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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 ... !
Excerpt:
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 ...
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 ... !