The U.S. is coming back at Afghanistan with another attack until tomorrow morning. These waves will keep coming, the latest is near Kabul.
It's going to be a while until the Taliban gets a good night's sleep, if they ever get one again. We are going to attack all night long, and the Northern Alliance will attack all day long, probably beginning at dawn local time (we don't conduct many daytime operations normally, but it's not out of the question even this early). This will continue until the Taliban no longer exists as a cohesive political/military force.
You might be right treeman. The U.S. said they planned to bomb Afghanistan for the next couple of days. And to show you how much of a liar the Taliban is, first he lied about the number of troops he had. He also lied about shooting down a U.S. plane (I guess he thought the U.S. would stop the entire attack to rescue this "plane"), then he said Osama bin Laden had nothing to do with the attack, then he said he left the country, then he didn't know where he was at, then he said he would bring him to trial, then he wanted evidence, then he said he would put him on trial. Now he doesn't know where he is at, but he claimed that one of the U.S. bombings destroyed bin Laden's home, but he was sure he wasn't there. Well if you didn't know where he was at, you would KNOW he isn't there! The Taliban just brought a whole lot of grief to his people!
Treeman- I've heard it said that the longer this conflict goes on, the worse for us. Would it be accurate to say that now that we have begun our attack, we're going to pour it on full-force day after day until the Taliban are toppled? I'm picturing forces dropping into areas before the smoke has even cleared from the Tomahawks. Come to think of it, it probably won't be long until the Taliban are no longer a cohesive military force. After all, as you stated in an earlier thread, they're only going to survive by dispersing their forces. I imagine we may be able to capture the cities with relative ease and bring aid to the people living there. But how long will it take to clear the hills? I mean, that's where Russia started hitting their problems. They thought they could control the country by dominating their cities, then found they couldn't. Then they thought they could clear the mountains and hills, and they couldn't. I don't think our forces will repeat previous mistakes at all, (I imagine we have a damned thorough plan w/ intelligence from Pakistan & Russia) but what will they do instead? Will we gain control of the cities, and then just send special forces to eliminate the remaining independent cells one by one? Will they ever be truly eliminated? I wonder how the Taliban will respond when they people they once governed will accept food from american troops and aid workers with open arms and tears in their eyes.
RM: The Taliban hasn't told the truth about anything for months, if not years. I see no reason why they'd start now. Nolen: Obviously, the quicker the better. I suspect that within a couple of weeks the back of the Taliban will be broken, and the remnants will have fled to the mountains to continue the jihad... I also would not be surprised if we took Kabul airport very, very soon and trapped those 12,000 Taliban fighters on the front line - 8,000+ Northern Alliance troops to their front, and a couple thousand Rangers and many more (presumably 82nd) troops to their rear (and in their capitol). A Taliban sandwich, if you will. I wouldn't bet on anything right now, though. I am amazed at the level of tactical surprise we've achieved thus far. Anything is possible. As for clearing the hills - it might not be as difficult as one might think with our new allies (Northern Alliance) as guides, but it will probably take a while. As you hinted, we will want to take the lowland villages and cities - before winter. The Taliban gets their food from these lowland areas, and without that food they will either surrender or die during the harsh Afghan winter in the mountains. We will both send Special Forces after them and starve them out. Either way, the future looks grim for the Taliban right now.
Is anybody else worried about helping the Northern Alliance? Sure it sounds like a good idea now but so did funding Sadham Huissan (sp?) against the Iranies or was it the Sauddis whatever. And wasnt some guy named Bin Laden trained by the CIA to fight the USSR?
In the long run, I am a little bit, but I think if we are more involved in the post war government being set up then we should be okay but just look at what has happened in the past.
