The US drone attacks on al Qaeda and Taliban leadership resting and re-grouping in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan have come under fire there and elsewhere for the collateral damage that sometime ensues, despite our best efforts to minimize civilian casualties in what is an ugly, but necessary campaign.
Putting paid to any remaining notions of a brave local resistance fighting against imperial invaders from abroad, the Taliban has replied with an attack of their own that specifically targeted a market frequented mostly by women and children:
The blast tore through buildings in Peshawar’s Peepal Mandi market street, destroying several – including a mosque – and leaving others on fire.
The market mostly sells products for women, and most of the dead were women and children.
“There was a huge blast. There was smoke and dust everywhere. I saw people dying and screaming on the road,” eyewitness Mohammad Siddique told AFP news agency.
At least 91 dead of a purpose.
Because that’s what God wants, apparently.
In’shallah.
Only hoping this can be used as a turning/tipping point for the COIN. The point where people realize that not only is the Taliban mean and harsh, they are down-right evil and have no place in their country (sort of like the AQI moment in Iraq). Who knows though…the populace of Pakistan has been tolerating this baloney for decades. Time to make a choice Pakistan.
Toughest aspect of this is the average Afghan sees the Taliban as something they can’t escape. They fear reprisal while we are there, and fear even more reprisal if and when we leave.
Report on network news yesterday stated that even Kabul has become unsafe where most citizens felt they were safe from the Taliban.
Time to redirect the troops to stablize the urban areas and allow the Predators/AC-130H Spectre gunships to do the fighting in the rural areas.
We have allowed the Taliban to lure us out into the SH*T-wilds and water down our ability to control the center. Now they are able to attack in the center and fuel the feeling of loss of control.
It seems as if they have adopted a Mini-Tet offensive tatic, and by doing so, achieved a measure of instability in our ability to maintain control of the battle.
To my understanding, that’s what the current General Mac is doing, even though it’s being touted as a “retreat” by most news outlets.
Once they stabilize cities, they can go back out into the country.
In’shallah.
YMMV
Amazing war. The enemy gets to tell you the ROE…not all the way to full control yet, but they are getting there.
Side observation if defense of the trigger pullers: Bad guys do cross dress to avoid being bagged and tagged. Now who can you blame for saying “dude looked like a lady, sir”?
Do you acknowledge that civilian deaths are evil, especially when the other side is guilty?
Alright fine, I’m pretty sure I know where this is going but I’ll bite anyway.
Do you not see a vast moral/ethical difference between civilian deaths as a result of collateral damage when one side targets armed combatants engaged in trying to kill you, and the direct and repeated targeting of unarmed, innocent civilians who aren’t trying to kill you? Does the use of human shields complicate this difference any for you?
Does civilian death = evil in your childly simplistic moral logic? Are pool manufacturers evil then for producing a product that kills far more children than handguns?
I went to Navy OCS where we were taught by Marine Drill Instructors, several years after the start of the Iraq war. As a result most of them were combat veterans of the war. One, near the end of training when you were allowed to talk to them on a somewhat informal basis, related a story of his platoon entering an Iraqi town. A Fedayeen came out of an alley holding a baby in one hand and an AK-47 in the other and started firing down the line of Americans. They all paused due to the presence of the baby. The Marine in front of him was first in line and was killed. This gunnery sergeant reacted and fired back, killing the fedayeen before he himself was killed. When asked what happened to the baby he replied that he refused to talk about that and walked away. So was this drill instructor evil? Or does this scenario fall outside your ridiculous worldview?
It must take guts to come onto a blog and try to ask a dumb leading question. Real guts.