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Something strikes me as very rum over all of this.
For a start the US soldier being returned hardly fits into the heroic warrior mould. From what I have read, and the statements of his own unit, this guy basically deserted his post and got captured through his own stupidity. There is already talk of the US army prosecuting him for this so his return is hardly going to garner a full on ticket tape parade.
And in return the Taleban get not only 5 of their top commanders back but also a propaganda coup with the release of this video.
My understanding of US tactics of recent years against the Taleban has been effectively to try and decapitate their leadership rather than trying to actually defeat them in a toe to toe fight on the ground. In terms of combatting an insurgency movement it makes a lot of sense and from what I have read it has enjoy some success so to hand back 5 of their top people seems to be the ultimate act of shooting themselves in the foot.
Are they deliberately engineering a Taleban resurgence by way of either wanting the current Afghan regime to fall or do they want to step up pressure on them to effectively toe the line and allow US troops to remain in on the ground in significant numbers for the next decade ?
I cannot see this being for domestic consumption as it is causing a right old up roar back in the US and in terms of what the US gain it seems to me to be a bizarre trade.
Maybe there is some sort of high level shenanigans going on behind it all but all I see is a humiliation for the US administration and Obama in particular who seems to be, to all intents and purposes, throwing the Taleban a life line.
Something strikes me as very rum over all of this.
For a start the US soldier being returned hardly fits into the heroic warrior mould. From what I have read, and the statements of his own unit, this guy basically deserted his post and got captured through his own stupidity. There is already talk of the US army prosecuting him for this so his return is hardly going to garner a full on ticket tape parade.
And in return the Taleban get not only 5 of their top commanders back but also a propaganda coup with the release of this video.
My understanding of US tactics of recent years against the Taleban has been effectively to try and decapitate their leadership rather than trying to actually defeat them in a toe to toe fight on the ground. In terms of combatting an insurgency movement it makes a lot of sense and from what I have read it has enjoy some success so to hand back 5 of their top people seems to be the ultimate act of shooting themselves in the foot.
Are they deliberately engineering a Taleban resurgence by way of either wanting the current Afghan regime to fall or do they want to step up pressure on them to effectively toe the line and allow US troops to remain in on the ground in significant numbers for the next decade ?
I cannot see this being for domestic consumption as it is causing a right old up roar back in the US and in terms of what the US gain it seems to me to be a bizarre trade.
Maybe there is some sort of high level shenanigans going on behind it all but all I see is a humiliation for the US administration and Obama in particular who seems to be, to all intents and purposes, throwing the Taleban a life line.
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