Exclusive: New British Army field manual tells its soldiers to 'bribe' the Taleban!

From the TimesOnline.

British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits with “bags of gold”, according to a new army field manual published yesterday.

Army commanders should also talk to insurgent leaders with “blood on their hands” in order to hasten the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.

The edicts, which are contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be taught to all new army officers. They mark a strategic rethink after three years in which British and Nato forces have failed to defeat the Taleban. The manual is also a recognition that the Army’s previous doctrine for success against insurgents, which was based on the experience in Northern Ireland, is now out of date.

This war is quite frankly pathetic.

We've got the US considering paying the Afghans to quit the Taliban, Startling Reports of Western Helicopters Used to Transport/Evacuate the Taliban, and now bribing the Taliban has become official British Army policy.

So the same people that have been blowing our boys to smithereens, will now be getting paid by us, I am quite appalled.

Okay, the war in Afghanistan isn't going to plan, well here's an idea geniuses, get the HELL out of there then!

Sometimes I want to give up

Pfft the Brits are only doing this now LOL.
The CIA have been doing this for decades. They would literally fly in a cubic Ton of US currency to any Warlord that was happy to do its bidding for them anywhere anyhow anytime.

So we're doing what the Americans have been doing since day one, buying them off. It's one big back scratching exercise with the appearance of a war. It's bizarre. People dying so a few rich folk can get richer, and a few tribal leaders sel themselves right out to the highest bidder. Well at least they have a firm grasp of a free market.

Originally posted by kiwifoot

British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits

Did you miss the word "Potential"?

If they are not Taleban yet.. then what are the forces supposed to do? Treat them badly and push them in the direction of the Taleban warlords in search of a militia job?

Wouldn't be what i would do anyway.. you?

[edit on 16/11/09 by Dermo]

Well, if the squaddies I've known are anything to go by, some of that gold will be finding its way into their pockets. Of that I have no doubt. Far easier to skim a little than collect up AK47s from dead combatants, dismantle them & recombine parts into new difficult to trace weapons for sale to the locals. Not that any serving member of Her Majesty's Armed Forces would ever do such a thing...

reply to post by Dermo


I do agree with your take on the artcle, it is obviously talking about potential Taliban. Having said that the second paragraph is quite telling. They recommend talking to established insurgents, I don't really see it being long until the loot finds its' way to them.

That's just my opinion!

All the best, Kiwifoot!

reply to post by kiwifoot


Yea, I get what you are saying and it is definitely correct in the traditional sense of an enemy. The thing with the "Taleban" that people don't always realize is that they are not in any way your conventional enemy. They are generally just people looking for way to make money/to survive or to protect that they have been raised to believe is correct in Islam.

Their 'cause' is borne of necessity or ignorance/lack of education/business.. By approaching them and using small amounts of money to try and change their mindset towards the western forces or even to try and change their perspective on the changing world.. progress may be made without having to kill individuals who are simply too ignorant to know any better in most cases.

The Taleban are not terrorists or Al qaeda.. they are generally non related tribal groups and only became insurgents since the IFOR forces showed up.

Its a hard one to call.. its possible in many cases that this money is going on weapons for the various warlords or creating a destabilizing effect on the region by enabling one group to become much stronger than the rest. Both could be detrimental or positive for the cause.

In any case.. they are so backwards in general, it is going to be almost impossible to modernize that country because of them.

Originally posted by Dermo
reply to post by kiwifoot

 

The thing with the "Taleban" that people don't always realize is that they are not in any way your conventional enemy. They are generally just people looking for way to make money/to survive or to protect that they have been raised to believe is correct in Islam.

Sorry mate but, wrong!

The Taliban are a group of extreme Muslims who want to impose a barbaric and repressive brand of Islam on the majority of Afghani's who don't want it.

Their 'cause' is borne of necessity or ignorance/lack of education/business..

No it isn't, their cause is borne of religious extremism and bigotry.
The Taliban made a point of restricting education by strictly controling what could be taught and who to.

By approaching them and using small amounts of money to try and change their mindset towards the western forces or even to try and change their perspective on the changing world.. progress may be made without having to kill individuals who are simply too ignorant to know any better in most cases.

Nonsense.
They are religious extremists who passionately believe in the imposition of a strict and severe brand of Sharia Law no matter what using whatever means possible.
The vast majority, if not all, will simply nod their heads, take the money and then wait for The Troops to disappear and then go back to their normal activity whilst laughing at our naivety.

