Do you believe we can win in Afghanistan?

primroselane · #1 06/12/10, 05:01 PM

Two senior Afghan officials were showing President Hamid Karzai the evidence of the spectacular rocket attack on a nationwide peace conference earlier this month when Mr. Karzai told them that he believed the Taliban were not responsible.

A prominent Afghan with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Karzai suggested in the meeting that it might have been the Americans who carried it out.

According to Afghan and Western officials Karzai had lost faith in the Americans and NATO to prevail in Afghanistan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/wo...ef=global-home

MoonRiver · #2 06/12/10, 05:23 PM

No. It's even worse than that. There is no surge in Kandahar as we have been told there would be. Afghanis that might be sympathetic to the central government know that we will be pulling out next year and that the Taliban will still be there. Anyone that even accepts any help from the US will be killed when we leave.

Karzai wants to cut a deal with the Taliban before we pull out, as he is now a dead man walking. Karzai is a Pashtun as are the Taliban.

I hate to see Obama brought into almost every thread, but he belongs in this one. His total lack of executive experience has resulted in this - another Obama created disaster. You don't tell the enemy your plans.

Gercarson · #3 06/12/10, 05:29 PM

Do "I" believe we can win in Afghanistan?
No, absolutely not. Lack of leadership.

kens · #4 06/12/10, 06:31 PM

This was a major Boo-Boo to try to nation build in a place thats still in the middle ages.We should have went in and done what we had to do and walk away.

palani · #5 06/12/10, 07:27 PM

Congress declared war in Afghanistan? Fill me in. When did this happen?

Aliens may only be classified friends or enemies. This must mean Afghanistaniis are alien enemies.

TnAndy · #6 06/12/10, 08:07 PM

Win ?

Win WHAT ???

The whole thing is a cruel joke, just like Vietnam...."OH...we gotta stop those bad North Vietnam commies from taking over the "democratic" South. So we spend 12-15 years spilling US blood for corporate profits, and when it finally gets bad enough to split the country, we declare "peace with honor", pack up and come home.

Now we sell them Coca-Cola and they sell us cheap clothing and sneakers.

This is the same deal with a different name.

The REAL war ought to be the people of this country wiping out most of CONgress.

WindowOrMirror · #7 06/12/10, 08:11 PM

I believe that we can, but not that we will.

Tell me, what does "win" look like?

R

Beeman · #8 06/12/10, 08:51 PM

Define win. We've been through this with Iraq over the years on here with no clear definition of win.

Will we win in Korea?, that's never been resolved.

palani · #9 06/12/10, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WindowOrMirror

Tell me, what does "win" look like?

R

On the chance that you might be in Missouri I'll show you:

Do you believe we can win in Afghanistan? - General Chat

tinknal · #10 06/12/10, 09:07 PM

I read a book called ""Bugles and a Tiger" Written by Jack Masters. LFT Masters was serving as an officer in a Gurkha Regiment. Probably the only reason he lived to tell the tale as the Gurkhas were just as viscous as the Pashtuns.

He was a young British Officer serving in India in the 1930s. Now remember that at that time Pakistan was part of India. He wrote of battles with Pashtun tribesmen, their shifting allegiances, Their tactics, and the general difficulties of trying to bring order to this region.

70 years later we are fighting the same war. Alexander the Great couldn't do it, England couldn't do it, The USSR couldn't do it, and I doubt that we will do it.

I agree with the poster who suggested that we should eliminate those there who pose a threat to The US IN the US, and leave the rest of them be.

watcher · #11 06/12/10, 09:15 PM

We can win but only if we are willing to be as brutal as we were to win WWII. If we try the 'hearts and minds' technique of Vietnam we will wind up with the same results.

DJ in WA · #12 06/12/10, 10:07 PM

I think "win" means to give more power to our government, provide jobs for military members, and provide more contracts for the military-industrial complex. Also good for the medical field as they provide lifetime care for the injured.

The beauty of it all for those who benefit is that our presence there will always create a fresh supply of enemies and terrorists. They react exactly as we would if a foreign army came here.

The foolishness will only end when we go bankrupt.

One more opportunity to post the history of our meddling over there for most of a century.

http://www.informationclearinghouse....rticle6308.htm

http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/u...ion/26024.html

georger · #13 06/12/10, 11:10 PM

No. The culture in Afghanistan seems to be too deeply rooted in it's own ways.

Unless fellow Afghanistan citizens wish change to occur, you will never succeed in bringing any change by force.

JuliaAnn · #14 06/12/10, 11:55 PM

That picture of Osama Obama looks just like the mask in that movie 'Scream'. Hideous.

As for the Taliban... they will never change, they train their small children to kill. It is generational murder training, it is inhuman creatures training their offspring to become inhuman, ad infinitum. I don't know how anyone could reason with creatures that look like humans but are no longer human.

Sawmill Jim · #15 06/12/10, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by georger

No. The culture in Afghanistan seems to be too deeply rooted in it's own ways.

Unless fellow Afghanistan citizens wish change to occur, you will never succeed in bringing any change by force.

Yep and if there were only two left over there alive one would try to kill the other if there weren't anyone else to fight with .