Weapons Failed US Troops during Afghanistan Firefight

If it weren't bad enough that Americans are forced to fight seemingly outnumbered, in a war that has a small likelihood of success. Now we learn that their weapons are putting them in danger. We should have the best rifles. Why are AK-47s the rifle of choice worldwide? Aren't we a society obsessed with guns?

in reference to:

"In the chaos of an early morning assault on a remote U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips' M4 carbine quit firing as militant forces surrounded the base. The machine gun he grabbed after tossing the rifle aside didn't work either. When the battle in the small village of Wanat ended, nine U.S. soldiers lay dead and 27 more were wounded. A detailed study of the attack by a military historian found that weapons failed repeatedly at a "critical moment" during the firefight on July 13, 2008, putting the outnumbered American troops at risk of being overrun by nearly 200 insurgents.

Which raises the question: Eight years into the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, do U.S. armed forces have the best guns money can buy? Despite the military's insistence that they do, a small but vocal number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq has complained that the standard-issue M4 rifles need too much maintenance and jam at the worst possible times."
- Weapons failed US troops during Afghan firefight (view on Google Sidewiki)