Afghan Tribal What good is the Afghan war doing for the UK?
Sure it may remove a training ground for Taliban / Al Quaeda but there are many other places that they can use such as tribal regions of pakistan, Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon etc etc
It may slow down the flow of Heroin which the Taliban sell to fund their operations, but are there any other benefits to us as a country from the war?
I fully support our Armed Forces who will fight whoever the government tell them to fight, I just wonder what the UK is getting from the conflict even if we win it?
And I dont accept the criticism that it is causing Muslims to commit terror acts against us. That is just an excuse, they would think of a different excuse if they didnt have this war to blame.
John: Good point, but I doubt if that is why our troops were sent there.
Mariadsa: Actually the Taliban are the ones who are running the drugs, they use the profits to fund their activities.
It is truly a nightmare, and I wont BS anyone and say that I really understand it all. But if we pull out, we may be having to fight terrorists on our own doorstep in Britain. Who knows? Maybe it's a better option to fight them thousands of miles away instead.
Mainly though, the worrying thing is what will happen to Pakistan if us and the Americans withdraw, because Pakistan have nukes, and the Taliban are fighting also in Pakistan. If The Taliban take over there, we could be on the wrong end of a flying nuke, and that will be too late to do anything about it. At least we are there, at least we have 'some' control of the region..... albeit at enormous cost in men and equipment.
October 7, 2011 marks the tenth anniversary of the start of the Afghan war, and this explosive book exposes how the West lost it`s chance to rout the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan. In late 2001, a group of Afghan tribal leaders met to plan how to topple the Taliban. Within weeks, the plan was in tatters, thwarted by the West and its leader, Abdul Haq, assassinated by the Taliban. Lucy Morgan Edwards`s investigation into Haq`s tragic mission led her to Taliban Ministers, warlords, spies, and two American Republican brothers who financed Haq’s venture.Based on the author`s own experience of the war in Afghanistan, this book reveals how a solution to the war was lost and why it matters today.
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles The Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the holding of a consultative grand council called the Afghanistans National Consultative Peace Jirga (NCPJ) or shortly Peace Jirga in his inauguration speech on 19 November 2009, after winning elections for a second term, to end the ongoing Taliban insurgency. At the International Afghanistan Conference in London on 28 January 2010, he announced that the government would hold the event in April or May 2010, intended to bring together tribal elders, officials and local power brokers from around the country, to discuss peace and the end of the insurgency. Jirga is a word in the Pashto language that means large assembly or council. It is a traditional method in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan of resolving disputes between tribes or discussing problems affecting whole communities. Author: Miller, Frederic P./ Vandome, Agnes F./ McBrewster, John Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 172 Publication Date: 2010/12/30 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.40 inches
After learning of a devastating al-Qaeda terrorist attack, British intelligence makes an extraordinary move to divine the deadly details: they have a British intelligence agent, Mike Martin, impersonate a Taliban commander released from Guantanamo. Martin then attempts to go undercover in the world`s most feared and dangerous organization in an desperate bid to ward off catastrophe. In THE AFGHAN, Frederick Forsyth (THE DAY OF THE JACKAL) employs his famous almost-journalistic technique, and produces yet another captivating and intricately researched political thriller.
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Afghan Tribal Pashtun Eating Scorpions
Britain seeks Pakistan's stiffer action against al Qaeda
BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on Pakistan to take tougher action against al Qaeda and step up its efforts to track down the group's leader, Osama bin Laden.
A United States (U.S.) Senate report yesterday said Bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of American troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when U.S. military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force.
The report, according to Reuters, asserted that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Brown said the efforts of British and coalition forces in Afghanistan to tackle the Taliban insurgency needed to be matched by more effective action by the Pakistan government and forces on their side of the border.
"Brown called President (Asif Ali) Zardari yesterday, he expressed support for what Pakistani forces are doing against the Pakistani Taliban but said he wanted to see tougher action against the leadership of al Qaeda," a British official said.
The official said Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani would be coming to London on Thursday to meet with Brown.
In television interviews yesterday, Brown said that while progress had been made by Pakistani forces in South Waziristan, a bastion of the Pakistani Taliban, there were still big issues to deal with in the country.
"People are going to ask why, eight years after 2001, Osama bin Laden has never been near to being caught ... and what can the Pakistan authorities do that is far more effective," he told Sky news.
"Al Qaeda has a base in Pakistan, that base is still there that they are able to recruit from abroad," he said.
"The Pakistan authorities must convince us that they are taking all the action that is necessary to deal with that threat."
He also questioned why there had been no evidence to lead to the capture of bin Laden and his second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, despite people in Pakistan knowing where they are.
His comments came as a U.S. report criticised military leaders under former President George W. Bush for missing an opportunity to capture or kill bin Laden in 2001.
Meanwhile, under-pressure Pakistani leader, Zardari, has claimed "considerable success" in a military offensive against Taliban fighters in the remote tribal northwest.
He spoke as Pakistan's main opposition party called on him to immediately relinquish much of his power amid calls for the unpopular leader to assume a ceremonial role or resign.
The political turmoil threatens to distract the U.S.-allied country from its fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda near the Afghan border.
Zardari inherited sweeping presidential powers from his predecessor, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who staged a 1999 military coup and resigned last year.
He has promised to give them to the prime minister, in line with Pakistan's original constitution, but has been accused of foot-dragging by an angry opposition.
Zardari, who is battling increasing unpopularity and strained relations with the powerful military, made the remarks during a telephone conversation with Brown.
Pakistan sent about 30,000 troops backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships into South Waziristan on October 17, in the most ambitious operation yet against the Taliban in their mountain stronghold near the Afghan border.
Although there has been some resistance in the region, many officials and analysts believe most of the estimated 10,000 Taliban guerrillas in the district have escaped into neighbouring Orakzai and North Waziristan.
Pakistan is also facing political uncertainty, after a legal amnesty protecting Zardari and key aides from corruption cases expired over the weekend, raising fears of a fresh crisis as the country grapples with the Taliban.
Zardari has given control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, widely seen as a move to fend off criticism and make good on electoral promises to devolve greater power to parliament.
