Tag: taliban

ACCUSATION OF DEFECTION, COLLABORATION COMPLICATED BY VIDEO RELEASED BY GROUP TIED TO MOSSAD  SOMETHING VERY WRONG HERE  By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor  Yesterday, a very odd...

The fourth round of ‘strategic –dialogue’ between the United States and Pakistan ended on March 25, 2010 in Washington, bringing a win-win situation for both sides. The US seems upbeat that its key ally in the region combating terrorism has finally intensified its efforts to root out the al-Qaida affiliated Islamist militants on its own soil and truly distancing itself from its proxy, the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

IS THE ENEMY OUR OWN STUPIDITY? By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER, Senior Editor America's recent attack, augmented by top line Afghan army troops,  against the massive...

American forces have begun operations to push back Taliban insurgents in this most important southern province, the birthplace and spiritual home of the Taliban, and a full-scale offensive is expected in coming weeks.

CIA drones are killing terrorists -- and civilians -- in Pakistan almost every day. The unmanned aircraft are becoming the weapon of choice in the fight against al-Qaida and its allies. But the political, military and moral consequences are incalculable. SPIEGEL ONLINE has investigated Barack Obama's remote-controlled campaign against terrorism.

GORDON DUFF:  Special Forces Trained "Col. Imam" Outspoken Critic of US Policy Wrongly Accused by Time Times Reporter Victimized by "Spoof" By Gordon Duff / STAFF WRITER...

The battle for the Afghan town of Marja is being hyped as if it were the battle of Stalingrad. There was never doubt that NATO would force the Taliban out. A contemporary British account of frontier in the last century said of the Pashtun-fighting man: “When he stayed and defended something, whether a gun or a village, we trapped him and pulverized him. When he flitted and sniped, rushed and ran away, we felt we were using a crowbar to swat wasps.’’

- Bad-Suicide-Bombings: 18 Dead, 32 Wounded; Indians Targeted - "I saw foreigners crying and shouting ... It was a very bad situation inside," said Najibullah,...

Douglas Valentine at Consortium News draws some parallels between our current wars and William the Conqueror, they're not pretty. The bumpkin senator from Oklahoma has started an inquisition of climate scientists; their crimes? Being climate scientists, of course. The Taliban strike in downtown Kabul in a story from Juan Cole at Informed Comment and according to McClatchy News their goal is driving America out. Those stories and more in today's picks.

Rep. Kucinich wrote to Defense Secretary Gates, demanding that the U.S. comply with its obligation to protect Afghan civilians under international law, following a US attack on a civilian convoy reported to have killed 27 civilians. Kucinich demanded information on the decisions that led to the strike within two weeks, threatening to force a House vote demanding release of documents on the strike.

No doubt after chewing our troops up, the DVA will rush in to facilitate expedited delivery of benefits. Right. For those stuck on history...

In a political convention which, by most accounts, was heavily overstocked with nut cases, Glen Beck was apparently a standout at CPAC; Mike Madden at Salon has the story. Sunnis, Baathists and Baathists go Lightly, may boycott next month's Iraqi elections from Juan Cole at Informed Comment and John Yoo says that George Bush had the power and authority to eliminate entire villages if the mood struck him from Raw Story are among the stories in today's picks.

JUNAID: Well, it has been a week that, you know, something has started in Marja, in Helmand, which is very close to Kandahar. The NATO forces are going there in numbers, and they're drumming it up as a big battle of this war. Some points are encouraging. There are good things happening, because they are saying that will build it positively. Some of the points look like a lot of media hype, which has been created to drum up support in the Western countries, surely. For example, there is not supposed to be any battle there, because it is a guerrilla war. This is mountainous area. And there will be a guerrilla war, and in guerrilla war, it has to be hand-to-hand combat. So expecting a big battle in this place is a bit of a media thing.

"We have millions of young men coming of age, America doesn't realize this. Each one will become a fighter with one purpose in life, to free their country and drive out foreign invaders. Each child you see will be a trained soldier with a Kalashnikov. We will fight for a century if we have to. Ask Britain, ask Russia, they know. Why did America have to come here, join with criminal elements, brutal drug lords, mass murderers, people whose only history is brutality toward their own, why was America so stupid as to think we would respect them when they and their stooges rain bombs down on our children?"

It’s becoming apparent to the foreign policy wonks in the Obama administration that the goose in Afghanistan is cooked. Now it’s only a matter of talking themselves into sticking a fork in it. The “great dilemma of this war,” as the New York Times calls it, is “whether to reconcile with the men who sheltered Osama bin Laden and who still have close ties to al-Qaeda.” That option is considered to be “rife with political risk at home” which means the neocons and their pals in the right-wing hate chorus will flay Obama alive if he takes it.

Thousands of American, Afghan and British troops attacked the watery Taliban fortress of Marja early Saturday, moving on foot, in trucks and through the air to destroy the insurgency’s largest haven and begin a campaign to reassert the dominance of the Afghan government in a large swath of southern Afghanistan.

