Afghanistan finally moves into the Lose column

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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by GreenGoo »

stessier wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:British officer says shooting people like video games, film at 11.
That's not actually what he said. He said he was happy to get the front seat because he plays video games and can be useful with his thumbs. I'm not sure why that's such a big deal.
I am aware.

I was trying to phrase it in the worst possible way so that even in that miscontext we can get some perspective on how "awful" it was.

It's a shame he used the word "joy", but whatever.
Prince Harry wrote:It's a joy for me because I'm one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I'm probably quite useful," Harry said.
Not the best choice of words, but not the end of the world as we know it.

The context is basically, I'm good at video games, the gunner's seat operates very similarly, I suspect/I am quite competent in that role.

The army uses video games to train soldiers for goodness sake. It was a dumb thing to say, but understandable and certainly not going to cause another 9/11. There are plenty of real reasons that the Taliban could use for recruitment reasons, and even if there weren't, they could make up shit that is way better than that. It's not like honesty is a Taliban trademark.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by GreenGoo »

LawBeefaroni wrote:
El Guapo wrote: My point is that there are things happening every day in Afghanistan that I'd wager have way more negative PR effects, and that as such this is probably going to be a drop in the bucket long term.
True, but the very idea that this is a mere drop in the bucket says a lot about the state of our PR over there. And when it's that bad, it's not helpful to pile on with dumb Prince Harryisms. It's the combined weight of negative perceptions that drives recruiting or gets people to dress in Afghani police uniforms and gun down "fellow" soldiers. Can we stop it completely? Probably not, but it should never just be acceptable to fuel to the fire.
Burn some books by mistake and there are riots. How can you possibly argue that "we" need to behave better otherwise bad things will happen?
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by stessier »

GreenGoo wrote:
stessier wrote:
GreenGoo wrote:British officer says shooting people like video games, film at 11.
That's not actually what he said. He said he was happy to get the front seat because he plays video games and can be useful with his thumbs. I'm not sure why that's such a big deal.
I am aware.

I was trying to phrase it in the worst possible way so that even in that miscontext we can get some perspective on how "awful" it was.

It's a shame he used the word "joy", but whatever.
Prince Harry wrote:It's a joy for me because I'm one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I'm probably quite useful," Harry said.
Not the best choice of words, but not the end of the world as we know it.

The context is basically, I'm good at video games, the gunner's seat operates very similarly, I suspect/I am quite competent in that role.

The army uses video games to train soldiers for goodness sake. It was a dumb thing to say, but understandable and certainly not going to cause another 9/11. There are plenty of real reasons that the Taliban could use for recruitment reasons, and even if there weren't, they could make up shit that is way better than that. It's not like honesty is a Taliban trademark.
I think he said "joy" because the backseater doesn't get to do much. I would be frustrated beyond belief if someone was shooting at me and all I could do was point them out to the guy with the trigger.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by LordMortis »

GreenGoo wrote:
LordMortis wrote:Screw youth. (unless your maturity level is truly low enough that you don't value human life, which I am sure is also possible) How else do you rationalize gunning down people and being shot at from a helicopter? The Taliban say it's because so many become "mentally unstable", I'd think it's as often as not, a coping mechanism to keep you sane when you've been socialized to value human life.
It could be a coping mechanism. I'm not sure it *has* to be rationalized, necessarily. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are completely aware and, maybe comfortable is not the right word, but "ok" with the fact that they shoot people as part of their job. I don't think that automatically makes them psychotic/sociopathic/insane.
I could be wrong, but given the way are raised in western societies, if you are an adult who understands what it means to take a faceless human life from a mile away firing into groups at a rate of ten not so accurate rounds a second, I'm thinking you either have issues or coping mechanisms.

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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

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Using the word "joy" just gives people ammo, which is why it's a shame. Even if I couldn't rationalize his words (I can, just as you've done) I. Don't. Care. And I'm not sure why anyone but newsies having a slow news day, would.

I put in a lot of effort attempting to see the other side of things. I put a lot of effort into trying to empathize with people here that have differing opinions on things than I do. I just can't summon the energy to even try on this one.

It's just such a non-event, imo of course.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

GreenGoo wrote: Ok, Lawbeef, I can't believe you're taking this so seriously. Canadian officers say stupid shit all the time. Americans seem to have more than their fair share of stupid soldiers saying stupid shit on youtube.

...

