Comments on: Taliban Hit 5 Star Hotel, Indian Hostels in Downtown Kabul; 18 Dead, 32 Wounded; Indians Targeted

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:35:40 +0000

Juan, despite the prominence given to these attacks in the US media, the impression I get from the reports is that the Afghan army/police acquit themselves well in repelling these attacks. I agree 100% with your assessment:

“While this tactic can indeed slow state formation, it is just the act of a spoiler and does not lead to any positive political achievements.”

By: Peter Attwood

Peter Attwood — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:56:52 +0000

A lot of folks are called Taliban these days, just as the National Liberation Front was Communist. But it turns out that Communism in Vietnam was a vehicle for fighting for independence from the Empire, and so is the Taliban today the Afghan resistance against the Empire.

It turns out that military victories against the Afghan resistance were not the point; the American pupet regime came unglued and the Americans left Saigon from the rooftop. So I'm not impressed with American military successes.

But it's hard to see Marjah as a success for the Americans. It's been two weeks taking this little town from an outnumbered force, and the little kids the Americans are killing will turn the tactical victory into a strategic defeat.

Tom Engelhardt's comparison of the Americans in Afghanistan to the Martians in the War of the Worlds is remarkably APT.

By: MonsieurGonzo

MonsieurGonzo — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:22:03 +0000

"diminish the cause célèbre of al Qaeda..." In this regard, Juan, I believe that historians will write that "the War in Afghanistan" was as much a strange and ultimately tragic diversion for America and her allies as was "the War in IRAQ."

By: MonsieurGonzo

MonsieurGonzo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:17:50 +0000

ref : “While this tactic can indeed slow state formation, it is just the act of a spoiler and does not lead to any positive political achievements.” Yes, but one gets the sense that Afghanistan is in a state of Civil War, with foreign NATO-American occupation troops politically and financially supporting a centralized corrupt regime, while seeking to annihilate and financially deprive a competing, de-centralized corrupt regime. Not to be too cynical about it: While all this bang-bang fills our daily media, giving us the idea that "this is the War," and gives the U.S. DOD some delusional raison d'être for being Over There ~ if the Taliban's tactics "do not lead to any positive political achievements," then we could equally say that all this expenditure of Western blood and treasure in Afghanistan "is not leading to any positive military achievement," ie., in the sense that it is doing little, if anything to kill or capture the perpetrators of 9/11, or indeed diminish the cause célèbre of al Qaeda, which was our original purpose for Being There.

By: mauisurfer

mauisurfer — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:48:54 +0000

>
>
> Rigi was reportedly seized after Iranian warplanes forced a flight from Dubai to Kyrygzstan to land at an Iranian airport.
>
> "They [Americans] said they would co-operate with us and will give me military equipment," Rigi said in Farsi in the prerecorded television statement.
>
> "They also promised to give us a base along the border with Afghanistan near Iran."
>
> He said that US officials met him in Pakistan around March 2009 and had also sought a meeting "after the last major operation we took part in".
>
> Jundallah claimed responsibility for an attack in the town of Pisheen in October 2009 that killed 42 people, including seven Revolutionary Guard commanders and several tribal leaders.
>
so usa does admit that it spends $ to "destabilize" Iran, but denies
they helped this particular terrorist outfit
meanwhile, Pakistan appears to have helped Iran in this case,
perhaps with info that he was on this particular plane overflying Iran,
which Iran then scrambled fighter planes to intercept
so usa denies, and pakistan helps
very interesting
so who is a terrorist?

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/2010226125223264122.html

By: acuvue oasys

acuvue oasys — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:26:05 +0000

This is just awful.

Afghanistan needs respite, please -can we help them to avoid war for just 1 year?

By: Kent Barrett

Kent Barrett — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:54:21 +0000

Hi. Been following your reports for years. Thanks.

The Google map seems to indicate that, for a 'city of 80,000', Marjah look an awful lot like a large cultivated rural area with scattered houses. It looks far more like a collection of farms than any city I've ever seen. Just wondering if you've looked.

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=Marjeh,+Helmand,+Afghanistan&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&cd=1&geocode=FUvs4AEdM07SAw&split=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=23.875,57.630033&hq=&hnear=Marjeh,+Helmand,+Afghanistan&t=h&z=8