November 10,2008:
Last July 13th, the Taliban managed to carry out a surprise attack on a
new base being built in the Afghan town of Wanat. A force of 72 U.S. and Afghan
troops suffered 39 casualties (nine U.S. dead, and 26 American and four Afghan
wounded). The 200 Taliban suffered about a hundred casualties (up to fifty
dead, but it was difficult to get an exact count because smart bombs were used,
which tend to blow bodies apart, and the Taliban will try to drag their dead
away, to prevent identification.)
The U.S.
Army investigated the battle, but did not answer the question of why it took so
long (95 minutes) for MEDEVAC (medical
evacuation) helicopters to arrive. It also took nearly two hour (108 minutes)
for the first reinforcements to show up. Before then, there was artillery
support (over 90 shells), smart bombs, Hellfire missiles (from a Predator UAV)
and a helicopter gunship. The UAVs and
AH-64s arrived within 30 minutes. There are still questions about U.S. intelligence
work, and how the Taliban were able to assemble that large a force, so close to
U.S. troops, without being detected.
The Taliban
attack was carried out early in the morning (4:20 AM) after the enemy has
sneaked into town and told the locals to leave. These same civilians had warned
the coalition force that the Taliban were going to attack. But those warning
had been coming daily, since the troops moved into Wanat on July 8th and began
building an FOB (Forward Operating Base) in an area about 300 meters long and
100 meters wide. There was also an outpost on small hill 50 meters away, manned
by nine troops. Two thirds of the defending troops were American. The enemy attack was well planned, with the Taliban
firing from three sides. The enemy tried to overrun the base, and at one point
some of them entered through a breach in a wall, but were killed or forced
back. The battle lasted four hours, ending when the Taliban survivors pulled out. U.S. troops
moved out of Wanat on July 15th.
The Taliban
tried to make this out to be a big victory, but there was never any video
released, as is usually the case with real or imagined victories. Apparently
their video guy was blown up, as no video cameras were found among all the
debris.