This story does paint the same pic that the media and the Amin are painting. Which do you think is more accurate?


KABUL, Afghanistan - Preying on a weak government and rising public concerns about security, the Taliban are enjoying a military resurgence in Afghanistan and are now staging attacks just outside the capital, according to Western diplomats, private security analysts, and aid workers.

Of particular concern, private security and intelligence analysts said, is the new reach of the Taliban to the provinces ringing Kabul, headquarters for thousands of international security troops. Those troops are seeking to shore up the government of President Hamid Karzai, help stabilize the country, find Osama bin Laden, and rebuild a nation deeply scarred by almost three decades of warfare. So far, they have had only mixed success.


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Karzai needs to get a grip! The US will not allow this possibility.


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban suicide bomber wearing an Afghan army uniform set off a huge explosion Saturday while trying to board a military bus in the capital, killing 30 people, most of them soldiers, officials said. Hours later, the Afghan president offered to meet personally with the Taliban leader for peace talks and give the militants a position in government.

Strengthening a call for negotiations he has made with increasing frequency the last several weeks, President Hamid Karzai said he was willing to meet with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and factional warlord leader.


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President Hamid Karzai said he was willing to meet with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister and factional warlord leader

Sounds like he is preaching to a deaf opera.

Taleban has given Kaezai his answer.


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban militia Sunday rejected peace overtures by President Hamid Karzai, insisting they would never negotiate as long as international soldiers were in the country.

The Taliban is also not interested in government positions, the movement's purported main spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.

Karzai said Saturday he would "immediately" offer the militia posts in his government if they gave up a bloody insurgency.


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Afghanistan's Taliban militia Sunday rejected peace overtures by President Hamid Karzai, insisting they would never negotiate as long as international soldiers were in the country.

That just put a damper on talks for a long time to come.

If I were running the deal, I would talk with Karzai and while that was going on I would quietly rebuild the force. a few minor attacks here and there. Come to an agreement for troops to leave and then pop the big one, a big offensive quick and deadly. Just my short answer.

It is revving up in Afghanistan.


The report said Afghanistan is averaging 550 violent incidents a month, up from an average of 425 last year. It said three-fourths of suicide bombings are targeting international and Afghan security forces, but suicide bombers also killed 143 civilians through August.


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I'm not surprised. A lack of troops and equipment was bound to come back to haunt them.

The news is not good for the Afghanis.



By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - Following the success of their 2006 spring offensive, the Taliban were expected to make even further gains in Afghanistan this year. It never happened, due to strong pre-emptive action by Western coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistani military action against Taliban bases in the Pakistani tribal areas.

However, plans for a mass uprising on the back of renewed insurgency activity are far from shelved, and could be implemented with vigor at the end of the Islamic holy month of

Ramadan next week, with tens of thousands of freshly trained men pouring into Afghanistan.


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This is the third bombing in Kabul in 4 days. I would say that the bad guys arer pushing and doing fairly well.


KABUL (Reuters) - A bomb killed two Afghan civilians and one U.S. soldier in an attack on a U.S. convoy in Kabul on Saturday, a U.S. military spokesman said.

"It was a two-vehicle, armored SUV convoy to the airport," said the spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Clint Larson.

"On the way to the airport we believe a Toyota minivan struck one of the SUVs. One U.S. soldier was injured in the attack. He has since died of his wounds."


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Well, at least we don't seem to be seeing the major offensive they were worried about a few months ago.

It is a possiblity that the recent attacks are a precursor to the p-ush. The bombs are getting more and more frequent.

I would say the info coming out indicates it could well be the start of the push.


KABUL, Afghanistan -- Six years after U.S. bombs began falling on the Taliban government and its al-Qaida guests, a suicide car bomber attacked an American military convoy on the road to Kabul's airport yesterday, killing a U.S. soldier and four Afghans, officials said.

Four Afghans were killed and 12 wounded in the attack, which was against U.S. troops who are responsible for training the Afghan military and police.

The United States has 25,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and other NATO nations have 25,000 -- more than three times the number of international troops four years ago when the Taliban appeared defeated. The Islamic militia has come roaring back, with 100 suicide attacks in 2007 -- the bloodiest year yet.


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Looks bleak for Afghanistan if the report is true.


Foreign fighters are entering Afghanistan from Pakistan in greater numbers than at any time since the Taliban was ousted in 2001, Afghanistan's defense minister said yesterday.

The minister also complained that some coalition members — notably Italy, Germany and Japan — have made only half-hearted efforts in rebuilding Afghanistan's security institutions.

"There are more foreign fighters in Afghanistan now than ever before," Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak told editors and reporters at The Washington Times.

He said the militants had been flooding in over the past two to three months, since Pakistan began an offensive in pro-Taliban tribal areas in the mountainous border region straddling the two countries


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Maybe it's good that they are coming to the fight instead of hiding.