Afghanistan

[classicman]

Originally Posted by tw

excessive mental midgetism.

Damned engineers!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Mike Yon looks at the quiet side of Afghanistan, where they haven't seen any war for 40 years... lots of pictures.

Searching for Kuchi & Finding Lizards

[classicman]

ponal = personal

[TheMercenary]

Well someone must be doing something right. This PDF was released by Secrecy News, a site I frequent. Fairly telling. I just hope it continues...

Al Qaida: Western Spies Multiply “Like Locusts”
July 13th, 2009
From the point of view of an al Qaida military leader, Western intelligence agents are now ubiquitous in the lands of Islam, and their operations have been extraordinarily effective. The Western spies are unfailingly lethal, leaving a trail of dead Islamist fighters behind them. Worst of all, they have managed to recruit innumerable Muslims to assist their war efforts.

“The spies… were sent to penetrate the ranks of the Muslims generally, and the mujahidin specifically, and [they] spread all over the lands like locusts,” wrote Abu Yahya al-Libi, an al Qaida field commander in Afghanistan, in a new book called “Guidance on the Ruling of the Muslim Spy” (pdf).

“The spies are busy day and night carrying out their duties in an organized and secret manner… How many heroic leaders have been kidnapped at their hands? How many major mujahidin were surprised to be imprisoned or traced? Even the military and financial supply roads of the mujahidin, which are far from the enemy’s surveillance, were found by the spies.”

Al Qaida operations have been severely impeded by the intelligence war against them, al-Libi said. “As soon as the mujahidin get secretly into an area on a dark night, they are confronted by the Cross forces and their helpers. Many are killed or captured.”

Western spies are found under every conceivable cover, al-Libi wrote. “They have among them old hunchbacked men who cannot even walk, strong young men, weak women inside their house, young girls, and even children who did not reach puberty yet. The spy might be a doctor, nurse, engineer, student, preacher, scholar, runner, or a taxi driver. The spy can be anyone….”

continues:

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009...tml?pfstyle=wp

[Undertoad]

Sounds like paranoia, becoming confused about how the enemy knows things. They don't understand most of the technologies involved. So they don't know how they're watched from the skies, how information is harvested and processed, maps of associations built, etc. But they have to blame somebody. Innocents will suffer; like the numbers of Gazans killed for being Israeli "sympathizers".

[TheMercenary]

A new series of pictures.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/200..._part_two.html

[TheMercenary]

I found this little tidbit buried in another news story from the Times in the UK.

In a statement to the US Senate intelligence committee, obtained by the Secrecy News blog last week under freedom of information rules, Blair said Iran was covertly supplying weapons to the Taliban while publicly supporting the Afghan government.

“Shipments typically include small arms, mines, rocket-propelled grenades [RPGs], rockets, mortars and plastic explosives,” said Blair. He added: “Taliban commanders have publicly credited Iranian support for successful operations against coalition forces.”

British military intelligence sources were more cautious. “It is an undefined amount of explosives that has come in from Iran,” said one source. “But, yes, there is concern that some of the mines and explosives the Americans are talking about may have been used in the Taliban bombs.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6788799.ece

This type of news should be exploited more often to expose the involvement of Iran in the region.

[TheMercenary]

This is a troubling development. I am watching an interview on PBS Leher Hour now.

US taxpayers sponsor the Taliban

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/t...ng-the-taliban

[DanaC]

Yeah. But Blair's a lying war-mongering little shit. So don't necessarily believe a word he says.

[ZenGum]

I am more concerned about the extremely dodgy election they just had.

Many poeple were too scared of retaliation by the talleban to vote, showing that in many places the rule of law is definitiely not estalished.

Many people who wanted to vote complain that their ballot papers never arrived. Yet those areas have recorded full returns with big turnouts, and almost all voting for Karzai.

There are many serious "irregularities" of this sort that materially affect the result.

Karzai will probably continue to be president, but his percieved legitimacy has evaporated.

This will further undermine the authority of the Afghan government, and worse, the constitution; people will be more inclined to flout central authority, and less inclined to risk their lives serving its armies.

This is very bad. Almost 8 years on, and we are at least as far from a viable exit strategy as we have ever been.

So what are we going to do? Walk away and let the talleban continue thier shennanigans, and probably end up in control, if not of the whole country, then of some "tribal regions" like in Pakistan? Or are we going to stay there and bleed indefinitely, continuing to piss off the locals with the occasional regrettable collateral damage incidents?

Anyone got any better ideas? How many troops would it take to "surge" Afghanistan, and for how long?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Rule of law? Authority of the Afghan government? Afghanistan has never had either of those things, ever. It's the Word's most primitive country, bar none.
They don't even have roads where most Afghans live, so how do you govern people you can't even reach?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I am more concerned about the extremely dodgy election they just had.

Many poeple were too scared of retaliation by the talleban to vote, showing that in many places the rule of law is definitiely not estalished.

Many people who wanted to vote complain that their ballot papers never arrived. Yet those areas have recorded full returns with big turnouts, and almost all voting for Karzai.

There are many serious "irregularities" of this sort that materially affect the result.

Karzai will probably continue to be president, but his percieved legitimacy has evaporated.

This will further undermine the authority of the Afghan government, and worse, the constitution; people will be more inclined to flout central authority, and less inclined to risk their lives serving its armies.

This is very bad. Almost 8 years on, and we are at least as far from a viable exit strategy as we have ever been.

So what are we going to do? Walk away and let the talleban continue thier shennanigans, and probably end up in control, if not of the whole country, then of some "tribal regions" like in Pakistan? Or are we going to stay there and bleed indefinitely, continuing to piss off the locals with the occasional regrettable collateral damage incidents?

Anyone got any better ideas? How many troops would it take to "surge" Afghanistan, and for how long?

I agree with much of what you said. A Western style democracy is doomed to failure in Afghanistan. I think we need to stop the ramp up of troops and move back to a Special Forces style of intervention.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I agree with much of what you said. A Western style democracy is doomed to failure in Afghanistan. I think we need to stop the ramp up of troops and move back to a Special Forces style of intervention.

It's looking that way. We should build our intelligence network and then use special ops to snuff out Al Q types as they pop up on radar.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Following Mike Yon's blog, they don't have to wait. Taliban are everywhere and pop up everytime troops leave their compounds.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Following Mike Yon's blog, they don't have to wait. Taliban are everywhere and pop up everytime troops leave their compounds.

Taliban ain't Al Q. They oppress their own people and let Al Q operate but they are not one entity. As far as I know anyway...