Pelosi Calls Afghan Karzai "unworthy partner"

Today elitist Nancy Pelosi has thrown Afghan President Karzi into the meat grinder. Besides this, back in October Obama opened up his bottomless checkbook to the Taliban. Also stating that in the future, Taliban members will be allowed into the Afghan government. Is it clear whose side the left is on?

Pelosi calls Afghan Karzai "unworthy partner"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai is an "unworthy partner" who does not deserve a big boost either in U.S. troops or civilian aid, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Pelosi, a skeptic on sending more troops to Afghanistan, also said in an interview with National Public Radio aired on Friday that there was not strong support among her fellow Democrats in Congress for "any big ramp-up of troops" to oppose resurgent Taliban forces.

She told NPR she had asked fellow Democrats to give President Barack Obama room to decide his Afghan strategy, which is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Once Obama, also a Democrat, announces his decision, lawmakers would "not be shy" about responding, she said.

"The president of Afghanistan has proven to be an unworthy partner. We cannot fund a mission where we don't have a reliable partner and where whatever civilian investments we want to make, which are so necessary, will be diverted for a corrupt purpose," Pelosi told NPR News' Morning Edition.

"How can we ask the American people to pay a big price in lives and limbs and also in dollars if we don't have a connection to a reliable partner?"

Pelosi's comments came a day after Karzai was sworn in for his second five-year term. He has faced tough pressure from Western leaders to clamp down on widespread corruption and replace former guerrilla leaders and cronies with able technocrats in his new government.

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Afghan: US Envoy Objects to Troop Increase

First Obama and the impotent Pentagon impose new Rules of Engagement (ROE) that favor the enemy. Then our troops received no support at Fort Hood as the Islamic time bomb Hasan was allowed to roam free, and now this. Does our government or Pentagon actually care about our brave soldiers? Apparently not.

US envoy objects to troop increase
By ANNE GEARAN

WASHINGTON – The U.S. envoy in Afghanistan, a former Army general who once commanded troops in the country, has objected strongly to emerging plans to send tens of thousands of additional forces to the country, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

Ambassador Karl Eikenberry resigned his Army commission to take the job as U.S.
ambassador in Kabul earlier this year, and his is an influential voice among those advising President Barack Obama on Afghanistan. Eikenberry sent multiple classified cables to Washington over the past week that question the wisdom of adding forces when the Afghan political situation is unstable and uncertain, said an official familiar with the cables. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations and the classified documents.

Cables are diplomatic messages that may or may not be classified and carry greater heft than other forms of communication such as e-mail.

Eikenberry made the point that the administration should step cautiously in planning for any troop buildup while there are still so many questions surrounding Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the official said. Eikenberry is the front line U.S. official dealing with Karzai, the U.S.-backed leader whose administration was stained by corruption and mismanagement. It was a visiting senior senator, Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts, who was instrumental in persuading Karzai last month to accept the findings of a U.N. panel that his re-election vote in August was too marred by fraud to stand.

Karzai agreed to a second round of voting but was elevated to a second term as president without a runoff election when his challenger dropped out. Since then, U.S. officials have been alarmed at some of Karzai's remarks and the lack, so far, of meaningful steps to clean house.

Eikenberry's objections were a wild card in the midst of what had appeared to be the final days of Obama's long decision-making process on how to revamp U.S. strategy in the 8-year war. Eikenberry has participated in some of Obama's war council sessions over the past several weeks.

A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press that Obama rejected all four options presented to him at what had been expected to be the last of those sessions Wednesday. Those options started from the premise that some addition of U.S. forces is necessary, and included ways that Obama could meet or nearly meet war commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's preference for about 40,000 additional troops.

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Obama Warns Afghan President: Time for new Chapter

Did you hear that Karzai? If you do not do the right thing, Obama might just let the Taliban thugs takeover. Oh, he is already on the way to doing that....

Obama warns Afghan president: Time for new chapter
By BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama greeted Hamid Karzai's election victory with as much admonishment as praise on Monday, pointedly advising America's partner in war he must make more serious efforts to end corruption in Afghanistan's government and prepare his nation to ultimately defend itself.

"I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter," Obama said in describing his phone call to the Afghan president. When Karzai offered back assurances, Obama said he told him that "the proof is not going to be in words. It's going to be in deeds."

Obama's message of stern solidarity came as he considers sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops into the war zone in Karzai's country.

Karzai won a second term Monday when competitor Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the Nov. 7 runoff, suggesting it would be doomed by fraud just as the first voting in August was. The handling of the first election cost Karzai in international credibility.

Yet the White House put its weight behind the legitimacy of the final outcome after helping to broker a runoff that never happened. Obama called the process "messy" but said Karzai won in accordance with Afghan law. The White House repeatedly said Abdullah had pulled out for his own political and personal reasons.

