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Subscribe to RSSThe attacks on Western embassies in Kabul, the Afghan capital, raise questions about the competence of Afghan security forces. NBC's Sohel Uddin reports.
Updated at 11:36 p.m. ET: Heavy street fighting between militants and security forces in the center of the Afghan capital Kabul ended on Monday after 18 hours of intense gunfire, rocket attacks and explosions, police and government officials said.
Battles which broke out at mid-day on Sunday gripped the capital's central districts through the night, with explosions and gunfire lighting up alleys and surrounding streets.
"The latest information we have about the Afghan Parliament area is that the attack is over now and the only insurgent who was resisting has been killed," said the Kabul police chief's spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai.
The fighting at the parliament in the west of the city was the only pocket where militants were still resisting security forces. Earlier, at daybreak, security forces flushed out militants holed up near embassies in the heavily guarded diplomatic area.
NATO helicopters had launched strafing attack runs on gunmen hiding in a construction site overlooking the NATO headquarters and several embassies, including the British and German missions.
Elite soldiers scaled scaffolding to outflank the insurgents, who appeared to have dug them themselves in on the second floor from the top of the construction site. Bullets ricocheted off walls, sending up clouds of brick dust.
"I could not sleep because of all this gunfire now. It's been the whole night," said local resident Hamdullah.
The assault by the insurgents, which began with attacks on embassies, a supermarket, a hotel and the parliament, is one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001.
The Taliban said in a statement that heavy gunbattles were continuing in Logar province.
A Taliban spokesman vowed there would be more attacks after gunmen launched multiple attacks on heavily guarded Western embassies in the Afghan capital on Sunday.
The attacks are retaliation for the burning of Qurans at a NATO base in February, the murders of 17 Afghans allegedly by an Army staff sergeant and videos that apparently show U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for Sunday’s assaults, one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the group from power in 2001.
"These attacks are the beginning of the Spring Offensive and we had planned them for months," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.
Initial intelligence pointed to the militant Haqqani network, a Taliban ally that is fighting against the U.S.-led NATO forces. Four Haqqani insurgents were arrested on Sunday over an assassination attempt on Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili, an Afghan intelligence agency spokesman told Reuters.
The Taliban said the main targets were the German and British embassies and the headquarters of Afghanistan's NATO-led force. Several Afghan members of parliament joined security forces repelling attackers from a roof near the parliament.
The Taliban also claim to have attacked President Hamid Karzai's presidential palace compound, according to NBC’s Akbar Shinawar in Kabul, although that claim could not immediately be verified.
The Afghan National Security Forces said the attacks were "largely ineffective."
But Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said that "no one is underestimating the seriousness of today’s attacks."
"The fighting goes on this evening, and (International Security Assistance Force) is standing by to support our Afghan partners when and if they need it," he said. "I consider it a testament to their skill and professionalism - of how far they've come - that they haven't yet asked for that support."
The Afghan Ministry of Interior told NBC News that 11 suicide attackers were killed across Afghanistan by Afghan security forces. In total, 14 police and nine civilians were wounded, it said.
NBC News reported that police captured two attackers with suicide-bomb vests and destroyed a car full of explosives near the Afghan parliament.
The U.S. Embassy was under lockdown and staff there were safe, spokesman Gavin Sundwall said. "The U.S. Embassy is currently in lockdown, following our standard operating procedures after hearing explosions and gunfire in the area," he said.
The U.S. Embassy also issued an alert message to Americans in Afghanistan, urging them to "exercise extreme caution" and "move to secure areas."
Taliban fighters also launched assaults in at least two provinces, a spokesman for the insurgents said.
The Taliban said in a statement three hours into the attack that "tens of fighters," armed with heavy and light weapons, and some wearing suicide-bomb vests, were involved.
The coordinated attack is bound to intensify concern in the run-up to the planned withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
The assault appeared to repeat the tactics of an attack in Kabul last September when insurgents entered construction sites in several places to use them as positions for rocket and gun attacks.
Taliban spokesman Mujahid said it had been easy to bring fighters into the capital, and they had had inside help to move heavy weapons into place.
Afghan security forces, who are responsible for the safety of the capital, were scrambling to reinforce areas around the so-called green diplomatic section of the city center.
Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade that landed just outside the front gate of a house used by British diplomats in the city center and smoke billowed from the area after the blast, a witness told Reuters.
British embassy sources said staff were in a lockdown.
Ahmad Jamshid / AP
A NATO soldier runs to the scene of a attack by Taliban militants in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday.
Two rockets hit a British Embassy guard tower near the Reuters office in the city.
Fighting was going on at some facilities of NATO's International Security Assistance Force and near the U.S., Russian and German embassies, ISAF said via Twitter.
An ISAF spokesman said there were no reports of casualties in the attacks on possibly seven locations in Kabul, and the U.S. Embassy said in a statement all its staff were accounted for and safe.
A U.S. defense official who declined to be identified said the attackers were using mostly small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, and "perhaps even suicide bombers."
Three rockets hit a supermarket that is popular with foreigners near the German embassy, Reuters witnesses said. News channel Al Jazeera reported that smoke was seen rising from the German embassy.
Smoke rose from the vicinity of the embassy while women scurried for cover as gunfire crackled.
As the shooting went on, U.S. Army convoys could be seen coming to the area accompanied by Afghan police in flak jackets.
Attackers also fired rockets at the parliament building in the west of the city, and at the Russian embassy, a spokesman for the parliament said.
Most MPs had left the building before it came under attack, said a lawmaker. However, one of several who fought back from a roof, Naeem Hameedzai, told Reuters: "I'm the representative of my people and I have to defend them."
Afghan media said insurgents had stormed the Star Hotel complex near the presidential palace and the Iranian embassy. Windows of the hotel were blown out and smoke billowed from the building.
In the eastern province of Paktia, NATO helicopter gunships attacked insurgents holed up in a building next to a construction site while in the eastern city of Jalalabad, a witness told Reuters that the Taliban had attacked a foreign force base near a school.
One Taliban insurgent was killed, another blew himself up and a third was captured. A blast also went off near the airport in Jalalabad, a witness said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Yeah, It's time to go. Let the animals run AFG. We got bin Laden, we tried to give them a stable govt. They have been a 16th century tribal country for thousands of years. FORGET the whole "democracy thing". IRAQ yes, that will work, AFG, not so much.
