Secret U.S. Program Releases High-level Insurgents In Exchange For Pledges Of Peace

The Washington Post:

KABUL — The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks.

Read the whole story: The Washington Post

Comments

[vascopyjama]

12:39 AM on 05/09/2012

Are we having fun yet?

[rtgmath]

01:08 PM on 05/07/2012

When this happens, the occupiers of the nation are in trouble.

Really, all that has to happen is for just about everyone to be insurgent, get caught but not killed, get locked up but have to be processed and housed and fed and guarded. This can only happen if you have a small enough segment of the population you are fighting. At some point the burden of caring for the insurgents just gets to be too much.

One must remember that to the mind of the Insurgents, we are the invader. They are trying to repel the invaders. They do not believe in the rightness of our cause, nor will they ever do so. Too many lives have been lost, too many people have been killed, too many innocents have suffered.

Had we gone in, wiped out what we could of al-quaeda and left, we would have been much better off. As it is, we are stretched to the limit, and we are committing ourselves to an unsustainable time there in the future.

We need to get out, now.

[nicothebaker]

12:18 PM on 05/07/2012

Is President Obama helping to fuel their offensive spring assault by releasing prisoners? He is way too into this Arab Spring thing for an American President.

[stlhawkeye1980]

12:10 PM on 05/07/2012

What could go wrong here?

[BacSi]

11:52 AM on 05/07/2012

What is it with trying something like this?

We had a model that worked. And my right wing friends and I agree on this. And we learned that lesson in Vietnam.

Kill them. Kill them all til they give up. That is the best way to handle things when you invade someones country.

It "only" cost us almost 59,0000 KIA in VN. And for those that did not fight that war or have kids fighting that war nearly 59,000 is not a bad price to pay for-----victory.

But then after lsoing nearly 59,0000 American KIA the NVA and the VC just gave up and went home.

Just as the Right understands the Taliban will do.

Its only the liberals and their sloppy give up thinking that does not see this clearly.

What worked so well in VN can work every bit as well in AStan.

History can and will repeat itself-----you just have to do the exact same thing over and over again.

[BacSi]

01:36 PM on 05/07/2012

59,000 not 59,0000

[Pappadave]

12:53 AM on 05/13/2012

Well, after the 68 Tet offensive, where the VC lost about 60% of their fighting force, won not a single engagement and never captured a square foot of ground, Uncle Ho was ready to give up and sue for peace. His advisors told him, "Just hold on a bit longer. Look what's happening back in the U.S. Students rioting and supporting the NVA, their 'news' organizations actually declaring Tet to be a 'victory' for our side. There'll soon be a revolution there and we'll have a 'friendly' government with which to negotiate." As a consequence, the war went on for another 6 years!

[IntelligentDesign]

11:51 AM on 05/07/2012

Knowing that Republicans want our president to fail taints their every word and action.

[Pappadave]

12:55 AM on 05/13/2012

They CERTAINLY want him to fail in his plans for "transforming" this country into what he apparently wants...a socialist "utopia." So does EVERY decent American, for that matter, Republican or not.

[April22]

11:33 AM on 05/07/2012

In the days following the 9/11 attacks, the US issued an ultimatum to the Taliban.

The Taliban did not offer to meet American demands, but they did propose talks, in an attempt to avoid military conflict.

On the 7th of October, the US-led coalition forces began a massive aerial bombardment of key Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan, justified as "collective self-defense," under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, also know as "Operation Enduring Freedom."

Almost 11 years later and US military bases and the energy war continue to play out in Afghanistan, while US energy industires, corporations, military contractors and a global banking/financial elite profit!

Think about it, is the US government spending $10 billion a month to quell insurgents alone?

What exactly is the endgame for the trillions of dollars the US has squandered, taken from the well being of average Americans and ultimately destroyed that carefully constructed myth of the American dream?

[Pappadave]

12:59 AM on 05/13/2012

What the heck are you talking about? WHAT "energy war"??? Are you REALLY that stupid? Afghanistan has no "energy" to speak of to be fighting over. For that matter, where's all that oil we were supposed to be getting out of Iraq because the war in Iraq was always "Bush's war for oil." You folks are amazingly dense.

[akdennis]

11:27 AM on 05/07/2012

The jihadi above looks like he's thinking, "What? You infidel Americans no like my cool new hookah? I kill you! Right after I burn a bowl of kief."

[RefreshingTaste]

11:25 AM on 05/07/2012

Pull our Men and Women out now, if this Administration is going to miss handle this War so poorly, absolutely unbelievable!

[BacSi]

01:39 PM on 05/07/2012

So you are a fan of the Bush-Cheney approach?

[ajax2]

11:22 AM on 05/07/2012

U.S. Swapping Captured Insurgents For Peace Pledges

That's worked for Israel in their endless wars.

[mrswarloch]

11:22 AM on 05/07/2012

I wonder how many minutes it takes each one of those "insurgents" to pick up another gun and start killing U.S. military personnel after they lie and are released by Obama's orders? 10? 20? It is mind boggling that some miltary personnel actually vote for Obama.

[wowme]

11:22 AM on 05/07/2012

I thought we never negotiate with terrorists

[erehwon2]

11:12 AM on 05/07/2012

"They must promise to give up violence — and U.S. officials warn them that if they are caught attacking American troops, they will be detained once again."

Oh, yeah. That'll make them keep their promise. "We catch you again and we'll feed you, give you a place to rest a while, then release you again to do as you will."

What idiots thought of this program?

[Billy Jack]

11:10 AM on 05/07/2012

I dont care anymore

[gangaman]

11:02 AM on 05/07/2012

Why are we letting captured insurgents live?!