Associated Press
KABUL -- Most of the soldiers were still asleep when gunfire rang out and insurgents stormed their isolated base from all sides. Eight Americans and three Afghan soldiers died.
The Americans weren't even supposed to be there. Combat Outpost Keating had been scheduled to be closed months before the Oct. 3 assault. A U.S. military investigation released Friday blamed lapses in oversight and a delay in closing the remote outpost for one of the heaviest American combat losses in a single engagement during the Afghan war.
The findings demonstrate the increasing vulnerability of the Americans and their NATO allies, even as 37,000 U.S. and NATO reinforcements pour into the country. The investigation also pointed to training deficiencies in the Afghan army.
Afghan soldiers failed to hold their position on the eastern side of the compound and insurgents penetrated the outpost's perimeter at three locations, according to the report. The readiness of Afghan forces to take over their own security so foreign troops can leave is a key component of President Barack Obama's war strategy.
The battle broke out when an estimated 300 insurgents -- five times the number of defenders -- stormed the base in mountainous Nuristan province near the Pakistan border with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons just before 6 a.m., according to the report.
The base was surrounded by higher mountains, offering the insurgents lethal fields of fire.
The U.S. soldiers "heroically repelled a complex attack" after calling in air support, according to the investigation, which was led by Army Maj. Gen. Guy Swan.
When the fighting was over, about 150 insurgents were dead, along with the U.S. and Afghan troops.
It marked the heaviest U.S. loss of life in a firefight since July 2008, when nine American soldiers were killed in a similar raid on an isolated outpost in Wanat in the same province.
