15 Jul 2009
Afghanistan: Obama’s war
While Afghanistan falls outside of Three Kings normal area of focus, I thought it was worthy to bring it up, as celebrity deaths and Chinese/Iranian protests have soaked up a lot of airtime (and I’m not being critical of that, at least in the case of the latter). Since the U.S. military drastically changed strategy and seized the restive Helmand province and are now occupying it in a very different, more complete way, the Taliban has adapted.
The WashPost had an interesting article talking about the Taliban’s own change in strategy and it’s effects. For example:
Western troops in Afghanistan have been dying at a rate of three a day, far higher than the normal rate.
And this is a very complicated fight.
[L]arge swaths of the [Helmand] river valley remain without coalition forces, including Marja, which is near the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. Insurgents are known to be taking refuge there, Amland said. U.S. military reports indicate that senior Taliban leaders are not employing their best-trained fighters, and as a result the attacks are not highly sophisticated, officers said. “The Taliban senior leadership is husbanding their assets. They know the guys who choose to fight us will be killed,” one officer said.
I will try and keep an eye on this situation. To read the rest of the Washington Post article, click here.
Interesting perspective!
Sherry Clayton
July 16th, 2009 at 12:13 pmpermalink