Motorbike Forums, Motorcycle Articles, Motorbike Reviews, Used Motorbikes, Motorbike Parts, Motorbike Spares Register.Click to visit this Sponsor
Register Forums TRC Trader Reviews Articles TRC Vault


This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Originally Posted by balbas You won't see me around these parts much anymore for a variety of reasons. However, it occurred to me when reading ...


Go Back   Homepage > Community @ The Rev Counter > The Rev Counter > General Mayhem

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 18-02-09, 10:04   #46
Pax
Commuter Belter
 
Pax's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Hell On Earth
Posts: 4,556
Casino cash: £1322606
Blog Entries: 2
Thanks: 87
Thanked: 10/10
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Quote:
Originally Posted by balbas View Post
You won't see me around these parts much anymore for a variety of reasons. However, it occurred to me when reading a weekly email I get from an old chum of mine that the news doesn't really convey what's going on in Afghanistan at the moment, so I thought I'd post up here some parts of the email I got this week, to give a flavour of what's happening. Some stuff is edited out, but hopefully it still makes sense.
First time I spotted this thread. I'm always in many minds about what I think about our presence in Afghanistan.

But either way, in isolation, I like these bits of info as to what's actually going on on the ground there. I dislike the lack of quality info from the media(operational secrecy issues notwithstanding), considering our army is in a real conflict situation and taking casualties. Please keep it up Balbas, if you get more .

Pax is offline   Reply With Quote
These advertisements are reduced in size when you become a registered member and removed when you become a TRC Supporter / Sponsor member.

Old 18-02-09, 10:30   #47
Not Much To Do

 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 937
Casino cash: £1159150
Blog Entries: 2
Thanks: 7
Thanked: 5/5
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Quote:
Originally Posted by demographic View Post
This might seem like a stupid question but what is our primary objective over there?

Britian got sick of throwing men and funds at the place years ago, then the americans threw funds at the place to give the Soviets a "Vietnam" now we are the army of occupation again.
The Afghans must be getting pissed off with it being a constant battle ground by now.

All I can see (from my nice comfy seat in England admittedly) is its radicalising more and more muslims and as they seem to see it as the west on yet another crusade it seems counterproductive to me.
Al Quaeeda must be getting donations from all over the place now, mostly due to our meddling.

I feel sorry for the poor sods who have to go over there and fight but I'm not sure its doing any good.
Can anyone enlighten me and tell me what we are hoping to achieve?
AFAIK the primary is to keep the turrists on the back foot and to help establish a pro-western or at least western tolerant Afghan.

The tribes in the region have been used to getting pasted since Alexander the Great. All foreign armies have invaded easily and then been bled as the tribes retreat and fight from the mountains which give them home advantage. When not fighting foreigners, they fight each other and the inter-tribal politics is complex. The situation is not heped by artificial borders on the Indian and Pakistani sides arbitrarily bisecting tribes. By and large the Taliban took power originally after protracted to-and-fro battles with the Northern Alliance (mostly mudjhadeen) - to deny the mudjhadeen the country. Post American intervention, Karzai was installed as he is apparently descendant from the old Durrani royal lineage and is an ethnic pashtun, which traditionally helped. Problem being that you also have Ghilzai who were waging jihad against foreigners before the word was known in the west (circa 1800's set to with the British). For most part most "Afghans" see the Taliban as knobs, and people celebrated when they were routed from Kabul, but are now aboviously growing weary of continuing occupation and civilian casualties.

HTH.
Hawkman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 10:51   #48
Holiday Racer
 
Tomcat's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dahn sarf
Posts: 12,435
Casino cash: £2080044
Blog Entries: 9
Thanks: 147
Thanked: 142/130
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

From what I've gleaned from various papers, websites etc, that ^ is a very accurate summation of the situation.

Demo's point however is still very relevant. The objective must be to set up a western-sympathetic government with enough resolve and means to keep the nutjobs in the north in check. Whether they will ever be able to do that is the big question, and the longer our guys stay there the longer they are target practice and provide a rallying point to the opposition which the Islamists will use to recruit from among the nationalists and train their own out of country jihadis.