Use drones and satellites to keep an eye on them, we're DONE, bring 'em home soon.
Good points and agree on some of them. However we wont get out of Afghanistan and Iraq until Iran stops being a threat to Israel. Plus lots of minerals, pipeline needs, and control of opium production.
Unfortunatley we have our warfighters there dying along with other NATO warfighters for 11 years!
Perpetual war, perpetual peace!!?? Costing us trillions of dollars.............
nani - you sound intelligent, what do you think of this:
What do we stand to gain from our involvement in Afganastan? I know of one significant copper mine the Chinese have bought and we are protecting - so the Chinese will definitely show a gain.
The poppy field are being protected, so this whole group of "bad guys" gains.
The infrastructure we have built is being torn down on a consistent basis - so no one gains.
We have trained both our "friends-and-foe, so the terrorists are more organized and able to inflict coordinated attacks, so the terrorists gain.
If we think we are bringing "peace and democracy" to this nation - our delusions are our only gain.
These are the same Talebans tht blew up Buddhists statues that were treasures of humanity and predate the Muslim invasion of Afghanistan by many centuries.The Taleban also made non Mslims where type of i.d badge.They made Afghanistan into an international jihad mass murder base where the attacks in New York and other places were planned. The Talebans sheltered Bin with an international coalition attack.They can never return to power.They are a mence to the world and will return Afghanistn to a slave state anda terrorist base.They must be kept on the run and eliminated as much as possible by cutting off their weapon supplies, money etc There is no other way .As everyone knows including the current Afghan governmentTthere is no negotiating with these terrorists and truces or cease fire are worthless as .There can be discussion about stategy but not about plicy.The Talebans must be controlled hunted down .even if they can ´t be completely defeated.They can not be allowed to get close to power again.. For the good of the whole world!!
I meant to say the Talebans sheltered Bin Laden and even Pakistan their ally told them to turn him over.The rest is known They were defeated by an international coalition and driven from power.. They must never get close to power again!!
nani......
I'll bet the Soviets had a very similar attitude about Afganistan right up to the end. How can fighters riding horses beat back a superpower? I doubt that the Soviets/Russians still do not know the answer. Did the British ever really figure out how they lost the American Colonies? Are we doing the same thing?
This is what happens when bleeding hearts interfere with the military. We should have been able to completely destroy the Taliban. But the bleeding hearts were worried about their rights. They don't give rights to women and children who they repeatedly murder every day before and after the war. The ROE was way too strict and put soldiers in danger. Enough. Take the gloves off and finish them so we can leave.
What do you suggest Kristian113, kill every man, woman & child from Sudan to Pakistan? Unfortunately the Taliban are indistinguishable from the majority of innocent civilians, but thanks for your simplistic, irrational solution to a complex problem.
Kristian,
Your thinking is the problem that we have. We assume that the Taliban is a group of people that we can eradicate. It isnt. The Taliban is more of a following. Any Muslim can join the Taliban and perform Jihad. The more Taliban you kill the more popular they become. The more popular they become the larger they get.
The only way to eradicate the Taliban is to kill every Muslim in the Middle East. Another poster brought up The Soviet Union. That is the conclusion they came to and they tried, but America and other world powers put an end to that.
The "bleeding hearts" may be naive but in a backwards way they are right. We cannot win a war in the Middle East without killing ALL of the Muslims, and we would never commit genocide. In the end we are just wasting time and money.
Is it time for the helicopter evacuation yet? I'll bet it's not to far off.
I find it strange that it seems everytime we talk about pulling out of a country an attack occurs. Like Iraq, the day we started to pull out, I think 150 people got killed. I know that earlier this week there was talk that if Nato forces pulled out of Afgan. thier military would go broke. Sounds to me that they don't want us to go.
Destroy the opium that they grow,that done they have no money to buy their weapons. No matter what I believe we will always be in Afghanistan Taliban or not.
I agree, Defend. How much more do we have to see? The USSR collapsed over the inability to control tribal regions and so will we. Move em out and bring them home. Let the tribes handle Karzai and his minions.
Kristian113
The fact that a smal inscursion team only did this doesn't justify killing hundreds of innocent people. Stick to our oldest and strongest tactic only attack when attacked. Simple, sound and strong.
Bart Martin.....
Stop listening to the mainstream media and do a little research on your own. The taliban and al queda are two very different and distinct organizations. The only connection is that both are decendents of the Mujahadeen (who we trained and armed) that fought the soviets. The Taliban are regional, they only want afghanistan. Al Queda is international. They're goal is to commit terrorist acts. So we are spending trillions fighting a regional force that poses no existenstential threat to our nation? That's stupid (but it sure makes a lot of people a lot of money).
And before you talk about how terrible the Taliban is, you need to understand the world you are living in. In Former Yugoslavia 40,000 muslims were massacred in 1995. It was a sect of the Taliban that helped to arm the remaining population and stop the genocide. In our eyes we see their actions and laws a certain way, but that's just propoganda. There are attrocities world wide. We're involved in this one for oil, control of poppy fields and to spend, spend, spend...
Bring them home and rebuild here. Throw the criminal war mongering carpet baggers that have sent us spiraling into debt out of government and form healthy relationships with other countries based on trade, not guns.
Haqqani network ,that means it was pakistani ISI opration.
The Taliban are nothing but criminals, they live for this. They would find people to kill, probably just women and children in torture chambers. They need to be hunted down and brought to justice, one by one if nessessary, until they no longer exist.
Get NATO out of there and turn the whole damn place to glass.No sympathy for those murdering cavemen.
Soft falling rain the flowers starting to shine and bloom and the Taliban firing grenade launchers............yes SPRING is here.
We spent a lot of money and lost a lot of good American's and what did we get for it. Nothing much. So we got bin laden-- we just cut off one head of a multi-headed beast. We need to learn to let other countries solve their own problems. Since we did go in and dethrone the taliban we should've immediately gotten out and let the Afhans take care of their own affairs. I think in a few years it'll be as if we were never there. Pakistan is another mess. We also spent a lot of money there and lost some soldiers and we have a supposed ally who works both sides of the fence. Let's get our own country into order and make the U.S.A. strong and keep terrorists out. We can't police the world.
