A Deadly Day in Afghanistan: News Roundup
Via The New York Times:
In the deadliest day for American forces in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans and 7 Afghan commandos on board, American and Afghan officials said. American officials said later Saturday that 22 of the dead were members of a Navy SEAL unit, along with other American servicemembers and the Afghan unit. The helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in the Tangi Valley of Wardak Province to the west of Kabul.
Via The Washington Post:
Saturday’s crash comes during a surge of violence across large swaths of Afghanistan, particularly in the east, which has become a flash point in the conflict as American troops prepare for a phased withdrawal from the country. The incident threatened to shake confidence in NATO’s air power — a key asset in the war and a important element of combat support offered to Afghans, who lack an air force of their own.
In a rare event, Taliban insurgents shoot down a Chinook helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade near Kabul. Casualties included members of the special operations unit that carried out the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Via The Associated Press:
The Associated Press has learned that more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden were among those lost in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. The operators from SEAL Team Six were flown by a crew of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. That's according to one current and one former U.S. official.
Via The Telegraph:
Taliban insurgents and local officials said the helicopter had been downed by a rocket-propelled grenade moments after taking off after its passengers had stormed a house where Taliban fighters had gathered. The helicopter broke into several pieces and was destroyed after crashing in a restive province south-west of Kabul, the Afghan capital, officials said.
Via Agence France-Presse:
The United States on Saturday vowed to "stay the course" in Afghanistan after 31 US soldiers were killed there when, according to local officials, the Taliban shot down their helicopter. The pledge from US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta — and a salute from President Barack Obama — came after the US troops and seven Afghan soldiers were killed during an anti-Taliban operation late Friday southwest of Kabul.
Via Time Magazine’s Battleland:
A deadly golden BB apparently found its target over Afghanistan early Saturday, killing 31 U.S. special operations troops and seven Afghan along for the mission to learn from the best. The "golden BB" is the combat aviator's worst nightmare: a lucky shot that – if it hits in the right place – can doom a helicopter and all aboard. Helicopters are more vulnerable than fixed-wing aircraft; they fly slower, and their mechanical parts – a tail rotor, mechanical shaft or fuel tanks, for example – are more likely to lead to disaster when struck.
Via The Long War Journal:
If today's crash is confirmed to be a Taliban shoot down, it would be the second such incident in two weeks. On July 25, the Taliban shot down a Chinook with rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, just one hundred yards outside of an Afghan Army base in the Pech Valley in Kunar province. No ISAF and Afghan troops were killed in the crash, however. The Taliban's most successful operation involving a downed ISAF helicopter took place in 2005, when the Bara bin Malek Front, a Taliban subgroup operating in Kunar, shot down a US special operations Chinook helicopter.
Via The Christian Science Monitor:
Investigations into the helicopter crash Saturday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai said killed 31 US Special Forces and seven Afghan Army personnel – the largest single American loss of life in the 10-year war – will be of critical importance to the Afghanistan war.