what's to be done about Afghanistan?
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  what's to be done about Afghanistan?
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Question: what's to be done about Afghanistan?
#1
we leave and do everything we can with "soft" power to help them against the inevitable take over by the Taliban
 
#2
we leave and do a lot to help them, but nothing crazy
 
#3
we leave and say "good luck!"
 
#4
we stay indefinitely
 
#5
some third thing (explain below)
 
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Author Topic: what's to be done about Afghanistan?  (Read 1029 times)
dead0man
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« on: November 29, 2018, 09:14:03 AM »

We lost three more Tuesday, and for what?  What the hell do you tell the family of these men?  Three Presidents have kept this sh**t show going, to what end?
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Frodo
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« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2018, 01:08:25 PM »

I really don't know.  I want us to withdraw if we had any ironclad assurances that Afghanistan would not again become a nest for al Qaeda or the Islamic State to launch attack on us from.  
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PSOL
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« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2018, 01:55:05 PM »
« Edited: November 29, 2018, 02:29:04 PM by PSOL »

Let someone that isn’t the Pakistanis take care of it.

Let’s look at the list of potential candidates, shall we? India could be a possible contender, being antagonistic to Pakistani interference. Ensuring the safety of a non-Taliban dominated Afghanistan ensures that Pakistan is diverting attention to two flanks, Indian operations through Afghanistan and Indian operations through its borders. That fits with what India wants. However, India doesn’t border Afghanistan, so India can’t do much to protect the web of cities and northern lands in Afghan control.

Iran could have been used as a replacement, bordering Afghanistan while being more inclined to combat the nearby Islamists that act as cannon fodder for other areas around Iran, I.e. Uzbek mujihadeen in Syria. However, the general economic issues, along with no present speaking terms with the U.S. kills the plan for the near future.

Honestly, even a full retreat could be done so to protect the government. Both Russia and China are dead set in stopping Afghanistan from becoming another Islamist pipeline. Yet their presence ensures that there can be no United States presence in Central Asia. So honestly it is all up to what you feel the goal of our foreign policy should look like.

In short, Afghanistan is a confusing pile of mess that should have been handled by regional actors immediately after Osama Bin Laden’s demise. Both India and Iran could have put the spoils away from Pakistan, while simultaneously robbing a solidification of Central Asia by China/Russia. Doing so, we could have been focusing more attention to other fronts such as the South China Seas by now.
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Velasco
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« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2018, 01:40:22 PM »

Afghanistan is a cluster and the different US governments have contributed largely to create it. Deal with it, there's no other chance.
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Santander
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« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2018, 02:11:34 PM »


You are an idiot.
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PSOL
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« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2018, 02:16:14 PM »

Do you have a plan to stay and succeed then?
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Green Line
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« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2018, 02:38:57 PM »

Troop surge just like in Iraq, where it worked exactly as hoped.  Of course being half in/half out like we are now was never going to work. 
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PSOL
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« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2018, 02:55:03 PM »

Troop surge just like in Iraq, where it worked exactly as hoped.  Of course being half in/half out like we are now was never going to work. 
And then what, stay till things get fixed? Afghanistan differs from Iraq in that it was always very decentralized in power structures, with politicians only caring about getting as much land for their tribe. I doubt they’ll move on to agreeing that sharing the Afghan nation is beneficial.

There is an issue of also how those troops would be supplied through and resupplied, as the current troop movements go through Pakistan alone. I highly doubt Russia or Iran would not mind American troops moving through their countries or their backyard.
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Woody
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« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2018, 04:05:29 PM »

Send in 115 000 troops, more bombers and cruise missiles, harsher punishment for terrorists, train the Afghan Army and court martial Afghan deserters, set up permanent bases and stay there for atleast 6 years minimum. Then the US can help build up their infastructure, set up oil wells, help them harvest their natural resources and continue sending them money to maintain their welfare.
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CrabCake
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« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2018, 05:51:24 AM »

The hard truth is that the Taliban (or at least, factions of the Taliban most willing to eschew violence in favour of politics) will have to be accepted as a component of Afghan politics. They are obviously vile, corrupt and despised by the Afghan population, but these are traits largely shared by our ostensible "allied" forces in the Afghan government and its affiliated tribes. They obviously need to be put on a schedule to disarm, and support the basic tenants of power sharing/rights for ethnic minorities, but the priority should be on reducing NATO presence.
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Horus
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« Reply #10 on: December 01, 2018, 03:49:48 PM »

Pull everyone out and never return.
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Blue3
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« Reply #11 on: December 01, 2018, 04:38:11 PM »

I think we should have withdrawn in 2011, when Osama bin Laden was caught and killed. That was the only way we could have twisted a "victory" out of it.
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Co-Chair Bagel23
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« Reply #12 on: December 01, 2018, 04:54:06 PM »

We leave and say "good luck!"

Since 2004, it was apparent the war is lost,
George Bush made a catastrophic mistake by going into Iraq, all the gains made in Afghanistan were lost, as most of the resources and generals were deviated from Afghanistan to Iraq,
he ended up losing both wars,

The west should hold it hand up and admit it we lost!! Afghanistan is an unwinnable war,

but unfortunately most western leaders suffer from a lot of pride and vanity, so it won't happen and the sad thing more soldiers will die in vain ..

Completely right. The Pashtuns are among the most ferocious warriors of all time. They beat back the brits and mongols and this time the entire world. And while I disaree with them vastly on ideology, I gotta give them some props for how fierce opponents they are and how they are so persistent. We need to leave, the taliban won’t follow us. They don’t attack outside their realm. What we should have done is just gone in there are got Osama and gotten out. Now it’s time to leave and say good luck.
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