For Bengal Tiger

[ComradePashtun]

Here is video of Tolo evening new 15 April.

The security forces, the ANA in particular are mashsallah successfully routing Taliban in Helmad. They have taken teritorries from Talib traitors where even the British and American forces had not even stepped in to. Large swaths of the area previously under Taliban control are cleared and around 200 are killed.

In Badakhshan where more than 300 militants in surprised coordinated attacks on remote outposts have inflicted heavy casualties on the ANA. This is an area which is near the border with Pakistan and through another 3 districts the area connects with Central Asia and other northern provinces. It is a difficult territory to fight insurgents given its mountainous terrain it can be natural defence. The militants are aiming to connect from their safe-haven in Pakistan and area is in Afghanistan through where the fighting is with Central Asia where many of these militants are from.

Another interesting dimension to the conflict and insecurity here is local politics as well and some militants and rogue elements are supported by strongmen and politician of the region. The security forces are planning a large-scale operation and hence this will represent a major test too.

Russia's foreign minister met with the national security adviser and is promising military cooperation and assistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=369&v=X_F-Ti4CZnU

[ComradePashtun]

God willing Afghanistan will prevail over the dark forces and proxy of Pakistan. Our main constrain is air-power and logistics. We are working on it.

[ComradePashtun]

Some times I wish I had chosen to be a trained soldier so I could fight shoulder to shoulder with ANA.

Long live Afghanistan.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Here is video of Tolo evening new 15 April.

The security forces, the ANA in particular are mashsallah successfully routing Taliban in Helmad. They have taken teritorries from Talib traitors where even the British and American forces had not even stepped in to. Large swaths of the area previously under Taliban control are cleared and around 200 are killed.

In Badakhshan where more than 300 militants in surprised coordinated attacks on remote outposts have inflicted heavy casualties on the ANA. This is an area which is near the border with Pakistan and through another 3 districts the area connects with Central Asia and other northern provinces. It is a difficult territory to fight insurgents given its mountainous terrain it can be natural defence. The militants are aiming to connect from their safe-haven in Pakistan and area is in Afghanistan through where the fighting is with Central Asia where many of these militants are from.

Another interesting dimension to the conflict and insecurity here is local politics as well and some militants and rogue elements are supported by strongmen and politician of the region. The security forces are planning a large-scale operation and hence this will represent a major test too.

Russia's foreign minister met with the national security adviser and is promising military cooperation and assistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=369&v=X_F-Ti4CZnU

Comrade Pashtun, thank you for this thread. Though I do want to cut down on my participation here (as I told Kushan Prince privately) I will comment.

Without getting in to the internal politics of Afghanistan, I am merely a guest and a foreigner, I would like to say I wish the brave men and women defending the borders and internal security of Afghanistan well, a sentiment which I believe reflects the feelings of 160 million Bangladeshis, who though they may know very little of the situation in Afghanistan or pay attention to it would have the same attitude as me.

I would also like to wish the Afghan people peace and prosperity.

We Bangladeshis, though a very different nation racially, geographically who most Afghans consider a far away country and very dissimilar, share a common faith, Islam, and other things e.g. we too had to fight a war to protect ourselves from the same malignant forces that are now threatening Afghanistan too.

I hope the Afghan people and nation are able to establish peace in this beautiful country and are then able to optimize the resources which they have been endowed with be it human or geographical to create a new 21st century Afghanistan which as per the current government's plans a major transit in Asia, a successful economy and a prosperous state.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Here is video of Tolo evening new 15 April.

The security forces, the ANA in particular are mashsallah successfully routing Taliban in Helmad. They have taken teritorries from Talib traitors where even the British and American forces had not even stepped in to. Large swaths of the area previously under Taliban control are cleared and around 200 are killed.

In Badakhshan where more than 300 militants in surprised coordinated attacks on remote outposts have inflicted heavy casualties on the ANA. This is an area which is near the border with Pakistan and through another 3 districts the area connects with Central Asia and other northern provinces. It is a difficult territory to fight insurgents given its mountainous terrain it can be natural defence. The militants are aiming to connect from their safe-haven in Pakistan and area is in Afghanistan through where the fighting is with Central Asia where many of these militants are from.

Another interesting dimension to the conflict and insecurity here is local politics as well and some militants and rogue elements are supported by strongmen and politician of the region. The security forces are planning a large-scale operation and hence this will represent a major test too.

Russia's foreign minister met with the national security adviser and is promising military cooperation and assistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=369&v=X_F-Ti4CZnU

Comrade

What are your thoughts on the contradiction between Tolo and the NYTimes on the matter?

