१८ ऑगस्ट, २०२१

"I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban."

"We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time, because we knew this day might come. We also have the weapons carried by the Afghans who, over the past 72 hours, have responded to my appeal to join the resistance in Panjshir. We have soldiers from the Afghan regular army who were disgusted by the surrender of their commanders and are now making their way to the hills of Panjshir with their equipment. Former members of the Afghan Special Forces have also joined our struggle.... No matter what happens, my mujahideen fighters and I will defend Panjshir as the last bastion of Afghan freedom. Our morale is intact.... But we need more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies.... There is still much that you can do to aid the cause of freedom...."

From "The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help" by Ahmad Massoud, "the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan"(WaPo).

४५ टिप्पण्या:

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

His father was murdered by the Taliban in preparation for 9/11. A film crew brought an exploding camera to an interview. Shortly after, exploding airplanes arrived in America's cities.

gspencer म्हणाले...

Regardless of who might win in this internecine feud, the end result is Islam.

"Hey, I want Hitler to win"

"No, we want Stalin to win"

Either way, ya wind up with totalitarian rule, with all its brutishness and death.

Alien v. Predator

Temujin म्हणाले...

We screwed the Northern Alliance and his father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who could have put down Bin Laden in the days before 9/11. We bailed on him and Bin Laden arranged to have him killed shortly after. He was the Lion of Panjshir and we let him down, leaving him in the lurch, like we do- our national security leaders.

I wish his son good fortune and good hunting. But I would not trust our CIA or other branches of our NatSec at this time. As much as you may want their help, they'll start making their decisions based on political, not strategic goals, and you'll end up getting killed.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

Hmmmm......Washington Post?

This was fabricated in a Foggy Bottom coffee shop. These mujahideen don't exist.

Wa St Blogger म्हणाले...

I am conflicted about helping resistance groups in other countries. On the one hand a big thanks to the French for their support in our revolution from England. On the other I would hate to have China supporting any “Freedom fighters” in this country. But maybe I will change my mind when we have less freedom and we need to water the tree of liberty. Given how oppressive the Taliban has proven to be, I am inclined to support resistance, provided the resistors are actually freedom oriented and not just another flavor of despot.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

As long as there are still Americans (and citizens of our European and Asian allies) in Afghanistan there is nothing we can risk doing. That part of the unplanned Biden “plan” just changed from a bug to a feature.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

Here a good essay by Michael Anton: https://americanmind.org/salvo/afghanistan-doomed-from-the-start/

Just Hilts म्हणाले...

And the wheel comes around…

rehajm म्हणाले...

Call for Charlie Wilson. Please pick up the white courtesy phone...

Narayanan म्हणाले...

this is the father

Known as the “Lion of Panjshir” due to his fierce resistance to Soviet attacks, Massoud was killed 11 years ago on September 9 by al-Qaeda assassins posing as journalists.

....
After helping defeat the Soviets, Massoud fought against the Taliban and al-Qaeda as the leader of the Northern Alliance, cementing his reputation as a deft military strategist.

-----

I don't believe American officials ever involved this set of Afghans in any of the actions since 2001 ... Americans took their Afghan grifters with them and installed them in Kabul.

gilbar म्हणाले...

It turns out, it's All Over Now!
United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield boasted "We are hearing from people in Afghanistan that they are getting threats from the Taliban, and we have expressed in no uncertain terms here at the United Nations through a very strongly worded press statement from the Security Council that we expect the Taliban to respect human rights, including the rights of women and girls," Thomas-Greenfield said.

THERE YOU GO! situation solved! One very strongly worded press statement later, and the Taliban have COMPLETELY BACKED DOWN! They've moved out, not just of Kabul, but the Whole Freakin' Country! WE WON!!!

what's that? The Taliban did NOT back down?
Even After we hit them with a very strongly worded press statement ???
I am just Dumb founded

Iman म्हणाले...

Listening to Mark Milley-Vanilli… doing his best to cover his own ass… haven’t heard him tender his resignation yet. Pity…

cubanbob म्हणाले...

We are straight back to 2001 with only the Northern Alliance as a counter to the Taliban and the opium growers. Thanks for nothing Joe.

bleh म्हणाले...

"But ..."

I knew that "but" was coming.

If the Taliban could be kept weak and vulnerable -- and thus contained -- I could live with them having control of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to keep the Taliban weak and vulnerable now that they have so much US-made equipment and weaponry.

