News reports and the Pentagon have nearly two dozen US special operators and an unspecified number of Afghans killed in Afghanistan today when the Taliban shot down their helicopter.  Reportedly the helicopter was carrying a “quick reaction force” (QRF), raising the question of whether there were friendly casualties in the engagement that the WRF was going to intervene in.  Apparently most of the casualties from the shootdown were from the SEAL unit that killed Bin Laden a few months ago, though none of the people on that mission were killed here.

Given that the jihadists see tactical success as a pretty direct reflection of Allah’s will, I’d be interested to know what is going on in the forums just now.  An Ansar al-Mujahideen English language forum participant has posted a news article on it, but I’d love to know more…  [Hint, hint, you real experts.]