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Embedded Edits

Is news coverage of Afghanistan straight from the source?....

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THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN IS ONLY BEGINNING

Something has gone terribly wrong in Afghanistan. The heaviest fighting there since the 2001 US invasion has recently erupted. Many Americans, who were then assured by neocons and their media trumpets that their nation had triumphantly won the war in Afghanistan and crushed Taliban, are dismayed and bewildered.

In 2001, unable to withstand high-tech US forces, Taliban’s leader, Mullah Omar, ordered his men, who had been fighting the Afghan Communists and pro-Russian Tajiks, to disband, exchange their black turbans for white ones, and blend into the civilian population.

At the time, this writer, who covered the 1980’s Great Jihad in Afghanistan and ensuing birth of Taliban, warned war would resume in about four years, just as it did after the 1979 Soviet invasion. This prediction was greeted with jeers, accusations of idiocy and accusations of lack of patriotism.

Now, as predicted, Taliban forces have taken the offensive against US and NATO troops, often employing deadly new tactics, like roadside and suicide bombs, learned from Iraq’s resistance. Casualties are mounting on both sides.

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Until recently, million of dollars in monthly cash bribes from CIA to Afghan warlords kept key areas under nominal authority of the US-installed Karzai regime. The writ of this long-time CIA `asset’ barely extends beyond the capitol, Kabul. Only western bayonets keep him in office.

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But the westerners won’t be any more successful in winning hearts and minds of Afghans than the Russians – particularly after the flood of US $100 dollar bills renting temporarily loyalty begins to dry up once Washington cuts back on the now nearly $2 billion monthly cost of the occupation. Or once it ceases employing 25,000 soldiers and hundreds of CIA agents in the search for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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Claims by Washington of political progress in Afghanistan are wishful thinking. It is the classic Afghan way to smile and pocket bribe money, and tell foreigners what they want to hear, only to attack them in the night. Tribal and clan loyalties trump all other links. Most Afghans working for the foreign occupation are secretly in touch with the resistance.

All those ponderous US search and destroy operations are telegraphed long in advance to the resistance. Of course. Afghans know one day Americans and other foreigners will go home, just as did the Russians, British and Alexander’s Greeks.

Posted by Eric Margolis on July 4, 2006 10:49 AM

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Seems that if you went to Afghanistan in the years fighting the Soviets, you don't need to go back but can let history be your guide. I don't know..... after all that history of war, shouldn't the Afghans be getting a bit tired of it all?

[ 04 July 2006: Message edited by: siren ]

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Originally posted by siren:
Seems that if you went to Afghanistan in the years fighting the Soviets, you don't need to go back but can let history be your guide. I don't know....

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"America," he said, "will lose the war. And Italy will win it."

"America is the strongest and most prosperous nation on earth," Nately informed him with lofty fervor and dignity. "And the American fighting man is second to none."

"Exactly," agreed the old man pleasantly, with a hint of taunting amusement. "Italy, on the other hand, is one of the least prosperous nations on earth. And the Italian fighting man is probably second to all. And that's exactly why my country is doing so well in this war while your country is doing so poorly."

"I'm sorry I laughed at you. But Italy was occupied by the Germans and is now being occupied by us. You don't call that doing very well, do you?"

"But of course I do," exclaimed the old man cheerfully. "The Germans are being driven out, and we're still here. In a few years, you will be gone, too, and we will still be here. You see, Italy is really a very poor and weak country, and that's what makes us so strong. Italian soldiers are not dying anymore. But American and German soldiers are. I call that doing extremely well. Yes, I'm quite certain Italy will survive this war and still be in existence long after your own country has been destroyed."

"America is not going to be destroyed!" he shouted passionately.

"Never?" prodded the old man softly.

"Well..." Nately faltered.

"Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed. All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you really think your own country will last? Forever? Keep in mind that the earth itself is destined to be destroyed by the sun in twenty-five million years or so."

"I don't believe anything you tell me," Nately replied... "The only thing I do believe is that America is going to win the war."

"You put so much stock in winning wars. The real trick lies in losing wars, in knowing which wars can be lost. Italy has been losing wars for centuries, and just see how splendidly we've done nonetheless. France wins wars and is in a continual state of crisis. Germany loses and prospers. Look at our recent history. Italy won a war in Ethiopia and promptly stumbled into serious trouble. Victory gave us such insane delusions of grandeur that we helped start a world war we hadn't a chance of winning. But now that we are losing again, everything has taken a turn for the better and we will certainly come out on top again if we succeed in being defeated."

Nately gaped at him in undisguised befuddlement. "Now I really don't understand what you're saying. You talk like a madman."

"But I live like a sane one. I was a fascist when Mussolini was on top, and I am anti-fascist now that he has been deposed. I was fanatically pro-German when the Germans were here to protect us against the Americans, and now that the Americans are here to protect us against the Germans I am fanatically pro-American...When the Germans marched into the city, I danced in the streets like a ballerina and shouted `Heil Hitler!'... When the Germans left the city, I rushed out to welcome the Americans with a bottle of excellent brandy and a basket of flowers. The brandy was for myself, of course, and the flowers were to sprinkle upon our liberators...."

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Blair promises more combat troops for Afghanistan duty

JAMES KIRKUP AND TOM COGHLAN IN KABUL

Key points

• More support to be considered "seriously and immediately"
• Fear British forces in Afghanistan are too small and too lightly equipped
• Half of the support helicopters grounded due to mechanical failures
Key quote:

"The government has certainly given the impression to both parliament and the public that this mission is less complex and dangerous than I believe it to be." Dr Liam Fox - shadow defence secretary
Story in full

TONY Blair yesterday signalled that more troops could be sent to reinforce the increasingly dangerous British mission in southern Afghanistan.

In an emergency Commons statement, ministers accepted that any request for more fighting power as well as support aircraft and key equipment would be considered "seriously and immediately". ...

Dr Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said: "The government has certainly given the impression to both parliament and the public that this mission is less complex and dangerous than I believe it to be."

Dr Fox added: "I accept that winning the battle against al- Qaeda and the Taleban and reconstructing that country may require a long deployment and significantly higher numbers of troops and equipment. I doubt very much it is likely to be a three-year operation." ...

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Link to full story

It reminds me of another time and place where ar few hundred advisors grew to a few thousand ground troops to protect bases, and then to half a million troops, all stuck in a quaqmire. Of course all along we heard the same optimistic assessments of the mission from the administration and those officers and men willing to ingnore reality and sing the company song.

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Originally posted by Yossarian:
Not for the first time, I'm reminded of this passage from one of my favourite novels:

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