August 6, 2011 in News, Nation/World

Afghan president: 31 Americans killed in crash

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A military helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan commandos, the country’s president said Saturday. An American official said it was apparently shot down, in the deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war.

The Taliban claimed they downed the helicopter with rocket fire while it was taking part in a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered in the province of Wardak late Friday. It said wreckage of the craft was strewn at the scene.

NATO confirmed the overnight crash took place and that there “was enemy activity in the area.” But it said it was still investigating the cause and conducting a recovery operation at the site. It did not release details or casualty figures.

“We are in the process of accessing the facts,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Justin Brockhoff, a NATO spokesman.

But a senior U.S. administration official in Washington said it was apparently shot down. by insurgents. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the crash is still being investigated.

The toll would surpass the worst single day loss of life for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 — the June 28, 2005 downing of a military helicopter in eastern Kunar province. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Three of the SEALs being rescued were also killed and the fourth wounded. It was the highest one-day death toll for the Navy Special Warfare personnel since World War II.

With its steep mountain ranges, providing shelter for militants armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers, eastern Afghanistan is hazardous terrain for military aircraft. Large, slow-moving air transport carriers like the CH-47 Chinook are particularly vulnerable, often forced to ease their way through sheer valleys where insurgents can achieve more level lines of fire from mountainsides.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday gave the first public word of the new crash, saying in a statement that “a NATO helicopter crashed last night in Wardak province” and that 31 American special operations troops were killed. He expressed his condolences to President Barack Obama.

The helicopter was a twin-rotor Chinook, said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was receiving his information from an Afghan officer in Kabul.

The crash took place in the Sayd Abad district of Wardak province, said a provincial government spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid. The volatile region borders the province of Kabul where the Afghan capital is located and is known for its strong Taliban presence.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that Taliban fighters downed the helicopter during a “heavy raid” in Sayd Abad. He said NATO attacked a house in Sayd Abad where insurgent fighters were gathering Friday night. During the battle, the fighters shot down the helicopter, killing 31 Americans and seven Afghans, he said, adding that eight insurgents were killed in the fight.

There have been at least 17 coalition and Afghan aircraft crashes in Afghanistan this year.

Most of the crashes were attributed to pilot errors, weather conditions or mechanical failures. However, the coalition has confirmed that at least one CH-47F Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on July 25. Two coalition crew members were injured in that attack.

Meanwhile, in the southern Helmand province, an Afghan government official said Saturday that NATO troops attacked a house and inadvertently killed eight members of a family, including women and children.

NATO said that Taliban fighters fired rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire at coalition troops during a patrol Friday in the Nad Ali district.

“Coalition forces responded with small arms fire and as the incident continued, an air strike was employed against the insurgent position,” said Brockhoff. He added that NATO sent a delegation to meet with local leaders and investigate the incident.

Nad Ali district police chief Shadi Khan said civilians died in the bombardment but that it was unknown how many insurgents were killed.

Helmand, a Taliban stronghold, is the deadliest province in Afghanistan for international troops.

NATO has come under harsh criticism in the past for accidentally killing civilians during operations against suspected insurgents. However, civilian death tallies by the United Nations show the insurgency is responsible for most war casualties involving noncombatants.

In south Afghanistan, NATO said two coalition service member were killed, one on Friday and another on Saturday. The international alliance did not release further details.

With the casualties from the helicopter crash, the deaths bring to 365 the number of coalition troops killed this year in Afghanistan and 42 this month.

