He might be referring to an earlier Western power - Alexander the Great's military force
I'm referring to the 1842 campaign but you're correct that's not the first occasion. There have been a number of others:
1. The defeat of the Greek (Seleucid) occupation of Afghanistan by Meer Dad ('Mithradates I' to the Romans) at the battle of Herat in 167 BC. The term Parthian is 'Pathan' in India, and the dynasty was started by two brothers from Bactria, Afghanistan.
2. The defeat of the Roman Emperor Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC by Surenas (meaning 'the Suri') the Parthian. He was of the Pashtun Suri family which also produced Muhammed 'Ghauri' Suri who founded the Ghurid dynasty in the 13th century and Sher Shah Suri who founded the Suri dynasty which ruled India for a short period in the 16th century.
Please see 'Defeat of Rome in the East' by Gareth Sampson probably the most detailed and best book on the subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Rome-E...83&sr=8-1&keywords=defeat+of+rome+in+the+east
3. There have also been something like 6 or 7 Russian invasions of Afghanistan which failed. Not just the one in the 1980's.
So basically fought Greeks, Romans, Brits, Russians etc.
No, i think he is referring to the British Army's retreat from Kabul in 1842, and the subsequent annihilation of the entire Army. In fact only 1 managed to escape alive back to British India.....
1842 retreat from Kabul - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He was deliberately left alive to send the message to the others. 14,000 British troops were wiped out in one day. Most people don't know that the Afghan army was led by a woman. The British weren't keen to popularize that...can't wonder why lol
I see.
Anyways, Afghanistan (or its ancient entity) did survived an attack from a Western power, specifically Alexander's army when he tried to expand into South Asia.
Yes. The fact that there were several 'Alexanders' during the Greek occupation means that some of the campaigns of the original have been confused with those of the others.
Yes, that is true. Afghanistan is a relatively mountainous region and due to this aspect, inhibits logistics for any army operating in the country. As you noted , Alexander had issues traversing trough Bactria. The British had issues, so did the Soviets after them, and even to an extent the ISAF has failed to fulfill its objectives in the country. As you may or may not know the Taliban are still viable and the ISAF have already started to leave the country.
In fact the ISAF's actions and operations in Afghanistan have ended in epic, gargantuan FAILURE.
Isis and the Taliban are brutally carving up modern Afghanistan | Voices | The Independent
‘From Vietnam to Afghanistan, US military intervention has failed to deliver’ — RT Op-Edge
By the way, you've seen the state 'Iraq' is in right now , yes? I don't think there really is even an Iraq anymore.
Any ways my point is that US foreign policies in modern real time have been catastrophic, actually. This is one of the reasons why I hope that leadership in Seoul will cooperate with Beijing in solving the inter-Korean crisis through a more local level and abandon this failure of a system that is the 6 party talk.
The United States is totally irrelevant in the region now and the fact that it has failed to even thwart Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions is indicative. American machinations in the region is for its own self gain and to preserve its presence in Japan and Korea.
Afghans do have their own tactical manuals for fighting invasion such as Khushaal Khan Khattack's 17th century guide to waging guerrilla warfare in the 'Dastur-nama', and Amir Dost Muhammad's guide in the 19th century.
I find myself agreeing with the French philosopher and demographer Emmanuel Todd that the US is becoming irrelevant to the world, but is desperately trying to create situations to remain relevant.
Are you really Nihonjin san?
Just find it weird that its all the fault of 'evil/imperialist' west oppressing holy East asian countries, with Japan as the holiest obviously. JAPAN ONLY FOUGHT FOR THE LIBERATION AND FREEDOM OF ASIANS. LMAO.
Awwwwwwww........How sweet of Japan.
Its no wonder the vast majority of Chinese and koreans hate Japan more than any other country. Now I understand why.
. Its because Japan liberated them from western imperialism.
Those of us whose great-grandparents lived in those colonized countries, and traveled to others know how bad it was. The idea that white European colonialism was some minor evil is something that nobody who has heard stories of that period can believe. The system of exploitation was so bad that it brought together people from completely different continents all of whom had suffered the same experiences.
I would recommend that you read some of Sven Lindqvist's work on the subject. What amazed me was that way back in the 1600's and 1700's white Europeans were dreaming of ways that the 'Asiatics' could be wiped out. One fiction author in the 1700's even wrote about being able to take to the air just to wipe out the Chinese. That sort of pathological hatred wasn't based on desire for resources it was based on hatred itself.
Oh, and my great-grandparents fought in WW2 against the Japanese Army, so it's not as if I'm unaware of the issues from a personal perspective.
