Afghan "policeman" guns down US troops

[montanadave]

Various news agencies are reporting an Afghan wearing an Afghani border police uniform shot and killed 6 NATO soldiers, all of whom were initially reported as American, during training exercises in Eastern Afghanistan. Taliban sources are claiming responsibility.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11865206

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/29/afghanistan.troops.killed/index.html?hpt=T2

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/world/asia/30afghan.html?hp

I know plenty of folks have very differing opinions regarding what our role is and should be in Afghanistan, but I'm sick of squandering American blood and treasure in that shit hole.

Use drones and covert operations forces to continue to hunt down and eliminate terrorist threats and bring the rest of our troops back home. Why American and NATO troops should put themselves in harm's way for people who won't stand up to defend themselves is beyond me.

Enough is enough. There's no end of shitty people in the world and the pain they inflict on others. And the United States trying to slap a Band-aid on a still hemorrhaging corpse isn't do anybody any favors.

[120mm]

Oddly enough, I just returned from a mission in Northern Afghanistan, where American commanders are pissing and moaning that the local Afghans are working too hard to defend themselves and are frustrating "their" plans to bring security to the area.

You have the right to your opinion, Montanadave, but your comment about Afghans not willing to defend themselves is wrong and besmirches a lot of brave mother****ers who have suffered a hell of a lot more for their country than either you or I have.

[Complication]

The Taliban sweep into towns, demand support, and if they don't get it, they brutalize the town elders, cowing the populace into at least passive support. And when the police or ANA or ISAF forces make their weekly or monthly sweep through town and ask "where are the Taliban?" there are three kinds of people:
Taliban supporters who keep their mouth shut
Scared people who keep their mouth shut
And those who decide to help and either end up beheaded (and their family killed) or are forced to pick up their lives and move to cities which are not much better, simply to stay alive.

I greatly sympathize with those who won't stand up to defend themselves. Would you, if helping a hopelessly inept system which has done nothing for you meant certain death for you and your families?

On the other hand, those who exploit their positions of power as police or government officials disgust me.

But what are we still doing over there? I could tell you that al Qaeda isn't going to stop planning to attack and kill Americans if we leave. I could tell you that if we left, the Taliban would sweep back in the brutalize the hell out of the country, that they would welcome groups like al Qaeda just as they did the first time and encourage and enable their pursuit of American deaths. I could tell you that we went after those who attacked us because leaving any of them alive guaranteed more attacks and that pulling out will only leave the situation in a worse way.

Or, instead, you could read the much more powerful speech given by Lt. Gen. John Kelly four days after his son, 2nd Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan: http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/2010/11/four-days-later.html-0

People like this Afghan "policeman" aren't killing us because we're there. They're killing us simply because of who we are. Putting thousands of miles of distance between us won't alter their desire or ability to kill people in New York, London, Madrid, or any other of a score of cities.

[armakraut]

Arc Light the hills near Islamabad with a couple dozen strategic bombers. Fax over a letter to the Pakistanis telling them they have a week to give us Osama and the rest of the gang, or India and Afghanistan are going to share a common border with the Indus. In 48 hours we'd have more deranged asshats warehoused in Gitmo than your typical public university.

[Bolt_Overide]

This kinda shit makes me nervous every time I see a local with a weapon.

[variablebinary]

This kinda shit makes me nervous every time I see a local with a weapon.

Keep one eye on the ANA and "friendly locals" at all times

****ers are not to be trusted.

[Mjolnir]

Oddly enough, I just returned from a mission in Northern Afghanistan, where American commanders are pissing and moaning that the local Afghans are working too hard to defend themselves and are frustrating "their" plans to bring security to the area.

You have the right to your opinion, Montanadave, but your comment about Afghans not willing to defend themselves is wrong and besmirches a lot of brave mother****ers who have suffered a hell of a lot more for their country than either you or I have.

Wow! Nice to hear firsthand accounts of what I've been "dead sure about" (based solely upon studying these people's histories, I must admit).

[Mjolnir]

Arc Light the hills near Islamabad with a couple dozen strategic bombers. Fax over a letter to the Pakistanis telling them they have a week to give us Osama and the rest of the gang, or India and Afghanistan are going to share a common border with the Indus. In 48 hours we'd have more deranged asshats warehoused in Gitmo than your typical public university.
Won't work. They offered Osama back in 2001/2 timeframe and Bush declined. It's amazing that few follow the details or forget them over time (kinda easy to do sometimes).

Word is the man is dead. And I believe it.

Being the recipient of force for what (a decade now?) I don't think they'd be moved at ANY offer from us.