


Yankee beards go home

The Afghan president talks tough on the role of American special forces

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ProudlyServing in reply to R_S

The US never armed the Taliban. The Taliban was created long after the Soviets left Afghanistan when the country was in a state of civil war. The US (or the CIA) did not sell Stinger missiles to the Mujahideen during the Soviet occupation. All the funds that were funneled into Afghanistan went through Pakistani ISI. The US gave ISI money via the CIA and it was distributed as the ISI saw fit. Including the purchase and distribution of said Stinger missiles. Money = status in Afghanistan...of course that means you can afford weapons but money is what matters over there. I've been there, with the US Army, 5 times. I've been all over RC East and South and those with money have the power.


US drones are used to attack Taliban and Taliban- aligned targets inside Pakistan because the Pakistani government/ military is either incapable or unwilling to do so themselves. If that violates their sovereignty then so be it! In my 60+ months in Afghanistan I have never seen a US owned or operated oil pipeline anywhere in Afghanistan. Like I said, I've been all over about 2/3's of the country, please tell me where it is.

The US indirectly armed several militias during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, none of them called themselves "Taliban". Taliban is a very loose term that the US media uses to identify any anti-coalition forces. Most of the insurgents I have seen in Afghanistan have been foreigners (Chechens, Chinese, Pakistanis, etc.) which sell their services to the highest bidder...groups like the Haqqani Network, HIG, etc. They are loosely aligned with the Taliban because the Taliban has money, once their money goes away, so does that allegiance.

If you want to know what actually happens in Afghanistan, read a book about the current war. There are a lot of them written by veterans and they are really descriptive and very accurate. But since you are, at your core, a coward who would never sacrifice your personal safety so others can stay free, you probably don't care to learn the truth.

If Mr. Karzai wants troops gone from one province, then he obviously doesn't desire them to be in any province. I think the POTUS should withdraw all troops, burn our FOBs and COPs to the ground with all the supplies (that we were going to turn over to the Afghan army) in them. Fly the troops back home and watch the country explode. I predict it would take a week for Mr. Karzai to be assassinated...in fact he is also a coward so he would probably flee to a neighboring country in less than 24 hours.

Go ahead and bite the hand that feeds you...I know you're hoping that that hand doesn't turn around and bitch slap you like it should!!!

stands for truth

When will the USA stop being a mother Teresa for the world.American arrogance is what drives its policies.They think theirs is the only best system for the humanity.
Whether it is Iraq,Afghanistan,Vietnam or Japan the only think that drives American policies is to capture markets for their corporations.These corporate raiders also need energy resources etc to prime their industries.
Beating the Taliban in Afghanistan was a ruse.Was it not the same Taliban that USA armed and hailed as Freedo Fighters in 1980s.At that time they were used to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
One study exposed why USA went to Afghanistan was to have a sea o
Theutlet via Pakistan to ship oil from Central Asia(avoiding Iran as the easy route).

The CIA never stops its dirty tricks.Mr Obama has kept his kill list and his Drones are terrorising the folks of Afghanistan and Pakistan.Now he has his sight set on Africa where rich minerals are for the grab.

That in sum adds up why Uncle Sam has his fingers everywhere.

R_S in reply to stands for truth


Your view on the world seems to be very narrow and conspiracy theory in nature. The arming of the Taliban took place when the cold war was taking place. The US then tried to buy back the arms they had sold them (namely the stingers) not having full understanding of Afghan culture (weapons = status). Your conspiracy theories do not do anyone any good.

Greg Suhr

I was working at Bagram, Afghanistan in May 2010 when the base was attacked by men wearing American Army uniforms. I'm certain they weren't members of the American Army (several were taken prisoner) and I seriously doubt these atrocities were committed at the instigation of US special forces. It doesn't serve US interests to commit these acts, but it does serve Taliban interests.


Meanwhile Afghan police are unambiguously committing crimes on a daily basis, thus helping ensure that people start looking back at the period of Taliban rule with a certain nostalgia... Blaming the Americans is easy; changing a culture of corruption, brutality, and impunity was never going to be a simple matter. No matter how egregious the behavior of the CIA (and, let's face it, the CIA has always been a bit of a dodgy operator right from the beginning) the fact is local conditions always prevail and Afghanistan is essentially ungovernable except through the most brutal and repressive means. Let's stop pretending that nation-building is possible and just get our people out as fast as possible. The current regime will collapse; squandering Western lives to buy it a few more months isn't a viable strategy. Time to look ahead and decide how to deal with Somalia-by-the-Kush.


National leaders in the West tend to shun abrupt action.

Yet, how much national face does the US save by gradually withdrawing from the Afghan mess that the US once embraced, only to say that Afghanistan's eventual cave-in was the Taliban's doing?

Eventual cave-in to extremists is the hand writing on the wall. Paraphrasing Cicero, "The man in the street knows it; Karzai knows it, yet the illusion that continued US presence will save Afghanistan survives."

The US entered Viet Nam, without a plan, hoping somehow a good outcome would magically result. It invaded Iraq, without a plan, but believing in that American righteousness guaranteed all good things. Before invading Iraq, it invaded Afghanistan, with a vague notion that US values always prevail and we remain stuck there.

We left Viet Nam and Iraq, under face-saving cover of a negotiated settlement and soon after found we had only stirred up matters at great cost to those countries and to the US.

Why not pull out of Afghanistan as fast as we can? Obama can blame all on G W Bush. That is less fanciful than it may at first seem. Despite seeming above the fray, Obama is every bit as partisan as Truman.


Its not backing down if you stopped caring. The American people stopped caring about Afghanistan years ago, its about time the US Government got behind us.


Since the withdrawal announcement but keeping the bases intact, the Nato troop has taken their frustration on ordinary Afghan - rampaging and killing 1000 people in the last known report of these incidences. I am afraid that the much hated Kaizai is likely to be held responsible as Nato's Najibullah.


The military industrial complex will be upset when the drawdown begins; lost jobs in the defense sector will be a given.
America cannot solve the problems regarding "bak shish" (kickbacks) - this is a cultural issue.

happyfish18 in reply to CA-Oxonian

Actually not all is lost for the Hegemon as the Talibs can be co-opted by the Saudi-Qatar-Turki Wahhabi allies of US as Islamist insurgents to topple more secular Dictators in the Ummah stretching from the Pamir to the horn of Africa to implement the Shariah laws under the guise of giving liberal democracy values to the masses. Then the Kerry-Rice duo can shout out at the top of their voices to these shaken Dictators as being on the wrong side of History.

Yukon Dave in reply to stands for truth

If you are going to use conspiracy thought how about some good ones.

How much has total Opium production increased under American occupation versus Taliban occupation?

What impact does a large US military presence in Afghanistan have on the Chinese or the Iranians?


The ultimate exit strategy is for Afghanastan to fend for themselves. With this perspective, that Karzai wants US Special Forces out of a province is encourageing because it shows independence. However, the USA is still a stakeholder because it does not want the Taliban to come to power and repeat 9/11. Advisors to 2014 and foward would be fiscally prudent in my oppinion, but please keep the suggestion box open.


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