The collapse of the planned run-off increases pressure on the Obama administration to quickly end its lengthy deliberations about whether to commit more U.S. forces to a worsening war. Obama may announce his revamped war strategy, including a decision on sending more troops, early next week before a planned overseas trip.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged that Karzai's win by default is a factor in the coming decision about troops but did not say the timetable for an announcement has changed. The administration continues to say it will happen in the "coming weeks."

In recounting his call to Karzai, Obama spent most of his time saying what he expects from his fellow president: more diligent efforts to end corruption, cooperation in accelerating the training of Afghan security forces, tangible benefits in the lives of the Afghan people.

Those aren't just Obama's standards. He is under pressure to show Congress and the public that the U.S. is dealing with a trustworthy partner, particularly if it is going to send more troops there. Many Americans have grown weary of the war and are questioning its worth.

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Obama Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases

When Obama stated that he was going to reach out to the Islamic world, he was not kidding. The weakness of Obama has lead to the Taliban getting stronger. He has even given the Taliban the OK to participate in the future political landscape of Afghanistan. Apparently none of this was enough though, and now Obama is willing to share power in Afghanistan with the Taliban thugs. This is straight out of the Twilight Zone.

US Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent


ISLAMABAD – The emboldened Taliban movement in Afghanistan turned down an American offer of power-sharing in exchange for accepting the presence of foreign troops, Afghan government sources confirmed.

"US negotiators had offered the Taliban leadership through Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkil (former Taliban foreign minister) that if they accept the presence of NATO troops in Afghanistan, they would be given the governorship of six provinces in the south and northeast," a senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official told IslamOnline.net requesting anonymity for not being authorized to talk about the sensitive issue with the media.

He said the talks, brokered by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, continued for weeks at different locations including the Afghan capital Kabul.

Saudi Arabia, along with Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, were the only states to recognize the Taliban regime which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Turkish Prime Minister Reccap Erodgan has reportedly been active in brokering talks between the two sides.

His emissaries are in contact with Hizb-e-Islami (of former prime minister Gulbadin Hikmatyar) too because he is an important factor in northeastern Afghanistan."

A Taliban spokesman admitted indirect talks with the US.

"Yes, there were some indirect talks, but they did not work," Yousaf Ahmedi, the Taliban spokesman in southern Afghanistan, told IOL from an unknown location via satellite phone.

"There are some people who are conveying each others’ (Taliban and US) messages. But there were no direct talks between us and America," he explained.

Afghan and Taliban sources said Mutawakkil and Mullah Mohammad Zaeef, a former envoy to Pakistan who had taken part in previous talks, represented the Taliban side in the recent talks.

The US Embassy in Kabul denied any such talks.

"No, we are not holding any talks with Taliban," embassy spokeswoman Cathaline Haydan told IOL from Kabul.

Asked whether the US has offered any power-sharing formula to Taliban, she said she was not aware of any such offer.

"I don't know about any specific talks and the case you are reporting is not true."

Provinces for Bases

Source say that for the first time the American negotiators did not insist on the "minus-Mullah Omer" formula, which had been the main hurdle in previous talks between the two sides.

The Americans reportedly offered Taliban a form of power-sharing in return for accepting the presence of foreign troops.

"America wants 8 army and air force bases in different parts of Afghanistan in order to tackle the possible regrouping of Al-Qaeda network," the senior official said.

He named the possible hosts of the bases as Mazar-e-Sharif and Badakshan in north, Kandahar in south, Kabul, Herat in west, Jalalabad in northeast and Ghazni and Faryab in central Afghanistan.

In exchange, the US offered Taliban the governorship of the southern provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, Hilmand and Orazgan as well as the northeastern provinces of Nooristan and Kunar.

These provinces are the epicenter of resistance against the US-led foreign forces and are considered the strongholds of Taliban.

Orazgan and Hilmand are the home provinces of Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Omer and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"But Taliban did not agree on that," said the senior official.

"Their demand was that America must give a deadline for its pull out if it wants negotiations to go on."

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Obama Opens up Checkbook to Taliban

Although the Taliban in Afghanistan is getting stronger, Obama still believes that he is going to reach out to the "moderate" Taliban members, in order to turn the war around. His next brilliant move is to now pay off Taliban members, this comes just weeks after stating that Taliban members will be allowed to take part in the government of Afganistan. Because of Obama, who has the upper hand here?

U.S. defense bill would pay Taliban to switch sides
By Susan Cornwell – Tue Oct 27

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The defense bill President Barack Obama will sign into law on Wednesday contains a new provision that would pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said on Tuesday.

The provision establishes a program in Afghanistan similar to one used in Iraq where former fighters were re-integrated into Iraqi society, Levin told Reuters.

Obama plans to sign the bill authorizing Pentagon operations for fiscal 2010 on Wednesday, the White House said.

Reaching out to moderate Taliban members is part of the Obama administration's plan to turn around the eight-year war in Afghanistan. Levin also has advocated trying to convince Taliban fighters to change sides by luring them with jobs and amnesty for past attacks.

