[Ninong]

We're spreading Freedom & Democracy throughout the region, or so I've heard.

Afghanistan to reconstitute religious police



(08-19) 04:00 PDT Kabul, Afghanistan -- Nearly five years after the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban regime, President Hamid Karzai plans to breathe new life into a strict Islamic institution that many Afghans were happy to see die: the Amr Bilmaruf va Nahi az Mankar, or literally, "Do the good, don't do the bad."

Last month, Karzai's Cabinet approved a proposal to re-establish the agency also known as the Department for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, whose police under the Taliban beat and imprisoned Afghans for violating Shariah law.


Instead of worrying about who's playing chess, flying kites or listening to music, why don't they do something about their record opium crop? That's what's funding the Taliban. Remember the Taliban? Remember Mullah Omar? They're still there and they're taking over the countryside. Meanwhile we're caught up in the middle of a civil war in Iraq and Cheney's making plans to bomb Iran.

[Ninong]

Pakistan just agreed to return all captured Taliban prisoners and arms. They're needed in Afghanistan to overthrow the NATO forces and the American puppet, Hamid Karzai. Sort of like when they overthrew the Soviet puppet, whatever his name was, I forgot.

As part of the deal, Osama bin Laden is now welcome to live in peace in Pakistan!!!

Even if Pakistani police or military should come across Sammy, they have been instructed to NOT take him into custody!!!!!

Sammy is welcome to live in Pakistan as long as he wants provided he is "peaceful." What the hell does that mean? I think it means as long as he doesn't blow up anything inside Pakistan.

Remind me again, how many F16s did Bush agree to sell to Pakistan?

"We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them." -- George W. Bush, 8:30 P.M. EDT, September 11, 2001

[inwall75]

You didn't read the whole article. This is what is says at the bottom of your link.

Early Wednesday morning, ABC reported that Pakistan was now denying "it would allow Osama bin Laden to avoid capture under terms of a peace agreement it signed with Taliban leaders in the country's North Waziristan area," and that the Pakistani military spokesman had been "grossly misquoted."
"'If he is in Pakistan, today or any time later, he will be taken into custody and brought to justice,' the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, said in a statement," according to The Blotter.

[Ninong]

They're lying through their teeth. It's a done deal! The details have already been printed in the Asia Times. Asia Times has a Pakistani reporter in contact with the Pakistan Taliban -- Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan bureau chief.

There are at least five people who are specifically named as off limits: Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mullah M. Omar and two Pakistan Taliban bigwigs that are currently in custody but who will soon be released.

In return for Pakistan withdrawing its troops from the tribal areas, the Pakistan Taliban agrees to keep their fighters in Pakistan and not allow them to cross the border into Afghanistan to assist the Afghan Taliban in their push to take Kabul, which is expected to start within a few months. Mullah Omar will declare the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan either just before or just after they expel the President of Kabul, Hamid Karzai. Right now they are making their final plans. The only thing that could stop them would be a massive effort by U.S. forces. NATO forces that are there now are inadequate to get the job done. In fact, the British are isolated in scattered postions that are cut off from supplies right now. They can only be resupplied by air drops. Their positions are coming under daily attacks by Taliban fighters. The British commander has requested reinforcements be sent to Afghanistan. I believe Blair has committed more British troops that will be arriving shortly. It won't be enough.

The Pakistani general released a statement saying that the comments attributed to him were a "complete fabrication." Hmmm... His comments are on tape!

Here is the exact transcript, courtesy of the link you provided:


The ambassador said a Pakistani military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, had been "grossly misquoted" when he told ABC News Tuesday that bin Laden would not be taken into custody "as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen." The comments were recorded in a telephone interview with ABC News.

Q. ABC News: If bin Laden or Zawahiri were there, they could stay?

A. Gen. Sultan: No one of that kind can stay. If someone is there he will have to surrender, he will have to live like a good citizen, his whereabouts, exit travel would be known to the authorities.<p> [P.S. -- This is part of the agreement. They have agreed to not cause trouble inside Pakistan and they will deny responsibility for anything any al-Qaida operatives do outside Pakistan.]

Q. ABC News: So, he wouldn't be taken into custody? He would stay there?<p>

A. Gen. Sultan: No, as long as one is staying like a peaceful citizen, one would not be taken into custody. One has to stay like a peaceful citizen and not allowed to participate in any kind of terrorist activity.

