It is time for us to stop letting the careerists run this war as an opportunity for personal glory and rows of shiny medals. The idea is to hand the country over to the Afghan government.
We must stop treating the Afghans like children. They are not. It is their country and for better or worse, they should start taking responsibility for it. There is little reason not to begin turning over responsibility now.That is exactly correct.[1] If the Karzai government is indeed so rife with corruption and is so inept that they fall after we leave, then we tried and it sucks to be them. The Taliban is not the NVA, they are not going to roll into Kabul riding T-55 tanks. If they win, it will be for the same reasons that they took control of the country in the 1990s.
Let me be clear on this: My operating premise is that every word spoken by Ft. Fumble, Centcom and the ISAF regarding the Afghan War is a lie, including the words "and" and "the", unless proven otherwise. In that regard, at least, there is not much of a difference between MAVC and IASF.
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[1] You should also read Col. Sellin's original piece for comments both on the severely bloated command structure of ISAF as well as the over-reliance on PowerPoint.
(H/T)
I've not seen this better said anywhere else!
ReplyDeleteI am constantly shocked to see local folks on the news raving most recently about the local post guys being brought home from Iraq. These bar owners and the like say shit like "But think of the pain and trouble the Iraqis are still enduring (except they don't use big words 'like enduring'); we really aren't done there yet."
ReplyDeleteExcuse the fuck out of me? When did the US military become Dr. Phil on armed crack?
Afghanistan is really fucked. It's a failed piece of nation building. Six months to a year after the US Army leaves, the Taliban will be back in the driver's seat. Anyone who cooperated or worked with the Army will be killed by the Taliban. Yeah, really sucks to be them.
ReplyDeleteYou've seen this, right?
ReplyDeleteWe just have to stop being schoolmarm to the whole world and let other sovereign nations solve their own problems. They aren't children! They are nation! The only people who can solve Afghanistan's problems are the men and women of Afghanistan.
Excellent. Thanks for the links. I'd like to shake the good colonel's hand.
ReplyDelete