James Davis
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Quoting: Steve Greenwood
In a somewhat feeble attempt to drag this thread back to its origin and as a follow up to my post yesterday it is reported that the Taliban have refused dialogue with NATO forces as they consider they are winning the war!!!
Right, politicians, is there a plan B????
Steve there never was a plan A
It was not difficult a year ago to predict that this conflict was a disaster in the making and that we would ultimately have to pay the price and then negotiate with the Taliban; as I pointed out at the time this required no great insight or prescience on the part of anyone, because we had been here before, literally and metaphorically.
It’s worth repeating, ‘if there is one thing we learn from history, we learn nothing from history’
We are walking in the graveyard of our own empire, arriving at this same point because of an identical toxic mix of politics, arrogance, wishful thinking and incompetence.
Nobody now seems to dispute that which was so hotly argued at the time (here), that this war cannot be won in military terms without massive effort and cost – the sort of resource that neither we or the Americans either have or can afford and probably not even then. And that we were already, as I had speculated, talking to the Taliban, (though indirectly through Karzei as encouraged by the Americans).
It’s not necessary to revisit all the reasons why this was doomed to failure, but the principle charge was that we failed to identify clear aims and objectives.
Someone I think on this thread, said that the problem (in terms of legitimacy and public support) was that people failed to differentiate between the Iraq war and this.
The circumstance of the true beginning of this situation (3+ years ago) was considerably worse than the deceit attached to the former.
At least with Iraq there was some semblance, albeit pretence…. an appearance of debate about decisions taken long before.
For Afghanistan there was no debate at all, nobody had a clue as to what we were getting into, just an announcement by Reid spouting that now (infamous) bit of b******s about being happy if ‘not a single shot were to be fired’. As a result there was no planning either, they made it up as they went along…..and that includes the military brass.
Our troops have been fighting, often for their very survival, ever since their (‘not fit for purpose’) boots hit the ground.
The direct consequence of three years of aimless drift was that it has allowed the Taliban to adapt, refine and hone their tactics to the shockingly effective levels that we see now.
This is not an issue of numbers of dead and maimed (although our losses, proportionately would seem to be at least 3x that or the Americans)
If the cause was right then the cost, human or monetary would not matter.
It’s about why we are doing it.
Nobody (well almost nobody) believes this defence of the realm nonsense, not even Obama.
68% of the American public do not understand why they are fighting this costly war, or straightforwardly disagree with a need to fight it at all at this time or place. A similar proportion feels the same here.
Out of the remaining 32% leaving aside those with genuine conviction, a significant number would not be able to tell you what day it is.
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“I knew it, I’m surrounded by assholes!” Dark Helmet, Spaceballs The Movie.
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