Stardate 20011012.0939 (On Screen): United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson wants the US to stop making airstrikes for the four weeks to permit aid agencies to move enough food into Afghanistan to prevent wholesale starvation. There is no chance whatever of that happening. Once you begin an attack, you cannot stop and let your enemy recover. The Taliban are being hit with
weapons they've never encountered before and for the moment surprise is enhancing the effectiveness of those weapons. If they have a month to evaluate them and work out countermeasures (and there are countermeasures for every weapon short of a nuke) then our ability to fight and win this war could be severely harmed, possibly leading to a much higher casualty rate for American and allied troops if ground action begins. Also, they could use that time to reorganize and regain the control that
they seem to be losing. Another point is that if we stop now and wait until the snows come, then there is no longer any chance of winning this until next summer. If we continue, it's possible this may all be finished within the next 4 weeks. It's a small chance but a real one.
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