I hate to make comparisons, but this looks like another Vietnam, We dumped a pile of national treasure and lives on that one also to see the sacrifice made by the soldiers in vain because the locals were too corrupt to see past their own personal interest.
So is it all worth it? Secret files reveal Taliban will retake control of Afghanistan when NATO troops withdraw
- Report compiled by U.S. forces claims Pakistan security agency is assisting Taliban attacks against NATO forces
- Afghans bracing for return of Taliban when foreign troops withdraw in 2014
- Taliban detainees claim Pakistan employs network of spies to give strategic advice to militants
- Pakistan Foreign Ministry dismisses claims as 'frivolous' and insists it is committed to non-interference in Afghanistan
- 10-year conflict has seen nearly 3,000 service personnel killed
The Taliban is set to return to power in Afghanistan when British and Coalition forces end their combat role in 2014, a damning leaked confidential report reveals.
Despite 10 years of fighting by NATO forces and their huge sacrifices - 397 members of the British military alone have been killed and thousands wounded - the report says that in the past year there has been unprecedented interest, even from within the Afghan government, in joining the Taliban.
And it points accusingly at Afghanistan's neighbour Pakistan, a key ally of NATO, where powerful elements in the security and intelligence services support the Taliban and describes how insurgent leaders maintain homes within the heart of the capital Islamabad.
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Sacrifice: Jack Sadler was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2007
Trooper Jack Sadler was repatriated to RAF Lyneham five days after his death in December 2007
Poised: A Taliban militant holds a grenade launcher in Herat. A secret U.S. report claims the insurgent movement is poised to regain control of Afghanistan when NATO troops withdraw
Unbowed: The document claims Taliban fighters are being supported by Pakistan intelligence services across the border
The report - The State of the Taliban - was described as ‘devastating’ yesterday (W) by former soldier Ian Sadler, whose son Jack, a 21-year-old reservist serving with the Honourable Artillery Company, died in a roadside bomb blast in Helmand in December 2007.
'It has been a waste of time operating in the way that the British have,' he said, 'Hearing details of the report makes me wonder why our soldiers were sent there in the way they were and the cost that has been paid.'
The report compiled by U.S. forces describes how weapons and vehicles given to Afghan forces have in turn been passed on to the Taliban and says that Pakistan's feared Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) is actively colluding with the insurgents by actually directing attacks.
Attacks: An explosion after an airstrike in Nanagarhar, Afghanistan. The report, based on interrogation of insurgents, claims Taliban fighters are being given weapons and training by Pakistan-backed militants
Cost: The remains of Private First Class Cody R. Norris arrive at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. More than ten years after the U.S.-led conflict in Afghanistan, the Taliban are poised to regain control
'ISI officers tout the need for continued jihad (holy war) and expulsion of foreign invaders from Pakistan.
'The government of Pakistan remains intimately involved with the Taliban.
'ISI is thoroughly aware of Taliban activities and the whereabouts of all senior Taliban personnel. Senior Taliban leaders meet regularly with ISI personnel, who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the government of Pakistan.'
Those questioned, including senior Taliban commanders, told how Islamabad uses a complex network of spies and intermediaries to provide strategic advice to aid the Taliban in fighting the coalition.
Explaining why new recruits are turning in large numbers to the Taliban, fighters said : 'When the Karzai government was established, we thought there was a chance of something good. The harassment, corruption and abuse are unbearable. We chose to fight. We chose the Taliban.'
No confidence: An Afghan border police officer receives his graduation certificate. There are concerns that the police, security forces and Afghan army will not be able to maintain order in the country when NATO forces leave
Unpopular: The Taliban is playing on public opinion of President Hamid Karzai's government
The report has evidence that the Taliban are deliberately hastening NATO's withdrawal by reducing their attacks in some areas and then initiating a comprehensive hearts-and-minds campaign.
The findings could heap further pressure on David Cameron, and U.S. President Barack Obama, as they face strengthened calls to withdraw troops before the 2014 deadline.
It could also reinforce the view of Taliban hardliners that the group should not negotiate peace with the U.S. and President Hamid Karzai's unpopular government while in a position of strength.
