Another Taliban Leader Captured in Pakistan

On the heels of the capture of Mullah Baradar, another one caught:

Another leader of the Afghan Taliban has been captured by authorities in Pakistan working in partnership with U.S. intelligence officials. Taliban sources in the region and a counterterrorism officials in Washington have identified the detained insurgent leader as Mullah Abdul Salam, described as the Taliban movement's "shadow governor" of Afghanistan's Kunduz province. Read more at Newsweek

Gibbs Declines to Talk About Taliban Commander Capture

Updated with video. Gibbs says he does his own twittering.

If you're so inclined, watch Robert Gibbs press briefing here.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs begins his briefing by taking a question about the capture of a Taliban commander in Afghanistan, but he declines to "get into this topic."

"This involves very sensitive intelligence matters," he says. "This involves the collection of intelligence, and it is best to do that and not necessarily talk about it." Politico

The Taliban deny the capture:

Also on Tuesday, a Taliban spokesman denied that the insurgents’ second-most important leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured in Pakistan.

“He is safe and free, and he leads the command and he is in Afghanistan,” said the spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, who was reached by cellphone on Tuesday.

United States officials confirmed the arrest to The New York Times last Thursday but asked the newspaper to withhold the information until Monday because it would impede intelligence operations. They described him as the most significant Taliban figure yet arrested, head of their military operations and second in importance only to the Taliban “emir of Afghanistan,” Mullah Omar. Mullah Baradar was arrested in a joint raid by Pakistani intelligence agents with C.I.A. agents accompanying them, American officials said. NYT

Taliban Says God is on Their Side

Look at these guys. Wouldn't they rather read a good book or go to the movies or how about a game of hoops? The Taliban says it will defeat the U.S. troops, despite the troop escalation.

Marines On the Job

I now understand why the Afghanis don't call out the Taliban. The Taliban are insidious creatures. What the Marines are up against:

American Planes Can See an Egg Why Can't They See Taliban?

For me, this statement sums up the Afghan sentiment:

“This government is Afghan, and the Taliban are Afghan; they should build the country together,” he said.

I suppose that would be fine and dandy if the taliban weren't plotting against the U.S.
Afghans are concerned about more troops. They prefer the U.S. to train Afghan forces to take over. They also wonder why U.S. planes can't find the taliban. I wonder that too. How many of them are there? It's not like there's a million. Do they all live underground? I don't get it:

As Americans, including President Obama’s top advisers, tensely debate whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan, Afghans themselves are having a similar discussion and voicing serious doubts.

In bazaars and university corridors across the country, eight years of war have left people exhausted and impatient. They are increasingly skeptical that the Taliban can be defeated. Nearly everyone agrees that the Afghan government must negotiate with the insurgents. If more American forces do arrive, many here say, they should come to train Afghans to take over the fight, so the foreigners can leave.

“What have the Americans done in eight years?” asked Abdullah Wasay, 60, a pharmacist in Charikar, a market town about 25 miles north of Kabul, expressing a view typical of many here. “Americans are saying that with their planes they can see an egg 18 kilometers away, so why can’t they see the Taliban?” NYT

Hillary Clinton's Interview With Andrea Mitchell

Hillary Clinton differentiates between strategy and tactics. The strategy of defeating Al Qaeda is still the same, she said. The way that happens is what the Obama administration is hammering out. Today, Obama held another meeting with military officials. Hillary is leaving Pakistan and headed to the Middle East to jumpstart peace talks.

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The Pakistanis don't appear to be very warm to the U.S. They say that the war in Afghanistan is our war and they want money to fight our war. Hillary, who says she wants more honest relations with Pakistan, seemed to have offended them by saying that someone has got to know where Al Qaeda is hanging out (watch video):

During her three-day trip Mrs Clinton hoped to strengthen ties between the US and Pakistan and tried to address a rising tide of anti-American feeling.
In an interview with the BBC she urged Pakistanis to "realise the connection" between al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
But her arrival was overshadowed by a deadly bombing in the city of Peshawar.
More than 100 people died when a car bomb exploded in a busy market on Wednesday.
The BBC's Jill McGivering says that a great deal of anger in Pakistan is focused on the US - widely seen as interfering and destabilising Pakistan for its own ends.
....
Mrs Clinton acknowledged there was what she called a trust deficit towards the United States in Pakistan because of past policies.
But she said she was working to change that by reaching out to ordinary Pakistanis.
Mrs Clinton is due in the Middle East at the weekend to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
BBC

Susan Collins gives kudos to Hillary for calling out Pakistan on Al Qaeda:

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Michael Moore Tells Obama to Earn the Nobel Peace Prize

Update Oct. 10: Moore's better half gives him a nudge.

