America Has Been Here Before By Eric Margolis September 20, 2009 " The Toronto Sun"
Excerpt: "...Remember "Vietnamization?" That was the Pentagon's effort to build a South Vietnamese army that could stand on its own, without U.S. air cover, supplies, and "advisers." In early 1975, it collapsed and ran.
Any student of Imperialism 101 knows that after invading a resource-rich or strategic nation you immediately put a local stooge in power, use disaffected minorities to run the government (divide and conquer), and build a native mercenary army. Such troops, commanded by white officers, were called "sepoys" in the British Indian Army and "askaris" in British East Africa.
America's attempts to build an Afghan sepoy army of 250,000 failed miserably. The 80,000 men raised to date are 95% illiterate and only on the job for money to feed their families. They have no loyalty to the corrupt western-installed government in Kabul. CIA's 74,000 "contractors" (read mercenaries) in Afghanistan are more reliable.
But the biggest problem in Afghanistan, as always, is tribalism. Many of the U.S.-raised Afghan army troops are minority Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazara who used to collaborate with the Soviets. They are scorned by the majority Pashtun tribes as enemies and foreign stooges. These U.S.-paid troops also know they will face death when the U.S. and its western allies eventually quit Afghanistan.
The Soviets had a much better understanding of Afghanistan than the American military, which one senior British general recently called, "culturally ignorant." Moscow built an Afghan government army of around 240,000 men. Many were loyal Communists. They sometimes fought well, as I experienced in combat against them near Jalalabad. But, in the end, they smelled defeat and crumbled. The Soviet-backed strongman, Mohammad Najibullah, was castrated and slowly hanged from a crane.
The American command, deprived of men and resources by the Bush administration, only managed to cobble together an armed rabble of 80,000 Afghans. The Afghan army, like the post-Saddam Iraqi army, is led by white officers -- in this case, Americans designated "trainers" or "advisers."
Afghanistan keeps giving me deja vu back to the old British Empire, and flashbacks to those wonderful epic films of the Raj, Drums, Lives of a Bengal Lancer, and Kim. The British imperialists did it much, much better, and with a lot more style. Many of their imperial subjects even admired and liked them.
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The big Afghanistan debate in Washington is not over whether more troops are needed, but just who they should be: Americans or Afghans -- Us or Them. Having just spent time in Afghanistan seeing how things stand, I wouldn't bet on Them.
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Every day, Travis Schouten lives with the image of the rape of an Afghan boy at a Canadian Forces base.
Military Resistance [GI Special] 7I6 Company Man Thomas F Barton
September 20, 2009
... Notes From A Lost War: A Former U.S. Government Ally Joins The Resistance "The Foreign Forces Came Here In The Name Of Supporting The Afghan Government And Helping The Reconstruction". Instead, They Are Only Looking After Their Own Interests, Disrespecting Afghan Culture, And Bombing And Killing Innocent People All Over The Country".
Many More Tribal Leaders Who Had Supported Kabul Now Cooperate With The Taliban, Military Officials Say...
Read all: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=58143More:
McChrystal: More Forces or 'Mission Failure' 21 Sep 2009
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of the
66-page document obtained by The Washington Post. His assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Aug. 30 and is now being reviewed by President Obama and his national security team.
Taliban leader boasts of eventual victory in Afghanistan 20 Sep 2009
The Taliban fight against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan "is forging ahead like a powerful flood," according to a purported online message posted Saturday by the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. "Anyone who opts to resist it will himself be washed away. Atrocity, torture, brutality, conspiracies, coalitions, the foreign forces and mercenaries could not hurl stumbling blocks in the way of this robust Jihadic movement," Omar adds in the written message. The fight against foreign forces "is approaching the edge of victory," according to Omar.
Mullah Omar laughs at US efforts in Afghanistan --He said they should read stories like that of Alexander the Great, whose soldiers were defeated by Pashtun tribesmen in the fourth century. 20 Sep 2009
Taliban leader Mullah Omar has warned US and NATO forces that they will not be successful in Afghanistan. It is suspected Omar's message was sent from Pakistan, where he is believed to be hiding. Omar, who has not been seen in years, put out a statement on Saturday to say Westerners should study the history of other foreign invasions in Afghanistan to see their own defeat.
U.S. weapons end up in al-Qaeda hands, in Somalia [and Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan . That's the goal --to perpetuate terrorism so US mercenary firms are funded to 'stop' it.] 20 Sep 2009
As the Somalia conflict spirals into a new proxy war between 'al-Qaeda' and the United States, there is mounting evidence that U.S. weapons and Somali soldiers are ending up under the control of Islamic terrorists, Somali politicians say. The warning comes after a week of heavy violence in Somalia, including a U.S. commando raid that killed a suspected terrorist leader, followed swiftly by a double suicide bombing that killed 17 African peacekeepers in revenge for the U.S. raid.
