Afghan Army Deaths Hit Record as U.S. Exits

[jakeXT]

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Afghan troops are in the midst of their deadliest fighting season since the war here began 12 years ago.

That is because, as U.S.-led forces withdraw, the Afghans are fighting a different war.

The Taliban are growing more aggressive. Coalition forces, taking with them their superior training and equipment, are leaving Afghan troops less able to fight and less able to save the lives of their critically wounded.

The Afghan forces—including the army, national police and village self-defense police—have been losing well over 100 men a week to insurgent attacks, with close to 300 injured, through much of the summer, according to numbers provided by coalition officials.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324665604579081193199072318.html

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[Ash_F]

1. Wow that is really intense for such a sparsely populated country.

Sounds like the US is leaving as the house burns down.

[jakeXT]

2. U.S. Army To Scrap $7 Billion In Equipment In Afghanistan

The equipment destruction is likely to raise questions in both the U.S. and Afghanistan about military planning and whether the U.S. Army should be finding ways for its vehicles and machinery to get reused. Shipping the equipment back to the U.S. or to other allied nations seems too costly, and donating it to the Afghans is complicated owing to thorny rules surrounding giving equipment to other countries, the Post reported. As such, Army officials have opted to destroy it.

Much of the equipment being destroyed comes in the form of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, hulking vehicles built to counter the threat of roadside bombs. MRAPs cost approximately $1 million each, and the Army has labeled about 2,000 of the 11,000 MRAPs in Afghanistan "excess." The remaining 9,000 will be shipped out of the country for use elsewhere.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/20/193978665/u-s-army-to-scrap-7-billion-in-equipment-in-afghanistan

[olddad56]

9. The taliban will make good use of the equipment left behind.

[stevenleser]

11. It's being destroyed. nt

[happyslug]

14. You be surprised how much "Destroyed" equipment gets re-used.

After the Vietnam war we had a chance to confer with the ex-Viet Cong and they told us in no uncertain terms they main source of supplies was US Army dumps. What our troops no longer had a use for, our troops threw away and the Viet Cong recovered and used.

1. Expended LAW rockets, could be re-used as mortars (and were).

2. Main source of batteries for booby traps were batteries US troops discarded. Enough electrical power in them to set off a booby trap.

3. The Vehicles mentioned in the article are trucks. The engine has to be truly hit to be destroyed. I suspect the vehicle will be dismantled and the engine taken apart, but that can all be reversed once done, unless the US takes the extra effort and melt down the engine and that requires a good bit of heat that the US Army may NOT want to waste on such equipment (i.e. just abandoned them and let the weather do the damage).

4. Parts are parts, I suspect most of these trucks will be put some place to be taken down for parts, thus open to the Taliban to be taken apart for parts they need.

I just do NOT see the US Army taken the extra effort to destroy these vehicles, i.e. take them apart AND MELT DOWN THE PARTS. I see these vehicles being used for parts, and even abandoned but not truly destroyed so no part of them will be usable by the Taliban.

[Earth_First]

12. These are vehicles that soliders on the ground begged for in Iraq..

It took Congressional inquiries as to why the military did not have adequately equipped vehicles as deaths of American soldiers were mounting.

Now, after billions in spending, we are destroying this equipment.

However when the Progressives and Democrats call for 10% cuts in DoD spending, we couldn't POSSIBLY find a way to cut defense spending.

A very few individuals made a LOT of money building this equipment, only to have it destroyed; to have the process repeat itself in the future.

This is maddening!

[happyslug]

15. These are NOT the Vehicles the troops were asking for.

What the troops were asking for were M113s. M113s were a fully tracked vehicle thus capable of getting into the desert sands and NOT getting stuck. It had enough armor to protect from most bombs and mines. The M113 was NOT a Tank, but it was also not one of these Trucks.

