Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Daily News
April 18, 2008 By James Gordon Meek, Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — NATO’s command in Afghanistan fessed up yesterday to a bonehead blunder — it delivered arms, ammo and food into enemy Taliban hands.
The U.S.-European alliance blamed “human error” — bad directions— for a NATO-contracted chopper leaving the lethal load on the wrong mountaintop in late March.
The airlift on behalf of an unnamed NATO unit was intended for an Afghan National Police outpost in a mountainous region.
“Unfortunately, due to a human error in transcribing the latitude and longitude of the location, the load was dropped in another remote area,” said a statement by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.
“The cargo consisted of 7.62-mm. small-arms ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and food and water. It did not contain any guns,” NATO said.
The AK-47 rifles and PK machine guns typically used by both NATO’s Afghan allies and the Taliban insurgents use 7.62-mm. ammunition.
Afghan government officials said the gift was picked up by the Taliban, according to news services. The Pajhwok Afghan News agency reported that officials believe the cargo ended up in Zabul province — a Taliban stronghold.
A NATO spokesman would not identify the air cargo firm or disclose how many RPGs and how much ammunition was airdropped to the enemy. But the spokesman, Portuguese Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, insisted, “It was not a large shipment.”
Branco told the Daily News the cargo was “deliberately left unattended” at the drop site because “the pilots did not have the perception they were leaving the shipment at the wrong place.”
That was a mistake, too, he said.
“One would look around to see if any ‘friendlies’ were there to accept the delivery, even if during night or with lack of visibility,” the officer wrote in an e-mail.
In recent years, the coalition has relied more on private contractors to deliver mail, food and ammunition to its outposts. That’s because Afghanistan’s few passable roads have become littered with Taliban bombs and most U.S. military aircraft are committed to Iraq.
April 18, 2008 By James Gordon Meek, Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — NATO’s command in Afghanistan fessed up yesterday to a bonehead blunder — it delivered arms, ammo and food into enemy Taliban hands.
The U.S.-European alliance blamed “human error” — bad directions— for a NATO-contracted chopper leaving the lethal load on the wrong mountaintop in late March.
The airlift on behalf of an unnamed NATO unit was intended for an Afghan National Police outpost in a mountainous region.
“Unfortunately, due to a human error in transcribing the latitude and longitude of the location, the load was dropped in another remote area,” said a statement by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.
“The cargo consisted of 7.62-mm. small-arms ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and food and water. It did not contain any guns,” NATO said.
The AK-47 rifles and PK machine guns typically used by both NATO’s Afghan allies and the Taliban insurgents use 7.62-mm. ammunition.
Afghan government officials said the gift was picked up by the Taliban, according to news services. The Pajhwok Afghan News agency reported that officials believe the cargo ended up in Zabul province — a Taliban stronghold.
A NATO spokesman would not identify the air cargo firm or disclose how many RPGs and how much ammunition was airdropped to the enemy. But the spokesman, Portuguese Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, insisted, “It was not a large shipment.”
Branco told the Daily News the cargo was “deliberately left unattended” at the drop site because “the pilots did not have the perception they were leaving the shipment at the wrong place.”
That was a mistake, too, he said.
“One would look around to see if any ‘friendlies’ were there to accept the delivery, even if during night or with lack of visibility,” the officer wrote in an e-mail.
In recent years, the coalition has relied more on private contractors to deliver mail, food and ammunition to its outposts. That’s because Afghanistan’s few passable roads have become littered with Taliban bombs and most U.S. military aircraft are committed to Iraq.