Former KGB Colonel: It’s America’s turn to lose in Afghanistan

Russia Today ^ | 16 Sep 2009 | RT

[BGHater]

Former KGB Special Forces Colonel Oleg Balashov, who took part in the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan, told RT he doubts more U.S. soldiers will increase the chances of victory.

This comment comes as the U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan have doubled over the last year while the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, admitted that even more are going to be needed to defeat the Taliban.

“This war will be the same as it was in Vietnam and as the Soviet Union had in Afghanistan back in the 1980s,” said Balashov. Afghanistan “won’t let them succeed, you can’t do this to the people in this country. The Afghan population has reacted to this war as expected.”

“The Soviet troops used more human resources in the war,” he added. “The Americans are employing air attacks and in this case the number of civilian casualties is much higher.”

[Sacajaweau]

Afghanistan is a UN coalition....is it not??

[BGHater]

You have faith in the UN?

[Wolfie]

Not much in common. At the time of it’s involvement in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union was a flat-broke empire on the verge of financial collapse...uh, never mind.

[far sider]

Stupid Russian. Doesn’t he know that Obama said victory is NOT our goal in Afghanistan? If we’re not trying to win, how can we lose?? Duh.

[Tublecane]

“The Americans are employing air attacks...”

What was it the mujahadeen were shooting down with stinger missles? Butterflies?

[silverleaf]

He’s right about losing, he’s wrong about the extent of civilian casualties being caused by US operations.

More civilians died in Chechnya than under 8 years of US operations in Afghanistan

[BGHater]

Yeah, and they are still fighting an insurgency in S. Russia.

It's propaganda from the RT, but Russia and China will suffer if a vacuum is left and that might create an uptick of fighters in their countries. Everyone will suffer.

[ETL]

I believe more strongly than ever that the Russians want us tied up in Afghanistan so that they can go about 'expanding their influence' around the world. Obama's main goal, internationally, is to appease the Russians, and various Hugo Chavez-like dictators.

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
_____________________________________________________

From the Russian News and Information Agency:
July 27, 2006
"'I am determined to expand relations with Russia,' Chavez, known as an outspoken critic of what he calls the United States' unilateralism, told the Russian leader, adding that his determination stemmed from their shared vision of the global order.":
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060727/51913498.html
_____________________________________________________

From National Public Radio (NPR):
August 29, 2006
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764
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Venezuela Set to Develop Nuclear Power With Russia
September 29, 2008
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,429441,00.html
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Venezuela's Chavez welcomes Russian warships
Nov 25, 2008
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – Russian warships arrived off Venezuela's coast Tuesday in a show of strength aimed at the United States as Moscow seeks to expand its influence in Latin America. The deployment is the first of its kind in the Caribbean since the Cold War and was timed to coincide with President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Caracas — the first ever by a Russian president.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22Venezuela%27s+Chavez+welcomes+Russian+warships%22&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz2

More Yahoo search results for Russia and Venezuela connections:
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu_X30pZJCJEAfCtXNyoA?p=Russia+Venezuela+bombers+tanks+arms&y=Search&fr=404_news
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"the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century" -Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the collapse of the Soviet Union...
"World democratic opinion has yet to realize the alarming implications of President Vladimir Putin's State of the Union speech on April 25, 2005, in which he said that the collapse of the Soviet Union represented the 'greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.'
http://www.hooverdigest.org/053/beichman.html

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Russia's Medvedev hails "comrade" Obama

Associated Foreign Press (AFP) ^ | April 2, 2009 | Anna Smolchenko

"Russia's Dmitry Medvedev hailed Barack Obama as "my new comrade" Thursday after their first face-to-face talks"

http://www.france24.com/en/20090402-russias-medvedev-hails-comrade-obama

April 1, 2009:
"Obama, Medvedev pledge new era of relations":
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090401/wl_afp/usrussiadiplomacynuclear_20090401152002
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President Obama and Venezuela dictator Hugo
Chavez at the 2009 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad

Obama, Chavez shake hands at Americas Summit:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97KK2T00&show_article=1

[CatoRenasci]

The loss in Afghanistan destroyed the confidence of the Soviet leadership in its military, of the people in its military, and of the military in itself: in short it destroyed the Soviet military. And, of course, it was an important element of the destruction of the Soviet Union itself.

