We won within 2 weeks of going over there. The normal stuff of people attacking soldiers is what happens when a territory is occupied. Its not a war anymore...its a cleanup.
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Less than 50% of U.S. troops believe Afghanistan war is winnable
- Thread starter AlsoHuman
- Start date
Quote from rew:
The advocates of the Afghanistan war can't even define what "win" means in that context. So of course the war isn't winnable.
Exactly right. There has never truly been a set-in-stone predefined state of victory in Afghanistan. Let's remember we went there not to fight the Taliban but to get at Osama Bin Laden. Pretty sure he's gone but Obama has made Afghanistan his war and sought to expand it...but for what?
Some believe the reason is natural resources:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts..._has_1_trillion_in_untapped_mineral_resources
others believe it is a proposed pipeline:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Afghanistan_Pipeline
still other believe it is to ensure the export of opium:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_54LJMwG4E
and Obama would have us believe what, that it's the Taliban (a group of rag tags who couldn't even begin to mount a threat to the US) that we must destroy lest we seal our doom?
With all of these justifications swirling about, it is no small wonder that the troops are becoming disillusioned as to the prospects of success in Afghanistan.
Quote from peilthetraveler:
We won within 2 weeks of going over there. The normal stuff of people attacking soldiers is what happens when a territory is occupied. Its not a war anymore...its a cleanup.
You're right about the first part. We evicted the taliban regime using a handful of special forces operators and local warlords. At that point, we had won and should have declared victory and come home. Of course, the big thinkers in the State Department and Defense Department wouldn't like that, so the mission became some sort of protracted nation-building exercise.
The troops on the ground know what the brass won't admit. We can't turn a backward, violent islamic culture into some modern liberal democracy, no matter how much money we spend and how many lives are lost. You have to marvel at the arrogance of the people behind these schemes. Of course, they're not the ones getting shot and blown up, so they can take the long view.