A Rude Awakening in Kabul, Afghanistan

Kristi - you are amazing ... keep up the great work!!

I work for U.S. European Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany. We are not the European Union. Here is a link for their Web site to learn more about them. http://europa.eu/ A great deal of what we do at U.S. European Command is in support of NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization www.nato.int. I am here in Kabul right now in support of NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. Hope this helps!

Sir, That was quite a bit more than I experienced, definitely! Thank you for your service to our great country. It is because of you and so many others that we have the freedom we have today. I salute you!

I suggest anyone who is willing to give their life for something they believe in - including the Taliban - is not a coward. We may find their methods reprehensible, but cowards they are not. I suspect they truly believe in their "jihad" as well as the value of "martyrdom", including when the "martyrdom" extends to innocent men, women and children. I surmise they see the loss of civilians as collateral of the fighting in promoting their way of life, much in the same light as we see the unfortunate loss of innocent life to promote our vision of Afghanistan - a sad consequence of war. What we now term as "terrorists", in another time were "freedom fighters of Afghanistan" (President Reagan's words) railing against the Soviet oppressors. The antecedents of the current fighters fought as our proxy in the Cold War. If I am left with one impression, it is that for the scrabble of dust, dirt and rock that we will leave behind someday, these warriors you are facing are willing to risk it all to achieve their aims. We should be thankful they are not as well funded or resourced as our side is, and that they don't have the advantage of technology that our side has - or this would be a significantly different battle. If they had a fraction of our sides resources I doubt they would resort to suicidal attacks. At the risk of speaking for David, I suspect he is just trying to connect the motives of today's attack in Kabul with the recent loss of civilians. I am not sure his comment was attempting to justify the recent attack you experienced or to indicate that he does not understand that there will be losses on all sides. Respectfully, C.P.

Thank you for your additional insight, Maj Hillman. Yes, I failed to make that distinction and it must be a factor in any discussion. In terms of understanding the Taliban with a capital 'T' I don't think the challenge is to change their beliefs anymore than we can change the belief or value system of any people. That said, we cannot forsake an attempt to influence the Taliban with a capital 'T'. We cannot give up on that mental exercise and investigation. Otherwise, we resign our forces to killing, maiming or injuring the Taliban with a capital 'T' to eliminate that threat. My comment was intended to encourage us to try to think as they do. If we try to think as they do, then perhaps we can discover their pressure points and gain insight into what incentives they may respond to. An improved understanding of the Taliban with a capital 'T' can assist in making the Taliban less effective. This intellectual exercise is also about messaging, and that messaging goes well beyond the borders of Afghanistan. If we want men to stay at home rather than travel hundreds or thousands of miles to join the Taliban then we have to make it less attractive for those men. Something is motivating young and old to join a force that we perceive to be destabilizing and counter-productive to an enduring Afghan state. The question is why? What is the incentive to make such a choice? Until that is truly understood then we will just kill or injure Taliban with a capital 'T' replacements. The same insight you have into the small 'T' Taliban came from similar investigations. There is more to this than we know at present. Respectfully, C.P.

Excellent post. Another excellent use of social media. Thank you. Keep up the good work. Although seemingly incomprehensible from our framework, those "maniacs" believe they are doing the best they can for their nation, tribe, people, religion, etc. They are willing to lay down their lives to achieve their aims. Until we step out of our reference points and truly understanding their perspectives and motivation we will never really get ahead of these attacks, and we will be perpetually left to respond to heart pounding insanity. Best wishes, and good luck.

Seems like this might be revenge for the heaps of civilians NATO has bombed in the last few days.

C.P. Smith I do believe you are right, but there is one thing I’d like to tell you about. There are 2 types of Taliban; the ones with a little ‘t’ and the ones with the capital ‘T’. Though they are doing the same things there is a huge difference between the two. You are referring to Taliban with the capital ‘T’. They are truly dedicated and willing to give their lives for what they believe in. We will not be able to change their beliefs no matter what we do. Our goal is to reach the taliban with the small ‘t’. They are the ones who are not the true believers. They do what they do because it is a job and it gives them money to feed, clothe and shelter their family. If we (the military in concert with the Ministry of the Interrior and Ministry of Defense) can get them to lay down their arms and fight for the Afghan National Secuity Forces we will succeed.

David, All the taliban is trying to do is put the spotlight on themselves. They are trying to bring attention to themselves and they are extremely cowardly individuals. NATO troops are doing everything possible, to the utmost extent, to limit civilian casualties. This is a top priority but unfortunately we are up against terrorists and they have no laws, no rules, no problem putting innocent civilians in harms way. There was an excellent story written recently by The Christian Science Monitor that I think you should read. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0222/Afghanistan-war-challenge-civilian-deaths-from-NATO-airstrike It's a very telling story of the challenges we face everyday in Afghanistan. Gen. McCrystal's number one priority, that takes a back seat to killing insurgents, is protecting civilians. Bottom line is that we are at war. There will be civilian casualites and U.S. and coalition troops will lose their lives. If you don't understand that, then I don't know what to tell you. But we are willing to put our lives on the line for the good of Afghanistan and its people.

I remember another war, and another time when at 400 hours on February-3-1968 I was awoken ,the same way. In the space of two cities blocks, 21 rockets hit our base. All of this in two o three minutes . Running for your weapons, putting on someone else boots. Screaming in the dark. Sheer terror. Lucky for us nobody got more than a stubbed toe. Major Beckman like someone said once, "I feel your pain". I'm thankful for your service

Thanks for your thoughts, C.P. You put it a bit more nicely than David did and I am sure that he meant just what he wrote. Losing innocent civilians isn't easy for any of us. Neither is losing our troops. We strive everyday to protect innocent civilians and help the Afghan military and government grow strong so they in turn can protect their people and we can one day pull out of here with full hearts knowing that what we did indeed made a difference.

So who do you work for? European Union (EUCOM) or Nato? or United States? Or better yet should I ask if there's a difference anymore or are said entities one in the same?