Under the legislation, Afghan fighters who renounce the insurgency would be paid for "mainly protection of their towns and villages," Levin said.

It would be "just like the sons of Iraq," he said, referring to the program used in Iraq which military commanders say helped turn around a failing war.

"You got 90,000 Iraqis who switched sides, and are involved in protecting their hometowns against attack and violence."

The bill authorizes using money from an existing Commanders Emergency Response Program, which U.S. commanders can use for a variety of purposes. It does not set a specific dollar amount for the fighters' re-integration program.

There is $1.3 billion authorized for the fund in fiscal 2010, which began October 1. The money must still be allocated by defense appropriators, who are working to finish the legislation.

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Afghans Protest Rumored Desecration of Koran by U.S. Troops

Is this part of the Afghans actually respecting us over their religion? As I have been saying, the infidel does not get to dictate to Muslims what Islam is. General McChrystal had recently stated that the Afghans will tell us when we win the war. Is this a sign of that? Our troops do not deserve the so called leaders that they are forced to serve under. No more nation building, PLEASE!



(Majid / Getty Images / October 25, 2009)

Afghans protest rumored desecration of Koran by U.S. troops
Hundreds of protesters in Kabul burn an effigy of President Obama, a sign of rising religious conservatism and anti-Americanism in the country. The U.S. military denies committing acts of sacrilege.

By Laura King
October 25, 2009

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - Hundreds of angry protesters in Afghanistan's capital burned an effigy of President Obamaon Sunday, acting on rumors that American troops had desecrated the Koran.

U.S. military officials emphatically denied that any copies of the Muslim holy book had been mishandled, and accused the Taliban of spreading falsehoods to incite hatred against Western forces.

But the protest -- reminiscent of similar demonstrations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim world in recent years -- showed how easily passions involving religious sensitivities can be stirred up even with a dearth of evidence.

The incident also pointed to a strong undercurrent of anti-American sentiment at a politically fraught time in Afghanistan, less than two weeks before a runoff to settle a divisive, fraud-tainted presidential election. The Nov. 7 face-off between President Hamid Karzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah was agreed to only after heavy U.S. pressure on Karzai to accept the results of an international audit. The investigators found as many as one-third of the ballots cast for Karzai in the Aug. 20 election had been fraudulent. That put the Afghan leader below the threshold of victory, 50%, which made a runoff necessary.

On Sunday morning U.S. news interview shows, both candidates ruled out a power-sharing agreement to avoid the runoff. Against this political backdrop, the Koran protest reflected a rising religious conservatism even among some members of Afghanistan's educated elite, such as the university students who made up most of the crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators.

Police fired warning shots into the air when the demonstrators marched from Kabul University toward the parliament, but no injuries were reported.

Several marchers insisted they were certain that a Koran had been desecrated by U.S. troops in Wardak province, just outside the capital, even if they could not provide particulars of the incident, such as when it was believed to have taken place.

"Muslims were disrespected!" said Zabiullah Khalil, an engineering student. "The foreigners shot the Koran, and then they burned it. They should be tried for this."

The demonstration, like many in the capital, had a heartfelt yet orchestrated feel to it. Khalil, like a number of other participants, expressed broad anger at the United States in connection with the election and its disputed aftermath.

"We don't want a slave government," he said. "We want a real Islamic country."

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Taliban out to win Hearts of Afghans, new ROE,~Video

Recently the Obama lead Pentagon had disclosed the US military's new Rules of Engagement (ROE). Here are the Talibans.

Al Jazeera has obtained a copy of the Taliban's new military code of conduct, approved by their Afghan leader, Mullah Omar.

The document outlines the use of suicide bombings, guidelines on the treatment of hostages and how to win the battle for the hearts of the Afghan population.

As Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from the capital, Kabul, the book offers rare insight into how the Taliban is evolving in Afghanistan.

Obama to Send "Support" Troops to Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan is at best a stand off and our troops are getting killed at a higher rate because of Obama's new Rules of Engagement, (ROE). So instead of changing the ROE to favor our troops or sending more combat personnel in, Obama has decided to send in more support troops. How about that?

Obama approves 13,000 more troops to Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – In an unannounced move, President Barack Obama is dispatching an additional 13,000 US troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 he announced publicly in March, The Washington Post reported.

The additional forces are primarily support forces -- such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police -- the Post said, bringing the total buildup Obama has approved for the war-torn nation to 34,000.

"Obama authorized the whole thing. The only thing you saw announced in a press release was the 21,000," a defense official familiar with the troop-approval process told the daily.

The report, posted on the newspaper's website late Monday, came as Obama weighs a request from the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for more combat, training and support troops, with several options including one for 40,000 more forces.

But the newspaper noted that the maximum number of US service members expected in Afghanistan by year's end -- 68,000 -- would remain the same.

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Official: Taliban Better Financed Than al-Qaida

So the Taliban is getting stronger than ever, and our Islam loving Obama, wants to put them in the Afghan government. Is it even possible to have a worse president?

