In teh time before the chosen one came amoung us, the leftists cried out that we were fighting an unholy war for oil. Now that he has been annointed, we are waging a holy fight to free the oppressed.
"Opressor de Libreal"
Occam Bandage (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-16-09 12:50 PM
Original message
Pakistan offers cease-fire to Taliban; agrees to impose Islamic law.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=116x17092
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The government agreed to impose Islamic law and suspend a military offensive across much of northwest Pakistan on Monday in concessions aimed at pacifying the Taliban insurgency spreading from the border region to the country's interior.
The announcement came as three missiles believed fired from a U.S. drone aircraft destroyed a house used by a local Taliban commander elsewhere in the northwest, killing 30 people, witnesses said.
The cease-fire, in Pakistan's Swat Valley hundreds of miles from the missile strike in Kurram, will likely concern the United States, which has warned Pakistan that such peace agreements allow al-Qaida and Taliban militants operating near the Afghan border time to rearm and regroup...
...Amir Haider Khan Hoti, the chief minister for the North West Frontier Province, said authorities would impose Islamic law in Malakand region, which includes the Swat Valley. Swat is a one-time tourist haven in the northwest where extremists have gained sway through brutal tactics including beheading residents, burning girls schools and attacking security forces.
(Much more at link)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090216/ap_on_re_as/as_paki...
The Taliban are among the worst people on Earth. I endorse any attempt by Obama to fulfill our promise to reconstruct Afghanistan for the Afghan people. However, we cannot help Afghanistan so long as the Taliban marauds the countryside destroying schools and equipment, and the Taliban will continue to exist and exist in strength so long as they are protected like this by the Pakistani government. It is much like Vietnam: we can extend the war and the reconstruction effort eternally, we can launch bombing raids at targets of opportunity across the border, but we can never win, for we are fighting an eternally defensive (in the strategic sense) guerrilla war against an enemy that will never, ever give up of its own volition. Guerrilla wars can only be won through full, multi-spectrum, benevolent, and expanding control of the territory in which the enemy makes its base; so long as a North Vietnam or a Pakistan exists relatively unmolested, the war in South Vietnam or Afghanistan cannot be won.
Just as Bush's foreign policy was judged primarily by his war in Iraq, I think Obama's will be judged in large part by how he handles the inherited problem of Afghanistan. As much as I am in favor of winning the Afghan war, if Pakistan continues to refuse to govern its border regions (or, worse, continues to legitimize Taliban presence in those regions), the war is nothing more than an expensive attempt to delay the inevitable, and I cannot support such an action.
Then irony rears her stupid head:
msongs (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-16-09 01:23 PM
Response to Original message
4. perhaps the problem is tribal society/culture as much as religion?
usually a tribal culture is dominated by the head MALES and everyone else is subservient. The MALE leaders rule the roost, the other men are subservient, and woman are reduced to the role of child bearing servants of the men. Superstitions of religion are imposed by the head MALES in such a way as to justify the male domination and keep the underlings in line and under control.
well, that's my theory. could be partly or completely wrong.
Msongs
it's not fundamentalist islam, it's that they live in tribes...
a777pilot (31 posts) Sat Feb-21-09 08:09 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Keep Your Stupidity In Our Own Country
Quote:
Taliban are not invaders you know. You need to buy yourself a clue. Not all Afghans are Taliban, but damn near all Taliban are Afghans, or anyway locals. Most of them don't come from outside. You need to ask why the sovereign Pakistani government is in the position of making deals with these "terrorists"? It's not because they would not prefer to lay down the law.
Unquote.
The Taliban and their idiot "life style" is their own business. Do what ever you want in your ****ed up country. Enslave your children and women if that is what your stupid religion teaches. Kill your own countrymen if they don't toe the line.
BUT.......
Keep it in your own country. If you try to take it outside your borders, especially by force, don't be surprised if some "victim" country will get pissed off and come kill you.
Got it?
Good. Then it is time for the US forces to go home.
Now, that would have got you a large tombstone just a month ago...but he tagged the last sentance on it to make it swallowable. Now, here is a reply:
bemildred (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-22-09 04:44 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. Whoa, Nice rant.
I don't really see what you mean, but I can tell you feel strongly about it.
ADBOTT: FREE GOVERNMENT MONEY!
