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CNN: U.S. to Arm Local Afghans to Fight Taliban

TommyJ1912

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http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/25/us.afghan.training/index.html

Sources: U.S. to arm local Afghans to fight Taliban
by Barbara Starr
CNN Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military plans to help the Afghanistan government recruit, train and arm local Afghans to fight a resurgent Taliban, U.S. military officials say.

U.S. officials describe the proposal as a "community-based" security effort.

The main job of the local units is to be an "early warning system" and be armed mainly for defensive operations, a U.S. military official said.

Participants will get uniforms so they can be readily identified, officials said.

The first phase of the program is expected to begin next year in Wardak province, where the Taliban have overrun many local government institutions.

For the United States, the most sensitive part of the proposal will be the use of American military funds to purchase small arms, most likely AK-47 rifles, that will be given to local Afghans, according to a U.S. military official.

U.S. commanders acknowledge concerns that arming local groups is risky, as it could lead to new armed conflicts between tribes, putting American troops in the middle of unexpected firefights.

The Afghan government will select men for the new security program. It will train them and technically arm them, although the funds will come from the U.S. military.

The Afghans will be responsible for ensuring the loyalty of people in the program, but the United States will oversee the effort and collect biometric information, such as eyeprints and fingerprints, on all participants, according to the U.S. military official.

U.S. officials are emphasizing that because of tribal diversity, the Afghan program differs from the Awakening Councils in Iraq, which include tens of thousands of Sunni gunmen and was credited with helping reduce violence there.
 

PrayingForWar

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Aran wrote:
This sounds reeeeally familiar...

It's not as familiar as you might think. Afghans are literally living in the 13th century. The only noticable difference is the vehicles and weaponry. They have no national loyalties too speak of. Only tribal loyalties, and to those who pay more.

Iraq was fairly modern until we bombed them back into the 19th century, but they've had a real country for the better part of the last century, and are much better educated that many would believe. They don't thrive in conflict like the Afghans, although they don't run away from it like europeans.
 

Brigdh

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PrayingForWar wrote:
Aran wrote:
This sounds reeeeally familiar...

It's not as familiar as you might think. Afghans are literally living in the 13th century. The only noticable difference is the vehicles and weaponry. They have no national loyalties too speak of. Only tribal loyalties, and to those who pay more.

Iraq was fairly modern until we bombed them back into the 19th century, but they've had a real country for the better part of the last century, and are much better educated that many would believe. They don't thrive in conflict like the Afghans, although they don't run away from it like europeans.
Actually its astoundingly familiar. We are doing the same thing we did 20-30 years ago, the same thing that got us into this "War on Terror".

You see, Soviet Russia was invading a little country known as Afghanistan at the time. US was afraid of the "Domino effect" that spreading Communism might have, so we funded and trained a group of local Afghans to fight back. And that group was led by one Osama bin Laden.

Wow, that certainly bit us in the ass, and here we are, doing it again.
 

KansasMustang

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The difference being here is that we are not just supplying them with arms and munitions. WE are training them and assisting them. Hopefully this will,,as in this country, armed citizens will be able to defend themselves against tyrrany.
 

PrayingForWar

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Brigdh wrote:
PrayingForWar wrote:
Aran wrote:
This sounds reeeeally familiar...

It's not as familiar as you might think. Afghans are literally living in the 13th century. The only noticable difference is the vehicles and weaponry. They have no national loyalties too speak of. Only tribal loyalties, and to those who pay more.

Iraq was fairly modern until we bombed them back into the 19th century, but they've had a real country for the better part of the last century, and are much better educated that many would believe. They don't thrive in conflict like the Afghans, although they don't run away from it like europeans.
Actually its astoundingly familiar. We are doing the same thing we did 20-30 years ago, the same thing that got us into this "War on Terror".

You see, Soviet Russia was invading a little country known as Afghanistan at the time. US was afraid of the "Domino effect" that spreading Communism might have, so we funded and trained a group of local Afghans to fight back. And that group was led by one Osama bin Laden.

Wow, that certainly bit us in the ass, and here we are, doing it again.

NO, it's not even close. We provided support to Pakistani officials, and helped them aquire the weapons. Namely Red Eye anti Aircraft missles and Stingers. All we are doing in this case is handing out AK's, which are plentiful anyway, and taking ID information from the individual. We know who has the weapon, and where they live. They are not getting RPG's, RPK's dishka's or anything else.