Official: Taliban better financed than al-Qaida
By RICHARD LARDNER

WASHINGTON – The Taliban are in much stronger financial shape than al-Qaida and rely on a wide range of criminal activities to pay for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, a senior Treasury Department official said Monday.

David Cohen, the department's assistant secretary for terrorist financing, said the extremist group extorts money from poppy farmers and heroin traffickers involved in Afghanistan's booming drug trade. The Taliban also demand protection payments from legitimate Afghan businesses, he said during a speech at a conference on money laundering enforcement.

Cohen's assessment came as President Barack Obama and his top advisers discuss whether many more troops may be needed in the 8-year-old Afghanistan conflict. A critical part of the deliberations is whether the fight should be a more narrow one against al-Qaida or a broader battle against the Taliban-led insurgency.

According to Cohen, al-Qaida is a cash-strapped organization that is losing its clout. That condition is the product, he said, of a long-running effort by the U.S. and its allies to cut off the terror group's sources of funding by targeting its deep-pocketed donors and interfering with its ability to move money.

In the first half of 2009, he said, al-Qaida's leaders made four public appeals for money to bolster recruitment and training.

"We assess that al-Qaida is in its weakest financial condition in several years, and that, as a result, its influence is waning," Cohen said at the conference, sponsored by the American Bankers Association and the American Bar Association.

But Cohen cautioned that situation could reverse quickly because a pool of donors "who are ready, willing and able to contribute to al-Qaida" still exists.

The Taliban, meanwhile, appear to be heading in the other direction despite an international effort to shut down the movement's cash supply. Drugs are a major money maker for the group.

But Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, has said the Taliban get most of their cash from private benefactors in the Persian Gulf.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in his 66-page assessment of the war that the diversity of the Taliban's streams of cash makes it difficult to blunt their ability to operate.

Cohen said portions of the Taliban's illicit proceeds make their way out of the country and into the global financial system. But he did not specify how much or detail the money's suspected entry points.

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Mujahideen Islamic Propaganda Video

Here is one of the latest posts from the America and Jew hating Muslims over at NY based RevolutionMuslim.com. Like so many others have said, if seeing American soldiers die is their pleasure, why don't they go over and join the Mujahideen? Oh, I forgot an American soldier would shove his foot up their ass.


Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan operations stat's for Aug-Sept

Statement Of The Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan On The
Occasion Of The Eighth Anniversary Of
The American Attack On Afghanistan

Shawwal 17, 1430 A.H, October 07, 2009

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Since then until now, eight years have passed during which the American invaders and their allies of crusaders have killed, wounded and driven from homes hundreds of thousands of Afghans including children, women and old men. This sanguinary spree of killing has been continuing. All these Afghans were not involved in the event of New York. The invaders unleashed atrocities on the Afghans and other Muslim freedom-lovers in Guantananmo, Bagram and the Abu Gharib jails that have no precedence in the history.

At the beginning, they were promising, they will withdraw within three months, in their words, after eliminating the so-called terrorism. Contrarily, today eighth years from that times have passed, but they have built up hundreds of military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. They say that they will raise the level of their troops to almost 110000 troops.

It is clear from this, that they have occupied Afghanistan for the execution of their expansionist plans in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Southeast Asia.

We believed from the day one, that this is not a war between democracy and the so-called war on terrorism but rather a war between the western colonialism and the freedom-loving nationalist and Islamist forces.

In this unequal war, the one side have before them expansionism, colonialism and exploitation as their plans of objectives which they want to achieve by dent of military power through brutality and atrocities.

On the other hand, the other side of the war have their objective of independence, Islamic social justice, human dignity and national identity which they want to achieve through sacrifices and the shedding of their pure blood. We believe in this war between truth and evil, the truth will surely prevail.

We call on the American rulers and their allies of the coalition once again to put an end to the game of occupying Afghanistan and killing the Afghans under unsubstantiated pretexts. The Afghans are no more ready to believe your empty slogans, nor the world would like to see the globe, plunging into instability and various problems because of your wrong policies.

We announce to all the world, our aim is obtainment of independence and establishment of an Islamic system. We did not have any agenda to harm other countries including Europe nor we have such agenda today.

Still if you want to turn the country of the proud and pious Afghans into a colony, then know that we have an unwavering determination and have braced for a prolonged war. Have a glance at the history, the Afghans are the people characterized by historical distinction of always sacrificing in the way of their religion and country. Today, we will not fall short of this.

Forward for Establishment of an Independent Islamic System.

Taliban Condemns Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Just a day after Obama stated that he would allow Taliban members to take part in the government of Afghanistan, the Taliban has turned around and spit in Obama's face. Not surprising though, as anyone who knows human nature knows that power freaks like the Taliban view kindness as weakness, and they will always want more.

