Out of Sparta-The face of the Pashtuns (This is what we are up against in Afghanistan)

National Review ^ | 11/05/01 | Stanley Kurtz

[Soliton]

This is why Afghanistan is the world's only superpower!

[smith288]

So basically...kick their noses in past their o-ring before they will recognize.

[alethia]

Sooooooo...how many Afghans in the Northern Alliance are Pashtuns? How many of the recent defectors are Pashtuns? We need to keep a very watchful eye(s) -- in the back of our head.

[2banana]

Ya know, they said the same things about the Nazis, the Japs, the Chinese, etc. And by the way, the vaulted Spartans were beaten by the Romans who filled their legions with citizen soldiers

[vrwinger]

...a Pashtun boy is raised in a state of nature — forced to learn toughness, and self-reliance in a world self-consciously understood as violent, deceitful, and cruel. A Pashtun boy is actively encouraged to respond to the harshness of his world by himself becoming violent, deceitful, and cruel.

I guess this is why they're all starving to death... Sounds like they've got a good program over there...

[dirtboy]

I am somewhat familiar with the nature of Pathans, having had one in the past as my mother-in-law (although she had converted to Christianity), and heard many tales about Pathans from her. The best strategy against the Pathans is to deny them a reason to put aside their differences and unite against a common enemy. A massive invasion of Afghanistan would, IMO, provide a common enemy for them to unite against. It will not, IMO be that hard to weaken the Taliban and get some of the warlords to come over to our side, and, in the resulting chaos, get someone to betray bin Laden, who also is an outsider.

[LoneGOPinCT]

The only way to eradicate ourselves of vermin is by (1)cutting off their water supply and (2)poisoning their food source. Although I suppose a nuclear blast would be almost as effective.

[gunnrmike]

The hoped for early collapse of the Taliban has not materialized.

We have not yet begun to fight!

gm

[Walkin Man]

Pashtun Killer

[white trash redneck]

the vaulted Spartans were beaten by the Romans

Beaten by the "effete" Athenians, in fact. Hopefully, we'll be able to do the same.

[WIMom]

"So I fear that we are putting the cart before the horse. We want to fight and win by proxy and political manipulation, before having shown our willingness and ability to prevail on the ground. "

Another, "why don't we use ground troops" piece. We can prevail using technology to our advantage. Why don't we see the taliban B-52's flying over the United States? BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE TECHNOLOGY OR THE ABILITY TO MANUFACTURE GOODS USING TECHNOLOGY. Oh, but they are so tough because they beat on little kids and can take a boil.

[ZULU]

The Nazi, Japs, etc, were just men who happened to be soldiers. The Pashtun are soldiers who just happen to be men.

The thrust of the editorial is a good one. Only by all-out use of overwhelming force and power mercilessly applied ,can we beat them.

[ijcr]

They must be defeated for the "Chilluns".

Janet Reno for AG of Afghanistan, where she can use the TBI HRT (Taliban Bureau of Investigation)to save the children.

[JMS]

The Spartans won the Peloponesian war but could not effectively govern with their system.

[2banana]

I guess you have never heard of the Nazi Youth or the way the Japs trained their children to be warriors (Shinto)

[Redcloak]

The hoped for early collapse of the Taliban has not materialized.

Outside of hand-wringing journalists, who thought that this would be over in a heartbeat?

The Pashtun are not supermen. The only thing that saved their sorry butts from the Soviets were our Stinger missiles. The Spetsnaz had them on the verge of defeat before Reagan rescued them. (And oddly enough, the Russians didn't have to hang any of their children from the rafters to do this!)

Things are quite different for them this time. There is no United States to rescue them this time. They are also fighting a foe with far more dangerous military hardware than the Soviets ever produced. American forces, as they demonstrated in Iraq, can work a frightful slaughter upon an enemy. To this day, no one knows exactly how many Iraqis died in the war; either blown to vapor by B-52s or buried alive in their trenches.

Right now, the American media is in a tizzy over a report of a dozen wounded soldiers. Even if we accept the disputed report of a dozen wounded, no one in the media has stopped to wonder how many dozens of Taliban were killed in that raid. The same media talks about the "disasterous" raid on Mogadishu where 18 Americans died. What they don't mention is that the "defeated" Americans killed upwards of 1000 Somalies.

Americans are an extremely dangerous foe. The Pashtuns have no idea of what a mess they've just stepped into to protect the "crazy Arab". They've made the mistake of believing their own PR.