"Afghanistan: U.S. Now Faces Resurgent Taliban, Resentful Public"

[splat@14]

Makes one wonder the possibilities if we had kept our attention on Afganistan instead of looking trouble in Iraq...
Splat



By Andrew Tully

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The United States and its coalition partners now find themselves confronted not only by a seemingly stronger Taliban, but, following a deadly traffic accident and riot in Kabul, also by a population that is suddenly expressing long-held resentment of the foreign forces that they blame for all that is wrong with their country.

The reappearance of the Taliban has been news for several months. But the Bush administration expresses little concern about the fighting. In an interview with RFE/RL on May 19, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs Richard Boucher said renewed Taliban maneuvers were to be expected.

Boucher said military activity always drops off during Afghanistan's harsh winters, and increases with each spring thaw. Further, he said, Afghan and coalition forces are finally able to patrol new areas of the country, increasing the opportunities for combat.

"What fundamentally is going on here is that the government, the army -- the governmental authority in Afghanistan is pushing out into new areas, into areas where there hasn't been a lot of government, into areas where the Taliban operated freely," Boucher said. "You have NATO expanding out into different provinces now, and there's some effort by the Taliban not only to challenge the government, but also to challenge the NATO troops and see how they'll react compared to how U.S. forces react."
More at;
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/05/mil-060531-rferl01.htm

[LisaM]

1. I never understood why it was ever touted as a success

as far as I can tell, all we did was drop a ton of bombs on an area that had very little left to bomb, and install a former Unocal spokesman as a token president who can't move out of Kabul, all while secretly building oil pipelines. Last I looked the women were still wearing burkas and Osama is still on the loose.

[splat@14]

2. It does seem to be the forgotten war. Our installed government little

more than a mayor and city council. Things I've heard before this article (can't remember where...NPR maybe) tell that the population feel that things are worse now than when either the Soviets were there or even the Taliban is some locations. Other than invasion, shock, and awl, this group is incapable of a plan.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Why did anybody ever believe that an invasion would change anything

there? The Soviets tried it for years with essentially the same result.