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Another discussion about winning the war in Afghanistan with still no definition on what “winning” means.

If winning means an Afghanistan that no longer can mount large terrorist attacks against the west then we won in the first couple of weeks.
If winning means a stable and prosperous Afghan nation with a large middle class and a functioning democracy then it will take trillions of dollars and three or four generations to build the infrastructure and educate the people out of the middle ages.

Before talking about willing, lets define it first, otherwise we will never win.

I’ve spent the last few years working in Afghanistan, we are losing by any definition, security is less everywhere and the Taliban operate their own government in many places, especially the south.

No nation has ever won an indigenous insurgency with massive military force. The last large scale attempt was here in Afghanistan when the Soviets, despite a willingness to employ draconian tactics, lost. A coordinated plan with civilian, military and diplomatic means is necessary, unfortunately the doves only can say spend more on aid and the harks say bomb them back to the stone age.


The US lost Viet Nam, The Brits lost twice before in Afghanistan in the 1800’s and they lost the 13 colonies which was the first war of insurgency. You simply cannot win against an insurgency by military force alone. You need to change the social and cultural conditions that gave rise to the insurgency in the first place and that will take time.

No wonder we are losing with no coherent plan or even an idea of where we are going.

1) Afghanistan never mounted an attack against the West, AQ did with help of the Talibs.

2) having been to Afghanistan numerous times since 66 ( and having attended the Bonn Afghan talks as well as having been to the country in 2002 ) and still having good connections there I fail to see any expertise about the country on your side.
Even if you having been there being true, you surely have next to no cue about afghan life.
You underestimate Afghans using a stereotype view of western middle class standards.
Afghan middle class exists without pin-striped suit, without parties and without nonsensicle parlor.

3) Middle ages ?
that´s where the Britain of today and quite a few Americans are still hooked.

Afghanis, in their vast majority are intelligent, and able to produce wares just by studying pictures of the wares requested.
I´ve experienced that myself quite often and since 66, not just of late.
Where westerners require detailed plans and to the greater part people to explain the plans to them, the Afghanis just seem to visualise them and what they produce in the end ALWAYS works perfectly.
And no, I wouldn´t like to see them standing around at parties, sipping cocktails or watch polo games with silly hats on their womens heads.
Nor would I like to see afghan women with silicon distorted breasts and in ridiculous miniskirts.

4) Insurgency was due to foreigners tryeing to dictate their own perverted kind of civilisation combined with unbridled exploitation on the afghan people.
The conflicts there were definitely NOT incited by the social and cultural conditions prevailing at the time.
Quite the contrary, the Afghans tried to save them from being bastardised by Idiot Europeans.

5) The south is controlled and easily controllable.
Danger looms from the east, the mountains and valleys which are hard to survey and control and where quakes change the landscape practically by the week.

All these late problems though would never have occured if Pakistan had not
tried anything to make Afghanistan a Paki province.
Talibs are an ISI invention and ISI subsidised.
AQ was a US invention, taken over and kept alive by ISI.

Thus follows:
The only way to end the problems down there is to absolutely and definitely destroy ISI and all of her subsidiaries.
This will end the afghan struggles, will pacify and end the Pakistan-Indian conflict, it will eliminate the aggressive madrassas and will bring more freedom and enlightenment to an already anti-wahabist part of Islam.

So, should you get to Afghanistan (again, that is if you really were there before), keep you eyes and ears open, learn the language to be able to understand the people and try to evaluate from there instead of from inside your hotel room.

Regards to Ahmad Shah Massoud from Wolf the German should you ever have the chance to meet him.