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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Stung in an Afghan 'hornets' nest' |
| 2005-07-06 |
| EFL. A routine mission for a small unit of US troops based here turned into a fight for their lives when they came up against a group of suspected Taleban militants along the border with Pakistan. It did not make any headlines. It was just another incident among many in this volatile region. But it gives an insight into why the US-led coalition is having such difficulty defeating the insurgency that has affected much of eastern and southern Afghanistan for the past two years. It was 25 June. Second Lt Louis Fernandez had led seven members of his platoon to the top of Peak 2911. A distinctive, bulging mountain straddling the frontier, it gets its name from its height in metres. The night before, a US artillery battery had shelled the peak after lights had been seen there. The suspicion was that insurgents might be using it as a launch site to fire rockets on American and Afghan troops - an almost daily occurrence for units based along the border. Lt Fernandez and his men from the 2/504 Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, had been ordered to do a "battle damage assessment", to see if anything had been hit. An Afghan officer, Capt Mohammed Islamuddin, and two interpreters were with them. They found nothing except a well-travelled trail. They decided to follow it. As they moved down the path, Capt Islamuddin says he spotted a man in local clothes about 200-300 metres away, carrying a Kalashnikov. Staff Sgt McKenna Miller says he saw another man near some trees raising his Kalashnikov. Sgt Miller raised his weapon. "I asked for permission to fire." "I told Sgt Miller to shoot," says 22-year-old Lt Fernandez. "He pulled the trigger and hit the guy right in the head and put him down. "Immediately after, we started taking fire from another direction," he says. "That's when pretty much everything unravelled," says Sgt Miller, a veteran of Iraq and the Balkans. They realised they were up against "not two, but approximately 15 to 20 individuals", with a barrage of fire coming down on the US and Afghan troops. Where they were though, there was almost no cover. The only escape was to move back towards the summit, the soldiers taking it in turns to provide covering fire while others scrambled up the slope, fighting for breath in the thin air at this altitude. "I was starting to pray as I was running back," says Sgt Juan Carlos Coca, the unit's radio operator. "There were rounds flying everywhere." "We were definitely fighting for our lives," says Sgt Miller. For Sgt Coca, this is his second time in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. In between, he was also in Iraq, in southern Baghdad."I expected this to be the easiest deployment of the three," he admits. "But so far it's been the hardest. We've basically come to a hornets' nest, here on the border with Pakistan." The paratroopers say they were firing constantly to try to keep their assailants back. But "we were getting surrounded", says Sgt Coca. "And we had no comms at all. The mountain was blocking radio signals, so they couldn't call for back-up. In this terrain, their pursuers had the advantage. "They move a lot faster on these mountains than we do," says Lt Fernandez. "They know all the routes. And they're just in better shape when it comes to this. They're carrying no weight. We're carrying about 60 or 70 pounds (27kg-31kg) of equipment, so we're a lot slower." Their lightly loaded attackers came closer and closer. "They got within 20 or 30 metres," says Lt Fernandez. "You could see those little tan hats they wear. "We were hugging the dirt, most of the time just praying to God that He was there for us. And He was definitely there for us, to just have one guy take a ricochet round, with the amount of fire they were putting down on us." That one guy was Pte Ted Smith. A round hit him in the face, but went straight through his cheek. "Blood was just pouring out of him," says Sgt Miller, "but he just kept on firing." Based on intelligence received afterwards, the soldiers believe they killed eight of their attackers. But talking about the fire fight to the BBC a few days later, all of them say they were lucky not to have lost anyone. When they finally reached higher ground and safety "we were totally out of breath, we could barely speak. We had almost no ammunition left," says Lt Fernandez, who was also inspired by 9/11 to join the forces. He signed up on 14 September 2001. Up here, Sgt Coca could get through on the radio, to call for air support. A-10 aircraft arrived. But the soldiers say the pilots were not permitted to open fire with their machine gun, or drop any ordnance because the militants were in Pakistani territory."That just totally frustrates all of us," says Sgt Coca. "It's easy for the enemy to shoot at us here in Afghanistan and then they just run a couple of hundred metres into Pakistan and we can't do anything. They're untouchable. We have that problem all the time," he says. Sgt Miller agrees: "That's their safe haven, because they know that we can't go over the border and they try to use that to their advantage." The exact rules of engagement for US forces based along the border are secret. But it is clear from reports of different American operations that they do have some leeway. And at times during the battle at Peak 2911, this US unit did end up in Pakistani territory. But American troops are not allowed to