I question the presence of The West in Afghanistan. The Taliban are looking for a place to live. If I remember correctly Helmand has been a 'no go zone' because of the Taliban.
The map below shows Helmand Province in the red shaded area. The Taliban was considered an enemy to the USA because they provided a safe haven to al Qaeda. The Taliban aren't accepted anywhere else in the world. There is a smaller population in the Pakistan's mountains as well as Helmand.
The thing is this, Helmand has always been a problem. It has been the strong hold of the Taliban for the entire time NATO has been in Afghanistan. The Taliban actually tried to move into Pakistan to avoid these chronic conflicts, but, they weren't accepted there except perhaps in the tribal regions, but, even there there had to be some degree of violence to remove them.
Since the Taliban was reconstituted in Pakistan, they have been looking for a place on Earth to live. They have carried out violent attacks on towns to obtain monies through bank robberies and looting food supplies while allowing prisons and jails to be emptied of their members. Their FLASH attacks work. It takes the existing government completely by surprise.
The Taliban belong at the peace table with the Afghan government to resolve their presence in Helmand. It has to be a political solution.
December 21, 2015
This is a report from the United States Institute of Peace from August 2009. In Syria it is oil, in Sub-Sahara Africa it is diamonds, logging, rubber, oil or any other natural resource available including poaching, in Mexico it is cocaine and marijuana and in Afghanistan it is opium.
Small arms facilitate the conflict and the conflict is paid for by illegal trade in whatever products that can be had.
All these areas of the world suffer from horrible crime and deaths. There is no quality of life and there is little the people can do about it. That is the problem. There is little the people can do about it.
Afghanistan has a problem. It has resident insurgents. The Taliban aren't going anywhere and that is the reality. Either a peace process begins and continues until there actually is peace or The West has bought a forever war. A forever war is highly immoral and impractical from the point of view neither Afghanistan or NATO can sustain the cost.
The children of Afghanistan have to be put first. I don't care if they are Afghan children or Afghan children that come from Taliban homes. The peace process has to begin with dedication to see it through to the end.
There was a time in the past when warring factions would negotiate a cease fire during holy days. That respect just doesn't seem to exist anymore. Why?
Conclusion
Opium (click here) has long played a supporting role in the Afghan conflict, and today the drug trade has moved to center stage. Not only have narcotics corrupted the Afghan government, they have also begun to transform—through deepening ties between insurgents and drug traffickers along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border—the nature of the insurgency from one based on ideology to one increasingly driven by profit. Insurgent commanders from the district level up to the top leadership have expanded their involvement vertically through the drug trade, and it is important to recognize how this creates both challenges for the international community as well as opportunities to weaken the insurgency....
The map below shows Helmand Province in the red shaded area. The Taliban was considered an enemy to the USA because they provided a safe haven to al Qaeda. The Taliban aren't accepted anywhere else in the world. There is a smaller population in the Pakistan's mountains as well as Helmand.
The thing is this, Helmand has always been a problem. It has been the strong hold of the Taliban for the entire time NATO has been in Afghanistan. The Taliban actually tried to move into Pakistan to avoid these chronic conflicts, but, they weren't accepted there except perhaps in the tribal regions, but, even there there had to be some degree of violence to remove them.
Since the Taliban was reconstituted in Pakistan, they have been looking for a place on Earth to live. They have carried out violent attacks on towns to obtain monies through bank robberies and looting food supplies while allowing prisons and jails to be emptied of their members. Their FLASH attacks work. It takes the existing government completely by surprise.
The Taliban belong at the peace table with the Afghan government to resolve their presence in Helmand. It has to be a political solution.
By Jonathan Marcus
The Ministry of Defence (click here) said a small number of personnel had been sent to Camp Shorabak in Helmand in an "advisory role".
The Ministry of Defence (click here) said a small number of personnel had been sent to Camp Shorabak in Helmand in an "advisory role".
They will not be in combat and are part of a larger Nato team, the MoD said.
UK combat operations in Afghanistan ended last year, but around 450 troops remain in mentoring and support roles....
...Helmand province is familiar to thousands of British service personnel; the town of Sangin having a special symbolic significance. More than 100 British soldiers were killed in the struggle for Sangin before responsibility for the area was handed over to the Americans in 2010.
Nato's combat operations in Afghanistan are supposed to be over. But the Afghan security forces are hard-pressed and suffer deficiencies in a variety of areas from logistics to the lack of any significant air power of their own. The Taliban's advance - and not just in Helmand - has highlighted the weakness of the Afghan authorities too.
And now there is a new factor, with elements sympathetic to the so-called Islamic state also putting down roots. Many will argue Afghanistan was forgotten too quickly. Some fear the country could go the way of Syria.
Afghan refugees are now the second largest category of asylum seekers in Europe. Both Nato and the Americans may need to rethink the scope of their mission with some urgency.
This is a report from the United States Institute of Peace from August 2009. In Syria it is oil, in Sub-Sahara Africa it is diamonds, logging, rubber, oil or any other natural resource available including poaching, in Mexico it is cocaine and marijuana and in Afghanistan it is opium.
Small arms facilitate the conflict and the conflict is paid for by illegal trade in whatever products that can be had.
All these areas of the world suffer from horrible crime and deaths. There is no quality of life and there is little the people can do about it. That is the problem. There is little the people can do about it.
Afghanistan has a problem. It has resident insurgents. The Taliban aren't going anywhere and that is the reality. Either a peace process begins and continues until there actually is peace or The West has bought a forever war. A forever war is highly immoral and impractical from the point of view neither Afghanistan or NATO can sustain the cost.
The children of Afghanistan have to be put first. I don't care if they are Afghan children or Afghan children that come from Taliban homes. The peace process has to begin with dedication to see it through to the end.
There was a time in the past when warring factions would negotiate a cease fire during holy days. That respect just doesn't seem to exist anymore. Why?
Conclusion
Opium (click here) has long played a supporting role in the Afghan conflict, and today the drug trade has moved to center stage. Not only have narcotics corrupted the Afghan government, they have also begun to transform—through deepening ties between insurgents and drug traffickers along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border—the nature of the insurgency from one based on ideology to one increasingly driven by profit. Insurgent commanders from the district level up to the top leadership have expanded their involvement vertically through the drug trade, and it is important to recognize how this creates both challenges for the international community as well as opportunities to weaken the insurgency....
