Taliban take over south Afghan district

[AFA]

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban militants have seized control of a district in eastern Afghanistan after an hours-long clash that killed five people, including the local mayor and his police chief, a senior official said Friday.

The Taliban takeover is an embarrassment to the Afghan government and its foreign backers, and shows how vulnerable remote areas remain despite the presence of some 47,000 U.S. and NATO troops.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rs...com/s/ap/20070427/ap_on_re_as/afghan_violence

 

[Christmas_Ape]

Thanks for the update!

 

[alexios]

Thanks for the update!

This is nothing more than a hit and run attack that could've been avoided had the British commander of the NATO force taken a more pro-active position, instead of leaving it to local tribal chiefs.

 

[Christmas_Ape]

This is nothing more than a hit and run attack that could've been avoided had the British commander of the NATO force taken a more pro-active position, instead of leaving it to local tribal chiefs.

A classic strategy, like the pincer's movement, would've settled their hash!

 

[alexios]

A classic strategy, like the pincer's movement, would've settled their hash!

either that, or we just start on the Pakistani border and work our way deeper and deeper into Afghanistan...hammer and the anvil.

 

[blakey]

either that, or we just start on the Pakistani border and work our way deeper and deeper into Afghanistan...hammer and the anvil.

Are the troops needed ( 50,000 or so ? ) available to do so, or the equipment - and does the political will exist ?

er,


no

 

[cabey]

The Nato troops in Afghan' are to help train the new Afghan army and poilice and to try and change the tribal leaders traditional thinking of how the provinces should be run.
It is largely up to them to defend and to make their own judgements ploitically.
The Nato forces as a offensive force are there to stop the infiltration of Taliban Politicians and fighters in the local tribal communities.

There will always be, in the short term anyway, pockets of localised Taliban resistance and in fighting amongst local leaders.