The Afghanistan Thread

[skyhook77sfg]

if you're talking to me...

would have done it differently.


First, let 3 or 4 months pass

while feeding media this is not a military problem

but a criminal matter for police of all civilized countries.

Then much later, maybe ramadan, insertion of one competent special forces team

preferably cag/delta with two proficient marine force recon scout snipers...

and a confirmed UBL kill with low budget/manpower requirements...maximum efficiency.



The way it was done gave UBL weeks of warning...

either an egregious error or intentional plan

to keep the poster boy for the war on terror alive

and justify longterm presence on natural pipeline route.


you tell me which it was...

[Tinker]

Peaceful Co-existance in Pashto Afghanistan should be the goal. Let the Taliban take part in the government, we have to. It's the only way.

[skyhook77sfg]

d'accord.

high time.

and a border adjustment as promised 100 years ago...

let the pashtuns have their own stan

both sides of the divide and conquer english concoction.

[AzariLoveIran]

.

Believe or not , Iran insists America stay in Afghanistan


.

[skyhook77sfg]

just for you AZARI...

re CENTRAL ASIA

FROM

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63158


A recent uptick in diplomatic activity in southern Kyrgyzstan indicates Russia’s rising presence and influence in the country, which gives Russia substantial leverage over regional powers like Uzbekistan and global players like the United States. Russian plans to build a military training center in the volatile Kyrgyz south, ostensibly to fight terrorism, will also work to advance Moscow’s numerous strategic interests in the region.

However, the most important problem in the country following the 2010 uprising is continuing levels of violence within Kyrgyzstan , particularly in the south. This could explain Otunbayeva’s March 15 announcement that two new military training facilities will be built in southern Kyrgyzstan. Otunbayeva said Russia would build a facility in the city of Osh, while the United States could fund construction of a facility in Batken oblast, in either the town of Kyzyl-Kiya or the town of Batken.

Uzbekistan is also looking with a cautious eye at Tajikistan, which has faced its own security problems since a high-profile jailbreak in August and has traditionally had grievances with Dushanbe, where it labels opposition elements “transnational Islamic terrorists.” Such elements have posed problems in the Rasht Valley that Uzbekistan fears could spread elsewhere in the region. Uzbekistan is worried about militants transiting not only from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan but also through Kyrgyzstan, so Tashkent is having to sharpen its focus on both neighbors as well as on internal security along the borders. All of these reasons could force Uzbekistan to be more assertive — and possibly take direct action — in a region in which Russia maintains hegemony and does not want any challengers.

With these factors and the vulnerability of the region in mind, Russia has been increasing its involvement in and strengthening ties to Kyrgyzstan, the weakest state in the region. And with its growing presence, Russia is hoping to prevent the security situation in the country from spiraling out of control and allowing the spread of Uzbekistan’s influence. Also, the announcement of building both facilities is another sign of cooperation between Russia and the United States .

AS PREVIOUSLY POSTED

russia/us are the major powers

in central asia and china minor

iran is not in the equation today

no next year in balkh.


be well.

will be gone for a while.

will resume later.

[AzariLoveIran]

[skyhook77sfg]

Bob Woodward’s indispensable Obama’s Wars was published in autumn 2010, chronicling the details of Washington’s agonized decision in late 2009 to dispatch urgent military reinforcements to Afghanistan in the summer of 2010, with hopes that these troops might be gradually withdrawn as of July 2011.

President Obama’s six-point directive of November 29, 2009, quoted verbatim in Woodward, highlights the perplexity pervading current US policy efforts to contain, to limit, or rather, to quote the document’s most emphatic verb, to deny, a possibly irreversible Afghan catastrophe:

The military mission in Afghanistan will focus on six operational objectives and will be limited in scope and scale to only what is necessary to the attain the U.S. goal. These objectives are

• Reversing the Taliban’s momentum.

• Denying the Taliban access to and control of key population and production centers and lines of communication.

• Disrupting the Taliban in areas outside the secure area and preventing al Qaeda from gaining sanctuary in Afghanistan.

• Degrading the Taliban to levels manageable by the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF).

• Increasing the size of the ANSF and leveraging the potential for local security forces so we can transition responsibility for security to the Afghan government on a timeline that will permit us to begin to decrease our troop presence by July 2011.

• Selectively building the capacity of the Afghan government with military focuses on the ministries of defense and interior.



KEY PHRASE...

DENYING TALIBAN ACCESS TO AND CONTROL OF KEY POPULATION AND PRODUCTION CENTERS

Afghan production revolves around poppies...90% of world's heroin source.