Never break more than one law at a time, and never carry more grass than you are willing to eat.
Tomcat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 11:46   #49
Really Bored

 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Royston Vasey on Sea
Posts: 4,675
Casino cash: £600
Thanks: 11
Thanked: 44/44
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

And there was me thinking it was about cutting down the supply of heroin to the US and UK.
Julian_Boolean is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 11:55   #50
Holiday Racer
 
Tomcat's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dahn sarf
Posts: 12,435
Casino cash: £2080044
Blog Entries: 9
Thanks: 147
Thanked: 142/130
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Quote:
Originally Posted by Julian_Boolean View Post
And there was me thinking it was about cutting down the supply of heroin to the US and UK.
On the radio news this morning, joint forces have destroyed a stockpile of heroin with est street value of £50m.

One of the effects of our 'liberation' was that the Taliban, for all their faults, strongly disapproved of drugs. With them gone the hill farmers and warlords have returned to their historic crop production, seeing as they have no other means of making a living.

Never break more than one law at a time, and never carry more grass than you are willing to eat.
Tomcat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 12:12   #51
Really Bored
 
Byker28i's Avatar

 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,093
Casino cash: £1780070
Thanks: 0
Thanked: 4/4
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

There's a guy from Swindon trying to encourage tehm to grow pomegranates rather than poppies. Apparently that was their traditional crop...


Tackling The Heroin Menace With Pomegranates

BBC NEWS | England | Pomegranates over poppies


Byker28i is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 12:12   #52
Should Get Out More
 
balbas's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SW England
Posts: 6,135
Casino cash: £1284000
Thanks: 35
Thanked: 40/39
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jewell View Post
Certainly different from the e-mails I get from the Stan.
IIRC most of your mates are 'Royal'. This chap isn't, but he is Cdo trained and works with the brigade, albeit as a percy. I don't see why the experiences your mates are having would be vastly different tbh. Fair enough if they are though, post some up, would probably be interesting for the folks here to get a different perspective.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jewell View Post
IEDs, man they suck bad, would hate to go that way.
Quite. Are you 'Royal' now btw? I vaguely remember a convo I had with you saying you were joining up with the intention of getting to CTC-RM asap but that you hadn't yet. If so, fair play, if not yet, good luck, mate of mine (ex para reg) has just gone through and found it 'emotional', although by all accounts he passed with flying colours.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pax View Post
First time I spotted this thread. I'm always in many minds about what I think about our presence in Afghanistan.

But either way, in isolation, I like these bits of info as to what's actually going on on the ground there. I dislike the lack of quality info from the media(operational secrecy issues notwithstanding), considering our army is in a real conflict situation and taking casualties. Please keep it up Balbas, if you get more .
Aye, I may well do chap. I have to be a little careful about what I post though. I could get myself/others in trouble if I posted some of the stuff I get sent

MC011
balbas is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 12:26   #53
At Work
 
Jewell's Avatar

 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Landan/Aldershot/Fareham
Posts: 1,469
Casino cash: £801
Thanks: 3
Thanked: 7/6
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

I was actually supposed to start nearly a year ago...I started then left as my old man passed leaving me to sort everything as everyone else was busy.

Sorted things,cleared head etc, had some fun now ball rolling again.

This is by far the easiest job to apply for and has taken me the longest to start....very irritating. Waiting for minor Op on lower back, 3 weeks for stitches to come out which is another pain as I didn't expect to have it and was supposed to start last week.
fuck my luck.

Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver

Jewell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 12:29   #54
Should Get Out More
 
balbas's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SW England
Posts: 6,135
Casino cash: £1284000
Thanks: 35
Thanked: 40/39
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jewell View Post
I was actually supposed to start nearly a year ago...I started then left as my old man passed leaving me to sort everything as everyone else was busy.

Sorted things,cleared head etc, had some fun now ball rolling again.

This is by far the easiest job to apply for and has taken me the longest to start....very irritating. Waiting for minor Op on lower back, 3 weeks for stitches to come out which is another pain as I didn't expect to have it and was supposed to start last week.
fuck my luck.
Good luck to you then. Best get the back sorted properly before you get in IMO, from what I've heard any injuries you're already carrying will just get worse when you're there and you won't want to be back trooped.

