Thursday
In yesterday's Pentagon Press Briefing, Commander, Nato International Security Assistance Force Gen. Dan McNeill had this interesting comment:
I'm also reminded of the headlines that said there was a resurgent Taliban, there was a coming spring offensive, and they were going to hold sway on the battlefield. And I think a retrospective look at calendar year '07 says that clearly was not the case. They did very little on the battlefield. They were very successful in staying in the press, and they continue to be, but they have done little on the battlefield.
Do the Taliban have sufficient strength to pull off another Spring News Offensive or have we precluded this by sufficiently weakening the elite al allah al Press Relations over the preceding year?
General McNeill is correct.
Until the surge of dissident voices reaches full strength, our troops will continue to face enemy sniping from within the nurturing confines of hostile media outlets.
If our troops face a spring press offensive this year, I predict that it will come from the northeast, with a possible 2nd front springing the now-infamous U.C. Berkeley.
Posted by Allen in Fort Worth at February 7, 2008 11:38 AM
Well, the BBC seems to be easing the populace into the idea that the 'stan is unwinnable. They keep wittering on about poppy production like that mattered.
It's the inevitable consequence of Iraq looking like it's going right.
I'm not convinced it's driven mainly by a political agenda as much as a news one. The Iraqi economy strengthening, the security situation improving etc isn't exactly news is it? Calamitous defeat or stunning victory is but the slow spadework just isn't worth reporting is it? also the usual talking heads probably have their "Why we lost in Afghanistan schtick" polished to a T.
Posted by Nick M at February 7, 2008 12:37 PM
When I was in high school, the stoner kids used to bring in High Times magazine. They had whole feature articles about Afghanistan and their awesome hash and opium. This has been going on forever, and although it may be worse than before, the people pushing the idea that the opium situation is bad are really using it as a rhetorical device -- they don't give a rat's ass whether the world's opium supply comes from Afghanistan or anywhere else.
As for the "resurgent taliban" -- we hear this every year. Apparently there are only two seasons in Afghanistan: "Brutal Afghan Winter" followed immediately by "Spring offensive/resurgent taliban"
Posted by fleabag at February 7, 2008 01:52 PM
The taliban do seem to resurge every year. A search for the phrase on the bbc website brings up numerous hits over the last few years. John Simpson is particularly good at recycling last year's spring offensive. You would have thought that they might have got sick of resurging by now.
Posted by william at February 7, 2008 04:29 PM
