Monday, September 27, 2010

No Sanctuary

This strike speaks to the importance of controlling the Pakistan side of the border when we speak of winning in Afghanistan:

Pakistan disputed NATO's claim Monday that its forces have the right of hot pursuit across the Afghan border after coalition helicopters launched airstrikes that killed more than 50 militants who had escaped into Pakistan following an attack on an Afghan security post.

Marked helicopters are a step up in obviousness from the unmanned drones we use to stalk the enemy inside Pakistan. I assume that the drones take far more time to use and can't be used for targets of opportunity. Chasing the enemy required speed and the helicopters provided that speed--and the firepower--to nail the enemy that had attacked an Afghan frontier post.

We really need the Pakistanis to control their frontier areas, however. Drone and helicopter strikes can hurt the enemy, but can't clear out the area.

And although nothing much is mentioned of the original attack on the outpost, the lack of details implies they held off the attackers. So that's good news, too.