Do we still care what General Petraeus, ret. has to say? I can’t remember.
[ToloNews] Mr. Petraeus says that withdrawing all the troops from Afghanistan will be a repeat of the past mistake.
A retired US Army general David Petraeus has suggested that the United States should not abandon Afghanistan as it did Iraq by withdrawing all its troops from the country.
In an article published in the Wall Street Journal and co-written by Vance Serchuk, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security,
...a Washington, D.C.-based bi-partisan think tank established in 2007 by Michèle Flournoy and Kurt M. Campbell, specializing in the American national security issues, terrorism, and the rise of China....
Mr. Petraeus says the history should not be repeated in Afghanistan and that leaders in Washington must proceed with caution.
Mr. Petraeus, who has served as commander of US Central Command and of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, says that a complete military exit from Afghanistan today would be even more ill-advised and risky than the B.O. regime’s disengagement from Iraq in 2011.
His comments are expressed at a time that the US is negotiating a withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan with the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... in Doha.
A senior member of the Taliban, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwah, said on Friday that the US and the Taliban negotiators will likely sign the much-awaited peace agreement after at the end of this week.
Mr. Khairullah said the talks between the US and the group will continue after Eid al-Adha which ends on August 13.
He said that the peace deal between the US and the Taliban will be signed in the presence of representatives of the UN the Islamic Organization and regional countries after the return of the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to Doha after Eid (August 14).
Mr. Khalilzad has said that the US is seeking a peace deal which will facilitate a conditions-based withdrawal of American forces from war-ravaged Afghanistan.
But, Mr. Petraeus describes Afghanistan’s situation as complicated due to the presence of "20 foreign terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda and ISIS", who "will not join a peace deal".
US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... in many occasions in the last few months has mentioned that he will withdraw his troops from Afghanistan as he has spent billions of dollars for the longest war in US history.
Mr. Petraeus says that "the idea that the US can leave if the Taliban promise to combat rather than conspire with these groups is wrongheaded".
He says that the Taliban have clearly indicated what they will try to do once US forces are gone: overthrow the Afghan government and reimpose medieval rule.
Their resistance to a formal cease-fire, continued barbaric attacks on civilians, and opposition to elections scheduled for this fall are all warning signs, he says.
As an alternative, Mr. Petraeus, suggests that it should be recognized that the US doesn’t need a plan for leaving but a strategy for staying‐one that carefully minimizes American, coalition and Afghan costs and casualties but accepts the necessity of a sustained and sustainable troop presence to safeguard vital US interests.
He says that the Trump administration should apply the lessons of that tragic experience ‐ during the B.O. regime ‐ to the present situation in South Asia.
He concludes that the kind of US withdrawal that was inadvisable in Iraq eight years ago would be indefensible for Afghanistan today.
Sources familiar with US-Taliban talks say that the intra-Afghan negotiation ‐ which will take place after a peace agreement is signed between the United States and the Taliban ‐ will be held in Oslo where the two sides will discuss a ceasefire among other relevant topics.
For now, the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has said that the focus will be to reduce violence in Afghanistan.
#1
He says that the Taliban have clearly indicated what they will try to do once US forces are gone: overthrow the Afghan government and reimpose medieval rule.
#2
Do we still care what General Petraeus, ret. has to say?
If he is right, "Yes!"
I hate peace deals.
A peace deal with terrorists like the Taliban is worthless.
Until the Taliban is defeated the drone strikes should continue.
I share all of Petraeus' concerns.
But I have an even bigger concern than Muslim terrorists.
A worse concern is that an appeaser should become POTUS.
All Democrats scare me more than the Taliban.
God forbid a Democrat be in power of my own country again like just recently.
#3
It is simple. If you are not prepared to kill thousands, exit. And don't go back, to 'teach them democracy' or some such elevated inanity. I think getting one's own military, domestic contests and rogue legislators in order is more important right now.
#6
He says that the Taliban have clearly indicated what they will try to do once US forces are gone: overthrow the Afghan government and reimpose medieval rule.
Yes, hundreds possibly thousands of years of history will somehow repeat itself. Did we really need for a Phd, 4 star general to tell us that ?
#7
Afghans are fierce warriors when fighting for lands and family. The US and allied presence have so far at least taught them what is at stake. Continued supply of armaments and funding (to the right parties) can see to it that they get a fighting chance.
No one on earth will suffer a Taliban governed landmass the size of Afghanistan to exist next to Pakistain. This situation doesn't require the US to concentrate so much on it. Eventually, everyone in Asia will have to step up and contain the turbans. Even if not, there will likely be a conflict for control between Taliban and the Pakistain military-politician nexus. And Pak will bleed for it. Which is just as well.
