Taliban on the ropes...the beginning of the End?

[wyly]

Obama reaffirms 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal

Obama is politicizing the war for his benefit, trying to take credit for something that never happened. Clearly his own statements are contradictory. The troops are pulling back, the mujahideen remain, defiant. These rag-tag warriors with bent Kalishnikovs have endured the most high-tech army in the world. What is it about Afghanistan that makes it so difficult a place to defeat militarily?

they're fighting an invader it's their home it's no different than occupied europe resisting the Nazi's, ...and every time an innocent person is killed any family sitting on the fence will make up his mind to join the Taliban/resistance, the more we kill the more opposition we create...time is on their side they only need to keep up the attacks and NATO will leave and they know it...

[M.Dancer]

...and every time an innocent person is killed any family sitting on the fence will make up his mind to join

Does that work when Taliban kill an innocent person. Given most of their attacks involve bombs in crowded civilian places....

[ToadBrother]

Obama is politicizing the war for his benefit, trying to take credit for something that never happened. Clearly his own statements are contradictory. The troops are pulling back, the mujahideen remain, defiant. These rag-tag warriors with bent Kalishnikovs have endured the most high-tech army in the world. What is it about Afghanistan that makes it so difficult a place to defeat militarily?

Geography. Like Spain (look at the disaster of the Napoleonic occupation there), Afghanistan favors small semi-independent guerilla bands, giving them nearly equal footing to heavily mechanized forces.

Edited April 15, 2010 by ToadBrother

[GostHacked]

Does that work when Taliban kill an innocent person. Given most of their attacks involve bombs in crowded civilian places....

We can look at Iraq and the US invasion (sorry for derailing the thread) Faluhja, Bagdhad, Tikrit, ... north south east west of Baghdad?

[M.Dancer]

We can look at Iraq and the US invasion (sorry for derailing the thread) Faluhja, Bagdhad, Tikrit, ... north south east west of Baghdad?

There are similarities and huge differences. While there are ethic rivalries in Afghanistan, the clashes bewteen Sunnis and Shia, Sunnis and Kurds etc etc...in the end it is the Iraqis who have signed on with the US that steer the country.

[Army Guy]

Apparently you overlooked the finer point it contained

After years of sustained fighting and casualties with little evident progress, the US military closed Korangal Outpost on April 14, 2010. Military officials speculate that their presence in the valley may have actually created Taliban sympathies among the previously neutral Korangalis, who have rejected American aid have wished the Americans to leave. Forty-two American service men died fighting in the Korangal and hundreds were wounded, primarily between the years of 2006 and 2009

Someone (McChrystal) finally got the message I guess.

Fighting in the area was a result of a blood feud, war lords in the area had family killed by American bombings....The decision to relocate was based on that, this fighting had little to do with fighting the Taliban, but a localized fight between warlord and US forces....

My linkApparently you

[bush_cheney2004]

No shit, Sherlock.

Gee those officials must be smart as Albert frikkin Einstein to figure that one out.

But even the soldiers on the ground could have told you that, a couple of years ago.

The point is that the "dynamics" do not have the velocity or context you implied....certainly not after a four year commitment to the Valley.

[Sir Bandelot]

The war is winnable and will be won sooner, not later.

the senior military official cautions that 90 days after the offensive, "Marja is a mixed bag," with parts of the area still controlled by the Taliban and Afghan government performance spotty. A top State Department official agrees: "Transfer is not happening" in Marja.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/07/AR2010050704062.html

This news is unfortunate but not surprising, to those who don't swallow military boasting and propaganda issued on the first day of the mission.

[Sir Bandelot]

News from Marjah still all bad. Maybe Obama does not know how to conduct a proper surge. Or maybe no one actually gives a heck anymore.

Farmers from the district of Marja, which since February has been the focus of the largest American-led military operation in Afghanistan, are fleeing the area, saying that the Taliban are terrorizing the population and that American troops cannot protect the civilians.

The uneasy standoff in Marja provides a stark lesson in the challenges of eliminating a patient and deeply rooted insurgency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/world/asia/17marja.html?hp

Beginning of the end? Yes, one way or another.

[sleepyguy1]

Has anybody given any consideration to the fact that this could be a taliban ploy to lure nato troops? Like something similar to feigning a retreat to get the enemy to follow you into an ambush.

[bloodyminded]

News from Marjah still all bad. Maybe Obama does not know how to conduct a proper surge.

The "surge" in Iraq wasn't "proper" either, in that it wasn't the reason for the (relative) downturn in violence.

No sense in listening to those so in love with the Petraeus myth that they wish to marry his testicles. They have nothing but propaganda to offer, and they don't even do that very well.

The "surge" coincided, and was dependent upon, an internal change of events in Iraq. The cavalry decidedly did not save the day.

[naomiglover]

the senior military official cautions that 90 days after the offensive, "Marja is a mixed bag," with parts of the area still controlled by the Taliban and Afghan government performance spotty. A top State Department official agrees: "Transfer is not happening" in Marja.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/07/AR2010050704062.html

This news is unfortunate but not surprising, to those who don't swallow military boasting and propaganda issued on the first day of the mission.

Dancer ran away. He just doesn't like to face facts and reality.

[M.Dancer]

Dancer ran away. He just doesn't like to face facts and reality.

Your glee and happiness is palpable, Haji'Dub

[WIP]

Your glee and happiness is palpable, Haji'Dub

And what is the status of your prediction:"The war is winnable and will be won sooner, not later." that you made when you started this thread three months ago?

[M.Dancer]

And what is the status of your prediction:"The war is winnable and will be won sooner, not later." that you made when you started this thread three months ago?

No changes...the war is still winnable and will be won. I can only wonder at those who think 3 months is a long time...

[bloodyminded]

How about nine years?

[bush_cheney2004]

How about nine years?

What's your hurry? Cold War was over 40 years.

[dre]

No changes...the war is still winnable and will be won. I can only wonder at those who think 3 months is a long time...

I would count on it. If ANYONE can stretch this thing out and make it take another decade its the coalition of the stupid.

Dont forget that OPERATION: "Oops! Shoulda thought THAT through better!" has already gone on for almost ten years.

[M.Dancer]

I would count on it. If ANYONE can stretch this thing out and make it take another decade its the coalition of the stupid.

Dont forget that OPERATION: "Oops! Shoulda thought THAT through better!" has already gone on for almost ten years.

Nine years in October...but hey, apparently you belong to the coalition of the can't count...

[naomiglover]

Nine years in October...but hey, apparently you belong to the coalition of the can't count...

Jesus.

You're not funny. Especially not when you get desperate like this..

Stop embarrassing yourself.

[dre]

Nine years in October...but hey, apparently you belong to the coalition of the can't count...

Right... because 9 years isnt almost a decade

Anyhow. Nobody even knows what "winning" is.