If the US loses in Afghanistan, especially because the Democrats insist on cutting and running, the reaction in much of American will be very different, because we know our military and we know who supports it and who opposes it.

One of the things that poisoned the Weimar Republic in Germany after the end of the First World War was the myth of the Stab-in-the-Back (Dolchstoss) by the civilian leadership.

In the United States, it was no myth that our loss in Vietnam was the result of the takeover of the Democrats by the left and their Dolchstoss even as we were disengaging and the Vietnamese were finally getting their sh*t together.

If the leftist Democrats cause a similar withdrawal from Afghanistan, I don't think this Dolchstoss will be forgiven by either the people or the American military: they will NEVER trust the Democrats with power again -- the only question will be how long they will tolerate the Democrats.

[BusterBear]

Former KGB Colonel: It’s America’s turn to lose in Afghanistan

Sour grapes.

[PubliusMM]

Well, the 0bamunists are working hard to make this prediction become reality.

[Vermont Lt]

I just finished reading a history of Afghanistan. No one has been able to hold the mountain country for very long. It is a patchwork of clans; and as such there is no “country” in the sense of what we are used to.

They come together to drive out the invaders (whether they be Greek, Chinese, Indian, British, Russian, or American) and then they fall back to their internal squabbles.

Grasping a win there is like grasping a wisp of smoke. It might look like you can do it, but it is elusive when you try.

Kill the Taliban and come home.

[Venturer]

Americans will not lose confidence in the military. We know our military can destroy the Taliban if we untie their hands.

Unfortunately that isnt going to happen, so we should pack up and leave before another American dies.

[Larry Lucido]

Um, Colonel, it was the Americans you lost to in Afghanistan.

[DustyMoment]

The Russian has a point! If we play Afghanistan like we played Vietnam, this is a disaster in the making.

[Texan Tory]

It’s true that the the Afghans didn’t want the Russians there and they don’t want us there either, but one important difference is being overlooked by former KGB Colonel, and that is that a lot of the Afghans hate the Taliban more than they hate us. They know what it was like to live under the Taliban and they don’t want to go back to that.

[TexasFreeper2009]

It is so freaking easy to win a war like this IF they had the balls to actually do what it took.

Every time someone shoots at one of our guys you fall back call in air support and drop a few daisy cutters on the area and move on. End of war.

But our government has determined that it is more important to save the lives of their wives and children's than the lives of our soldiers, and this is why we will lose, just like in Vietnam, and for exactly the same reason.

If a war is worth fighting, then it is worth killing all of the enemy including those who harbor, equip and support them, which would include family members. If it's not that important, then we have no business being in the war to begin with.

[Wallace T.]

Afghani hatred of the Taliban is one factor in our favor that may make this war more successful than the Soviets’ attempt to impose an unpopular Communist government in the 1980s. The British failed in the 19th Century because they were attempting to pull the country into their South Asian empire against the will of the Afghanis. We are on the side of popular sentiment in this war, while the Soviets were against it. As long as the U.S. avoids nation building and focuses on the destroying the terrorists rather than imposing a secular democracy, we may succeed.

[Vermont Lt]

I have 100% confidence in our troops.

They are the best equipped army the world has ever seen. The men and women are the smartest, most fit, and best trained. That said, we should save their lives and destroy the Taliban using whatever means necessary.

Then let them come home. And bring home the troops in Germany, Korea, and everywhere else in the world. Put them on the closed US bases that are festering. Put a few billion dollars into some local economies.

Let those countries take care of themselves.