“We should put money into the building of roads and highways. That was the way that the Romans managed to hold their empire together.”
No. They first built a military big enough to do the job, and then, as needed, built roads to take it where needed. Even without the roads, at this point, a bigger and better Afghan military could at least do a better job of defending the population in the areas where that military was present.
Until they build their own military and it and the population has the will to do what’s needed, the roads would just help the Taliban move around the country.
I say pull out all the stops to win or bring our people home.
Road building is a singular art. The Afghans are not Romans, so they don’t know how to build roads. We do. Maybe I shouldn’t give the example of something that ended in disaster, but When Braddock was moving on Ft. Duquesne, he cut a road through the woods almost to the forks of the Ohio. It repeated what the English had to in putting down the rebellion in Scotland. We bound the Ohio Country with the East when we built the Cumberland Road. Transportation unites a country. In this case, it would give the Afghani forces tremendous mobility. It would also bring the mountainous areas in communion with the citiies and towns.