An official for the Afghan government today reiterated the threat to block the NATO offensive against the major southern city of Kandahar, warning that the alliance would have to guarantee that civilians would be protected in the offensive.
Whether or not the Afghan government will have any actual say of the matter is unclear, however, and US forces seem to be stepping up attacks in the area in anticipation of the June offensive.
But it is clear there are growing doubts about the wisdom of the offensive, notably after the February Marjah invasion, a media-friendly invasion of a sparsely populated farming community sold as the “test” for the Kandahar strategy, has yielded less than promising results.
The goal of occupying the city and propping up some semblence of a government is still unfinished, even with the comparative advantage of Marjah not being nearly as big a city as it was presented as.
Kandahar, by constrast, is an enormous city, and one with a population that has already had its fill of violence and occupation. The idea that a new violent occupation is going to solve the problems in the city seems farcical, but seems to be the only idea NATO has come up with.
the only thing that could go right with this deployed arraingment is they'd have everything needed to certify opiates for pharmacuetical uses,hell what ya need a rubber stamp and a tent,maybe a sign pointing the way to the bazaaarr,what ya getting for earthly medical compounds these days,gee i guess medicine like that,I mean DRUGS just ain't whack enough to compete with sykeeatrics and plastacides,well that and smack,rumour is that is bad medicine prescribed by that god damn pusher man,whats it good for ,nothing except od ing or use it such as the east india trading company when in the Orient about the tyme Hong Kong was established,ya don't think that gd pusher man would be using junk for something besides fun,what are the, is the Army trying to prove,denial of revenues,because they/them (the AMA,?)ha, ain't ever gonna certify earthly compounds for any thing besides whack,seems like a real "sensative "ISSUE"and the only easy way out of this one,ya know just till naga gets back to swat and cries when a witness to the unfolding slow motion horror that this evil appears headed down the road of,oo,the only veto that the kabul government has about protesting the massacre of civilians is over thair at Kergyzaistan,Manas HQ,now that be what might be called way out west in the district regional zone states as a real federated democracy homegrown,they probably have a another local name for the very same thing,whats a gd pusher to do besides OD
"The idea that a new violent occupation is going to solve the problems in the city seems farcical, but seems to be the only idea NATO has come up with."
A warring nation goes to war for its own benefit.. When a country is willing to starve its children, close its schools, let its bridges collapse, outsource its jobs, bankrupt its citizens and leave them on the street to fund wars, is it really because it is the only idea it can come up with?
Are we really waging war because we don't know what else to do. If so the Pentagon is the winner of the crocheted bathtub!
More proof that Obama is not in control of the military.
In all the previous events, up to and including Marja, the Govt/military could still just barely get the American people to grudgingly believe and then to acquiesce. This time I think the critical mass of dishonesty is clearly seen BEFORE the event. I believe the American people have reached the "cry wolf" cross over point. All events conspire to make it inescapably clear to the American voters that the whole business is, and has been from the start, a complete waste. It is at this point, at last, that it becomes ****POLITICALLY***** possible (meaning that the politicians can now do it without losing the next election) to get out of Afghanistan.
The cross over has taken place. It won't be quick, and there will be resistance, but now it is inevitable,l and the withdrawal will begin in earnest.
Inshallah.