I love all these people who think they know what they're talking about. When was the last time anyone cared about Afghanistan? Oh yeah, within the last couple of weeks. We've been at war there for 8 years and very few people understand what's going on in that region and very few people have cared. Obama is deliberating with many, many people on the right move to make in Afghanistan. I'll trust Obama's judgment, not the rightwing war monger's or Michael Moore's:

The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of our War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone. You are truly at a crossroads now. You can listen to the generals and expand the war (only to result in a far-too-predictable defeat) or you can declare Bush's Wars over, and bring all the troops home. Now. That's what a true man of peace would do.

There is nothing wrong with you doing what the last guy failed to do -- capture the man or men responsible for the mass murder of 3,000 people on 9/11. BUT YOU CANNOT DO THAT WITH TANKS AND TROOPS. You are pursuing a criminal, not an army. You do not use a stick of dynamite to get rid of a mouse.

The Taliban is another matter. That is a problem for the people of Afghanistan to resolve -- just as we did in 1776, the French did in 1789, the Cubans did in 1959, the Nicaraguans did in 1979 and the people of East Berlin did in 1989. One thing is certain through all revolutions by people who wish to be free -- they ultimately have to bring about that freedom themselves. Others can be supportive, but freedom can not be delivered from the front seat of someone else's Humvee.

You have to end our involvement in Afghanistan now. If you don't, you'll have no choice but to return the prize to Oslo.

Yours,
Michael Moore

White House Press Briefing Oct. 8

Tomorrow, Obama will give a speech on regulatory reform at 2 pm eastern.

One Hell of a Fight in Afghanistan

While we celebrate, they fight.

Right Wing Controls Media In Pakistan

For a primer on Pakistan, Afghanistan and the whole region, listen to this NPR interview with Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Rasheed.
Among some of the things he talks about are:

The right wing conspiracies in Pakistan. The right wing controls the media.

Bin Laden is the strategizer, not the day to day guy. It would be symbolic and meaningful if the US captured him.

Rasheed suggests Obama is going to encourage a regional solution, which he says is the only way to address the problem.

Negotiations with Taliban and the U.S.

Europeans are excited about Obama and will give him leeway.

Obama Iraq Strategy vs. McCain Iraq Tactics

Update: Here's a link to the speech.

Obama talked about what the Bush administration squandered: Everything. College affordability, new energy technologies... Instead we've lost thousands of American lives, spent trillions, alienation in the world to fight a war that shouldn't have been fought. 
"This war diminishes our security." 
Here's the main difference on Obama and McCain on the War: Sen McCain keeps talking about tactics in Iraq. But what is the Bush McCain strategy, the purpose, the plan in Iraq. McCain Bush, have no plan. Obama wants an overarching strategy. You can't accomplish a goal without setting a vision. 

Obama: Bush-McCain say we can't leave when violence is up or down. We can't have a timetable because it would be "surrender." We're not going to kill every al Qaeda sympathizer. The accusation of surrender is false rhetoric to defend a failed policy.

The U.S. needs to commit $2 billion for displaced Iraqis. We'll make it clear we'll have no permanent bases in Iraq. That's what Iraq and America wants.

The central front on the "war on terror" was never Iraq. It never was. The terrorist is in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Obama will send at least 2 additional brigades (about 5,000 soldiers) to Afghanistan. 

We need to triple non-military aid to Pakistan.

Instead of threatening to kick Russia out of G8, we need to work with them on nuclear non proliferation.

Ending the tyranny of oil in our time. The price of oil is the most dangerous weapon. It funds radical madrasas, shifts leverage to dictators. This is where an energy policy comes in.

America needs to rebuild its alliances, he said. That helps prevent war and promote peace. 

This speech was rich, rich, rich, so I wasn't able to get everything on the first go around but I'm sure video and text will be out later.

I don't why people can't see that McCain is but a shadow of the thinker and the leader that Obama is. People talk about experience, experience. What about brilliance and talent? Bush didn't have experience. He obviously has been propped up his whole life by sidekicks.

After listening to Bush, who could've just as well been McCain, this morning and listening to Obama, the difference is stark.