NATO copter downed; Navy SEALs among the 30 U.S. dead

[CardSharp]

You mean like those who wish for Taliban rule in Afghanistan?

You look really smart interjecting without understanding F all about neither side of the argument. Bravo the Indo-Australian power duo.


(hey that rhymed)

 

[Patriot]

RIP Soldiers.

 

[Guest01]

Lets be honest...few members here would actually like Taliban rule, they only resent American power. Natural enough, I would always support what would make my nation stronger, even if it were idiots that opposed what I considered a threat. (Ps ...we are not natural enemies of Pakistan, only of the policies Pakistan enacted out of a deep-seated fear of India, who I doubt wish you as ill as you imagine)

Yeah but then wishing back what your neighbour wishes on you is not be a hypocrite! In the parlance of the discussion, irrespective of the reason of the rejoice of advancing Taliban in Afghanistan (American hatred or plain greed of influence) by Pakistanis, by the end Afghans should not be faulted or called a hypocrite if they are wishing the same up on Pakistan!

Likewise there was a Chinese member (we got to find some better term for adressing co-subscribers to the site), was wishing for American demise via Taliban advance earlier on this thread, considering that, what Ahmad wrote is nowhere a hypocrisy.

.

 

[Guest01]

You look really smart interjecting without understanding F all about neither side of the argument. Bravo the Indo-Australian power duo.


(hey that rhymed)

And honestly you looked quite moronic interjecting here without knowing anything of the discussion at all. Now that may not have rhymed... but hey, no sweet promises!

.

 

[CardSharp]

Yeah but then wishing back what your neighbour wishes on you is not be a hypocrite! In the parlance of the discussion, irrespective of the reason of the rejoice of advancing Taliban in Afghanistan (American hatred or plain greed of influence) by Pakistanis, by the end Afghans should not be faulted or called a hypocrite if they are wishing the same up on Pakistan!

Likewise there was a Chinese member (we got to find some better term for adressing co-subscribers to the site), was wishing for American demise via Taliban advance earlier on this thread, considering that, what Ahmad wrote is nowhere a hypocrisy.

.

No argument is too preposterous if it's against 'em Chinese. Amirite?

 

[CardSharp]

I am not, did you see the post i was replying to? Go back and see the other post and you will see why I posted what i posted.

Hmmm because two idiots make a right?

 

[Guest01]

No argument is too preposterous if it's against 'em Chinese. Amirite?

Nothing was about China there. Maybe you got consumed by the predicamental fallacy there without following the chain of communication and the correct parlance of the discussion and the post of a member (wtf?) with Chinese flags to which our Ahmad responded. Morons are to be found everywhere. Sanity is to disseminate wisdom everytime the opportunity arises. Is that hypocrisy?

.

 

[CardSharp]

Nothing was about China there. Maybe you got consumed by the predicamental fallacy there without following the chain of communication and the correct parlance of the discussion and the post of a member (wtf?) with Chinese flags to which our Ahmad responded. Morons are to be found everywhere. Sanity is to disseminate wisdom everytime the opportunity arises. Is that hypocrisy?

.

That makes sense.

 

[Ahmad]

Hmmm because two idiots make a right?

I am not idoit, i was just trying to make a point to shut him up. have you ever seen me praising the Uigher separatists anywhere in this forum before?

 

[Saifullah Sani]

Afghan helicopter crash reflects peril for U.S. Special Forces
By Kevin Sieff, Monday, August 8, 12:02 AM

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The mission that left 30 American troops, including 22 Navy SEALs, dead Saturday morning in eastern Afghanistan was just one of dozens of operations carried out by U.S. Special Operations forces every week in Afghanistan. The only difference was the disastrous ending.

While SEAL Team 6 gained worldwide fame with the raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden, Saturday’s ill-fated operation reflected the reality of a unit that regularly targets insurgents whose names and faces are almost completely unknown outside military and intelligence circles.

