They are saying that the war in Afghanistan is going to last longer than the Vietnam Conflict (15) years, and that in the end we will leave in defeat? The last foreign government to be there was Russia. They were next door neighbors to Afghanistan. At the the height of their conflict, according to Wikipedia, they had 110,000 troops. They still could not win it! They were there for around 10 years.
We are not even close to that with 45,000 troops. They are projecting doubling that to 70,000 troops. Still, we are not close to what the Russians sent!
We are not close to that in geographical sense either. This war is going to cost us much more than Iraq could even think of! Unlike vietnam or Korea we have no seaports close by to land things by ships. Everything will have to arrive by air. This is going to be a disaster!
The U.S. supplied arms to Afghans fighting the soviets. If we would have continued helping them after the USSR left we wouuldn't be in this mess now. Isn't hindsight wonderful?
how can we win this "war" we aren't even fighting a country, we are fighting thug militants looking for one dying (if not dead) individual. It's not like we have a direct enemy we can beat, sign a treaty with and come home.
correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no expert on what is happening in Afghanistn or even why we are there.
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"Resolved: That all men should live to the glory of God. Resolved, secondly: That whether or not anyone else does, I will." ~Jonathan Edwards
"The only man who has the right to say he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ." ~Dietrich Bonheoffer, The Cost of Discipleship
"Preachers who should be fishing for men are now too often fishing for compliments from men." ~Leonard Ravenhill
how can we win this "war" we aren't even fighting a country, we are fighting thug militants looking for one dying (if not dead) individual. It's not like we have a direct enemy we can beat, sign a treaty with and come home.
correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no expert on what is happening in Afghanistn or even why we are there.
We are there because the terrorists that struck this country in 2001, were based out of Afghanistan. When we defeated the Taliban and were starting the long process of securing the country so that the terrorists we'd just defeated wouldn't attain power gain when the Iraq war started. Our attention was needlessly diverted and Afghanistan has become a quagmire that there aren't many good solutions for now.
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In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. Augustine
We are there because the terrorists that struck this country in 2001, were based out of Afghanistan. When we defeated the Taliban and were starting the long process of securing the country so that the terrorists we'd just defeated wouldn't attain power gain when the Iraq war started. Our attention was needlessly diverted and Afghanistan has become a quagmire that there aren't many good solutions for now.
Do you really feel like we have defeated the TALIBAN? Why are they still active?
As far as a quagmire, you are 100% correct. At least Iraq has some purpose of securing vital assets, ie Oil. Afghanistan has nothing. This is going to be a disaster that will cost us Billions of dollars and thousands of lives.
We are having to ask Russia just to let us fly in or transport non-lethal supplies to our troops. Everything else must come by air. The logistics of this are going to sink Obama. I am not saying "Thus sayeth the Lord", but, you watch, one year from now people are going to be fed up with this and they will be blaming Obama.
Do you really feel like we have defeated the TALIBAN? Why are they still active?
As far as a quagmire, you are 100% correct. At least Iraq has some purpose of securing vital assets, ie Oil. Afghanistan has nothing. This is going to be a disaster that will cost us Billions of dollars and thousands of lives.
We are having to ask Russia just to let us fly in or transport non-lethal supplies to our troops. Everything else must come by air. The logistics of this are going to sink Obama. I am not saying "Thus sayeth the Lord", but, you watch, one year from now people are going to be fed up with this and they will be blaming Obama.
Defeated can be a relative term, but considering they were the ruling party of government that controlled that country and harbored terrorists like Bin Laden when we invaded, I'd say we had began to defeat the Taliban.
I'll agree with you that there aren't many good options now in Afghanistan. It's another in a long line of foreign policy failures that will cost this country dearly into the future. We made those people all kinds of promises. For instance, GWB's administration promised paving miles and miles of road. I don't have the article here, but it was a very few miles of road that were ever paved.
When we screw up foreign policy and are dishonest with people, it ALWAYS comes back to us. Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan now twice, are all prime examples of that.
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In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. Augustine
Defeated can be a relative term, but considering they were the ruling party of government that controlled that country and harbored terrorists like Bin Laden when we invaded, I'd say we had began to defeat the Taliban.
