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Afghanistan
British in secret truce with Taliban
2006-10-02
British troops battling the Taliban are to withdraw from one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan after agreeing a secret deal with the local people, the Times reported on Sunday. Over the past two months British soldiers have come under sustained attack defending a remote mud-walled government outpost in the town of Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan. Eight have been killed there.

It has now been agreed the troops will quietly pull out of Musa Qala in return for the Taliban doing the same. The compound is one of four district government offices in the Helmand province that are being guarded by British troops.

Although soldiers on the ground may welcome the agreement, it is likely to raise new questions about troop deployment. The move — opposed by Lieutenant-General David Richards, the NATO commander in Afghanistan — turned the four remote British bases into what Richards called “magnets” for the Taliban, the Times reported. The soldiers risk sniper fire and full-scale assaults from experienced Taliban fighters who can then blend into the local population after each attack.
Posted by:Fred

#11  Poppy production is the only source of income there and the drug trade tends a blind eye because no one has focused on cutting demand, except the Taliban is also funded by heroin. Sticky wicket, I say.
Posted by: Danielle   2006-10-02 10:45  

#10  When the British ruled Afghanistan, they stayed in the big cities and defended the Khyber Pass; peace in the rest of the country was paid for in gold bribes to the warlords.

The rule was simple, if you had both feet on the Khyber Pass, and somebody shot you, the British would massacre the shooters entire village. This made sense to the Afghans, some of whom built rock tunnels so they could safely walk from their homes to the pass.

The trouble began with London bureaucrats decided to cut back on the gold being paid as bribes to the warlords.

Now, this being said, there is some concern that the Brits will start to get ideas from their old history books and screw up the NATO and US game plan because "they think they know better".

There has been a little supposition that the US has been backing away from Afghanistan to make it less of a target for Iran if they and the US get into it. Truth be told, this would be a good strategy, because Afghanistan would take five divisions to defend, and we need those divisions elsewhere.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-10-02 09:43  

#9  The British commander said that he was prepared to back a “cessation of fighting” if they could guarantee that the Taliban would also leave

note the words quoted - he didn't say the British would leave - that's the Paki writer's editorializing
Posted by: Frank G   2006-10-02 07:52  

#8  It has now been agreed, by whom we don't have the foggiest, the troops will quietly pull out of Musa Qala in return for the Taliban doing the same.......and other special compensations niether implied nor mentioned.

WTF General Rirchards, you no longer engage in foreign internal defense (FID)? No VC for you.
Posted by: Besoeker   2006-10-02 07:18  

#7  Was touted - much to my chagrin and disappointment - as cold, hard fact in the British press yesterday. The word is that the Army is reluctant for this to become public for face-saving reasons. This has nothing to do with the efficacy of our troops and all to do with Blair's reluctance to commit more troops for fear of sliding down the polls... Shame.
Posted by: Howard UK   2006-10-02 05:59  

#6  Lots of questions.

I am with .com I give at least 48 , i would think it would think the reverse... if it was tru., Richards would give the withdraw / ceasfire order Butler would deliver it. For Butler to make the "secret pact" would be a little out of chain of command , no?

Not sure , but sounds like a Paki war reporter with a wrapup due before the Afghan winter
Posted by: Dunno   2006-10-02 01:35  

#5  My Frink-O-Matic Bullshit Meter™ is definitely twitching well above the median indicator. All said and done, I really need to upgrade to the Electronic Nose Mark II model so I can (remotely) sniff out this crap even better.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-10-02 01:29  

#4  48 month rule?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman   2006-10-02 01:00  

#3  PakiWaki Times.

Told the NATO Commander to stuff it, did they? That said, the cousins do occasionaly get some odd notions, in that soft-power fuzzy huggable beret kind of way, but this doesn't smell right.

48-hour (or whatever) Rule?
Posted by: .com   2006-10-02 00:33  

#2  As long as it works. If it doesn't work, I would try the USMC.
Posted by: Super Hose   2006-10-02 00:28  

#1  consider the source,

but still a definate huh? moment. is this 'Paris Peace Accords™' jr redux. [to quote Shipman.]

hopefully this is nothin but a sewer-bass floated by Perv & and those fun loving ISI killers.
Posted by: RD   2006-10-02 00:27  

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