troung

Special forces to strike at Taliban

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...261993,00.html

MORE than 200 SAS and SBS troops are being flown to Afghanistan this weekend to mount a search and destroy operation against the Taliban, writes Michael Smith.
The reinforcements will double the number of British special forces on the ground and commanders hope that they will be able to deal the Taliban a crippling blow.

Senior defence sources said: “We need to break the back of this offensive now in one fell swoop.”

Des Browne, the defence secretary, is expected to tell MPs tomorrow that at least one additional battle group of about 700 infantry soldiers, extra transport helicopters and more ground attack aircraft are also being sent.

The move is in response to intelligence indicating that fighting in which six British soldiers have died may be the prelude to a much larger Taliban offensive.

The only frontline British soldiers on the ground in Helmand are one infantry battalion and a company of Gurkhas. The rest of the 3,300-strong British taskforce is made up of support troops.

Dozens of comrades of Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, 24, the British soldier killed in Afghanistan, joined his family and friends yesterday to say farewell to a “hero of Islam”. At least 400 people attended the funeral at the Central Jamia Mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...262221,00.html

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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

200 only?

Too little, almost too late?

I hope its not only cosmetic to appease the British public.

PS. Afghanistan's closer to SA than the middle east. It should really be termed as Central Asia.

Officer of Engineers

Have you read the clashes lately? It's mostly company and platoon level. Less than 200 Afghan fighters.

Those 200 SAS and SBS would be operating in small units (I'm not going say how big) but to suffice to say that each one of them is being backed by several tons of HE. It may be 1s or 2s against 200 but those 1s or 2s will be raining steel on those 200.

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Chimo

Asim Aquil

Rewind back to 2002, the coalition forces were supposed to do the same. You should bring at least about 50,000 people and amass them on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

You need continued peace. So what if the 200 SAS kick butt. The Taliban will just stop fighting and they just all look like the local guys and even the local guys carry those same guns to blast bullets in the air during marriage ceremonies. You need to take over the country, another 50,000. Fortify each and every city.

This is just cosmetic.

Officer of Engineers

As of this moment, there is a confirmed 1000 dead Taliban since NATO took over. Considering that they're launching strikes with men in the range of 30-100, this means that their active strength is less than 3000.

Make no mistake here. We are going to kill their summer offensive. We're going to wipe out their current bases of operations. We're driving them away. We're killing them. There is no way the Taliban is going to recover from this. None.

This ain't comestic.

We may not win in Afghanistan and more than likely, when we leave, some other group is going to reverse all the changes we've done but it will not be the Taliban.

Tronic

hehe... blast the mothaf@*#!s

ok... with thinking like that.. you may aswell leave Afghanistan now... if thats the future you see for Afghanistan then whats the point of fighting except bringing misery on the Afghan people... just pack up and leave...

the whole point is to make the Afghans strong politically, economically and militarily so that they never ever get rapped by their neighbours again...

oh yes... one more thing I'd like to add... if NATO fails in Afghanistan, then they will fail everywhere... shows their short-lasting commitment to a certain cause... seriously... if NATO leaves Afghanistan hanging midway, then they will be classified as the biggest group of loosers... sorry no offense intended... but when you make a commitment to fight terrorism, then you fight all the way... not just leave or say.. awell when we leave, they'll get raped again...

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-Touch The Sky With Glory

Officer of Engineers

NATO cannot win in Afghanistan. We don't have the numbers. The best we can do is to tip the balance in favour of the ANA and while that is going on extremely well right now, recent Karzi statements leaves alot of doubt whether Kabul is actually committed to seeing this through.

If the Afghan robes in Kabul don't have the nerve to see this through, there's nothing NATO can do.

The Afghans need an inspirational leader and Karzi ain't him.

We have identified the enemy and we're going to kill him. But we cannot make friends when people are determined to hate.

Asim Aquil

They'll just not fight till you're gone. Their supply line is a whole ethnic group of Pashtun Afghanis.

Of course if you can get their leaders, thats a different thing. Get their bases? Hmmm they just proabbly need a vacant lot to start those up again.

As I said, its cosmetic. They want to give the illusion that they DID something out here back home.

I mean if the plan is NOT to make a country out of Afghanistan why even take it out on the Taliban? It's the least violent of those groups. It developed laws and managed to enforce them throughout 95% of Afghanistan. They were messed up as per our standards but probably something better than what Karzai would do when the forces have left.

Ah yes they supported AQ. Whoever takes over Afghanistan next, Bin Laden would pay them a couple million and get their favors too.

Ray

Colonel,

One of the biggest problems to combat organised terrorism is that they hit and run and go back to the sanctuaries in neighbouring countries, where they get the necessary protection as also training and reorganising space.

Until the US and its allies gets serious about tackling this menace by destroying the sanctuaries as also ensure that the host nation of the terrorists are threatened about their existence, there will be no outcome.

It is interesting to learn that the Taliban governed 95% of the country from Asim.

Does one get news out of totalitarian countries and the Taliban were worse than Communists being the scum of human existence who are but medieval coots out of the dinosaur age and philosophy.

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"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

lemontree

You are not aware of the employment and capabilities of the SOF units.

Afghanistan may not roll back to its 90's era condition, as much as the ISI/ PA may desire, since there is far too much stake for the US/ UK combine and India would not like to loose the renewed diplomatic leverage painstakingly gained over the years.

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Cheers!...on the rocks!!

Tronic

the point I was getting to...

platinum786

I don't see it working, you can deploy allt he people you like, all it will do is serve up more hate for you, hate whichshouldn't nessacerily be targetted towards you. Russia fortified Chechnya for years, what was thee nd result,t he problem still remains, as large as ever.

Pushtoons form half of the afghan population, there are about th same amount of them across the border in Pakistan, these people live in a tribal society even today, a society you cannot imagine, loyalties you cannot break. You can't put the wort people in charge (Karzai and co) and expect things to happen. You will need to engage the Pushtoon, allow them thier fair slice of power, do things how afghans want and only then can you work with them to eliminate your real problem, the terrorists.

Ray

Thats exactly what the US is trying and Paksitan is undoing!

Officer of Engineers

More than likely, Sir, but I do not think it will be the Taliban. It will be some other group. The Taliban is committing the same mistake the Viet-Cong made during Tet. They're coming out to fight.

There's nothing Karzai would like to see more than a war between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

You're missing the point here. They are fighting and they're dying. And even the Pashtuns ain't stupid enough to bet on a losing horse each and everytime. They will replace the Taliban with another group.

troung

Least voilent of the factions?

And "enforcing laws" in 95% of the country?

Nope. Pashtuns weren't shooting at the Taliban for no reason. The Taliban drew support from the Durranis and the other Pasthun groups got a feeling of being cannon fodder which sparked revolts. The Taliban increasingly had a hard time finding Afghanis to fight.

Better put their supply line is Pakistan.

Please tell us next how they wiped out opuim production...