That you think this somehow empowers the Taliban and causes great harm for "the cause" is bizarre, laughable and misguided.
When he says stupid things to global news outlets, and when every other soldier says stupid inflamatory shit on youtube, it potentially undermines the efforts other soldiers put in over there. At the very least, as the most famous soldier fighting over there, he should recognize that and keep his mouth shut. Instead he uses it as an opportunity to showcase his PS3 talents. It also seems very counter to his "take a life to save a life" rah-rah bravado.




And on a completely different level, probably best for another thread, what he said about killing other humans points to the increasing drone-ification of war. He's not just pressing buttons on a controller, he's sending explosive projectiles and metal fragments through peoples' bodies. But hey, it's like FIFA 2013. I have little doubt that he has more regard for the electronic Wayne Rooney on his TV screen than for any individual he's killed.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

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This talk reminds of my stepson here a while back who asked me what my "body count" was from VietNam.
I just don't understand some people. Royals included.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

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dbt1949 wrote:This talk reminds of my stepson here a while back who asked me what my "body count" was from VietNam.
I just don't understand some people. Royals included.
I don't disagree, but your bodycount was not accumulated from hundreds of yards in the air while you stared at a green lit hud the whole time.

If we want to have a talk about the seriousness of war and the sanctity of human life, we can do that. I am not cavalier about war. It scares the shit out of me and I am quite sure post traumatic stress disorder is a very real, very debilitating thing.

Am I surprised that a soldier made some comments that may be interpreted as dehumanizing his enemy? Um, no. We have all of human history to fall back on as evidence that this is a typical thing, and even if Harry's comments could be considered insensitive, that's all they are. Insensitive. Probably inappropriate given his rank and family. It's not like he was telling everyone how great it felt every time he popped a towelhead and saw them fly apart as the bullets from his cannon struck them.

I mean this in all honesty: If a Prince talking about how his skills at video games will help him do something useful (useful=kill the enemy) in the war is the worst (or even a significant) PR flub the west has to suffer, we are damn good at PR.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

GreenGoo wrote: I mean this in all honesty: If a Prince talking about how his skills at video games will help him do something useful (useful=kill the enemy) in the war is the worst (or even a significant) PR flub the west has to suffer, we are damn good at PR.
Is getting a splinter the worst thing that could happen to you? No. So why don't you rub your hand along every rough, unsanded piece of split wood you see? Because you don't want a splinter.

When something isn't the worst possible outcome, it isn't automatically a desirable outcome.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by El Guapo »

LawBeefaroni wrote:
El Guapo wrote: My point is that there are things happening every day in Afghanistan that I'd wager have way more negative PR effects, and that as such this is probably going to be a drop in the bucket long term.
True, but the very idea that this is a mere drop in the bucket says a lot about the state of our PR over there. And when it's that bad, it's not helpful to pile on with dumb Prince Harryisms. It's the combined weight of negative perceptions that drives recruiting or gets people to dress in Afghani police uniforms and gun down "fellow" soldiers. Can we stop it completely? Probably not, but it should never just be acceptable to fuel to the fire.
I mean, we are fighting a war and killing a lot of Afghans. That's a substantial PR challenge in Afghanistan no matter how you slice it.

Not disagreeing that it's bad. I'd just say that my estimation that the war will turn out materially different because of this remark is about 0.1%.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by GreenGoo »

When I get a splinter, I don't mention it, because...it's a splinter.

I certainly wouldn't expect it to be more than tabloid fodder about the wacky foibles of Prince Harry, because, well...it's a splinter.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Holman »

GG, I don't think it's the worst thing in the war. If a regular soldier said it, I'd just think "Kid probably needs a rest and a reminder."

When the Prince (who is basically only there to lend legitimacy to his weird family's weird political status) says it, I think "There's a privileged asshole who doesn't even know how to do Being-the-Prince right."
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by LordMortis »

Holman wrote:GG, I don't think it's the worst thing in the war. If a regular soldier said it, I'd just think "Kid probably needs a rest and a reminder."

When the Prince (who is basically only there to lend legitimacy to his weird family's weird political status) says it, I think "There's a privileged asshole who doesn't even know how to do Being-the-Prince right."
If a prince is in a chopper being shot at, I don't think of him as exercising privilege. Even if an Apache has never been shot down.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Holman »

LordMortis wrote:
Holman wrote:GG, I don't think it's the worst thing in the war. If a regular soldier said it, I'd just think "Kid probably needs a rest and a reminder."

