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(visit the link for the full news article)
The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency's spiritual home.
. . . in groups of 20 to 25, are ensconced along the borders within Pakistan and make forays into the border cities and roadways of Afghanistan to harass the well-trained foreign troops guarding these cities. The strategy is more or less similar to the one the Vietcong adopted in Vietnam during the three decades of war in Indochina: that is, to hit and vanish, to cause injury and damage, to make the guerrillas' unseen presence felt every day, and to capitalize on the despondency that sets in in the minds of the occupying forces . . .
MINGORA, Pakistan — In a voice barely above a whisper, I.H. stared at his feet as he recounted haltingly how the Taliban kidnapped him and a classmate as they played in the street. They cleaned dishes for a few days in a militant training camp in northern Pakistan before escaping during Friday prayers, he said.
The Pakistani army says it has so far found 20 boys like I.H., who is only being identified by his initials for his safety, in the battle-scarred Swat Valley, scene of a major offensive against the Taliban this spring.
They believe the Taliban hoped to turn the boys into informants, fighters or even suicide bombers. Some escaped, others were rescued by authorities. Maj. Nasir Khan said many more are believed to be in the hands of militants.
WASHINGTON — The United States is nearly certain the Pakistani Taliban's leader is dead, and there now is a leadership struggle within the terrorist group, White House national security adviser James Jones said Sunday.
Claims and counterclaims about Baitullah Mehsud's fate have swirled since a CIA missile strike last Wednesday on his father-in-law's house in Pakistan's rugged, lawless tribal area.
"Mehsud was a very bad individual, a real thug," said Jones, who appeared on three Sunday talk shows. He said the U.S. "put it in the 90 percent category" that Meshud was killed. "This is a big deal," he said.
By 1945, the Volkssturm was commonly drafting 12-year-old Hitler Youth members into its ranks. During the Battle of Berlin, Axmann's Hitler Youth formed a major part of the last line of German defense, and were reportedly among the fiercest fighters. Although the city commander, General Helmuth Weidling, ordered Axmann to disband the Hitler Youth combat formations; in the confusion, this order was never carried out.
"This radio called itself "Da Shariat Ghag Radio" or Radio voice of Sharia (Islamic Laws) have been airing programs on Taliban anti-government activities over the past three days," a resident of Qarabagh district Noor Mohammad told Xinhua.
A local official who declined to be identified also confirmed the report, saying Taliban militants have established their propaganda radio in the province.
"Honestly speaking, I think we need more troops," Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister who took over as head of NATO this month, said from Kabul.
"I have seen progress in the south (of Afghanistan), not least thanks to the increase in the number of troops, so definitely the number of troops matters," he told BBC radio.
NATO has almost 65,000 troops in Afghanistan, with contributions from more than 40 countries, although around half of them are American. The United States has a further 36,000 troops operating outside the NATO umbrella.
Originally posted by Zosynspiracy
Of course things aren't going well. Afghanistan is a giant black hole. The war over there will never end. It's going to be worse than Vietnam because it's hidden under the guise of the War on Terror. Americans have been brainwashed into fearing sandal wearing, AK-47 toting, goat herders with IED's.
Originally posted by jibeho
If we are ever going to truly win in this particular theater of combat we need to change our course of action and win this war as quickly as possible. It is time to pull the ground forces back and launch an all out air strike in these heated combat zones and taliban strongholds. Fighting cave to cave and door to door is utterly foolish in this long disputed land. We can't win that type of war in Afghanistan without severe troop losses.
The skies over this region need to look like the skies over Nuremberg.
It is time to end this nonsense once and for all with the might of NATO air superiority. Sift through the rubble later with our ground forces.
[edit on 10-8-2009 by jibeho]
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President Obama has put securing Afghanistan near the top of his foreign policy agenda, but "victory" in the war-torn country isn't necessarily the United States' goal, he said Thursday in a TV interview.
"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur," Obama told ABC News.
Originally posted by St Vaast
reply to post by jibeho
Afghanistan nice and close to the US, is it ? Taliban causing havoc in Dallas and NYC, killing and raping innocent Americans in Walmart ?
Why exactly are Americans murdering Afghanis and Iraqis? You'll need to explain it all again.