Posted on 02/25/2010 4:58:04 AM PST by nuconvert
The Afghan government took official control of the southern Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday, installing an administrator and raising the national flag while U.S.-led troops rooted out final pockets of militants.
The ceremony occurred in a central market as U.S. Marines and Afghan troops slogged through bomb-laden fields in northern parts of the town. Some 700 residents gathered to see Abdul Zahir Aryan formally appointed as the top government official in Marjah, according to U.S. officials at the event.
"It's a very historical day, a new beginning," Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, the commander of the U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan, told the crowd as U.S. snipers stationed on the roofs of surrounding buildings watched over.
In what had characteristics of a victory celebration, Nicholson said of the assembly: "I am so moved by this, so very thrilled by the turnout ... They are voting with their eyes, and they believe there is a fresh start for Marjah under the government of Afghanistan."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I'm not holding my breath that it will be.
Wow...Sounds like a huige event...Hope the Afghan folks are appreciative. In fact...it wouldn’t hurt the whole damn world to be appreciative.
Makes me sick. American soldiers dying to raise a flag that isn’t theirs. only in p.c. america would this be considered a good thing
So we shouldn’t have helped raise the french flag during WWII?
You’re really missing the big picture.
the french cheered us and thanked God for us. The afghans demonize us and blame us. that’s one of many differences.
>>The afghans demonize us and blame us.
Right, that’s why we have all these Afghanis working with us.
You’ve really started believing the spin of the media, that the Afghanis are not with us because of the actions of the jihadis.
AFGHANISTAN: THE TIDE TURNS STRATEGICALLY FAVORING UNITED STATES
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers37/paper3689.html
It’s a lengthy piece, but here’s the conclusion....
Afghanistan unlike Pakistan is not a predominantly anti-US nation. The Afghan people including the majority of the Pathan people have no love-lost feelings for Pakistan, the Pakistan Army or the Taliban. In Afghan perceptions, all three ravaged Afghanistan and inflicted medieval Islamic brutalization on them.
While southern Afghanistan is labelled as overwhelmingly anti-American, it is not so. That is part of Pakistan Army and Taliban propaganda which would like to retain these as their own military bastions.
Southern Afghanistan, more particularly Helmand Province and Kandahar, have correctly emerged as focal points of US military operations to roll back the Taliban and disconnect them from their Pakistan Army sustenances.
The tide seems to be strategically turning in United States favour and all that is required is American resolve and mental endurance.
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