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| Afghanistan |
| Newsweak: The Taliban's Baghdad Strategy |
| 2008-07-27 |
| The insurgents are closing in on Kabul, not in order to overrun the capital but to terrorize its residents and drive away investors. It's working. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 Every heroin dealer and supplier in the world has a vested interest in keeping things in Afghanistan and the tribal region of Pakistan just the way they are. We are talking hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars at risk. The war there is ultimately about protecting the world's heroin supply. |
| Posted by: Chaith Panda7870 2008-07-27 21:33 |
| #12 frozen al didn't cite a source but the 2006 rates as provided by wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate make Oakland 6th in the US. The 36/100k/yr would work out to about 1/million/day. The order at this cite is pretty similar to Frozen Al's list (he leaves our Newark also). |
| Posted by: mhw 2008-07-27 19:07 |
| #11 Does anyone want to declare these cities a Quagmire? Have you seen their schools? Also, how did Oakland not make that list? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-07-27 17:15 |
| #10 Cincinnati and Buffalo? Since I hail from both, I must be a murderous thug twice over. ;-) Good perspective, Frozen Al. And a very good point about the Democratic threats, rjschwarz. Let's not tell them, 'k? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-07-27 16:47 |
| #9 And how is the "Baghdad Strategy" currently doing in Baghdad? The murder rate in Baghdad is 0.6/day per million inhabitants. This makes Baghdad as save as Atlanta and safer than the following US cities: Detroit Baltimore New Orleans St. Louis D.C. Cincinatti Philadelphia Buffalo Kansas City Does anyone want to declare these cities a Quagmire? |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-07-27 15:14 |
| #8 Afghanistan matters because it is another place the Jihadists can *claim* they defeated us. Not a lot of people have mentioned it but I think a big factor in our success in Iraq is the Democrats idiotic statements about pulling out. I think it reminded a lot of Iraqi's that the US is not 100% trustworthy and they better step up. A similar thing has to happen in Afghanistan lest they take the Vietnamese attitude of not wanting to get involved too deeply in their own civil war. If we can't find a Pashtun tribe willing to side with us and control the country then we find an Uzbek or Tajik, set up one of our bastards, smash the drugs and slip into the the shadows. If that is made somewhat clear a Pashtun, or even better Karzai and company will start working to step up their own game. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-07-27 12:10 |
| #7 The AP just declared victory in Iraq. NY Times is now saying Mookie's weakening. And now, David Petraeus is turning attention to Afghanistan. I'd say the Talibunnies have the weaker hand. The key, as always, will be the Pak border region. This is yet another Copperhead article from a dying medium. |
| Posted by: Woozle Unusosing8053 2008-07-27 10:58 |
| #6 As long as it is a place for Islamic radicals to go and die, I'm happy. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-07-27 10:25 |
| #5 Well, stalemate's fine with me. |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2008-07-27 08:45 |
| #4 It really doesn't matter how they're coming along. Logistics is everything for a combatant force. These guys will be a conventional force and they will be conventionally supplied. Now through Pakistan. But they're surrounded by enemies, Iran and the Stans, including Pakistan. And all the other stans are surrounded on the other side by Russia. That's why we can't deal directly with the Paks. Afghanistan is a black hole. Remember Elphinstone. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-07-27 08:28 |
| #3 In Iraq we have won. In Afghanistan we will continue to demonstrate that if we don't own it, we nonetheless can make it a place where jihadis go to die. A Darwinian space, if you will, until the Afghan Army is ready to take over. Question for those who know: between the East Point officers' school and training the new army units, how is the Afghan Army coming on? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-07-27 06:30 |
| #2 Terrorising the residents of Kabul has been a standard feature of Afghan civil wars for at least 30 years. Kabul is in a very different situation to Baghdad. It doesn't surprise me the strategy is working. Afghanistan is just a distraction from the real issues of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Israel, etc. The Left supports the Afghan war, because it is seen as the 'good' war, with UN and Euro support. The fact it is unwinnable in any reasonable timeframe doesn't enter into their calculation. If you want a rerun of Vietnam, here it is. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2008-07-27 02:52 |
| #1 And how is the "Baghdad Strategy" currently doing in Baghdad. Message to Taliban: "You'll cop it too" (Jeff Thomson, 1974). |
| Posted by: Apostate 2008-07-27 02:31 |