Posted on 10/18/2009 1:36:04 PM PDT by ventanax5
There have been some phony arguments put forth for another "surge" in Afghanistan. We need not a surge of troops, we merely need to let our forces there do what needs to be done - kill the enemy.
There is this misconception about Afghanistan in particular (and Islam in general) that somehow we can bring Central Asia (and the rest of the Islamic world) kicking and screaming into the 21st Century through good will. This is simply not the case. There is no amount of money to spend, infrastructure to build, schools to provide, hospitals to heal, or good will that Americans can display toward the Afghan people that will produce a lasting effect. I was once told by an accomplished Afghan intelligence analyst that, "you can rent an Afghan, but you can't buy him."
The hard fact is that the "hearts and minds" of the Afghan "people" are not for sale! The descendants of "The Great Khan" and their tribal cousins have no interest in being Westernized in any way. And, the human sewers that serve as their political leadership can only be rented. Americans are interlopers in a land where interlopers generally have their heads lopped off.
Nobody read their Kipling. (I know, "who or what was Kipling?" Look it up.) Americans do not know their own history (except the spun trash that passes for "social studies" in our heavily leftist high schools) much less the history of Afghanistan. And, this includes our political leadership! Ask an American on the street -- or a congressman in the House -- to point to Afghanistan on a map, and they will probably start with their finger cautiously orbiting somewhere over Rhode Island.
This writer spent thirty years listening to and deciphering military acronyms and idiotic jargon.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Yes and No. Yes, the mountaineers of Afghanistan are unlikely to be “modernized” by our efforts. But it seems to me something simplistic to think that Afghanistan is the same as it was during our Middle Ages. The Highlanders who rallied behind Bonnie Prince Charlie was both the same and different from those who were led by William Wallace. “Civilization” affects even the most primitive peoples and modifies their cultures, and the Pushtuns are not primitives. The cities of Afghanistan, in any case, were relatively “modern” as one can tell by looking at the buildings of Kabal. I do not say that we can “bring Afghanistan in the 21st Century” whatever that means. But never condescend to people, write them off, forgetting that if the Taliban rule aimed to tear down a lot that had been built under the monarchy, and to uproot many western ideas that had taken root in the country.
“There have been some phony arguments put forth for another “surge” in Afghanistan. We need not a surge of troops, we merely need to let our forces there do what needs to be done - kill the enemy.”
Hear, hear...Petraeus already told us a surge wouldn’t work! This new plan would require hundreds of thousands, not 40-60,000, to carry out, troops we don’t have, can’t afford and we should not ask them to go when the CIC is totally out of his league and unwilling to lead...and no one else will send troops...
“For COIN to succeed in Afghanistan, the population would have to share at least some of our values. The fact is they don’t! Their “values”, whether religious, social, or political, are the same values held by Al Qaeda and the Taliban! Islam is an integrated system! Islam is not just something Muslims do on Friday when it is convenient! The Islamic world is in no way similar to “Christendom” where the faith of many — particularly in Europe — has been compromised by progressive secularism. Most Muslims actually believe in the tenets of the Koran. These tenets are not the passive “Five Pillars” and other sanitized junk you read in an English translation. Muslims believe in the tenets that direct that they convert, subjugate, or destroy non-believers — that means Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and even atheists.
Americans have been conditioned and have become accustomed to tiptoeing about, fearing to offend anyone — even those who are offensive to the bulk of humanity. Thus, there is not an American politician or a media guru who will speak the truth clearly.”
Good post.
BTTT
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bump
thanks, bfl
excellent. from the start — change the ROE, forget the hearts and minds
Good post to a good post.
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