General Sultan said today it was "hair splitting" to speculate whether troops would be sent in if bin Laden was found in North Waziristan. [P.S. -- They won't send troops in after him because they agreed to withdraw all government troops and make no attempt to capture Bin Laden, al-Zawahiri or Mullah Omar.]

"If someone is found there, we will see what is to be done," General Sultan said today. "Pakistan is committed to the war on terror, and of course we will go after any terrorist found to be operating here," he said. [P.S. -- This is an outright lie! The Bush administration already knows all about the real deal and they are none too happy about it but they realize that Musharraf has a problem on his hands.]

Under the terms of the peace agreement, the Pakistani Army promised to cease action in the area and to return captured Taliban weapons and soldiers. [P.S. -- That includes some high-ranking Taliban leaders that we would rather they NOT release. In fact, two of them are on our Most Wanted list. Notice also that they are returning all of the captured weapons. Who's to say whether those weapons will make their way across the border into Afghanistan?]

Former White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant, said "What this means is that the Taliban and al Queida leadership have effectively carved out a sanctuary inside Pakistan." [P.S. -- This is the bottom line and the truth of the matter! Everything else you read is just noise to appease the U.S.]

General Sultan said today he "rejected" the idea that Pakistan had created a safe haven for terrorists.

P.S. -- Here is the Asia Times article from two days ago. And according to the Times of India, "...critics are charging that the agreement is not with governors or elected representatives, but with an armed militia, and that the terms of the deal amount to a virtual surrender of sovereignty by Pakistan. Under the terms of the deal, Pakistani forces will not only withdraw from the region, but also return arms seized from militants, pay reparations, and have no say in militants coming and going from the area into Afghanistan. The deal has been greeted with concern and scepticism in Afghanistan and even within Pakistan."

P.P.S. -- Here is another Asia Times article from 8 days ago. Notice that their Pakistan Bureau Chief is attending the Pakistan Taliban meetings and has inside contacts.

And here is an Asia Times article going back to February 2006 that details the methods the Taliban uses in the tribal areas. It contains graphic photographs!

[Ninong]

As expected, the "peace deal" signed by the Pakistani government with the pro-Taliban forces in Waziristan has caused "more attacks" in Afghanistan according to Hamid Karzai, President of Kabul.

Meanwhile, Pervez Musharraf, military dictator of Pakistan, continues to say one thing in Islamabad and something entirely different in Washington, DC.

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Pakistan has given sanctuary in the tribal areas to Afghan insurgents. They can now take refuge in Pakistan between incursions into Afghanistan to attack NATO forces.

And no one is looking for Sammy bin Laden!

[Ninong]

The $3 billion a year profit from the opium poppy crop is providing funds for a lot of weapons and ammunition. It's getting really, really rough for NATO troops in Afghanistan. The Brits in particular are having a very difficult time. And if they send email messages or cellphone videos back home describing the details of their troubles, they run the risk of severe discipline. A British major was recently dressed down for letting the folks back home know what happened to some French special forces troopers who were captured by the Taliban last month. They were tied up and gutted alive. That level of graphic detail doesn't help maintain support for the war back home and is not welcome.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, we're making wonderful progress, at least we are if you listen to President Bush. One of the positive signs, according to President Bush, is that there is a lot of free press in Iraq.

"I like the fact in Iraq that there's a burgeoning free press, there's a lot of press, which is a positive sign. It's a healthy indication." -- George W. Bush

Currently, three journalists for a small newspaper in southeastern Iraq are being tried there for articles last year that accused a provincial governor, local judges and police officials of corruption. The journalists are accused of violating Paragraph 226 of the penal code, which makes anyone who “publicly insults” the government or public officials subject to up to seven years in prison.

You see, one of the things President Bush seems to have overlooked is that the "free" press in Iraq is not free to criticize the government of Iraq. In reality, we should call it the government of the Green Zone since they have little or no control over most of Iraq and absolutely no control over Anbar province.

We should stay the course and continue to spread democracy throughout the Middle East and if anyone "publicly insults" any of our corrupt democratically elected officials, they should be thrown in the pokey for up to seven years. At least it's not as bad as being drawn and quartered alive.

[Ninong]

The man with the uncanny ability to make eye contact with a blind woman now thinks we should kiss and make up with the Taliban and invite them into the new government in Afghanistan.

