U.S. officials play down Taliban attack on embassy

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

KABUL — The top U.S. officials in Afghanistan sought on Wednesday to portray a deadly and sustained 20-hour attack on the U.S. Embassy and other targets as evidence that Afghanistan’s security forces are increasingly competent and that the Taliban is on the defensive.

Gen. John Allen, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, a sophisticated insurgent group closely affiliated with the Taliban, probably carried out the brazen attack, which began Tuesday. Afghan and NATO troops killed the last assailant about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Allen said insurgents scored a propaganda victory with the attack, which was the most sustained and widespread in the capital since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. But he said it accomplished little else.

“Yesterday’s attack was a fleeting event; it came and it went,” he told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “The insurgents are on the defensive.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/officials-afghan-militants-dressed-as-women-to-smuggle-weapons-for-kabul-attack/2011/09/14/gIQAujWfRK_story.html

[sce56]

1. Yeah Right 20HOURS! That was just a insignificant fire fight!

:eyes: ........=....... :hurts:

[Javaman]

2. Exactly. if they consider a 20 hour firefight "fleeting" I hate to see what they

consider a real fight.

they are spinning the "winning" hard.

[bemildred]

3. Why, it was almost a good thing, a sign of continuing "success".

:sarcasm:

[Solly Mack]

4. I was thinking the same thing.

Proof that we're winning...and all that.

Damn memory.