Stephen Harper's illegal and unwinnable war is a total failure
Auld Bob
* Rebel factions reestablish presence in south, east and northern
parts of country
KABUL: Militants are returning to parts of Afghanistan they occupied
before the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and their strength is growing
outside of their strongholds in the south, US and Afghan officials
say.
“The insurgency has had the time to basically reorganise, reset and re-
establish old footholds that they once had in the days prior to 9/11,”
US Major General Michael Flynn said during a recent tour of northern
Afghanistan. Militants are active in “many of the same places where
they operated prior to 9/11”, the head of intelligence for the NATO-
led International Security Assistance Force told AFP.
Nearly eight years later, Taliban attacks are at record levels,
leading Washington to search out a new way of dealing with spiralling
unrest in a region considered a nest of extremism that threatens the
West. Flynn said insurgents were reestablishing mostly in the south
but also in the east and in parts of the north - places with Taliban
presence before the invasion.
“The strength and the coherency, the command and control is not as
good as it was then but it is getting better,” he said during the tour
with the new commander of international troops here, US General
Stanley McChrystal. Militants could enter many of these “new pockets”
because they had families and connections there, he said, stressing
this did not mean locals wanted a return to the Taliban order. They
were also able to ease their way back in because there were not the
numbers of Afghan police and soldiers needed to keep them out. “We
have not been able to grow that capacity and get that capacity out in
these provinces where the people need their own citizens to protect
them,” Flynn said. McChrystal, touring Afghanistan after taking
command of about 90,000 US and NATO forces mid-June, said separately
the “most dangerous thing” in Afghanistan was not attacks by
insurgents but their infiltration into village structures.
“By doing that they have been able to establish shadow governance,
intimidation of the population, limitations of governance,” he told
AFP, describing the situation as “serious”. On his visit to the north,
McChrystal heard from Afghan and NATO officials worried about
increasing militant activity even though the region sees far less
unrest than the south, where Taliban control several areas.
The region’s main concern was around the northern town of Kunduz,
where German troops are based for ISAF and there have been several
recent attacks. “It was a centre for Taliban and Al Qaeda in the
past,” said Afghan army commander for the north, General Morad Ali
Morad. “They established at that time a relationship with the
community. Based on that, they have come back.”
Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Hezb-i-Islami faction, part of the anti-
Soviet Afghan alliance of the 1980s, were active in the area, he said.
Other officials also pointed to involvement of fighters from groups
from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, just across the border. The Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan of Tahir Yuldashev had been able to establish a
base in Almalek in Sari Pul province, with 80 men under a Mullah
Nadir, the governor of neighbouring Faryab province told the touring
team.
Pockets of insurgents were trying to link up and coordinate in the
north, governor Abdul Haq Shafaq warned. The area was generally calm
but with “activities of the enemy increasing”, he said. Flynn said
most places in the north were nonetheless in good shape. “What I am
concerned about is that if we don’t do something about this growing
insurgent capability we have up there, then it could obviously get
worse over time,” he said. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\06\29\story_29-6-2009_pg20_5
10x
<fraeoldbob...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Afghan insurgents returning to pre-9/11 haunts: US military
>
>* Rebel factions reestablish presence in south, east and northern
>parts of country
Small correction:
Mr. Martin signed up Canadian troups and got Canada invovled in that
war.
His gift to Mr Harper...
Crap Detector
In your very feeble mind, just what does winnable signify? The
Americans drove out the
Taliban government in 2002 and occupied the country. Muslim mujahedeen
guerrillas still
exist but are in a very precarious position. Complete victory in
Afghanistan, a Muslim
country, would require genocide like the Turks did to the Armenians
before WW I. Do you want that?
involve g
Scotius
<fraeoldbob...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Afghan insurgents returning to pre-9/11 haunts: US military
There's no such thing as an illegal war, or a good one.