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US Says bin Laden's Death Does Not End Afghan War
The U.S. and key allies fighting Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistan insisted Monday that the death of Osama bin Laden, who once found shelter there, would not mean a speedy end to the war or a rapid withdrawal of international troops.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. and key allies fighting Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistan insisted Monday that the death of Osama bin Laden, who once found shelter there, would not mean a speedy end to the war or a rapid withdrawal of international troops.
US soldiers stand guard in the southern Afghan village of Tarok Kolache on April 1. The U.S. and key allies fighting Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistan insisted Monday that the death of Osama bin Laden would not mean a speedy end to the war or a rapid withdrawal of international (AFP/File/Peter Parks)
Still, there were fresh arguments that the real war against al-Qaida had shifted to beyond Afghan borders.
"For years, we have said that the fight against terrorism is not in Afghan villages and houses," said Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, who has pressed for a smaller military footprint in his country. "It is in safe havens, and today that was shown to be true. Stop bombarding Afghan villages and searching Afghan people."
Anti-foreigner sentiment is growing among Afghans increasingly tired of the nearly decade-long war and the failure of billions of dollars in international aid to improve their lives. And U.S. officials could feel pressure at home as well.
Snuffing out the al-Qaida network has always been the top goal of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Now that bin Laden is dead, calls could increase from war-weary Americans to speed up withdrawal of the nearly 100,000 U.S. troops still fighting the Taliban, years after the al-Qaida leadership they once harbored fled to Pakistan.
"The killing of bin Laden outside of Afghanistan raises a question: If this is a fight to destroy al-Qaida, and al-Qaida is not there but in Pakistan, should Afghanistan really be the focus?" said Vali Nasr, until recently a senior U.S. State Department adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Nasr said bin Laden's death on Pakistani soil reduces the importance of the Afghan war for U.S. national security. It could make it easier for the U.S. to wind down the war there and focus more on Pakistan, he said.
"We could come to the conclusion that the sideshow ought to be the main show," he said.
For now, the U.S. is insisting that bin Laden's death will not trigger a rapid withdrawal.
The Taliban just launched its yearly spring offensive in Afghanistan and deadly attacks still plague many parts of the country.
"This victory will not mark the end of our effort against terrorism," said U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry in a statement released in Kabul. "America's strong support for the people of Afghanistan will continue as before."
Similarly, NATO said the alliance and its partners would "continue their mission to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for extremism, but develops in peace and security."
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said his country's 1,500 troops in southern Afghanistan will "stay the course until our mission is complete."
Afghanistan's Taliban government hosted bin Laden and al-Qaida's training camps until it was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion triggered by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Bin Laden's large financial contributions to the Taliban government made him a valuable asset to their regime, and Taliban leaders refused requests to hand him over after he was linked to the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
After the start of the U.S. bombardment in 2001, bin Laden and the rest of al-Qaida's central leadership slipped into hiding and then across the border to Pakistan, where they found shelter among anti-government tribes along the border.
But back in Afghanistan, the remnants of the Taliban remained a resilient fighting force, and bin Laden's death now doesn't change that, some argued.
"It was a strong blow to the back of al-Qaida, but the work is not finished," said Mohammad Akbari, a lawmaker from Bamiyan province and a member of the peace council set up by the Afghan government to try to negotiate with the Taliban. "The Taliban are still active and it's a very complicated political issue."
Since taking office, President Barack Obama has committed 40,000 additional U.S. troops to battling the Taliban fighters who remain a resilient force years later. Yet his desire to start pulling out troops in July - if conditions allow - has fueled fears among some Afghans that America is on its way out.
In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Obama said the number withdrawn would not just be a "token gesture," but at the same time the U.S. has stressed that Afghan forces will not take the lead in securing their nation until 2014.
"If the U.S. troops leave, in 24 hours the Afghan government will collapse," said Mohammad Qassim Zazai, who sells antiques and carpets in Kabul.
In a conference call with reporters, Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan said he would continue to push for a significant reduction in U.S. forces from Afghanistan this July, not a symbolic one.
