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Slims · 07-18-2010, 07:57 PM

Roachboy:

I don't think the goal is a military defeat of the taliban, but rather to simply undermine their power base until they are no longer effective and thus irrelevant.

We are working at this in a number of different directions, but the key avenue is through the local Afghans by empowering them to resist the taliban and deny them sanctuary in their villages...which will drive them into the mountains (where we can fight) or into Pakistan.

The situation with Pakistan is changing, though it remains strange and confusing. We definitely have no love lost with PAKMIL along our section of the border (they have shot at us several times already) and PAKMIL typically at least 'allows' INS activity. We have had a whole host of instances where suicide attacks were filmed from a PAKMIL OP, rockets were launched at us from within easy view of PAKMIL, PAKMIL patrols were used to shield INS rocket teams (we won't mortar when PAKMIL is around), INS 'rocketeers' flee to PAKMIL OP's when we fire upon them, etc.

The wierdness is this: PAKMIL along the Waziristan/Afghanistan border is more or less composed of local militia who are pretty supportive of the Taliban. PAKARMY is not. There seems to be a lot of recent pressure being placed upon PAKMIL to at least give the 'appearance' of cleaning up their act. The solution: Give up the foreign/arab fighters when they attempt to conduct attacks.

PAKMIL still seems unwilling to take any action against the regular Taliban, but has been shooting at/allowing us to shoot at foreign fighters operating near the border. This is probably because the foreign fighters are causing at least as much trouble inside Pakistan as they are in Afghanistan.

It is nowhere near what you would expect from an ally, but it is a big change from the past. This is resulting in foreign fighters being forced to operate out of Afghanistan where we can target them. Additionally, the foreign fighters do not understand the local customs and because they have no family in the country are typically forced to 'tax' and compel the local population to support them which means the locals hate them.

It is pretty telling that in my part of Afghanistan most INS are now foreign fighters fighting as proxies rather than locals who are inspired to take up arms.

07-18-2010, 07:57 PM	#94 (permalink)
Slims Eccentric insomniac Location: North Carolina	Roachboy: I don't think the goal is a military defeat of the taliban, but rather to simply undermine their power base until they are no longer effective and thus irrelevant. We are working at this in a number of different directions, but the key avenue is through the local Afghans by empowering them to resist the taliban and deny them sanctuary in their villages...which will drive them into the mountains (where we can fight) or into Pakistan. The situation with Pakistan is changing, though it remains strange and confusing. We definitely have no love lost with PAKMIL along our section of the border (they have shot at us several times already) and PAKMIL typically at least 'allows' INS activity. We have had a whole host of instances where suicide attacks were filmed from a PAKMIL OP, rockets were launched at us from within easy view of PAKMIL, PAKMIL patrols were used to shield INS rocket teams (we won't mortar when PAKMIL is around), INS 'rocketeers' flee to PAKMIL OP's when we fire upon them, etc. The wierdness is this: PAKMIL along the Waziristan/Afghanistan border is more or less composed of local militia who are pretty supportive of the Taliban. PAKARMY is not. There seems to be a lot of recent pressure being placed upon PAKMIL to at least give the 'appearance' of cleaning up their act. The solution: Give up the foreign/arab fighters when they attempt to conduct attacks. PAKMIL still seems unwilling to take any action against the regular Taliban, but has been shooting at/allowing us to shoot at foreign fighters operating near the border. This is probably because the foreign fighters are causing at least as much trouble inside Pakistan as they are in Afghanistan. It is nowhere near what you would expect from an ally, but it is a big change from the past. This is resulting in foreign fighters being forced to operate out of Afghanistan where we can target them. Additionally, the foreign fighters do not understand the local customs and because they have no family in the country are typically forced to 'tax' and compel the local population to support them which means the locals hate them. It is pretty telling that in my part of Afghanistan most INS are now foreign fighters fighting as proxies rather than locals who are inspired to take up arms. __________________ "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence