This piece analyses the Taliban hunts and how n why it is taking it so long to eliminate the threat in the region. BBC NEWS
"If we get it right, the Afghan people will turn the Taliban out"
The top military commander in the US, Adm Michael Mullen, says he does not know how long it will take for security to improve in Afghanistan.
He warned that the Taliban were "much more violent, much more organised, and so there's going to be fighting that is associated with this".
But he said that if the US gets its strategy right, the Afghan people themselves will turn the Taliban out.
The US will boost its 33,000 soldiers with another 30,000 this year.
They will join 32,000 other Nato troops already in the country battling a resurgent Taleban.
Earlier this month US Marines launched the first major Afghan operation of US President Barack Obama's presidency.
The Afghan people are much more uncertain now about their future
Admiral Michael Mullen
About 4,000 marines - many of them redeployed from operations in Iraq - moved into the Helmand River, supported by helicopters and Afghan troops.
Adm Mullen, speaking exclusively to the BBC's Arabic service at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, said he was confident he now had enough forces to hold territory captured from the Taliban.
Asked how soon the security situation in the country would improve, he said: "I don't know how long.
"I know that it's gotten progressively worse over the last three, three-and-a-half years, since 2006, and the Taliban has gotten much better."
But the fighting was "not the main effort".
"In the end, if we get it right for the Afghan people, the Afghan people will turn the Taliban out.
"And that's the answer in counter-insurgency," Adm Mullen said.
He said that over the next 12 to 18 months "we really need to turn the tide".
With violence increasing since 2006, security had worsened, and "the Afghan people are much more uncertain now about their future".
But establishing "robust security" would take longer, he added.
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According to a video of interrogation of "Hamas terrorists" released by Israel Security Agency Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18, "The Shifa hospital has been made with many considerations as Hamas knew that medical places won’t be attacked by the enemy. Equipment, explosives and other material has been kept there." Hamas is using hospitals in Gaza as covers and have turned them into ammunition depots, according to a video of interrogation of “Hamas terrorists" released by Israel Security Agency Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18. ALSO READ | Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates HERE The Israeli military has claimed that those featuring in the video released on Saturday are Hamas terrorists, who participated in the October 7 attack on Israel. “Most of the tunnels are hidden in hospitals. There are multiple underground levels. Al-Shifa Hospital is not small, it is a big place that can be used to hide things," a man is seen saying. “The Al-Shifa
In fact, no ideology has been as genocidal as Islam… Islam has killed more than 5 times the number of people killed by communism. In the total numbers we have updated over 80 million Christians killed by Muslims in 500 years in the Balkan states, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia. Then we have India. The official estimate number of Muslim slaughters of Hindus is 80 million. However, Muslim historian Firistha (b. 1570) wrote (in either Tarikh-i Firishta or the Gulshan-i Ibrahim) that Muslims slaughtered over 400 million Hindus up to the peak of Islamic rule of India, bringing the Hindu population down from 600 mil to 200 million at the time. With these new additions the Muslim genocide of non-Muslims since the birth of Mohammed would be over 669 million murders. Islam: The Religion of Genocide Perspective: Think the Spanish inquisition was bad? More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition* combined. The Spanish inquisition ( Tribunal del Sant
"If we get it right, the Afghan people will turn the Taliban out"The top military commander in the US, Adm Michael Mullen, says he does not know how long it will take for security to improve in Afghanistan.He warned that the Taliban were "much more violent, much more organised, and so there's going to be fighting that is associated with this".But he said that if the US gets its strategy right, the Afghan people themselves will turn the Taliban out.The US will boost its 33,000 soldiers with another 30,000 this year.They will join 32,000 other Nato troops already in the country battling a resurgent Taleban.Earlier this month US Marines launched the first major Afghan operation of US President Barack Obama's presidency.The Afghan people are much more uncertain now about their future
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