A delay of months in closing a remote combat outpost with "no tactical or strategic value" led to the deaths of eight U.S. soldiers last year in one of the worst battles of the Afghanistan war, a report found on Friday.
The U.S. military's report into a Taliban assault on Combat Outpost (COP) Keating in Nuristan province last October found the dozens of soldiers defending it fought with "conspicuous gallantry, courage and bravery under heavy enemy fire".
But it said commanders had already concluded months before that there was no purpose to holding the outpost. The base had already been scheduled to close in July or August, but the withdrawal was delayed for months because vehicles needed to remove gear from it were being used elsewhere.
The base was finally abandoned days after the battle, one of several outposts given up in the second half of last year under new commander General Stanley McChrystal's counter-insurgency strategy of pulling out from remote areas to protect populated ones.
An unclassified executive summary of the mainly secret report into the Oct. 9 battle said that by the time Combat Outpost Keating was attacked by 300 insurgents, it had long since become clear that there was no reason to hold it. Soldiers there could do little but protect themselves from constant attack.
"The mission for COP Keating during the rotation of B Troop was unclear to the soldiers of B Troop, who understood counter-insurgency doctrine and the need to engage with the local population," it said.
"But owing to limited manpower and tactical reach off the compound, the mission devolved into one of base defence, and by mid-2009 there was no tactical or strategic value to holding the ground occupied by COP Keating."
Because the base was slated to be closed anyway, commanders became complacent about measures to protect it, the report found.
"There were inadequate measures taken by the chain of command, resulting in an attractive target for enemy fighters," it said. Intelligence assets that could have been used to better defend the base were deployed elsewhere.
During their five months holed up in the base, the troops came under attack 47 times, three times as often as their predecessors.
Although such attacks were usually small, they were often preceded by reports that insurgents were massing in large formations, so when hundreds of fighters finally massed in an attempt to overrun them, soldiers discounted the information.
Fighters told villagers to leave the area at 3:00 a.m. Three hours later, they launched their assault, first killing a soldier at a mortar position, which prevented the base's defenders from using one of their main weapons.
The report concluded that the U.S. defenders had killed or wounded 150 fighters during a day of "heroic" fighting. Air strikes were called in and the troops avoided being overrun. Twenty-two soldiers were wounded.
The International Security Assistance Force commanded by Gen. McChrystal said the general has since taken "appropriate action regarding army personnel involved", but gave no further details.