It's not really about Osama. It's about terrorism in general. Afghanistan while under the Taliban was one of the worst countries for harboring terror that threatened the U.S. Admittedly, we're allied with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which are both quite bad about this as well, but the difference is that we can negotiate with those governments. We couldn't with Afghanistan.Shahter wrote:
why? tell me, what do you think usa are doing over there? don't tell me they are chasing that osama-dude, ok? - that's just ridiculous.Turquoise wrote:
I'm aware of the pipelines, but that's still a weak argument.Shahter wrote:
you are forgetting the bloody pipelines that are being planned.
The difference is that we can't stomach wiping out the entirety of a useless country, because we know what the backlash would be. It relates back to what Cybargs said. The only real way to win this is to slowly win over their trust. This takes a lot of time, lives, and money.Shahter wrote:
basically, soviets made exactly the same mistake you are making now - they went in, installed a government they thought they'd be able to control, but failed to obliterate the opposition. but soviets had an excuse - they didn't have usa's economical might behind their military operations, and nukes where out of the question too, obviously. today usa can do just about anything they want in afghanistan, with only a bunch of loosers opposing them - that's the difference.Turquoise wrote:
That didn't work when you guys ran the place. Granted, part of the reason it failed is because of us.Shahter wrote:
all that is tilting at windmills. no sence to be nice to them, they won't appreciate it. no sence in building "civilization" and "democracy" for them - they cannot sustain them. beat the crap out of them untill they yeild and make sure they know what happens if they try something stupid again - that's the only way to handle this situation.
Unfortunately, it seems like we've got a lot more to lose from staying than they've got to gain, but staying would seem to be the most likely option we'll take.