I was going to post a followup to a recent post I had done referancing some disturbing news, but suspected, out of Afganistan. That post, a few days ago, followed the extremely sad news about the loss of the nine soldiers, fifteen injured, in a battle at a small fire base they held by Afgan insugents. This U.S. Abandons Site of Afghan Attack is a recent report on that and as the title says the American forces abandoned the base. It was than apparently retaken by the Afgan Insurgents as well as the little town near it, and control of the territory well around the town and base.
Another report came out yesterday, in the Asian Times, but was dated for today, I’ve already seen that other sources have been picking it up today, that will follow shortly.
Than this morning Sebastian likes to rattle cages has this diary up with news out of The Guardian that may answer a few questions, or more like worries, I had. This could also explain, and make much more clearer the reason for this, American Envoy To Join Iran Talks, which should have happened over 6 years ago, right after the illegal invasion and as many knew an insurgent conflict would result.
The only ones who could have quieted the rising Blowback, from the invasion and coming occupation, were the neighbors of Iraq, All of them, it’s their region, their neighbor, their religions, their sects, and many of us were calling for their involvement.
But Iraq never was and still isn’t the only huge problem and extremely failed policy of this administration and it’s cohorts, The forgotten War, Afganistan, has and is a big part of the picture and the growing Hatreds in the region, towards us, from those policies!
The other day I had this in that post:
Afghan Warlords, Formerly Backed By the CIA, Now Turn Their Guns On U.S. Troops
They defeated the Soviets with Washington’s help, but now they attack Americans as the new occupiers
And these folks don’t play games, they’re well seasoned guerilla fighters, in their own country and the terrain well known by them!
They also don’t need to raise up hatreds or indoctrinate others, we’re doing a damn good job across the region, from Iraq, raising the civilian hatreds towards us in Iran by our rethoric and threats, through Pakistan and into Afganistan, making enemies of tens of thousands if not millions, and this has nothing to do with religious ideology, that’s used on both sides to embed fear and control the masses not directly involved, pure propaganda!
But amid a well-coordinated assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and large-scale bombings last week in the capitals of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are keenly aware that they are facing an increasingly complex enemy here-what U.S. military officials now call a syndicate-composed not only of Taliban fighters but also powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency. “You could almost describe the insurgency as having two branches,” says a senior U.S. military official here. “It’s the Taliban in the south and a ‘rainbow coalition’ in the east.”
Indeed, along with a smattering of Afghan tribal groups, Pakistani extremists, and drug kingpins, two of the most dangerous players are violent Afghan Islamists named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to U.S. officials.
And these two are whom:
were once among America’s most valued allies.
I’ve always thought that bin Laden, and it has been suspected and reported, because of his family thus the connections to possible U.S. officials, was on the CIA payroll and a middle man for the arms dealings for us in the Afgan/Soviet conflict.
Hekmatyar, then widely considered by Washington to be a reliable anti-Soviet rebel, was even flown to the United States by the CIA in 1985.
immortalized in the recent film Charlie Wilson’s War
We even made him a cult hero in our movies, now that’s the American Way.
Today, the Haqqani network is driving the recent rise in violence in eastern Afghanistan, according to U.S. military officials.
In the course of conducting these operations, insurgents have benefited greatly from the shortage of U.S. and allied troops here, say U.S. officials.
My guess, just like during the Afgan/Soviet conflict, the rise in violence, especially the changing tactics, is drawing fighters from Iraq as well. If that’s the case, and violence abates in Iraq, if we still have troops in that country it won’t be quiet for long. With quiet comes complacency and if that complacency is seen an felt by the insurgents a very quick rise in insurgent actions will follow for we will still be occupiers in their land, some coming from those we’re paying now not to fight us!
U.S. officials had an even higher opinion of Haqqani, who was considered the most effective rebel warlord. “I adored Haqqani. When I was in Afghanistan, Haqqani was the guy who made sure I would get out,” says Wilson. “He was a marvelous leader and very beloved in his territory.”
The above has been suspected, actually more than suspected because of the lack of ability to get Afganistan under control and not only because the administration just walked away from it and our promises.
This is what I found yesterday at the Asia Times Online:
Militants ready for a war without borders
Hell of a Title that just grabs the attention!
It isn’t anything new, that’s what Criminal Terrorism, on a World Scale, has been about for years, striking back from the few for the Wests failed policies in their lands and regions and started long before 9/11!
This is how the report starts out:
From thinly disguised insinuations against Pakistan following the suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul this month to outright accusations against Islamabad by the Afghan government over the unrelenting Taliban-led insurgency, the blame game has entered a critical time: a major regional battle could erupt in a matter of days
A matter of days?
The U.S. now wants to, late, send more troops into Afganistan and do what should have been done after we rid it of the Taliban government and al Qaeda, Seek Out Insurgents In Pakistan, in others words expand the conflict into anothers country and not a very stable country at that!
I’ve been wondering, though haven’t heard anything, if some of the insurgents of Iraq have been moving their front, because of the blastwalls that surround the neighborhoods, the employing of others by the U.S. to fight their own countrymen and not our troops, the refugee’s all over Iraq and neighboring countries, the ceasefires……………………………………………, and more.
In Guerilla Warfare everything becomes a weapon to use when the need arises!
Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani was quick to call in senior strategic analysts, who pointed out that the military would only follow the directions of the civilian government. Yet just days earlier, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani had announced that all decisions concerning military operations would be decided by the army chief. This does not bode well for Pakistan’s whole-hearted cooperation.
But regardless of how sincerely the Pakistani army fights against the Taliban, the fact is that the Taliban have already staged a virtual coup in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan.
Now if you were in a military of a country that gets invaded What Would You Do!!
As a result, the middle and lower members of the security forces are effectively non-functional and answer to the Taliban’s call across NWFP.
Bring together the above about the Afgan Insurgents and Warlords around that country, add the Growing Taliban ranks as well as the original al Qaeda.
On Monday, a high-level al-Qaeda shura (council) concluded in Miramshah in North Waziristan with instructions to all members with families to retreat to safe locations in expectation of the Afghan war spreading into Pakistan’s tribal areas.
We have been feeding the growing hatreds, the longer we stayed in Iraq and the dangerous stagnation we’ve been a part of in Afganistan.
The shura also noted that militant ranks in the region had received their biggest boost since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, including growing numbers from Muslim countries.
If the Guardian report, and apparently others have started reporting same, is correct, though way too late, establishing even minor diplomatic relations might quell actions and arms supply from Iran as well as Iranians joining what possibly could be a full scale conflict with Afgan Warlords, Taliban, al Qaeda, Pakistani Tribesmen, possible Pakistani military forces, irate Afgans, Pakistani’s from around the country, and a new Mujahideen, made up of, Once Again, fighters from around that region and elsewhere, including Iraqi’s!!