Free Republic

The BBC's David Loyn has had exclusive access to Taleban forces mobilised against the British army in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. There is no army on earth as mobile as the Taleban. The Taleban say history is on their side I remember it as their secret weapon when I travelled with them in the mid-1990s, as they swept aside rival mujahideen to take most of the country.

BERLIN, Sept. 15, 2005 – NATO defense ministers, who met here Sept. 13 and 14, "are strongly committed to expanding NATO's role" in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in a Sept. 14 news conference. "By spring, our goal is for NATO to partner with the Afghan National Army to manage security in what will amount to something like three quarters of that country," he said. The secretary said U.S. forces would continue to play a strong role. Discussions during the Sept. 14 meetings focused on expanding NATO influence into the southern part of Afghanistan, including the area around...