Afghan Guerrillas Kill 9 US Troops, Wound 15

A large force of Afghan guerrillas, numbering 400-500, penetrated a remote US combat outpost (COP) base in the remote town of Want.

Want is properly transcribed, Wâ˜t, or Wãt - the "a" is the "a" sound in "father", but it is nasalized, or said through the nose. There is no "n" sound in "Want". The "n" is written in the word because the nasalization of the "a" makes it appear that an "n" follows. Want is mistakenly identified as "Wanat" in press reports.

Want is located in the Waygal* Valley north of the Pech River in the Waygal District of Nuristan Province (mistakenly identified as the Pech District of Kunar Province) in the northeast of the country near the Afghan border.

The Nuristani tribe that traditionally lived in the area is called the Wãtä (the final "a" is the "a" sound in "bad"). But their traditional enemies, the Safi Pashtuns, have been moving up the Waygal Valley all the way to Want in recent years, and the situation has become pretty tense. The Wãtä speak a Nuristani language called Waigali, an unwritten language that has only 1,500 speakers.

The corrections are from David Strand, who has done excellent linguistic and anthropological work in the are. His homepage is fascinating.

The attack reportedly began late Friday night on July 12 and continued until mid-afternoon on July 13. It was the biggest battles of the war so far. Attackers used small arms, machine guns, mortars and RPG's during the battle.

They nearly overran the base, killing 9 US troops and wounding 15 more in a battle that began at dawn and raged until early afternoon. US forces called in planes and helicopters for air support and the attackers were eventually repelled.

The guerrillas lost about 40 men in the audacious attack, and another 60 were wounded. 4 Afghan troops were also wounded. The base had a force of 70, 45 US troops and 25 Afghan forces, so US forces suffered about a 55% casualty rate, and 20% of them were killed.

The base had been built only 3 days prior. The attackers were able to inflict such high casualties because they penetrated the base. Once inside, hand to hand combat ensued.

The attackers first warned villagers to leave the area, and about 20 families left, but many men stayed behind to fight with the guerrillas. Then they took up positions in homes, stores and a mosque. At dawn, they launched the attack on the base from all sides using automatic weapons. The area is very mountainous and forested. In many places, access is only by foot or mule. US forces actually travel by mule in this area.

US forces had launched an air strike on a caravan of vehicles in the area of this assault on July 4 that locals claimed killed 17 civilians. The US military said that they attacked insurgent vehicles, but locals said that the vehicles contained civilians.

That followed another airstrike that reportedly killed quite a few civilians in Nangarhar Province.

Tamim Nuristani was formerly the governor of Nuristan, but was just fired last week after criticizing the raid that killed civilians on July 4.

He said that the attackers were a mix of Pakistanis and Afghans, and that the Afghans had come from not just Nuristan, but also other provinces. They are angry at the Karzai government and upset over these latest instances where US forces killed civilians. Some are just locals, not even official members of armed groups.

Although US forces said the attack took place in Kunar, Afghan officials said it happened in the Waygal District of Nuristan. At any rate, Want is only 2 miles south of Nuristan on the maps that the government uses.

A Google Maps map of the area shows that the base is surrounded by peaks that tower 1000 feet above the base, at 4,200 feet, on three sides.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was briefed early July 13 on the assault, reflecting its serious nature.

Only five days before, guerrillas had attacked US forces at the Want District Center with small arms, machine guns and RPG's, but they were repelled. The base had just been constructed. The other base had been across the border in Nuristan Province and US forces had abandoned that one to move across the border into Kunar and set up a new base.

This is part of a new strategy of setting up small bases in small villages so that US troops can be closer to the villagers. It looks like these small bases also run the risk of being overrun.

About 500 guerrillas were seen crossing the border from Chitral in Pakistan into Nuristan and Kunar just recently.

It was the worst loss of US life in Afghanistan since 16 soldiers died, also in Kunar, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down. It were shot down in Chichal, 9 miles to the south, also in the Pech River Valley.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami has a major presence around Want, and in addition to a large Taliban presence, there are many Arab, Chechen and Pakistani fighters in the area. Arab and Chechen fighters in that part of the world means Al Qaeda. I also think that Uighur and Uzbek Al Qaeda fighters are in the area.

Indeed, Kunar, and the Pech River Valley in particular, is a major base for Al Qaeda in the region. In my opinion, both Osama bin Laden and Hekmatyar are based across the Pakistani border in Dir Province. Hekmatyar probably moves back and forth into Afghanistan also, and I think he stays in the Pech River Valley a lot.

Bin Laden is also probably in Kunar at times, but is more likely to be found in Nuristan Province. In summers, I think he takes off deep inside Pakistan into caves in very high and remote areas. In wintertime, he comes back down to the Dir - Nuristan area.

A September 8, 2003 Newsweek Magazine article said that bin Laden was hiding in the area of this attack. The reporter interviewed an Afghan man who in the Pech River Valley whose daughter was married to an Algerian in bin Laden's praetorian guard, or Black Guard. He pointed north of the Pech Valley to where he said bin Laden was. The Algerian would come down from time to time to visit his wife.

Hezb-i-Islami Khalis, which is Yunus Khalis' guerrilla front, and Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Shia-hating, Al Qaeda-allied Pakistani group that fights in Kashmir, also have a presence in the area. A new group called Sword of Islam (Saif al Islam) also operates in that area.

You can download a superb map of Kunar Province on this blog here. Find the Pech District at the north center portion of the map. Look north along the Pech River tributary that flows into the Pech at Mano Gai. It's not marked on the map, but it's called the Waygal River or the Waygal Valley.

Follow the Waygal all the way up to near the Nuristan border and you will see the town of Want (mistakenly identified as Wanat) about 1 mile south of the Nuristan border.

Actually, the map is wrong and Want is actually in Nuristan Province.

I also have lots of other excellent maps of other Afghan provinces, and I also have lots of good maps of Afghan districts. Just follow the links to the posts.

Photos of the Pech River are here. There are plenty of pics of the general Kunar and Nuristan area along with lots of good data here if you look around a bit.

*Also known as Waygul, Vaigal, Wâigal or Väigal.

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