A lot of the comments over the incident at Wanat seem to me to show some ignorance by commentators of the realities of this border area. It is entirely porous, has never been controlled by any “Power”, and is the most difficult country to fight in. About 6 million poeople live there. This is the North West Frontier about which Kipling wrote and in which the British Raj failed – so one can hardly expect Pakistan to do better.

Blog sniping at the US commander is grossly unfair. For all we know, some staff officer (“big fingers on little maps – that’s the way to kill the chaps”) miles away might have selected the position. In the best of all possible worlds,(in the appropriate FM) yes you always picket the heights and yes, you have DF on likely approaches and yes,the wire is up, the claymores set, and everyman has overhead cover. But things are seldom perfect.

I haven’t served in Afghanistan – but I have seen action in Yemen & in Oman in very similar terrain. Vividly recall the first time a tribesman took a shot at me – and my fury and frustration that I could not tell where he was. No one told me in training that you sometimes could not see the guy who was trying to kill you…