"Security needs to be in the hands of the Afghans," Levin said. "The killing of bin Laden doesn't change my view, it reinforces it. Afghanistan is in even better position to take responsibility. Whatever direction is coming from a Pakistan safe haven no longer has the direction bin Laden could have given it."
Mohammad Abaas, an 18-year-old Kabul resident, agreed.
"They (Americans) achieved their aim and now they should leave," he said. "They were here to capture Osama bin Laden and now that he is killed they should leave."
Some Afghans said they hoped bin Laden's death would nudge the Taliban to the negotiating table. Afghan, U.S. and international leaders say they will negotiate with Taliban fighters who embrace the Afghan constitutions, renounce violence and sever ties with al-Qaida - a heavy red line in any prospective talks.
Agha Lalai, an Afghan lawmaker from Kandahar province where bin Laden used to be headquartered, said he thinks the Taliban are anxious to break with al-Qaida.
"I think that now the Taliban will be free to make their own decision, and maybe these peace negotiations will finally have some success," Lalai said.
Al-Qaida fighters are mostly Arabs. The Taliban are Afghans and "we can't fight with them forever."
Abdullah Abdullah, a former adviser to Karzai who ran against him in the last presidential election, said the Taliban were not interested in negotiating.
"The Taliban will not give up," he said. "They don't believe in participating in a democratic system, but rather they are hoping to bring it down. It will not have an impact on reconciliation as such, but the weaker the Taliban is as a movement the better the prospects of peace."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said recently that the United States had accelerated a diplomatic push for reconciliation, a nonmilitary solution to the war. Speaking in Washington after bin Laden's death, Clinton appealed to the Taliban.
"You cannot wait us out. You cannot defeat us," said Clinton. "But you can make the choice to abandon al-Qaida and participate in a peaceful political process."
Ahmad Sarhadi, an elderly man in Kandahar city, recalled when bin Laden arrived there under Taliban protection. He expressed hope that the Taliban would sever links with al-Qaida following bin Laden's demise.
"All the power belonged to bin Laden," Sarhadi said. "Mullah Omar was just a front."
Not all Afghans cheered bin Laden's death.
"I am very sad. My heart is broken," Mohebullah, a Taliban fighter-turned farmer in Ghazni province of eastern Afghanistan, told the AP in a telephone interview. "It is a disaster and a black day."
Sayed Jalal Hussaini, a rickshaw driver in the eastern city of Jalalabad, said many people had mixed views: They were happy that a major terrorist had been eliminated but upset by the death of a man they saw as a defender of Islam and Muslims everywhere.
"He was like a hero in the Muslim world," Hussaini said. "His struggle was always against non-Muslims and infidels, and against superpowers."
Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt, Solomon Moore, Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.
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Show All"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said recently that the United States had accelerated a diplomatic push for reconciliation, a nonmilitary solution to the war. Speaking in Washington after bin Laden's death, Clinton appealed to the Taliban.
"You cannot wait us out. You cannot defeat us," said Clinton. "But you can make the choice to abandon al-Qaida and participate in a peaceful political process."
What an unmitigated arrogant war-mongering ass. Do tell, Hillary, how much longer do WE get to wait? How many more get to die while you thump your chest and high-five the other cowards?
A despicable human being.
Team Dubya told us that the "war on terror" would never end and Team Obama has not altered that message.
Eternal occupations and wars equal an eternal revenue stream for the military industrial media complex courtesy of US taxpayers.
Then the question remains to be answered; when will the US Taxpayers stop paying their taxes which continue to support these Wars?(which only benefit the Oligarchs in charge & all their friends who supply the true weapons of mass destruction).
Then the question remains to be answered; when will the US Taxpayers stop paying their taxes which continue to support these Wars?(which only benefit the Oligarchs in charge & all their friends who supply the true weapons of mass destruction).
Forget it, We're done. Tyranny rules.
SWAT teams descend on students
enjoying the Year end block party at Western Illinois.
Sound Cannons, tear gas, riot gear just another day in Obama's America.
