TALIBAN SHOT DOWN US HELICOPTER

AFGHAN TALIBAN SHOT DOWN US HELICOPTER

Taliban fighters shot at a US helicopter head – on from nearly point-blank range, US law-makers heard Thursday in what was the single deadliest incident for US and NATO forces in the Afghan war.

Lawmakers were grilling US military officials over the August 2011 attack on the Chinook that killed 30 American as it transported Navy SEAL commandos, along with other American and Afghan troops to flush out a Taliban commander in Wardak province.

Families of some of the victims have alleged the military has  not revealed all the facts of the incident failed to punish commanders in charge of the operation and mishandled some of the remains of the dead.

Afghan soldiers have also been suspected, involved in the operation could have passed word to the Taliban of the chopper’s route.

Taliban fighters atop a building near the designated landing zone fired rocket-propelled grenades at the chopper  from nearly head-on at a distance of less than 200  yards according to the defence secretary  operations. The close range left the pilot no chance to perform evasive maneuvers.

US Army Ranger forces had staged an operation earlier targeting Taliban figure and the Navy Seals were flown in to try to cut off the escape route of the fleeing commander.

Reid dismissed the possibility that Taliban militants learned about the helicopter’s route beforehand, and air crew knew the flight route and landing zone. AC-130 aircraft a predator drone and two Apache helicopters had flown over the designated landing area minutes earlier and failed to detect the Taliban fighters nearby. The harsh reality is that  helicopters remain vulnerable and other shoulder launched weapons and the Chinook is the standard helicopter used by troops at high elevations in Afghanistan due to its longer range and that flying modified model designed for special forces would not have made a difference.

Chinooks have been shot down by Taliban previously in Afghanistan in 2005 and in 2002. The facts remains we will always have to balance the tactical requirement to move troops quickly across the battlefield with the dangers of incurring lethal enemy fire and flying in extreme terrain.