Taliban Widen Afghan Attacks From Base in Pakistan

[laststeamtrain]

Source: NYT

September 24, 2009
Taliban Widen Afghan Attacks From Base in Pakistan
By ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON — Senior Taliban leaders, showing a surprising level of sophistication and organization, are using their sanctuary in Pakistan to stoke a widening campaign of violence in northern and western Afghanistan, senior American military and intelligence officials say.

The Taliban’s expansion into parts of Afghanistan that it once had little influence over comes as the Obama administration is struggling to settle on a new military strategy for Afghanistan, and as the White House renews its efforts to get Pakistan’s government to be more aggressive about killing or capturing Taliban leaders inside Pakistan.

American military and intelligence officials, who insisted on anonymity because they were discussing classified information, said the Taliban’s leadership council, led by Mullah Muhammad Omar and operating around the southern Pakistani city of Quetta, was directly responsible for a wave of violence in once relatively placid parts of northern and western Afghanistan. A recent string of attacks killed troops from Italy and Germany, pivotal American allies that are facing strong opposition to the Afghan war at home.

These assessments echo a recent report by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top military commander in Afghanistan, in portraying the Taliban as an increasingly sophisticated shadow government that sees itself on the cusp of victory in the war-ravaged nation.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/world/asia/24military.html?hp

[msongs]

1. 8 years of failure by the US military yet those "people" want even more $$$ nt

[BunkerHill24]

5. NOPE....

8 more years of legitimate Afghan resistance will definitely get America and its allies out off Afghanistan, for sure.

We need to assess our priorities here in America.....spending billions on rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan isn't the right strategy. We need health-care here, not over there!

[CoffeeCat]

2. The "powers that be"...

...are signalling to Obama, through an orchestrated media campaign--that they want their bigger war.
They'll make damn sure they get it by planting stories that make it appear as though the terrorists
are winning unless Obama sends more troops and widens out this war.

The PNAC scum may have all lost their jobs--as Bush flew away in the helicopter, but they're still
out there pulling the strings. No way in hell they were going to give up the "progress" they made
on their grand plan of creating an American "empire" through military might and world domination.

Did anyone believe that they would tackle the most important step (getting a foothold in the Middle
East, via Iraq), and then slink away quietly?

It's been interesting to watch President Clinton comment on all of this. He even did Larry King
last night and appeared on other talk shows--backing up President Obama's decision to wait to make
a decision about increased troop levels in Afghanistan. Clinton backed the decision and explained
why Obama was right. It seems clear that Clinton is helping Obama deal with these bastards.

I'm sure there's a lot of pressure on Obama to send those troops and what do you bet that Dick Cheney
is personally telling Obama that he'll make sure his presidency is a failure unless he does so.

These people AREN'T that difficult to figure out...they're "history's actors" you know.

[Wizard777]

3. Should Pakistan be given the ultimatum?

Either you take care of this or it's an act of war and we'll take care of you. Once we've neutralized their arsenal. There's no real compelling need for us to be there. There will be no nuclear weapons for Al Qaida to exploit. Then we can work on containment to keep them from reviving or rebuilding.

[Alamuti Lotus]

4. Shouldn't foreign occupation forces be given that ultimatum? *nt