Word: taliban
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Pakistani forces advancing on a Taliban stronghold in the restive South Waziristan region made a surprising discovery: documents that appear to be linked to suspects in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Among the finds: a German passport in the name of Said Bahaji, a militant associated with hijackers, and a Spanish passport for the wife of an alleged al-Qaeda member. Though the documents have not been authenticated, U.S. officials say they're proof that al-Qaeda members took refuge in the area. Visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she found it "hard to believe" that Pakistani forces...
...Clinton's undiplomatic bluntness. But they missed the point: her candor, her willingness to listen to and acknowledge criticism, had begun to undermine the prevailing Pakistani image of the U.S. as arrogant and bossy, more interested in having the Pakistani military fight its war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban than in having a true strategic partnership. The contrast was especially sharp after George W. Bush's eight years of unqualified support for the military dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf. "In the past, when the Americans came, they would talk to the generals and go home," said Farahnaz Ispahani, a government...
...office believing that President Hamid Karzai's government was a liability to the pursuit of U.S. goals in Afghanistan. On the campaign trail, Obama had identified corruption and failure to deliver services and security as reasons to doubt Karzai's ability to convince Afghans that the war against the Taliban was worth fighting. Still, Obama declared Afghanistan "the good war" and bet his presidency on winning it. He could soon have regrets about hitching his political fortunes so closely to a country on the brink of failure...
...Some top logistics officers say moving additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan is a slow process and needs to start as soon as possible if U.S. forces are to be in place for next spring's expected Taliban offensive. "Even if the President orders 40,000 troops to Afghanistan tomorrow, we can't fly everything into the theater," an officer said on condition of anonymity. "It's 45 days from the U.S. to Pakistan [by sea], and then another two weeks over land into Afghanistan." Some military officers say privately that a quick, forceful decision creates its own momentum toward success...
...While the wisdom of such lengthy study is subject to debate, not so the reality of the calendar. Time is either an ally or a foe of any commander. "You may have the watches," the Taliban like to say, "but we have the time." No one knows that as well as McChrystal. "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) - while Afghan security capacity matures - risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible," he wrote on Aug. 30. If, as some at the Pentagon expect, Obama won't decide...