George W. Bush, September 27, 2004: "Taliban no longer is in existence"

[Human Torch]

October 29, 2006

Taliban plan to fight through winter to throttle Kabul


Militia fighters are operating just an hour's drive from the capital's suburbs, confident of undermining Western support for the war

Jason Burke
Sunday October 29, 2006
The Observer

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1934251,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

The Taliban are planning a major winter offensive combining their diverse factions in a push on the Afghan capital, Kabul, intelligence analysts and sources among the militia have revealed.

The thrust will involve a concerted attempt to take control of surrounding provinces, a bid to cut the key commercial highway linking the capital with the eastern city of Jalalabad, and operations designed to tie down British and other Nato troops in the south.

Last week Nato, with a force of 40,000 in the country including around 5,000 from Britain, said it had killed 48 more Taliban in areas thought to have been 'cleared'. 'They have major attacks planned all the way through to the spring and are quite happy for their enemy to know it,' a Pakistan-based source close to the militia told The Observer. 'There will be no winter pause.' The Taliban's fugitive leader, Mullah Omar, yesterday rejected overtures for peace talks from President Hamid Karzai and said it intended to try him in an Islamic court for the 'massacre' of Afghan civilians.

Since their resurgence earlier this year the Taliban have made steady progress towards Kabul from their heartland in the south-east around Kandahar, establishing a presence in Ghazni province an hour's drive from the suburbs. They do not expect to capture the capital but aim to continue destabilising the increasingly fragile Karzai government and influence Western public opinion to force a withdrawal of troops. 'The aim is clear,' said the source. 'Force the international representatives of the crusader Zionist alliance out, and finish with their puppet government.' A winter offensive breaks with tradition. 'Usually all Afghans do in the winter is try and stay warm,' said a Western military intelligence specialist in Kabul. 'The coming months are likely to see intense fighting, suicide bombings and unmanned roadside bombs. That is a measure of how much the Taliban have changed.'

President's Remarks in "Focus on Education with President Bush" Event
Midwest Livestock and Expo Center
Springfield, Ohio

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 27, 2004

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040927-4.html



THE PRESIDENT: Great. Good job. Thanks for coming. Listen, thank you all for being here. We're making progress. We're achieving what every American wants, every child receive -- being able to realize their dreams through a good education.

I want to talk about keeping the peace. I want to talk about the challenges we face to secure this country, make the world and America a safer place. You know, later on this week, I'm going to have a chance to debate my opponent. (Applause.) It's been a little tough to prepare, because he keeps changing positions on the war on terror. (Applause.) He voted for the use of force in Iraq, and then didn't -- didn't vote to fund the troops. He complained that we're not spending enough money to help in the reconstruction of Iraq, and now he's saying we're spending too much. He said it was the right decision to go into Iraq. Now he calls it the wrong war -- probably could spend 90 minutes debating himself. (Laughter and applause.)

You cannot lead when people don't know where you stand. In order to make sure America is a safer place --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We need you as a leader. (Laughter and applause.)

:spray:

THE PRESIDENT: In order to make sure America is safer, the President must speak clearly and mean what he says. (Applause.) I'll share some lessons with you about September the 11th. We face a brutal enemy that has no conscience. They -- they are the kind of people that you just can't reason with. It makes no sense for anybody to say, oh, all we got to do is change our ways because they'll change their visions. It's just not true. You can't negotiate with these people. You cannot rationalize with these people. The best way to protect America is to stay on the offense against them around the world so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

We're making progress. We're working with our friends and allies to bring al Qaeda to justice. Seventy-five percent of their leadership has been brought to justice. Just yesterday, if you noticed, that in Pakistan, one of the killers of Danny Pearl had been arrested. One by one, we're finding these people. (Applause.)

It's a different kind of war. And first of all, I wish I wasn't talking about war. We didn't ask for this war. This war came to our shores. And there's only one way to deal with it, and that is to do everything we possibly can to protect the American people using all our assets, using everything at our disposal. (Applause.) And anything short of that will mean this government has not done its duty to the American people. Our most solemn duty is to protect you.

Now, we can make sure the Homeland Security Department works well, and do a better job on our borders and ports, which we're doing. But the only way to protect America in the long-term is to -- to protect America at all is to stay on the offense against these killers and to spread liberty and freedom. That's the only way we can protect this country. (Applause.)

In a different kind of war, we had to recognize that we're not facing a nation; we're facing a group of people who have adopted an ideology of hatred and love to find places where they can hide. They're like parasites. They kind of leech on to a host and hope the host weakens over time so they can eventually become the host. That's why I said to the Taliban in Afghanistan: Get rid of al Qaeda; see, you're harboring al Qaeda. Remember this is a place where they trained -- al Qaeda trained thousands of people in Afghanistan. And the Taliban, I guess, just didn't believe me. And as a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence. And the people of Afghanistan are now free. (Applause.) In other words when you say something as President you better make it clear so everybody understands what you're saying, and you better mean what you say. And I meant what I said. (Applause.)

[LynnTheDem]

1. But that was almost 3 years ago. It's the damn stem cell research!

They cloned the bastards! That's what it is!

The Taliban was no longer in existance until gay pinko commie libruls clonned em!

[Human Torch]

2. I think it was Bill Clinton's fault...

...somewhere...SOMEHOW...I just KNOW that the Clenis was responsible for reversing the good work of our beloved leader.

:evilgrin:

[Lefty48197]

3. Afghanistan didn't have any poppy production under the Taliban

Now, it's reached record production. Just say no to drugs.