Frist surrenders Afghanistan to the Taliban (time to withdraw from Iraq)

Frist: Taliban should be in Afghan gov't

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 2, 4:01 PM ET

QALAT, Afghanistan - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Islamic militia and its supporters into the Afghan government.

The Tennessee Republican said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield.

"You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government," Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. "And if that's accomplished, we'll be successful."

Afghanistan is suffering its heaviest insurgent attacks since a U.S.-led military force toppled the Taliban in late 2001 for harboring al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061002/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan_frist_1

U.S. forces fighting back with new approach in Afghanistan

By Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers

MOQOR, Afghanistan - Raz Mohammad, the newly installed police chief in this town of adobe compounds, ramshackle shops and rickety stalls, needed help, and he needed it quickly.

The Taliban had torched part of his headquarters the previous week, killed his civilian boss a day earlier, and now they were gunning for him. Fifteen of Mohammad's 20 officers had bolted. Then there was the fact that the local militia chief he was replacing commanded 30 well-armed fighters and probably was in cahoots with the Taliban.

"I can't sleep at night. ... I'm afraid he will stab me in the back," said the lanky 25-year cop. "My immediate needs are razor wire and sandbags so we can build defensive positions. I don't have communications equipment. I'm lacking ammunition and weapons. I have nothing in my hands to resist enemy attacks."

Nodding and sipping tea, Army Lt. Col. Frank Sturek promised help. He'd send razor wire and 1,000 sandbags right away. And a U.S. platoon to secure Moqor's administrative compound until Afghan forces arrived. The local militia boss would be removed as quickly as possible.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15662671.htm