Military wants answers on Afghan attack
Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 7:16 PM ET
By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News Chief Pentagon Correspondent
U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan have now ordered a formal investigation into last weekend's attack on a remote combat outpost that killed nine American soldiers and wounded 15 more. The commanders not only want to determine how scores of heavily-armed insurgents took the Americans by complete surprise, but exactly who were those enemy forces and how were they able to pull off such a well-coordinated and complex attack.
The outpost in Kunar province had been established only a couple of days before when some 200 insurgents staged the pre-dawn attack with machine-guns, rocket propelled grenades and mortars. Eight of the nine dead were killed in a surveillance tower. A handful of the enemy fighters actually breached the wall to the small compound but were quickly driven back or killed. But two days after the assault, U.S. commanders determined the outpost could not be adequately defended and withdrew all American forces. Reports claim that within hours the post was overrun by Taliban fighters.
Defense officials say commanders called for the formal investigation known in the military as a "fifteen-six" (15-6), to get answers to a series of critical questions: Just how did so many insurgent get so close to the outpost without being detected? Was security and surveillance surrounding the outpost inadequate or did those involved in security fall down on the job?
The insurgents launched the attack from homes, shops and a mosque in the nearby village of Wanat. The villagers themselves had fled the area before the attack. Were they fearful for their lives or did they willingly provide cover for the attackers?
But what troubles U.S. commanders is that this was one of the most sophisticated, well-planned, coordinated and executed attack against American forces in Afghanistan since the start of the war nearly seven years ago. Military officials have described the tactics and manuevers as "first-rate" and suggest that it may not be the last.
U.S. military and intelligence officials say there is increasing evidence that the Taliban, al-Qaida, and a variety of loosely-aligned insurgent groups appear better-trained and better-coordinated in their military operations than ever.
U.S. frustrations mount
Intelligence indicates most are currently being trained in camps across the border in the remote tribal regions of Pakistan. The growing frustration at the Pakistan government's refusal to crackdown on the Taliban and al-Qaida safe havens broke out at the Pentagon this week when Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared, "There is no question that the absence of pressure on the Pakistani side of the border is creating an opportunity for more people to cross the border and to launch attacks." When asked if the U.S. military would launch unilateral strikes against the insurgent camps inside Pakistan, Gates would not rule it out.
Meanwhile, defense officials say Pentagon efforts to send more American troops and equipment to Afghanistan to counter the growing enemy threat there have kicked into "high gear."
The 15-6 investigation underway into the attack should hold those in the U.S. military accountable in the event there was any negligence. But the growing capability and sophistication of the enemy in Afghanistan will be a much harder fix.
