Remember the Taliban? Supposedly George Bush ended their regime forever back in 2001. Except of course that he didn’t. He “moved on” to Iraq, and while he did, the Taliban, best buddies of Osama Bin Laden, re-grouped, and returned. And they are winning the war to regain their grip on power in the country that George Bush forgot:
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents have captured a third district in western Afghanistan, local officials said on Monday, defying Western assertions the rebels are unable to mount large military offensives.
The hardline Islamist Taliban relaunched their insurgency two years ago to topple the pro-Western Afghan government and eject the 50,000 foreign troops, expanding their operations further from the mainly Pashtun south where they are strongest.
Western forces say the Taliban’s greater reliance this year on suicide and roadside bombs is a result of heavy battlefield casualties they and Afghan troops have inflicted on the rebels and the insurgents’ inability to hold ground.
But in the last week, the Taliban have captured three districts in the western province of Farah, bordering Iran, forcing lightly armed Afghan police to flee and defying Afghan and foreign forces to retake the lost ground.
We don’t have the troops to both “surge” in Iraq and simultaneously protect the Karzai regime in Afghanistan, and the Taliban knows it. (cont.)
They also know that Bush and Cheney don’t really care what happens in Afghanistan, since all their energy and focus is directed toward Iraq and Iran. Yet, this may be one of the more serious strategic blunders that the Bush administration has committed. Al Qaeda, the Taliban and their extremist Jihadi allies already control Northwestern Pakistan (one of the reasons Musharraf felt the need to declare martial law). They are broadening their control of territory in Afghanistan, a land rich with poppy fields. An area which is the basis of much of the world’s opium/heroin trade, and a source of income which funds both the Taliban’s war efforts, and also potential terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda around the globe, including the possibility of major attacks on American soil. And Bush is doing nothing to stop them.
Imagine the consequences of both Pakistan and Afghanistan falling under the sway of Al Qaeda’s allies. It could happen. And then we would be confronted by two “rogue” states which support terrorism and an extremist Islamic ideology, one of which has nuclear weapons. Then, to add to that unhappy scenario, imagine Bush attacks Iran next year. We are already seeing the effects of a meltdown in the financial industry due to the lax regulatory standards Bush put in place which led to the sub-prime mortgage collapse. Add to that sky-rocketing oil prices if the Musharraf regime falls and/or the US attacks Iran ($200 a barrel is a conservative estimate in my opinion should either occur), not to mention the tremendous increase in terrorist activity to which such events are invariably bound to lead, and we could see the beginning of a crisis without end, one that would destroy our military power, our economy and likely our democracy in one fell swoop.
And the only one to blame would be the man in the phony flight suit and codpiece, the “Bring em on” President himself. Not that this is much comfort to you or I. Bush will retire to wealth and privilege, his only concern avoiding travel to countries that might wish to try him for the war crimes for which he is surely guilty. Whereas the rest of us will be dealing with the consequences of his ill-fated, faith-based and illegal “decisions” for generations to come.
