Meanwhile in Afghanistan...

[galdur]

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)’s affiliate in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region is effective, operational, and positioned to expand. The affiliate, Wilayat Khorasan, controls populated areas in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar Province and has launched attacks on Jalalabad and Kabul.  

Afghanistan’s security is deteriorating and will likely worsen. Taliban infighting has intensified after the official announcement in July 2015 that Mullah Omar, the movement’s founder, had died several years ago. These violent conditions will likely facilitate Wilayat Khorasan’s recruitment, attacks, and territorial expansion.

Afghanistan’s precarious unity government has not maintained effective security as international forces have drawn down. Wilayat Khorasan’s growth gives ISIS additional strategic resiliency outside of Iraq and Syria and will intensify the global competition between ISIS and al-Qaeda (AQ), which is also present in the area. The United States and its NATO allies must respond more aggressively to this threat.

- See more at: http://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/isis-afghanistan-december-3-2015#sthash.rmzQYVQW.dpuf

----------------------------

So, first they reinvade Iraq, then Afghanistan and when ISIS is strong enough in Lybia it´ll be Act 2 there. And there are other places in Africa and the M-E where this terror threat is simmering. But I guess that the usual nutjobs will want to destroy those countries first to help terrorism grow, so it´ll be worth their while to reinvade later.

[zenitzz]

A political settlement in Afghanistan will stop IS from gaining ground. If the war continues indefinitely there is no telling how things will turn out.

[bryant.coleman]

A political settlement in Afghanistan will stop IS from gaining ground. If the war continues indefinitely there is no telling how things will turn out.

Political settlement? Trust me, it is not going to happen for the next 100 years or so. Afghanistan is not a homogeneous country. Two of the most important ethnic groups (Tadzhiks and Pashtuns) are arch-rivals. Then you have the smaller groups fighting each other (Uzbeks, Aimaks, Nuristanis, Pashayis, Hazaras, Baluchis.etc). And last but not the least, you have various clans of Pashtuns killing each other for the most trivial matters.

[galdur]

They could maybe have a political settlement in the capital. I doubt that the NATO puppets in charge have firm control over much more than that. And it´s anybody´s guess how firm that is anyway.

[shiryu]

Sooner or later they will fight the Taliban or they will join ISIS. It's when they make their way into Pakistan when things will get interesting

[galdur]

Sooner or later they will fight the Taliban or they will join ISIS. It's when they make their way into Pakistan when things will get interesting

Yeah, and one very important fact makes this all very interesting. You see; after sanctions were put on Russia, they closed the NATO northern supply route into Afghanistan. So, unless they want to supply the occupation forces by air the only supply way by land is through Pakistan and has been this year I think, maybe longer. If they need to reinvade which seems likely in the near future that is likely to be rather problematic. Mass murders by drone for the past years haven't exactly won hearts and minds in Pakistan.

[bryant.coleman]

Sooner or later they will fight the Taliban or they will join ISIS. It's when they make their way into Pakistan when things will get interesting

The Taliban / ISIS is in de facto control of several regions within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA, one of the provinces of Pakistan). They have been present in these regions for the last two decades or so. Every now and then, the Pakistani Army mounts an offensive to clear them from some of the regions. But when the army pulls back, these people will once again move in.

[galdur]

Taliban seize control of strategic district in southern Afghanistan

Published December 21, 2015EFE

The Taliban have seized control of a strategically important district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, just hours after the province's deputy governor warned the region was on the verge of falling into the hands of the insurgents, official sources told EFE Monday.

Afghan troops in Sangin district decided Sunday night to withdraw from the complex housing government offices in what a military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, termed a "strategic retreat."

"It was a strategic retreat to avoid more casualties among the security forces," the official said, without providing details on the number of Afghan police and soldiers killed in clashes with the Taliban in Sangin.

Hashim Alokozai, a provincial senator, confirmed that insurgents had occupied all government buildings in the district and that the death count among Afghan troops was high, although he said he could not provide a precise figure.

Afghanistan's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, said on Twitter that he had convened a ministerial meeting "to take immediate action in Helmand" to "repel enemy attacks."

"The situation in Helmand is a priority and new measures are being taken to prevent greater instability," he added.

