Please do not believe the reporters
it's been a long time since I've posted for many different reasons. mainly didn't have anything worthwhile to say. Also, I've been busy. Currently I am on a staff in southern afghanistan and have a good view of what is going on. I cannot cover too much here but what I can say is that the two articles (the first posted by tequila & the mcclatchy article) are not the whole story.
Unclass version- the Coalition and Afghan forces have upped the anti for fighting in the winter. If you had stats on the number of insurgents kia this would be shown. But it is not about body counts.
We are not 'winning' yet but we are doing good things. The tactics, well this is my favorite quote: 'afghanistan is a place where the land fashions the people, it is also a place where the land and the people should fashion the military operations.' Most of the folks fighting this fight 'get it.'
As for the ROE issue, McClatchy had it wrong. There was, and in some circles still is, a miss understanding of the ISAF ROE. This has and is being corrected through training. The ROE is designed to help increase Afghan lead operations and to reduce collateral damage. There are some issues between the various nations who have 'national caveats' but they can be worked with through good planning. Bottomline our guys can enter buildings if they need to, we are not limited in our right to self defense. We just prefer to have the Afghans do it, it is their country after all.
-T
Afghanistan mission impossible?
Missed this UK Channel 4 Dispatches programme, where Stephen Grey is the reporter and includes several interviews with UK Army officers - mainly those at the top: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/d...es-6/episode-4
Hopefully this link to the TV programme will work outside the UK, as Rex and a few others have found links don't: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/catch-up
davidbfpo
US Marines to 'drink lots of tea'
Asia Times
Ali Gharib
Quote:
WASHINGTON - After months of planning and putting pieces in order, aspects of the new United States strategy in Afghanistan are beginning to be concretely implemented - including a surge of troops and attempts to curtail the poppy trade that allegedly funds insurgents.
But some aspects of the new strategy are lagging behind, and questions linger about the feasibility of winning by concentrating new US forces in Afghanistan's south and east, where the Taliban has largely established full control.
On Thursday, 4,000 US Marines made their way by helicopter into Afghanistan's enormous Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold in the south where poppy cultivation runs rampant.....
Agree on the fire discipline -- or lack thereof.
That was really bad. Way, way too much just popping caps. Excessively long bursts on the 249s will destroy them sooner than necessary, aside from the waste of ammo. Firing them essentially offhand is of no value. I saw two Grenadiers launch 40mm rounds with no clue where they might land, a number of riflemen firing multiple shots in rapid succession almost certainly really unaimed, at least one firing an M4 on full auto which is pointless...
Those folks definitely need some training. I can never understand why leaders allow that kind of loose and pointless firing. We don't do the basics well at all and our lack of fire discipline is the prime indicator. In defense of that unit, same thing occurs all the time and did in other wars. Control of fire is not one of our strong points; we waste a LOT of ammo...
Not enough info on the tactical situation to say much on that aspect, though I agree with most of what you say as generically good.
Iraq Veterans Find Afghan Enemy Even Bolder
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/wo...26marines.html
It appears that the Taliban's tactics and strategy of fighting the US/NATO/Afghan government forces is evolving to become more coordinated than ever before. In a way the Taliban is becoming more advanced in the way they fight then the insurgency in Iraq. However like the article said they lack alot of the heavy explosives that the insurgency in Iraq had. Which if they happen to do could cause more problems then they already are know for US/NATO forces as well as for the government in Afghanistan.