BF2S Forums Why the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable (in pictures!)

To whom it may concern, In 2010 " The Mountain " is no longer the High Ground . . . sorry !

1) The main problem is hapless dumbasses in D.C.  Same thing that happened in Iraq.  Ivory tower D.C. appointed civilian advisors in charge, with experienced military veterans forced to grit their teeth and say, "Yes, Sir.  Right away, Sir.  Can Do, Sir, Mr. Bremmer.  Brilliant quip, Mr. Rumsfeld, 'we don't do quagmires!'  brilliant sir. Can I have my cookie and 3rd star now, sir?".

Military delivered a brilliantly executed invasion and overthrow of Saddam. 
Civilian side completely failed to have any plan regarding what to do after the military finished their job.
Civilians went, "oh!  Well, that went quickly.  Since you military types are already there and all, why don't you just stick around until we figure out what the hell to do.  On second thought.. since you're there, and we can't be bothered to think of anything, it's your baby now.  figure something out.  and try not to make a mess in front of CNN"

2) Many of the Generals that are in the pentagon now, were Captains and Lieutenants in Viet Nam.  Not enough, apparently, but many.
The experience and memory is there.  Hamstrung by ineffectual idiots in D.C. that are "in charge".


Simple:
Give the military a workable plan, and they will execute that plan.
Sitting around singing Kumba ya, hoping that eventually we'll get to 'gosh darn, they like us, they really like us' is NOT a goddamned plan.  And that's pretty much the essentials of the current "plan".

Perspective:
We would have an infinitely easier time deploying the US military into the ghettos of our own inner cities, and then convincing those predominantly black and latino people to stop hating "whitey".  This would be easier than convincing the middle east that "infidel. apostate. jihad.  those are such mean words.  can't we all just get along?"

There is nothing an American politician could ever think to give the Afghani people that they would appreciate in a lasting way.
They do not think as we do, they do not value as we do, they do not live as we do.
Food, water, health, security, shelter.  Even these fundamentals that all people need, do not mean the same thing to us as to them.
And though our soldiers may try to learn to speak to them, our politicians cannot be bothered to.
Until the politicians understand, nothing lasting will happen.

Soldiers will give their lives, bust their asses, and burn themselves out trying to accomplish a mission that the politicians cannot be bothered to understand how to win. This is the problem.  Until this problem is addressed, there is no 'winning' Afghanistan.

What they need, the American politicans and people have neither the patience nor the attention span to give them;
Peace, security, food, water, medical care, education, technology... none of it means a damn thing, if they know we're going to have forgotten about them 10 years from now.  Their perspective is a tribal memory of thousands of years - ours is about as long as a commercial break on TV.  We say to them "we want to be your friend...", and they hear "We want to be your friend... until we get bored here, and move on, and leave you alone to deal with the enemies we've put you up against as our allies"

American Military is a wonderful friend to have - overwhelming firepower, loyal friends, great medics.
American Politican, however, is a fickle little bitch with the attention span of a moth in a light store, and the ethics & loyalties of a crack addicted pimp.
The Afghanis understand that, no matter how loyal and true the American military might be, we still have to answer to that crack addict pimp in D.C.  That's why they only listen to what we can do for them now, not what pretty ideas we promise them later.  Later, that pimp's gonna have us workin' a different corner.

Last edited by rdx-fx (2010-08-16 21:57:09)