Afghanistan: Another Vietnam

[Tink]

I see Howard is still 'babbling'

Former prime minister John Howard says Australia must send more troops to Afghanistan or risk losing the war.

Mr Howard, who is in the US to meet with former president George W Bush, told Fox News that Australia should increase its troop commitment to avoid handing victory to the Taliban, a scenario he said would deal an "enormous blow" to American prestige.

Send more troops or lose the war: Howard

 

[wayneL]

I see Howard is still 'babbling'

Former prime minister John Howard says Australia must send more troops to Afghanistan or risk losing the war.

Mr Howard, who is in the US to meet with former president George W Bush, told Fox News that Australia should increase its troop commitment to avoid handing victory to the Taliban, a scenario he said would deal an "enormous blow" to American prestige.

Send more troops or lose the war: Howard

It's one or the other. Go all in or get the %$£* out. This pusseyfooting around is BS.

Admitting why we are there might be a good thing to do as per GGs comments.

What's the goal? Nobody has been able to crystallize why our boys are dying there.

 

[Bobby]

It's one or the other. Go all in or get the %$£* out. This pusseyfooting around is BS.

Admitting why we are there might be a good thing to do as per GGs comments.

What's the goal? Nobody has been able to crystallize why our boys are dying there.

The Goal is to stop this crap country being a safe haven for terrorists , well after the so called elections you can see why I call it crap !

As for the thinking of Afghans these people have been brought up with Hate , Violence , corruption , nepotism , religious brain washing poison ~ etc :

 

[wayneL]

The Goal is to stop this crap country being a safe haven for terrorists , well after the so called elections you can see why I call it crap !

As for the thinking of Afghans these people have been brought up with Hate , Violence , corruption , nepotism , religious brain washing poison ~ etc :

Meanwhile, the terrorists all go some place else. Our boys are just fighting pissed off locals and religious zealots wanting to give the infidels a bloody nose.

FAIL.

 

[Bobby]

Meanwhile, the terrorists all go some place else. Our boys are just fighting pissed off locals and religious zealots wanting to give the infidels a bloody nose.

FAIL.

Think you may need to elaborate some ?
If it was anyone else how said the above Wayne I'd be concerned

 

[wayneL]

Well if I was an Al CiaDuh terrorist, the last place I'd be is Afghanistan.

Terrorists don't fight armies, there is no "terror" in that. They want to frighten the crap out of folk. They have absolutely nothing to gain by fighting in Afghanistan.

They have moved on where the US Army and the coalition of the blackmailed aren't. All that is left are Taliban resistance fighters.

 

[matty2.0]

wtf are you smoking?
vietnam = the next china ...

have you seen their gdp growth rates?

manufacturing is going from china to vietnam ... same model ... same values/culture/politics ...

 

[wayneL]

wtf are you smoking?
vietnam = the next china ...

have you seen their gdp growth rates?

manufacturing is going from china to vietnam ... same model ... same
values/culture/politics ...

Eh?

**pinches self for consciousness check.

I thought we were talking about wars.

 

[Bobby]

Well if I was an Al CiaDuh terrorist, the last place I'd be is Afghanistan.

Terrorists don't fight armies, there is no "terror" in that. They want to frighten the crap out of folk. They have absolutely nothing to gain by fighting in Afghanistan.

They have moved on where the US Army and the coalition of the blackmailed aren't. All that is left are Taliban resistance fighters.

SHeez Wayne is that you saying the above ? I.m going to wait some for the old Wayne to get back his hijacked identity

 

[wayneL]

SHeez Wayne is that you saying the above ? I.m going to wait some for the old Wayne to get back his hijacked identity

Well isn't the goal of terrorists to terrorize?

You can't terrorize fighting an army. Why would they expend resources doing so?

 

[GumbyLearner]

Has anyone here read Shantaram?

Geoffrey Roberts talks about going to Afghanistan in his book.

 

[Bobby]

Well isn't the goal of terrorists to terrorize?

