Asim Aquil

Yeah they're all violent. Northern Alliance warlords were notorious for looting, plundering going beserk with the AK and worst of all raping women like anything.

You do realize that whatever vice you can find for the Taliban, the Northern Alliance did it worse. Personally I think they NEED you guys. But you guys are just using them for your own good, that is to catch Bin Laden, set up an energy route through Afghanistan from Central Asia to Pak, etc. You're trying it with the Northern Alliance we did it with the Taliban. You guys have conquered them while we didn't.

Thats about all the difference. However you're not getting it. The Key to Afghanistan is through it's Pashtun population (66% of its population?). The Hazaras who are more friendly to you guys HATE the Pashtun. Are you really going to tip the balance in the Hazara's favor and leave?

You need to change their culture too. Personally the Hazaras and the Pashtuns both are nuts. They hate each other, and think the other is an inferior race. Then they pride in the fact and take this line literally, word for word "When our people are pissed off our minds go beserk and then we destroy everything". This is the most Proud thing they have about their culture. That how insanely mad they can get.

There was once a plan to divide up Afghanistan between all its neighboring countries and all of them were like "Thanks but no thanks".

I know this reply really isn't related to the discussion but I had a slight feeling you haven't got the exact idea about the type of people they are. No generalization, no stereotype. This is what they yearn for and won't deny it even.

troung

And the Taliban needed Pakistani support. Money, arms, training, manpower and advisors were all sent to prop up the Taliban.

And what happened the second time the Taliban entered Mazar-e Sharif?

Women carted off as sex slaves for the pious religous students, is a start.

So the Taliban are better?

__________________
To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

Asim Aquil

Better than Northern Alliance.

Asim Aquil

Better than Northern Alliance.

troung

For pakistan...

Officer of Engineers

In case you have not noticed, NATO has swung away from the NA and is now backing and building the ANA as the primary strategy. We're betting on the ANA.

__________________
Chimo

Asim Aquil

As I said name any vice, and the Northern Alliance has done much worse.

troung

More British special forces set for Afghan battle

Michael Smith and Christina Lamb

THE Special Boat Service (SBS) is to form a new squadron to help it to cope with the demands of intensive action in Afghanistan.
SBS troops are in the front line of a battle to stop hundreds of Taliban fighters crossing Pakistan’s border into Afghanistan. “They are very, very busy, going out, taking the Taliban on head-to-head,” said one source.

Only two of the four squadrons of the SBS — the navy’s equivalent of the SAS — are designated for land warfare. These will alternate constantly in Afghanistan until the new squadron is formed next year.

The plan to expand the SBS comes amid concern that other British troops operating in the southern province of Helmand may have too few infantry to deal with a resurgence of the Taliban, whose regime was ousted in 2001.

Former defence chiefs who were briefed on the deployment last month were shocked at the low number of “boots on the ground”.

“I have real, sincere concerns,” one said. “We’re involved in an unpopular war (in Iraq). I wonder whether we haven’t now accepted a mission impossible in Afghanistan.”

The 3,300-strong British force deployed to Helmand — an area twice the size of Wales — includes 600 infantry from 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, and 150 Gurkhas. Early plans provided for 2,000 infantry.

Lieutenant-General David Richards, commander of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, conceded last week that the number “looks horrendous” but emphasised that two-thirds of Helmand was desert.

He added: “Every general would like more troops because then I could do things quicker. But I will just have to construct a campaign that reflects what we’ve got.”

Privately, former defence chiefs have expressed concern over peacekeeping rules of engagement that prevent troops opening fire unless they are sure that they are under threat — and over a lack of clarity about the mission’s purpose.

When John Reid, the former defence secretary, announced the deployment, he said that it would not conduct counter-terrorism operations. But the British are taking a full part in Operation Mountain Thrust, launched last week, which is intended to drive the Taliban out of southern Afghanistan. Afghan and coalition troops yesterday killed about 45 suspected insurgents during attacks on Taliban camps there.

Liam Fox, the Conservative defence spokesman, said:

“Our biggest worry is that there is not sufficient flexibility to maximise the success of the mission and minimise the risk to our troops.”

Richards warned that the international community had to work more closely together to satisfy basic needs or risk failure. “People don’t have water or sewerage and a quarter of children die by the age of five, yet we have been focusing money on things like civil service reform and gender rights,” he said. “This is a just conflict and we can’t afford to fail.”

Michael Sheeran

I feel the GB government are selling our lads short out there in Afghanistan. A company of Fusiliers and two platoons of Royal Irish, still doesn't seem enough to me. I know that British forces are stretched all over the world but a battalion would have been better to relieve some of the pressure on 3 Para. I hope they are not doing this on the cheap as more of our lads will die.