Friend who served as an officer told me we cannot win there and cannot stop their opium trade, except with tactics we are not going to employ, such as telling key players we will kill their entire family if they betray us.
He also mentioned the level of lack of education. In training them to be part of a modern military, most of them had never seen a fork before. It was that basic.
Then there was the “boy night” every week. He learned not to smile at the children otherwise they would be brought to his room by an elder for sex that night.
That’s horrible.
A five tour vet I know well says the same things.
We have blunted and worn out our military there.
In the oilfield any place that ended in Stan was a good place to stay out of.
Hope we get a lot of stuff out of there. It is piled to the ceilings.
Hello, some cultures are infinitely better than others. Let’s get out of there. The best thing to do is exterminate all the males age 7 and older. There is real toxic masculinity and misogyny there.