U.S. reconciliation offer "lunatic"-Taliban spokesman

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered an olive branch to the Taliban, and they promptly labeled the gesure as "lunatic".

www.reuters.com...

KABUL, April 1 (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents reject a U.S. offer of "honourable reconciliation", a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a "lunatic idea" and saying the only way to end the war was to withdraw foreign troops.

With the Afghan conflict now in its eighth year, NATO-led forces and the Taliban are locked in a bloody stalemate with violence set to rise further this year as more U.S. troops arrive and seek to contain the insurgency ahead of August elections.

President Barack Obama is redoubling U.S. efforts with more troops, more diplomatic effort and more economic assistance, but he has also already spoken of the need for an "exit strategy".

And Obama is already talking exit strategy.

I remember the spectacle of the Russians retreating from their embarrassing encounter into Afghanistan. Will the same thing happen to us?

The problem is that the anti war crowd is made up of a lot of people who have to oppose something they are otherwise known as the anti establishment crowd . All in all I have found the arguments against the war in Afghanistan to be foolish at best . It would be possible to find that the same people that cry foul at the loss of freedom from Patriot Act are perfectly willing to sacrifice the freedoms of the Afghan people . People that actually understand counter insurgency know that even when you have enough resources available and the war is being fought in the correct manner you are looking at a time span of years . Also the enemy must not have any sanctuary's where he can operate from.

Now that sufficient resources will be starting to arrive in Afghanistan any time line for winning has to be reset . 2011 is not a realistic time line for handing over to local forces . If the Afghan army is going to be trained property then 2020 is a more realistic target . Allied officers and NCOs need to be have active in Afghan units so the deadwood can weeded out before it reaches the front lines . A similar service should be set up for government departments and the local police force . There is saying that goes something like success has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan well that saying very much applies here .

Here is a related article .

Mr McCully will meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington next week.

The US is widely expected to ask New Zealand for more assistance including either boosting troop numbers or recommitting the highly-regarded Special Air Service.

Three deployments of the SAS were made to Afghanistan between December 2001 and November 2005.

Mr McCully signalled last week that the Government feels New Zealand has more than pulled its weight, but sending a fourth wave of SAS is likely to be the cleanest option if it agrees to a request for more help.

Source

As a Kiwi I am proud of our PRT teams effort in the Bamiyan province. The NZSAS shouldn't have been withdrawn from Afghanistan in the first place .

Originally posted by jsobecky

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered an olive branch to the Taliban, and they promptly labeled the gesure as "lunatic".

www.reuters.com...

KABUL, April 1 (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents reject a U.S. offer of "honourable reconciliation", a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a "lunatic idea" and saying the only way to end the war was to withdraw foreign troops.

With the Afghan conflict now in its eighth year, NATO-led forces and the Taliban are locked in a bloody stalemate with violence set to rise further this year as more U.S. troops arrive and seek to contain the insurgency ahead of August elections.

President Barack Obama is redoubling U.S. efforts with more troops, more diplomatic effort and more economic assistance, but he has also already spoken of the need for an "exit strategy".

And Obama is already talking exit strategy.

I remember the spectacle of the Russians retreating from their embarrassing encounter into Afghanistan. Will the same thing happen to us?

I guess it depends on if our economy holds...