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aadil77
05-03-2010, 08:23 AM


The Taliban is claiming victory in eastern Afghanistan's Korengal Valley following the withdrawal of US forces from a remote outpost.

Days after the US pulled out as part of "repositioning of forces", Al Jazeera visited the valley and found the Taliban had control of the area and access to every part of the camp.

Taliban fighters said they intended to make use of the base in Kunar province to launch attacks and capture more territory in the region.

They also claimed that they had captured tonnes of fuel and ammunition left behind by US forces.

"There is a lot of ammunition left behind – mortars, rockets, and missiles. This, God willing, we will [use] against them," Anwar, a local Taliban commander, told Al Jazeera's Qais Azimy.


Local Afghans were also coming to visit the area, now strewn with litter and debris.

One local man said he believed stability would return to the area, now that foreign forces are gone.

"We don't want Americans, we don't want Germans or any other foreigner. We don't want foreigners, we want peace. We want Taliban and Islam - we don't want anything else."

Korengal Valley, dubbed the Valley of Death by US forces, was frequently the scene of heavy fighting.

At least 42 US troops were killed there over the past five years.

Pull out 'correct'

The US military said it was not alarmed by the claims made by the Taliban.

Taliban fighters say tonnes of fuel and ammunition were left behind by US forces

"When we repositioned our forces we knew that there was a real possibility of insurgent forces going into there," Colonel Wayne Shanks, a US military spokesman, said.

"But we still believe that decision was the correct one based on the resources that we have available and the objectives that we want to achieve."

US officials said the fuel supplies and living quarters had been intentionally left for area residents, while important fighting positions and observation posts were demolished and weaponry and ammunition either removed or destroyed.

The troops abandoned the position following a decision by General Stanley McChrystal, head of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, to concentrate resources on urban areas.

Mark Perry, an author based in Washington, DC and specialising in US military analysis, said the withdrawal of American forces from Korengal was not necessarily either a victory or defeat, but was in keeping with past strategy.

"This is a pretty small battle," he said.

"It's true that we left, but we weren't going to stay there anyway."

He said the US military is pursuing a strategy to try to cripple the Taliban and al-Qaeda where possible, and create "a breathing space for the government in Afghanistan to become politically rooted in the society".

Main thing in this article is not just that the US got defeated, but the views of locals they know that taliban rule will bring stability and Rule By Islam - which is what they want, they want to live by islam and not forced to accept man made democratic law. Just look at the taliban fighters, do they look vicious, do they look like they want to kill civilians or oppress women? Compare them to the US pricks who have a laugh whilst killing others. The taliban are simple people who want to remove invading foreign armies as according to the obligation in Islam, the media will always try to portray them as terrorists.

Alhamdulillah its good to know they're making progress, theres not alot of them but with Allahs will they fight to achieve what is compulsary upon them. They're doing what they're supposed to unlike the cowardly afghan army of traitors who have abondoned their obligation by Allah to fight against invading oppressors.
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Woodrow
05-06-2010, 05:48 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by aadil77
hmm yeah, but I doubt the US can trap the taliban, they'll know there way round somehow, if they can't go through the valley, they'll probably go over it.

In the vid they destroyed something, not sure what it was, but yh I don't understand why they left ammunition. Maybe they were in a hurry, they were under constant attack at that base - that could be why?
With the experience of Korea, the USA does not stock large supplies of ammunition at field bases. Unless it is something they intend to be taken. ie: non operational dummy or faulty ammunition.

If a base is under threat of imminent attack, the ammunition kept in storage would be minimal and be in the form of daily air drops as needed. It only takes a matter of minutes to destroy all the supplies on a base during a withdrawal. Just a few thermite grenades does the trick a few sacks of sand, salt or sugar in the fuel supply makes that useless.. Every base has a demolition team whose only purpose is to destroy everything of any use at the time of withdrawal, it should have only taken them 5 or 10 minutes to render the base useless. The base took over a month to evacuate. And left it looking intact.

Something is very fishy with this picture. I fear it was a deliberate set-up to concentrate the Taliban into a small location. As this base was being evacuated the North Section of the valley was being fortified forming a block to any that went into the evacuated base.
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aadil77
05-06-2010, 07:40 PM
who knows that fuel supply might have a charge attatched to it, they could be waiting for the moment too go boom

whatever it is they can't weaken the taliban by getting rid of a few, with increasing support of the taliban - the whole population of afghanistan is potentially taliban and theres no way they're gonna get rid of them
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