Comments on: Karzai Lives to Rule Kabul for Another Day

By: Joshua Foust

Joshua Foust — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:29:02 +0000

The good admiral is referring to this post. The "perception of control?" Who has control, if the Taliban or other militant groups can walk mortar teams within a few hundred feet of the President and murder half a dozen people during the most secure public event of the year? In stark contrast to Stephens' uncritical cheerleading, the reporter Inkan cites, who has done some uncannily perceptive reporting from the region, gives actual reason to hope things might not remain as dire for long.

By: Admiral

Admiral — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:01:50 +0000

On the other hand… this post seems to carry the day. You do not give credit to Stephens’ point that the perception of control can be just as, if not more important, but it seems like everyone agrees on it. Things are not going well.

By: Inkan1969

Inkan1969 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:34:25 +0000

I was looking through e-ariana and found two articles by Syed Saleem Shahzad of the Asia Times

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JD29Df01.html

In this article Shahzad makes the same points you’ve made, Joshua. But he also refers to a NATO victory that recently happened. he wrote in detail about that victory in this article

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JD26Df01.html

While noting the ceremony attack, Shahzad also claims that “In a change from previous years, NATO has made it a priority to understand the workings of the Taliban”. In the other article, he claims that the Taliban’s attempt to choke the Khyber pass is a “dream…now in tatters” because NATO paid off trader Haji Namdar to betray them. Negotiations such as that being conducted by the Pakistani government “could lead to a whole new batch of betrayals. ” So in the wake of this disaster in Kabul, it might be that NATO, the Pakistanis, and the Afghans might in fact be changing to more intelligent tactics. We can only hope.