chase attackers across the border. Lt Fernandez says if they are "in pursuit of an enemy" they sometimes call Pakistani government forces on the other side. But asked if US forces here feel they get help from the Pakistanis, he says: "I can't say that we do. No, not really." Capt Islamuddin is more blunt. "Pakistan is interfering in Afghanistan. They are sending the bad guys here. They say there are cooperating, but they are not." Capt Islamuddin has been based on the border with his 3rd Battalion for the past five months and says he has seen many clashes. "Many of them are foreigners," he says, "not Afghans." It is a claim Afghan government officials often make about those behind the attacks across the south and east. But the evidence is often hard to find. Asked to give more detail, Capt Islamuddin says he has seen the bodies of many militants close up after battles he has been involved in. "There are some stupid Afghans among them," he says. "But most of them are Waziris, Chechens and Arabs. They are all coming from the madrassas in Pakistan." Officially, the US military says Pakistan is cooperating closely with its efforts to defeat the insurgency and US generals frequently praise their counterparts across the border. That is not how it appears to those on the frontline, to the young US and Afghan troops actually doing the fighting. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #14 Perspective... Go to http://www.militaryvideos.net/ and Download AC-130 mission in Afganistan... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-07-06 21:24 |
| #13 Here is my question, shouldn't that AT-FLIRs be able to find people, even in the terrain of Eastern Afghanistan? I thought that stuff was suppose to be the cat's ass. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2005-07-06 20:59 |
| #12 But it gives an insight into why the US-led coalition is having such difficulty defeating the insurgency that has affected much of eastern and southern Afghanistan for the past two years. Return of the Quagmire to Afghanistan! And here I thought Nancy Pelosi declared that war over... |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-06 20:56 |
| #11 Hello Marlin and welcome. EFL is "edited for length," where we chop out the redundant and/or irrelevant bits. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-07-06 19:27 |
| #10 I recently found the Rantburg site and since have enjoyed coming back daily. However, there are some acronyms that I have not yet learned. What does EFL mean? |
| Posted by: Marlin 2005-07-06 19:09 |
| #9 It's even easier to note that harboring attackers in a war is an act of war, right Perv? Get the ISI under control |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-07-06 18:52 |
| #8 It's always easier to say you're sorry than to ask permission. |
| Posted by: John J. Simmins 2005-07-06 18:48 |
| #7 Pak has been playing this game (on their eastern border) of arming terrorists and denying that they provide sanctuary for two decades. After giving India the middle finger for twenty years they feel confident in using the strategy on their western border. Unlike India, the US has the capability to make Pak behave. They are simply not using it. Greater considerations of geopolitics prevent it. |
| Posted by: john 2005-07-06 18:22 |
| #6 Are you sure that's the border? Maybe it is a few miles further, you must have the coordinates wrong. Go right ahead and blast em. |
| Posted by: Jan 2005-07-06 18:07 |
| #5 Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your host! Seriously, this PC shit has got to stop. It is killing americans. Americans who are willing to lay it all out on the line and defend this country against our sworn enemies. If the dickless asshats in the state department and pentegon can't get it through their thick skulls that we are playing for keeps and for our very exsistance, it is time to remove them from the picture. Preferably on a rail out of town. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-06 18:04 |
| #4 well said mcmurray |
| Posted by: Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-07-06 17:53 |
| #3 You cannot fight the war PC. Al Q and the Taliban use the PAK side as a safe haven. They have adapted their tactics to it. A couple of hits on the border area sans publicity will straighten up this mess. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-07-06 17:40 |
| #2 This made me think of the unwritten rule in Texas regards defending your property - if he's over the threshold, then he's fair game... so drag him back inside, if you have to. The blood trail, well, you can hose down the walk before you make the call... If they're within a coupla hundred meters of the border and you've got an A-10, hey, fuck it. If the PakiWakis object, tell 'em that's just where the parts came down. This can't be tolerated. Popeye said it best... |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-06 17:34 |
| #1 Time to waste the assholes and fuck the Paks if they can't drop their limp dicks and join the fight. Enough of the 'ol Cambodia stratagy. It didn't work in Vietnam and it ain't gonna work here. Kill the terrorists. Kill them wherever they hide. And if the Paks are spineless or dickless and can't/won't help, then they had better get out of the way. Oh, and remind them we are arming India too. If they want to keep military parity with their enemy, they need to buck up and do their part or the F-16s they ordered will be delivered to New Delhi! |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-06 16:48 |