Shock Poll: Over 90% of Southern Afghans Don't Know About What Happened on 9/11

No wonder that we're having such a hard time in Afghanistan. If the Afghansdon't even know why we invaded their country, it'll be much harder to win their hearts. It is so easy for the Taliban to convince them that we are the conquering, blood-thirsty infidels that they claim us to be, if they don't have the correct and complete story:

A surprising high number of people in southern Afghanistan have never heard about the terrorist attacks which struck the United States on September 11, 2001, according to a report from the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS).

The report draws on findings from field research conducted by Afghan interviewers in October of this year, interviewing some 1,000 Afghan men in Kandahar and Helmand provinces of southern Afghanistan. With multiple attacks every day, those are the most violent regions of Afghanistan. Another 500 men were interviewed in the northern provinces of Parwan and Panjshir, which is calm compared to the south.

Among other findings, the report showed a significant lack of understanding of the history of the international community's presence in the country. Many interviewed by ICOS said they did not know about the events of 9/11 and were unable to describe what a democracy is.

The ICOS said the dissemination of the international community's political narrative and public justification for its presence in Afghanistan is very limited. As a result, the Taliban and other insurgent groups are able to easily fill this gap with its own propaganda.

According to the research, more than 90 percent of those interviewed in the south were not familiar with the events of 9/11, when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and crashed them in New York City, Washington, D.C. and in Pennsylvania.

This is a huge reason why we are still having big insurgency issues in the southern and eastern provinces.
If there really is this kind of gap of knowledge, we need find a way to bridge it and quickly because it'll be a much steeper hill that we'll have to climb with regards to winning this war. In the end, we'll win this war with the pen not the gun; ink not bullets.

As they say, knowledge is power, and this study shows that we are losing this part of the war badly. It is no coincidence that there are many more attacks in the same part of the country that 90% of the people don't know anything about 9/11.

Biden to Afghanistan: Daddy (Obama/US) Will Take Your "Training Wheels" Off This July

In reference to starting to withdraw troops out of Afghanistan at the July 2011 deadline, Vice President Biden said that Afghanistan will have to start standing on their own as the US will start taking the "training wheels" off next summer:

While defending the military surge in Afghanistan after eight years of what he termed "neglect," Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that Afghan leaders could soon be left on their own, whether they're ready or not.

"We had to say, 'Look, you've got to step up, man,'" Biden said Thursday on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"Let me tell you, we're going to start -- Daddy is going to start to take the training wheels off ... next July, so you'd better practice riding."

I understand what he is trying to say here isn't bad, but it is just how he put it is what is so bad. I wonder how Karzai and Afghan people like being compared to children much less with the US/Obama/Biden being their daddy. I imagine that this will not be well received in Kabul.

Great News: Afghan President in Secret Talks With Taliban After He Loses Faith in Obama & US Victory

Even though has said that Afghanistan and a victory is "absolutely essential", he has yet to show that he means it in his actions, and Afghan President Karzai is beginning to notice as many in his circle are beginning to doubt where his true loyalties lie:

But underlying the tensions (within the Afghan government), according to Mr. Saleh and Afghan and Western officials, was something more profound: That Mr. Karzai had lost faith in the Americans and NATO to prevail in Afghanistan.

For that reason, Mr. Saleh and other officials said, Mr. Karzai has been pressing to strike his own deal with the Taliban and the country's archrival, Pakistan, the Taliban's longtime supporter. According to a former senior Afghan official, Mr. Karzai's maneuverings involve secret negotiations with the Taliban outside the purview of American and NATO officials.

"The president has lost his confidence in the capability of either the coalition or his own government to protect this country," Mr. Saleh said in an interview at his home. "President Karzai has never announced that NATO will lose, but the way that he does not proudly own the campaign shows that he doesn't trust it is working."

He is having secret meetings with the enemy?!? Has he lost faith in us so much that he feels that he must ingratiate himself with the side that he sees will be the eventual victors? Can you tell me why he has started losing faith in our victory? Hmmmm:

People close to the president say he began to lose confidence in the Americans last summer, after national elections in which independent monitors determined that nearly one million ballots had been stolen on Mr. Karzai's behalf. The rift worsened in December, when President Obama announced that he intended to begin reducing the number of American troops by the summer of 2011.

"Karzai told me that he can't trust the Americans to fix the situation here," said a Western diplomat in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He believes they stole his legitimacy during the elections last year. And then they said publicly that they were going to leave."

