taleban attacks up 300%

[zimv20]

abcnews (http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/10/no_peace_in_pak.html)

first, there was the truce (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2395509). and richard clarke said (http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/09/pakistan_denies.html):

What this means is that the Taliban and al Queida leadership have effectively carved out a sanctuary inside Pakistan.

but bush said (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060922.html):

When the President looks me in the eye and says, the tribal deal is intended to reject the Talibanization of the people, and that there won't be a Taliban and won't be al Qaeda, I believe him, you know? This is a person with whom I've now had close working relationships for five-and-a-half years. And when he says, if we find -- when we find Osama bin Laden, he will be brought to justice, I believe him.

and today we have:

U.S. military officials tell ABC News cross-border attacks by the Taliban are up "300 percent" since President Musharraf declared a "truce" with tribal leaders in the troubled Northern Waziristan region that borders Afghanistan.

"Politically, it is very sensitive for us to raise this issue with Pakistan," said a senior NATO officer in Kabul. "But the facts are the facts."

Reports from the district capital Miram Shah say Taliban vigilantes now patrol the streets, while Pakistani government officials and the military are all but absent.

U.S. military officials say militants are openly ignoring the truce's requirement that they lay down down their weapons.

i liked it better when richard clarke was the anti-terror chief. he seems just a bit more smart than, well, anyone in the current administration.

so who's going to send troops to afghanistan to kick out the taleban again? eritrea?

[Thomas Veil]

i liked it better when richard clarke was the anti-terror chief. he seems just a bit more smart than, well, anyone in the current administration.I think Gomer Pyle is probably smarter than anyone in the current administration.

With respect to the Taliban, it's just bad news on top of more bad news. It's NATO that's running the show there now, and I'm confident that, faced with a strategy that isn't working, they won't just "stay the course" but will figure out something else.

One thing that's been suggested -- although it's a politically sensitive issue for Musharraf -- is totally defoliating the poppy fields, thus depriving the Taliban and al-Qaeda of the drug trade that earns them so much money. However, that's likely to stir up even more violence, at least in the short term, and we may see more NATO troops assigned to the region before this thing gets better again.

[MACDRIVE]

One thing that's been suggested -- although it's a politically sensitive issue for Musharraf -- is totally defoliating the poppy fields, thus depriving the Taliban and al-Qaeda of the drug trade that earns them so much money.

I'm totally against that because it would be hurting the farmer on the ground trying to make a living to feed his family. That to me would be a real chicken ***** way of going about it; and besides, al-Qaeda would just find some other way to make money.

[miloblithe]

I don't think that taking away Afghanistan's principle export and the livelihood of its population with chemicals dropped from the air would endear us to the local population.

[skunk]

One thing that's been suggested -- although it's a politically sensitive issue for Musharraf -- is totally defoliating the poppy fields, thus depriving the Taliban and al-Qaeda of the drug trade that earns them so much money.The only time poppy production dropped in Afghanistan was when the Taliban were in charge.

[Thomas Veil]

Assuming that all these poppies are being grown by family farmers and not warlords...is that the only kind of crop that can be grown in Afghanistan? I mean, are we saying that they have to grow a crop used to make illegal drugs because they have no other choice?

[zimv20]

is that the only kind of crop that can be grown in Afghanistan? I mean, are we saying that they have to grow a crop used to make illegal drugs because they have no other choice?
it's the most profitable. there was, as i understand it, a fairly successful program in the 90s to incent the farmers to grow something else.

such nuance seems to be long gone, though.

[skunk]

it's the most profitable. there was, as i understand it, a fairly successful program in the 90s to incent the farmers to grow something else.

such nuance seems to be long gone, though.George doesn't do nuance.

[Blue Velvet]

There is this piece in today's Observer about an imminent winter offensive by the Taliban. Far from being routed, it seems they're re-gathering strength.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1934251,00.html

The Taliban are planning a major winter offensive combining their diverse factions in a push on the Afghan capital, Kabul, intelligence analysts and sources among the militia have revealed.

The thrust will involve a concerted attempt to take control of surrounding provinces, a bid to cut the key commercial highway linking the capital with the eastern city of Jalalabad, and operations designed to tie down British and other Nato troops in the south.


Meanwhile...

Tony Blair's most trusted military commander yesterday branded as 'cuckoo' the way Britain's overstretched army was sent into Afghanistan ...

'Anyone who thought this was going to be a picnic in Afghanistan — anyone who had read any history, anyone who knew the Afghans, or had seen the terrain, anyone who had thought about the Taliban resurgence, anyone who understood what was going on across the border in Baluchistan and Waziristan [should have known] — to launch the British army in with the numbers there are, while we're still going on in Iraq is cuckoo,' Guthrie said.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1934382,00.html



Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.

[Dont Hurt Me]

it's the most profitable. there was, as i understand it, a fairly successful program in the 90s to incent the farmers to grow something else.

such nuance seems to be long gone, though.My guess is another Clinton program intended for good so the first thing King George did was remove all programs that Clinton had anything to do with. Its interesting to note how many things Clinton started that this president abolished. Like everything else that George and his corporations have touched another thing thats a G.D. mess.