Such is the nature of politics and political thinking... these are precisely the people who don't learn from past mistakes. They keep on blundering thinking they know best.
UK troops in Afghanistan fire 2m+ rounds in six months
- Thread starter Barking_Mad
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Such is the nature of politics and political thinking... these are precisely the people who don't learn from past mistakes. They keep on blundering thinking they know best.
I put this point to someone on a different forum who knows their stuff. Not sure how accurate is, but here it is...
'I have no doubt at all that the very word Taliban is a deep inaccuracy. In reality the resistence/insurgent forces are made up of a variety of different factions, from what I can tell these fall into 4 different categories,
1) old Taliban government forces committed to Deobandist Islam
2) Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's forces in the East - Nurangahar, Kunar, Nooristan and across the border in Mahmond Agency and perhaps North Waziristan
3) Jallludin's Haqqani's forces in Khost, Paktika, Paktia provinces and in South Waziristan (perhaps Tank agency too)
4) general Pashtun tribal forces who are not closely aligned with any of the above but who have decided to resist the occupation, this is where much of the drug money comes from
The Taliban and Haqqani's forces are the most aggressive of these, but if Hekmatyar ever decides to go full throttle (he has tens of thousands of men) rather than partial then it will be the equivalent of the Mehdi Army rising up, i.e. NATO/US forces will be in a whole heap of trouble.
however, for the sake of the propaganda they always refer to the 4 factions as being Taliban or neo-Taliban, which is not really accurate and clearly just a phrase designed to make westerners comfortablke with the concept of there being an enemy which MUST be fought.
Notice I do not place Al Qaeda in the list as they are (apart from never really existing as such anyway) mostly confined to FATA agencies and have little or no operation in Afghanistan - and even in NWFP mostly they are not Al Qaeda as much as Islamic Movement of Uzebekistan - plus a few Chechens.'
Also, this Daily Telegraph article is interesting:
US wars have helped al-Qa'eda, says report
With several Afghan provinces under threat along the Pakistan border, NATO had called for help from Pakistan to cut off the Taliban's supply lines from the Pakistan province Waziristan.
However, the Taliban responded with several raids and a show of strength deep into Pakistan territory, leading to fears that Pakistani provinces themselves could be under threat should they go ahead with NATO's calls for assistance.
'The show of power worked. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani convened a high-level meeting on Wednesday afternoon, attended by all intelligence chiefs and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani, at which it was agreed that dialogue was the best way to deal with the militants...
NATO could wait a long time for the second arm of its pincer to be ready for action, and all the while the Taliban will consolidate in Kandahar and Khost.'
Asia Times - Islamabad blinks at Taliban threat
However, the Taliban responded with several raids and a show of strength deep into Pakistan territory, leading to fears that Pakistani provinces themselves could be under threat should they go ahead with NATO's calls for assistance.
'The show of power worked. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani convened a high-level meeting on Wednesday afternoon, attended by all intelligence chiefs and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani, at which it was agreed that dialogue was the best way to deal with the militants...
NATO could wait a long time for the second arm of its pincer to be ready for action, and all the while the Taliban will consolidate in Kandahar and Khost.'
Asia Times - Islamabad blinks at Taliban threat
Well, your correspondent certainly seems to have a far deeper knowledge than I on the details of the situation.
It's gratifying, therefore, that while the comments posted add much flesh to the bone, they also seem to corroborate the key points from my own perspective: that there are a multitude of factions involved, that they are generally lumped together as "Taliban" and that the "real" Taliban are amongst the least likely to be involved in selling opium.
It's also impossible to ignore that many, many people at all levels in Afghanistan's current administration, consider the production and distribution of opium as their predominate occupation.
It's kind of a no brainer that the actions of the US (and the "west" in general,) have served to radicalise (probably tens of) thousands of young men.
Woof
This is worrying for me.
Pakistan is in a period of particularly unstable politics currently and Musharraf is scrabbling to retain power - and is probably on the way out. The links between the ISF and militants are well known and Waziristan is more a province of the militants than it is of Pakistan.
Afghanistan and the US are making more and more noise about Pakistan's failure to "deal with" the situation and are overtly threatening attacks into (nominally) Pakistani territory.
The region is in a pretty precarious position, is volatile and could rapidly descend into chaos.
There have been a few threads in World Politics over the last three years that have incorparated developments in Waziristan.
It won't end well.
Woof
nino_savatte
No pasaran!
Aye. The one thing that I've noticed is that the news coming from Afghanistan is even more filtered and doctored than the guff that comes out of Iraq.
Just to update that one, Pakistan has sent an army into the region to tackle the militants and has not met with any resistance according to a BBC report.
'The offensive is the first major military action the recently-elected government has taken against militants in the tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan.
When it took power two months ago, the government said it would negotiate with the tribes of the north-west to curb cross-border raids into Afghanistan and end the domestic militancy that caused havoc in Pakistan last year.
But now the government has authorised the army to back the talks with a credible threat of force.'
Pakistan army attacks militants
So the age-old problem of Pakistan's central government not being able to assert authority in the NWFP is now painted as action against the Taleban. Nice little cover for more brutality. Next stop Baluchistan, where pesky Taleban will magically be found.
frogwoman
Let them eat newts
Yep
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
It's possible the usual will happen though, which is once the Pakistan army's casualty rate tops a couple of platoons' worth a week, they'll get the fuck out, leaving behind their usual ammo and fuel dumps. They know it's almost impossible to operate when everyone around you is a potential "insurgent".
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