Remind me again why we're in Afghanistan

[Blarg]

On the other hand I won't overlook it. You were part of the cause for deployment of ground troops in Afghanistan demanding some pound of flesh repayment. The President was just responding to the will of the people. 

 

Not even thinking for one moment that Russia (that has zero respect for the Geneva convention on warfare) rolled into Afghanistan with their armoured forces and were constantly bloodied, ended up crawling out of there with their tails tucked between their legs not 15 years earlier.

 

So thanks for supporting the war cause until you realised you asked for this quagmire and now want to distance yourself from responsibility.

[fan_since79]

I did not "ask for this quagmire".

I would have gone in there in a massive way, destroyed the terror camps, deposed the Taliban, and gotten the hell out of there. That's pretty much what Bush did at first. The problem is, he stayed there and the number of troops greatly increased. Obama added even more. TWELVE YEARS LATER, our men and women are getting blown up by roadside bombs and suicide vests. What's the strategy here? I'm sorry, but I don't see it. What's the endgame and how closer are we to achieving it? We don't have any national conversation about this. The media doesn't even talk about it anymore. We hear a little about 2014 and the troops coming home, and then there's a report that the date may be "extended". There's a totally corrupt government in place there under Karzai, who hates our presence there and articulated his feelings recently in that regard. The whole thing is a tragic mess, and sorry, but I didn't ask for it at all.

[Blarg]

Nobody asks for a quagmire but that is what it was always going to be once US troops step foot on their land. You asked for them to go in there full force, unearth the terrorists and guess what? It was the entirety of the government and countryside ruling leaders of townships.

 

So you asked for what the US infantry could not provide you in a short and timely manner. The entirety of the government of Afghanistan was replaced with general elections and to walk away just means the nation falls back into radical control.

 

The Afghanistan realigned armed services had to be trained how to handle their own internal Al Queda crisis. The hotspots had to be nuetralized and the target you wanted eliminated changed locations. Each location requires time to asses and execute a battle plan.

 

What you really wanted is the US to kill a lot of people to balance the scales. Not to execute a long term plan, just kill, kill, kill and then walk away once you thought the body count on their side was reasonable to say mission accomplished. That is not a solution, it is just revenge.

[Glen]

On the other hand I won't overlook it. You were part of the cause for deployment of ground troops in Afghanistan demanding some pound of flesh repayment. The President was just responding to the will of the people. 

 

Not even thinking for one moment that Russia (that has zero respect for the Geneva convention on warfare) rolled into Afghanistan with their armoured forces and were constantly bloodied, ended up crawling out of there with their tails tucked between their legs not 15 years earlier.

 

So thanks for supporting the war cause until you realised you asked for this quagmire and now want to distance yourself from responsibility.

 

 

This is a very sobering post and I'm guilty of the very thing you mentioned.  I hated going into Iraq from the start but I was good with invading Afghanistan, without thinking of the consequences or the fact that there was no way for the US to achieve any sort of goals.  

[fan_since79]

Nobody asks for a quagmire but that is what it was always going to be once US troops step foot on their land. You asked for them to go in there full force, unearth the terrorists and guess what? It was the entirety of the government and countryside ruling leaders of townships.

 

So you asked for what the US infantry could not provide you in a short and timely manner. The entirety of the government of Afghanistan was replaced with general elections and to walk away just means the nation falls back into radical control.

 

The Afghanistan realigned armed services had to be trained how to handle their own internal Al Queda crisis. The hotspots had to be nuetralized and the target you wanted eliminated changed locations. Each location requires time to asses and execute a battle plan.

 

What you really wanted is the US to kill a lot of people to balance the scales. Not to execute a long term plan, just kill, kill, kill and then walk away once you thought the body count on their side was reasonable to say mission accomplished. That is not a solution, it is just revenge.

You're making a lot of assumptions about what I "wanted", but you're not too sharp as a mind reader.

[Lifetime]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)

 

Looks like you need to review some facts 

[LBHalos17]

Because our Government is a war-machine.  Our economy is based on it.  

 

I agreed with BOTH incursions (into Afghanistan and Iraq) to squash Al Qaida and Saddam), but it is past-time to pull-out... Muslims do not want us there, and our own politicians won't fully commit in order to set-up a real Democracy  (remind us of Vietnam, anybody).  I would gladly deploy wherever my Government pointed me in order to keep terror at bay (and away from our shores), but our troops are not being supported.

[HaloMagic]

Did you come to the conclusion that it was time to pull out on or around January 20th, 2009?

[Lifetime]

Because our Government is a war-machine.  Our economy is based on it.  

 

I agreed with BOTH incursions (into Afghanistan and Iraq) to squash Al Qaida and Saddam), but it is past-time to pull-out... Muslims do not want us there, and our own politicians won't fully commit in order to set-up a real Democracy  (remind us of Vietnam, anybody).  I would gladly deploy wherever my Government pointed me in order to keep terror at bay (and away from our shores), but our troops are not being supported.

They aren't? 

[floplag]

The destruction of the Taliban.

 

I know, it's probably not possible without destroying the country. So why the hell are we still there, ten years later?

 

And how many more years should we stay? Five, ten, twenty, fifty??

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How exactly do you kill an ideal?

There can be no victory that clear cut, it does not exist.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Flop you hit the nail on the head. There will never be a "victory" because you can't kill an ideal.

 

It didn't/would never have worked in Vietnam, and it won't work in Afghanistan.

[tdawg87]

They aren't? 

 

No.

 

Or are they?

[acro2008]

It's big business(overt and covert) for people that have zero allegiance to this country, sacrificing our young people, giving them the false perception that they will kill people in a foriegn country to "Keep America free" from an exaggerated boogie-man. Of course it feels good to believe the freedom stuff but as time goes by there seems too be more awareness that US citizens were duped.

[Tank]

"never get involved in a land war in asia!"

 

[TobiasFunke]

"never get involved in a land war in asia!"

 

haha

[Angel Oracle]

LOL tank

 

Now I have this sudden urge for peanuts. 

[fan_since79]

The first time the British got involved in Afghanistan, they lost every single soldier, more than 16,000 in all. There was exactly one survivor, an assistant surgeon.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1842_retreat_from_Kabul

 

 

[HaloMagic]

The first time the British got involved in Afghanistan, they lost every single soldier, more than 16,000 in all. There was exactly one survivor, an assistant surgeon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1842_retreat_from_Kabul

So you're saying we're doing remarkably better.

[acro2008]

Our politicians and also those behind the scenes who line the pockets of our politicians have put many of our soldiers in a terrible position of guarding poppy fields.  It's all under the guise that we "dont want to endanger the military with angering the locals by stopping the poppy growing".   Much of the righteous military are doing the right thing and trying  to teach the locals how to grow wheat, cotton, melon...etc.  Unfortunately, since the encroachment of Afghanistan, the opium production has increased to an all time high and accounts for approx 90% of the worlds production.  

[arch stanton]

I'm not sure why they would grow cotton and melons when the poppy pays so much better.

[acro2008]

I'm not sure why they would grow cotton and melons when the poppy pays so much better.

Exactly, that's why everyone wants in on the action.