When Bush invaded Afghanistan, the target was the training camps of al queda. So when they were destroyed American troops pretty much got deployed to Iraq. So the Taliban was not the focus.
The democrats have said many times over the past several years that the number of al queda are less than 100 in that region. It is a very different story about the Taliban that I agree seem to mostly be interested in power in that country only. Obama NEVER speaks about al gueda, but always speaks about "the Taliban". So Bush had one focus, Obama had another. Both wanted OBL, and Obama finally took him down, but not without burning a big bridge which was any sort of relationship with Pakistan. Democrats have said since Obama took over that Afghanistan is supposed to be the launching pad to keep Pakistan from imploding. So Afghanistan really isn't he problem, but Pakistan is the big problem. However, because we embarrassed Pakistan by invading their country to take out OBL, we now have worsened an already lousy situation.
The average age of the Afghan people is 17. Think about that. It is kids with no future fighting with the Taliban while the rest of the people are just trying to survive. The drone activity IMO is a PR blunder because it was used too often with often deadly consequences for the general population. That sort of bad news spreads quickly.
Obama didn't escalate the Afghan war just to get OBL. He did it because he believed he would bring down the Taliban and eventually bring democracy to that region in some limited form. Bush thought bringing democracy to Iraq was possible as well. There is so chance in Afghanistan, and only limited chance in Iraq. These two countries are entirely different.
Knocking off the terrorists camps made sense. All this nation building has been a waste, and going after the Taliban has been futile. What makes all this so cloudy is that as a nation nobody wants to ask Obama what he is really doing there. The media hounded Bush, but they completely leave Obama alone to do what he wants without any debate. The polls show most people want the troops to come home. That is because nobody understands the plan, if there is any, and the sacrifice in blood and treasury can no longer be tolerated. Maybe Obama needs to talk about the war he say was the "good war".
Kristian113
This is what happens when bleeding hearts interfere with the military. We should have been able to completely destroy the Taliban. But the bleeding hearts were worried about their rights.
----------------------
Kristian,
You win this week's Ronnie Ray-Guns award for the most rediculous post. The bleeding hearts did not interfere with the military in Afghanistan. george bush, dick cheney and the rest of their cabal did by leaving the work in Afghanistan unfinished and starting a second war in Iraq.
You are nothing more than another history rewriting con. But hey, don't let facts get in your way. I get soooooo much amusement when I read all the con historical revisions, inaccurate though you all are.
Where are Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon when you need them?
i always say the military is part of our defense department. let them strike and destroy and leave. Why do we think we should use our military to be defenders of US contractors building things in places and for people that hate us. Let the world's nations step in and help our defeated enemies. bring our fighting men and women home.
Why would anybody waste one squirt of wiz on Afghanistan? Our troops are being used like common chess pieces in a game. Occupation of a country to form a police action is truly a fools errand.
@ Johnyt
The Soviets lost because...well, ever seen the movie Charlie Wilson's War?
talk to any returning service-people, talk to any of the returning private contractors; they will all tell you, the Taliban grows stronger by the day, the entire afgan security force is infiltrated with the Taliban, even karzi, is asking them to come into his cabinet; for some unknown strange reason no one in our planning stage has ever read the history of these people, THEY WANT , WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE WITH THEIR 6TH CENTURY BELIEFS, PERIOD, GET THE HELL OUT NOW .
If we fight a war similar to how we fought in WW2, with the weapons systems we have today(barring nukes) we would win this "war" But we wont, we have rules of engagement that will keep us from being like "them" as we perceive them. When your forced to try and fight a rules war as with most conflicts since WW2 barring the 2nd Iraq war you cant win . The shock and awe was definitely awesome and sure did shock. I served in the middle east and its very hard for Westerners to understand them. While in their country they act very act very different than when they are here. When here they party like its 1999, I didn't expect stripclubs to be the first place they would want to hit, but they did and they most all seem to like blonde american women. Of course when brought up within their religious constraints they will tell you that all western women are whores. If we leave them alone they will be back at our door and we will again take causalities here at home in sometown USA>
for every one terrorists 3 more are made by this war. This has been showed statistically. what would you do if a country attacked us repeatedly, tried multiple times to take occupy our land and resources, and rig elections so that leaders THEY want in get in. Hmmm sounds like what america is doing. I think we as americans would fight back and grow in numbers don't you? the taliban is a hate group period. America sticks our ass in everyones affairs and wonders why people want to attack us. September 11th was really that unexpected? not to me. We have now spent trillions on this war i dont want any part of. My county alone has spent over 200 million on the war. We will never stop the terrorists we are only increasing their numbers by going to ridiculous wars over oil and resources. Until we butt out, make sure our countries borders are closed and maintain the best defense system on this planet so that we can stop colonizing, we will create more and more hate around the world.
I'm feeling kind of sick; my war was (God love me) nearly a half-century ago and this one is beginning to look like it. The exception is that we had mainly a stable and mostly uniformed enemy to fight; the slimy sand-worms our kids (my son included) are fighting today are the furthest thing from a real army that could possibly exist.
I intentionally substituted Furthest for the more modern Farthest in my statement because it is more apropos to describe the 14th Century Tribal Conflict we are engaged in. Between the Taliban and their Two-faced Cronies in the Afghan Government, this War has been turned to just that; a Tribal Conflict where NATO is fighting the type of war that our enemy wants. We're being steered just as we were in Vietnam, into a no-win situation where the enemy will waltz in as we leave. Sound Familiar?
I think everyone's already forgetting or perhaps has missed out the big news " Taliban" is no longer the enemy..... according to the US government! ..... the US is already into talks with the Taliban! "Mullah M Omar" the leader of the Taliban is no longer on the FBI's most wanted list! Taliban have been allowed by the US to open a sort of "Political Office cum embassy" in Qatar, another one of the pro American GCC nations hosting the US Central Command (Centcom) ..... hmmmm Centcom and Taliban in the same neighbourhood!
Apparently, all that were involved in this major attack dressed as women, wearing burkas---new strategy.
