Army Field Grade Officer: Generals Are Lying about Progress in Afghanistan

[Nebor]

The country produces iirc, 85-90% of the world's herion supply.

We'll never win there, we haven't even stopped the flow of heroin which could easily be done since we're right there at the source. What happened to the War on Drugs?
Here we have the source of the worst drug IMO, and we're doing nothing to stop it.

Why is this never even a blip on the radar nor discussed by the U.S.?

We're not allowed to stop it. Drugs are their cash crop, and their way of life. We're told to overlook their poppy fields. ADTs try to get them to grow something other than poppy, but poppy is pretty profitable.

 

[Baasha]

We're not allowed to stop it. Drugs are their cash crop, and their way of life. We're told to overlook their poppy fields. ADTs try to get them to grow something other than poppy, but poppy is pretty profitable.

Not only that, the Afghans' way of life is centered around armed conflict. For over 1100 years, what was a beautiful country that housed many centers of Hindu and Buddhist learning and was home to several Greco-Indian kings, has become a battlefield soaked with the blood of millions.

The Afghans primary narrative is that of war; warlords ruled the roost there since the invasion of Islam in the 8th and 9th centuries CE. From there, Afghan rulers themselves invaded India (present day Pakistan and India) in the 12th century CE and established the Delhi Sultanate, laying the groundwork for the barbaric Mughal era.

In some ways, it is hard not to think the current state of affairs in Afghanistan is the result of karma; their barbaric invaders destroyed, raped, and committed genocide against millions of Hindus and then Buddhists, destroying the greatest and earliest universities in the world; Nalanda and Takshashila. And more recently, after the bombing of the Bhamiyan Buddhist statues by the Taliban, Afghanistan has been ravaged by war.

The only positive solution to the Afghan problem is that India should take back the land that was once part of it; Bharat. For then, with the infusion of Hinduism, Afghanistan will arise from the pits of torment and bloodshed. They already love Indian food, "bollywood", and other Indian culture (superficial things). If they dive deeper into the culture they once were a part of, they will find peace instead of war.

 

[Nebor]

They really do have a culture of war. It's a game to them. They switch sides repeatedly, simply based on who's winning at the time. Only the stubborn and the foolish die in wars in Afghanistan, everyone else just changes sides. There are some good books on the subject, though the titles aren't springing to mind at the moment.

 

[chucky2]

Yet it never occurs to anyone in the USA government, that they can never sell the turd of the Karazai government to the Afghan people.

Worse yet, the US and Nato will not protect those Afghans who want to side with Nato. As Nato, with less than 25% than the troops needed to occupy the whole country refuses to scale down, protect a small select part of Afghanistan, prove modern technology can benefit the Afghan people, and as a result all Nato does is play a giant game of wachomole while providing all of Afghanistan with only anarchy and misery.

Don't blame me folks for the undeniable failures of Nato in Afghanistan, I have been on written record on this forum since I joined this forum on what Nato needs to change to start winning in Afghanistan, the Pentagon has always been free to read my post free of charge. But truth be told, the Pentagon would rather pay private contractors big bucks to tell them what they want to hear, while Nato continues to fail while pissing away lives on both sides.

LL,

1.) Exactly who did you want NATO to put into power other than Karai?

2.) How exactly did you want NATO to deal with Karzai once the corruption in Afghan government was known (corruption = government everywhere, most especially these 3rd world countries, so how you're going to spin this that if we put someone else in power they wouldn't be corrupt is going to be very very interesting).

Stop the 'stinking thinking' crap, and tell the thread what NATO should have done after they'd defeated/chased the Taliban out of Afghanistan, especially since NATO is not supposed to be conquering these countries - and hence not taking over their political structure - but rather liberating them.

You have the floor...

 

[Lemon law]

LL,

1.) Exactly who did you want NATO to put into power other than Karai?

2.) How exactly did you want NATO to deal with Karzai once the corruption in Afghan government was known (corruption = government everywhere, most especially these 3rd world countries, so how you're going to spin this that if we put someone else in power they wouldn't be corrupt is going to be very very interesting).

Stop the 'stinking thinking' crap, and tell the thread what NATO should have done after they'd defeated/chased the Taliban out of Afghanistan, especially since NATO is not supposed to be conquering these countries - and hence not taking over their political structure - but rather liberating them.

You have the floor...

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Ok and fair enough chucky2. Lets compare the Afghan military occupation with the two really successful military occupations in US history, namely the post ww2 occupations of Germany and Japan.

1. We went in with massive numbers, well above the standard at least 1 soldier per 50 in population.

2. Priority # 1 & 2 were providing law and order and feeding the population. Because the worst danger to any military occupation happens if the thugs and thieves within a population ever take over.

3. Priority #3 was rebuilding their economy.

4. As a an occupying power, the USA had the wisdom to work within the framework of previous governmental traditions in both Germany and Japan, but still the USA maintained overall veto power over decisions we did not like for almost eight years. By the time the USA spun both Germany and Japan off, they were fully functioning economies.

What the USA and Nato did in Afghanistan is about 180 degrees different than we did in Japan and Germany and its not hard to figure out why we in the USA get 180 degree different results.

Because whatever measure of success Nato uses in Afghanistan, it has to be apparent to nearly everyone, Nato is simply not winning in Afghanistan.

 

[chucky2]

Ok, thank you for that.

You realize however, that politically, the US population was not, and will not, allow such massive number of troop deployments short of a world war. Given that, how did you expect Bush to control the country with non-existant troops (because there was no way he was going to get the numbers needed)?

Chuck

 

[a777pilot]

http://armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030

Pretty scathing stuff. I'd be interested to read his classified report, but obviously the Army isn't letting it sit on SIPR share drives anywhere. :biggrin:

We've been wasting time, money and lives trying to make a civilization out of a bunch of cavemen. As soon as we leave, Afghanistan will revert to the way it's been for the past 1000 years, an untamed shit hole.

Of course the Generals are lying about the "progress" in Afghanistan. Just ask yourself who they work for? Then you will understand how the game is played.

I'm a retired US Marine corps Officer and I have been saying that the US should have gotten out of the POS land as soon as possible after the US failed to support the attack on Tora Bora.

The Center of gravity of this muslim war is Iran followed closely by Pakistan, therefore we, in my humble opinion, should have had our forces in Iraq and Pakistan.

NO! That does not mean we invade Pakistan but we have sufficient forces there at that government's request to help them be more stable and try to have a democratic form of government. It's a long shot but considering the end game, it would be worth it.

As of now, with our current "leadership" we are losing if not already lost.