Taliban will be defeated, says Rumsfeld

[Cocoa]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060629/rumsfeld_afghanistan_060711/20060711?hub=World

Taliban will be defeated, says Rumsfeld

Associated Press

KABUL -- The Taliban will be defeated in Afghanistan but "cross-border" movement of militants is continuing, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here on Tuesday.

Rumsfeld, who arrived in Kabul on an unannounced trip Tuesday, also called on Europe to provide a "master plan'' to Afghanistan to help curb its massive drug trade, which has seen heroin flood European and Russian markets.

The U.S. defence chief arrived on an unannounced trip to Afghanistan, which is gripped by the deadliest spate of violence since the late 2001 collapse of the Taliban regime.

At a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Rumsfeld said militants "don't want to see a country like Afghanistan have a successful democracy.

"They won't succeed,'' Rumsfeld said.

more...

[CGrantt57]

1. That's funny...

I thought they WERE defeated.

Can't these fuckers do anything right?

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[truth2power]

20. I distinctly remember the Chimp saying

that the Taliban was GONE. You know, defeated.

If the WH press corpse had any balls, they'd ask this question.

[KansDem]

21. Maybe this is "Taliban Two"

...the sequel. :shrug:

[Javaman]

22. Correction: redefeated.

Just like a long running broadway show, the audience demands an encore!

Hey rumspuke, here is a flash light, a map and both hands, now go find your ass.

[LiberalFighter]

27. I can guarantee the Taliban defeat! Simply...

have Rumsfeld and Bush join up with the Taliban.

[magellan]

2. What's this, retro-news day?

I'm sure that's a headline from four years ago....

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

3. Oh.. that Teliban!

What about the one here in the U.S.of A.? Like KKK and others?

[Tuttle]

4. Taliban will be defeated, says Rumsfeld

just not until right before the mid-term elections


and then right before the election in 2008




and 2010




and 2012



and 2014


Tut-tut

[FSogol]

5. Deja vu? Didn't Rummy defeat them already? n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Rummie's going senile

He can't remember whether or not he took a shit yesterday.

[leftchick]

6. rummy 2004 re: The Taliban: “as a movement [it] does not exist any more.”

Flip-Flop.....

<snip>

Undoubtedly, the above-mentioned assessment would be considered alarmist by many actors close to the state-building process, particularly members of President Hamid Karzai's inner circle and the U.S. Pentagon. It was Karzai who declared at a February 26, 2004 joint news conference, with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on the occasion of his one-day visit to Kabul, that the Taliban were defeated and “as a movement does not exist any more.” “They are gone,” he said, attributing continuing violence to “common criminals,” as opposed to politically driven insurgents (AP, February 26, 2004).

These were the boldest public statements made by President Karzai about the Taliban since he took office. Similarly dismissive of the group's capabilities, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld stated: “I'm not seeing any indication the Taliban pose any military threat to Afghanistan.” Only a week earlier, one of Rumsfeld's top aides at the Pentagon, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Dov S. Zakheim, contemptuously spoke of the “cowardly” nature of Taliban operations (AFP, February 22, 2004).

http://www.fpif.org/papers/2004taliban.html

[Warren Stupidity]

7. He meant re-defeated.

And after we re-defeat them will we then have to re-re-defeat them? Just how long are we planning on occupying Afghanistan?

[mcscajun]

8. Will that be Before OR After the Floral Delivery?

What a maroon.

[Drum]

9. lol nt

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Rummie will defeat the Taliban

as soon as he stops the massive drug trade that has flourished during the US Occupation.

Seems Rummie doesn't remember the Taliban had done a very good job of stopping the drug trade, too good a job apparently.

[Roland99]

12. kthxbye

[Rose Siding]

13. "The Taliban is no more" -Bush, 2003

"We're bringing al Qaeda to justice. And for those we haven't brought to justice yet, we're hot on their trail. We're close by. (Applause.) We've got them on the run, and we'll keep them on the run. We sent a clear message to the Taliban in Afghanistan: if you harbor and train terrorists, you will be held account. The Taliban is no more, and the people of Afghanistan are free, thanks to America and our friends and allies. (Applause.)"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/06/20030619-2.html

[0007]

15. Around and around we go talking out of our rusty dusty

for the sake of a buck and brotherly love.

[Ilsa]

14. But, but, I got that RW email sthe other day saying that Saint

Geo W Bush* had single-handedly crushed the Taliban. He Killed them all by saying "new-kyew-lar".

Yeah, Rumsferatu keeps promising the moon.

