Do you think the U.S. war in Afghanistan cannot be won?
Just think about Afghanistan’s history. They have never been conquered. The Romans, Greeks, Mongols(?), British and Russians were not able to fully conquer Afghanistan. The Afghani’s are a very stubborn and proud people. The Taliban our boys are fighting now have way more experience and know the terrain and know how to fight. They have patience, they have no need for a large amount of money, they are almost unseen by our troops. The Taliban are even called, "Ghosts" by our troops because they always hear about them and get shot by them, but never really see them in person; unless they are dead.
There is a video of a U.S. Marine in an outpost in Afghanistan (where the real fighting is occurring) . In it, he was asked whether or not he thinks the U.S. are winning the war. He said no.
Opinions please?
The Soviets had "Big Bombs" as well. And they lost.
Comparing our technology today to Ancient technology is irrelevant. The Romans and Greeks and some advanced technology in their time.
The U.S. had good technology when we fought the Vietcong, a lesser opponent. Yet, the Vietcong and the Taliban share a same quality: Patience.
The Soviets tried to wipe everyone out. They even had "killing missions" Missions involving Helicopters blasting the bejesus out of innocent civilian towns and villages,
Total Destruction only adds fuel to the fire.
"our boys" meaning U.S. soldiers. READ FIRST
Has anyone asked the Afghanis if they even wanted a Democratic Government? Most of the population are conservative muslims. They didn’t like the Taliban’s harsh rules, but still liked being close to thier god.
The largest force fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is not America or indeed NATO but the Afghan Army itself.
Many people in Afghanistan do not like the Taliban and it’s Islamic Fundamentalism, where by teachers are executed and young girls are denied even basic education.
In terms of the current NATO role in Afghanistan, it is not an objective to conquer the country, but to allow those who live there to choose to live their lives free of the misery of fundamentalism, and to achieve as close to secular democracy as we can, which is why we are sending extra troops to oversee the forthcoming elections in Afghanistan.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:08 am
Well seeing as we have lots of bombs……..BIG BOMBS i dont think they stand a chance in the long run
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March 3rd, 2010 at 10:41 am
Afghanistan is called GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRE’S for a reason……….
Look it up.
A:~)
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March 3rd, 2010 at 11:01 am
no and i think the less war they have the stronger people they will be, look at pakistan now, they are being taken over by the taliban, they were never controlled by them before,
I say Good job Bush,
i think obama will pull out soon the war was a bit less needed then Iraq but the taliban seems a bit more abusive to people now.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 am
Look at the technology and mission that we have today.
Romans,greeks, and mongols. See what they were trying to accomplish and look at our mission today.
Shoot, you could even crunch numbers if you wanted to. It’s not going to be a cake walk but I believe we will come out on top.
Look at America’s history, we have never been conquered,we are very stubborn and proud people etc. etc.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 11:42 am
No, that is one piece of territory which no one has ever conquered but several empires have sunk there. The US seems to have learned nothing from history. If they continue with the same foreign policy, the fate of the US will be no different from the former Soviet Union or the former British Empire.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 12:01 pm
If they don’t screw it up and draw a line in the sand like they did in Vietnam and tell us we can’t cross it.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I think that if we wanted to destroy Afghanistan it would be easier than pie. I think that the government is holding back because they don’t want to kill normal people because then they would be questioned.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 12:47 pm
the war in afghanistan has already been lost…. it such a plain truth and we r not accepting it………. thousands of days have gone by and we are still fighting….. for gods holy sake its not the 14th century……. its the 21st…….. and in this century wars are decided in weeks not years,……… usa has lost……… after spending billions of dollars on that place and wot is the outcome ,,,,,,,, we only hear that that mulla has been killed or that mulla has been killed but wot the heck ……. we dnt have any idea wot the military is doing over there……… after constantly being killed by the so called talibans????? all we kill is by drone or big boms and they kill by bullets……. isnt it rediculous
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March 3rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
We can win in minutes, but think of all the innocent people that would die.
Those dirty Afghans don’t follow the rules of war and hide among citizens.
But you can’t really say that we lost because we haven’t fought in Afghanistan full force.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 1:49 pm
It could definitely be won, but I don’t think that our gov. is in it to win it. And if they are, then they just don’t have the balls to do what needs to be done.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Whats to be won its not a game its reality there ain’t no winners at the end of this battle its a war not a base ball game
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March 3rd, 2010 at 2:22 pm
The largest force fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is not America or indeed NATO but the Afghan Army itself.