Deputy provincial Gov. Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, in an open letter to the Afghan government via Facebook on Sunday, had said the region was on the brink of falling to the Taliban and pleaded for "urgent" reinforcement.

He warned of a repeat of the events that occurred in the northern province of Kunduz, where the insurgents seized control between September and October and even managed to occupy the like-named provincial capital for a few days, in what was their biggest military victory since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Rasoolyar said furthermore that, unlike Kunduz, Helmand could not be easily recovered if it falls into the hands of the Taliban because its ample vegetation makes it conducive to guerrilla warfare.

Helmand is one of the major bastions of the Taliban, who exercise total control over at least three of its 14 districts and partial control over nine.

The province accounts for nearly 50 percent of Afghanistan's opium production, one of the insurgents' main sources of income. EFE

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015/12/21/taliban-seize-control-strategic-district-in-southern-afghanistan/

[galdur]

6 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Bombing, Official Says

Fox News | Dec 21, 2015
A suicide bombing near Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan killed six U.S. troops and wounded two other Americans and an interpreter, a senior U.S. defense official confirms to Fox News.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was the largest attack on foreign troops in Afghanistan since August.

It happened at around 1.30 p.m. local time in the vicinity of Bagram, the largest U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, according to U.S. Army Brig. Gen William Shoffner.

Mohammad Asim Asim, governor of Parwan province, where Bagram is located, said the bomber rammed an explosives-laden motorcycle into a combined NATO-Afghan foot patrol as it moved through a village close to the base, which is 28 miles north of Kabul.

It is the first major attack on a NATO military convoy since August 22, when three American contractors with the RS base were killed in a suicide attack on their convoy in Kabul. On August 7 and 8, Kabul was the scene of three insurgent attacks within 24 hours that left at least 35 people dead. One of the attacks, on a U.S. special operations forces base outside Kabul left one U.S soldier and eight Afghan civilian contractors dead.

Monday's attack came as Taliban gunmen and government forces battled for control of a strategic district in the southern province of Helmand after it was overrun by Taliban insurgents, delivering a serious blow to government forces.

Mohammad Jan Rasulyar, Helmand's deputy governor, said insurgents took control of Sangin district on Sunday. Only Afghan army facilities in the district had not been taken by the insurgents, he said. Casualties among Afghan security forces were high, he added, though he gave no figures.

Afghan Army commandoes and special forces had arrived in Sangin to push a counter-offensive, the Defense Ministry spokesman, Dawlat Waziri, said. He told reporters the Afghan air force had conducted 160 combat and transport flights over Sangin in the past 48 hours.

Among the insurgent forces in Helmand, "three out of 10 are foreign fighters," he said, adding that they included Pakistanis, Chechens, Uzbeks, Arabs and Chinese Uighurs. "The presence of the foreigners in this imposed war complicates the sitaution in Helmand," he said, echoing the government line that the war is run by a Taliban leadership believed to be based in Pakistan with official protection.

Helmand is an important Taliban base as it produces most of the world's opium, a crop that helps fund the insurgency.

Sangin district has bounced in and out of Taliban control for some years, and fighting there has produced high casualties among both Afghan and international forces. British forces in particular saw intensive fighting there at the height of the war in 2006 and 2007. Britain lost more than 450 troops during its combat mission in Afghanistan, more than 100 of them in Sangin.

Helmand's deputy governor Rasulyar on Sunday took the unusual step of using his Facebook page to warn President Ashraf Ghani that the entire province of Helmand was in danger of falling to the insurgents if central authorities failed to send help.

In Helmand, more than 90 members of the Afghan security forces died fighting in the two days before his Facebook plea, with hundreds killed in the past six months, he said in his open letter to Ghani.

The head of Helmand's provincial council, Muhammad Kareem Atal, said that 28 members of the Afghan security forces — usually a reference to army and police who also fight on the front lines across the country — were killed fighting on Sunday. Another 15 were critically wounded, he said.

"Around 65 percent of Helmand is now under Taliban control," Atal said. "In every district either we are stepping back or we are handing territory over to Taliban, but still, until now, no serious action has been taken," he said, echoing Rasulyar's plea to the central authorities for help.

