Taliban flee battle using children as shields: NATO

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samcdkey, we are talking about Taliban, not Afghanis or Pashtuns, There is a young gentleman here in may home town who has just come home on leave, he is in the Special Forces, and his assignment is in one of these Pashtuns Villages working with the local people. His team brings medical support for the village, does water projects, and helped to rebuild the school in the village, and works with the local Pashtun to keep the Taliban from drafting the young men to serve them in their war of terror, this I got straight from him, and he seemed to be very confused by the news reports of the idea that we are not doing well over there, as he informed me they have excellent rapport with the people of the village and surrounding area? can your explain this ?
 
Bells said:
Anyone.. and I mean anyone.. who resorts to using a child as a human shield should have the skin flayed from their bodies.

There are ways to conduct one's self in war. Taking a child and using that child as a shield or as a tool of war is so vile that there are no words to actually describe the action or the person doing it.
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Mark the date. Bells and I are in complete agreement. These bastards are savages and should be hunted down and put down like the dogs they are.
 
Buffalo Roam said:
samcdkey, we are talking about Taliban, not Afghanis or Pashtuns, There is a young gentleman here in may home town who has just come home on leave, he is in the Special Forces, and his assignment is in one of these Pashtuns Villages working with the local people. His team brings medical support for the village, does water projects, and helped to rebuild the school in the village, and works with the local Pashtun to keep the Taliban from drafting the young men to serve them in their war of terror, this I got straight from him, and he seemed to be very confused by the news reports of the idea that we are not doing well over there, as he informed me they have excellent rapport with the people of the village and surrounding area? can your explain this ?
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Apparently all the stuff I hear from Afghanis is less credible. :rolleyes:

Most Taliban are Pashtuns. Most Afghanis are Pashtuns. They have a strict and unrelenting code of honor. My grandmother was a Pathan and I'm pretty familiar with their ways.

As for the reports of doing so well there,

Pakistan:
Militants in the restive North Waziristan tribal region on Tuesday signed a peace agreement, pledging to halt cross-border movement and stop attacks on government installations and security forces.

“There shall be no cross-border movement for militant activity in neighbouring Afghanistan,” read a clause of the three-page agreement signed by seven militants on behalf of the Taliban shura (advisory council).

On its part, the government pledged not to undertake any ground or air operation against the militants and resolve the issue through local customs and traditions.

Political Agent of North Waziristan Dr Fakhr-i-Alam signed the agreement on behalf of the government. Maj-Gen Azhar Ali Shah oversaw the signing and later embraced the militants.

The peace deal brokered by a grand tribal jirga will come into force with the relocation of the army from the checkpoints in the region. Tribal Khasadar force and Levy will take over the checkposts.

Sources said that army had almost vacated all the checkpoints in the tribal region and moved to camps and Touchi Scout Fort in Miramshah.

The ceremony held in the football ground of the Government Degree College was witnessed by about 500 elders, parliamentarians and officials.

The agreement contains 16 clauses and four sub-clauses.

Militant commanders Maulana Gul Behadur and Maulvi Sadiq Noor did not attend the ceremony and their representatives signed the document on their behalf.

Maulvi Nek Zaman MNA read out the agreement after which the militants and military officials hugged each other and exchanged greetings. The venue was heavily guarded by armed Taliban and journalists were not allowed to shoot or film the event.

The agreement envisages that the foreigners living in North Waziristan will have to leave Pakistan but those who cannot leave will be allowed to live peacefully, respecting the law of the land and the agreement.

Both parties (army and militants) will return each other’s weapons, vehicles and communication tools seized during various operations
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14875.htm
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Originally thought to be simply a regional deal concerning the remote and hostile frontier terrain in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden and senior al-Qa'ida leaders are believed to be living, it has now emerged it involved Taliban leaders who were on a "most wanted" list of insurgent combatants in Afghanistan.

According to last night's reports, all were subsequently pardoned by the Pakistani authorities and now live openly in North Waziristan.
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Looks like local loyalties are stronger than international policy.

NATO:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1873122,00.html
Military commanders believe a minority of fighters attacking British troops in Helmand province, and mainly Canadian troops in neighbouring Kandahar province, are hardcore Taliban. The majority, they suggest, are local people paid by the Taliban who offer significantly more - about £5 a day - than the money paid to recruits to the Afghan army.
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Well then explains what my friends son was involved with, his story is far different than yours as to what is happening on the ground over there, He and the team he serves with live in the village that they support.
 
