Todays Washington Post has an article by Griff Witte about the suicide bombing that occurred in Afghanistan when VP Cheney was there.
Oddly enough the weapon of the Palestinians (suicide bombing) seems to Mr. Witte to be a weapon of strength and cunning vs the weapon of the weak and powerless. After the US officials disputed the claim by the Taliban that Cheney was the intended target Mr. Witte notes that:
Regardless of the intent, the attack demonstrated that insurgents in Afghanistan are becoming increasingly bold, willing to attack a heavily fortified U.S. target in the face of unusually tight security.
Really? I’m kind of thinking a full frontal attack similar to the fake one done by these living jihadists would be bolder. Sending a suicide bomber to attack a US base and then having him blow himself up before reaching an inner circle of the place is a sign of boldness? Why? The guy was going to die. Either by boldly attacking and going out with a fight aka Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or by blowing himself up and maybe taking a few with him. I would call “bold” the former and not the latter. But this guy quoted in the article disagrees:
“This attack is a reflection of their new capabilities, which they’ve developed in the last year or two through their connections with the transnational extremists,” said Ali Ahmad Jalali, former interior minister of Afghanistan.
Suicide bombing “develops” their capabilities? I would say that this shows a level of desperation seen among people who can’t think of a way to win their position other than to make the enemy get tired of dealing with them. ie Palestinians.
As a matter of fact, I don’t remember there being suicide bombers when the Afghans were fighting the Soviets. From a history page I get this:
The Soviets, and the Soviet-backed Afghan government, were met with fierce popular resistance. Guerrilla forces, calling themselves mujahideen, pledged a jihad, or holy war, to expel the invaders. Initially armed with outdated weapons, the mujahideen became a focus of U.S. cold war strategy against the Soviet Union, and with Pakistan’s help, Washington began funneling sophisticated arms to the resistance. Moscow’s troops were soon bogged down in a no-win conflict with determined Afghan fighters.
I’m not suggesting that these jihadists act more like the mujahideen during the Soviet occupation, I’m reminding a reporter that suicide bombing is the last refuge of the weak, not the strong.
