There is serious trouble in Afghanistan and the western coalition is not winning:
"Over the last five or six weeks there have been various proven attacks mainly at night by the Taliban on that base, but I think it is fair to say this is the largest we have seen thus far," British spokesman Col. Chris Vernon told reporters in Kandahar.
The battle began hours after Taliban insurgents ambushed an Afghan supply convoy as it returned to the remote forward operating base late Tuesday, killing eight Afghan soldiers, Vernon said.
U.S. and British warplanes and helicopters were called in to provide air support and a Canadian quick reaction force was sent from Kandahar to the base, where a small contingent of American and Canadian soldiers are stationed with Afghan troops in the Sangin district of the volatile Helmand province.
Early Wednesday, the base came under a "significant Taliban attack," during which the Canadian and American soldiers were killed, Vernon said. At least five coalition troops were wounded, including three Canadians and an American, officials said.
Twelve Taliban militants also died in the fighting, while 20 others were killed after coalition aircraft and artillery fire forced them to flee into the desert.
Short recap:
There had been reconaissance probing by the Taliban. Then they shut down the supply lines by attacking a convoy. An attack was launched that killed an American and a Canadian and wounded another four westerners of the "small contingent" while wounding only one Afghan soldier?! The day was saved by emergency reenforcement from Kandahar and really massive air power:
In Afghanistan March 28, an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress, Predator, A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and Royal Air Force Harrier GR7s provided close air support to coalition troops in contact with enemy forces near Gereshk.
The Predator successfully launched two AGM-114 “Hellfire” precision-guided munitions against enemy forces. The GR7s successfully expended two MK-82 500-pound and one MK-83 1000-pound general-purpose bomb, along with one GBU-16 Enhanced Paveway II bomb and 23 rockets against enemy forces. The A-10s successfully fired 460 30mm cannon rounds, and expended one MK-82 500-pound general-purpose bomb and two GBU-12 Paveway II bombs against the target.
That is a total of 5.000 pounds of bombs, quite a bit of other ammunition and lots of money (one Hellfire missle is about $120,000) for some 20 dead "militants" – and don´t you dare to question that count.
The western coalition will get handed its ass in Afghanistan. For centuries that country has won against any occupation power. It may take a while, but either the drug lords, or the Taliban, not the western coalition, will win this fight.
From the sole interest of the west, a win for the Taliban might even be preferable. If they would come back with their "no drugs" policy, it would cut away some 90% of the world’s heroin.