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Massive strike by the Taliban in Afghanistan
Confirmed targets seem to be:
- US, British, German and Russian embassies
- Nato HQ
- The Ruined Darul Aman palace
- Afghan Parliament
- The US airbase in Jalalabad.
- A check point manned by Greek and Turkish troops in the east of Kabul
- A municipal building in Pul-e-Alam
- A university in Gardez
- An unfinished high rise building in Kabul
There are also confirmed reports of militants being arrested in Kundoz, and suicide bombers being shot dead in the province of Ningarhar. The Taliban tried to storm the Afghan parliament but were repulsed by Members of the Parliament. In the other attacks, they were repulsed by Afghan troops, Afghan police and Isaf forces.
Finally, I think the withdrawal by Isaf forces by 2015 is shortsighted and a mistake because we have a responsibility to these people to stop the Taliban from retaking fire.
Comments
What? You thought I made it up?
I thought I'd never think politicians can be badass.
Woah.
Chalk one up for the Afghan government. I'm impressed.
Before this, I was all for withdrawal, but now it does seem shortsighted indeed.
Yeah it is impressive because the security for the embassies isn't done by Isaf forces but by "Afghan Security Forces" and there hasn't been a fatality reported by any of those embassies
Upon reading the thread title my first thought was that they put down their work. But weird that they're doing a wave of attacks instead of constant attrition, which works much more effectively at alienating the population from the ISAF forces due to paranoia and friendly fire victims.
Afghanistan is a tribal society that's had on and off-warfare for over 30 years. Basically, a lot of men pack guns, for personal security as well as macho status reasons, including politicians. In the circumstances, you have to say the MPs were quite justified.
The Taliban tried to storm the Afghan parliament but were repulsed by Members of the Parliament.
Funny, the very first time I read this sentence I got the impression that the Taliban just thought that the Parliament members were hideous. But it is, indeed, cool that they repulsed the Taliban.
Yeah it is
Also, there seems to be some confusion who launched these attacks. Some Media outlets are saying it was a group that was allied to the Taliban and others say it was a Taliban attack.
Finally, there were 36 gunmen killed and 6 Afghan security forces people.
While I can understand the sentiment that this wave of attacks would cause people to reconsider whether we should pull out in 2015, I say that such a decision should still be predicated on whether or not the Afghan people themselves change their minds, since they are the ones that have been the most vocal in requesting our exit.
^ Yeah, ultimately if the Afghans truly want some kind of democratic government, they're the ones who'll have to fight for it. If they end up with the Taliban it'll be because the latter had too much support and the former too little. Britain, the US and the rest can't prop up democracy for ever.
On the other hand, we have to accept that there'll continue to be real violence in the region. The other unfortunate truth is that the Taliban have high quality military training at their disposal, so leaving the region vulnerable leaves the current government open to deposition. In scenarios like this, good guys play by the rules and bad guys break them, which would place the new democratic government at a serious disadvantage. After all, we can't account for how many people would rather stay out of violence entirely and support neither group for fear of their own lives given the chance they chose "wrongly", and that's entirely understandable.
I don't think troops should definitely stay there, but it's something to consider if the Taliban can be so brazen after so long.
Afghan forces have seized 10 tonnes of explosives and arrested 5 militants who were planning to blow up the vice president and several crowded areas
The 5 men are claimed to have links with the ISI aka the Pakistani Intelligence Service and were acting on orders from 2 Taliban commanders.
The nationalities of the men were 3 Pakistanis and 2 Afghans