When the Prince (who is basically only there to lend legitimacy to his weird family's weird political status) says it, I think "There's a privileged asshole who doesn't even know how to do Being-the-Prince right."
If a prince is in a chopper being shot at, I don't think of him as exercising privilege. Even if an Apache has never been shot down.
Props to him for serving. But if he thinks "War is a kick-ass videogame" comments reflect well on his multiply privileged statuses, he is even dumber than past behavior suggests.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Combustible Lemur »

LawBeefaroni wrote:
GreenGoo wrote: I mean this in all honesty: If a Prince talking about how his skills at video games will help him do something useful (useful=kill the enemy) in the war is the worst (or even a significant) PR flub the west has to suffer, we are damn good at PR.
Is getting a splinter the worst thing that could happen to you? No. So why don't you rub your hand along every rough, unsanded piece of split wood you see? Because you don't want a splinter.

When something isn't the worst possible outcome, it isn't automatically a desirable outcome.
Do enough carpentry, splinters, burns, cuts, and assholes are just a cost of business. Preferably, your chief of cultural resources doesn't have a flippant mouth and a penchant for sexy parties. Or maybe you do want that for interior moral.

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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Maybe he just takes after his great great uncle, Edward VIII.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by GreenGoo »

Holman wrote:who is basically only there to lend legitimacy to his weird family's weird political status"
I think it's clear how you feel about the royal family, and because of it, they get no slack from you. That's fine. Doesn't make his actions particularly reprehensible, but ok.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Rip »

Who cares, we won't be there in another year anyway.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by GreenGoo »

Rip wrote:Who cares, we won't be there in another year anyway.
That's remarkably close to the same logic Clinton used to shrug off questions about why Benghazi happened.

In any case, I'm not sure what being there or not being there has to do with anything. It's not like Al Qaeda recruitment was down before troops arrived on the ground in Afghanistan.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Zarathud »

Hey, killing peasants is just royal tradition.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Rip »

GreenGoo wrote:
Rip wrote:Who cares, we won't be there in another year anyway.
That's remarkably close to the same logic Clinton used to shrug off questions about why Benghazi happened.

In any case, I'm not sure what being there or not being there has to do with anything. It's not like Al Qaeda recruitment was down before troops arrived on the ground in Afghanistan.

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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by GreenGoo »

I have no idea what you're getting at.

In any case, in theory you're in Afghanistan for publicly legit reasons.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Despite concluding negotiations with the U.S. and Karzai getting a clear sign from the from the council of elders that they want him to sign the agreement, he's being intransigent:
President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, imposed an ultimatum on President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan on Monday, telling him to stop his delay in signing a security agreement or potentially face the complete and final pullout of U.S. troops by the end of 2014, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

But while Karzai was said to have assured her he would sign the deal at some point, he gave no time frame for it. And over dinner at the presidential palace in Kabul, he later insisted on difficult new conditions as well, including the release of all inmates at the U.S. prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, adding to the perception of a crisis between the two nations, officials from both countries said.
...
The meeting comes a day after Karzai rejected a recommendation from his own handpicked assembly of Afghan leadership figures, a loya jirga, that by year’s end he should sign the bilateral security agreement, which would allow for an extended U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after 2014. Karzai told the loya jirga he wanted to wait to sign it until after the Afghan presidential elections in April, while continuing to negotiate with the Americans.

In response, the White House summary said, “Ambassador Rice stressed that we have concluded negotiations and that deferring the signature of the agreement until after next year’s elections is not viable, as it would not provide the United States and NATO allies the clarity necessary to plan for a potential post-2014 military presence.”
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Kraken »

I think most Americans stopped paying attention to Afghanistan long ago, and would be perfectly content to cut them loose at the end of next year. Or tomorrow, better still.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Kraken »

The most unpopular war in US history. Or at least since Americans have been polled about their opinions.
A mere 17 percent of Americans support the war in Afghanistan, according to a new poll, making it by one measure the most unpopular war in U.S. history.

