Thread: Whats new in Afghanistan?

Originally Posted by sabang

Mike McConnell testified in Washington that Karzai controls about 30% of Afghanistan and the Taliban 10%, and the remainder is under tribal control.

This doesn't sound too bad, it is a tribal society after all.
But what exactly does "tribal control" mean, oppressive warlords?

Originally Posted by stroller

But what exactly does "tribal control" mean, oppressive warlords?

That place hasn't changed much since Alexander's day.

To refresh RC's memory - we (the West) went in there to rid the country of Taliban or maybe he believes we shoulda spent that money on some sort of give away 'social' program in America, eh?

Maybe you shouldn't have built up the Taliban with financial and ideological support in the first place?

A failed policy which has come back to bite the US in the butt.

Originally Posted by stroller

Maybe you shouldn't have built up the Taliban with financial and ideological support in the first place?

A failed policy which has come back to bite the US in the butt.

Yeah, well, Realpolitik being what it is and all that...

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Yeah, well, Realpolitik being what it is and all that

what a pathetic cop out....what can't be brushed aside with that line?

Originally Posted by raycarey

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Yeah, well, Realpolitik being what it is and all that

what a pathetic cop out....what can't be brushed aside with that line?

Yeah, well, when reality smacks you upside the face...?

Bin Laden is a blowback (term used by CIA) same like Saddam and Mr. Noriega. The US armed Saddam to confront Iran. Noriega was once a CIA operative and Bin Laden ..... needless to say he was Mr. Regan's favourite freedom fighter, trained by the CIA.
All of them created by CIA blew back to their faces. Who to blame?

Taliban rebels blasted into a prison using a suicide car bomb and guns late Friday, freeing as many as hundreds of militant prisoners and killing at least two guards, officials said.
The brazen attack under cover of darkness ripped through the front entrance of the main jail in the insurgency-hit southern city of Kandahar, Justice Minister Sarwar Danish told AFP.
The raid is a blow to President Hamid Karzai, coming one day after world donors pledged 20 billion US dollars to rebuild Afghanistan at a conference in Paris but also called on him to strengthen the rule of law.
"A suicide attacker drove his way into the main gate of the prison, it was very strong and destroyed the gate and two sides of the surrounding wall," Danish told AFP.
He said it was followed by an "armed attack inside the prison."

An Afghan intelligence official told AFP on condition of anonymity that around 600 prisoners were believed to have escaped but that the final figure had yet to be confirmed

Taliban prisoners escape in Afghan prison suicide attack: officials - Breaking News - World - Breaking News

Very little new in Afghanistan, unfortunately.

gee, why aren't there more US troops in afghanistan?

Originally Posted by raycarey

gee, why aren't there more US troops in afghanistan?

No oil there?

Little prospect of the much vaunted oil pipeline too, at this stage.

It didn't take the jailbreak boys long to get back on the job:-

"KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Hundreds of Taliban fighters invaded villages just outside Afghanistan's second-largest city Monday, forcing NATO and Afghan troops to rush in while frightened residents fled.
The Taliban assault on the outskirts of Kandahar is the latest display of prowess by the militants despite a record number of U.S. and NATO troops in the country.
The push into the Arghandab district — a lush region filled with grape and pomegranate groves that the Soviet army could never conquer — comes three days after a Taliban attack on Kandahar's prison that freed 400 insurgent fighters.
Those fighters, NATO conceded Monday, appear to be massing on the doorstep of the Taliban's former power base. The city of Kandahar lies only 10 miles to the southeast.
The sophisticated and successful jailbreak, followed by the movement into Arghandab, is the latest evidence of the Taliban's growing strength. The U.S. and NATO have pleaded for more troops in the last year and now have 65,000 in the country. But the militants are still finding successes the international alliance can't counter.
"Three days ago, inside of a 30-minute operation, the Taliban freed hundreds of prisoners, and NATO, the Canadians, the Americans, didn't do anything," said Mohammad Asif, 30, of Kandahar. "Now more than 500 Taliban are living in Arghandab. They are occupying the region.""

Full Article- The Associated Press: Taliban take over villages near Kandahar

Gordon Brown also said the the Taliban are losing the fight in southern Afghanistan, and of course you can always trust Gordon.

Heh...good riddance Adam!

Adam Gedahn is dead supposedly...

Al-Qa'eda's American-born propaganda chief may have died in predator attack.

Al-Qa'eda's American-born propaganda chief may have died in predator attack - Telegraph

US seeks peace with ‘reconcilable’ Taliban: Gates

WASHINGTON, Oct 7: The United States wants peace with ‘reconcilable’ insurgents in Afghanistan, says US Defence Secretary Robert Gates while commenting on a new peace move.

“The idea is, how do you convince some of these people to stop killing Americans and our allies and above all Afghans and become a part of the future of the state of Afghanistan?,” said Mr Gates while explaining the US goal in supporting the peace move that led to a meeting between the representatives of the Taliban and Afghan government in Makkah last month.