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. How many Taliban are there? 100?

Can't be too many. There aren't that many people in the whole state.

[AngryOldDem]

17. But when do they come in to season?

According to Rummy, the violence in Afghanistan is "seasonal."

:eyes:

[varun]

18. if only the 1 trillion $ going to Iraq war...

...was used to better the lives of people in Afghanistan, and even here in US...

we would not have the Taliban.

[Ghost Dog]

19. Errr:

"It seems to me that it is important for them (Europe) to recognize that it is a lot cheaper ... for them to assist the Afghan government in providing master over-all plan for dealing with the counter-narcotic effort," Rumsfeld.

Though the international community funnels hundreds of millions of dollars into anti-drug campaigns, Afghanistan still produces more than 90 per cent of the world's opium and heroin supply.

The illicit trade is particularly prolific in southern Taliban breeding grounds, where the militant group is believed to benefit from income generated from the drug's production.

--> The Taliban can be faulted for many things but not, at least not previously, for opium poppy cultivation, which they had all-but eradicated (while failing to provide much economic alternative), I understand.

U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld vowed that the Taliban will be defeated on a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday, denying charges that coalition forces are losing the battle against insurgents.

At a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Rumsfeld asserted in Kabul that militants "don't want to see a country like Afghanistan have a successful democracy. They won't succeed."

--> I don't see where he explains HOW. Ah yes --> Let NATO (== some Europeans and Canadians), plus some of the Rum One's favoured Special Forces do the job no one in the history of the world has been able to do (subdue angry afghans defending their territory, whether Taliban or warlords). Uh huh. Ihear even British Brass (not to mention politicos) already whining: "we weren't told it wasn't going to be easy." :wtf:

In the latest fighting on Tuesday, coalition forces and Afghan troops killed about 30 militants in the southern province of Helmand.

The raid was conducted as part of Operation Mountain Thrust, a campaign involving more than 10,000 coalition and Afghan troops.

Coalition and Afghan troops suffered no casualties in the operation in the Sangin district, military officials said.

--> No mention here of the complementary NATO Operation Turtle (not a "peacekeeping" deployment bt part of this 'campaign'), in which one Spanish soldier has already died and others were injured. All have been granted much publicity and FULL HONOURS in Spain. Operation Turtle is supposed to help contain the Taliban and other fighters in the southern provinces, preventing them from slipping away to the west and north, while Operation Thrust moves in.

All fully discussed/explained in mainstream Spanish press, BTW.

[Whoa_Nelly]

23. Really, Rummy? Then why did we give the Taliban $43m in 2001?

Oh, yeah! It was because the Taliban promised to stamp out poopy cultivation! Yeah...right :sarcasm:

May, 17, 2001: The U.S. indirectly gives $43 million to Afghanistan's Taliban government as a reward for its efforts to stamp out opium-poppy cultivation.
http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0202a/enrontimeline.html


How Washington Funded the Taliban
by Ted Galen Carpenter

Ted Galen Carpenter is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute and is the author or editor of 14 books on international affairs including the forthcoming "Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington's Futile War on Drugs in Latin America" (Palgrave/ St. Martin's).


The United States has made common cause with an assortment of dubious regimes around the world to wage the war on drugs. Perhaps the most shocking example was Washington's decision in May 2001 to financially reward Afghanistan's infamous Taliban government for its edict ordering a halt to the cultivation of opium poppies.

<snip>
Yet the Bush administration did more than praise the Taliban's proclaimed ban of opium cultivation. In mid-May, 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced a $43 million grant to Afghanistan in addition to the humanitarian aid the United States had long been providing to agencies assisting Afghan refugees. Given Callahan's comment, there was little doubt that the new stipend was a reward for Kabul's anti-drug efforts. That $43 million grant needs to be placed in context. Afghanistan's estimated gross domestic product was a mere $2 billion. The equivalent financial impact on the U.S. economy would have required an infusion of $215 billion. In other words, $43 million was very serious money to Afghanistan's theocratic masters

http://www.cato.org/dailys/08-02-02.html

[Bush_MUST_Go]

24. "master plan'' Where have we heard that term?

This admin. continues to be their own worst enemy every time they open their mouths.

[cliss]

25. What a joke. This man

is probably personally sending money to them.

Right, Don?

[tabasco]

26. Sept 27, 2004: Bush - Taliban "no longer in existence."

The freepers and other mentally-challenged people believed it.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040927-4.html

[RCinBrooklyn]

28. Will be? What are we fighting? The Taliban Phoenix? One more time!....