After 17 years of war, top US commander in Afghanistan admits Taliban cannot be defeated

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

This is the USA's "We're fighting against God" moment!!!! Originally this phrase was coined by Winston Churchill over the Gallipoli (Turkish Chankkale) debacle....

 

[Nan Yang]

guerrilla force, you mean.

and the Afghan Taliban are not a guerrilla force, they are a terrorist group.

the difference is that a guerrilla force uses different targets and methods of operating and achieving their goals,
than a terrorist force.

a terrorist force is despicable, a guerrilla force is admirable in some cases, in which they fight *against* oppression.
the Taliban, oppresses their own people, and tries to oppress others even well outside their region.

that makes the Taliban an evil terrorist force.
And the Vietnamese defended their choice to join the communists, with communist military backing. They are also not actually a guerrilla force. They were an anti-invasion force.

And the Taliban is not an anti-invasion force either. They are a group that launched attacks, frequently, against both soft and hard targets outside their borders, and thus that temporary "invasion" of Afghanistan by a relatively small number of western troops, served it's purpose : pruning of the enemy forces, identification via biometric scans of potential future combatants, and the rest we can do via drones. now, and in the future.

and if in 20 years expansionist oppressors like you and your Taliban friends, or your ISIS-like friends perhaps, force us into another short invasion to get biometric scans of all potential fighters young and old, then that's probably what will happen.

you claiming victory is actually just a foolish defiant statement.
foolish because it can get your friends killed after you rile them up to attack some soft western or non-Muslim-fundamentalist target.

your claims that all martyrs and Muslim fighters go to the best Heaven Allah has to offer, is probably also a lie you just love and like to spread. i'm not buying that one one bit.

Not entirely true. Victory or defect depends on your initial goals and objectives.
US had several objectives and goals. After defeating the Taliban and Al Qeda, US wanted to follow-up the victory and introduced democracy and nation building to Afghanistan turning it into another vassal state. And to eventually to build another US base there. This base would allow US to establish a foot hold in Central Asia... right in China backyard.

People have short memories. China was always the main target of W Bush administration.
Remember when W Bush came to power, China was his target. Remember he said "I will do whatever it take to defend Taiwan" remark ?
Remember after defecting the Talibans, Rumsfield said how "the Shanghai Cooperative Council was irrelevant".

How did that turned out.
Today Taliban is only getting stronger.
Shanghai Cooperative Council is getting stronger.
One Belt and Road is in full swing.
US still has no foot hold in Central Asia.

You could say that US threw away the victory that was won.

 

[khail007]

There are no US troops in Libya, yet there is fighting - infighting.
Sunnis blowing up Shias in Iraq - infighting.
Taliban attacking Afghan government troops - infighting...

So explain why there is infighting in Afghanistan though even US occupying force deployed hundreds and thousands of troops in Afghanistan.
Further it proves how better Saddam and Qadhafi were ruling those countries. May be you are aware that even US was unable to save their diplomat in Libya.

Power and brain are two different things which US critically lacks.

When one create deliberate vacuum in a non democratic society then outcome is power struggle; one do not have to stay there for further destruction.
What you think US policy maker are so retard that they even can't analyse this? It is only the evil from within which compel them for such acts.

Key difference between Iraq and Afghanistan is this: Afghanistan is landlocked and this geographical situation have made it impractical for US to decisively defeat Afghan Taliban in the South [Afghan Taliban is not just strong in the South but also have footprint in Iran and Pakistan]. US have direct access to Iraq from the Arabian Ocean, and also from Kuwait.

Sir, I think it is not issue of LANDLOCKED, the brilliant example is Vietnam's struggle against US occupation forces and a well deserved defeat handed-over in recent military history.

 

[Verve]

And to eventually to build another US base there. This base would allow US to establish a foot hold in Central Asia... right in China backyard.

And USA is willing to give Taliban control of Afghanistan with one condition that it has a base there. This is what they are negotiating for, their primary goal of entering Afghanistan.

But I do not think they will achieve that with Taliban.

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

So explain why there is infighting in Afghanistan though even US occupying force deployed hundreds and thousands of troops in Afghanistan.
Further it proves how better Saddam and Qadhafi were ruling those countries. May be you are aware that even US was unable to save their diplomat in Libya.

Afghanistan is 650,000 square kilometers.
The NATO forces had a maximum size of less than 140,000 or one soldier per five square kms.
There are about 35M Afghans or or 250 Afghans per NATO soldier.
There are plenty of opportunities for the Taliban to attack Afghan civilians.

