Half-Measures in Afghanistan… Again

Well, here we go again.  We shall sprinkle a few troops about, just enough to get somebody killed.  We’re going to send 300 more Marines to the twice-abandoned Helmand province, because I guess things are different now.  From the execrable Yahoo News aggregation of an AFP story:

“In those days Afghan security forces were tiny and just got started,” Brigadier General Roger Turner told AFP. “With the leadership in place now they… are poised to do much better.”

Well we also had something like 12,000 troops in Afghanistan at one time, and that didn’t seem to help.  Actually, it did — it helped a lot.  But that was politically unpopular, so the United States walked off the field.  Fine — so let it be written, so let it be done.  America voted twice in a row to lose in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by the way in Europe and at home, so let’s just focus on the only war we can win — and it’s not in Afghanistan, MOAB or no:

Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, a retired Afghan general based in Kabul, was optimistic.

“If the Afghan forces and the US Marines jointly fight the phenomenon of the terrorism in southern Helmand, we will have tangible results,” he told AFP.

Yes, and those tangible results will return horizontal.  Sorry General Yarmand, you’re probably a good guy, but America is no longer in the Good Guy business.  Afghanistan holds nothing for America, and it is important to learn the lesson of Obama — America holds nothing for Afghanistan.  This is a false hope.  Solve it yourselves or die trying.  That’s where things are.

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5 Responses to Half-Measures in Afghanistan… Again

  1. BrentB67BrentB67 says:

    Dana Perino was interviewed years ago and explained that the literacy rate there is something like 25%. A country with that level of literacy that is simultaneously fascinated with barbaric political ideologies masquerading as religions will never be suitable for self governance.

  2. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    Indeed, it gets worse.

    The islamic ideology is written in Arabic. Pashto is no where near Arabic so you can understand a common root language.

    So not only are they illiterate but in the wrong language. Most Jews in Jesus time were illiterate but they had memorized the Torah – in their own language.

  3. TKC1101TKC1101 says:

    I believe you are right, I truly hope Mattis knows better.

    If they at least open up the ROE to improve survivability and focus on death dealing, it might make a difference.12000 troops with one JAG lawyer can be handcuffed to death.

    • BrentB67BrentB67 says:

      Key point TKC1101. Our troops are incredibly effective when given the opportunity to do be so. Open up the ROE, let it rip.

  4. Xennady says:

    I hope Mattis knows better too, but I’ve seen ugly hints that neither he nor McMaster actually do.

    I’ve seen both quoted as saying things that imply that they believe terrorism isn’t Islamic.

    Unless and until we get commanders capable of noticing the ugly reality, we will not win our present struggle- any more than we can win with our troops hamstrung by endless rules that do not apply to our enemies.

    I still recall reading of an example when an American soldier was prosecuted for shooting at someone who was shooting at him, because that person was not wearing a uniform.

    This was and alas likely still is the kafka-world interpretation of the Geneva convention out troops fight under.