So now Northern Alliance 2.0 is coming to us with their hands out. Good grief. Before you know it the entire Afghan civil war will be fought using American weapons.

Narr म्हणाले...

I'm all for causing as much grief to the Taliban is as reasonably possible, but if we should have learned ONE thing since 9-11, it's "don't trust Muslims."

Muslims, of course, have never trusted Americans. How could they?

Let's just separate. Muslims stay in the dozens of countries where Islam is the official religion, civilized people stay in the better neighborhoods.



Drago म्हणाले...

I wonder if Howard will approve of this resistance to the taliban whom Howard and LLR Chuck have already labeled "relatively peaceful"?

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

Does he have a Gofundme page? If so, it should be cancelled because of his clearly violent intentions...

Iman म्हणाले...

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/talibanhuntericecream2.jpg

Wince म्हणाले...

Carving out an area free of the Taliban in the territory where groups like the Northern Alliance held sway before Massoud's father was murdered on Sept 9, 2001 always seemed to me to be a plan that made the most strategic sense following the rout of the Taliban in 2002, rather than nation building the entire country in opposition to the Taliban.

mccullough म्हणाले...

This reads like a fundraising letter from the DNC or RNC.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

"This reads like a fundraising letter from the DNC or RNC."

I am already getting fundraising letters from the RNC on this matter- into the spam folder they go. Fuckem.

Skeptical Voter म्हणाले...

As it was in the beginning and is now and ever shall be--Tribal Time again in Afghanistan.
Not much we can do to change centuries old habits.

OTOH we have a Secretary of Defense who says that he doesn't have the assets or the ability to get Americans out of Afghanistan. The military dee dee maued out (probably at the orders of this now empty civilian suit--but when he was a general, his uniform was just as empty) and left equipment--and Americans behind. I hope they can somehow get out--or is more likely that their deaths are swift and, relatively speaking, painless. They've been abandoned.

Lincolntf म्हणाले...

The same howling hypocrites who loudly proclaim that they support all Human Rights and that Women's and Children's rights must supersede all else are today gleeful to see the incipient slaughter and enslavement in Afghanistan. Because they themselves are slaves to the Democrat Party, which must be served above all else. These same idiot scumbags are willing to fight to burn down a Police Station or a Courthouse in the U.S., but all of a sudden become pacifists when entire populations are being brutally subjugated. No brains, no balls, no principles.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

"This reads like a fundraising letter from the DNC or RNC."

Dear fellow (Republican/Democrat),

(Nancy Pelosi/Donald Trump) is really a (bitch/bastard) who should be thrown out of (the Speaker's Office/Oval Office) immediately.

But that can only happen with your (time/money).

If you can, please donate ($500/$5) and make checks out to (Nancy must go '21/Trump must never win again '24).

Sincerely,

(Republican grifter/Democrat grifter).

Drago म्हणाले...

Howard will happy to hear that "relatively peaceful" beating of people at the Kabul airport has led to families handing their little babies to others in the hopes that their babies will be rescued even if the family members never get out.

Howard calls this "relatively peaceful giving up of your babies" and according to Howard this is not a big deal and will easily be forgotten in about 60 days.

Your estimate for everyone forgetting everything about this was 60 days just yesterday, wasn't it Howard?

Would you like to revise that now, or are you and your bookend buddy LLR Chuck going to move expeditiously to claim that this result, like all the others, was mandated by evil Trump's master plan?

Chuck म्हणाले...

Drago said...
I wonder if Howard will approve of this resistance to the taliban whom Howard and LLR Chuck have already labeled "relatively peaceful"?


Fuck off.

I’ve been writing for days that I thought Trump’s withdrawal of US troops was an idiotic miscalculation and that Biden’s choice to follow Trump’s lead was a dreadful mistake.

As far as I am concerned, the US military ought to be preparing to defeat Taliban forces.

Where the fuck do you step off, with an asinine misquote like that?

Yours is precisely the sort of comment that led to more than one shutdown of Althouse blog comments. And yet here you go, demonstrating how poorly your comments seem to be moderated even now.

Chuck म्हणाले...

Drago said...
I wonder if Howard will approve of this resistance to the taliban whom Howard and LLR Chuck have already labeled "relatively peaceful"?


Fuck off.

I’ve been writing for days that I thought Trump’s withdrawal of US troops was an idiotic miscalculation and that Biden’s choice to follow Trump’s lead was a dreadful mistake.

