Two points here:

   1. If they were in fact dressed in Afghan police clothing it brings us
   back to the question we addressed in the afghan weekly a few weeks ago
   where there is concern about militant infiltration into the Afghan
   security forces. This definitely makes things difficult as the Afghan
   security forces are handed over the control which brings us to Sean's
   point about the fact the operation primarily ended with the NATO
   helicopters shooting down 3 men on the roof and even then there was one
   guy just going around in the hotel and it took about 2 hours to contain
   him.

   2. Also if the militants were dressed in Afghan police attire it explains
   how they managed to bypass those multiple layers of defense.

   On Wednesday, 6/29/11 9:27 AM, Fred Burton wrote:

     Nothing to confirm or refute this initial claim. But new reporting
     suggests attackers arrived dressed as Afghan police. This is standard MO
     for Taliban...and many terror groups as you know. Only thing that
     everyone agrees on right now is that this thing was meticulously
     planned, and clearly well surveilled ahead of time. This hotel has
     multiple layers of defense -- including armed guards -- and still the
     bad guys got in. We don't have a single hotel in this country with even
     10% of the security the Intercontinental had. When they decide to start
     targeting hotels here, it'll shooting fish in a barrel.

      

      

     Stormed in force out of a vehicle after one perp detonated a vest at the
     gate  (Mike, think this remains accurate?)

 --
 Hoor Jangda
 Tactical Analyst
 Mobile: 281 639 1225
 Email: hoor.jangda@stratfor.com
 STRATFOR, Austin