1. The initial claim that there were close to a thousand fighters concentrated in the area is bogus. It was simply a well orchestrated ambush against American forces. After the initial ambush succeeded, those who carried it fled. The US then started its arial bombing, ASSUMING that the fighters are taking a punishment. In essence the US was bombing rocks. This is the same type of gurriella warefare that the US trained and backed mujahideen carried against the Soviets.
2. I read a report that there is a local afghan son of a mujahid named Saif Rasul Rahman who was actually leading the opposition of Hamid Karazi's govt in Eastern Afghanistan. I suspect that the whole campaign was designed to discipline Rahman. The fact that NA troops were sent in only reenforces my suspicion. I am begining to believe that the fight was between local afghans and the US is getting deeper in their factional fighting.
The Afghan people are very introverted and can be very xenophobic. This bodes ill for the US and its allies. It is just a matter of time before several Afghan groups begin viewing the US as an enemy and coalesce against the US. The US might become a lightining rod for Afghan opposition.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Cian" <cian_oconnor at yahoo.co.uk> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 6:23 AM Subject: Re: al-Qaeda and Taliban
> --- Charles Jannuzi
> <jannuzi at edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp>
> > Again, nothing that I've seen so far connects the
> > main of the Taliban
> > movement with 9-11. Hell, it's easier to connect
> > Bush to 9-11 than the
> > Taliban (though more likely a colossal fuck-up they
> > are now riffing wildly
> > on than any master plan).
>
> Its bollocks, the whole fucking thing is total
> bollocks. They're fighting Pashtun gureillas and
> Checheans who seem more interested in getting US
> troops (and proxy forces with designs on their land)
> out. Meanwhile the Arabs seem to have mostly escaped.
> The whole thing is starting to sound like Vietnam.
> Millitary advisors, proxy armies, ludicrous body
> counts (sure hundreds dead, and they can't produce
> more than a few bodies), high "collateral damage" due
> to indifference about civillian deaths. I imagine the
> US will pull out eventually, though given the pride
> invested into this, who knows?
>
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