As far as I am concerned, the US military ought to be preparing to defeat Taliban forces.

Where the fuck do you step off, with an asinine misquote like that?

Yours is precisely the sort of comment that led to more than one shutdown of Althouse blog comments. And yet here you go, demonstrating how poorly your comments seem to be moderated even now.

Drago म्हणाले...

I feel bad for President Weekend At Bernies. I mean there he is, wanting so desperately to take questions about the situation in Afghanistan but, according to LLR Chuck and Howard, Biden was unable to take any questions at all because the Bad Orange Man's Plan forbade the taking of questions at this time!

Darn it!!

Bilwick म्हणाले...

"Freedom"? What's that? Silly rabbit, we moved away from that outdated concept several administrations ago. Now all us cool kids are into equity.

TheDopeFromHope म्हणाले...

Good thing we have a "very strongly worded press statement" from our UN Ambassador, who unfortunately is no lesser fool than all the other clowns in the Biden administration.

You know who also wanted to write a very angry letter? Hans Blix. He ended up swimming with the fishes, really big fishes.

Hans Blix: Mr. Il, I was supposed to be allowed to inspect your palace today, and your guards won't let me in to certain areas.
Kim: Hans Hans Hans, we've been through this a dozen times! I don't have any weapons of mass destruction, okay Hans?
Blix: Then let me look around so I can ease the UN's collective mind.
Kim: Hans you're breakin' my balls here, Hans, you're breakin' my balls!
Blix: I'm sorry, but the UN must be firm with you! Let' me see your whole palace, or else!
Kim: Or erse, what?
Blix: Or else we will be very, very angry with you, and we will write you a letter telling you how angry we are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPSvIz9NDs



Drago म्हणाले...

Pro-marxist and racist commenter LLR Chuck (who was banned on multiple occasions but refused to cease his dishonest and demonstrably disruptive posting):
"Yours is precisely the sort of comment that led to more than one shutdown of Althouse blog comments. And yet here you go, demonstrating how poorly your comments seem to be moderated even now."

Discuss.

Drago म्हणाले...

So this is strange, given that democrat partisans LLR Chuck and Howard have repeatedly asserted that Biden has followed the Bad Orange Man's plan to the letter and that has caused all the problems:

BIG BREAKING: Biden State Dept Abolished Trump-Era Crisis Response Bureau Just Months Before the Taliban Took Afghanistan -- The agency was meant to coordinate logistics in the case of an overseas emergency, like that unfolding in Kabul https://t.co/L5mZd6IsGC

Well gee willickers! How can that be?

Golly, information like that, if true (spoiler: its true) would mean that every single thing LLR Chuck has been posting about this entire withdrawal crisis being the fault of the Bad Orange Man because Poor But Heroic Comrade Biden was forced to exrcute all the plans that evil Orange Kulak put in place, is all a lie!

Oh my.

Thats enough for me to become cynical enough to believe that LLR Chuck's sole purpose in posting at Althouse is to:
1) Lie about and smear Trump
2) Drive a wedge between Althouse and her readers

I wonder if there exists any written and/or posted evidence to that effect?

Drago म्हणाले...

BTW, why did LLR Chuck's Beloved Dear Leader Biden just blatantly lie during his George Stephanopolous tongue bath "interview" today about how many days ago people were falling from US aircraft taking off from Kabul?

Biden said it was 4 or 5 days ago "before" the US secured the airbase.

Needless to day, Stephy boy just let that democratical lie slide in true LLR Chuck fashion.

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

This is a much better response than holding a protest Kabul.

If we'd actually wanted to empower women in Afghanistan, we would have taught them all how to shoot, and provided them guns and military training, not gender studies classes.

But independent, self-reliant people are a threat to the "managerial class", so doing anything to encourage self-reliance is entirely verboten.

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

"His father was murdered by the Taliban in preparation for 9/11."

No, his father was murdered by al Qaeda, in exchange for which the Taliban promised al Qaeda a "safe haven" in Afghanistan.

Which was the last thing al Qaeda needed before they could approve the attacks that happened 9/11/2001.

In previous years I've made a point on flying on 9/11 when reasonable to do so. With the Biden / Democrat idiocracy running the show, I won't be flying this year around then.

And I'll make sure all my weekly shopping is done by 9/10

JPS म्हणाले...

