Chris Doss The Russia Journal ------------------
U.S. Said Making Same Mistakes in Afghanistan As USSR Did in Its Day
Rossiyskaya Gazeta 19 February 2002 Article by Vladislav Kulikov: Afghanistan Is Like Sphinx?
The United States is gradually starting to make the same mistakes in Afghanistan as the ones that had painful consequences for the Soviet Union in its day. Of course, on the surface all looks quiet, moreover, so quiet that forecasts made by General Staff analysts, who predicted many years of headaches for the Americans, look embarrassing. Apparently, however, the Americans' situation, indeed, is not as good as it looks.
In the southern provinces, particularly around Kandahar, where, incidentally, resistance to the Soviet troops had started, the Americans are beginning to realize that the Taliban has not been destroyed, it merely went underground. Around 1,000 militants are being currently kept captive at the U.S. military base in Afghanistan's southern capital; they are waiting to be transported to Cuba.
The base has fought back two attacks and there are reasons to believe it is just the beginning. Two servicemen of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division were wounded in the first shootout. The attackers managed to approach the Americans almost to a 50-meter distance. To fight back the attack the airborne rangers launched helicopters and opened heavy-artillery fire. During the course of hot pursuit they managed to capture seven Afghans who turned out to be... local police officers. They were all released.
A regular battle was fought the following day. A correspondent of Reuters, who witnessed the events, heard explosions and saw flashes of tracer bullets. The base's large territory was ablaze. Three helicopters burned down literally in front of him.
However, it is believed in Washington that the British journalist got something wrong. As for the American media, they provide purely Soviet-style coverage of the events. It was said about the Kandahar fire that it had been caused by a flare that accidentally fell on the ground. Allegedly, it set the grass on fire and it started to burn. According to a patriotic CNN, no other damage was done except to the grass itself. Therefore, eyewitnesses should not believe their eyes. When Kandahar was ablaze Radio Liberty's website reported that the new governor of the Paktia province had arrived in its capital Gardez and that a conference had been held in Berlin to discuss the creation of Afghanistan's police. That was all.
The case of the Hercules transport aircraft that crashed in one of Afghanistan's southern provinces is as mysterious as that of the attack on Kandahar. According to the official version, the pilot made a mistake during an unsuccessful landing. It was not explained why he had an urge to land at the world's end and not in Kandahar, Bagram, or Kabul.
Again, according to the official version, there were no casualties, only eight persons were wounded. As they say, "believe it or not."
It is difficult to get rid of the thought that the Americans are not saying everything. And their lame explanations spoil the impression. After all, if the airborne rangers merely saw the attacking Taliban in their dreams and if in truth they simply fired at one another and opened chaotic fire the following day again, it is even worse. The U.S. Army in this situation is reminiscent of a bunch of helpless rookies. It would have been better to admit the attack, for at least this version is more heroic.
In any case it is clear that the Americans have embarked on the same path the Soviet Union once traveled. Russian people do not need to be reminded what happened at the end of that path. That said the situation, probably, will not be identical. The people who know Afghanistan well, claim that the issue of resistance in that country is the issue of timely advance payment. If the militants acquire a good sponsor, foreign troops will face the music. Thus far, however, there are no obvious candidates for the role of feeders of the opposition, which the United States played in its day with regard to the mujahedin. However, for the first several years Afghans fought against the USSR even without massive support from abroad.