Important districts across Helmand province, including Nad Ali, Kajaki, Musa Qala, Naw Zad, Gereshk and Garmser, have all been threatened by Taliban takeover in recent months. Insurgents are also believed to be dug in on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

Taliban fighters, sometimes working with other insurgent groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have managed to overrun many districts across the country this year, as well as staging a three-day takeover of the major northern city of Kunduz. They rarely hold territory for more than a few hours or days, but the impact on the morale of Afghan forces is substantial.

Atal said more than 2,000 members of the security forces had been killed fighting in Helmand in 2015.

He said a major reason "that our forces are losing" was that many soldiers and police were deserting their posts in the face of the Taliban onslaught.

"There is a big difference between the number of both soldiers and police recorded as on duty, and the real number," he said, saying the official record was stuffed with "ghost police and soldiers."

The Taliban insurgency has spread across the country this year, following the withdrawal of international combat forces at the end of 2014. This has stretched government resources thin, as the traditional winter lull in fighting has so far failed to take place in the warmer, southern provinces.

The war has intensified since the announcement in late July that the founder and leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for more than two years. His deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, succeeded him, causing internal ructions and delaying the likelihood that a peace dialogue with the Afghan government, halted after the announcement of Mullah Omar's death, will restart in the foreseeable future.

The Pentagon released a report last week warning that the security situation in Afghanistan would deteriorate as a "resilient Taliban-led insurgency remains an enduring threat to U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces, as well as to the Afghan people."

The U.S. now has about 9,800 troops in Afghanistan, some of which are involved in counterterrorism missions. With NATO contributions, there are about 13,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/12/21/6-us-troops-killed-in-afghanistan-suicide-bombing-official-says.html

[xht]

3 here , 5 there ( killed, or wounded ) is part of any occupation/ war. It matters only for the families of the soldiers.
The principal enemy of the NATO policy in Afghanistan is TIME and more TIME and impasse on the ground, no end of the resistance, no " stability ", no productive settlement .
Money spent, but nothing returned at least to the taxpayers.

[galdur]

It always matters if you lose combat troops. And I very much doubt that US/NATO have that much of those in Afghanistan. They´re very well set up with potato peelers and other service and support staff though I´m sure. Militaries usually are.

[bryant.coleman]

It always matters if you lose combat troops. And I very much doubt that US/NATO have that much of those in Afghanistan. They´re very well set up with potato peelers and other service and support staff though I´m sure. Militaries usually are.

For every American soldier who loses his life in Afghanistan, there are several others who are maimed or blinded as a result of the injuries they suffer in the battle field. And there are countless others who suffer from Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The rehabilitation of these handicapped veterans is putting a huge strain on the American military budget.

[galdur]

It always matters if you lose combat troops. And I very much doubt that US/NATO have that much of those in Afghanistan. They´re very well set up with potato peelers and other service and support staff though I´m sure. Militaries usually are.

For every American soldier who loses his life in Afghanistan, there are several others who are maimed or blinded as a result of the injuries they suffer in the battle field. And there are countless others who suffer from Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The rehabilitation of these handicapped veterans is putting a huge strain on the American military budget.

Yeah, these are also losses although they may live. Now; as we know the nutcases in charge of this so-called war on terror plan to carry it on for decades or a century, at least that´s what they´ve been bragging about since 9/11. But I wonder how long morale will hold up both in the military and the home front. I´m sure it´s at a pretty low point already after "only" 14 years. The more they fight the more terrorism balloons. It must be pretty disheartening.

[galdur]

Anyway, I tend to think that if insurgents can fire rockets at the center of the capital of what you´re supposed to be occupying, your forces there probably aren´t worth jackshit. As if that wasn´t painfully obvious years ago.

--------------------------------------

Three explosions shook the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, near key ministries, embassies and residences. The attack comes hours after six NATO soldiers were killed near Bagram air base amidst a surge in Taliban violence.
Local police told Reuters that one of the missiles hit Massoud Square, adjacent to the well-fortified US embassy, and another landed in Shirpur Square, close to the sprawling presidential complex. A third rocket detonated further away from the heart of the city. RT.COM

[bryant.coleman]

Anyway, I tend to think that if insurgents can fire rockets at the center of the capital of what you´re supposed to be occupying, your forces there probably aren´t worth jackshit. As if that wasn´t painfully obvious years ago.

