DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Taliban is losing its advantage in Afghanistan

**itsmycock** · 08-29-2012, 11:31 PM

Conclusions are that up till 2003, we could have won and beaten the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, but neglecting it for 6 years allowed them too large a foothold. Now the best we can do is to make them ineffective and to provide enough training to the Afghan government and police to keep them under control.

That's retarded.

If we could have "won" in '03 we can still win today.

It's not like al Q and the Taliban have improved strategically, tactically, and technologically soooooooo much in the last few years that their defeat is now impossible.

Recent operations have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that if we want to take the Taliban's foothold we can do so pretty much at will.

The only determining factor is whether or not President Obama and his sucessor will leave troops in Astan long enough to follow through on the nation building bullshit.

Much like Vietnam, and defeat the United States sufferes will be a result of politics (both Bush's and Obama's).

As far as I'm concerned though, we won the war in Afghanistan in about three weeks. Everything that's come after have been operations other than war (except perhaps for what's been going on the past few months) with an eye toward building up that shithole. Nation building is not war.

I like Woodward generally, and I haven't read this book, so maybe you're not adequately explaining what he's said. But if your comment is an acurate synopsis of the book then Woodward seriously dropped the ball.

08-29-2012, 11:31 PM	#5
itsmycock Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 375 Senior Member	Conclusions are that up till 2003, we could have won and beaten the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, but neglecting it for 6 years allowed them too large a foothold. Now the best we can do is to make them ineffective and to provide enough training to the Afghan government and police to keep them under control. That's retarded. If we could have "won" in '03 we can still win today. It's not like al Q and the Taliban have improved strategically, tactically, and technologically soooooooo much in the last few years that their defeat is now impossible. Recent operations have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that if we want to take the Taliban's foothold we can do so pretty much at will. The only determining factor is whether or not President Obama and his sucessor will leave troops in Astan long enough to follow through on the nation building bullshit. Much like Vietnam, and defeat the United States sufferes will be a result of politics (both Bush's and Obama's). As far as I'm concerned though, we won the war in Afghanistan in about three weeks. Everything that's come after have been operations other than war (except perhaps for what's been going on the past few months) with an eye toward building up that shithole. Nation building is not war. I like Woodward generally, and I haven't read this book, so maybe you're not adequately explaining what he's said. But if your comment is an acurate synopsis of the book then Woodward seriously dropped the ball.
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