McNeil Takes Command; Brits Fear Gung-Ho Americans
McNeil Takes Over Command of NATO Troops - AP.
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Afghanistan - U.S. Gen. Dan McNeil took over command of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan in a ceremony on Sunday.
McNeil replaced British Gen. David Richards at the helm of the 35,500-strong force at the time when the Western alliance braces for a renewed fight with the resurgent Taliban militants...
U.S. Takes Over NATO in Afghanistan - Reuters.
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The United States, which has just doubled its combat troops in Afghanistan, takes over command of the 33,000-strong NATO force in the country on Sunday amid warnings of a bloody spring offensive by the Taliban.
Outgoing commander British General David Richards, who in his nine months in charge saw his force grow from 9,000 and push into the Taliban heartland in the south for the first time, said 2006 had been a crunch year for the rebels and they had failed...
British Fear Gung-ho Americans - London Times.
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Senior defence sources have voiced fears that an imminent push by the United States in Afghanistan will force British soldiers to adopt an overly aggressive approach that will damage relations with ordinary Afghans and play into the hands of the Taliban.
The extent of “frictions” between US and British commanders are revealed in the latest edition of Pegasus, the journal of the Parachute Regiment, in which an unnamed senior officer accuses the Americans of undermining British strategy during last year’s handover...
US Aircrews Show Taliban No Mercy
29 April London Daily Telegraph - US Aircrews Show Taliban No Mercy by Gethin Chamberlain.
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Caught in the middle of the Helmand river, the fleeing Taliban were paddling their boat back to shore for dear life.
Smoke from the ambush they had just sprung on American special forces still hung in the air, but their attention was fixed on the two helicopter gunships that had appeared above them as their leader, the tallest man in the group, struggled to pull what appeared to be a burqa over his head.
As the boat reached the shore, Captain Larry Staley tilted the nose of the lead Apache gunship downwards into a dive. One of the men turned to face the helicopter and sank to his knees. Capt Staley's gunner pressed the trigger and the man disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dust.
By the time the gunships had finished, 21 minutes later, military officials say 14 Taliban were confirmed dead, including one of their key commanders in Helmand.
The mission is typical of a new, aggressive, approach adopted by American forces in southern Afghanistan and particularly in Helmand, where British troops last year bore the brunt of some of the heaviest fighting since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
American commanders believe that the uncompromising use of airpower in recent weeks has been a key factor in preventing the Taliban from launching their expected full-scale spring offensive against coalition forces and forcing them to rethink their tactics...