So, basically, the promise of withdrawing of troops by a certain deadline that Obama made in order to please his lefty base has resulted in not only the Taliban being emboldened, but it has, also, deflated the confidence and the desire for democracy that some in Afghanistan once had. Who woulda thunk it? Republicans and the military have been warning Obama about setting timetables because of exactly this reason. We can't half-ass this war and expect to win it. If we do, the American lives that have been lost, so far, would've been lost for nothing.

I wonder if this could have been somehow avoided. Did they have any prior warning of Karzai's waning allegiances?

Relations with Mr. Karzai have been rocky for some time, and international officials have expressed concern in the past that his decision making can be erratic. Last winter, Mr. Karzai accused NATO in a speech of ferrying Taliban fighters around northern Afghanistan in helicopters. Earlier this year, following criticism by the Obama administration, Mr. Karzai told a group of supporters that he might join the Taliban.

"HE MIGHT JOIN THE TALIBAN"?!? They knew this months ago?!? Why hasn't Obama done what needs to be done to win back the trust of a very important ally in the region and someone who is crucial to a successful campaign in Afghanistan? It is, as if, Obama doesn't truly care about a victory. Perhaps, his lack of dedication and attention is exactly why Karzai feels the need to ally himself with the enemy because Obama's heart isn't in it, and if you can't beat them, join them.

How bad could a secret alliance in between Karzai and the Taliban be?

In the interview, Mr. Saleh said he took offense at the exclusion. His primary job is to understand the Taliban, he said; leaving his agency off the commission made him worry that Mr. Karzai might intend to release hardened Taliban fighters.

"His conclusion is - a lot of Taliban have been wrongly detained, they should be released," Mr. Saleh said. "We are 10 years into the collapse of the Taliban - it means we don't know who the enemy is. We wrongly detain people."

This would completely undermine our efforts in Afghanistan and could be the turning point to our defeat, if we're not careful. We lost Vietnam, in part, because the South Vietnamese government and people lost their desire to fight their own people, even if it was for their freedom. That same thing could happen, today, if Obama doesn't do anything to turn this thing around. What could he do? He could meet with Karzai daily and reassure him of the strength of our resolve. He should rescind his order to withdraw troops next summer. This show the Taliban that we are in it to win it. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like Obama really cares about winning.

Shocker: Iran Has Been Training, Supplying Taliban Soldiers

I need everyone to sit down. I hope that this doesn't come as a shock to any of you, but Iran is helping to fund and train the same Taliban fighters that are killing our soldiers in Afghanistan every day:

KABUL, Afghanistan - The commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Sunday there is "clear evidence" that some Taliban fighters have trained in Iran.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal told reporters in the Afghan capital that Iran — Afghanistan's western neighbor — has generally assisted the Afghan government in fighting the insurgent group.

"There is, however, clear evidence of Iranian activity — in some cases providing weaponry and training to the Taliban — that is inappropriate," he said. McChrystal said NATO forces are working to stop both the training and the weapons trafficking.

When you add this to the fact that despite Obama and Europe begging and pleading w Iran to not pursue a nuclear program, it shows that Obama is totally incompetant when it comes to dealing with Iran. After all, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has enough fuel for two nuclear weapons.

To be fair, it would be near impossible for anyone to deal with that knucklehead that is in charge in Iran, right now.

Coakley Claims There's No More We Can Do in Afghanistan, Our Job There is Done or Something

The special election to replace the recently departed Sen. Ted Kennedy is set to take place in Massachusetts a week from today, January 19th. It has been a brief but intense battle in between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown. Polls have it anywhere in between a Coakley blowout to a Brown 1-point victory. However, it's going to be very tough to turn the very liberal state purple. If the Republicans pull it off it'll break the Democrat's filibuster-proof majority, after holding it for only one year.

They had their final debate yesterday. Coakley, of course, played the "Bush Sucks" card that all Democrats have been using to garner support for the past three years.

Brown went after Coakley for being soft on terrorists, which is a normal talking point to hit Democrats with during campaigns. However, Coakley said something about the War on Terror that seemed to justify all of Brown's accusations:

Coakley, the state attorney general, said she disagreed with Obama's decision and believes there are better ways to fight terrorist organizations than sending troops into every country where they have a presence. She also said it's time to bring home the troops still in Afghanistan.

