Slowly, the Taliban are winning in Afghanistan.....

[n2doc]

On 10th Anniversary of Afghan War, US Stymied in Pakistan, Forced to Negotiate with Taliban
Posted on October 7, 2010 by Juan Cole

On the tenth anniversary of the US/ NATO war in Afghanistan, Washington is suddenly unable even to transport the supplies its troops need through the territory of its ally, Pakistan. Rather than enjoying a commanding position in Afghanistan, it faces a situation in which entire provinces in the Pashtun south of the country have fallen under the effective control of the insurgents. The insurgents include Taliban and old-time Mujahidin who had been Ronald Reagan’s ‘Freedom Fighters’ and are now fighting to expel the US and NATO from their country. The long, heavy US and NATO military presence appears to have driven more and more Pashtuns into the arms of the otherwise deeply unpopular insurgents, since the Pashtuns have a strong historical aversion to foreign rule.

President Obama’s troop escalation was intended in part to weaken the insurgency (it appears to have had the opposite effect), but in part it was also designed to put enormous pressure on the Taliban and other insurgents so as to force them to come in from the cold and accept an alliance with or at least correct relations with the US and the Kabul government. Reports that the Haqqani network is talking both to the US and to the Pakistani government would seem to indicate that the pressure is having some success at the elite level. But the cost may well be losing the Pashtun rural areas decisively. Moreover, that the US is having to talk to the Haqqanis rather than being able summarily to blow them and their men away is a testament to the limits of US power in this distant, craggy region.

As many as 35 US/ NATO fuel supply trucks were set ablaze late Wednesday at Khairabad in Nowshera district west of Peshawar in the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa Province. It was the fifth in a string of major attacks on idled fuel convoys since last Thursday, when US helicopter gunships flew into Pakistani territory and fired missiles at a Pakistani border checkpoint, killing 2 Frontier Corps scouts and wounded 4 others. Pakistan responded by blocking the US/ NATO supply route into Afghanistan at the Khyber Pass. (Afghanistan is a landlocked nation, and its most convenient external port is Pakistan’s Karachi, which the US and NATO have been using for resupply.

Some attacks on the fuel tankers have been claimed by the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan. The BBC says that local officials have alleged to it that some of the tanker fires are a form of insurance fraud by private contractors running the trucks. Once they are idled, all but a little fuel is siphoned off and sold, then the trucks are set ablaze, and the insurance company made to pay for the whole loss. That would be a double profit…

http://www.juancole.com/2010/10/on-10th-anniversary-of-afghan-war-us-stymied-in-pakistan-forced-to-negotiate-with-taliban.html

[msongs]

1. the role of the US military is to sell products and make $$ for war profiteer corporations nt

[Jester Messiah]

6. Buy products. The army buys and uses the products sold by the defense co's. [nt]

[n2doc]

2. kick n/t

[maxsolomon]

3. 35 fuel trucks mean they're 'winning'? especially when it may be fraud?

that we are 'forced' to negotiate with the taliban is an opinion. negotiations between warring parties seem to me to be a key element of any peace agreement.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. By any reasonable measure the "war" is already lost. Now it's being fought to save face.

It was always about political PR. Bush wanted to look like "The Decider". Obama wants to get his "tough on terror" creds. And, the Pentagon wants to try to disprove that they failed..again.

[Ezlivin]

5. Our military-industrial complex is cash-starved

If only we could properly fund the Pentagon and its myriad "black" programs then we'd be winning!

Maybe we need to send another 1,000,000 troops or 5,000,000 drones. We're number one!

[mdmc]

7. ..

[SoCalDem]

8. They don't have to "win".. they only need to outlast

The Taliban are Afghans (and Pakistanis). they are LOCAL.

This is why insurgents always "win" in the end.

Sure, some will get blown up by drone attacks or shot by the invading armies, but the ones who survive will find their ways into power, and will end up running the place..

The win because it's THEIR country, and they have roots there, and family and contacts and credibility.

Their ideology may stink, and they may be horrible people (to our way of thinking), but they LIVE there and are not going anywhere.

Ask any Viet Nam vet how this all works:(