We’ve been in that country ten years. What have we changed there?
Have the locals taken up baseball? Have the women gotten rid of those beekeeper outfits?
If we really wanted to change Afghanistan, we should have taken a generation of youth out of the country and educated them in the west. Let the women learn to drive cars and use computers.
Then, the upcoming generation would never want to go back to the old ways. (And Afghanistan is a country
where the vast majority of the people are under 30.)
We should also have arrested every other mullah in sight
and restricted Koranic preaching.
We could have made a difference. Instead, we ran a few patrols, took and area only to give it up, and fundamentally changed nothing.
I await only now the rapid changing of sides by all of those who sided with us there, in order to curry favor with the Taliban.
A sudden evacuation from Kabul is not out of the question (a la Saigon); together with entire army
units suddenly changing sides.
What you say is all true. But you know, it is hard to sell people on our way of life if your own country is rejecting that which you want them to mimic.
Our biggest problems are internal. Until we get that right, we are a waste and who would believe anything we say.
Nothing!! If our troupes stay there 6 weeks or 60 years, the outcome is the same. It's been that way for over a thousand years.
If you've never seen it, get a copy of the old movie 'Song Of The South'. In it Uncle Remus tells a story about Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby. There's Tar Babes all over the world. Smart people avoid them.
After 9/11, we should have started bombing the Middle East from high altitude. After getting their attention, we could have struck a deal. "You stay on your side of the creek and we'll stay on our side." That would have included deporting all Muslims.
we can never change that country or region as long as the people follow islam