"This is not about sending troops everywhere where we think al-Qaida is," she said. "I think we have done what we can in Afghanistan."

She is, basically, wanting to waive the white flag in Afghanistan. This would be a disaster as the Taliban and Al-Quaeda would no doubt return more emboldened then ever. They would claim a victorty over their "Great Satan", the United States. There would be no stopping them as they would feel like they could get away with pulling off further attacks as America would eventually cave.

In contrast, Brown supported the troop surge in Afghanistan and spoke out against letting captured terrorists "lawyer up".

Healthcare reform bill was, also, debated as, predictably, Brown opposed and Coakley unequivocally supports the bill, but it was the Afghanistan issue that really brought out how liberal Martha Coakley really is.

PS: Here's a video that I thought was really telling of this point:

Gitmo Alum Graduates to Become Leader Against US in Afghanistan

A Gitmo alum has graduated to become a leader in the fight against the US in Afghanistan:

A former Guantanamo Bay inmate is leading the fight against U.S. Marines in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to FOX News on Tuesday.

Another Gitmo releasee is found fighting our troops. This is getting old.

To Democrats: If It Walks Like A Surge, Talks Like a Surge, It's a Surge

My Thoughts

Can't they give Bush or Republicans any credit at all? They can't rewrite history. Bush and McCain were both right about the surge. The more Democrats refuse to admit this the more they will be seen as petty and juvenile by the voters.

Is Afghanistan Bringing US, Iran Together?

US, Iran could work together in Afghanistan: official

Mar 27, 2009
MOSCOW (AFP) — Afghanistan is a "very productive area" for engagement between the United States and its arch foe Iran, a US official declared Friday, at a meeting in Moscow aimed at curbing rising violence in the conflict-torn country.

The meeting, led by the Shanghai Group which groups China, Russia and Central Asian states, came amid mounting international concerns over the resurgence of the Taliban Islamist militants in the country.

"We see Iran as an important player related to Afghanistan. We see this as a very productive area for engagement in the future," the US official, who asked not to be named, said on the sidelines of the conference.

The United States and Iran have had no diplomatic ties for almost three decades but President Barack Obama in a message on March 20 offered to end the animosity, in a departure from the previous administration's tough line.

Obama was Friday to unveil a new offensive against terror havens in Afghanistan, by dispatching 4,000 extra troops to train the Afghan army and sending in hundreds more civilians.

The Moscow meeting is also being attended by Shanghai Group observers, NATO officials, delegates from Afghanistan and Iran as well as representatives of the G8 group of leading industrialised countries.

The United States has sent Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Patrick Moon to the conference but there appeared little chance he could meet Iranian delegates.

"Such a meeting is not on the agenda," Iran's ambassador to Russia Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

The meeting comes ahead of another international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague on March 31, due to be attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top diplomats.

Iran said on Thursday it would also attend the Hague conference, in a signal it is ready to help the new US administration restore stability to its eastern neighbour.

© 2009 AFP

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http://www.mywire.com/a/AFP/US-Iran-could-work-together/9658094?extId=10029
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My Thoughts

Whatever role Iran would play should be extremely limited as in almost non-existant. The arsonist in charge of the fire department comes to mind when reading this story.

Obama Sounds Like Bush While Outlining Afghan Strategy, Suggests Possible Offensive in Pakistan

Obama: 'Disrupt, Defeat, Dismantle' Al Qaeda
President Outlines New Afghanistan Strategy; Sends Thousands More Soldiers To Meet 'Increasingly Perilous' Threat

Mar 27, 2009 6:00 pm US/Eastern

Widening war in "the most dangerous place in the world," President Barack Obama launched a fresh effort Friday to defeat al Qaeda terrorists in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, defending his strategy with shades of the dire language of George W. Bush.

Stirring echoes of Sept. 11 and making the war his own, Obama warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States from secret havens in Pakistan. He said he was setting new benchmarks and sending in 4,000 more troops, hundreds of civilians and increased aid for a six-year war that has seemed to be easing in Iraq but still has no end in sight.

"I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future," Obama said. "That's the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just."

The president, who declared last weekend an "exit strategy" was needed for Afghanistan, never used those words in announcing his plans on Friday. His strategy is built on an ambitious goal of boosting the Afghan army from 80,000 to 134,000 troops by 2011 -- and greatly increasing training by U.S. troops accompanying them -- so the Afghan military can defeat Taliban insurgents and take control of the war.