During the soviet intervention of Afghanistan, at least the red army was able to secure the major cities, although the rural areas were mostly controlled by the Mujaheddin. Now the Americans doesn't seems to be having any control over the situation, be it in the major cities or be it in the rural areas of the South and the East.

[galdur]

Well, the commander in chief of the armed forces, soldier numero uno, Imperator, the head honcho

doesn´t have the slightest military experience and there are no indications that he has either brains for or any clue whatsoever about military doctrine, strategy etc. And of course he collects around him yes-men that tell him what he wants to hear and so maintain for him  the illusion that he´s worth anything in this position. This has been absolutely clear about U.S. presidents for at least the last 25 years and their bankrupt command should be plain for all to see. Look at the results.

[zenitzz]

Pakistan is aid and comfort to the Taliban, allowing them to regroup and resupply within their borders. The Pakistani special service is also training the insurgents who then return to Afghanistan to terrorize. Until the military in Pakistan shut down the Taliban camps within Pakistan and begin to attack and defeat the Taliban within Pakistan, the insurgency will NEVER be defeated.

[galdur]

Afghanistan ‘a disaster from start to finish,’ says war veteran as Taliban advance in Helmand

Published time: 21 Dec, 2015 17:17
Edited time: 21 Dec, 2015 19:43

Taliban fighters have retaken vast areas of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, where hundreds of British soldiers were killed or injured at the height of the war. RT asked a veteran of the conflict whether the sacrifice was worth it.

“If Helmand falls it will be a huge blow to us all, to all the men and women that fought there and to the friends and family of those who died,” former Royal Marine Ben Wright told RT.

Wright, who served in Afghanistan, had his vehicle blown up by a roadside bomb. His fears appear well-founded.

The last six months have seen key areas of Helmand, in the south of the country, return to the grip of a resurgent Taliban.

Places which became household names during the height of the British occupation have again become the scenes of fierce battles between government forces and insurgents.

The iconic Kajaki dam, the area around the town of Lashkar Gah and now Sangin, which was once seen as the most dangerous place for British soldiers to operate and where Wright briefly served, all appear to be within the Islamist group’s grasp.

In the north, the strategic city of Kunduz was controlled by the Taliban for several days in September before its militants were driven back.

“The cost of this conflict has been monumental,” Wright said. “Not only for the men and women with life changing injuries, but for the thousands that are suffering the turmoil of living with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).”

As well as 456 UK personnel killed, and many more terribly wounded, reports indicate that in 2015 alone 2,000 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed.

The UK combat mission officially ended in October 2014, after which the Afghan army and police took over after years of training.Foreign troops remained, but in a purely observational role.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that US and UK Special Forces troops had been sent into the province in a desperate bid to support local forces.

On Monday, Deputy Governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar posted a desperate plea to President Ashraf Ghani on Facebook
Rasulyar said 90 Afghan security personnel had died in the past month.

He told Ghani: “Your Excellency, Facebook is not the right forum for speaking with you, but as my voice hasn’t been heard by you I don’t know what else to do.

“Please save Helmand from tragedy. Ignore those liars who are telling you that Helmand is secure,” he urged.

For Ben Wright, the greatest fear is that the ‘disaster’ of the Afghan war will slip from the history books.

“Just feel this war was a disaster from start to finish,” he said. “We owe it to those who died to not let it be brushed under the carpet.”

https://www.rt.com/uk/326690-helmand-taliban-british-soldiers/

[galdur]

It´s one huge stinking racket. There´s never any realistic plan or strategy, most likely because it´s never much of a requirement to begin with. They´re always winning and then the wars drag on and America has become famous for losing the wars she "wins". But of course there are very big winners. The longer the scams last, the bigger the wins. Trust me, some people will be saying this same in 2030. Or maybe not, it staggers belief that both the population and soldiers will tolerate this scammy system that long. Maybe the tipping point is close, one can always hope.

[Snail2]

Perhaps it's better to start building some huge concrete walls on the borders of Europe right now, however if the IS can destabilize Pakistan then the whole world will be in trouble. That would mean a war against Pakistan just for securing her nuclear weapons before the IS would do that.