One of the best men I've ever met grew up in the Panjshir Valley. As a very young man he sided with us as soon as we arrived, because he thought we were offering his country the chance to become something decent. He truly respected women - even voted for one for Parliament. He (very politely and discreetly, as he had no other mode) told off his imam for letting a candidate campaign from their mosque during Friday prayers.

I won't say they're all like him up there, but from what he told me of that local culture, I think he was a great ambassador from a (relatively) enlightened lot. Ahmed Shah Massoud might not have been everything some here romanticized him to be, but he was by far the most able and decent high-profile leader holding out against the Taliban. That's why Al Qaeda had to kill him, guaranteeing that their hosts would never give them up.

I wish his son all the luck in the world. He'll need it.

Meade म्हणाले...

Chuck said...
“Fuck off.”

No.

Joe R. म्हणाले...

gspencer: "Either way, ya wind up with totalitarian rule, with all its brutishness and death. Alien v. Predator"
I'd like to point out that while both of those species would be awful, the Predator species at least had some code of honor (even if we probably wouldn't want to live under the Predator regime). The Aliens just ate everyone and replicated.

I don't know that there is any lesson in that for the mess in Afghanistan. Sometimes there are only terrible options on the able...?

RMc म्हणाले...

Pro-marxist and racist commenter LLR Chuck (who was banned on multiple occasions but refused to cease his dishonest and demonstrably disruptive posting)

And yet, Althouse still lets him post here. I guess she's decided that Chuck is the catfish, whose job it is to keep the rest of us on our toes...

Roger Sweeny म्हणाले...

Drago, I know this is the internet where the favorite sport is insulting people, but Althouse's comment section would be improved if you attacked arguments rather than people. Chuck is often wrong, so tell us WHY he is wrong.

Mid-Life Lawyer म्हणाले...

I'm not intentionally watching the news these days. My best guess of what I can't help but notice on the periphery is that a new Rambo is in production.

pacwest म्हणाले...

"As far as I am concerned, the US military ought to be preparing to defeat Taliban forces."

20 years too late dude.

Drago म्हणाले...

Roger Sweeny: "Drago, I know this is the internet where the favorite sport is insulting people, but Althouse's comment section would be improved if you attacked arguments rather than people. Chuck is often wrong, so tell us WHY he is wrong."

I often do, but perhaps not always, or at least perhaps not sufficiently. I'll take your suggestion for action.

Gospace म्हणाले...

Narr, you’re not reaching far enough back in US history. Our first foreign war was fought against muslims, the Barbary Pirates, who never having seen a US flag before thought our merchant vessels were fair game. From the beginning of our nation they’ve given us plenty of reason in plenty of places to mistrust them . In 1801, the first year of the first Barbary War most Americans had no idea what a muslim was, though they may have learned of crusades against them, and few Americans had ever met or seen one.

Nonetheless they attacked our ships. Even today, outside of the Caribbean, most piracy is carried out by followers of islam. And even if you include the Caribbean, most piracy in the world is carried out by them.

Narr म्हणाले...

Hey Gospace. I may not have gone back far enough, but your history is oversimplified.

I posted just recently (on another blog) about Tom Jefferson's and his successors' wars against the pirates. The Barbary pirates were, after relations with Britain and France, THE foreign policy issue of the first few admins. Something like 20% of US government expenditures was being paid in tribute--specie, munitions and naval stores, even fully outfitted warships--to the pirate beys for protection and as ransoms.

When American shipping with Europe, the Med, and Africa--a huge component of the American economy--lost the protection of the Royal Navy, we cobbled together agreements with such powers as Portugal or Sweden to have them provide some security to American ships, but those weren't free either and were not consistently deployed.

In the period between, say 1500 and 1800, perhaps as many as several hundred thousand Europeans--whole small coastal villages in Ireland, for instance, but all over and including the Atlantic sea lanes full of American hulls--were kidnapped by North African pirates. An entire genre of captivity and rescue narratives and news reports grew in Britain through the late 17th C and on, and such things were also published in the Colonies.

Charities and pressure groups were formed both in the UK and here, to rescue captive Brits and Americans, and prayers for those known or thought to be captives of the Infidels were a
regular part of sermons, especially in seaports.

Literate Americans--a majority which included all the movers and shakers of the era--knew very well who and what Muslims were, and why they were dangerous.

Linda Colley's book Captives is the source for most of what I posted, and Frank Lambert's
The Barbary Wars.

No argument about today. Hell, they do most of the land piracy too, I'd wager.