Clipmarks | Taliban Clips

How the US Funds the Taliban

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:18:32 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Let's just hand them the money and bring our Men and Women home.

Welcome to the wartime contracting bazaar in Afghanistan.

" />

Reuters Photos

Taliban fighters in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.

In this grotesque carnival, the US military's contractors are forced to pay suspected insurgents to protect American supply routes. It is an accepted fact of the military logistics operation in Afghanistan that the US government funds the very forces American troops are fighting.

And it is a deadly irony, because these funds add up to a huge amount of money for the Taliban. "It's a big part of their income

. In fact, US military officials in Kabul estimate that a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents.

Clip Source: www.thenation.com

Many officials acknowledge what is going on while also expressing a deep disquiet about the situation. The trouble is that--as with so much in Afghanistan--the United States doesn't seem to know how to fix it.

Tags: news, politics, war, afghanistan, contractors, security, insurgency

Emergence of Anti-Taliban Militias a Cause for Concern

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:25:25 GMT

clipped by: gppixelworks

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

Emergence of Anti-Taliban Militias a Cause for Concern

To make up for a lack of manpower in the fight against the Taliban, the Afghan government has encouraged the formation of armed militias in Kunduz Province. But German soldiers fighting in the area are unsure how to deal with these roving bands of guerillas fighters.

For now, they are just militias," he says. "But maybe we will be able to make real policemen out of them in the next few years

When they have been used, there has only been partial success. When it goes bad, though, former allies can quickly become the enemy

At the moment, the militias are still mostly deployed against the Taliban. But what will happen, officers ask, if the groups that have been armed and gained battle experience go their own way and start pursuing their own agenda?

Indeed, many skeptics fear that the current fostering of private armies could spell the beginning of a new process of disintegration in Afghanistan

Tags: afghanistan, taliban, armed militias, guerillas fighters

Time to Surrender in Afganistan

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:58:10 GMT

clipped by: ColoradoRight
clipper's remarks: There's no sense putting our troops in harm's way in the field if we won't protect them in Texas.

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

It's time to surrender in Afghanistan. Yep, that's right. Surrender.

Let's sign a document of surrender, apologize for our "aggression," withdraw the troops, and let Osama and the Taliban have a ticker-tape parade in the streets of Kabul before they force women back into their burkas, outlaw education for girls, and start executing homosexuals and Christians again.

The assassination of thirteen American troops at Ft. Hood by a Muslim officer in the U.S. Army is the last straw. Despite the overwhelming evidence, our political and military leaders refuse to acknowledge that Maj. Hasan was motivated by militant Islamist ideology.

And Gen. George Casey -- unbelievably -- actually said that if "diversity" in the military were to suffer, it would be an even greater tragedy than the Ft. Hood murders.

The enemy has not defeated us in battle. They can't. But the Ft. Hood assassinations show that we've already surrendered.

Tags: islam, political correctness, military, afganistan, surrender

Taliban fighters display 'US weapons

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:02:09 GMT

clipped by: nosebleedlouie

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Taliban fighters display 'US weapons

Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage showing the Taliban in Afghanistan displaying what appears to be US weapons.

The fighters say they seized the arms cache from two US outposts in eastern Nuristan province.

Days after the alleged assault, the US military pulled out its troops from the area.

[Video]

The Hole at the Heart of Our Strategy ~ Mark Steyn

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:13:50 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: ...to the “noble” “heroism” of suicide bombers and, indeed, objectively supporting the other side in an active war is to be regarded as just some kind of alternative lifestyle that adds to the general vibrancy of the base.

Since 9/11, we have, as the Twitterers recommend, judged people by their actions " flying planes into skyscrapers, blowing themselves up in Bali nightclubs or London Tube trains, planting IEDs by the roadside in Baghdad or Tikrit. And on the whole we’re effective at responding with action of our own " taking out training camps in Afghanistan, rolling up insurgency networks in Fallujah and Ramadi, intercepting terror plots in London and Toronto and Dearborn.

But we’re scrupulously non-judgmental about the ideology that drives a man to fly into a building or self-detonate on the subway, and thus we have a hole at the heart of our strategy. We use rhetorical conveniences like “radical Islam” or, if that seems a wee bit Islamophobic .......

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

Thirteen dead and 31 wounded would be a bad day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, and a great victory for the Taliban. When it happens in Texas, in the heart of the biggest military base in the nation, at a processing center for soldiers either returning from or deploying to combat overseas, it is not merely a “tragedy” (as too many people called it) but a glimpse of a potentially fatal flaw at the heart of what we have called, since 9/11, the “War on Terror.” Brave soldiers trained to hunt down and kill America’s enemy abroad were killed in the safety and security of home by, in essence, the same enemy — a man who believes in and supports everything the enemy does.

And he’s a U.S. Army major.

