Elite Afghan unit wiped out after reinforcements fail to arrive.

 

Major Sohrab Azimi was one of the commandos killed in the raid. Stars and Stripes. 

An elite Afghan unit was wiped out after reinforcements failed to arrive. Stars and Stripes. At least 21 commandos were killed after being pinned down by the Taliban and their artillery. A unit of 170 conventional troops refused to reinforce the commandos due to fears that the Taliban were aware of the mission. The troops were on a mission to take back a town from the Taliban, which has advanced since the cease fire deal fell apart. They had taken back the town and were awaiting reinforcement from the Army and police forces but the Taliban sent their own reinforcements. 

My Comment:

It's starting to look like the war in Afghanistan will end the same way that the war in Vietnam did. With a complete defeat of our allied forces. The same problems that plagued ARVN seem to be plaguing the Afghan military. Though we have spent billions training and arming them, they seem incapable of sustained combat without US support. 

This will go down as one of the major last stands of the Afghan war. A tiny unit wiped out and denied support from their government. One wonders how much damage they did to the Taliban. I hope that their deaths were good and that they gave as good as they got.

As for the reinforcing units there is little to say other than that this was cowardice. You don't leave people behind like this regardless of the circumstances. They should have done everything in their power to try and relive this unit and they did not do it. They didn't even try because of some rumor that the Taliban were waiting in ambush.

This will be devastating to the morale of these advanced commando units. They now know for sure that if they get into trouble nobody will have their back. They have no reason to put their lives on the line other than the fact that if they get captured by the Taliban they might be executed. My guess is a lot of these guys will try to get out in any way they can. 

I have thought for awhile that the Afghan government will fall once the American and NATO troops withdraw. But I am now wondering if they will even last that long. This latest incident shows that they are losing the war. The loses they have been taking have not been sustainable for a long time and they are losing territory fast. 

And they can't depend on America to support them anymore. I personally don't support spending any more time in a war we have spent 20 years in. There is no support in America, or NATO for that matter, for any more support for Afghanistan. Especially if it's clear that it's a lost cause, which it now appears to be.