Leaked NATO report: Taliban to fight Afghanistan back

It has emerged that a classified NATO report accused Pakistan’s intelligence of controlling the Afghani Taliban. The revelation, which came at a critical moment for US-Pakistani relations, has been dismissed by Islamabad as “ridiculous.”

The report was prepared by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for internal use and not intended for release to the public. It sums up interviews with some 4,000 captured militants and civilians, the British media reported on Wednesday. Only a few of them were identified by name, however.

The document alleges that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) keeps a close tab on the Taliban’s senior members and supports the movement’s attacks on ISAF troops in Afghanistan.

I'm not sure which side to believe on this, since neither has credibility if it comes down to taking one's word over the other. It pains me to say that...but I don't feel honest in putting it any other way. NATO isn't what I used to think of it as.

Washington accused Islamabad of having a hold over the Taliban, particularly the so-called Haqqani network, and masterminding attacks on American troops. It also accused the Pakistani government of providing a hideout for Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani authorities have denied the allegations.

Source

I have two questions in my mind. Why are we still there, when it's becoming obvious that nothing done will last and everything we're fighting and dying for over there is quite literally for nothing?

Second.... What the heck did we go there for in the first place? I get the main reasons, and I was a cheerleader for it in 2001/2002. However....look how this has ended, and this isn't the first time we've done this dance as a nation.

If they've all but given up at the Political and Military command levels..which it sounds to me like they have between this and the various stories about high level peace talks with the Taliban, then why aren't we packing in haste to bug out of that nightmare of a place? They say Afghanistan is where Empires go to die. We entered Afghanistan as one of the strongest nations on Earth, and really...without much equal in 2001. We leave it, a shadow of our former selves both in society and political leadership (or lack of it).

It seems to me, Afghanistan didn't kill the United States, but that Great Eagle of ours is in the I.C.U. ward at the moment and too unstable to have visitors. I'd just like someone to explain what it was all for? Why did family I have need to go there and come back haunted and broken? Why did tens of thousands of Afghanis have to die? We went there to kill ONE MAN in particular and a dozen or so, if we could get them. So... 13 targets, give or take.....Why didn't we just get them and leave before the place sucked us dry and now, is ready to spit us out? It just makes no sense.

Dear Wrabbit2000,

Please forgive this shallow response to a thoughtful post which deserves more attention. If you'll recall, candidate Obama made quite a point of saying that Afghanistan was the "Right War," in contradistinction to Bush's efforts in Iraq.

Perhaps President Obama doesn't want to abandon "his" war quite so close to elections.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I'm not sure which side to believe on this, since neither has credibility if it comes down to taking one's word over the other.

And neither should be believed
Neither NATO nor the Pakistani ISI are clean or being honest with us or each other.

It pains me to say that...but I don't feel honest in putting it any other way. NATO isn't what I used to think of it as.

NATO is looking out for the West's interest in the region while dealing with those who are also interested in Central Asia's vast untapped resources. I've been saying it for years. Anybody listening? "The Stans" are in play. Stay tuned...

The New Great Game....

Crude oil, once seen as a wealth-creating blessing for mankind, is fast turning into the “devil’s tears”. The struggle to control the world’s remaining energy reserves increasingly culminates in bloody conflicts and the killing of innocent civilians, with the war in Iraq only being the latest example.

In The New Great Game, Central Asia, known as the "black hole of the earth" for much of the last century. The Caspian Sea contains the world’s largest amount of untapped oil and gas resources. It is estimated that there might be as much as one hundred billion barrels of crude oil in the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan alone.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000
I am sure when they finally get down to writing the official entry in the history text books most will gobble it up ....Or maybe they will avoid the the subject all together and every one can go back to business as usual ....its sad which ever way you want to look at it,but yea it will never make sense like a lot of the bogus history we are told ....peace

I wanted to post a link to a new thread that needs a look at ..The last vid is really good and connects many dots ..A view at what might be closer to the true history of the time at which we live ...peace www.abovetopsecret.com...

So basically ten years of war and the taliban will still take over? Remember when colin powell said that the world will forget about the taliban? The world has forgotten about Colin powell yet we are still talking about the Taliban controlling a lot of afghanistan. Haha, what a shame, so embarrassing a country that only farmers is defeating the USA. The objective was to remove taliban, and it didnt happen which means we lost.

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL

It's getting to be a pattern isn't it? North Korea and it's leadership far outlived those who fought it. Ho Chi Minh didn't live through the war, but only because his ticker crapped out and he died of natural heart attack in 1969. His 'vision', as it were, sure outlived all American elements who fought against it. Fidel Castro actually came to Washington to seek alliance first...but was all but thrown out because he wasn't polite enough to announce himself before coming and make a proper appointment to see the President.

Saddam...in 1990 - 2003...He almost outlived those who fought him too. Baby Bush has put our nation through hell and torn a region apart to prevent that.......but Daddy could have done it in 1990 with one well trained sniper and a $.50 bullet.

Now? The Taliban...also declared as a body that would be defeated, as you well note, and who defeated who???? Oh brother...


The next time they want to go to war..they can go to hell instead. War *IS* an ugly but necessary thing at times...but if we are going to fight, lets make sure it's WORTH the fight and we WIN IT. We don't lose wars.....we cede victory by choice...repeatedly and predictably.