The new low in support, in a CNN poll out Monday, comes after 52 percent of Americans supported the war in a 2008 CNN poll, and just 46 percent opposed it. By 2013, opposition had mushroomed to 82 percent, according to the poll. Though comparing public opinion across the decades is difficult, the support falls short of previous CNN polling on the Iraq War, and opposition to the Vietnam War next eclipsed 60 percent in Gallup polling.
At least 17% support makes it more popular than Congress. :doh:
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Oddly, the Taliban doesn't like the idea of elections, mounting an attack on the HQ this weekend.
Taliban fighters unleashed a barrage of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades at the headquarters of Afghanistan’s election commission on Saturday, a week before Afghans are to vote for a new president in an election that the Taliban has vowed to disrupt. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Afghan officials and witnesses said the attack began shortly before 1 p.m. when at least three militants entered a building overlooking the headquarters of the Independent Election Commission, a grassy compound of low-slung buildings on the eastern edge of Kabul.

Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the militants had not managed to get beyond the building from where they launched the attack. They were quickly holed up inside, surrounded by regular police officers and elite paramilitary commandos. The building was some distance from the election commission’s compound, he said.
...
The Taliban quickly took credit for the assault on the election commission, presenting it as the latest move in their bid to violently derail the coming election. The insurgents’ threats against the election have proven credible in recent days – Saturday’s attack was their third in Kabul this week, adding to the tension in a city where, until recently, the Taliban appeared to have had trouble mounting successful attacks.

Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the insurgents, said on Twitter that “a number of martyrdom seekers have entered fake elections’ main headquarters.”

Mr. Mujahid, who often offers inflated accounts of Taliban attacks, described what by now has become a familiar insurgent tactic in Afghanistan: He said a car bomb was used to breach the commission’s defenses, and gunmen then rushed inside.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Holman »

Afghans Vote in Strong Numbers Despite Dangers

Good for them! Not what many people expected.
Braving cold, rain and Taliban attacks, Afghans gathered in such long lines at polling places that voting hours were extended nationwide so they could cast their ballots to choose the successor to President Hamid Karzai on Saturday.

Rather than the widespread disruption that the Taliban had promised in recent months, the thing most on display was determination, as Afghans turned out in higher numbers than expected, including in some places where votes were scarce in the 2009 election. There was no heavy barrage of attacks, though fears of potential violence did keep roughly one in eight polling centers closed nationwide.

For the first time, Afghans were voting on what appeared to be an open field of candidates, after Mr. Karzai's dozen years in power. Accordingly, no one expected a quick result from the vote on Saturday: the top three candidates were expected to closely divide up the vote, and a runoff election seemed certain. That election would likely be held no sooner than May 28, continuing Mr. Karzai’s time in office for another two months at least. Even partial official results were not expected for a week.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Kraken »

Now comes the big question of whether the votes will be tallied fairly.

They/we need this to go into the "win" column. If they can't even pull off a real election after 13 years of occupation and three quarters of a trillion American dollars, then it's hard to point to any kind of achievement at all.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Here is your ballot list. Abdullah Abdullah was the runoff competitor last time. I imagine he's the reform candidate against Karzai's national security adviser, Zalmai Rassoul.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Holman »

According to the NYT,
The leading candidates going into the vote were Ashraf Ghani, 64, a technocrat and former official in Mr. Karzai’s government; Abdullah Abdullah, 53, a former foreign minister who was the second biggest vote-getter against Mr. Karzai in the 2009 election; and Zalmay Rassoul, 70, another former foreign minister.
From Isgrimnur's list:
ABDULLAH ABDULLAH: Having gained 31 percent of the vote as runner-up to Karzai in the disputed 2009 elections, Abdullah has an advantage in name recognition and political organization. He was a close aide to the late Ahmad Shah Masood, the Northern Alliance rebel commander famed for his resistance to Soviet occupation and the Taliban. Abdullah has a strong following among ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan's north, but his perceived weak support among Pashtuns — Afghanistan's largest ethnic group at 42 percent — could keep him from gaining a majority of votes, even though he is half-Pashtun.

ZALMAI RASSOUL: A former foreign minister, Rassoul has been national security adviser to the government and is seen as close to Karzai. He could end up being a consensus candidate among many political factions. A Pashtun like Karzai, he has a medical degree and is fluent in five languages, including French, English and Italian. He lived in Italy for many years with Afghanistan's deposed King Zahir Shah, who died in Kabul in 2007.

