New Afghan War: Frontline Correspondent Says Fight Has Morphed – But We Still Can’t Afford to Lose

6 September 2009

This story was published in the New York Daily News on 6 September 2009.

Photo: Jacobson/AP

Helmand, Afghanistan – The West is losing this war. This has been obvious for more than three years. Less obvious is that in 2009, we are down to the wire. Gen. Stanley McChrystal and others will soon recommend to President Obama the latest treatment for a dying patient.

Meanwhile, allies and Americans are asking themselves why we are here. Some are saying that Al Qaeda is still here or is waiting in the wings to return to its home. Yet Afghanistan was never Al Qaeda’s permanent home to begin with. Al Qaeda was just renting a little space here, just as it was renting space in places like Germany and Florida. (more…)

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Tags: Afghan war, Afghanistan, al qaeda, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Ghor Province
Posted Sep 6th 2009 at 2:56 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 21884651 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/06/new-afghan-war-frontline-correspondent-says-fight-has-morphed-%e2%80%93-but-we-still-cant-afford-to-lose/New+Afghan+War%3A+Frontline+Correspondent+Says+Fight+Has+Morphed+%E2%80%93+But+We+Still+Can%27t+Afford+to+Lose2009-09-06+21%3A56%3A55Michael+Yon

Michael Yon Dispatch: Resurrection

Spraying for bugs on FOB Jackson, Sangin.

03 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

The bugs are not bad in this part of Afghanistan. The scorched terrain is biologically boring. Mice and ferret-like creatures dash around in the evenings when sparrows and doves and a few other sorts of birds flutter through the cool air. But even at sunrise, I cannot make out the songs or see in flight more than ten types of birds, one of which is the rooster. There are no wading birds, not here anyway: no kingfishers, no cormorants or ducks. The dominant hue of land and bird is desert brown. Maybe a bird or two with black feathers, but never one with sharp, primary colors: not even a red wing tip or a white tuft. There are no ornamental birds with glorious plumage or fancy dance, only drab designs, though the lucky ones have short golden legs. There is not a single inspiring song among them. (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, Afghan Security Forces, Afghanistan, bush, Coalition nations
Posted Aug 3rd 2009 at 3:15 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 1980749 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/03/michael-yon-dispatch-resurrection/Michael+Yon+Dispatch%3A+Resurrection+2009-08-03+22%3A15%3A35Michael+Yon

Michael Yon Dispatch: ‘Photos and Captions’

22 July 2009
Filed from Sangin, Afghanistan

(This dispatch is from Ghor Province, though I am now with British forces down south.)

Lithuanian soldier on Swedish C-130 from Kabul to Kandahar and finally to Chaghcharan. On his left are Filipino workers. Filipinos are like birds; the only place that an American has stepped that a Filipino hasn’t is the moon. Yesterday was a special anniversary for space travel: man first landed on the moon. I watched the launch from our family boat when I was five years-old. Apollo 11 was bright, and loud. Many people think that the Russians also walked on the moon, but this is untrue.

The Swedish C-130 landed at Chaghcharan “airport.” Landmines still wait in ambush in the fields around the airstrip, and in fact a legacy mine (previous war) was found just about three feet off the road—just a minute from the base—while I was there. The mine has been next to the base for about five years and apparently nobody stepped on it. When soldiers say to you, “Sir, please don’t step off the road,” they mean “DON’T STEP OFF THE ROAD!” The director of the local hospital told me that mines strike about one person per month in this area. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Apollo 11, Chaghcharan, Filipinos, Ghor Province
Posted Jul 22nd 2009 at 12:11 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 18961425 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/22/michael-yon-dispatch-photos-and-captions/Michael+Yon+Dispatch%3A+%27Photos+and+Captions%272009-07-22+19%3A11%3A11Michael+Yon

Sangow Bar Village

16 July 2009
Ghor Province, Afghanistan

On a per capita basis, Afghanistan is becoming more dangerous for British and American troops than Iraq ever was. For those who fought in places like Anbar, Basra, Baghdad, Diyala and Nineveh, that’s saying a whole lot. On a per capita basis, there are strong indications that Afghanistan will prove more deadly than Iraq during 2006-2007. One can only imagine how many days and nights Secretary Robert Gates and his advisors must have agonized over troop levels here. On the one hand, we have a fraction of the troops we need, but on the other, increasing troop levels increases hostility toward us. Secretary Gates has made it clear to me that his biggest concern is that we will lose the goodwill of the people and they will turn against us. This happens to be my own biggest concern. The agony is in knowing we need more medicine and the medicine can be highly toxic here. Many people have complained that the new restrictions on air strikes will hurt us, but from my boots, General McChrystal (the new boss here) has fulfilled the intent of his boss, and that the decision, though tough, was wise; if we lose the widespread assent of the Afghan people, it’s all over but for the bleeding. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Anbar, Baghdad, Basra, Cesarean births
Posted Jul 16th 2009 at 3:43 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 18503423 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/16/sangow-bar-village/Sangow+Bar+Village2009-07-16+22%3A43%3A38Michael+Yon

Searching for Kuchi and Finding Lizards

13 July 2009
Ghor Province, Afghanistan

The wake-up alarm sounded at 0345, and by 0430 the Lithuanian soldiers were ready to roll. The Lithuanians had always arrived early, prepared for action before every mission, but this time we relied on an Afghan guide. The first part of the mission was to find the Kuchi. Normally, Lithuanian soldiers perform a reconnaissance before a mission, but they decided to skip the recon to find the Kuchi nomads because, well, they are nomads. Even if the recon were to locate the camel caravan in a specific location, the Kuchis would likely have moved by the time we got there. So we were relying on the local guide who had a cell phone number for the Kuchis. He was 21 minutes late and held up the mission by 27 minutes. One guy holding up about three dozen soldiers and a mission should be flogged.

Lithuanian Soldiers Prepare Humvees under the glow of the Milky Way

The base at Chaghcharan sits at nearly 7,500 feet above sea level, so at night the Milky Way hovers in magnificence above the clean, dry air. But come morning, the stars fade as the sun rises with blinding vengeance.

As we rolled to find the Kuchi nomads and their camels, the six vehicle convoy kicked up “moon dust,” which reflected the bright sun, causing instant blindness as if driving through white clouds. The convoy had to space out, else the vehicles would be driving dangerously close through the arid fog of dust. As we passed villages made of stone, mud, and straw, the white smoke from their cooking fires hung low, just above the villages, lightly blanketing their dwellings, as farmers were already heading to the fields. The Afghans are a hard-working lot. The cruel mountains must have killed off the lazy ones a long time ago.

(more…)

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Tags: Afghan war, Afghanistan, Chaghcharan, Colonel Alvydas Siuparis, Galapagos
Posted Jul 14th 2009 at 11:59 am in Featured Story, Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 18289822 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/14/searching-for-kuchi-and-finding-lizards/Searching+for+Kuchi+and+Finding+Lizards+2009-07-14+18%3A59%3A08Michael+Yon