[Lillie_Steins]

The bttom line is the these Talibam/Al Qaida insurgents got lucky for once, and they still ended up in a lopsided fight that cost them several dozen men. I know Al Qaida will try a portray this as some big victory, but everybody with a modicum of inteligence knows that the Talibam and Al Qaida have been getting decimated by NATO and especially the US military for years now. over 1,000 militants have been killed this year alone, according to the AP, by NATO and US forces. The Taliban may get lucky every once in a while, but they will always be a laugable and inferior force when compared against NATO and particularly America's armed forces.

God bless you guys. They always claim victory no matter what, they are full of it.

[S.T.D.]

We should have airmobile tracked armored fighting vehicles with enough combat power to destroy the enemy on the spot. Too bad all we do is build ultra-heavy road-bound wheeled trucks (MRAP, etc) for COIN work.

A CH-47-capable tracked AFV could haul plenty of gear, mount useful things like mortars and cannon, and allow soldiers to offload some of their heavy personal gear. There is more to armored vehicles than designing all of them to take worst-case hits. They offer mobility and firepower aplenty.

Chop and channel an M113 to fit into a Chinook (the Lynx version worked, but the rear engine killed crew and cargo space), repower with a small, modern engine and rewire, fit with band tracks and ceramic external armor, then the enemy would face any weapons we cared to fit.