Fighting Still Continues In Area Where SEAL Helicopter Was Shot Down By The Taliban

Valley Where U.S. Troops Died Backs Taliban -- Miami Herald/McClatchy News

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The 30 U.S. troops who died Saturday in the U.S. military's single biggest loss of the Afghan war, were operating in a Taliban-controlled valley where frequent U.S.-led night raids have won the insurgents popular support, area residents said Sunday.

The raids occur "every night. We are very much miserable," said Roshanak Wardak, a doctor and a former member of Parliament. "They are coming to our houses at night."

Wardak runs a clinic about 3 miles from the rugged Tangi Valley where insurgents early Saturday shot down a helicopter carrying the U.S. troops, an Afghan translator and seven Afghan commandoes.

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My Comment: For more news on the continuing fighting, go here.

Apparently this special operations mission was to assist other U.S. soldiers who were involved in heavy fighting during the day. What I do not understand is why Special Forces were being used, and not an A-10 or artillery strike. I am speculating right now, but it appears that our rules of engagement prohibited the use of these heavy weapons (too many civilians in the area who were either shielding the Taliban voluntarily or being used as human against their will), and as a result the Special Forces were called in. Anyway ..... a thorough investigation will now need to be conducted, and I am looking forward to their report.

Update: For a must read piece on the dangers that our Special Forces must face in Afghanistan, I recommend the following Washington Post article .... Afghan helicopter crash reflects peril for U.S. Special Forces.