Los Angeles Times: The Afghan Crucible
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UK troops have a very major involvement in Afghanistan – although you wouldn’t know it from the LA Times article. They have been fighting an agressive, desert campaign, often lacking articles of basic equipment or with much of it being seriously outdated. Still, they have forced the Talaban back into the hills.
Reading between the lines, it’s the kind of war that ‘real’ soldiers like. The Talaban are a worthy foe; lusty, fearless fighters who nevertheless know when to withdraw and fight again another day. It is a war between snipers and men with rapid fire small arms and portable mortars, fought from semi-armoured vehicles. Tanks in the main are too slow and heavy on the gas to cover the great tracts of desert that lie between the ever changing Talaban strongholds.
We have had some riveting footage of actual engagements on our TV screens, and it must be said that the whole Afghan/Iraq experience from the UK point of view, has not been without moments that ‘summon up the blood’, as The Bard would have it.
My favorite was when a small convoy of army vehicles, came under mortar attack. They took cover along the side of the road and radioed in their position together with that of the mortar that was shelling them. They were told that their attackers had a river behind them. Accordingly, they crawled forward on their bellies towards the mortar position, and when within spitting distance, fixed bayonets and went over the top.
Some grisely hand-hand fighting ensued and the suprised insurgents, with no possibility of retreat, were gutted like so many sardines. ‘A classic infantry manouver’ was how our Ministry of Defence described it.
Whereas the majority of people over here are against the Afghan and Iraqui involvement, they are also very much for ‘our boys’ and it would be less than honest to say that there wasn’t some swelling of the chest over this incident.
They also wouldn’t want the US to think that it is not receiving support that is arguably more professional and incisive, if not as substantial as the contribution that the US itself is making.
Posted on 20-Feb-07 at 4:21 am | Permalink