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The Afghanistan Papers Review

Lafayette

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From The Guardian, here: The Afghanistan Papers Review

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 ... !
 
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 ... !
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.
 
NOT EVERYWHERE DO AMERICANS HAVE REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS

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.

It's a bit "our fault". Ronnie RayGun decided to invade Afghanistan because (perhaps) he thought that it would be a quickie in-and-out victory. Excuse me for saying so, but I sometimes think that Americans are so blessedly obsessed by what is happening at home that they give no concerted-thought whatsoever about what's happening abroad.

Which leads to the sort of foolishness that got Uncle Sam into a war that he could not win. Afghanistan will go down in the military history-books and studied closely at West Point. (I'd bet on it!)

There is lot to be done to improve America and we should concentrate on just that objective. But, frankly, as much as I push the matter on this forum, I wonder if Yanks stateside really care about free National Health Care and very low cost Post-secondary Education.

I have ment Yanks who live in Europe. The Internet says today the population is around 800,000. It's a shame we cannot vote like a state - after all, Alaska has only around 730K inhabitants. But nonetheless has two senators and only one Rep - who's been serving since 1973.

And we Yank-yokels living abroad got nobody, nobody, nobody in DC! But, we still pay taxes on income-amounts above $100K a year (as well as national-income taxation in the EU-country where we live) ...
 
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 ... !

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.
 
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.
Which begs the question, “why did it take ten years and why did we not withdraw after committing OBL to the deep?”
 
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.

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.


.
 
Which begs the question, “why did it take ten years and why did we not withdraw after committing OBL to the deep?”

Because we got screamed at for just cutting and running in Libya.
 
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.


.
Korea was a poor country during the Korean war though.
 
So you're posting opinion that is a blinding flash of the obvious to most of us.

I doubt that - for as long as Americans will elect as sick-Jerko into the White House (even by a rustic EC) it seems we've learned nothing.

We elect presidents as if they were the "anointed rich" and therefore fully worth the honor!

Donald Dork was a sick-man from a very early age spoiled rotten by the money he inherited from his father. A good number of women have attested to that fact by instituting a court-case against him for rape. (Which, for the most part, have got nowhere.

Maybe this one will, and let's hope so: Reuters - Trump may soon have to answer rape allegations under oath

But this one too may be just one more in a long line (25 women) that have got nowhere. See here ...
 
25 women ...

So you're posting opinion that is a blinding flash of the obvious to most of us.

I doubt that - for as long as Americans will elect a sick-Jerko like Trmp into the White House (even if by an antiquated EC*) it seems we've learned nothing.

We elect presidents as if they were the "anointed rich" and therefore fully worth the honor!

Donald Dork was a sick-man from a very early age spoiled rotten by the money he inherited from his father. A good number of women have attested to that fact by instituting a court-case against him for rape. (Which, for the most part, have got nowhere.)

Maybe this one will, and let's hope so: Reuters - Trump may soon have to answer rape allegations under oath

But this one too may be just one more in a long line (25 women around the world who tried) that have got nowhere. See here ...

*No developed country in the world has employed an Electoral College to decide a presidency. Not a one. Countries with electoral college systems include Burundi, Estonia, India, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Myanmar, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu.
 
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 ... !
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.
 
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