Afghanistan??

[JohnnyRoyale]

So, with all that is going on in Iraq, what about our original mission against "evil doers"? Do we just have about 10 troops over there watching guard and searching for Osama? I'm a pretty busy person, so the only time I really get to catch up on these World Issues is the daily newspaper, which, of course has been all Iraq lately.
Has anyone heard much about Afghanistan lately? Or what about the nut-cases in North Korea, they're a MAJOR threat in my eyes.

Curious on replies

[BigSugar]

82nd Airborne and a full Infantry Division as well as carrier based operations are taking place daily....might have the divisions mixed up, but there is continued military activity on a large scale...just don't hear about it since the Iraq war started....after all, we have to see the same pictures of tanks in the desert 75 times per hour or else we'll forget what's happening there....god i hate the news.

[Docta]

Taliban reviving structure in Afghanistan
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By KATHY GANNON
salon.com


April 7, 2003 | KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- Before executing the International Red Cross worker, the Taliban gunmen made a satellite telephone call to their superior for instructions: Kill him?

Kill him, the order came back, and Ricardo Munguia, whose body was found with 20 bullet wounds last month, became the first foreign aid worker to die in Afghanistan since the Taliban's ouster from power 18 months ago.

The manner of his death suggests the Taliban is not only determined to remain a force in this country, but is reorganizing and reviving its command structure.

There is little to stop them. The soldiers and police who were supposed to be the bedrock of a stable postwar Afghanistan have gone unpaid for months and are drifting away.

At a time when the United States is promising a reconstructed democratic postwar Iraq, many Afghans are remembering hearing similar promises not long ago.

Instead, what they see is thieving warlords, murder on the roads, and a resurgence of Taliban vigilantism.

"It's like I am seeing the same movie twice and no one is trying to fix the problem," said Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghanistan's president and his representative in southern Kandahar. "What was promised to Afghans with the collapse of the Taliban was a new life of hope and change. But what was delivered? Nothing. Everyone is back in business."

Karzai said reconstruction has been painfully slow - a canal repaired, a piece of city road paved, a small school rebuilt.

"There have been no significant changes for people," he said. "People are tired of seeing small, small projects. I don't know what to say to people anymore."

When the Taliban ruled they forcibly conscripted young men. "Today I can say 'we don't take your sons away by force to fight at the front line,'" Karzai remarked. "But that's about all I can say."

From safe havens in neighboring Pakistan, aided by militant Muslim groups there, the Taliban launched their revival to coincide with the war in Iraq and capitalize on Muslim anger over the U.S. invasion, say Afghan officials.

Karzai said the Taliban are allied with rebel commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, supported by Pakistan and financed by militant Arabs.

The attacks have targeted foreigners and the threats have been directed toward Afghans working for international organizations.

Abdul Salam is a military commander for the government. Last month he was stopped at a Taliban checkpoint in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar and became a witness to the killing of Munguia, a 39-year-old water engineer from El Salvador.

After stopping Munguia and his three-vehicle convoy, gunmen made a phone call to Mullah Dadullah, a powerful former Taliban commander who happens to have an artificial leg provided by the Red Cross.

Mimicking a telephone receiver by cupping a hand on his ear, Salam recalled the gunmen's side of the conversation.

"I heard him say Mullah Dadullah," he said. "I heard him ask for instructions."

When the conversation ended the Taliban moved quickly, Salam said. They shoved Munguia behind one of the vehicles, siphoned gasoline from the tanks and used it to set the vehicles on fire.

Munguia was standing nearby. One Taliban raised his Kalashnikov rifle and fired at Manguia.

Then they told the others: "You are working with kafirs (unbelievers). You are slaves of Karzai and Karzai is a slave to America."

"This time we will let you go because you are Afghan," Salam remembered them saying, "but if we find you again and you are still working for the government we will kill you."

In the latest killing in southern Afghanistan, gunmen on Thursday shot to death Haji Gilani, a close Karzai ally, in southern Uruzgan province. Gilani was one of the first people to shelter Karzai when he secretly entered Afghanistan to foment a rebellion against the Taliban in late 2001.

International workers in Kandahar don't feel safe anymore and some have been moved from the Kandahar region to safer areas, said John Oerum, southwest security officer for the United Nations. But Oerum is trying to find a way to stay in southern Afghanistan. To abandon it would be to let the rebel forces win, he says.

The Red Cross, with 150 foreign workers in Afghanistan, have suspended operations indefinitely.

Today most Afghans say their National Army seems a distant dream while the U.S.-led coalition continues to feed and finance warlords for their help in hunting for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

Karzai, the president's brother, says: "We have to pay more attention at the district level, build the administration. We know who these Taliban are, but we don't have the people to report them when they return."

Khan Mohammed, commander of Kandahar's 2nd Corps, says his soldiers haven't been paid in seven months, and his fighting force has dwindled. The Kandahar police chief, Mohammed Akram, said he wants 50 extra police in each district where the Taliban have a stronghold. But he says his police haven't been paid in months and hundreds have just gone home.