Buffalo Roam said:
Well then explains what my friends son was involved with, his story is far different than yours as to what is happening on the ground over there, He and the team he serves with live in the village that they support.
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No doubt he knows better. He's obviously in their deepest confidence. They would obviously tell him if they were secretly supporting the Taliban. Duh.
Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, admitted yesterday that border guards had turned a "blind eye" towards Taliban militants crossing into Afghanistan to launch attacks on coalition forces.

The admission came after senior American officials publicly urged Pakistan to do more to curb infiltration.

"We had some incidents I know of that in some posts, a blind eye was being turned," Gen Musharraf told a press conference when asked to comment on criticism of Pakistan's co-operation in the US-led war on terror. "So similarly I imagine that others may be doing the same."
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A controversial British-backed truce with the Taliban, which brought peace to a town in southern Afghanistan and was a central plank of UK military policy, was destroyed yesterday when hundreds of Taliban fighters stormed into Musa Qala and seized control from tribal elders.

Haji Mir Wali, a local member of the Afghan parliament, said: "The Taliban have destroyed the walls of the district centre. They have put the tribal elders who supported the agreement with the government in jail." The Afghan interior ministry insisted that there was fighting throughout the day with tribal elders loyal to the government resisting alongside local supporters and members of the police force.

However, more credible accounts suggested that no actual fighting took place, but rather fierce argument between tribal elders and the incoming Taliban fighters, who simply disarmed the auxiliary police force.
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samcdkey, he is living with them, speaks with them daily, works right along side them, and helps defend the village from Taliban raids, do you?
 
Buffalo Roam said:
samcdkey, he is living with them, speaks with them daily, works right along side them, and helps defend the village from Taliban raids, do you?
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No doubt they have adopted him as a favorite son. Bet they get more info out of him than he gets out of them.:p

Do you know what Pakhtunwali is?
 
I wish your friend's son a safe return home, Buffalo. I'm sure you don't need to tell him "Watch your back", and I hope he is. What he's doing is no less dangerous than it was for American operatives isolated in "friendly" Vietnam villes in the 1960s.
 
samcdkey, He has shared Water, Salt Bread, and Fire with them, and also blood, so you tell me would that make him a favorite son?
 
He's surely a most favored guest... until he crosses the wrong man's path. Traditional protection also has traditional limits.
 
Badal:
Badal (retaliation) and blood feuds generally emanate from intrigue with women, murder of one of the family members or their gawandiyaan (hamsayas), violation of Badragga, slight personal injury or insult or damage to property. Any insult is generally resented and retaliation is exacted in such cases.

A Pakhtun believes and acts in accordance with the principles of Islamic Law i.e. an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and blood for blood. He wipes out insult with insult regardless of cost or consequence and vindicates his honor by wiping out disgrace with a suitable action. But the urge for Badal does not mean that he is savage, blood thirsty or devoid of humane qualities. He is kind, affectionate, friendly and magnanimous and forgives any one who kills his relatives by a mistake but he will not allow any intentional murder go unavenged. Proud of his descent, he becomes offensive only when an insult is hurled at him or some injury is done to him deliberately. He goes in search of his enemy, scans the surrounding area and hills, lies in wait for months and years, undergoes all hardships but does not feel content till his efforts of wreaking vengeance on his enemy are crowned with success. Those who fail to fulfil the obligations of Pukhto (self-respect) by wiping out insult with insult, lose their prestige in the eyes of their compatriots, render themselves liable to Paighore (reproach) and earn an unfair name. According to Nang-e-Pakhto or code of honor an unavenged injury is the deepest shame and the honor of the person can be redeemed only by a similar action. It may, however, be noted that "there is little if any random crime or violence" in the tribal areas as the stakes are too high and the retribution too certain to follow.
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http://www.pakhtun.com/pakhtunwali.htm

Like hype said, tell your friend to watch his back.
 
So I am not as ignorant of the ways of the Pashtun as you think, I think I would get along well with them, as I live by the same code, if your are my friend you are my friend, if you are my enemy I will cut your throat and think nothing of it, Honor is served.
 
"as I live by the same code, if your are my friend you are my friend, if you are my enemy I will cut your throat and think nothing of it"

Then you understand, brave cutthroat: If he encounters, even accidentally, the wrong people, and without overwhelming firepower instantly ready, he's dead.
 
hypewaders said:
"as I live by the same code, if your are my friend you are my friend, if you are my enemy I will cut your throat and think nothing of it"

Then you understand, brave cutthroat: If he meets the wrong people without overwhelming firepower instantly ready, he's dead.
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No, that would invite retribution. All friends, family and members of the tribe (hamsayas or your shadows, i.e. ones that never abandon you), are a part of Badal and help the aggrieved to get his "exchange". More likely to get information from the boy about which people are in charge, what would hurt their aims, etc.
 
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