# the new way the Taliban will fight



## ptepaul (2 Jan 2011)

If we are to negotiate our way out of Central Asia we will have to make sure its against a noble enemy.  All wars come to an end through a negotiated settlement; it may be total surrender or some sort of power sharing agreement.  
Total victory is usually impossible.  

If we negotiate a truce to someone who would cut off their wife's nose or kill their own daughters for going to school then I think its worth the fight to stay. We can not negotiate with a primitive belief system not in this century. 

There are times to stand up for the innocent.
We must continue to help train the Afghans to be a professional army that is capable and well equipped.  
That will take political effort at home and good insight on the battle field.

The enemy will always be looking at new ways to kill us.  

As Canadians brought more armour to the fight the enemy brought bigger explosions to bare.  IED's have been the focus on the Canadians and most deaths have come from them.  As the Brits have used drones, SAS/ SBS teams, and foot patrols to find the enemy so the enemy has brought its own special forces to the table.  

Taliban formation....the four men team are probably the man with radio, the security guy with AK47, the ammo carrier with Lee Enflield rifle and the man on the end with AK74 (prob the marksman), the man with sword is prob district commander and security behind him. 
For several months a Taliban sniper teams was stalking the Brit forces in Sangin a small town in Helmand province.

"A Taliban sniper has shot dead up to seven British soldiers during a five-month killing spree in a town regarded as the most dangerous place in Afghanistan.  The 600 soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, the Rifles, stationed at Sangin, fear that the gunman is stalking his prey for days on end and may have been trained in neighbouring Iran or by Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan.  The Taliban hitman demonstrated his skill last month when he picked off a British sniper who was on the lookout for his insurgent rival. Three of his suspected victims have been army sharpshooters, including one killed by a single bullet between the eyes."
Tim Ripley  (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7094300.ece)

"Four foreign snipers hired by the Taliban, thought to be responsible for the deaths of ten British soldiers, have been hunted down and killed.  The mercenaries were found by British special forces in Helmand province in Afghanistan after a tip-off from locals. Recruited from Pakistan, Egypt and Chechnya, the snipers could kill from up to 650 yards away and were considered a serious threat by British commanders.  When their identities were confirmed and their exact locations ascertained, pilots of U.S. F-16 jets were sent precise coordinates to ensure their high-explosive bombs killed the enemy without hurting innocent civilians."   

Daniel Bates  (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305337/Taliban-hired-snipers-believed-killed-British-soldiers-killed-air-strikes.html#

When the Russian army left Chechnya after the first war they left almost 550 SVD sniper rifles in country.  These are the very weapons that we are seeing in the Afghan war.
The Chenchnyans would employ the sniper teams into four man teams, one a RPG gunner, another a PKM gunner (machine gunner), one carrying ammunition and the last would be the spotter/ SVD marksman. Chechnyan marksman would engage Russian forces anywhere from 500 meters to over 1000 meters.  The team approach allowed the sniper to be covered from multiple distances and from multiple targets.  They used this approach with limited success in the open deserts but in areas with good camouflage these types of teams could go almost anywhere.

In the future this type of fighting will be typical as the NATO led force continue to train and equip the Afghan National Army in western professional tactics.  American, British, Canadian and Afghan special forces work side by side and a certain amount of camaraderie is developing.  This combat trust (if you will) changes the dynamics of the battlefield.  The enemy will have to improve its fighting style and since its experience is mostly Soviet in tactics it will continue to do so.  The Taliban and its allies will use these kind of sniper tactics as the Afghan forces although very exposed in the unarmoured vehicles they have are also very vulnerable during foot patrols in disputed areas.

The Taliban have brought new fighters to the table that have experience from across the world.  These sniper teams that have combat experience not only in Afghanistan, but Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia and other hot spots around  the world.  These fighters are well trained and with great experience and we should never under estimate them.
The British sniper fight in Sangin makes for a great read and would make a great movie one day but we have to remember the Brit soldiers that were lost in this fight.  Its not cardboard game pieces being moved back and forth.  

The Afghan nation is at risk.  
This time we stand beside the Afghans doing the fighting and are living and dying as they do.
  Afghans are just like us, they want the same things as us:
Peace
Education 
Employment

http://mcplpaulfranklin.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-way-taliban-will-fight.html


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## Oh No a Canadian (2 Jan 2011)

So are you here just to promote your blog?