Good luck though, it's an awesome achievment to get the green lid.

MC011
balbas is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 16:21   #55
TNT
 
icarus1859's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: All over the bastard place just lately
Posts: 7,902
Casino cash: £1559250
Thanks: 10
Thanked: 8/8
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

No one calls it 'the stan', in the same way that no one calls Iraq the 'sandbox'.

Well at least they didn't, although now everyone and his dog has been there they've probably even 'chavved' that as well.

Wolf in wolfs clothing.
icarus1859 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-02-09, 19:43   #56
At Work
 
Jewell's Avatar

 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Landan/Aldershot/Fareham
Posts: 1,469
Casino cash: £801
Thanks: 3
Thanked: 7/6
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Quote:
Originally Posted by icarus1859 View Post
No one calls it 'the stan', in the same way that no one calls Iraq the 'sandbox'.

Well at least they didn't, although now everyone and his dog has been there they've probably even 'chavved' that as well.

never heard of the sandbox.

Ive heard the Stan used a fuck load of times before tho.

Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver

Jewell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-09, 15:08   #57
Should Get Out More
 
balbas's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SW England
Posts: 6,135
Casino cash: £1284000
Thanks: 35
Thanked: 40/39
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Just had another email from my mate who is nearing the end of his tour. Won't post the whole thing for a variety of reasons, but there are some interesting (to me anyway) extracts below

Quote:
Originally Posted by balbas' mate
A new type of IED was found during a route clearance near KJI. The ‘spider’ remote device has not been seen before in the KJI AO. Pakistani fighters are known to be operating in the area.

Discussed at the coordinating meeting for the vigil and repatriation arrangements for the 3 casualties from 1 Rifles killed last week on Route 1. The device was a command wire IED concealed in a culvert underneath the road. There had not been an attack along the road since Sept 08. 200kg of HME were detonated by a wire 475mt long. 2 pressure plate IEDs were layed along the wire to deter/kill any IED clearance teams. On the same day a Royal Marine died in hospital in the UK after being flown home the previous week.

The Iranians have been said to have supplied SA14 anti-aircraft missile systems to the TB. No evidence has been found to suggest that it’s been deployed in Helmand.

A lad from the GMLRS battery was flown back to UK after becoming ill. The symptoms looked a lot like a bad hangover. Anyone caught drinking is fined £2000 and RTU’d (sent home).

MC011
balbas is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-09, 15:27   #58
Not Much To Do

 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 638
Casino cash: £503700
Thanks: 0
Thanked: 1/1
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Fined for being drunk? So there are no stand down periods where a section or fire team can let their hair down?

You mean to say that the tommies don't go out of their firebase for a kick around with the TB?

War...It's just not cricket.

You can run.....but you'll only die tired.
Skunkmiester is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-09, 15:34   #59
At Work
 
Jewell's Avatar

 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Landan/Aldershot/Fareham
Posts: 1,469
Casino cash: £801
Thanks: 3
Thanked: 7/6
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Thats sucks for being fined big time and sent home....

Surprise the Iranians being mentioned again, fuckers.

My mate told how about 30 Marines got into "contact" with the Iranians at the border "by accident"....video footage is insane, obviously not on the internet.

Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver

Jewell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-09, 15:46   #60
Should Get Out More
 
balbas's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SW England
Posts: 6,135
Casino cash: £1284000
Thanks: 35
Thanked: 40/39
Default Re: This week I will mainly be talking about Afghanistan

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jewell View Post
My mate told how about 30 Marines got into "contact" with the Iranians at the border "by accident"....video footage is insane, obviously not on the internet.
I might have accidentally done that too once upon a time.

MC011
balbas is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes



All times are GMT. The time now is 15:25.


Powered by vBulletin® - Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.2.0
Term, Conditions & Privacy · The contents of this webpage are copyright © Dragon Tree. Community members retain copyright to and responsibility for all materials they submit.
Advertise with TRC