The Taliban Has Launched A Massive Coordinated Attack In Afghanistan

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/coordinated-attack-on-embassies-in-afghanistan-2012-4



The Taliban has taken credit for a coordinated attack going on right now in Kabul and other cities.
Refresh this page to see the latest reports from Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP, Kyodo and other sources on Twitter.
In Kabul armed suicide bombers attacked the NATO headquarters, Kabul Star Hotel, German, Russian and Japanese embassies and a British diplomatic house.
Afghan MPs have joined security forces in repelling attackers from the roof of the parliament, reports Reuters.
A Turkish base on the outskirts of Kabul is also under mortar fire, and Greek and Turkish forces are firing back with heavy machine guns, reports the AP.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/coordinated-attack-on-embassies-in-afghanistan-2012-4#ixzz1s73g7PZI

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Looks like Castro with the gun there...

I really did a double take at the pic.
First at the Castro look-a -like
then
at the fast food hamburger place....stand....thingy.

[bongbong]

23. Good catch

THe irony of the picture would escape pretty much everyone, even on DU.

"We're bringing you Democracy, one fast-food joint at a time! Don't mind the bombings!"

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. Yep.

The only way capitalism will work is by continued growth of new markets, by hook or by crook.

[KG]

2. time to declare victory and leave...

[xchrom]

3. after having spent goo-gobs of money on expensive drones

to disrupt the taliban and others from being able to do EXACTLY this --

you are correct.

[EFerrari]

4. This story didn't get much play here at DU

but an active duty Army guy did a study and he concludes we are being lied to about the war in Afghanistan and that we're losing it.

Active-Duty Army Whistleblower Lt. Col. Daniel Davis: U.S. Deceiving Public on Afghan War

In an extended interview, we speak with Lt. Col. Danny Davis, the most prominent active-duty servicemember to question the U.S. war in Afghanistan. In his damning report following his return from his second year-long deployment in Afghanistan, Davis draws on about 250 interviews with U.S. soldiers as well as Afghans across the country to conclude: "Senior ranking U.S. military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the U.S. Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable." Davis asks how many more must die in support of a mission that’s not succeeding. "When you’re given a mission that cannot — cannot — succeed militarily, then what is the purpose of the mission?" [includes rush transcript]

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/11/active_duty_army_whistleblower_lt_col

Truth, lies and Afghanistan
http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030

[xchrom]

6. +1

[EFerrari]

7. Rereading "The Runaway General" about McChrystal, found this gem:

"The entire COIN strategy is a fraud perpetuated on the American people," says Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel and leading critic of counterinsurgency who attended West Point with McChrystal. "The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense." (P.2)

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-runaway-general-20100622#ixzz1s7bOArOq

[xchrom]

8. it's ridiculous -- maybe we would have had a chance to rebuild afghanistan -- but our other wars

and our inability to get the resources from around the world to accomplish should have been a major hint.

but not us -- noooo.

[bullwinkle428]

11. "Active-duty Army whistleblower" - that means that this guy is the next one to receive

a grand tour of the inside of Leavenworth, I would imagine.

[EFerrari]

19. So far, this whistleblower says his command is not punishing him.

They likely will just try to bury the report and, I hope he's not wrong. He seems like a very decent person.

[kenny blankenship]

16. The purpose of the mission is political - domestic politics

You fight, kill and die to protect one man from being called "Soft on Islam".

I would feel sorry for people who are too stupid to understand this, but I have to save all my pity for the victims of this vanity driven slaughter.

[EFerrari]

18. The president, whoever is in office, is just a figurehead for the war profiteers.

I agree that there is some vanity to it, the figurehead is human. But at bottom, this is about cash and American businessmen aka, war profiteers.

[malaise]

20. It's also economic

Someone is making a bag of money

[madrchsod]

5. we trained these guys and that`s the thanks we get?

maybe we should think about it that the next time we decide to choose sides

[EFerrari]

10. Maybe these guys don't want to get killed in this useless American war.

The government in Kabul is corrupt down to the ground. The Americans aren't taking territory and they look like they're losing in a country everyone knows they will eventually leave. Who wants to die for that?

[Egalitarian Thug]

15. Trained them? We created them, just like we made OBL, Saudi Arabia, etc.

And of course by "we " I mean, our corporate overlords.

[xchrom]

9. Taliban launch raids on Kabul and other Afghan targets

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17719956

Militants have been carrying out what they say are co-ordinated attacks on the Afghan capital Kabul and other targets in Afghanistan.

Foreign embassies, Nato's HQ and the Afghan parliament all came under attack in the first major attack on Kabul in more than six months.

The Taliban said "tens of suicide attackers" had struck in Kabul and Logar, Paktia and Nangarhar provinces.

Reports speak of least 24 people injured and seven militants killed.

There were no immediate reports of foreign nationals among the casualties.

[LiberalAndProud]

12. It's spring in Afghanistan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17719956
Mirwais Yasini, an MP from Nangarhar, told BBC News: ''This shows the Taliban don't want peace.

"They don't want to negotiate. They are not serious. They want to continue the killing of innocent people."

The MP said it was clear an intelligence failure had occurred.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-04-14/afghan-taliban-peace-council/54274788/1
KABUL (AP) – The son of a former Afghan peace council chairman killed by a suicide bomber was elected Saturday to succeed his father as head of the group tasked with reaching out to the Taliban to find a political resolution to the decade-long war.
...
Rabbani also said that continued fighting has resulted in the long presence of foreign forces on Afghan soil.

"If we have peace in our country, there will be no reason for the foreign forces to stay," he said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-afghanistan-attacks-futurebre83e0b8-20120415,0,5349708.story
Afghan Taliban say more similar attacks to come

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban vowed to launch similar attacks to those that engulfed the Afghan capital of Kabul and several provinces on Sunday.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that the assaults were in retaliation for the burning of copies of the Koran at a NATO base, the killing of 17 Afghan civilians for which a U.S. soldier has been charged as well as for videos apparently showing U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi)

[TheKentuckian]

13. Well, we best get out of Dodge as to present less juicy targets

[kenny blankenship]

14. Light at the end of the tunnel.

[Cleita]

17. I know I'm going to say something that is not popular here, but

why are we still at war with the Taliban? We got bin Laden. That was the purported reason we were at war with the Taliban to begin with. We needed a Marshall plan in Afghanistan to build schools, hospitals and to provide jobs and security. This is what the Taliban does for the tribal people of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, their extreme Sharia law version of governing goes hand in hand with it. If we were to withdraw our troops to a point where they would be low profile while we provide the Afghani people with what they need, the Taliban would fade away because their services would no longer be needed.

[malaise]

21. Bring the troops home

NOW

[Faygo Kid]

22. Tet offensive. Get out.

I hate to leave the women of Afghanistan to the tender mercies of the Taliban, but get out.