So major even the NY Slimes has to give it space.


Taliban Loses Grip on Last Major Town - New York Times

Quote:

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Afghan and NATO troops retook the town of Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan on Monday, forcing the Taliban to withdraw from the only sizable town they hold in the country, Afghan and NATO officials said. There was no clear picture of casualties, but the Taliban and civilians said there had been heavy bombardment overnight.

The news came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain made a surprise visit to Afghanistan and met with President Hamid Karzai. About 7,000 British troops are deployed in Helmand Province, in southern Afghanistan.

Retaking Musa Qala, which they abandoned more than a year ago, has been one of their main objectives in the province, which has the highest level of Taliban activity as well as illicit opium production. Wali Muhammad, police chief of the neighboring district, Sangin, said Afghan and NATO forces entered the town at 2 p.m. after heavy fighting.

“The Taliban are gone,” he said. “They faced humiliation and heavy casualties.”

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So what do you think ? How long before San Fran Nan and Harry Reid declare Afghanistan a loss and start defunding this war effort ?

Getting Beyond Stalemate to Win a War
Tom, here is one of the best reading I have seen in a long time.

America's veterans -- young and old -- are resolved to support and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. This commitment, and nothing less, should compel us to stand together, in and out of uniform. Would that Congress finds the courage to bury its pride and do the same.
washingtonpost.com

I am very happy that General Batiste co-wrote that article . He is the one that was labeled the "outspoken general" . I fully agree that the US did not properly mobilize for the conflict we find ourselves in against Jihadistan . We were as is our won't late to the game and should've realized the nature of the enemy 2 decades before 9-11.

After the cold war ended we cashed in on the "peace dividend" and severely reduced our volunteer military strength. Had we rearmed to a fraction of the cold war levels we would not be talking about the military being " stretched thin and ..hard-pressed to maintain its current cycle of deployments".

A good book to read about this subject was editied by Frank Gaffney Jr. entitled 'War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World ' .

He has continued his advocacy by heading up 'THE SET AMERICA FREE COALITION ' http://www.setamericafree.org/ which advocates breaking our dependency on energy provided by the very enemy we fight.

Back to Afghanistan :My biggest concern there is that lose the urgency to keep up the fight there . This news about the Musa Qala route should have been a lead story . Maps of the area show nothing but mountainous terrain for the Taliban remnants to retreat to . Not exactly the most habitable environment for winter .

More important ;Gordon Brown visited this week and pledged aid to the town and region so that the gains can be held. If NATO steps it up then perhaps they can duplicate the successes of 'the surge'.

They've already used the "forgotten war" line so past history shows the next step will be to talk up our failures there and a call to withdraw. Power is the most important thing to the Democrats and they can't win the election without failure so they'll have to do what they can to facilitate failure. Therefore it shouldn't be long before the calls for defunding and withdrawal are ramped up.

Maybe they'll follow Obama over the mountains to the sanctuaries in Pakistan.

I agree… the story of Musa Qala should be on prime time news, not just a back page of the times. However, as Michael Yon pointed out some time ago… Afghanistan is not as much at war as it is an effort to build infrastructure. Roads being of primary concern in order to link the different population centers and also the framing districts to distruburation. That is the main reason the farmers are not growing crops for sale outside of their district. I think once an infrastructure is completed we will see more real visible progress.