I was one of the 7-percenters who thought more violence wasn't going to help -- and that was when I was buying the newspaper and government account.
Of course, in the war-promoting newspaper's eyes the doubts are always about withdrawal:
"Afghan, NATO forces repel Taliban attacks on Kandahar" May 08, 2011|By Mirwais Khan, Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Taliban unleashed a major assault yesterday on government buildings throughout Afghanistan’s main southern city, an attack that cast doubt on how successful the US-led coalition has been in its nearly yearlong military campaign....
The Taliban usually exaggerate the scale of their attacks....
Oh, you mean they are just like a lying, agenda-pushing, war-promoting paper!?
And if THEY are NOT THAT DANGEROUS then we can COME HOME, right?
And Taliban are now editing the lead paragraphs for American newspaper stories?
Wow.
But yesterday’s attack shows their resilience and determination in the face of a massive international push to remove them permanently from the city that was once their capital....
It is going to be hard to do that because THEY LIVE THERE!!!
Besides, that is JUST SPOOKY TALK that BRINGS UP MEMORIES of WWII!!!!
I have been told all my life the Nazis tried to permanently remove a group of people.
The persistent violence has complicated the situation for the United States and many NATO allies who are hoping to pull out troops....
Related: What Winning in Afghanistan Looks Like
Looks like losing.
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Related:
"The size and scope of the attack, which began Saturday, cast doubt on the effectiveness of a yearlong campaign to secure Afghanistan’s south and Kandahar in particular."
Then we are just going to have to stay, huh?
Yup, all that talk about winning all these years... all horseshit.
"NATO says Taliban insurgency weaker" May 10, 2011|Associated Press
The LYING has REALLY REACHED the PATHOLOGICAL and DELUSIONAL STAGE!
It's become DAMN CRIMINAL!!!!!!!
KABUL — Still, a highly coordinated attack over the weekend raised new questions about the effectiveness of the yearlong campaign to secure Afghanistan’s south and Kandahar in particular....
Yeah, yeah, I saw that.
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And they said weaker?
"Taliban strike hard at Afghan targets; Copter crashes as army sends in reinforcements" May 12, 2011|By Amir Shah, Associated Press
KABUL — About 100 Taliban fought with security forces in a northern Afghan village yesterday, and a military helicopter crashed as it ferried reinforcements to an even larger battle in the northeast.
Northeast?
The Taliban are headquartered in the south!!
Related: Taliban Give and Take
So they were expanding into other territory as they were allegedly losing it?
And you wonder why you get commentaries of disbelief here!
Mohammed Zareen, a spokesman for the Nuristan provincial government, said nine people were injured when the Afghan MI-17 Defense Ministry helicopter crashed after hitting a tree. It was one of four copters ferrying a unit of the National Intelligence Service’s rapid reaction force. They were being escorted by two Afghan attack helicopters.
Or was it shot down? Oh, right, AmeriKan media would never omit or obfuscate.
The unit was sent to bolster police who managed to stop a large-scale assault late on Tuesday. About 400 Taliban attacked four outposts just south of Parun, the capital of Nuristan Province. Security forces in the area remained on high alert.
Afghan police were also engaged in fierce battles with about 100 Taliban fighters on motorcycles who attacked Abduraman village in northern Jawzjan Province late Tuesday. In an overnight firefight that raged for two hours, 17 insurgents and one villager were killed, provincial police chief Abdul Aziz Ghyrat said. He added that the fighting ended shortly before dawn.
That's because everyone had to get ready for prayers.
Villagers themselves fought the attackers until reinforcements arrived in the form of Afghan police, army, and NATO air support, Ghyrat said.
I cringe when I see that.
Among the dead militants was a local Taliban commander who had planned bombings and attacks in the region, he said.
The Taliban have launched a series of large-scale attacks around Afghanistan over the past five days, part of the insurgents’ long-anticipated spring offensive. As part of the campaign, the Taliban have also said they plan to assassinate government officials and anyone working with the US-led coalition.
But they are weaker, sigh.
The effectiveness of the Taliban’s campaign could influence the size of President Obama’s planned drawdown of US troops in July, the scale of which military officials have said will depend on conditions on the ground....
Already laying the conditions to either stay level or increase. Even using Bushspeak.
NATO said a bomb killed a coalition service member in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday. The military alliance did not provide further details about the deceased.
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"Afghan policeman kills 2 NATO soldiers" May 14, 2011|Associated Press
KABUL — Two NATO service members were killed in southwestern Helmand Province by an Afghan policeman, the coalition said yesterday....
In an unrelated incident, NATO said one of its service members was killed yesterday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan....
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"Blast kills 4 US soldiers in Afghanistan" May 17, 2011|Associated Press
KABUL — Four American soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan died yesterday in an explosion in the country’s south, NATO and a Defense Department official said, bringing home the human cost of the US-led push into Taliban strongholds....
