With the Taliban now firming back in control of Afghanistan and Coalition leaders licking their political wounds, contentious commentator Dr John Coulter puts forward his own solution to defeating the Taliban.

Taliban tales that women’s rights and Afghan citizens who assisted the Coalition forces are safe from radical Islamic reprisals are about as daft as Sinn Fein spin that Unionists will have their culture fully recognised in a Shinner-run United Ireland. ‘It ain’t gonna happen!’

The people I really feel sorry for are the relatives of Coalition forces killed during the decade-long war in Afghanistan as well as the veterans of that campaign who were wounded and maimed both physically and emotionally.

And whilst the Coalition is organising Saigon-style evacuation flights out of Afghanistan, there will still be thousands of Afghan citizens and supporters of the Coalition left behind to face the Taliban’s eventual wrath.

Oh yes, the Taliban in the immediate future is portraying itself as a moderate Muslim movement which will fully respect the rights of those who do not strictly adhere to the Taliban’s warped interpretation of the Quran and especially Sharia law.

This tactic was only to prevent a full-scale invasion again of Afghanistan by the Coalition forces as the Taliban has not yet fully asserted its authority in every hamlet, village, town and city in the country.

In hard military terms, the Afghan government and army - much like the South Vietnamese government and army in the 1960s and 1970s - do not have the will or the capacity to combat Taliban terrorism.

The Americans, as part of the Coalition forces, tried to fight the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army for over a decade in Vietnam using conventional military tactics deployed in Korea and World War Two. In 1975, the Americans left Saigon with their military tails between their legs.

What did all those - mainly young - Americans die for in Vietnam? You need only visit the memorial wall to the dead from Vietnam to appreciate the suffering and sacrifice which the American forces endured.

Now to Afghanistan. What must the loved ones left behind of those killed and wounded among the Coalition forces be thinking as Coalition political leaders scramble to find excuses to leaving the country.

The Coalition should never have left Afghanistan without first 100 per cent guaranteeing that the Afghan army and government was capable and competent enough to keep the lid firmly on any Taliban activity.

The decision of the ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden administration in Washington to totally pull out of Afghanistan at this point must rank as one of the most idiotic of any American Presidency in the history of the United States.

Moscow tried the strong arm approach in Afghanistan and the Russians eventually left with their tails between their legs. The Taliban are spinning its takeover of the country as ‘victory’ over the Coalition forces.

By this Christmas, the Taliban will have ensured that its militant version of the Islamic faith and laws will be enforced on the country.

A number of years ago, I got into a lot of hot water for a satirical piece I published on using nuclear, chemical and biological weaponry to defeat ISIS terrorists.

The point being, given the vast arsenals which the Coalition countries possess, conventionally armed Taliban terrorists sent the Coalition political leadership (not the Coalition personnel on the ground) packing.

The big worry for Western nations, indeed for any nation which has a democratic government, freedom of worship for faith communities and a free press, is whether the Taliban ‘victory’ in Afghanistan will spark fundamentalist Islamic groups to start similar terrorist revolutions in other states.

There’s no use indulging in the blame game over the Coalition’s ‘defeat’ in Afghanistan. We can all moan until the cows come home that the Coalition left the country well before the Afghan government and army was fully equipped to deal with a resurgent Taliban.

The key question still remains - how can we now defeat the Taliban? The answer is brutally simple; use the same tactics which the British forces used to defeat the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya in the 1950s and the Provos during the Troubles.

The British identified those within both the Mau Mau and republican movement ranks that they could ‘turn’ as informers, agents to manipulate a ceasefire.

In terms of Ireland, north and south, you need only read the many books which have been penned about the intelligence war - or dirty war - by ex-soldiers or agents to appreciate the value of ‘turning’ republican activists into effective agents of the state.

And for those who cannot be ‘turned’, the special forces can always ensure they are eliminated in a ‘convenient’ ambush. Take the Loughgall ambush in May 1987 when the SAS wiped out the once-feared East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional IRA. An innocent civilian also died in that ambush.

Would the Adams-McGuinness peace agenda for Sinn Fein have become a reality if Jim Lynagh, one of the East Tyrone Brigade’s leaders, not died in that ambush? Lynagh - even though he was a Sinn Fein councillor at the time of his death - did not agree with the political wing’s peace strategy and was planning to form a breakaway dissident terror gang.

Would there have been a Good Friday Agreement if Lynagh had been still alive and an active terrorist in 1998, implementing his Maoist ‘liberated zones’ strategy of murder and mayhem?

On the loyalist side, Billy Wright, the founder of the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force, was ‘conveniently’ murdered inside the Maze prison by INLA inmates. Had Wright lived, would the Combined Loyalist Military Command ceasefire of 1994 survived?

The Coalition must now adopt the same tactics in Afghanistan against the Taliban as the British forces have perfected in Ireland.

In the past 40 years, Sinn Fein has evolved from being an apologist for the Provisional IRA to operating a power-sharing partitionist parliament with the DUP at Stormont.

