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2008-02-06 Home Front: WoT
Gates - Afghan row may make NATO two-tiered alliance
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Posted by anonymous5089 2008-02-06 14:09|| || Front Page|| [4 views ]  Top

#1  a two-tiered alliance in which you have some allies willing to fight and die to protect people's security and others who are not

I hate to quibble over semantics with a Ph.D., but is the word alliance really used properly in that sentence?
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-02-06 14:41||   2008-02-06 14:41|| Front Page Top

#2 Wasn't this already obvious by September 1990?
Posted by ed 2008-02-06 16:04||   2008-02-06 16:04|| Front Page Top

#3 "Our populations need to understand that this is not a peacekeeping mission. It's a counter-insurgency fight,"
I think the problem is we are fighting two different insurgents--NATO believes the US and their poppy-fighting policies are the bad guys and they want to keep the free flow of drugs coming!
Posted by Danielle 2008-02-06 16:25||   2008-02-06 16:25|| Front Page Top

#4 This is a good time to remember people why NATO intervened. The 9-11 attacks were blamed on Taliban/al-Qaeda and the US invoked collective security provisions of the North Atlantic Treaty, and attacked Pashto-Afghanistan. People need to understand why NATO's current indulgence of the drug trade, all but rewards the remnants of the 9-11 groups. Pashtos and Waziris are pocketing billions of dollars from the heroin industry. And much of this is going to Taliban/al-Qaeda. The terrorist's annual Spring offensives have been tossed aside the past 2 years. Karzai back-stabbing has put steel in their backs. Now that they are flush with cash, they could surprise us with weapons and tactics.
Posted by McZoid 2008-02-06 18:59||   2008-02-06 18:59|| Front Page Top

#5 Danielle:

There is absolutely ZERO poppy eradication in Helmand District. In fact there has been substantial growth in production. Also, most Heroin for the Euro market is produced in border towns. It is of the utmost urgency that we crush the drug industry. The only this stopping us is: Karzai's Pashto nationalism.
Posted by McZoid 2008-02-06 19:03||   2008-02-06 19:03|| Front Page Top

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