ASHRAF GHANI AHMADZAI: Ghani is a former finance minister who ran in the 2009 presidential elections but received just 3 percent of the vote. A well-known academic with a reputation as a somewhat temperamental technocrat, Ghani chairs a commission in charge of transitioning responsibility for security from the U.S.-led coalition to Afghan forces. Ghani also worked at the World Bank.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by El Guapo »

I like saying Abdullah Abdullah, so I would vote for him.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Looks like it's a two-horse race:
Former World Bank executive Ashraf Ghani and opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah appeared to be the two front-runners in Afghanistan's presidential election, sidelining a candidate viewed as President Hamid Karzai's favorite, according to partial results tallied by news organizations and one candidate.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Holman »

El Guapo wrote:I like saying Abdullah Abdullah, so I would vote for him.
Apparently he's our guy, and he's the front-runner.
Abdullah Abdullah, a longtime opponent of President Hamid Karzai and an ardent supporter of the United States, emerged Saturday as the clear front-runner in Afghanistan’s presidential election and could become the first non-Pashtun to lead the country in more than three centuries.

In preliminary results released Saturday, Mr. Abdullah, an ethnic Tajik from the north, won 45 percent of the vote, not enough to avoid a runoff with the leading Pashtun candidate, Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank economist and Karzai adviser, who won 32 percent. But Afghan government officials say Mr. Abdullah is on the verge of forging alliances with at least two of the Pashtun runners-up to gain their support, and possibly the presidency, in the next round.

Either of the top two candidates would represent a significant break with the years of deteriorating relations the United States has had with Afghanistan under Mr. Karzai, and a shift toward greater bilateral cooperation. Each candidate has said, for instance, that he would sign a security agreement with the United States allowing American forces to remain in the country past 2014, which Mr. Karzai negotiated but refused to sign.
Pashtuns are the ethnic/regional group from which the Taliban draws most of its support.

This is much better news than I expect to hear out of Afghanistan these days. Presumably we can derail it with a full-on pivot to Iraq or something, just for old times' sake.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Kraken »

Good news out of Afghanistan today. For those who haven't been playing along at home: The election that was hailed as a victory for nation-building fell apart over widespread fraud. As of last week Abdullah, who probably won, was threatening to form a shadow government that would have split the country along ethnic lines and probably led to civil war (as if the Taliban insurgency wasn't already a civil war). It looked like the whole thing was about to fall apart.

Yesterday John Kerry convinced both candidates to abide by a complete UN-sponsored recount and, whatever the result, form a unity government.

It's a sorry state of affairs when "Yay! The country's (probably) not going to disintegrate (yet)!" counts as good news, but you take what you can get.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

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At this point I don't care if everybody in Iraq and Afghanistan turn into itty bitty countries like Yugoslavia did. Maybe they can get along better inside their little fortresses.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Holman »

American Major General Reported Killed in Afghanistan
A United States Army major general was killed on Tuesday by an Afghan soldier, shot at close range at a military training academy on the outskirts of Kabul, an official of the American-led coalition and Afghan media reported Tuesday. The officer was the highest-ranking member of the American military to die in hostilities in the Afghanistan war.

The coalition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and would not release the name of the major general, said an unspecified number of other service members of the American-led coalition and Afghan soldiers, including a senior Afghan commander were also shot. Their conditions were not known.
The details aren't out, but it seems that the general was assassinated by a Afghan soldier.

What a terrible mess these wars have been.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Your winner is Ashraf Ghani, after a contentious recount and a power sharing deal. Kerry will not attend tomorrow's inauguration.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Isgrimnur »

And there is your security deal:
Afghanistan's new government and the United States have signed a long-delayed security agreement that will allow about 12,000 foreign soldiers to remain in Afghanistan when the international combat mission ends December 31.

National security adviser Hanif Atmar and U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham signed the deal in a televised ceremony in Kabul , a day after Ashraf Ghani took over as Afghanistan's president.
...
Under Tuesday's agreement, approximately 10,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 NATO forces will stay in Afghanistan after 2014.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by Kraken »

Another year of combat.
President Obama signed a classified order in recent weeks authorizing a more expansive mission for the military in Afghanistan in 2015 than originally planned, a move that ensures US troops will have a direct role in fighting in the war-ravaged country for at least another year.

Obama’s order allows US forces to carry out missions against the Taliban and other militant groups threatening American troops or the Afghan government, a broader mission than the president described to the public earlier this year, according to several administration, military, and congressional officials with knowledge of the decision.

The new authorization also allows US jets, bombers, and drones to support Afghan troops on combat missions.
What's next year make it, 14 years of fighting?
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Re: Win, Lose, or Draw in Afghanistan?

Post by dbt1949 »

They just declared the war over in Afghanistan. How can that be if we still have thousand of troops fighting over there?
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