20 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

Thoreau on August 06 at 8:48 a.m.
End the occupation already.
force_vector on August 06 at 9:02 a.m.
The only Americans in E Afghanistan should be in the cockpit of fighter jets, conducting precision airstrikes. There is simply no need to have so many ground forces staged, or deployed via helicopter, when we could decimate the taliban by bombing the piss out of them from the air. We have been there for 10 years now, and if we still can’t differentiate the insurgents from the non in order to make air strikes effective, then it’s time to pack up and go home.
The_Seer on August 06 at 9:12 a.m.
“If your’e out of luck or out of work
We could send you to Johanesburg…”
Kivaari on August 06 at 9:22 a.m.
Better men then me. We should only be using standoff weapons or just go home. There isn’t one piece of that country worth dieing for.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on August 06 at 10:19 a.m.
We should have left that hell-hole of a country 9 years ago. This country is do damn broke we cannot even feed our hungry and homeless yet we are wasting billions of dollars every month fighting a needless war.
For some perspective, we spend more on this stupid war in one month that it costs to subsidies all these small airports for a year that the tea baggers don’t want to fund and shut the FAA down over.
Another, we have spent more on this war than we have in the entire history of NASA, and now we no longer can even send men and women into space, we have to pay Russia to do it. We are outsourcing everything in this country.
Why are we still there letting Americans die?
Diana on August 06 at 10:42 a.m.
Because too many war profteers like Dick Cheney are making too much money on the lives of our troops.
Squid on August 06 at 10:44 a.m.
Remember the good old days when we would just carpet bomb entire cities and weren’t real concerned with civilian casualties?
What happened? Why are we such pussies in a war? This could have ended years ago.
Seems like countries would want to get in a war with our country, so they can get a complete “Country Extreme Makeover.” We go in and surgically remove the bad guys, then rebuild everything we destroy and the enemy destroys, provide security for the civilians, rebuild and train their military and police forces to be better than they were, and then help the new government get started and on their feet. The civilians end up with a full remodel of everything at no cost to that country, but they still hate us and still aren’t allies.
Every country should want us to invade them for their own good.
How about we quit screwing around and just level all the areas that are a threat, then get out. If that country has a problem with it, then have them tell us where the enemy is. I am pretty sure that no one would screw with us, ever, if we showed a little bit of muscle and a little less of that loving feeling.
War has become a game. Take the fun and prizes out of it. Make the consequences negative, instead of positive.
norpass on August 06 at 10:57 a.m.
Reports are starting to surface that Navy Seal Team Six went down in that Chinook. You know, the Seals that cacked bin Ladin?
Things just get worse by the freaking minute.
C’mon Obama, pull your head out and GET OUT! Of the Afghaniscam…
force_vector on August 06 at 11:04 a.m.
My wife had an interesting thought: what if the Seal Team 6 aspect is an attempt to once again provide them with the secrecy they need to be effective? They were afterall irresponsibility outed following the bin Laden raid by an overly exuberant administration.
mikeln on August 06 at 11:28 a.m.
We need just one more law, the law making it illegal to profit from war. This would put a end to it and quickly. Then we need to go after dick and bush and all the other people that have profited off these wars and get what is left of our money back. Then a quick trial and a even swifter public hanging of these traitors. I, for one, am tired of our troops dieing for these scumbags and I’m sure most americans feel the same.
Squid on August 06 at 11:34 a.m.
Then we could go after the guys who are profiting from the weather.
Codywiench on August 06 at 12:05 p.m.
One of these boys was from Harrison. Hits home, doesn’t it. (I don’t think the names have been reported, but I know from friends)
westerly on August 06 at 12:11 p.m.
Waste of lives!!! Get out!!! Screw them..let them have their civil war like they had for 5000 years!! This is why we have a 5 trillion deficit…
mikeln on August 06 at 12:25 p.m.
Squid, what does war profiteering have to do with the weather? Do you think the traitors should keep thier blood money? A lot of good men and women have given thier lives and left behind grieving loved ones so these people could vacation on thier boats and live the high life. Like I have said before, how do these people sleep at night.
JBlim on August 06 at 12:30 p.m.
“NATO confirmed the overnight crash took place and that there “was enemy activity in the area.” ”
I thought the enemy was al Qaeda. Now the enemy is “insurgents.”
Really, lets collect all the camels and donkeys we have captured and get out. Who cares about Afghanistan anyway.
Squid on August 06 at 12:51 p.m.
I am just an ignorant citizen and just like you, I really can’t say for sure if the wars are only about profit. The evidence I have seems to point that way for some of it, and if it is true, those responsible should be executed, like any traitor, and stripped of all of their profits and all assets, as well as the corporations that profited. Just my opinion.
Now, with that being said, don’t you think that anyone who lies about the weather (climate change, formerly known as global warming, before that was proven to be a lie) and profits from those lies is also a traitor? You have to admit that the evidence points to this being less than honorable and honest.
Maybe we should come together as taxpayers and citizens and take the profit out of politics all together. It’s stealing from our children.
I just have to wonder about statements like “A lot of good men and women have given thier lives and left behind grieving loved ones so these people could vacation on thier boats and live the high life.” Seems like so much of the Democrat beliefs are based on jealousy. Be the boater, not the hater. It isn’t easy to live the American dream, but you have that opportunity, just like everyone else. Not going for a personal attack on you. Just an observation.
I am out to bid on some projects today and will be gone for the rest of the day. Think about this, because I’d really like an honest, factual, and well thought out reply without the usual name calling type of response.
Diana on August 06 at 1:04 p.m.
Squid, 31 much better men than you have lost their lives and you’re bleating about climate change and “Democrat beliefs”? You should be ashamed of yourself. You are correct about one thing, though. You are ignorant.
I hope someone else gets the bids.
greyhound2 on August 06 at 1:09 p.m.
Sounds like an inside job to sucessfully target 25 Navy Seals for a Bin Laden retailation in one location.
As about 60% of the Afganistan Gross Domestic Product depends on welfare checks from US taxpayers, it is not suprising that they would not like the party to end. Then they would have to go back to dealing drugs full time just to make ends meet, instead of waiting around for your next American check.
lowtechmaster on August 06 at 3:37 p.m.
force-vector: yoyu are right on target, if you’ll allow for a few drones now and then.
diana: You are also on target. Both George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower warned about the “military/industrial complex” (Washington uses “overgrown military establishments” ). But what did they know? They were only Generals with modest accomplishments.
I like the ideas of removing at least “excess” profits in time of war, and “profits” in politics…how about rigid terms limits (say 12 years in the Senate and 10 in the House), forbid members of Congress from taking a job with anyone that uses lobbyists until they have been out of office for 5-10 years, and put Congress on the same medical insurance and retirement as the rest of the country.
All that said, we should get out of Afghanistan immediately. The entire government is corrupt!!
lowtechmaster on August 06 at 4:18 p.m.
Is it true that the Pakistani government tipped off the insurgents??????