Two more US troops killed in Koran dustup
Agency France Press reports that two more US troops have been killed during the fifth day of rioting in Kabul over the burning of a few Korans;
“There was a shooting inside the command and control centre of the interior ministry and two Americans have been killed,” the source, told AFP, requesting anonymity.
Some reports said the shooting was a result of a “verbal clash”, but details of the incident were not immediately clear.
The shooting came on a fifth day off anti-US protests across Afghanistan over the burning of Korans at an American-run military base.
Yeah, you read that right – they were killed inside the Interior Ministry, so I’m guessing that Harmid Karzai will be issuing an apology any minute now.
The Afghans constantly remind us that there’s no evidence that these gunmen who target our troops are organized inside the ANA, but the number and frequency of these incidents suggest otherwise. I disagree with Michael Yon on a lot of things, but in this instance, we agree;
This American demands an apology from Karzai for all of the insider attacks killing Americans and our Coalition partners. If Karzai refuses to apologize, we should cut off aid before 01 March. Discontinue all operations not directly related to counterterrorism. Relax rules of engagement to what is permitted within the Geneva Conventions. Utterly destroy Taliban and other enemy sanctuary using open warfare. Discontinue all COIN work. Make the enemy afraid to mention our names for fear of causing us to appear. When we leave Afghanistan, the enemy should be completely humiliated and never in question about who was put in their place.
Obviously, the Afghan government doesn’t appear to be at all concerned about weeding out insurgents from their military, so we shouldn’t be concerned about anything besides killing terrorists.
Category: Terror War
Good advice which will, of course, not be followed in the slightest.
Personally I’d prefer a few MOABS about 50 feet above the whole damn country.
When we have a host government that is both politically illegitimate and in many cases, aiding and abetting the insurgents…not only can COIN not work, no military strategy short of total war is possible.
Afghanistan hasn’t been worth the loss of American life since early 2002. But you have to hand it to the insurgents….no better way to interdict the possibility of training and standing up an indigenous partner force than events like this.
It’s long past time to leave.
NOW Yon wants to adhere to the GC???
FMY.
@3: That’s what I have been saying for a long time. Either we take care of business, or we gtfo. While Karzai may have been the best interim choice at the time, he has long ago worn out his stay in the palace. He isn’t serious about having a Afghanistan free of taliban and other terrorist elements. He is playing both ends against the middle and on our way out the door we need to pop him a new asshole right in the forehead. But that’s just me.
this should have been our strategy from day one and never changed.
Smash face. Home in time for dinner.
But But But ……Well are we finished nation building over there ?
I think we shouldn’t just pull out,making the usual noise about giving them the tools to do democracy on their own. We should leave and tell the world as we go that these people are barbarians who cannot get it right, and that we are wasting no more time/money on them. They want money and (maybe) peace, but cannot climb out of the 7th century, and are not making the effort required to keep our goodwill.
PS, that goes for Pakistan, too.
I agree we should have pulled out many years ago when we kicked the Taliban out after 9\11. While there are many Americans that agree with me on this. There’s many countries that want us to stay to continue the drug war against heroin that ends up in Europe and Russia. We need to stop catering to them and look out for are own interests.
This is depressing, these guys dying for that heathen shithole. I say F’ em ! Stay long enough to lay waste to the terrorist camps, maybe launch a few hunter killer excursions into waziristan …smash everything in sight, then get the hell out. Hopefully there is a plan to seize those warheads in PAKIstan too.
2 questions:
1.) How many B52s to we have sitting around?
2.) How many bombs do we have sitting around?
What a soup sandwich.
Get outta there!
Ah, but the Afghan Govt has apologized for today’s incident: http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2012/02/afghan-defense-minister-apologizes-for-attack-on-us-troops.html
Karzai is no angel, nor is he the devil the MSM and current administration has made him out to be. He is a politician, and the duly elected President, but he’s also a Pashtun and an Afghan, so, when a junior Senator from Illinois made his first trip to Afghanistan, in 2008, as a presidential candidate, and Chairman of the Senate committee on Afghanistan, and began to chastise the Elder Executive, it pretty much poisoned the well of the relationship. When the young POTUS campaigned to have a “counterweight” *installed* in the Afghan Govt, the relationship was pretty much done. And when the POTUS used his position, and the US Govt to campaign against the allied President’s re-election, Karzai took afront to it.
Don’t blame Karzai for a bad relationship with Obama. Karzai was very supportive of the US when he had a friend in the White House. And Karzai has done everything in his power to prevent the Taliban Peace Negotiations being forced on him by the current White House.
And don’t blame the average Afghan for the riots. The biggest riots/protests have numbered only thousands in a Nation of Millions, where polls demonstrate the majority are grateful for Democracy, for Freedoms, & for the education of their Daughters. Support for the Taliban is in the single digits.
Karzai is no saint, but neither is he the Devil.
The war isn’t won, nor is it lost, though the Administration wants your support in retreating from the hard fought Victories.
Huh…..I don’t think I’ve ever seen a defense of an illegitimate Afghan government put so squarely at the feet of the current POTUS.
Funny how even defending a petty Afghan warlord can come into play in American politics; shows just how cheapened our political landscape has become.
#14″And don’t blame the average Afghan for the riots. The biggest riots/protests have numbered only thousands in a Nation of Millions..” I made the same point yesterday. This is happening mostly in the capitol, where there is a distinct combined terrorist network hub setup for subterfuge.
I agree partly with you, much of why this is happening is the rush to side with whom is percieved to be the eventual victor. That train left the station with Obama’s silly timeline.
One last point is the rapid expansion of the security forces under Bush and Obama(now the goal is being scaled back), that has wreaked havoc when it comes to vetting. The Afghan’s can’t support a security apparitus that size, if for no other reason, the population pool quality isn’t that large. Hers’s the silverlining, it never was, and the country has been governed. A small quality army, that can put down anyone who challenges central authority, is all that is needed. Much of the country will be semiautomous, in the long run, as it always has.
Jonn,
Do you allow guest posts? When this tour is over and I am home, I’d be happy to give a first person perspective of what it’s like to be here while all this is going on.
Has the MSM reported the Apology by the Afghan Government yet? Why not?
Did they ever report that the majority of Afghans want Democracy, Freedom, & Education for their daughters? Why not?
It is a natural reaction to say “screw it” when the MSM cameras focus so tightly on a few Afghans rioting in the streets, or a a dozen Code Stink/IVAW/VFP protestors, but if the camera zooms out a bit and see that the minority is not representative of the populace, a little compassion might return for the majority of Afghans (or Troops) that are not advocating or committing violence, but rather the victims of it.
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/ps/2012/02/counterview-on-afghan-violence.html
The Major who was killed was someone I knew and respected. We deployed together in 2007. RIP, MAJ Bob Marchanti. May your murderer be sodomized by Satan’s barbed wire cock for eternity.
http://thelibertyzone.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/rip-major-bob-marchanti/