Biggest surge was marines in helmand province where most poppy fields are...

poppy fields all doing well under marine guard...

marines forbidden to slash or burn poppy fields.

HELLO AMERICA

ANYBODY THERE?

[Ibrahim]

A possible strategy has been presented. Offer to buy the poppy from the farmers, pay them fair, then use what is required for producing medicine and torch the rest. The cost of the raw plant is actually very low, and the US could win over the entire farming population and massively disrupt the heroin trade and cut the Taliban out of a revenue stream at relatively low cost. Everyone from US officers on the ground, to Pakistan military, to think-tank nerds has already thought of this, but it can't be done because US headlines would read "US buys drugs from terrorists" and protesters would chant "no blood for opium." Of all the political constraints on US and allied action in Afghanistan, this is one of the most dumb.

Not that this would necessarily win the war or anything, but it would help a great deal.

[AzariLoveIran]

[skyhook77sfg]

a convenient excuse to perpetuate status quo?

Remember:

CIA/Special Forces spearhead downfall of Taliban who banned opium production.

US Army/Marines/Blackwater arrive to tune of 100,000 military, nearly as many armed contractors.

Opium production skyrockets to 90% of world heroin supply.

YOU SAW THIS MOVIE LATE SIXTIES EARLY SEVENTIES .

SW ASIA REPEATS SE ASIA


if USG can pay millions in subsidies to each corporate farm and billions in subsidies to agribusiness
it sure as hell can pay thousands to poor as dirt afghans to plant wheat instead of narcotics...

[AzariLoveIran]

[skyhook77sfg]

BUT NO EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS:


Afghans in Iranian Guantanamos and Abu Gharibs

The Foreign Ministry after a shameful silence has reluctantly said it would “look into” the execution of 45 Afghans in Iran. There are thousands of Afghans in the Iranian camps that are worst than Guantanamo Bay. The world has heard much about Guantanamo Bay, but less know about the infamous concentration camps in Iran that are worst than Abu Gharib.

The executions that took place for three days were on “court orders”. But the proceedings of the ghost Iranian courts were not reported in media. Under the cooperation agreements, Tehran is bound to inform the Government of Afghanistan about arrested Afghans. The most shameful is the silence of Afghan Government. After days of strong criticism in local media, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement. This is not understandable. While the Italian Government sends its Special Envoy for three Italians, Kabul do not bother to ask its “friendly Islamic neighbor state” about the miseries that thousands of Afghan are facing in all those infamous Iranian jails.

Regarding the execution, other than the fact that there are serious doubts on their involvement in the crime, how could one believe in the court preceding which was not reported? Afghans were not given rights to challenge the allegations against them in court. They were not provided with lawyers and access to family members for helping with a lawyer.

There are also reports that many Afghans were arrested after the violent protests following the fraud elections in Iran. It’s very probable that these Afghans include some of those arrested innocent people, who had nothing to do with the protest rallies, but arrested in the turmoil.

Afghans are living in worst conditions in the Iranian detention centers and jails. Two months ago, a delegation of Afghan MPs visited Iran and said that there were more than 5, 630 Afghans in Iranian prisons, 3,000 of whom had been sentenced to death. Nobody hear anything about their prosecution process. They are not allowed to have access to their family members in Afghanistan to get help with a lawyer. Their rights under detention are totally denied, already being kept in places worst than Guantanamo Bay.

http://kabulperspective.wordpress.com/2 ... u-gharibs/

[AzariLoveIran]

[skyhook77sfg]

maybe you should tell the Afghan people...

they obviously know little about Camp Potemkin

and a lot about what they hear from relatives

not chosen for the Rotkreuzschauanlage.

[AzariLoveIran]

[skyhook77sfg]

the Hazara, Uzbek, Tajik, Pashtun,Baluchi and Nuristani Afghans dont think they belong to Persia/Iran.

good luck trying to change their minds.


On to reality:





Washington (CNN) -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal lost his job when Rolling Stone magazine ran an article in which some of his aides made disparaging remarks about the vice president and others. But a newly released investigation by the Department of Defense inspector general finds neither McChrystal nor any of his aides did anything wrong.
In the article called "The Runaway General" reporter Michael Hastings wrote that one of McChrystal's aides referred to Vice President Joseph Biden as "Bite Me" and another referred to then-national security adviser Gen. James Jones as a "clown."

