Afghanistan: Why NATO cannot win...

[bridgit]

'The four-month-old Republic of Montenegro on the Adriatic Sea received its first foreign dignitary on Monday when US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived at its capital, Podgorica. Unknowingly, the tiny country of rugged mountains and great beauty in the Balkans with a population of 630,000 was being catapulted into the cockpit of 21st-century geopolitics.

Rumsfeld's mission was to request the inexperienced leadership in Podgorica to dispatch a military contingent to form part of the coalition of the willing in the "war on terror". Rumsfeld promised that in return, the US would help train Montenegro's fledgling army to standards of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

However, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic could not make any commitments. Rumsfeld's proposal came at an awkward moment for the leadership in Podgorica, which had just scrapped the draft and was scaling down its 4,000-strong army to about 2,500.

This bizarre diplomatic exchange between the most awesome military power on Earth and the newest member of the "international community" brings home the paradoxes of the "war on terror" on the eve of its fifth anniversary. Three ministerial-level meetings of NATO have taken place within the space of the past month alone, specifically with the intent of ascertaining how troop strength in Afghanistan can be augmented.' http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HI30Df01.html

[oblivious]

1. What an absolute disaster. NATO and the US will be defeated.

The fatality rate of the 18,500-strong NATO force...is roughly equal to the losses suffered by the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Soviet commanders who oversaw Moscow's disastrous campaign have predicted that the NATO forces will ultimately be forced to flee from Afghanistan.

But in the face of outside aggressions, Afghans have always put aside their differences and united. Evidently, the coalition forces are also being seen as a threat to the nation."

The Soviets had 2 1/2 times as many troops and many more allied troops and lost.

Commander of NATO forces: "We need to realize we could actually fail here."

...the Taliban are becoming synonymous with Afghan resistance.

The mindless violations of the Afghan code of honor by the coalition forces during their search-and-destroy missions and the excessive use of force during military operations leading to loss of innocent lives have provoked widespread revulsion among Afghan people.

[Disturbed]

2. Afghanis don't like Occupation any more than Iraqis do.

The Western Powers never seem to understand this simple concept. People around the world do not want to have their countries Occupied. Freedom and democracy that is forced by violence seems to be a sham that is seen as such. The people know what the Multi-Natls are after.

[bridgit]

3. kick...

:kick: