Word: valleyful
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...prove themselves were so uninspiring that the Australian contingent were packing up to leave just four months into their deployment in Afghanistan. But the U.S. forces finally appreciated their value and skills after an SAS patrol managed to scale a mountain overlooking the Shah-i-Kot "Valley of the kings" in East Afghanistan where they called in reports on a group of al-Qaeda fighters performing training exercises...
...area just a few days before the battle - insufficient time to conduct surveillance and gather intelligence of the quality that would have been provided by the Australians. Then when an American contingent of 10th Mountain Division troops (with two Australian soldiers acting as liaison officers) air assaulted into the valley they were pinned down by al-Qaeda fighters who had occupied vast areas of the high ground...
...more comprehensive intelligence picture, and combine that with last-minute reporting which may have led to a more successful operational outcome. With the benefit of hindsight, if we had our time again we would say 'You (the US commanders) are sending your people in broad daylight into a valley surrounded by cave systems and networks that are probably still in use, and you are going to do that without having eyes on the insurgents. It's madness...
...When they heard gunfire coming from the Bhalkhel positions, "We thought the Bhalkhel were attacking us, so we opened fire too," says one of the men, Abdul Hassan. Some of the bullets and RPGs targeted the SAS rescue convoy, which was making its way through the valley without lights. By now, however, the odds had changed. A U.S. forward air controller traveling with the Australians summoned the AC-130, call sign reaper, whose laser-guided bombs smashed into the Sabari bunkers...
...bombing forced them back until daybreak. One of the tribal elders had a walkie-talkie. He managed to call a nearby police station, whose officers contacted the coalition base at Khost, about 60 km away, to say U.S. warplanes were killing innocent tribesmen. Once out of the valley, three squadron found a safe area and made camp. There, says the patrol leader, the trooper who had taken the trophies began showing them off, even putting on the dead man's turban. When the patrol leader found out about this he informed the squadron sergeant-major, who confiscated the looted items...