"I don't think that unless a greater effort is made by the Government to win popular support that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it--the people of Viet-Nam." (John Kennedy 1963)
Asia Times goes on to say, "Political analyst Ghulam Haidar Haidar believes that foreigners are behind the insecurity in Kunduz. 'The United States wants a base from which to threaten Russia,' he said. 'The US political interests in central Asia are no secret. The United States can achieve its goals only if the Taliban shift to the other side of the Oxus. Then American forces can go into Central Asia in the name of the war on terror.'"
True? I don't know but it makes more sense than spending billions of dollars and spilling the blood of our service people to establish democracy in a land that will have none of it.
"I will draw your attention to the basics of the present war theater and use that to explain the whole strategy of the upcoming battles. Those who planned this battle actually aimed to bring the world's biggest Satan and its allies into this trap and swamp . Afghanistan is a unique place in the world where the hunter has all sorts of traps to choose from.
"It might be deserts, rivers, mountains and the urban centers as well. This was the thinking of the planners of this war who were sick and tired of the great Satan's global intrigues and they aim for its demise to make this world a place of peace and justice. However, the great Satan was full of arrogance of its superiority and thought of Afghans as helpless statues who would be hit from all four sides by its war machines, and they would not have the power and capacity to retaliate.
"This was the illusion on which a great alliance of world powers came to Afghanistan, but due to their misplaced conceptions they gradually became trapped in Afghanistan. Today, NATO does not have any significance or relevance. They have lost the war in Afghanistan. Now, when they realized their defeat, they developed an emphasis that this entire battle is being fought from outside of Afghanistan, that is, the two Waziristans. To me, this military thesis is a mirage which has created a complex situation in the region and created reactions and counter-reactions. I would not like to go into the details, to me that was nothing but deviation. As a military commander, the reality is that the trap of Afghanistan is successful and the basic military targets on the ground have been achieved." (Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, Al-Qaeda commander)
Many native Pashtuns see this as a war waged against Pashtuns; many locals see it as a war of aggression, no different from the Soviet invasion of a generation before. The Imams see it as a war against Islam. Right wing conservatives see it as a just war against Islamo-facism, whatever that is. Some locals see it as a gateway to riches, supplying information to the military and assisting the occupiers while working their own black market operations. But to me, at least, it is the gateway to nowhere, a black hole down which to dump money and blood.
The United States has effectively quarantined the island of Cuba, fifty miles from our shores. No blood, little treasure lost. Or the other alternative.
"The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, told MSNBC's Meet the Press Sunday that the United States faces 10 more years of war in Afghanistan."
Eighteen years in Afghanistan? Now that's crazy.
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