"US pulling out of once-key Afghan valley; Movement part of new strategy; 103 US troops died in area" February 25, 2011|C.J. Chivers, Alissa J. Rubin, and Wesley Morgan, New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — After years of fighting for control of a prominent valley in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the US military has begun to pull back most of its forces from ground it once insisted was central to the campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda....
While US officials said the withdrawal matches the latest counterinsurgency doctrine’s emphasis on protecting Afghan civilians, Afghan officials worry that the shift of troops amounts to an abandonment of a province where multiple insurgent groups are well established....
And it is an emotional issue for US troops, who fear that their service and sacrifices could be squandered. At least 103 US soldiers have died in or near the valley’s maze of steep gullies and soaring peaks....
Already squandered because it was all based on lies and for reasons other than what we were told.
The reorganization, which follows the complete Afghan and US withdrawals from isolated outposts in nearby Nuristan Province and the Qurangal Valley, runs the risk of providing the Taliban with an opportunity to claim success and raises questions about the latest strategy guiding the war.
US officials say their logic is simple and compelling: The valley consumed resources disproportionate with its importance, those forces could be deployed in other areas, and there are not enough troops to win decisively in the Pech Valley in any case....
Translation: You son or daughter died for nothing.
The US military has its largest-ever contingent in Afghanistan....
Didn't Obomber get elected to end the wars?
The previous strategy emphasized denying sanctuaries to insurgents, blocking infiltration routes from Pakistan, and trying to fight away from populated areas, where NATO’s superior firepower could be massed, in theory, with less risk to civilians. The Pech Valley effort was once a cornerstone of this thinking.
The new plan stands as a clear, if unstated, repudiation of earlier decisions....
Ultimately, the decision to withdraw reflected a stark — and controversial — internal assessment by the military that it would have been better served by not having entered the valley.
Over 100 Americans and countless Afghans dead for nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“What we figured out is that people in the Pech really aren’t anti-US or antianything, they just want to be left alone,’’ said one US military official familiar with the decision....
It was at this point that the tears started rolling because that is what I have typed many times about this abomination of an occupation.
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"American commanders expect spring offensive from Taliban" March 04, 2011|Joshua Partlow, Washington Post
KABUL, Afghanistan — American military officials in Afghanistan expect the Taliban will mount a fresh campaign to regain ground lost to US troops last year and use suicide bombing teams to strike at those associated with the Afghan government or coalition forces.
Well, when we are pulling out of valleys and provinces they won't have to fight very hard.
And what lost ground are they talking about anyway?
But....
Sigh
Many in Afghanistan are skeptical about the progress cited by American military commanders.
Yeah, and THEY AIN'T the ONLY ONES!!
The level of violence, which usually dips in the winter, remains higher than in previous years at this time. The departing deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, Robert Watkins, said last month that the insurgency has moved to new parts of the country, and that security is at its lowest point since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.
But they have lost ground!!! I know so because my AmeriKan newspaper implied as much leading this article!!!
American military commanders stress that they will not know for sure how they are doing until the Taliban offensive begins this spring.
Sigh. So it has ALL BEEN BULLS*** this WHOLE TIME, huh?
Yeah, I thought my newspaper had that familiar smell to it.
For the past several years, the insurgency has come back stronger after the winter rest, expanding into new areas.
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"Taliban take control of mountainous region in Afghanistan" March 30, 2011|By Rod Nordland and Sangar Rahimi, New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban seized control of a district in eastern Nuristan Province yesterday, chasing the governor and the police from the district capital, according to Afghan officials and a spokesman for the Taliban.
Regaining more ground, 'eh?
It was the second Taliban success in recent days in the general area of the strategic Pech Valley, which US troops are in the process of withdrawing from....
While the Taliban are present in a majority of districts in Afghanistan, the capture of administrative centers in the districts is relatively rare. Last year, the Taliban seized control of another mountainous district in northern Nuristan, Barg-e-Matal, and US troops had to be brought in to restore it to Afghan control....
