One Word, Rhymes with "Jerks"

By Lt Col P

Someone here found this article on the 18 Jan suicide attack in downtown Kabul, and it deserves a few comments.

Taliban militants struck at the heart of old Kabul Monday in a brazen and coordinated assault that brought the beleaguered capital of 3 million people to a fearful, paralyzing halt.

It was also another bloody nose inflicted on both the central government's tenuous regime and international security forces, underscoring the vulnerability of a country edging toward internal combustion - just as U.S. President Barack Obama tries to stiffen resolve at home and abroad that the military mission in Afghanistan can
succeed.

Yet eight years after the American-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, and with an additional 37,000 U.S. troops now being deployed, the paramilitary insurgents have shown yet again they can attack at will, even penetrating the heavily fortified urban core of Kabul, causing mayhem with just a small number of grenade-tossing fighters and
suicide bombers.

Madam, please pull the plug on the hyperbole generator. "Brazen," yes; "coordinated," to an extent. But it didn't bring the capital to a halt. Yes, some stuff stopped, but life resumed pretty quickly. Good Lord. Thanks for being the Taliban's IO organ, lady! (The casualty figures are also wrong, but in all fairness it was an early report.) And the city is NOT heavily fortified; there is a significant presence, but "fortified" it ain't. And the bottom line remains unchanged-- Taliban gunmen MURDERED Afghan citizens going about their daily business. That needs to be stated clearly.

Unfortunately, there is also this, with my comments in [brackets]:

Worrisome as well was the apparent failure of [some!] foreign soldiers to come to the front-line aid of Afghans under siege. NATO officials said they had played an "advisory" role to Afghan security forces that finally managed, after six hours, to repel the attack and restore a semblance of order. [Believe me, there were other, more willing foreign soldiers in the fight.]

Turkey has the lead role with the International Security Assistance Force in protection of Kabul. But an interpreter who works for the Turks in their HQ said commanders had refused to involve their soldiers. "The commander said, `These are internal issues and you people have to deal with it yourself,'" the translator, who asked that his name not be used, told the Star. "He said, `We don't want to be involved in the war.'"

Turks here boast to me that they can move throughout the city without fear of attack. I always reply, "Yes, that's because you're not viewed as a threat. You don't count." The Turks could be an enormous force for positive change here, but apparently it's not something that interests them. Sorry, but the truth is the truth. The fighting, as usual, is going to be left up to the real allies.

January 22, 2010 04:04 AM Afghanistan ~ Our Allies