A Taliban viewpoint/article worth sharing

Via Charleston, please click link for entire article

Distrust is aiding Taliban

Thursday, June 26, 2008

For the first time, the number of coalition soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan exceeds the current rate of military losses in Iraq. According to The Associated Press, 36 allied troops have been killed this month in Afghanistan, while 23 have died in Iraq. That is a clear indication that the focus of the war on terrorism is shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan and, specifically, to the turbulent border with Pakistan.

Yet another top American official, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that if there is a second terrorist strike on the United States it will originate in the border tribal lands. He told reporters: "If we get struck, I think the origins and planning will come from there. Clearly, the planning is taking place."

In the News: Taliban

source: The Age

General admits Taliban revival
Ann Scott Tyson, Washington
June 16, 2008
Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View
THE outgoing top US military commander in Afghanistan has described the Taliban as "resurgent" after a week when 890 prisoners — including nearly 400 Taliban fighters — were freed in a jailbreak in Kandahar.

In the worst single attack on coalition forces in Afghanistan this year, four US marines were killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday. A fifth marine was wounded in the attack.

In a sober assessment, General Dan McNeill, who departed on June 3 after 16 months commanding NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, said although record levels of foreign and Afghan troops had constrained repeated Taliban offensives, stabilising Afghanistan would be impossible without a more robust military campaign against insurgent havens in Pakistan.

The Taliban were "resurgent in the region", particularly in sanctuaries in Pakistan, and as a result "it's going to be difficult to take on this insurgent group … in the broader sort of way", General McNeill said at a Pentagon news conference.

Comprehensive data released by the NATO-led command shows a steady escalation in violence since NATO took charge of the Afghanistan mission in 2006, spurred in part by more aggressive operations by the alliance and most recently by US Marine battalions in the heavily contested southern province of Helmand.

ENTIRE ARTICLE AT THE AGE WEBSITE WHICH YOU CAN REACH AT THIS LINK

In The News - Pakistan/Taliban connection?

via International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

US think tank: Pakistan helped train Taliban, gave info on US troops
The Associated PressPublished: June 10, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan: Pakistani intelligence agents and paramilitary forces have helped train Taliban insurgents and have given them information about American troop movements in Afghanistan, said a report published by a U.S. think tank.

The study published Monday by the RAND Corp. also warned that the U.S. will face "crippling, long-term consequences" in Afghanistan if Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan are not eliminated.

It echoes recent statements by American generals, who have increased their warnings that militant safe havens in Pakistan are threatening efforts in Afghanistan. The study was funded by the U.S. Defense Department.

"Every successful insurgency in Afghanistan since 1979 enjoyed safe haven in neighboring countries, and the current insurgency is no different," said the report's author, Seth Jones. "Right now, the Taliban and other groups are getting help from individuals within Pakistan's government, and until that ends, the region's long-term security is in jeopardy."

Pakistan's top military spokesman rejected the findings.