Given the number of agents operating within the republican movement, the question still remains - how many people needlessly died to implement this strategy?

Focusing back on Afghanistan - how many Taliban leaders either need to be ‘turned’ or eliminated before the country can be classified as a moderate Islamic democracy? Will it take another 40 years as in Ireland’s case? How many people will needlessly die before this strategy can be implemented?

Time is not on the side of the Coalition political leadership. It does not have the luxury of waiting years until agents are firmly in place within influential sections of the Taliban leadership.

What will befall the Afghan people and the Western powers if the Taliban’s versions of Jim Lynagh tighten their grip on the movement and and the nation?

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online

Taliban Tales And Shinner Spin ➖ What’s The Difference?

With the Taliban now firming back in control of Afghanistan and Coalition leaders licking their political wounds, contentious commentator Dr John Coulter puts forward his own solution to defeating the Taliban.

Taliban tales that women’s rights and Afghan citizens who assisted the Coalition forces are safe from radical Islamic reprisals are about as daft as Sinn Fein spin that Unionists will have their culture fully recognised in a Shinner-run United Ireland. ‘It ain’t gonna happen!’

The people I really feel sorry for are the relatives of Coalition forces killed during the decade-long war in Afghanistan as well as the veterans of that campaign who were wounded and maimed both physically and emotionally.

And whilst the Coalition is organising Saigon-style evacuation flights out of Afghanistan, there will still be thousands of Afghan citizens and supporters of the Coalition left behind to face the Taliban’s eventual wrath.

Oh yes, the Taliban in the immediate future is portraying itself as a moderate Muslim movement which will fully respect the rights of those who do not strictly adhere to the Taliban’s warped interpretation of the Quran and especially Sharia law.

This tactic was only to prevent a full-scale invasion again of Afghanistan by the Coalition forces as the Taliban has not yet fully asserted its authority in every hamlet, village, town and city in the country.

In hard military terms, the Afghan government and army - much like the South Vietnamese government and army in the 1960s and 1970s - do not have the will or the capacity to combat Taliban terrorism.

The Americans, as part of the Coalition forces, tried to fight the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army for over a decade in Vietnam using conventional military tactics deployed in Korea and World War Two. In 1975, the Americans left Saigon with their military tails between their legs.

What did all those - mainly young - Americans die for in Vietnam? You need only visit the memorial wall to the dead from Vietnam to appreciate the suffering and sacrifice which the American forces endured.

Now to Afghanistan. What must the loved ones left behind of those killed and wounded among the Coalition forces be thinking as Coalition political leaders scramble to find excuses to leaving the country.

The Coalition should never have left Afghanistan without first 100 per cent guaranteeing that the Afghan army and government was capable and competent enough to keep the lid firmly on any Taliban activity.

The decision of the ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden administration in Washington to totally pull out of Afghanistan at this point must rank as one of the most idiotic of any American Presidency in the history of the United States.

Moscow tried the strong arm approach in Afghanistan and the Russians eventually left with their tails between their legs. The Taliban are spinning its takeover of the country as ‘victory’ over the Coalition forces.

By this Christmas, the Taliban will have ensured that its militant version of the Islamic faith and laws will be enforced on the country.

A number of years ago, I got into a lot of hot water for a satirical piece I published on using nuclear, chemical and biological weaponry to defeat ISIS terrorists.

The point being, given the vast arsenals which the Coalition countries possess, conventionally armed Taliban terrorists sent the Coalition political leadership (not the Coalition personnel on the ground) packing.

The big worry for Western nations, indeed for any nation which has a democratic government, freedom of worship for faith communities and a free press, is whether the Taliban ‘victory’ in Afghanistan will spark fundamentalist Islamic groups to start similar terrorist revolutions in other states.

There’s no use indulging in the blame game over the Coalition’s ‘defeat’ in Afghanistan. We can all moan until the cows come home that the Coalition left the country well before the Afghan government and army was fully equipped to deal with a resurgent Taliban.

The key question still remains - how can we now defeat the Taliban? The answer is brutally simple; use the same tactics which the British forces used to defeat the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya in the 1950s and the Provos during the Troubles.

The British identified those within both the Mau Mau and republican movement ranks that they could ‘turn’ as informers, agents to manipulate a ceasefire.

In terms of Ireland, north and south, you need only read the many books which have been penned about the intelligence war - or dirty war - by ex-soldiers or agents to appreciate the value of ‘turning’ republican activists into effective agents of the state.

And for those who cannot be ‘turned’, the special forces can always ensure they are eliminated in a ‘convenient’ ambush. Take the Loughgall ambush in May 1987 when the SAS wiped out the once-feared East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional IRA. An innocent civilian also died in that ambush.

Would the Adams-McGuinness peace agenda for Sinn Fein have become a reality if Jim Lynagh, one of the East Tyrone Brigade’s leaders, not died in that ambush? Lynagh - even though he was a Sinn Fein councillor at the time of his death - did not agree with the political wing’s peace strategy and was planning to form a breakaway dissident terror gang.

