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| Afghanistan |
| Afghanistan: Taliban 'de facto' power in many provinces, says report |
| 2008-12-09 |
| (AKI) - The Taliban has strengthened its reach in Afghanistan and become the 'de facto' governing power in several provinces, an international think-tank said on Monday. The International Council on Security and Development said that the Taliban now holds a permanent presence in 72 percent of Afghanistan, up from 54 per cent a year ago. According to a report released by ICOS in London, Taliban forces have advanced from their southern stronghold, where they are now the "de facto governing power" to western and north-western provinces, as well as provinces north of Kabul. The report said the Taliban's permanent presence in the country had increased by a startling 18 percent. "The Taliban are now controlling the political and military dynamic in Afghanistan," said Norine MacDonald, President and lead field researcher of ICOS. "Despite increasingly dire levels of security in Afghanistan in recent months, there has been surprisingly little change in response from the international community," MacDonald said. "The insurgency continues to turn NATO's weaknesses into its own strengths." The ICOS report documented the advance of the Taliban on Kabul, where it claimed three out of the four main highways into the capital were now compromised by Taliban activity. The capital has plummeted to minimum levels of control, with the Taliban and other criminal elements infiltrating the city at will, the report said. "The Taliban are closing a noose around Kabul, and there is a real danger that the Taliban will simply overrun Afghanistan under the noses of NATO," said Paul Burton, director of policy for ICOS. Through its research, ICOS revealed the Taliban's presence across the country using a combination of publicly recorded attacks and local perceptions of Taliban presence. ICOS' research model defines one or more insurgent attacks per week in an Afghan province as a "permanent Taliban presence". "The current global security architecture is ill-equipped to deal with the problems that beset Afghanistan," said MacDonald. "Quite simply, the current rulebook on how the international community approaches these crises needs to be rewritten if we are to succeed in Afghanistan and in other conflict zones such as Iraq and Somalia." ICOS said military intervention must be supported by job creation and development, as well as effective counter-narcotics policies, literacy, a free and open media. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 ION UK > SPECTRE OF CIVIL WAR STALKS DIVIDED THAILAND. * Also, WORLD MIL FORUM > RAND OFFICIAL: IFF NORTH KOREA COLLAPSES AFTER DEATH OF KIM JONG-IL, SOUTH KOREAN MIL FORCES COULD BE STATIONED ALONG THE DMZ BORDER TO HANDLE EXPECTED MASSIVE REFUGEE FLOWS, WHILE CHINESE PLA UNITS CAN TAKE CONTROL OF YONGYBON NUCLEAR FACILITY. OFFICIAL/RAND > China must ensure that any post-Kim regime is NOT ANTI-CHINESE, + NOKOR's MISSLES ARE POINTED NORTH AND WEST INTO CHINA, NOT JUST SOUTH AGZ SOUTH KOREA OR US-JAPAN. * WORLD MIL FORUM > JAPAN CONTINUES TO PROTEST INCURSION OF CHINESE PLAN SURVEY SHIPS INTO DISPUTED DAOYU ISLANDS; + CHINA WARNS JAPAN THAT IT HAS SOVEREIGN RIGHT TO SEND CHINESE SHIPS, OTHER INTO ANY CHINESE TERRITORY [disputed or not]. * IRNA > VICE PRESIDENT: ZIONISM'S ANNIHILATION SHOULD TURN INTO A GLOBAL CAUSE. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-12-09 23:35 |
| #9 ION WAFF > MILITANTS WITHDRAW THREAT TO BEHEAD 300 ABDUCTED SOLDIERS. Baitullah Mehsud was threatening to kill five a day and send their parts over to the Pak Army. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-12-09 23:23 |
| #8 #6 Hi Interesting site name - # hostname, How did you get such a pretty domain name? Posted by: Feellafal 2008-12-09 17:50 Fred the owner of this site wanted Dirka Dirka Mohammad Jihad but it was too long *wink* |
| Posted by: Angineger Jones8542 2008-12-09 18:00 |
| #7 Is was made of recylered alogorthyems. Ima hope you stay around. Do ye have a sister? |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-12-09 17:54 |
| #6 Hi Interesting site name - # hostname, How did you get such a pretty domain name? |
| Posted by: Feellafal 2008-12-09 17:50 |
| #5 Meanwhile in Hopey Changey Ville: Chicago Sun-Times pointed out on Friday that Chicago has seen 426 homicides this year through Tuesday (late Oct 2008), compared with 417 in New York and 302 in Los Angeles. There are more than 8 million people in New York, compared to slightly under 3 million in Chicago. The population of Los Angeles exceeds that of Chicago by more than 800,000. How about invading and pacifying Chicago, President Rope-a-Hope? |
| Posted by: ed 2008-12-09 14:07 |
| #4 Right. Taliban power! Back in the real world: Battlefield Losses Plummet Last month, eleven U.S. military personnel died in combat (one in Afghanistan and ten in Iraq.) This is the lowest monthly deaths since before the Iraq invasion. It's the lowest death rate for Afghanistan since July 2002 (when there were no deaths.) For 2008, the monthly death toll (from combat) has averaged about 24. Since 2001, about a thousand foreign troops have died in Afghanistan, about a third of them from non-combat causes (usually vehicle accidents). The sharp drop in NATO and U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan is attributed to the successful campaign against Taliban leadership. ... |
| Posted by: ed 2008-12-09 13:55 |
| #3 Leave 'em to their own devices. That should be punishment enough. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-12-09 13:48 |
| #2 I believe this has been tried several times: Alexander, the Brits, and the Russians. |
| Posted by: bman 2008-12-09 12:03 |
| #1 Friendlies get US troops to protect them and US funds to build. Then simply demolish any Talib controlled areas with artillery. Burn the crops, kill the livestock, destroy the buildings. Side with the enemy and you DIE should be the message. We've tried it our way, the nice way. They have set the rules, let play by them. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-12-09 02:25 |