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| Afghanistan |
| Norwegian base weakest in Afghanistan |
| 2008-06-05 |
| Faryab province in northwestern Afghanistan has become increasingly restless in recent years. Taliban strength has been growing and there has been fighting in Meymaneh both last fall and in May this year. Both the military and political heads of the armed forces accept that the base needs strengthening. When the Norwegian force was asked what it needed to defend itself, it asked for 120 troops and long-range weapons. A mobile reaction force was also ordered, so that the allied garrisons in the area could assist each other if any of them came under heavy attack. Initially they were offered 100 men and long-range weapons. This was pared down to what was termed an absolute minimum of 76, still including mortars. The most recent tally has fallen to 46 soldiers, with no long-range arms. These will instead be put into storage in Mazar-e-Sharif. This is the sequence of events which has caused tempers to fray. The base at Meymaneh is a so-called Provincial Reconstruction Team base that provides security and helps with reconstruction in their local area. There are 30 such bases in Afghanistan. The United States alone has 12. According to defense chief Sverre Diesen and army chief Robert Mood, Meymaneh will in fact be strengthened by the arrival of the arrival of more than 40 troops. The base will house a total of 200 Norwegians, of which 60 are deployed with the helicopter ambulance team currently stationed there. A few Latvian soldiers are also on the base. "The Swedes, Germans and everyone else have robust rapid response forces. Mortars and armoured assault vehicles are almost always included," says Col. Ivar Halset, who takes over as commander in Meymaneh in July. "If we come under the sort of attack we experienced in May, we would no longer have weapons superiority over the Taliban," adds Halset. "The nearest reinforcements are an eight hour drive from Meymaneh and a further four to five hours from the areas where trouble is most likely occur," he concludes. |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #1 Oh fee da, my people! What are you doing? |
| Posted by: Grenter Protector of the Geats4975 2008-06-05 12:42 |