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Taliban seizes major city, one of the linchpins of Afghanistan’s economy

Sep 29, 2015 12:06 pm By Robert Spencer

Countless numbers of lives, billions of dollars wasted, and for what? A government that is going to fall as soon as the last U.S. troops are gone. All this outrageous and tragic waste could have been avoided, but that would have required Washington establishment analysts to drop their rosy comforting fictions about Islam and Sharia, and to recognize that Wilsonian democracy-building was never going to work in Afghanistan: the nature of Sharia militated against it, and the people’s attachment to Sharia was too strong. Challenging Sharia, of course, was unthinkable to those analysts: offering safe haven to the bacha bazi boys, and to oppressed women, and to the few non-Muslims was out of the question. But if we had done it, if we had stood for our own values, some Afghans would have supported us. In the present situation, none do.

Kunduz-city-afghanistan1

“Taliban storms into northern Afghan city in major blow for security forces,” by Tim Craig and Sayed Salahuddin, Washington Post, September 28, 2015:

KABUL — Taliban insurgents fought their way into a major city in northern Afghanistan on Monday, driving back stunned security forces in a multi-pronged attack that also sent Afghan officials and U.N. personnel fleeing for safety.

The fall of Kunduz would be a huge blow to the Western-backed government in Kabul and would give Taliban insurgents a critical base of operations beyond their traditional strongholds in Afghanistan’s south. Afghan government leaders and the U.S.-led coalition here view the battle for Kunduz as a key test of the Afghan security forces in their continuing fight with the Taliban.

For the moment, Afghan officials acknowledged, much of the city is in Taliban hands, and Afghan authorities were left struggling over how to turn the tide, although they insisted that they would prevail once they mount a counterattack.

The assault began shortly before dawn when hundreds of Taliban fighters advanced into the city from four directions. Although Afghan security units were backed by helicopter gunships, the Taliban took over a 200-bed hospital and overran the local prison, freeing hundreds of prisoners. From there, they seized the office of the governor, who was not in the city at the time.

The militant group posted triumphant pictures to Twitter showing Taliban fighters hoisting their white-and-black flag throughout the city.

Kunduz, a hub for the country’s once relatively stable grain region about 150 miles north of Kabul, would hand the Taliban one of the linchpins of Afghanistan’s economy. It was the last Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan in November 2001, when the group’s grip on the country collapsed in the face of opposition fighters and U.S. airstrikes.

If Taliban fighters succeed in keeping control of Kunduz, it would be the first time in 14 years that they have seized and held a city….

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Filed Under: Afghanistan, Featured Tagged With: Kunduz


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Comments

  1. miriamrove says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 12:30 pm

    Great! What a waste of the lives of so many of our solders and our federal tax $$$$. In the past month I have been in and out the VA hospital( 6 times (which by the way are s…holes) with my son who is drinking a bottle of Jaimison to cope with what he saw in Afghanistan. 8 to 10 of his buddies have taken their own lives after they came back from Afghanistan. Mean while the Pope and Obama are d… around putting up a show as how peaceful Islam is. What a travesty. m

    • Alarmed Pig Farmer says

      Sep 29, 2015 at 1:09 pm

      Regarding your son and his buddies, one now wonders the extent to which the PTSD of U.S. veterans returning from Afghanistan is driven by them having been forced to countenance mass ritual homosexual rape of young boys there. That would be upsetting.

      • miriamrove says

        Sep 29, 2015 at 3:22 pm

        Can you imagine you are told not to intervene while you are watching a helpless little boy getting raped. M

        • Alarmed Pig Farmer says

          Sep 29, 2015 at 7:21 pm

          The only thing that could be worse is watching that video released by Carly Fiorina of a live birth baby being parted out in a U.S. taxpayer funded Planned Parenthood chop shop.

          The Pentagon needs to come to terms with what it’s become. Yeah we all know about the SNAFUs and the political suck up generals, but forcing soldiers and marines to countenance homosexual boo-foo of prepubescent boys is… well, it would’ve been unimaginable before the Indonesian Barack Hussein took the helm.

        • Angemon says

          Sep 29, 2015 at 8:52 pm

          Alarmed Pig Farmer posted:

          “The only thing that could be worse is watching that video released by Carly Fiorina of a live birth baby being parted out in a U.S. taxpayer funded Planned Parenthood chop shop.”

          Haven’t you heard, APF? Those videos were “edited”. EDITED! Nothing to see here, these are not the droids we are looking for, everyone can just go back to watching the latest celebrity sex-tape “leaked” online, crisis averted – all we need to know is that Planned Parenthood didn’t debunk the accusations of selling dead baby parts because the videos were “edited”.

          “Edited” is to PP what “context” is to islam.

    • gravenimage says

      Sep 29, 2015 at 7:07 pm

      I have your dear son and his fellow soldiers in my thoughts, miriam.

      And I agree with APF–I’m sure that rates of PTSD are *much* higher than they would normally be because American and coalition troops were forced to countenance all sorts of Muslim barbarism, and to realize that they weren’t fighting for democracy, but just to support a theoretically “lighter” form of savage Shari’ah law.

      I can only imagine the despair that would result from risking your life and health and that of your buddies over such insane futility.

    • Linde Barrera says

      Sep 30, 2015 at 2:31 am

      To miriamrove- I feel sick to my stomach that your brave son and US veteran is drinking to obliterate his memory of being in Afghanistan. I have the greatest respect for our US men and women in uniform, and I will pray for him and you. God bless you both, and your whole family.

  2. John C. Barile says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 1:08 pm

    I wonder if the black flags will soon emerge from Khorasan, to wreak more havoc on the world.

  3. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    Looking at the panoramic photo of Kunduz above, I though, “My, what a beautiful city.” One wonders if some of the Mullahs running the Ulema government there have taken their creative talents over to the field of architecture. Once the war finally ends and the Moslem activists take over there, they should consider building a tourist business in the city.

    • Donovan Nuera says

      Sep 29, 2015 at 6:08 pm

      “Kunduz has the most well-preserved Mid-Century Medieval condo units in Northern Afghanistan. Their muddled palette of hues, generous use of baling wire on balcony supports, cool dark interiors with small inoperable casement windows are a tribute to the architectural genius that combines use of mountainous, unproductive wasteland and discarded building material from Pakistan plague villages…Their latrines, with their non-existent ventilation and decorative brown tiled walls festooned with abstract “hand-like” shapes, were a major innovation in what was an adobe/tent/lean-to heavy culture. Students of progenitor Ishadullahez carried it far afield to Tripoli, Damascus, and Aden’s City Centre where it has flourished. Small and human-scaled from the outside, a typical hovel easily allowed families of 8 to tend to their sitting and staring at the carpet covered walls until dinner was stolen from a neighbor down the lane. An added feature is the ease of remodeling for the occasion; whether the rainy season, Eid festivals, or tribal mortar attacks, the masonry is quite moveable and extra skylights can be added within minutes using the Kalashnikov technique imported from Uzbekistan design mavens.” – M. Mohaudalalah; Afghan Slum Review, Feb 27, 1959

      • Alarmed Pig Farmer says

        Sep 29, 2015 at 7:23 pm

        Their latrines, with their non-existent ventilation and decorative brown tiled walls festooned with abstract “hand-like” shapes…

        Oh. My. God. Hilarious. Haaaa. Man, you should be writing travel brochures for tourists stupid enough to venture to Dar al-Islam.

        • Donovan Nuera says

          Sep 30, 2015 at 2:13 am

          I am working on a series of 1920s-style Travel Posters to such donkey-cart-setting destinations of elegance as Raqaa, Sirte, and Aceh Banda

      • gravenimage says

        Oct 2, 2015 at 5:18 am

        Great stuff!

    • gravenimage says

      Sep 29, 2015 at 7:08 pm

      I know–what an obvious crap hole.

  4. John C. Barile says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 1:14 pm

    US-NATO forces are launching airstrikes. They’re following a rather dated, tired script, don’t you think? And this was the war that Mr. Obama called the necessary one, back in ’08, unlike Iraq. Now we aren’t quite at peace, nor are we consciously at war. We have entered the Twilight Zone.

    • Jay Boo says

      Sep 29, 2015 at 8:09 pm

      Does Obama have a back up plan?

      Does the US have a scape goat Embassy staff in place within Kabul that Obama can abandon on a moments notice and then desecrate their sacrifice by flaunting repeated apologies to the Muslim world if there was anything at all that may have offended Muslims and their ‘great and noble’ religion?

      • Raja says

        Sep 29, 2015 at 8:25 pm

        Their great ignoble religion is always under ICU(intensive care unit) and need some constant doses from terrorists and some psychopaths like Gadaffi (PBUH)etc. allah though “supreme” is so CHALLENGED that he has to depend on terror to grease Islam’s wheels.

  5. Angemon says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    Afghan government leaders and the U.S.-led coalition here view the battle for Kunduz as a key test of the Afghan security forces in their continuing fight with the Taliban.

    A ignorant, uninspired teacher teaching stuff with no practical use to an unwilling student – is anyone surprised with the F-?

  6. Davegreybeard says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    It’s the loss of Xuan Loc (Swan Lock) forty years later and for the same reasons. We Americans never seem to learn that it is ideology that drives men in battle.

    Xuan Loc was the last major battle for South Viet Nam and the key to Saigon.
    For a time we lived in an old French fort at the bridge on Route 1 in Xuan Loc. I was prompted to spend several hours on the net looking for a picture of it, but I could not find one.

    Xuan Loc was my first post as a part of a Military Advisory Team (MAT) in Viet Nam, 1968. With the SVN Regional and Popular Forces, our team patrolled and set night ambushes in the surrounding jungle to protect this key city. We also were tasked to “train” the SVN forces in small unit tactics and weapons and to provide liaison between U.S. artillery and air power when needed.

    But part of our mission was NOT to “train” our SVN brothers as to the reasons why they should strive to defeat a fanatical and ideologically driven enemy. There were no daily classes on representative government, equal rights, the benefits of freedom of speech and the superiority of a capitalist economy. There should have been.
    And so, when the first real battles began, the SVN Army “melted away” much as the Iraqi has recently done and just as the Afghan forces are in the process of doing. We never learn.

    It is my contention that the reason we failed in Viet Nam and the reason we will fail in Afghanistan is that we fail to champion our ideals – just as Robert asserts here.
    And just as in Viet Nam, we have the Democrats ensuring defeat by removing essential support for our former allies.

    We are doing it once again America, and in much the same way and with the same type of leadership.

    • gravenimage says

      Sep 29, 2015 at 7:46 pm

      Yes–first thing I thought of was Vietnam, Dave. same sort of suicidal cluelessness. Glad you got out in one piece.

      And I *think* this may be the French Fort at Xuan Loc–the description of the location sounds about right given my limited knowledge. You might want to take a look:

      http://jackdurish.com/4/post/2012/07/french-fort1.html

      This was posted by another Vietnam vet. Not surprisingly, his focus is on the futility of building and defending these forts.

  7. Donovan Nuera says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    Afghanistan has an Economy??!!!

  8. gravenimage says

    Sep 29, 2015 at 7:50 pm

    Taliban seizes major city, one of the linchpins of Afghanistan’s economy

    Countless numbers of lives, billions of dollars wasted, and for what? A government that is going to fall as soon as the last U.S. troops are gone. All this outrageous and tragic waste could have been avoided, but that would have required Washington establishment analysts to drop their rosy comforting fictions about Islam and Sharia…
    ………………………….

    Yes, indeed. And even without the Taliban, what we have been fighting to defend has hardly been much better:

    “Sharia in action in Afghanistan: Plans to reintroduce public stoning as punishment for adultery”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/11/sharia-in-action-in-afghanistan-plans-to-reintroduce-public-stoning-as-punishment-for-adultery

    • Raja says

      Sep 29, 2015 at 8:43 pm

      Graven,

      May I add?

      Afghan population has serious drug problem as per programs aired by BBC. It has Pakistan to its east that it hardly trusts.

      Theocracy is an opium for the people and their economy is centered around that. The West should just quit Afghanistan so they kill each other like dogs.

  9. RichardL says

    Sep 30, 2015 at 2:40 am

    As a reservist in the German special operations division (DSO) I wrote letters for the CG that he then signed and sent to the relatives of the fallen soldiers in Kunduz. I wrote the letters from the heart, knowing that they died for a bad cause, and wanted to explain that away for the grieving families. The CG insisted on bland BS letters. He is now the second-highest German general, slated for the top position.

    OEF did successfully build a nation: the ummah.

    Evil and stupid are twin brothers.

  10. Joaquin Veyron says

    Sep 30, 2015 at 2:54 am

    completely unexpected. For me, Afghanistan always has been the beacon of freedom and the kodestar of human civilzation!!
    Hope this does not have any negative backlash on Afghanistan’s IT, car, PC industry. Hope this does not impact negatively Afghanisation top level research in the areas of nano technology, medical science and physics.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 2, 2015 at 5:21 am

      I wish I could give your post a thumbs up!

  11. Geoff Riches says

    Sep 30, 2015 at 5:39 am

    The Depravity of what is happening in the Middle East, and soon to happen in the Near East and Europe, is beyon description, but what we have to say is What Are We Going To Do About IT, at this moment in time Nothing, except a few expensive rockets to waste a few, but to acheive nothing, European Governments are sitting there twiddling there thumbs, hoping it’s all going to go away, while Islam is clogging the highway with refugees (a trick Hitler done in the WW11) Europe is awash with Left Wing Politics, and so called MP’s sitting in there tree lined houses, saying we must talk to these people a come to a solution, with no idea about Islam and it’s aims, the USA has a President, who only God knows what his aims are, I believe None, he’s twiddling his thumbs till the end of his term in Office, all the time these ISLAMIC TERRORISTS are gaining ground fighting ill trained forces with fear… that’s another subject I feel strongly about, thousand of Muslims are stirring unrest in all the Countries it plans to take, there plan is going far better than they ever expected, with fewer losses, than they could have imagined… The Non Muslim World is in Peril, and like one of our brothers said who was in Nam, your fighting a terrorist, and history says your not going to win.

  12. Davegreybeard says

    Sep 30, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    @Carolyne
    “US citizens, having had their guns taken away will be helpless in the face of this onslaught.”

    Never fear Carolyne, we will not be “helpless” in the face of our enemies.

    There is more firepower in the capable hands of the American citizenry than at any time in our history.

    Obama has proven to be the best weapons salesman of all time. He even surpasses Clinton, which is quite an accomplishment.

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