Taliban losses grow in Musa Qala defeat

ABC News:

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Embedded with a team of British troops and a detachment/"A–team" of U.S. special forces, I watched the Taliban being pounded these last few days with overwhelming force -- vapor trails circled in the clear blue sky over the Helmand desert as B1 and B52 bombers backed by A10 tank busters, F16s, Apache helicopters and Specter gunships were used to kill hundreds of Taliban fighters.

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U.S. forces believe the Taliban were backed by a large strength of foreign fighters, including those linked to al Qaeda. Soldiers who I accompanied found one dead fighter whose notebook revealed he was from Pakistan.

While hundreds of Taliban are believed to have been killed, two British soldiers and one American soldier lost their lives. All the deaths, however, resulted from vehicles striking mines left not, it is believed, by the Taliban but by Soviet forces in the 1980s.

On Monday, after days of fierce fighting -- more ferocious than NATO commanders had expected -- the Taliban called it quits and fled the town. Afghan troops entered the town on Tuesday and completed their occupation on Wednesday after only token further resistance.

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The Taliban were foolish to put up a fight against overwhelming force. It is another example of how inept they are at fighting even and insurgency. Classic insurgency tactics would have called for the retreat as soon as our forces challenged them. By putting up initial resistance, they not only lost a significant number of troops, but they also suffered a defeat rather than just a retreat. The real point of interest will come after the battle when we see if our side can protect the city from an attempt to retake it after many of the troops leave.