>Bad maoists. What a pity. Why didn't they go to the UN?
Today's WSJ - generally sensible news pages, not loony editpages - says the Soviets killed about 1 million Afghans (while losing 15,000 troops). Are these numbers in dispute, or is that a widely accepted estimate?
Writes the Journal:
>Another big mistake the Soviets made was alienating the Afghan
>people. Unable to find the mujahedeen, who often hid in villages
>among civilians and didn't wear uniforms, the Soviets simply
>flattened entire cities in an effort to kill the mujahedeen. For
>every mujahedeen fighter they killed, they created several more
>among the survivors who were determined to exact revenge.
>
>[...]
>
>The U.S. has gone to great lengths to confine its air strikes to
>military targets of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and Osama bin
>Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network. Some officers involved in the
>campaign have claimed that the current strategy, which requires most
>targets be approved by U.S. officials at command headquarters in
>Tampa, Fla., has been too restrictive. Though with the Taliban in
>retreat, one Air Force officer who has played a role in the campaign
>and has been a critic, admitted that it was "working despite all the
>restrictions."
Anyone have info to the contrary?
Doug