On Afghan Plains - What the British did.

National Review Online ^ | 09/24/2001 | Andrew Stuttaford

[RLK]

Poor Dr. Brydon had, in the most horrifying way imaginable, been taught the other main lesson of Afghan history. Don't stay too long.

-------------

March in, have a quick parade, and get out leaving things as they were.

[rellimpank]

--seems to me present day Afganistan is one of the last victims of Russian communism. Previous to the invasion it was a backward but friendly country where one could go effectively backwards in time about two hundred years if you got out of Kabul. A friends' late wife spent most of her junior high and high school years there in the '50's as her parents taught in the embassy schools. They traveled all over in complete safety , if I remember correctly.

[neutrino]

Partition the country with a grid of Cobalt-60. Then establish a perimeter likewise. Then release Iodine-131 in the sectors in sequence.

It might support life again after a few hundred years....

[larryjohnson]

Abdur Rahman died 1 Oct 1901. I wonder if any Afghans will memorialize this event. He ruled 25 year I think,quite a feat cause Afghans were as good at dumping each other(even kin) as the foreigners. Churchill wrote about the British failures there in his History of the English Speaking Peoples. But the Encyclopedia Brit. has pages of details(at least does my 1937 edition).

[lkside]

I'd believe that our ground troop's ability to "see" in the blackest of nights will really be an advantage! Our ability to "see" from hundreds/thousands of miles up will add much more

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

On the subject of the poem, and especially the line about "the women come up to cut up what remains," I suddenly drew a parallel in history.

The Afghan people must be closely related to the Lakota and Cheyenne Indians whose women did the same thing to Custer's dead at the Little Big Horn.

[BigOrra]

Traditional means of warfare won't have much effect on Afghanistan. For a prolonged bombing campaign, there has to be something worth bombing. Afghanistan lacks many traditional targets such as bridges, water treatment plants, power plants and factories. Most of its people live in rural environments. If you blast apart a house made of stones, it's easy to stack them up into a house once again. Likewise, the country is a disaster waiting to happen for ground troops and armor. No ground is better to hold than any other, and the mountainous regions to the north are as rugged as any terrain on earth. They know them and, short of Russian intelligence assistance, we mostly don't. And how much would a conventional war help us to combat terrorism?

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

So, how does everyone feel about that ol' reliable Mustard Gas?

[LenS]

Stick to nerve gas, mustard gas leaves too many survivors.

[Fury]

Let us not forget the Northern Alliance which probably, along with the Pakistan ISI, has the most current human intelligence assets in the area. The US will strike at camps, training areas, etc of terrorists, but I would also believe that the US would encourage the Northern Alliance to expand on recent gains in fighting against the Taliban.

[KitJ]

On the subject of the poem, and especially the line about "the women come up to cut up what remains," I suddenly drew a parallel in history.
The Afghan people must be closely related to the Lakota and Cheyenne Indians whose women did the same thing to Custer's dead at the Little Big Horn.

The rest of the poem is good, too. There are a lot of similarities between tribal politics of the Plains Indians and tribal politics of the Pashtun/Pathans. Worthy of study.

Kit.

[janus]

In the Third Afghan War (1919) the British used airplanes against the tribesmen. In his book; "Bugles and a Tiger", John Masters tells of the punishment meted out to the poor British pilots who were unfortunate enough to be shot down and fall into the Afghani hands.

A pretty disgusting way to die.

[Peter Libra]

Heavens almighty ,I am getting somewhat tired of posting about the SECOND AFGHAN WAR (1878-1880). Won by Three columns out of Peshawar. Maj Gen, Frederick Sleigh Roberts VC. gained his title "Roberts of Kandahar". Ah,well, political correctness is often just ignoring the whole picture.

[Fury]

Please feel free to post after dinner, but what did the Afghans do?

[45Auto]

Seems to me that barring the Taliban's turnover of bin Laden, our goal will be to destroy the Taliban's ability to govern, such as it is. That might serve as an incentive for them to cooperate. No point in bombing empty training camps, which are really just a bunch of makeshift temporary housing units. The camp at Qatar must be fairly sophisticated at least by Afghan standards, because bin Laden made his recent TV statement from there.

[No Truce With Kings]

Bump for the Mad Englishman, and the Ag flyer who thinks artillery has not progressed past 1918.

[AGAviator]

It looks like nobody's told you it's kind of hard to haul artillery around on 14,000 foot mountain trails, and you clearly haven't been able to figure it out yourself.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Of course the British also said, "We have no fear of the Hottentot, for we've the Maxim gun, and they do not"

We have some awfully nasty stuff to use on the Afghanis [or anyone else for that matter] who give us a hard time.

The issue is the will of the people and our collective support of the force of arms and the honor of our elected representitives.

Any body else aside from me glad that "Algore" is not President?

Regards,

[No Truce With Kings]

I'm not the one who cited it relevance in an age of helicopter gunships. You are.