Samantha Atkins wrote:
>
> Greg Burch wrote:
> >
> > This was sent to me and is the kind of thing that has to be thrown into the
> > mix:
> >
>
> This is a very good piece. I question one thing though. Why do
> we have to move the troops through Pakistan? Can we airdrop
> enough troops and supplies for what needs to be done?
There is the possibility of staging through Russia and Tajikistan, which
has had significant problems with Taliban infiltration over the border.
Pakistan, though, does have a longer history of cooperation with the US
(we have taken their side in every war they've had with India, and
supplied them with jets and armor against the Migs and Tuplolevs the
USSR sold the Indians) and there are supposedly some training bases for
Taliban in Pakistan that I'm sure we'd like them to shut down for us.
The Russians see this as simply an extension of the Chechnya problem
they've been dealing with, with Chechens having committed similar
terrorist attacks in Moscow and other cities as well as murdering
moderate Chechens who collaborated with the Russians.
The Chechen War they've been fighting does indicate the sort of
difficulties we are likely to face in a widespread war, though the
Russian weaponry is several generations behind the US, and they have
nothing like our C3I infrastructure. Their logistical situation is a
nightmare, and the quality of that which they do receive is also
pathetic.
I am sure that the Russians are salivating at the chance to upgrade
their equipment and jump back on the US supply gravy train they had
during WWII.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:49 MDT