Significantly, the Taliban yesterday said that reports they were about to begin talks with the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia were untrue.
'The unfortunate reality is that this is a failure of the allied strategy in Afghanistan. They have not been able to achieve the goals they set out to achieve,' said Mahmud Durrani, a former Pakistan army general and ambassador to Washington.
Fresh accusations of Pakistani collusion with the Taliban are likely to further strain ties between Western powers and Islamabad, which has long denied backing militants seeking to topple the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.
Critics say Pakistan uses militant groups as proxies to counter the growing influence of rival India in Afghanistan. The belief that Pakistan supports the insurgents is widely held in Afghanistan.
PAKISTAN JETS BOMB HIDEOUTS
Pakistani fighter jets bombed the hideouts of two militant commanders along the Afghan border today, killing up to 31 insurgents.
One of those killed was reported to be a Pakistani Taliban leader in the Orakzai region, Moin ud Din.
The strikes followed clashes between soldiers and militants over a strategic mountain in Kurram last week, in which more than 60 people were killed.
In recent years, the Pakistani military has launched a series of offensives against militants in the border regions - which are only nominally controlled by the central government.
Large areas remain under the effective control of extremists, who use the region to plan attacks in Pakistani cities and Afghanistan.
Gunmen also attacked a Pakistan paramilitary checkpoint in the Marwah area of Baluchistan province last night, killing six troops.
And the bodies of seven unarmed men were discovered near the checkpoint.
One of those killed was reported to be a Pakistani Taliban leader in the Orakzai region, Moin ud Din.
The strikes followed clashes between soldiers and militants over a strategic mountain in Kurram last week, in which more than 60 people were killed.
In recent years, the Pakistani military has launched a series of offensives against militants in the border regions - which are only nominally controlled by the central government.
Large areas remain under the effective control of extremists, who use the region to plan attacks in Pakistani cities and Afghanistan.
Gunmen also attacked a Pakistan paramilitary checkpoint in the Marwah area of Baluchistan province last night, killing six troops.
And the bodies of seven unarmed men were discovered near the checkpoint.
'This is old wine in an even older bottle. I don’t think these claims are new. These claims have been made for many, many years,' she said.
In Brussels, a NATO official said the prisoners also claimed that the Taliban retain wide public support throughout Afghanistan, particularly in the countryside.
The official, however, cautioned that the document was not based on any intelligence analysis of the situation on the ground, but is a summary of thousands of interrogation reports.
'It's a very lopsided perspective because some of them are motivated to portray the picture in their favour,' said the official.
The extent of Taliban support from within local forces was underlined yesterday when an Afghan soldier shot and killed a NATO service member in southern Afghanistan.
It was the sixth report since December of an Afghan soldier turning his weapon on the international troops working to train the Afghan security forces.
Two weeks ago, an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers prompting President Nicolas Sarkozy to speed up the exit of French troops from Afghanistan said it would ask NATO to hand over all combat operations to Afghan forces in 2013 instead of by the end of 2014.
At least seven British soldiers have been killed by so-called trusted 'colleagues' while there have been at least 35 attacks on international troops since 2007 by Afghan soldiers, police or insurgents wearing their uniforms. The number rose sharply last year to 17, up from six in 2010.
Tory MP John Baron, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and a long-term opponent of the Government's policy on Afghanistan, said: 'This confirms what a number of us have suspected for some time.
'The Taliban insurgency is intact, it is supported by local people and it is getting help from the Pakistani intelligence services. This proves that the Taliban will not be beaten and recent offers of talks should be positively responded to and taken up by the U.S. and UK.
'It is possible to talk and fight at the same time - we proved that in Northern Ireland.'
Mr Baron, who believes it is vital to find a political solution in Afghanistan, said the military campaign had become bogged down in 'mission creep' because it did not have clear goals.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2094755/Afghanistan-Secret-files-reveal-Taliban-retake-control-NATO-troops-withdraw.html#ixzz1lC11UzPV
Dead on the mark... They WILL retake power. Hell they've already started! Look at the number of Blue on Blue that have occurred lately, those are mostly if not all caused by Taliban 'influence' on the Afgan that precipitated it!
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