Tuesday, April 14, 2009

More precision: US Marines at Helmand/US Army Stryker brigade at Kandahar

From an earlier post (Update):
...
The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, made up of 8000 men, will be deployed mainly in the center and north of Helmand province [emphasis added] at the end of spring.
But from another news story (via Defence of the Realm):
...
Outlining for the first time where the new troops will deploy, Gen David McKiernan said the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade will be spread from the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah south towards Garmsir [see end of this post for US Marine operations there last year], as well as in the east of neighbouring Farah province [in RC West]...

While able to consistently beat insurgents in battle, British commanders struggle to hold areas beyond the province's district centres [sound familiar? see end of this post]. They hope the American marines will allow them to link up these pockets of security.

Gen McKiernan also said a US army brigade of Stryker armoured vehicles will be deployed around Kandahar province, in July and August [emphasis added, "middle" of summer seems about right], in the eastern districts around Spin Boldak and northern regions around Arghandab, Khakrez and Shah Wali Kot.
So maybe the Canadian battle group and the American battalion in Task Force Kandahar will concentrate just on the key populated districts to the west of Kandahar City [see end of this post], with the Stryker brigade in fact looking after Arghandab to the north of the city.

I'd bet on Gen. McKiernan and the Daily Telegraph, rather than Major-General de Kruif and la Presse Canadienne.

1 Comments:

Blogger Dave in Pa. said...

In related news in a London Sun article, British Army and Police have identified DNA from an unexploded IED in Helmand Province as that of a British naturalized citizen, born in Pakistan:

"...The bombmaker was fingered when his DNA was found on an unexploded roadside device defused by disposal experts in Afghanistan’s flashpoint Helmand province.

The trace was sent to the UK for analysis and fed into a database of criminals and terror suspects. It proved an exact match for a known Muslim extremist naturalised in England after arriving from Pakistan.

He is thought to have become radicalised here before disappearing two years ago and heading for the war zone."
The article goes on:

"...Allied spy planes have picked up Birmingham and Lancashire accents among Taliban ranks in Afghanistan." ..." Security officials in London have told The Sun there is a small but steady flow of British Muslims flying out to Pakistan and Afghanistan to wage jihad on coalition troops.

Numbers are still only “dozens rather than hundreds”. But they are on the rise."
So, putting two and two together, these "Englishmen" are building IEDs also meant to kill Canadians and Americans. And apparently according to the communications intercepts referred to in the article, some of those Taliban and Al Qaeda "militants" shooting at Canadians and Americans are "Englishmen".

9:39 p.m., April 14, 2009  

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