Once ANA arrives and defeats them, the remainders fall back, get some more recruits, fooled by islamist propaganda, and they renew the attack. As long as the Afghan pashtoons remain uneducated, and controlled by Mullahs this can go on forever.

After the Gulf War 1991,Saddam killed 60,000 Shias to stop the uprising.
I guess You support that, since You think Saddam was a good ruler.
You consider a rapist to be a good ruler?

 

[Dubious]

When American commander says it world nods their head slowly in agreement...

When IK said it ....our own stupids called him Taliban khan to appease the Americans!

But I do not think they will achieve that with Taliban.

You never know...these Talibans arent a spokement for Islam they are paid mercenaries

 

[khail007]

Afghanistan is 650,000 square kilometers.
The NATO forces had a maximum size of less than 140,000 or one soldier per five square kms.
There are about 35M Afghans or or 250 Afghans per NATO soldier.
There are plenty of opportunities for the Taliban to attack Afghan civilians.

The Afghan population is not stretched in all the Sq KM which you mentioned. Believe me, the illegitimate governments in Afghanistan always confined to Kabul. Get some research and you will come to facts. You have to study the psycho of the Afghan people and not the area - they never fall to foreign occupation. US is the third superpower which is now licking Taliban's joggers.
Please enlighten us upon a bit of comparison of AK47/RPG and the mighty US war machine.

Once ANA arrives and defeats them, the remainders fall back, get some more recruits, fooled by islamist propaganda, and they renew the attack. As long as the Afghan pashtoons remain uneducated, and controlled by Mullahs this can go on forever.

They adapted the strategy to the ground realities they know very well their limitations and capabilities in comparison to US. They know the 'ART OF WAR', don't under estimate them they are more educated in par as compared to their enemy.
Who are you to decide either they ruled by Mullahs or Democrats like Karazai? This mind set is the one which is making this world more unsafe. That's why I quoted 'LIVE AND LET LIVE'. Do not impose what is not your limits and that is the real democracy, not your likes and dislikes.

After the Gulf War 1991,Saddam killed 60,000 Shias to stop the uprising.
I guess You support that, since You think Saddam was a good ruler.
You consider a rapist to be a good ruler?

Killing is always to be condemned either it is by Hitler or by US in Heroshima and Nagasaki or by Saddam in Iraq.
To me killing of even one person is a sin, but your mindset seems to be only anti-islamic.
Compare yourself, 60000 or millions, who is the great killer?
Rapist ... a bad word. Saddam and his sons were the criminals and they met their end. But what about US soldiers were doing in Iraq, raping and after that burning the whole families alive. To you may be they seems to be the angels. Remember 'Abu Ghareeb'; may you feel something.

 

[Abdussamad]

We in Pakistan also benefit from their continued engagement in the region so we must not let them get too frustrated. We should offer them some hope from time to time. Remember how we were under sanctions before 9/11? We'll be back under sanctions if the US disengages from the region. Hopefully we can keep them engaged for another 17 years!

 

[BATMAN]

The US general say that the Taliban cannot be defeated, that is not the same as saying that the Taliban has defeated the US. The Taliban are defeated every year, but they than recruit and train new Talibans for next year.
The irony is that if the Talibans would stop trying to take over the country, and accepted a political solution, the US would leave voluntarily.
The Taliban are not that smart that they realize this.

There is no such thing as new Taliban... unless you want to malign Pashtoon resistance against tyranny and genocide by ANA and US troops.

In reality, Taliban regime existed in areas adjacent to Pak border, where US carpet bombed and even used thermal chargers and high power radio frequency generators, to neutralize humans living therein.
Followed by hunting of northern alliance foot soldiers and behind that US army.
Even the Pashtoons from surrounding areas were rounded up and taken to ditches in shipping containers, supplied by US regime and were shot dead and buried in mass graves, but apparently US and its allies in Afghanistan have no shame in still singing the Taliban chores.

Yes, few Taliban leaders, who were captured in Pakistan, were taken to gitmo, and were living after their release but those few were also killed in mysterious circumstances, in occupied Afghanistan.

What's really happening in Afghanistan is beyond evil and perpetrators are the foreigners, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Indians, Iranians, UK, and US, who fly to villages, where there are no roads, shoot able body men, piss on their corpses in front of their families and abduct children, fate of abducted children is unknown, but sure Indians get their fare share, as they are driving the movement to change south Indian demography.

 

[Verve]

You never know...these Talibans arent a spokement for Islam they are paid mercenaries

I don't think that Afghan Taliban are mercenaries and they never expressed any expansion plans during their rule.

