8 Years in Afghanistan...Let's Talk...

[pololax]

First off, I want to say that I have been apart of NikeTalk for a long time, just don't post all that much. I see some great topics made and issues debatedon here, and would like to add to that as well.

There has been much talk lately about President Obama and the Joint Chiefs of Staff increasing the troop level in Afghanistan with an addition 40,000 men andwomen service members.

What is NT's feelings on this? In my mind it is a big deal because the United States has been in Afghanistan for 8 years now. Operation Eduring Freedom wasfirst set up to stop the harboring of terrorists, find Osama Bin Laden and other key terrorist leaders and organizations and to overall make the citizens ofthe United States feel that we wouldn't allow for the events that took place on Sept 11th to happen again.

My question about this war is that, in my mind, the United States isn't any safer. Key terrorist leaders are still roaming around, just check what hashappened recently in Denver, New York and Boston. Worst of all, men and women are dying on a daily basis, and exactly for what? Afghanistan has set upelections, which was definitely a step foward, but now they are saying many votes that were cast were fradulent and there is large amounts of corruption inthat country.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but I just don't see how adding 40,000 more men and women is going to solve anything? There hasn't been tomany strides in Afghanistan in the 8 years since our country invaded, yet we are going to send 40,000 more troops? Doesn't that mean that we are just goingto end up bringing more bodies home instead of actually making the correct stides, maybe using a tactic such as diplomacy?

 

[thytkerjobs]

whats your OG sn

 

[beast4ya]

cliffs please....

no ones going to read that....

 

[mcnoodlez]

the thing with afghanistan is it's an actual threat. iraq was definitely a blunder, but that's another story. terrorists train, make money through drugsales, and so forth in afghan, and it's been obvious since the early to mid 90's

the problem is we're fighting two wars now, and yeah, it sucks...

 

[nooera]

Originally Posted by Beast4ya

cliffs please....

no ones going to read that....

speak for yourself. You act like dude just posted a novel

 

[theconditioner]

I don't really understand it either. The US (nor the world) cannot fight an ideology with bullets. I'm guessing the US is there primarily to"stabilize" the country, and for political purposes (imo) - Obama Admin needs/needed supporters/voters.

 

[chokeonsmoke]

this war seems like its not gunna end....
and if we do decide to leave, they will get their revenge

 

[mojodmonky1]

Originally Posted by Beast4ya

cliffs please....

no ones going to read that....

dude... kids these days are getting lazier and lazier... effin pathetic.

To answer your question OP.

You cant go drop a deuce in someone's house and then leave without flushing so to speak. In very general terms, the US didnt fully understand what it wasgetting itself into when it decided to invade Afghanistan. Especially now that they are fighting 2 wars and resources are being spread thin, it is becomingincreasingly difficult to take control and finish this war. If the US were to pull back all their troops now and leave the country, it wouldn't be anybetter than when we first invaded, the US would lose face in the international community for losing, and the gov't would have spent countless billions withlittle to show for it. At this point they are already committed so they might as well finish the deed and hope for the best.

 

[sonunox34]

Originally Posted by Beast4ya

cliffs please....

no ones going to read that....

Today's youth

those are five short paragraphs,if you can't read that then you're in trouble.

 

[jordanpp30]

Now 8 years later.. we are deep in it and the leaders of this country dont have a real plan on how to fix the problem and how to leave the situation.

 

[fivefivenine]

Originally Posted by Beast4ya

cliffs please....

no ones going to read that....

 

[nyota de la star]

Modern-day Vietnam.
I don't get why we're still there. If we're looking for terrorists the objective needs to be Pakistan.

 

[jayadict92]

im going to afghanistan next year. #BOW #BOW

 

[sportinjordans916]

Don't hear anything in the media recently regarding updates as to what progress is being made. Economy is hurting here and $ and resources are being"wasted". Terrorism is more prevalent in other areas. 8 years, god knows how much $ and No Bin Laden.. Excuse my ignorance but I don't recallObama's campaign pushing for more troops in Afghanistan... FAIL

 

[airmaxplus]

america and the west is in a non win situation. they can't pull out of afganistan because the risk and frequency of terrorist attacks will increase whichcould potentially cost more and a larger number of civilian casualties than staying. even after the threat of terror attacks is at a manageable level itsimportant that the west has a presence in afganistan to prevent the spread of extremists and rebuild the country. so 40,000 troops is just the begining.
the same goes for iraq, the west will now need to maintain a presence for a long period. it was better that we didn't invade at all as it didn't reallypresent a major threat.

lets just hope they don't invade iran.

 

[mathilda lando]

It's been 8 years already?!

Jesus.

 

[nyota de la star]

Originally Posted by Nike Star Jay

Originally Posted by Nyota de la star

Modern-day Vietnam.
I don't get why we're still there. If we're looking for terrorists the objective needs to be Pakistan.

we're still there because we have a crooked gov't that realizes the amount of oil they're harvesting in the middle east.

Saudi Arabia has that and we're not bombing them. Maybe that was the reasoning of the last administration but this time it's just bad planning...

