Afghanistan Is Much Worse Then Reported

[mudwhistle]

I was talking to some friends at my old unit and the subject of Afghanistan came up. Many of them have been there and know what's going and seen the casualty reports. According to them the 101st Airborne Division is taking a real ass-whipping.

Did you know that since the Division has deployed to Afghanistan last year a full 25% have ether been killed or seriously injured due to enemy activity? Bet you didn't know that?

Last week a local Afghan shot six 101st soldiers in the back and while undergoing weapons training. Six families had to be notified within a few hours back here at Ft. Campbell.

I remember all of the complaints over Iraq for the last several years....all the folks that felt that the war was illegal in it's inception and unnecessary, but can anyone tell me the point of the war in Afghanistan? Why are we going into this fight with one hand tied behind our backs. Why are we spending blood and treasure in a region that will never change? This is supposed to be the justifiable war. The one where we finally get Bin Laden. Wasn't that the purpose that Obama used to get out of Iraq and into Afghanistan? To date we haven't even attempted to find him.

Iraq was a mistake but Afghanistan isn't?

This is Obama's war. It is one huge cluster-fuck and nobody is reporting it. The only thing Obama is doing there is stirring up a hornets nest in the enemy's backyard. Seems the enemy has the upper hand because they have safe havens in Pakistan and advantages in terrain. The Russians found out what it was like to fight an elusive and resourceful enemy in those mountains.

Wikileaks has revealed plenty of corruption and back deals on the diplomatic front but one thing that goes unreported is the status of our troops has been revealed as well. Combat Outpost Keating

LINKS

Casualty Report
Senseless Defensive Posture
Corruption

 

[mudwhistle]

I don't expect anyone to give a flying fuck about this issue because as usual the media isn't focusing on it so you don't think it's important.

 

[Care4all]

Here in Maine, we lost three fine young men, last month, in afghanistan.

that may not seem like a lot, but from such an unpopulated state, it is truly a lot.

The last young man killed, left a wife....and a 15 month old child, and parents.

He was due to come home the following week, and had told his wife, that he did not feel good about his last week there, that he did not trust the Afghani's he was training....and low and behold, he was killed by one of them, right before shipping out....

 

[mudwhistle]

Why are we there? The excuse is to prevent a safe-haven from being formed in Afghanistan. Well that really doesn't fly when you take this into consideration.

The staging ground for the 9/11 attacks was Germany -- and some American flight schools -- as much as Afghanistan. The distinctive challenge posed by terrorism is that the enemy doesn't need to occupy much turf to harm us.

He adds:

Al Qaeda's ideology offers nothing that many of the world's Muslims actually want -- except, perhaps, when they feel threatened by the West, a feeling that isn't exactly dulled by the presence of American troops in Muslim countries.

He ends with a plea to policy-makers in the west:

So maybe the message should be put like this: Could we please stop doing Al Qaeda's work for it? http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/mehdi-hasan/2010/11/vietnam-war-afghanistan-times

 

[Care4all]

I don't expect anyone to give a flying fuck about this issue because as usual the media isn't focusing on it so you don't think it's important.

So what do you think we should do Mud? Send in a massive amount of more troops, or withdraw out of afghanistan completely?

Why are we there still??? I truly don't know???

 

[Care4all]

oh, i see you answered the why are we there question.... ty

 

[mudwhistle]

I don't expect anyone to give a flying fuck about this issue because as usual the media isn't focusing on it so you don't think it's important.

So what do you think we should do Mud? Send in a massive amount of more troops, or withdraw out of afghanistan completely?

Why are we there still??? I truly don't know???

Isn't it obvious.

We aren't fighting it to win and we have no strategic reason to be there.

The only solution is to pull out.

 

[Care4all]

Why are we there? The excuse is to prevent a safe-haven from being formed in Afghanistan. Well that really doesn't fly when you take this into consideration.

The staging ground for the 9/11 attacks was Germany -- and some American flight schools -- as much as Afghanistan. The distinctive challenge posed by terrorism is that the enemy doesn't need to occupy much turf to harm us.

He adds:

Al Qaeda's ideology offers nothing that many of the world's Muslims actually want -- except, perhaps, when they feel threatened by the West, a feeling that isn't exactly dulled by the presence of American troops in Muslim countries.

He ends with a plea to policy-makers in the west:

So maybe the message should be put like this: Could we please stop doing Al Qaeda's work for it? New Statesman - Is the conflict in Afghanistan worse than the Vietnam war?

I think Pakistan and them having nukes, has to play in to the "why are we there?" though....and the stability or instability of the Pakistani gvt....may be in our country's interest in the region???

 

[mudwhistle]

Why are we there? The excuse is to prevent a safe-haven from being formed in Afghanistan. Well that really doesn't fly when you take this into consideration.

The staging ground for the 9/11 attacks was Germany -- and some American flight schools -- as much as Afghanistan. The distinctive challenge posed by terrorism is that the enemy doesn't need to occupy much turf to harm us.

