"The ensuing fight led ANSF (Afghanistan National Security Forces) and coalition forces to return fire and call for precision air strikes,'' it said.
"At least 40 militants have been killed in the last two days, while over 30 enemy boats and several ... bridges were also destroyed on the Helmand River.''
In engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last several years, I’ve been thinking about the ratio of U.S. KIA to Opposition KIA. It seems that the average has been about 1 : 10, and so I think about each engagement in comparison to that ratio.
This engagement seems to have been particularly worse, with a 1 : 5 KIA ratio. That’s not good. (No U.S. KIA is ‘good’ of course, but I’m speaking of stats, not individuals).
So what happened here to cause a particularly bad outcome? It’s well worth an investigation. When we exceed 1 : 10 (i.e. 1:20 or better) I just chalk it up to a very good day! When its less than 1 : 10, one ought to be concerned and review the engagement carefully to avoid that circumstance in the future.