Please, remind me why - 12 years on - we're still involved in this nightmare hellhole of a country?

Afghanistan has the well deserved reputation of being a Graveyard of Empires.

It brought down the Macedonian Empire, the British Empire and the Soviet Empire. Now we're letting it kill us. Why? Let's just leave the Afghanis to do what they love to do most when they're not shooting at an invader: killing each other. The guy we originally went there to kill is supposedly dead, we've tried to stabilize it for 12 years, and as it's long history clearly demonstrates, it will not be stabilized because it's people don't want us there. Time to go.

Afghan special forces commander defects with guns to insurgents

An Afghan army special forces commander has defected to an insurgent group allied with the Taliban in a Humvee truck packed with his team's guns and high-tech equipment, officials in the eastern Kunar province said on Sunday.

Monsif Khan, who raided the supplies of his 20-man team in Kunar's capital Asadabad over the Eid al-Adha religious holiday, is the first special forces commander to switch sides, joining the Hezb-e-Islami organisation.

Read the rest HERE.

Lets do Karzai one better....

Seems Hamid Karzai wants Afghani forces to assume all security responsibilities in 2013 rather than 2014 and "the president [Karzai] also wants the United States to pull all its troops out of villages, where they have outposts, and relocate them in their bases." AFP via Yahoo

I say let's do him one better and get the HELL OUT NOW!


H/T Drudge

News For The Obamaphate: Karzai & Bros. Ltd Selling Get Out of Jail Cards

At the risk of irritating some of my more right end fellow bloggers, if in fact the following story is true, I propose that we pack up our bags of money and guns and leave the Graveyard of Empires as soon as possible.

From Reuters, here's why:

(Reuters) - Afghan security forces are freeing captured senior Taliban for payment or political motives, with President Hamid Karzai and his powerful brother among those authorizing and requesting releases.

The practice is so systemic that the Taliban have a committee focused on getting their fighters out of jail. It undermines the deterrent effect of arrest and the potential of the prisoner population as a card to play in peace talks, analysts say.

The releases, which were confirmed to Reuters by several sources familiar with a range of cases, also raise questions about the capacity and political will of Afghan security forces meant to be taking over from foreign troops starting next year.

U.S. forces will begin drawing down numbers from next July and NATO hopes to meet Karzai's 2014 target for all security to be provided by Afghan police and military.

But cases uncovered by Reuters including that of Ghulam Haidar, a top insurgent in the southern Taliban heartland of Kandahar, suggest that a web of complex loyalties and widespread corruption are undermining the fight against the insurgency.

Ghulam Haidar, meaning "servant of God," is a common name in Afghanistan so when Canadian forces turned one of the most dangerous men in Kandahar city over to their Afghan counterparts in March, they may not have realized who he was.

Days later he was walking free again, according to three sources who have investigated prisoner releases or have seen documents about Haidar's capture. They asked not to be named because they are not authorized to release information.

"They took this guy into custody in mid-March, but he was out again in a few days. This is a classic example of what has been happening," one former Western official told Reuters.

A Kabul-based source with links to Western intelligence services confirmed Haidar was a Taliban leader known to have a major role in the insurgency around the city.

Yet his freedom was requested by Karzai's younger brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, head of the Kandahar provincial council.

Dubbed "AWK" by Westerners working in Kandahar, he has an iron grip on the city but his loyalties are considered less solid. A U.S. government cable dated 2009, released by WikiLeaks, described him as a corrupt drug trafficker.

"When Ghulam Haidar was in (Afghan) custody AWK asked for his release," said a second source, who rejected the idea that Haidar could have been set free because he was a double agent.

"If the Afghan government had good agents within the Taliban things should have gotten better -- but that is obviously not the case," the source added.

Ahmad Wali Karzai said he had never asked for the release of a Taliban prisoner and had not heard of Ghulam Haidar.

"I am the person most wanted by the Taliban, with nine suicide attacks against me," he told Reuters by telephone.

Hat Tip to Christopher Fountain who properly asks: Why waste another American life?

Really; who in the hell needs this shit?

So, Now We Know Why D.O.J. is Aggressively Working to Ensure Military Ballots are Timely Issued...

From The Washington Examiner via Weasel Zippers comes the nauseating news of how the Obamaphate's Afghanistan R.O.E. are further endangering and seriously demoralizing our troops.

Troops chafe at restrictive rules of engagement, talks with Taliban

By: Sara A. Carter
National Security Correspondent
October 19, 2010

A U.S. Army Chinook helicopter from the 101st Airborne Division transports U.S. infantrymen from one position to another in Zhari District, southern Afghanistan. (AP file photo)

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- To the U.S. Army soldiers and Marines serving here, some things seem so obviously true that they are beyond debate. Among those perceived truths: The restrictive rules of engagement that they have to fight under have made serving in combat far more dangerous for them, while allowing the Taliban to return to a position of strength.

