Just a darn shame, too...isn't it? Haha. This must have been one helluva battle - let's go to the play by play from Bill Roggio's report at The Long War Journal:
One of the best outcomes of this counter-attack was the fact that three senior leaders were offed as a result - and that means the Taliban must have really thought they had this ambush well planned and that it was a given. Obviously, they were wrong. Dead wrong.
Also, from the location of this attack, it happened VERY close to the Pakistan border and you can almost see how things are developing - first off, Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces are operating closer and closer to Pakistan and of course, the Taliban have been used to that safe zone of the border to run back across. It seems logical to me that we are going to see more and more outcomes like this as NATO and Afghan forces become more willing to pursue the enemy, anywhere.
More than 55 Taliban fighters, including three senior leaders, were reported killed, 25 were wounded and three were captured by a combined air and ground counterattack after a Taliban force ambushed a patrol in Paktika province. "Patrols in the ambush area continue to report additional enemy casualties," the US military reported.
The attack occurred in the northeastern corner of Paktika province, close to the Pakistani border on a road between the districts of Zirok and Orgun districts. The US Army maintains Forward Operating Base Orgun-E in the region to interdict Taliban cross border raids.
One of the best outcomes of this counter-attack was the fact that three senior leaders were offed as a result - and that means the Taliban must have really thought they had this ambush well planned and that it was a given. Obviously, they were wrong. Dead wrong.
Also, from the location of this attack, it happened VERY close to the Pakistan border and you can almost see how things are developing - first off, Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces are operating closer and closer to Pakistan and of course, the Taliban have been used to that safe zone of the border to run back across. It seems logical to me that we are going to see more and more outcomes like this as NATO and Afghan forces become more willing to pursue the enemy, anywhere.
Afghan, US forces kill 55 Taliban after ambush
US and Afghan forces fought a major battle with the Taliban and "inflicted heavy casualties" on the force just miles from the Pakistani border on June 20, Combined Joint Task Force - 101 reported.
More than 55 Taliban fighters, including three senior leaders, were reported killed, 25 were wounded and three were captured by a combined air and ground counterattack after a Taliban force ambushed a patrol in Paktika province. "Patrols in the ambush area continue to report additional enemy casualties," the US military reported.
The attack occurred in the northeastern corner of Paktika province, close to the Pakistani border on a road between the districts of Zirok and Orgun districts. The US Army maintains Forward Operating Base Orgun-E in the region to interdict Taliban cross border raids.
The region borders the lawless Pakistani tribal agency of North Waziristan, where cross border incidents are on the rise. On June 21, six rockets and mortars were fired from North Waziristan into Paktika province, killing one Afghan woman and three children.
The Pakistani Taliban maintains a stronghold in North Waziristan. The powerful Haqqani family is based in the region. The Haqqani family runs several mosques and madrassa, or religious schools, near Miramshah. The Pakistani government closed down the radical Haqqani-run Manbaul Ulom madrassa after the US commenced Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, but the school was reopened in 2004. The Manbaul Ulom madrassa has been described as a center of jihadi activities, where top Taliban and al Qaeda commanders meet.
Siraj Haqqani, the son of renowned Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, is one of the senior Taliban leaders in North Waziristan. He has close ties to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. He has embraced al Qaeda's tactics and ideology, and has recruited foreign terrorists to act as suicide bombers and operatives inside Afghanistan. Siraj is believed to be running the Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan and has become a focal point of Coalition operations. The US military has put out a $200,000 bounty for Siraj's arrest. Taliban commanders Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Sadiq Noor also operate in North Waziristan.
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