Taliban carries out rare frontal attack on U.S. base in Afghanistan

[Wright]

Kandahar, Khost, Paktia and Nangarhar have traditionally been their political/military strongholds....

like much of Afghanistan, it's never been friendly to invaders. From early 19th Century, britishers sought to control these areas but finally lost grip of it in 1881.

history is just repeating itself over a century later

Yeah, it has been destroyed over and over, it's infastructure completely obliterated. Now is one of the worlds poorest nations. Something indeed to be boastful about.

Occupied 10 years by the U.S.S.R, and now another 10 by the USA.

 

[53fd]

These attacks can be attributed to their desperation . Their movement is gradually becoming weaker with the Afghan security forces becoming stronger . Now they are even having hard time handling the Afghan Police .

http://www.defence.pk/forums/afghanistan-defence/186950-20-taliban-militants-killed-clashes-police-force-s-afghanistan.html

Such incidents give one confidence that The Afghan forces will be able to handle the Afghan security by and large after the NATO drawdown in 2014 .

Such attacks will continue to happen like they happen in many countries like Pakistan , Iraq , Yemen, India etc , what is important is that the ability of Taliban to make a 90s style return to power has become impossible now .

The fact of the matter is, the fighting has spread all over the country, their recruiting is getting better/increasing; & the end result is, the fighting is much more widespread. Not a good sign for Afghanistan, it will be in a state of eternal warfare & anarchy.

 

[Areesh]

These attacks can be attributed to their desperation . Their movement is gradually becoming weaker with the Afghan security forces becoming stronger . Now they are even having hard time handling the Afghan Police .

Yeah we can see that. They are becoming "weaker". That's why according to latimes they are planning and gearing up to regain the territory they "lost".

 

[53fd]

Yeah we can see that. They are becoming "weaker".

When they are openly attacking US military bases inside the country every few weeks, you know they are getting "weaker".

 

[Sher Malang]

Yes, and have you seen that they have taken place all over the country? The more hornet's nests you stir, the fighting intensifies all over the country. Simple.

If they are really all over the country why can't they take out any single Province's capital? if they can come all over from Pakistan to Afghanistan don't you think they have the ability to move from one province to another and they aren't aliens which can be detected easily they are Afghans and they blend with others until they achieve their objective!

 

[KRAIT]

US will be leaving 40,000 special forces soldiers to assist and train ANSF post 2014. Recent success of ANSF working along with US lead NATO forces clears doubts that whether this plan will be fruitful or not. Within few years, as ANSF gains more experience, has its own aerial wing (trained outside), gets few regiments of tanks.....Afghanistan will be way lot stable than it is now. The investment by India and China in mining resources will provide infrastructure, roads, railways and of course employment opportunities.

This is how anti-state elements are dealt with, physical intervention and psychological intervention (people become less susceptible to join Taliban due to better options, attrition rates increase as its peaceful to lead a normal life ).

 

[Armstrong]

I dunno whose winning or whose loosing but by God I want a closure to this mess ! Having said that I find it hard to believe that the Taliban would have significant support of the People when each time one of their suicide bomber detonates he takes an ISAF/NATO solider along with quite a few 'civilians' ! I dunno but if I were an Afghan, any method whereby my worth is reduced to 'collateral damage', I'd be pretty alienated !

 

[53fd]

If they are really all over the country why can't they take out any single Province's capital?

Because they don't need to, because they have conduct complex attacks inside the heart of Kabul, & other sensitive installations at will. They have infiltrated deep inside the ANP, they are biding their time, & looking at the ominous signs of high frequency high level/sensitive attacks, without NATO/US military assistance; the ANA/ANP will not be able to hold them out.

if they can come all over from Pakistan to Afghanistan don't you think they have the ability to move from one province to another and they aren't aliens which can be detected easily they are Afghans and they blend with others until they achieve their objective!

They probably came from Paktia or Khost, don't worry, it is not Pakistani territory; just because you have little to no control over those regions doesn't mean Paktia or Khost is Pakistani territory. I do not think it is possible for Pakistani fighters to cross Peshawar and travel 300 kms to Kabul, 250kms inside Afghan territory (Kabul is about 250kms from the Afghan-Pakistan border) without getting detected.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Yeah, it has been destroyed over and over, it's infastructure completely obliterated. Now is one of the worlds poorest nations. Something indeed to be boastful about.

