THIS ISN'T GOOD: TALIBAN LAUNCHES MASSIVE ATTACK ON US BASES IN AFGHANISTAN

Taliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults

by: RockRichard
Tue Aug 19, 2008 at 13:56:13 PM EDT
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=B7C9DFB4315A9BCFE27EBA51E74A5860?diaryId=1788

This isn't good:

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting, one a complex attack with multiple suicide bombers on an American military base on Monday night, and another by some 100 insurgents on French forces in a district east of the capital, killing 10 French soldiers and wounding 21 others, military officials said Tuesday. ...

The attack on Camp Salerno in Khost Province was one of the most complex attacks seen so far in Afghanistan with multiple suicide bombers and a backup fighting force that tried to breach defenses on to the airport at the base. It followed a suicide car bombing at the outer entrance to the same base on Monday morning, which killed 12 Afghan workers lining up to enter the base, and another attempted bombing that was thwarted shortly after.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for all three attacks in Khost. Their spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, reached by telephone at an unknown location, said that 15 suicide bombers, equipped with machine guns and vests packed with explosives, with 30 militants backing them up, attacked the base, one of the largest foreign military bases in Afghanistan. He claimed that some of the bombers had gotten inside the base and had killed a number of American soldiers and destroyed equipment and helicopters. This last claim was denied by General Azimi of the Afghan military.

The article goes on to describe in detail the eight hour Taliban attack and the coalition/Afghan National Army response. Basically, the Taliban attackers were very precise, very coordinated, and very large in numbers.

This isn't an attack on a remote firebase.

Forward Operating Base Salerno is home to one of two U.S. combat brigades in Afghanistan. Along with the headquarters, there are significant numbers of support, aviation and field artillery assets. I can't locate exact numbers (probably unavailable for OPSEC reasons), but I'd estimate it is the second largest U.S. commanded installation in the country, behind only Bagram Airfield. A footprint this size comes with a proportional security operation. What the Taliban have demonstrated with this incident is that they are able to conduct large scale, coordinated attacks on significant coalition military bases, and that is unacceptable for a group we should have defeated several years ago.

Click on link to read more: http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=B7C9DFB4315A9BCFE27EBA51E74A5860?diaryId=1788