And his superior officers and other authorities knew about his beliefs but seemed to think it was just a bit of harmless multicultural diversity — as if believing that “the Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor” (i.e., his fellow American soldiers) and writing Internet paeans

Tags: mass murdering jihadi, nidal hasan, thirteen dead and 31 wounded, u.s.army major

The Hole at the Heart of Our Strategy

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:32:31 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: We’re scrupulously non-judgmental about the ideology that drives terrorism.

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

And he’s a U.S. Army major.

Tags: mark steyn, fort hood massacre, truth, reality, wake up

Tim McGirk, friend to the Taliban and promotor of the 'secondary PTSD' defense for the murderer Hasa

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:54:02 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Noah Pollak at Commentary has discovered that Mr. McGirk has a rather interesting history:

This shouldn’t be surprising coming from Tim McGirk. He went to Afghanistan after 9/11, had Thanksgiving with the Taliban, and wrote a long piece for National Geographic about what a great time he had and how we’re all just human beings doing our thing on this big blue marble, so let’s not judge. Then he went to Iraq and singlehandedly created the Haditha Massacre hoax. Then he went to Jerusalem and spent a few years slandering Israel. Now he’s trafficking in pop psychology on behalf of a likely domestic jihadist. It’s been quite a career.

Clip Source: www.moonbattery.com

Time Magazine reporter Tim McGirk has posited the theory that Nidal Hasan --- who attended a radical mosque with the 9-11 hijackers, told colleagues that infidels should have their throats cut, and screamed "Allahu Akbar" as he killed 13 people --- was suffering from "secondary trauma," a sort of "contact PTSD," where hearing stories from combat soldiers who suffered from PTSD drove him to commit mass murder. Because it couldn't possibly have been Islamic jihad, and the media will grasp at any straw to deny that. possibility.

Noah Pollak at Commentary has discovered that Mr. McGirk has a rather interesting history:

Empathy for the enemies of the United States is the default position for Mainstream Media organs like Time Magazine. It's a good thing that they are dying.

BTW, here's yet another clue the MSM will ignore. Hasan's business card contains the notation "SoA" meaning "Soldier of Allah." Will they still claim this guy just needed a vacation?

Another cluebat to the head of the MSM

Tags: fraud, tim mcguirk, time magazine, traitor, lies

Obama's Unnecessary War

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:46:29 GMT

clipped by: WhatAreWeDoing

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

Obama's Unnecessary War

Before it became his cross to bear, President Barack Obama redefined the war in Afghanistan as a war of necessity. In contrast, he also preemptively labeled the other, less popular war which was grandfathered into his term as a war of choice.

Presumably, a war of necessity confronts us with an imperative that leaves no reasonable option but to engage. To wit, the war in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda and The Taliban is a conflict in which we must be engaged. By contrast, Iraq is a war that we really do not need to be engaged in, which suggests that as a free nation, we were once afforded the opportunity to weigh our options on whether or not we should commit to this struggle.

Troops' Deaths Shatter Trust in Helmand

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:07:41 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

Troops' Deaths Shatter Trust in Helmand

By Jean MacKenzie and Aziz Ahmad Tassal, GlobalPost

Friday 06 November 2009

Lashkar Gah, Helmand - No one knows what made him snap. Some say he was a Taliban infiltrator, others cite anger and frustration against British military tactics. But just after 3 p.m. on Nov. 3, a young police officer named Gulbuddin picked up a machine gun and killed five British soldiers, wounding another six. He then escaped, leaving both international and Afghans forces trying to piece together how and why such a thing could happen.

The shootings occurred in Nad Ali, a district of Helmand just 15 kilometers from the provincial capital, and the front line in the war with the Taliban.

British soldiers were relaxing with their Afghans colleagues, having just come back from patrol and eaten a meal. Suddenly Gulbuddin started firing in rapid bursts. He dropped the gun and escaped before the British had time to react.

Afghanistan:French Minister `it`s not working at all`

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:58:48 GMT

clipped by: beanz

Clip Source: news.xinhuanet.com

French FM stresses pragmatic strategy on Afghanistan

KABUL, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- In a startling statement, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Wednesday that it is difficult for the international coalition "to occupy Afghanistan or to defeat Taliban" in Afghanistan.

"It's a Pashtun war," he said in an interview with The New York Times. He said NATO should not look for a military victory but instead "consolidate and secure selected populated areas."

He said NATO had to get behind President Hamid Karzai "despite his well documented problems with corruption and questionable political allies."

He said that despite being weakened by the recent election marked by fraud, "We have to legitimize him" if NATO has any chance to consolidate Afghanistan and then leave it.

Kouchner also took exception to NATO and U.S. policies in Afghanistan. Asked if the NATO alliance was not working very well in Afghanistan, he said: "It's not working at all."

"What is the goal? What is the road?

Tags: afghanistan

Afghanistan: Karzai rival 'withdrew under US pressure'

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:33:28 GMT

clipped by: beanz
clipper's remarks: I see the `Domino` word - always a bad sign, that`s what they said about Vietnam.

