Karzai Wants Rules of Engagement Changed

[falcon]

Yep, Hamid Karzai, the Grand Mayor of Kabul, Afghanistan wants restrictions placed on US and other troops fighting in his country. He wants the US to release POWs, wants restrictions on the use of firepower and he wants to talk with the Taliban.

Looks like US troops will be further hobbled and we will probably lose that one too.

BTW: It was Karzai who re-implemented shariah "law" in Afghanistan.


Karzai: Afghans want rules for troops changed - Yahoo! News


Quote:
Karzai said the presence of U.S. and international forces was in the Afghan national interest but should be "based on a new contract" that would minimize civilian casualties, limit searches of private homes and restrict detaining Afghans indefinitely without charge.

He also said he wants the U.S.-run prison at Bagram Air Base, where about 600 Afghans are held, re-evaluated and inmates released unless there is evidence linking them to terrorist affiliation. He said arrests are turning ordinary Afghans against U.S. and NATO forces.

[The Rev]

We were hobbled in Viet Nam too and you know where that led... Sounds like we need to pull out or just nuke the whole darn mess. But I,m sure that Obammy will comply he still wants to be popular.

[Champlain Islander]

Time to pull out and this gives Obama the excuse. A repeat of Viet Nam will happen if we are restricted in our ability to fight. We are there to protect them and go after AQ (they are in pakistan now) and they are wanting to tell us how to do it?? If they are so smart let them protect themselves.

[Steve863]

We should have left the Afghani's to fight for themselves from the beginning. Same goes for the Iraqi's. Sort of serves us right since we were dumb enough to think that democracy could ever take hold in that part of the world. All we should have done was go in there to try to find Bin Laden and not build them a democracy at our expense. So far Bin Laden is still on the loose and Afghanistan is a long way from democracy.

[Big Duane]

how's Obama's war's looking now ?

[Champlain Islander]

The death toll is rising and we will be in a quagmire soon if we don't get the hell out. There isn't anything there for us to bomb which is a great way to kill them off without getting the troops on the ground. It is all mountains and deserts and they live like rats in that environment. We can take them out one by one but our count will rise dramatically. Aq is in pakistan and they won't let us go after them. Time to come home and let them take care of themselves. It isn't a war it is an occupation. I think we can better spend our money right here in the states.

[Doe Dumper]

Time to gtfo...

[falcon]

It is all mountains and deserts and they live like rats in that environment. We can take them out one by one but our count will rise dramatically. Aq is in pakistan and they won't let us go after them.

+1

The NATO and US troops did a very good job at first. The Taliban and al Queda turned tail and ran into Pakistan. However, the US failed to put enough boots on the ground to hold the country. The Taliban quickly started taking the southern part of Afghanistan back. They have controlled that part of the country for years and they are well entrenched there: They now control well over one-third of Afghanistan.

Military friends who have served in Afghanistan tell me that many units of the Afghan army are good troops but there is no supply system. Afghan army troops go to the field without rations and sufficient ammo and US/NATO troops have to support them.

Hamid Karzai put the Islamic religious police back in power in 2004. The same scumbags who threw acid in women's faces and beat them up under the Taliban are back to their old tricks again.

The US will probably not win this one. In the end all of Afghanistan will return quickly to the Dark Ages.

[kevin1]

Civillian casualties would drop dramatically if the insurgents would just stop hiding behind them(with their cooperation). Afghanistan has nothing we want or need, neither does Pakistan. The Iraqis at least have oil, but if we aren't going to get any for covering their asses then it's time to let them fight their own wars.

[homers brother]

However, the US failed to put enough boots on the ground to hold the country.

Guys, it's not quite that simple. Afghanistan is "light infantry" country. However, our infantry today can be termed just about anything but "light". Got OTV/SAPI? Mine tipped the scales at about 35 pounds. Unloaded. Now pile on everything else that an infantryman "normally" carries from place to place. My ruck used to go to the green ramp somewhere between 80 and 100 pounds. Add all the batteries you need these days, water, a few 60mm rounds, maybe some belted fun, .... Oh, and that mountain you'll go up? Its base is at 10,000 feet.

"But, where's the MRAP like I had in Iraq", you ask? While your Gator or your Ranger would be at home on the Afghan goat trails, anything much above a Toyota pickup isn't going to fit or make it.

Because of their un-rucked weight today with all the armor they so deem necessary, Soldiers and Marines aren't as willing to climb up stuff (oddly, where do the Taliban tend to hang out? If you guessed "up high", you get the gold star). With our reliance on heavy vehicles (UAHs, not to mention MRAPs), we're also less likely to leave the roads they can travel on. And there's a "light MRAP" in development? Oxymoron.

Until our guys can push the Taliban off the mountaintops and actually control the terrain, there's little hope that we'll ever "control" the country. Couple in the tendency we have to look down on any foreign army, who (coming from an embed trainer friend of mine who came home last July) are starting to be less impressed with our gear and our "bravery" than they were at first.