The idea of collapse of the current regime in Afghanistan I'm sure scares a great many people. But I sometimes wonder if some of the people who arranged for the invasion are not scared most that the Taliban, if back in power, would shut down opiate production again. That would be a $50 billion/yr loss.
As for rooting out Taliban, imagine an invading force trying to root out Rednecks in the US. With an occupying force of, say, a million troops who mostly stayed inside the beltway, how long do you suppose it would take?
Posted by steve at April 16, 2008 06:04 PMeconomy of force operation
I love military speak.
Translation?
I'm guessing "hopelessly undermanned operation"?
Posted by snark at April 16, 2008 06:11 PMIt's upsetting that both Dems are all about winning that war. Nobody wins a war in Afghanistan. Not the Brits. Not the USSR. We'll lose too.
I wonder where we'd be if we had poured half a trillion dollars into developing the place over the last five years.
Posted by eRobin at April 16, 2008 07:36 PMMullah Ismail, a notorious Taliban commander from the Afghan province of Kunar, was killed in a shootout with Pakistani police as he traveled with a kidnapped trader, a local police officer said Wednesday. He was apparently on his way into the lawless Northwest Frontier Province along the Afghan border.
Officer Mukarma Khan said Ismail, also known as Mullah Ahmad Shah, had kidnapped the trader from a camp for Afghan refugees in Pakistan and was trying to transport him back to the border when he failed to stop at the checkpoint. He apparently opened fire on the police and was killed in the following exchange of gunfire.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the death of the key commander and said he was a prominent Taliban figure in the area. From CBS
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The fierce fighting which marked the first week of Operation Sawlat al-Fursan (Charge of the Knights) has given way to slower, more focused house-by-house searches by Iraqi troops, which led on Monday to the freeing of an abducted British journalist.
Residents say the streets have been cleared of gunmen, markets have reopened, basic services have been resumed and a measure of normality has returned to the oil-rich city.
The port of Umm Qasr is in the hands of the Iraqi forces who wrested control of the facility from Shiite militiamen, and according to the British military it is operational once again. From AFP
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After a week of intensive bombing and embargo, Sadr-City accepted the American deal to form an “Awakening Council”, alrafedain reported that Abdallah Jasim al-Ali head of “Sadr-City Tribal Council” announced today of forming a militia in Sadr-City to counter the Mahdi Army. From Uruknet
Posted by peter at April 17, 2008 03:39 AMWhy should our allies kick in more troops when we have all the troops we need misdeployed over in Iraq? If we cannot prioritize our national security issues, then why should that be our allies' problem?
They are right to stonewall us.
A rational administration would have understood that Afghanistan was the actual "front" in whatever ground war against "terrorism" existed after 9/11. Led by men who simply had half a brain (literally), and who hadn't IMMEDIATELY transferred resources to the Iraq buildup (before the Afghan ground operations had even concluded!) it's very likely we could have succeeded in permanently suppressing the Taliban and rounding up (the actual) al qaeda. And even Osmama.
But we didn't have a rational adminstration, we had Bushco and its pre-set agenda of Iraq oil invasion. So now we're in a another hopeless situation, where we may not be able to leave, but have no chance whatever of success, even if we now deployed the entire US Army there. Another quagmire, costing billions and fueling jihad.
And Repub McRube continues to prate about Success! and Victory! as we pigheadedly continue our oil occupation in Iraq and lose a civil war in Afghanstan. It's almost comic. Keep pouring those "resources" down the rat holes, McRube, like there's no tomorrow. The Second Spanish Empire.
One would have thought that one massive, risky nation building operation (since we're SO good at 'em) would have been enough---but no, we had to fail at TWO and reap a double whirlwind, while peter pinhead luxuriates in the farts and fecal matter of his right-wing internet comedy shit troughs.
Carry on, Pinhead America---Defeat is not an Option, We will Prevail, Our Heroes, The Surge is Working, etc, etc, ad nauseum....
Posted by euzoius at April 17, 2008 06:10 AMIn an hour-and-a-half long audio-taped message Wednesday night, Al-Qaeda Deputy Commander Ayman al-Zawahri vowed that with Allah’s help, they would target Jews worldwide.
“We promise our Muslim brothers that we will do the best we can to harm Jews in Israel and the world over, with Allah’s help and according to his command,” said al-Qaeda’s second in command.
…
The deputy commander predicted that global jihad (”holy” war) would spread once the U.S. pulls out of Iraq.
“I expect the jihadi influence to spread after the Americans’ exit from Iraq and to move toward Jerusalem,” he said.
Allaho Akbar, Obama Rahbar!
Posted by peter at April 17, 2008 07:24 AMCretins like you have never been able to understand that Osama wants the US military to remain caught in the Iraq Quagmire---it's nothing but a benefit to the islamic jihad movement, and confirms all their claims and predictions about both the US and the Arab leaders. This has been the CIA position for years. And such statements are issued to influence American voters.
So Osama uses this sort of disinformation for shit eaters like you (and McRube) to argue that we must stay forever, destroying out military, economy and world reputation. And once we start to withdraw, he declares "victory", just as he would do whenever and however we leave. What he says can't be controlled, duh.
Why are you so stupid as to believe whatever your enemy proclaims and base your entire strategy on his "threats"? Not much of a global strategist, are you? What was your life like before your daily nuggets of shit from your internet garbage troughs?
Posted by euzoius at April 17, 2008 08:29 AMWhy don't you take helping the Afghan people seriously - especially the women? Why are you so willing to throw them to the same place MSNBC puts Hillary? Don't you understand that YOUR rights depend on their rights?
I am not willing to give up ground we are taking from a theocratic patriarchy because most of the so called left progressives in this country are actually misogynists.
Posted by Greenconsciousness at April 17, 2008 10:35 AM