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Afghanistan
Sha Wali Kot Shootouts Kill Plenty
2007-09-05
Two attempted insurgent ambushes failed Sept. 4 as Afghan National Security Forces, advised by Coalition forces, repelled and killed nearly two dozen enemy fighters in separate battles in northern Kandahar Province. These attacks come on the heels of a failed attack the night before that saw more than a dozen insurgents killed in the same district of Afghanistan. TodayÂ’s failed ambushes occurred a little more than 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) apart.

In the first engagement, a combined force of Afghan National Army and Coalition forces was on a combat patrol near Jalet Push Village, Sha Wali Kot District, Kandahar Province, when they spotted 20-25 insurgents in fighting positions and an unknown number of fighters taking up positions in a compound. The insurgents attacked the patrol with small arms and machine gun fire and continued to reinforce their positions throughout the daylong battle. The ANSF-led force repelled the attack using small arms, crew served weapons and Coalition close air support. Surgical and precision air strikes were carried out on positively identified enemy positions from where machine gun and RPG fire was originating. Over a dozen insurgents were killed in this engagement and one ANA soldier was wounded. No other ANA, Coalition or non-combatants were reported injured or killed.

In the second engagement, a combined force of Afghan National Police and Coalition forces were conducting a separate combat patrol near Kabolah Village, Sha Wali Kot District, Kandahar Province, when they came under small-arms fire from more than a dozen insurgents. The insurgents attacked from compounds located within the village. The ANSF patrol returned fire with small arms and crew served weapons and called for Coalition close air support. Prior to engaging the insurgents with aircraft, the combined force utilized their loudspeaker system and notified the villagers to leave the area because an attack was imminent.

The ANP spoke with the village elders as they left and confirmed that all of the non-combatants had evacuated. Coalition aircraft then engaged and destroyed the two buildings that the insurgents were using as fighting positions after the Taliban attacked again. Six insurgents were killed and two were wounded in this engagement. In addition, one Coalition servicemember was wounded during the battle. No other ANP, Coalition or non-combatants were reported wounded or killed in the fighting.

“The Afghan National Army is proving day after day that they are highly capable of finding and destroying the enemies of Afghanistan,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force-82 spokesperson. “Even when the insurgents have had time to fortify their positions, the ANA are determined to overcome the enemy obstacles. Let there be no doubt, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan along with Coalition forces will continue to hunt, fight and defeat the enemies of peace and stability.” The Sha Wali Kot District is an area where multiple attacks on ANSF and Coalition forces have taken place in the past. Since Aug. 27, more than 150 extremist Taliban fighters have been killed during failed attempts to attack ANSF and Coalition forces.
Posted by:Chuck Simmins

#8  OP, good point. Kinda explains why America did so well in the 1950's. All the guys home from WWII.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2007-09-05 15:47  

#7  OP:

As Dandy Don Meredith would remind us each Monday: "If If's and but's were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas".
Posted by: Jack is Back!   2007-09-05 14:14  

#6  IF the Afghan army can build and sustain a professional officers corps AND a professional NCO corps, there will be massive changes in the country itself, beginning in about 20-30 years when those professionals return to civilian life. The NCO corps of today's military have more training and hands-on experience than most junior officers that served between 1890 and 1950. Most senior NCOs and junior officers have equivalent experience to mid-level managers in America's larger businesses, much of it based on both training and experience. IF we can instill that kind of military professionalism in the militaries of Afghanistan and Iraq, we can leave any time. The problem is, it takes a decade or longer just to get the program started, and as Nimble said, two generations to get it firmly entrenched. Doing so, however, will forever change both nations for the better.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2007-09-05 13:53  

#5  Columbia is a good possibility, didn't think of it. But I think it takes more than 40 years, not 20. Look at Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. After 20 years (1970 +/-) they still didn't quite get it. I think we need to hang around long enough for the guys pulling the string to have been trained by us and to never have known another way, and that is two generations. I don't know if we have that kind of commitment to the Afghans, or anyone else. Hell, I doubt we have that kind of commitment to ourselves.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2007-09-05 10:35  

#4  Nimble, if I had to suggest a comparison, it would be Columbia.

Truly, though, there is no reason for our politicians to invest that much effort in a country if there's no war going on.

I think we might be surprised in twenty years to see what Afghans have made of themselves.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2007-09-05 10:07  

#3  But having said that, the NCOs will have an equal impact on Afghan lives as will every soldier who returns to daily life with new discipline and focus.
Posted by: lotp   2007-09-05 09:11  

#2  It would be interesting to know the effect of having an American trained ex-military leadership cadre, not of big names like Washington, but of the many nameless who go through life and provide the continuity and stability necessary for a society to grow and thrive.

That, of course, has been an explicit goal for the Afghan military academy -- one that they themselves embraced when the chose the West Point model over St. Cyr, Sandhurst etc. after visiting them all.

The US military academy graduated the leaders who not only adopted a national vs. state identity but who also opened the west, built the roads and later the railroads and created the 2nd - nth engineering programs in universities here(USMA's was the first).

So too the graduates of the Afghan academy have chosen a national identity over tribes - to the great annoyance of some Pashtuns in particular - and are gaining the skills to build and run a nation.

I still remember the photos of candidates standing in the snow in sandals without socks for the privilege of becoming a cadet there.
Posted by: lotp   2007-09-05 09:10  

#1  This is a very impressive performance by the Afghans. They have always been known as fierce warriors but not necessarily effective campaigners. Such results as these show that they are learning and applying the more effective western tactics that Hanson talks about in Cultures and Carnage.

But there he stated that the causality was that the western pattern of individualism and private ownership led to the tactics that were able to resist the numbers and ferocity of the east. What if it is the other way around? What if the western military techniques of discipline, self control and individual responsibility are transferred into civilian life to form the foundation for a civil society?

It is interesting that in every country we have occupied the military has come to look like ours far more quickly than has the political. In fact, we do a lousy job of installing political infrastructure, usually installing parliamentary "democracies" instead of balanced systems of checks and balances like our own.

It would be interesting to know the effect of having an American trained ex-military leadership cadre, not of big names like Washington, but of the many nameless who go through life and provide the continuity and stability necessary for a society to grow and thrive.

In what countries have we had a long term sustained training effort comparable to but without without conquest and occupation? What has been the long term outcome for their civil society?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2007-09-05 09:00  

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