Best as I can figure out the Canadians are relieving 173rd ABN BDE in south east Afghanistan, the British are supposed to be moving into Lashkar Gah and the Dutch are supposed to be moving into TK . The Americans will keep the Pak border.
Posted on 02/11/2006 4:44:41 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
The fragile North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has steeled itself to face its fate. It has volunteered to take over responsibility from U.S. Central Command the task of pacifying the Taliban’s south Afghanistan stronghold of Kandahar and its surrounding provinces. There is no doubt that some, perhaps many, European and Canadian soldiers will die in combat there in the months and years ahead. This warning comes from an anonymous source on the ground in Afghanistan (from the Financial Times):
"When Nato troops arrive [in the south] they will be facing much worse conditions than this time last year," said a western security source in Afghanistan. "Nato forces have very different operating styles from the US troops and this is something that the Taliban will be waiting to take advantage of."
The arrival of European and Canadian soldiers into smoldering Kandahar and its environs will set up a perfect opportunity for Islamists everywhere, not just the Taliban, to bruise and embarrass the thought-to-be weak European and Canadian troops. The Islamists will plan to play the leftist European and Canadian media like a merry fiddle, shock and demoralize their publics back home, and make their political classes squirm and then break. The Islamists’ goal will be to break whatever remains of Western unity once and for all and thus isolate the United States from any hope of support from the remains of the West.
The Islamic beneficiaries of such an outcome would range far beyond the Taliban in Kandahar. Breaking the will of European and Canadian politicians and citizens to confront problems in the Islamic world would boost the fortunes of Mr. Bashar Al-Assad, the Iranian mullahs, the Hamas gang in Palestine, Sunni diehards in Iraq, and the list goes on. This is why Kandahar may become the latest magnet for Islamist fighters, and the newest flashpoint between the West and Islam.
Some of the best of NATO soldiery, the British, the Dutch, and the Canadians, will lead the new campaign in south Afghanistan. An Islamic victory over these troops will therefore be even more crushing to the future relevancy of NATO. NATO may be coming to pacify south Afghanistan. But if the Islamists succeed in running up the body count, demoralizing Europe and Canada, and forcing CENTCOM to retake the area, it will be the Islamists that will have pacified NATO, turning it into nothing more than a European jobs program.
The Europeans and Canadians know all of these consequences and they have signed up for the duty anyway, when they could just as well have left Kandahar with the Americans. This decision has been in the works for over a year. All have known the stakes and have pushed ahead. The Dutch parliament in particular had a long, open, but contentious debate on the matter. In the end, Dutch parliamentarians from all sides of the political spectrum approved the deployment of 1400 soldiers to the upcoming British-led operation in the south.
The current agitation over the “Cartoon Wars” is the most recent and glaring example of Europe trying to steady itself in the face of Islamic jabs. But the Dutch, the British, and the Canadians made their decisions about going to Kandahar before the Cartoon War erupted. In this sense, perhaps the Europeans and Canadians have known for some time that they needed take a stand. In preparation for this test, NATO has toughed its rules of engagement in Afghanistan.
Kandahar may not end up as the Battle of Stalingrad, but for Islamists that wish to isolate the U.S. from the West, one can see why they would wish to make it so, at least as a metaphor. What is even more interesting is that Europe and Canada have signed up for this test of wills too, knowing in advance how costly their retreat would be.
The World Trade centre was hit on September 11 2001. On October 8, 2001, Canada deployed a 4 ship task force to the Persion Gulf to work with the US naval deployment. Since then, Canadian frigates and destroyers have been rotating into the Gulf.
In February 2002, Canada deployed light infantry and cavalry (3 Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry together with squadrons of Lord Strathcona Horse (Royal Canadian) to Kandahar to work with the 101st and other US units. You may recall the fratricice incident that took place at Tarnak Farm near Kandahar in September 2002. You may also recall that it was a Canadian sniper who set a record when he took out a Taliban at a distance of almost 2.5 klicks. Canada has been rotating infantry and cavalry to Afghanistan since then.
Canada was with you on the Afghanistan job effectively from the beginning, just as we were with you in the Kosovo job.
Our then Prime Minister refused to join you in the Iraq job, a decision withe which I disagree, and he was particularly offensive in the manner in which he declined. However, every nation has to make its own geopolicital decisions. That Liberal PM is no longer in charge, nor is his Liberal successor, and Canada now has a Conservative PN.
You might also note that your own military seems to have a different opinion than you on whether or not our infantry ha "eak - knees", judging by the fact that the US has been awarding Bronze Stars an Bronze Stars with V device to Canadian soldiers.
Could you put some more internet links into your posts? They really up your credibility.
I've spent my time in, but lets hear your answers. Ceding the ground to the Taliban appears to be your strategy. How exactly do you see that turning out? Or is there some other point you actually want to make?
Best as I can figure out the Canadians are relieving 173rd ABN BDE in south east Afghanistan, the British are supposed to be moving into Lashkar Gah and the Dutch are supposed to be moving into TK . The Americans will keep the Pak border.
I'm not going to run in the Special Olympics with you.
Apparently you're not going to run at all. When you have an idea, feel free to post. But let me guess, you're too smart and wise to engage in defending your positions, or in this case having a position. Or is it that you just know to much to be able to talk about it?
The Spartans were beaten. The Carthaginians were beaten. The Comanches were beaten. If there is a reason and a will, these tribesman will be beaten as well. We don't have to kill them, but a lot of that depends on them.
Agreed.
However without question their sphere of influence has been greatly reduced...and for all practically purposes the Taliban (as a notion of Gov't...or control) are nonexistent within the new Afghanistan. The reality is men such as Jalaluddin Haqqani & Gulbuddin Hekmatyar control / have much more influence then say Mullah Omar does anymore...and while both Haqqani and Hekmatyar have a semi-alliance to the routed Taliban of today....it is more for their own power base...then any commitment to the Taliban itself. In fact both men had conflict with the Taliban when they were in control.
Until now. And talk aside they don't want to face us because they've done so and died.
Hmmmm, this author is pretty doom an gloomy. As has already been pointed out on this thread, the Canadians and Brits have been in country since the kit-go. I don't think they and the Dutch would be walking up to the plate if they didn't have reason to believe they would succeed.....
We faced down Nazi Germany in England, France, Holland and Italy, we'll face down these losers and win. End of story. The Dutch may pull what they did to us in the Balkans and run off scared but we'll stand our ground and we will succeed. Afghan winters, give me a break, this writer evidently has never been to Edmonton in January.
Pretty hard to take some of these guys who sit with a nice colored political map and pontificate... "I'll have you know, my man, that I was the Phillips Andover undisputed champion at 'Risk' three years running."
I don't expect that the Canadians, Dutch et al will be thrown willy-nilly to the lions. Yes, there will be casualties, but there already have been and the NATO forces know what they're getting in to. they've already taken casualties, even when ISAF was confined to Kabul.
I expect the US will keep the remaining hot areas: Asadabad-Jalalabad-Khost-Gardez and the trouble that used to be in Kandahar but now is in Deh Rawood and that area (but that has to be somewhat pacified if they are going to give the Euros Tarin Kowt), and down on the border around Shkin and Lwara where they can touch off an RPG or IED and skedaddle home to Pakistan.
One thing that has amazed me throughout this war has been the sheer volume and gross inaccuracy of "expertise" being retailed by armchair strategists, wargame buffs, and George A. Custer wannabees (recruiting offices will be open at 8 AM tomorrow, kids).
As far as the Pushtuns are concerned, they are a fascinating and complex people (as are Tajiks and Uzbeks and Qizilbash and especially Hazaras). Like all tribal peoples, personal loyalties and strong leaders mean a lot more than ethnic affinity. Before anybody rags on Pushtuns, I should like to remind you that more than one American breathes life today because of Pushtun honour and the code of Pushtunwali. One of those was the only survivor of a SEAL patrol of four attacked last year; the one where the quick reaction force's helicopter was shot down. You all must have read the stories of how a villager took in and harboured the American.
Several of the key figures in the government (starting with the President) are Pashtun, and each reorganization seems to bring in a few more. Many of the most gifted officers in the Army (some of whom were mujahideen, and some who served the Soviets) are Pushtun (so are many of the best officers in Pakistan). A preponderance of Afghan-Americans are Pashtun, and let me tell you, sympathy for the Taliban and Hekmatayer in that group is vanishingly small.
By now, many people have been to Afghanistan, some have been back many times. You'll understand the Pushtun more by reading Kipling than by reading this guy's blog. My opinion, make of it what you will.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
A scrimmage in a Border Station--
A canter down some dark defile--
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail--
There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree,
But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee.
If I had raised my bridle-hand, as I have held it low,
The little jackals that flee so fast, were feasting all in a row:
If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high,
The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly.”
Guys from outfits like the Royal Highland Fusiliers and the Canadian Black Watch are going to go through muj pukes like a hot knife through butter.
Thanks for the correction.
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