Back in the 1980's, following Pres. Carter's lead, Pres. Reagan continued to arm the Taliban and their mujahadeen allies to fight the soviets. CIA was there instructing them how to use the shoulder fired anti aircraft rockets. Russian choppers were shot down on a regular basis. Now a US Chinook was shot down, in an identical way. There are alot of people on these big helicopters - 15-20. Benazir Bhutto, former PM of Pakistan, warned about giving supplies to the taliban - she feared the US was making them too strong, and she had to deal with islamic fanatics in her own country. She was one of the last truly civilian leaders of Pakistan - we should have listened to her advice. Not only that, we should have supported her more - pakistan could have avoided its military dictatorship. Isn't there a way of protecting slow moving helicopters from rockets? Could they fly higher, giving them more reaction time? Accompany them with some fighters, maybe a harrier or an A-10 that can maneouver better? Do we have enough troops in Afghanistan? Watch the movie Kandahar - it gives a frightening portrayal of Taliban Afghanistan, and the living conditions of the people. I think the people of Afghanistan are better off without the Taliban, in terms of abstract freedoms, but the quality of their lives are no different. Maybe we should have supported the Russians when they invaded Afghanistan: after all, they were concerned about their security from Islamic extremists in Chechnaya. But it was the cold war, and we always opposed the USSR in a knee jerk fashion. Carter had to do something when the soviets invaded (yeah! he cancelled the Olympics!) or else the opposition would crucify him here.
UPDATE: supposedly the chinook was accompanied by other aircraft who witnessed the attack and subsequent crash. I still can't figure out how a grenade could down a chinook, but the news says it was a lucky shot so maybe it was. I just don't believe the news. The crew all died, and the green beret team that they were recusing had two dead, one survivor, and supposedly one captured who was later executed. A massive airstrike was carried out on the region in response.l
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