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## Big Red (2 Jan 2011)

A few questions for the author before addressing this article that's rife with errors.

Have you been to Afghanistan? If you have been, in what capacity?

Post-2002 have YOU actually seen a Chechnyan in theatre? Iraqi? Bosnian? This does not include rumours from someone in another platoon or articles from a British tabloid newspaper.

What are your sources for the makeup of these kill teams you describe?

_Answered one of my own questions by checking older blog posts_


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## Sapplicant (2 Jan 2011)

Oh No a Canadian said:
			
		

> So are you here just to promote your blog?




If it helps promote meaningful discussion, and he participates, then what of it?


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## the 48th regulator (2 Jan 2011)

Sapplicant said:
			
		

> If it helps promote meaningful discussion, and he participates, then what of it?




Well Sapplicant,

It goes against our guidelines;

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/24937.0.html

*Professional Authors, Journalists, Retailers, Defence Contractors and Public Personalities*

While authors, journalists, retailers, etc are encouraged to participate in the Forums, posts made for the purpose of self-promotion will be removed unless prior permission from the site owner has been granted. Interested parties should review the advertising options offered by Milnet.ca for more information.

Employees of defence contractors or consultants who are or have been employed by a defence contractor are required to disclose their employment in their profile before posting in a thread related, in any way, to their business/product.


And common internet etiquette.

dileas

tess


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## Sapplicant (2 Jan 2011)

the 48th regulator said:
			
		

> Well Sapplicant,
> 
> It goes against our guidelines;




True enough. Looking even further yields multiple accounts...

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/89358/post-878137.html#msg878137


My bad. Sort of.


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## the 48th regulator (2 Jan 2011)

Sapplicant said:
			
		

> True enough. Looking even further yields multiple accounts...
> 
> http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/89358/post-878137.html#msg878137
> 
> ...





dileas

tess


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## AmmoTech90 (2 Jan 2011)

Meaningful discussion needs a knowledgeable point of view on at least one side.

Talking about people carrying swords and Lee Enfields (and carrying ammo for what weapon?) indicates that the writer of this blog is not on the knowledgeable side, regardless of their experience in theatre.  

If he is wondering if that is how the Taliban will fight, he should word it in the form of a question.


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## Good2Golf (2 Jan 2011)

All, on the condition that Army.ca users comply with the Conduct Guidelines and are not posting willfully incorrect information, the provision of opinion or editorialized pieces does not require that everyone agree with the material.  Debate on issues should remain on topic and question the information presented itself and should refrain from personalized commentary.

*Milnet.ca Staff*


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## ptepaul (2 Jan 2011)

The idea of posting this from my blog was to simply make a statement.

For any personal reasons... yes I have seen Checnyan and Foriegn fighters in the kandahar region.
They were not part of a kill teams that have been reported but were simply walking down the street... pictures were taken as was intel.

As to why I posted this is to provide discussion to correct mistakes I have made or to maybe showcase new ways of thought that possibly someone has never thought of before.

As to the links on the story of the brits being killed by a sniper team and then for another link on the story of the death of the taliban team that included foreign fighters.
"A Taliban sniper has shot dead up to seven British soldiers during a five-month killing spree in a town regarded as the most dangerous place in Afghanistan.  The 600 soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, the Rifles, stationed at Sangin, fear that the gunman is stalking his prey for days on end and may have been trained in neighbouring Iran or by Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan.  The Taliban hitman demonstrated his skill last month when he picked off a British sniper who was on the lookout for his insurgent rival. Three of his suspected victims have been army sharpshooters, including one killed by a single bullet between the eyes."

Tim Ripley  (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7094300.ece)

"Four foreign snipers hired by the Taliban, thought to be responsible for the deaths of ten British soldiers, have been hunted down and killed.  The mercenaries were found by British special forces in Helmand province in Afghanistan after a tip-off from locals. Recruited from Pakistan, Egypt and Chechnya, the snipers could kill from up to 650 yards away and were considered a serious threat by British commanders.  When their identities were confirmed and their exact locations ascertained, pilots of U.S. F-16 jets were sent precise coordinates to ensure their high-explosive bombs killed the enemy without hurting innocent civilians."   
Daniel Bates  (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305337/Taliban-hired-snipers-believed-killed-British-soldiers-killed-air-strikes.html#[url]](www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7094300.ece)

