Times London:
American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban.
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WHY Afghanistan? C@spian sea 01L pipeline is major reason!
1. B!n L@den is NOT there! He is bel!eved De@d!
2. al q@eda, a mobile groups perhaps less than a thousand, is deployed all over the world!
3. C@spian sea 01L pipeline is major reason! To stop Rvssia+Chin@ from access to that 01L
Chin@ has tried to buy Un0cal and therefore take control of the pipeline but that requires congressional approval and eighteen republican senators lobbied hard for the sale to chin@.
4. Profiteering: Bl@ckwater me_rcen@ries OUTNUMBER SOLDIERS on the ground in Afgh@nistan
Funds from that W@R Could be Convert America to renewable, cheap, clean forms of energy, to rendered 01L moot and take our government back from the ne0cons who use w@r as a financially benefit.
[Thanks peacekitten]
Loya Jirga ask the Pashtun to conveing and apoint a leader to make Peace. We can then leave with an agreement from our soCalledEnemy.
We can make peace with the Taliban. There is no reason not too and much to gain if we do.
The US has been in Aghanistan for 8 years and Iraq for 6½. WWII lasted 6 years, of which the US was involved for a little under 4 years and Korea took up about 3 years.
Vietnam (aka The Second Indochina War) lasted anything from 9 years (direct involvement of US ground troops) to 16 years.
As the Brits found out between 1836-1919, the Afghans hated foreign rule and with the help of the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, eventually rid themselves of the Russians who were there from 1979-1989. This is a tribal nation with a long history of assasinating leaders, resistance of foreign rule/invasions and corruption.
If we have not resolved the issues there after 8 years, no matter whose fault it is, we are unlikely to achieve anything of significance now.
Yes, it is depressing. I know! Let's invade Syria; that's where Saddam's WMD went, right?
Yeah, well it's still and always has been Bush's war.
"Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin wrote a note to her Facebook followers stressing her belief that the additional troops were integral to success in Afghanistan. In September, she joined Karl Rove, William Kristol, David Frum, Robert Kagan, and more 30 other conservatives in signing a letter that urges the president to "give our commanders on the ground the forces they need to implement a successful counterinsurgency strategy." On Tuesday, Sen. John McCain told reporters that he was "very convinced that General McChrystal's analysis is not only correct but should be employed as quickly as possible."
There is simply nothing more that needs to be said. If these consistently wrong pontificaters are for more troops, we can depend on that being exactly what we should not do. It's become an axiom.
Good- we can send TrackMarks over...Sar
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Alaska Business Monthly, Palin Interview-- March 2007
ABM: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?
Palin: "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployment
The U.S. could buy the entire opium harvest and process it into harmless organic fertilizer. It would be a start.
Unfortunately the money will end up in the hands of the Taliban.
What happens with the "money" is another matter. Cash currency does not necessarily have to be involved. If the system were nationalized, the Afghan government could minimize the risk However corruption would still be a major problem but that will never go away.
Don't think so.
Right now, the farmers get $100 USD per kilo for the raw opium....f
We should be buying.
Of course, we would get into a bidding war with the Tali, but who cares?
The farmers SOL would raise dramatically and we can beat any Tali bid.
That's an entirely rational idea, therefore it will be discounted by first the generals in the Pentagon and then by civilian military advisers in the White House and Congress.
" If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them."
Sun Tzu
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The bond between poppy growers and the Taliban needs to be broken. The fields need to be burned.
Like that.
That will certainly make the farmers friends of the USA.......
"When you employ the army, a victory that is long in coming will blunt their weapons and dampen their ardor. If you expose the army to a prolongued campaign, the state's resources will not be adequate. When our weapons have grown dull and spirits depressed, when our strength has been expended and resources consumed, then the feudal lords will take advantage of our exhaustion to arise. Although you have wise generals, they will not be able to achieve a good result. Thus, in military campaigns, I have heard of awkward speed but see no skill in lengthy campaigns. No country has ever profited from protracted warfare."
-Sun Tzu
The Art Of War
Ergo,
To defeat a terrorist, BE a terrorist.