Would there have been a Good Friday Agreement if Lynagh had been still alive and an active terrorist in 1998, implementing his Maoist ‘liberated zones’ strategy of murder and mayhem?

On the loyalist side, Billy Wright, the founder of the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force, was ‘conveniently’ murdered inside the Maze prison by INLA inmates. Had Wright lived, would the Combined Loyalist Military Command ceasefire of 1994 survived?

The Coalition must now adopt the same tactics in Afghanistan against the Taliban as the British forces have perfected in Ireland.

In the past 40 years, Sinn Fein has evolved from being an apologist for the Provisional IRA to operating a power-sharing partitionist parliament with the DUP at Stormont.

Given the number of agents operating within the republican movement, the question still remains - how many people needlessly died to implement this strategy?

Focusing back on Afghanistan - how many Taliban leaders either need to be ‘turned’ or eliminated before the country can be classified as a moderate Islamic democracy? Will it take another 40 years as in Ireland’s case? How many people will needlessly die before this strategy can be implemented?

Time is not on the side of the Coalition political leadership. It does not have the luxury of waiting years until agents are firmly in place within influential sections of the Taliban leadership.

What will befall the Afghan people and the Western powers if the Taliban’s versions of Jim Lynagh tighten their grip on the movement and and the nation?

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online

12 comments:

  1. Kitson could be described as the architect of modern day terrorism. His strategies around the use of informers and pseudo-gangs and counter-gangs have never brought peace anywhere they have been implemented. Being the dominant force is not the same as building a democratic society based on equality and freedom.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think Biden might have miscalculated the blow back on himself. Effectively, Trump capitulated an unconditional surrender to the Taliban and Biden stuck to the deal in hope the blame would fall on Trump. Biden could have pulled out of Trumos deal and renegotiated but chose not to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The differences between the NI conflict and the Afghanistan imbroglio are so large as to make Dr. John's intellectual task a non-starter. Using the quasi-genocidal methods which FAILED to defeat the Mau-Mau in Kenya in the 1950s would further besmirch the reputation of the West. To use the intelligence led approach of the British government which helped to end the PIRA armed struggle would require engagement with the Taliban and the identification as assets factions in the Taliban that the Coalition could do 'business with'. In NI it may have been strategically effective but would fail in Afghanistan due to lack of resources and contacts on the ground. But there is also the moral calculus over allowing the Scaps of this world and other agents to continue their homicidal thuggery.

    At the end of the day, the Irish republican movement was and is a mere speck of dust in current and historical geopolitical configurations. By contrast the Taliban is part of a wider Sunni Islamist extremist project to recreate the Islamic Caliphate; a project as deranged and as impossibilist as Hitler's Thousand Year Reich of Pol Pot's restoration of the ancient Khmer Empire. But it is no less threatening to global liberal democracy as was fascism and needs to be defeated using soft power; not just crude military power.

    The priority in Afghanistan now is to secure humanitarian corridors to secure food and other aid distribution and to enable those who wish to leave to do so. Surely there can be unanimous agreement on the UN Security Council on these objectives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barry

      I agree with most of what you say. Though, 'soft power' is what was used in the 6 counties- use of law, local civil agencies etc -along with Military force.

      Delete
  4. I have a suspicion about the spontaneous collapse of the military and therefore the US installed regime to use their lingo.
    What if it's all been staged and the empire of chaos has done a deal with the Taliban.
    Had they not they would have destroyed all the abandoned military hardware.
    For pity's sake not leaving weapons for the enemy is the first rule of combat.
    JP has chimed in with some epic history .

    https://consortiumnews.com/2021/08/24/john-pilger-the-great-game-of-smashing-nations/?fbclid=IwAR0cMhiiSQK01KRf0wsxOLv2Bd3gX_DxCE59MY4VWgi6y5W9aEEUimfVN-g

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Assange said a similar thing in 2011....

      Delete
    2. Hester

      I was thinking the same thing. The other thing -were 'Friendly' War Lords being paid for incredibly inflated militia numbers? Meaning there was never any opposition, or significantly smaller Afgan force, in certain regions?

      Delete
  5. I lost all respect for John Pilger when I started to shill for genocidaire Milosovic and continued giving "journalistic£" cover to Assad and Putin. Plus he welcomed the Brexit vote.

    As regards investigative journalism, he was the future once.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Milosovic was found not guilty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did he not die in 2006 while on trial?

      Delete
    2. yes, he did. But the court ruled much later when it considered the evidence that he was not guilty. Nor did it seem he escaped on a technicality. As I remember it, the court accessed records from government meetings where he was in serious disagreement with some of his colleagues. It also traced evidence of his directives being disobeyed.
      I was never a fan of the man but that is where the evidence took the court. You'll find it online. It is not one of those mad conspiracy theories.

      Delete
  7. Taliban Tales And Shinner Spin ➖ What’s The Difference?

    The sun tan....

    ReplyDelete