DEBUNKING THE MYTHS OF THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

[Path-Finder]

And then the PA would have no choice but to declare war, you have a similarly armed public to the US, hundreds of millions of weapons in the hands of civilians, and would make Iraq and a-Stan look like a children's picnic.

I guess the merits of the craftsman in Dara Adam khel and other such gun makers, their worth is realised if ever anyone tried to enter Pakistan.

 

[Rafi]

I guess the merits of the craftsman in Dara Adam khel and other such gun makers, their worth is realised if ever anyone tried to enter Pakistan.

DAK has a wide variety of quality, but my Clan alone has very high quality guns factory made, and this is replicated across Pakistan.

 

[Pakistansdefender]

Those Pakistanis like me, who were hoping for some good.that a peace could be achieved for Afghanistan, and so in Pakistan, shall have to realize that it is still not that easy and possible...
The ashraf ghani or the current afghan elite won't let that happen. Despite talks with us the fighting continues. It is more important to stay in power for afghan elite then bring peace.. Their country and corruption runs on drug money and forign aid... They cannot give up their source of income.

 

[nahtanbob]

And then the PA would have no choice but to declare war, you have a similarly armed public to the US, hundreds of millions of weapons in the hands of civilians, and would make Iraq and a-Stan look like a children's picnic.

portions of Baluchistan are sparsely populated. the stick is to leave that as an independent state. the carrot is to hand it back to Pakistan

having weapons in a tribal society is a double edged sword

 

[Rafi]

portions of Baluchistan are sparsely populated. the stick is to leave that as an independent state. the carrot is to hand it back to Pakistan

having weapons in a tribal society is a double edged sword

Sparsely populated and ideal for guerrilla warfare, plus you have millions of people with military experience and the tribes are already warlike, this is why the Yanks did not do it, because it was stupid and crazy.

 

[randomradio]

Perhaps the only point I can quibble with is the emphasis placed on 'sanctuaries in Pakistan that the Afghan Taliban could retreat to'. No insurgency can be successful in the long term without a local base - the idea that thousands of Taliban would just 'stream across the Pak-Afghan border to sanctuaries' when attacked by US forces seems outlandish. The Taliban had and have local support, and a big part of their funding is local (poppy, extortion, taxes etc etc) which cannot be sustained if they all just go camp in Pakistan. All the Taliban had to do to avoid US/Afghan operations was melt back into the countryside. Additionally, were there such massive 'sanctuaries' in Pakistan, we would have seen a lot more US drone strikes and significantly more casualties from those drone strikes.

The grunts and local leaders would stay back. Typically, these local leaders would also be community leaders, so it's difficult to touch them when they are laying low. But the leaders would run off and hide in Pakistan.

So it's the same as the one between India and Pakistan. All the important leaders are hiding in Pakistan.

Hindsight is always 20/20. A lot of these regrets/corrections, if done, also would have caused other consequences and domino chains.

I completely agree that it was pretty stupid to go after Iraq at the same time though (on the most flimsiest/fake "evidence" which could have just been interdicted from purely intel + air + spec ops if needed). Bush 2 and his whole team (and the bipartisan democrats like clintons) were frankly stupid and borderline treasonous....all because of ego and hubris from the 90s era (cold war won STRONK, "statecraft" intervention in yugoslavia/eastern europe STRONK, NATO expansion STRONK, low oil prices STRONK).

The open festering sore that was created in Iraq was/is just mind boggling....how could anything else have been an outcome? One should always play the game like you are an underdog as default....every resource and advantage you have must be tabulated sincerely and humbly. Top dog attitude overruling that will always lead to ruin.....that too of your best most loyal citizens (who put their lives on the line to fight for you country) that you cannot replace ever. This is flaw of the US that started even during the cold war when LBJ-mcnamara started the whole idiotic policy of "air corridors" for ROE of the wild weasels. It started the slippery slope of ham-fisted hubris in the pentagon and US imperial politics....as this Lt. General says "fighting with one hand behind your back" for next to no reason (politicians never held accountable at the end either). Efficiency, guile and results were sacrificed in the end to make way for this crap.

There's no way to beat the Taliban without seeing the entire Af-Pak region as the problem area. If you want to deal with the Taliban permanently, then you have to deal with Pakistan as well. And at the same time, you need Russia to seal terrorist movement into Central Asia.

 

[maximuswarrior]

seizing a land bridge in Baluchistan would be a brutal bargaining chip with the pakistani army over support for Taliban. USA has no interest in permanently holding the land bridge. that would be the carrot.

when the dust cleared the death toll was fortunately a lot lower than expected. On 9/11 I thought 20,000 people were dead.

You couldn’t secure Afghanistan after 18 years and are suggesting of stealing Pakistani land LOL We would have broken your legs and arms had you done that. You know it too. You need to come with something more credible. Also, had the US even thought of stealing Pakistani land, the likes of China would have stepped in and done the necessary. Just like Russia stepped in Syria and did the necessary.

Let me be blunt. US war In Afghanistan was always a nonstarter. Other regional competitors of the US were always going to make sure that the US never won the war. Pakistan was just one tiny puzzle of the whole jigsaw. The US was always too obsessed with Pakistan. India became the party which dictated the Pakistan narrative in Washington. The other actors in the meanwhile destroyed US presence in Afghanistan and laughed all the way to the bank.

An orange bastard like Trump would never settle for talks. We understand that fully. Trump is forced to settle for talks because after 18 years there is nothing left to fight for. Although the US is a very divided place at the moment and if it was up to CIA/Pentagon this war would drag on for another decade. Trump doesn’t want to waste more money. It has cost the US over a trillion dollars. The Afghans haven’t produced any results. The US knew for a very long time that it is fighting a lost cause. It just that it did not want to accept the inevitable. It is not easy for a superpower to admit defeat. They are calling it a stalemate now LOL

Here comes the best part. If it is up to China, Pakistan and Russia the US should by all means remain in Afghanistan and continue the war.

 

[Sugarcane]

This was done intentionally by the US military planners---. Push all the terrorists into pakistan---they will create havoc in pakistan---de-stabilize it and then the US military might move in pretence to protect pakistan's 'nucs'.

The plan wasn't crafted just after 9/11 (it was just pretext), US was preparing "Peace Crop" for Afghan project since collapse of Soviet Union. Below is student life picture of few "Peace Crop" recruits from American University in Beirut.

Same people coming to Afghanistan in US military plan after Invasion

So, Taliban simply didn't took over Afghanistan after Soviet fall just because US walked away, US actually needed them to take over to justify own invasion as US occupation of Afghanistan just after defeating Soviet occupation couldn't have been justified to local population as well as global community.

 

[HRK]

I wish you had done that!

He is an Indian .... don't get confuse with US flag