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—Information about Sawtalo Sar and the surrounding region— |
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| Sawtalo Sar, a 9,282 foot high peak, looms large in physical stature, but remains a little-known corner of Afghanistan. Located near the Afghan-Pakistan border in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar Province, the closest large population center to the mountain, which defines the eastern wall of the fearsome Korangal Valley and the western wall of the Shuryek Valley, is Asadabad, the provincial capitol of Kunar province. |
| The Korangal Valley has and continues to be a hotbed of terrorist and insurgent activity, many in the population of the villages of the Korangal providing sanctuary for such groups as al-Qaeda and other associated Islamic extremists, like HIG. |
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| Kalashnikov in foreground, Sawtalo Sar and the Korangal Valley in background , Photo by Ed Darack |
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Sawtalo Sar, the Korangal Valley, the Shuryek Valley, and other surrounding valleys, and the history of those living in the area, is discussed at length in the book VICTORY POINT: Operations Red Wings and Whalers - The Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan. VICTORY POINT documents two Marine Corps Operations, Red Wings (often mis-referenced as "Operation Redwing"), and Whalers. The target of both operations was a terrorist / insurgent cell led by a man named Ahmad Shah, who based his operations, in part, out of the Korangal Valley near Sawtalo Sar's summit. The Marine Corps planners of Red Wings brought in Navy SEALs for the opening phases of the op (for reasons to be disclosed for the first time in VICTORY POINT); the four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team tasked to positively identify Shah inserted near the summit of Sawtalo Sar on the night of 27 June, 2005. Just hours later, in the late morning of the 28th, they fell into a horrific ambush at the hands of Shah and his men, who killed three of the SEALs, with only one survivor. 16 special operations personnel (8 Navy SEALs and 8 Army special operations aviators of the 160th SOAR(A)) subsequently perished when one of Shah's men shot the Army Special Operations MH-47 Chinook they were in down during the rescue attempt. Operation Whalers, which had the same goal as Red Wings, utilized only U.S. Marines with attached Afghan National Army Soldiers, had a much different outcome. |
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| In order to best paint a picture of the enemy that was the target of Red Wings and Whalers, author of VICTORY POINT, Ed Darack, gives a detailed, engaging history of the history of the Korangal Valley area, including those living on the slopes of Sawtalo Sar, revealing details never before published in such an account. Furthermore, he provides detailed, never-before-published topographic maps of the area, based on detailed Department of Defense maps and high resolution oblique UAV imagery, as well as photographs of the area. |
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| Learn more about VICTORY POINT by going to the book's page on either Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com. And please watch the VICTORY POINT video below: |
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| More information on the Korangal Valley Region: |
| Physiography: |
| Sawtalo Sar's north ridge runs roughly north-south, and defines the eastern wall of the Korangal Valley and the western wall of the Shuryek Valley. Being part of a young mountain range, and one that experiences violent cloudbursts in the summer and sometimes torrential spring melt off, the topography of the mountain and surrounding valleys is in places extremely severe. |
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| A graphic representation of the Sawtalo Sar region, from roughly the same perspective as the top photograph: |
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| And another view, showing the greater region: |
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