Posted on 03/04/2010 3:57:52 PM PST by myknowledge
fighting in the former Taliban stronghold in Marjah has died down.
US forces completed an operation to push the Taliban out of their main southern Afghanistan stronghold, but found residents there deeply sceptical of the Afghan government's promises to rebuild.
US Brigadier General Lawrence Nicholson says convincing local residents they can trust the Afghan government will be a big issue for US, NATO and Afghan forces.
He says in a recent meeting with elders, one self-proclaimed "Taliban leader" backed the presence of the Americans, but then turned to their Afghan government counterpart and declared: "I don't trust you."
Gaining local support is key to US president Barack Obama's counterinsurgency strategy, which aims to clear the Taliban out of population centres like Marjah so Afghan president Hamid Karzai's government in Kabul can begin taking over.
Brigadier General Nicholson says he wants to quickly hire more than 1,000 local residents, many of whom he says were "probably Taliban at one time".
He says many of these new hires "just quit being Taliban" for jobs on development projects clearing rubble and canals.
He says Marjah residents are particularly distrustful of what they see as government corruption from Kabul.
NATO's three-week-old operation in Marjah in Helmand province, Afghanistan's most violent, was the first major test of Mr Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to seize insurgent-held areas before a planned 2011 troop drawdown begins.
Brigadier General Nicholson says US Marines hit pockets of stiff resistance but his forces have not come under direct fire in Marjah the last eight days.
"We're very pleased with how things have settled down," he said.
"But that doesn't mean it's over by any stretch."
U.S. citizens are distrustful of their government. Big Deal.
Brigadier General Nicholson says he wants to quickly hire more than 1,000 local residents, many of whom he says were “probably Taliban at one time”.
He says many of these new hires “just quit being Taliban” for jobs on development projects clearing rubble and canals.
Doesn’t sound like they drove out too many.
Cong? Cong Bik! Cong? Cong Bik!
Yeah, but it’s another misleading headline. The headline doesn’t jibe with what the article says, that the AFGHAN GVT itself is not trusted. The U.S. forces were actually welcomed, at least according to the article. Another case of the article written by a reporter and the headline by an editor (who doesn’t like the U.S.)?
Brigadier General Nicholson says he wants to quickly hire more than 1,000 local residents, many of whom he says were "probably Taliban at one time". He says many of these new hires "just quit being Taliban" for jobs on development projects clearing rubble and canals.Thanks myknowledge.
No bik Cong. You bik Cong?
No Cong. No Cong here. You buy pot?
No Gi, cacadao pot smokahs.
YOu want cold bir?
Tiger 33?
You buy picture of Raquel Welch, no skivvy , Ann Margrit?
Good wisky, Silver Fox very good!
You like my sister?
Joe, you got Sa-lim?
If the enemy is in range, so are you.’
- Infantry Journal
‘It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just
bombed.’
- US.Air Force Manual
‘Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword, obviously never
encountered automatic weapons.’
- General Douglas MacArthur
‘You, you, and you ... panic. The rest of you, come with me.’
- Infantry Sgt.
‘Tracers work both ways.’
- Army Ordnance Manual
‘Five second fuses last about three seconds.’
- Infantry Journal
The three most useless things in aviation are: Fuel in the tanker,
runway behind you, and altitude above you.
-Basic Flight Training Manual
‘Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once.’
- Naval Ops Manual
‘Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.’
- Unknown Infantry Recruit
‘If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up to him.’
- Infantry Journal
‘Yea, Though I Fly Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Shall
Fear No Evil. For I am at 50,000 Feet and Climbing.’
- Sign over SR71 Wing Ops
‘You’ve never been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach 3.’
-Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot)
‘The only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.’
-Unknown Author
‘If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage it has to be a
helicopter — and therefore, unsafe.’
- Fixed Wing Pilot
‘When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have
enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.’
-Multi-Engine Training Manual
‘Without ammunition, the Air Force is just an expensive flying club.’
-Unknown Author-
‘If you hear me yell;”Eject, Eject, Eject!”, the last two will be
echos. If you stop to ask “Why?” you’ll be talking to yourself,
because by then you’ll be the pilot.’
-Pre-flight Briefing from a Canadian F104 Pilot
‘What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If
a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; but If ATC screws up .... the pilot
dies.’
-Sign over Control Tower Door
‘Never trade luck for skill.’
-Author Unknown
The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation:
- ‘Did you feel that?’ ‘What’s that noise?’ and, ‘Oh, shit!’
‘Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully
complete the flight.’
-Basic Flight Training Manual
‘Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a
person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything
about it.’
- Emergency Checklist
‘The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely
kill you.’
- Attributed to Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot
‘There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.’
-Sign over Squadron Ops Desk at Davis-Montham AFB
‘You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full
power to taxi to the terminal.’
- Lead-in Fighter Training Manual
As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn
off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives.
The rescuer sees the bloodied pilot and asks,’What happened?’
The pilot replied, ‘I don’t know, I just got here myself.’
Gi, you buy me Saigon tea? I love you beaucou Gi. You numba won.
Get me a bucket of prop wash.
Nope . Hate this. Don’t want this police thing. Come home. Guard the borders. These bastards in Afghanistan are Taliban. That is NOT Wahhabi Al Queda Sunni. We don’t have a clue who the actors are.Shut this down and bomb Saudis and take their oil-— NOW!!!!!
Thanks!
One more...”friendly fire” isn’t.
Love ‘em......funny as hell, but total b.s. (in terms of actually being in “manuals”).
What’s the Law of Gravity?
Answer: Whatever goes up must come down.
What’s the Law of Flying?
Answer: Whatever comes down had better be able to go back up.
Different type of distrust. The Afghan gov is rampant with corruption. That crap has helped out the Taliban. Taliban are awful rulers but for minor stuff, at least, they didn’t ask for bribes. The Afghan gov’t better shape up if they want to keep their heads (literally and figuratively).
Excellent!
Yep. I’m sure the Afghans ARE sceptical of THEIR government rebuilding when they see Americans on the scene. But I’m sure their wittle feewings can be reassured and assuaged by $100B greenbacks. First the Green Berets, then the greenbacks. Our blood, our treasure. Personally, I think most all the people in the Middle East are a bunch of greedy, blood-sucking scumbags.
The fact that we’ll end up footing the bill is one of many reasons that WE don’t trust OUR government either!
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