There's a reason the Russians went bankrupt trying to "tame" Afghanistan. We're on the same well-worn path. ....
.....It's a bitter taste in my mouth, since I had such high hopes of freeing them from the Taliban's oppression. But we made too many mistakes early on, and the opportunity was squandered. It's over.
As someone in Afghanistan I totally support the War and say we stay in until we finish the job.
I'll be in Leatherneck in April. My team is headed more west there after.
According to Obama's National Security Council, our current purpose in Afghanistan is to degrade the Taliban rather than defeat them (which is problematic, too costly, and too time consuming). However, I think it is a fool's game as long as sanctuary exists in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Provinces. In addition, we are also in the unenviable position of protecting the extremely corrupt Karzai government.
Karzai is temporary. What we are seeing and working on today is mere foundation. The majority of all Afghainstan has no problem with the Pasthun (Pathans) being the government as long as it respects tribal soveriegnty to certain capacities. The ongoing efforts of training and advising ANSF/ANAF is about ensuring that the Pathan government can deliver greater security and support to the tribes than the Pakistan based Tali-Ban. The Tali-Ban's history of abuse and disrespect towards some of these tribes have gone a long way in supporting the effort. Granted, coalition forces have proven to be more useless than useful because of their tendency to hunker down and wait the mission out, but this is why Patreaus has been replacing coalition and U.S. Army trainer teams with Marines. Getting out of Afghanistan means you have to push forward. This is something that coalition forces did not do while we were focusing more on getting Iraq to the other side.
Taliban is on the defensive. They are losing there man power and resources. Example 80% of there IEDS are now found before they can be used. Like MSgt said the ANA/ANP are starting to take the lead and take the fight to the Taliban. We Marines are doing are job we training up the Locals will killing the Taliban.
FABULOUS!!! A+++++!
Being ex-Army, are there any successful BCTs/Army missions in spreading the 4-block war principles to provincial tribes? I thought the Army got pretty capable at counterinsurgency under Petreaus in Iraq.
What they need is a pro-Afghanistan government, which is nearly impossible. Afghanistan is far from being ready for this. They may be where Germany or Italy were in previous centuries.From a pragmatic point of view, a stable, pro-west democracy would be very beneficial in a resource rich country such as Afghanistan, and could help stabilize the region, and my personal point of view is that the Afghan people deserve a stable democracy. They just need to be left alone, we must learn to respect others and not to meddle...
No it's not worth it. It doesn't seem the people there are even interested in a free society, therefor they won't be free. All attempts to enforce such ideals will continue the police state there which doesn't even accomplish the goal of liberation. It's a bottomless pit we can keep throwing cash and lives into. There are reportedly some untapped resources there besides opium... Probably enough for most of us to keep sacrificing so only a few can exploit those resources unfortunately...
<snip>
If that isn't wasn't enough to overcome, Afghanistan is a tribal society. Tribal. Each tribe has its own set of laws, its own council of elders, and they don't give a fat flying fig what some yahoo they've never seen or heard or read about (since few areas have tv, radio or inhabitants able to read) in Kabul. They conduct their tribes as they have always done, except now they've got a bunch of armed foreigners trying to get their loyalty with a pretty please during the day while armed Taliban sweep in by night to chop the hands and/or heads off of anyone who'd been seen talking to NATO soldiers. Add to that the Wikileaks debaucle that had every Afghani who'd ever helped the US in a wild-eyed panic, and nobody is telling our soldiers anything about anything. Complete shut-down, complete stale-mate.
There's a reason the Russians went bankrupt trying to "tame" Afghanistan. We're on the same well-worn path. We cannot change by force a society that has not evolved to the point of being able to change itself. I mean, that's so obvious. We are trying to make them into little mini-USA yeah-democracy clones, when they are a proud, tribal society that wants to live as their fathers lived, and their fathers before them.
<snip>
America is broke. America is borrowing money from China to participate in an Afghan Civil War. Does that make sense?
FABULOUS!!! A+++++!
Being ex-Army, are there any successful BCTs/Army missions in spreading the 4-block war principles to provincial tribes? I thought the Army got pretty capable at counterinsurgency under Petreaus in Iraq.
Cpgrad, Msgt...thank you both for the excellent work over there.
America is broke. America is borrowing money from China to participate in an Afghan Civil War. Does that make sense?
Obama has said that Al Qaeda is America's only Muslim enemy. But the US Govt. admits there are fewer than 100 AQ members in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is no longer a vertically integrated organization. It is now a franchise operation with branches throughout the world, including the USA.
Obama's Director of Counterterrorism testified under oath before a congressional committee that the Saudi Osama bin Laden is no longer the main threat to America. He said that American born and raised Anwar al Awlaki who is based in Yemen is now the main threat.
American soldiers will never receive the time and resources they need to achieve success in their counterinsurrgency strategy because the American people won't give them the ten or so years that such a strategy requires to reach fruition.
It is profoundly immoral to send soldiers into combat under these circumstances. I have seen this before. It was called Vietnam.
In for a penny, in for a pound. Nation-building is a demanding and time-consuming process,
Viktyr Korimir said:and if we didn't have the stomach for it we shouldn't have started on this course.
Especially if you try to nation-build in one of the least hospitable places on earth, instead of in a country where there might actually be a chance of success.
What course? Afghanistan is just as poor and undeveloped as it was ten years ago. And it probably still will be in another ten years.
A positive outcome would be a relatively stable government in place and with enough power to police itself to prevent the return of terrorist groups who threaten the US. How long it will take I have no idea.
If the U.S. doesn't police the world who will.... then U.N? :lamo