If they want to look and act like women in a War, it is now time to get out.
It is a long War, where the Allied forces cannot win.
Who's going to lift up their Burka before retaliating with Warfare.
Our US Forces, and other Allies cannot win. Time to get out. What are we there for?. To keep Karzai as an affluent Leader, using tons of US taxpayers money to keep it going, so he can live like a King, while the rest are eating dirt for food.
The Taliban Rules Afghanistan---What is the matter with the Military Generals, and their leader, Commander in Chief.
what do we gain or hope to win ---??????????/
Ahhhh... Spring is here! The flowers! The fresh warm air! Young love! And the Taliban.
We need to leave Afghanistan today. Every minute there is another day, another life, and another dollar wasted.
Looks like Obama's Arab Spring is coming through fruition after all.
Yeah well the media hounded Bush on gas prices too, and they are now silent. The media (and Democrats) said we were heading for the next Great Depression at 5.8% unemployment under Bush, but three years of 8+ percent unemployment under Obama they are silent. Don't expect the media to do any honest reporting over Obama's record, policies, and the effects of them on all of us. We know the drill they will default back to as well: Bush screwed up the nation so bad, it was never recoverable (with Nanny Pelosi and Harry Reid running Democrats with a super majority Congress from January 2007 to January 2011).
But then again, facts and the truth have rarely been quintessential to emotion-driven liberalism.
Wow!!! The Taliban fire some rockets and put some BS on the internet and the sheep want to run and hide. Once this latest attack by a couple of dozen dipsticks is over, the average Afghan can get back to business and the next generation of kids can go back to class.
The way the vast majority of people here post, you would think that they are for pulling out the police from the American cities because there are some criminals running around.
AND Kristain is correct in saying that if we would be allowed to attack the dipsticks, there would be lots LESS of them. These scum are like the Mafia we had a problem with back in Capone's time, they also attacked the police and had their friends in office. What did we do as a nation? Surrender to the Mafia or fight back?
I think that most of the above posts are from people that are like children sitting on an ant hill. They are getting bitten, but don't know to stand up and get off the hill, all they can do is cry and hope that Mommy picks them up and makes everything wonderful again. Well, guess what, Mommy is not here and if you don't kill off the few ants, then there will be more ant hills and soon they will be in YOUR house eating your ass away. I mean, do none of you keyboard commandos remember 9/11? That is what you get when you play games and stick your head in the sand, hoping that the Bogey Man really doesn't exist.
It's almost like they don't want us in their country. How dare they? Do they not respect the MIC?
MOSinEUR, WHO has their head in the sand??? It wasn't the Taliban who attacked us on 9/11, it was Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden was their leader. He is gone and Al Qaeda is in disarray, not dead but badly wounded. Al Qaeda is an organization. The Taliban are an ultra-conservative, radical group who maintain a certain mind-set that can't be bombed away. Russia threw everything they had at them in Afghanistan and it didn't work. It won't work for us either. It isn't about "keyboard commandos" wanting to turn tail and run, it's about understanding what is winnable an what isn't. If they had any logic, they would lay low until we had thought we had eradicated them and won but they don't. They just continue on with their barbaric ways and they will never be stopped. There are Taliban in the US as well. If you listen to the news at all you will hear about the things they do to their women and children. Sometimes they get caught, sometimes they don't but you can't just bomb a country and change a way of thought. We are sacrificing American lives and taxpayer dollars for a cause that can't be won. If you think you are so tough, enlist and go kick some Taliban butt. Write when you have them all wiped out.
AS supreme aggressors, we need to flex the muscle---while we're borrowing the money from China to fight unnecessary wars. My idea of leveling the playing field is to eliminate campaign contributions and use public financing--and I don't mean $1B for the Presidency.
When you fight a war with one arm tied behind your back like the West has in Afghanistan you can't expect to win it. When you fight a war you aim to kill as many of the enemy as possible ; the West hasn't done that , instead it has tried to make friends with the enemy. When you call the philosophy of the enemy, the philosophy that animates and sustains them in their war against you , the religion of peace, you have lost the battle. The war was lost before it began because of the nature of the political leadership in the West.
How many more of our kids will have to die and how many more billions will be wasted and make the warmongers rich before we stop this crap? Millions protested over the VietNam war but where are all the demonstrators now?.....hunched over their smartphones ??
Someone on here said that Afghanistan used to be buddist before the muslims came and gained numbers and got control. Is that true and when and how? That is interesting as it also happened in Turkey and is happening in Europe, Africa, The Philipines, etc.
There is one man running for President who will bring the troops home NOW.
Who says it and means it.
Who says that the only place we should be building schools, hospitals, bridges and roads,
is right here in The U.S. Not overseas.
Ron Paul Revolution!
There are only 2 solutions to the problems in the middle east,
1. Realize that we cannot stay there proping up governments or make any of them like us by giving them money. you are only wasting OUR money and they only waant more of it and will still hate us all the more thinking we are weak, there leader we prop up WILL eventually turn against us as well, happens every time. Might as well cut off ALL support to them and bring our troops home where they should be.
2. If you want to impose any sort of stability in the middle east you do not have to kill every muslim as some here say. Take ONE country that poses a threat or implied threat such as Iran. CARPET bomb the ENTIRE country, it is not all that large. Afterwards go in gather all resources we can giving the survivors nothing, sell off the rest of the country to whoever will buy it AFTER we have taken the resources (spoils of war). MAke a very public announcement, WHO"S NEXT??? this is what will happen to any that would threaten us. the double talk , threats and half actions to get more money , resources and food from us would stop. These leaders Will get control of there insurgents or a new government would come about if they truely believe we would ever follow through with these declarations.
But we need to quit putting our soldiers at risk when 95% of the job can be done by carpet bombing the place, if it is a real threat, If it is not a direct threat to us or our Allies that need our direct help, WE NEED TO STAY OUT. It is not our responsibility to waste OUR resources and money to protect another countries citizens, or a companies intrest that chooses to do business there.
