15 Reasons Why We Can't Win in Afghanistan

[European blood]

1. There is no " Afghanistan," only an inchoate collection of warring tribes, factions and clans.

2. To the extent there is an "Afghanistan," its government is deeply corrupt and unable to control its own divided country.

3. President Kharzai, our "ally" and the official representative of the "state" on whose behalf we fight, would prefer that we leave -- at least when it comes to what he says for internal consumption.

4. Not that it matters what he thinks since the President of Afghanistan is for all practical purposes little more than the Mayor of Kabul -- and that's on good days.

5. The only thing that unites this otherwise disintegral non-state is that the fractious tribes that despise one another hate foreigners even more.

6. Foreign forces, whatever their intentions, will always be seen as occupiers and hence, the enemy.

7. Ghengis Khan, the British and the Russians all tried to "win" in Afghanistan, and they all failed; it would be an exaggeration to say their futile attempts brought down three empires.... or would it?

8. You can't win wars when you're killing civilians, yet in Afghanistan where the boundary between combatants and civilians is blurred you necessarily are killing a great many civilians a lot of the time.

9. Occupying places where Muslims live (and where they die at your hand) will always been seen as a war against Islam rather than a war against terrorism.

10. You can't make people free at the barrel of a gun.

11. There is no better way to create terrorists than to make war on Muslims in the name of fighting wars against terrorism.

12. America can't save the world, and risks losing what is best in America when it tries.

13. Military force and overwhelming firepower applied from the outside are more likely to undermine than sustain the development of democracy inside a developing country.

14. Al Qaeda is not Afghanistan and it is not the Taliban either; it is a malevolent NGO, and winning Afghanistan or defeating the Taliban cannot vanquish al Qaeda.

15. We can't pay for questionable wars abroad and afford justice and economic recovery at home, and trying to do so is likely to lead to losing the war and undermining justice.

Benjamin R. Barber: 15 Reasons Why We Can't Win in Afghanistan

[The Lawspeaker]

Forgive me for my bluntness but why not nuke the place and move the f... on ?

[Óttar]

Forgive me for my bluntness but why not nuke the place and move the f... on ?

Let's not bring on the pre-Ragnarok thimbullvinter mentioned in Norse mythology. I think #1 is key here. "Afghanistan" is a disorganized land of warring tribes that will never be united. Fighters smoke hashish all day long and fight for any random warlord with a enough money and hashish to raise a private army.

[YOUTUBE]O2F80llZ5F4[/YOUTUBE]

In regards to Afghanistan, we assume as Americans that an organized army and a centralized, efficient nation is a de facto inherently good thing. This is arrogant, and (I know this won't be popular), but reeks of cultural imperialism. If they want to sip chai, trade camels and smoke hashish all day, who are we to stop them? I'm sure it beats working at Office Depot, guzzling coffee, and spending your afternoons in smoky, bars and pool-halls with depressing, shitty music.

The real enemy is Pakistan. The Taliban has taken over, (not that the country wasn't more or less run by the equivalent of the Taliban in the first place.) They are at least semi-organized, their government and secret service supports terror and everyone knows it. Bin Laden was harbored openly there. HELLO! Our government is just plain stupid. Nothing less than Genghis Khan tactics will ever be able to hold down that region.

[BeerBaron]

I agree with Civis on this one, glass the fuckin place.

We are gonna need the newly formed glass to make extra liqueur bottles in the future anyways to be able to put up with the BS spewing from every government around the world and a shit economy.

[Groenewolf]

Actually both Brittan and the USSR had learned the same lesson, namely that is is cheaper to pay and equip one group of Afghans to make sure the others do not make to much of a mess. For example the regime the USRR left behind held out until there was no more money for them after the collapse of the Soviet Union.