[Uncle Miltie]

"Who lost Afghanistan?"

[sinanju]

Plenty of cheap shots and attitude, but essentially, he’s right.

[MestaMachine]

This is a brutally honest appraisal of the schizophrenic nature of a government that outgrew itself long ago and does not value its own blood and treasure.

[neverdem]

The course and timing of imperial retreats usually reflect circumstances in the imperial country, not the target country.

Much of the essay is true, but that statement is not. We were in the alliance called the the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, SEATO. We don't rule other NATO countries, Japan or South Korea. Where's the imperialism?

[50gunsalute]

the people of Afghanistan don’t want democracy

on top of that,
they want the invaders to leave

[expatguy]

From what I have heard, we are not there to kill jihadis - in fact no one really knows what we are doing there anymore.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[moshiach]

The war in Afghanistan should have lasted days, not years.

When the CIA found Laden`s location in Jalalabad, a quick call to the Air Force for a B-52 payload nuke delivery would have shown how a Laden was just roach for a superpower to step on.

Instead of that, we acted frightened of the roach. :-/

[Smokin' Joe]

"Who lost Afghanistan?"

Throughout history, who hasn't? Virtually every would-be conqueror has been stymied in the region.

[AfricanChristian]

The genesis of the problem is the American practice of throwing money at people instead of cultivating motivated and trustworthy allies.

This hasn’t changed since the forties. Chiang Kai Shek was better funded than Mao, but Mao’s followers were better motivated than Chiang’s.

The US lost China.

The South Vietnamese were better funded than Ho Chin Minh, but Uncle Ho’s forces were better motivated. The same applies to the Afghan Government and the Taliban today. (A notable exception was when the US was on the side of the Mujaheddin (forerunners of the Taliban) in the 1980’s).

The lesson: don’t waste your time on a protracted war in a foreign land unless you have motivated allies (e.g the Kurds). Don’t attempt to buy loyalty with money, if you have to, then ensure that the engagement is very short or conducted at arms length.

[trebb]

"Who lost Afghanistan?"

When Dingy Harry declared that the war was lost, he didn't mean right then. He was alluding ti the fact that Dims will not rest until they deliver defeat to the Red-White-Blue.

[Lurker]

“It is dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but it is frequently lethal to be a friend of the United States.” Henry Kissinger.