'Taliban insurgency becoming a liberation war'

[PhilipShore]

Times of India
17 Feb, 2007

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/Pakistan/Taliban_insurgency_becoming_a_liberation_war/articleshow/1630293.cms

PESHAWAR: Taliban-led insurgents are winning ever-greater public support in Afghanistan for a struggle that is taking on the character of a "liberation war" against foreign troops, a senior Pakistani official claimed.

The remark by the governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on Friday could inflame further a war of words between Kabul and Islamabad about who is responsible for the resurgence of militant activity in Afghanistan.

It could also dismay US and NATO commanders who say their beefed-up military operation is designed to pave the way for badly needed reconstruction aid.

The main reason for the Taliban's return was the frustration of ethnic Pashtuns seeking more political say in Kabul and resentment of ongoing military operations and the lack of economic aid in the south and east of Afghanistan, he said.

[Gloria]

1. Next Two Months "Make or Break" in Afghanistan: Report

From the current World Media Watch at Buzzflash.com

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?169132


2//PakTribune.com (Pakistan News Service), Pakistan
NEXT TWO MONTHS "MAKE OR BREAK" IN AFGHANISTAN: REPORT

A 'make or break' situation is facing NATO forces in southern Afghanistan in the coming months, with the threat of a major Taliban spring office, an international think-tank warned the other day. After Musa Qala fell two weeks ago, the Taliban now have the big towns in their sights and anyone who can leave has already left, the Senlis Council said in its latest field report on the Counter Insurgency in Afghanistan. The council, which has offices in London, Brussels, Paris and Kabul, concluded that the international community`s own policies are responsible for the dramatic loss of support for the Afghan government and for the rise in the insurgency. "With our own policies, we have created our own enemies," said the founding president of Senlis, Norine MacDonald, who has lived and worked in Afghanistan for the past two years. "The policies implemented by the international community have created these resentful and poor young men who cannot feed their families, and they are now being easily recruited by the Taliban," MacDonald warned. ... Senlis said that there were many legitimate grievances of the local Afghan population which needed and could be simply and inexpensively be addressed. ... "The people of Afghanistan have become the unwilling victims of a war which is not their own," said MacDonald. "Proper provision has not been made according to the Geneva Conventions for civilian casualties in a war zone," he said. "Hospitals have no equipment, no medicines, no blood, no heating. For the most part, civilians injured in the bombing campaigns are abandoned by the international community," he added. The report also pointed out that in 2006, some 2000 NATO bombing campaigns were executed over southern Afghanistan, causing an estimated 4,000 civilian deaths and an untold number of casualties, for which there is practically no possibility of treatment. "The insurgency in southern Afghanistan has been fuelled by the neglect of the international community to address vital issues such as emergency treatment for victims of the international forces bombing campaigns, or the widespread starvation," MacDonald said.

[saigon68]

13. Especially with "Charlie McKarzai" puppet of Boosh in Charge

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. It's only a matter of time before they are running the place again.

[ohio2007]

4. Back to the dark ages for the women,kite flying children and

soccer watching sports fans with links to the outside world.
But if the majority want to live that way,so be it.

[LynnTheDem]

6. Or they could remain with what they have today;

death by starvation, bombs, guns.

[ohio2007]

8. Thats life in Dafur

I didn't see any stories about mass starvation being rampant in Afghanistan. Do you have a link?

[daleo]

15. People usually prefer local despots to foreigners

That seems to be a long established fact of human societies.

[IndianaGreen]

3. The people that CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed in Afghanistan

were all supporters of the Taliban. They all said that when the Taliban were there, people had peace, security, and jobs. Now they have nothing, and they are ignored by the central government.

I dare say we blew it in Afghanistan when we pulled troops and resources out for the Iraq invasion.

[Turbineguy]

7. For those not shot or skinned

and willing to kowtow to the Taliban, life was OK. But yes, Bush blew it in Afghanistan. But then he would.

I remember the interview with the Taliban Interior Minister where he was called on the fact the the Europeans paid for a soccer stadium that was used for executing people. His answer was that Europeans should buy them a building to shoot people in.

I figured the Taliban would offer Ministry of Health to Harold Shipman, the English physician serial murderer.

[EFerrari]

12. Not to mention, we when let the Paki ISI off for funding 9/11

and looked the other way when they funded the Taliban forces shooting our troops. (
And that's not spec, that's just what has been reported from mainstream outlets.)

I was against invading Afghanistan because, frankly, I had a feeling it would turn out exactly this way.

No, people didn't have peace, security or jobs before we invaded. That's simply bs. But, we have now made a horrible situation WORSE. And BushCo couldn't care less. They don't care about NOLA, they care less about Kabul.

The Taliban were thugs funded by the worst elements of the ISI. And poor Afghanistan. To paraphrase, so close to oil and so far from God.

[LynnTheDem]

5. 1 president; 2 wars lost.

George w. bUsh's "legacy".

[sakabatou]

9. Didn't Bush say we defeated them?

I'm pretty damn sure he did!

[Amonester]

10. Yeah, I saw that too.

But we all know there's a difference between what monkey says, and what is real...

Don't we.

[sakabatou]

11. Yeah

:D

[agincourt]

14. On top of it all,

We paid for this defeat by aiding and arming Pakistan. Course I don't think the Bushies wanted the Taliban too bad. After all they took care of "tim" who gave our gracious W a mandate. Without 9/11 the repukes would have been run out of the house and senate long ago. Lots of "conservatives" probably symphatize with the Taliban more than any "femi-nazi" New York liberals anyway. Crazy country we live in that tolerates this ilk like Bush/Cheney/Rove.

[Disturbed]

17. The Taliban were offered a deal by the Busholini Regime.

Take lots of money and allow the US Multi-Corps to exploit their Natural Gas. Turn over Osama. They refused that deal for many reasons that can be researched. The US and the Western Powers decided to Colonize Afghanistan. That hasn't worked out so well yet.

[rodeodance]

16. Kabul is the 'green zone' of Afghan.