- The Taliban are prepared for a long conflict and refer to Afghanistan's history of defeating larger military powers including the British. It has been pointed out that US involvement in Afghanistan has already lasted longer than WW1 and WW2 combined.
- Karzai is calling for peace. He wants the Taliban to lay down their weapons, and go home. He claims that this will be the focus of his next 5 years in office. 5 years!
- The US is prepard to escalate its involvement in Afghanistan with 21,000 more troops heading in this year, and with General McChrystal wanting more.
AlJazeera.net: Taliban prepared for 'a long war'
(Taliban leader Mullah Omar said) "Today we have strong determination ... we have preparedness for a long war and ... we will continue to wage jihad until we gain independence and force the invaders to pull out."
(Karzai said) "On this auspicious day, once again I ask all those Afghan brothers who are unhappy or are in others' hands to stop fighting, destroying their own land and killing their own people..."
The US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is expected to ask for thousands more troops in coming weeks, even though public support for the war is waning.
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