Afghanistan round-up: Helicopters and a third surge
With the two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan today (killing 14 Americans), we wanted to check in real quick on how war #1 of our two wars is going.
Wired's Danger Room talks about how today's crashes reveal that helicopter are the "achilles' heel of the Afghan War", absolutely necessary in a country with few roads and constantly undersupplied. Maintenance on those that are there is apparently critical as well:
Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria looks at the question of troop levels in Afghanistan and points out that Obama is considering not "a surge" but "a third surge":
Boston.com's Big Picture also has another amazing set of photographs from Afghanistan, all taken in the month of October.
Question of the day for you: What should Obama do with Afghanistan? Should he send more US troops to pacify rural areas? Reduce the troop levels and focus on urban areas? Or should he "Why not do the Petraeus plan [counterinsurgency] for the major population centers and the Biden plan [counterterrorism] for the rest of the country?" (Defense expert Tom Ricks in the Zakaria article)
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- Rage Against Guantanamo - Rage Against the Machine, REM, Pearl Jam and more call for Gitmo closure
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Wired's Danger Room talks about how today's crashes reveal that helicopter are the "achilles' heel of the Afghan War", absolutely necessary in a country with few roads and constantly undersupplied. Maintenance on those that are there is apparently critical as well:
Earlier this year, Popular Mechanics reporter Joe Pappalardo spent some time with the wrench-turners who keep the helicopters flying in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan,” he concluded, “is hell on helicopters.” Here’s a list of just a few of the things he noted that can go wrong: Temperature extremes that destroy seals and gaskets; “high/hot” flying conditions that reduce engine performance; dust and sand that ruin rotor blades and clog up hydraulics. And, of course, there’s the enemy. (Soviet helicopter operations were also vulnerable, albeit for a different reason: The delivery of the Stinger missile, courtesy of the United States.)
Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria looks at the question of troop levels in Afghanistan and points out that Obama is considering not "a surge" but "a third surge":
The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan in January 2008 was 26,607. Over the next six months, the Bush administration raised the total to 48,250. President Bush described this policy as "the quiet surge," and he made the standard arguments about the need for a counterinsurgency capacity—the troops had to not only fight the Taliban but protect the Afghan population, strengthen and train the Afghan Army and police, and assist in development.
In January 2009, another 3,000 troops, originally ordered by President Bush, went to Afghanistan in the first days of the Obama presidency. In February, responding to a request from the commander in the field, Obama ordered an additional 17,000 troops into the country. In other words, over the past 18 months, troop levels in Afghanistan have almost tripled. An additional 40,000 troops sent in the next few months would mean an almost 400 percent increase in U.S. troops since 2008. (The total surge in Iraq, incidentally, was just over 20,000 troops.) It is not dithering to try to figure out why previous increases have not worked and why we think additional ones would.
Boston.com's Big Picture also has another amazing set of photographs from Afghanistan, all taken in the month of October.
Question of the day for you: What should Obama do with Afghanistan? Should he send more US troops to pacify rural areas? Reduce the troop levels and focus on urban areas? Or should he "Why not do the Petraeus plan [counterinsurgency] for the major population centers and the Biden plan [counterterrorism] for the rest of the country?" (Defense expert Tom Ricks in the Zakaria article)
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Psst...tell Castro I said Hi-k thx Obama
- Deadly Baghdad blasts raise specter of security
- 7 stories you missed this week: Goldman Sachs jerk, threats to Obama, Andy Garcia as Saakashvili and swine flu in Iraq
- Rage Against Guantanamo - Rage Against the Machine, REM, Pearl Jam and more call for Gitmo closure
- US police make massive Mexican drug cartel bust
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