The Washington Post article on this weekend’s attack on a remote US military base in Afghanistan notes:
It is really hard to interdict the enemy,” said the base’s company commander in an interview with The Washington Post in late September. “There are literally thousands of trails around here. We just don’t have the numbers of troops we need to be effective.”
Although the village of Kamdesh is only about a mile from the base, U.S. and Afghan troops never visited it because it was too dangerous, the company commander said.
The Post noted that, since last year, the Pentagon has been meaning to get around to withdrawing the troops who were killed this weekend, but … well, the Pentagon has been so busy with its victory proclamations and its saber-rattling to send more troops to Afghanistan.
And the chances of any Pentagon official being held responsible for these deaths?
Tell it to Pat Tillman.