Thursday, March 29, 2007

DO WE STILL HAVE TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN?

Why is there NO MENTION of withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan in the House and Senate funding bills? Politicians are forcing Iraq to the forefront of the Democratic political movement against the Administration – when we are hiding our 30,000 troops in Afghanistan behind the NATO flag. The US mission is just as hazardous – our troops are enduring this operation – fighting and dying in Afghanistan against an elusive enemy – but there are no plans to create a time line for their withdrawal. If we continue an open-ended mission in Afghanistan, largely hidden from public view – then how will we measure success in Afghanistan? Most of all, what is the plan to wrap up that part of the war?

How is the US mission hidden behind NATO, you ask? Great example….NATO released that two soldiers died Wednesday in a traffic accident. They don’t give names, units or nationalities. They don’t even say where it happened, because the reporters in Afghanistan can decipher from the location which country the troops may be from. They release no details – why even issue a statement then?
By the time the investigation is complete and the country of origin – which could be the U.S. – release the names and units – the new cycle has passed. No one is really paying attention to the US mission in Afghanistan anyways – so this news becomes a mere blip on the radar. By the way – they guys in Afghanistan do not give a shit about who got kicked off on Idol last night!

Finally, the Taliban are demanding a prisoner exchange the release of four kidnapped Afghan health workers. This comes less than two weeks after the Afghan government released five Taliban prisoners to secure the release of an Italian reporter, Daniele Mastrogiacomo. Some will say – that’s why you never negotiate with terrorists – then they see it works and will kidnap more people for prisoner swaps. There is a culture of kidnap and ransom among the people in the Middle East and Asia - which they see as a successful way to negotiate – look at Iran snatching the Brits and how that is playing out…

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've really been monitoring news coming out of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. I've also been reading a book called First In by Gary C. Schroen. He led the first team in to Afghanistan after 9/11 to coordinate the Special Ops. He worked for the CIA and had a bunch of ties with the Northern Alliance. In fact, he knew Massoud. Anyway, I'm thinking that the Coalition is going with the tactic of holding ground now. Helmand has always been a give and take, and the east is really our ground up until the boarder with Pakistan. The fact is we can't move into Pakistan, so holding the ground and finding a political solution and applying pressure is about the only option. Anyway, I came across this article today. Regroup and prepare for the next round is what this is leading me to believe.http://www.examiner.com/a-640956~United_States_terrorist_hunters_stretched_thin.html I don't know if you read about the terrorist fighting the tribesmen in South Waziristan last week and the deals that are taking place this week, but in my opinion, what I see going on is a CIA op or another op by the Pakistan SIS. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has got to be putting pressure on the Pakistan government to crackdown on terrorism. Pakistan has applied for membership with the SCO, but I don't think SCO will let them in until some major issues get resolved in Pakistan. Pakistan always has a finger in Afghanistan's business, but I feel in my gut like there is something going on that has not hit the press. Plus, I think that we want Pakistan to fry the big fishes to keep our hands clean and we can pick up all the little fishes for our clandestine ops and make sure the extremist cycles doesn't repeat. If anything, this is some food for thought.

Anonymous said...

I've really been monitoring news coming out of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. I've also been reading a book called First In by Gary C. Schroen. He led the first team in to Afghanistan after 9/11 to coordinate the Special Ops. He worked for the CIA and had a bunch of ties with the Northern Alliance. In fact, he knew Massoud. Anyway, I'm thinking that the Coalition is going with the tactic of holding ground now. Helmand has always been a give and take, and the east is really our ground up until the boarder with Pakistan. The fact is we can't move into Pakistan, so holding the ground and finding a political solution and applying pressure is about the only option. Anyway, I came across this article today. Regroup and prepare for the next round is what this is leading me to believe.http://www.examiner.com/a-640956~United_States_terrorist_hunters_stretched_thin.html I don't know if you read about the terrorist fighting the tribesmen in South Waziristan last week and the deals that are taking place this week, but in my opinion, what I see going on is a CIA op or another op by the Pakistan SIS. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has got to be putting pressure on the Pakistan government to crackdown on terrorism. Pakistan has applied for membership with the SCO, but I don't think SCO will let them in until some major issues get resolved in Pakistan. Pakistan always has a finger in Afghanistan's business, but I feel in my gut like there is something going on that has not hit the press. Plus, I think that we want Pakistan to fry the big fishes to keep our hands clean and we can pick up all the little fishes for our clandestine ops and make sure the extremist cycles doesn't repeat. If anything, this is some food for thought.