Word: talibanizing
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...recent U.S. takeout of Taliban big cheese Baitullah Mehsud has predictably fired up these drone proponents, who see it as a clear-cut success story and a case for upping the number of UAVs. What’s more surprising, perhaps, is that the counterarguments have been so few and so thin. It’s the specifics, rather than the supremacy of the drone approach itself, that have come under attack. Pakistanis decry U.S. counterterrorist strikes in their country as a “violation of sovereignty” (apparently, contracting out assassination missions to third parties isn?...
...employed twice as many drones as it did manned fighter planes, that the total number of military drones has increased drastically from 167 in 2001 to 5,500 today, that under Obama’s presidency alone we’ve already ordered dozens to eliminate al Qaeda and Taliban operatives? CNN.com blithely reports on one Major Morgan Adams, who pilots a Predator sending Hellfire missiles into Iraq and Afghanistan: “He kisses his wife goodbye, drives to Creech, a tiny desert air force base in Nevada, and within minutes could be killing insurgents on the other side...
...people that the U.S. military is a force for good in their country. But at the same time, U.S. troop deaths reached 45 in August, making it the deadliest month for American military personnel since the war began 94 months ago. That's due to U.S. forces challenging the Taliban more directly, and the Taliban's stepped-up use of roadside bombs to kill as many Western troops as possible. (Read "Obama's Next Move in Afghanistan...
...While McChrystal's redeployed and reinforced troops appear to be making progress in various parts of Afghanistan, there remain staggering challenges. The key southern city of Kandahar - long the capital of Taliban might - appears increasingly under the sway of the insurgency. There are widespread reports of vote fraud in the Aug. 20 presidential election in which incumbent Hamid Karzai claims to be leading. What's more, military and foreign-policy experts - some of whom have been advising McChrystal - say both the U.S. military and civilian presence is inadequate. (See pictures of the new offensive in Afghanistan...
...party - in Vietnam. "What I found, being in Afghanistan, was all too familiar of problems not only in Iraq but in Vietnam years ago," Cordesman said. "We take the insurgency, and we define it in terms of tactical clashes rather than areas of influence." The Taliban's areas of influence have grown dramatically, he said. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...