The United States believes that this target can be achieved if the Taliban renounce violence and sever their ties to Al Qaeda.
For more: US seeks peace with ‘reconcilable’ Taliban: Gates -DAWN - Top Stories; October 08, 2008

I thought they don't negotiate with terrorists??

keyword: reconcilable

If they renounce violence and sever their ties to Al Qaeda -- they'd not be terrorists, would they?

Oh, So all that crap about them being oppressors of women and extremists and violators of human rights and not tolerant of other beliefs doesn't bother the U.S anymore, eh??

Anything for victory??

Originally Posted by machangezi

Oh, So all that crap about them being oppressors of women and extremists and violators of human rights and not tolerant of other beliefs doesn't bother the U.S anymore?

Yeah, there's that, which isn't good, but nothing to fight over. They can do what they like in that regard.

It's the flying planes full if innocent people into buildings and blowing up hotels, busses, trains and embassies full of similarly innocent, unsuspecting people that there's a glitch with.

Yeah. That's problematic.

They can do what they like in that regard.

So, anything for victory eh??

It's the flying planes full if innocent people into buildings and blowing up hotels, busses, trains and embassies full of similarly innocent, unsuspecting people that there's a glitch with.

As far as I know all of them were arabs........Talebs are Afghans......."Taleb" is a word in Pashtu meaning......."Seeker".

We're not talking about nationalities here. That is not an issue. Get over it.

You like to play the shell game -- changing the subject time after time.

It's about AQ training and financing terrorists (of whatever nationality). And they're currently camping out in Pakistan.

I'm happy to read the Paki government is taking a stronger lead in finding and fixing them.

I hope its true.

Originally Posted by Texpat

keyword: reconcilable

If they renounce violence and sever their ties to Al Qaeda -- they'd not be terrorists, would they?

You mean, some of these terrorist extremists could be convinced to stop killing?

Are you volunteering to go and speak nicely to the murderous fanatics who are told by Allah to kill all infidels, Mr. Chamberlain? LOL

Appeasement only works in your pinko libbie utopian fantasy. Real men serve and die facing the gravest danger to the existence of mankind since history began, to protect your family and your freedom, while you and your spineless PC leftist friends line up to bend over to the "religion of peace".

libbie?
leftist?

You're on the hard stuff tonight, aren't you?

Didn't Rob post a report that the Taliban have become more tolerant in order to gain support? Nowadays, they allow music and drinking and some other natural behaviors. It was probably propaganda meant for the western media. Nothing changed. People still die for defying their wishes.

US: Airstrike killed 33 Afghan civilians in August

WASHINGTON (AP) — The military said Wednesday that U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan on Aug. 22 killed 33 civilians, far more than previously acknowledged. While expressing regret, it blamed the Taliban, the targets, for taking up fighting positions near civilians.
The civilian toll of 33 compares with an original U.S. estimate of five to seven. The Afghan government and U.N. investigators claimed there were 90 civilian deaths.

The Associated Press: US: Airstrike killed 33 Afghan civilians in August

French army chief rules out military victory in Afghanistan

The head of the French military General Jean-Louis Georgelin on Wednesday backed comments by a senior British military officer's view that the war in Afghanistan was unwinnable.
A British officer "was saying that one cannot win this war militarily, that there is no military solution to the Afghan crisis and I totally share this feeling," Georglin told French television channel Public Senat.

AFP: French army chief rules out military victory in Afghanistan


And I reckon this will get the usual suspects up in arms-

They came, they saw, then left the Afghan war without a single mission

GERMANY has admitted its Special Forces have spent three years in Afghanistan without doing a single mission, and are now going to be withdrawn.

More than 100 soldiers from the elite Kommando Spezialkrafte regiment, or KSK, are set to leave the war-torn country after their foreign minister revealed they had never left their bases on an operation.

But Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister, admitted they had not been deployed "a single time" in the last three years, despite a desperate shortage of Special Forces units in the country.

Troops from Britain's Special Boat Service and the SAS work round the clock, across Afghanistan, alongside US navy Seals and Delta Force, to target terrorists, arrest drug lords and rescue hostages.....

BACKGROUND

SOME 40 countries contribute troops to the 47,600-strong Nato mission in Afghanistan, led by the United States with some 18,000 troops and Britain with more than 8,000. Germany is the third largest contributor. The US is set to send an extra 14,000 troops to Afghanistan next year, and it has been rumoured there are British plans to send 4,000 more.

It is still British, American, Canadian, Dutch, Australian and Danish soldiers who bear much of the combat weight in the country, alongside the soldiers of the Afghan national army. A recent French deployment led to the death of ten soldiers in a Taleban ambush, leading to widespread calls to withdraw the troops.

They came, they saw, then left the Afghan war without a single mission - Scotsman.com News

So nothing much new in Afghanistan.

Originally Posted by Texpat

libbie?
leftist?

You're on the hard stuff tonight, aren't you?

That was "pinko libbie" Tex.