No one seems to be writing opinion pieces quite the way I would, so I decided to do it myself.

The name? Taverns are places where one goes to discuss the interesting events and things in the world, so this is my tavern.

I will offer my views on politics, economics, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I will occasionally publish the entire article from another journal for purposes of causing discussion.

 

Terror in Afghanistan

Three days after they were kidnapped by the Taliban, the bodies of Janad Gul and his fellow Afghani soldier, Alif Jan, were returned. They had been killed very cruelly - their noses and ears chopped off, their bones crushed, their throats ceremonially cut.

Top Afghan officials believe these killings are no aberration, but rather part of a campaign to intimidate Afghan soldiers and families - and to carry out promises in Taliban propaganda to torture and kill those who support the government of President Hamid Karzai.

The Al Qaeda and the Taliban have not given up in Afghanistan. They have regrouped, rearmed, and are now beginning to pick off soldiers and other supporters of the Karzai government. We Americans may lose an occasional soldier or two in Afghanistan, but the Afghans themselves are losing dozens each month. It is a war of ambush and terror, something many a Viet Nam veteran will remember.

The US will not be able to pull out of Afghanistan quickly unless we want the nation to go back to what it was before we attacked. We are stuck to the tar-baby. We better plan on spending more there. More money and more blood.

Christian Science Monitor
posted by Richard at 10:59 PM