I don't believe that it's been diaried on Kos yet, but there's an important new development in the war in Afghanistan. It's a major new operation called Operation Mountain Thrust and it involves more than 10,000 American, Canadian, British and Afghan soldiers pushing into the desert in Afghanistan in a likely futile chase after the Taliban. You might have noticed that
four US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan yesterday. Well, there's a lot more to it than that as I'll discuss below the fold.
I first read about this on
Debka. I apologize for citing to them given their unreliability, but I think it's useful here since they go into some detail about why this is happening.
"Operation Mountain Thrust," the biggest coalition offensive since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, has taken US-led forces deep into the remote mountains of the south. Its primary purpose is to abort the revived Taliban's drive to retake Kabul the capital, and the key city of Herat.
The operation was launched Thursday, June 15, by a combined 11,000-strong force of 2,300 American, 2,000 British, 2,000 Canadian and 6,000 Afghan soldiers. It is being fought in the southern mountains of Uruzgan. Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul....
In the view of DEBKAfile's military experts, the coalition force of 11,000 men is far below the strength required to take on a guerilla force, which is not concentrated in two or three bases, but scattered across 200,000 square miles of wild terrain, rugged mountains, steep valleys, and dry rivers. The formidable task they face recalls the ordeal experienced by US forces in the deserts of western Iraq in their forays to root out al Qaeda and Sunni guerrilla enclaves. Those enclaves are still in place.
So tactically what's going on is that we're sending thousands of soldiers into mountainous deserts in order to try and chase after a resurgent Taliban force. This doesn't sound to me like a promising development in the war on terra. I'd recommend that you read the whole Debka article for more analysis, but before you go there, I want to talk about the impact of this on our poor over-extended soldiers. The AP just filed a
story on this operation and it's clear that US soldiers that are being forced to fight in this mountainous terrain are just plain fucked.
Spc. David Valdiva is beet red from exertion, soaked in sweat and looking near collapse as he lugs 90 pounds of gear, including a 30-pound machine gun. "It's an honor to carry the gun," he says, uncomplainingly.
"I'm just not doing too good today because of the minimal food and water," adds Valdiva, of Altaloma, Calif.
Too much sun and little water have led some troops to give each other IVs to prevent dehydration.
"Williams, you got an IV for me? I think I'm delusional," Cpl. Bradley Courson, 22, of Calcium, N.Y., says to a company medic.
An IV is the fastest way to rehydrate, said company doctor Capt. Peter Muench, 29, of Silver Spring, Md., but he warned against soldier-administered IVs. "Their sterile techniques aren't the best," he said.
Out of about 120 soldiers in the unit, a half-dozen hydrated with IV drips. Lassally had a friend administer an IV on Tuesday, leaving bloody trails on his arms. He said he felt "refreshed" afterward.
Seems to me that we should be hearing more about this. I mean, my god, we can't even get water to our troops in the field? Are things really that desperate? And if so, then why aren't we hearing more about this?