From All Things Considered:“The CIA operatives killed in Afghanistan were working to develop sources within al-Qaida, a task that has proven incredibly tough, and their loss is a heavy blow to the agency's ability to gather intelligence there.
"Former CIA analyst and author Michael Scheuer says the primary problem in trying to gain human intelligence in Afghanistan is that the U.S. is seen as "foreign, infidel occupiers by all Afghans, and at the end of the day, they want us out more than anything else, and the President, neither recent presidents, have told the American people the truth about that.
"The Taliban would not be effective if the local people weren’t supporting it. They increasingly see us as the successors to the Soviet Union as the occupiers of Afghanistan so it makes human intelligence collection very difficult and increasingly dangerous.””
posted by Julia B. @ 8:25 PM
4 Comments:
Happy New Year! As to your post regarding the CIA methods of obtaining intel and the need to utilize locals for infiltration into the Tailban/ Al Queda. I'm not sure what your point was, but I will just relay upon you some of the things that I know to be true without the BS press that is disseminated to the news agencies and thus, us. As you should know Brad, I am not some hawk or fear mongering republican Waco. I do, however, have a fairly good handle on what's happening on the ground with both the US troops and the covert activity that occurs on a daily basis in that region. What happened the other day was an operational issue, no doubt. No one in the region trusts anyone that is not Nato. This individual was produced as a friendly by a friendly source. So it goes. Lesson learned. This doesn't mean we should stop this practice. We just need to be more cautious about it and institute a procedure to bring these resources onto base. I know a number of people that are "boots on the ground" now and have been for some time. the story we are getting in the news is not accurate..
-Pete
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, a big step up from the usual “suck it.” I’ll take the liberty of posting it on the blog, sometimes we get a good string going.
I’d say the point of that was that if we’re all for democracy and self-determination, what should we do when the clients want us to get the hell out.
I have to wonder if those who own this country like us to keep looking through the old cold war lens because the military is a trillion dollar gravy train that is ladled into every congressional district in the country.
We sure get it in my locale, I live between NASA and old Ellington AFB where George W Bush did his Guard service along with other children of congressmen and some Dallas Cowboy football players.
I question whether we need to be in some God-forsaken hole where the people want to kill us just because we’re there, and our only “friends” are ones we hire. I think Jeff Huber is right when he says the Talibanos will be a military threat to us about the time they perfect time travel.
A couple of weeks ago I heard Greg Mortenson interviewed on public radio--his project for school-building in Afghanistan and Pakistan is still going strong.
I keep wishing that Obama would sit down and have three cups of tea with this man, the better to pick his brain. I think of that old saying, If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.
Hi, folks,
Happy New Year.
If we defend the country behind the walls of Kabul then we a merely repeat the mistakes of former occupiers. The "surge" in Iraq worked out OK, so far, but we probably need to go further than getting out into the hinterlands, and actually train local militias to defend their own villages.
Plus, as I mentioned to Charly the other day, fundementalist religions seem to regard women as adversaries of God. Educating people might help. BTW, Monday is "boys night." The livestock don't have to sleep with one eye open.
LD
p.s. Lulu, I've missed you.
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