The worldwide appeal of the concept of the caliphate is demonstrated once again. “Afghan president admits he’s losing troops to ISIS,” Associated Press, March 21, 2015:
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Ashraf Ghani publicly acknowledged for the first time Saturday that the Islamic State is gaining influence in Afghanistan as he prepared to leave for the United States and attempt to slow the withdrawal of American troops.
Reports have been growing that commanders of the Islamist Taliban forces fighting the Afghan government are swearing allegiance to the terrorist network that controls swathes of Syria and Iraq, sometimes called “Daesh.”
“Daesh’s characteristic is that it is man-eating. It swallows its competitors,” Ghani said in a briefing. “Here, it is not physical presence of people from Syria or Iraq. It is the network effect.”…
Officials have said the Obama administration is set to abandon plans to draw down to 5,500 troops by year’s end, bowing to military leaders’ requests. And while no final decision on numbers has been made, the United States is expected to allow many of the troops to remain well into 2016.
However, Ghani has signaled in talks ahead of the visit that he wants the United States to maintain 10,000 troops in Afghanistan through the next decade, said a European military official who spoke on condition of anonymity….
The Afghan troops need targets!
mariam rove says
The Afghan troops need targets!
Well said!!!! M
Daniel Triplett says
Yes, the Afghan troops need new targets now that the American troops are leaving.
One out of seven US KIAs are Green-on-Blue: US trained Afghan troops turning their guns on us. Can’t trust any of them.
Is your boy still over there?
Joseph says
There are two possibilities to this situation
(A)So instead of using women and children as human shields they want our troops there so we can’t just “bomb the shit out of them, anywhere we want.
(B)They want our troops there so they can be attacked, killed and mutilated, whereas we attack and bomb the shit out of them.
When will we learn, with Islam the enemy of our enemy IS NOT our friend, it is just the other end of the same snake.
They have been doing a much better job of killing each other than we EVER did. Islam is NOT something you can tame and domesticate to bring into the house of the civilized world.
gravenimage says
Joseph, Ghani just wants our troops there so the Taliban or ISIS doesn’t put his head on a pike. That’s all this is.
Joseph says
@ gravenimage
OK, that’s 3(three) reasons and there is probably more, but this was just off the top of my head.
Thanks though, let me know if you come up with more.
Ricky Black says
Say good by and good luck. We need to get out of that Koran thumbing country. The Koran hates all of us.
mariam rove says
You are very correct. Those bastards don’t deserve us or our troops. My own son came back all f….up. m
Davegreybeard says
You and your son have my deepest sympathies mariam.
The absolute worst, most miserable years of my life were after coming home from Viet Nam.
Part of it is the absolute, devastating shock when you realize that what you thought was going to be a wonderful new beginning, is the beginning of pure screaming hell inside your head.
It’s not going to war that’s hard. It’s coming home.
I wish you well my friend, and may God be with your son, as he does battle with unnamable demons.
mariam rove says
Thank you. He is drowning him self in alcohol. Dave: curious to know if you like to share, how did you deal with it and how long did it take to feel better? M
gravenimage says
miriam, I am so sorry to hear that your brave son is struggling. But I do know that many returning veterans go through a rough patch—especially if they served in awful places like Viet Nam or Afghanistan, where the mission was never really clear—but then are finally able to regain their equilibrium.
Please tell him that he has a lot of supporters here!
Re the alcohol, get him into some kind of rehab if you can. Maybe military benefits can cover this?
Please continue to let us know how he is doing.
gravenimage says
I just reread my post and realized that “rough patch” sounds like I’m minimizing the anguish your son is going through, miriam. I assure you, that was not my intent.
Champ says
Great advice, Graven!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And, Mariam, you really need to start attending Al-Anon meetings. They will help *you* sooo much. They helped me when my brother was abusing drugs AND alcohol. He would call me all hours of the night saying that he was going to kill himself, so I needed tools to help me cope with his drinking and they saved *me* for going nuts. Another person’s drinking (or drug abuse) can harm YOU, so it’s important to get the help that you need, too. Then you’ll be better equipped to help your son, as well.
Here’s their website where you may get immediate help by reading through their material, and this will also allow you to find an Al-Anon group near you:
“Recovery from another’s drinking. Call for Al-Anon meetings near you.”
http://al-anon.org/?gclid=CjwKEAjw9bKpBRD-geiF8OHz4EcSJACO4O7TCF7RM63ESPGwfEXKJlYHxdq534oaZ3fu_1qsBdakShoCPqLw_wcB
Do it! …you’ll thank me for it, my friend.
Daniel Triplett says
Sorry to hear about your son’s troubles and pain. I was over there for six years, so I can definitely relate. I was a USAF pilot. We all drank hard. Every single one of us on the crew got completely shithoused on virtually every layover, even the 10 hour ones. Drinking is part of the culture. It helps military people bond quickly and relieves the extreme war stress. The Generals know what’s going on, but look the other way. Not once in 12 years was I ever breathalyzed, nor did I ever hear about anyone getting in trouble with drinking and flying. MUCH different story with the airlines.
People drink in excess like that to relieve spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical pain. The drinking helped take our minds off the war and our marriages, which were all falling apart. The drinking usually continues for a number of years after military separation.
If he’s like me and many others, there will come a day when he’s ready to quit drinking. Only the drinker can make himself quit. No one else can force him, no matter how painful it is to watch.
I don’t know the particulars of your son, and it’s none of my business, particularly on a public forum. So I don’t want to sound like a know-it-all here.
But I wouldn’t surprise him with some sort of rehab. He’ll resent you forever, and it won’t make him quit. Rehab is never successful for those forced into it. And the rehab and alcoholic tag will follow him forever, affecting his military and civilian employment adversely for the rest of his life. Especially don’t get the military involved, or talk with his supervisors behind his back. That will accomplish nothing except saddle him with serious career problems forever, and put a gigantic unfixable rift in your relationship.
My advice, not that you’re asking for it, is to deal with the source of his pain as his father and friend. The alcohol and drugs aren’t the problem. The source of his pain is. Do a lot of listening, and let him make his own decisions about how he chooses to medicate his pain. (He’s a war fighter, not an adolescent) That, and make sure he doesn’t drive after drinking. That’s about all you can do.
I speak with experience about this. Good luck.
Joseph says
@ mariam rove
I hope you don’t mind, I will be praying to Jesus for you and your son.
gravenimage says
Afghan president admits he’s losing troops to Islamic State
…………………………….
And why not? Afghanistan has been losing troops—and weaponry—to the pious Taliban for years. This is more of the same.
More:
“Daesh’s characteristic is that it is man-eating. It swallows its competitors,” Ghani said in a briefing. “Here, it is not physical presence of people from Syria or Iraq. It is the network effect.”…
……………………………
Daesh only “swallows its competitors” because it is even more Islamic than the Taliban or Boko Haram. It outdoes them in savagery, so it is even more of a draw for these pious butchers.
More:
Officials have said the Obama administration is set to abandon plans to draw down to 5,500 troops by year’s end, bowing to military leaders’ requests. And while no final decision on numbers has been made, the United States is expected to allow many of the troops to remain well into 2016.
……………………………
And so more of our brave men and women will die, and suffer devastating injuries, and we will fork over more and more of our hard earned tax money to support a state that has so overtly rejected anything resembling civilized democracy that stoning is now back on the books. Our mission there is more murky than ever.
Godwin says
So the best thing for the US to do is to get the hell out of this hellish place where it had sacrified lots of money, weaponry n men. This had become a case of ” fools rush in where angels fear to thread.” But this fool refuses to go.
Davegreybeard says
@mariam rove
“how did you deal with it and how long did it take to feel better?”
Alcohol, pot and whatever drug the “crowd” was using at the moment.
I had an anger that destroyed any job that I had. So I got only the most menial jobs, which I wasn’t very good at, because I hated them – and of course that added to the frustration and the anger.
I couldn’t relate to people. It was difficult to understand jokes, even engage in casual conversation. It was impossible for me to “make small talk” – unless I was drunk or high.
There was a suffocating depression, a sadness that came from everywhere – and nowhere. Unnamable, indescribable, to this day, I cannot tell you why it was there.
I could not relate to a “normal” girl. And any “normal” girl could not or would not relate to me. So I went from bar fly to bar fly, women that were just as sick as I was, except in a different way.
All in all, it sets you on a path to destruction. Whether you pull out of this death spiral or not depends on how far into it you get, the severity of your experiences in combat and your own ability, and will, to overcome it.
I think Veteran’s groups would help, though I have no personal experience with this, as they were not available in 1970. But I would advise you to encourage your son to seek out those who understand what he is going through. And don’t call it “counseling” damn it. Veterans are a Brotherhood, we understand each other, welcome each other and really do care for each other. I occasionally ride with the “Patriot Guard” a Vet group that provides flag line services at military funerals. When I am with those guys I know I am with “family,” they “understand” and there is an unspoken empathy that you can feel. I wish I had discovered this much earlier.
Learning to relate to people again, is a big part of “getting better.” But understand that your son will always “carry it with him,” he will always be a warrior.
