Afghan Insurgents Attack Key NATO Base in Kandahar

[Flaneur]

Source: BBC

Insurgents have attacked Nato's main military base in southern Afghanistan. A Nato spokesman told the BBC Kandahar airfield had come under rocket and mortar fire. Several Nato personnel were wounded. A ground assault was also reported to be under way.

It is the second such attack on a major Nato site in the last few days - on Wednesday Taliban militants attacked the main US military base at Bagram. An American contractor was killed in fighting that lasted several hours.

Nato also said that attacks in southern Afghanistan earlier on Saturday killed three Nato personnel and a civilian working with the military. On Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a Nato convoy in the capital Kabul, killing 18 people including six Nato soldiers. The attacks came soon after the Taliban announced a spring offensive against Nato forces and Afghan government troops.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10135441.stm

---

Things are heating up.

[ShortnFiery]

1. USA Combat troops are propping up an illegitimate Leader ...

Hamid Karzai who is loathed by his people!

We're taking the side of the ruthless THUG against the tribal peoples - in the middle of

Afghanistan's CIVIL WAR.

Bring the USA troops home now ... we don't need to be part of Afghanistan's CIVIL WAR!

"I don't need your civil war. It feeds the rich while it buries the poor."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9VhD4SccSE

[EFerrari]

2. That's what we do. It's time to do something else. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

3. My late father had to kill several enemy soldiers at point blank range ...

when he was serving as a combat engineer and demolitions expert during WWII.

We were very close since I was the only child who also was commissioned into the US Army. I was very fortunate to not have seen combat but my dad, especially as he became older, shared his thoughts and feelings with me. He told me that he still had nightmares of killing those men albeit it was "kill or be killed." On one occasion he stared down at what could have only been a German kid of 16 years old he had just shot ... and broke into tears as he cried out, "You never did anything to me!" :cry:

War is pure "Hell on Earth" and should only be undertaken when all other attempts at negotiations have failed.

[Robb]

4. Yet you followed daddy into the Army.

Hm.

[tabasco]

18. If he didn't,

you would have been drafted.

[Robb]

19. No

...she wouldn't have been.

[ShortnFiery]

20. Yes, because I honor military service.

However, I don't appreciate when the military is being mis-used. Every conflict since WWII has been suspect in one way or another.

But that does not mean that I don't honor the military. It was a maturing experience and helped pay my way through graduate school.

[Robb]

5. If by "heating up"

...you mean the Taliban are killing themselves at a faster pace, then you're absolutely correct.

The suicide squad in Paktika yesterday didn't work out for them. Same story Wednesday at Bagram and Monday at the Kandahar police station. This attack was another suicide mission that didn't get them anything but martyrs.

Frankly, if this is the Taliban's big push, I think we'll be bringing our troops home in plenty of time.

Edited to add: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100522/Afghanistan-Attack-100522/20100522/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome">Yup, as I suspected.

..."This can only really be described as basically a suicide attack by the Taliban. There was no way they were going to get inside the perimeter and certainly there was no way they were going to survive this attack."

[ShamelessHussy]

6. Time is on their side, that's all high tech super power's Achilles heel

FYI

[Robb]

7. "How do you make money operating at a loss?" "Volume!!"

:rofl:

[hardtravelin]

8. Hitting BAF, then KAF. Not very smart.

Especially KAF...that's where all the A-10's and other CAS live. When I was there we got harrasment rocket and mortar fire (unaimed) a few nights a week. Every once in a while they'd get lucky and get a hit inside the base.

Honestly, that's more effective than just dying in a pile outside the gate. It's likely part of a recruitment tool for the Taliban. Tough way to make a living.

[Flaneur]

12. Western forces are getting killed at a faster rate, too.

43 so far this month, according to icasualties.org/oef. That's more than in April (34) or March (39) and on a pace to equal or exceed February, when 55 Western soldiers died.

So, yeah, it seems to be heating up.

[The abyss]

9. Really too bad they feel the need to attack.

They should just knuckle down like the Norwegians did when Vidkun Quisling was in power.