In this case, the mission was aimed at suspects in a series of attacks on foreign convoys along a highway south of Kabul, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Some reports Sunday suggested that SEAL Team 6, which suffered substantial losses when a Chinook helicopter was shot down by an apparent insurgent’s rocket-propelled grenade, joined the mission after another unit asked for backup.

U.S. Special Operations forces have been a critical component of the war strategy in Afghanistan, executing operations in remote and volatile locations that are often inaccessible to ground troops. In Wardak Province’s Tangi Valley, where the crash occurred, U.S. troops had recently withdrawn from the area’s sole combat outpost.

Such missions are expected to become increasingly important as the United States begins withdrawing troops in the coming months and years, leaving NATO without the manpower to conduct the traditional counterinsurgency operations at the heart of the troop surge over the past 18 months.

Saturday’s mission was a night raid, which is usually a joint operation between NATO and Afghan forces, often informed by lengthy intelligence-gathering efforts. Afghanistan is in the process of developing its own commandos, and the raids are seen as key to building that nascent force’s capacity.

“Saturday’s operation was a normal mission that we do jointly,” Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimi said. He said Afghan and U.S. troops have cooperated on 10 very similar missions in the past month alone. Seven Afghans also died in the crash, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

Officially, NATO would not confirm whether the crash was due to insurgent fire, saying an investigation has been launched.

The Special Operations missions are seen as critical not only by the Americans and other foreign contingents here, but also by Afghans, who lack an Air Force of their own and often find themselves dependent on NATO air support.

While a number of Afghan National Army units have begun conducting patrols without NATO accompaniment, they often find themselves in need of assistance from Western planes and helicopters when firefights with the Taliban become too intense.

“We’re getting stronger, but without an Air Force, there’s a limit to our strength,” said Col. Ataullah Zahir, an Afghan commander in Lashkar Gah, the capital of southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

It appears unlikely that Saturday’s crash will threaten U.S. or Afghan confidence in Western air superiority. A senior defense department official told the New Yorker magazine recently that in the past couple of years, Special Operations forces conducted almost 2,000 targeted raids. The vast majority of those did not result in casualties among U.S. or Afghan forces.

Senior U.S. military officials said the loss of the SEALs would have little impact on the U.S. military’s ability to conduct strikes on senior and mid-level Taliban officials, which they said have become increasingly effective and lethal over the past year.

Still, the incident defies U.S. claims of progress as NATO prepares to hand over responsibility for the country’s security to Afghans by the end of 2014. And it threatens, at least temporarily, to undermine a course long advocated by Vice President Biden, which would make targeted Special Operations an even more central part of military strategy in Afghanistan.

Special correspondent Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul and staff writer Greg Jaffe in Washington contributed to this report.
Afghan helicopter crash reflects peril for Special Forces - The Washington Post

 

[Abu Basit]

33 invaders killed as Mujahideen shoot down fourth US helicopter in 48 hrs: Taliban

The Nation

don't know how much authentic this latest news is , Press Tv has also reported this-

 

[SpArK]

SEALs Killed in Crash Were on Rescue Mission​

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The 30 American servicemembers -- most of them elite Navy SEALs -- who died when their helicopter was shot down had rushed to help Army Rangers who had come under fire, two U.S. officials said.


The heavy loss shows that clandestine tactics carry huge risks despite the huge success of the SEAL mission that killed Osama bin Laden more than three months ago. Most of the SEALs who died Saturday were from the same unit that killed bin Laden, although none of the men took part in that mission.


The U.S.-led coalition plans to rely more on special operations missions as it reduces the overall number of combat troops by the end of 2014.

There were conflicting accounts late Sunday as to whether the SEAL team had subdued the attackers who had pinned down the Rangers and were departing, or whether they were hit as they tried to land. One official said they had accomplished their mission, but another said the aircraft, a Chinook helicopter, was hit as it approached.


Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still ongoing.