Incredible video link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufKv-5t0t4E&feature=player_embedded#at=185
I don't think they give a damn what we want.
Bankers rule.
It should be interesting to watch what the US does when China dumps it's remaining US dollar reserves, and demands full payment on the debt.
I wonder what people would think if those soldiers were standing in a city in the US? The arrorgance of Hilary. "lay down your swords so we can take what we want!". But then we wouldn't be helping the MIC out if we couldn't drop those bombs now would we?
Of course we are not going to leave Afghanistan.
Our objective of securing the pipeline route has not yet be achieved.
Plus, the war is still lucrative for the war profiteers and the CIA drug runners.
The war was NEVER about bin Laden, even though that was the original pretext.
bin Laden was simply the boogeyman du jour.
Today's boogeymen are entitlements like Social Security and Medicare that threaten our way of life, just like they told us bin laden did a decade ago.
The sky is falling in, the sky is falling in...gut domestic programs to fund more military to keep the sky from falling in !
US Says bin Laden's Death Does Not End Afghan War
Of course it won't. The war on terrorism is way to profitable for War Incorporated. By having a boogieman somewhere War Incorporated can keep the money flowing. War Incoroprated State Terrorism is making the world safe for our interests (code for our corporations) to pilfer resources from anywhere on earth. God help you if you live on top of a resource our empire wants because we're going to bring you Democracy and protect your women with some humanitarian bombing.
Exactly, Hounddog4. Excellent post.
I'm not even sure this is State terrorism anymore-- we seem to be moving to international corporation terrorism, with states merely obeying their corporate bosses in order to sate the corporate need for war profits.
Headline sez: "US Says bin Laden's Death Does Not End Afghan War"
***
Note to editor - apparently your proofreaders omitted the final word: "Profiteering".
there will be no "peace dividend" as it's easier to steal the cashola in the fog of war -
The "War on Terror" will continue until the US gains control of Europe's oil supplies - or the US is defeated.
The Guardian alleges that the US may have known three years ago that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/03/osama-bin-laden-abbottabad-hideout
The Guardian says that "WikiLeaks released the report last week, prompting speculation that the US, afraid that its planned raid might be pre-empted, brought forward its attack."
More likely, it was more convenient to have him alive than dead - after all, why keep the war going if the alleged reason for the war is gone? And three years is a lot of time to plan and execute a raid - why did they wait till now?
The best explanation seems to be that, since the information has become public, sooner or later somebody would ask the obvious question - if we know where he is how come we are not arresting him? So he had to go.
Couldn't they have captured him alive and brought him to justice? Like Robert Fisk says: "In the old days, of course, "justice" meant due process, a court, a hearing, a defence, a trial. ( . . . )
"But a court would have worried more people than Bin Laden. After all, he might have talked about his contacts with the CIA during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, or about his cosy meetings in Islamabad with Prince Turki, Saudi Arabia's head of intelligence. Just as Saddam – who was tried for the murder of a mere 153 people rather than thousands of gassed Kurds – was hanged before he had the chance to tell us about the gas components that came from America, his friendship with Donald Rumsfeld, the US military assistance he received when he invaded Iran in 1980."
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-was-he-betrayed-of-course-pakistan-knew-bin-ladens-hiding-place-all-along-2278028.html
This article is so full of propaganda it reeks.
People cheering on the streets, is about the same as burning the Koran, it tends to inflame hatred and retaliation aimed at U.S. troops.
Would they be cheering if they knew that it would lead to more attacks on the soldiers. The world is watching!
"Would they be cheering ... ?" Yes.
Would they be cheering if they knew that it would lead to more attacks on the soldiers.
------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps a better question might be: why are we being told that they're cheering? Could it be to *provoke* more attacks?
What! We cannot leave now! Hell, we the war profiteers, are making huge profits off of the $2,000,000,000.00 of American taxpayers $$$$ that is being spent each week in Afghanistan. OBL was a great boogyman and a super, terrorist tool and gave us a great excuse for these extraordinary, evil profits based on a pack of lies, and he will be missed. U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry in a statement issued in Kabul: " AMERICA'S STRONG SUPPORT FOR THE PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN WILL CONTINUE AS BEFORE ". Translation: There is just so many $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to be made here; we must support the MIC and since we cannot use OBL anymore we will now use the lie that we are here to support the Afghan people. I guess Karl forgot to mention the strong support our drones are giving the Afghan people!
I still believe that OBL died in 2001. (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23691.htm). That they killed him, and then buried him immediately at sea so that there could be no independent verification was more or less confirmation of this. For me, this has more than the usual Jessica Lynch / Nigeria uranium / pulling of Saddam's statue / WMD / Kuwait incubation massacre smell about it. The megaphone was turned up so very loud on this one in order to silence the doubters. Anyone who doubts the propaganda, when the megaphone is so LOUD, has to be a whackjob afterall.
I guess in me there was not much in me, but a least a distant glimmer of hope that this OBL FRAUD might have been about claiming victory and cutting our losses. But it seems the USA has to get much broker and the population much more desperate than it is currently for that to happen. I guess it must have been partially to flood the news to drown out the bad publicity in Libya, and partially to give Obama a boost in the polls.
But there was no surprise at Clinton's announcement. After all, the Taleban offered Bin Laden for trial in the World Court in the Hague a week before Afghanistan was invaded, and that did absolutely nothing to stop the invasion. Of course if OBL actually had nothing to do with 9/11 then such a trial actually constitutes a threat and this offer could have caused an invasion if one had not already been imminent. But had the stated reason for the invasion, (to get OBL) been genuine, a trial in the world court should have been exactly what the USA wanted.
Here is a letter I had published in The State in Columbia, SC this morning:
Now let’s bring our troops home
“Justice has been done” were President Obama’s words when he announced the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces. The 9/11 attacks on the United States were masterminded by Osama bin Laden and were used as reasons for us to attack Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Congressional Research Service, the war in Afghanistan is costing us $6.7 billion a month, and Iraq costs us $6.2 billion.
My research reveals that almost 1 million people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition’s attacks. That’s according to the lowest credible estimates. Shouldn’t our avenging the attacks by killing bin Laden allow us to end the wars and bring our troops home?
Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/05/03/1802644/tuesdays-letters-to-the-editor.html#ixzz1LJ9Sb9CT
They threw his body in the sea. Sounds like another 911 cover up. If it was not a fraud, wouldn't they want to not throw it in the sea? This smells to me. It may be true that they got OBL but one thing we know as an immutable fact: We cannot believe anything we are told by the Fascists in our Government; especially, when it comes to wars and foreign policy. There is a lot of documentation that he died a long time ago. I want to hear it from the Muslims, then I might buy this story, until then it looks very suspicious.
I agree with your point Paul Revere. Who made the identification of the body as bin Laden? Some 25 year old Navy Seal captain? The same officers who told the world that Pat Tillman died in an enemy attack rather than by friendly fire? They took his DNA and then dumped the body in the sea where no one will ever be able to make a DNA comparison. We have only the word of our government that they killed bin Laden this week, and not many years ago.
People seem to believe anything they here from our government, even though we know the government has lied to us for decades about things central to our lives and well being.
There is no way the Americans will give up a war just because there is no longer any good reason to continue. They will just make up another reason as their top neocon Hillary Clinton has already done. Hopefully they will suffer great losses and be forced to come home by a disgusted public which would give the world a break for a year or two before they attack some other poor country for no reason at all.
>>There is no way the Americans will give up a war just because there is no longer any good reason to continue. They will just make up another reason as their top neocon Hillary Clinton has already done. <<
Hell, man, we haven't even invaded Venezuela and Brazil yet, and there are any number of African (Africom) states yet to prosper under democracy brought by the US Military. The profit outlook is outstanding.
Plus next week, or maybe later this week, there's Libya. Yesterday while we argued over Bin Laden's death (who, when, where, how) Gaddafi buried his son killed by NATO forces. Nice little bit of distraction.
But way too many corporations will invade those countries one way or another. Or the IMF or some other scheme will be cooked up. The Empire must roll on. And I don't think it is just the US.
Motherf... A BILLION AMERICAN PEACE MARCH on DC is needed now! Who can organize it?
Not a surprise.
The pipelines have not been built.
If pipelines are ever built it will require a perpetual military presence to guard them, or at least until Central Asia has no more oil and natural gas.
Has anyone noticed how many laws were broken to kill one man who never killed anyone. Torture, assassination, a secret prison system, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan...
Let's take a look at Bin Laden. He spoke up against the killing of Iraqi children. The official policy of the USA was that the deaths of 500,000 children was 'worth it'. Should we be in solidarity with those who resist the slaughter of children and civilians or is that just another US policy that we should accept.
The Executive Order authorizing assassination, even of USA citizens was adopted during the Bush administration. One US citizen has already been assassinated. Anybody here care about the rule of law??? The assassination of ANYONE is a legal and moral violation. Assassination is murder. Those involved should be put on Trial.
Bin Laden today, your neighbor tomorrow, you the next day. If you believe the government murdered Bin Laden to keep us safe - remember the announcement immediately after. We are less safe today than we were a few days ago. Blowback is a reality. Your government would sell you down the river and feed you to the fish without a second thought (unless you are a CEO or Hedge Fund manager,).
This train won't stop until it wrecks everything in its path--the whole country of Afghanistan, its people and ecology, the U.S. economy and any shred of decency we ever had.
If Osama, the uber Mensch of Al Quida is dead, why continue the war on terror?
First, only the CIA claims without evidence (this is classed as an assertion in debate) that Osama is dead. The MSM carries the story of his death like it is controvertible truth.
But, if anyone challenges the logic of these statements, that person becomes a "tin foil hatter."
So the stupid, lazy, and greedy Americans continue their march into oblivion. Good luck.
"We will continue to support the people of Afghanistan."
Makes you wanna puke doesn't it?
The USA style of Predatory Capitalism needs war to sustain itself. There is a lot more profit in weapon systems than in tractors or organic food. War is an essential part of the US economy. Death is the leading US export. US citizens are so propagandized from kindergarten till death that it will take outside forces to bring peace. Sorry, but that is the way it is. If it wasn't war for oil, it would be war for broccoli. War today. War tomorrow. War forever. The war profiteers are in control of the U$A...
So who's the next bad guy? We killed Saddam. We killed Osama. Who is next to kill? We just line them up and gun them down.
Is this what America has been reduced to?
The U.S. says it will: " negotiate with Taliban fighters who embrace the Afghan constitution, renounce violence and sever ties with a-Qaida." The Taliban are required to renounce violence but the Afghan government, U.S., and International leaders do not need to renounce violence when negotiating peace agreement with their enemy the Taliban? People who negotiate like that are not doing so in good faith and the Taliban know it. Good faith negotiations require all involved people renounce violence. " The weaker the Taliban is as a movement the better the prospects of peace." America invaded Afghan to get the enemy Osama bin Laden( fled Afghan) then the enemy was al-Qaida ( only a few if any in Afghan) then the Taliban who are fighting the occupiers of their country. Americans would fight any foreign country that occupied America. Don't do as I would do , do as I say. Americans are expected to believe that we must weaken the Taliban before leaving Afghanistan when we know that every drone bomb, every child killed, every home destroyed, every civilian seriously injured, by U.S. forces increases the strength of the Taliban movement.
As my bumper sticker says: "Honor the Dead, Heal the Wounded, End the War"
poppies grow and grow...
they don't care who is killed, or who enslaves the grower, or harvests them, or turns them into opiates, flies them around the world to sell and pockets the profit...
of course, there will not be an end to the war...
there is no war...the word war is not applicable...
the word business, ongoing business, is...and murder...
and treason...
"You cannot wait us out. You cannot defeat us," said Clinton.
Oh yes they will, idiotic Neocon bitch!