"The perceived potential for Afghan forces to switch sides (after being trained by international forces) is at a dangerous level. Fifty-six percent of respondents believe Afghan police are helping the Taliban and 29 percent think that Afghan police end up joining the Taliban. Thirty-nine percent think that the Afghan National Army (ANA) are helping the Taliban; 30 percent of respondents think that ANA soldiers end up joining the Taliban."And would you believe that there is also gambling going on in Rick's Cafe' Americain?
Shocked, I tell you.
I suspect that William Hay Macnaghten would remind you, could you dig his disarticulated corpse from the forgotten grave where it was flung after his murder in 1843 and make it speak, that Afghans have been known since Baibars' day as the most shifty, cunning, and least trustworthy of ruffians; treachery and double-dealing are both entertainment and art form in the high plateaus of central Asia.
The British knew perfectly well that the trooper of the Guides that saluted you today was probably the Waziri jezailchi that sniped down your messmate the last time your column invaded his mountains.
And yet here are a couple of Americans reporting with straight faces that the "ugly" part of the latest survey is that the Afghans suspect that their government troops and police are following in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers?
What the fuck else should we have expected?
Honestly. The level of stupid surrounding this war is sometimes so intense it burns like dry ice.
It is reported that the last thing Richard Holbrooke said before he went under his Pakistani surgeon's knife was, in effect,
ReplyDelete"Get the hell out of Afghanistan!"
On a lighter note, and relevant to the topic of both British infantry and Afghanistan:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12014274
Protecting the Royal Jewels
The latest piece of high-tech kit due to be issued to all British forces deploying to Helmand already has a nickname. It is known by the troops who have tested it as the "combat codpiece".
The name may be irreverent, but the intention behind the new piece of body armour is deadly serious: to protect soldiers' most important piece of personal kit from blast injuries to the pelvic area caused by the Taliban's roadside bombs.
.
.
bb
It is reported that the last thing Richard Holbrooke said before he went under his Pakistani surgeon's knife was, in effect,
ReplyDelete"Get the hell out of Afghanistan!"
On a lighter note, and relevant to the topic of both British infantry and Afghanistan:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12014274
Protecting the Royal Jewels
The latest piece of high-tech kit due to be issued to all British forces deploying to Helmand already has a nickname. It is known by the troops who have tested it as the "combat codpiece".
The name may be irreverent, but the intention behind the new piece of body armour is deadly serious: to protect soldiers' most important piece of personal kit from blast injuries to the pelvic area caused by the Taliban's roadside bombs.
.
.
bb