Taliban underestimated US firepower and resolve of the Northern Alliance

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 11/13/2001 | Ahmed Rashid

[irish guard]

So how much bombing will we have to do during Ramadan now? Are we done yet? ....Nah, I wanna see how those bunker busters work!

[irish guard]

Forgot to add this.....we should get excellent video of those bunker busters if we control the major cities!

[Arkinsaw]

What a difference a week makes. Last week we were losing the war and the Northern Alliance was just a ragtag bunch of morons with no offensive capability. The bombing was doing no damage.

Wha' Hoppen?

[Illbay]

Check out THIS BLAST FROM THE PAST, and compare Molly Ivins' stupid, idiotic rantings about how "we bit off more than we could chew" in Afghanistan (not a month into the air campaign).

I think we FReepers oughta FReep the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's resident Mad Cow, and shove this up her nose. Buh-bye to what credibility you HAD, Ivins!

[alethia]

I'm sure that the assassination of Massoud right before 9/11 has fueled the resolve of the majority of Northern Alliance fighters as well. Many civilians who had had nothing to do with the Northern Alliance were all too ready to join in -- Massoud was a true hero to the Afghan people. I think his assassination was another serious miscalculation by the Al Qaeda group. Along with underestimating our fire power -- and our patriotism, anger, thirst for justice and national resolve.

[anniegetyourgun]

One didn't have to look outside of FR to see the "we're losing this thing" commentary. We have plenty of Freepers who are always willing to call everything a failure.

[gunnut]

Five years ago, the Taliban, mounted in their four-wheel pick-ups, captured Kabul in a three-day lightning strike.

Try that in a country where the civilian population is armed. Second Amendment Bump.

[Cobra64]

Forgot to add this.....we should get excellent video of those bunker busters...

Agreed. Good PR work from the allies to the "bad guys." The Pentagon has to think about this. This will scare the sh!t out of future terrorists living in that God-foresaken country.

[jwalsh07]

Forget Molly Ivins McNut and his pal Jay Severin wanted to put tens of thousands of US ground troops in that hell hole.

[Ann Archy]

Molly Ivins is a SHE???? Yikes!! I thought she was like a Dame Edna creature!!

[Shermy]

Which way to Kandahar Danny? adapted from `The Man Who Would Be King'

[mlocher]

why stop with the fw-star? every tv network said about the same thing, as did many ex-generals who think they are analysts. quite frankly, the entire us press was even more of a disgrace than usual.

[TomGuy]

Taliban underestimated US firepower and resolve of the Northern Alliance

What an understatement!

Osama, Omar, we're coming! Our resolve is strong...and our bombs are BIG.

[Ole Okie]

Buh-bye to what credibility you HAD, Ivins!

Molly has negative zero credibility, Illbay.

Thanks for the link. I'm always amused by how little Ivins thinks or knows.

[KC Burke]

British reports and British papers are often useful for wrapping carryout fried fish and chips. I think we should wait for something with more meat than this before crowing victory.

I could care less if I am evaluated with the rah-rah crowd or the nay sayers...real analysis of many details is more than reading a tabloid.

[conway]

Kudos!

[blam]

"Nah, I wanna see how those bunker busters work!"

The bunker busters have already been working overtime, there's just been no-one there to record it. I read just today that a new, previously unknown, cluster of caves were found.

[conway]

Amen!

[Buckeroo]

The "Northern Alliance" is a complete failure. Their apparent victories are a strategic blunder for the US as they pose an ominous regime that has little purpose other than another face upon totalitarianism.

There is a no-win situation in Afganistan for the US with the exception that we maintain focus about cutting the throats of bin laden, et al.