U.S.
Marine snipers spot targets as Taliban fighters approach from
The
district of Marja, in Afghanistan's Helmand Province Feb. 9.
The Frontier Post,
Pakistan
America's 'Dimwitted' Marja
Adventure
"Only
a dimwit would imagine that such experienced fighters could be foolish enough to
frontally take on a war machine as large as the one the coalition has unleashed. … The
best option for the U.S.-led occupiers remains direct peace talks with Taliban
leaders. All other options are fatally flawed."
If Taliban claims can be
taken with a pinch of salt, neither can Western media reporting on the U.S.-led
occupation be taken as gospel truth. Most of the coverage is by embedded
journalists who conceal more than they reveal. And since such reporting is the
central window into the occupied country for the outside world, the global
community is fed less on objective information than on disinformation.
This also goes for the Marja
offensive, which has been launched jointly by the U.S. and NATO - along with
the Afghan National Army. The very depiction of the Marja offensive as a
milestone in President Obama’s surge strategy is sheer deceit. Marja may be a
Taliban stronghold, but so is Helmand, the province in which this district
sits. And Helmand itself is only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces held by
Taliban. Twenty nine other provinces are under their sway where there are
parallel administrations in place.
And remember, the
Taliban aren't outsiders. They are sons of the soil, living with families among
their tribes, a fact that embedded reporters have intentionally concealed all
along. This has creating the erroneous impression that they aren't part of the
tribal mainstream, but outcasts that keep their tribes in line through
coercion, intimidation and fear. To the tribes, they aren't enemies at all; the
enemies of the tribes are the foreign occupiers and their local collaborators.
And the tribes aren't novices
to fighting. They are war veterans and war-hardened, having fought incessantly
over the past 30 years; first against the Soviet invaders, then among
themselves as partisans of warring mujahedeen commanders when the Red Army
retreated and the government of Dr. Najibullah
fell; and finally the U.S.-led occupiers after the Taliban were ousted.
Three days into operations in Marjah, American Marines
and
Afghan Army come under repeated counter-attack.
The Taliban themselves are no
greenhorns. They're experienced fighters. For six long years they fought their Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara adversaries,
strategically outwitting them and routing them in pitched battle. In the run-up
to Marja offensive there were no desertions in their ranks, despite the shrill
media blitz mounted by coalition commanders. This says as much about the
fighting spirit of the Taliban as it does to their commitment to faith and
ideology.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Given their
fighting experience, only a nincompoop could have thought the Taliban would cow
down after hearing this deafening war cry. Only a dimwit would imagine that such experienced fighters could be foolish enough to frontally take on a war machine as large as the one the coalition has unleashed. Harass and tease will likely be
their favored method, as indeed it has been for eons on Afghanistan’s
inhospitable terrain. Here the natives have humbled formidable invading armies
for centuries.
Given current conditions,
there is a great likelihood that coalition forces and their Afghan Army allies
will take control in the vicinity of the 700 bases they plan for the country's
population centers. But this will be tenuous control at best; as indeed it was
with the Soviet invaders. But the Soviets didn’t pay them off; Afghan resistance
to the Soviet occupation remained unrelenting until the Soviets fled.
In all probability, things
will go the same way this time. Even U.S.-led plans to buy off the natives with
money, jobs and services may go the way of the Soviets. They too, would not infrequently
announce which tribes had pledged their allegiance and which were the
“bandits.” They too, sought to describe those who had surrendered and laid down
their arms to live in peace. But it was all a sham.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The new plan for bribery is
fraught with imperfections. It doesn’t take into account traditional and
unbridgeable age-old rivalries and adversarial tribal relationships. They may
unite to confront an alien invader, but when it comes to sharing the spoils
they become disjointed. This bribery plan doesn't appear to have accounted for
the very real possibility that instead of winning tribal allegiances, pay-offs
may instead exacerbate tribal animus and hostility. Nor do they seem to realize
that an Afghan National Army, made up almost wholly of Tajiks and Hazaras and
without any really representation from the Pashtun majority, will be like a red
flag in Pashtun-dominated regions. Pashtuns hold deep scorn for Tajiks and
Hazaras, just as they do for Pashtuns.
When all is said and done,
the best option for the U.S.-led occupiers remains direct peace talks with
Taliban leaders. All other options are fatally flawed.