"If they use rockets to hit the [forward operating base] we can't shoot back because they were within 500 meters of the village. If they shoot at us and drop their weapon in the process we can't shoot back," said Spc. Charles Brooks, 26, a U.S. Army medic with 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, in Zabul province.

Word had come down the morning Brooks spoke to this reporter that watch towers surrounding the base were going to be dismantled because Afghan village elders, some sympathetic to the Taliban, complained they were invading their village privacy. "We have to take down our towers because it offends them and now the Taliban can set up mortars and we can't see them," Brooks added, with disgust.

In June, Gen. David Petraeus, who took command here after the self-inflicted demise of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told Congress that he was weighing a major change with rules for engaging enemy fighters in Afghanistan. That has not yet happened, troops say. Soldiers and Marines continue to be held back by what they believe to be strict rules imposed by the government of President Hamid Karzai designed with one objective: limit Afghan civilian casualties.

"I don't think the military leaders, president or anybody really cares about what we're going through," said Spc. Matthew "Silver" Fuhrken, 25, from Watertown, N.Y. "I'm sick of people trying to cover up what's really going on over here. They won't let us do our job. I don't care if they try to kick me out for what I'm saying -- war is war and this is no war. I don't know what this is."

To the soldiers and Marines risking their lives in Afghanistan, restrictions on their ability to aggressively attack the Taliban have led to another enormous frustration stalking morale: the fear that the Karzai government, with the prodding of the administration of President Obama, will negotiate a peace with the Taliban that wastes all the sacrifices by the U.S. here. Those fears intensified when news reached the enlisted ranks that the Karzai government, with the backing of senior Obama officials, was entering a new round of negotiations with the Taliban.

"If we walk away, cut a deal with the Taliban, desert the people who needed us most, then this war was pointless," said Pvt. Jeffrey Ward, with 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, who is stationed at Forward Operating Base Bullard in southern Afghanistan.

"Everyone dies for their own reasons but it's sad to think that our friends, the troops, have given their lives for something we're not going to see through."

Other soldiers agreed. They said they feared few officials in the Pentagon understand the reality on the ground.

From the front lines, the U.S. backing of the Karzai government, widely seen as riddled with corruption by the Afghans living in local villages, has given the Taliban a position of power in villages while undercutting U.S. moral authority.

Corrupt government officials have made "it impossible for us to trust anyone," said elder Sha Barar, from the village of Sha Joy. The people of that village and many others profess fear of the Taliban, and recount tales of brutality and wanton killings by the Taliban and their sympathizers. But they don't see the Karzai government as a positive force in their lives.

Karzai said that talks need to continue with the Taliban "at a fixed address and with a more open agenda to tell us how to bring peace to Afghanistan and Pakistan."

But U.S. troops and Marines interviewed during the past month in Afghanistan question what negotiations would really mean, to both them and the Afghan people. And they almost universally believe that negotiating would be a mistake before achieving decisive gains they believe are attainable once oppressive rules of engagement are relaxed.

"What does it mean if we give in to the Taliban? They are the enemy," Brooks said. "This place is going to be a safe haven for terrorists again. The government doesn't care about the sacrifices already made. As far as the mission goes, I want to see these kids go to school and have a future but not at the expense of my friends -- not anymore."

Sara A. Carter is The Washington Examiner's national security correspondent. She can be reached at scarter@washingtonexaminer.com.

BREAKING NEWS: OBAMA ACCEPTS TALIBAN ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN

Word is out that BOTUS has announced a willingness to accept a role for the Taliban in Afghanistan's political structure. My immediate question is: in exchange for what? Not too many soccer stadium executions? A lead on Osama's whereabouts perhaps? We'll see... I will Update as information becomes available and as appropriate.

U P D A T E

from The American Pundit

White House: On Second Thought, The Taliban Isn’t Really An Enemy

by Stephan Tawney

Desperation. That’s the only way to describe this new talking point from the White House. According to them, the Taliban that’s been killing American soldiers isn’t really the enemy. In fact, the Obama Administration believes that the terrorist group has a positive role in Afghanistan’s future.

Why this new talking point? Obama doesn’t want to commit more troops to the war, as it would end up pissing off his far-left, anti-war base. So he’s trying to eliminate the enemy by pretending the enemy is no longer an enemy. We’re going to fight a war by pretending that the people we’re fighting are really good people we no longer need to fight. Smart power.

Click the linked Title above to read the whole post.