Re: Escalation in Afghanistan



Jeffrey Turner wrote:

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2007/03/25/taliban-invite-10-000-uzbeks-to-helmand.html

Taliban 'invite' 10,000 Uzbeks to Helmand
The Uzbeks are believed to have killed more than 1,500 local tribesmen
in the past two years

By Massoud Ansari

Islamic militants linked to Osama bin Laden have been offered a safe
haven by the Taliban in Afghanistan, bringing them into conflict with
British troops patrolling the lawless province of Helmand.

Uzbek gunmen, who fought a series of bloody battles last week with
Pakistani tribesmen in the border region of Waziristan, where they had
been living, have been told they should join the Taliban insurgency in
Afghanistan instead.

The move raises the prospect of a major upsurge in violence in Helmand,
where 43 British soldiers have been killed in clashes with militants
over the last five years.

The group of around 10,000 Uzbeks are led by Tahir Yuldashev, a close
associate of the al-Qaeda terrorist chief, who is believed to be hiding
out in the mountainous border area with his chief henchman Ayman
al-Zawahiri.

The members of the Islamic Movement Union of Uzbekistan fell out with
their Pakistani hosts after accusing some tribal leaders of acting as
agents of the Pakistani government, which is under huge pressure from
the US to crack down on Islamic militants. Pakistan government officials
said that nearly 160 people, including 130 Uzbeks, were killed in the
battle.

You won't see it, but moving the crazies out of Pakistan and into
Afghanistan where the US and UK can attack them is a good thing. The
fact that Pakistanis in the lawless areas bordering on Afghanistan are
growing tired of al Qaeda and its pals is an encouragement.





--

Personally, I believe that 9/11 should have taught us the lesson that we
can't let these countries simmer endlessly in disillusionment without
doing something about it because people become susceptible to delusional
ideas and delusional actions. Iraq, in my view, is but the first of many
efforts, certainly not all military, to remake the very face of the
world as constitutional representative democracy.
.