David Rohde: Held By The Taliban, Part I

nytimes.com:

THE car's engine roared as the gunman punched the accelerator and we crossed into the open Afghan desert. I was seated in the back between two Afghan colleagues who were accompanying me on a reporting trip when armed men surrounded our car and took us hostage.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[Lori Bowles]

I really hope the intel that this guy has is listened to. Being in the middle of something like that would give perspective beyond the arm chair generals that we have now.

[CitadelYankee]

Bottom Line: Defend Afghanistan's frontier, assist with internal security and make every effort to work with the Afghans and the United Nations to construct a Constitutional Monarchy. Jeffersonian Democracy is not feasible but a Constitutional Monarchy is. Afghanistan's history demonstrates that a Constitutional Monarchy is the only feasible Western alternative to an Islamic Caliphate. If the West leaves Afghanistan abruptly then it leaves a power vacuum and all the moderate Afghans will be repressed or massacred. Afghanistan is a necessary war because, in the big picture, this is a clash between extremist Islam and the West. The invasion of Afghanistan was a just war. Make no mistake the Western world is invested in this and has an opportunity to repair the 30 year rape of Afghanistan and demonstrate the value of the nation-state system. The wise use of military power (guarding the border) to attain a feasible political solution (constitutional monarchy) is a sound strategy and based on Von Clausewitz's thesis On War. Escalation and the occupation of population centers is costly and unwise use of our military power. Let's be smart about this and help Afghanistan with the right force mix and a political solution - that is the "exit strategy."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/percy-blakeney/hold-the-line-in-afghanis_b_321156.html