Bruce R. on Afstan (esp. ANA and ANP)
Recent posts to consider at Flit:
July 31, 2009
Why isn't army-building working?
Posted by BruceR at 04:47 PMLooking down the road with the ANA 2 years or so
Posted by BruceR at 04:31 PMJuly 30, 2009
Cordesman presser on Afghanistan
Posted by BruceR at 04:00 PMJuly 29, 2009
About that Friedman piece
Posted by BruceR at 05:40 PMExum on Kandahar
Posted by BruceR at 04:01 PMJuly 27, 2009
Kilcullen vs Canadians
Posted by BruceR at 03:33 PMANP: the issue
Posted by BruceR at 12:42 PM
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 8:39 p.m.
3 Comments:
The Taliban was the group who was running Afghanistan before the grand gesture.
They are the present natural rulers of Afghanistan.
You cannot just magic up a demographic that allows you to be the rulers and build an army to support that.
Well go ahead and try you are kinda slow.
PenGun, I notice you've just discovered us and are trying to make your presence felt.
We welcome dissenting views, if they're well thought out and thoroughly supported. But if you're just trolling, you'll find we have little patience for that.
This last comment is a case in point:
- The Taliban wasn't running Afghanistan, they were running part of it. They weren't the recognized government - for good reason, if you study some of their history.
- The Taliban aren't "natural" rulers of Afg. Popular support for them is still less than for the existing government and the ISAF forces supporting them.
- Nobody's trying to "magic up a demographic." We're trying to build the first truly national institution the country has had in decades. This is a country of tribes, where loyalty starts at a much lower level than the nation. Changing those attitudes isn't a short-term project.
Oh, and calling a guy who just came back from a tour in Kandahar training the ANA "kinda slow" says much more about you than it does about BruceR.
The Afghan mission might well fail. The coalition might well be attacking the myriad problems over there ass-backwards and with too few resources. We might already have wasted/worn out our welcome with the Afghans who were at one point glad to see someone come who could improve their lives.
There are good arguments to be made to back up those conclusions.
Unfortunately, you're not making any of them.
The country is a nation of tribal groups. It has been that way for a very long time.
You are trying to impose a modern western style government on a people that really does not want it.
You are doing this because a multi national group based in Afghanistan attacked the USA.
The present effort has no more point than it did in Iraq. That debacle just handed it over to the Shiite majority which is aligned with Iran. Not what the Israelis wanted at all.
Mullah Omar started the Taliban as a reaction to the very corrupt govt left after the Russians were bled and left. It controlled most of Afghanistan and still is the most powerful non invading force there.
Bruce I have been disagreeing with since long before he went to Afghanistan and see no reason to change that.
As the American economy collapses they will have little money for war. Obama understands this and the US will be gone soon. There is no profit in Afghanistan. The only thing that holds him there is Pakistan and they will defeat their Taliban/Pashtun problem because there is wide support for the government. Unlike Afghanistan.
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