I am more anti-war now than ever before.
20 Years Occupying Afghanistan, Nothing Achieved
by Simon 34 Replies latest social current
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resolute Bandicoot
Rule #1 is know your enemy, the born again neocon chuckle heads that were running the show failed here badly, they still don't get it, even when the enemy spell it out for them.
“We hate you, first and foremost, because you are disbelievers; you reject the oneness of Allah … and you indulge in all manner of devilish practices. … Furthermore, just as your disbelief is the primary reason we hate you, your disbelief is the primary reason we fight you, as we have been commanded to fight the disbelievers until they submit to the authority of Islam, either by becoming Muslims, or by … living in humiliation under the rule of the Muslims. … We hate you because your secular, liberal societies permit the very things that Allah has prohibited …
“[W]e’ve made it our mission to fight off your influence and protect mankind from your misguided concepts and your deviant way of life. … What’s important to understand here is that although some might argue that your foreign policies are the extent of what drives our hatred, this particular reason for hating you is secondary … The fact is, even if you were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us, and usurping our lands, we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam. - the fifteenth edition of its English-language magazine Dabiq in July 2016,
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Rivergang
To quote the late Sir Winston Churchill:
"Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it".
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smiddy3
It`s shamefull for America and her allies like Australia to have abanded those Afghans who supported the allies and are now left to be hunted down and executed .
That is morally and ethically unacceptable. Shame on us .
They should have been given priority to be given safe passage out of the country along with their families.
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LV101
I feel bad for the Afghan people -- failure for the Afghans to build up strong military after 20 yrs is not good. Mixed emotions are in the air.
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Anony Mous
What was achieved: women and girls got an education, many people got access to health care. Biden basically started by letting the Taliban takeover 1/3 of the country in the last few months, then declaring its a war that can’t be won.
The occupation was good for the people living there, just because their government had issues did not mean it wasn’t a resounding success in comparison what came before or is coming now. The late Cristopher Hitchens even praised the occupation for all the good that it did, and he wasn’t exactly a war hawking neo-con, the region has always been in religious conflicts because the small group of Islamist extremists, funded by Iran, is only defended by small groups of regional tribes, the US made those small groups of tribes into a unified front and they won.
During the Trump era, we even had a deal going with the Taliban, which they reneged on as soon as they noticed the new White House wasn’t willing on following up with prior threats.
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LV101
Excellent points, Anon. Hitch died way too young - only 50, I think.
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hoser
The US is good at losing wars
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Rivergang
Just in monetary terms alone, the position of the United States and its allies always was untenable. The war cost some two trillion dollars, and Taliban lost between 51,000 and 84,000 fighters.
i.e. it cost between $24 million and $39 million just to kill one Taliban fighter - each and every one of whom could quickly be replaced.
As Kipling so aptly noted even back in his time "The odds are on the cheaper man".
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truth_b_known
The fact is, even if you were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us, and usurping our lands, we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam. - the fifteenth edition of its English-language magazine Dabiq in July 2016,
It would seem that a U.S. victory in Afghanistan would only come through complete genocide. That is not an option. It is also a lesson for those living in the U.S. President Biden recently put down citizens who demand ownership of AR-15 rifles. President Biden said private citizens would need F-15 fighter jets and not AR-15 rifles to defeat the U.S. military. How ironic that Biden was already in Federal office before the Vietnam war ended. A war in which Vietnamese rice farmers defeated the mightiest military on earth, the U.S. military, with AK-47s.
What's the difference between an AK-47 and an AR-15? An AR-15 will hold true past 100 yards. In short, a civilian organization with small arms who are willing to die for their beliefs will defeat the best equipped army any day of the week if the nuclear option is not on the table.