Zapp Brannigan
Member
Norwegian troops, along with Afghan soldiers and police, fought against the Taliban today in northwest Afghanistan. This was apparently the first hard combat of an operation which began last Friday. I can't find anything in the English language media about it, but here are some links in Norwegian with pictures):
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article2085970.ece?service=print
http://www.mil.no/start/article.jhtml?articleID=147374
The second article from the official Norwegian armed forces website has basically the same information as the Aftenpost article. There is a quote from the Norwegian ISAF contingent commander, Colonel Ivar Magne Sakserud, who characterized it thusly:"Det er ingen i avdelingen som ikke opplever dette som krig." ("There is no one in the contingent who doesn't consider this as war").
A nice counterpoint to a statement a while back from someone in the Norwegian government that the Norwegian armed forces could no longer be considered capable of warfighting due to cuts in manpower and budgets.
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article2085970.ece?service=print
Basically, "Norwegian forces in hard combat in Afghanistan: Today Norwegian forces were involved in hard combat in Afghanistan. ISAF forces fought with a larger group of rebels. The fighting took place in several locations in the Ghowrmach district of Afghanistan. The armed forces informed Aftenposten that the combat began at 13:30 local time today, and lasted for a half an hour. The fighting was described as being the hardest encounter that Norwegian soldiers in Afghanistan have been in."Norske styrker i harde kamper i Afghanistan
I dag har norske styrker vært involvert i harde kamper i Afghanistan. ISAF-styrkene kjempet mot en større gruppe opprørere.
Kampene skal ha funnet sted flere steder i Ghowrmach-distriktet i Afghanistan i dag.
Forsvaret opplyser til Aftenposten.no at kampene begynte i 13.30-tiden i dag lokal tid, og varte i omlag to og en halv time. Kampene beskrives å være de hardeste sammenstøtene de norske soldatene i Afghanistan har vært i.
...
http://www.mil.no/start/article.jhtml?articleID=147374
The second article from the official Norwegian armed forces website has basically the same information as the Aftenpost article. There is a quote from the Norwegian ISAF contingent commander, Colonel Ivar Magne Sakserud, who characterized it thusly:"Det er ingen i avdelingen som ikke opplever dette som krig." ("There is no one in the contingent who doesn't consider this as war").
A nice counterpoint to a statement a while back from someone in the Norwegian government that the Norwegian armed forces could no longer be considered capable of warfighting due to cuts in manpower and budgets.