tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post8181433025727927153..comments2024-03-22T05:20:44.167-07:00Comments on The Disaffected Lib: Pentagon & NATO Surrender Monkeys Give Up on AfghanistanThe Mound of Soundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-37467161328500413792008-04-07T07:05:00.000-07:002008-04-07T07:05:00.000-07:00Hey WG, isn't that the truth? We ARE about to lea...Hey WG, isn't that the truth? We ARE about to learn our lesson. This might just be Canada's first war that ended in defeat but, then again, the outcome was pre-ordained. This has been a fratboy adventure from the start - under resourced, unfocused and quickly neglected when the chickenhawks chose to move the party just down the road to Iraq.<BR/><BR/>What infuriates me is that Hillier conned us into this when anyone familiar with the basics of guerrilla warfare could see the writing on the wall.<BR/><BR/>I'll bet we aren't long gone before the Afghan Army splits along ethnic lines into the sectarian militias that are the usual force structure in this place.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-71841599245100248612008-04-06T23:38:00.000-07:002008-04-06T23:38:00.000-07:00Yeah, I love that 1000 soldier "magic number". Mo...Yeah, I love that 1000 soldier "magic number". Most people don't know that after you take out the assorted support personnel, officers, maintenance, cooks, etc., you may be lucky to have 250 soldiers that can actually pick up a gun and hop a truck up to the front lines...<BR/><BR/>The Soviets focused a huge, well-trained, and well-equipped army on Afghanistan, and went home with their asses handed to them. The Soviet Red Army at the time may have been the best fighting force in the world. The war in Afghanistan crushed their spirit, and probably led to the fall of the Soviet Union - no matter how much the Reaganites want to take credit. <BR/><BR/>The Northern Indic, Pathan, and Afghan fighters are among the most tenacious in the world. Foreign armies do not just walk into that part of the world and walk back out in one piece. From Alexander the Great, to Genghis Khan, to the Persians, to the Brits, and finally the Soviets (all of whose descendants are mixed with these peoples), all saw their great armies smashed in the lands between the Russian Steppes, and the Indian Ocean - between the Hindu Kush, and the Plains of Punjab. <BR/><BR/>We Westerners are also - unfortunately - about to learn our lesson. Let's hope we can at least leave the Afghan government with the means to defend itself, long enough for the civil society to find itself new exile homes in our countries. Let's also hope that our governments are quick and forthcoming with refugee papers, to avoid even more bloodshed, when the exodus of the intellectual and cosmopolitan begins.WesternGrithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06658358114507615351noreply@blogger.com