The most sensible solotion for this war is to get our troops to hell out of there! Every time we go into one of those crap holes we start trying to import members of their population so we can have the same crap right here at home. Get our troops out and if they try to expand their activities we nuke the hell out of them!
you would think after all these years of war that if men was the least bit intellegent we could settle things whole lot cheaper and not with lives
Well I guess the whole Afghan's in charge of ops thing is working out well? How did the Taliban have time to dig themselves in? Did no one ever see Aliens? You pull out and nuke the entire site from orbit. J/K
Just get the hell out of there, please.
We are not in Afghanistan for nation building, to defeat the Taliban, etc. We are there still for two reasons. 1. Rare Earth Elements, which we're letting China have (my guess is because they financed the now stalled pipeline) and 2. The Trans-Afghan Pipeline, (Oil & Gas), which was supposed to carry oil for ocean shipment and gas through Afghanistan & Pakistan to India. It's now stalled because of the fighting, which is really over the pipeline/minerals and the other bs is just a smoke screen. That's partly why Russia wanted Afghanistan and the US funded the Afghan rebels at the time to limit Russia's control. There were even US talks with the Taliban about the pipeline before the WTC bombing.
Pakistan also wants control of Afghanistan and ultimately the pipeline as well because it will make them billions of dollars. The Saudi's have their fingers in it because they want to control the flow of oil, which is why there is so much Saudi money financing the Taliban (Al qaeda). Pakistan is using the Haqqani Network (regional mafia) to destabilize the US presence in the region so they can gain control of the oil and not appear to be directly fighting the US. Iran would like the pipeline to run through their country and the US out, which is why they are also funding destabilization.
So it's one big mess that everyone wants a piece of and the US needs to just get out of it. Let China move its military in and they can have the minerals until they're tossed out. The problem is that there are so many players cutting each other's throats in the region that it cannot be stabilized unless someone wants to do it via a scorched earth policy.
You won't believe new rules of engagement in Afghanistan
Published: 12/13/2009 at 7:26 PM
WASHINGTON – New military rules of engagement ostensibly to protect Afghan
civilians are putting the lives of U.S. forces in jeopardy, claim Army and
Marine sources, as the Taliban learns the game plan based on the rules’ imposed
limits.The actual ROEs are said to be classified U.S. and NATO secrets, but based on individual soldier accounts, those restrictions include the following:
Often, rules of engagement require varying levels of approvals before action can be taken. In one case, villagers had tipped off U.S. forces of the presence of a Taliban commander who was threatening village elders.
To get permission to go after him, U.S. troops had to get 11 separate Afghan, U.S. and international forces’ approval to the plan. The approval, however, did not come until well into the next day. By then, the Taliban commander had moved on, to the consternation of the villagers who had provided the tip. Observers have claimed that it can take some 96 hours to acquire all the permissions to act.
In other cases, the use of force against insurgents may be blocked if they lower their guns, only to have those insurgents return later to attack.
Also, International Security Assistance Force troops cannot engage insurgents if they are leaving an area where an IED has been planted. In one case, insurgents planting an IED had detected the presence of U.S. forces and immediately began leaving the area, tossing evidence of their preparations along the way. U.S. forces could not fire on them.
The ROEs in some cases have gone beyond limiting ISAF troops in their operations. In one case, ROE restrictions were in effect when four U.S. Marines twice pleaded by radio for artillery support in combat action in Kunar Province in Afghanistan – and twice they were refused, before they were killed.
How many U.S. lives have been sacrificed because of this BS?
These folks seem to be working hard to stop the scheduled pullout of our military from the look of things.... why else would they bother with all this blowing up of their country. Haven't they seen enough death already?
Time for all the US Armed Forces and other personel to leave these folks alone, and instead concentrate on securing our own borders here at home. If all the monies wasted supposedly building and rebuilding their infrastructure was spent rebuilding our own country and providing healthcare and housing etc for our own people wouldn't we be better off now?
When will polititians and those in the masses not wanting our military to leave Afghanistan and the Middle East realize that you cannot force change on other countries? When will they realize that the only way change takes place is when the masses in those countries affects change from within themselves. This change has to be something that the people in those countries want in the first place. If they want peace and a halt to the violence then they will bring that about themselves.
While the US is wasting billions of dollars over there in those unstable countries, countries like China are investing their billions in more stable countries over here.
Peace.....
Occupation won't work. What will work is setting up reservations of various tribes to civilize them. Control their country under stewardship until all thoughts of violence and destructive behavior is corrected. Treat them like children until they catch-up to the rest of the world. The American Indians learned to assimilate or be excluded.
Hello folks, we will never leave Afghanistan!
If you are naïve enough to think that the drug trade is in the hands of nefarious drug dealers and not the governments of the world you are brain washed. Since the British East India Trading Company in the 1600's the India Afghanistan area has always been the largest suppliers of Opium which has carried on today and is a multi-billion dollar business. Britain has historically controlled the opium business and now the U.S. is smack dab in the middle of it. In 2000 the Taliban had taken over and created a law that stopped the growing of poppies all the while storing vast quantities of Opium in warehouses to increase the price. Well that didn't sit well with the powers who previously controlled the opium trade. In 2001 we went to war with Afghanistan and we will be hard pressed to give back these enormous profits back to the control of the Taliban. If America was anti-drug we would have destroyed the poppy fields, we haven't! You can easily find the videos on YouTube where American soldiers are carrying bags of fertilizer for the poppy fields and guarding them.
Here is a short snippet of an article on the” war on drugs”:
The “War On Drugs” Is A $2.5 Trillion Racket: How Big Banks, Private Military Companies And The Prison Industry Cash In
News // Jul 11 2011
By David DeGraw – AmpedStatus Report
For a further understanding of how the War on Drugs is deeply intertwined with the War on Terror, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan has led to an explosive increase in drug trade profits:
Afghanistan as a Drug War
“From a modest 185 tons at the start of American intervention in 2001, Afghanistan now produced 8,200 tons of opium, a remarkable 53 percent of the country’s GDP and 93 percent of global heroin supply.
In this way, Afghanistan became the world’s first true ‘narco-state.’ If a cocaine traffic that provided just 3 percent of Colombia’s GDP could bring in its wake endless violence and powerful cartels capable of corrupting that country’s government, then we can only imagine the consequences of Afghanistan’s dependence on opium for more than 50 percent of its entire economy.