Occupied 10 years by the U.S.S.R, and now another 10 by the USA.

it didnt have to be that way as far as USA is concerned...they could have been the darling of Afghanistan if they played their cards right post-USSR

but they left the place destroyed and in shards....and as always, Pakistan and Iran (the primary stakeholders) were left to deal with the consequences (more so Pakistan than Iran)

 

[jbond197]

Looking at the comments, all the Pakistanis (and they are the only ones) want Talibs to come full power in Afghanistan and comments from real Afghans shows that they are prepared to put this trash in its place.. I think Afghani force is well capable of dealing with these animals...

I wish more power to the the brave Afghani forces..

 

[53fd]

US will be leaving 40,000 special forces soldiers to assist and train ANSF post 2014. Recent success of ANSF working along with US lead NATO forces clears doubts that whether this plan will be fruitful or not. Within few years, as ANSF gains more experience, has its own aerial wing (trained outside), gets few regiments of tanks.....Afghanistan will be way lot stable than it is now. The investment by India and China in mining resources will provide infrastructure, roads, railways and of course employment opportunities.

This is how anti-state elements are dealt with, physical intervention and psychological intervention (people become less susceptible to join Taliban due to better options, attrition rates increase as its peaceful to lead a normal life ).

You're neglecting a few basic facts. Who will provide the high level financial funding to the ANF post 2014 that has been provided to them in the past? From a financial point of view, it is extremely doubtful that the ANF will be able to improve without a lot of financial support, and financial support for them is decreasing in these times of "austerity", for Europe and North America.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

The fact of the matter is, the fighting has spread all over the country, their recruiting is getting better/increasing; & the end result is, the fighting is much more widespread. Not a good sign for Afghanistan, it will be in a state of eternal warfare & anarchy.

No Bilal , The fact of the matter is that the Taliban will not be coming to power again in Afghanistan ever.

The fact of the matter is Afghanistan will grow economically and join the comity of nations.

The fact of the matter is that Taliban regularly get killed as seen in in the OP article as well as in the article I posted even by the Afghan police which is a much weaker organization than the Afghan national army.

The fact of the matter is that the NATO casulaties in the Afghanw ar had gone down in 2011 after peaking in 2010 and have gone down relatively uptil now even in 2012 .

The fact of the matter is that more Afghans will get educated and have better lives than the savage like conditions that they have lived in for the past 30 years .

The fact of the matter is the average Afghan will live longer than he has in history as the medical conditions will continue to improve.

The fact of the matter is that this new Afghan society will struggle amongst itself but will give more voice to by and large all its citizens in decision making than they have ever had in its past 32 years war .

The fact of the matter is that Afghan economy will continue of have high growth as they have had for most of the last 10 years and just as they grew at 7.1 % in 2011 faster than both India and Pakistan . Like this they will slowly but surely come out of the dark ages and soon Pakistanis will not be able to make of how the average Afghan still lives in the 7th century.

The fact of the matter is that violence has gone down since peaking in 2010 and now gradually less and less Afghan mothers will die , less Afghan mothers will lose their children , less Afghan boys will grow without fathers .

The fact of the matter is that more Afghan girls will get access to schooling and contribute to the afghan society hence bringing some semblance of civilization and modernity to that country that the afghan have been kept deprived of since centuries particularly in the last 30 years .

The Fact of the matter is that Afghanistan will not remain Pakistan's backyard anymore and will finally be a sovereign nation with a sovereign govt .

The fact of the matter is that some of what I have said is based to clear facts out there that you want to remain blind of and some of it is based on my strong belief , that I have as a human being for any country that has suffered as much as that poor Nation to our North-West has .

The fact of the matter is that all that is going to happen as time passes by and the fact of the matter is you and your like will have to learn to deal with it .

 

[53fd]

No Bilal , The fact of the matter is that the Taliban will not be coming to power again in Afghanistan ever.

Then why is the US negotiating a power sharing deal with them, and why are the Taliban refusing it? The rest of your post is hence moot.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/02/03/the_coming_civil_war_in_afghanistan

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...llapse-civil-war-western-troops-fall-out.html

 

[jbond197]

You and only you think there will be no support to ANF forces post 2014. They will get all they need to fight these scums. World will not let Afghanistan to go back in any case.. I wish Indian govt provides them any funds possible to take Afghanistan to the next level of progression.

 

[Areesh]

Looking at the comments, all the Pakistanis (and they are the only ones) want Talibs to come full power in Afghanistan

We don't want anything. We are just discussing the delusion that Taliban are weak. Some people live under the rock and don't want to face the obvious facts.