U.S. military: Taliban 'hard to combat' in Afghanistan!!

[AGENDA21]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The U.S. military said Monday that increased militant violence in Afghanistan was proving "very hard to combat" as separate attacks killed two police officers and a truck driver delivering food to coalition forces in a former Taliban stronghold in the south.

Gunmen also killed five medical workers before burning down their clinic late Sunday in a rare attack in the normally calm northwest.

The violence follows threats by Taliban militants to intensify attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan troops during the spring and summer months.

In Kabul, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said Taliban forces have increased their attacks and changed tactics to spread a campaign of fear across the country rather than try to defeat the security forces militarily.

http://www.wkrc.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=5EB1EBD7-87B6-4D06-A7D4-708D1930A20F

[ContraBass Black]

1. On top of that,

"Osama bin who?"

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Russians figured this out years ago.

It's easy to get in, hard to get out gracefully.

[Kutjara]

3. Honestly, have they learned nothing...

from Vietnam?

"In Kabul, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said Taliban forces have increased their attacks and changed tactics to spread a campaign of fear across the country rather than try to defeat the security forces militarily."

Well, of course they have. That's what you do when faced with a militarily superior force. You revert to guerilla tactics and dig in for the long haul. The "Taliban forces" know that, sooner or later, the Americans will go home. The Afghans are home. Guess who's going to be able to outwait whom?

[AGENDA21]

5. And they're thinking of starting a war with iran!!

[Karmakaze]

6. Actually, they learnt a lot from Vietnam!

Wait, you were talking about the Taliban, right?

The Taliban (Mujahideen) were taught by the CIA how to fight a war like the VC. The CIA taught them so well, it is still working 20 odd years later!

[Igel]

8. I didn't read that the same way you did.

The 'fear' includes destroying clinics, killing doctors, gunning down teachers, threatening village leaders and burning schools, as well as occupying government buildings and trying to kill soldiers and destroy convoys.

That's not what you do when simply faced with a militarily superior force. That's what you do when you want to confront a militarily superior force and an at least partially uncooperative population.

The Taliban ruled by fear and religious/nationalist zeal. Not all Afghans voluntarily agreed with it, either Pashtun or Hazara. The Taliban want power; the military occupation and current government are no more or less enemies than the common people that reject them.

[Kutjara]

10. Good points

The Afghans are in the unenviable position of having to choose between three unpleasant propositions: continuous occupation, rule by warlords, rule by the Taliban. I don't envy them any of these options.

They have, as you say, combined guerilla tactics with those of the Terrorist's Handbook and come up with a truly unpleasant combination of bushfighting and murder.

Still, its not like we shouldn't have considered this is what they'd do.

[formercia]

4. If only the would build bases we could bomb

All they do is scamper around, shoot and vanish when a superior force arrives.

Pesky savages....

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. The Afghani's have been doing this to invaders for centuries

Another poster had it right when he wrote that "Have we learned nothing from Vietnam?"

[happyslug]

9. One of the few successful conquest of Afghanistan was Alexander

Alexander the Great took Afghanistan after conquering Persia, Alexander took the Capital, claimed victory and then lead his army to the Indus Valley and OUT OF AFGHANISTAN (Never to return). Alexander rather than send his army back home via Afghanistan marched them through the Baluchistan Desert (where many died from Thirst) of modern southern Iran. Tells you something about Afghanistan.

[madmark]

12. Ghengis Khan tore Afghanistan (and the rest of Transoxonia for that matter

a new asshole that they still have recovered from. In my view the Islamic world (then centered around the Arab/Persian peoples) got set back 400 or so years from the West due to their negative encounter with the Mongols (an encounter that the Kwarzm Shah brought about entirely by himself; the Mongols were not looking for a fight). Im not sure that AG took the Baluchistan Desert route just because he didn't want to go back through Afghanistan. I think it is more likely that would mean that he would have to travel back up the Indus which meant more time in India which AG and company definitely did not want anymore of.

[Vinnie From Indy]

16. The Mongols were indeed unmatched in their conquests and

territory captured. To say that Ghengis Kahn only attacked the Transoxonia region because they picked a fight is stretching it a bit. In fact, the Mongols tended to only lay waste to areas that resisted and did not pay tribute. Alexander's army was in near mutiny and wanted to go home. Across the desert lay the sea and transport home.

[madmark]

18. i don't think i am stretching; a Kwarzm governor confiscated a

mongol caravan and slaughtered the merchants and servants. Ghengis sent emissaries to the Kwarzm shah to address the matter and the shah killed them. Apparently killing Ghengis' diplomats was one of the worse things one could do in his eyes. Ghengis then broke off his actions in China and went way out of his way to the extreme west of his realm to deal with this insult. After the Kwarzm Shah's kingdom was laid waste Ghengis just kept going further into muslim lands. This series of petty stupid acts by the Kwarzm shah changed history massively, because i believe Ghengis would have just continued with his activity in China and never would have turned west without them.

[happyslug]

19. I agree, but afterward the Mongols concentrated on other targets

First Europe (1230s) and then Iraq in 1250.

Asia in 1200:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Premongol.png



Basically Afghanistan was ignored and bypassed, the Mongols preferring to rule via modern Turkestan and the other former Central Asia Soviet Republics than Afghanistan.

More on the Mongols:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol
http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/maptext_n2/maptext.html

[Bucky]

11. Shit, we had Afghanistan won three years ago. How'd the Talis get back in?

The Afghans freakin' hated the Talibani when we busted up that joint five and a half years ago. How'd they get back to being so popular again? Wait, never mind... I just figured it out.

[madmark]

13. Sadly the taliban have started copying successful insurgent

techniques being employed in Iraq. Talk about another unintended result of the Iraq disaster courtesy of our Fuckup-In-Chief.

[ConsAreLiars]

14. If you spend a half hour watching this video (excerpted frm "Taliban

Country") you will see exactly how the US troops in Afghanistan are regenerating support for the Taliban. A reporter embedded with Marines was escorted into a remote village for a "hearts and minds" show and tell. She later returned independently to the same village to talk with the people there after the US forceds had moved elsewhere for more of their pacification work.

http://www.journeyman.tv/download.php?id=10258

Watch it closely; look at the town and the countryside and into the eyes of the people.

http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=17451
----------------
“They fingered us, beat us and humiliated us,” alleges villager Wali Mohammad. “No Muslim should suffer that.” He was imprisoned for three days by the marines after soldiers raided his village and accused him of providing food and shelter to Al Qaeda. His elderly father, Noor Mohammad Lala, was also arrested. “They took my clothes. I could not do anything,” Noor confides. Both men claim they were sexually abused and forced to pose for photographs. “I was so humiliated I couldn’t see for my pain,” states Noor.

The marines’ raid on their village of Passau was so offensive that locals want the camera to record every indiscretion. “They used this as a toilet,” says one man gesturing at the floor of a home. Their wheat harvest was destroyed and the mosque door battered down. As a result of this raid, many people have already left the village. “Almost all the families are gone,” complains the tribal elder bitterly. “Our people are being forced to pack up and leave.”
----------------

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. My grandfather, in the Brit Army, said the same thing in the 1890's.

Even Alexander the Great had a helluva time with the tribesmen.

[Jacobin]

17. Funny how countries don't like being invaded, conquered and occupied

Russia lost a lot of treasure and men to their attempt, due to our alliance with Osama and supplying him with shoulder fired rockets