# Taliban launches rare frontal attack on base



## GAP (7 Aug 2007)

And promptly had their asses handed to them.......

Taliban launches rare frontal attack on base
Updated Tue. Aug. 7 2007 10:18 AM ET Associated Press
Article Link
GHAZNI, Afghanistan -- A group of 75 Taliban militants tried to overrun a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a rare frontal attack in which more than 20 militants died, the coalition said.

A joint Afghan-U.S. force used mortars and machine guns to repel the attack on Camp Anaconda in Uruzgan province, the statement said.

"Almost two dozen insurgents were confirmed killed in the attack," the statement said. Two girls and two Afghan soldiers were also wounded during the attack, it said.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials and Taliban leaders were expected to agree Tuesday on a meeting place to negotiate the release of 21 South Korean hostages, an Afghan politician said.
More on link


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## zipperhead_cop (7 Aug 2007)

An article that may be filed under "what were they thinking?"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070807/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan
Taliban launch frontal attack on base  

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer 

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - A group of 75 Taliban militants tried to overrun a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a rare frontal attack that left more than 20 militants dead, the coalition said in a statement. 

The insurgents attacked Firebase Anaconda from three sides, using gunfire, grenades and 107 mm rockets, the coalition said. A joint Afghan-U.S. force repelled the attack with mortars, machine guns and air support.

"Almost two dozen insurgents were confirmed killed in the attack," the statement said. Two girls and two Afghan soldiers were wounded during the fight in Uruzgan province, it said.

A firebase like Anaconda is usually a remote outpost staffed by as few as several dozen soldiers.

"The inability of the insurgent forces to inflict any severe damage on Firebase Anaconda, while being simultaneously decimated in the process, should be a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of their fighters," said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman.

A direct attack on a U.S. or NATO base by insurgents on foot is relatively rare. More often insurgents fire rockets at bases and flee. Military officials say that Taliban fighters know they can't match Western militaries in a heads-up battle, which leads the insurgents to more often rely on roadside and suicide bombs.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials and Taliban leaders were expected to agree Tuesday on a meeting place to negotiate the release of 21 South Korean hostages, an Afghan politician said.

The South Koreans and Taliban representatives have been talking by phone for several days and planned to determine a location for their first face-to-face talks by the end of the day, said Gov. Marajudin Pathan, the leader in Ghazni province, where the Koreans were kidnapped.

"There will be one of our government officials in the talks as well," Pathan told The Associated Press.

Pathan said that the meeting is likely to take place in Ghazni province, but could not provide any further details. South Koreans embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.

In South Korea, relatives of the hostages expressed disappointment Tuesday that meetings Sunday and Monday at Camp David between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Bush failed to produce concrete measures to bring the captives home.

The Afghan and U.S. presidents ruled out making any concessions to the Taliban militants during their meetings.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon cautioned that the country should be prepared for a protracted ordeal, noting that other hostages in Afghanistan had been held an average of 35 days.

Song also said none of the captives were suffering from critical health problems.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the meeting between Karzai and Bush had "no result," and that militant prisoners must be released in exchange for the lives of South Korean hostages or there will be a "bad result."

The militants kidnapped 23 Korean aid workers traveling by bus from Kabul to Kandahar on July 19. Two male hostages have been killed.

Taliban militants clashed with police in two separate incidents in southern Afghanistan, leaving five militants and two officers dead, officials said Tuesday.

The militants attacked police at a checkpoint in Zabul province on Monday, and the ensuing clash left five suspected militants dead, said Ali Kheil, the spokesman for Zabul's governor. 

Also Monday, militants attacked a police vehicle just outside Kandahar city, killing two officers and wounding eight others, said provincial police chief Syed Agha Saqib. The attackers escaped and police are hunting for them, he said. 

Insurgent attacks and military operations have killed more than 3,600 people so far this year, most of them militants. Much of the violence has been concentrated in the former Taliban stronghold in the south. 

Also in southern Afghanistan, Dutch soldiers fatally shot a motorcyclist who approached their convoy and failed to heed warning signals and shots, the Dutch Defense Ministry said. 

International forces are often the targets of suicide bombers, and they repeatedly warn Afghan civilian motorists to slow down or steer clear of convoys so they are not mistaken for attackers. Several civilians have been killed in such incidents. 
___ 

Associated Press writer Amir Shah in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.


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## TN2IC (7 Aug 2007)

GAP had something along this line posted. But still, a good read. It would be nice to see some film footage of it. What a bunch of nut cases the Taliban are.


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## Armymedic (7 Aug 2007)

They were thinking that they needed to do something big because Mr Karzai was widely reported by western MSM to say that the Taliban was no longer a threat to the government.

