LTC Daniel Davis has just published his report on the Afghanistan War in The Armed Forces Journal. He has also briefed a number of Congresmen and Senators on the findings of his tour of inspection. A major article on his unclassified conclusions is shortly to be published in The New York Times. His verdict? The Afghan war is a total failure on every level. There is no point in continuiing. His career after this is, of course, in shreds. There will be no cushy consulting jobs when he prematurely retires either. The most lethal thing an army can do to itself is to ignore facts and truth, especially when it comes from the lower ranks - just ask the Wehrmacht. My comment is that Afghanistan has humiliated the armies of the powerful for at least Three Hundred years. I have consistently warned that it was always going to end this way since the very start. He has done his duty as a true patriot. God bless him and keep him. http://armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030 http://www.afghanreport.com/index.html
The reason why we failed in Afghanistan is we sent too many soldiers in there under the pretense that we would rebuild the country. We havent even removed the Taliban or Al-queda out of the region yet. And after 10+ years of fighting, we are exactly where we started from the beginning. We never should have put so much manpower and so many resources into a war that was really only about one thing: killing Bin Laden. But after 9/11 we wanted our pound of flesh. Even if it meant full scale war. We were angry, and we wanted someone to pay for what they did. I just think we went about it all wrong.
Thank God that people like you don't join the military. You don't know military protocol. He broke rank and that is a huge no no. Oh and you are comparing our military to the Wehrmacht? Do you live in America? Please leave if so. You aren't welcomed in this country, and I'd dare you to talk this way in front of soldiers.
The pretense doesn't matter - any one of a hundred pretenses would have worked on the American public. We should have just called it Revenge War I and been done with it.
Why in gawd's name did Obama double down on this hopeless war? He did so for political reasons alone.
John McCain, the neocons, and a whole bunch of rightwing back-stabbers waiting to make the case that Obama is soft of terror. Btw, the war wasn't sold to us a hopeless, it was sold to us as salvation for Afghan women. Remember?
He's a regular and frequent contributor to AFJ, the Washington Times, Defense News, and other publications... Nothing new here...
What you have just said is that Barack Obama doubled down in Afghanistan for political reasons. Your own words condemn him. The Afghan women have a future that will be determined by their men. Unfortunately, their men are the most primitive screwheads on earth.
Its obvious whats going to happen when we leave in a couple of years. The Taliban will just move right back into Kabul and things will go back to how they were before we invaded. Its been 10+ years and we are still fighting these guys on the same mountains, towns, and valleys. The Afghan government has little control over what happens outside the large cities. Why else do you think we have been actively pursuing to negotiate ending hostilities with the Taliban for several years now? These guys have been fighting wars like this since most of us were in diapers. They are better at guerrilla warfare and have a better strategy than us. They don't need to capture cities, or NATO bases. All they have to do is pop their heads out of a cave, fire a few shots and run away. We have more to lose in this war than they do. The Taliban didn't even attack us on 9/11. We should be more focused on Al-queda.
Yep, I thought doubling down was a mistake. But political reasons were what steamrolled us into that war in the first place.
If you are willing to call a spade a spade and stop marching around with little flag pins on your lapel, you are a real patriot.
You can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink; giving the Afghan's a chance to make something out of their country was worth a try, but if they really are too immature to have enough self respect and intelligence to know whats up and whats down, then its not anyone elses job to hold their head above water forever. Ideally Afghan would have formed a solid front, and we'd have the radical islamists sandwiched against the Pakistani military and slowly press inwards removing weapons and capability to cause conflict. Leaving the area not as a wasteland, but as a demilitarized area.... instead seems like some Afghans seem to have hung onto some romanticism about being a wasteland and staying in the past. At some point the US might have to step out of the MidEast and let them implode upon itself. Once we do not need oil - then security forces should redeploy to the African, East European (hopefully with Russia's help) and Indian area's to reduce the blow out from the Shia v Sunni firestorm post Iranian nuclear arms race.
Why? At least 350 years of history told us that. Did you really think that because our motives were pure they would democratize and live happily ever after?