At a drug conference in Kabul this month, the head of Russia’s Federal Narcotics Service estimated the value of Afghanistan’s current opium crop at $65 billion. Only $500 million of that vast sum goes to Afghanistan’s farmers, $300 million to the Taliban guerrillas, and the $64 billion balance ‘to the drug mafia,’ leaving ample funds to corrupt the Karzai government in a nation whose total GDP is only $10 billion.”
A couple of questions come to mind regarding the whole "we're in Afghanistan because we want their poppies" argument.
1)since it would be cheaper, easier, and better PR, why wouldn't we (and I assume you mean the other NATO allies are there for the same reason) just buy the opium?
2) to take it a step further. Given the proliferation and ease of growing poppy, why wouldn't we seek a friendlier country to grow it for us? Why not grow it right here? Again, cheaper, easier, and better PR.
We are not there for the poppy.
For growing poppies, why be in Afghanistan?
There are better places!
What I feel: The Afghanistan and Iraqi war at the same time were simply gung-ho attittudes and actions of George Bush and co!
I could see it, but I would hope not. The majority of the opium and heroin would be going into the rest of Asia. They are more fond of opiates than we are here in the US. We lean more towards cocaine. As far as owning up to it? Never ever in a million years would we admit to it. As far as the whys? We could further villianize the Afghanis. Perpetuate the war, bringing more money to the people who own the war machine factories. Afghanistan is a more central location, ergo its easier to distribute the drugs. We get money from China, India, and the rest of Asia through their black markets. Pretty much the exact thing the Brits were doing 100 years ago. But I have no proof. The real question is if our government is a villian or a boon from the perspective of the greater good.
What is true is that product production has increased from about 185 Tonnes ( before our involvement) a year to ~ 5800 Tonnes a year ( UN figures ) now with our involvement. This is a fact - one can debate the why and how, and who is being enriched. This simple fact does fly in the face of any claim that we are making any effort to control production.
It was the Taliban who had nearly wiped out poppy production in AFG. Hmm...
Opium addiction is a proven method of controlling the masses. Plus, the opium trade provides major financial backing for the C.I.A. to carry on its covert operations.
I think that we didn't take out the poppies because we didn't want to take away their source of income and make the people in the area mad at the U.S. for destroying their livelyhood. Which would give room for even more anti NATO propoganda. It is hard to change people set in their ways so any change in what they grow will take a while to take affect if it ever does.
JMWHITE, the Taliban had a glut of opium and needed to drive the price of opium up, so they stopped growing for a couple of years. NOT BECAUSE they thought that dope was bad, but because they also know ecconomics. Like oil, users will pay anything to get it.
We still should take out alot more fields while we have the chance. That should be a priorty!
''At least a dozen large explosions and automatic gunfire rocked Kabul on Sunday in what appeared to be a coordinated attack across several areas of the city.''
We'd do well to remember how well the snake repaid the frog for helping him cross the pond!
The longer the US train's the ''good guy's'' of these imbattled area's. The terror group's become more and more coordinated in what they do? The first year of un-occupation of these mid-east countries these group's would be lucky to coordinate a Sunday lunch together, let alone a military strike.
I'm sure there is a limit to what we share. But there is no way anyone can convince me that our military hasn't helped to train a more effective enemy. Aside from those that have turned on their trainer's I have to wonder how many trainee's, once completeing training, are no where to be found? I just can not wrap myself around the idea of our military training any force that one day they may face on the battlefield.
Maddy, I believe you must have meant the scorpion and the frog rather than the snake and the frog. Snakes can swim better and faster than frogs any day.
I heard it was a little bird given a ride on an alligator nose. Anyway, it's not the betrayal of trust - it's what the alligator/snake/scorpion said when the bird/frog asked why he was going to be eaten. The answer: "It's my nature."
Worse was to help or trying to buy and appease Pakistan, enemy No 1, in Afghanistan right from day one.
Quoting last nights showing of "Magic City" with the frog and the scorpion story.....come on Maddy!
Defend America Forever Your a bozo, Vietnam all over again and if you think IRaQ will "work". you are just plain asleep at the wheel. YOU want to defend America try fighting the real terrorists Jewish Organized Criminalized Central Bankers & the governments that support them. The real terrorists of the world, you are being CONNED.
Ask the people of Greece how they are being terrorized, spain, ireland and other Jewish organized crime BAnker Cartel occupied countries. You are a asleep defender of the empire. 236 years ago England did what this empire of America is doing now. So use yur defender
Morning Not 1%
Take a deep breath, go back and slowly read my post, I SAID, Let's call it a day in AFG and GET HOME.
And yes, IRAQ will succeed as a "stable" voting "democracy" , they just need to clear out some home grown terrorists AS WE did back in 1776-1780's.
-------------------
OH, By the way, your jewish-banker comment shows how CLUELESS you really are, NO banks are controlled by jews, RESEARCH FIRST then post.
... said the Iranian agent.
How many goats do they pay you to write this crap?
Ya, hold your breath on THAT one.
*Rolls eyes*
HOTTICKET-2304234,
Lighten up, he put quotes around the word "democracy", as in "so-called democracy".
Praying for this area of the world because American are there including my Husband. So less opinions please and more compassion for human life.
I wonder about the nature of evil, sometimes. Do you ever wonder?
I'm praying and hoping for your husband's safe return. I have two nephews who are soon to be deployed.
Why do you wonder about the nature of evil? Evil is rooted in the desire to control no matter the cost.
weery one,
It isn't black hats vs. white hats.
(That belief itself I think is a root of evil.)
Think it is actually a complex issue and answer.
Part of it - evil - though, I believe, is the hubris
and complacency in thinking one has a handle on what evil is.
@ J.P - Your close but not there yet, consider the root of evil. It would be a perception each individual contemplates. It would be an idea you entertain, with what knowledge you have, that is the cause of the problem itself. The want of an individual magnified by millions of others with similar wants, not needs. If you eliminated the human condition from the battlefield, there would obviously be no battle... We each bring the problem to the battle and obviously create the battle. The real problem is you think it is someone else or another organization and their pushing for their own gains as the cause of the evil. It lies within you, each one of you, not anyone else! You are the government, and the army, and the clerk at the store. No one is innocent from the evil that lies within us. Not women or children or anyone else. So choose carefully how you manifest your life before you blame others for the way they manifest theirs... Watch as history (you) repeats (your) itself...