"Four foreign snipers hired by the Taliban, thought to be responsible for the deaths of ten British soldiers, have been hunted down and killed.  The mercenaries were found by British special forces in Helmand province in Afghanistan after a tip-off from locals. Recruited from Pakistan, Egypt and Chechnya, the snipers could kill from up to 650 yards away and were considered a serious threat by British commanders.  When their identities were confirmed and their exact locations ascertained, pilots of U.S. F-16 jets were sent precise coordinates to ensure their high-explosive bombs killed the enemy without hurting innocent civilians."   
Daniel Bates  (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305337/Taliban-hired-snipers-believed-killed-British-soldiers-killed-air-strikes.html#


I am writing this as i believe that we have yet to see a surge in foreighn fighters and I honestly think that there will be many more and these articles are only showcasing.... the tip


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## CombatDoc (3 Jan 2011)

ptepaul said:
			
		

> The idea of posting this from my blog was to simply make a statement.
> 
> For any personal reasons... yes I have seen Checnyan and Foriegn fighters in the kandahar region.
> They were not part of a kill teams that have been reported but were simply walking down the street... pictures were taken as was intel.
> ...


You clearly have a lot of OTW experience in Kandahar province.  Thank you for passing on your erudite commentary on this current COIN conflict.


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## Franko (3 Jan 2011)

CombatDoc said:
			
		

> You clearly have a lot of OTW experience in Kandahar province.  Thank you for passing on your erudite commentary on this current COIN conflict.



He does, but it's very dated....bear that in mind.

Regards


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## ptepaul (3 Jan 2011)

Some of my experience may be dated but when compared to the Brit soldiers killed by a foreign fighter sniper team in helemand province this summer... there can be correlations.

"Four foreign snipers hired by the Taliban, thought to be responsible for the deaths of ten British soldiers, have been hunted down and killed." 23 August 2010.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305337/Taliban-hired-snipers-believed-killed-British-soldiers-killed-air-strikes.html#ixzz1A0VlDQp2

Another report of foriegn fighters flooding the area... in a "counter Surge"

"The al-Qaeda network is recruiting an increasing number of foreign fighters to mount a “counter surge” against Western troops arriving in time for the August elections in Afghanistan.

Uzbeks and European Turks are particularly prominent among foreign fighters joining significant numbers of Arab recruits to fight alongside the Taleban, according to Western officials and sources in the Afghan insurgency.

There are even reports of British Muslims on the battlefield, with one dead Taleban fighter in Helmand found recently sporting an Aston Villa football club tattoo. There have long been reports of English-speaking voices with identifiable British regional accents being monitored by military eavesdroppers in the province.

A Taleban commander in Helmand, who asked not to be identified, told The Times: “We have seen a 40 per cent increase in the number of foreign fighters this year in Helmand. They are mostly Pakistanis and Arabs but also Uzbek and Chechen.” Helmand has averaged more than ten attacks a day in the first half of the year, making it nearly two and a half times more violent than the next most Taleban affected province of the country.  Western officials have reported attacks on Taleban formations that included many Arabs, particularly in the province of Paktika, in south eastern Afghanistan, where 34 Arab militants died in a US bomb attack on May 28.

Significant numbers of Turkish militants have also been monitored in Farah Province and Uzbeks reported in numbers in Zabul, and Faryab and Badghis provinces in the north."
June 17 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6514933.ece

Another article this on from the DVIDS
"KABUL- An Afghan and coalition security force killed more than 20 armed insurgents, including Arab, Chechen and Pakistani fighters, during the latest deliberate clearing operation against Haqqani Network foreign fighters camps and safe havens in Dzadran District of Paktiya province."
http://www.dvidshub.net/news/54562/more-than-20-insurgents-killed-haqqani-clearing-operation

I still contend that we are going to see an increase in sniper style attacks from an influence of foreign fighters. They will begin the process of hitting key targets using more sound military tactics as massive IED's does not endear the taliban and other forces with the Afghan public.

