Battle of Wanat - Assignment Example

The Battle of Wanat took place on 13th July 2008. Close to the village of Wanat in the Waygal district in the province of Nuristan, Afghanistan NATO troops were attacked by about 200 Taliban guerrillas. The place was guarded by soldiers of the U.S Army.[Dav] The remote base and the American surveillance station were encircled by the Taliban and they targeted and attacked it from the village and the nearby farm. A lot of the important armaments and weapons belonging to the American army were obliterated and the Taliban also entered the U.S base and were later resisted by arms. 27 Americans were wounded and 9 lost their lives while 4 soldiers from the Afghan National Army were injured. This battle has been subjected to great debate and a lot of military professionals took immense interest in it. It was because of the number of casualties in the U.S army and numerous inquiries were done to examine the events that lead to the battle. Initially the investigation was conducted in August 2008; another investigated was later done in 2009 by Lieutenant General Richard F. Natonski and warning orders were sent to the chain of authority. However in June 2010, the warning was annulled by the U.S Army who claimed that the soldiers fought with utmost bravery and valor and defended their places with strength and determination and there was no carelessness on their part. The Americans at first believed that around 100-200 Talibans attacked the American patrol base which was set up to halt the supplies that were being sent from the tribal areas of Pakistan to the Talibans. However sources from the defense ministry of the Afghans reported to Al Jazeera that the Taliban fighters summed up to 400-500 men. The ex-governor of Nuristan, Tamim Nuristani assumed that the Taliban were joined by various Pakistani militants and terrorist factions from the adjoining areas of Bajaur tribal agency and Kunar. The terrorist parties included Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami. A representative from NATO supposed that a night prior to the attack Taliban soldiers had moved into Wannat and directed the villagers to leave the place and move out. The Americans did not notice or discover it and overnight these fighters had set up their positions in houses and other places for firing and targeting the American patrol base the next day. Early morning of 13th July, at about 4:20am, the Taliban fighters attacked the patrol base with mortars, machine guns, grenades driven by rockets and later on 100 more forces men attacked the post from the adjoining farmlands. Initially the mortar pit was hit and as a result the hoard of mortar ammunition was blown up. The next target was the TOW missile launcher which was destroyed using rockets. The attackers took out the TOW launchers and the mortars which offered precise supply of ammunitions. Later the team which was posted outside the major base was attacked and the first session of firing was very accurate and without delay it wounded each and every soldier which was on duty there. The American soldiers present there included Tyler Stafford who blew out of his machine-gun as a result of the attack, Matthew Philips was wounded, and Jason Bogar was wounded while firing from his weapon until the barrel got jammed and Ryan Pitts. During the initial 20 minutes four soldiers lost their lives while one died later on. Three of the soldiers were wounded. At a minimum of three times, the American soldiers belonging to the main base had the courage to run through the force of Taliban militants and again provide their fellows from the observation post with arms and bring back their dead and wounded soldiers.[HER] U.S troops fought back using claymore mines, grenades, guns and artillery guns fired artillery rounds. There was severe and forceful fighting for around half an hour in which the Taliban militants at some moment broke the line of the observation post but later on diverted back. However few terrorists were successful in getting past the earthen wires of the main base. Two American soldiers, Corporal Jason Hovater and Lieutenant Jonathan P. Brostrom were killed while they were trying to transport bullets and other ammunition to the observation post. American soldiers were also attacked by rocks which they at first assumed to be grenades being hurled at them. A Taliban militant also crossed the wire boundary and was successful in killing a couple of soldiers.[Tho09][Dav]  Nine U.S soldiers lost their lives which was the highest for the American troops since the Operation Red Wings which took place three years back. It is reported that the Taliban death toll was between 21 and 52 men while their injured were about 20 to 40 militants. [Tho09] Initially the reports that were published, the soldiers were held responsible for not supplying the observation post and the U.S soldiers there with ammunition to continue the fight at Wanat. The family members of the deceased soldiers also blamed the commanders leading the battle and demanded their reprimand.  Col. David Brostrom whose son died in the battle says, “They blame the platoon-level leadership for all the mistakes at Wanat, It blames my dead son. They really missed the point.” [HER] However in later reports, it was pointed that the soldiers would not be given reprimands and the death of the American soldiers in the battle was not solely because of the commander leading and directing the battle. Moreover, the study finally concluded that the American soldiers did not have a perfect grasp over the information about that area and they undervalued and misjudged the power of the Taliban militants that existed in that area, as a result of which they faced losses in the battle. [HER] Reference: Dav: , (Tate), HER: , (SMITH), Tho09: , (Ricks, 2009), Tho09: , (Ricks, 2009), HER: , (SMITH), Read More