Taliban condemns Obama's Nobel Peace Prize
By Waheedullah Massoud

KABUL — The Taliban Friday condemned Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, saying rather than bring peace to Afghanistan he had boosted troop numbers and continued the aggressive policies of his predecessor.

"We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

"We condemn the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"When Obama was elected president, we were hopeful he would keep his promise to bring change. But he brought no change, he has continued the same old strategy as (President George W.) Bush.

"He reinforces the war in Afghanistan, he sent more troops to Afghanistan and is considering sending yet more. He has shed Afghan blood and he continues to bleed Afghans and to boost the war here," he said.

Obama won the award less than a year after he took office with the jury hailing his "extraordinary" diplomatic efforts.

Obama, 48, took office in January and has since sought to restore US standing in the world after widespread criticism over the war in Iraq and the superpower's attitude to efforts to control global warming.

He is currently considering a request from his military commanders to send another 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency is gaining strength, and the death toll of foreign soldiers has surged.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, whose government is supported by the US and NATO allies, welcomed the award as "appropriate".

"His hard work and his new vision on global relations, his will and efforts for creating friendly and good relations at global level and global peace make him the appropriate recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize," Karzai's spokesman Siamak Hirai said.

A prominent Afghan candidate for the prize, women's and human rights activist Sima Samar, told AFP she respected the Nobel committee's decision.

Through her spokesman, Nader Nadery, she said she was happy her candidacy had "brought major recognition to Afghanistan's women" and to her own work.

As Obama considers escalating the US troop presence in Afghanistan, he is expected to meet with senior military advisers again on Friday as speculation is rising that he may not opt for an increased counter-insurgency force.

The senior commander of the more than 100,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, has warned that the war against the Taliban could fail without reinforcements.

Speculation is rising that Obama may see the Taliban, which is spreading its footprint across Afghanistan, posing less of a threat to US security than Al-Qaeda and may choose to concentrate efforts on Pakistan instead.

On the streets of Kabul, Afghans said they did not believe Obama's policies had improved the situation in their war-ravaged country.

Indeed, said shopkeeper Ahamd Tawab, "the situation is getting worse here".
Abdul Hakeem, an 18-year-old tailor, said: "At least I can say that he is better than George Bush."

In the volatile south of the country, where the Taliban maintain a strong influence eight years after their repressive regime was overthrown in a US-led invasion, US soldiers expressed disbelief at Obama's win.

At Spin Boldak Forward Operating Base (FOB) near the border with Pakistan, a couple welcomed the news with shock.

"For what?" one said, while another asked "What has he done?"

One soldier was unable to conceal his contempt.

"President Obama got the Nobel Prize and my ass is still sitting in Afghanistan.

It's not fair," he said.

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Obama: Taliban can be in Afghan Politics

While our brave troops are fighting the Taliban thugs with one hand tied behind their back. Islam loving Obama, is willing to allow the Taliban to be involved in the future political landscape of Afghanistan. How our great troops are treated is beyond disgraceful!!!!!

Obama focusing on al-Qaida, not Taliban
By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is prepared to accept some Taliban involvement in Afghanistan's political future and appears inclined to send only as many more U.S. troops to Afghanistan as are needed to keep al-Qaida at bay, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The sharpened focus by Obama's team on fighting al-Qaida above all other goals, and downgrading the emphasis on the Taliban, comes as the administration is engaged in a methodical but intensely debated review of how to overhaul the increasingly unpopular eight-year-old war.

Though aides stress that the president's final decision is still at least two weeks or more away, the emerging thinking suggests that he would be very unlikely to favor a large military ramp-up of the kind being advocated by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

McChrystal's troop request is said to include a range of options for Obama, from adding as few as 10,000 combat troops to — the general's strong preference — as many as 40,000.

Obama's developing strategy on the Taliban will "not tolerate their return to power," the senior official said. But the U.S. would only fight to keep the Taliban from retaking control of Afghanistan's central government — something it is now far from being capable of — and from giving renewed sanctuary in Afghanistan for al-Qaida, the official said.

Bowing to the reality that the Taliban is too ingrained in Afghanistan's culture to ever be entirely defeated, the administration also is prepared, as it has been for some time, to accept some Taliban role in parts of Afghanistan the official said. That could mean paving the way for Taliban members willing to renounce violence to participate in a central government. It might even mean ceding some regions of the country to the Taliban. The official is involved in the discussions and was authorized to speak about them but not to be identified by name because they are still ongoing.

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General McChrystal: Afghans Tell us When we win

Clueless as they come McChrystal, had recently stated that he will put our great troops in even more of harms way, in order to gain the approval of the people of Afghanistan. Now the General has completely dropped to his knees, begging for the Afghans to like us.

Last week in London the General made the following statements.

“We don’t win by destroying the Taliban,” he said. “We don’t win by body count. We don’t win by the number of successful military raids or attacks, we win when the people decide we win.”

Apparently this so called leader does not care if the Taliban kills more of our guys than our troops do of them. Does the General have a cap on this death toll? How long should this failed policy go on for? Does he actually think that the Afghans care about our troops?

