Thread: 'Bribes' free top Taleban leader

Originally Posted by S-2

"Steve you being sarky , nahhh , never)"

Whaaaa? Who? Me?

Naw...well, maybe a little.

As far as I'm concerned we only need language skills in dari and pashtu to say,

"WE SURRENDER".

nahhhhhhhhhhh strategical withdrawal

Originally Posted by S-2

Eric,

"...i was under the impression that poppies were being grown more now."

Oh they are. Much more. Just sayin' that the taliban were conducting a thriving business then too and only got out of it because they wanted to make nice for the foreign aid of it all.

When they did get out, they were positively DRACONIAN about it. Put the fear of Allah right into those farmers and that was that. Doing so, though, they tipped matters upside down overnight at their convenience...

...and did so again once they were back in the game.

gotcha

Originally Posted by S-2

If nobody's got a clue yet we've spent oodles of money training artillery officers and men to conduct pacification patrols. That should tell you everything you need to know in a nutshell.

You must be joking,Sir,YOU MUST.

"You must be joking,Sir,YOU MUST."

Young cadet, I jest not.

The God of War has become a flower child with a kind loving hand. I'm waiting for the latest in base-ejection projos-

...spews flowers over the target area.

Don't get hit by the baseplate. If you do, though, just sue us. We love litigation nearly as much as surrendering.

What we don't love any longer is blowing the sh!t outta our enemies.

Carry on, cadet.

Wow, that sounds a little fatalistic, but I do understand when you "KNOW" what to do and should do/ your arms are tied- someone else has control on the safety switch on your gun(s)....

Since you know much more about Pakistan, India and Afghanistan than I do, why would we have to leave to invite the Indians to help us in Afghanistan? If we need 40,000 extra troops right now, why don't we ask them right now?

We've informally sent out feelers. They've informally declined.

"...why would we have to leave to invite the Indians to help us in Afghanistan?"

If we left, how would the Indians be helping us? Wouldn't India have to make such an offer to provide assistance to the GoA? Wouldn't it be to the GoA to accept or decline that assistance?

"Since you know much more about Pakistan, India and Afghanistan than I do..."

Oh, I don't know. After all, I haven't "...been there and done that...". Isn't that how you introduced yourself to me?

Of course, that's why you see so many former infantry lieutenants immediately appointed to nat'l security policy-making bodies fresh off their sole combat tours that afforded a gnat's-azzed view of an A.O. comprising 20 km x 20 km of Afghanistan.

We SO value that microscopic perspective as it beautifully extrapolates to strategic decision-making.

I humbly defer to you, sir.

Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers

We've informally sent out feelers. They've informally declined.

Do you have any particular open source references so I can read about that diplomatic exchange (or non-exchange)?

Oh I might know something about Afgahnistan. IMO, a gnat's view (I don't know what the word azzed means, I will have to get clarification.) of Afghanistan provides more knowledge than reading hundreds of books about Afghanistan. Nothing can replace talking to locals and living in a community, but that's just my opinion.

But I have never been to Pakistan or India and I know very little about their politics and that is why I humbly defer to you.

"But I have never been to Pakistan or India and I know very little about their politics..."

Ah...and never have I. You can talk a lot to their locals should you wish...and read, I'm sure. I believe that WAB and other places will help immensely in that respect.

"...and that is why I humbly defer to you."

I suspect that anybody who'd immediately note their "been there and done that" experiences humbly defers to no man.

As to Afghanistan, I can't replicate your localized experiences. A hundred thousand or more of your peers can, though not perfectly. Some of their experiences relate to Helmand or Kandahar. Others up north near Kunduz and Mazur-I-Sharif. Bagram. Kabul. Some many more times than you.

I wonder if those would be the same as yours? Probably not, I suppose, but then if you've been to one small part of Afghanistan you've probably seen it all...and know it all.

For myself I can only rely on readings, discussions with some afghans I know elsewhere, observations from our soldiers like yourself, and an old friend who travelled with the mujahideen for about eighteen weeks over three trips during the Afghan-Soviet war.

Maybe over the exact same ground as you but viewed through decidedly different eyes.

For myself, I confess that the more I learn about this war, the less I know and the less certain I am about our purpose and direction.

This would appear definitive...for now. Of course, I wasn't there so...who really knows?

India Rules Out Deploying Troops To Afghanistan-Oct. 29, 2009

"Talking to reporters, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said that despite the enhanced military-to-military ties between India and the US, there was no possibility of deploying troops in the two countries.

'I do not foresee such a situation, not now or in the future. As far as we are concerned we are helping Afghanistan for humanitarian purpose and for reconstruction and rehabilitation.

I am telling you categorically that there is no question of using the military in Afghanistan or other parts,'"

Over a year ago, there were rumors of such at white house meetings between G.W. Bush and Manmohan Singh-

India Not Invited To Send Troops To Afghanistan: U.S. Commander-Thaindian News November 19, 2008

"Sources said the issue is believed to have briefly occurred raised during the meeting of US President George W Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House in last week of September. However, on all occasions, whenever such a request has come, India has out rightly rejected it, informed sources said."

Then there's this from August 4, 2003-

Gen. Myers Visit: Denies Wooing India For Troops To Iraq

"...He [Myers, CJCS] denied reports that there was a US proposal asking India to send its troops to Afghanistan so that some of the American troops there could in turn be freed for deployment in Iraq. He was reacting to a media report ahead of his arrival in New Delhi that having turned down the American request to send combat troops to Iraq without an explicit UN mandate, Gen. Myers would urge India to send its troops to Afghanistan. There are around 35 thousand US troops stationed in Afghanistan now to fight the last vestiges of the Taliban. It was calculated that if India could agree to the suggestion, some of these troops could be freed from combat duty there to provide relief to the embattled US soldiers in Iraq..."

Google is your friend...when you can't actually be there.