Great article from the Long War Journal on foreign fighters
The following is from an email from a military officer who recently served in Kamdesh, concerning the Chechen factor:
"As far as Chechens, its not rare for the Taliban to mass foreign fighters on high level attacks such as the attack on Keating. You can usually tell when they are in the area because accuracy of weapon systems goes up due to their extensive training and combat experience. You can also note almost all of them have a "special" weapon other then the AK-47 and wear a head band, while I have never seen a Nuristani fighter wear a head band... Specifically what got me was the grenade launcher on the AK-47. These are rarely used by Nuristanis due to the extreme lack of ammunition availability. Their kits also seem of higher quality where most of the Nuristani fighters use their pockets or the common green AK-47 front vest."
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/05/chechens_spotted_in_talibans_nuri.php#ixzz1A0XcyEUC

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/08/isaf_continues_to_id_foreign_f.php


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## Infanteer (3 Jan 2011)

Ahh, I see the "foreign insurgent" idea has migrated, like so much else, from Iraq to Afghanistan.  Foreign fighters were never a big presence in Iraq - look to the research of Malcolm Nance for a good primer on this.  "Well, this is about Afghanistan" you say?  I have trouble believing in this large migration of Salafist malcontents driving insurgency everywhere - if it wasn't the case in Iraq, why would it be in Afghanistan?

Defining fighters from Pakistan as "foreign" is a bit of a misnomer since the Af-Pak border is largely a foreign concept to the Pashtun (or at least an unimportant one).

"Out of area fighters" - Pashtun from a different province - is more useful, but one must be careful in what is extrapolated from this.

To argue that a few isolated cases of foreign extremists joining the jihad is a sign of "foreign ownership" or some other alarming trend of the Afghan insurgency is silly.  Their skills may mean a different tactical picture until they are nailed by an MQ-9, but that's about it.  Although I obviously don't have access to the complete picture, I've heard enough ICOM chatter, seen enough IntSums and read enough reports to confidently say that this war is a local, Pashtun one.  The foreign guys are just fringe actors.

P.S.  Here's another good thread on the topic:

http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?p=112757#post112757

P.P.S.  I have a hard time trying to figure out what you are trying to say and what you are quoting from others.  Use quote boxes or italics to help differentiate the two.


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## ptepaul (3 Jan 2011)

My point is to simply say that trends in fighting can come from many sources.....
The fact that we haven't seen as much foreign fighters as we have expected (non Pahstuns if you will) may be the tip of the iceberg or simply an ice cube.

As to Int sums... I don't hold them much credit.... they are just one piece of the the picture and if we ignore another because it may not happen or is unlikely to happen we run the risk of being hit in the same manner as the Brits.

It doesn't take a large number of fighters to do the job correctly all it takes is a well placed, well trained teams that are well equipped.  They exist.
_
"Afghan police officers working a highway checkpoint near here noticed something odd recently about a passenger in a red pickup truck. Though covered head to toe in a burqa, the traditional veil worn by Afghan women, she was unusually tall. When the police asked her questions, she refused to answer.
When the veil was eventually removed, the police found not a woman at all, but Andre Vladimirovich Bataloff, a 27-year-old man from Siberia with a flowing red beard, pasty skin and piercing blue eyes. Inside the truck was 1,000 pounds of explosives.

Afghan and American officials say the Siberian intended to be a suicide bomber, one of several hundred foreign militants who have gravitated to the region to fight alongside the Taliban this year, the largest influx since 2001."

The foreign fighters are not only bolstering the ranks of the insurgency. They are more violent, uncontrollable and extreme than even their locally bred allies, officials on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border warn.

They are also helping to change the face of the Taliban from a movement of hard-line Afghan religious students into a loose network that now includes a growing number of foreign militants as well as disgruntled Afghans and drug traffickers.

Foreign fighters are coming from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, various Arab countries and perhaps also Turkey and western China, Afghan and American officials say."_http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,514352,00.html
10/30/ 2007


Mod edit,
I just changed the colour of your quote as the red on green was hard to read.
Bruce


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## kincanucks (4 Jan 2011)

Is this a history lesson or some sort of prediction?  Because there is no evidence of this on the ground today, at least where I am at.  Quoting articles 3 years old doesn't help either.


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## ptepaul (4 Jan 2011)

Some articles that are old or ones that are new (in the case of British forces killed by sniper team this summer ,2010) is still valid.

is the fact that the ISI is one of the main problems because of their work 20 years ago with al Qeada and against the Northern Alliance.

Im not giving a history lesson as these things are happening now.
Today.....

All i am trying to do is showcase an area that is overlooked.
Int Sums can be a good thing but only if the evidence on the ground matches, the historical events/ consequences match.

If an Int Sum is not reporting something then it may be that we are not seeing it.
We run the risk at our own peril.

I am only saying that my opinion is that the Taliban will need to change their tactics if only to win hearts and minds.
Foreign fighters  (or non Pashtun if you will) fit this role perfectly.


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