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| Afghanistan |
| Taliban Repeating Pattern of Zarqawi's Al Q in Iraq? |
| 2011-02-27 |
| I'd feel better about this if it was in something other than Newsweak. The Taliban has lost its swagger. Eighteen months ago they were stronger than ever in eastern Afghanistan and their home provinces in the south, and they were growing fast in the formerly secure north and west. But fighters on the front lines are far less cocky. The USMC can do that to you. They freely admit that defections, desertions, and battlefield losses are undermining their military effectiveness. Worse, the defectors have given valuable intelligence to the Americans. One of their biggest concerns is the lack of real leadership at the top. Opening for #3 - submit your application, hurry, hurry. The movement's founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has been unseen and silent since he fled Afghanistan in late 2001, and his right-hand man, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been held for the past year by Pakistani security forces. The two senior commanders who nominally run the war in the south now--Abdul Qayum Zakir and Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor--inspire little confidence in the ranks. Kidnappings, indiscriminate IED and suicide-bomb attacks, abuses of power, and outright banditry are alienating formerly sympathetic villagers. Cuz it worked so well for Zarqawi. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #2 Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been held for the past year by Pakistani security forces Probably over "contract issues". |
| Posted by: Pappy 2011-02-27 21:34 |
| #1 Fox News is coming at the same point from a different angle (Taliban Scrambles to Stem Bad Publicity After Civilian 'Massacres'), echoing an article in the Wall Street Journal that unfortunately is behind the subscription wall. From Fox: Taliban leadership is scrambling to stem the public-relations fallout from recent suicide attacks that killed dozens of Afghan civilians, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The insurgent movement has launched an internal investigation, and some commanders now blame an autonomous faction for the "massacres" of civilians. But they used to be able to blame all the killings on the infidels, and now they can't. They've poisoned their own well, just like Zarqawi did in Iraq. I suspect at least part of the reason for the Newsweek article is to prepare the ground for pulling out our troops as the president promised, but even so. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-02-27 20:27 |