Recently in Afghanistan Category

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2746716253

While the western media raised hopes of a reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government when Saudi Arabia sponsored talks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the man named as one of the main negotiators, Mullah Mohammad Hasan Rahmani, denied any involvement.

The Saudi government owned Al-Sharq al-Awsat even quoted the Afghan Minister of Information, Sheikh Mohammed Tashkiri, who said a second round of negotiations took place in Dubai between a delegation from Kabul and one from the Taliban movement.

According to Tashkiri, "on both occasions representatives of Mullah Omar participated in the meetings, the most authoritative among them was Mullah Mohammad Hasan Rahmani".

However, in an interview with AKI, Mullah Hasan Rahmani, a close advisor of Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, rejected the claims saying they were a figment of the imagination of the Kabul administration led by President Hamid Karzai.

Earlier Hamid Karzai called for an amnesty for Mullah Omar, if he laid down his weapons.

Where is the outcry about the handling of prisoners by the Taliban? Or are they immune to societal norms that are expected from the rest of humanity? Are they even human?

We need to send the Human Rights freaks over to visit the Taliban and examine the way they treat prisoners and civilians who they have conquered. If they don't want to go, then send them anyway. Why should they only bother us?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489805,00.html

Poland pledges to capture and "punish" the Taliban militants who beheaded a Polish engineer in Pakistan on Friday before delivering a video of the attack to the media, the Times of London reports.

Piotr Stanczak was reportedly kidnapped four months ago while working in the Attock district -- a region close to Pakistan's lawless North West Frontier Province.

A video released to media outlets Sunday shows the beheading of Stanczak just minutes after he appears on tape urging the Polish government not to send troops to neighboring Afghanistan.

On Monday, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the video had been authenticated and pledged to bring the terrorists to justice, according to the Times of London.

"The cassette of the execution, this bestial execution, is authentic and unfortunately it confirms the worst," Sikorski reportedly said in a statement. "Now we can no longer save our compatriot, we are going to try to punish his killers."

The joys of living under the Religion of Peace continue. I notice how all the population is under the thumbs of the clerics who keep the peons in line with fear of dying. I pity people unfortunate enough to be born in those regions of the world.

When will the Left see what conservatives see in Islam? We recognize that Islam is not tolerant or understanding about the way of life outside of the Arabian regions of the world. It is designed exclusively for the diverse Arab tribes and is not able to interact well with non-Arab populations. Sure, it has been brought around the world, say to Africa and Indonesia, but that was through conquest to tribes that then took on aspects of the victors. Look how well most of those areas are run. They are so Peaceful and Tolerant.

What is so Peaceful about a religion that demands such violence?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489104,00.html

2 Afghans Translate Koran, Face Death Penalty

Friday, February 06, 2009

KABUL --

No one knows who brought the book to the mosque, or at least no one dares say. The pocket-size translation of the Koran has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives. They're accused of modifying the Koran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.

The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hardline clerics in Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid war and militant violence.

The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007. It was a translation of the Koran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free.

Some of the men of the mosque said the book would be useful to Afghans who didn't know Arabic, so they took up a collection for printing. The mosque's cleric asked Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a longtime friend, to get the books printed.

But as some of the 1,000 copies made their way to conservative Muslim clerics in Kabul, whispers began, then an outcry.

Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses alongside the translation. It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard the Arabic Koran as words given directly by God. A translation is not considered a Koran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word.

I love the Royal Marines! They have been favorites of mine since I was a kid and they keep proving they are worthy of my devotion. When I was in England I met a few of them and visited some of their bases, and they impressed me even more.

This is how to fight this war - take it to the enemy and chase them until they are broken.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htinf/articles/20090114.aspx

British Marine Commandos (all British marines are commandos) recently conducted an 18 day operation against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. This operation, involving 1,500 marines and a few hundred Danish and Afghan troops, serves as a model for the kind of operations possible as several additional brigades of American troops enter the area over the next year.

The British marines killed over a hundred Taliban, and lost five of their own. More importantly, they also killed a key Taliban leader in the area, seized $3 million worth of opium (such drugs are a major source of income for the Taliban) and an IED workshop. The British marines chased down the Taliban, who tried to flee. Staying on the Taliban day after day, the marines ultimately shattered the local organization. The operation disrupted the ability of several hundred Taliban to operate and crippled their support and command network. The operation also had a bad effect on Taliban morale, and the willingness of locals to support, or simply tolerate, the Taliban.

The British made it very clear that they could decisively defeat the Taliban, and go after the enemy wherever they were, and no matter how hard their fought back. The British, in effect, dominated the battlefield, and the enemy. Multiply this several times, and run these operations constantly, and the Taliban military capability will be broken. This is nothing new. It's been done before to the Afghan tribal warriors, and accounts of such disasters are among the less popular tribal legends throughout the region.

The Taliban have never been all that popular in the areas they controlled, but they have had fear and religion behind them. It has worked well in the past, but the use of terrorism to keep the supporters inline has really been backfiring. I think that they will fail unless they change their tactics soon. Unless Obama wants to give them the aid they need to make the comeback that his predecessor has almost ended. What a pity that would be.

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20081106.aspx

The Taliban are very unpopular out in the countryside. While the drug gangs bring bribes, jobs and guys who have money to spend, the Taliban bring paranoia, persecution and murder. About twenty Afghans a week are being murdered, as suspected police informants, by the Taliban. The Taliban demand that villagers pay "taxes" to support the them, and adhere to strict lifestyle rules (no music or videos, or trimmed beards or schools for girls and so on). These rules are unpopular with most rural Afghans, and it has gotten to the point where many tribes are forming self-defense militias to try and keep the Taliban out. The Pakistani Pushtun tribes are reporting that this can work, but only if the Taliban are weakened to the point where they cannot call in enough reinforcements to trash the militia.

In Pakistan, the army has been aggressively going after the villages that the Taliban come from, arresting Taliban leaders and killing any armed men who do not surrender. This allows the pro-government militias to burn down the homes of known Taliban, and drive the families away. This has forced many pro-Taliban families to back away from Islamic radicalism. This has also caused a growing split between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. The Afghan branch has lots of cash from the drug gangs, and their "taxes", while the Pakistan branch is basically broke. The Pakistani Taliban are in a fight for survival, and angry that they are not getting more support from the Afghan Taliban. After all, the Pakistani Taliban sheltered their Afghan brothers for years after 2001. The Afghan Taliban are feeling cocky, and don't seem to care if the Pakistani Taliban are wiped out. It's all that drug money, and maybe some of the drugs, talking.