The truth about Taliban leadership is, their convictions are ultimately as hollow as their personas. Meaning they are as mercenary as a Chinese factory owner skimming money and doling pennies for life endangering labour. Their seasonal loyalties are negotiable.
In time, this dynamic has got to implode, faced with economic realities and the rolling-on of modernism. There will be a very violent fight, yes. But Afghan nationalism is now firmly rooted, it will not give up with a whimper. Petraeus may be rightly apprehensive of the Taliban plan to ravage when you leave, but he underestimates the momentum of a people now inclined to self-rule rather than be intimidated by the camel dung collective.
#9
...But Afghan nationalism is now firmly rooted, it will not give up with a whimper. --Dron66046
Really? Is there really an Afghanistan? Or are we talking about Pashtun Ethnic Nationalism alloyed with narcoterrorism here? Pashtun Irredenta! Down with the Durand Line!
#12
I think it was Clausewitz who prescribed a gradated scheme of preference while launching new wars or entering conflicts, on the basis of 'exceptional rewards' only. In most cases that came after Korea, the US has been jumping into conflict where have been neither 'exceptional rewards', nor any gratitude by those liberated or protected.
My point with the Afghan people is, there's no takeaway again. Even if you remain and 'manage expectations' to kingdom come, at the cost of troops' lives and the taxpayers' money, these are not people who cannot be turned again, to hate you later for some reason.
They have learnt enough about how profitable a legal, systematized government can be, for some. They have been trained and armed enough. Now let the Pashtun fight the pashtun over and over again until Asian govts have to intervene. China will certainly have its tiny hands mired in goo for a negotiating with turbans, and they'll leech those chicom coffers dry.
If there was ever a case of Seirra Echo Papa, it's this.
#13
Dron66046, can you define "Seirra Echo Papa" for us please. I tried looking it up and there's no define expiation as to the meaning of SEP, it appears to be too common and covers a lot.
[DAWN] Imam Sheikh Mohammad bin Hassan Al Sheikh has urged all Moslems to rid their hearts of hatred and be more kind in their treatment of others, Radio Pakistain reported.
While delivering the Haj sermon on Saturday at Masjid-e-Nimra on the plain of Arafat, he impressed upon the need for showing campassion towards parents, children, relatives and all living beings.
He called upon Moslems to remain united in the bonds of brotherhood.
He reminded them that God's blessings are infinite and one must find solace in this fact and continue to seek them.
More than two million Moslems were gathered at the sacred hill of Mount Arafat in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... for an intense day of worship and reflection on what's considered the climax of the annual Haj pilgrimage.
Pilgrims clad in white robes signifying a state of purity spent the night in a sprawling encampment around the hill where God tested Hazrat Ibrahim's (AS) faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Hazrat Ismail. It is also where Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!) gave his last sermon.
Some had tears streaming down their faces as the men and women raised their hands in worship on the slopes of the rocky hill.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
Blew pepsi out my nose laughing, Fred. PTUI ! ☺
A power cut which affected a million people and caused travel chaos was not the result of a cyberattack, operators of Britain’s electricity network say.https://t.co/acEifOQojw
Part of the reason why we have not had the many massive jihadi attacks we’ve been seeing in Europe, very probably, not to mention all the lone wolves running amok with kitchen knives, is because after 9/11 so many illegal immigrants from the Ummah were deported or just packed up and left. I happened across a report from that time, and thought it worth revisiting. It begins thusly:
[WashingtonPost] The FBI grabbed the cook at Lazzat Pakistani Pizzeria as he spun dough. The plump newsstand man from Lahore rode the D-train to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service -- and never came back. The owner of Kashmir Travel pulled down his metal gate one night and vanished. His darkened store sits there, paperwork, copiers and gumballs in place.
Qamar, 25, drove his mom, dad and younger brother north a month ago. His brother had a visa problem so his parents decided to apply for asylum in Toronto. Now the younger brother calls Qamar in Brooklyn each night.
"He wanted to know all about prom night at Dewey High School," says Qamar, who asked that his last name not be used. His hair is gelled and brushed forward, his jeans ride low; his affect is Pakistani boyz in the New York 'hood. "He still thinks he's coming back.
"I tell him: 'Hello! Brother, that life's over.' "
Once the mosque on Coney Island Avenue was so crowded on Friday afternoons that white-capped Pakistani taxi drivers and computer analysts placed their prayer rugs on the sidewalk. Once the restaurants were so crowded that scents of saffron and rose water and vindaloo wafted across the broad avenue all night.
