How do we win in Afghanistan?

[jvol1]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/24/donald-trump-afghanistan-215412

I don't see any easy way on this one. Viewed as invaders or colonizers by the locals, they may not care whether our modernity can lead to longer term improvements in the country. A difficult situation to build a bridge from our values to theirs in a way which result in both peace and good relations with the non-Islamic world.

 

[golfballs]

We just dropped "The Mother of All Bombs" on ISIS - VolNation

 

[jvol1]

We just dropped "The Mother of All Bombs" on ISIS - VolNation

We've won the battles, but not the war. As soon as we step back, what we've accomplished will rapidly fall apart, as the fundamentalists step back in and reassert control.

 

[lawgator1]

Leave.

Learn as the Russians did that no foreign military force can fix that place.

 

[jvol1]

Leave.

Learn as the Russians did that no foreign military force can fix that place.

If the country housed bin Laden previously, what sort of people might call the territory home base if we pull out?

 

[McDad]

Find oil beneath their feet. Then we will flood them with freedom.

 

[DancingOutlaw]

Find oil beneath their feet. Then we will flood them with freedom.

They have over a trillion in mineral reserves. The money is there. The people are just useless.

 

[LouderVol]

China is about to try their hand at it. trying to invest and build roads. there is a lot of non-liquid mineral resources under their feet.

 

[McDad]

They have over a trillion in mineral reserves. The money is there. The people are just useless.

O.
I.
L.
Black Gold, Texas Tea. Bubblin' Crude. Hectares of hydrcarbons.

 

[Velo Vol]

Haven't there been several other threads on this? No doubt the answer can be found there.

 

[Grand Vol]

Leave.

Learn as the Russians did that no foreign military force can fix that place.

And the British before them.

We can only hope to put into power the government we want and call it a day. They will fight afterwards regardless of anything we do.

 

[n_huffhines]

What does "winning" even look like?

 

[McDad]

What does "winning" even look like?

Good question...we are UT fans, after all.

 

[Grand Vol]

What does "winning" even look like?

In Afghanistan? Bombing the hell out of known and identified terrorist targets without collateral damage and Special Operations raids capturing/killing said targets.

No "nation building", no occupation, no "we're gonna export western style democracy and make you like it.

That's a "win" for all concerned.

 

[FLVOL_79]

What does "winning" even look like?

 

[DancingOutlaw]

In Afghanistan? Bombing the hell out of known and identified terrorist targets without collateral damage and Special Operations raids capturing/killing said targets.

No "nation building", no occupation, no "we're gonna export western style democracy and make you like it.

That's a "win" for all concerned.

Honestly what do we care? Why are we wasting American money and lives on people who are ok with stoning women who get raped or read a book? Let them be miserable and backwards, it's obviously their preference.

 

[ClearwaterVol]

Colonize the place. Rape the country for all the mineral reserves and once complete... leave.

 

[Septic]

We just dropped "The Mother of All Bombs" on ISIS - VolNation

He asked how to win, not how to commit genocide.

The answer is, you can't win because you can't kill off people because of their religious beliefs. A) because it's really, really hard to kill an idea and B) history frowns on it.

We can't do that and still pretend to be the worlds morality police.

 

[Orangedogsrule]

Leave.

Learn as the Russians did that no foreign military force can fix that place.

Islamic fundamentalism is so entrenched in Afghanistan, whether as embodied by The Taliban (The Students) or not, that it insures there will be a constant source of jihadists willing to die for Islam. This is just another battle in the War against all things not Islam that's been going on since Mohammed first drew his sword in 624 AD against the Quraish in Mecca, 1,376 years ago. It is never ending.

 

[Velo Vol]

In before posts on the CIA drug trade.

 

[AirVol]

In before posts on the CIA drug trade.

So you know about that?

 

[Grand Vol]

Colonize the place. Rape the country for all the mineral reserves and once complete... leave.

I like where you're going with this.

I have some spare blankets to donate to the smallpox party.

 

[Grand Vol]

Honestly what do we care? Why are we wasting American money and lives on people who are ok with stoning women who get raped or read a book? Let them be miserable and backwards, it's obviously their preference.

Hence, why I said no occupation. However, I'm not above/beyond going to their front yard and punching in their teeth if warranted. If an individual constitutes a threat to the United States (like bin Laden), I'm all about being proactive and removing that urge before they get the chance to act.

SOF raids, airstrikes and the like tend to be fairly low risk, high reward when done properly.

 

[Orangedogsrule]

THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE

ARTICLES & OP-EDS
POLICY ANALYSIS

Who Is Responsible for the Taliban?

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/who-is-responsible-for-the-taliban

A long read, but it is worth it.



..." The fight between the mujahidin forces commanded by Masud and the Taliban became a fight between those who had been beneficiaries of American assistance in the 1980s, and those who had sprung to prominence in the aftermath of American withdrawal from Afghan affairs.

PAKISTANI SUPPORT FOR THE TALIBAN

The Taliban became the latest incarnation of Pakistan's desire to support Islamist rather than nationalist rule in neighboring Afghanistan. The Taliban arose in madaris on Pakistani territory."...

So the Afghanistan Taliban (Students 'of Islam-Mohammed-the Quran') were supported by the Pakistani ISI (Secrete Police) who were themselves very much Islamists within the regular Pakistan government.

Saudi Arabia's support against the athiestic communist government propped up by the Soviet Union's invasion produced many Arab Mujahideen, Bin Laden among them who was able to add trained fighters and money, so he was accepted.

The Taliban gave Al Queda a home.

 

[rjd970]

A functioning government that is not viewed as a U.S. puppet that can solve its own problems is victory. The problem is nobody outside of Kabul really views themselves as "Afghan". Its mostly a collection of tribes and warlords with no national unity.