We can't hold down Iraq. How can we possibly hold down Afghanistan?

Question

Afghanies are far more formidable opponents than the essentially peaceful Arabs in Iraq. They beat the British, they beat the Russians and now they will beat the allies.

Answer 1

There's no need to "hold down" Afghanistan. That was the whole point of working with the Northern Alliance and other friendly forces in the first place. The Afghan National Army does a lot of the fighting now, with NATO air support and special ops assistance. The ANA pins down Taliban fighters, and then they can be destroyed from the air. The warlords still have a lot of men under arms, but they just need to be bribed or be allowed to trade in opium. If fighting season gets too intense, then it's going to end come winter in any case.

Answer 2

Don't have to. Just need to keep whomever in 'charge' friendly toward oil pipelines and opium poppy production to feed our oil appetite and the CIA's weapons budgets. Also: the Afganni's beat the Russians with our weapons and training and the insistence that the Communists were Evil Atheists. The real threat was that the Russians were going to put in an oil pipeline without using American corporations or American dollars to sell their oil.

We don't have to hold down Iraq, either. We just have to get enough of them trained to die and distract the insurgents from the oil wells. It's kind of a statistical attrition/ongoing plan, not an exact science or anything. Eventually, some kind of compromise will be worked out where we get most of the oil and the Iraqi people get to borrow a lot of money from the World Bank.

Answer 3

~Congratulations. Am I correct that you were once one of the massive majority screaming "let's go get the mothers"? It only took you 4 years to wake up to the obvious. In a couple more, maybe Georgie the Younger will see the light, too. Anyone with half a brain, the 1% of us, was asking this question before the first troops hit the sand in Afghanistan, but we were called traitors at the time. Too late you got smart. Pay the price and remember the next time.

Are you aware that the same warlords are still harvesting the poppies? Only the crop yields are larger now that uncle sambo is keeping the peace.

Answer 4

Are you implying that George Bush and his band of know it alls didn't have a plan???Didn't think ahead??? Are making some of the same mistakes the Russians did??? Good for you. More Americans need to rise up and question their government in this time of national crisis.

Answer 5

we can't. iraq is open flat land whereas afghanistan is mostly mountains with tunnels and caves. most the action there is by airstrike and then the sepc. ops teams go in.

Answer 6

If we pull out of Iraq then we can focus all our military might on Afghanistan!!!!!!!

Answer 7

Well they aren't over here fighting the war yet so that must tell me we are doing something.

Answer 8

go hold down the Saudi

Answer 9

Whatever.

Answer 10

I didn't know they were in danger of floating away...