The Sys Admin part is fine. But the cockroaches must be killed at the same time. The Dutch are trying to get the Taliban to leave them alone.
Make Love, Not War [Andy McCarthy]
On the day we get that assessment from Col. Jacobs of the British naval and marine performance that Derb referred to before, I don't know that this is the story we needed on Page One of the NYTimes this morning (however much it may titillated the Times to report it):
"Dutch Soldiers Stress Restraint In Afghanistan — Taking on the Taliban by Helping Villagers
QALA-E-SURKH, Afghanistan — The Dutch infantrymen stood on a ridge near the Baluchi Valley, an area in south-central Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban and tribes opposed to the central government. Whenever they push farther, the soldiers said, they swiftly come under fire from rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. "The whole valley is pretty much hostile," said one, a machine gunner.
But rather than advancing for reconnaissance or to attack, the Dutch soldiers pulled back to a safer village. "We're not here to fight the Taliban," said the Dutch commander, Col. Hans van Griensven, at a recent staff meeting. "We're here to make the Taliban irrelevant."
Thousands of fresh Western troops have flowed into Afghanistan since last year, seeking to counter the resurgent Taliban before an expected spring offensive. Many American units have been conducting sweeps and raids.
But here in Uruzgan Province, where the Taliban operate openly, a Dutch-led task force has mostly shunned combat. Its counterinsurgency tactics emphasize efforts to improve Afghan living conditions and self-governance, rather than hunting the Taliban's fighters. Bloodshed is out. Reconstruction, mentoring and diplomacy are in. American military officials have expressed unease about the Dutch method, warning that if the Taliban are not kept under military pressure in Uruzgan, they will use the province as a haven and project their insurgency into neighboring provinces.
The Dutch counter that construction projects and consistent political and social support will lure the population from the Taliban, allowing the central and provincial governments to expand their authority over the long term."
Right.
Can somebody please get me a case of whatever these guys are drinking?
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