Posted on 01/23/2007 7:02:11 PM PST by Flavius
US facing Soviet-style defeat in Afghanistan: Hekmatyar ISLAMABAD: The United States faces a Soviet-style humiliation in Afghanistan, a fugitive Afghan warlord claimed in a video message, and taunted Pakistan for aiding US-led counterterrorism operations.
In a recording obtained by The Associated Press in Pakistan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also accused Washington of fomenting conflict among Afghan ethnic groups on a scale comparable with the strife in Iraq.
Everyone knows that the American aggressors are faced with defeat in every part of the country, Hekmatyar said. They were unable to achieve their goals by bombing innocent Afghans, their villages and homes. They are preparing to leave like the Soviet troops.
He said that foreign troops should pull out of Afghanistan at least as far as neighbouring countries. Hekmatyar leads a militant faction blamed along with Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters for an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan, despite the presence of an expanding number of foreign troops. The 24-minute recording, the third from Hekmatyar to surface this month, was undated. It was also unclear where it was recorded. However, Hekmatyar refers to the Muslim celebration of Eid-ul-Azha the turn of the year.
Bingo
i am under the impression that 'afghanistan' is not a place so much to be conquered as it is a place to put quasi-friendly tribes in nominal control of various territories who will not allow a return to export of terrorism. Some parts of it are so geographically disconnected from the rest of the world that that is the only possible thing to hope for.
Opium exports, on the other hand, appear to have improved (increased) post-taliban from what I have read.
Now, the Soviet Union would still have collapsed even if they had never set foot in Afghanistan, but I think it might have taken longer and happened (for what its worth) with greater 'dignity.'
Someone tell him that hash is meant for export, not personal consumption.
Will the pared-down Soviet Union succeed in Chechnya?
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