Article

2019-04-18 Afghanistan

After 18 Years, It Is Past Time To Face The Truth About Afghanistan

[The Federalist] Last week, three U.S. service members were killed in an improvised explosive device attack near Bagram Air Base, an operation subsequently claimed by the Taliban. The deaths of Christopher Slutman of Newark, Delaware, Robert A. Hendriks of Locust Valley, New York, and Benjamin S. Hines of York, Pennsylvania take the number of U.S. troop fatalities in Afghanistan this year to seven.

It’s the latest grim reminder of a war that has proceeded on an almost autopilot for more than a decade and a half. Hitting its 17th anniversary last October, the conflict has gone on for such a long time that new recruits are being reminded by their drill sergeants about why the United States is involved.

The American people are justifiably exhausted by the Afghanistan conflict, which continues every year with little light at the end of the tunnel. U.S. policy has been defined throughout by muddled thinking, hubris about what the United States can achieve, and an endless stream of troop deployments in support of a strategy that holds little if any chance at success.

The amount of resources and attention Washington has allocated in pursuit of the unattainable‐a fully democratic Afghanistan free of corruption and patrimony, governed by the rule of law rather than the rule of the gun‐would be the stuff of comedies if it weren’t for the price tag attached to the effort: 2,242 U.S. troop fatalities, tens of thousands of additional injuries (many life-altering), and nearly $1 trillion in American treasure.

U.S. officials owe the soldiers and diplomats in the field and the American people at home a realistic appraisal of what Washington can accomplish in a country that has been in the throes of armed conflict for four decades. If we hope to finally reach the day American troops can pack up their belongings and come back to their families, Washington must start viewing the war with clear eyes. Several hard truths about Afghanistan are in order.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-04-18 06:48|| || Front Page|| [11141 views ] Top

#1 Should be obvious by now. It is very difficult to prevail in a conflict where adjacent sanctuary states are involved. Until Pakistan is fixed, forget everything else. Their tribalism and broken religion are no help as well.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-04-18 06:54|| 2019-04-18 06:54|| Front Page Top

#2 about 14,000 soldiers there now with some contract personnel and quite a few civilians

Posted by lord garth 2019-04-18 07:26|| 2019-04-18 07:26|| Front Page Top

#3 Turning the place into glass would have communicated a message 17 years has failed to do. This is what happens when you don't really go to war. People seem to skip over we bombed the **** out of Germany and Japan first before we decided to play nation building. They knew they were defeated.

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-04-18 08:00|| 2019-04-18 08:00|| Front Page Top

#4 17 years of attempts told Islam we were low towing and weak.

This is another good lesson to come out of the war. You must have a serious end game and a non-Muslim state cannot influence a Muslim population these days, we can’t/won’t do what is necessary so anything we try will end up as a propoganda victory for enemies.

We should have:
• Supported Northern alliance and left them in charge. Then helped them as we deemed necessary but kept our fighting troops free as a threat to others.
• Done a full-force attempt to support non-wasabi mosques.
• Put massive pressure on Saudis to clamp down on rogue princes and other support to our enemies
• Pushed for nuke power to replace oil as soon as was possible (fracking worked but took way to long).
• IF we went into Iraq we should have handed the place over to Jordan and supported them but not gotten involved in internal politics.

That would have been a start at least.

Posted by Rjschwarz 2019-04-18 08:48|| 2019-04-18 08:48|| Front Page Top

#5 In a nutshell Bush jr’s Push for Democracy in the region was a bad plan.

Posted by Rjschwarz 2019-04-18 08:48|| 2019-04-18 08:48|| Front Page Top

#6 In a nutshell Bush jr’s Push for Democracy in the region was a bad plan.

It's not entirely about democracy. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, need I go on ?

Posted by Besoeker 2019-04-18 08:56|| 2019-04-18 08:56|| Front Page Top

#7 ...on the lesser note, the legs finally got equipment and materials they would have never gotten in the bureaucratic hierarchy prioritization of funding usually reserved for gee-whiz billion dollar tech platforms.

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-04-18 11:20|| 2019-04-18 11:20|| Front Page Top

#8 Some modern thinker on the subject (trying to search on who that was) has pointed out that "killing is the sine qua non of war." Burning poppy fields, arresting people and arming locals who turn around and kill our guys is not war, but whatever it is, it's shockingly wasteful and impossible to defend, if you ask me.

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-04-18 14:48|| 2019-04-18 14:48|| Front Page Top

#9 Areas with groups of warring tribes can not and never will be able to become a nation.

Don't try and treat it as one.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2019-04-18 20:55|| 2019-04-18 20:55|| Front Page Top

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