So we’re just cops there. Our people getting killed for what? England tried it way back in 1860’s and Russia now us.
Douglas MacArthur warned us, “never fight a land war in Asia.” We have forever ignored his advice and what do we have to show for it? Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan?
Maybe Trump can trick/ provoke/ dare/ convince China to become the new host for this parasite of a nation. My remark is not meant to insult the individuals of Afghanistan. I have known a few. They, just as the average citizen of Iran don’t necessarily have it in for the United States, but those in their Governments do. Taliban still passes for Government over there.
Xi Jinping, president of China, may be interested in mining some of those rare earth elements said to be found in great abundance all over Afghanistan. Let them move in to some degree, the way Chinese are moving into Africa for mining.
Let them do all that ‘dirty work’ all that ‘wet work’ that must be done to manage such a land.
So we’re just cops there. Our people getting killed for what? England tried it way back in 1860’s and Russia now us.
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Get real. We are no longer in the 1860s when our oceans protected us. Do we want the Taliban using that country to blackmail us with missle-launched A-bombs? Now matter how good our detection science may be, they’d be able to smuggle in a few missles that could take out — wherever you live. And they’re not going to care whether they’ll lose half their population to retaliation.
“... England tried it way back in 1860’s and Russia now us.” [SkyDancer, post 2]
“There hasn’t been a single army since and including the army of Alexander the Great, that has been successful in Afghanistan...” [BuffaloJack, post 7]
The conceit that Afghanistan can neither be taken nor held is not as well-supported by the historical record as many think.
The British were not beaten. They went in to counter the Imperial Russians, who had given indications they might attack India by that route. When Russian attention turned elsewhere, the British walked away.
The USSR was on the verge of complete success when American Stinger anti-aircraft missiles were sent in. The Soviet effort collapsed because their air power was negated.
Americans have enjoyed successes there to a degree as great as any other power, at least as early.
We must remember that in Afghanistan, we are up against cultures possessing a very different concept of what constitutes short-term and when that transitions to long-term.
To us Americans, long term begins before the next election cycle, or even the next sports season.
To the Afghans, short term isn’t even reached after the passage of 50 to 100 years.
Until American citizens can reconcile this disparity, our actions in the wider world will face difficulties.