I See There Is Talk About The Taliban Winning In Afghanistan Or We Are In The Process Of Changing ..

[global1]

strategies - which I hear might be code words for we are losing.

How big is this Taliban Army we are fighting? Where are they getting their arms from and how are they replenished?

I know that they are probably putting up a good gorilla fight - but shouldn't we be making some gains on them by now? Can't we cut off their shipments of arms and food?

What am I missing?

With all the satellite technology we have - don't we have the ability to track their resupply chain?

[yourout]

1. I think our armed forces are just worn down.

almost 8 years of constant fighting will do that.

[Bragi]

2. The Taliban crowd live there, always have /nt

[timeforpeace]

3. Proposed doubling of troop levels doesn't suggest winning, does it? Then again, without a stated

goal, how do you measure losing or winning? Only thing for certain, a lot of dying going on.

[Alamuti Lotus]

4. Taliban forces, a detailed response with information as I am aware of it

*Makeup of the resistance forces:
There is a core army of approximately 15,000 formally organized fighters answering to Amirs in direct contact with the Taliban's central majlis al-shura.

There are another 5-10,000 fighters belonging to 'on-again'/'off-again' allies such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-i-Islami and other famous commanders. Though the US/NATO/Pakistani governments and lackey press refer to all of this business as "Taliban", the influence of loosely allied, individual commanders is very much underestimated.

Volunteers from the Ferghana valley (lands carved up by the corrupt Uzbekh, Tajik, and Kirghiz dictators that serve US/Russia/China interests) number around 2,000 at any given point, mostly linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. This IMU is an organization in resistance to the horrible tyrant Karimov, the leadership core of which currently lives in exile in the Waziristan tribal district of Pakistan/Afghanistan.

Rumours exist of fighters from the Caucasus, though this grande armee exists primarily in the fantasies of Russian propaganda departments.

Tribal militias and other local militants loosely allied with the Emirate's forces against the occupyers number over 100,000 at any given time but are strictly local militias spread out over large areas.

*Arms supplies:
Afghanistan is possibly the most heavily armed land on the planet in terms of portable light arms. They require no major or minor conspiracy to keep the bullets flowing. They can obtain more serious armaments from elements within the Karzi regime, and also can take supplies from the army of the occupyers themselves.

*Funding and supplies:
Funding is taken from local zakats, as well as donations from wealthy businessmen in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states (the governments themselves are fiercely opposed and slavishly serve US interests far above any considerations of their own people). They also have vast contacts with various corrupt elemens from within the Karzai collaborationist regime.

Most official links to the Pakistan establishment have been severed in the wake of the Pakistani Tehrik-i-Taliban's uprising over the last five years; the 'gloves are off' and they are in agreement to remove the American dictators once and for all.

Some factions (and many independent warlords only loosely allied to the Taliban) benefit from the drug trade (through ties to the Iranian/Baluchistani Sunni terrorist group "Jundullah" and a network of drug gangs in Europe), though Emir Omar and Sheikh Ussamah personally greatly frown upon this practice.

The 'supply chain' is all local -- not something exactly to be severed. The supply chain of the foreign occupyers (remember preceisely what they are!), however, is very fragile and depends on the sustained acquiscence of the Russian and Pakistani regimes through very difficult terrain (primarily maintained by air at this time, as ground travel has proven quite deadly).


Over all, however, when the occupyers' commanders make announcements like this, they're really just looking to cause a media fuss to keep the money flowing and keep the Occupation Business rolling along.

[spanone]

5. the pentagon refutes that story that was posted in the wall street journal

Pentagon Disputes Claim That Taliban Is Winning in Afghanistan

The Pentagon pushed back hard Monday against an article that suggested the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan believes the Taliban is winning.

The Wall Street Journal article paraphrased Gen. Stanley McChrystal as saying the Taliban has gained the upper hand. The article was titled, "Taliban Now Winning," though McChrystal was not explicitly quoted saying those words in the story.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/10/pentagon-disputes-claim-taliban-winning-afghanistan/