"There is no real administration all over Afghanistan, no army, no police," said Mohammed. "The people do not want the Taliban, but we have to unite and build, but we are not."

[tobedawg]

Ahhh yes.. Another fine example of US Foreign Policy at work.

[BigSugar]

so tell me tobe, in your infinite wisdom, how would you propose to unite the 10 historically warring tribes of Afghanistan into a cohesive govt. in less than 6 months? a year? 10 years? i mean clearly you have a plan, or you wouldn't be criticizing current policy, right?

[DudeMan]

Yeah, things are so terrible in Afghanistan that over 2 million Afghani refugees have chosen to move back home in the last year.

Amazing that the same people who were against us taking out the Taliban in the first place are the same ones who are now saying that we aren't doing enough.

[Docta]

Originally posted by DudeMan

Amazing that the same people who were against us taking out the Taliban in the first place are the same ones who are now saying that we aren't doing enough.

don't know that there were many against this one brutha.

that being said, it is quite easy for the US to go obliterate the hell out of a government, but then what? we need to play a crucial part in at least keeping the country stable enough to allow for a demographic rebuild of the new government.

[dcXhc]

Originally posted by BigSugar
so tell me tobe, in your infinite wisdom, how would you propose to unite the 10 historically warring tribes of Afghanistan into a cohesive govt. in less than 6 months? a year? 10 years? i mean clearly you have a plan, or you wouldn't be criticizing current policy, right?

I think he'd suggest a drum circle and an inter-tribe hacky-sack round robin.

[BigSugar]

Originally posted by dcXhc


I think he'd suggest a drum circle and an inter-tribe hacky-sack round robin.

Sweet! as long as there's hash, i'll play!

[Duemellon]

Amazing that the same people who were against us taking out the Taliban in the first place are the same ones who are now saying that we aren't doing enough.I dont see the contridiction myself.

If you go in to do something, do it right and completely. To go in and destroy the Taliban was a bit hasty and possibly could have been averted, but since it was done, don't leave the place burning, unkept, and deteriorating. Finish the responsibility part of the job.

If you see a different explaination to the statement that "We shouldn't've, but since we did, see it through." Please share, I want to know.

[DudeMan]

That makes some sense, Due. At least in theory. In reality, I think that many if not most of the nay-sayers just don't like Bush or what he stands for, and will criticize his policies for the sake of criticizing, regardless of being logically-inconsistent -- ie, complaining that Bush is being 'unilateral' with Iraq and then turning around and complaining that Bush is trying to be multilateral vis a vis North Korea (ie, with China, Russia, S. Korea and Japan) instead of talking with them directly.

[tobedawg]

If you go in to do something, do it right and completely. To go in and destroy the Taliban was a bit hasty and possibly could have been averted, but since it was done, don't leave the place burning, unkept, and deteriorating. Finish the responsibility part of the job.

What Due said!!

And What Doc said too..

that being said, it is quite easy for the US to go obliterate the hell out of a government, but then what? we need to play a crucial part in at least keeping the country stable enough to allow for a demographic rebuild of the new government.

[yoshomon]

Originally posted by BigSugar
Sweet! as long as there's hash, i'll play!

Dude, it's Afghanistan. We do heroin there.

[Duemellon]

I think that many if not most of the nay-sayers just don't like Bush or what he stands for, and will criticize his policies for the sake of criticizing,heh, but i ain't one of 'em.

I'm glad he appears to be trying the diplomatic tactic with NKor that he didn't do with Afghn & Iraq. Success with it? Far from it. He still spurted out some war-talk well before it's time. Sure, NKor is unique in comparison to our latest military incursions b/c well...

they're really being jerks about it to (saying they have a missle pointed at CA, harassing planes, celebrating inaguration of SKor pres with a ICBM salute). Between the 3, Iraq, Afghns, and NKor, so far I think NKor is the most deserving of military action to happen against them. Albiet we are far from that point.

[miami2112]

so, what has been going on in afghanistan lately?

[Christian]

Get with the program, dude. We fixed it.

If it wasn't, you'd be hearing all about it.

[miami2112]

Get with the program, dude. We fixed it.

If it wasn't, you'd be hearing all about it.
well, thanks for clearing that up for me. :D

[jneale]

I've always wanted one of their dogs....

http://www.boanne.com/girls/index.6.jpg

[miami2112]

I've always wanted one of their dogs....

http://www.boanne.com/girls/index.6.jpg

http://wes.liberatedmatter.com/webimages/blogimages/morrissey02.jpg

[monkey neck]

I think when the U.S. went in, their Whig party broke up and formed other factions. When we all thought this whole thing was in it's twilight, it has pretty much fallen into the gutter. We were hoping that we'd find Osama and blow him to the moon, maan.


yuk yuk yuk. Yuck.

[wileE]

Get with the program, dude. We fixed it.

If it wasn't, you'd be hearing all about it.

Yep. Their opium production is now streamlined and at an all time high.
(I can make puns, too!)

[frizgolf]

Yep. Their opium production is now mainlining and at an all time high.

FTFY .