Prolonged ground battles this spring have been largely limited to Helmand Province in the south, where the Afghan Army tried to end the Taliban’s stranglehold of the Sangin district, a region that has been a way station for the opium being harvested across much of the south.

The military’s operation in northern Helmand, called Zulfiqar, has been a struggle for Afghan forces for more than two months. In the face of public statements proclaiming the mission a success, locals tell stories of soldiers refusing to fight or bulldozing homes. Government forces, particularly the police, have suffered heavy casualties.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/wo...gins.html?_r=1#

Additionally this 2013 article pretty much calls into question most media reporting secondary to governmental pressure:

http://www.dc4mf.org/en/content/afgh...stricted-media

For instance:

Recently, for example, the police attacked 10 journalists when they tried to cover the after-effects of a suicide bombing, including one cameraman who said that he was physically assaulted three times in less than 15 minutes. At the beginning of February, the Afghan attorney general drew criticism from press freedom groups when an arrest warrant was issued for a popular Afghan writer on charges of libel after he published a letter between two government officials implicating the Minister of Transport in acts of corruption and electoral fraud.

or

With foreign troop levels drawing down, and international attention moving away, funding for the media is drying up. The result is a concentration of ownership among the powerful and wealthy, and a tendency for print publications to dwindle as, in a country with high levels of illiteracy, advertising revenue is attracted to TV and radio.

or most tellingly here:

(Groups like USAID and the U.S. Embassy back some of Tolo’s programming; the movie touches briefly on the question of whether this is propaganda.) Time will tell whether Tolo continues to be as successful as it has been—but Orner is convinced its model works.

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/0...nt-tv-network/

[ComradePashtun]

BA,

I don't see any contradiction or for that matter a counter-factual to that the operation "Zulfiqar" has been a success. Given the amount of resources and numbers involved in the operation it is only go the way its meant to - to the ANA's advantage.

The local police forces had suffered casualties who are poorly equipped and not much of a fighting force as the ANA or some special units within the police are. ANA while having been facing stiff resistance over a period since the operation began, are now steadily on advancement. This is perhaps from my own informed source as well as local media etc.

Civilian casualty and houses being destroyed or bulldozed also has truth to it and so did the region serve as a hub for opium harvest and trade and a haven from where Taliban organised and planned their activity within and beyond in to other parts of southern Afghanistan and further. The operation hopefully will break their back and deal a strategic blow to Taliban and their opium trade.

The assault on journalists at a particular time is an isolated incident and far from a systematic attempt of suppression or the government trying to encourage certain type of reportage/coverage. This would be out before you know, media in Afghanistan too independent and the government barely regulates it even at a level acceptable and its the media that steps beyond their purview. Hence the paragraph that you have quoted brings together two different issues which cannot be related to make a point. Tolo is critical of the government by in large.

The subsequent quote in your post is also subjective and and non-factual. I would say media be it print, popular (t.v and radio etc) is expanding. In fact some t.v. channels with successful business models have survived and are successful while some have and are flop. Tolo is the top-notch and will remain to be, Rubert Murdoch holding shares in it nothing will happened to it. It probably by now already is self-sustained and having sufficient stream of revenues.

[ComradePashtun]

Begal Tiger brother

Your well wishes are appreciated. Please participate as it pleases you and express yourself without restrictions. It is an open forum and your views as a non-Afghan brother brings in interesting dimension to discussions most of the time.

[ComradePashtun]

Most of your analysis are spot on.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

BA,

I don't see any contradiction or for that matter a counter-factual to that the operation "Zulfiqar" has been a success. Given the amount of resources and numbers involved in the operation it is only go the way its meant to - to the ANA's advantage.

The local police forces had suffered casualties who are poorly equipped and not much of a fighting force as the ANA or some special units within the police are. ANA while having been facing stiff resistance over a period since the operation began, are now steadily on advancement. This is perhaps from my own informed source as well as local media etc.

I would say that a series of questions need to be asked. The ANA fighters ... where do they derive from? Are they local Pashtuns who are cleaning up their own house or are they a hodge-podge of soldiers derived from various provinces.

Family members of mine that do business back and forth as refugees between Pashtunabad and Kandahar paint a picture of pan-group corruption/killing etc.

Additionally, one tactic that Taliban have used again and again is strategic retreat/melting into the countryside - only to return elsewhere and exhaust the opponent. They have been doing this again and again for over a decade now:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/200...istan.alqaida1

With both the American and Afghan governments repeatedly sounding successes that end up being reversals.

