U.S.: Raids have taken out 900 Taliban leaders

[jimmy olsen]

WTF is this bullshit? 900 leaders? Is this crazy Vietnam style kill inflation or are they counting every man down to the equivalent of a 2nd lieutenant and county clerk as a leader?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2011-03-08-taliban08_ST_N.htm

U.S.: Raids have taken out 900 Taliban leaders
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

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U.S.-led military forces have captured or killed more than 900 Taliban leaders in the past 10 months, making it harder for the insurgency to maintain its offensive capabilities, according to the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

"We are getting indications that the (insurgency) is struggling to find replacements for leaders," said Maj. Sunset Belinsky of the International Stability Assistance Force, which oversees coalition military operations in Afghanistan.

"In several cases, insurgents have actually refused to take over the leadership positions, have had difficulty finding technical experts, such as IED (improvised explosive devices) facilitators, gun runners and bomb trainers," she said.

The decapitation of leadership comes amid stepped-up raids by U.S. special operations units in Afghanistan. The raids have netted insurgent leaders, weapons and drugs used to finance actions against coalition forces, NATO says.

Among them:

•On March 1, U.S. and Afghan troops in Kandahar seized 20,000 pounds of bomb-making fertilizer, 15 heavy machine guns and ammunition and five rocket-propelled grenade launchers with 200 rounds. The ammonium nitrate fertilizer could have been used to make 400 IEDs, according to the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization.

•On Feb. 24, troops in Kandahar captured two Taliban leaders who had supplied insurgents with weapons.

•On Feb. 21 in Nangarhar province, troops destroyed drugmaking labs and seized 10,000 pounds of opium and heroin that were used to finance attacks.

Some experts say it remains to be seen how much damage the raids have done to the Taliban's fighting ability.

Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, said the strength of insurgent offensives in the spring and summer will indicate how successful the raids have been.

"The bottom line is that this figure is probably encouraging but hardly conclusive, especially since the effectiveness of insurgents on the battlefield still seems unaffected at a national level," he said.

Belinsky says damage to the insurgents' networks should be evident soon.

Raids on Taliban leaders began more than a year ago under Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was the top commander in Afghanistan until he resigned last June. They have continued under his successor, Gen. David Petraeus.

Special operations troops total about 5,000 in Afghanistan, an increase of at least 40% in the past 18 months, said Jeffrey Dressler, a research analyst for the Institute for the Study of War.

Dressler, who conducted research for Petraeus last year, says the elite commandos have increased operations by 50% over that same period. Dressler says that thousands of Taliban insurgents remain in Afghanistan and Pakistan despite the raids and that it is difficult to say whether the loss of 900 leaders will have significance on the battlefield.

But he said the Taliban in Afghanistan is showing a reluctance to fight and take orders from leaders in Pakistan. "It is a signal of progress," he said.

[Slargos]

What do you think happens to #2 when #1 is kilt?  Take care to consider all possibilities before making your final answer. 

[Ed Anger]

The Army had me fart into several large containers. They said they was going to drop them on the Taliban.

[CountDeMoney]

U.S. Forces Take Over Key Afghan City That Will Be Retaken By Taliban When Marines Leave

March 7, 2011 | ISSUE 47•10

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN—After U.S. Marines secured several government centers, markets, and fuel depots in Kandahar Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that the Afghan city had been liberated from the Taliban until the inevitable withdrawal of U.S. forces results in the Islamic extremists once more regaining control. "This is a great temporary and ultimately shallow victory for us and for the citizens of Kandahar," Gen. Alan Smith said. "America is committed to momentarily displacing extremism until such a time that the world is no longer paying attention to our occupation and we can go home." Gen. Smith went on to say that the training of the Afghan police force and army was also a success, boasting a 15 percent rate of soldiers not defecting to the Taliban as soon as they had weapons.

[Josquius]

What do you think happens to #2 when #1 is kilt?  Take care to consider all possibilities before making your final answer. 

I'd guess thats the reason.
Enough to make a smart talibani not want a promotion really, means a instant US target on his head.

[The Minsky Moment]

What do you think happens to #2 when #1 is kilt?

He gets demoted for incompetence.

[jimmy olsen]

What do you think happens to #2 when #1 is kilt?  Take care to consider all possibilities before making your final answer. 

I remember the US killing quite a few #2s and 3s, but that's really a few hadnfuls. The rest are further down the totem poll.

[Slargos]

, boasting a 15 percent rate of soldiers not defecting to the Taliban as soon as they had weapons.

Say what the fuck now? 

He's meaning to say that 85% defect? Sounds a bit off?

[jimmy olsen]

, boasting a 15 percent rate of soldiers not defecting to the Taliban as soon as they had weapons.

Say what the fuck now? 

He's meaning to say that 85% defect? Sounds a bit off?

Surely you can't be serious?

That's obviously the Onion.

[derspiess]

Don't call him 'Shirley'

[Ahmadinejads Shaggy Beard]

The funny thing is, when the Americans kill a Taliban leader, the new one is often more independent, radical and violent (for obvious reasons). And when your gameplan is to negotiate some settlement and leave, that's pretty bad.

[Viking]

The funny thing is, when the Americans kill a Taliban leader, the new one is often more independent, radical and violent (for obvious reasons). And when your gameplan is to negotiate some settlement and leave, that's pretty bad.

And slowly but surely the taliban drifts from being a disciplined religious militant order fighting for islam and jihad and virtue and vice to being just another bunch of armed bandits.

That is how we win.

[CountDeMoney]

The funny thing is, when the Americans kill a Taliban leader, the new one is often more independent, radical and violent (for obvious reasons).

If my predecessors all got whacked, I'd cast reason to the wind and act like an asshole too.  What's there to lose when your days on the job are numbered?

[Ahmadinejads Shaggy Beard]

The funny thing is, when the Americans kill a Taliban leader, the new one is often more independent, radical and violent (for obvious reasons). And when your gameplan is to negotiate some settlement and leave, that's pretty bad.

And slowly but surely the taliban drifts from being a disciplined religious militant order fighting for islam and jihad and virtue and vice to being just another bunch of armed bandits.

That is how we win.

I'm not sure how you can bomb the Taliban away from jihad...

[Viking]

I'm not sure how you can bomb the Taliban away from jihad...

No, you just kill the jihadis that want to fight, leaving the criminals that just want to live and sell opium alive and in charge.