Thirty Americans and eight Afghans -- seven commandos and a civilian translator -- were killed in the crash, making it the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. The Rangers, special operations forces who work regularly with the SEALs, secured the crash site in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak province, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, the other official said.
The SEAL mission was first reported by CNN.
NATO was recovering the remains of the twin rotor Chinook helicopter. A current and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 SEALs, three Air Force members and a dog handler and his dog. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because military officials were still notifying the families of the dead.
All but two of the SEALs were from SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed bin Laden, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Eight Taliban fighters were also killed in the battle, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.
Afghanistan has more U.S. special operations troops, about 10,000, than any other theater of war. The forces, often joined by Afghan troops, are among the most effective weapons in the coalition's arsenal, conducting surveillance, infiltration and capture missions and night raids.
From April to July this year, 2,832 special operations raids captured 2,941 insurgents and killed 834, twice as many as during the same time period last year, according to NATO.....



SEALs, Rangers, and other special operations troops are expected to be the vanguard of the American military effort in Afghanistan as international military forces start pulling out. By the time combat troops plan to have left the country, the coalition will have handed control of security to the Afghan forces they have spent tens of billions of dollars arming and training.
Special operations troops are expected to remain in the country after 2014 for counterterrorism missions and advisory support. Just how many will remain has not yet been negotiated with the Afghan government, but the United States is considering from 5,000 to 20,000, far fewer than the 100,000 U.S. troops there now.


Special operations forces are frequently used to target insurgent commanders as part of an effort to force the Taliban's leadership to agree to a negotiated peace. The operations, mostly in the form of night raids, are often carried out by Afghan and coalition special operations forces.
Night raids have drawn criticism from human rights activists and infuriated Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who says they anger and alienate the Afghan population.
But NATO commanders have said the raids are safer for civilians than relatively imprecise airstrikes.

As U.S. forces removed the wreckage Sunday, nearby Afghan and NATO forces battled insurgents as they carried out clearing operations in the areas around the crash site, a region that is just a stone's throw from the capital. The province, which borders Kabul, has increasingly come under Taliban control in recent months -- even as the U.S.-led coalition has begun handing over security for parts of Afghanistan over to the government of President Hamid Karzai.
"There have been a small number of limited engagements in the same district" as Saturday's helicopter crash, NATO said in a statement. "However those clashes have not been in the direct vicinity of the crash site. As of now, we have no reporting to indicate any coalition casualties resulting from these engagements."


-- Associated Press Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this story from Washington. Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor also contributed from Washington.
© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


SEALs Killed in Crash Were on Rescue Mission

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

could be, but a chinook is a rugged heli, V-22 Osprey maybe?

Why would the chain of command send in a Chinook, a HUGE, slow, not-very-maneuverable workhorse of a chopper, without some attack helicopters to protect it?

The damn thing was a sitting duck. Compounded & exacerbated by the fact that it was carrying much equipment and heavy supplies. They weren’t entering a picnic, they were entering an area known to be containing a plethora of heavily armed fighters. It was a slow, low altitude approach. The Chinooks can be heard from kilometers away when they are approaching.

In WW II the B-17 bombers had outlying packs of P-38s and P-47s prowling the skies around them to draw fire and fight on behalf of the larger planes when they did their bombing runs; or when supplies were being air-dropped. Has that lesson by the Americans been lost? This scenario just makes no sense.

This incident will obviously have a huge psychological impact on an already war-wary American public; many of whom are keen to cut the losses and get the hell out of Afghanistan. Despite their inferior weapons, the talebans have a way of adapting to their enemies tactics. They obviously had more than just small-arms fire which was used to down the aircraft

There was some talk about how they ‘’modified their RPGs in order to increase accuracy’’ though I question that. That Chinook was obviously at the wrong place at the wrong time!

 

[razgriz19]

colonel said they were murdered!

 

[darkinsky]

i guess talibans want to kill as many natos as they can so thry they can equalize the lose they suffered during invasion