No shit!

[Roy Serohz]

Taliban Making Military Gains in Afghanistan

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/world/asia/taliban-making-military-gains-in-afghanistan.html?_r=0

MAHMUD RAQI, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters are scoring early gains in several strategic areas near the capital this summer, inflicting heavy casualties and casting new doubt on the ability of Afghan forces to contain the insurgency as the United States moves to complete its withdrawal of combat troops, according to Afghan officials and local elders.

The Taliban have found success beyond their traditional strongholds in the rural south and are now dominating territory near crucial highways and cities that surround Kabul, the capital, in strategic provinces like Kapisa and Nangarhar.

Their advance has gone unreported because most American forces have left the field and officials in Kabul have largely refused to talk about it. The Afghan ministries have not released casualty statistics since an alarming rise in army and police deaths last year.

At a time when an election crisis is threatening the stability of the government, the Taliban’s increasingly aggressive campaign is threatening another crucial facet of the American withdrawal plan, full security by Afghan forces this year.

[Scootaloo]

1. Well, you know...

(I didn't want to give * the face time, but you get the idea)

[malaise]

7. You betcha

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. I resignate with that...

[SoCalDem]

2. The "locals" always end up "winning"

Occupiers eventually wear down and leave, and the locals (of one sort or another) always end up staying on because it's THEIR country..

Until they screw up badly enough for other locals to squash them, they will rule..

This is precisely why we should NEVER EVER EVER EVER get involved in civil wars..

[Scuba]

3. Deja vu ...

[obxhead]

4. No shit indeed.

Never should have gone, should have left over a decade ago since we did.

[Swede Atlanta]

6. I disagree a bit with that assessment.....

In the immediate aftermath of 9-11, once AQ and OBL were identified as the alleged perpetrators of the heinous attacks in New York, Washington and the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside, we needed to take swift and immediate action to bring them to justice.

We asked the Taliban to surrender OBL to us and they refused - not that we expected them to...they had been giving him and his ilk cover and protection for years.

Our goals then should have been limited to 2 things:
(1) Pursue OBL and AQ members responsible for 9-11 and
(2) Deprive AQ of training grounds and refuge anywhere in the world

A certain amount of confrontation with the Taliban was going to be necessary in order to gain access to OBL and AQ. And this wasn't going to be possible if all we did was use air power. Air power was good in the early days to destroy control and command. Some ground forces, likely just special forces, were going to be necessary to find OBL.

But that should have been it. We should never have deployed ground troops in an attempt to root out the Taliban or get into nation building. We could have ensured AQ had no safe havens for training, etc. using air power and drones.

Bush decided to go further and try to root out the Taliban completely and establish a western style democracy, with leaders loyal to Washington of course. That was a mistake. These are tribal people as much as they are Muslims. Western style democracy is an oxymoron to their history. I have no love for the Taliban and their rule of terror including the subjugation of women and girls.

This was the same thought they had in Iraq. We will establish what looks like a democracy and support it as long as it is loyal to the U.S.

[Fla Dem]

5. That region has been involved in tribal and religious conflicts for centuries. How naive of us

to think we can change their destiny. Change can only come from within.

[alsame]

8. And we watched the

Russians try and fail, but we did it anyway. Lots of dead people on both sides for what?

[L0oniX]

10. ...but we are exceptional ...according to Hillary and a lot of other pompous war hawks.