That, he said, is "how we will ultimately be able to bring our troops home."

There is no timetable for withdrawal, and the White House said it had no estimate yet on how many billions of dollars its plan will cost.

The essence of Obama's strategy is to set clear goals for a war gone awry, to get the American people behind them, to provide more resources and to make a better case for international support. He is heading next week to a NATO meeting in France and Germany, where he expects allies to pledge more help of their own.

Much like Iraq, the war effort in Afghanistan has been longer and costlier than American leaders expected.

U.S.-led forces toppled the militant Taliban government there after the terrorist attacks on America in 2001, but many militants fled and regrouped in neighboring Pakistan. Obama said that Afghanistan will now get the resources it should have received years ago, "denied because of the war in Iraq."

Since becoming president, Obama has ordered 21,000 troops into Afghanistan, counting 17,000 combat forces who will try to quell surging violence. The Pentagon says that will put the U.S. total there at more than 60,000, the most to date. As the Iraq conflict winds down, the Afghanistan war is growing.

Taking firm control of the war that dominated Bush's presidency, Obama broke with his predecessor in significant ways but also used phrases that sounded strikingly familiar.

He described the ruthlessness of the enemy, the need to take on terrorists, the genesis of the fight. Bush often reminded the nation that terrorists were plotting to kill Americans, even as the public fear dissipated with each passing year after the 9/11 attacks.

"I remind everybody, the United States of America did not choose to fight a war in Afghanistan," Obama said. "Nearly 3,000 of our people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, for doing nothing more than going about their daily lives."

He tied Afghanistan and Pakistan together as one conflict, pledging regular three-way diplomacy with both countries and intensive outreach to the world for help in the region. He pledged to send in 4,000 forces to train the Afghan army and police force. He is sending in hundreds of U.S. civilians-agricultural specialists, educators and engineers-to help a poor, broken country try to build itself up from the provincial level.

The president promised that the U.S. will hold itself and others accountable by using benchmarks, although those measures are just starting to be shaped.

And showing the frustration of many in American government, Obama spoke bluntly about the leadership of the government it is trying to help.

He said Pakistan must no longer expect a "blank check" for its U.S. aid and must be willing to take on extremists within its borders. He suggested that the U.S. would strike terrorist targets in Pakistan if the country did not do so itself, saying he will insist that action be taken "one way or another."

On Afghanistan, he said the U.S. would not "turn a blind eye to the corruption that causes Afghans to lose faith in the own leaders."

Obama's review capped two months of extensive consultations between his team, Capitol Hill and foreign governments. He did not call Bush.

The former president often decried what he-called artificial timelines for pulling troops home from Iraq. In this case, Bruce Riedel, who led the Obama review of the Afghanistan-Pakistan plan, said it deliberately does not have timelines, to ensure flexibility. "We're not going to impose artificial constraints," he said.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai embraced the additional help his country will get to train its army and police force.

Pakistani Ambassador Husain Haqqani said it was "an extraordinarily positive sign that the Obama administration is thoroughly re-examining its policy toward our region."

The reaction from leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill was largely positive, although some lawmakers remain deeply skeptical of Pakistan's cooperation.

The Pakistani government has been more concerned by what it views as a greater threat to its existence, longtime rival India, with which it has fought three wars in the past six decades. And the Pakistani central government has relatively little control in some areas, tolerating or even ignoring Taliban and al Qaeda havens inside Pakistan.

The man Obama defeated for the presidency, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, said he welcomed Obama's revamped strategy as long overdue. "The war there is one that we can and must win, but for years now we have been fighting without a clear strategy and with insufficient resources," McCain said.

But McCain also said the president erred by not committing to sending in additional combat brigades as requested by the military commander on site. He said "we cannot fail in Afghanistan due to a lack of troops" and pushed Obama to be candid to the public that the war will cost more lives and money.

Much of the security build up in Afghanistan this year is meant to provide security for fair, stable elections there in August.

"We've been on a path since 2006, 2007, 2008, where violence has gone up," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We add these troops, violence is going to go up in 2009 because we're engaged more. That said, we've got to have a year this year, I believe, that stems that violence."

Obama, too, warned of tough days ahead. He said al Qaeda, its allies and probably its leader, Osama bin Laden, were plotting in the Pakistani frontier.

"For the American people," Obama said, "this border region has become the most dangerous place in the world."

© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc.


