Another Fine Mess You've Got Me Into, W

American Scofflaw

Were there absolutely no adults in the room when the invasion of Afghanistan was "planned" (as if what has happened could possibly be considered the result of "planning"?!?)

By the US's own military protocol, we needed 500,000 troops to make the occupation of Afghanistan a success. Do the math.

Ignorance, combined with magical thinking and logistical stupidity, never leads to a successful military campaign.

The US and NATO were painfully ignorant of the history of this region. The last time someone attacked this area - and held it - was under the watch of Alexander the Great.

They also chose to have selective amnesia about the bit in battle strategy history of never, ever attempting to win what is essentially a ground war from the air.

Apparently, the lessons of the Viet Nam War have gone unlearned, all these many years later, for all the death, suffering, and misery that war caused.

Aerial bombardment guarantees two things, and two things only

1. You will kill a lot of non-combatants in the process(women, kids, infants, the elderly, and the infirm.)

2. You will radicalize those left standing further away from the government you're trying to prop up.

Karzai doesn't represent the Afghani people; he represents the will of the oil companies who still think that the area is a great place for pipelines if "the price is right".

That "price" appears to have been the destruction and ruin of the already devastated country of Afghanistan, along with the deaths and maiming of US and NATO troops.