Trenton Von,
Ditto, thanks.
As an aside, I sometimes contemplate something that really struck me once. Was watching one of those history programs about WWII and they interviewed a former German soldier (you know, now 30+ years older with a beerbelly, bad posture, etc). The subject at the moment was the German army moving across southern Russia and hanging outright every communist they got their hands on (I took this to mean the village communist leaders). The soldier stated that in those days they believed they were protecting civilization.
Protecting civilization.
The German army wasn't marching across Europe and Asia wringing their hands in fiendish delight, they believed they were fighting AGAINST evil.
I am surprised it took this long for an attack those backstabbers in the Afghan government along with their fr-enemies in Pakistan. Heck we were doomed from the start. Its dumb to even think about that place, want to help Pakistan, tell all the nations to not buy opium from these Afghan cartels so they can start on a different trade.
not leaving anytime soon folks since $1T in minerals were found there including the largest lithium deposit on earth. if we are staying however we must charge a fee for providing big industry with security. we need to be charging big oil the same fee on every gallon of oil we ensure safe passage for. also this fee must NOT be passed onto the consumer. amazingly the freemarket is not pushing down the price of oil even though we have a worldwide glut. supply and demand do not work as we have been led to believe it does when applied to oil prices. we are currently producing excess oil in the US, supplies are glutting, we have more working oil wells in the US than the rest of the world combined & still we are at near record prices. sounds like the last time in 2008 when gas was at $4/gal while we were glutted by oil. it wasn't BUSH's fault then & it is not OBAMA's fault now. we need speculation limited just as it was before these ridiculous price swings started back in the early 2000's because they were laxed by deregulation. instead of venting at this post try venting to you congress persons. that is how we will get things done. I HAVE ... my son is there also as was his brother. i tried but was too old to go back in ...
Yes Troll, ... buttt our Leaders are all Christians, Muslimzz, and Believers, >>> are they NOTTT ?
Oooooh wait a minute now, >>> guess I forgot about WHO is actually in control here now?
The New World Order, Skull & Bones, ETC, ETC, ETC, >>> NO, I joke NOT! WE here in the USA are NOT a nation of God-Fearing-Believers any more. (not for a verrrrry long time now) as is easily seen by all the rest of the WWW. WE just keep on voting the same'O, same'O, same'OLD worn out-NO-GOOD-for NOTHING, LYING polititions back into office YEAR after YEAR, <> ... without seeing the truth in their CORRUPTED venues and ways!!! Usually BECAUSE we are either, ONE LEVER PULLERS, (at the POLLS) or simply because they are in MY - - - OUR, ... PARTY, which in turn makes us pretty doggone smart!!! Who NEVER wants to admit we might be, (are) wrong <> but we will NEVER fix it either!!! WE would rather just BITCH about the other - Party, being wrong uno!!! We do NOT intend to SHARE the blame, NOR will we be doing any-thing in the NEAR future to change our CORRUPT GOV'T. OUR GOV'T knows this too and takes FULL ADVANTAGE of us UN-EDUCATED and/or, ... ignorant IDIOTS daily & annually.
There are some very simple and easy answers to fix this broken mess, however it is just the "OTHER" parties fault again and NONE of the blame should be directed at our "Citizens", aha, ha, ha, <> but NOT very funny.
Denko - did Walmart run out of tin foil again?
why are we still there, why are we putting up with this crap, we should get out and leave the taliban problem to the afgans and paki's, they support them let them deal with them.we should destroy the pac's ability to launch nuke's cart the weapons they have out of that country and be done with them. Oh and by the way,every time these radicals do something, a kidnapping a bombing a shooting,anything at all to a western country, we send the bombers and level a portion of the offending country.
You are such an idiot. All this is so easy. isn't it? We want to cut and run from Afghanistan but we can just take Pakistan's weapons who is a nuclear power and 6th largest military and destroy the so called "ability". Keep living in your LALA land. Remember, Pakistan told you not to start this in Afghanistan and learn from the Russians but, you guys wanted to "smoke em out". Now,you are looking at the end like the Russians and want to blame others. Truth hurts my friend.
This is what you get when you try and negotiate with terrorists. Just bring the troops home and leave Afghanistan to Karzai and his corrupt government. enough is enough.
ROTFLOL!
Karzai and his relatives will be out of there faster than the US withdrawal.
Expect to see him and his family retired close to their money.....in Switzerland.
He's a corpse if he sticks around after the West withdraws from Afghanistan.
No, Karzai will return to Baltimore, MD, to the restaurant his family owns and runs.
Pandemonium that´s the only word that comes to mind in these difficult times of instability and corrupcion... CONFUSIUS
Why do I have a continuous loop of The Doors "The End" playing in my head every time I read about this craphole?
Where does the bs begin and where does it end?
Note that there are no quotation marks after "He said". So the NBC propagandists are free to mold your minds without apology. Did "He" use the words "suicide bombers" or is this just a smear layer added by NBC?
Bet "He" used other adjectives. Betcha.
(assuming the guy on the other end of the text message was who he said he was)
Then why are you here?
Go to Fox. Unless you're a masochist, in which case: Obama will be re-elected. Now b!tch about THAT!
It's called an opinion and it isn't something that only "Klone" is entitled to.. Arrogance will blind you in the end.
Especially your lack of realization that Obama has improved everything that you think is masochistic.. If you voted for GW Bush, you were more than a masochist, YOU WERE PART OF THE PROBLEM! If you lose the arrogance, you'll understand better.
Time to go. Bring all our folks home, last one out please turn off the lights. Close the bases, close the embassies. They're so attached to their 16th century warlord ways? Let's give them a hand.
I'm not advocating carpet bombing the entire country back to the real 16th century (yet), but suicide bombers can't hit planes flying by at 35,000 feet.
Make sure that all military bases are leveled before we leave and packup all and any equipment. Leave them with nothing.
GTFO!
After 11 years we have accomplished nothing and still refuse to leave. The USA is a divided nation of democratic and republican herd intellects. Obama is a democrat, so the dems tow the party line. The reps never met a war that they did not like. The occupation will continue indefinately, and it's a damm shame.
