Keep on writing Rosaliene
I am Mother.
Created by Father.
A complex scientific birthing process, they say.
I weighed over twenty-one thousand pounds at birth.
Father spared no expense;
he happily paid the $314 million.
I carried you for nine months
in the womb, my child.
I almost lost you, you know.
They closed the clinic
where I used to get healthcare.
I am Mother.
Created by Father.
My over-pressure waves obliterate
everything & everyone within a one-mile radius.
Look at me with awe & trepidation.
I am Death.
Where is Father?
I am cold & hungry, Mother.
He abandoned us, my child—
to pursue his dreams
of dominating the world.
I am Mother.
Created by Father.
He dropped me from the sky
to plummet to the earth.
My body detonated into gazillion atoms.
My soul became a black hole.
I am beautiful.
I am strong.
I am invincible.
Created in Father’s image.
I…
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2 USA soldiers killed fighting Isis in Afghanistan region hit by ‘mother of all bombs’
The announcement comes just days after Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis’ visit
Mythili Sampathkumar | Independent UK
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said that the US personnel were killed overnight in the Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan.
Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump confirmed to The Independent that the soldiers were killed while fighting ISIS-Khorosan, the local affiliate of the terror group.
This is the “same general area” – southern Nangarhar province – where the massive ordnance air blast, dubbed the “mother of all bombs” (MOAB) was dropped earlier this month, Mr Stump said.
The 22,000lb MOAB was used to target caves and tunnels used by Isis fighters and killed anywhere from 36 to 100 members of the group, however further details have not been confirmed.
Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis recently visited Afghanistan to discuss Donald Trump’s strategy in the war and conduct an assessment. The USA has had a continuous military presence in the country since 2001, making it the longest US war.
This is the third incident in which USA soldiers have died while fighting in Afghanistan this year.
NB: The author did not mention it, but this is called “friendly fire” … who needs enemies, I ask you? I’m on your side, Man …. Oooops – Too late!
Posts by: M K Bhadrakumar – Indian Punchline
MOAB Boomerangs on US Troops in Afghanistan
The BBC’s first-hand report from the remote site in the southern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar where the USA dropped the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) on April 13 is both shocking and funny. It highlights that MOAB was all baloney – a theatrical act by Pentagon commanders.
The MOAB was apparently not as powerful as we all were led to believe. The Afghans are saying, “There are still green trees standing 100m away from the site of the impact. Daesh hasn’t gone anywhere; there are hundreds of caves like the one the Americans bombed… [MOAB] was a trick to show the world that their mission was going well. But this wasn’t the type of bomb they showed in the media. The bomb did nothing… Let Americans bring down a bigger one, this one was small.” The BBC reports:
A couple of kilometres from the frontline, ordinary life was continuing. Women carried water, boys played cricket and people went about their daily tasks… Back in the hills, Hakim Khan and his friends were listening in to ISIS fighters communicating via walkie-talkies with the help of their radio. The fighters were reassuring each other and communicating with their comrades in a neighbouring district. A border police officer wondered aloud if the commitment of the Trump administration would match that of ISIS.
The bad thing about the BBC report is that we have to give a decent burial to the baseless, speculative report in the Indian Express that the MOAB finished off the commander of “Kerala Islamic State”. But issues remain.
Any old-timer would know that Afghans have a native intelligence that is astonishing. The big question is: What do they make out of the MOAB act? There are snide remarks heard in the Afghan bazaar. To be sure, Trump’s credibility has taken a blow. In the Afghan bazaar, he looks boastful, and that would have consequences. For, there is NOTHING WORSE than the Afghan losing his fear of Trump.
The MOAB betrays that the US has neither a war strategy nor the self-confidence that it can reverse the tide of the war. By the way, the briefing by the “senior administration official” in the White House who briefed the media last Thursday regarding NSA Lt. Gen. HR McMaster’s regional tour also conveyed much the same impression.
The Taliban also seem to read the tea leaves that way. They have decided that this year’s “Spring Offensive” codenamed Operation Mansouri, which began at 5 am on Friday, will be principally targeting USA forces in Afghanistan. Their statement says:
The main focus of Operation Mansouri will be on foreign forces, their military and intelligence infrastructure and in eliminating their internal mercenary apparatus. These operations will involve conventional attacks, guerrilla warfare, complex martyrdom attacks, insider attacks, and use of IEDs to achieve their objectives.
The Taliban’s estimation could be that with the USA hopelessly engaged on the Korean Peninsula and unable to extricate itself out of Syria and Iraq anytime soon, they have the upper hand in the Afghan war. A BLOODY SUMMER lies ahead for USA troops in Afghanistan.
Under the circumstances, will Trump commit “thousands more” troops to Afghanistan? Or, will he prefer the “regional perspective” and engage with Pakistan to rein in Taliban attacks? Indeed, it will blast Trump’s carefully cultivated strongman-image if BODY-BAGS start arriving from Afghanistan.
All in all, MOAB STIRRED UP THE HORNET’S NEST. It was crass sensitivity that Pentagon commanders fancied they could wound Afghan national pride by dropping MOAB on their hapless country, use it as photo-op, and thereafter get away with it. Their best choice in the period ahead should be to keep their head beneath the parapet, hold back the itch to resume combat missions, and instead quietly lead the Afghan forces from the rear.
Barack Obama did this brilliantly and kept war casualty low since 2014, which was politically important, and instead prioritized the establishment of the military bases, which is a long-term project of strategic consequence . Trump’s mistake is that he has outsourced his Afghan and Syrian wars to his generals so that he can concentrate on North Korea (and China relations.) But Clausewitzean wars are serious business to be left to the generals. Trump will learn his lesson the hard way in Afghanistan.