Question of the Day | 10/13/2009 4:00 am
To ensure that there are no safe havens for terrorists, would you support keeping troops in Afghanistan for the next five years?
Liz Smith, Joan Ganz Cooney and Candice Bergen discuss the cost of safety.
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Here! Here! BRAVO, BABY!!!
Except, "The Taliban" are a grossly exaggerated "group" - and we must not fall for all we hear or read. Were it so simple to rid that region of "The Taliban" … but ‘they’ are many more fighters, not aka "The Taliban!"
The Taliban is a group of groups. Mainly tribes. But also an ideological group we know as al Queda. And it’s al Queda that is the threat. The threat of the Taliban is it that it gives safe haven. To al Queda.
Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex. The foundation of which was laid by the CIA. The main problem with it all is that no one appears to have known what they were doing. The new world order they worked so hard to put in place appears to have become the new world disorder. And as a result the world is really a very dangerous place. Far dangerous than it ever has been in our lifetimes. We have an enemy that has no country.
The Taliban and Al-Qaeda are two different entities. The Taliban is a religious-political group, mostly Pashtun, which formerly held power in Kabul and most of Afghanistan. It never held all of Afghanistan. They didn’t really show up until the early 1990s and established their rule around 1996. The Taliban may migrate across the Pak border now as a contingency, but they are most definitely very Afghan, and very Pashtun.
Al-Qaeda predated the Taliban by several years; it was founded in 1988 in Pakistan by Bin Laden and others, allegedly partly in response to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Silly, really, since the USSR was already withdrawing by that point. The 1990 Gulf War and arrival of foreign troops in Saudi Arabia - the land of the two holy mosques - and King Fahd’s refusal of Bin Laden’s offer of fighters, in preference for foreign armies, really ticked Bin Laden off. He made public statements criticizing the Saudi government and ended up in exile, with his citizenship revoked. Start downward spiral here. While in Sudan, he was allied with some anti-Egyptian terrorists, and their attempts against Egyptian targets led to Sudan kicking them all out. That’s when he eventually wended his way to Afghanistan, and fell in with the Taliban.
Since getting blasted out of power in 2001, the Taliban have blamed Al-Qaeda for bringing their misfortunes upon them, and their ties have dwindled ever since. No sympathy here - all they had to do was turn over Bin Laden when we asked nicely, but they refused. Al-Qaeda, incidentally, is about out of money thanks to international efforts to freeze accounts and stymie donations. The Taliban are much better funded than Al-Qaeda these days, probably in large part thanks to the narcotics trade.
True that Al-Qaeda does not have a country. But as Sudan’s and Afghanistan’s cases show us, this is why it is so important to engage the governments of the countries they base themselves in. We are a nation, and need to keep our focus on other nations to keep nonstate actors in check.
What ever happened to "There’s nothing to fear but fear itself?" We make a conscious choice to see good or evil. People and countries draw to them exactly what they expect to find. Let’s not forget that the majority of the citizens of any country simply want to be able to raise their families without war or fear.
I think we are done in Iraq. We need to leave and let them run their own country. Then we only have Afghanistan to deal with. Will we be there forever? No. I don’t see Afghanistan becoming the 51st state. So we’re talking about how long. Months, years, a generation? If Bin Ladin was caught/killed today, I think we’d be pulling out sooner than later. If Pakistan would let us get him, or would get him and hand him over we could say "Thanks!", bid them all adieu and it would be less than 5 years. He’s kept in hiding for 8 years. Why should we think it’ll take 5 more years to catch him? Should we wait for him to die of old age?
Bin Ladin is most likely in Pakistan and they don’t seem to be in any hurry to capture him.
Not so fast, F P, looks like there’s a fast approaching plan….
Pakistan readies for new assault on Bin Laden lair (October 6, 2009)
IN WHAT is likely to be its sternest challenge yet, Pakistan’s military is poised to launch a major offensive in the coming days against militants in the remote mountainous terrain of South Waziristan, long rumoured to be the hiding place of Osama bin Laden.
After months of preparation that has involved massing 28,000 troops near the tribal area on the Afghan border, and after weeks of air strikes designed to soften up militant positions, senior military sources in Islamabad told The Independent that the long-awaited operation was imminent. The US has also increased drone strikes in the region to target key figures.
The operation to take on the 10,000-strong Mehsud network, formerly headed by Baitullah Mehsud, comes amid heavy pressure on Pakistan from Washington to continue its fight against militants, many of whom are involved in cross-border attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.
On the weekend, Pentagon officials who have been monitoring the plans to launch the operation suggested that preparations were complete: "We would assess that they have plenty of force to do the job right now," said one official, who declined to be identified.
Confirmation of Pakistan’s readiness emerged as militants yesterday underscored their enduring ability to strike at high-profile targets when a suicide bomber killed five people and injured several others in an attack on a UN office in Islamabad. Witnesses said the bomber entered the offices of the World Food Programme (WFP) and set off the bomb, triggering chaos.
More…
F P, we need to find out what forwarding address he gave to our CIA (for his checks to be mailed).
Wouldn’t it be nice if all Americans exhibited at least a minimal amount of patriotism?
Patriotism, Patty, in my estimation, is love of country, and being willing to sacrifice for it. Being proud to be an American, not because of a belief that we are better than other peoples, but proud of our heritage of freedom.
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