AP Exclusive: Taliban say buildup under way

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP

AP Exclusive: Taliban say buildup under way
By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 18, 11:48 am ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The Taliban are moving fighters into Kandahar, planting bombs and plotting attacks as NATO and Afghan forces prepare for a summer showdown with insurgents, according to a Taliban commander with close ties to senior insurgent leaders.

NATO and Afghan forces are stepping up operations to push Taliban fighters out of the city, which was the Islamist movement's headquarters during the years it ruled most of Afghanistan. The goal is to bolster the capability of the local government so that it can keep the Taliban from coming back.

The Taliban commander, who uses the pseudonym Mubeen, told The Associated Press that if military pressure on the insurgents becomes too great "we will just leave and come back after" the foreign forces leave.

Despite nightly raids by NATO and Afghan troops, Mubeen said his movements have not been restricted. He was interviewed last week in the center of Kandahar, seated with his legs crossed on a cushion in a room. His only concession to security was to lock the door.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100418/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_taliban

[Lost4words]

1. I've got ants on the north side of our house, they keep comming back.

[laststeamtrain]

2. Where's the enemy? The enemy is over there.

Over where?

Over there.

Where?

Over there.

Etc.

[Lost4words]

8. that reminds me of " Where wolf, There wolf!" young Frankenstein

nt

[Mari333]

3. Vietnam. seen this movie already.

end it.

[bvar22]

4. K&R...because

there ARE people here that don't want YOU to have this information.

[pjt7]

5. When is the media going to take on

who is really benefiting from the Heroin trade?

...

[lib2DaBone]

6. By all means..let's flush another $12 Billion down the toilet in Afghanistan....

..let's make sure we cut Social Security and Medicare...punish those pesky senior citizens....

[No Elephants]

7. We will just leave and come back after the foreign forces leave.

Who coulda seen that coming?

Besides almost anyone, that is.

We are still in Japan. Peacefully, true, but we are still there.

Japan, however, is not Korea. Or Vietnam. Or Afghanistan.

And, if it is true that we are still in Afghanistan almost 9 years later bc of an oil pipeline and/or heroin, it's even worse, of course.

[Lost4words]

9. if they would only wear uniforms.

British General " they hide behind rocks, in trees, they attack at tea time, they fight like the savages they have become."

Imagine not fighting in established military fashion advancing in a straight line in red coats, unthinkable!

Im OK the world is nuts!

[formercia]

10. Brits said the same thing about American Colonial Insurgents

The Colonials wouldn't stand in a straight line and fight.

[Old Troop]

11. Is it odd to anyone that both sides are broadcasting their moves?

[Truth2Tell]

12. I think these moves by both sides

are so large that they are obvious to the other side on the ground. The Taliban can see that we are ramping up in Kandahar and surely we know already that they are as well. So these interviews/announcements by both sides are only public relations in advance of a battle everyone knows is coming. Classic tactics, magnify the perception of the strenth of your force as much as possible.

[maxsolomon]

13. We won't fight the war that would win in Afghanistan

that war wouldn't leave a Kandahar for the Taliban to occupy. therefore, we are wasting our $, time & effort there, just as OBL wanted.

a little insight from Col. Kurtz of Apocalypse now on what it would take:

" I've seen horrors...horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call
me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that...But
you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is
necessary to those who do not know what horror means.
Horror. Horror has a face...And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and
moral terrorare your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared.
They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces...Seems
a thousand centuries ago...We went into a camp to innoculate the children.
We left the camp after we had innoculated the children for Polio, and this old
man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went
back there and they had come and hacked off every innoculated arm. There
they were in a pile...A pile of little arms. And I remember...I...I...I cried...
I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I
wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want
to forget. And then I realized...like I was shot...Like I was shot with a
diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead...And I thought:
My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect,
genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were
stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not
monsters...These were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with
their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with
love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that. If I had ten
divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You
have to have men who are moral...and at the same time who are able to
utilize their primordal instincts to kill without feeling...without passion...
without judgement...without judgement. Because it's judgement that
defeats us. "

[laststeamtrain]

14. I think this post belongs in 'Entertainment'. YOU'RE QUOTING A MOVIE!?!. n/t.

:eyes:

[maxsolomon]

16. a very good movie based a joseph conrad novel

that has important things to say about the nature of warfare and america's notions of wartime ethics. it ain't Porky's 3.

have you SEEN apocalypse now? have you READ heart of darkness?

art is the mirror of society - :eyes:, yourself.

[laststeamtrain]

17. The connection to Conrad is very loose. Might as well say it was based on Eliot's Wasteland.

John Milius wrote the screenplay. Michael Herr wrote Willard's voice over monologue.

I've seen it many times, including pre-release test showings.

AN was a great movie. Porky's 3 is probably more of a mirror of American society.

[maxsolomon]

18. that quote points out what it would take to "win" in Afghanstan

brutality beyond what the Taliban would consider civilized. brutality that would make the Afghan people fear us more than the Taliban.

we're simply not willing to go there as a military and certainly not as a country - yet. cutting off arms and leaving them as warnings to the other peasants? we have the illusion that America is ethically superior in war. we're the good guys. we go to war reluctantly because we have no choice but to police the planet - for their own good.

but not because our bloated DoD budget makes it so tempting...

[Old Troop]

15. I was a willing particpant in a number of wars

We were schooled to practice operations security to provide the least amount of information to the "enemy" as possible. We can move forces quickly and quietly onto the battlefield of our choosing. So can the enemy. Why would both sides communicate their intentions? Maybe to get the other side to arrive at the field of their choice? Apocolypse Now was a phony movie that simply played on the Hollywood idea of what battle was.

[maxsolomon]

19. did you see the same movie as me?

it wasn't intended to be an accurate depiction of any "battle" in vietnam. it was metaphorical and atmospheric - even the 2 "battle" scenes - the robert duvall "ride of the valkyries/charlie don't surf" scene and the "who's in charge here, soldier? ain't you?" scene - were not literal representations of military operations. the thesis is in the quote i posted.

what's a "non-phony" war movie, anyway? saving private ryan?

[Bragi]

20. So what's the point of this "game"?

It's clear what the Taliban are up to (hand around to kill as many U.S troops as possible, then clear out when the heavy equipment arrives.) No surprise there. They did the same thing last year in NW Pakistan, with Pak troops playing the role of foreign occupier.

But what does the U.S think it's going to get from this shell game? Other than dead troops, a lame phrryic victory that will fool no-one, and a couple hundred thousand new refugees?

Additional pointless U.S and Afghan deaths from this cooked-up nonsense will be his responsibility, and his alone.

This is pathetic.

Obama should stop this stupidity, confine U.S troops to barracks, and send in airlife to end this travesty. He should stop this pointless war now.