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Let the s*** slinging begin!
"Taliban’s resolve is fraying, reports indicate; Afghan analysts say killings, rifts take internal toll" by Carlotta Gall, New York Times / March 31, 2011
KABUL — The Taliban in Afghanistan are showing signs of increasing strain after a number of killings, arrests, and internal disputes that have affected them even in their Pakistan haven, Afghan security officials and Afghans with contacts in the Taliban say.
Says the New York Times.
Says the New York Times.
The killings, as the insurgents are mobilizing for the new fighting season in Afghanistan, have unnerved many in the Taliban and have spread a climate of paranoia within the insurgent movement, the Afghans said....
This SMELLS like a PSYOP to CREATE THAT VERY EFFECT within the strengthening resistance to occupation.
No one seems to know for sure who is behind the killings.
Oh, I THINK I HAVE a pretty good IDEA!
Members of the Taliban attribute them to US spies, running Pakistani and Afghan agents....
One of they few truths the paper puts in print.
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Back to the BULLS***!
"Taliban begin fighting season with less turf, power than last year; Coalition expects a shift in tactics" April 18, 2011|By Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post
SANGIN, Afghanistan — For the first time since the Afghanistan war began nearly a decade ago, the Taliban are commencing a summer fighting season with less southern territory under their control or influence than they had the previous year.
So we have been losing the war for nine years until now?
I guess branching out and taking over other areas left less of them in the south, huh?
“We start this year in a very different place,’’ said General David H. Petraeus, the top coalition commander in Afghanistan. The security improvements have been the result of intense fighting and the use of high-impact weapon systems not normally associated with the protect-the-population counterinsurgency mission.
What would those be, pray tell?
And how can they be security improvements when the level of violence is higher?
Now the question for Petraeus and his subordinates is whether the gains will hold as Taliban commanders, laden with cash and munitions, stream across the desert from Pakistan, where there has been considerably less progress in denying them sanctuary....
The result, according to an internal military projection, could be a far more violent summer for both Americans and Afghans.
Highlighting the risks, insurgent attacks killed eight NATO service members on Saturday, one of the deadliest days for the military coalition this year....
Yeah, security has really improved.
A deterioration in security over the next few months could complicate the Obama administration’s plans to start drawing down troops....
Oh, HERE WE GO AGAIN! These "insurgents" in Iraq and Afghanistan must be the DUMBEST INSURGENTS of all time!
Yup, U.S. is hitting the door and THEN they act up!! Cui bono?
That decision will be complicated by a deterioration of security in eastern Afghanistan.
And yet we have been told in numerous articles that the security situation has improved, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What a sad sack of incorrigible liars the AmeriKan military and media have become.
Because senior officers assumed the east was more secure than the south, the bulk of surge forces were sent southward to Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Now some of those officers plan to shift more troops east if the improvements in the south hold.
So where exactly have the Taliban lost turf?
Petraeus concedes that the progress across southern Afghanistan remains “fragile and reversible,’’ but he also has made it clear to his subordinates that he thinks it can be cemented with time and military pressure.
We have been hearing that for how long now?
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What else are the Taliban taking?
"Bodies of 4 Afghan policemen found" March 02, 2011|Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — The bodies of four of eight Afghan policemen who left their checkpoint and never returned were found yesterday in Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, and NATO officials said three service members had been killed in the last two days....
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"50 Afghan police kidnapped, Taliban say" March 28, 2011|Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban claimed yesterday that they kidnapped 50 Afghan police officers in northeastern Afghanistan, part of the insurgents’ murder and intimidation campaign against anyone affiliated with the US-backed government.
When the U.S. does it is called liberation.
Also yesterday, a truck exploded at a construction company compound in the east of the country, killing 13 people and wounding about 50, an Afghan official said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the explosion. Earlier yesterday, a NATO service member was killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said. The death raised to 94 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year....
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