We don't know how to finish wars anymore. And this one needs to be significantly expanded in the Middle East if we want lasting peace in that region, IMO.
We meet again...
You put up some great threads.
The British soldiers don't like being fired on, I take it...yikes, no one wants to FIGHT wars anymore, do they??
This is alarming...wonder if it is any more "real" than the AP article about Frist??
The Taliban reached an agreement? And on what basis shall they be trusted?
The only thing that should ever be agreed upon regarding the Taliban is that we kill them in huge numbers on a daily basis. Death and violence are the only languages they speak and they are the only languages they understand.
I do not think there is a word that means the same thing as our word "truce" in Islam.
I do not think there is a word that means the same thing as our word "truce" in Islam.
So what's new? ...Montgomery, Roosevelt,...
I thought that was the idea - get the enemy to come out in the open and then apply copious amounts of firepower to them. Sure beats having to go out in the sticks looking for them.
Tony Blair put a high value on the Special Relationship with the US. It's not clear that his successor will do so. And if not for the importance of working with the US as reliable allies, why should the UK and Australia put more into Afghanistan than countries that are a lot closer to the action?
Get ready for it. We're going to 'appease' them just as OBL intended. The day is coming when American troops quit propping up favored Middle Eastern dictators (kings, what-have-you). This is precisely what OBL sought when he knocked down the Towers. A war in the Middle East that Americans would get tired of and eventually withdraw. The idea of civilizing the ME at the barrel of gun is going to die a hard death, counted in American lives.
LOL--and the brits believed the lying scum of the earth?
Damn, they've gone all wobbly. Looks like the spirit of Lady Thatcher has been replaced with the spirit of Lady Elton John.
There was a story about a month ago that the Brits had expended their ammo allowance for the year.
Whassat?
British troops in secret truce with the Taliban.
I believe that there is a saying. Those who ignore the mistakes made in history, are doomed to repeat them. It was in 1844, when the government established by the British in Afghanistan, came under siege. This by sporadic cowardly attacks.
The British paid Afghan chieftans gold, to allow "The Army of the Indus" safe passage across the mountain passes. 7,000 troops and about 12,000 civilians departed toward India. History records the treachery of a terrible massacre.
Legend is that only a Dr Brydon survived. The huge bonfires lit at Jalalabad, to guide the survivors, guided only Brydon.
Lord Roberts made the Afghans pay a terrible price many years later. Too late.
I pray for some way to win this time.
I did some hasty back checking. The disaster was actually 1842. I accessed Dr Brydon, via Google.Up came >The Indian Express. I am indebted to them for this information. It is to the effect that Ayman Al Zawahri, second in command of the Al Quaeda,has issued a statement to the British people.
Dr Brydon will not return to India.
It was from Kabul to Kandahar that one of the greatest counter marches in British military history took place. The Army, under Lord Roberts had left a 1000 men to garrison Kandahar. The Afghans appeared suddenly, thousands of the blighters. The Army marched back and saved 75% of the garrison.
I believe in 1883 this took place.
There has to be some way of beating them. It was done before.
it is already here...historically the British are tremendous appeasrers. During ww2 they never wanted to take on Germany directly but to attack on the edges