You can't terrorize fighting an army. Why would they expend resources doing so?

I'm off to bed now , I think that analogy is flawed ~ but do like the real you "

Sleep Well .

 

[Tink]

It's one or the other. Go all in or get the %$£* out. This pusseyfooting around is BS.

well Australia wants them out, so get them out.

If they think we are going to be listening to Bush again, dream on..

If we dont know what we are doing there after all this time, who's fault is that?

 

[Aussiejeff]

well Australia wants them out, so get them out.

If they think we are going to be listening to Bush again, dream on..

If we dont know what we are doing there after all this time, who's fault is that?

Ours entirely.

Unlike some other planetary places, WE all have the "luxury" of voting for peeps who will tell us what to do and where to go.

Ya gotta love that fact?

So, 'tis our fault to a "t".

*Pssst. Q to GG re Afghanistan=Vietnam. Does Afghanistan have dense tropical jungle? Is AQ & Taliban overtly backed & funded by one of the worlds most powerful nations (eg as China backed N. Vietnam)? Not a lot of similarity there. The only similarity I see is the "strategic quagmire" scenario the US seems to be heading into. "Democracy" can be such a drag in the conducting of wars?

 

[nulla nulla]

History shows the British got kicked out, the Russians got kicked out and eventually the coalition will get kicked out. It is a war of attrition that the coalition will eventually find to be too expensive to maintain in both the loss of life and dollars.

Thank God for labours abolishing conscription.

 

[Taltan]

The predominat goal/achievement is to keep the Taliban focused on bombing things in Kabul or Karachi rather than New York or Bali. It's sad to say but basically its a lot harder to plan 9/11 when you spend your time hiding from the US troops and survellience aircraft. You can see the same thing in the Gaza strip where there is a break from firing rockets into Israel not cause Hamas & Israel have made peace but because Hamas is busy fighting for control of Gaza & West Bank with Fatah. Likewise the Taliban and associated warlords are busy.

Yes the approach in Afghanistan is wrong but you cannot do any better without a fundamental shift in one of the Western values of either
- occassionaly taking action that commanders know will result in loss of civilian life or;
- reducing people's individual religious freedom.

Rightly or wrongly we in the West don't accept either of the two above and thus cannot strike at Al Qaedia fatally, thus the best we can do is what we're doing - which is keeping them focused on attacks away from our shores.
That's my $0.02 worth

 

[wayneL]

I understand that The Taliban and Al Quaida are two separate groups.

We are busy messing with The Taliban while Al Quaida are elsewhere.

 

[Taltan]

Al Quaida is a brand name, those who carried out 9/11 did not plan Madrid 03 or London 05. Those who did 9/11 are still hiding and as a result there have not themselves majorly succeeded in attacking Western soil since 9/11. Thats what we wanted, to be able to fly, take buses and live our lives in general safety. That doesn't mean we don't have domestic nutcases, crime, gun problems or GFC. It just means that what happened on 9/11 is not repeated - that's essentially what we wanted.

 

[wayneL]

Al Quaida is a brand name, those who carried out 9/11 did not plan Madrid 03 or London 05. Those who did 9/11 are still hiding and as a result there have not themselves majorly succeeded in attacking Western soil since 9/11. Thats what we wanted, to be able to fly, take buses and live our lives in general safety. That doesn't mean we don't have domestic nutcases, crime, gun problems or GFC. It just means that what happened on 9/11 is not repeated - that's essentially what we wanted.

So essentially we need to have perpetual war to keep the b@stards off our back? (presuming the totally manufactured account of 911 is even remotely close to the truth)

Plan B please!

 

[Knobby22]

It was better as a proxy war with the Russians.

Oh damn, that's what caused the Taliban to be created.

We should support the Shah in Iran then withdraw it at last second, Oh damn Ayatollas run it now.

We should get rid of that evil dictator in Iraq, who we supported previously, oh damn more Ayatollah's running the country.

It would have been better policy for all the US foreign policy people to have taken drugs and partied hard and avoid doing anything.