Many people in Afghanistan do not like the Taliban and it’s Islamic Fundamentalism, where by teachers are executed and young girls are denied even basic education.
In terms of the current NATO role in Afghanistan, it is not an objective to conquer the country, but to allow those who live there to choose to live their lives free of the misery of fundamentalism, and to achieve as close to secular democracy as we can, which is why we are sending extra troops to oversee the forthcoming elections in Afghanistan.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
it can be won. We are the United States and we have so much new technology. The Afghan war must win because, they attacked us so must not be defeated
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March 3rd, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Well lets face it, the US congress isnt too worried about winning this war, just keeping it under control is enough as long as the Black Gold is still being piped out.
Any super power no matter how big the army OR how good there technology can never defeat geurilla fighters on there home territory. In Vietnam the US had to resort to burning the forests to capture and spot Viet Cong, and even then they failed in neutralising them.
Afghanistan/Iraq etc. Are even harder as they consist of vast mountain ranges, Hills and the same surrounding of yellow sandy plains in alot of places meaning hit and run attacks and dispersing before the US can hit back.
Anyway back to Technology. Technology is very useful in open fighting like in WW1, WW2 etc and it is reasonably good in Vietnam and Afganistan. It is only good to an extent as;
1) The Taliban use the surroundings so good to hide that the US struggle in destroying there bases with there top of the range missiles
2) The US can’t use its nuclear arms and other mass destruction weapons since its a democratic state, a public outcry would be in order if they did use a weapon of this such.
3) The only decent technology they can use are probes and camaras. Whether the soldiers have pistols or machine guns is irrelevent, as i said before, it isnt hand to hand combat its hit and run.
The US could win this war as the majority of the Population are on there side, However, it could also take a very long time to actually control the country as we see in the news the amount of volunteering suicide bombers and car bombs meaning the Taliban have got support in there cities, whether the Taliban are active or not.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Well, that doesn’t deter our government.
They want to waste lives and countless billions to wage war. (the contractors make lots and lots of money from them, like Haliburton)
The only thing that the Soviet Union accomplished was the loss of life and billions of their rubles in Afghanistan.
And the US never actually tried to win the Vietnam war, the government was too afraid of Chinese intervention.
The people of Vietnam didn’t want the war, either, which became very obvious.
But Obama is intent on escalating the war. Throwing good money after bad has become the hallmark of the American government in all things.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 4:07 pm
America has the worlds best military. we have weapons and bases all over the world. i think it will be a long and painful fight, but i don’t think afghanistan stands a chance.
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USAF wife
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:26 pm
It can be won IMO, but they have to get the locals to play along. As the nation is strongly Islamic and backwards in terms of social progress that will not be easy. My first suggestion would be to use some peacekeepers from Islamic nations.
And of course keep the special forces snuffing the Taliban out. But it must be low key with no collateral damage. Try and keep airstrikes and other things risky to a bare minimum.
But the key is winning hearts and minds. The first step for me would be getting rid of every US Marine.
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March 3rd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
You talk as if America are the only ones fighting this war.
The war in Afghanistan can be won, but don’t think it will be easy. I believe a lot of people underestimate the Taliban – a big mistake. The Soviets did and looked what happened to them, they took an old fashioned @rse kicking. Coalition troops are playing away from home and the Taliban have the home advantage. Their knowledge of the ground has to be better than ours. The coalition troops have done very well up to now and the Taliban know this. They have taken heavy losses, that’s why they increased suicide bombings. The governments of the coalition troops don’t want a long drawn out war, as their nations
people would soon get fed up with the steady flow of dead soldiers.
On the other hand, the Taliban have all the time in the world and that’s what they want, a war that lasts for years. It worked with the Soviets.
It’s not all doom and gloom, the coalition troops have a lot going for them. They are professional soldiers, better weapons, air support, helicopters and the list goes on.
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Ex British Infantry.
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Well, the Soviets lost because they were there alone, and they were fighting the Mujihadeen who were being supplied By us, the USA.
Think, what if the USA did not give stinger missiles and such to the afghani rebels, maybe the Soviets might have one. thank god the commies didn’t.
but now, today, we have better technology, we have more of a bigger presence, we are not the only country there.
All i think it needs is patience. and persistence.
And in two years. if this thing is not won by our troops, I will be heading there to help the fight and against the taliban, and others.
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enlisting in two years.