Pakistan Opens NATO Supply Line as Clinton Apologizes.

Pakistan told the United States it was reopening NATO’s supply routes into neighboring Afghanistan after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was sorry for the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in American airstrikes in November, the State Department said Tuesday....The Pentagon has offset the closed route by using a much longer, more expensive northern supply line that runs into Afghanistan through Central Asia. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has said the route was costing an extra $100 million a month.

I am wondering about the timings at this time. The route was closed off for a while. I sense urgency or immediate need to find shorter and quicker route to replenish the supplies to the bases and fronts in Afghanistan.
NEWS_LINKY

Are you suggesting, perhaps, that they are staging some additional goodies for the alleged upcoming attack on Iran? Looking at the globe sitting up on my bookshelf, it seems Iran is right next to Afghanistan to the west.

reply to post by AnonymousCitizen


Maybe it makes sense then for the SCO to make a new route from China across the Stans then.

goo.gl...

Yes we are sorry we have to kill scumbags in Pakistan.We hope you won't hide any more from us deliberately,,,,again and we hope none seek to hide there without your knowledge as I'm sure we both may be sorry again.

Originally posted by AnonymousCitizen
Are you suggesting, perhaps, that they are staging some additional goodies for the alleged upcoming attack on Iran? Looking at the globe sitting up on my bookshelf, it seems Iran is right next to Afghanistan to the west.

I'm afraid so but not necessarily with additional goodies. More so to feed the massive requirement of logistics. I hate to compare the war to a symphony but the volume of goodies used in the theater is immense and needless to say that they all have to work together to be effective.

Originally posted by cavtrooper7
Yes we are sorry we have to kill scumbags in Pakistan.We hope you won't hide any more from us deliberately,,,,again and we hope none seek to hide there without your knowledge as I'm sure we both may be sorry again.

So you think it was just a 'slap on the wrist' ? I would assume that the leadership in Pakistan received this message as well

They probably just worked out some shady deal to send more taxpayer money to Pakistan.

And bedazzle kits, those weirdos put sequins on everything.

Originally posted by AnonymousCitizen
Are you suggesting, perhaps, that they are staging some additional goodies for the alleged upcoming attack on Iran? Looking at the globe sitting up on my bookshelf, it seems Iran is right next to Afghanistan to the west.

I always wonder when those who make references to Iran never bring up the fact the the US had over 150,000 troops right next door in Iraq but chose to remove them instead of staging this mythical attack that's been predicted going back at least 33 years now.

Oh wait. Reopening the supply lines that were closed after the US killed some Taliban and Pakistani soldiers at a known collaborating Pakistani border post is obviously a sign that the US/West are going after Iran...

Obviously.

Billary apologizing to Pakistan, seriously?!!!

What the hell do we owe them an apology for? They are the 2 faced bastards that were knowingly hiding OBL while still pretending to be our ally and not hesitating for one minute to accept the billions in "aid" money that we continue to give them.

I'm sorry but I don't remember hearing an apology come from Islamabad for aiding andhiding OBL, or for the ongoing supplying and support of Taliban fighters crossing over into Afghanistan. I did 3 tours in Afghan and we knew when I was activity duty that Pakistan was training and supporting Taliban fighters.

No, it is Pakistan that owes us the apology but we will never get it, all we will get is more lies and rhetoric when they want more money from the US taxpayers.

This is what happens when you have politicians that are more concerned with the world stage and events than serving the citizens that elected them.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


And how exactly does spending 10 years in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban serve the American people?

It was Al-Qaeda,an organization started, trained and funded by the CIA that attacked the WTC not the Taliban.
Why after 10 years is 90% of the worlds heroin still produced from Afghan Poppy plants?

Sorry friend, but our brothers have been dying for no reason.

Originally posted by watchitburn
reply to post by Nucleardiver

 

Why after 10 years is 90% of the worlds heroin still produced from Afghan Poppy plants?

I'm not Nucleardiver but where exactly was stopping the Heroin production [Which has been produced in the region going back hundreds of years] ever been stated as a goal?

reply to post by SLAYER69


You bring up a valid point. What exactly is our goal over there anyway?

But, supposedly the US declared "war on drugs", and heroin is one of the more destructive drugs around.
If the US is determined to engage in pointless wars, the least we can do is put a huge dent in the drug trade.
I know our country isn't known for making the world a better place, but we could at least do something productive while we are there. It would save US taxpayers butt-loads of money on prison, court, and health costs.

Originally posted by Nucleardiver

What the hell do we owe them an apology for?

"Never ruin an apology with an excuse - Benjamin Franklin" Unfortunately which other country do you think might support the bases and/or supply routes in that particular region at a cheaper rate?

They are the 2 faced bastards that were knowingly hiding OBL while still pretending to be our ally and not hesitating for one minute to accept the billions in "aid" money that we continue to give them.

