Taliban Tries to Overrun U.S. Base in Afghanistan
 

I have heard many people state that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, but as far as I know, no one has said they would withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

Have you been looking at the Daily Kos by chance?

Apparently the U.K. ratio of troop lose in Afghanistan is greater than that suffered by the U.S. during Korea. 1 in 36 I believe. Korea was 1 in 46.

Gotta still be better than the Russian tally in those mountains...

What would be "funny" is if the coalition would pull out, and the Taliban/AQ (+ISI) roll in again, is that there would almost certainly be a major war between the Iranians and the nutti Selafis up there; maybe even a nuke war with Pakistan.

Nope.

This is the "progressive" side of the Democratic party... Afghanistan is just another occupation. There is no right and wrong anymore in the Democratic party, only perceived strong and weak, as dictated by Herr' Marx's manifesto.

Afghanistan is simply to poor to keep it out of the hands of Taliban thugs. I'm not sure whether I should find that tragic, funny or ironic...http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/frown.gif

It doesn't leave me indifferent tho. A good border system in an abandoned place like that, it needs a large army of non-corrupt Afghanis so another utopia.

Just level it every other two decades as interim solution until Pakistan is cleaned out, I see no other option and Pakistan is a ticking time bomb. It's like Medio would say; too bad so sad, gotta go!

Just level it every other two decades as interim solution until Pakistan is cleaned out, I see no other option and Pakistan is a ticking time bomb. Yeah, Pakistan is very shaky, and it is shaky because they have to play every side of this. No doubt they got the ultimatum and they made an interim decision... the only thing that would stabilize them is business as usual... Taliban on one side and Aish on the other and a lot of propaganda and Saudi handouts for internal consumption. Now that doesn't mean every Pakistani is a wako. There are actually a lot more western minded people in Pakistan than say Egypt or SA, but they are a woeful minority, and will not stop the train wreck from happening... and it will happen; most probably in conflict with Iran over the body of Afghanistan, rather than with India in my opinion.

They've nearly gone to war before when they were openly supporting the taliban, as recent as the late '90s. Clinton actually stopped it. The coalition I feel will go within 5 years- as most probably the US will go from most of Iraq, since every one there goes after a decade or so of policing the badlands, it's just futile really to stay there. Even if you drop really bad stuff on those mountains, all you'll have is mutant taliban.

I wouldn't even be surprised if the Pakistanis are trying to sweat talk the Americans into bringing "moderate" Taliban into the Afghani government. Consequently presenting them with three attractive things: a nice way out. A guarantee of AQ control. And another front to Iran. If you look at the latest American machinations with the Sunnis in Iraq, this may be some foreshadowing for Afghanistan. The Saudis are of course hedging hard for something like this as well.

The coalition I feel will go within 5 years- as most probably the US will go from most of Iraq, since every one there goes after a decade or so of policing the badlands, it's just futile really to stay there. Even if you drop really bad stuff on those mountains, all you'll have is mutant taliban. Yet, I can't be indifferent about Iraq! I hope it doesn't fall apart and Iran swallow the pieces. That's why the coalition troops must hold for alap imo.

When people shout "No War for Oil" and "where are the WMD's you hypocrite" I just tell a tale; if a poisones snake, a scorpion and an ugly spider reside in your house. You won't rest until you've found and killed the snake first. When you come across the spider while searching for the snake, you will not even change direction so don't act as if you are Holier than Thou. Oil is money and money is power, that's what separates the snake from the scorpion and the spider. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif

About mutant taliban, I'm only curious if they can grow a beard.

YEs, that is the key. It's not so satisfying but it comes down to some basic economics.. we are feeding the enemy daily by driving our cars and using stuff in our nice homes. If people were serious the way to "win" this, is to make oil obsolete. Accomplish a few things with that: 1. pull the legs out from the Jihad machine, both Sunni and Shia. 2. Make the people in the middle east use their brains... and maybe even [gasp] have women in the workplace to off set the economic collapse. 3. create more jobs over all and revolutionize the world over, it will be another hop, comparable to the second industrial revolution hop.

But we all know none of this is going to happen any time soon.

About mutant taliban, I'm only curious if they can grow a beard. If they cant then they'll shave some goats and use some surgical glue http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif

YEs, that is the key. It's not so satisfying but it comes down to some basic economics.. we are feeding the enemy daily by driving our cars and using stuff in our nice homes. If people were serious the way to "win" this, is to make oil obsolete. Accomplish a few things with that: 1. pull the legs out from the Jihad machine, both Sunni and Shia. 2. Make the people in the middle east use their brains... and maybe even [gasp] have women in the workplace to off set the economic collapse. 3. create more jobs over all and revolutionize the world over, it will be another hop, comparable to the second industrial revolution hop.

But we all know none of this is going to happen any time soon. I'm even more pessimistic about it, i think it will not happen at all for the very reason that islam and democracy seem incompatible. With truely free elections islamist parties win everywhere. It's what the people want pure and simple. The best way to run the ME is to have it ran by royal families, opposing regimes that don't trust each other and dictators. Unfortunately, they all have expiring dates.

As long as the ME stays islamic, this is the best it can get!

If they cant then they'll shave some goats and use some surgical glue http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif Not if they don’t have other then mutant goats!
But India sells hair extensions so maybe they can earn a few rupees by selling beards too…http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif