Posted on 05/10/2006 4:41:52 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
ATTACKS by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan are on the rise and the rebels fighting US forces are increasingly using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and suicide bombings, US Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry said today.
Lt-Gen Eikenberry, a commanding general of US forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that the number of Taliban fighters also appears to have increased in recent months.
He spoke days after the US military on Monday recoved the bodies of 10 soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan during a major anti-Taliban operation.
"In southern Afghanistan, there have been increases in incidents of violence that occurred over the spring compared to last year's baseline," the army commander said.
"The enemy has changed its tactics over the past year. We've seen that the enemy has shifted to increasing use of improvised explosive devices. There's been an increase in suicide bombings," Lt-Gen Eikenberry said.
He said there appeared to be a rise in the number of Taliban fighters concentrated in "certain districts" in northern Kandahar, and in the Helmand and Oruzgan regions.
"It's not necessarily the strong enemy. It's the very weak institutions of the state that in that vacuum, in that weakness, then, you have Taliban influence able to move in there, and through coercion of the people, then, to assert that influence," Lt-Gen Eikenberry said.
Asked about the so-called "Talibanization" of the Pakistani region of Waziristan, on Afghanistan's pourous southern border, Lt-Gen Eikenberry said: "I'd refer that to Pakistan government authorities to give their assessment.
"But we've heard public statements that have expressed concern on their part about what they call the 'Talibanization' of the Waziristan area," he said.
Twenty five US soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, at least 13 of them in hostile action. Some 20,000 US troops are deployed in the country as part of an international force, vying to defeat Taliban forces in the east and south of the country.
if you can find them
Years ago they used airplanes to spray poison for fire ants, it didn't work to well. DDT would have been better. If we could use the same planes to spray those passes with a pig based oil or spray and let them know it the fighting would cease. I don't know if anyone remembers the Indian troops that were muslim, refusing to help the British fight, because of the bullets, they had used hog grease on the paper wrappings on the bullets, used back then.
I believe this increase was expected. they come out strong every spring.
What the hell do they do all winter????
Let's pull some "Daiseycutters" out of our inventory and give our pilots some practice...
Breed and teach each other the religion of hate?
Personally speaking, I prefer football!
I see this as a move forward, as their strenth gets sapped in Iraq, they have moved closer to base. Anybody want to bet OBL is less than 6 mos away? There is a noose tightening...
The Indians in question at the time were allies of the British. This time around you would see a general uprising and no support from the Afghans. The beauty of the Afghan operation was it's use of very few standing US troops. The presence of huge numbers of American troops would make us loo0k like the Russians Circa 1979. Rumsfeld was smart enough to know that and chose to rely heavily on Special Forces of all branches and simply let the Afgans retake Afghanistan. Spraying pig fat may make you feel good, but would really screw things up on the ground.
The sheep grow deep coats....
Withdraw, train, recruit, replenish, sort out logistics, re-arm.
Afghanistan is a big country. Mountains dominate the landscape lots of places for groups of armed men to hole up.
The Taliban will never be fully eradicated, but if/when the Afghanistan central goverment is strong enough to survive on its own, and the Afghanistan people have a vested interest in a stable Afghanistan then the Taliban will wither away.
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