U.S. Marines report peace deal with tribe in Afghan hot spot

[unhappycamper]

U.S. Marines report peace deal with tribe in Afghan hot spot
By Dion Nissenbaum and Hashim Shukoor | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, January 3, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan — The top U.S. Marine commander in southern Afghanistan said Monday that an influential Afghan tribe had agreed to put a stop to Taliban attacks in a highly contested part of Helmand province sometimes called "Afghanistan's Fallujah."

The agreement, if it holds, could provide a much-needed respite for American Marines, who have faced surprisingly effective resistance since they took control of Helmand's Sangin district from British forces in September.

U.S. military officials said they were cautiously optimistic about the deal, which a Taliban spokesman derided as American propaganda intended to demoralize insurgent fighters in Helmand.

In the past, such accords have proved to be fleeting. In late 2006, British forces agreed to a Taliban cease-fire in another volatile part of Helmand province; the Taliban retook it four months later.

U.S. military officials said they were taking a "wait-and-see" approach to the Sangin agreement.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "In the past such accords have proven to be fleeting..."

ummm hmmmmm

[WhiteTara]

3. We don't do well with reading the past.

Our leaders seem to think history is some dead info dump and doesn't need to be studied. The recent history shows that Afghanistan broke the USSR into little pieces and Vietnam cost both the French and the US dearly. In the end, Vietnam is its own country, just as Afghanistan will be. I wonder if we too will be broken into little pieces by our actions.

[PoliticAverse]

2. "In exchange, American and Afghan leaders are supposed to pump more money into the area"

The key line.