Wonder why so many people are so seriously..overweight? Derrick Jackson at the Boston Globe writes that we might consider the 17 teaspoons of sugar in one 20 oz. soda. Cowboy iconoclast Jim Hightower casts light on Texas' Rick Perry's attempt to cover up state collusion with businesses cheating on tax abatement agreements and Dylan Ratigan patiently explains to Glen Beck "where snow comes from," those stories and more in today's picks.

Sean Hannity seems to think that the "world" is limited to the eastern US. in Texas if you report a doctor for malpractice you may go down on a felony rap. Canada seems to have become infected with the paranoia of its southern neighbor, and from Inquisition headquarters: The "Christian Manifesto" brands liberals as Nazis. These stories and more in today's picks.

The disturbing story of a US soldier waterboarding his baby girl, A Jim Hightower tribute to Howard Zinn, "Innovation" lives on in the GOP...cut taxes on the rich, and privatize everything, casualty reports from the AfPak drone war come under fire and Bob Herbert reports on the unfair distribution of income and pain in today's picks.

WHAT OUR MILITARY LEADERS ONLY SAY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Open today's newspaper and get a map of the battle zones...

SOLD TO THE CIA TO FOR BUSH "TERROR QUOTA" RAPED, TORTURED, ONE OF HER CHILDREN MURDERED, NOW CONVICTED OF IMPOSSIBLE CRIME By Gordon Duff STAFF...

The way the Taliban use Pakistan’s tribal areas to launch cross-border attacks inside Afghanistan is perhaps the most contentious issue between Pakistan and the United States. But the problem is hardly contained to Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas. Gaping holes in security checks along the border also remain at heavily trafficked crossings, like this one, in Baluchistan Province, where, American officials say, the Taliban’s leaders have taken refuge, out of reach of American and NATO forces.

While U.S. officials prefer to focus on low-level fighters while hoping that an additional 30,000 troops can pummel the Taliban into a weaker negotiating position, President Karzai's government has stressed the need to reach out to the Islamist movement's leadership, the Washington Post reports. "It's questionable why the United States just wants to reintegrate the low level of the Taliban and not the leadership," said Karzai's policy chief. "That's something they are concerned about, but from the Afghan side, we are trying to include everyone in negotiations." In public statements, the Taliban has predicated any negotiation on the departure of foreign troops.

The Fundraising Congress What vets need from the prez How to Get Our Democracy Back The death penalty -- it's unworkable To win Afghan war, isolate the...

Day by day a growing chorus of voices is heard saying that the tribes are the solution in Afghanistan. This very powerful grassroots movement is blossoming; and it can give the Afghan people new hope, self-esteem and a sense of belonging. As Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) told the news media Russia Today; "For about one billion dollars we could…(obtain)... the good will of all the tribal leaders and all the ethnic leaders in Afghanistan, and for another billion dollars, we could put nice projects in local villages." But, to make sure that there is success to this notion, an effective bottom-up approach tool is required to match the existing top-down approach so that jointly both approaches can rescue the nation.

The SCOTUS aided Corporate takeover has been prominent in the news this past week and featured heavily here as well, Personally. I can't think of a more important issue than changing or negating the effects of that ridiculous decision. In other stories NATO is coughing up 500mil to pay off the Taliban, apparently their roadside stickup revenues are sagging and Steve Benen address the problem of no nothing voters in today's picks.

Lance Corporal Mathison and several Marines near him were spared when the IED he had ncountered failed to detonate. So began a brief journey through the Taliban’s shifting tactics and the vagaries of war, where an experience at the edge of death became instead an affirmation of friendship, and in which a veteran Marine reluctantly assumed for a morning one of the infantry’s most coveted roles: that of the charmed man.

USA’s new “Turn”…!!!  By Sajid Ansari for VT  After lots of drum-beating of “war-on-terror” and Al-Qaida, for 9 years, which is nowadays under heavy criticism, at...

BLACKWATER/XE ACCUSED OF COMPLICITY IN TERRORISM AND WAR AGAINST US TROOPS TOP TALIBAN MILITANTS RECEIVE MEDICAL CARE AT BAGRAM AIR FORCE BASE From Sabrina Elkhani &...

Hamid Karzai intends to launch the reconciliation and reintegration plan at the start of next week's London conference on Afghanistan, The Afghan president has also pledged to hold a new peace conference, a loya jirga, in the spring, restating a standing invitation toTaliban insurgents ready to swear an oath to the country's constitution.

Editor's note: It looks from here as if the Taliban are launching a surge of their own.  The news of a coordinated attack by...

Were the seven CIA employees killed in the recent terror attack at Camp Chapman in Afghanistan really CIA? Sources now tell us that some were Blackwater operatives, not CIA at all. Is the CIA and Blackwater one in the same? Are either one or both working for the United States or has the disease of privatization created a culture of greed and incompetence that has left the United States vulnerable and defenseless? Are we simply "out of our depth" in Afghanistan?

Exploiting Afghan Tribal Militias for an Optimal Counterinsurgency Campaign By Khalil Nouri STAFF WRITER FOR VETERANS TODAY The U.S. cannot politically or militarily afford an open-ended...

GRAFT, CORRUPTION AND CHEAP POLITICS IN AMERICA WINNING THE WAR FOR THE TALIBAN By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Even if analysts existed who understood Iran, Afghanistan,...