Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Afghan gighter with Lee-Enfield rifle in 1985 (photo: Wikipedia)
American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan have been running into a new threat from the Taliban: snipers. For much of the conflict, troops have had more to fear from roadside bombs than being shot, thanks to the poor marksmanship of Taliban fighters. But some insurgents have developed improved shooting skills, while using rifles provided by the CIA more than two decades ago.
Caches of weapons confiscated by U.S. forces have revealed the Taliban are using old bolt-action Lee-Enfield rifles that the Reagan administration sent to Afghanistan in the early 1980s to help the Afghan resistance fight Soviet occupiers. Americans also have discovered the insurgents are using British-made ammunition from World War II with the Lee-Enfields.
Getting killed by Taliban gunmen, snipers or otherwise, has not occurred in the numbers many would assume during the eight-plus years of war for Americans. Numbers compiled by the Defense Manpower Data Center show the total is only 188…about the number of people killed by firearms in the United States in a typical week.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
A Firsthand Look at Firefights in Marja (by C.J. Chivers, New York Times)
Afghans Rediscover the Lee-Enfield (by James Dunnigan, Strategy Page)
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