600 Taliban killed in two weeks, versus fewer than two dozen Afghan civilians and troops killed...yet the news media goes into "Sky is falling" hysterics as if the Taliban was/were winning by setting off 1 bomb a month.
Sheesh...
Posted on 06/26/2006 7:40:09 PM PDT by blam
The real problem is the crackdown on the opium trade which is putting the drug runners' money on the side of the Taleban. We should just buy the opium at the market price; or, preferably push the price higher than what the market will bear so as little opium as possible reaches outside Afghanistan-- it's cheaper than warfare, or paying the social and medical costs of cheap heroin in the developed world and spreads a lot of cash around Arghanistan.
This is not entirely surprising. Afghanistan has been corrupt, tribal, and unruleable for the entire course of known history. I'm not sure what the solution is, if there is any, but pouring in money certainly won't help.
The Taliban assassinated the one man who might have had the stature to deal with this situation before the invasion.
600 Taliban killed in two weeks, versus fewer than two dozen Afghan civilians and troops killed...yet the news media goes into "Sky is falling" hysterics as if the Taliban was/were winning by setting off 1 bomb a month.
Sheesh...
There's a solution alright... More manpower, which would mean fewer casualties and greater security. But the political will from the rest of the world just isn't there. And yeah, alot of that is because of the hysterical media Southack is talking about.
Buy it and destroy it, for the reasons you mentioned. Seems like a win win all the way around to me.
how many of those 600 have been TALIBAN FIGHTERS.....duh!
The list of commonalities between liberals and Muslims just keeps growing.
Sounds just like the NY Times. Mischaracterizing the situation, on purpose. The dead he is referring to have been the dead taliban from a new offensive in the south.
Get a clue you worthless limey pantywaists.
The 800 pound gorilla everyone has to pretend not to notice: IT'S STILL A MUSLIM COUNTRY.
FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY ARE ANTI-ISLAMIC CONCEPTS.
NO Islamic country will EVER be successful except in the eyes of the religious leaders who are getting their every whim met at whatever cost to every other member of the society is required.
I'm afraid you're right about the 800 lb. gorilla. The whole religion is a curse to this planet. I don't think we should, however, let the Taliban take over again. It's still a good place to kill the enemy Islamicist bastards. There will be war for years and years it seems. Afganistan is pretty much intractable place to tame, but I think Iraq is considerably more hopeful.
IMO if you buy it this year you will buy it next year.
There's always gonna be a market for this crap.
We should just skip the middle man and simply burn our money in the privacy of our own homes.
Keep buying it until the market and the distribution apparatus is destroyed. Even if it takes a few years, it's still cheaper and easier than dealing with the problems otherwise.Once the market and distribution is gone, tell the grower the deal is finished.
I think that the British press (including the conservative press) is just very anti-American and wants us to lose in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Considering that we just sent two thousand terrorists to "paradise," I don't think that the Taliban are going to be marching on Kabul any time soon.
As for leadership in Afghanistan, I don't think that Massoud would have been any more effective considering that he was a Tajik (strike against him right away).
How much do you want to buy? Oh, I get it. Do you just want the stuff destined for North America or all of it?
Nation building is expensive.
Don't hold your breath.
I'd prefer we pay some Afganis to grow opium, wheat, fruits, nuts; wool, mutton, sheepskins, lambskins" ect.
But there's no sane reason for the US to buy up the available crop of opium worldwide until the market doesn't exist. That's total nonsense.
Turkey is also an Islamic country and has been a functioning democracy since the nineteen-twenties if I am correct. It will be a very tough task, but not impossible. The alternative is the return of the Taliban. In short there is no alternative.
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