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| Afghanistan |
| Strategic Folly and The Consequences of America's Unending War in AFG |
| 2020-01-01 |
| [Modern War Institute at yes, West Point] If a recent article published by the Modern War Institute at West Point, "Don’t Let Kabul 2020 Look Like Saigon 1975: The Dangers of a Precipitous Afghanistan Withdrawal," represents the prevailing American views on military strategy, then it goes a long way to explain why the United States lost the Afghanistan War. The authors did get the premise right concerning the dangers associated with a precipitous withdrawal, but by getting all the basics wrong, they offer all the wrong solutions. The article begins with a whopper, that "a US/NATO military withdrawal must be managed responsibly to conserve the hard-earned gains on issues like civil liberties and women’s rights made over the past eighteen years." No. Anyone who has spent any time in Afghanistan beyond the confines of a headquarters or a walled-in facility would know that is a not a valid reason to maintain a military presence in Afghanistan because it is simply not something within our capability either to establish or sustain. A proper exit strategy is a process of burden shifting in a manner that protects vital US interests, while preventing US adversaries from unduly benefitting from a withdrawal. Just like military leaders and policymakers over nearly two decades and through multiple administrations, the authors fail to address or even identify the true nature of the war in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #4 Women's rights in Afghanistan. Just ponder the absurdity of that phrase. Not the objective of women's rights, not strategy for attaining same, not Afghanistan per se. No: just try to wrap your head around the combination, in a single English sentence, of women's rights + Afghanistan. For sheer lunacy, this combination belongs in the same category as Miss Parson's Finishing School for Feral Youth The Mogadishu Conservatory for Baroque Keyboard Studies Meth-Heads Can Code! We are ruled by morons |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-01-01 19:53 |
| #3 The hypothesis is disproved. *happy sigh* I love when you think aloud, Dave. Your logic is remorseless, even when I dislike your conclusion. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-01-01 19:00 |
| #2 The article begins with a whopper, that "a US/NATO military withdrawal must be managed responsibly to conserve the hard-earned gains on issues like civil liberties and women’s rights made over the past eighteen years." "Hard-earned gains"? WHAT hard-earned gains??? As far as I can tell, we've accomplished precisely nothing in the 18+ years we've been there. Same with Iraq, other than getting rid of Saddam. These wars tested the hypothesis that Islam can be de-toxified by injecting it with democracy. The hypothesis is disproved. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2020-01-01 10:38 |
| #1 gains on issues like civil liberties and women’s rights The what on what? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-01-01 09:40 |