„Сънди телеграф”: Талибани свалиха хеликоптер, загинаха участниците в операцията срещу Осама бин Ладен 07 август 2011 | 03:59 | Агенция "Фокус" Начало

„Сънди телеграф”: Талибани свалиха хеликоптер, загинаха участниците в операцията срещу Осама бин Ладен

07 август 2011

Кабул. Силите на НАТО претърпяха най-голямата загуба във войната в Афганистан, след като хеликоптер „Чинук” бе свален, загинаха 38 души, включително и американски военнослужещи от подразделението, което участва в операцията по ликвидирането на Осама бин Ладен, пише „Сънди телеграф”.
Афганистанските власти съобщиха, че хеликоптерът е свален с гранатомет югозападно от Кабул като се е изтеглял след операция срещу група талибани. По-голямата част от американските военнослужещи и екипажът бяха от същото подразделение, което атакува имението на лидера на „Ал Кайда” в Пакистан по-рано тази година. Загинаха също така седем афганистански командоси и един преводач.

иаф / Минаре България

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38 души са загинали при катастрофата на хеликоптер в Афганистан

07 август 2011

Кабул. 30 военнослужещи от международната коалиция, един цивилен преводач и седем афганистански командоси загинаха при катастрофата на хеликоптер „Чинук” в Афганистан, се посочва в съобщение на НАТО, цитирано от АФП.
Всички чуждестранни военнослужещи са американски граждани, се уточнява в съобщението. Това е най-големият брой американски военнослужещи, загинали при единичен инцидент след началото на войната в Афганистан през 2001 г.

иаф / Минаре България

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Afghanistan

Chinook shot down by Taliban is a tragedy, but we can't change course now

The shooting down by the Taliban of a US Chinook helicopter with 38 on board including Navy

Seals should not deter Nato from staying the course in Afghanistan, argues General Lord Dannatt

Nato troops in Afghanistan

Nato troops in Afghanistan Photo: Getty

By Richard Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff

8:09PM BST 06 Aug 2011

Comments11 Comments

The shooting down of a US Chinook helicopter and the loss of so many American and Afghan lives is, of course, a tragic event for the families of all those involved.

The fact that the tragedy represents the single largest loss of life in one instant during the entire 10-year Afghan campaign is itself another important factor. The inevitable question is what effect this will have on the prosecution of the campaign itself – and opinions will be divided.

Although the full details of the engagement are still to be clarified it would appear that the loss occurred as a special forces team was returning from a raid on an insurgents' headquarters that had resulted in the killing of a number of Taliban fighters – possibly commanders among them.

As such, the event comes into the category of being yet another tactical engagement within the overall Nato campaign to achieve the strategic objective of stabilising Afghanistan and denying al-Qaeda and the Taliban the space to prosecute their jihad against the West.

However, the scale of losses of this tactical event elevates it to one of strategic importance.

The possibility of a loss of life on this scale has always been in the back of mission planners' minds. Chinooks are, by their very nature, an attractive target since their purpose is to deliver sufficient troops to a single spot to pack a punch wherever they are landed. That means they routinely carry a score or more on board. In that respect, it is miraculous that more men have not been killed previously.

Every precaution is taken to reduce the likelihood of a Chinook or other helicopter being brought down. Aircraft fly in mutual support, and physical protection is provided with armour, weapons and a range of defensive aids.

Different routes are selected for routine journeys and clever use of the ground can reduce the chance of being shot down. Chinooks tend to fly fast and low, hugging the contours in a way that can be uncomfortable, to say the least, for passengers. It is a difficult target for a missile to lock on to, even if one can be fired in time – and countermeasures are more likely to distract attackers if the helicopter has meanwhile dropped back out of sight.

But an unlucky shot by a rocket-propelled grenade or a machinegun at close range remains a hazard that is very hard to mitigate against. Fired from close quarters, perhaps just a few hundred feet, they leave almost no time for a helicopter pilot to react; and the only possible defensive measure is to change course sharply, since such weapons cannot be diverted by the devices used against more sophisticated missiles.

So on this occasion the worst has happened and a full aircraft has crashed with total loss of life.

There will again be calls that the human cost is not worth the gain, but if that were really so then we should not have tarried in Afghanistan as long as we have. The strategic objective of a sufficiently stable Afghanistan was always a more pressing prize than success in Iraq but the US-led effort against al-Qaeda is on the verge of achieving success in both theatres.

Both Iraq and Afghanistan need to be governed by their own people and for their own people, and our presence should be reduced as soon as possible. But a precipitate withdrawal from Afghanistan on the back of a tactical disaster would prejudice the chance of achieving the strategic success within sight.

Thus, while acknowledging the immense personal tragedy of the loss of life in this helicopter disaster it is even more important to acknowledge that a greater tragedy would be to buckle under an understandable wave of emotion, and use it as a reason to withdraw now.

• Gen Lord Dannatt was Chief of the General Staff, 2006-09

http://www.telegraph.co.uk / Minaret Bulgaria