I would prefer to rely on SIGAR which was led by Sopko, who has been one of the cleanest officials out of the US to date during this assessment of the hit ANA took per annuam 2014:

The Afghan NationalArmy (ANA) lost more than 20,000 members in 2014 due to desertions, discharges, and deaths in combat, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). From January to November 2014, the ANA’s numbers declined by 11 percent, to 169,000 soldiers. Although the U.S.-led coalition said that the ANA’s size had increased slightly in the past few months — reaching 173,000 in January 2015 — the force is still the smallest it has been since the fall of 2011.

Civilian casualty and houses being destroyed or bulldozed also has truth to it and so did the region serve as a hub for opium harvest and trade and a haven from where Taliban organised and planned their activity within and beyond in to other parts of southern Afghanistan and further. The operation hopefully will break their back and deal a strategic blow to Taliban and their opium trade.

I wouldnt think this justifies bulldozing civilian houses without trial/proof is justifiable in any way. It is a tactic that the Pakistani Army uses regularly in waziristan and we've all seen how inhumane that is and how little its done to tamp down the problem of insurgency there.

The assault on journalists at a particular time is an isolated incident and far from a systematic attempt of suppression or the government trying to encourage certain type of reportage/coverage. This would be out before you know, media in Afghanistan too independent and the government barely regulates it even at a level acceptable and its the media that steps beyond their purview. Hence the paragraph that you have quoted brings together two different issues which cannot be related to make a point. Tolo is critical of the government by in large.

Comrade, I dont think these law measures can be explained away. No free press in the world has this sort of codified laws issued (unless they have since been repealed?) and survives:

Attacks and intimidation aside, the Afghan government has issued specific decrees designed to limit critical reporting. President Hamid Karzai previously banned the coverage of insurgent attacks in the run-up to elections. And in October last year he issued a directive that allows for the punishment of media outlets considered hostile to “the national interest.” Officials have also enacted restrictions on content, in what some consider a move designed to placate grievances of more conservative elements of the society, including the Taliban; in February, the use of foreign accents and languages on radio and television was banned.
Proposed amendments to a 2009 media law, if enacted, will further stifle press freedom. The revisions would delegate control of the media to a “High Council,” and even goes as far as to grant them authority over the choice of words in press reports. Thanks to the resistance of local journalists, the amendments have been sidelined for the time being. Journalistic associations - some of whom have formed a consortium to coordinate the publication of stories critical of the government in an attempt to cooperatively confront repression or accusations of treason - continue to struggle for better access to information without fear of government accusations or reprisals.

Here is a series of important pan national governmental instigated clamp downs based on the 2009 Media Law

https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org...-legal-waters/


The subsequent quote in your post is also subjective and and non-factual.

I would say its more a predication predicated on what they say is patterns witnessed elsewhere. I do agree however, it is a merely that - a prognostication. I assume we are talking here about the projected media funding.

I would say media be it print, popular (t.v and radio etc) is expanding. In fact some t.v. channels with successful business models have survived and are successful while some have and are flop. Tolo is the top-notch and will remain to be, Rubert Murdoch holding shares in it nothing will happened to it.

The name Rupert Murdoch doesnt carry much water when it comes to media matters... He is after all the Titan behind the highly slanted pro Republican governmental FOX news in the US and SKY news in Britain. His name doesnt inspire confidence.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/murdoch-papers-accused-of-bias-as-media-inquiry-opens-20111107-1n4g7.html

It probably by now already is self-sustained and having sufficient stream of revenues.

That would be the hope but because they did have proven funds from USAID / US Embassy which Sopko has shown conclusively cannot validate many of its rosy projections or statistics - the issue has to be raised as to how much a percentage of current funding continues to support them. Until then all we have is the past evidence based statement. Any idea of that particular info with hard references?

x

Good discussion though, but I think the more likely scenario is that the ANA will/may? accomplished a "clear" but will be unable to sustain the "hold" aspect of the operation as more well trained powers in the region experienced. I recall Moshtarak and Godfather and Tageer Shamal as examples of the touted "wins" and came to see the pattern of expected reversals. In fact, 2-3 years they released the same "going solo" celebratory news prior to the reversals:
http://www.rs.nato.int/article/news/...ce-of-ana.html

[tripledouble]

how do we know if innocent ppl not killed or innocent ppl houses bulldozed?if NATO and pakis can do it no reason ANA can not