Somebody is keeping the pot boiling at the right temperature with sniper-like precision, adding assets to the deadly mix of the Afghan insurgency. That is what I tend to ponder when I consider this piece of text here:
"On Aug. 13, the day the company arrived in Sangin, a Marine stepped from his armored vehicle about 100 yards from a secure U.S.-British patrol base. The sniper fired a single shot, killing the soldier, the Journal said.On the same day, Darren Foster, 20, a British army engineer from Carlisle, England, was shot and killed as he walked in an unprotected small space that bridge two areas of bulletproof glass, the Journal reported."(The sniper) hit a moving target in a space this big," said Capt. Jim Nolan, Lima Company's commander, indicating a space of 9 inches with his hands."
I am thinking of "somebody's" role with the alternative in mind - that is:
- The Taliban suddenly managed to buy some good sniper rifles on the market, and could finally put to use the sniper skills of some of their best available marksmen.
- They took/take the time to have some of their own trained as snipers by pros.
Alternative nr. 1 is unlikely, while alternative nr. 2 is in the end not that different from the original proposition.
2 comments:
A British paper - I'm afraid I can't remember which one - was reporting that the Taliban had hired in snipers from outside the country.
I see. I am wondering, though, if it really is the nature of the Taliban to employ mercenary snipers. I don't rule out money being involved to some degree. But in the end these snipers fight with the Taliban much like some professional bomb-makers and others with special expertise spreading know-how there.
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