U.S. military suspends joint patrols with Afghans (Thank God!)

The strategy for getting U.S. forces out of Afghanistan depends on training Afghan soldiers and police to protect the country themselves, but on Monday the U.S. military suspended most joint field operations with Afghan forces because so many Americans are being killed by the men they are training.

Afghan government troops -- our allies -- have turned their guns on NATO forces 36 times this year, killing 51, most of them Americans. That is more attacks than the last two years combined.

“The French weren’t our allies in North Africa until the deal with Darlan went through. Until then they were enemies.
After that they weren’t very useful in Morocco, but at least they weren’t shooting Americans in the back.
And in Italy, after they were refitted and retrained, they cracked and broke open the Gustav line (leading to the final taking of Monte Cassino), where the Americans and British had failed. They were good soldiers.”

My mistake. I was alluding more to the uncertainty to the reception we would receive from them. Afterwards, I have never heard of reports of the French deceiving us, or shooting intentionally in the back.

you cannot rebuild these idiots country. It could be done if we were willing to fight these wars properly and with the necessary brutality. Unfortunately, we are not.

But why would we want to bother? The "graveyard of empires" has no strategic value.

The Weinberger doctrine:

1.The United States should not commit forces to combat unless the vital national interests of the United States or its allies are involved. 2.U.S. troops should only be committed wholeheartedly and with the clear intention of winning. Otherwise, troops should not be committed. 3.U.S. combat troops should be committed only with clearly defined political and military objectives and with the capacity to accomplish those objectives. 4.The relationship between the objectives and the size and composition of the forces committed should be continually reassessed and adjusted if necessary. 5.U.S. troops should not be committed to battle without a "reasonable assurance" of the support of U.S. public opinion and Congress. 6.The commitment of U.S. troops should be considered only as a last resort.

French forces didn’t have orders to permit the Allied landings. In fact they were under orders to resist. Some fought harder than others, some surrendered immediately. The general ceasefire came from orders issued by the French commanders (Darlan and Juin) who had fortunately been captured in Algiers by the Free French guerillas. Otherwise the fighting could have gone on longer than the three days (Nov 8-10) it did.

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