Attacks in Afghanistan up 40%

CNN reported today that "the number of foreign forces in Afghanistan killed in June has reached 39, the highest monthly toll of the war."

In a Wednesday article Stars and Stripes reported that tactics used by insurgents in Afghanistan are becoming more complex and it included this:

Compared to the same time period in 2007, there has been a 40 percent increase in attacks against coalition personnel in Afghanistan since he took his post in early April, Schloesser said. [Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-101]

Insurgents attacking coalition forces have increased their use of direct-fire attacks, indirect fire attacks which employ mortars and crude rockets, and improvised explosive devices such as roadside bombs, Schloesser said.

The enemy has decreased its number of suicide attacks, Schloesser said.

Twelve percent of all attacks, Schloesser said, are cross-border forays from Pakistan’s frontier into Afghanistan by an increasingly diverse variety of groups that are using the no-man’s land as a safe haven.

Comments

[MapleStreet]

How Cowardly of these insurgents to refuse to stand up and paint a target on themselves. The prezident couldn't have anticipated that they would use the most effective tactics!

In all honesty, I rememeber from American History that in the French and Indian War, the British tried to march in formation in the forest and got creamed while the Americans learned to duplicate the ambush tactics of the Indians.

Those who fail history (or get a Gentleman's C) are destined to repeat it.

[Interrobang]

Up here, all we're hearing is that things are getting better in Afghanistan. I guess that has something to do with the fact that every few days, there's another headline, "Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan."