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Medusa is not the only operation going on in the Sandbox

GAP

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Diggers 'killed 150 in Afghanistan'
September 12, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20402368-29277,00.html

AUSTRALIAN special forces troops have wiped out more than 150 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters during nine days of fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan.

The Australians from the Special Forces Task Group, with just six men injured in the battle, used superior weapons and overwhelming airborne fire support to overcome the enemy, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Codenamed Operation Perth, the hardest fighting took place in July during the search and destroy missions in the Chora district, about 40km north-east of the Australian base in southern Afghanistan.

During its 12 month deployment, the group has sustained 11 casualties, including several men seriously wounded.

One commando had part of his jaw blown off, another was shot in the buttocks and a SAS specialist was hit in the abdomen.

Several men will be awarded gallantry medals for their actions.

The commandos and SAS troopers are angry that the task group will not be replaced when it leaves later this month.

"It's not right to pull out. We shouldn't just go there for a shoot 'em up and then come home," one soldier told the newspaper.

The Daily Telegraph said it had learned details of the operation by accessing previously classified material about the campaign.
End

 
ayup!
the taliban work like waves, they are swept away but, once we move out, they sweep back in and fill the voids.

Getting the Talib to come down out of the hills & stand fast for a set piece battle is the hardest thing to do.
 
Even if we could get more NATO troops that would be willing to do garrison and securing certain towns and backing local police/Afghan Army, it would help.
 
garrison troops also run the chance of becoming "sitting ducks"....... not sure that would be a popular activity.
 
To use the rather overused Malay insurgency analogue: They used lesser trained troops to hold the towns and important crossroads and then used the better trained troops and SAS to hunt the insurgents in the jungle. In Afghanistan if we can deny them the shelter of the major towns, and continue to hunt them throughout the winter, life could be very miserable. Plus they would lose a lot of mobility.

I suspect that each Garrison would need to be around 70-100 NATO soldiers backing up around 100-200 Police and Afghan army types to be minimal effective controlling a large town. Anything smaller risks being overrun and not having enough troops to secure the Garrison, roving patrols and a QRF. So a commitment of 1,000 troops would give you about 8 large towns to cover plus support services. It might be easier to convince some nations to provide troops for “garrison duty” rather than “Active combat” of course the Taliban might see it differently.  :)
 
there's another thread that,s just started up.... apparently the new NATO allies from the eastern block are getting cold feet.
 
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