Posted: 10/21/2001 7:47:11 AM EDT
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[url]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,36946,00.html[/url] ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A senior Taliban commander was quoted Saturday as saying American soldiers are too soft for the rigors of ground combat in Afghanistan and that the U.S.-led air campaign has inflicted little damage on the country's defenses. In an interview published by the Pakistani newspaper The News, Mullah Jalaluddin Haqqani said about 25 Taliban soldiers have been "martyred" in the U.S.-led air campaign, which began Oct. 7 to force the Afghans to hand over terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden. "We are eagerly awaiting the American troops to land on our soil, where we will deal with them in our own way," Haqqani was quoted as saying. "I tell you the Soviets were a brave enemy and their soldiers could withstand tough conditions. The Americans are creatures of comfort. They will not be able to sustain the harsh conditions that await them." Haqqani, a veteran of the 1979-1989 war against the Soviet Union, is the commander of the Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. The News said it spoke to him in an undisclosed location in Pakistan. Members of Haqqani's family live in Pakistan, but the newspaper did not say why he was here. The Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman, Riaz Mohammed Khan, said Haqqani was here as part of consultations on prospects for a broad-based, post-Taliban government in Afghanistan and had met with senior Pakistani officials. In the interview, however, Haqqani gave no indication he and other Taliban figures were ready to step down despite the U.S. onslaught. "We have so far held on to our defenses," Haqqani said. "The military strikes have failed miserably to inflict any serious or crippling damage to our defense." Haqqani said not a single key figure of the Taliban or bin Laden's al-Qaida leadership had been killed; "however, about 25 Taliban soldiers have been martyred." The interview was published on the same day that Pentagon officials said about 100 U.S. Army Rangers and other special troops raided a Taliban camp in southern Afghanistan. The Pentagon did not mention any hostile contact with Taliban forces but said an American helicopter on standby for search-and-rescue crashed in Pakistan, killing two U.S. troops. |
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What I see from this interview is that the Taliban and Usama look directly at the Political fuck-up in somalia. When our gov't let down our boys and pulled out the next day. They also see the politics that were directly involved in Vietnam. ( Again politics directing the battlefield ). They saw the beginning of US politics in this campaign when the order was issued to kill Omar on the first night of airstrikes and some pussy pulled the plug. What They don't see now is that politics have firmly been brushed aside ( for the time being in the current campaign ). Any kill order will go directly from top command to battlefield and vise versa. "Softness" has never been an issue with our troops. Look at WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War and Somalia. These guys are tougher than nails and whoop anyones ass on the battlefield. Politics are our troops enemy. |
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The "senior Taliban commander's" words sound like the insults of a frustrated little kid! Guess what?!!!! The US will dispatch the Taliban when and where WE choose to. Sure they would like the US to come at them like the Soviets did. Then they could employ their terrain and pathetic small arms to best advantage. BUT, THE U.S. WON'T PLAY THAT GAME! We make the rules! DaMan |
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Well, as long as we don't play thier game we'll prove him wrong. You hear some of these interviews from British SF who spent yrs over there during the Soviet-Afghan war and I tell ya, living in those caves would definitely toughen you up. I did 10 yrs in the military & Somalia is a resort compared to that crap heep of a country (Afghanistan). If Clinton or Gore were running things then I'd be concerned not at the toughness of our guys, but at the resolve of the leadership & constraints they'd have. With GW & his crew though it's a different game. They caught us off guard & we will have a pile of rubble where 2 proud building used to be to remind us why we're fighting. Would our guys live in the dung heeps they do? Doubtful. We don't have generations of flea scratching to fall back on. Does that make us "softer" than they are? I don't know. One thing is for sure though. They are readily willing to sacrifice themselves, and we have some nasty boys who just can't wait to help them out with that. Oh well, I guess it's a lot tougher to hide in a cave or behind women & children. I have a different word for it, but I am not sure how it would translate.... |