With Kabul under complete lockdown and a large number of government officials and tribesmen gathered, Afghan President Hamid Karzai began his speech at the “Peace Jirga,” his effort to reconcile his government with the insurgency.
At least five rockets were fired at the jirga’s perimeter and two suicide bombings were reported, the clearest indication yet that the Taliban remains more than a little skeptical of the promise of “amnesty.”
The Obama Administration has made mixed comments about the jirga, with some suggesting that they would oppose any deal that included the top Taliban leadership and others openly suggesting that the whole point was to bribe the low and middle level figures away from the Taliban to make a military victory possible.
Tribal elders continued with the debate on the political settlement even after the attacks, however it seems unlikely at this point that anything will come of it.
It was all very polite by Afghan standards actually.
Various positions were communicated.
Anyone of any significance knows where they stand.
All and all a success save for NATO and the US, who still have no idea what is going on right under their noses.
Its not their sceptism of amnesty that strikes me. Its the fact that in a war we are supposed to be winning our puppet President can't safely hold a meeting in the middle of a locked down city.
Not long ago, it was the Bagram airport and the big airport at Kanduhar that were under attack. And the one in Kanduhar wasn't someone lobbing some rockets. It was attackers storming the north perimeter of the base.
In Germany, the people were only told of great victories as their army advanced towards and took Stalingrad. They were only told of victories up until they were told of the loss of 250,000 men.
I'm not saying the US is about to have a defeat on that scale. But, the news of an aggressive Taliban that is able to attack key bases with strength and at will is not matching up very well with all of the talk of all of our victories in Afghanistan.
Karzai may well be much safer than he looks, and the US and NATO in a much more precarious fix than it appears.
One supposes that if everyone is counted, including the military contractors, there may be 250,000 foreign invaders there.
Just how cowed are the Germans to have forgot their recent history and to be dancing to the tune of the likes of Merkel and her defense minister? Or the French to Sarkozy for that matter?
The scary part is with 250,000 soldiers and mercenaries, they don't seem to be able to defend their major bases from attack.
The myth we hear is that with our massive firepower and our ability to attack with bombs and missiles and troops and tanks, and with our ability to fly drones and satelites to spot anything anywhere, with all of that the guerrillas are supposed to be cowering in their caves just trying to put off their inevitable defeat.
The reality is that the guerrillas have been regularly attacking major US/NATO bases. And doing so at the very peak of security. You know security was high for this meeting. The story mentions the city of Kabul being 'locked down'. The attack on Kanduhar was timed for the arrival of a British minister. Both attacks were therefore not surprise attacks against isolated bases, but direct assaults against major bases when their security was at their highest.
That's not a good sign in a guerrilla war.
Muslims will defeat evreybody they fight ,accept other muslims or Israel