On October 7, 2001 the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks, hoping to disable terrorists operating from the mountainous country. After some initial success and the start of the War in Iraq, Afghanistan largely became a back burner issue. However, in recent months the situation there has deteriorated significantly, with Taliban attacks and American casualties at their highest level since 2001. Now newly elected President Barack Obama turns his attention to this forgotten war and attempts to answer one key question: How can the U.S win in Afghanistan?
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Now the US walked right into it. Another ten years, countless lives lost, and guess what? No victory in sight. This is the US' second Vietnam. No real reason for fighting, no real goal to reach, no real road map to victory. Pulling out is the only real winning strategy. You can't liberate a people who do not want to be liberated. Oil, the real reason.
In 2000, the Taliban wiped out opium production in Afghanistan, creating a global heroin shortage. During the Summer of 2001, the CIA armed and organized the Afghan opium lords into what eventually became known as the Northern Alliance. The battle plans for the Afghanistan invasion were on Bush's desk, awaiting his signature, on September 10, 2001. The US led coup that ousted the Taliban, and put the opium lords in charge of the country, allowed them to get the opium crops in for the 2002 season, which put Afghanistan back in the top spot for world opium production.
Afghanistan now accounts for over 93% of the global heroin supply, pumping out nearly 2 million pounds of pure heroin a year - all under the watchful eye of the 30,000 US troops, wandering through the poppy fields, looking for boogiemen.
Did you know that heroin kills over 100,000 people globally, each and every year? That's on the order of 50 times the death toll of the WTC bombings. The heroin market also happens to be a half trillion dollar a year industry.
Just because a situation is universally bad doesn't mean somebody doesn't win. For someone at least, it's a pretty sweet deal to be able to use the entire population of a small country as slave labor to get in the opium crops (a very labor intensive operation), then use 30,000 troops forever, at taxpayer expense, as mercenaries to protect your business, then kick back and watch the money roll in by the train load. That is a very, very BIG win, even though it's major loss for those of us not on the inside.
I for one am confused on who the enemy actually is in Afghanistan. Oh, sure, I hear them throw around scary names like Al-Queda and the Taliban. Is the enemy still Bin Laden? Is the enemy an organization led by Bin Laden? And if we capture him, have we "won" in Afghanistan?
Or is he totally out of the control picture now?
Who are the "leaders" of exactly "what"? People throw around numbers and say there are 20,000 some odd insurgents in Afghanistan. Who counted them? How were they identified?
My point is that I don't think the question "How Can the U.S. Win in Afghanistan?" can be properly answered until the identity of the enemy and the definition of victory are more clearly defined. If those basics can't be defined, then the answer is a resounding NO.
Bill Hicks said it best, "In order for there to be a war , there has to be... two... armies."
Please, let's wake up and smell the roses. We are not in Afghanistan because of the terrorist threat. The corporate US is there because it has become an empire and an empire requires many facets. Afghanistan provides a great battle, testing ground, it provides the means to build and improve huge oil and natural gas pipe lines, and it keeps many amerikans brain-washed into believing that all of the above is necessary.
The Roman empire did the same thing under different circumstances but the ultimate goal was the same; and, the masses-r-asses have something to distract themselves while the bankers loot the nation!
See how simple and understandable it all is when the correct perspective is applied?
And then again there is around 20,000 memberes of an organized terrorist group in Afghanistan. "Wake up and smell the roses." Your idea has no proof nor any way to back youself up. Iraq qas for oil and it has been admitted, Iraq was already in the works to be seized long before 9/11, theres nothing wrong going into a country thats not living up to there end of the deal and take what is ours. Afghan. on the other hand is to knock out a dangerous power.
It's obvious, you opinion, that you have not read either the history of what is occuring or are aware, having read that history, that the USofA is there because of what I stated above. For centuries the international bankers have controlled what occurs throughout the world and when the USSR could not accomplish in Afghanistan what they wanted they then had the US enter the fray. We have the most expendable military and up until the latest recession/depression, the most available funding to perform the military operation. The bankers are responsible for the World Trade Center demolition(s), and each and every major so-called terrorist activity in the world.
Start reading all of the news that is broadcast over the internet, learn how to become an intensive and extensive discerner and then make statements that show that you are aware of what is going on in this world, and yes, you should "Wake up and smell the roses", since what you are smelling is your own inadequacy!