Now Little Pakistan in Brooklyn is a neighborhood being pulled up at its roots. Of the 120,000 or so Pakistanis who lived near here, 15,000, maybe more, have left for Canada, Europe or Pakistan, according to Pakistani government estimates. The departures began after Sept. 11, 2001, when federal agents began stopping and detaining hundreds of Pakistanis. The exodus accelerated five months ago when the Department of Homeland Security required that every male Pakistani visa holder age 16 or older register with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The FBI grabbed the cook at Lazzat Pakistani Pizzeria as he spun dough 'The dough flopped down on the hard, heartless linoleum, a picture of mashed dreams and an uncertain future.'
And vindaloo is an insipid, south Indian dish eaten only by Indians with no taste. Dunce.
#4
And vindaloo is an insipid, south Indian dish eaten only by Indians
Mr. Wife brought me back a cookbook from his time starting up the factory in Bhopal that made Ariel and Tide, and then I picked up a few more recipes from friends...
[DAWN] The Faisalabad ...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after... police on Friday arrested a son-in-law of former law minister Rana Sanaullah outside the judicial complex where he went to attend hearing of the narcotics case against his father-in-law.
Few lawyers tried to thwart the arrest (in a murder case) but police personnel took Sheharyar with them and initially shifted him to the Islampura cop shoppe. Later, they took him to Faisalabad.
An official said Sheharyar was not nominated, however, the police arrested him in the light of the statement of a suspect. The Samanabad police had registered the case in 2016 against unidentified suspects on the charge of killing Shafqat Butt.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, the little lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. And what big teeth they were!... a special court for the Control of Narcotics Substance on Friday extended judicial remand of Rana Sanaullah and other suspects in a narcotics case while the prosecution submitted further documents of challan.
The court also summoned on the next hearing a footage of a CCTV camera showing Rana Sana’s vehicle entering the motorway from a toll plaza, which the prosecution mentioned in its report.
The court adjourned hearing till Aug 24 and also allowed an opportunity to other suspects to engage their counsel.
The Anti-Narcotics Force had arrested Rana Sana on July 1 last in a narcotics case and the next day a judicial magistrate sent him to jail on judicial remand. The force claimed to have recovered 15kg heroin from the possession of the PML-N leader and lodged a case under section 9 (C) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997, which carries death penalty or life imprisonment.
[DAWN] Ittehad Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistain (ITMP) has declined to share data of religious seminaries with personnel of any law enforcement agency and warned to announce a protest movement in case the process of data collection is not stopped forthwith. Lil' Martyrs For Allan™
This was announced by ITMP provincial representatives, including Maulana Hussain Ahmed, Dr Attaur Rehman, Mufti Fazal Jamil Rizvi, Allama Nazir Hussain Mathhari, Maulana Abdul Aziz ...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is... and Mufti Sirajul Hassan, while addressing a presser here on Friday.
Sharing details of the agreement signed between the ITMP and government on May 6, 2019, they accused the federal government of failing to set up regional centres for registration of the religious seminaries with ministry of federal education and professional training. They asked for early implementation of the decision to avoid any possible complication.
They said as per the agreement both the parties, the education ministry and heads of religious boards/seminaries, had decided registration of all 30,000 seminaries operating in the country, but the government was yet to fulfill its responsibilities.
The government, they said had assured to facilitate the seminaries in getting registered with vocational training institutions so that their students could acquire vocational/technical education as well. We expected that government will fulfill its promises to provide all necessary patronage to seminaries so that our students could also get maximum chances to get contemporary education besides religious education but no such steps were taken so far, they said.
The ITMP leaders said instead of materialising the agreement the personnel of various law enforcement agencies had started collecting details regarding the students and teachers, saying that visiting the female seminaries and that also at night was not only violation of the agreement but intolerable for ITMP. Only Madrassah heads can do that, for individual, "hands on" instruction
They said the ITMP was a joint organization of five boards of religious seminaries which was fully determined to work as per the agreement and urged the government to set up the promised regional centres so that the process of seminaries’ registration could be started forthwith.
The ITMP representatives said they were ready to share data of students of all Madaris to ministry of education as per agreement, but won’t allow sharing data, especially of female students, to cop shoppes and other organizations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
The ITMP shelters and diverts funding to several markiz along the Durand line. These markiz belong to splinter tanzeems (stated as seminaries in their plaint)in public record, some of whom are known rogue actors; but actually sponsored by the Pakistain military and overseen by ISI. They recruit and brainwash Pashtun kids, an operation carried forward from the days of Operation Cyclone in the late 80s.