Clip Source: www.adnkronos.com

Afghanistan: Karzai rival 'withdrew under US pressure'

Islamabad, 6 Nov. (AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The United States put pressure on Afghan president Hamid Karzai's rival, Abdullah Abdullah, to withdraw from the country's presidential race and hand victory to Karzai, sources have told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Sources said the American pressure was part of a deal struck last week with the Pakistani military, which in exchange agreed to establish direct contact with the Taliban and obtain peace with Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistan.

The deal also highlighted the key role played by the Pakistani armed forces in regional politics, according to sources.

The administration of US president Barack Obama fears that failure to combat extremism in Pakistan will have a dominoe effect on the whole region and lead to certain defeat of American interests in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Last month, the US Congress approved a 1.5 billion dollar annual aid package to Pakistan

Tags: afghamistan

Nato soldiers 'believed drowned'

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:33:44 GMT

clipped by: spherepet

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

18:19 GMT, Friday, 6 November 2009

Nato soldiers 'believed drowned'

Afghan officials say the men died two days ago in what appears to have been an accident.

They died trying to recover supplies dropped by Nato aircraft which had fallen into a river, police said.

"Two NATO soldiers went to take these packages from the river and drowned," Badghis deputy police chief Abdul Jabar, told the AFP news agency.

Nato added that three of its troops were killed in two separate roadside bomb attacks on Thursday. Two of the soldiers were American, but the nationality of the third was not given.

Soldiers from more than 40 countries are taking part in Nato's force of nearly 110,000 troops in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them from the US.

Western Afghanistan has recently seen a rise in violence, with Taliban insurgents planting roadside bombs to maximise fatalities. This year more than 400 troops have been killed, most of them Americans.

without an increase on the ground, the war could be lost

Tags: nato, afghanistan, fatalities

Here We go again !...Now it's...TALIBAN = 9/11

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:13:33 GMT

clipped by: leevardi
clipper's remarks: ...like they say...repeat a LIE often enough..it becomes the TRUTH...for the SHEEP !....BAAAAAAAD !

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

If You Say the Taliban = 9/11 Often Enough, Maybe Someone Will Believe It?

It's the latest hit from the same crew that brought you Saddam = 9/11 and its twin chant, Saddam = WMD.

On September 11, 2001, my office building, the World Trade Center, was attacked by al Qaeda, a murder cult of Saudi Arabians, funded by Saudi Arabians. And so, in response to the Saudis' attack, America invaded ... Afghanistan. Like, HUH?

And here we go again. New York Times headline last Friday: "Pakistani Army, In Its Campaign In Taliban Stronghold, Finds A Hint Of 9/11."

Google it and you'll find the Times report repeated and amplified 5,785 times more.

Taliban = 9/11. Taliban = 9/11. Taliban = 9/11.

Your eyelids are getting heavy. Taliban = 9/11. Taliban = 9/11.

It's the latest hit from the same crew that brought you Saddam = 9/11 and its twin chant, Saddam = WMD, Dick Cheney's chimerical tropes which the New York Times' Judith Miller happily channeled to the paper's front page.

And they're at it again.

Obama fails at Surrender: US offers Taliban 6 provinces -- Taliban says no

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:08:31 GMT

clipped by: xpersianx
clipper's remarks: What ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this the outcome of such a painful and costly long war far from home ?

Clip Source: atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com

This is not only suicidal, (think of your troops dying over there), it is embarrassing.

The world needs a good cop. What would happen if the cops in your nabe shrugged?

Surrender: US offers Taliban 6 provinces -- Taliban says no

They rejected the offer; they'd prefer to have the whole thing, thankyouverymuch.

"US Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases," by Aamir Latif for Islam Online, November 2 (thanks to all who sent this in):

ISLAMABAD - The emboldened Taliban movement in Afghanistan turned down an American offer of power-sharing in exchange for accepting the presence of foreign troops, Afghan government sources confirmed.

"US negotiators had offered the Taliban leadership through Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkil (former Taliban foreign minister) that if they accept the presence of NATO troops in Afghanistan, they would be given the governorship of six provinces in the south and

Taliban link to Shootings

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:52:32 GMT

clipped by: wiganfootie

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The Taliban could have infiltrated the Afghan police to carry out the fatal shootings of five British soldiers in Afghanistan, Gordon Brown has said.

The British military blamed Tuesday's attack in Helmand on a "rogue" Afghan policeman, but the UK PM said possible Taliban involvement was being examined.

One of the soldiers has been named by his family as Sergeant Matthew Telford.

The Grenadier Guard, two fellow guards and two Royal Military Police died. They had been mentoring Afghan police.

"While we are assembling evidence, the Taliban have claimed responsibility for this incident," Mr Brown told MPs in the Commons on Wednesday.

"It may be that the Taliban have used an Afghan police member or they have infiltrated the Afghan police force and that is what we've got to look at," he said.

However, BBC Kabul correspondent Ian Pannell later said the Taliban had not admitted carrying out the attack.

Sgt Matthew Telford joined the Army when he was 16