Or go home.
..And that one as well
You can't overthrow a society of warlords and tribal chiefs with absolutely no respect for authority.
Also, history shows us that Afghanistan is not going to allow anyone to overthrow their country, and why should they? Would the US allow Afghanistan to occupy our land?
They don't care about US interests, nor do they respect our military.
The job of the soldier is hard enough, and now it is twice as hard dealing with an enemy that is not easily recognized.
I say we get out of Afghanistan and Iraq NOW, and focus on the issues at home.
Ditto that!
To defeat a terrorist, BE a terrorist - Sun Tzu
Approach with stealth .... brutally strike... withdraw with stealth
Repeat as necessary.
Can't stomach that strategy, then withdraw.
Unfortunately, you have fallen for the propaganda. Taliban are not terrorists and do not have a worldwide startegy. They are a nationalistic regional uprising.
Imagine republican's finally dusting off their guns and deciding to take back America...
Kind of like that.
This "thoughtful deliberation" time makes no sense! He's been CIC since Jan. He sent more troops, he's got the General he picked in charge.
Has he been unaware of what has been going on in Afghan. since he last got involved?
Has he been updated by Gates and co. daily, or at least weekly?
The situation has not changed dramaticly - same activity only more of it! Wars are not static! They change by the minute.
What is different? What has changed?
Give McChrystal what he wants or leave!
You say the situation has not changed.
Are you not totally ignoring the election that is widely viewed as corrupt?
Propping up one or another totally corrupt regime will only lead to the same response we got for propping up corrupt regimes in Vietnam.
t is time for us to admit the war was lost years ago through our own negligence and it is time to draw down and move out. We have already failed and to stay will just lead to more failure.
Originally, the Afghanistans were pleased that the USA stepped in to help them and they willingly joined with our troops to fight in the war.
Then Bush abandoned them and war contractors supplied them with dummy ammunition which could not kill their enemy. They were misled and misused by the American government and suffered the consequences in their villages for taking up arms against those who held power over them. BUSH FAILED THEM.
When O was elected he moved back into Afghanistan to continue the original efforts. Unfortunately, everything has deteriorated and the Afghanistan people no longer trust America. They suffered far too much from the original stand that they will not assist us. They are ruled by a corrupt government and the Afghanistan people are morally defeated. When you have neither the government nor its people on your side it is a lost cause. It is now too little too late.
We must realign our focus on Al'Qaeda.
Although some in India say they haven't done such a great job since the British departed, it's true that India would not be the democracy it is today if not for the British.
Can the U.S. do for Afghanistan what the British did for India? Probably not unless the U.S. makes Afghanistan part of an American "empire" for a few decades until it is time to leave for good. This is the quandary that exists. Some now in Afghanistan such as Afghan women want the U.S. to stay, because they see the empowerment of many women in India, and would like to live in a comparable society. Unfortunately the majority of the American public is not ready or willing to make such an astronomical investment in blood, treasure and other resources.
Andrea Castillo
I did.
My original post was along the lines of: "What is the purpose of the US military? Why are we in Afghanistan trying to prop up their government?"
Hume then said that the President's plan was to diminish the capabilities and threat of al-Q@eda in the region.
My post points out that Afghanistan is not the best venue from which to attempt this.
His questions were a bit irrelevant to the point that I was trying to make. But that's good old Hume for ya! Always nit-picking.
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No, he was not nit-picking. He answered your question and responded to your opinion, which were, respectively: (1) "Why are we in Afghanistan?"; and (2) we are in Afghanistan to prop up its government.
He answered your question by pointing out that we are there because we had been att acked, not to nation build. In response to both your question and opinion, he gave following measures, which simultaneously imply the reasons we are there, as well as provide a way to begin to leave:
(i) Deplete al Qaeda capabilities and support in Afghanista
(ii) Create conditions (through economic aid and training) that minimize the chance of al Qaeda re-grouping in that region.
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First Posted: 10- 7-09 10:46 PM | Updated: 10- 8-09 12:37 AM