:sarcasm:

[laststeamtrain]

10. Another spokesman, Major Fred Vemos, says he believes there might be insurgents in the base

Taliban attack southern Afghan base

Posted 18 minutes ago

Several NATO troops were wounded when Taliban militants fired rockets at Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, and there are fears insurgents may have entered the base, the alliance said.

The rocket and mortar fire was followed by a ground attack on the massive base in the Taliban's spiritual capital where NATO forces are preparing a series of offensives to wrest control of the province.

NATO spokesman Lt. Colonel Todd Vician says a small number of troops were wounded.

"Kandahar airfield came under indirect fire at approximately 8:00pm tonight and shortly afterward a ground attack was under way as well," he said.

Another spokesman, Major Fred Vemos, says he believes there might be insurgents in the base. ... http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/23/2906827.htm?section=justin

[The abyss]

14. “spokesman, Major Fred Vemos” sounds like he is channeling

Oh My God! Fire Support Base Mary Ann all over again.

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

The rebels are inside the wire!

We better nuke them bastards quick! :sarcasm:

[Robb]

15. LOL

[hardtravelin]

16. That is going to suck. Alot.

KAF (Kandahar Airfield) is ENORMOUS. It literally takes 30 minutes to drive from
one end to the other. Lots of sleepless fobbits (term for those who live inside FOBs) for a few nights!

[daleo]

17. Insurgents probably are in the base

Maybe even working there. That's one of the difficult things about occupations.

[New Dawn]

11. Kick for truth.

[laststeamtrain]

13. WSJ: Afghan Insurgents Attack U.S. Base in Kandahar

MAY 22, 2010, 5:54 P.M. ET

Afghan Insurgents Attack U.S. Base in Kandahar

By MARIA ABI-HABIB And ALAN CULLISON

KABUL—Insurgents late Saturday launched coordinated ground and rocket attacks on Kandahar Air Field, the main coalition base in southern Afghanistan.

Stray rocket and mortar attacks on the Kandahar base have been common in recent years, but before Saturday, insurgents hadn't mounted any coordinated assaults there.

Sounds of gunfire and explosions rattled through the base for about two hours, witnesses said. A spokeswoman for the U.S.-led coalition said a "small number" of military and civilian personnel were injured. There was no immediate information about any fatalities, she said.

The attack on Kandahar Air Field comes just a few days after a similar insurgent strike on Bagram Air Field, the main coalition base in eastern Afghanistan. Those insurgents, some disguised as U.S. forces, killed one contractor and injured several U.S. service members in the Bagram attack.

The Taliban declared this month that it was launching an offensive, dubbed al Fateh, or victory, aiming to besiege and take over coalition bases. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber rammed a van packed with explosives into a lightly armed convoy of coalition vehicles, killing killing 18 people including five Americans and a Canadian.

<snip>

The attacks so far have focused on coalition personnel, but insurgents have promised to target Afghan government officials and those who cooperate with them. The offensive appears aimed at shaking coalition morale by demonstrating the Taliban can strike anywhere with impunity.

... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704546304575260723888165394.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

[laststeamtrain]

21. Results of Kandahar offensive may affect future U.S. moves

Results of Kandahar offensive may affect future U.S. moves

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 23, 2010; A01

The Obama administration's campaign to drive the Taliban out of Afghanistan's second-largest city is a go-for-broke move that even its authors are unsure will succeed.

The bet is that the Kandahar operation, backed by thousands of U.S. troops and billions of dollars, will break the mystique and morale of the insurgents, turn the tide of the war and validate the administration's Afghanistan strategy.

There is no Plan B.

The deadline for results is short: Administration officials anticipate that the operation will form the centerpiece of a major strategy assessment due in December and will justify the first withdrawals of U.S. troops from elsewhere in Afghanistan in July 2011. Although operations initiated last winter in southwestern Helmand province will continue, and new troop deployments are scheduled this year for northern and eastern Afghanistan, little else will matter if the news from Kandahar is not good. ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/22/AR2010052203486.html