14 Americans die in Afghan copter crashes
Deadliest day for US forces there in 4 years
KABUL - Eleven US troops and three US drug enforcement officials were killed in two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan yesterday, the heaviest one-day loss for American forces in more than four years, military officials said.
The crashes involved three copters, two of which collided midair in the south of the country and a third that went down in the wake of a firefight in Afghanistan’s west, according to NATO and US officials.
Among the dead was Captain Kyle R. VanDeGiesen, 29, a Marine pilot from North Attleborough, Mass.
Hostile fire was ruled out in the midair collision, which killed four American troops and injured two others, but the cause of the other crash was not immediately determined.
The Taliban claimed to have shot down a Western helicopter yesterday in Afghanistan’s northwest, but it was not clear whether that was the same event the military described.
The firefight broke out after US and Afghan forces searched a compound believed to harbor drug traffickers, the military said. The drug trade is a major source of revenue for the Taliban and other insurgents, and pursuing traffickers has become part of the war effort for coalition forces.
The deaths of the three US drug agents marked the Drug Enforcement Administration’s first deaths since it began operations here in 2005.
The deaths comes as the Obama administration is weighing the request of its top commander, General Stanley A. McChrystal, for a substantial troop increase. President Obama and his security team held a sixth full-scale conference yesterday on the future of the war.
The loss of life and aircraft showed the extent to which Western forces in Afghanistan are dependent on helicopters. In much of the country, terrain is extremely rough, distances long, and roads all but impassable. Roadside bombs add to the danger of ground transport.
Weather did not appear to be a factor in either of the crashes.
There are large concentrations of US troops in the south of Afghanistan, in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. Smaller numbers of American troops serve in the west of Afghanistan.
The military said one crash came after a joint operation by US and Afghan forces, which set off a clash with insurgents. In addition to those killed, 11 Americans, including another DEA agent, and 14 Afghan security troops were wounded in the crash, NATO said.
About a dozen militants were reported killed in the firefight that followed the raid on the suspected drug hideout, the military said. In the past year, the DEA has launched an ambitious plan to increase its personnel in Afghanistan from about a dozen to nearly 80.
The second crash took place when two US Marine helicopters - a UH-1 and an AH-1 Cobra - collided in flight before sunrise over Helmand Province, killing four American troops and wounding two.
The combined death toll was the heaviest single-day loss of life since June 28, 2005, when 19 US troops died, 16 of them aboard a Special Forces MH-47 Chinook helicopter shot down by insurgents.
Military officials also disclosed the deaths of two US soldiers Sunday: one in a bomb attack in the east, and another who died of wounds sustained in an insurgent attack in the same region. The deaths bring to at least 47 the number of US troops killed in October.
In Jacksonville, Fla., yesterday President Obama mourned the 14 Americans killed in the helicopter crashes and told a military audience at the naval air station he will not be hurried as he evaluates whether to alter US strategy.
Earlier, Obama convened another in a series of White House war council sessions with about a half-dozen Cabinet officials and other top advisers amid GOP criticism that he is taking too long to choose his next move.
