© Agence France-PresseNATO-led ISAF said at a press briefing on Monday that the helicopter crash that killed 38 people, including 30 US troops last Friday represented "a tragic loss." The ISAF spokesman also played down the suggestion that the Taliban had used new types of weapons to down the helicopter.
The Taliban lured US forces into an elaborate trap to shoot down their helicopter, killing 30 American troops in the deadliest such incident of the war, an Afghan official said Monday.
US President Barack Obama pledged that the incident -- which killed 38 people -- would not keep foreign forces from prevailing in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon called the downing of the Chinook a "one-off" that would not alter US strategy.
The late Friday attack marked the biggest single loss of life for American and NATO forces since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban in late 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks.
The loss of the Chinook during an anti-Taliban operation southwest of Kabul dealt a blow to elite US special forces, which had 25 members on board -- 22 US Navy SEAL commandos and three Air Force Special Operations Forces.
Five US Army personnel, seven Afghan commandos and an interpreter also died.
A senior Afghan government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Taliban commander Qari Tahir lured US forces to the scene by tipping them off that a Taliban meeting was taking place.
He also said four Pakistanis helped Tahir carry out the strike.
"Now it's confirmed that the helicopter was shot down and it was a trap that was set by a Taliban commander," said the official, citing intelligence gathered from the area.
"The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take," he continued.
"That's the only route, so they took position on the either side of the valley on mountains and as the helicopter approached, they attacked it with rockets and other modern weapons. It was brought down by multiple shots."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the issue, also said President Hamid Karzai's US-backed government "thinks" the attack was retaliation for the May killing of Osama bin Laden.
The Taliban themselves did not make such an assertion on claiming responsibility for the attack, which took place in the Taliban-infested Sayd Abad district of Wardak province.
In Washington, Obama said the loss of the 30 American troops would motivate their colleagues.
"I know that our troops will continue the hard work of transitioning to a stronger Afghan government and ensuring that Afghanistan is not a safe haven for terrorists. We will press on and succeed," the US president said.
Colonel Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said he would "caution people against reading too much into a single combat incident."
"At this point, it's a one-off incident," he told reporters, adding it did not amount to "any kind of watershed or trend."
"We still have the Taliban on the run. We've reversed the momentum that they had but they're still going to inflict casualties," Lapan said.
When questioned about whether the attack was linked to a trap laid by a Taliban commander, the militia's spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said: "We have used various tactics over the past 10 years. This could also be a tactic."
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the cause of the crash was still being investigated but issued a statement giving details of the moments before the fatal incident.
"The operation began as a security search for a Taliban leader responsible for insurgent operations in the nearby Tangi Valley," it said.
The first wave of ISAF ground troops then exchanged fire with insurgents, killing several of them.
"As the insurgents continued to fire, the combined force on the ground requested additional forces to assist the operation," the statement added.
"Those additional personnel were inbound to the scene when the CH-47 (Chinook) carrying them crashed, killing all on board."
Afghan officials said an insurgent rocket downed the helicopter, which was said to have broken into several parts after being hit.
In eastern Afghanistan on Monday, another helicopter made a "hard landing" in Paktya province, although no one was injured and there were no reports of insurgent fire, ISAF said.
There are currently around 140,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, including about 100,000 US troops.
All international combat troops are due to leave by the end of 2014, but intense violence in recent months, including a series of assassinations in the south, has raised questions about the capability of Afghan forces.
Just another Coincidence. Nothing to see here folks. Move Along. After all, think of all the single witnesses killed by the PTB over the years. These poor dead kids (think of yourself at that age, did you even have a clue???) Then the ones - the good guys who wake up - well they three-shot-bursts to the forehead, (at near or point-blank range from an M-4 or M-16), just like so many Pat Tillmans! Aware
But it's too late, to say you're sorry....
Don't bother trying to find them, they're not there. . .
Quick way to get rid of a double-digit amount of witnesses to (just one) of the big lies, and all in one fell swoop, eh? (One bright note, whoever the hitmen were, they're at least dead now, too.) According to author Burke, in "Burning Angel" they call it a "slop-shot", I believe. Or maybe at some scum agency we pay for they call it Operation Clean Sweep. And one can only hope that those sorry evil scum, in this life, and beyond, get what they deserve. ARGH!
After all OBL has been dead over nine years. The last American to see him - previous "Official Version" (TM) - was an Honorable (as best I can tell from here) Anti Terrorist FBI agent who saw OBL in Saudi Hospital getting very best treatment, guarded, etc. . (as I recall. as if it's going to ever matter!)
So that guy (help on the name, LKJ? SOTT, ? Anyone?) well, he gets sick of the fact that. .. well who knows. "Maybe that 'We - GOD FORBID! - are the terrorists?" (Pogo: We have met the enemy and he is us..)
Well, anyway, that good guy apparently got quite sick of being told to "Ignore that man behind the curtain!") After all OBL was near death and getting daily dialysis*
So the FBI guy decides he cannot afford to NOT take the big money job and so he quit the FBI to become. . . . .
ta da, say it...
(Tyler Durden?)
NO!
The Head of WTC Security? (And he died there on 9/11/2001, his first or second day on the job. )
Tyler: That's right!
Here's just another coincidence, too! Move along! Nothing to see there, eh?
*(And, of course, only the BEST facilities are found in the caves of Afghanistan - oh don't you worry your little head over that)
A digression:
I ain't Bin Laden
(By Rowan Cocoan.)
(in a soft rock country waltz tempo.)
I ain't Bin Laden
And I ain't Been laid in
What seems like a
Couple thousand years...
AMERICA'S MILITARY: What became of your oaths to the Constitution? To the Truth?! Is there not a Man among yah??? Yer spittle! Yer' the sweepings of just so many dead cats of civilization! (Conrad)
YOU! YOU let your friends get whacked by the scumbag psychopath sycophants bending over for the boss in the office next door!) YOU are the SORRY WIMPS! DUTY? WHAT DUTY? ARGH!
I guess you'll just say... "and when they came for me, sniff, sniff, there was no one left, eh?"
Evil is as it does, and,
it also is as good does not -
when evil says "don't."
R.C.
P.s, Ignore those Nano-Thermite Spherules mixed in with the corpses, too. R.C.