These trucks were designed and built as four wheel drive trucks with heavy armor to replace the Humvees the troops had up armored when the guerrilla war started. AS trucks they were restricted to paved or otherwise prepared highways. Some times they could go off such roads, but if they ran into sand they would soon get stuck. The extra armor made that even easier to do.

Now the M113 was not perfect, but it was in the supply line. Its armor is aluminum and thus subject to melting if hit by an anti-tank rocket (Aluminum tend to melt at 800 degrees, much lower then the steel used in tanks with its 2000 degree melting point). High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds are "shaped charges" design to MELT through armor. Most HEAT rounds can melt through Steel, but such steel will NOT catch on fire itself. That is NOT true of Aluminum, Aluminum when hit by a HEAT round can catch on fire and melt and catch on "Fire". Metal fires are almost impossible to put out. This is the main EXCUSE for NOT issuing the M113 to the troops.

The real problem is the M113 tracks, like most tracks on track vehicles, only last about 2000 miles, unlike the 20-40,000 miles trucks tires can last. Fuel economy between these trucks and the M113 were about the same (with an edge to the trucks). The real "disadvantage" of the M113 was the increase maintenance of such vehicles . This concern over shipping to Iraq parts for the M113 seems to be the reason M113s were NOT wanted (One National Guard unit did being an M113 with it, and go yelled at for doing so, for it showed what the M113 could do in Iraq).

Thus in many ways these trucks no one wants. There are heavy wheeled vehicles

These trucks were something the Army could build quickly, ship to Iraq quickly and would not require the parts and supply the M113 would have required.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1117

Sorry, with all its short coming the M113 could do anything the MRAP could do and more. Many made it to Iraq as mortar carrier and security vehicles, but no one wanted to send in a lot to do basic security do to the increase maintenance tracks vehicles have over wheeled vehicles:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier

[PeteSelman]

3. What a giant waste of blood and treasure.

Why does anyone enter a war with no possible winning outcome? It was stupid from the beginning and becomes more and more obviously so as time goes by.

[Lasher]

10. The winning outcome was supposed to be killing bin Laden.

Lord Vader was too obsessed with Iraq to care about bin Laden. He and The Worst President in Living Memory took their eye off that ball - if they ever had an eye on it for even a moment. Then they lied about their colossal failure at Tora Bora. Neither of them has been held even remotely accountable for their treason in this respect.

Along comes Obama. He gets bin Laden at last, and good for him. What a great time to declare victory in the Afghanistan quagmire, and get the hell out post haste! But hell no, we're still there - bringing Freedom and Justice to ungrateful Afghans whether they like it or not.

[lovuian]

4. 12 years of War that bankrupted America

stole our children's future from them

and with all our Billions and trillions

weapons of drones helicopters tanks air force troops army

missiles

we still don't have peace and democracy there

Same with Iraq

The Corporations Army is not working even after all the billions of US Tax payers money

but they did make Billions on the Military Industrial complex....maybe that is what these wars were about

MONEY


and pocketed it in their pockets ...leaving the United States bleeding lives and futures

Americans are tired of war and Obama and Congress got the WAKE UP CALL
with Syria

Americans are getting fed up with being the Police Force of the World

[Amimnoch]

5. Get with the program, War is good, Obamacare or social/health programs are bad.

I wouldn't think noting this as severe sarcasm wouldn't be necessary, but just incase.. SARCASM.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. McCain would call for another "surge".

[happyslug]

7. It is gong to get worse, the wheat crop is in...

Afghanistan is a winter wheat crop country. Winter wheat is planted about now. once it is planted then the Taliban will have more troops.

Winter wheat is planted in the fall, growns and then stops when snow hits Come spring it springs back up and harvested about June.

[winstars]

8. Gee, and after that VIETNAMIZATION thing worked out so perfectly 3 decades ago!!!

Who knew??? Same results shortly and in the end of the day it is totally not surprising. We have literally been there and done that. Already. Once. Before.

[daleo]

13. It made me think of that, too