March 07, 2005

U.S. General: Omar Loses Control of Afghan Insurgency

Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has lost control of the insurgency in Afghanistan and the number of attacks has fallen dramatically, a senior U.S. general said Monday.

Taliban spokesmen have said attacks will resume once the harsh Afghan winter is over.
[Would this be like the "brutal Afghan winter" of 2001 that we're still waiting for...?
And that was supposed to be a problem for our guys, not the Taliban's!
Kinda funny, isn't it?--Jen]

But Major General Eric T. Olson told a news conference in Kabul that the Taliban lacked cohesion and were a fading force in the southern and southeast provinces that had been their strongholds.
[...]
Omar's whereabouts remains a mystery, said Olson, but the U.S. general was convinced that wherever he is, Omar no longer exerts control over the Taliban.

"It seems very clear to us, given the disjointed and uncoordinated effort that the Taliban has been able to launch, that those types of leaders, Mullah Omar specifically, are not exercising an effective command and control over Taliban operations in Afghanistan."

He put this down to the success of U.S.-led forces in both combat operations and in winning over support from local communities, leaving the insurgents isolated.

What great news!
With God's help, we'll see this same thing happen in Iraq, too.
Good work, U.S. military!
I know Rush Limbaugh enjoyed his tour of Afghanistan last week, where he met, thanked and enjoyed camaraderie with our troops and even met with Hamid Karzai.
(The military wouldn't have let him go if they hadn't pretty much nailed down the Taliban "insurgency" as this story asserts.)
Here's a picture of him meeting with a group of Afghan women who are teaching literacy to other Afghan ladies at the Afghan Literacy Institute outside Kabul:



Isn't it terrific to see no burkas and head scarves at a minimum there?!