Could we be involved in another Viet Nam?
It's their home ground. They might know what they're talkin' about.
What do ya' think?

Taliban leader tells 'invaders' to study history

NATO running out of time in Afghanistan
Associated Press Writer Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writer – 25 mins ago

KABUL – The Taliban's reclusive leader said in a Muslim holiday message Saturday that the U.S. and NATO should study Afghanistan's long history of war, in a pointed reminder that foreign forces have had limited military success in the country.

The message from Mullah Omar comes less than a month before the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

This year has been the deadliest of the conflict for U.S. and NATO troops, and political support at home for the war is declining. Taliban attacks have spiked around Afghanistan in the last three years, and the militants now control wide swaths of territory.

On Saturday, bombs targeting military vehicles in the south where the Taliban are increasingly powerful, killed six people.

In his message for the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which ends the fasting month of Ramadan, Omar said the U.S. and NATO should study the history of Alexander the Great, whose forces were defeated by Pashtun tribesmen in the 4th century B.C.

"We would like to point out that we fought against the British invaders for 80 years from 1839 to 1919 and ultimately got independence by defeating" Britain, a statement attributed to Omar said.

"Today we have strong determination, military training and effective weapons. Still more, we have preparedness for a long war and the regional situation is in our favor. Therefore, we will continue to wage jihad until we gain independence and force the invaders to pull out," it said. The statement's authenticity could not be verified but it was posted on a Web site the Taliban frequently uses.

Omar is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan but hasn't been seen in years.

President Barack Obama has increased the U.S. focus on Afghanistan after what critics say were years of neglect under the Bush administration. Obama ordered 21,000 more troops to the country this year, and by year's end the U.S. will have a record 68,000 in the country.

Militant ambushes have become increasingly sophisticated and deadly, and U.S. troops say the Taliban is no longer the ragtag force the military first faced in late 2001. Civilian deaths and a corrupt Afghan government have turned many toward the militants, who have pushed into northern Afghanistan this year for the first time.

In the southern city of Kandahar, a bomb hidden on bicycle exploded as an Afghan army vehicle drove by, killing five people — four civilians and one Afghan soldier and wounding 15 people, said Mohammad Pashtun, a regional police official.

The Danish military said Saturday that one of its soldiers was also killed after militants fired on troops on patrol in the southern province of Helmand. Denmark has lost 25 soldiers in Afghanistan since it joined the U.S.-led coalition in 2002. Separately, Hungarian officials said a suicide attacker drove a vehicle into a Hungarian convoy in the northern city of Pul-e-Khumri. No troops were killed.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is expected to ask Washington for thousands more troops in coming weeks, but public support for the war is waning, and political leaders are questioning the need for more forces.

Al-Qaida posted a new video this week threatening that if Germans do not push their political parties to withdraw the country's soldiers from Afghanistan, "there will be a rude awakening after the elections." Germany holds national elections Sept. 27.

Omar's message said the international community has "wrongly depicted" the Taliban as a force against education and women's rights. It did not elaborate. Taliban militants force women to wear the all-encompassing burqa and don't allow females outside the home without a male escort.

The way I see things : Afghanistan was a sovereign nation and it was illegally invaded by the US and their NATO followers and wannabees . It is just plain clear that the right thing to do now is to pull all the US and NATO troops from this country and let the Afghans rule themselves the way they choose .This war brought waste of billions of dollars and the destruction of millions of people by death, diseases and refugees everywhere specially in Iran and Pakistan .
The whole world knows that G.W. Bush and his neo cons were a bunch of dishonest, manipulative, lying and crazy politicians . It is time Obama and his team put an end to this mess in both Iraq and Afghanistan .

I will respond to both of you. No this will not be another vietnam. That was the Iraq war. Which was an illegal war should have never been there in the first place. Afganistan is where it started with the terroist and where it needs to end. The repubicans should go fight in the Iraq war that they love so much and leave the real war in Afganistan to the democrats. It is so good to have real leadership for a change instead of the great monkey clown of a president before this one.

I think in your reply you are right and wrong. I do think that afghanistan is like vietnam in the way that conventional warfare just wont work and if we want to win there we will have to resort to guerilla tactics. Why is the afgahn war a legal one ? did they fire the first shot ? You know the irony is that American troops are being killed with weapons that they supplied the afghans.

I believe people both on the right and the left supported the Iraq war. And I believe people both on the right and the left still support being there. Personally I thought we never should have gone, and I think going there and leaving Afghanistan was equally strange, but here we are.

I don't trust the presdent of Afghanistan, or his administration. Nor do I think we will ever win anything over there. I do however feel for those that have tried to turn things around for the women and children, but I just don't see us winning. I find the word winning distasteful when so many lives are lost on either side, and yet the Taliban survives and keeps coming back.

I am torn on this one...

its just a matter of time before they are all hooked on heroin

then it'll be over


A United Nations survey begun this month is widely expected to show that at least 1 in 12 people in Afghanistan abuses drugs — double the number in the last survey four years ago.

The soaring rates of drug abuse are driven in part by Afghanistan's widespread unemployment and social upheaval under the Taliban and the U.S.-led war, begun in 2001. Another factor is the flood of returning Afghan refugees from Iran, many of whom became heroin addicts there.

-NPR

Yay! A nation full of crack heads!

"Could we be involved in another Viet Nam?
It's their home ground. They might know what they're talkin' about.
What do ya' think? "

As the old saying goes, history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes. Yes, this is a lost invasion (I reserve the word "war" for actual wars). It never should have happened. Every country that's tried to invade that area has lost. It is literally a "graveyard for empires".

I watched a documetary on that issue, it included people in pakistan. Sad, but then we have our own issues with drugs here too. I wouldn't even want to guess how many young people in my own town where are on meth or some other distructive drug.

If there was a suspected enemy of the Taliban hiding in America and they came here and started dropping bombs and sending troops in..
what would we do?

The bigest thing that went wrong in Vietnam was the politians got involved and told the military what to do! Let the Generals fight the wars our government get us into!!!!!!!! That's their job! They know what they are doing! Government needs to stay out the strategies, and what happens in war should stay in war! It's not a enjoyable thing! But Let the soldiers do their jobs, don't question them, AND TAKE CARE OF THEM WHEN THEY COME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ummmm wasn't that what they did on Sept 11?

so "they" started a war...hummmm
and we went into their country to get even..

if I remember right the UN passed a resolution demanding the Taliban turn over Bin Laden or forfeit their government

and they refused

Strategy yes though not absolutely sure, but I would never want to see the Military unchecked. Are you suggesting we don't question them, isn't that what gets us in trouble when we don't question? Serious question Tj, not being sarcastic...

well stated... some feel we have every right to be there because of 9-11

Douglas McArthur said of Viet Nam

"You'll never win with this political "limited warfare". You fight to win or you lose. Line up the American soldiers from coast to coast, shoulder to shoulder and march north. For every soldier that falls you replace him and keep moving. You'll be in Hanoi in a month"

Forgive me but I am not sure what that means.

That was McArthurs response when he was ordered to go on the defensive.
Not to do anything but hold the line. We weren't to actively hunt down NVA.
They tied his hands and wouldn't let him win.

for instance the soldiers were ordered NOT to fire on the Viet Cong unless they fired first

usually when they fired first lots of people died

Viet Nam was all politics and no war

I have read that the whole point of Viet Nam was to prove to the Soviets that we were willing to take heavy casualties to fight a war