Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s one-eyed leader, seems to have taken a page from George W. Bush’s playbook.
Just as the former president declared “mission accomplished” in Iraq years before the war there ended, the Taliban made their own victory declaration this weekend, even though roughly 130,000 coalition troops were still fighting in Afghanistan — and keeping the Afghan government firmly in power.
No matter, suggested the Taliban, which calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, in a statement bluntly titled: “Formal Proclamation of Islamic Emirate’s Victory.” The American push to open talks is proof that the insurgents are winning, the Taliban reasoned.
“It is but sheer determination, religious and ideological adherence and unequalled sacrifices displayed by true Afghan Mujahid nation for the last decade that today regional and world powers are after to reach mutual understanding about the country,” the statement said in the Taliban’s typically fractured English.
Maybe we should start shooting more of them to test their "sheer determination", eh?
By: Brant
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4 comments:
Hey, worked in Vietnam!
Oh wait...
Idealogical adherence, like killing thousands of unarmed civilians, yeah.
All jokes aside...Mullah Omar's proclamation will go far amongst his ilk. We all tend to believe what we want to believe, no matter how much evidence may be stacked against us. For an uneducation mujahideen fighter who hasn't seen any of the world outside his own village / valley, and whose only knowledge of the world comes from sources he considers trustworthy (tribal and religious leaders), there is no reason for him NOT to believe that the Taliban have won.
If (sigh...who am I kidding...) When the Afghan government falls, the coalition will need to consider it's options. Re-invade? Not likley. Contain? Possibly...but securing the Afghan borders with Iran and Pakistan will likely prove impossible. Sanctions? The country has lived with misery for 30 years - probably not going to be too hard to handle a new form of misery for the next 10 or 20.
Which perhaps leaves us with the very strategy that has worked before in Afghanistan (against the Russians) - covert support for anti-government troops.
The Great Game continues...
Jack Nastyface
I'm surprised they didn't declare victory as soon as the president set the timeline to start withdrawing troops. they should've had their victory parade scheduled for the day after we plan to leave
-- Mike P
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