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http://wcbstv.com/national/afghanistan.troop.buildup.2.969254.html
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My Thoughts

This is a sound strategy so far. Obama should just go ahead and say that Bush and McCain might have been right about the war on terror. Although, I highly doubt that will ever happen.

His outline includes a surge and is lacking a timetable for withdrawl. Isn't this the kind of military policy that Obama chastised during the campaign? I guess reality hit him in the face during the meetings with military leaders, CIA, and Homeland Security.

This is what I found to be the most eye-opening quote: "(Obama) suggested that the U.S. would strike terrorist targets in Pakistan if the country did not do so itself, saying he will insist that action be taken 'one way or another.'"

Does this mean that we might be starting another war in Pakistan, too?

Obama Administration Tries Buy Kyrgyzstan Back From Putin's Influence

U.S. Official: Negotiations Continue Over Kyrgyzstan Air Base
Friday, March 27, 2009

MOSCOW —  A senior U.S. official said Friday that negotiations are continuing with Kyrgyzstan over a key American air base that the Central Asian country has ordered U.S. forces to leave this year.

The base provides support for military operations in Afghanistan and its potential closure poses a challenge to President Barack Obama's plan to send up to 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan this year to fight surging Taliban and Al Qaeda violence.

Kyrgyzstan last month ordered the United States to leave the base within 180 days.

But the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told reporters in Moscow that, "We have agreed to enter into discussions with the Kyrgyz, at their invitation, on the possibility of the (base) agreement remaining in force."

"They have given us notification that they want the agreement to end, but the story is not over yet," the official said.

Kyrgyz officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The U.S. official downplayed the effect that closure of the base would have on Afghanistan operations, saying the United States has options with countries that already offer basing rights, saying "it's not going to affect our ability to supply our forces in Afghanistan."

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,510917,00.html
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My Thoughts

Maybe Obama has realized the error in his ways at letting Putin and Russia influence their former satellite state into kicking our troops out of their country.

That base is an invaluable asset to our war effort in Afghanistan especially since Obama is sending even more troops into the country.

Iran's Invitation to Afghan Talks Should Get Lost in the Mail

US to invite Iran to Afghan talks

The new US administration has said it will engage with Iran on a diplomatic front [AFP]

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said Iran will be invited to a proposed international conference on the future of Afghanistan.

Clinton suggested the meeting at a gathering of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

She said the conference involving "all the stakeholders and interested parties" should take place by the end of the month.

Clinton emphasised that all of Afghanistan's neighbours would be asked to attend the conference.

"If we move forward with such a meeting, it is expected that Iran would be invited as a neighbour of Afghanistan," Clinton told a news conference in Brussels.

US officials said no final decision had been made on a venue for the conference, but Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, told reporters it would probably be held in the Netherlands.

In a sharp turnaround from the previous US administration, Barack Obama, the US president, has said he wants to talk to Iran on a range of issues and the conference invitation would be the start of a diplomatic outreach to Tehran.

Obama has ordered a renewed focus on the war in Afghanistan, and plans to send an additional 17,000 troops to the region in an effort to turn the conflict around.

Policy review

The United States is said to be doing a review of their isolationist policies towards Iran, including whether to open a low-level diplomatic office in Tehran.

However, Washington remains at odds with Tehran primarily over its nuclear programme which Washington says is aimed at building an atomic bomb.

Tehran says its programme is for peaceful power purposes.

"Our task is to dissuade them, deter them and prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon," Clinton said.

She has said Iran's nuclear programme will be among items topping the agenda when she holds talks with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, on Friday in Geneva.

The United States cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran during the 1979-1981 US hostage crisis, in which a group of Iranian students held 52 US diplomats hostage at the American embassy for 444 days.


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http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/20093602055818590.html

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My Thoughts

Inviting Iran to the table to discuss the future of Afghanistan is like asking the pyromaniac arsonist to come to a conference discussing the future of the fire department and how to prevent more fires.


I would assume that there would be plans talked about and made about how to fight Al-Qaeda and terrorism. Having the terror-sponsoring countries such as Iran discussing how to prevent terrorists from operating in another country is counterproductive.

The Obama administration has committed themselves to opening diplomatic relations with the hardline Islamic nation. As dangerous opening relations with the militant and borderline psychotic dictator is, starting talks in such a crucial setting that could have serious ramifications for not just the US and Iran but also Afghanistan and the rest of the world is absolutely insane.