[Economist_MA]

Two things here - while ethnic cleansing is per se a nasty thing, when applied to a bunch of foreign invaders who were brought into your country by OBL to help supress you I don't really mind.

The other point you raise does indeed baffle me - if there are 20,000 Arabs and Taliban in Kunduz then they should definitely be able to break out. Something doesn't fit here.

[Roger_W_Isom]

I was thinking more of those Taliban thugs doing the ETHNIC CLEANSING.. For that would be ENTIRELY within these PUNKS mentality.... .. As for the 20,000 troops thats what I've been hearing from foxs saying the "Reported strength" was... take it from there!!!

[Jim Noble]

>> The other point you raise does indeed baffle me - if there are 20,000 Arabs and Taliban in Kunduz then they should definitely be able to break out<<

It's a long way to Saudi Arabia, and everyone outside of Kunduz wants them dead.

Unlike Talibanians who "see the light", these Arabs have no future in Afghanistan. They have every reason to hold out, and no reason to give up.

[txrangerette]

When Rumsfeld and Gen. Franks briefed today, they both said they believed these forces numbered 2 or 3 thousand--it is the media claiming 20 or 30 thousand...