“Why isn’t the situation better after eight years?” he said. “Afghans’ expectations have not been met. ...

What a shame, the backwards people of Afghanistan have not had their desires fulfilled. How about a mass conversion of US troops to Islam General, do you think that would do it?

McChrystal said a clear change in “mindset” was needed because many current tactics are counterproductive and producing hostility and skepticism among Afghan civilians who must be convinced the coalition forces will improve their safety and quality of life.

Loosely translated: more US troops need to die for this Islamic hellhole.

None of this should be a surprise though. The General is flat out ignorant on Islam, its violent nature and its affect on the culture of Afghanistan.

From General McChrystal's recent Afganistan assesment:

A more forceful and offensive StratCom approach must be devised whereby INS [insurgents] are exposed continually for their cultural and religious violations, anti-Islamic and indiscriminate use of violence and terror, and by concentrating on their vulnerabilities. These include their causing ofthe majority of civilian casualties, attacks on education, development projects, and government institutions, and flagrant contravention of the principles of the Koran. These vulnerabilities must be expressed in a manner that exploits the cultural and ideological separation of the INS from the vast majority of the Afghan population.

Judging by the statement above, McChrystal has done absolutely no research what so ever on Islam. Here General, let me start you off on your much needed education on Islam.

"Islam 101: The Religion of War"

It is clear that Obama does not want to win this war, and he has found his useful idiot to lead the way.

General McChrystal Sides With Afghans Over US Troops

Just like his boss Obama, Afghanistan US General McChrystal, has chosen the civilians of Afghanistan over our great US troops. It is true that he wants more troops, but he clearly states that the civilians in Afghanistan are more important.

McChrystal is equally critical of the command he has led since June 15. The key weakness of ISAF, he says, is that it is not aggressively defending the Afghan population. "Pre-occupied with protection of our own forces, we have operated in a manner that distances us -- physically and psychologically -- from the people we seek to protect. . . . The insurgents cannot defeat us militarily; but we can defeat ourselves."

He fails to realize that we are defeating ourselves by fighting a politically correct war. Gen. McChrystal then follows in the footsteps of other US military "leaders" by making the following comment. Which basically means that the forces need to respect Islam.

McChrystal continues: "Afghan social, political, economic, and cultural affairs are complex and poorly understood. ISAF does not sufficiently appreciate the dynamics in local communities, nor how the insurgency, corruption, incompetent officials, power-brokers, and criminality all combine to affect the Afghan population."

The General then makes a statement that would make the great General Patton, spin in his grave. He admits that he will take troop members out of secured positions and place them in harms way, all to try to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanistan population. Funny, how that has not happened in approximately eight years there.

He also says that coalition forces will change their operational culture, in part by spending "as little time as possible in armored vehicles or behind the walls of forward operating bases." Strengthening Afghans' sense of security will require troops to take greater risks, " but the coalition "cannot succeed if it is unwilling to share risk, at least equally, with the people.

The general says his command is "not adequately executing the basics" of counterinsurgency by putting the Afghan people first. "ISAF personnel must be seen as guests of the Afghan people and their government, not an occupying army," he writes. "Key personnel in ISAF must receive training in local languages."

General McChrystal clearly does not understand that being the "guests" of Muslims, means that non-Muslims have to abide by the rules of Islam. That is not winning hearts and minds. That is bowing down to the ideology of the enemy.

General McChrystal is death sentence for our troops and he should be dismissed immediately. Our great troops deserve better, much better.

Obama Gives New Rights To Afghan Prisoners

US Military leaders promoting Islam, new rules of engagement for our troops, and now this. What a weakened country we have become.

U.S. Gives New Rights To Afghan Prisoners
Challenging Detention to Be Allowed

By Karen DeYoung and Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 13, 2009

Hundreds of prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan will for the first time have the right to challenge their indefinite detention and call witnesses in their defense under a new review system being put in place this week, according to administration officials.

The new system will be applied to the more than 600 Afghans held at the Bagram military base, and will mark the first substantive change in the overseas detention policies that President Obama inherited from the Bush administration.

International human rights organizations have long criticized conditions at the Bagram facility, where detainees have been held -- many of them for years -- without access to lawyers or even the right to know the reason for their imprisonment. Afghans have cited Bagram, where virtually all prisoners in U.S. custody are held, as a major source of resentment toward coalition forces, a senior administration official said.

As part of a prison-wide protest that began in July, detainees at Bagram, located north of Kabul, have refused visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross and have declined video teleconferences with their families. The goal of the new procedures, the official said, is to create a "more robust" system that would "allow detainees to tell their story."

The Bagram system is similar to the annual Administrative Review Boards used for suspected terrorists at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Officials said the review proceedings at Bagram will mark an improvement in part because they will be held in detainees' home countries -- where witnesses and evidence are close at hand.

"This process is about doing the right thing -- only holding those we have to," said the administration official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about policy.