TTP etc are mercenaries and proxies of USA.

 

[Dubious]

I don't think that Afghan Taliban are mercenaries and they never expressed any expansion plans during their rule.

Yea but they causing unrest in Muslim countries and never even stared at israel....Just a thought that all the Normal gali wala Mullah keeps going yahoodi I would think Afghani Taliban would fly to israel the min they could?!

 

[Verve]

Yea but they causing unrest in Muslim countries and never even stared at israel....Just a thought that all the Normal gali wala Mullah keeps going yahoodi I would think Afghani Taliban would fly to israel the min they could?!

Afghan Taliban have/had a country like Afghanistan to control ... that alone is a mammoth task let alone take on anyone else.

Btw, which other country have Afghan Taliban stirred trouble in? They never started any conflict with Iran etc.

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

The Afghan population is not stretched in all the Sq KM which you mentioned. Believe me, the illegitimate governments in Afghanistan always confined to Kabul. Get some research and you will come to facts. You have to study the psycho of the Afghan people and not the area - they never fall to foreign occupation. US is the third superpower which is now licking Taliban's joggers.
Please enlighten us upon a bit of comparison of AK47/RPG and the mighty US war machine.


They adapted the strategy to the ground realities they know very well their limitations and capabilities in comparison to US. They know the 'ART OF WAR', don't under estimate them they are more educated in par as compared to their enemy.
Who are you to decide either they ruled by Mullahs or Democrats like Karazai? This mind set is the one which is making this world more unsafe. That's why I quoted 'LIVE AND LET LIVE'. Do not impose what is not your limits and that is the real democracy, not your likes and dislikes.


Killing is always to be condemned either it is by Hitler or by US in Heroshima and Nagasaki or by Saddam in Iraq.
To me killing of even one person is a sin, but your mindset seems to be only anti-islamic.
Compare yourself, 60000 or millions, who is the great killer?
Rapist ... a bad word. Saddam and his sons were the criminals and they met their end. But what about US soldiers were doing in Iraq, raping and after that burning the whole families alive. To you may be they seems to be the angels. Remember 'Abu Ghareeb'; may you feel something.

It is the mindset of the Talibans, that its their way, or the highway that is the cause if the war.
They do not accept anything except their own agenda.
Then they used their power to support attacks on the West.
That gives the West the right to intervene.
Pakistan, on the other hand, had no business supporting the Taliban rise to power,
wuth the goal of creating a puppy.

Saddam killed 60,000 in a few months. That is more Iraqis killed than has been killed by the West total. That Muslims blame the Millions killed by other Muslims on the US is well known.
Does not make it true.

The US did not run only Abu Gheraab, they also run Leavenworth where soldiers ended up.

 

[LeGenD]

Sir, I think it is not issue of LANDLOCKED, the brilliant example is Vietnam's struggle against US occupation forces and a well deserved defeat handed-over in recent military history.

US failed in Vietnam due to sheer incompetence of the South Vietnamese bloc. Conversely, war-fighting technologies of the time failed in Vietnamese terrain.

American war-machine is much more capable today, and can fight effectively in any part of the world. However, I noticed significant difference in the levels of commitment to Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. American administrations took theater of operations in Iraq seriously but treated Afghanistan as secondary.

Iraq offered much greater levels of resistance to the occupying force than Afghan Taliban but US took the responsibility of handling Iraqi insurgency while building Iraqi government and security forces. In sharp contrast, Obama administration shifted the responsibility of war-effort in Afghanistan to the Afghan government and eventual outcome is the stalemate we witness today.

Not sure bro, but I get the impression that Trump administration is leaving Afghan Taliban intact on purpose. We do not have a clear understanding of their plans for the region in the long-term.

 

[gambit]

This advice is for US not for anyone else. If US rein it's evil designs and CIA to stop toppling other legitimate governments, the world will be more safer. US actions turns this world more dangerous and unsafe.
Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya all are now ungovernable only due to foolish thinking of US.

Take your own advice. For example, it was not US who invaded Kuwait. See if you can find out who did.

Get some introspection on why US attacked on Afghanistan? Was any of the so called hijacker of 9/11 belongs to Afghanistan, give the details of him.

Afghanistan hosted Al-Qaeda, therefore, Mullah Omar made Afghanistan a participant and ally with Al-Qaeda in the fight against US. This is common sense and have been throughout the ages.

You people have not won on one war against organised gorilla force. Vietnam and now Aghanistan. Humiliated in both.

Yes, we were 'humiliated'. Now who want to take US on because we were 'defeated', your Pakistan?