The United States and Taliban forces, a pair of sworn foes fighting bitterly on battlefields in Afghanistan, have released diametrically-opposed information on the issue concerning the incessant operation and ceasefire in the Afghan war recently.
The U.S. may double the number of troops that it has deployed in Afghanistan to 60,000 by next summer, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on December 20. The U.S. is expected to send 20,000 to 30,000 additional troops to this troubled, war-torn Asian nation next year to the aid of its existing 30,000-plus stationed troops, most to be diverted from Iraq.
As part of a buildup of forces, the 2,800-strong combat aviation brigade has been ordered to deploy in compliance with orders of Pentagon this week, which include Apache attack helicopter as well as Black Hawk and Chinook aircraft, and it is considered a support force and does not fill the need for four combat brigades.
Earlier, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar publicized a new proposal for peace in Afghanistan, which set forth as an important precondition the formulation of a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan. Among other items on Taliban agenda are also a role for Taliban representatives (to share power) in Provincial and National Government, and the remittion of armed Taliban insurgents and the Assimilation of Taliban fighters into Afghan Army, etc.
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is reported to have addressed the peace proposal to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US President George W. Bush care of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. The peace proposal however suggests changes with terms the Taliban had set for peace, noted the relevant parties, as it previously declared to reject all peace talks before the complete withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan is effected.
The current U.S. "significant" troop increase to Afghanistan, which Pentagon has called for, is the biggest-ever scheme in history. It illustrates at least the following points: First, Taliban's peace proposal has formally been rejected by the U.S. sternly. Second, the U.S. seems to have returned to its previous tough stance on the Afghan issue. Robert Gates, the U.S. defense secretary, said in October this year that Washington could 'completely" contemplate the idea of negotiating with the Taliban if the Karzai government hopes to get the Taliban into peace talks. This statement of Robert Gate's has apparently contradicted with the plan for a large-scale troop increase.
Third, the dispatch of additional troops on such a large scale can be taken for the denial of the Karzai government's efforts to get the Taliban into peace talks. Moreover, the unilateral move of the United States is also meant to its disappointment of NATO allies. The U.S. has all along urged and prompted its coalition allies to fulfill more 'duties" and 'obligations" on the issue of Afghanistan, but the latter could hardly meet its demands as far as troop dispatch or military spending are concerned.
Since the outbreak of the Afghan war, either the United States or its NATO allies have sent additional troops on several occasions. Opponents of the war are not defeated, however, and there are more Taliban fighters with more intensified operations. To date, there are 60,000 U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan, triple the number of the Taliban insurgents, which have barely reached around 20,000. Furthermore, the U.S.-led coalition forces are armed with much more sophisticated weaponry. These evidences give an eloquent proof that the present strategy of the U.S. cannot win this war on terror but will plunge its troops in a vicious circle of growing insecurity. So, owing to a massive troop increase, people can hardly see any hope for the U.S. to extricate itself from Afghanistan. As for ordinary Afghans, there is still no end in sight to their untold misery，hardships and sufferings.
By People's Daily Online and contributed by PD reporter Wang Nan
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