Nothing better to say they are still a threat to the government then taking over an ANA/coalition firebase.

Other than that, they will continue to evade superior firepower that ISAF forces put into the field.


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## Col.Steiner (7 Aug 2007)

At the very least, they fought head-on, unlike their usual cowardly hit and run techniques or planting a road side bombs. It goes to show why they are more effective as cowards than real soldiers.

The Korean hostage incident kind of pisses me off! Not for their capture, but because they are there in the first place. Christians claim they are helping Afghans through aid/support, but as someone who was raised by Pentecostals, I do not believe that there motives are that altruistic. On the contrary, I feel they are extremely selfish for the position they have put their country and our troops in, because in the end, it is the soldiers that will have to deal with the mess. It’s all part of the martyr complex. I'm not saying they deserve what they got, but who is stuck with freeing them?


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## LordOsborne (7 Aug 2007)

I agree with most of what you're saying, Oberst. For whatever reason they entered the country, I'm sure they were fully aware of the risks of their actions. I almost think that people like that should be encouraged or required to sign some sort of waiver saying that they are informed and understand that, if captured, it might not be possible to rescue them. Perhaps the Coalition should restrict similar do-gooders to relatively "safe" areas, where the threat of kidnapping is reduced. I'm not advocating that we just let the Taliban get away with kidnappings; I just think that the Coalition has relatively more important things to do than to try and track down some errant and arguably foolish civillians who are now a priority because they were captured.


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## geo (7 Aug 2007)

Hey.... they're missionaries and were doing what missionaries always do.... get in the line of fire, get in the way, get shot, get burried.

That's just what they do & if that is what they want, then we should turn our backs to them and leave em to their own devices.


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## Taylor187 (7 Aug 2007)

PatrickO said:
			
		

> I agree with most of what you're saying, Oberst. For whatever reason they entered the country, I'm sure they were fully aware of the risks of their actions. I almost think that people like that should be encouraged or required to sign some sort of waiver saying that they are informed and understand that, if captured, it might not be possible to rescue them. Perhaps the Coalition should restrict similar do-gooders to relatively "safe" areas, where the threat of kidnapping is reduced. I'm not advocating that we just let the Taliban get away with kidnappings; I just think that the Coalition has relatively more important things to do than to try and track down some errant and arguably foolish civillians who are now a priority because they were captured.



I quote your quote and bring you another quote about the lovely Korean bible thumpers.



> Last year, against their own government's advice, 1,000 to 2,000 Korean Christians and their kids showed up in Kabul to hold what they called a peace festival, something Afghan clerics called a proselytization festival.
> 
> "The government is concerned that the event could lead to a repeat of the 2004 abduction and killing of (aspiring missionary) Kim Sun-il by insurgents in Iraq," Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported at the time. That would turn out to be sadly prophetic.
> 
> The Afghan government booted the Koreans out of the country as the Korean churches remained defiant. Fast forward to last month, when a group from the Saemmul Presbyterian Church entered Afghanistan, did not notify the government of their trip so as to fly under the radar, and did not request security, instead taking a chartered bus up the extremely dangerous Kabul-Kandahar highway.



It's hard to get bible thumpers who enter a country under the radar to sign waivers.  :brickwall:

An absurd act like this should put you on a no rescue list. I wouldn't want a Soldier from any country risking his/her life to save these people who we're so willing to throw away theirs by such an idiotic act of idiocy. Did I mention idiots?


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## LordOsborne (7 Aug 2007)

Yeeesh. I'm all for freedom of religion, especially when someone is trying to spread peaceful messages, but there's a time and a place for everything. If these guys deliberately went into harm's way with the knowledge that their government was telling them NOT to (for their own safety, no less), I almost want to say "too bad, so sad. We told you so," and leave them to their fate. What I'm sure was good-intentioned has now become a counter-productive burden.


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## Col.Steiner (7 Aug 2007)

If only Jehovah's Witnesses would go over there and stop knocking on my door!


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## zipperhead_cop (7 Aug 2007)

Kay, this _kind of_ was a thread about the Taliban getting their arses handed to them in a firefight.  Perhaps if there isn't already a Korean hostage thread it might be time for a split?


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## Scoobie Newbie (7 Aug 2007)

Glad to here them wasting their 107mm, better for us in the long run.


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## retiredgrunt45 (8 Aug 2007)

It just goes to show that desperation causes people to do really stupid things, Looks good on them, losers.


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## TN2IC (8 Aug 2007)

Quote from Enemy at the Gates Movie...




> The one with the rifle shoots. The one without the rifle follows. When the one with the rifle is killed, the one that follows picks up the rifle and fires.




So how I can picture this. I don't know why..  ;D


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