Now WAIT A MINUTE!
It takes the death of soldiers to bring home the human cost, huh?
Never mind the WOMEN and CHILDREN being BLOWN UP in their HOMES!!
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Yeah, FORGET THIS MEDIA!
"Suicide bombing kills 6 at military hospital in Kabul" May 22, 2011|By Ray Rivera and Sharifullah Sahak, New York Times
KABUL — A powerful midday blast on the grounds of the heavily guarded national military hospital in Kabul killed at least six people and injured more than 20 others, government officials said.
General Zahir Azimi, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said the six people who were killed were medical students, but a doctor at the hospital said they were Afghan soldiers training to be medics.
Azimi said the attack was the work of one suicide attacker who set off the blast inside a tent at the multistory hospital as the trainees were sitting down to lunch. Investigators were trying to determine how the attacker infiltrated the grounds, bypassing military checkpoints at every entrance.
Hmmmmmmmm.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the blast....
Yeah, but they exaggerate.
The attack is sure to reignite concerns about insurgent infiltrators within the ranks of the Afghan security forces and about sympathizers working within the government....
Then it is TIME TO LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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"Gunmen attack Afghan government site" May 23, 2011|Associated Press
KABUL — Taliban fighters wearing suicide bomb vests hidden under police uniforms attacked a government building yesterday in eastern Afghanistan, triggering an hourslong gun battle and killing six people, officials said.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in Khost Province. The attack came a day after a Taliban suicide bomber slipped inside the capital’s main military hospital and killed at least six Afghan medical students — worrying reminders of militants’ ability to infiltrate locations thought to be secure....
I'm going to grain of salt these claims and statements now because I was told Taliban exaggerate.
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"Taliban chief missing, Afghan agency says" May 24, 2011|Associated Press
KABUL — The Afghan intelligence agency said yesterday that the reclusive leader of the Taliban has disappeared from a suspected hideout in Pakistan and has been out of contact with his commanders for days — adding further questions about Mullah Mohammad Omar after a news report said he was killed.
I'm sorry, I'm no longer digging up dead men.
Here, knock yourself out:
The Taliban denied the report on the Afghan news channel Tolo that Omar was shot dead while being moved inside Pakistan with the help of a former Pakistani intelligence official. The Taliban countered that Omar was alive and was somewhere inside Afghanistan....
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"7 Americans among dead in Afghan blast; US reaching out to Taliban cleric" by Deb Riechmann, Associated Press / May 27, 2011
KABUL — US officials have met with a senior aide to the fugitive Taliban spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, at least three times in recent months in the first direct exploratory peace talks, The New York Times reported, quoting Afghan and Western officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
How come PEACE TAKES FOREVER when WARS are begun WITHIN MOMENTS (after meticulous planning, of course)?
Germany and Qatar helped arrange the meetings, but US officials have been present at each of the meetings with Tayeb Agha, a personal assistant to Omar, the officials said. The Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department have been involved in the meetings, one official said.
The meetings, which began before Osama bin Laden’s killing, reflect a shift in the Obama administration’s attitude toward peace talks with the Taliban....
Until I see PEACE and FULL WITHDRAWAL in the HEADLINES he can go blow.
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Had to let the invisible ink dry:
"US ramping up talks with Taliban" May 17, 2011|Washington Post
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has accelerated direct talks with the Taliban, initiated several months ago, that US officials say they hope will enable the president to report progress toward a settlement of the Afghanistan war when he announces troop withdrawals in July....
Honestly, I'm tired of the PR pitch.
And accelerating something that is prone isn't that hard.
In Afghanistan yesterday, four American soldiers serving with NATO forces died in an explosion in the country’s south, NATO and a Defense Department official said, bringing the death toll this month to 16.
You know, progress.
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"Taliban suicide bomb hits Afghan governor’s complex" by Jon Gambrell, Associated Press / May 29, 2011
KABUL — A Taliban suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up during a meeting at a provincial governor’s compound yesterday in northern Afghanistan, killing six people, including two German soldiers, and wounding the top German commander in the country, officials said....
Related: Slipping Into Something More Comfortable in Afghanistan
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the late-afternoon attack — the latest in an uptick of violence as the Islamic extremist movement has launched its spring offensive.
Yeah, but they exaggerate.
The effectiveness of the Taliban’s campaign could affect the size of President Obama’s planned drawdown of US troops in July.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said it was part of the insurgency’s assassination campaign against high-ranking government officials. The bombing was also meant to undercut a military offensive the Afghan National Army was planning to launch in the north, the Taliban spokesman said.....
Why would they be launching an operation in the north when Taliban are in the south?
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Update: Soldier dies in Afghanistan copter crash
