Afghanistan Attack Kills 8 US Soldiers U.S. Afghanistan Base: Death Trap From The Beginning - ABC News
The remote base in northern Afghanistan where eight U.S. soldiers were killed
this weekend in a deadly battle was well-known inside the military as
extremely vulnerable to attack since the day it opened in 2006, according to
U.S. soldiers and government officials familiar with the area.
When a reporter visited the base a few months after it opened, soldiers
stationed in Kamdesh complained the base's location low in a valley made
most missions in the area difficult.
"We're primarily sitting ducks," said one soldier at the time.
The boulder strewn road that led into the valley was referred to by U.S.
soldiers stationed there as "Ambush Alley."
The base, located less than 10 miles from the Pakistan border and nestled in
the Hindu Kush mountains, was attacked almost every day for the first two
months it was opened, hit by a constant stream of rocket-propelled grenades
and small arms fire.
By the third or fourth month of the base's existence, resupply had been
limited to nighttime helicopter flights because the daytime left helicopters
and road convoys too exposed to insurgent attacks. That remained true
through the weekend.
The base had several near-misses with enemy fire over the years. In 2006,
all daytime helicopter flights landing at the valley floor were cancelled when
an American Blackhawk was nearly hit with an incoming rocket as it was
taking off. After the incident, helicopters were banned from landing anywhere
but an observation post some three hours' walk above the base on a nearby
ridgeline. Even then, helicopters filled with troops or equipment were rushed
during offloading, as pilots were keen to take off before drawing hostile fire.
And like many other remote and rural parts of Afghanistan, the local
population had begun souring on the American presence after airstrikes had
hit civilians in the neighboring villages.
Insurgent Attack
One U.S. military official told ABC News that they believe the insurgents
started a fire as they began to attack. "They burned the base down," said
the official.
The smoke from the fire initially limited the air support U.S. soldiers
requested, according to a military official. The fighting lasted "throughout the
day" as there were signs that the insurgents were able to breach the base
before being "repelled." As insurgents fired from three or four different
locations above the base, they also maneuvered and over took one of the
observation posts on higher ground, taking out a post meant to protect Camp
Keating from enemy fire.
The soldiers were preparing to leave the base for good this week, in a plan
that had been set in motion as early as a year ago, according to American
officials familiar with the military's plan. Military officials have said that they
do not believe the insurgents knew the U.S. forces were withdrawing from
the base.
The attack, according to a senior State department official, was most likely
the last major effort by the insurgents before the winter snows blanket the
province and make maneuvering and fighting that much harder to accomplish.
"Unfortunately," said the State Department official, "this [attack] gives the
insurgents a propaganda victory because they can go and claim to the locals
that they forced the Americans out."