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| Afghanistan |
| Strategy Page: Taliban are reinforcing failure |
| 2008-02-20 |
| February 19, 2008: The presence of NATO troops (with their smart bombs and UAVs) makes the traditional Afghan combat methods (a couple hundred guys with guns) impractical. So the al Qaeda bomb tactics have been adopted more frequently. Apparently the Taliban missed the part where al Qaeda got run out of Iraq, by Iraqis, because of the large number of civilians killed by terrorist bombs. The same cycle is playing out in Afghanistan. There were 140 bomb attacks in Afghanistan last year, and the Taliban are apparently trying to up that number this year. The Afghan police are arresting a lot of the terrorists. Many of the most skilled terrorists (who can build bombs and deploy them) are foreigners, and easy to spot. The skill level of Afghan suicide bomb teams is still low, with bomb makers still getting killed by their own creations, and most attacks killing nothing but bombers and civilians. This years "Spring Offensive" will apparently feature more suicide bombs, and attempts to manipulate the Western media (to pressure Western governments to withdraw troops from Afghanistan). |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #8 in all fairness though, Iraq had a structured, trained military up through March 2003. Most of todays IA (and all the officers, presumably) are veterans of the old IA. Afghanistan hasnt had a functioning "army" since 1992 or so, and THAT army was severely weakened by 12 years of playing helper to the Soviets in a civil war. From 1992 to 2001 it was nothing but warlord militias and the Taliban. Last time they had a real professional army was 1979. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-02-20 13:45 |
| #7 The skill of the Taliban suicide bombers may be low but so is the skill of the Afghan military. The Iraq Security Forces may not be great but at least they do take a lot of initiative themselves. After a half decade of training, the Afghan military is probably not even up to rudimentary yet. |
| Posted by: mhw 2008-02-20 12:59 |
| #6 RC or extensive practice. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-02-20 12:44 |
#5 The skill level of Afghan suicide bomb teams is still low... It's a rough field for on-the-job training. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2008-02-20 12:06 |
| #4 You guys misunderstand. The Spring Offensive is shorthand for "Irish Spring is Offensive" which means that they will not bath again this spring despite promises. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-02-20 11:23 |
| #3 They can't launch the Spring Offensive until after the Brutal Afghan Winter subsides. |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-02-20 09:47 |
| #2 They are actually gonna have a "Spring Offensive" this year, or are they gonna take a lot of casualties and pitter away the summer again? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-02-20 09:27 |
| #1 Oh really? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-02-20 08:32 |