NATO Chief: Taliban Can Never Return to Power
Vows to Continue War, Insisting 'Defeat Is Not an Option'
Ever enthusiastic about continuing the Afghan War, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen dismissed all timetables for withdrawing from Afghanistan, insisting the war would continue however long it takes to “finish the job.”
Rasmussen’s goals appear myriad, but he vowed today that the Taliban would never be allowed to return to power in Afghanistan and also that al-Qaeaa would never be allowed to have any refuge in Afghanistan. “Defeat is not an option,” he maintained,
He claimed, as so many other officials have, that progress is being made toward this goal and that the Taliban are “under pressure” despite the ever increasing death tolls across the nation. But he stopped short of predicting any victory any time soon, using his talk mostly to emphasize just how long the war was going to continue.
Rasmussen was among the first to openly embrace Gen. David Petraeus’ call for 2,000 additional troops for the war, and has been aggressive in petitioning NATO nations to provide ever increasing numbers of troops to the war. He has also openly opposed a 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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John
September 12th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
The Taliban will return to power when the United States economy enters into an unstoppable depression and is no longer able to afford to remain in Afghanistan. After 9 years of war, " progress is being made". Yea, right. Has this man taken over this war from the US?
boutet
September 13th, 2010 at 5:09 am
Let this fatuous armchair commander in chief wear a uniform instead of a suit, shoulder a M16 or M60 if he's fit enough and spend a few months on the frontline in Afghanistan fighting for NATO. He'll be crying for his mommy when the first RPG howls past his ears.
zion
September 13th, 2010 at 11:26 am
This man owns and manages the cannon fodder. Its a big business.
Pendulum
September 13th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
he should just shave his eyebrows and zip his lips
theothercanada
September 13th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
The Nazi scum will meet same fate as the last Evil Empire did, where does he think cannon fodder will come from to satisfy his lust for Muslim blood?
MvGuy
September 13th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
This empty suit propagandist talks the hard line colonialists position. Ya,… "WE can never let THEM have their OWN government of their own people.. acting in the behalf of Afghanistan….. Oh NO!!! THEY must have government based on OUR INTERESTS and VALUES, after all WE are superior" Too bad for O'le Foggy that it is not the first time someone has tried to impress these people. Too bad the path forward to the subjugation HE seeks is so foggy….like his vague sense of white mans burden and entitlement he expresses. It's the central 4th generation warfare conundrum. Any government that NATO embraces will be deligitimized. NATO and the invader crusader have delegitimize themselves by their actions and cultural ham handedness.. Worse still for O'le Foggy, NATO and their western propaganda apparatus regularly label any resistance to them or their operations as "Taliban" which more or less ASSURES it will be the Taliban that prevails. Any group the invaders target is legitimized. Aren't those that resist the loathsome invaders the true Afghan patriots? What happened to the good Taliban / bad Taliban policy?? It at least had some small modicum of a chance to succeed.