When President Bush decided 'fuck this hellhole' in 1990, most of the refugee youth to Pakistan were being trafficked or sent to the tanzeems for creating an army of ragheads with no target, the US pulled back funding. Since then, they've had to rely on funds routed through ministries of culture and religion, educational bodies, etc. More tanzeems recognized by the Pakistain government means more funds they can get. Each new mullah factorytanzeem tries to impress the ISI by outdoing the rest in producing the next jihad hero. However, the 'Stain find itself repeatedly embarrassed when the breadcrumbs are discovered leading back to these factions. Hence the public denial of status.
The markaz (learning center) provides the whole course - kindergarten scripture learning to elementary islamist training to full jihadi brainwashing, and polytechnique (electronics, basic armed tactics, identity fraud, etc.] from here the pashtuns kids are sent out to various camps within Kunar, Paktia and Badakshan and several locations north of the Nuristan reserve to finish as terrorists under the fighters.
It wouldn't do well to list how many pashtun boys are studying under the tanzeem auspices, now would it ? Especially if many of those boys have their pictures pinned to the 'Missing' board in police stations in Wardak, Baglan and Kabul.
[DAWN] Two suspects on Saturday turned approvers against PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... and his two sons in a money laundering case .
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is pursuing the case in an accountability court.
The suspects, Aftab Mehmood and Shahid Rafique, recorded their statements before a judicial magistrate in Lahore today, confessing to have committed money laundering at the behest of Shahbaz and his sons, Hamza and Salman.
Another suspect in the case, Mushtaq Cheeni, had earlier also turned approver against Hamza and his brother Salman.
Mehmood, whom NAB had described as the frontman of the Shahbaz family at the time of his arrest, in his statement recorded before judicial magistrate Zulfiqar Bari confessed that he made illegal telegraphic transfers (TTs) worth more than $2.4 million to Pakistain to benefit the Shahbaz family in 2008-09.
He said he operated a money exchange named Usman International in the United Kingdom and transferred the amount through TT in the bank accounts of Hamza Shahbaz, Salman Shahbaz, Nusrat Shahbaz and Rabia Imran Ali using fake identities.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2019 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] The Mandali border crossing connecting Iraq with Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has been closed after an official order issued by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi’s office due to apparent corruption.
Muhammad Hamid Kazim, secretary of the commander in chief Abdul-Mahdi, issued an order on Wednesday to close the border crossing in Diyala province after corruption and mismanagement cases were reported to the prime minister's office.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/11/2019 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Analysts say the money received by the PA is political funding and donors base their support of the PA on their political agenda, cutting funds when they do not agree with Ramallah and that includes Arab countries as well.
Due to the economic crisis the Paleostinian Authority (PA) is going through, civilians say the situation is increasingly affecting their daily lives.
The latest example came when Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Paleostinian Football Association (PFA), warned that the league’s new season, which is scheduled to begin at the end of August, might have to be canceled.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Life's a bitch when you become a nuisance and unnecessary, assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2019 7:39 Comments ||
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#2
I believe this is known in investing circles as "price discovery." The market for PLO whining seems to be in a bit of a slump. Besides, why should we listen to PLO whining when we get equally shrill whining from Congresscritters Tlaib and Omar? Buy American.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/11/2019 11:55 Comments ||
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Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas visits the Jalazone camp in the occupied West Bank, his first visit to a refugee camp in several years.https://t.co/rpXTW0ebC0
[IsraelTimes] Official from Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... -based Paleostinian terrorist group tells Lebanese paper of understandings reached in Tehran meeting last month.
An official with Paleostinian terror group Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, on Saturday told a Lebanese newspaper that in the next major conflagration, should the Gaza rulers feel that Israel is trying to "break" the group, its regional allies will join forces with Hamas. "We send our hope and prayers...and moral support" Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Amid heightened tensions, Tehran says locally reconstructed system can detect all types of cruise and ballistic missiles, and drones; has a range of 400 kilometers.
Details at the link, but probably the usual vapourware.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/11/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
Iran unveils ‘upgradedimaginary’ missile defense system with ‘high capabilitiesexpectations’
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
[DAWN] Ittehad Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistain (ITMP) has declined to share data of religious seminaries with personnel of any law enforcement agency and warned to announce a protest movement in case the process of data collection is not stopped forthwith.
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
[Ynet] Analysts say the money received by the PA is political funding and donors base their support of the PA on their political agenda, cutting funds when they do not agree with Ramallah and that includes Arab countries as well.
