A U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed on the evening of Aug. 6 in Syed Abad district, Wardak province, killing 38 people, among them seven Afghan soldiers, their civilian translator and 30 U.S. military personnel including 22 U.S. Navy SEALs. Reports on the incident thus far conflict wildly. Statements from Afghan and U.S. officials claim that the SEAL team was reinforcing a U.S. Army Ranger unit that was pinned down under fire from insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. One report indicated the helicopter was downed en route to the area where the Rangers were engaged, while other reports suggest the aircraft was shot down as it was taking off after having successfully completed the mission. According to another U.S. official, the helicopter was on a long-planned raid to capture or kill two high-level insurgents known for organizing roadside improvised explosive device attacks on Highway 1 south of Kabul. A Taliban spokesman said an insurgent used a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) to bring down the helicopter upon conclusion of a firefight in which eight Taliban fighters were killed, while an Afghan government statement said insurgents used multiple RPGs to bring down the aircraft. Helicopters are an essential part of U.S. and allied operations in Afghanistan due to their maneuverability and transportation capacity through rough, mountainous terrain, and occasional losses, even those due to hostile fire, are to be expected. The Chinook is one of the largest helicopters flown in Afghanistan, and like all helicopters it is particularly vulnerable to attack during takeoff and landing in hostile territory. If this was an attack by an opportunistic insurgent, it is a significant loss for the United States and a tactical victory for the Taliban, but only inasmuch as so many elite American service members were killed. However, if it was a meticulously calculated ambush by the Taliban, of which currently there is no confirmation, it must be examined for signs that it might mark the beginning of a new series of attacks at a critical time for the United States.
