Report Warns That Taliban Is Gaining Control Of Afghanistan

London Guardian:

The Taliban has a permanent presence in 54% of Afghanistan and the country is in serious danger of falling into Taliban hands, according to a report by an independent thinktank with long experience in the area.

Despite tens of thousands of Nato-led troops and billions of dollars in aid poured into the country, the insurgents, driven out by the American invasion in 2001, now control "vast swaths of unchallenged territory, including rural areas, some district centres, and important road arteries", the Senlis Council says in a report released yesterday.

Read the whole story: London Guardian

Comments

[mydogshakespeare]

In the future, Afghanistan and Iraq will be considered two of Bush's "Great Accomplishments" by the great-grandchildren of Osama bin Laden.

[cj ett]

Yea!!! We're losing!!!

New talking points for Harry.

[maxfusion]

OOOOOO, OOOOOOOh, the Sensis Council said it, it must be true. Now, they don't have an agenda, now do they?. Whaaaa, OOOOOOO, OOOOOOOO.

Once again, you moral reprobates, to focus on emotional loses, whilst ignoring dispassionate gains, is an intellectually bankrupt position.

Now sprinkle that turkey with an ample amount of your anti-depressant du jour, and have a lovely Thanksgiving. Did you know that most liberal women are anti-depressant addicts, and most liberals are obsessed with Hollywood, and homosexuals.

[Nyland8]

A short excerpt from a screed I posted here about 13-14 months ago. We all knew it then, we all knew it before then and we all still know it now.

______________________________________

"The news from Iraq eclipses it quite regularly, so American’s tend not to be quite so informed about how big a FAILURE our occupation of Afghanistan is. The resurgence of the Taliban, the draconian human rights laws, the oppression of women, the record increases in opium production, the re-empowerment of warlords, one failure after another, because we didn’t put enough troops, enough effort, enough money or enough planning into Afghanistan. Just a few weeks ago Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice called upon the international community to put more troops into Afghanistan lest it become, in her own words, “ a FAILED STATE ” !!! How can those words even come out of her mouth without provoking breathtaking, even crippling embarrassment? The reason Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming a “failed state” is because BUSH FAILED to put enough troops there five years ago – because the forces we needed to catch bin Laden and stabilize Afghanistan we instead put into our FAILED occupation of Iraq!

So stop spinning the news. Stop talking about the “prospects for success” in Iraq. Stop alluding to accomplishing milestones in reconstruction that should have happened years ago. It is too late for success. Those who’ve already lost their loved ones, those who’ve already needlessly suffered, and continue to suffer to this day, know it has been and still is a consummate failure … and they aren’t going to forget. Those taxpayers who’ll be paying for it long after you’re dead will know … and they, too, will never forget. The cat is out of the bag. Our adventure in Iraq has been a FAILURE. The commander in chief is a FAILURE. The Secretary of War is a FAILURE. Those who’ve voted them into office – twice – are the supporters and enablers of FAILURE."

Some things never change ... because some people never learn.

8

.

[Blutus]

Lets call Dopey's bluff.

So, we have won in Iraq.
Because the surge worked.

When do we leave?

Lets have a parade for Dopey.

When do we leave Iraq, now that we have won?

[Blutus]

Apparently the London Guardian
has been subsumed by the

Liberal Press Conspiracy.

I am sure there is wonderful type
Thanksgiving news from Afghanistan,
like what the troops are eating,
the quality of the opium crop, etc.

[hglindquist]

But hey, folks, the surge is working in Baghdad.

Well ... it is ... isn't it?

C'mon ... stop being such whiners ... there even was a picture of a wedding there on the front page of the ... was it the NY Times? ... just the other day.

That's something ... I mean ...

[newunderground]

Heckuva job Bushie. Losing 2 wars, simutaneously, while driving the dollar into the gutter. Quite an acheivement. You've played right into Bin Laden's plans. He couldn't take us on directly, We're goin down Like the Soviet Empire, except we don't have the oil to bring us back.

[WARisEVIL]

سکوت جایز نیست تحریم کافی نیست

[Tator]

Poor ole Liberals. Now that Iraq has turned completely around and you did not get your wish of an American defeat you now have to go looking for news somewhere else to make America look bad. Poor things, always trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of Victory.

Hate to break it to you, Americans are winners, in spite of your constant attempts of SURRENDERING!

[mamacat]

When we had Tora Bora surrounded, we should have sent in enough troops to stop Al Qaeda and Osama, and then we should have withdrawn our troops. Instead, the GOP White House let them escape. Heckuva job dubya.

Our beef is with Osama, not the Taliban. As despicable as Saddam and the Taliban were/are, its none of our business, unless they decided to attack us. Since neither Saddam nor the Taliban attacked us, its a waste of resources to attack them and then try to dictate how the people there live their lives. Obviously a signifigant portion of the Afghanis think that the Taliban are better than us. Beyond giving some air-support aid to the northern Afghanis, our military presence in the rest of the country, as in Iraq, is counter-productive.
If the people living there do not want to fight to keep out the Taliban, then its not our job to do it for them.

[factanonverba]

But "we're winning in Baghdad." Please, everywhere you look this Administration has made a debacle. Pakistan's Northwest Frontier and the Tribal Areas is in outright rebellion, Afghanistan which was winnable until they decide to wage war from 30,000 feet and bomb indiscriminately is now on teetering and Iraq is now effectively a three state state. And Saudi Arabia continues to finance religious schools that preach jihad. This is going to get much worse before it gets any better.

[Jonahson]

How much more money to be wasted on this war?
How many more troops will die?
How long more will US need to stay?
How many more people must die?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.
The answer is blowing in the wind.

[watchingthings]

Looks like they control 54% of Afganistan already. They are planning a huge assault on Kabul sometime in the near future. Why can't we learn? We cannot force democracy on another country. Russia tried to force communism on them....that escapade only bankrupted the USSR.

[Smirk]

Afganistan today, Iraq tomorrow. Hechuva job, Dubya.