After interviewing 15 people, the inspector general's office completed its report on April 8. It was made public Monday after a Freedom of Information Act request by the New York Times. Neither McChrystal, who cooperated with an earlier Army investigation, nor Hastings were interviewed for the inspector general's report.
In the report, the inspector general writes, "The evidence was insufficient to substantiate a violation of applicable DoD standards." The report goes on to say, "Not all of the events at issue occurred as reported in the article."


Now add this report by an on the scene Afghan observer:


There are reports that General Petraeus, the architect of successful “surge” strategy in Iraq and widely respected US general and the current commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, will resign his position this summer for inability and failure to succeed in war in Afghanistan. His renowned predecessor, General McChrystal faced a similar fate and had to conclude his military career with bleeding mistakes and defeats in Afghan war. Although General Petraeus is said to be leaving his position due to the rising civilian casualties in the war and deteriorating bilateral relation with President Karzai, but his predecessor, McCrystal was fired for disabling the war machine of NATO air operations. His policy to minimize air operations or even stop them in some areas led to reemergence of the Taliban and left NATO soldiers practically handicapped on the ground.


Ali Raza Hussaini, Daily Outlook Afghanistan



and this earlier NY Times report"

KABUL, Afghanistan — The new American commander in Afghanistan said he would sharply restrict the use of airstrikes here, in an effort to reduce the civilian deaths that he said were undermining the American-led mission.

In interviews over the past few days, the commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, said the use of airstrikes during firefights would in most cases be allowed only to prevent American and other coalition troops from being overrun.

Even in the cases of active firefights with Taliban forces, he said, airstrikes will be limited if the combat is taking place in populated areas — the very circumstances in which most Afghan civilian deaths have occurred. The restrictions will be especially tight in attacking houses and compounds where insurgents are believed to have taken cover.

“Air power contains the seeds of our own destruction if we do not use it responsibly,” General McChrystal told a group of his senior officers during a video conference last week. “We can lose this fight.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world ... rikes.html


RESULT?

buzz in the special operations community is Gen. McChrystal was set up
for figuring out how to end conflict higher authority wants to perpetuate
with the constant irritant of civilian casualties from air strikes including drone attacks
which motivate never ending new supply of insurgent volunteers...

sic transit gloria

[monster_gardener]

[Mr. Perfect]

Sorry Az, leftist President in office. The left sold you guys down the river, big time, more than the tribe could ever dream of. The leftist MSM will do anything to protect their precious President, anything, everything goes under a rug or under the bus, including if not especially brown people in the region. Sorry, you got sold a bill of goods, big time.

[skyhook77sfg]

MONSTER

your question deserves a well considered reply.
the situation is complex....many actors on stage
and many operating backstage in the dark.

will do shortly.

in the meantime, if you know anyone who speaks pedophiliac
please have them ask MR PERVERT to try to put some content
into posts such as above which are fact free rants from the cheap seats behind right field.

[Mr. Perfect]

Sorry sky/wolfowitz, wore myself out supplying substantive content rebutting the latest neocon crusades, you guys just ignored it, so now I'll just gleefully sling cowpies at you neocon types as you sift through the ashes of your latest blunder.

[skyhook77sfg]

More consequences of the incompetent presidency of dead eye dick cheney and his puppet bush baby...


the botched Republican Afghan invasion that let Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and the Taliban escape

while they wasted 3,400 young American lives and a trillion dollars in Iraq ...


The marines and ISAF headquarters say that "progress" is being made in south Afghanistan; Helmand, Kandahar etc. I don't think so. Kandahar city is the largest population center in that region. The Taliban were able to dig a thousand foot long tunnel there without detection. This took five months to do. The tunnel ran under a main road, under buildings, etc. Nobody in the city noticed or warned the authorities. Having dug the tunnel into the political section of the prison, the Taliban emptied it out, taking several hours in the process. Guards, prison authorities, etc. were strangely oblivious to all this.

There are 541 more Taliban back "in the game" today.

[AzariLoveIran]

[Mr. Perfect]

[Mr. Perfect]

After the events described by skywolfowitz, escaping enemy soldiers by the hundreds, it is no wonder that Obama is scoring record lows in handling Afg.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/201 ... istan.html

A record 49 percent of Americans now disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan, up 8 points since January. And those who disapprove “strongly” outnumber strong approvers by nearly a 2-1 margin.

[AzariLoveIran]

.




China just next door .. America 12,000 Miles away from land-locked Afghanistan

West has no chance in Afghanistan and central Asia .. no chance


.