Posted on 05/11/2015 11:19:31 AM PDT by re_tail20
Fourteen years into waging a frustrating counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan, there is at least one thing that every military expert who has studied the country can agree on: Osama bin Laden really knew what he was doing when he picked Afghanistan as a sanctuary for his murderous band of jihadists. There are few places in the world less hospitable to Western goals and values. Geographically isolated, economically backward, politically divided and culturally insular, Afghanistan has been a hard place to stabilize, and its neighbors haven’t been much help.
But despite numerous setbacks, the Bush and Obama administrations have stuck with the task of fashioning an inclusive democracy in Afghanistan that would no longer afford terrorists a safe haven. And in spite of a drumbeat of negative media coverage — including recent reports that high casualty rates among Afghan security forces are unsustainable — that steadfastness seems to be paying off. There are numerous signs that the U.S. and its 40-odd coalition partners have succeeded in making Afghanistan a more peaceful, progressive place. Here are five of them.
1. Afghan security forces are performing well. On January 1, the U.S. and its coalition partners formally transitioned from combat to conducting training missions. Special operations forces still pursue the remnants of Al Qaeda, but the Afghan army and police are in charge of protecting the population, and they are doing that job successfully. General John F. Campbell, the U.S. Army commander of coalition forces, reports that the Kabul government is in firm control of all 34 provincial capitals, and enemies of the regime are resorting to headline-grabbing terror attacks because they are unable to mass forces for major operations. President Ashraf Ghani has sacked 47 aged commanders, replacing them with a new generation that knows how to lead.
2. The political outlook...
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
To keep Afghanistan from backsliding, US troops on the ground chasing Taliban, and the guarantee of American security will need to be there for at least 50 years.
Well, we have had forces in Germany, Japan and South Korea since 1945 and 1953 respectively.
We probably should have left soldiers in Iraq too, especially in Kurdistan. We abandoned the Kurds again. They were our ally. Now, Iran runs the country. Thousands of GIs died in vain.
This sounds like BS straight from the Obama WH. Ask the SF guys on professional soldiers if this is true.
Infidels propping up islamic states is a fool’s errand.
There is nothing a liberal likes more than to see a dead GI whose life was wasted.
There is nothing a liberal likes more than to see a dead GI whose life was wasted because of their lack of support for them.
Delusional. They will never be a stable nation with western troops, MASSIVE infusions of cash, and the willful protection of their giant opium trade.
No nation gets more cash from us than Afghanistan,,13 billion a year. Its utterly insane.
Imagine each state spending 260 million a year on nation building and bandit chasing in central asia.
“Well, we have had forces in Germany, Japan and South Korea since 1945 and 1953 respectively.”
Different. Those were both intelligent capable peoples. They were both utterly defeated and the war ended.
These are essentially human animals. In 50 years, they will be the same as 200 years ago excepting what we give them. They will never produce a thing besides heroin. And troops who will not even be born for another 30 years will be shooting at bandits in the hills.
Furthermore, Japan and Germany both mattered to us for strategic and economic reasons. Afghanistan is not a threat any longer. The only thing to do there is close it off, allow no one from there or adjoining Islamic nations into America.
Their only ability to project power is with immigration.
correction... They will never be stable without western troops.
My dad (Aleutians WWII) had a whole different perspective regarding the Japanese.
The culture of bushido was very similar to the culture of islam:
Engaging in unbelievable atrocities by serving a demi-god, their emporer.
Intolerance for anyone not part of their "code". And
The cultural value that suicide was an honorable and necessary way to serve their demi-god.
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