Posted on 03/15/2006 8:13:03 PM PST by Dyaus Pitar
Kabul: US and Nato forces are following up reports that the Taliban has received vital component parts for American shoulder-fired Stinger missiles from Pakistani officials enabling them to be used against helicopters in Afghanistan.
It is claimed that the missiles - originally supplied to the Afghan Mujaheddin by the US during the war against the Russians - have been fitted with new battery packs allegedly provided by the Pakistani intelligence service, ISI, in the last four months.
Western sources say they are not sure whether the supplies, needed to make the American-made missiles operational, were provided by rogue elements within the Pakistani secret service or approved at a high level.
However, the effect of rearming the Stingers could be to make Nato aircraft vulnerable at a time when Britain is carrying out the deployment of a force of almost 6,000 in southern Afghanistan.
It is believed that the battery packs had been fitted to between 18 and 20 heat-seeking Stingers which can hit targets at around 12,000 feet.
(Excerpt) Read more at india-defence.com ...
pong
I would wait before I freak out about this one. Stingers have an on shelf life. Any Stingers the Taliban had were long past operational life in 2001, even more so now. This smack of disinformation and propaganda by India against it's long time foe Pakistan.
all that blather about "the batteries are long gone!" turned out to be B.S., I heard recently...
This smack of disinformation and propaganda by India against it's long time foe Pakistan.
Yup.
Agree.
...so did China..
For once we agree.
The source of this report is British media, not India. The thread's link merely reproduces that article. I doubt the Indians have the ability to influence British media.
save
True or not. Anytime the US gives arms to a then ally, they should put a little mechanism in it that will rend it worthless by remote if need be. Surely we are capable of that.
BTW, for a further in-depth history of this issue, Ghost Wars by Steve Coll is a must read. I can't recommend it enough.
OK I just ordered it from Amazon. It has an almost 5-star rating. Thanks for the heads up on it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.