 

[pololax]

I understand alot of what you are all saying. What really boggles my mind is the fact that, even if resources were not spread thing, for example, we were justin Afghanistan and not Iraq, would the situation really be that different? Terrorism has been around since the beginning of time, trying to end it will nothappen. If we take out Bin Laden, his #2 will step in, and so forth. The problem with this war is that the true problem has to do with different cultures,religions, values, morals, etc. etc.

The drug trade funds terrorism, we all know what its like to fight a war on drugs, the same to fight a war on terrorism. In the end we will not win.

It's a shame that the United States hasn't learned from Vietnam. I know taking a loss will look bad, but at one point or another you must weigh theoptions. Have innocent servicemen and civilians die, spend countless amounts of money or look like the Global cop? To me, the United States has only one way toprove to the international community that we are still the global hegemonic power, that is focus on US (no pun attended) and only us.

 

[nyota de la star]

Honestly, no one else is helping us because of Iraq. We went in there without support from other nations.
Now they don't want anything to with this US-made "War On Terror"

 

[mojodmonky1]

Originally Posted by PoloLax

I understand alot of what you are all saying. What really boggles my mind is the fact that, even if resources were not spread thing, for example, we were just in Afghanistan and not Iraq, would the situation really be that different? Terrorism has been around since the beginning of time, trying to end it will not happen. If we take out Bin Laden, his #2 will step in, and so forth. The problem with this war is that the true problem has to do with different cultures, religions, values, morals, etc. etc.

The drug trade funds terrorism, we all know what its like to fight a war on drugs, the same to fight a war on terrorism. In the end we will not win.

It's a shame that the United States hasn't learned from Vietnam. I know taking a loss will look bad, but at one point or another you must weigh the options. Have innocent servicemen and civilians die, spend countless amounts of money or look like the Global cop? To me, the United States has only one way to prove to the international community that we are still the global hegemonic power, that is focus on US (no pun attended) and only us.

Just cause the probability of success is low doesnt mean that you should give up and just stop trying.

Basically what AIRMAXPLUS said.

If they were to back out now the potential repurcussions of doing so could be much greater than the losses being incurred right now. It is a lose-losesituation, but the lesser of two evils is to contine to play this out in the hopes that they eek out the victory.

 

[thewealth]

Originally Posted by JayADiCt92

im going to afghanistan next year. #BOW #BOW

I'll beat you there.

 

[iheartdrums]

Originally Posted by Beast4ya

cliffs please....

no ones going to read that....

you serious doggy?

 

[sundoobie]

Great topic and I applaud you for trying to post this here on Niketalk.

My personal feelings are mixed. Yes I would love the people of Afghanistan to live without fear and to be able to have adequate resources such as schools fortheir children, have running water/electricity, etc.. however at what cost?

40,000 additional troops will greatly help but again at what cost? Those additional boots will require a base to sleep in. They require cooks to feed them. They require all these support services which would mean more Govt contractors such as Haliburton/Blackwater. More troops = more contractors which also meansmore journalists and more hired mercenaries to protect them which just means more killings, more kidnappings, and more violence.

Another problem is the situation in Pakistan and how this war has strategically pushed these insurgents into Pakistan. There are more frequent terroristbombings there now and violence has spread all the way to India making that whole region unstable.

And just today... RIP to the 14 soldiers and civilians killed due to a helicopter crash.

[h1]Helicopter crashes kill 14 Americans in Afghanistan[/h1] [h2]Two copters collide in midair. In a separate incident, a chopper goes down following a firefight with insurgents. Three U.S. civilians and 11 troops are killed.[/h2]http://www.latimes.com/ne...009oct27,0,4240197.story



The only real answer I see in Afghanistan is to pull out and to use drones and special forces to destroy terrorists camps there. The drug trade runs deep inAfghanistan and anyone with any common sense knows this drug trade not only provides income to families there but also funds the Taliban. So until the USstops this drug trade, there is no winning there.

Then we look at how the Taliban receives their weapons/bombs. Read this article and you'll be surprise how much our own tax dollars fund these groups.

[h1]How we help to arm the Taliban[/h1] [h2]British and other Western taxpayers are helping to fund the Taliban, writes Christopher Booker.[/h2]
http://www.telegraph.co.u...-to-arm-the-Taliban.html

The situation in Afghanistan is out of control and Obama is a fool if he sends more troops there.

 

[mo matik]

You simply can't win a war unless you have the civilians of that area behind your cause.

That is why Israel cannot simply wipe out Palestine.
That is why Vietnam did not fall against the US.
That is why Iraq did not stop resistance.

And that is why Afghanistan will not stop resistance.

What is happening is a viscous cycle.

-American troops attack
-Counter-insurgency
-American troops must launch a larger counter attack
-Another, larger counter insurgency

You cannot defeat terrorism. It is an idea, not a political stance.

Not to mention that Al-Qaeda's basis for attacks against the US are the injustices it is guilty of in the region.

So how can you be the roots of the ideology, and the savior of region at one time? It makes no sense.

 

[maxamillion]

The US has been playing us for years, in the news they never fully answer questions, and leave out lots of information to the public, if you ask me it'sall about the oil in that region of the world, that we cannot afford to lose