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

To: William B. Kohn who wrote (69427)	1/28/2003 8:14:11 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Looks like our Air Force has waaaaay to much time on it's hands. :>) January 28, 2003 U.S. Forces Battle Afghan Rebels By CARLOTTA GALL [K] ABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 28 -- In the heaviest fighting in nine months, American and coalition forces are battling a large group of rebel fighters in a mountainous region of southeastern Afghanistan. Col. Roger King, a spokesman for the U.S. military, said at least 18 rebel fighters had been killed, while no coalition casualties were reported. The fighting began on Monday while U.S. and Afghan forces were searching a compound near Adi Ghar mountain. They came under fire and in the firefight one attacker was killed, one wounded and one detained. Under questioning, the detained man said there was a as many as 80 fighters commanded by Gulbuddin Helmatyar, a fiery Islamic fundamentalist who has vowed to overthrow President Hamid Karzai's government, in the mountains near the compound. Col. King said Apache helicopters dispatched to investigate came under small arms. A rapid reaction force of the 82nd Airborne Division responded to attack with air support from B-1 bombers, F-16s and AC-130 gunships. Col. King said at a daily press briefing this morning that the AC-130s and Apaches were repeatedly engaged and the B-1 bombers dropped two 500-pound and 19 2,000-pounds bombs on the area during 12 hours of fighting. The rebel fighters, while loyal to Mr. Hekmatyar, have sympathies and possible links to the ousted Taliban and al-Qaida, said Col. King. The rebel group is thought to consist of mainly Afghans who are opposed to the American military presence in Afghanistan and to the government of President Hamid Karzai. There have been persistent reports in recent months that al-Qaida and Taliban members, together with Mr. Hekmatyar, have been planning new attacks on American and Afghan forces. United Nations officials said that in recent months rebels had been crossing the border from the Pakistan tribal areas and Afghan security officials warned that new attacks were imminent. Rebels have continued to launch small-scale attacks and fire rockets on American bases and personnel, but the U.S. military has stressed that enemy forces have not appeared capable of any large-scale operations. The rockets they fire rarely hit their targets, and grenade attacks and bombs planted have usually been improvised devices with a small amount of explosive. The recent fighting is the heaviest since a battle during the U.S.-led Operation Anaconda in March last year when some 2,000 U.S. troops were deployed in eastern Afghanistan. Seven American soldiers were killed and two helicopters were shot down in that battle. "It's the largest concentration of enemy forces since Operation Anaconda," Col. King. Some of the rebels were dug into caves, he said, a tactic that Taliban and al-Qaida fighters had used in battles last year. Heavy U.S. bombing finally dislodged them then, but Afghans in the eastern border areas said many of the fighters survived the bombing and managed to withdraw across the border into Pakistan where they found shelter with the local tribal population who are sympathetic to their cause.

To: William B. Kohn who wrote (69427)	1/28/2003 11:42:57 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

>>Still, if the US is so bad, I have to wonder why so many Chinese come to the US<< A lot of reasons: Most popular one: life is easier in the US - lower population density, less competition, less pollution… Amazingly, a lot of Chinese who have not done well, after coming to the US and got a Master/Ph.D degree, the quality of their personal life improved plenty. Although things are changing. And now less and less Chinese are willing come to the US, and much more are willing to go back to China after they got their degree, comparing to a decade ago. And it is still much harder to go into a college in China comparing to in the US because of the competition. Another reason, for their children. China has a huge population, and thus the competition is much more severe. An easy example, children with a mediocre grade in school in China can usually become a top performer in the US school once they overcome the language problem. There are a lot of research has shown the US K-10 education is pretty inefficient comparing to other developed countries, and they usually perform worse in the International competition. And I have some friends who want to go back now, but have not because of their children too. Children returned to China can hardly catch up if they join the same grade, not only because of they are weak in Chinese, they cannot catch up even in Mathematics, or other fields do not have much to do with language. Again, because of the different standard of K-10 education. As for higher education, the equipment in US universities are much better, after all China is a developing country, still poor. More reason, the unemployment rate is quite high in China now, much higher than in the US for sure. And the competition is very bad. In my own case, I do not think I can get a decent job if I go back to China now. But for sure, I would stay my retirement life back in China in future. Few, if any, come to the US because of the so-called political freedom. Yeah, there were/are some Chinese come to the US for “political asylum”. But they are far from typical. And I even know a couple of Chinese who are applying “political asylum” now, and the only reason for them to do so is because they are less competitive, and cannot get a permanent visa through a decent mean, and they are NOT going to be persecuted if they return to China as they claimed, they just want to stay here to live an easier life. >> If China is so good, why don't I see a massive departure of Americans wanting to migrate to China?<< You must be kidding me. Even if you have a little knowledge on why people migrate, you would not have asked this type of question. Why China adopted the one-child policy? Because the natural resource in China can hardly sustain the population as of now. And please do me a favor, do not even start me on the family planning policy in China. Go live in a big city in China for a year, and experience personally for that kind of density, physical space. Then speak from a local person point of view about whether the Chinese gov. should adopt a strict family-planning policy. I guess I really could not afford this kind of posting. I have a life to live except this<g>