Article

2011-01-17 Afghanistan

Afghan Army Likely to Fragment After West Quits

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Posted by Fred 2011-01-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 Surprise, surprise.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2011-01-17 02:37|| 2011-01-17 02:37|| Front Page Top

#2 Afghan Army Likely to Fragment After West ~~Quits~~ funding is exhausted.

There, fully repaired,

Posted by Besoeker 2011-01-17 03:56|| 2011-01-17 03:56|| Front Page Top

#3 Once Western government money dries up, the elements of the Army will become mercenaries for the drug lords with the best pay and benefits - or they'll publicly acknowledge their alliegence to the Taliban.

Posted by Glenmore 2011-01-17 07:50|| 2011-01-17 07:50|| Front Page Top

#4 Ah nation building... is there anything it can't do?

Posted by regular joe 2011-01-17 09:35|| 2011-01-17 09:35|| Front Page Top

#5 On the plus side, remembering well the lesson of Vietnam, where a US trained force held off against a far superior enemy for two years after we left, after abandonment by the Democrats; and then how the US military was very determined to not let the same thing happen in Iraq, and it didn't.

So the bottom line is how well the US military is working with the Afghans. Certainly not as intensively as with the Iraqis, who had a lot more to work with.

Since Karzai and his crew are pretty worthless, perhaps the best outcome will be for the military to take over after we leave. That, more than anything else, would probably be the best outcome to prevent the rise of any Taliban movement.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-01-17 15:00|| 2011-01-17 15:00|| Front Page Top

#6 Actually the best outcome would be an airplane 'accident' that takes out Karzai and his cabinet, allowing the Northern Alliance to step into the power void and elect Dostum as President. End of kid glove treatments on Taliban and their supporters, and a very large segment of the Pashtuns go bye-bye under President Dostum. Oh, and for those who forget history, Afghanistan is not a country, it is a geographic location that is used by the rest of Asia as the holding pen for the least civilized of the tribes in their area.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2011-01-17 16:52|| 2011-01-17 16:52|| Front Page Top

#7 IIUC the Vietnamese have a better understanding of themselves as a people and culture than the concept and peoples in Afghanistan.

Need at least 8 years of mostly successful centalized government which gets the people excited about the concept of the nation Afghanistan. Likely longer considering location & geography, people within, and neighbors.

Posted by swksvolFF 2011-01-17 17:57|| 2011-01-17 17:57|| Front Page Top

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