“We now have the initiative. We have created momentum,” insisted Maj. Gen. Nick Carter. But over nine years into the occupation there are few things we haven’t heard before, and claims of military routs of Taliban forces are nothing new.
Indeed the Kandahar “momentum” sounds suspiciously the same as the February invasion of Marjah, a small farming community whose occupation was supposed to take a matter of days and which, eight months later, seems less stable than ever.
Officials insist this time is “different,” but the victories on the ground seem mostly the same old story, with troops encountering little resistance and the Taliban just moving on. Time and again NATO forces have launched offensives to occupy a region, only to see the Taliban move off until the forces declare victory and move on, allowing them to return.
And Taliban commanders are saying the same thing, with one calling the latest situation a “tactical retreat.” NATO appears to be able to “clear” a region, but with its dramatically superior firepower this was never in any real doubt. It is the ability to “hold” that is in question, and after nine years of failure it is probably irresponsible for NATO to even claim a “rout” like this as anything revolutionary in a war which has seen this many, many times.
Wow a rout.
Well now NATO and The USG can leave the country to its own people.
Fat chance of that happening.
hahaha…so now they just desperately want a moral victory.
The term rout implies infantry formed up into units, the Taliban seem more improvisational. At any rate I thought IEDs were the problem.
Listened to Martha Radditz of ABC tout the "significant progress" of the Kandahar offensive last night on the evening propaganda. Had to laugh when THIS time they neglected to project a completion date as they did at the beginning of the Marjah "rout." Radditz has become the "Judith Miller" of the "new and improved" Afghan war – "What's that you'd like me to pass on to the willingly gullible American public, Sir?"
From Oct. 12 to Oct. 18 eight US soldiers died in Helmand.
Correction Oct.11 to Oct.19 eight dead US soldiers in eight days in Helmand.
The only people left on the planet who don't understand guerrilla warfare is the US Army.
What a surprise that when you announce an offensive months in advance that the guerrillas know to get out of the way. That still doesn't mean we are winning though. Just that its really bad operational security to hold a press conference to announce your offensive. Unless of course you wanted the guerrillas to get out of the way so you could proclaim your hollow and worthless victory just before the fall elections. Of course, the tragedy is that Americans died to create this press release.
That's the nature of soft wars: invade, occupy, establish a foothold, keep the empire dismembered, puppetize it.
We do not know that US and european warlords and masters of people ever wanted quick war and all of the land– chunks wld do for decades.
As long nato is in control, everything is fine. And when US is at war, the serfs are much easier to cow.
99% of americans voted for wars-occupation-torture. This proves how much the warlords control people.
But they always have; US not having a day of peace in over two centuries.
It is easy to see that that the structure of governance in US and many other lands
is an invariant. Only weapons change, but the greatest criminal minds never ever change their minds even an iota.
Only show and theatricals change but not the intent or telos.
Yes, people get mad at me for saying this. The excuse is that torture, further murder was not on agenda; thus people did not vote for that.
To me this appears casuistry of the worst kind! tnx for white, black, yellow, left, right ears and the Finger!
PS! Just such a post had been deleted by dissident voice. It calls self "radical" to boot!