Afghanistan: Doomed from the Start

[Right_in_Virginia]

Could not disagree more.  The mission was to prevent another 9/11 attack and deny international terrorists from using Kabul as a terror base.  It has a 20-year success history.  It is a mission worth the deployment of 3,000 troops for eternity.  Heck, we have more troops than that in Spain.

But we weren't there to kill or monitor wannabe terrorists @Hoodat  The moment we switched the mission to turning Afghanisan into a woke, liberal society we lost our way and wasted our blood and treasure for almost two decades. 

We could have armed the "good guys" without being there; we could have monitored the bad guys without being there.

We know how to do this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/johncardillo/status/1428343990743617549

[Right_in_Virginia]

The author is proposing there is a better way to protect the US and not get caught in nation building----which is quicksand and never works @Hoodat

"The Romans,” Machiavelli says, “made their wars short and big.” We Americans have taken to making our wars small and long. We inflict pinprick strikes over decades rather than getting the whole thing over within a matter of days or weeks.

A better strategy, right after 9/11, would have been to do what we did, but finish the job at Tora Bora—and then leave immediately, with a note on the fridge saying “If you do anything like that again, we’ll be back quickly with overwhelming force, and we’ll leave just as quickly. We will do that as many times as you make us.”

[Hoodat]

But we weren't there to kill or monitor wannabe terrorists @Hoodat  The moment we switched the mission to turning Afghanisan into a woke, liberal society we lost our way and wasted our blood and treasure for almost two decades.

@Right_in_Virginia
And thus the problem.  Again, Afghanistan wasn't doomed from the start.  It was doomed from the point where the mission changed.  If you turn the clock back to Jan 20, 2021 and freeze it at that point, you will find that you have around 3,000 US soldiers operating in Iraq, zero casualties for the previous six months, and the Taliban being held at bay by the Afghan military.  I don't have a problem with the mission at that point.

[Right_in_Virginia]

@Right_in_Virginia
And thus the problem.  Again, Afghanistan wasn't doomed from the start.  It was doomed from the point where the mission changed.  If you turn the clock back to Jan 20, 2021 and freeze it at that point, you will find that you have around 3,000 US soldiers operating in Iraq, zero casualties for the previous six months, and the Taliban being held at bay by the Afghan military.  I don't have a problem with the mission at that point.

The moment Bush chose to stay, insert the US into tribal fighting, push to change the  Afghan age-old society to mimic his worldview, he ended the original mission.  Everything after Tora Bora was unnecessary ---- all the ribbon cutting, all the wasted negotiations, all the preaching on womens rights ----all outside the scope of the mission the American people approved.

This was a mission of retribution.  Bomb them with non-stop shock & awe, tell them we'll be back if you try anything else, and turn around without planting our blood and treasure in quicksand ---- THIS was the mission.  The moment Bush continued after Tora Bora ---- he doomed the next 20 years to failure.


@Hoodat

[Bigun]

Yeah, I get scope creep.  But we had retreated back from that in the last few years.  The original mission was a success.  Can't vouch for what the politicians did though.

No! We did not retreat back from that! WE were trying to force "Heather has two daddies" and Abdul is really a girl down their throats and they were never going to have any of it!

[Hoodat]

No! We did not retreat back from that! WE were trying to force "Heather has two daddies" and Abdul is really a girl down their throats and they were never going to have any of it!

I can't vouch for anything done since January.  But leaving 3,000 troops deployed at a strategic foreign military base to support a 50,000 strong national army should not be a problem.  Which is why we should also still have a presence in Iraq.  Strategically, it beats the hell out of Diego Garcia which is out in the middle of nowhere.

[EdinVA]

Afghanistan population  40 million and they cannot deal with less than 100,000 thugs?
This was not our fight after we thumped al queda, this was the afghans fight and they did not show up.  We should have left 18 years ago and never invaded iraq.

[Bigun]

I can't vouch for anything done since January.  But leaving 3,000 troops deployed at a strategic foreign military base to support a 50,000 strong national army should not be a problem.  Which is why we should also still have a presence in Iraq.  Strategically, it beats the hell out of Diego Garcia which is out in the middle of nowhere.

I'm not arguing about whether or not we needed a force deployed. We did, but we did not need the CIA and Department of State trying to force cultural change down their throats.

[Hoodat]

I'm not arguing about whether or not we needed a force deployed. We did, but we did not need the CIA and Department of State trying to force cultural change down their throats.

100% agreement.