He adds:

Al Qaeda's ideology offers nothing that many of the world's Muslims actually want -- except, perhaps, when they feel threatened by the West, a feeling that isn't exactly dulled by the presence of American troops in Muslim countries.

He ends with a plea to policy-makers in the west:

So maybe the message should be put like this: Could we please stop doing Al Qaeda's work for it? New Statesman - Is the conflict in Afghanistan worse than the Vietnam war?

I think Pakistan and them having nukes, has to play in to the "why are we there?" though....and the stability or instability of the Pakistani gvt....may be in our country's interest in the region???

Not good enough.

Our presence in Afghanistan serves as a recruiting tool for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It does nothing to stabilize the region. Afghanistan was not the weapons trading ground Iraq was nor is the country a threat to it's neighbors.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I live in a small rural community of consisting mostly of farmers. In the next little town over, which is Byron, just last month another young man from that town was killed in Afghanistan. The month before that, another one. In our community, we have lost two in the last 6 months. We have felt the pain in this area from the war in Afghanistan. Prayers for a quick and lasting peace in that part of the world.

 

[Care4all]

Why are we there? The excuse is to prevent a safe-haven from being formed in Afghanistan. Well that really doesn't fly when you take this into consideration.

I think Pakistan and them having nukes, has to play in to the "why are we there?" though....and the stability or instability of the Pakistani gvt....may be in our country's interest in the region???

Not good enough.

Our presence in Afghanistan serves as a recruiting tool for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It does nothing to stabilize the region. Afghanistan was not the weapons trading ground Iraq was nor is the country a threat to it's neighbors.

Sorry, I disagree with ya.... Iraq was a useless, unprovoked, war....

 

[mudwhistle]

I think Pakistan and them having nukes, has to play in to the "why are we there?" though....and the stability or instability of the Pakistani gvt....may be in our country's interest in the region???

Not good enough.

Our presence in Afghanistan serves as a recruiting tool for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It does nothing to stabilize the region. Afghanistan was not the weapons trading ground Iraq was nor is the country a threat to it's neighbors.

Sorry, I disagree with ya.... Iraq was a useless, unprovoked, war....

It doesn't matter how you feel about Iraq. We have even less reasons to be in Afghanistan then we did in Iraq.

 

[strollingbones]

anyone looking at the history of afghanistan should realize we wont 'win' there....we lost a young man about a week ago....small towns cant afford to lose any of their young.

as for knowing of this and the losses of the 101...many know it...do people care....i dont think people have time or energy to care about much right now...

 

[Granny]

Personally, I don't think we can or should trust anybody in the entire region - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran or Iraq - and maybe a few more countries. If nothing else, Iraq rid the world of at least a few tyrants, butchers.

I've never been sure about Afghanistan - to me, it seems that the terrain alone is just way too dangerous, people who don't care and/or people who have just lived within a very ancient way of life for centuries upon centuries - and that's not going to change. Maybe it's time to take a lesson from the Russians - they ultimately had to pull out. And who was it who armed the Taliban/Afghans in it's fight against Russia? What are we doing right now? Arming Afghans. What is Russia, N. Korea and China doing? Arming Mid-Eastern countries.

As for Ben Laden - none of us know whether he's dead or alive - and it really doesn't matter. His cause has spread like a cancer by armies of his followers. My vote would be to pull out of Afghanistan and . What have we really changed in the years we've been there and how long will it take for any changes we have made to disappear into the sunset?

 

[editec]

Ya know...they don't call Afghanistan the GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES for nothing.

Empires have been trying to remake Afghanistan in their own image for thousands of years.

Most of those empires are long gone yet the culture of Afghanistan is essantially unchanged.

One would think Empire builders would learn, but the hubris of the kind of minds that create empires makes them nearly as oblivious to reality as the ignorance of the Afghani culture makes it impervious to change.

 

[mudwhistle]

Ya know...they don't call Afghanistan the GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES for nothing.

Empires have been trying to remake Afghanistan in their own image for thousands of years.

Most of those empires are long gone yet the culture of Afghanistan is essantially unchanged.

One would think Empire builders would learn, but the hubris of the kind of minds that create empires makes them nearly as oblivious to reality as the ignorance of the Afghani culture makes it impervious to change.

They're just a bunch of tribes. Not sure if that's a culture. They grow dope and live off the land. They have no industry. They don't like us so maybe another heavy dose of the Taliban will set them straight.

 

[mudwhistle]

anyone looking at the history of afghanistan should realize we wont 'win' there....we lost a young man about a week ago....small towns cant afford to lose any of their young.

as for knowing of this and the losses of the 101...many know it...do people care....i dont think people have time or energy to care about much right now...

It doesn't help when you have a President that shies way from the word victory.

The death rate this year is higher then any year since 2001. So far 472....most of them from IEDs.