The Afghanistan and Pakistan Thread

[Brill]

Not much news play on this:

Al Qaeda hubs dismantled in one of the largest US-Afghan raids ever, officials say

 

[Marauder06]

“We struck a major al-Qaeda sanctuary in the center of the Taliban’s historic heartland."

Oh, so you bombed Pakistan? Score!

 

[AWP]

Guess the president isn't ending the war afterall. On the plus side, I mean, on the plus side we....I think it's good that...

Never mind, I've got nothin'.

Obama to make Afghanistan forces announcement Thursday - CNNPolitics.com

Washington (CNN)—President Barack Obama will announce Thursday that U.S. forces will remain in Afghanistan at their current levels throughout much of 2016, marking yet another delay in the administration's plans for completing its withdrawal from the 14-year conflict.

The decision to maintain 9,800 troops in Afghanistan until nearly the end of Obama's time in office comes after months of discussions with Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, and the nation's CEO, Abdullah Abdullah, senior administration officials said Wednesday night. Obama also consulted with U.S. military commanders on the ground in Afghanistan as well as his entire national security team, officials added.

According to the new White House plan, the number of U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan would drop to 5,500 by early 2017, as Obama prepares to leave office. At that point, U.S. forces would be based in the Afghan capital of Kabul, as well as in military installations in Bagram, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

 

[Brill]

Guess the president isn't ending the war afterall. On the plus side, I mean, on the plus side we....I think it's good that...

Never mind, I've got nothin'.

Obama to make Afghanistan forces announcement Thursday - CNNPolitics.com

Yes he is! He was elected via an anti-war platform AND he won the Nobel for implementing world peace. One doesn't reach that level of achievement by prolonging conflict, leading regime change in North Africa, and destabilizing an entire region (anti-ISIL efforts & Iranian nuke deal).

You're not reading the facts correctly.

 

[Florida173]

Yes he is! He was elected via an anti-war platform AND he won the Nobel for implementing world peace. One doesn't reach that level of achievement by prolonging conflict, leading regime change in North Africa, and destabilizing an entire region (anti-ISIL efforts & Iranian nuke deal).

You're not reading the facts correctly.

Do you lose your Nobel Peace prize once you've bombed another recipient of the prize? You'd think there would be a rule on that...

Or maybe how you've destabilized a region to such a degree that you will likely help the take down this year's recipient with the National Dialogue Quartet in Tunisia...

 

[Etype]

“We struck a major al-Qaeda sanctuary in the center of the Taliban’s historic heartland."

I seem to remember Kandahar being the capital for the Taliban gov't, and Mullah Omar being from the Maiwand/Panjiway area.

That's only a few hundred miles from Kunduz, close enough.

I wonder if this fella really had no idea what he was talking about, or if he just thought he could BS the public with what he thought was a convincing lie.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

Update on the Docs w/out Borders.

US special ops analysts knew Afghan site was hospital; unclear if commanders knew http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/333072911.html

I teach my managers, if there is an incident that happened within one of our stores, buy some time and promise to make a statement by a certain date. Don't assume something, or say something to appease the person asking the question and then have to come back later in reverse yourself. The doublespeak will only hurt us in the long run.

So you can understand that this section in particular is what has driven me crazy about our government and leaders for as long as I can remember.

The U.S. military's cursory description of what transpired has changed over time.

Initially, the military portrayed the incident as an accident stemming from the fog of war. American forces in the vicinity were under attack, a U.S. military spokesperson in Afghanistan said in a statement, and called in an air strike "against individuals threatening the force. The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility."

Two days later, Campbell told reporters that "Afghan forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from U.S. forces."

He added, "An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several civilians were accidentally struck."

The following day, however, Campbell told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "To be clear, the decision ... was a U.S. decision made within the U.S. chain of command. A hospital was mistakenly struck. We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility."

 

[AWP]

Analysts knew? Yawn....until they can prove the "kill chain" knew and did nothing this is just noise. The big item is did DWB mark the hospital? "We told people this is a hospital" isn't the best defense.

Ultimately people are online OUTRAGED which means we're wrong and the OUTRAGE is right.

I hate people.

 

[ThunderHorse]

It's pretty clear it was a marked hospital, but intel believed somebody was using it as a base...and why it was exactly targeted via air strike remains quite unclear as the first story was: IOT support US troops that were in contact, which was- A) a mistake B) an outright lie.

Also: everyone see the withdrawal is being post-poned Obama again delays Afghanistan troop drawdown - CNNPolitics.com

 

[AWP]

It's pretty clear it was a marked hospital, but intel believed somebody was using it as a base...

Marked externally or on someone's map overlay?

 

[ThunderHorse]

Marked externally or on someone's map overlay?

That part is not clear. So I'm going to say Map Overlay, however, the next question I have is was there an NFA established, and if there was, who lifted it, and why. Because we can say all we want, we still look like shit as ISAF command didn't control the narrative by taking a tactical pause to find out what really happened and just spouted off.

