"Masood, the head of the Afghan opposition, has died" : French foreign minister (WE NEEDED HIM !!)

AFP via Yahoo! News ^ | Saturday September 15, 2:19 AM | AFP

[Pericles]

Saturday September 15, 2:19 AM

Masood dead: French foreign minister

PARIS, Sept 14 (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said Friday that "it appears to be confirmed that commander Ahmad Shah Masood, the head of the Afghan opposition, has died".

"Unfortunately it seems to be confirmed that commander Masood died in the attack of which he was a victim," Vedrine told reporters.

"This assassination causes me great sadness."

According to his aides, Masood, 49, was the target of an assassination plot carried out by two Arabs posing as journalists who detonated a bomb during an interview on Sunday.

[Pericles]

We needed him! Why did America not help Masood's forces sooner?

[white rose]

Interesting timing, what?

[jonatron]

Previously posted

[Hugin]

Indeed. Massod was the only truly pro-Western Afghan leader. We should have done more to help him.

[GLDNGUN]

We "needed" him? It's too bad he's not still around but I don't see how this hurts our efforts there unless there is absolutely no one to take his place. And if that's the case then his resistance movement couldn't be of much help anyway. No, let's hope this will rally his troops and they will welcome and work with us and be ready to take over the government when we are done with the clean up.

[OldFriend]

Too bad our own national media couldn't find it in their hearts to assassinate bin Laden when they interviewed him recently.

[Phantom Lord]

He has faked his death serveral times before, so who knows what the truth is.

[lormand]

"Indeed. Massod was the only truly pro-Western Afghan leader. We should have done more to help him."

So far, history has shown us that there has never been a "pro-Western" Afghan leader. Don't believe that for a minute.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Too bad our own national media couldn't find it in their hearts to assassinate bin Laden when they interviewed him recently.

LOL -- which journalist would you have nominated for the honor?

[Redcloak]

We don't need him. All we need are a few pairs of guys with those funny looking keys.

Turning on three... Three, two, one, turn.

[Registered]

Flagus.

[Dog Gone]

Masood was important in that he gave the Taliban fits. But it was a low-grade civil war, and not the kind of thing we are preparing to get involved in. He'll be replaced by someone, and that someone will probably end up running Afghanistan after we're done.

What's left of it, that is....

[HAL9000]

We "needed" him? It's too bad he's not still around but I don't see how this hurts our efforts there unless there is absolutely no one to take his place. And if that's the case then his resistance movement couldn't be of much help anyway.

It's apparent now that Osama bin Laden's assassination of the military commander of the Afghan opposition was a prelude to the attacks in the U.S. This was a critical part of his plan to delay our reaction.

Masood was the single man capable of uniting the Afghan opposition against the Taliban. There is noone left who can truly replace him. He will be missed.

Still, the Northern Alliance can play a vital role in our retaliation against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in several ways -

They can provide intelligence, logistical support and a forward base of operation from their territory. This is important because we can't necessarily rely on Pakistan, Tajikistan or Russia to do that.

And when our operation is completed, they can provide a pro-Western government to replace the Taliban in Afghanistan.

[amom]

Heads up here folks.

Rose thanks for the heads up.

[jonatron]

Masood Thread with Photo

[Hugin]

So far, history has shown us that there has never been a "pro-Western" Afghan leader. Don't believe that for a minute.

Perhaps not. But I do remember reading a good bit about him in Soldier of Fortune in the 80's. He had good relations with their staff and they did a lot of first hand reporting of the war against the Russians with his troops. As I recall he had a military background and was educated in Britain. He was about as pro-western as it gets over there, for what that's worth.

[Rome2000]

Now, we get congress to declare war.

I hope the House does because the Senate has approved some bogus resolution instead of a formal declaration of war.

Of course CNN and NBC says it was "negotiated" with congress, just who with and for what reason this administration has to

negotiate a declaration of war in light of the greatest attack against America in it's history hasn't really been made clear.

But the douchebags at the networks seem relieved.

[Pericles]

It happens.

[LoneGOPinCT]

Too bad our own national media couldn't find it in their hearts to assassinate bin Laden when they interviewed him recently.

My first thoughts exactly as I read this.

[Pericles]

Iran was once preparing to send in its revolutionary guard deep into Afghanistan to "liberate" ethnic Iranian and Shite populations after the Taliban and Iran had a falling out over detained Iranian citizens (who who murdered later on, if I remember).

Problem is do we need those kinds of allies? Iran? Pakistan? We may be setting ourselves up for another "blowback" with our new allies. Maybe we are better off with just Russian (and her commonwealth states) and Indian help. FOrce Pakistan to help without using her as a base (it is an unsafe country), allow the the Chinese and Iran to help but at a distance.

Maybe something good can come out of it.