Even insinuating that we trained mujahedeen or directly armed them is silly, suggesting we armed and trained Bin Laden is F!)*ing STUPID.
 

KansasMustang

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Uh,,sorry Prayingforwar the CIA trained and supported Osama Bin Laden. Yes indeed they did. That's when the biggest threat was the Russians, sorry fella read your REAL history. WE made Osama Bin Laden
 

Gordie

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They did a story on it on the history channel. The funny thing is that the first stinger missile that they fired was a dud, the second one worked just fine.

The fact that we provided the mujahideen with stinger missiles was a cause of great concern after 9/11. We knew that they had them, we just didn't know how many were still functional.
 

Brigdh

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PrayingForWar wrote:
Brigdh wrote:
PrayingForWar wrote:
Aran wrote:
This sounds reeeeally familiar...

It's not as familiar as you might think. Afghans are literally living in the 13th century. The only noticable difference is the vehicles and weaponry. They have no national loyalties too speak of. Only tribal loyalties, and to those who pay more.

Iraq was fairly modern until we bombed them back into the 19th century, but they've had a real country for the better part of the last century, and are much better educated that many would believe. They don't thrive in conflict like the Afghans, although they don't run away from it like europeans.
Actually its astoundingly familiar. We are doing the same thing we did 20-30 years ago, the same thing that got us into this "War on Terror".

You see, Soviet Russia was invading a little country known as Afghanistan at the time. US was afraid of the "Domino effect" that spreading Communism might have, so we funded and trained a group of local Afghans to fight back. And that group was led by one Osama bin Laden.

Wow, that certainly bit us in the ass, and here we are, doing it again.

... All we are doing in this case is handing out AK's, which are plentiful anyway, and taking ID information from the individual. We know who has the weapon, and where they live. ...
Yeah.... cause that works out real well here (ie, a gun registration database). Hell, the BATFE can't even keep their database straight.
 

deepdiver

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Instead of giving them AKs, why not give them M-16s. That way, if we ever want to disarm them we just stop giving them ammo, and more importantly cleaning kits. Within 30 days of cutting off the cleaning supplies, none of the M-16s will be functional anymore due to mistreatment or lack of care.If we give them AKs, they'll just keep working for 30 years. :p
 

Dustin

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PrayingForWar wrote:
Aran wrote:
This sounds reeeeally familiar...

It's not as familiar as you might think. Afghans are literally living in the 13th century. The only noticable difference is the vehicles and weaponry. They have no national loyalties too speak of. Only tribal loyalties, and to those who pay more.

Iraq was fairly modern until we bombed them back into the 19th century, but they've had a real country for the better part of the last century, and are much better educated that many would believe. They don't thrive in conflict like the Afghans, although they don't run away from it like europeans.

When I was there, there was one village we raided that had NEVER seen a white person. They also had never been out of that village either. No electricity.

Yet we still found AK's and ammo stashesout there, mostly from the Russian's.

I think we bombed them back to the stone age and they were like,

Yippie an Upgrade ! :lol:
 

opusd2

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Dustin wrote:
When I was there, there was one village we raided that had NEVER seen a white person. They also had never been out of that village either. No electricity.

Yet we still found AK's and ammo stashesout there, mostly from the Russian's.

I think we bombed them back to the stone age and they were like,

Yippie an Upgrade ! :lol:

:celebrate Hilarious!
 

shad0wfax

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deepdiver wrote:
Instead of giving them AKs, why not give them M-16s. That way, if we ever want to disarm them we just stop giving them ammo, and more importantly cleaning kits. Within 30 days of cutting off the cleaning supplies, none of the M-16s will be functional anymore due to mistreatment or lack of care.If we give them AKs, they'll just keep working for 30 years. :p

LOL That's an elegantly humorous solution.

Their favorite method to clean an AKis to knot a shoelace, dip it in used motor oil, and then run that down the barrel. (I'm not making that up either.)
 

Flintlock

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Perhaps they should try this tactic in Chicago and Detriot by arming the citizenry to fend off the atrocious criminal element that has taken a foot hold in those cities.
 

Virginian683

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So they will give assault rifles to foreign citizens who are potential rebels and criminals, but for law-abiding US citizens they're banned (unless you've got 20 grand to spend on a gun).

More atrocious hypocrisy and double standards by the United States' Government. What else is new.
 
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