 

[AWP]

That part is not clear. So I'm going to say Map Overlay, however, the next question I have is was there an NFA established, and if there was, who lifted it, and why. Because we can say all we want, we still look like shit as ISAF command didn't control the narrative by taking a tactical pause to find out what really happened and just spouted off.

I totally agree with the last part.

My main contention is that it wasn't physically marked. My understanding, perhaps dated, of the law of land warfare is that hospitals, religious shrines, etc. must be clearly marked. Otherwise someone could just say some mud hut is a hospital and make a stink over us bombing it or have an instant safe zone. I have not seen a shred of information or any photographs showing clear markings on the hospital. It was an AC-130, arguably one of the best sensor platforms around. If the hospital was clearly marked this wouldn't be a story. I'd also think if DWB had markings on the roof they would have displayed those in the press and screamed to the heavens.

DWB saying they told someone or "the right person" doesn't matter a damn bit if that info wasn't conveyed to the aircrew.

What it looks like is they notified someone and stopped there and I question if that's enough.

 

[DA SWO]

I totally agree with the last part.

My main contention is that it wasn't physically marked. My understanding, perhaps dated, of the law of land warfare is that hospitals, religious shrines, etc. must be clearly marked. Otherwise someone could just say some mud hut is a hospital and make a stink over us bombing it or have an instant safe zone. I have not seen a shred of information or any photographs showing clear markings on the hospital. It was an AC-130, arguably one of the best sensor platforms around. If the hospital was clearly marked this wouldn't be a story. I'd also think if DWB had markings on the roof they would have displayed those in the press and screamed to the heavens.

DWB saying they told someone or "the right person" doesn't matter a damn bit if that info wasn't conveyed to the aircrew.

What it looks like is they notified someone and stopped there and I question if that's enough.

Bold face part.
Why haven't they identified the person they told?
DWB (IMO) hasn't been totally honest.

 

[Ranger Psych]

Free, your understanding is totally correct. You can only claim "protections" under the laws and treaties governing land warfare for medical facilities or churches when they are clearly marked. At least as far as I also remember.

 

[CDG]

If it was a known hospital, it would have been on the No-Strike List.

 

[JedisonsDad]

It's all a bunch of bullshit. That is all I will say.

 

[DA SWO]

I know it isn't ass-crackistan, but it doesn't deserve it's own thread.

Wonder if the Syrian AF or RSAF give a shit.

Clinic run by Doctors Without Borders bombed in Yemen

A mobile clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Yemen was bombed Wednesday in Saudi-led airstrikes, wounding at least seven people, IBTimes UK reported.

The medical team in Taiz is collecting information about the incident and providing treatment to those who were wounded in the airstrikes, Tim Shenk, press officer for Doctors Without Borders, told IBTimes UK.

The attack is the fourth on a facility run by the non-profit -- known officially as Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF -- and comes just days after a hospital supported by MSF was bombed in Syria, causing seven deaths and leaving the building in ruins. A girl was among those killed in the Saturday attacks.

On Saturday, the Syria attack was what is known as a double-tap tactic -- a first bombing followed by a second one after health professionals have arrived to aid the victims. The tactic is the hallmark of the Syrian Air Force, according to UPI.

In October, a U.S. airstrike mistakenly killed 30 people at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. U.S. military officials announced last month that the attack was the result of military personnel inadvertently aiming at the wrong target — the hospital compound — instead of a suspected nearby site, from which Taliban fighters were firing.

 

[AWP]

Some good news:

U.S. Special Forces Help Free Dozens of Taliban Prisoners

Ground troops from the Afghan Special Security Forces and the U.S. Special Mission Wing conducted a helicopter assault mission in the Nawzad district of Afghanistan's Helmand Province, the U.S. military said in a news release.

I cannot wait for the airsoft/ poser element to display their "Special Mission Wing" patches.

Then some potentially great news. Maybe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/w...aliban-leader-mullah-akhtar-mansour.html?_r=0

The militants’ chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, dismissed reports that Mullah Mansour had been shot in a gunfight that broke out between rival insurgent factions during peace talks this week. But he also tacitly acknowledged the credibility problem faced by the group, which denied for years that its previous leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, had died, then finally admitted it two years after the fact.

 

[Marauder06]

Some insight on the DWB building bombing, from an Army JAG:

Although no system is perfect, an ill-timed failure can shake the foundations of trust in that system despite the overwhelming amount of success, fairness, and transparency. As we all know, climb a thousand mountains and you’ll be known as a mountain climber. But, if you screw one goat, you’ll be known as, well, you know …

 

[AWP]

Looks like the TB managed to storm a portion of Kandahar Air Field, though I'm not familiar with this school.

Taliban attacks airport in southern Afghan city Kandahar

"Several insurgents (have) taken up position inside a school and (are) firing at the airport," said Sameem Khpalwak, a spokesman for the local governor. He said there were no reports of casualties and Afghan government forces were returning fire.