That's right, we should stay the course in Iraq, a country that had NOTHING to do with 9/11, and concede defeat to the Taliban, a group of right-wing religious crackpots who had a hell of a lot to do with 9/11 in that they harbored Sammy bin Laden's Al-Qaida.

And why does Dr. Frist think we should invite the Taliban into the new "democratically" elected government of Afghanistan? Because there are just too many of them to defeat militarily and they have the support of the people.

Hmmm... Let's see. According to the latest polls conducted by the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 80% of Iraqis want us to leave Iraq IMMEDIATELY and 61% of Iraqis want us DEAD!!!! I wonder what Dr. Frist thinks we should do about Iraq? Surely he could watch some home-made videos for an hour or two and come up with a professional diagnosis?

Does Dr. Frist even know what the Taliban did when they were in power in Afghanistan? Does he have any clue whatsoever? These are the guys who are tying up captured NATO troops and gutting them alive. Bill "Cat Killer" Frist probably sees nothing wrong with that. After all, this creep "adopted" stray cats from the SPCA to use them to hone his surgical skills when he was in medical school. None of the cats survived but Frist says they didn't suffer.


QALAT, Afghanistan U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan guerrilla war can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Taliban and their supporters into the Afghan government.

The Tennessee Republican said he had learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated by military means.

"You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government," Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. "And if that's accomplished we'll be successful."

[Ninong]

Thanks to the wonderful changes we initiated in Afghanistan, cocaine and heroin are now cheaper than ever in Europe:

Illegal drugs may be cheaper than ever before in Europe, with prices of heroin slumping 45 percent and cocaine down 22 percent over five years, according to the first Europe-wide report of its kind on drug prices.

Drug production in Afghanistan surged so much after the fall of the Taliban that supply could now be exceeding global demand for heroin, threatening to spur more drug use.

Afghanistan accounts for about 90 percent of world production of opium - the raw material for heroin - and its production has soared since a U.S.-led invasion ousted the government of the Islamist Taliban in 2001. NATO troops are currently battling a Taliban insurgency, which has been fueled by the drugs trade.

[Ninong]

Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record

U.S.-Backed Efforts At Eradication Fail


By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 2, 2006; Page A01


Opium production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world's heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday.

In addition to a 26 percent production increase over past year -- for a total of 5,644 metric tons -- the amount of land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand in the southwest and Oruzgan in central Afghanistan, was up by 132 percent.

You can read the rest of the good news here.

[Ninong]

Now that we have defeated the Taliban and installed freedom and democracy in Afghanistan, opium production is not the only thing on the rise. So far this year 198 schools have been burned down compared to only 150 schools that were burned down in all of last year. Schools that refuse to close will be burned to the ground but only after all religious books have been removed.

Only 20 teachers have been killed for the crime of teaching. Teachers must be given a warning first and then, if they continue teaching, they must be beaten. Killing them is not allowed unless they continue teaching after the warning and the beating. (See Taliban Rules No. 24 and No. 25.) However, if killing is required, then everyone in the family who is home at the time should be killed, too.

"Taliban militants early Saturday broke into a house in the eastern province of Kunar, killing a family of five, including two sisters who were teachers. The women had been warned in a letter to quit teaching, said Gulam Ullah Wekar, the provincial education director. Their mother, grandmother and a male relative were also slain in the attack."

The 30 Taliban rules also spell out opposition to development projects from aid organizations, including clinics, roads and schools.

"If a school fails a warning to close, it must be burned. But all religious books must be secured beforehand," rule No. 26 says.

Rules No. 9, 10 and 19 might be something our Republican brothers and sisters should consider adopting if they wish to avoid embarrassment at the polls in 2008:

No. 9: Taliban may not use jihad equipment or property for personal ends.

No. 10: Every Talib is accountable to his superiors in matters of money spending and equipment usage.

No. 18 says fighters "should refrain from smoking cigarettes."

Rule 19 says that mujahedeen may not take young boys without facial hair onto the battlefield - or into their private quarters, an attempt to stamp out the sexual abuse of young boys, a problem that is widely known in southern Afghanistan but seldom discussed.

You can read the full article here.

[Ninong]

Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is alive and well and living in Pakistan under the protection of the Pakistan intelligence agency, according to the captured spokesman for the Taliban, Mohammad Hanif.

Hanif was captured in Afghanistan yesterday, and today the Afghan government released video footage of him in which he claims to know the location of Omar.

"He is living in Quetta," says Hanif, "and the ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency] is protecting him."