I'll agree with you that there aren't many good options now in Afghanistan. It's another in a long line of foreign policy failures that will cost this country dearly into the future. We made those people all kinds of promises. For instance, GWB's administration promised paving miles and miles of road. I don't have the article here, but it was a very few miles of road that were ever paved.
When we screw up foreign policy and are dishonest with people, it ALWAYS comes back to us. Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan now twice, are all prime examples of that.
I have a nephew over there right now. It is not a good situation and the local news does not even have a handle on it.
I went to wikipedia and looked up Russia's war with Afghanistan. Wow. They were neighbors and still had logistics problems. They had almost 3 times the troops that we have and still could not subdue the country. I can just imagine that now they are doing to us what we were doing to them. Aiding the Taliban against the "Cursed Invaders"
I think it's too early to tell the outcome of things in Afghanistan. I think that our invasion of Afghanistan can't be compared to Russia's. Russia wanted to take them over, we just want to root out a terrorist network and support more peaceful government factions and their efforts to unite the country. I think we'll never root out all of the Taliban, but I think we can get them beaten down enough to give the more peaceful factions the edge over them and keep them from power.
Lastly, Afghanistan's significance from an energy standpoint originates from its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and natural gas exports from Asia to the Arabian Sea. This potential includes the possible construction of oil and natural gas export pipelines through Afghanistan, which were under serious consideration in the mid-1990s. The idea has since been undermined by Afghanistan's instability. Since 1996, most of Afghanistan has been controlled by the Taliban movement, which the United States does not recognize as the government of Afghanistan. This is why BILLIONS and BILLIONS of energy industry dollars stand to be lost if someone doesn't uproot the Taliban and install a stable government in Afghanistan. The nation is very important from an energy export perspective. That's the real reason why the Russians invaded it in the first place.
If we pull out of Afghanistan, Russia or some other country will justify another invasion hoping that we weakened the Afghani will and military structure enough for them to get this most prized chess piece.
I think it's too early to tell the outcome of things in Afghanistan. I think that our invasion of Afghanistan can't be compared to Russia's. Russia wanted to take them over, we just want to root out a terrorist network and support more peaceful government factions and their efforts to unite the country. I think we'll never root out all of the Taliban, but I think we can get them beaten down enough to give the more peaceful factions the edge over them and keep them from power.
Lastly, Afghanistan's significance from an energy standpoint originates from its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and natural gas exports from Asia to the Arabian Sea. This potential includes the possible construction of oil and natural gas export pipelines through Afghanistan, which were under serious consideration in the mid-1990s. The idea has since been undermined by Afghanistan's instability. Since 1996, most of Afghanistan has been controlled by the Taliban movement, which the United States does not recognize as the government of Afghanistan. This is why BILLIONS and BILLIONS of energy industry dollars stand to be lost if someone doesn't uproot the Taliban and install a stable government in Afghanistan. The nation is very important from an energy export perspective. That's the real reason why the Russians invaded it in the first place.
If we pull out of Afghanistan, Russia or some other country will justify another invasion hoping that we weakened the Afghani will and military structure enough for them to get this most prized chess piece.
I don't know about russia wanting back in, they got burned once, badly.
Those guys in Afghanistan have been fighting for a long time, on their turf. Again, this one is going to cost.
I don't know about russia wanting back in, they got burned once, badly.
Those guys in Afghanistan have been fighting for a long time, on their turf. Again, this one is going to cost.
My predictions:
Russia is going to appear to want to help us with Afghanistan.
We are going to accept their fake olive branch, and that will be a mistake.
The Afghanistan war will lead us to a greater war with the Russian empire, fueled, instigated by the Muslim world.
Fighting the Taliban and attempting to establish peace in Afghanistan is a JUST war if there has ever been one.
There is a government in place and we made significant strides in establishing normalcy for Afghanistan, but we left the maintenance of their progress to other nations who did not do a good job.
I literally cried when I realized that the Lord would not allow me to stay in Afghanistan to serve and fight in the battles.
I could have stayed, but they wanted to leave me in their "Internment" facility-- didn't like it there.
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