being politically motivated," he said.
In 2008, Taliban insurgents blew open the gate of the Kandahar prison under cover of darkness, allowing up to a 1,000 inmates to escape including hundreds of Taliban insurgents.
Days after that break, Taliban fighters seized many villages in districts close to Kandahar and appeared to threaten the city itself, with the government sending more than 1,000 extra troops from the north as reinforcements.
Nearly 100 Taliban fighters were killed in the ensuing battle. (Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Sunday, November 01, 2009
An Afghan mission that went wrong
Afghan Journal
Lifting the veil on conflict, culture and politics
10:07 October 30th, 2009
Posted by: Sanjeev Miglani
Reuters Kabul correspondent Jonathon Burch is currently on an embed with the U.S. Army’s Stryker brigade in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province. On October 27, eight soldiers from a platoon of the Strykers, named after an eight-wheel armoured combat vehicle, were killed in a bomb attack on the outskirts of Kandahar city.
Jonathon was accompanying them at the time and here’s his story :
AFGHANISTAN
The mission was simple. Some 20 U.S. soldiers were to patrol a riverbed in the dead of night, camp until morning, and provide backup to Afghan troops and their Canadian mentors in a clearing operation in Chahar Bagh village, an insurgent hotbed on the outskirts of Kandahar City.
Less than 12 hours later, seven of the soldiers and their Afghan interpreter would be dead, killed by a massive homemade bomb buried deep under pebbles along the dried-out riverbed.
The attack illustrates how a more aggressive U.S. military strategy of going into Taliban strongholds risks mounting casualties as President Barack Obama weighs whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan. The initial operation this week passed without incident. Around 200 Afghan soldiers and their Canadian trainers pushed through the village of mud houses surrounded by lush pomegranate orchards. A handful of men were arrested for later questioning.
The U.S. soldiers were not needed.”What are you going to write about? This is some boring ass mission,” one 1st Platoon soldier joked with a reporter as the sun rose behind a cragged mountain towering over the village. The soldiers — small groups from three platoons of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 17th Infantry Regiment Stryker Brigade — had pushed out from their base at around midnight. Not far from Chahar Bagh village, they dismounted from their armoured Stryker vehicles and continued on foot.
Setting up in the riverbed alongside the village, the soldiers kept watch and waited. As the sun rose across the river valley, they jibed with each other and talked about life back home.
By mid-morning, the operation was over. Three Stryker vehicles rumbled towards 2nd Platoon men waiting further down the riverbed to bring them back to base.
As the vehicles returned with the soldiers on board, a huge explosion sent rocks and sand flying high into the air. The first Stryker had hit a massive IED or improvised explosive device, flipping the 20 tonne vehicle onto its side. The thick armoured plate beneath the Stryker had been blown straight through the floor and the roof. Pieces of metal and debris lay strewn around the wreckage.
Minutes earlier, 1st Platoon soldiers had set off on foot, passing right over the site of the bomb, to meet their own waiting vehicles. As they mounted their Strykers, less than 400 metres (yards) away, the explosion tore through the air.
“Oh shit! Get in! Get in!” yelled 1st Platoon Sergeant First Class Kelekolio Paresa to his soldiers and accompanying reporters as the men scrambled into the vehicles.
“I got, I got, seven KIA (killed in action) and an Afghan interpreter KIA!” a broken voice came across the radio.”Shit, we gotta go back and help!” shouted Paresa. The 1st Platoon Strykers turned around and raced back. As they reached the scene, gunfire broke out. Insurgents, laying in wait, were firing at the Strykers from orchards next to the village. Seconds later, the deafening sound of gunfire burst through the air as the Strykers returned fire. Empty shell casings rained down inside the vehicle, bouncing off the floor.
“Open the ramp!” shouted Paresa.
Soldiers poured out of the Stryker, firing a hail of bullets and grenades towards the oncoming gunfire. Two Kiowa attack helicopters circling above fired rockets into the orchards.
The insurgents stopped firing. “Cease fire!” shouted Paresa. “I need seven litters (stretchers)!” yelled a soldier near the overturned Stryker. It had carried nine men. Seven soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed instantly. Their bodies, ripped apart in the blast, lay scattered around the wreckage. The soldiers lifted the dead onto stretchers to be picked up by a helicopter. Only the driver survived.
“Thank God we were on foot. We walked right over that IED. Twice! That triggerman was waiting for the Stryker,” said Paresa later.
The men from 1st Platoon had walked across the site of the bomb and had camped no more than 50 metres away. A command wire, used to activate the bomb, was traced some 100 metres away behind a low stone wall. An insurgent had most likely been behind the wall, waiting for a Stryker to pass full of soldiers before he detonated the bomb, the soldiers said.
They estimated the size of bomb at 600-900 kg (1,300-2,000 pounds). It was the largest IED any of the soldiers had ever experienced, in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Stryker Brigade deployed to Afghanistan in July as part of a troop drive ordered by Obama to quell a strengthening insurgency. For the past few months, the Strykers have been trying to clear insurgents from villages they say are used as staging posts for attacks inside Kandahar City.
The militants, preempting the soldiers’ arrival, have laid dozens of bombs in their path. The Strykers have suffered a high rate of casualties. In all, the Brigade has lost more than 30 soldiers, 20 of those from 1st Battalion and 10 of those from Charlie Company. More than 40 have been wounded.
IEDs, the Taliban’s weapon of choice, have killed nearly 240 foreign soldiers this year alone. “That was my best friend. We were together for two years. I just waved to him,” said Specialist Nicholas Saucier, speaking about one of the dead. “I’m sick of this shit! Guys are getting killed every week,” he said, tears welling up as he looked back at the wreckage.
Other soldiers took a more philosophical view. “These guys are great. Even after all this, after picking up their buddies’ dead body parts, they’ll soldier on. They dug deep. And in a couple days they’ll get back on their horse and do what they have to do,” said Staff Sergeant Jason Hughes.
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