It is puzzling how this story is just a minor blip on the MSN screen. Yet when the US mistakenly burns some of the Green Books we are all over the news. Why the double standard here!
Bring our Men and Women home and glass that sh!thole !!
It is just Muslims acting like Muslims.
I LOVE these Taliban!! They are as good or better than the Vietnamese!! Worthy opponents that know how to kick imperialist a$$. Gotta admire the way they never cower down! A war is a war... and they are winning this one.. took a page from southeast Asia and stuck it to our coalition with a smile!!
Yankee Go Home!!
Che would be so proud!!
Liberals want out! but you have a congress of GOP's that love making money out of wars and death to it's soldiers and call it "Love of country and freedom." Go home, wrap it up before the year is over!
It's time people start to at least listen to Ron Paul and give some respect to our constitution.
No one is unless you've not noticed. Kermit is crazy old!
Obama's war is not winnable. Bring our sons/daughters and treasure home.
Katlan, you are soooo funny!!! Obama's war, what a riot! Honey, Bush started these two wars, you must have mis-spoke?
Second term, Obama will have more flexibility. He will be able to send 250,000 troops. Patience until he is relected they we can move. Please.
Second term, Obama will have more flexibility. He will be able to send 250,000 troops. Patience until he is relected they we can move. Please.
Bush started these wars, but Obama bought the rights to them in 2008. For nearly 4 years now, they have been all his.
OR...at least get the mining rights so we can get some return on our investment. Lots of lithium over there.
Living the dream, as they say. Been an interesting day here in kabul to say the least.......read an interesting article in reuters while we remained in kevlar and locked down.......seems Karzi is backing away from the 2014 coaltion drawdown date.........now he is talking out both sides of his mouth......saw the 2016 date flashed...... At this point we should just take our toys and go home......this is all pointless......his capitol security i.e. the "Rings of Steel" are a complete and utter joke.........I'm not a dreamer.....this is unwinable....
Agree. When I was there in '08, we had 25,000 troops on the ground, it was relatively stable, at least nothing like this. Obama came into office, decided he liked that war and sent four times the troops level we had. Almost four years later where are we. More dead soldiers coming back to Dover, that no one cares a whit about and our national treasure being sucked out faster than we can replinish. We are losing, we are losing because other than our troops no one gives a rats arse.
Enough, Mr. Obama, you are in over your head. We are losing in Afghanistan.
lol.......look around you, even if we win in Afghanistan, what have we won?
LTC(RETIRED)col.get on the fastest thing smoking out of there and come home. the usa will not win anything there,just as it was in vietnam for us. so,keep keep your ass down and think of getting a fast ride out of that rot pit of a country.
SEMPER FI
DANNY P
RETIRED
These gorillas will always fight, to the death! They know one thing, how to fight! We will never win in Assghanistan, no way! So, why do we keep training and arming these vermin?
Obviously this calls for a surge of some kind.
This is what happens when a WEAK united states president fails to lead. Let the military do there jobs and we will mot have these problems.
They do this because they know we are weak and will not respond.
Well said 14Mom. I'd like to add a comparison of leadership style. Karzai and Obama share a commonality; it is always someone else’s fault. For Karzai it is US/NATO for Obama it is Bush.
There is no gratitude that terrorist mini-Tet offense was thwarted by NATO trained Afghan soldiers
and the Black Hawks.
It is pass time for us to get out of the Bush wars. If we really wanted to end the drug trade, we would have level the country and burned all of the fields. But Bush and his cronies want to control the drugs coming out of there.
If Bush and his cronies (ie Romney) wants to control things, let them raise their own military and go protect their investments. It is time to bring our troops home. Period.
Obama/Biden 2012
You mean Obama/Clinton 2012. Obama will have more flexibility to send more and more troops to protect what is his.
Blogojevich/Corzine 2012!
Bernie Madoff to head the Fed!
My best friend went to Vietnam in 1968. That year was when the n candidate was richard Nixon.
President Johnson Had stopped bombing the north vietnam and started arranging the peace talks with north Vietnam.
. They made a deal with the south vietnamise leaders to stay in Vietnam for 4 more years. The south Vietnam generals the elected president and refused to take part in the peace talks during the presidential elections of 1967...nixson won!
I went to Vietnam in 1970. Sure would have liked to stay home..lol
The reason I mention this is the hackney criminal network in afganistan committed these attacks...it's 1967 all over again.
This criminal network broke out 300 crimals out of a prison in Pakistan. Just add money and the war has now been escalated .
The republicans are criminals.. They will have our children fight endless wars for ther profit..
Just remember, your hero JFK put him there; after he and Lyndon put me there, while he was busy with h o o k e r s his p i m p brother was bringing to the white house. Of course, the Dem Pres are held to a much lower standard than anyone else in the country.
Jake319. Maybe you should re-think your history. Everything is described in party politics these days. Both parties areimpeachable and Obabalambababala is the most impeachable of all. We have been in that sh*t hole far too long, just like every little political adventure after WWII that costs tens of thousands of American lives. If we need or the politicians want the minerals and or oil so bad nuke the place and take the crap. If Israel nukes Iran who cares? I sure don't. They have been nothing but a pain since Shah whasshisface left.
As far as controlling the drug/gun trade out of Mexico: Thats easy, patrol the borders with A-10s and if it moving shoot it. Sniper posts at the border towns. Gunfights start over there and rounds landing on our side take them out. The cartels and the middle east are a lot alike. They kill each other for the fun of it.
That is all
Bush and his "cronies" are not in charge anymore or yet. It's time for Obama to get the hell out of over there and bring our troops home. Nothing to do with Bush or his cronies. How long is Bush going to get blamed for everything? Obama has been the leader for 4 years AND has had almost the full majority of his Congress behind him. It's time for him to step up to what he promised in his campaign.
Unforunately, you are correct. Bush can and should be blamed for his actions. But the last 4 years was baracks war. And he did it for the same exact reasons as bush did . be a wartime president, photo op in front of the flag. get re-elected. As hopeful and proud as i was when obama was elected,looking at himnow, I feel like I did when bush got a second term.