14 Americans Killed In Afghanistan Helicopter Crashes
Two helicopters collided in midair, and in an separate incident, a chopper went down after a firefight with insurgents. Eleven troops and three civilians died. It’s one of the heaviest one-day losses for American forces.
The surge in troop deaths comes less than two weeks before a runoff presidential election, which is expected to be a lightning rod for insurgent violence. It also comes as the Obama administration is weighing the reported request of its top commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, for a substantial troop increase.
The loss of life and aircraft pointed up the extent to which Western forces in Afghanistan are dependent on helicopters. In much of the country, terrain is extremely rough, distances long and roads all but impassable. Roadside bombs add to the danger of ground transport.
Surely it is incumbent upon a president–ANY president, be his name George W. Bush, or Barack H. Obama–and the military commanders to do everything possible to ensure the safety of the troops (through ensuring better communications, better coordinated flight plans, etc.), while still understanding that danger must be risked to complete the mission here. As for the mission? More and more, I’m becoming conv1nced it should be: get what al-Qaeda you can, and get out. Nation-building for Afghanistan, however laudable it sounds, can be a black hole that swallows up way too many lives and resources.
karthiks030977 Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
LibPat:
I think you underestimate the seriousness of the situation in that part.
Get out without eliminating the Taleban/Al Quaeda will naturally lead to Al Quaeda/Taleban overrunning Pakistan as far as they need to, to obtain Nukes.
Once they acquire Nukes,you do face a doomsday scenario in terms of terror: The world is scr&wed if that happens…anywhere in the world could get attacked (though I think Israel,India,USA in that order would be the prime targets of AQ/T).
libpatriot Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Yeah, could be…glad it’s not my call. I’m just very skeptical that we can really “fix” Afghanistan.
Daddio Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I don’t think Afghanistan is really very “fixable” at this point. I do think that Obama should give McCrystal the troops he asks for. The surge worked in Iraq. It might work in Afghanistan also.
We should also convince Pakistan to allow our military to work with their military inside Pakistan to eliminate the radical Islamist terrorists there.
Still, Obama is taking way to long to give his hand picked General answers.
OldLefty Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 8:36 am
We will not know if the surge worked in Iraq for thirty years.
They thought that using every religious wacko and mercenary in Afganistan to fight the Soviets “worked” too.
All it really did was hasten the collapse (that was almost complete anyway), and create al Qaeda.
They said the same thing about overthrowing a democracy in Iran, and setting up the Shah…..look how THAT turned out.
placefield Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I might be less skeptical about our ability to “win” in Afghanistan if they could define win.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm