Gunmen Storm Government Buildings Near Kabul

[JohnBrowdie]

this isn't good at all.

Gunmen Storm Government Buildings Near Kabul

PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan — Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers seized a five-story building in an attack on a provincial capital Monday and battled Afghan and American forces in the town for several hours, leaving at least three dead.

Violence is escalating throughout the country in advance of Afghanistan’s national elections on Aug. 20, and additional international forces have been deployed to expand security. The Taliban have warned people not to vote and have said they will seek to disrupt the election.

Monday’s fighting took place here in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar Province, as President Hamid Karzai was unveiling his election manifesto in Kabul, an hour’s drive to the north. Surrounded by ministers and supporters, including former governors and police officials, Mr. Karzai said that if reelected his priority would be bringing peace and security to the country; he pledged to more than double the strength of the Afghan police and army forces by the end of his second term.

Meanwhile, a very different scene was unfolding on the streets down here in Pul-e-Alam. Shopkeepers said a group of seven to eight gunmen drove their Toyota car up to a shopping center shortly after noon, shot the civilian watchman and rushed to occupy the second and third floors.

The shopping center, which is still under construction, overlooks the provincial police headquarters and governor’s office, and the gunmen opened fire on both from their high position, one shopkeeper, Zemaray, 22, said.

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[JohnBrowdie]

the sudden resurgence of the taliban is all the more disturbing, especially in light of this.  all the surge is doing is creating more targets.  afghanistan is fundamentally different from iraq, and I reject the notion that the same strategy will produce equally successful results.

predators.  lots of them.   blow everything that looks threatening to mars.  all you need.  srsly.

Taliban Now Winning
U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Warns of Rising Casualties

The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency's spiritual home.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that means U.S. casualties, already running at record levels, will remain high for months to come.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the commander offered a preview of the strategic assessment he is to deliver to Washington later this month, saying the troop shifts are designed to better protect Afghan civilians from rising levels of Taliban violence and intimidation. The coming redeployments are the clearest manifestation to date of Gen. McChrystal's strategy for Afghanistan, which puts a premium on safeguarding the Afghan population rather than hunting down militants.

Gen. McChrystal said the Taliban are moving beyond their traditional strongholds in southern Afghanistan to threaten formerly stable areas in the north and west.

The militants are mounting sophisticated attacks that combine roadside bombs with ambushes by small teams of heavily armed militants, causing significant numbers of U.S. fatalities, he said. July was the bloodiest month of the war for American and British forces, and 12 more American troops have already been killed in August.

"It's a very aggressive enemy right now," Gen. McChrystal said in the interview Saturday at his office in a fortified NATO compound in Kabul. "We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative. It's hard work."

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[JohnBrowdie]

the pentagon is very unhappy about the WSJ article that was posted to this thread.

Pentagon Disputes Claim That Taliban Is Winning in Afghanistan
The Wall Street Journal paraphrased Gen. Stanley McChrystal as saying the Taliban has gained the upper hand. The article was titled, "Taliban Now Winning," though McChrystal was not explicitly quoted saying those words in the story

The Pentagon pushed back hard Monday against an article that suggested the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan believes the Taliban is winning.

The Wall Street Journal article paraphrased Gen. Stanley McChrystal as saying the Taliban has gained the upper hand. The article was titled, "Taliban Now Winning," though McChrystal was not explicitly quoted saying those words in the story.

Pentagon spokesmen called the interpretation of McChrystal's remarks "inaccurate" and "disappointing."

"That's not how we are characterizing this," spokesman Geoff Morrell said. He acknowledged that the insurgency is doing better in some parts of the country than the administration would like, but said it is not accurate to say McChrystal thinks the Taliban has the upper hand or is winning.

Morrell suggested that McChrystal's position was more accurately reflected in an interview he gave to USA Today.

"I wouldn't say we are winning or losing or stalemated," McChrystal told USA Today. The U.S. commander said in that interview that the insurgency has "momentum" which coalition forces are working to reverse.

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[DarkHalo]

Totally agree about deploying more Predators and especially more Reapers.