The Europeans have very little tolerance for casualties. Most of their voters want their soldiers out. Many of their governments are shaky coalitions. And many of them have significant Muslim populations. This is where the caveats come from. The Americans can't strategically communicate WHY anything in Afghanistan is worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier, and neither can the Germans.
I am coming to believe NATO doesn't need more conventional combat troops. NATO needs more Special Operations Forces, more Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams, more Military Police, Carabiniari, Guardia Civil, more instructors and trainers and observers to get the ANA and the ANP up to speed. We need to put Afghan feet into more boots on the ground.
1. The unit that captured was 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne
Division.
2. The C-5 rocket is interesting... it was designed to be used as an
air to ground rocket... does not have a guidance system... AQI has used
it as a ground to air weapon primarily... they try shoot a bunch up in
air to hit a low flying helo or aircraft.
I hope this helps.
W/R Bits
Donald “Bits” Bacon, Colonel, USAF
STRATEFF/STRATCOM Operations
1. The unit that captured was 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne
Division.
2. The C-5 rocket is interesting... it was designed to be used as an
air to ground rocket... does not have a guidance system... AQI has used
it as a ground to air weapon primarily... they try shoot a bunch up in
air to hit a low flying helo or aircraft.
I hope this helps.
W/R Bits
Donald “Bits” Bacon, Colonel, USAF
STRATEFF/STRATCOM Operations
I think they just started using that term earlier this week. Concerned Local Citizens translates into worried people who live there or something like that.
had to move some Afghan army trainers to the police training mission
The majority of soldiers he has training the Afghan National Army are operational mentor liaison teams, which are NATO entities, he said, and the majority of those teams are from Italy and Spain, along with a small contingent from Slovenia.
need about 300 more trainers
wants one 16-person mentor team in each of his police districts -- about 50 teams
has only six
Klingaman said the key to counterinsurgency operations is to use local forces.
Want more boots on the ground? Put local feet in them. Sons of Afghanistan.
No mention of any mentoring going on for the Afghan Border Police on the Iranian Frontier.