Human rights organizations briefed by the Pentagon described the new system as a step in the right direction but inadequate. "Any reforms in U.S. detentions in Afghanistan is an improvement, but it remains to be seen whether the new procedures will cure the ills of arbitrary and indefinite detention that have been the hallmark of detentions in Bagram," said Sahr Muhammed Ally of the New York-based group Human Rights First.

Any new procedure, she said, "must provide detainees a legal representative to ensure a meaningful mechanism . . . to challenge their detention, which these procedures do not provide."

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Pentagon Worried About Obama's Commitment to Afghanistan

Ever since Obama's new rules of engagement in Afghanistan, we have been losing more soldiers than ever there. Now it looks like Obama might not be sending them any help. It is a shame that our great troops have to serve under this man.

Pentagon worried about Obama's commitment to Afghanistan
By Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers – Mon Aug 31

WASHINGTON — The prospect that U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal may ask for as many as 45,000 additional American troops in Afghanistan is fueling growing tension within President Barack Obama's administration over the U.S. commitment to the war there.

On Monday, McChrystal sent his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan to the Pentagon , the U.S. Central Command, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and NATO . Although the assessment didn't include any request for more troops, senior military officials said they expect McChrystal later in September to seek between 21,000 and 45,000 more troops. There currently are 62,000 American troops in Afghanistan .

However, administration officials said that amid rising violence and casualties, polls that show a majority of Americans now think the war in Afghanistan isn't worth fighting. With tough battles ahead on health care, the budget and other issues, Vice President Joe Biden and other officials are increasingly anxious about how the American public would respond to sending additional troops.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk to the media, said Biden has argued that without sustained support from the American people, the U.S. can't make the long-term commitment that would be needed to stabilize Afghanistan and dismantle al Qaida. Biden's office declined to comment.

"I think they (the Obama administration) thought this would be more popular and easier," a senior Pentagon official said. "We are not getting a Bush-like commitment to this war."

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US Envoy 'in angry Karzai talks'

Recently we were informed that female US Marines are wearing headscarves in Afghanistan, and that President Karzi wants to set the rules for our troops over there.

Apparently though we have to bend over backwards even more as President Karzai has blown a fuse when questioned about possible voter fraud in the recent Afghan election. Excuse me, but Karzai is nothing without US blood and money. Aren't we supposed to be calling the shots there? Once again Obama and Co. get no respect.

Hat tip to the Wrath.

US envoy 'in angry Karzai talks'
By Ian Pannell
BBC News, Kabul

The US special envoy to Afghanistan has held an "explosive" meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the country's election, the BBC has learnt.

Richard Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-stuffing and fraud, by a number of candidates' teams, sources say.

The US envoy also said a second-round run-off could make the election process more credible, the sources said.

Concerns have already been raised about Afghanistan's election, although final results are not due until September.

A number of senior sources have confirmed the details of a meeting between Mr Holbrooke and Mr Karzai held on 21 August, one day after the election.

The meeting was described as "explosive" and "a dramatic bust-up".

Mr Holbrooke is said to have twice raised the idea of holding a second round run-off because of concerns about the voting process.

He is believed to have complained about the use of fraud and ballot stuffing by some members of the president's campaign team, as well as other candidates.

Mr Karzai reacted very angrily and the meeting ended shortly afterwards, the sources said.

However, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Kabul denied there had been any shouting or that Mr Holbrooke had stormed out.

She refused to discuss the details of the meeting.

A spokesman for the presidential palace denied the account of the conversation.
There have been many doubts raised about the Afghan presidential election, about the turnout and irregularities.

But this is the first time that a leading Western official has apparently expressed it quite so openly.

It will raise more questions about the credibility of the whole process and could well make the plan to establish a meaningful government in a stable country all the harder to achieve.

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Young Afghan Freed From Gitmo to sue US Govt

With the help of a US military lawyer a newly released Afghan Gitmo detainee will be suing the US government for his detention. Since the US has foolish started releasing the names of terror suspects being held in Afghanistan and Iraq, expect a flood of lawsuits to be filed soon. The destruction from within continues.


Young Afghan freed from Guantanamo to sue US gov't

KABUL – The family of one of the youngest prisoners ever held at Guantanamo plans to sue the U.S. government to compensate him for mistreatment and an adolescence lost to nearly seven years in a cell, his lawyers said Thursday.

Mohammed Jawad returned to Afghanistan this week after a military judge ruled that he was coerced into confessing that he threw a grenade at an unmarked vehicle in the capital in 2002. The attack wounded two American soldiers and their interpreter.

Afghan police delivered Jawad into U.S. custody and about a month later he was sent to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Jawad and his family say he was 12 when he was arrested, and that he is now 19 years old. The Pentagon has said a bone scan showed he was about 17 when taken into custody. His defense lawyers decline to give an exact age for Jawad, who does not have a birth certificate, but say photos taken in Guantanamo showed that he had not gone through puberty.