We know that too. Think about using 'metal to cut metal' for now until we have another tool. They know how much strategic importance the region plays in the ME so ofcourse they will not stop to beg and receive the billions in 'aid'.

Originally posted by watchitburn
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

You bring up a valid point. What exactly is our goal over there anyway?

edit on 3-7-2012 by watchitburn because: (no reason given)

Afghanistan is/was never the goal IMO. More so a strategic goal in the grand scheme of things (chess game). Drugs are not just used by the underground economy but also by pharmaceutical sector (ofcourse to heal patients from several ailments).

reply to post by watchitburn


The "War on Drugs" was declared decades before 9/11 or even before the Taliban existed. This is a hard topic to discuss because sometimes it's considered against ATS's T & C but the fact remains that Afghanistan has been producing Heroin for hundreds of years. It's a crop that a large percentage of their population rely on for their living. I'm in no way shape or form condoning it's use.

The war on Drugs in a nutshell...
Source

The "War on Drugs" is a general term used to refer to the federal government's attempts to end the import, manufacture, sale, and use of illegal drugs. It's a colloquial term that does not refer in any meaningful way to a specific policy or objective, but rather to a series of antidrug initiatives that are vaguely directed towards the common goal of ending drug abuse.

Now. The Taliban are often given credit for eliminating heroin production but that's a fallacy. They reduced it the last year they were in power because their profits were down due to over production from provinces they did not have control over. Remember Afghanistan was in the middle of a civil war at the time.

Up till recently they have been working with the Russian mob to help finance their war with the West from the Helmand province which until recently was under their sole control. Have you researched Russia's huge and growing heroin problem over the past 20 years?

Afghan poppy crops down 40% since '08 as key towns secured

Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan's key opium producing region has declined 40% over the past four years as coalition and government forces have secured key towns and villages and the Afghan government has ramped up eradication.

This year farmers grew poppy on about 143,000 acres in Helmand province, down from its peak of nearly 256,000 acres in 2008, according to Regional Command Southwest.

reply to post by SLAYER69


I think you are right, that one really has nothing to do with the other.

The point I am trying to make is, there is no definition of win in this situation.
The only goal our troops on the ground have is to come home in one piece, Afghanis and the Taliban be damned.

Destroying all the poppy would at least be a measurable result.

It seems to me, that if America wanted to turn Afghanistan into a region for industrial pharmaceuticals, they might want to do some studies as to what that might do to the region of Pakistan first.

As far as America dominating the Silk Road or preventing an oil pipe-line from Asia to Iran, Afghanistan is little more than a truck stop really and aren't poppies a perennial?. At 90 dollars per kilo, what they get, and their average income being maybe 500 dollars per year including all of Afghanistan including KabuL. Unless they sell it to big pharmaceutical companies to make codeine etc, then the chances they are going to be industrious enough to plant an annual, in the desert rocky terrain, are maybe slim. They already sell some. 12 % of the supply they grow.

Today, morphine and codeine are common alkaloids found in several poppy varieties, and are important drugs for much of the world. Australia, Turkey and India are the most important producers of poppy for medicinal use, while the USA, the UK, France, Australia and Hungary are the largest processors

A good place to build a port to go north and cross the Caspian Sea would be Turkmenbashi of course.
But I suspect China would build it with Russian cooperation maybe unless the IMF built it.

Turkmenbashi google map

reply to post by Rocketman7
You're getting warmed up I have read a lot on this angle too but pretty much in bits and pieces. Got any links for further readings?

They HAD to apologize, because they were going to charge NATO 5,000$ a truck to cross.

Originally posted by watchitburn
reply to post by Nucleardiver

 

And how exactly does spending 10 years in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban serve the American people?

It was Al-Qaeda,an organization started, trained and funded by the CIA that attacked the WTC not the Taliban.
Why after 10 years is 90% of the worlds heroin still produced from Afghan Poppy plants?

Sorry friend, but our brothers have been dying for no reason.

The Taliban and Al-Qaeda work hand in hand and have the same extreme right-wing Islamic fundamentals and ideals. Saying that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are not the same is like saying that the KKK and Aryan Brotherhood is not the same, while they are two different organizations with different leadership, they have the same fundamental principles.

Its also hypocritical that we apologize to Pakistan when they, along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE finance and diplomatically recognize both organizations.

As far as my brothers dying in vain I would argue that you have no real first hand knowledge of the situation in Afghan in regard to the Taliban. The Taliban are for the most part hated by the people of Afghanistan because of their desire to implement extremely strict Sharia Law and Pashtunwali. Even the leading Muslim leaders are extremely critical of the ideals of the Taliban and their connection to Al-Qaeda.

The war in Afghanistan has never been about stopping the poppy production, the goal was to stop the further spread of Shari'a fundamentalist ideals that threaten not only the afghan people but the entire region.