July, bloody July

July is already the bloodiest month for NATO troops in Afghanistan since the invasion of 2001. Until now there are 52 the casualties of the coalition, counting just the military. Far from the previous record of 46 deaths in August last year. And we still haven’t finish July yet.

The increase on casualties is understandable if we focus on the big picture. First, this month a new offensive was launched in Helmand province, to secure it before next month’s elections. And second, the policy for air strikes have become tighter, limiting the use of these tactics.

House by house combats and the necessity to be sure 100% before calling the air cavalry in may have lowered the amount of civilian casualties, but they also increase the risk for our soldiers. And our own casualties.

Not only boots on the ground have been hit, also the skies. This week, and American F-15E Strike Eagle crashed in the south of Afghanistan causing the death of his two airmen. It’s almost impossible to have been shot down by enemy fire, but it’s a valuable loss.

Few planes have been lost in Afghanistan -although this month two more, another Strike Eagle and a British Tornado, crashed too- where Western jets reign on the skies. Something apart are choppers.

The previous week a contractor chopper was shot down by the Talibans. It was a Mi-26, the biggest military helicopter in Afghanistan, operated by Ukrainian crew and under a Moldovan flag company.

It is not the first of these kinds of incidents to happen. Choppers aren’t as well protected as jets, and civil choppers are even more vulnerable to RPGs. They rarely have missile alert systems, electronic countermeasures, chaffs or flares; and if they have them, they have to be activated by a civilian crew not as well prepared as a military crew.

However, contractor helicopters aren’t the only ones to suffer casualties. This week, a military chopper had to make an emergency landing after being attacked. In all the cases cited, the official version states that they were deploying humanitarian aid to the population. But the operations being carried on in the region may suggest that they were supporting the troops on the ground instead.

Just in case, the UK has taken a safety distance from those incidents. They already have too much to worry about. But truth is that British choppers are now in the center of the debate. The opposition is charging hard against Gordon Brown with this.

David Cameron has accused the Premier of being using just 30 of the over 500 choppers the UK has, endangering troops life in the ground. The UK indeed has many unused choppers, but lacks of pilots and crews for them. But that doesn’t matter too much for the partisan fights back at home. Cameron’s voice joined that of many militaries and that of the Defense MPs’ committee.

Americans are dealing too with a big problem at home and on the ground, but their lack is not of equipment but moral. A great punch from the Taliban came when it was known that an American soldier, Private Bowe Bergdahl, has been kidnapped and the Islamists warned with assassinate him if the operations continued. The US Army has distributed leaflets among the Afghans with the hope to find him.

However, back at home, some are letting him down. A journalist argued that Bergdahl may have deserted and called for the execution of the American soldier to save some paperwork when he’s back. It’s, by the way, the same journalist that asked for a marquee letter for the army to shoot on those journalists not embedded with the American policy or methods.

All this give a bit pessimistic view on Afghanistan. Truth is that security has improved. Insurgency is still strong out of Kabul and Taliban’s propaganda still works, specially after the deadly drone attacks. But the presence of more troops on the ground and the sense of a bit more freedom is awakening the Afghans slowly and sometimes they are even confronting the Talibans.

But it is still in the air a sensation of this war being made on the move, with no planning. Still more soldiers are deployed in Iraq than Afghanistan. Maybe when this changes situation will improve, but for now it’s to expect more sacrifices for the NATO troops.



Photo, David Guttenfelder / AP

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