The Taleban are not terrorists or Al qaeda..

Whilst they may not be Al-Qaeda they are definately terrorists!
en.wikipedia.org...

they are generally non related tribal groups

en.wikipedia.org...

and only became insurgents since the IFOR forces showed up.

IFOR was an International Force mandated for action in Bosnia exclusively and has played no role anywhere else!
en.wikipedia.org...

Its a hard one to call.. its possible in many cases that this money is going on weapons for the various warlords or creating a destabilizing effect on the region by enabling one group to become much stronger than the rest. Both could be detrimental or positive for the cause.

Any monies paid would only be spent on more arms.
To even think anything other is naivety of the highest order.

In any case.. they are so backwards in general, it is going to be almost impossible to modernize that country because of them.

In essence I agree.
But we have to resist and defeat them.
We cannot allow them to gain control of Afghanistan and with it probably Pakistan.
The thing is, once defeated we must allow Afghanistan to be governed by Afghani's in whatever way they see fit and not by imposing our version of democracy on them, something that seems alien to their mindset.

[edit on 17/11/09 by Freeborn]

reply to post by Freeborn


And this is extreme to you? Or actually extreme..? Extreme to a westerner or to someone born into it? I know what the Taleban are man.. you are trying to correct me on semantics in many respects there.. Fact is, they are tribal groups, ignorant of anything outside extremely conservative and ant times violent takes on Islam who make a living from what they do in order to survive.

You aren't after buying the propaganda from Sky news are you? I thought you would have more cop on m8

IFOR was an International Force mandated for action in Bosnia exclusively and has played no role anywhere else!

Sorry Mr wannabe Pedantic I did say "THE" ifor.. as in THE international forces.. I didn't refer to them as just IFOR... So I wasn't actually referring to the official use of IFOR... I thought an English person would at least pick up on something that simple in the linguistic area.

Game, Set and Match.. Return serve?

[edit on 17/11/09 by Dermo]

To be honest this is nothing new the British army have being doing this for years in return for intelligence and help in certain situations.

As Chris Ryan said in his book "The one that got away" the story of a SAS trooper walking out of Iraq in Operation desert storm (gulf war 1) When his covert operation went tits up,
He handed over gold sovereigns to Iraq civilians in a bid to get him over the border to Syria and they nearly handed him over to Iraq intelligence, Or am i getting confused with the book bravo 2 zero ??
Anyways i would be a bit dubious about buying their loyalty..

reply to post by Dermo


You know me better, I have absolutely no intention of being pedantic, but facts are facts!

There's is an extreme brand of Islam.

They themselves had every chance to gain education, but they have chosen to reject that, as is their right, that they then choose to deny anyone else that right is repressive....they know what they are doing...it is not down to their backward, tribal ignorance but rather their bigotted and barbaric brand of Islam, pure and simple.
They are more than aware that by controlling the education system as well as religious belief ensures total compliance with their wishes.

The vast majority DO NOT WANT The Taliban to be in control of their country.
They have had it imposed on them once before and don't want it again.
Do they want a western style democracy?
No probably not, it is alien to them.

And most definately yes, they are terrorists.
They perform acts that are generally regarded as terrorist acts; car bombings, ambushes, kidnapping, blah, blah, blah.

Your initial point was that they are merely trying to make enough money to survive.
This is blatantly incorrect.
They want to impose their own belief system on a whole country, the vast majority of which don't want it and feel no affinity to them whatsoever, they even speak a different language to the vast majority of Afghan's!

As you know, I am not one for naively believing MSM.
But i genuinely believe The Taliban could pose a massive threat to world security.
If they gain control of Afghanistan then Pakistan is next on their radar.
If they gain control of Pakistan they then have nuclear weapons.
These people would use them if threatened.
India will not allow that.
China probably wouldn't too.
The potential for a major confrontation is massive.
The whole region is a powder keg.
That is why it is essential that The Taliban must be resisted at all costs and nipped in the bud.

I had no intention to be pedantic, to ridicule or belittle.
I have always enjoyed your posts, regardless of agreeing with them or not.

reply to post by Freeborn


Don't worry m8, I was only joking

I know what you are saying and it is correct.. the point I was pushing at the start was that these "Potential Taleban" can possibly be bought off before joining what our forces call the "Taleban" because they clearly are more about survival than religious extremes.. Or else they wouldn't be "Potential Taleban" but "Taleban".