[mad_dog01]

Ninong,

I just recently retired from Air Force special forces after 21 years.....your posts are very informative. What do you think we should do remove all our troops from the middle east region and let them fight it out for themselves? I didn't participate in Vietnam but this definately sounds like a familair dance we had in the 60's and 70's.

[Ninong]

I was going to reply in depth outlining everything that we did wrong in Iraq but I have a plane to catch in a few hours, so I think I'll leave that for another day and simply say that it is difficult to think of anything we did right.

As far as what we can do today, now that we are in the predicament we are in at the moment, there are no good options. We must try to withdraw our forces as quickly as possible. Our presence in Iraq is not helping the Iraqis settle their differences. The people are against us. They want us to leave. Only the Kurds are somewhat supportive of our presence there.

It's up to the Iraqis to decide what form of government they want to live under from now on. It's up to them to decide whether to unify or divide their country. It's obvious that right now they are leaning towards dividing the country into three separate regions. Look at the problems India had following the end of British rule because of the inability of the Hindus and the Muslims to get along together. You ended up with India and Pakistan and East Pakistan and then eventually Bangladesh. And India and Pakistan are still at each others throats.

Right now we are trying to force the Shia and the Sunnis to kiss and make up but they don't want to do that. They want to kill each other. We are trying to force a Western style secular government on people whose religious leaders tell them that they will go to hell if they don't abide by Sharia law.

How can we say that we have made wonderful progress in Iraq when unemployment is close to 70%? How can we claim that things are in great shape when we can't even keep the electricity on for more than a few hours a day? We don't have sufficient forces there to maintain law and order in the cities or to secure the borders from infiltration. We don't have sufficient forces to prevent sabotage of their critical infrastructure or their oil pipelines. Sending another 21,500 troops will do nothing to solve those problems. The very best it would do would be to temporarily shift the violence from Baghdad to other areas or perhaps cause them to lay low for a few months. One thing we know it will do is expose more U.S. troops to I.E.D.'s.

As far as Afghanistan is concerned, I believe we need to strengthen the government there and that will require more troops but they don't have to be all U.S. troops. The Taliban has virtual control over much of the countrside. The central government in Kabul has no control over anything beyond the city limits. If we leave Afghanistan, the Taliban will overthrow Hamid Karzai's government in a matter of weeks, if not days. In fact, they are preparing for a major offensive right now. As we pull troops out of Iraq, we will have more available for Afghanistan.

We can't ignore the Taliban. After all, they were the ones who harbored Sammy bin Laden and al-Qaida, not Saddam. And we have to be watchful of Pakistan. We can't allow the government there to fall into the wrong hands, especially now that Pakistan is a nuclear power. If we put too much pressure on the current Pakistani government, it could fall. The people on the street in Islamabad are very anti-American right now. They're anti-British, too.

We can't abandon the Middle East but we can't go it alone either. All of these so-called police actions should have international support. In an ideal world, the U.N. would be responsible. Failing that we will have to rally our NATO allies and ask for their continued assistance. This may be difficult during the remaining two years of the current administration in Washington because our cowboy president has thumbed his nose at "old Europe."

[mad_dog01]

I understand that people are upset with the current people that are in office.....heck how do you think I felt deploying 2 times to Afgan and 3 times to Iraq all in a 3 year period...I was upset...but i did sign up for it. I do believe that 2 wrongs do not make a right.....so we leave the middle east and wait for everyone that hates America to bring the fight to our soil? I think all the people who are protesting what we are doing overseas would have another view when their asses where under fire!

[schrocat]

The "fight them on their soil, instead of ours" angle?

Too bad it wasn't the #1 reason thrown out for invading Iraq.

The other reasons kinda came up as goose eggs.

Bush took Afghanistans deserved a$$ kicking and stopped before it was completed.
Bush let the mastermind behind an attack on our soil...slip into the night, never to be seen again.
Bush allowed the head of the country hosting the terrorists who attacked us to disappear.

Pull our guys out of the Green Zone.
Put those boots where they should have been all along...

Afghanistan. The guys who brazenly harbored the terrorists who brought the fight to our soil.

P.S. Thank you for your service.

[mad_dog01]

Not so much fight them on thier soil...but we are there. And yes I agree.....take care of Afghanistan...that should have been the number 1 priority. Bush took out Sadam to finish what his father didn't do....to me wrong!