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Taliban Admits Defeat
Strategypage ^ | 6/25/07

Posted on 06/25/2007 9:12:52 AM PDT by Valin

The Taliban has admitted defeat, in their own unique way. In recent media interviews, Taliban spokesmen announced a shift in emphasis to suicide bombings. The Taliban also admitted that the Americans had infiltrated their high command, which led to the death or capture of several senior Taliban officials, and the capture of many lower ranking ones as well. There have also been some prominent defections recently, which the Taliban spokesmen did not want to talk about.

The Taliban has never been a terrorist organization. They began as a paramilitary operation fifteen years ago, when they were recruited from refugee camps in Pakistan. There, Afghans in religious schools were armed by Pakistani intelligence officers, and persuaded to go back to Afghanistan to end the civil war raging there and establish a religious dictatorship. No terrorism, just brute force by a bunch of gun toting young guys on a mission from God. Once they achieved power, the Taliban quickly demonstrated that they did not have a clue when it came to running a country. They did give al Qaeda, recently run out of Sudan, a refuge. By the late 1990s, they were using a brigade of al Qaeda gunmen as enforcers, to keep increasingly unhappy Afghan tribes in check. Then came September 11, 2001, and it was all over in two months. A few hundred American Special Forces and CIA operatives provided advice, encouragement and smart bombs to help the Afghans drive the Taliban out of power. Fleeing back to Pakistan, the Taliban spent five years rebuilding and soliciting funds from wealthy Islamic conservative Arabs and Pakistanis. Afghan drug gangs also became sponsors, as these guys had got their start when the Taliban were in power. Back then, if you paid the Taliban a "tax" you could produce and ship opium and heroin in Afghanistan. The new Afghan government has been hostile to that arrangement, but the Taliban are eager to restore the good old days.

Terrorism is a step back for the Taliban, and an admission that they have failed, in the last two years, in their effort to march into Afghanistan and take over. Suicide bombing is suicidal in more ways than one. Most of the victims, so far, have been Afghans, and this has turned many likeminded (Islamic conservative) Afghans against the Taliban. But at this point, the Taliban have no choice. They must either step back, or step aside. By choosing to proceed with a terror campaign, they are also selecting extinction.


TOPICS: War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; gwot; islam; muhammadsminions; progress; quranicteachings; suicidebombings; taliban; waronislamism; wot
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1 posted on 06/25/2007 9:12:53 AM PDT by Valin
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To: SandRat

bttt


2 posted on 06/25/2007 9:13:52 AM PDT by SolidWood (UN delenda est.)
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To: Valin

Now drop 100 Moabs to send a message.


3 posted on 06/25/2007 9:14:36 AM PDT by samadams2000 (Someone important make......The Call!)
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To: Valin
The Taliban also admitted that the Americans had infiltrated their high command...

Remember that funeral we didn't bomb? My guess is that some of our operatives were in attendance, gathering intelligence.

4 posted on 06/25/2007 9:16:14 AM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: SolidWood

When you stand up to them they skuttle back under the rocks.


5 posted on 06/25/2007 9:16:33 AM PDT by DManA
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To: Valin

The liberal argument is that we should redploy from Iraq to Afghanistan because we ignored it and let the Taliban re-constitute itself.


6 posted on 06/25/2007 9:16:47 AM PDT by AU72
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To: Valin

bttt


7 posted on 06/25/2007 9:17:24 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: Valin

Bella Pelosi and Dingy Harry Reid deeply saddened


8 posted on 06/25/2007 9:17:28 AM PDT by clamper1797 (Fred Thompson / Duncan Hunter in 2008)
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To: Valin
Once they achieved power, the Taliban quickly demonstrated that they did not have a clue when it came to running a country.

This statement is true of a lot of "movements". The key example is the Palestinian "movement." The reason the peace talks fell apart was that Arafat realized that he didn't have the foggiest idea of how to govern. If he couldn't continue the struggle then he knew he would lose power. That has continued under the remains of Fatah and now with Hamas.

9 posted on 06/25/2007 9:17:38 AM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: hunter112
My guess is that some of our operatives were in attendance, gathering intelligence.

Very possible. The decision not to bomb took a lot of flak, but I believe there was a very good reason for not taking them out at the time. That could have been why.
10 posted on 06/25/2007 9:20:52 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic (..and the horse you rode in on!)
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To: Valin
A completely clueless sophomoric story.

The Taliban is and has been a secondary player.

The enemy is Islam not the Talibaners.

Until

1. the Saudi funding of worldwide jihad collapses
AND
2. the West realizes the infiltration of islam provides aid and assistance to those pledged to destroy us

The war will continue. Has it ever really stopped in the past 1300+ years? I think not.

11 posted on 06/25/2007 9:21:17 AM PDT by eleni121 (+ En Touto Nika! By this sign conquer! + Constantine the Great)
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To: Valin

The taliban has never been a terrorist organisation. They just went around killing people for the fun of it.


12 posted on 06/25/2007 9:21:52 AM PDT by sgtbono2002 (http://www.imwithfred.com/index.aspx)
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To: Valin

***The Taliban has never been a terrorist organization. They began as a paramilitary operation fifteen years ago, when they were recruited from refugee camps in Pakistan.***

That’s what they are in the Middle East. Freedom fighters

Over here, in the real world, they’re a terrorist organization.

I heard the surge isn’t working, Harry Reid said so.

(Do I really need a /s tag?)


13 posted on 06/25/2007 9:22:38 AM PDT by wastedyears (Check my profile for links to anti-illegal immigration T-shirts.)
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To: Valin

I just read in the MSM the other day that the Taliban were resurgent. This report can’t be true.


14 posted on 06/25/2007 9:23:04 AM PDT by saganite (Billions and billions and billions----and that's just the NASA budget!)
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To: hunter112

I hope that is the case, and I hope I will remember it next time I get angry with an apparent failure to act. It’s hard to do when there have been so many times I wrongly assumed the Bush administration had strategic reasons for actions/non-actions I faulted it for.


15 posted on 06/25/2007 9:25:33 AM PDT by Bluegrass Federalist
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To: Valin
Anyone who is curious about what it's like to live under the Taliban in Afghanistan should see this movie.
16 posted on 06/25/2007 9:25:52 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: eleni121

What you said is the damn truth.

These ‘battles’ against the Taliban or Saddam or Al Qaeda even are non-events in the coming war against all 1.2 billion of them.


17 posted on 06/25/2007 9:27:11 AM PDT by Tolsti
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To: Valin

The Taliban should just wait a bit longer. The Democrats will likely help them snatch victory from defeat.


18 posted on 06/25/2007 9:27:47 AM PDT by Obadiah
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To: eleni121
"The enemy is Islam not the Talibaners."

Well said.

19 posted on 06/25/2007 9:44:30 AM PDT by WorkerbeeCitizen (An American Patriot and an anti-Islam kind of fellow. (POI))
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To: USNBandit
Once they achieved power, the Taliban quickly demonstrated that they did not have a clue when it came to running a country.

This statement is true of a lot of "movements".

One such movement is Communism, represented in this country by the Democrat Party.

20 posted on 06/25/2007 9:48:22 AM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done, needs to be done by the government.)
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