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A soldier’s perspective on a downed helicopter, the Taliban, and the war in Afghanistan

Written on August 6, 2011 by Ian Alexander

I got up this morning and found out the Taliban are claiming credit for shooting down a Ch-47 Chinook transport helicopter and killing all 31 on board.

This is bad news but not in the way the media is portraying it. My unit got notice of our
mission to Afghanistan to train the Afghan National Army (ANA) way back in October of 2003. We didn’t deploy till June of 2006. So we all had a long time to train and learn what goes on there. As a primary intelligence analysts, I spent almost the prior year learning all I could about the country, the Taliban and the tactics they use.

Yes, it is possible that the CH-47 was shot down with a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) because it was in Afghanistan where such tactic was developed by the Mujahedin against the Soviets. However, the tactic involved a trap where decoys and dummies would be placed in a low point with hidden Afghans on an adjoining high point like a nearby hill or ridge line. The helicopter (usually a Mi-17 Hind attack helicopter) would come close enough so the RPG’s could be used.

The Chinook, however, is a transport helicopter and unless it is landing flies higher than a RPG could fire. Afghanistan, however, is filled with mountains and so any helicopter has to fly by a lot of them. Wardak province is very mountainous so it is not unbelievable that it could have been brought down by enemy fire.

However U.S. and allied forces have been in Afghanistan now for almost a decade and if the Taliban (or other insurgency groups there) did indeed shoot the helicopter down, it would be the first time. While a tragedy, one copter down in a decade is not something the Taliban can crow about. Indeed it is well known that most insurgents are warned to break off an attack if our helicopters are near because they have not been able to defeat them. Much of the success versus helicopters in the war with the Soviets came because the U.S was supplying the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. Without these, the Taliban must rely on tricking U.S. and allied forces into range; something they have never had success with until possibly this incident.

While the team was an elite SEAL team, the more likely reason is mechanical failure. Afghanistan is not an easy place for helicopters with all the fine sand, high elevations and constant use. For the longest time it was helicopter crashes which were the leading cause of death (followed by accidents) of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Unlike planes, when a helicopter loses power, there is no gliding to give the pilots some time to restart the engines. Loss of power cause the ‘flying truck’ to simply become a truck and gravity does the rest.

So while the Taliban celebrate a victory and use this incident as propaganda, remember that the Taliban claim credit for everything. If President Bush got a hang-nail, the Taliban would claim credit for it. They routinely claim credit for things other groups do. It wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t initially claim credit for the Norway bombings and subsequent shootings. They do this because they need the good press. Pro or Anti war feelings aside, the truth is the general public never really is informed about how many insurgents it takes to kill soldiers in Afghanistan. Sadly most attacks are like an IED attack near the base I was stationed at where the suicide bomber and 5 innocent bystanders are killed for one minor wound to a solider and damage to a vehicle.

The tragedy of Afghanistan is while we aren’t winning, neither is the Taliban. To win they need to take ground. To do this they must mass forces and when they do we are very effective at killing them. Thus the war drags on where both sides hope they are the last one standing. The price is the innocent lives caught in between it all.

The photos in this post, with the exception of the featured image, are original photos taken by our guest contributor, Ian Alexander.