We blew it! We lost it! It was over in 2004! Besides the NY Times story from today about the Taliban being 1 hour outside of Kabul, I ran across an excerpt from a book, "It's Not Over When it's Over" (2013). (Maybe it should be titled, Nothing is over because AMERICA says it's over). How the hell did we (Bush) consistently back the 'wrong horses'?? (Even I fell for the purple fingered Afghanis as they came from the polls). Afghans, however, haven’t forgotten just whom the U.S. put in place to govern them[/B]--exactly the men they feared and hated most in exactly the place where few Afghans wanted them to be. Early on, between 2002 and 2004, 90% of Afghans surveyed nationwide told the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission that such men should not be allowed to hold public office; 76% wanted them tried as war criminals. In my recent conversations, many Afghans still cited the first loya jirga, an assembly convened in 2003 to ratify the newly drafted constitution, or the first presidential election in 2004, or the parliamentary election of 2005, all held under international auspices, as the moments when the aspirations of Afghans and the “international community” parted company. In that first parliament, as in the earlier gatherings, most of the men were affiliated with armed militias; every other member was a former jihadi, and nearly half were affiliated with fundamentalist Islamist parties, including the Taliban. In this way, Afghans were consigned to live under a government of bloodstained warlords and fundamentalists, who turned out to be Washington’s guys. Many had once battled the Soviets using American money and weapons, and quite a few, like the former warlord, druglord, minister of defense, and current vice-president Muhammad Qasim Fahim, had been very chummy with the CIA. Hour’s Drive Outside Kabul, Taliban Reign By AZAM AHMEDNOV. 22, 2014 Afghan forces responding in August after a Humvee was ambushed by the Taliban in the Tagab district of Kapisa Province. Credit Andrew Quilty for The New York Times CHARKALAH, Afghanistan — The explosion ripped through the floor of the Humvee, tearing a hole in the armored vehicle and injuring the district governor. The crack of Taliban gunfire followed. Seeking cover, the Afghan police convoy sped behind a mud compound and unleashed a hail of bullets. Undeterred, the Taliban fighters edged closer. As bullets smacked around his head, an Afghan soldier in a white head scarf crouched behind a waist-high wall trading shots with the insurgents, a cigarette tucked in his lips. “This is our daily life,” said the police chief of Tagab district, a mostly Taliban-controlled patch of Kapisa Province about an hour from Kabul, as rounds struck the compound’s edges, showering his men with dirt. “Everything is like this — you can see it with your own eyes.” In areas like this, it is the government that operates in the shadows, following the dictates of the Taliban in order to stay alive. Afghan soldiers in Tagab district will not leave their base except for one hour each day starting at 9 a.m., when the Taliban allow them to visit the bazaar as long as the soldiers remain unarmed. The situation in southern Kapisa Province has quietly become one of the greatest challenges of the war for the new government of President Ashraf Ghani. In the absence of international troops or their air support, the Taliban have eclipsed the legitimacy of government forces there and in several other parts of the country, in what many see as a worrying portent for the coming years.... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/w...ge&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news
No no no this cant be right. President Peace Prize ended the war on terror with his "bow at the waist" tour and solo-planned solo-executed killing of Osama. Cpicture did you check your sources?
Well the Americans left Vietnam just like that and the Vietnamese just left it at that with them. But in this situation it is taking years in my opinion to withdrawal from a war which won't be won tomorrow or in another ten years from now. As ISAF forces leave, the Taliban get stronger. The Taleban want opposing forces there to fight they will come down from the mountains plant some IED's have a gun fight or two go back in to the mountains while indoctrinating the next generation of Afghans with what is really just Islam and anti-Americanism until they get old enough to fight the next generation of Americans. The war is just like a washing machine, round and round it goes. It seems to me that the United States does have this win at all costs attitude and politicians who vote for the war and who have elite children who probably won't serve but rather sex-o around at parties with other elite children, and have plenty of money to spend - never working for it. Disgusting.
Seeing as the French were in charge of Kapisa province before they withdrew in 2012, and weren't replaced, you can thank the current president for the Taliban being 1 hour outside of Kabul. With ISIS 1 hour away from Baghdad, the President's war record doesn't look too good.
Doesn't look like the Afghanis are able to fight their own fight against the Taliban yet... Taliban Overrun the Afghan City of Kunduz Sep 28, 2015 | The Taliban Monday largely seized a major Afghan city, storming government compounds and sending panicked residents fleeing, as the Islamists for the first time breached a provincial capital since being ousted from power in 2001. See also: US Military Launches Strike on Afghan City Taken by Taliban Sep 29, 2015 | The U.S. military carried out an airstrike on Tuesday on the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, which was captured by the Taliban the previous day in a major setback to the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
They were replaced by the ANA. Why not blame the ANA for failing to hold their territory? - - - Updated - - - How do you "fight to win" in Afghanistan?
Mullah Mansour killed in drone strike... Taliban official: Group leader killed in drone strike May 22,`16 -- A senior commander of the Afghan Taliban confirmed on Sunday that the extremist group's leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, has been killed in a U.S. drone strike.
Afghan Taliban announce new leader... Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour Wed, 25 May 2016 - The Afghan Taliban name Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader following the death of Mullah Mansour in a drone strike.
