Word: talibanism
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...more U.S. troops took the month's death toll to 53. But the military is hoping that the deployment, since October, of the first lighter and more agile Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected All-Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) on Afghan soil can help reduce the casualty count. Yet, as the Taliban develops increasingly deadly weapons - with Iran's help, according to U.S. intelligence - the U.S. is changing over to vehicles lighter than those it used in Iraq...
...That why the Pentagon has ordered more than 5,000 of the M-ATVs (called "baby MRAPs" by some) for its Afghanistan forces. These vehicles and their V-shaped hulls are designed to deflect the blasts of roadside bombs, which have become the Taliban's weapon of choice. Such improvised explosive devices killed only a single U.S. soldier in 2003 but have killed more than 100 so far this year, accounting for nearly half of the U.S. deaths...
...sure, as one of the most powerful men in Kandahar, Wali Karzai would be a valuable asset in a region that has plagued U.S. and international forces for the past eight years. Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban and is still a hotbed of militant activity. Karzai's influence over local tribes, augmented by his brother's place in the presidential palace and his access to security assets, development contracts and U.S. money, would be substantial. As President Barack Obama deliberates signing a new bill that would allow money to be allocated for insurgents who jump the fence...
...question begs to be asked: If Wali Karzai was in fact so valuable an asset over the past eight years that his drug-running was at best treated with a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, why has Afghanistan's situation steadily deteriorated? The Taliban, dismissed by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2002 as "out of business, permanently," is back in force. Part of that strength comes from a drug trade that has skyrocketed from 185 metric tons of heroin produced in 2001 to more than 6,000 metric tons this year, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs...
...pictures of the battle against the Taliban...