"I was an innocent child when they put me in prison," Jawad told The Associated Press in an interview at the offices of an Afghan lawyer association. A round-cheeked man with a scraggly beard, Jawad spoke tentatively, glancing at his lawyer.

He wore a white robe and a traditional beaded cap as he sat stiffly on an office couch.

Lawyers and family members say Jawad was submitted to various types of torture while imprisoned, including sleep deprivation and beatings.

The family plans to sue for compensation in U.S. courts, said Maj. Eric Montalvo, one of the military lawyers who was defending Jawad. Montalvo, who finishes his military service this month and has already joined a private firm, said he will aid in the process but will not necessarily file the suit.

"I will not allow him not to be assisted," Montalvo said, explaining that Jawad needs intensive psychological counseling and tutoring to make up for his lack of schooling. Jawad said he wants to become a doctor because he was impressed by the way doctors at Guantanamo helped people.

Justice Department officials have said the criminal investigation of Jawad is still open but his transfer back to Afghanistan makes prosecution unlikely. The judge who ordered him released said the government's case was an "outrage" and "full of holes."


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Afghanistan:Female Marines don Head Scarves

On a near daily basis this site and many others document how non-Muslims are constantly catering to Islam. Apparently the worldwide frenzy has struck the US Marines. As female members of the US Marines in their effort to "win the hearts and minds" (practically begging Muslims to like us) of Muslims will be donning head scarves to show their respect for Islam. Do they even know that they are giving into the dominance that Islam calls for?


Hat tip to Creeping Sharia.

Marines try a woman's touch to reach Afghan hearts
ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
08/15/2009
KHAWJA JAMAL, Afghanistan — Put on body armor, check weapons, cover head and shoulders with a scarf.

That was the drill for female American Marines who set out on patrol this week with a mission to make friends with Afghan women in a war zone by showing respect for Muslim standards of modesty.

The all-female unit of 46 Marines is the military's latest innovation in its rivalry with the Taliban for the populace's loyalty. Afghan women are viewed as good intelligence sources, and more open to the basics of the military's hearts-and-minds effort — hygiene, education and an end to the violence.

"It's part of the effort to show we're sensitive to local culture," said Capt. Jennifer Gregoire, of East Strasburg, Pennsylvania. She leads the Female Engagement Team in the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency.

"If you show your hair, its kind of like seeing a nude picture here, because women are very covered up," she said.

Women are technically barred from combat units in the Marines, and some infantrymen have been surprised to see them in brightly colored head scarves under their helmets, deployed in the most intense combat zones in the country.

"But ... I think they understand that what we're doing is vital to operations and vital to the counterinsurgency program they want to run," said Gregoire.

Women soldiers were assigned to search women at checkpoints in Iraq, and the experience fed into the Afghan effort, said Cpl. Sarah Furrer, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who served in both war zones.

"I'm not married and I don't have children, so they think that's awkward because I'm 24," Furrer said of her Iraq experience. But as a result, "we're not so much afraid of engaging the women" in Afghanistan, she said.

"I've found you get great intel from the female population," said Capt. Zachary Martin, who commands the Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, stationed in Now Zad. "The women don't want their men out there conducting jihad and getting killed."

Martin said units have frequently received tips from women about weapons caches or hidden bombs.

But just to find the women is a challenge. There were none in sight as Gregoire's team entered Khwaja Jamal, a village of mud brick homes with no electricity or government presence.

While heavily armed Marines fanned out, the four women started by trying to strike up conversations with the few old men and young children who ventured outdoors.

The several hundred villagers grow wheat and opium poppies in the crossfire between Marines and Taliban fighters who are in the woods less than a mile (about a kilometer) away.

"They look at us through binoculars. They'll kill anybody who talks to the Americans," said Abdul Gayom to explain why the villagers were so wary of meeting the patrol.

1st Lt. Victoria Sherwood was undaunted, talking to him through her Afghan translator. She gave him painkillers for his back, and small presents for the children timidly clustering around. Some of them begged to try on her sunglasses, and promptly made off with them.

Sherwood, from Woodbury, Connecticut, got Gayom to promise he might let her into his compound to meet his wife, who he said with a shrug is "so old, the Taliban probably won't care."

But there was a snag: The translator was male. Could he be in the wife's presence? "No way," said Gayom, who then asked the Marines for more medicine and goods.

Deeper in the village, an elderly woman eventually appeared on a doorstep. Gusha Halam claimed she was 120 — so old she could do what she pleased. Her black head scarf left her wrinkled face uncovered and revealed some hair, dyed bright orange with henna.

"The Taliban took everything from us. Make them leave," Halam said, before her sons and grandsons arrived, stopped the conversation and hustled her indoors.

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12 Year-old Speaks of her Forced Marriage~Video

Watch as this poor 12 year-old girl speaks of her forced marriage and the beatings she takes. Just heartbreaking.

For a related article click HERE.

Hat tip to Philippe.