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Afghanistan
Britain Sends 900 Soldiers to Afghanistan
2006-07-11
Up from 600. Good to see the Brits are serious.
LONDON (AP) - Britain said Monday it was sending 900 more soldiers to southern Afghanistan to combat resistance from a resurgent Taliban.

Britain has around 5,000 troops in Afghanistan - about 3,600 in volatile Helmand province, 1,200 in the Afghan capital Kabul and the remainder in the southern city of Kandahar. The additional British soldiers will be sent to Helmand, a hub of the Afghan opium trade, Defense Secretary Des Browne said. Some 200 would deploy in the next few weeks and the rest by October, he said.

Browne told the House of Commons that commanders decided recently to move troops into northern Helmand to stabilize the province, creating the need for more soldiers. "We have taken casualties, but we have overmatched the opposing forces every single time we have faced them," Browne said. "They have tried to block our mission and failed."
Posted by:Steve White

#10  Whahhahahaaa..... "Muffler men" urgently needed in New Orleans, and along the Mexican border.
Posted by: Besoeker   2006-07-11 20:51  

#9  All you need to see from Tony's nice high rez....


Ima just saw the Muffler man!
Posted by: 6   2006-07-11 15:57  

#8  Yes, Howard, that's a rather comforting sight.
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-07-11 15:12  

#7  You can bet this whole operation is bare boards and brass tacks. Was reading in The Times today that 2 French soldiers and 12 Afghanis were killed and mutilated by Taliban and villagers. Wheteher co-erced or not we need to get stuck in. When the adjective used by those in charge is 'challenging' you know this could go tits up. I'm just thankful that these guys are there.
Posted by: Howard UK   2006-07-11 15:02  

#6  A WW2 mosquito would do the job.

Plus try hitting a plane made of balsa with a rocket.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2006-07-11 08:09  

#5  They'd be better off with a few OH-6s armed with MGs and rockets at each base.
Posted by: ed   2006-07-11 01:17  

#4  From what I understand we don't have enough AC-130s, and they're kinda busy. Whereas the A-10s are plentiful, the NG pilots capable, and the Brit cousins needful.
Posted by: Steve White   2006-07-11 01:10  

#3  We need AC130's on orbit. Targets need to be obliterated. Take out all the mud huts and anyone in them. There's no way to kill enough of these roaches, but the entire villages conspire in these ambushes. They should suffer until they quit harboring the Lions.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat   2006-07-11 01:07  

#2  I think we should be rotating a National Guard A-10 squadron through Bagram all the time, and that squadron should be tasked soley to helping our cousins. They need the air support and the NG guys could use the air time.
Posted by: Steve White   2006-07-11 00:43  

#1  I certainly welcome the cousins' heart and commitment, I just don't want to see them take casualties because the MoD has intentionally put them a decade or two behind the curve.

Question for Tony and Howard -- The moronic MoD decision of about 6 months ago to "go Euro", and cut off joint efforts with the US on military tech, puts the lives of these soldiers in far greater jeopardy. The US operational methodologies are at least a decade ahead of the Euro model... Does Des Brown intend to address that flagrant bit of stupidity?

Meanwhile, did they dig up any new helo and close air support, per the previous week's stories?
Posted by: Wheang Spavirong9833   2006-07-11 00:25  

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