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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigBull who wrote (9924)	11/11/2001 11:21:00 PM
From: BigBull	Respond to of 281500

An account of the "battle" for Taloqan: washingtonpost.com

To: BigBull who wrote (9924)	11/12/2001 6:05:07 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 281500

What a turn around in the Afghan war! If this article is true then this is turning into a good old fashioned rout and not some "strategic retreat" by the Talibs. BigBull, strategic retreat is a relative term and probably not appropriate in the context used. tactical retreat is a more appropriate term imo. your "old fashioned rout" may be right for the troops in this one area...but it is too soon to tell for the entire conflict...too much terrain and too many enemy entrenched elsewhere need to be dealt with first. still it is a good sign that bin laden's troops are showing some regard for life...their own. it means they are human and subject to fear. in other words, they are vulnerable and will not fight to the death as previously thought by some. "cowardice in the face of the enemy" is the ultimate insult to a soldier. no commander (even a defeated commander) ever wants to use it to describe his unit. yet it does seem an appropriate term here. bin laden's troops occupied strong defensive positions. then instead of pushing out patrols looking for an offensive opportunity, they hunkered down in their holes. when attacked and their own death seemed imminent instead of fighting to inflict damage, they surrendered or broke and ran while they still had the means to fight. their is a descriptive term for that... "Cowardice in the face of the enemy" unclewest