Operation Medusa Update

The Telegraph has an extremely interesting article about the battle in Southern Afghanistan named Operation Medusa.

• Originally NATO stated that killed over 500 Taliban. That number is now 1,100. In addition, 160 Taliban were captured and they are talking.
  
• Hundreds of Taliban crossing the border at Quetta were waved on by Pakistani Border Guards. The good news is as they crossed in trucks across the border, they were killed by NATO aircraft.
  
• NATO estimates the cost of ammunition dumps they have uncovered are worth 2.6 million pounds (about $5 million).
  
• They destroyed a training camp for suicide bombers. The training camp had a surgical hospital and was to be used to penetrate Kandahar.
  
• NATO Commanders are stating the Taliban could not have built up all this logistic capacity without support from the Pakistani Intelligence Service (ISI).
  
• NATO Commanders are requesting their governments bluntly deliver a similar ultimatum to President Musharraf that President Bush delivered a few years ago, "Either you are with us or against us".

One of the things I have commented previously about in this blog is that President Bush has successfully gotten European countries involved in the War on Terror with NATO taking command of Afghanistan operations. It will be interesting to see how these governments react to the requests of their own field commanders now that their Soldiers are in the line of fire.

Another thing that must be pointed out about the end result of Operation Medusa. This unraveled the Taliban's offensive and plan to take back over Afghanistan. Loses of 1,100 Taliban, not including the 160 captured, $5 million in equipment, loss of training bases, and lack of security for their Lines of Communication (LOCs) are hard to replace and hard to overcome. This offensive was well sponsored, and it has been completely crushed by NATO forces.

Now that the winter is coming to Afghanistan, the Taliban have another six months to lick their wounds and devise another plan of attack. It will be interesting to see what next spring brings. It will also be interesting to see how European governments react to the loss of their Soldiers.