I have learned to “roll with it.” It is a big part of why I study Islam, why I have so many guns, so much ammunition. In a way I’m still the Infantry Lieutenant I was in 1969, obsessively studying the enemy – “Hold your friends close. Hold your enemies closer.” Some say I’m paranoid, well a year or so in combat will do that for you, maybe for the rest of your life. But it’s O.K. because the Jihadis have promised us that they are coming – and I believe them. When your son gets better, perhaps he will join us fighting the evil that is Islam.
It took me a good 4 years before I stopped getting stoned almost everyday and got a decent job. I think the sooner your son gets with other veterans to “talk it out” the sooner he will get better. A good job is another part of it. By luck, one of the places I applied to when I was broke and out of a job was an oil refinery, which is an EXCELLENT place for a Vet to work. There is a semi military atmosphere about it, in that there is an emphasis on teamwork, following rigid safety rules, paying attention to what you’re doing – and yes, you could get killed. I found that finally, there was something that my Army experience was good for. It was interesting work and I was good at it. Pay and benefits are also excellent – I retired at 56 and life is just terrific!
So there is hope and life, after the demons have been put into their cages.
Best of luck to you and your son, wish I could meet both of you sometime.
Dave
mariam rove says
Thank you Dave! this is really encouraging. There are days that he is good and then days that he is not. 6 of his bodies in the last year and half that he got back from Afghanistan have killed themselves one of them as recently as three month ago. A 21 year old kid in PA. I am now going to cut and paste you response and send it to him. And yes keep studying Islam as well. As you may know I was born and raised a muslims. Since you are retired and if you can afford it a better way of seeing the true evil of Islam is to travel to a Muslim country. In this case Egypt would be ideal as you can travel as a tourist. Because of Islam, you will be stunned by their backwardness. M
Davegreybeard says
@mairam
“6 of his buddies in the last year and half that he got back from Afghanistan have killed themselves one of them as recently as three month ago. A 21 year old kid in PA.”
The last “Patriot Guard” mission I was on was for a young Marine who served two tours in Iraq. Got hit with an IED over there and was medically discharged from the Marine Corp. I don’t know or how long he had been home, or the extent of his injuries. His family talked of “demons” that followed him home.
He committed suicide I later discovered.
Or maybe somehow I already knew it before hand – I was drawn to the mission.
I stood silent, in the hot sun, holding the flag that this young man had pledged his life for.
I every once in a while I could catch the murmured words of those who loved this young Marine.
One said he made sure that his organs would be taken soon after his death.
He told stories about the man who got his kidney, and the one who got his liver and the one who got his heart.
Another was a younger brother who talked of boyhood pranks, and how he always admired him – and how he would always miss him.
I thought how honored I was to hold the flag for this brave young Marine.
And as I held that flag. And as I did a stiff “Present Arms, and held it. And as I walked slowly from the field, I thought, there but for the grace of God…
I don’t think I need to visit Egypt in this lifetime mairam. Though I am fascinated by Ancient Egyptian history – and Iranian/Persian also.
But I would like to meet you and/or your son sometime.
And if you ever think your son might be in serious trouble, get a hold of me. I don’t know if I could be of any help, but I would go to some effort to try.
mortimer says
Most Afghans are as demented as the Taliban. They are one of the most Islane (Islamically insane) countries in the world.
Porky The Crusader says
Right.
xxxChurch100 says
I had a friend who had an Afghan dog , Rumpo , it. was sooooo thick…. Maybe it was breed up that way so as not show up the locals … It would only take one generation , two at the most.
Matthieu Baudin says
Surely the troops he’s (President Ghani’s) losing are not worth keeping. If they die in battle in Syria and Iraq then that puts them out of harms way. This is a war that ISIS will lose through loss of territory and fighters, even though currently it has great pulling power from the southern Philippines to Morocco and everywhere in between. If Ghani wants his country to be a part of the modern world then he will need to get down to some analysis of the problem of fundamentalist Islam, picking up where Mr Sisi has taken the lead. The U.S. and other foreign forces should depart Afghanistan instead of waiting to be bled dry. If the Taliban retake control of Afghanistan then the country can be quarantined through sanctions. The real fight today should be at the territorial heart of ISIS in Syria and Iraq primarily through stepped up support to disciplined Kurdish forces and probably also involving (conditional) active cooperation with the Syrian Armed Forces. For those who choke at the suggestion of ‘a Syrian alliance of convenience’, consider that having the USSR as part of a coordinated Allied Force during WW2 may have shortened that war by two or more years.
Davegreybeard says
@Matthieu Baudin
“If Ghani wants his country to be a part of the modern world then he will need to get down to some analysis of the problem of fundamentalist Islam,”
That’s just not going to happen, Matthieu. And if it did, it would be a death sentence for President Ghani.