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Battle heroism finally recognized by the media
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Maybe because of the election of President (elect) Obama the media feels it is finally time to actually report on the unparalleled bravery of our troops. The Washington Post describes a Special Forces raid in Afghanistan which turned into a harrowing battle. I give much credit to the Post for reporting on this action and the heroism of our troops. Ten SF soldiers were awarded a Silver Star for their actions in the battle.
If you read the Post article you might wonder why the team was sent in on the ground instead of just flattening the terrorist stronghold from the air. It's likely the mission was intended to collect intelligence. The Post states that the target was the terrorist group Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin.
This gives a nice chance to contrast the reporting of the Post with that of much of the media. TIME ran an article full of despair and confusion about why we are in Afghanistan at all which is pretty typical of the media's war on the military. The article written by Joe Klein, a big name in journalism, acknowledges the reasons why we are in Afghanistan but just can't quite make a conclusion based off the information he provides. Let me help you Mr. Klein.
Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is a terrorist group run by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar is one of the world's foremost terror trainers. His group was designated a terrorist organization by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright under the Clinton administration, lest anyone (like Mr. Klein) think the group is simply the latest incarnation of the Bush administration's fear mongering, boogy-man tactics - as the fringe left constantly paints any security threat to this nation.
Hekmatyar is a particularly despicable native Afghan warlord who brutalized Afghans until he was named Prime Minister twice before the Taliban took over. The warlord's group and the Taliban were at odds after the Taliban took control in the mid 90s.
As an aside, documents uncovered in Iraq and translated for analysis in my book Both In One Trench: Saddam's Secret Terror Documents show Hekmatyar coming to Baghdad to ask Saddam for support to his training camps. Those documents show that the Saddam regime pledged to work with him. The Saddam regime pledged the same to Taliban representatives (negotiating peace between the two factions as well as for direct support). These documents show that Saddam was involved in supporting Afghanistan based terrorism in the form of al Qaeda allied groups including the Taliban.
But to the point, Hekmatyar, who supported al Qaeda at the time (by running terror training camps) would later pledge his loyalty to Usama bin Laden. Mr. Klein is correct when he states that the al Qaeda leadership is likely based in Pakistan, for the moment. But a withdrawal of American troops would allow them right back into Afghanistan.
In addition, the Afghan Taliban is still in Afghanistan for the most part as well as other al Qaeda allied terror groups like the HIG. This raid demonstrates that there are still terror enclaves, which are likely training camps, still operating in Afghanistan.
Despite reports like this from TIME, we still have a vested interest in supporting the Afghanistan government in the destruction of these terror groups and the suppression of the Taliban. Leaving Afghanistan to the influence of Islamic extremists after the Soviet forces withdrew in the late 80s set up a scenario where terrorist groups like al Qaeda had a place to thrive. The United States and its allies must remain as long as it takes to stop that from happening again. Thankfully, we still have brave American warriors who fight for our freedom and our security.
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