Talibanistan?
Islamic militants are using a recent peace deal with the government to consolidate their hold in northern Pakistan, vastly expanding their training of suicide bombers and other recruits and fortifying alliances with Al Qaeda and foreign fighters, diplomats and intelligence officials from several nations say. The result, they say, is virtually a Taliban mini-state.
The militants, the officials say, are openly flouting the terms of the September accord in North Waziristan, under which they agreed to end cross-border help for the Taliban insurgency that revived in Afghanistan with new force this year.
The area is becoming a magnet for an influx of foreign fighters, who not only challenge government authority in the area, but are even wresting control from local tribes and spreading their influence to neighboring areas, according to several American and NATO officials and Pakistani and Afghan intelligence officials.
The good news? Afghans say life is better since fall of Taliban
From ALLAHPUNDIT: read all of this one; it explains at length how that nightmarish “peace treaty” in early September between the jihadis and Musharraf ” who stood next to Bush at a White House presser and presented it as a victory ” has completely backfired. According to the Times, the International Crisis Group is set to release a report on the deal tomorrow branding the treaty with the scarlet A. Even some Pakistani officials were willing to admit that the policy is a disaster ” off the record, of course.
Diplomats in Kabul told the LA Times last week that the next few months could determine whether the Taliban resistance peters out or whether they start a full-fledged Iraqi-type insurgency in the country. We’re killing them militarily but the zombie army has an endless supply of manpower. According to officials, they need to “prevent the militants from seizing and holding more territory, establish reasonably secure conditions in the capital and the hinterlands, choke off infiltration across the porous Pakistani border and mend fences with restive tribal leaders.” None of which directly addresses the problem of having Talibanistan right next door.
Max Conservative: Well wait a minute, I thought this deal was going to guarantee that this wasn’t possible. I know, Extremists lie, so what is it about the Press that they pretend that Extremists can be trusted. After every incident of an Extremists being caught doing something they promised not to, the Press and State Department fools all pretend to be shocked that Kim Jong Ill would continue to build Nuclear Weapons before the ink was dry on his treaty not to do that. Shocked that the peace treaty signed by Extremists in Pakistan was worthless.
Free Republic: “We’re all members of NATO.”
“Al-Qaida won’t withdraw with honour.”
 He dismissed as “nonsense” the arguments of some Canadian politicians, notably NDP Leader Jack Layton, that there needs to more emphasis on reconstruction and less on war-fighting.
“You can’t do that if you’ve got Taliban and drug warlords shooting at you.”
German, Italian, French and Spanish forces patrol relatively quiet sectors and have refused to allow their soldiers to engage in direct combat.
At the NATO summit two weeks ago, those countries agreed to loosen restrictions and promised to help Canadian, British, Dutch and American forces battling the Taliban, but only in emergencies.
In a further measure meant to paper over the messy split, the allies agreed to an ambiguous proposal to send a handful of reinforcements to Afghanistan, including jetfighters, helicopters and few companies of infantry.
Aside from French President Jacques Chirac’s pledge of more aircraft and looser restrictions, it’s not clear what countries will actually provide support. As the summit ended, it was also unclear whether any of the promised help would make its way to the front lines in the south.
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It’s no wonder the taliban is coming back!Â
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December 11, 2006 - 07:32 PM on December 11th, 2006
Test.
Can I post or not?
December 11, 2006 - 07:36 PM on December 11th, 2006
She is in:razz: