Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post used freedom of information to produce the definitive US version of the war
n the summer of 2009, the latest in a long line of US military commanders in Afghanistan commissioned the latest in a long line of strategic reviews in the perennial hope it would make enough of a difference to allow the Americans to go home.
There was some excitement in Washington about the author, Gen Stanley McChrystal, a special forces soldier who cultivated the image of a warrior-monk while hunting down insurgents in Iraq.
Hired by Barack Obama, McChrystal produced a 66-page rethink of the Afghan campaign, calling for a “properly resourced” counter-insurgency with a lot more money and troops.
It quickly became clear there were two significant problems ...
Good OP Lafayette. The US could have learned from France's experience in Vietnam, or Russia's adventure in Afghanistan. But at the very least US leaders should have taken a lesson from its own failed attempts at nation-building over the past 70 years. So you're posting opinion that is a blinding flash of the obvious to most of us. But I have no confidence to be honest that the missteps won't be repeated in the future because hubris has a way of repeating itself.From The Guardian, here: The Afghanistan Papers Review
Excerpt:
My Point? Afghanistan should remain a Key Lesson for America in foreign-diplomacy. Spending American lives is never ever worth the effort unless the threat is real and not an "invention" or a "nice thing to do with our Army".
What happens in a thoroughly undeveloped country is no business of Uncle Sam, who should "stay home" - where he has enough problems to resolve ... !
But I have no confidence to be honest that the missteps won't be repeated in the future because hubris has a way of repeating itself.
From The Guardian, here: The Afghanistan Papers Review
Excerpt:
My Point? Afghanistan should remain a Key Lesson for America in foreign-diplomacy. Spending American lives is never ever worth the effort unless the threat is real and not an "invention" or a "nice thing to do with our Army".
What happens in a thoroughly undeveloped country is no business of Uncle Sam, who should "stay home" - where he has enough problems to resolve ... !
Which begs the question, “why did it take ten years and why did we not withdraw after committing OBL to the deep?”Except, of course, for the fact that the Taliban were harboring Osama Bin Laden and complicit in his attacks. The US had every right(and obligation) to hunt him down.
Good OP Lafayette. The US could have learned from France's experience in Vietnam, or Russia's adventure in Afghanistan. But at the very least US leaders should have taken a lesson from its own failed attempts at nation-building over the past 70 years. So you're posting opinion that is a blinding flash of the obvious to most of us. But I have no confidence to be honest that the missteps won't be repeated in the future because hubris has a way of repeating itself.
Which begs the question, “why did it take ten years and why did we not withdraw after committing OBL to the deep?”
Korea was a poor country during the Korean war though.Well, West Germany was a stunning success.
Japan was a stunning success.
South Korea was a stunning success.
Vietnam was a failure
Iraq is coming along though the jury is still out.
Afghanistan was a failure
The trick seems to be to stay out of poor countries.
.
So you're posting opinion that is a blinding flash of the obvious to most of us.
So you're posting opinion that is a blinding flash of the obvious to most of us.
The whole mess could probably have been avoided if Bill Clinton had not choked in 1999, when American agents had Osama's tent in their crosshairs, needing only a green light from Washington. In 2001, if Dubya had kept his eye on the ball, instead of pulling troops to prepare for Iraq, before Osama was found and eliminated, we could have been out much sooner. Liberal public opinion led to mission creep, when we realized that Afghan men mistreat their women. Unless Afghan women are willing to take up arms and kill Talibs wholesale, preferring to die on their feet than on their knees, their problems are not ours. There are far more injustices in the world than we have soldiers to address. Unless OUR interests are at stake, the Third World should take care of their own problems.From The Guardian, here: The Afghanistan Papers Review
Excerpt:
My Point? Afghanistan should remain a Key Lesson for America in foreign-diplomacy. Spending American lives is never ever worth the effort unless the threat is real and not an "invention" or a "nice thing to do with our Army".
What happens in a thoroughly undeveloped country is no business of Uncle Sam, who should "stay home" - where he has enough problems to resolve ... !
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