US ready to examine expanding Afghan force beyond Kabul

[JCMach1]

FROM THE 'I THOUGHT THE WAR WAS OVER' FILE...



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US ready to examine expanding Afghan force beyond Kabul
(AFP)

11 August 2003



BRUSSELS - The United States is ready to examine ”seriously” calls to expand the mandate of NATO-led peacekeepers in Afghanistan beyond the capital Kabul, US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said on Monday.


“This idea will need to be considered seriously once NATO has settled into its role in Kabul,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal as the alliance took over command of Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Burns said in a commentary that “one option” would be for NATO to participate in US-led “Provincial Reconstruction Teams” which are already active in trying to enforce security outside Kabul.

While Kabul remains relatively secure, a guerrilla insurgency by suspected Taleban and Al Qaeda militants has intensified in southern and southeastern Afghanistan, the former heartland of the ousted hardline militia.



http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2003/August/subcontinent_August266.xml§ion=subcontinent

[PATRICK]

1. Push the foreign levies

into the frontier defense, which in this case is everything one mile beyond Kabul. Filling up the danger holes so US troops can ready for Iran and elsewhere.

Playing cautious until the GOP gets its impregnable mandate for absolute power. Thank you NATO for protecting European piece by shoring up the American Empire in Afghanistan, but how do you explain this difficult concept to your widows and orphans?

[markus]

2. I think the U.S. contigent should be assigned to the Iranian border region

don't you?

It would be so convenient. We could set up forward positions, get airfields prepared for airlinft/support, send in infiltration teams to size up and soften up the Iranian defenses. Sounds perfect to me. Hell, we would probably relocate the anti-Iranian group from Iraq (name escapes me at the minute) to do some of the dirty work for us.

[LeftistGorilla]

3. The CIA backed...

War lords wont be too happy about this...