Mission accomplished: "Death to America" and "Death to Karzai".

[Serb]

[Serb]

Anything else you get from Russia?

[laurentius]

I think the rest is baltika and vodka. What else do you have?

[laurentius]

We get the jokes as well. These are actually pretty good.

A guy wanted to work in the Kremlin. So he called there. A secretary answered.

"I want to work in the Politbyro"

"Are you insane?"

"Is that necessary?"

[Serb]

Originally posted by laurentius
I think the rest is baltika and vodka. What else do you have?

I have three Baltikas with me, right now.

[Serb]

Originally posted by laurentius
We get the jokes as well. These are actually pretty good.

A guy wanted to work in the Kremlin. So he called there. A secretary answered.

"I want to work in the Politbyro"

"Are you insane?"

"Is that necessary?"

Did he call from Helsinki or something? If so, that explains a lot.

[Serb]

I mean, for that guy a 15 years period isn't enough to realize that Politburo is no more. So he's gonna be from one of the Baltic states.

[laurentius]

No no this was during the Soviet time. Its a Russian joke. Havent you heard it?

[laurentius]

Originally posted by Serb


I have three Baltikas with me, right now.

Its good to see you drinking Finnish beer

[Serb]

Since when a beer brewed in Leningrad became a Finnish beer?

[Serb]

Originally posted by laurentius
No no this was during the Soviet time. Its a Russian joke. Havent you heard it?

No, but I know a lot of jokes about the Balts.

[lord of the mark]

Lets see, theres an elected govt. The North and west of country is quiet. And essentially under central govt control, with the warlords tamed. Even in the Pashtun South and East the problems are mainly limited to 3 or 4 provinces. And some of the problems are due to the central govt disbanding militias, and asserting greater authority in the Pashtun provinces. And to cracking down on opium growing. So theres a riot in Kabul - this is still a third world country, excuse me.

And there are barely 10,000 US troops there.

I suspect the Soviet commanders in Afghanistan in the '80s would have given alot to have a situation like this.


But its not perfect. In particular there is still support for the Taliban coming from across the border in Pakistan. Maybe the situation would be better if we werent in Iraq, and were in more position to pressure the Paki govt. Maybe. But thats a different issue. The fact is this is big news, as is the Taliban spring "offensive" mainly in CONTRAST to how quiet things have been there.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Serb
You've spent there five years, and it looks like now you can't even handle with Kabul alone, not to mention the rest of Afghanistan.
So, keep sh!tting yourself about your success where Soviets failed.

No you didnt have riots in Kabul. Massacring rioters in Herat probably did a prettty good job of deterring riots in Kabul. In any case Kabul was the center of support for the Afghan Communist party, and the one place in the country where your suppor was strongest. Meanwhile the insurgents tended to control parts of Herat and Kandahar, not to mention almost the entire countryside. Even the Panshir Valley close to Kabul, where you launched offensive after offensive.


But the Karzai govt is a democratic govt, and doent massacre rioters. So riots happen. This doesnt mean Kabul is outside govt control.

There were riots in Teheran the other day, and in Tabriz - are those cities outside the control of the govt of Iran?

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by lord of the mark But its not perfect. In particular there is still support for the Taliban coming from across the border in Pakistan. Maybe the situation would be better if we werent in Iraq

Don't you think Afghanistan is relatively peaceful precisely because Iraq is "where it's at" at the moment? If you didn't go to Iraq all the foreigners in Iraq would probably be fighting you in Afghanistan.

[lord of the mark]

Reuters

"It is peaceful, there is no violence," said Mohammad Shafiq Fazli, Kabul's deputy police chief, as the city awoke from a night-long curfew.

FORCES DEPLOYED

Heavily armed soldiers and armoured personnel carriers were stationed at key crossroads, and police quick reaction forces were deployed at Kabul University, where a planned student protest fizzled out.

By mid-morning, the city was bustling with people, and cars jammed the roads as usual, though residents had initially appeared cautious about venturing out"