An Alamo with a Different Ending

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An Alamo with a Different Ending

Overwhelmingly Outnumbered Coalition Forces Repel a Complex Attack in NE Afghanistan

By JEFF EMANUEL

July 16, 2008

International newswire activity spiked two mornings ago when word came from Afghanistan that nine U.S. troops had been killed in an attack on a remote coalition base.

"A multi-pronged militant assault on a small, remote U.S. base killed nine American soldiers Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. troops since the 2001 invasion," crowed the Associated Press. "Militants fired machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from homes and a mosque in the village of Wanat in the northeastern province of Kunar, a mountainous region that borders Pakistan."

"U.S. and Afghan troops have abandoned a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan where militants killed nine American soldiers earlier this week," the AP cheerily reported two days later, choosing to focus reportage almost exclusively on the strengthening of the Taliban and al Qaeda in the safe havens they currently enjoy in northwestern Pakistan.

Reporters were quick to point out that this battle, which began in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday and lasted well into the day, resulted in the highest number of American casualties in Afghanistan since sixteen were killed when a helicopter was downed by RPG fire.

However, when the smoke of the battle cleared, and there was no mounting total of dead Americans to cover, news agencies lost interest, and moved along to cover other, bloodier developments in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Had those mainstream reporters continued paying attention, chances are they would have noted something remarkable about Sunday's battle.

Three days before the attack, 45 U.S. paratroopers from the 173d Airborne, accompanied by 25 Afghan soldiers, made their way to Kunar province, a remote area in the northeastern Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, and established the beginnings of a small Combat Outpost (COP). Their movement into the area was noticed, and their tiny numbers and incomplete fortifications were quickly taken advantage of.

A combined force of up to 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters quickly moved into the nearby village of Wanat and prepared for their assault by evicting unallied residents and according to an anonymous senior Afghan defense ministry official, "us[ing] their houses to attack us."

Tribesmen in the town stayed behind "and helped the insurgents during the fight," General Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, the provincial police chief, told The Associated Press. Dug-in mortar firing positions were created, and with that indirect fire, as well as heavy machine gun and RPG fire from fixed positions, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters rushed the COP from three sides.

The attackers quickly breached the outer perimeter, and, under a withering barrage of supporting fire, a contingent of a mere 70 U.S. and Afghan soldiers combined were forced to fight for survival on their own outpost against the all-out assault from nearly 100 assailants.

The overwhelmingly outnumbered U.S. troops called in artillery, as well as fixed and rotary-wing air support, to help the repulse the attacking forces.

As recounted by the AP and other media outlets, nine U.S. paratroopers lost their lives -- a full fifth of the American contingent.

Further, fifteen U.S. and four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the attack, meaning that, against an assault and support force of nearly 500 militant fighters, only 21 U.S. and 21 Afghan soldiers were able to fight at full strength -- and they succeeded not only in killing dozens of attackers, but in repelling the onslaught completely.

Since 2005, "U.S. forces have stepped up their presence in Kunar and neighboring Nuristan province," writes Bill Roggio in the Long War Journal, "building remote outposts and bases along established smuggling routes used by insurgent forces."

Kunar province is home to "the notorious Ghahki Pass, a narrow gorge connecting Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency with Kunar province" which "has remained a vital extremist infiltration route since the [Global War on Terror] began."

Roggio continues:

In October 2001, more than 1,000 Pakistani jihadists flooded through the narrow canyon into Afghanistan and joined the Taliban in their fight against Coalition forces. Seven years later, the local population remains openly hostile to both the Afghan government and US forces, making it an ideal area for extremist activity to thrive.

Extremist activity is clearly thriving in Kunar, as Sunday morning's assault on the tiny, unfinished Combat Outpost demonstrated.

Perhaps the most important takeaway from that encounter, though, is the one that the mainstream media couldn't be bothered to pay attention long enough to learn: that, not for the first time, a contingent of American soldiers that was outnumbered by up to a twenty-to-one ratio soundly and completely repulsed a complex, pre-planned assault by those dedicated enough to their cause to kill themselves in its pursuit.

That kind of heroism and against-all-odds success is and has been a hallmark of America's fighting men and women, and it is one that is worthy of all attention we can possibly give it.

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