Taliban Taunts US Over 30,000 Extra Troops

An Air Force MQ-1B Predator goes out on patrol from Balad Air Base, Iraq. The Air Force recently added a 24th Predator combat air patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan, and plans to add two more by September. Air Force Times

From The Telegraph:

Plans to double the number of US troops in Afghanistan will see them suffer the same defeat as the Soviet army, the Taliban claims.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington could send up to 30,000 more troops over the next six months. The senior US commander in the country, General David McKiernan, had previously asked for more than 20,000 soldiers to counter the increasingly violent Taliban insurgency.

But Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman claiming to represent the fugitive leader Mullah Omar, said: "Russians also sent that many troops but were badly defeated.

"When the US increases its troop levels to that of the Russians, they will also be cruelly defeated."

He added: "More troops - that means there will be more targets for the Taliban."

Soviet forces lost 15,000 men in bitter fighting with US-backed Afghan resistance movements during their 10-year occupation of the country and withdrew in 1988.

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My Comment: I remember the same taunts from Iraqi and Al Qaeda militants in Iraq 2 years ago. Within one year the dynamics had changed completely, and most of the men who were doing the taunting were either dead or in hiding.

Afghanistan is a different military platform. But what I fear is that the war that is about to escalate is going to sweep away many lives and opportunities. The Afghans (with a few exceptions) are not prepared for what is about to be unleashed. New weapon systems, drone planes that can operate 24/7, lethal tracking devices that are incredibly effective in isolating enemy units, pinpoint missile attacks .... the coalition has all of these weapon systems .... and more .... but the Taliban have nothing to compare in which they can bring about casualties on an equal basis .... or even close to it.

The Taliban may believe that they have God and the will to win .... which may have been an effective tool in past conflicts .... but in today's technological age new weapon systems have no feelings, no emotions, and no fear. The human operator is thousands of miles away .... and cannot be touched.

I will bet on the machine over the dedicated Taliban fighter any day. Iraqi militants did the bet two years ago .... and they are now dead.